All my life, I have never really understood myself. I mean, of course, I’m me. I know what is inside my head in a way no one else does – not even me, sometimes. I have a very complex inner world, and it’s so real and vibrant inside of me that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to get what is inside my head out for other people to see. But, I’ve come to realize, that’s pretty much what an artist is. The thing that has lead to a great deal… Read More »I am an Artist
I hate anime dubs. I mean I really can’t stand them. I’ve tried to watch one or two, and I always end up dropping it after a few episodes. Subtitles are far better in my opinion. Is this because I’m an elitist who thinks that the anime is only good in its native language? Well… that’s true, but that’s not why I hate anime dubs. It’s close, but not really. Is it because I’m upset at the localizers for fucking up the dubs? Well, I am, but that’s not why… Read More »Why I Hate Anime Dubs
There’s a “rule” that whenever you see a question in a headline, the answer is “no”. It’s not quite so simple in this case. The question maybe should be posited a little broader: Should I continue studying anything about Japan, including Japanese? I’ve asked this before, but the reasons for my question are different now. My recent foray into the world of “Love Live”, and my subsequent flaming withdrawal from said world, made me think. Oh yes, you might say, that never happens, Gaijin! You never think about anything! Sarcastic… Read More »Should I Continue Watching Anime?
So it’s taken me a while, but I think I’ve finally processed my feelings on “Love Live” and similar anime, and now I will inflict it on you, who may even read this. Anyone who’s watched anime for any length of time knows that there are a few different broad classes of anime. There’s “Slice of Life” anime, there’s “Cute Girls doing Cute Things” anime, there’s “High School Rom-Com”, there are the action “Shounen” anime which involve a lot of fighting and girls with unrealistic bodies, Shoujo anime which involve… Read More »Liminal Anime
This will be another of those posts where I intend to take full advantage of the fact that no one reads this. As you might have gathered from the last few posts, “Love Live” hit me hard. The thing about that is, there’s no obvious reason why that should be the case. I’m a middle-aged guy from Texas who has about as little to do with the lives of even an ordinary Japanese schoolgirl, much less a group of them that are involved in a “school idol project”, as a… Read More »Happiness
I really like Love Live. But it’s not perfect. I mean, it’s really not perfect. Some things about it are bad. In fact, they’re so bad that they pull me out of my suspension of disbelief and it takes a bit to pull me back in. What bothers me is not the girls. In all of the series, they are characterized really well and realistically. There is just the right amount of comedy and drama, and they have believable personalities and backstories. What bothers me isn’t even the premise of… Read More »What I Hate about Love Live
I have a character flaw. I like to play sudoku, and I’m actually pretty good at it. I have a sudoku app on my phone, and though I may make a few too many mistakes (I have this annoying tendency to put a number in a square where the number already is, because I’m not paying attention) I’m pretty good at it. I play expert level and I rarely get stumped, though some take me a bit too long to become unstumped. But as I’m sitting here playing sudoku, I… Read More »A Logical Inconsistency
“Love Live” continues to throw me for a loop. But at least I think I’m starting to understand why, now. It comes down to one word: “Shine”. When I was a child, I was driven. Very driven. I was the smartest child I knew, and probably the smartest child of my social circles, which were somewhat extensive. I was reading at a very early age. I was doing math at a very early age. I was running intellectual rings around my parents, and everyone I knew, before even reaching my… Read More »Shine
This morning I wrote a post in Japanese. It’s probably not very good and odds are I’ll hide or delete it at some point. But it’s really the only way I’m going to be able to practice, well, one of the few anyway. So I’ll probably do that a lot more frequently. Turns out my vocabulary is a little bigger than I thought, I guess. The post was about “Love Live, Nijigasaki school idol club”. As I mentioned, I really like the “Love, Live” franchise. I’m a large part of… Read More »Nijigasaki
きょう今日日本語を書いています。まだ私の日本語は悪いですけど、とにかく時間をためします。 最近“ラブライブ”のアニメをみました。大体たのしました。正直ちょっとばかですけど、本当にいっぱい心があります。一番 “スクールアイドルプロジェクト”が大好きです。二番 “サンシャイン” がだいすきです。今、”スーパスター”を見ます。大好きも。でも。。。“虹が先”みるをできません。 時々日本人はアメリカ人がわかりませんおもいます。正直アメリカ人は日本人が分かりませんも、両方向です。日本人おもいアメリカ人が日本人の方が自由あります。時々多分真実です。でも、完全なじゃないです。ときどきアメリカ人にも悪いです。 子供たらでした、いつも一人ででした。生むことの前に両親はカルト宗教に内でました。いっぱい物私に教えました、でも最高たいせつ、外のセ世界は邪です。だから他の子供は邪でした。 いつも一人でいました。 これは理由に学校はいまつもちょっと痛いです。 アニメの学園たいていいいです。よくアニメに学園は大切です。でも普通です。でも、ときどき、頭にチョップをします。虹が原はめちゃ大きいですよ。学校はすごく大きい、綺麗、すてきです。いっぱい、いっぱい学生があります。学生は多分この学園にいっぱい思い出をつくります、いっぱい楽しいがあります。。。全部物私が全然ありませんでした。 これは噓がわかります。分かります。この“学園“は東京に”big sight convention center”。日本にそんな学園ありません。だけど、大切じゃないです。噓は力がありますも。これ噓。。。これ痛いです。 時々、アニメが痛いです。 まだ日本語は悪いです。JLPT N5です。 失礼します。