Christopher Kincaid's Blog, page 53

Anime as a Teaching Method

I didn’t grow up with anime. In fact, I didn’t grow up with television shows at all. Sure, I had shows I watched as a child–Voltron, Super Maro Bros Super Show, He-man. But I didn’t grow up with them as many have with anime. Anime like Naruto and Bleach grow with you. The protagonist starts […]

American Behaviors Explained

I spend a fair amount of digital ink speaking about Japan’s culture and how it affects anime. As an international medium, anime also sees American influences on it. As an American, I struggle to see how odd some American behavior may be to Japanese people and other people around the world.  In this post, I […]

My Favorite Articles to Write in 2017

I’m always a bit late with this sort of post. Well, I’m a bit late in reviewing anime too. I have a review slated for Oreimo soon, and that show is 8 years old. I had thought to post a short article about my favorite anime posts from other websites, but I’m sad to admit […]

Anime’s Big Brother and Little Sister Complex, Examining Incest in Anime

Recently, there seems to be a glut of anime focusing on sibling incest. Known as the big bother complex or little sister complex, sibling incest has become a subgenre of romance. The level of romance varies. Most of the time, the complexes appear between siblings without any genetic ties or removed cousins. Sometimes, you have […]

The Dream Story of Gojiro

Only a few years ago there was a gentleman in Fukui, Japan, who had a son, a bright lad of twelve, who was very diligent at school and had made astonishing progress in his studies. He was especially quick at learning Chinese characters, of which every Japanese gentleman who wishes to be called educated must […]

Do Reviews Really Matter?

Some of you may have noticed that I don’t post anime reviews all that often. It’s not that I’m not watching anime. In fact, I’ve watch more recently than in recent months thanks to the Crunchyroll app on the Nintendo Wii-U. In part, I haven’t been writing reviews of these stories because I haven’t felt […]

What is in Ramen?

Have you ever wondered what goes into the otaku’s go-to food on the cheap? It’s also Naruto’s favorite food–ramen. The bowl of noodles and magic-flavor powder, like most packaged foods, is a wonder of engineering and chemical science. There is some actual food in it too.  Some brands have slightly different formulas (you really can’t […]

What Does Kun Mean? What Does Chan Mean?

Japanese honorifics confuse us Westerners. The closest matches we have are Mr., Miss., and other addresses. Unlike English’s polite addresses, Japanese honorifics denote social standing and relationship between the speaker and the listener. They don’t remain constant. I am always Mr. Kincaid in formal Western affairs for example. But in Japan I could be Kincaid-kun, […]

Nobuhiro Watsuki, Child Pornography, and The Tangle of Reputation and Writing

Recently, the creator of Rurouni Kenshin Nobuhiro Watsuki admitted to possessing child pornography (Baseel, 2017). He told the police that he likes young teens about the ages of 13-15 years old. Possession of such materials, according to the Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and the Protection of Children,  […]

The Bandits and the Wrestlers, a Tanuki Tale

In a large but very old  house  there  lived  a  Mr. Kitabayashi and  his family. On  the  occasion  of  his  son’s marriage,  Kitabayashi gave  quite a banquet, with  choice  food including the auspicious mixture  of  rice  and  red beans, the  sekihan.  The  food  was  so plentiful that  after  the guests had  retired  there  were  still […]