Anime, Manga, Video Games & More, For Today's Generation
Editorial
Moe 101: A Woman’s First Look
Apr 8th
The following is a guest post by Lauren Orsini. Lauren is a graduate student, journalist, documentarian, and convention reporter in Washington, D.C. Her love of anime, fandom, and Japanese pop culture frequently directs her reporting topics. To read about her adventures, check out her blog at www.lorsini.com.
The first person I ever heard say it out loud was Travis Touchdown in No More Heroes.
“Moe,” he gushed, slowly enunciating both syllables while he pawed a poster featuring three prepubescent anime girls.
I was familiar with the word and concept from reading Genshiken manga (though I admit I thought it was pronounced “mo” at the time), but I’d thought it stood for a general affinity for a character or object. Lately though, the more I’ve heard about moe, the more it seems to apply to a singular character type. Modern moe, in fact, appears to apply to just a select few anime titles.
Revisiting the Sub vs. Dub Debate
Mar 19th
Buy Toradora! You don't wanna make Taiga angry.
When I last touched this topic, I was still very angry and bitter at companies like Sentai Filmworks and Bandai for not dubbing anime titles that I personally felt deserved a dub (specifically Clannad, Hayate the Combat Butler, Kannagi, and some others). To me, it looked like these companies just “didn’t care anymore” and “weren’t listening to their fans.”
Truth be told, I’ve never really been a big fan of dubs. There are many dubs that I absolutely abhor. However, there are many out there who love dubs, and hate the fact that companies are steering away from them. The problem with this is that many of these people will openly state their refusal to buy a series simply because there’s no dub. Which brings me to…
Censorship in a Nutshell (Updated)
Mar 9th
There’s been a huge hubbub on the Internet recently over FUNimation’s decision to censor “objectionable content” from the home entertainment release of their recent acquisition Dance in the Vampire Bund. I’ve already been more than vocal about it on Twitter. Here, I’m just going to summarize my thoughts:
Moe For Those Who Don’t Like Moe
Feb 24th
On the recent ANNCast episode I was on, Zac and Justin of ANN asked me to recommend some “moe” anime titles that might be good for those who aren’t so into the moe thing. On the show, I mentioned The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Hayate the Combat Butler, and while those shows don’t focus entirely on moe, they can certainly help bring one to better understand its appeal.
In this blog post, I’m going to go into more detail with the shows I spoke about on the ANNCast and why I think many anime fans, and even non-anime fans, may enjoy them. I’ll also talk about some other “moe shows” that might be worth checking out as a sort of segue into appreciating moe.
Illegal Anime Distribution
Jan 11th
Please note: This is an editorial. While facts may be stated, opinions will be given. My intention of this article is not to state a moral stance; it is to promote supporting the anime industry.
For a while, I’ve had mixed feelings on the topic of fansubs and the illegal distribution of anime. While I’m not completely anti-fansub, I do believe they pose a certain threat to the anime industry, and can discourage fans from properly supporting the industry that they love. A person watching Fullmetal Alchemist for free illegally on a streaming site is not supporting the show’s licensors, and therein lies the problem.
If an anime series is legally available in the country you’re in, it should be obtained through legal means.
The Sub-Only Debate, and Why Dub Fans are Upset
Aug 10th
Dubs. Some people hate them, some people love them. In my time as an anime fan, I’ve gone both ways. There are some dubs that I absolutely love and some that I absolutely despise. But the term “dub” seems to be becoming more and more obsolete in the anime industry these days. In these tough times, some companies are releasing their DVDs in a “sub-only” format. Simply put, these DVDs have only Japanese audio, with English subtitles. No English dub. I, for one, have had very mixed feelings on the matter.
