Here are some curious items from the most recent batch of search terms:
heresy is not kawaii
gurren lagann knitting
cowboy bebop knitting
knitting anime themes
ponyo on a stick
sailor moon cardboard cutout
a religion based off of sailor moon
canzoni kawaii
languid gay charles solomon
gender critics are idiots
anime girl wolf boy frog
haruhi peanuts
kawaii the murderer pics
safe for work babes
oink supervisor
There were a few that make me glad that I am unlikely ever to meet the searchers:
anime manly girls
armpit hair pictures
kawaii tentacle monster
*****
Anime cosplayers are normal, sane people — at least compared to these.
Via Steven, who recently discovered Pokémon. (Update: note the third-place item in this list.)
Ubu, meanwhile, has discovered RahXephon. In a comment at Ubu’s place, Avatar confirms what I had suspected:
RahXephon was a show where we constructed a couple of really elaborate theories that explained everything, wrote off to Japan with a “so which one is it, we need to know for the translation”, and got back “huh? We did all those things because they looked cool.”
*****
I recently watched the first two episodes of El Hazard: The Magnificent World. Good grief. Here’s our hero:
I really wonder sometimes: do Japanese boys want to be girls? If you think I’m exaggering, count the thumbnails on this graphic:
The first El Hazard OVA was written by Ryoe Tsukimura. He also wrote the scripts for the first Tenchi Muyo! movie and the many UFO Princess Valkyries. They have their moments, but they’re all essentially anime junk food. Most of the rest of Tsukimura’s output looks similarly undistinguished. However, he does have one classic to his credit, Noir, which was his idea and his script. In this, he reminds me of Kou Ohtani, a competent, unmemorable soundtrack composer who on one occasion exhibited afflatus.
*****
Since I closed nominations for the current poll, commenters have mentioned Ghost in the Shell, Tenchi Muyo GXP, Kimagure Orange Road, Spice and Wolf and Wolf’s Rain. The first has been mentioned twice (the second time in an email), so I’ll probably add it to the second round candidates. Would anyone care to second any of the other series?
A significant number of said ‘boys’ in the thumbnail are actually from trap-themed eroge.
A significant number of said ‘boys’ in the thumbnail are actually from trap-themed eroge.
Since this first list only went to ~L alphabetically, I assumed it was only about the first half of all nominations? Or is that actually all of them?
Owen: That’s slightly reassuring, but there are still way too many girls with Y chromosomes in anime for my taste.
Kadian: The current round is indeed only the first half. The second round will include titles from Lucky Star to xxxHolic, plus additional ones that receive at least two nominations.
I’d definitely second (third?) the Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex soundtrack. Not so much the movies, though.
I’d definitely second (third?) the Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex soundtrack. Not so much the movies, though.
There are historical reasons. I forget whether it was noh or kabuki that was first performed under a bridge by some kind of alleged runaway miko, so that originally all parts were played by women. The women apparently also did lascivious dances and slept with guys for money, so women were forbidden by law to do theater. At which point new companies emerged in which all the parts were played by men or pretty young men. One style of pretty young man was the sort of Derek Wildstar big hair guy. The other was the long-haired guys who played women or pretty long-haired guys. Etc, etc.
But mostly it’s because a good proportion of Japanese women (and American fangirls) like to look at guys who look like girls. Theoretically, this sounds like a good idea to them. This also explains a lot of the New Wave rock groups’ success.