The Difference between shonen and seinen

I have recently been "corrected" by an Anon over at Organization ASG telling me that, contrary to what I have written, Brave 10 was a seinen.

And actually I don't disagree. The manga is a seinen, definitely, I have only read a few pages but it had so many sexual references that can't be anything else but targeting a more "mature" readership.
Now, my point is, does it mean the anime is seinen too? Personally I don't think so.
Then I started to think about what the differences between both genre are. It should be easy, shonen is targeted toward a young male demographic and seinen toward an older one. Categorizing a manga is easy, you just look at the magazine it's published in, anime are not published so how to say what category(ies) an anime belongs to? At best you look at the hour it's broadcast, at worse, you wonder. (Or you don't care, that works really well most of the time)

There are a few things where seinen and shonen differ to me.

- The plot.
The more complex it is, the higher chance you have it'll be a seinen.
Which doesn't mean a shonen can't have a complex plot, but it's usually not the aspect you feel is concentrated the most on, while in the meantime a seinen plot is the main focus.

- The pace
Shonen is usually fast paced with a lot of action, seinen is calmer and takes its time. Just see the difference between things like Letter Bee which had fights all the time (which is already quite close to seinen in my opinion) and Mushishi.

- The themes.
What is the main difference between Gintama and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei? (Which are both gags before being respectively shonen and seinen)
In the first Gin wants to keep on living and make the world a better place despite everything, in the second Nozomu wants to kill himself using the slightest excuse.

That's the main difference, it doesn't show only in the themes but also in how they're played, shonen usually has a lighter tone, seinen is more serious in dealing with the exact same themes.

- The atmosphere.
That kinda goes with what I was just saying, in how seinen is usually more serious than shonen where it's common to find some kind of humor, but it affects the art as well. See the atmosphere between a page of Bleach and a page of Hellsing for example.

- The characters.
Their age is one of the main characterstic, if they're around 15 it's shonen, if they're older it's seinen. There's also a difference in how they're developed. I won't say this applies to everything because it depends a lot but I do feel like there's more depth to characters in seinen. (That's why, if asked, I'll say Tiger&Bunny is a seinen, despite the appearances)

In the end I'm going to say something completely not helpful but, differentiating shonen from seinen is not easy, because what makes an anime (or a manga) belonging to a category or not is not a single thing, it's a mix of several.
To take the example that brought this whole article on, to me, while the manga is definitely targeted at 20-something years old people, the anime version of Brave 10 is a shonen, it has the action, the barely developed characters, the very simple plot and a pretty cheerful atmosphere despite everything.
Now take Guilty Crown as another example, I would have said it's a shonen before, but is it really? (Of course not it's Noitamina, young boys won't watch TV at this hour).

Telling seinen and shonen apart is definitely not easy, most of the time both genre overlap. I was saying Gintama was a shonen before but Gintama has different layers, it can be enjoyed by young boys but has so many things a young boys won't understand yet.

It all depends on how you read it.

(Also, I've submitted this to Nopy's Guide to Anime)

50 Questions about the blogger (and their answers)

As I'm very quick to jump on any bandwagon and actually had no post lined up for this week I couldn't resist answering Ace Railgun's 50 Questions. If you have any complaint send them to Nopy because it's his fault.
I hope these are going to satisfy your stalker tendancies.

1. Who is your favorite male anime character? 
I hope you'll be surprised but ... Kaburagi T. Kotetsu. Obviously.

2. Who is your favorite female character?
That one is harder. Can I just skip?
No wait. I know. Kuroneko!

3. What is your favorite anime soundtrack? 
Madoka Magica's. Aha you didn't expect that one did you?

4. What is your favorite anime opening + animation? 
Usually, if I like the music (which is rare) the animation is pretty bland. On the other hand if the animation is awesome I hate the music. So I'm skipping.

5. What is your favorite anime ending song + animation? 
Same as above

6. What is your favorite anime scene?
"No, don't die, I learnt how to make fried rice for you!
You have pretty long eyelashes Bunny."
*passes out*
Obviously from Tiger&Bunny.
If you haven't seen it it might seem comical, but trust me, it is not. Totally not. Well restrospectively it is but on the spot it was horrible.

7. If you could meet an anime character who would it be? 
Okabe Rintaro. I WANT TO BE A LAB MEMBER TOO!
And well, he'd just be awesome to hang around.

8. What anime character is most similar to you in terms of personality? 
As much as it pains me to admit it, I'm a mix of the bad sides of both Barnaby and Kotetsu.

9. What is your favorite thing about anime?
I love the absence of limitations you have with anime. And the relatively large amount of good stories out there.

10. What is your least favorite thing about anime?
I don't know. Well, I don't like boring anime? Or no, I hate wasted potential even more *looks intently at Persona 4*

11. Who are your favorite anime couple?
Putting aside the fujoshi goggles for a while (even though the creators themselves said we had the right to interpret it that way), can I spoil?
Well, I'm going to anyway, it' from Bakuman but it hasn't been animated yet but I say it's counting anyway. It's Hiramaru and Aoki.

12. Who is your favorite anime animal? 
KYUBEY!

13. What anime would make a good game?
I suppose I can't say stuff that has already been adapted into a game, nor anime already adapted from games can I?
Actually, I don't really know, BRS? (But I'm cheating a bit there ^^)
But now I think about it, Gintama as a game would be quite awesome if done right. You imagine the surprises? The mindfuck? The laughters?
HOTD would be nice too. And hard to ruin.

14. What game would make a good anime?
I don't play games very often but I'd like to watch a Zelda animated.

15. What was the first anime you ever watched? 
I do believe it was Sailor Moon. Or Dragon Ball.

16. Do you think you’ll ever stop watching anime?
Nope. I'm too addicted now.

17. What is your favorite genre of anime?
Like hell I know. If you look at my favorite anime of all times they're all so different it's not even possible to find something that defines them all. Well, no, they're all kind of slice of life but still, there's nothing common between Tiger&Bunny, Natsume Yuujinchou, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Durarara!! is there?

18. What is your least favorite genre of anime?
Harem? But even if I don't really life the genre I manage to find things I like.

19. Are you open about watching anime with people you know? 
I don't really know. If someone asks me if I watch anime I'll say yes but I'm not too sure I'd go tell them myself. Then again, I don't tell many things about myself to people I know.

20. Have you ever been to Japan? 
Nope. Probably not gonna happen ever if I keep on being so afraid of planes.

21. What anime was the biggest let down for you? 
I'm tempted to say Dogs. Not because the anime itself was crappy but because they haven't done more of it.
I don't even know anymore, I quickly forget bad experiences usually.

22. What anime was better then expected? 
Tiger&Bunny. I hated the first episode so much and only kept going because of Kotesu. Never thought I'd reach that point of fangirlism. I don't think anyone I know did either.

23. What is the best anime fight scene? 
Katakura Kojurou vs. Akechi Mitsuhide from Sengoku Basara. Definitely.
Hell, one of them was begging for the other to continue killing him.
"Aaw motto, ii desu ne~"

24. Who is your anime waifu?
It's quite sad there's no question for anime husbando. But I'll answer anyway.
My waifu's Erika from Durarara!! Just because I want a fujoshi wife. But there's Fujyoshi Harumi from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. And I like Kiri Komori too.
It's damn hard in fact.

25. What was your favorite video game as a child?
Mario Kart! Still is!

26. Most Embarrassing moment?
I don't know. I'm so used to fall for no reason in the middle of the streets that I'm immune to embarassment.

27a. Can you drive? 
Technically yes. Doesn't mean I have the right to do so.

27b. Do you own a car? 
Nope.

28. Are you mature?
I think it depends on what you base yourself to describe being mature.
That being said, I guess I am? At least I can handle most situations calmly which I think is a great step on the path to maturehood.
Then again, sometimes you don't really have a choice.

29. What year were you born?
1989. My birthday is in 10 days. You'd better remember it.

30. Do you prefer cats or dogs? 
I don't have a preference. I never had a dog though and my cat tries to rape me so ...

31. Describe yourself physically.
Nearly tall, a little bit overweight, just enough to have fat where it needs to be, blonde/brownish/read head depending on the weather, curly hair, eyes sometimes grey, blueish or greenish.

32. What would you name your first child? 
Maynard! I've always dreamt of naming my first boy Maynard. I don't really have any ideas for girls though.

33. What is the worst injury you have ever had? 
I'm torn between the bee sting right under my foot which made it twice bigger than normal. Which is something that happened twice. And having a displaced bone in my back which is quite painful.
Well, in both cases I couldn't really walk or lift things or do anything but had to do anyway because my family doesn't really care for my injuries.

34. What is your worse habit? 
I procrastinate. A lot.

35. Do you drink or smoke? 
Occasionnally. For both. Since, usually, when I'm drunk I smoke.
That hasn't happened in quite some times now, I don't seem to be able to stomach much alcohol anymore.

36. Do you have a tattoo? 
Nope. It's an idea that's been on the back of my mind for quite some times now so I guess I'll do it at some point.

37. Are you a morning person or a night person?
More a morning person. As in, very early. Sometimes 4am. Which is quite bothersome.
On the other hand I start getting tired at 10pm XD

38. Have you ever slept past midday?
Nope. And probably never will. The latest I always sleep is 9-10am. No matter what.

39. Do you regret anything? 
I'm tempted to say yes but whether or not these are things I'd have done wouldn't have changed anything, so no, I guess there's nothing.

40. Can you count the number of friends you have on one hand? 
Yes, but it's slowly increasing over the years. Which is why I love the internet.

41. Do you wear glasses? 
Yeah, when I need to see things far away.

42. Are you a picky eater?
I have one thing to say : school restaurant. I had to learn that if I wanted to stay alive without horrible stomach aches throughout the afternoon I had to eat whatever they felt like putting in my plate. No matter how disgusting it was.

43. Would you die for someone?
I don't know. I know there's no special someone I'd die for without thinking but it doesn't mean I can tell for sure I wouldn't put my life on the line to save people.
So I don't know.

44. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? 
I hate that question, I want to scream : HUNDRED POWER. Because it's the first thing that comes through my mind. Obviously.
But seriously, telekinesis would be fun.

45. Do you believe in the supernatural? 
Yes.
By the way, there's a ghost behind you right now. Yeah, right now.

46. Would you rather be rich or famous? 
Rich. Being famous is too much of a hassle.

47. Have you ever committed a crime. 
I stole a  Garden Gnome once.

48. Pirates or ninjas? Time Traveler or ghost? 
Pirate was among the jobs I wanted to do as a child so ...
And for the others, I'd love being a ghost, since, at least, I'd see the future.

49. Does someone have a crush on you?
For their sake I hope not. I'm dense and completely weird and manly.

50. Are you in a relationship?
Nope.

Sengoku themed anime for everyone's tastes.

As a matter of fact, since the day I've been made to watch Sengoku Basara (it has Hayami Shou, you need to watch it, or so they said), I have been following pretty much all new series that had to do with Sengoku Jidai, you know, this blessed period before the Tokugawa shogunate when everyone tried to kill each others, and that's how this, somehow very small list, came to life.
Just in case you want to join in.

The most hilarious : Sengoku Basara
Not only is this series my first so it's special but, the actual historical generals were already pretty crazy, the ones from Sengoku Basara are from a completely different level. The plot is absolutely nothing special, it just has to do with beating up the bad guy, what's interesting is how they manage to get along (or not) to do so, given they all want to be the best and get rid of each others and all have a really peculiar personality. (Special mention for Akechi Mitsuhide)
Very, very, VERY loosely historically accurate but it is hilarious.

For fanservice amateurs : Sengoku Otome : Momoiro Paradox
That anime is "adapted" or I should probably say inspired from a pachinko game, which has obviously aroused suspicion in me but in the end, for an anime dealing with time warp that transformed all Sengoku generals into girls it's actually quite entertaining. Much more entertaining than Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls, which is another fanservice series.

The most accurate : Hyougemono
As you may or may not know Hyougemono is about Sasuke a teapot crazy guy who might be a complete invention, as well as some quite colorful happenings of the series, among the ones I have seen it's still the most historically accurate. Especially concerning the interactions between the different characters. Might be quite boring if you're not into it though.

The one you shouldn't watch unless you're a fujoshi and even if you are it's hard to bear sometimes, but it has big boobs so men can find something they like too and you probably should just read the manga if you're that interested because at least it has more perverted jokes and panels : Brave 10
I don't even know what to say about that one except that, while it got better after episode 6, you still should avoid it. But it has my favorite version of Sanada Yukimura ever so ...

My ultimate favorite : Sengoku Basara : the Last Party.
I'm cheating a bit because that one is the movie following up on the second season of Sengoku Basara but it happens to be the most hilarious of the series. The craziest one. The one with the better ED. The one with the better death, because only that series can make characters die not only once but twice and all of them completely epic. Also the one with my favorite death ever. And my all time favorite nabe scene. And, as usual, a seiyuu fest.

I still couldn't find the proper ED but, well, close enough?

Spring 2012 : What will I watch?

Damn, it's nearly that time of the year again. The time when I'll pick up too much anime. Which obviously will be even worse than usual because I'll be doing an internship at that time. (Though I'll probably need it given the stress of said internship)
Anime is an addiction.

But first, the chart!

Definitely watching from start to finish : 

- Fate/Zero 2 : Goes without saying. Iskandar is moe. Caster is awesome. Ryuunosuke perfect. Saber adorable. Kiritsugu interesting. Waver, I don't know about Waver. 

And more importantly : THERE'S STILL NO SHIROU! (I hope ^^)

That and it'll be my anime date of the season so ... <3

- Kimi to Boku 2 : Surprisingly enough the first season managed to be entertaining enough so still watching the second. 

- Zetman : It's Zetman we're talking about. I love the manga. Also, Tiger&Bunny character designer's manga. /shot 

- Tsuritama : I have no idea what that is but it's Noitamina so ...

- Sakamichi no Appolon : Same. 

- Medaka Box : I heard the manga was really good so ... 

Giving it a chance (and will end up finishing most of the time, I'm just hopeless like that) : 

- Hyouka : Well, mystery anime ... I just hope it'll be quality mystery anime. 

- Accel World : It's Sunrise, I NEED to check. I don't want to nearly miss something amazing again. But I won't hesitate to drop if it ends up being like some other past things I won't name ^^

- Sankarea : Seems fun. 

- Tasogare Otome x Amnesia : Horror anime that really might be not horrific at all given the huge breasts I have seen. 

- Kore wa Zombie desu ka 2 : Given the first season has the most hilarious first episode ever and how the series ended up disappointing I'm wary. 

- AKB0048 : No comment. I like idol anime. 

- Shining Hearts : To be honest I have no knowledge of this beyond the "OMG it's soooo pretty" reaction I always get when I see figures. 

- Hiiro no Kakera : It's from an otome game. It's adapted by Deen. That alone should explain why I'm wary. Why I'm trying then? Because most otome games are seiyuu fest. 

- Sengoku Collection : I love that period. I can't help it. I'd watch anything that has Sengoku on the title. 

- Ozuma : Captain Harlock was one of my first fandom so ...

- Arashi no Yoru ni : Seems cute. 

- Train heroes : Original thing to make an anime about. 

Not even getting near (at least unless someone makes me change my mind) : 

- Saki Achiga Hen : Haven't followed the first season, not interested. 

- Kuroko no Basket : Sport anime. Not interested. 

- Uchuu Kyoudai : I need to put things in this section, I'm sorry, it seems like a decent anime otherwise. 

- Uppotte : I know I won't watch when I see a young moe girl waving a gun. 

- Queens Blade : Definitely not interested, if I want to watch hentai I watch real hentai. 

- Eureka Seven Ao : Haven't seen the first season. 

- Ginga e Kickoff : Sport anime. 

- Nadia thingy : Haven't watched the original. 

- Koi-ken : Too many girls on the promo picture. 

- Haiyore Naruko-san : Seems like the type of anime I'll dislike. 

- Acchi Kochi : I read tsundere in the summary.

- Phi Brain 2 : Read what I said about Sunrise earlier. That went into their disaster category. (I still had the patience to sit through 13 episodes, I'm proud)

Dying in Another

(This post is brought to you by my frustration the guy in the last episode didn't commit ritual seppuku)

Maybe I should have had titled this post as such : "How death grows old pretty fast in Another" but the pun was really bad and I didn't really want you to have a bad impression of me from the start. (Though now you do but that's beside the point.)

The real point is, people die in anime, that much is obvious and each and every one of them has its own way of dealing with death. Take Death Note or any kind of post-apocalyptic anime or manga, death is just there, it doesn't get any special treatment, it's just there as a tool to make the plot advance. Now take a Gundam, or Code Geass, people die and their death is treated as an example a tool of emulation to created heroism, in short, propaganda. Unless they're villains. Obviously. Because villains only get what they deserve.
Only rarely do we see anime (or manga) dealing with everything that surrounds death, be it ante-mortem (like in Ikigami or Bokurano) or post-mortem (like in Ghost Hound, or even Tiger&Bunny). I like this kind of anime because it makes its characters more human.

Now, what's the matter with Another you ask? First, let's go over my reaction to the four deaths we've seen so far and I'll explain what really bothers me.

Remember, episode 3, the first person dies.

My reaction : FUCKING AWESOME. So much blood and so ridiculous yet so dramatic I'm totally in love.

Now, the next one.

My reaction : Damn they're imaginative, I am definitely going to pay more attention to elevators now but damn was it awesome and all the details and *insert random fangirlish noises here*

Here comes the less impressive.

My reaction : Well, a heart stroke, it was needed to keep up the realism.

And the last.

My reaction : The first one was to complain he didn't commit proper seppuku.
And then I started to think and it started to bother me.
Putting the curse aside and the fear of dying that happens to pretty much everyone when someone close to them dies, why do they care so little?
They don't seem sad, they barely seem to keep thinking about it once the initial shock has passed. Damn it, the people who died were all people they knew. Classmates, parents, friends.

For convenience I'll say that it's the survival instinct kicking in, and I guess that in the end the thing that really bothers me is that I really, really liked Another as an horror anime.
And now I'm disappointed.

I'm disappointed because dying in Another isn't dealt with as something that really matters. All that matters is survival of the greatest number. The ones who died are just unlucky cursed people. Why bother with those you can't save anymore?
In the end, it doesn't scare me at all anymore because I'm not made to care about the dead people, because I'm not attached to the alive characters.

Dying doesn't matter I just want to solve the mystery.

Black Rock Shooter or the salvation through imagination

When you're hurt, someone else suffers for you. 

I am not going to try and make a summary of something that doesn't really have one, it's not really my point anynway. I am not going to go into the so called symbolism of the series, not because I think there's none but because others have done it already and also because I think it's a bit pointless. I won't try to make sense of it because I don't think it's even supposed to make sense. Why you ask? Because I think that, ironically enough, the answer can be found in psychology and the adventures of BRS are a cooping mechanism.

Let me explain why I think that way and then decide for yourself.

Here is what I think happened, starting with the beginning, Mato is a normal student, sadly, what often happens with normal students, they're very weak to stress. So, obviously, when going to a new school where she knows nearly no one and everything is new, Mato is suffering from stress.
And there comes Black Rock Shooter.

In my theory, Black Rock Shooter is Mato's badass persona, the strong one she ultimately wants to be but knows she never will. Kind of her heroine, the one she imagines the adventures of before sleeping, or whenever she has a free moment, at school or wherever.

Everything can be linked to that. Absolutely everything. Remember the evil macarons?

If you think about it, these macarons were used as a weapon in her dream because they have been in reality. But in reality they're harmless, a treat, that's why Mato justify the fact she's been shocked and actually hurt by those and how Kagari gave them by using macarons as a weapon in the awesome realm of BRS awesome adventures.

In that realm she saves Yomi from Kagari and from herself, because I think she feels bad for intruding so much on their lives, she justify her somewhat bad actions by beliving she saves them. And really, didn't Yomi want to be saved? Didn't Kagari want to be saved? Didn't they scream for help?
Thinking about it like that, Mato becomes a heroine and everyone forgets she was nearly a stalker.
That's where Mato's saviour complex really starts to develop, it's exactly as they say, when you're helping people you forget about your own self, technically and even if it will backfire, someone else is suffering at your place.

I know what you're going to ask, what about Saya/Black Gold Saw?
Easy, Saya is a psychologist, Mato did tell her about BRS, then, wouldn't it be logical that she knew what was going on?
Whether or not she realizes it Mato knows that Saya knows, Mato knows what Saya does, she knows how she can control the students by saying exactly what's needed.

They want to be saved from despair. They're desperately looking at the light to be saved, to be helped by a person they're trusting. What does that person do? Make them cry, betray them.
That's where the saviour complex kicks in. What kind of heroine would BRS be if she doesn't help them? How can she save herself if she doesn't help them?

And this, my friends, is what I think is BRS all about, a simple metaphor born from Mato's brain, not necessarily only in her dreams, a transformation of her everyday life in a much more exciting and bearable adventure because, in the end, even if it's only in her imagination, someone suffers at her place.

(See how the rest of the anime will prove me wrong XD)

What is the best anime of all time?

Nopy talked about the best anime of all time and obviously I had to jump on the bandwagon and post about it too. Because it made me think, what is the anime I consider as the best of all time?

I'll start by telling you flat out that the best anime of all time doesn't exist since, after all, nothing is perfect, actually it would be really strange if everyone recognized the same thing as the best of all time. I'd totally be freaked out and think that something is fishy. And we all have different lives, we all have lived different things and as such we react differently to the same things.

That question made me think because I have honestly no idea on which criteria I should base my selection. What should I consider first? The entertainment value? The feelings? The plot? The characters? The writing? Animation? Music? Voices?
You can't even separate these, anime is a whole and deciding on a "best" anime of all time is obviously subjective.

Worse of it all? It changes. Everything changes. You'd have asked me a year ago what the best anime of all time was I'd have said : Durarara!!

Because Durarara!! has amazing plot and amazing character development and well, a really, really, really amazing plot, good music, awesome voice actors, very entertaining and not too hard to understand either. Yeah, but.

But something different came out. Not better, just different. Something with easy plot, predictable but not so much it became boring plot, good music, awesome voice actors, awesome writing, awesome character development and feelings. Lots of feelings. Well it's not that much a matter of feeling as a matter of how I identify with said feelings.

More than anything else it gave me hope. And I think that any work that manages to give that to its viewers/readers/whatever completely deserves the title of "best anime of all time" at least in one person's heart.

Now I'm pretty sure you're all wondering what I'm talking about aren't you? If you know me well enough you should have guessed I was talking about Tiger&Bunny. If you don't know me well enough then now is the perfect moment to learn something about me. (But you can forget it if you want ^^)

Why do I blog?

I was checking my emails after more than 12 hours spent away from my laptop (isn't it something to be proud of?) and I stumbled upon a post by Nopy about his reasons for blogging and thus I read, because I'm a very curious person, and when I had finished reading I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and write my own post about the reasons behind the blog Kuuki no Puraido. (One day I'll explain why the title too. Maybe.)

Reason 1 : Everyone does it. 

Let me tell you the story of my first blog, back in the days, roughly 8 years ago, when I started to discover the Internet and its magic, I made my first friends and the girls all had blogs. They told me having a blog was fun and that I should make one too. So I did and indeed it was fun and challenging.
Among that group of friends I'm the only one who still blogs and I have changed platforms a lot over the years. Even so, I'm glad they told me to do it, even though that first blog was a bunch of crap.

Reason 2 : It's not RL

I don't know anyone in real life who blogs. Not a single soul. The only thing they did was post pics on a popular pre-Facebook French blog platform and since then they just stopped. It was the kind of blogging I was interested to anyway.
That makes it completely different from RL, just like another world on my own, mostly free of obligations.
And the truth is that I never had any friend IRL with whom I could actually speak about all the things I like. To me, blogging, and not only this blog, is another way to exist, a place where I can speak freely without the fear of being judged and the fear of bothering people, because people are free to read me or not.
It's actually pretty liberating.

Reason 3 : I'm an attention-whore

Of course I am, I blog, I have a Twitter account, I am ranting weekly on LJ about all the stuff that happens to me. I love to receive comments, I love to be noticed, I love praise, who doesn't?
But blogging is a bit different, it seems different in the way that blogging is essentially creating something.
When you blog you write, you have to interest people or else they won't read you, they won't notice you.
I don't like attention-whores, I suppose they all have their reasons and that they're all valid reasons, but I don't like them anyway because I can't stand the fact they actually receive that attention for nothing.
As such I blog, so I can at least justify the attention I'm getting (when and if I'm getting any)

Reason 4 : I just love it.

I love the feeling of accomplishment when I finish typing a post.
I love the little fluttery feeling I get whenever someone comment on something I wrote, or even better, quote or link to one of my post.
I love writing on there. I love to watch anime. I love to write about what I love.

And seriously, what other reason do you need?

Winter Wonfes 2012

And thus Kuuki fangirled about figures she'll never get. Again.

Pictures from Dengeki and Gigazine

Japan, Europe and Thermae Romae

First, sorry for the sudden disappearance, since I started to work, life obviously decided it was just the right moment to start throwing things at me, now it's calmed down a bit (until the next time at least), I can blog again!

Second, today's subject is Thermae Romae, as a French who's studied Latin and (reluctantly) roman history as well, I had to watch it. If only because, for once, the title is proper Latin (unlike Madoka, because yeah the full title was supposed to be "Latin").
Truth is, I really like seeing anime set in Europe, no matter it's a fictional Europe (like in Gosick for example) or a real one (like in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée, to a certain extent), because I find it incredibly interesting to see the representations Japanese have of my continent.

Thermae Romae is a bit special in that aspect.

First, its subject is a theme common to both Roman and Japanese cultures, mainly, baths, and I can only admire the researches that have been made to accurately present the differences between them.

Second, as you probably noticed, the animation style is special. Want to know where it comes from? Then, let's take a look at Alix, hero of a French comic set in Ancient Rome.

Now look at Lucius :

See the similarity? 

But these two points are not what make Thermae Romae that special, the thing that striked me when compared to other Europe-inspired anime is that it is always implied that Japan is superior, at least when it comes to baths. 

Lucius says it at every episode. 

Every episode has Lucius improving Roman baths with Japanese inventions. 

From an historical point of view, that isn't true, I am pretty sure that at the time of Ancient Rome, Japanese culture of baths wasn't near as technologically advanced as Rome's. 

And so, not only did I find Thermae Romae somewhat funny, but also sociologically interesting because for once, an Europe-inspired anime didn't cater to exotism but to nationalism to attract viewers.