Christopher Kincaid's Blog, page 6
November 10, 2024
You Are Where You Are Meant to Be, As You Are Right Now
To insist on arbitrary action because you’re not reconciled to your fate is something that men should be most wary of. If people let their minds go off according to their individual likes and dislikes, confusion will grow day by day. This, it seems, is the reason for working on soundness of mind by making peace with destiny in the present. –Yamaga Soko
You are where you are meant to be, as you are, in this moment. Now, if you are hurting or in a place of difficulty, this can be hard to accept. Y...
November 2, 2024
Who are Anime Fans? A Summary of the International Anime Research Project’s Findings
The International Anime Research Project aims at studying anime, manga, and other fandoms. This team of scientists use techniques from psychology, anthropology, and sociology to understand the traits, demographics, and other attributes of anime fans. The team also compares different fandoms to understand the similarities and differences among the people within those fandoms. Most quotes and charts will be taken from their book, Transported to Another World: The Psychology of Anime Fans.
The tea...
October 27, 2024
Golden Time: How Insecurity Splits Oneself
Golden Time is an anime adaptation of a light novel series. The anime released back in 2013. I will spoil the story in this discussion.
Golden Time is one of the rare anime that doesn’t take place in high-school. The characters are all college age, but, for the most part, this acts as window dressing for what’s otherwise a high-school romance. The story hits all the same beats as the typical high school rom-com but uses the college setting to fix the problem of absent parents high school storie...
October 20, 2024
Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf
Spice and Wolf along with Eureka Seven and Inuyasha helped me through some difficult times in my mid-20s, so they retain a place in my best anime lists. I, like many others, was excited when I heard Spice and Wolf was going to get a reprise. Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf follows the light novels closely and, at least for the first 25 episodes, hits my expectations. Inevitably, Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf will be compared to the original anime. While I’m fond of the original and ...
October 16, 2024
If It Was a Snake, It Would’ve Bit Me! Download My Retail Memoir PDF for Free.
Without wage-slaves, people would go hungry, go naked (not that health regulations stop them from doing that now), and go home (finally!). But retail workers remain under-appreciated, under-paid, and under-medicated. From the day a man exploded in the bathroom to a woman having a seizure on my last night at the grocery store, I had seen (heard and smelled and felt) the strangeness of the American public. Funny and outrageous, I wouldn’t believe the public’s antics if I hadn’t lived through them...
October 13, 2024
Book Ban Banality
Tony Yao discusses another book ban on his website Drop-In to Manga. This time, Florida has banned Sasaki and Miyano by Sho Harusono because of its LGBTQAI material. Book bans happen frequently for many different reasons, usually under the guise of “protecting the children.” Most of the time, the parents who want to ban books haven’t read the books themselves, and they are afraid to do so. They fear the influence these narratives will have on their children, especially when the narratives cut a...
October 6, 2024
Today is Victory Over Yourself of Yesterday
Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men. –Miyamoto Musashi
Miyamoto Musashi is famous for being an undefeated swordsman. In one of his most famous stories, he made his challenger wait on an island. Being late to a duel was an insult. When Musashi arrived, he refused to fight his opponent with his sword, opting instead to fight the man with an oar. Musashi, of course, won because his...
September 29, 2024
Is Anime Woke?
Woke has become a buzzword throughout US media. People use the word to label all sorts of people and ideas: woke companies, woke video games, woke chicken nuggets. Beyond being bad English grammar, “I am woke” (grammatically it should be “I woke up” or “I have awakened” or even “I’m awake.” Woke is the past tense form of wake. ) carries the weight of identity for many people. The term also works as as slur. So, before I can answer the question “Is anime woke?” I will first attempt to define wha...
September 22, 2024
Zom 100: Work Sucks and is Bad For You
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead continues the zombie genre’s tradition of critiquing capitalism and groupthink. Whereas George Romero’s zombie films centered on satirizing consumerism with zombies’ insatiable appetite and single-mindedness, Zom 100 takes on work culture. Throughout the anime, the soul-crushing grind of work takes the fore. Zombies represent the masses who are trapped in their work. Not only are they trapped in their appetite for more, just as Romero’s zombies act, but their ap...
