Owning manga can get you in jail?!

Well, I’m no expert of the law and I can’t say that I exactly fond of it, but can something harmless as manga get you thrown behind bars?! Maybe…

For those of you lost, I’m talking about a interesting case involving Christopher Handley, a fan of manga that could be facing some serious jail time–20 years worth behind prison bars. We are talking criminal charges, folks. I’m not going to be all subjective or objective on this thing, but to sum it up in a few and thoughtful words: WTF?!

FULL STORY HERE: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/editorial/2008-12-11/christopher-handley/jason-thompson

Something is not adding up here. There is no specifics released in this statement enough, well in my case to understand what is going on. As you can tell, American Law VS Japanese Law is VERY DIFFERENT and so is all the territory that comes with it. I am talking age ratings, age, censorship, and the whole Nine yards of what the public can expect and what is accept. In this case, something wicked is at work. Come on, the guys First Amendment right has been violated and pass-over faster than bad Family Guy Joke.

Like I said before, I won’t dive any deeper into this because of the facts and information not touching home enough for me to even explain or elaborate. Yet, one thing is clear: This something that should peak your interest. In what matter exactly? Well, who knows. Could mean the US more restrictive or know one giving a da** about personal rights. Whatever it does mean, you can be sure that this will be case that affects a larger base than smaller.

In the future, I will be doing some more intresting articles so I hope you guys will stick with me till then.

do not be fooled – its hideous form, illuminated by the righteous light of Jesus

The elusive meaning of lolikitsune is frightening by the sheer depth of its possibilities, it has killed thousands of archaeologists and scholars for millennia.

But now, we can finally interpret this as lol ik its un e, or, lol, I know, its un e.

Such is the message LK decided to offer us in his handle. The lolikitean cryptology proves difficult to master, for anyone able to understand its true meaning has thus inextricably sold their soul to Jason Miao, the lolikitean theological equivalent to Beelzebub.

But you ask, what is the cipher? None other than Icystorm’s ball sack. Its sweat proves an invaluable gravitational lens, much like how a black hole functions, in that you can see into the future by way of superluminal circumnavigation of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. It appears LK has presented unto us the technology of gods.

“inchooka lukaohnoonga inchhoonguh fwarsri dinka pleahbleaurh” thus spoke icystorm

When I saw into the future, I saw the true of meaning of lol ik its un e. The archaic usage of the medieval Spanish un and the Sanskrit e indicated a polyglot meaning that even Joyce could not fathom. But when I peered further into the meaning, I discovered e was not a typical e, but a mathematical symbol. Yes, another meaning of lolikitsune had appeared, it was lol ik its un 2.71828183. By this I was truly baffled. When I finally accumulated enough of Icystorm’s ball sweat to see far enough into the future, I discovered I had, in fact, mis-translated the mystical Vishnu Reincarnation Dance of Life into the equation. Yes! 2.71828183 was not precisely a number, per se, but an algorithmic substitute for a series of Neanderthal hymns that told me to reconfigure the lolikitsune rosetta stone. It turned out to be…

lol, I know, I tsun e

And behold almighty Jesus, tsun appears. But I had yet another premonition evoked by a epileptic seizure through an overdose of Icystorm scrotum perspiration. The e was only allotrophic! And so it turned out to be…

lol, I know, I tsuny

No, despite popular belief, LK was not a Sunni. We are dealing with the connections between prehistoric Lolikiteanism, Hinduism and modern Japan. I would have never guessed that altering the astronomical arc length between the Hindu consellation Dhanwantari and the Shinto deity Aji-Suki-Taka-Hi-Kone by six parsecs would alter the course of history such the unholy union of lolikitsune and tsundere were possible. Over the course of history, though, the riddle had been solved.

lol, I know, I am a tsundere

I almost had Hyakko poached from me, but we’ve come to an agreement, Kaze and I.

In my long absence from Yukan in terms of episodic blogging I suppose I have neglected Machiavelli’s rule of taking over the world by building settlements, and so far my settlements at Yukan seem rather dusty since I haven’t posted a review of some actual Anime in a while. Here are some short reviews of Anime series I’ve been watching since I’ve been expanding into other media such as radio spots and winning blogging competitions for the Sydney Morning Herald:

Welcome to the NHK! isn’t the newest Anime on the block, and it certainly isn’t the most wholesome I could be watching, but it is certainly entertaining and gives me hope that there are far more perverse individuals on this Earth than me, but as Sweeney Todd says, “We all deserve to die… even you Mrs. Lovett even I”. Rather than judging the characters of NHK too harshly, they serve as a reminder of what can happen if a man is pushed over the edge into madness, particularly when some of the madness is his own fault. Saki the nice girl is a sort of reverse Marla Singer from Fight Club, and really Welcome to the NHK! bears the resemblance of Fight Club for Japanese otaku people.

I have not read the NHK novel so the plot remains unspoiled and as of yet I am still wincing as I draw closer and closer to the ending, wondering when in a halfway series lull in the depravity the awful stuff starts to happen again. Please don’t spoil the ending of this series for me as I’ve never seen it before, besides, it’s more fun seeing me revolted at things I didn’t expect than for me to see it coming and lessen its effect.

Moving on there’s another series I’ve been following which I’ve been enjoying, called Strawberry Panic.

Baka-Raptor informed me of this one, and I hope the pacing picks up after the first two episodes. I haven’t watched an episode in a while so I forget the character’s names, but as far as I know from experience, when it comes to me interpreting Anime for the first time, unless the characters are already familiar, there’s a fair bit of “Ooh Blue Haired Girlie did this” (Lucky Star initially caused me some character identification problems with Tsusaka and Kagami, being a twin myself I finally felt the frustration of others trying to tell me and my brother apart). Basically Reddish/Brownish haired girl on the right of this picture (at least in the first two episodes) is being stalked by the senior white haired girl on the left, but the problem for her is that the Reddish/Brownish haired girl on the right is straight. Is it love? We don’t know yet, I’ve only watched two episodes, one of which involves a library chase scene.

One of the reasons I’ve been away from actual Anime episodic blogging is that I’ve been producing some “popular art” of my own for the first time in three months and so far I have a page of an illustrated short story. Maybe one day it will be collected into a graphic novel or something, but it’s not something I can really talk about in an Anime post. Even though it is Anime related, such pimping would be unprofessional.

Hopefully once I catch up with Hyakko Kaze and I will be able to settle our differences and blog the series together as nature intended, since with my lulzy sense of humor and Kaze’s skill of actually getting the character names right, who knows what we could bring to the Hyakko discussion table? As far as I know us two are the only ones who cared about Hyakko from the beginning, Issa-sa certainly didn’t give Torako and her friends a chance.

Listen in to me chatting to Safran and Father Bob about Tezuka’s Buddha on the podcast I’m about to link you.

Here is where I talked to John Safran and Father Bob about Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha manga on their show Sunday Night Safran. It took months to organise this interview and because of that I felt really nervous when I finally got on the show, so if you hear some heavy breathing occasionally when I talk (by the way I’m Jacob Martin on the show) it’s because I was really trying to fit as much as I could in the time. You can fast forward to me at 36:53 mins on the Quicktime player of the podcast to hear me speak.

Find out in this article.

I have gotten in trouble for making up words to describe already existing phenomenon before. Anyone who’s seen my Anime Eccentric article which attempted to give a name to the zaniness of some Anime knows that. But I believe Australian Anime fans sometimes are misclassified, and Aussie Anime fans who are not otaku but significantly entrenched into Anime fandom, need a new word, (not a fancy buzz word) to describe what these people actually are.

This is what Oztaku means:

Oztaku (adjective noun): An Anime fan who is Australian, often Anglo Saxon, who is not quite as obsessive as the Japanese otaku, but still knowledgable about their Anime and Manga hobby. This is not a word that has negative connotations like otaku does, and it is meant to describe Anime and Manga fans who are Australian who may not be comfortable with being called otaku because of the negative connotations. It is a mark of respect, and not to be used in a derogatory manner.

An example of an Oztaku: this guy I used to know from school who was an advanced illustrator of manga and a consumer of published manga. He was not an otaku by any means as he was highly social depending on whether he wanted to talk to you or not, and did not use his hobby to rebel against society. His hobby was closer to a social group than a counter culture.

Perhaps blissmo is not an Oztaku to the extent this friend of mine was as she goes on and off anime, and has repeatedly told me to get out more. Therefore she is not an Oztaku, as she does not define a significant portion of her daily life to the production or consumption of Anime and Manga fandom. HOWEVER, she is an Australian Anime blogger who contributes a large amount to the Aniblogosphere through her episodic reviews, therefore, I cannot say whether she is or is not an Oztaku unless she confirms or denies it.

Another example: the man who runs my local Anime figure shop in my neighbourhood IS an Oztaku in many ways, because Anime and Manga fandom contributes to his livelihood. Oztaku as a word particularly describes people who not only consume Anime and Manga, but actively create their own Anime and Manga works of art, or at least make their hobby part of their financial livelihood. In addition the Anime figure shop guy is well knowledgable about the best way to import Anime figures into his shop for the least amount of money, and such knowledge is used to make him a profit.

In a similar manner I am an Oztaku because I was recently contacted by a producer of a radio show for the ABC to talk about Osamu Tezuka’s Buddha, a manga epic biography of a significant religious figure, on a Religion and Politics themed radio show. How did I manage this? Well I actively researched if the show’s cast were interested in manga and whether they had had somebody talk about a Buddhist related thing on the show for a while, and deliberately linked the radio show’s website on my home blog in articles campaigning to have Tezuka’s Buddha featured on the show. Anyone who goes that far to get a decades old manga series mentioned in any way, shape or form on a Religion and Politics themed radio program for the ABC is most likely an Oztaku, because they interact with established media networks to promote Anime and Manga actively.

To sum this up, even though this is a word I just made up on the spot it makes a lot more sense than calling white Anglo Saxon people who don’t see their hobby as counter-culture at all otaku. Even non-Anglo Saxon Aussie Anime and Manga fans that I have known would not entirely be classifiable as otaku. We need a liberating word that empowers us in following our hobby but one that is recognisably Anime and Manga related, while at the same time relating to our geographical location. Hence, “Oz”taku.

It’s late, and I’m tired, but this news made me think.

Article taken directly from ANN:

At least 16 people were injured, and two have been confirmed as dead, after a truck collided with pedestrians and the truck’s driver allegedly stabbed people at Tokyo’s Akihabara otaku shopping district on Sunday afternoon. A man reportedly struck five to six individuals with a truck at an intersection near the main Japan Railways station at around 12:35 p.m. The man allegedly proceeded to leave the vehicle and stab people on the street. Later that afternoon, the police arrested a 25-year-old male named Tomohiro Katō on suspicion of attempted murder by “stabbing one person after another with a knife.” Kato was born in Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, but lives in Shizuoka Prefecture’s Susono City in central Japan.

16 people were taken to hospitals, and two people — a 19-year-old male and a 74-year-old male — have reportedly died. Three more were in cardiac arrest.

Source: Sankei Shimbun, Nikkei via Patrick Macias

Update: Details about the suspect and the victims added.

Update 2: FNN has added video coverage. Sunday is usually the busiest day for pedestrian shoppers in Akihabara, as it is the day that the most people have a day off school or work in Japan.

Update 3: Sankei Shimbun now reports that a third person, a 47-year-old male, has died. A 17th person, a police officer, was also injured. The truck was a two-ton rental vehicle. According to eyewitnesses, the truck entered the intersection in a zigzag manner and passed the vehicles that had stopped at a red light to strike pedestrians on the crosswalk.

Update 4: Nikkei is reporting that five people have died. Of the injured, 14 were male, and 3 were female. The incident occurred at the intersection of Chūō and Kanda Myōjin Streets, two of the main throughways of the area.

Update 5: NHK News reports that a 21-year-old woman is the sixth person confirmed as having died in the incident. Sankei Shimbun lists the other victims as a 19-year-old male named Kazunori Fujino, a 74-year-old male named Katsuhiko Nakamura, a 47-year-old male, a 29-year-old male, and a 20-year-old male. Sankei Shimbun also displayed a reader-submitted photograph of the suspect being arrested.

Although I am utterly horrified by this sort of incident, I believe that the man still deserves some sort of redemption. If it really turns out to be him who holds responsibility for murdering those people and stabbing them several times, I wonder if Japan will punish him with a death sentence or lock him up in jail for life. The fact that he did this could mean that he has mental issues, but even so, I hope his excuse for killing them isn’t because of stress. On the other hand, I don’t think anyone has a good enough reason to kill someone else. Actually, it doesn’t even matter why the man did what he did, I just hope that he will reflect on his actions and find redemption. I pray for those people that died as well.

Other bloggers who have also expressed their thoughts on this incident: Setsuna-san, double, issa-sa, and CalAggie.

I hope you’re sitting comfortably. No, smoking a pipe will not be necessary. I don’t want my manga to stink of tobacco. Chances are you’re not sitting in a boudoir. I bet you’re not even in a room that remotely looks like one either. But I bet you’re thinking. It’s that time again, for some Geek Philosophy.

After having posted my definition of what Geek Philosophy actually is at my home blog (where it belongs, mind you, I’d never be so rash as to unleash it onto Yukan Blog readers who would otherwise be expecting another dose of Lucky Star reviewing), I decided to contemplate what the significance of the Anime Geek bedroom is, and the sanctity of its sometimes profane contents. It is a place of wonder, and contemplation. A respite from the harsh realities of school or employment, and if you’re unfortunate enough to still live with your parents, a site of constant invasion. *shudders*

What does your Anime Geek room say about you? Well, at first glance, unless you’re really into your posters and themed shelves, it won’t say particularly much apart from the fact you have a messy room. But even if it is messy, it doesn’t mean your mind is. But sadly this might also be the case.

I will not do the traditional “otaku room post” where I put pictures of my room for the world to see online. I value my privacy in that respect. And also I am not an otaku. I am an Anime Geek, or fan. And my room is not only where I sleep, but where I think and create.

My Osamu Tezuka art prints are the only real clue to my inner Anime Geek. My manga and Anime boxes are all hidden behind clutter. Not that I want to hide them, but considering the size of my room, it’s no surprise I have no choice but to live this way. Such a pity.

Your Anime Geek room is as much about your interior personality as your visual exterior personality. Fact is, nobody who doesn’t know you well would know that your taste in manga and Anime, as reflected on your bookshelves, could possibly construct what fandoms you belong to. And yet the true self of the Anime Geek room is what is not seen.

You know what I mean. The not so obvious four volumes of Love Hina I bought because I wanted to learn to draw Anime girls, unmercifully discovered and chided at by my non-Geek brother who never did like anything I was into. The memories printed in the walls from when I stayed up all night playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney on my DS Lite, when I played so long I had to put the AC Adapter in because I’d made the power light warn me I would run out of battery soon. A salty reminiscence of a tear I shed when I read the end of Tezuka’s manga Apollo’s Song, the first time I ever cried reading a manga ever. These things don’t need pictures posted on the internet to prove they happened. You either believe I cherish these things or you don’t. In any case I don’t have my fandom written on big posters stuck on my walls. They’re things unseen, tattooed on invisible ink on my heart, because when i move house I know I’ll leave this room behind one day.

It’s not so much a place of solitude as it is a parent-free zone. I’m more than happy to have guests, because I don’t have anything to hide from them. But I have everything to hide from my parents, things about me I’m not ready for them to see. That’s why every visit into my bedroom feels like an invasion to me. It sounds absurd, and it is. Obviously a parent would want to visit their child. But it’s hard to explain. You’ve either lived that experience or you haven’t. Call me crazy if you want to.

Which brings me to my criticism of the whole “Otaku room post” phenomenon in blogging. How can people just post pictures of their belongings, thinking strangers they’ve never met will understand how much it all means to them? Weblebrity is one thing (Weblebrity = web celebrity, a possessor of e-fame, or electronic fame) but showing strangers your stuff seems all too weird to me. Thoughts are a different matter, for me those are OK to post, because those can’t be judged as harshly as a complete collection of Haruhi box sets, which a lot of bloggers seem to post about.

The Anime Geek room isn’t so much what you can see at all. Even from pictures of otaku rooms I can’t imagine the hopes and dreams that go on inside the heads of geeks on beds. One otaku room post posted a picture of their body pillow. Note to self, never do that. There are search engines that in the future prospective girlfriends will use to search your details in order to decide if you’re a psycho or not. But that’s getting a bit paranoid. I’d be more worried about MySpace and Facebook if I were you.

My, oh my, this IS an epic post. I suppose it couldn’t be anything else than epic, because I’ve had this post coming on for a while.

What brought this on? I guess it was Genshiken. If you haven’t seen it, watch it. It’s an eye opener into contemporary otaku society. What impressed me about this show was the empathy you had for the characters. It’s a show that helps you understand the alienated. And they have a whole otaku nest where they have their Genshiken meetings. Posters, game consoles, and a whole Raiders of the Lost Ark secret cupboard of doujinshi manga. It’s an otaku nest alright, but it’s nowhere near what my room looks like.

What can I say about my room? It’s not about showing off my Anime posters to prove I’m an Anime Geek. I don’t believe I have to prove anything. A Geek or Nerd is a Geek or Nerd through their actions, not what they display on their walls. The aesthetics are important, but the look is a supplement to the real action within daily life and within the mind. My room is where I can sit on my bed and read Yotsuba&! for hours, or where I can play my DS Lite when I can’t sleep. It’s where I write my books on my computer and watch Anime on my laptop and PCs respectively.

I don’t need to prove how nerdy or geeky I am by my room. It should explain itself, like a good manga or Anime plot, without lengthy backstory that isn’t needed. And it has a backstory, one day a lucky girl who’ll be my girlfriend will hear that tale. But judging from the mess on my floor it won’t be for a while.

Since blissmo already covered the first episode of Kaiba, I considered reviewing the second one, but alas this would be Kaiba overload for this week, and besides, I only have the fansubs of four of the episodes, and I have to review each one wisely as not to run out of them. But let’s take a look back at Lucky Star.

Heterochromia said:

Every once in awhile, you can find some interesting things in the blogosphere, such as newgeekphilosopher’s take on Asperger’s and anime blogging. I didn’t know much about Asperger’s before and think that these kinds of people have much more of a reason to blog because they provide another perspective on the things.

So I’ve decided to take a note from this and instead of just giving people run of the mill Anime reviews in poor attempts at philosophy, I’ve recognised that blogging Anime the Asperger’s way has become a bit of an opportunity for me, since, after all, it’s a unique way of looking at Anime you don’t see very often.

So my new column at Yukan Blog will be “Asperger’s Anime Blogger”, instead of just “newgeekphilosopher takes on *this*”. I’ll be still covering Geek Philosophy at my home blog, but I might as well be giving Yukan Blog readers something different.

Konata’s vision of the male ideal Dentist Appointment is one of the many amusing imaginative sequences in Lucky Star. This one is also one of the funniest. Konata has a weird idea of what men like, but she’s not far off the Otaku demographic.

Lucky Star is problematic to analyse for an Asperger’s Blogger, because if you blink you’ll miss important dialogue which, funnily enough, the series is fundamentally bolted to. It’s like Clerks for Anime fans. Only the Japanese have a very different style of humor to the West, and instead of jokes about Star Wars Vs. LOTR in Clerks II, you get lots and lots of Japanese manga and Anime references. Aspies often like obscure references, and being one, I’d know. It was disturbing to see how many of these references I picked up on, which would otherwise baffle my friends and family if they ever sat down with me to watch this. Which isn’t bloody likely, because I like to watch Anime alone unless it’s a Miyazaki film.

The series covers everything from how to eat a chocolate coronet properly to studying. The characters, though unrealistically rendered otaku-bait girls designed to be pined over by moe fans, have personalities that are quite entertaining. Konata and Miyuki are my favorites out of the four main characters because I have problems telling two girls with purple hair apart. Being a twin myself, I can only imagine that many of my long-time friends made the same mistake with me and my brother back in primary school.

Konata’s teachings about how to win contest drawings reflect her obsessive female-otaku characteristics. But at least she knows how to play the system, making her more developed than just plain moe-bait.

All in all it’s a good series so far, and I’m yet to even get to the good parts apparently. If I enjoyed the early episodes then the later episodes should be a treat.

–newgeekphilosopher.

This is the image that came to mind when I thought of a visual representation of Anime Blogger Enlightenment. Mainly because this is the only Manga I know of that has a decent picture of Buddha.

So here’s what’s happening to the newgeekphilosopher this week:

I CAVED IN: FANSUBS ARE GO

I finally admit it. I got the fansub of Kaiba. And it’s one of the most amazing things my eyes have ever seen, outranking even the time I thought I saw a real Fairy. It was just as weird though. Not that it was a bad thing, I can handle weird quite well. Rather than just telling you that Kaiba is a great Anime, let’s look at why it’s so good. Because, for a very long time, there hasn’t been the aesthetic in Anime Osamu Tezuka developed for his Sci-Fi manga and Anime cartoons in any recent shows I’ve heard of. Kaiba is a breath of fresh air to the Age of Moe not because it emulates the old style of Tezuka, but captures the mood and philosophical mindset he had without trying too hard to be something it’s not: this isn’t a Tezuka Anime, but it is equally satisfying as reading one of his hard Sci-Fi manga volumes, like Apollo’s Song for example. Kaiba, from what I’ve seen, is a show about the ethics of memories, is it right to preserve and sell the memories of the dead, destroying their privacy? In a world gone topsy turvy, and nobody is quite one person anymore, but having more than one body, how can one truly be oneself if the rule of the day is to become something else? These questions and more in one of the best Anime shows you’ll ever watch. It translates well from Japanese into a universal setting too, so if you get a fansub you aren’t bombarded with translator notes.

I am also in the process of adding True Tears to my watching list. I really wanted to see what the fuss over Noe was all about. Hopefully I won’t be disappointed.

As for the Anime Blogger Enlightenment thing, it’s not so much a pretentious opening claiming that I can give other people enlightenment through my blog posts as it is about a discovery I had which changed my mind about getting fansubs. I realised it is possible to get them without getting a virus on my computer, using my Anti-Virus software. It is also possible to watch them in a format that isn’t too obscure, and with the right media player you can pretty much watch anything. I still buy DVDs, it’s just that I am no longer snobby about getting fansubs. Especially when you can watch shows like Kaiba without waiting for the Region 4 release, which often takes a short time once a dub is made, but a longer time if a dub is waiting to be made.

SECRET MEN’S BUSINESS ANIME BLOG ROUND ROBIN

The Secret Men’s Business Anime Round Robin has begun, finally taking off inspired by the beginning of the All Girl’s Round Robin. You can find my first entry in the Secret Men’s Business Round Robin series here. I remind you AGRR members that this isn’t an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the AGRR, it’s a chance for the men to group together to talk in meaningful discussions about men’s issues in Anime, but also topics that are universally relevant in the Anime fandoms (fandoms are like kingdoms, only with more barons thinking they know more about a series than the peasants do).

The first topic of the Secret Men’s Business Round Robin is: ANIME CLUB. How is Anime fandom akin to underground subversive behaviour that is used as a subculture which rebels against mainstream society and cliques? Is liking Anime regarded as “immature” for a young man to like, or is the truth more like Fight Club, only with more cosplay battles than actual fist violence? Is male Anime fandom against the norms of mainstream masculinity, and why is this true or untrue?

I’ll leave that for you guy Anime bloggers to develop on.

SUPER SAIYAN LEVEL 17 SCHOOL HOMEWORK BATTLE

I might not be able to post as much as I used to as I go into a crucial stage of my studies, and don’t hate me for having a life outside of Anime blogging. I thought I could be online most hours of the day, but sadly this is no longer the case. That doesn’t mean I’m abandoning you all, as Yukan Blog and blissmo have been good and forgiving to me and my foibles.

That’s All for now, I’m off to watch more Kaiba, and I’ll see if my fansub of Lucky Star has gotten to me.

Is it possible for a blogger with Asperger’s Syndrome to interpret and review Anime properly?

New conundrums have emerged that make me question my abilities as an Anime blogger.

This quote from http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html made me think long and hard about my entire career in not just Anime blogging, but my previous career in miscellaneous blogging doing movie and book reviews:

Suzuki said “I remember that young girl, but didn’t know her name was Yoko-chan…” Ishikawa replied “In a drame normal people never care about these slight matters, but Asperger syndrome patients can’t see the whole. They only see the segments.” Like in the old Japanese saying: seeing only a tree, but never the forest (木を見て森を見ず). The boy didn’t really watch the drama, but only watched the cars, buses and motorbikes. Ishikawa said “Asperger syndrome patients can’t read the atmosphere and often get into trouble with people around them. They never cure. They have to realize it and have to go along with it through their entire lives. If the parents try to cure it, it just gets worse.” Suzuki and Ishikawa talked some more about psychiatric diseases and psychology, but it was a bit abstract and less connected to Ghibli.

And what is even more disturbing is that they’re talking about an Asperger’s patient’s experience of watching My Neighbour Totoro, the very film I didn’t do justice to in my infamous review for Yukan Blog. I’m not just jumping to conclusions here. I’m about to reveal something about myself that may change your opinion of me, but it has to be said. I was diagnosed early with Asperger’s Syndrome, but I had no idea how it affected my ability and comprehension of visual media such as Anime. I always just did quick reviews of what I did understand from a movie, not realising there was more to the film that I “didn’t get”.

I believe this happened to me when I reviewed My Neighbour Totoro, but not only that, Wings of Honneamise too. How could this have happened to me without me realising it?

This is heavy stuff to find when you’re researching Studio Ghibli for homework on animation for Society and Culture. Especially when it’s fifth period and it’s the end of the day. Suddenly my entire life of watching movies makes sense. I only “got a movie” when I watched it several times over. Just like how I listen to a song over and over to figure out the lyrics and what it means.

In the example that the summary from Ghibli World pointed out, the Asperger’s patient couldn’t identify who the little girl in the back of the sidecar in this picture was, “Yoko-chan”. To tell you the truth the same thing happened to me when I watched the same movie. But why? Why would this happen?

Well, to illustrate the point, Asperger’s people view the world in fragments of sorts, their awareness of the world isn’t so much observed as one solid reality but little pieces one has to put together to make things make sense. And in the Asperger’s head, like mine, when they watch a movie there’s a lot going on to piece together, and some elements which are more visually stimulating or vivid are picked up on easier than more subtle things that may be forgotten about unintentionally. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to look at the back of a DVD cover to remember the name of a main character, even though I could easily identify who they were visually rather than what their name was.

HOWEVER! I’m not saying that Anime blogging to be done by Asperger’s Syndrome patients is impossible, I’m just saying it’s more difficult than it is for normal people. It’s hard enough making sense of people as it is, let alone understanding a form of animation from a culture that is significantly different.

But there’s something enjoyable in Anime for Asperger’s people, and it’s a very visually stimulating medium, with often unusual characters who they can identify with. Like Osaka from Azumanga Daioh. She might not be everybody’s idea of what Asperger’s Syndrome is, but to me she’s as Asperger’s as it gets in Anime. Characters like this give Asperger’s people somebody they can see themselves in, if only a little bit.

And isn’t that what everybody watches Anime for anyway, even without the moeness some people like?

edit from blissmo: thanks Pure Trance for the image above.