frapple:

bossies:

http://www.mangapark.com/manga/koe-no-katachi

A comic about bullying that made me cry in the office this morning…

if you’ve not already read it, you should.

Wow, I’m just gonna casually reblog this because I’m pretty much going through the same thing myself.

Being bullied and mainly shunned because I can’t speak up for myself, ahaha…

Everyone, please read this manga! Not only does it touch upon the issues of bullying in the Japanese school system. It is known as ijime, and is almost an institutionalized form of bullying that is to an extreme due to the fact of Japan being largely homogeneous. A Japanese saying that really shows the general mindset of individuality vs. group mentality is: ”The nail that sticks out gets hammered down” idiomatic phrase.

(I wrote a rather long commentary on this manga, so I put the rest under a Read More. It is largely spoiler free).

Read More

Love So Life

Summary: 

Shiharu is a high-school student who loves kids, lives in an orphanage, and works at a daycare… Until the handsome uncle of two-year-old twins offers her a raise if she’ll be their babysitter. Often relying on memories of her mother’s actions for guidance, Shiharu quickly finds herself falling in love with her new makeshift family.

Genre: Shoujo (Demographic Marker), Slice-of-Life, Family, Comedy, Drama, Romance

Where You Can Read It: MangaFox

What’s To Like About It? Click on the Read More to find out!

Read More

allanimeconfessions:

General Confession

 - Mio

And…this is when the confusion over the use of “yaoi” can come into the picture.

Even though outside of Japan, especially in Western societies, yaoi has come to mean “all works that include male/male relationship exploration, whether hardcore sex or simply romantic relationships,” technically speaking, yaoi is just gay sex. Now, you can find series over here stateside that are labeled as “yaoi,” but which are actually just a part of the larger BL (Boy’s Love) genre.

For example, over at June Publishing in America they have yaoi titles, which could have an interesting story, but which the main focus is on getting the characters into bed and getting to the porn (which can be found in hentai, too - some are going to just be straight up porn, others will try and build some kind of interesting story, which usually isn’t all that great). And then they also have just plain BL titles, like La Esperanca. It has “Yaoi Manga” running across the bottom of it…But it isn’t yaoi at all.

There was no out and out sex scene between the two main characters, and the focus was on developing their romantic interest and relationship with each other, developing the characters, and writing a story with themes and what have you.

When people are comparing yaoi to hentai though, they are comparing what actually constitutes yaoi (gay porn that has its own tropes and conventions) with hentai (out and out porn, yaoi could be seen as a sub-genre of hentai). 

duties:

lilyginnyblack:

fayheyhey:

allanimeconfessions:

In Image: Tiger and Bunny

I can’t believe that people don’t like Kotetsu’s english dub voice in Tiger and Bunny! Wally Wingert was honestly the best choice for him, instead of some other famous voice actor, and I think he sounds perfect . It just makes me sad that no one else sees it that way Plus I think Wally is an awesome voice actor who is very unappreciated by dub fans.

 - Mio

I actually agree with this confession! I actually think Wally is doing a great job as Kotetsu and is highlighting different elements of Kotetsu’s character. Hirata was an absolutely excellent Kotetsu, but Wally is very good, too. By watching both the Japanese and the English dub I have a feeling I have a better, more well rounded, concept and idea of Kotetsu’s character.

Over all, the English dub of T&B is very good in and of itself. But, of course, I am not surprised that there are people who don’t like Kotetsu’s English dub voice. There are going to be sub elitists and then there is the fact that Kotetsu is the main character (and not top of that was voiced by Hirata, who is a veteran seiyuu and just an incredibly tough act to follow). 

imo This may be kind of off kilter because I don’t understand Japanese very well (so it can color how I perceive the voices), but my issue with the dub is that most of the voices just come off as.. cartoony? Maybe a bit forced? I suppose. I’ve been catching up on the dub myself, and the more natural sounding voices really do stand out against the rest (Barnaby and Jake for instance). It may be the fault of the studio choice, since it primarily deals with kids/shonen animes while T&B is something crafted for the much older anime fan. Not helping is Viz pandering it out towards the teen crowd either. 

I think most of the fandom (including myself) held a high standard for the dub because it’s a show you would absolutely expect to sound better and even more refined since it’s curtailed towards western audiences. And Vic free.

But I just got through watching a ton of very excellent dubs so my standards are fucked.

Hmm… (I put the rest under a Read More because I wrote quite a bit).

Read More

fayheyhey:

allanimeconfessions:

In Image: Tiger and Bunny

I can’t believe that people don’t like Kotetsu’s english dub voice in Tiger and Bunny! Wally Wingert was honestly the best choice for him, instead of some other famous voice actor, and I think he sounds perfect . It just makes me sad that no one else sees it that way Plus I think Wally is an awesome voice actor who is very unappreciated by dub fans.

 - Mio

I actually agree with this confession! I actually think Wally is doing a great job as Kotetsu and is highlighting different elements of Kotetsu’s character. Hirata was an absolutely excellent Kotetsu, but Wally is very good, too. By watching both the Japanese and the English dub I have a feeling I have a better, more well rounded, concept and idea of Kotetsu’s character.

Over all, the English dub of T&B is very good in and of itself. But, of course, I am not surprised that there are people who don’t like Kotetsu’s English dub voice. There are going to be sub elitists and then there is the fact that Kotetsu is the main character (and not top of that was voiced by Hirata, who is a veteran seiyuu and just an incredibly tough act to follow). 

allanimeconfessions:

In image: Elfen Lied

-Rahzel

It most likely stems from the idea that men are outside more often than women are (or, at least, this is what is assumed and still wanted and desired), and in Japanese culture, untanned, pale skin is apart of the concept of a traditional “Japanese Beauty.”

An attractiveness to the tomboy-ish girls who are outside often and who have tans is seen as a Western concept of beauty, which really only started appearing in Japanese culture in the 90s and which some women flocked to as a means of rebelling against their culture and societies ideas and norms of beauty in the Kogal (Gal) and Ganguro street fashion styles. These styles were meant to emulate a stereotypical California Valley Girl.

After the 90s and early 00s though, the Kogal style and Ganguro styles became integrated into Japanese culture and society, and have since dwindled in numbers as the woman who were behind it were now adults and were expected (and mostly did) conform to societal norms. The newer generations since have desired a return to more traditional aspects of Japanese beauty. I remember reading about this in a book (or perhaps somewhere online) where a specific word was used to describe this movement back to traditional Japanese standards of beauty (and, I believe, more traditional aspects of Japanese life -culture and society in general), but for the life of me I cannot remember it (and am to lazy to really hunt it down).

But yeah, that’s most likely the reason why men are depicted as having darker skin than women in anime. It’s sexist, basically, but I won’t really get into that here.

allanimeconfessions:

General Confession:

I love yuri. It’s so sweet and cute. On the flip side, I hate yaoi. I’m fine with gay people. My best friend is actually gay. But what I just can’t stand is yaoi. It would be okay, except I hate the seme/uke stuff. Gay people in real life aren’t seme/uke, and I hate how yaoi tends to make every couple a seme/uke couple. It’s just gross and unrealistic. I think I’m the one of the only girls to openly say that they like yuri, and yuri only.

 - Mio

The seme/uke dynamic is problematic, though I would not say it is out and out gross, as there are some real life couples that to adhere to these types of dynamics (every male/male couple adhering to this dynamic is unrealistic though). Also, OP there is nothing wrong with loving yuri only and not liking yaoi. There are others out there who are like you.

But, yuri is problematic in its own way, too. It may be sweet and cute but from what I have seen (and heard, since I don’t read or watch yuri or GL series as much as BL series) the large majority of yuri series are sweet and cute. The genre is usually also very much focused on stories centering on naive and innocent high school lesbians, which has been a stereotype and trope for lesbians for a very long time. It is much harder to find a series that focuses on adult women being lesbians and maybe not so pure and innocent in the GL genre. What this seems to perpetuate is the idea of lesbianism being “a phase” for young females that they will eventually grow out of.

This is especially true in Japan, where these close romantic relationships are expected and wanted and meant to teach young girls about close emotional relationships, but which are never meant to cross over into the physical realm (that is meant to be reserved for male/female relationships, which tend to lack the emotional aspect that female/female close friendship relationships have, since Japan is still and extremely homosocial society). This adds a layer of forbidden love to many GL series as well as the same types of wish fulfillment issues that are found with BL series.

There is nothing wrong with liking BL and GL series (or liking one more over the other or exclusively over the other), but it is good to be aware of the issues found in both genres, as well. Also, GL series are not completely free of the uke/seme dynamic (I remember watching a bit of Strawberry Panic, and there was a definite uke/seme dynamic going on there. Also, Revolutionary Girl Utena definitely had hints of an uke/seme dynamic in Utena and Anthy’s relationship).

allanimeconfessions:

Shugo Chara!

-Usagi

Don’t feel ashamed, OP! I admit that I am ashamed of the fandom 99% of the time, but I am never ashamed of the show. It was cute and funny, it did things a bit differently when it came to the Magical Girl genre, and it had a lot of good themes and messages for young people in it (and, sometimes, even for the older fans). The characters were quirky and there was a lot of creativity going on here.

Not every show you watch and like has to be dark and depressing and “realistic” in order to be entertaining and good and “meaningful.” This series was a great stress reliever series, and I think that a bubbly Magical Girl series is needed every once in a while in everyone’s life. :)

Oh, and on the whole “manga is better front,” while the manga was better plot-wise, I liked how the anime allowed for more character growth that the manga never really got around to doing (even in Shugo Chara! Party, it wasn’t as good as the manga, but I expected that and just enjoyed it for what it was).

allanimeconfessions:

Kamisama Hajimemashita

~Tsuzuki

I do, too, though I also find Tomoe to be very handsome and attractive. However, I think there was some kind of mistake here, because the image that goes with the text of this confession is of Tomoe, not Mizuki, of Kamisama Hajimemashita.

allanimeconfessions:

General Confession

 - Mio

Reality reflects itself fiction and fiction reflects reality. If women are continually overly sexualized in fiction and media that we consume, then society will continue to believe that it is okay. If we continually demonstrate that ‘a woman beating up a man = funny or even sexy’ while ‘a man beating up a woman = atrocious and wrong,’ in fiction and media that we consume, then society will continue to not take males being abused in domestic violence or other such instances (such as rape) seriously.

This is one of the major issues that I have with tsundere characters, specifically female tsunderes of the type A variety. This is also one of the main reasons why I don’t ship Oz/Alice, this part of her personality, which was very prominent at the beginning of the series, never appealed to me and put me off to her character a lot. Even now, when that side shows up, I really don’t like it at all.