Hisashiburi no motivation poster… Second of the Lolicon (PPP) series. Creditless version just isn’t the same though. Explanatory note re:mitigation for those who are interested: ▼ Show
Tag Archive for 'motivation poster'
Note on the poster: ▼ Show
Speaking of pervy teachers, our esteemed Academy Director Stripey made a strong claim that the male harem lead was the key variable in determining the success of a harem anime during the most recent Hontou Ni Staff Conference. This excerpt (skypecast, 1:22 min, 1.26 MB) was part of a discussion about Mizuho’s role as the harem lead for OtoBoku. Stripey posited that a clearly unworthy harem lead would impact unfavourably on the desirability of the harem females; a lousy male harem lead would overwhelm other variables such as basis of attraction, character design, quality of animation, voice acting and so on.
Note on the poster. What Revy said, way back in Ep 3, about her childhood was: “ãŠã‚‚ã—ã‚ãã‚‚ã話ã 。” In a literal sense, “it’s not an interesting thing to talk about” but, in this context, she’s indicating she doesn’t want to talk about it. The Shinsen subtitle is just sooo brilliant though - official fansubs simply can’t cut to the chase like that.
And a meta note before the episode summary. I’ve tended to believe that one should learn Japanese to watch anime rather than the other way round. Learning Japanese from anime can ingrain bad habits, such as use of informal speech in formal contexts e.g. addressing your teacher as "kisama" or "omae". Much unnecessary social embarrassment can also result from, sometimes unconscious, emulation of favourite characters’ speech patterns e.g. speaking about yourself in the third person with “-chan” honorific.
Nonetheless, I’ve found watching raws to be a good test of listening comprehension. Besides trying to understand the gist of the conversation, I also try to remember how some of the kanji is written for those words that I already know the meaning of. For words I don’t understand, I try to tease out their phonetics correctly and then deduce their dictionary form. When the subs come out, I then can check my translation notes in the blog post. Most importantly, the raws are the proverbial kick up the arse every week - they remind me how poor my grasp of the language actually is and that I need to study the language harder. orz
Congratulations to Alafista for winning the RIUVA Anime (de)Motivational Poster contest as well as to DarkMirage and Tsubaki for coming in second and third respectively. My vote went to mt-i’s entry. I hasten to add, before he posted his comment indicating that he had voted for my entry; simply loved the incongruity between the words and headline image.
Kudoes to tjhan for organizing this community-building event - I enjoyed so many of the other entries. In line with positive warmth, the headline image for this post is motivational rather than my usual sardonic / demotivational ones. Aside from the Belinda Carlisle reference, non-watchers of 2005’s best harem series SHUFFLE! might fairly ask what is the Shinkai? Literally the "world of gods" or less literally as "Heaven" and where a male to have more than one wife - the Shin King Eustoma himself has three. Though sometimes I wonder to myself if Kareha is just going after Rin so that she can be with Asa. :P
Click above for 800 x 600 size.
My entry for the RIUVA contest.
I’ve always been fascinated as to how the etymology of the Arabic root of “harem” has meanings of the forbidden and the sacred; in contrast, when “harem” is used in English, it often connotes sexual licentiousness and epicurean excess.
It would also be interesting to track when the word was first applied to anime series with a male lead being surrounded by girls who are all hawt for him. This genre is quite a venerable one (e.g. Ranma 1/2) but I can’t seem to recall the term being widely applied to series prior to Love Hina. The use of the term also creates its own sub-vocabulary such as “male harem lead” who is usually a loser who can’t decide on choosing one girl among the many - thus raising accusations of how harem anime series are essentially vehicles for otaku wish fulfillment.
Harem anime series certainly enjoy a certain degree of popularity because the sheer variety of heroine types will appeal to fans across a wide demographic. Besides being able to "pick your favourite", interest is maintained through rival camps forming and then slugging it out against each other in forums, blogs and other electronic community media. Such extended interaction is even more plausible when the series has an ambiguous ending where there is no clear “winner” - though why would the girl be a winner if the male harem lead is a loser? It’s like being told that you’ve just won the lottery and the prize is life imprisonment and hard labour. Besides, who’s to say that how these harems will turn out in the medium to long term?