キルドレ[kirudore]
I don’t think I have to explain this, but actually I seriously feel this term could be a yearly famous word this year[年間流行語] The reason why I think so is that I have heard more than 10 non-otaku people around me saying this word in a conversation. It’s not so sure that I am going to see how it goes after Sky Crawlers releases. In this film, there are other keywords like ティーチャー[teacher], but why is just キルドレ[kirudore] going to get into the mainstream?
キルドレ[kirudore] means children who stopped growing up at the puberty and have an (almost) eternal life. So in other words, they never get old. Yes, never get old…I know I might be wrong, but anyone wants to go on being young, doesn’t want to get old. If there is a reason why キルドレ is famous, the point should be here, I assume. Director Mamoru Oshii[押井 守] wants to send his message to young people those who don’t have a purpose in their lives with this term he created. I am not an anime reviewer, nor good at writing that kind of thing, so I will leave it to you.
What I want to say here is that anyone who has a purpose in life doesn’t get old? Or else, is there any other way around? In real life, anyone gets old. This is true. But sometimes I see people who look so young for their ages. As far as I am aware, there are two types of people;
A. a person who has something keeps him/her going.
B. a person who has no responsibility.
People who has no purpose in life do not realize their beings, so does that mean they don’t get old? This question reminds me of something I saw in Howl’s Moving Castle. A 19-year-old girl, Sophie gets transformed into an old woman because of the curse. The curse actually exposes his/her mental age, so she becomes such an old lady. She doesn’t really enjoy her life, in other words, such a boring life…
At any rate as for type A, such people look lively, and their eyes are brilliant. I don’t know what exactly keeps them going, but they seem to enjoy their lives. So they don’t look old for their ages. As for type B, such people are free. It doesn’t mean they are NEET, but nothing seems to bind themselves. They have no spouse to rear, nor such an obligate work(though they are working). They don’t carry a heavy burden, so that’s why they look young.
Me? I am definitely type B. I am just an otomen cosplayer, you know. I like to spend my time and money for my own, and have no responsibility. I have never thought of having a family(甲斐性無し！こんな男になっちゃダメですよ). What I am thinking about now is which character I shall cosplay next. However, before I became a cosplayer, I was much fatter and fed up with a stressful job. In such a time, one colleague said to me, “You look old for your age (at that time, I was 24).” I changed my life at a time, I mean, changed a job, moved out, and found a new hobby, cosplay. Since I became a cosplayer, some people say I am a student(!). I know I am too old to cosplay a 14-year-old Nagisa KaworuCome to think of it, I even changed my friends. It’s not on purpose, I didn’t realise it. What I am doing get me new people, new friends. Those new cosplay friends of mine are all like me. No responsibility…
I know I shouldn’t say about キルドレ before the film releases. But in many ways, I feel キルドレ is going to be such a famous word. For general people, キルドレ just means to go on being young, I suppose so.
BTW, you want to be a キルドレ in that way?
学園化[gakuenka]
If you happen to follow doujinshi[fan-made comics] or such a video game, you would be sure of this. This is a primitive method for all the doujin fans to create doujin stuff. To get to the point, 学園[gakuen] means school and 化[ka] means to change sth in the certain way. Or else, it is to transform like something. 学園化[gakuenka] means to put all the characeters in the series into school setting. Can I say schoolnize? Anyway, why is this such a rule-of-thumb? No, this is not a doujin thing anymore because even the originals use it as a side story or something like that. Above is, yes, 3年Z組銀八先生[san’nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei] which occasionally comes as an extra story in Gintama. In this story, Gintoki plays a role as a teacher, and other characters show as a student. Don’t care about their age! It’s a fantasy like yaoi.
Anyone experinces a school life. There are a lot of kind of teachers or classmates, and it is pretty easier to fix your favorite characters up with a “job.” You can arrange as you like. Who should be a teacher? What kind of subject should he teach? How does he act as a teacher? Rude or humble? DelusionImagination never ends, so that this makes it easier to make a story.
Even if the original story takes place in a fantasy world and the characters do a totally unreal thing, those characters naturally get close to our real life by using this method, 学園化. I assume such is a fundamental reason why this is so popular.
So, which anime do you want to schoolnize?
原作レイプ[gensaku reipu]
It’s not very uncommon that spin-off works(anime, novel, or live-action movie and drama) come out when the original gets popular. But this is a good thing or not, I mustn’t say. Even if it could satisfy general people, it wouldn’t even necessarily content the sheer fans as well…Mostly, those fans who really really follow the original might be dissatsified. Yes, when it goes too far, fans shall inslut the spin-off with this term, 原作レイプ[gensaku reipu].
原作[gensaku] means the original, and レイプ[raipu] means rape. Caught on, haven’t you? This is an insulting word for such a hideous spin-off which almost ruins the original. In other words, it’s like raping the original and destroying it. Fans are particular, so I don’t think it’s possible to create such a spin-off which could content all the fans of it. When something like visualized(like a movie or anime) becomes a novel, this doesn’t seem to happen. But the problem is the other way, I mean when the novel or manga becomes a live-action thing, this could seriously inflame fans. I am not going to take up anything to give you an example, but mention some points which make fans angry.
a. There are some new characters who never show in the original.
This might destroy the original’s image and fans really hate it when the new character stands out more than others. Also, when the plot has nothing to do with the original, it could be the same thing.
b. The character design or the cast don’t go well with the original.
This really happens when a live-action movie or drama version comes out. It would be a nightmare if an amateur becomes the lead such as Higura
c. The most important episodes or plots get eliminated.
Yes, this means the director doesn’t understand the original at all or merely misunderstands…so eventually it destroys the original. When such a long story becomes a film, a director has to omit some parts to edit. If this doesn’t go well, fans would be angry.
d. People who don’t know the original are quite pleased.
As I have said, fans are particular. The more the spin-off contents general people, the more fans dislike it. Also, the more the press advertises it, the more fans are not willing to accept.
e. The original’s author already passed away.
What if the author had seen this? Yes, fans would value the author’s thought, so there’s no way to know how the author feels about the spin-off if he/she already passed away.
There are a lot of threads where fans insult the certain spin-offs by using this word. If they don’t really like it, why are they doing this? Because they are sheer fans, so they end up seeing it no matter how terrible it is. I think it’s not a bad thing because people those who don’t know the original are pleased although I sometimes get disappointed to see such a spin-off…The point is, that anyone who wants to see and anyone who doesn’t want should be apart so that there will be no arguement.
触手[shokushu]
This post contains some pornographic contexts. Viewers’ understanding is required. Read the rest of this entry »
戦隊萌え・特撮萌え[sentai-moe/tokusatsu-moe]
I am not too sure if this can be moe for anime fans, but this is absolutely a genre of moe for otaku. If you really like any ranger-style bishoujo anime such as Magic Knight Rayearth, Yes! Puricure, or Sailor Moon, this could break the barrier between the fantasy and the real world. To get to the point, 戦隊[sentai] means a ranger, and 特撮[tokusatsu] means special effects. Both are fundamentally for a kids’ thing, and this kind of program is mostly aired in the early morning. If you follow any Masked Rider series[仮面ライダー], you must wake up before (at least) 8 o’clock on Sunday! ^^
Unlike サムライガール[samurai girl], any bishoujos should dress up as a ranger-style fighter in this genre. Because of this, Sayo in BLOOD+ or Shana in Shakugan no Shana don’t count. And the costume could be so skimpy that it turns men on. I might say 美少女戦士[bishoujo senshi, cutie fighter] to bestow a better ring to this kind of girl.
At any rate, tokusatsu programs[特撮番組] where ranger-style heros or heroines fight against monsters, have been popular for kids no matter how many years pass. In fact, when I was a kid, I used to be a big fan of 特捜！エクシードラフト[Tokusou! Exceedraft, from 1992 to 1993] which follows the three policemen who pursue criminals although I didn’t watch any Ultraman series. I am grown-up, so I don’t watch this kind of program anymore…But I didn’t think about this way, I mean, this is to be surely fetishism when dressed bishoujos(not 2D, but 3D) are heroines.
I don’t mean to be rude, but I must say those people who love this genre are really enthusiasts. And some of tokusatsu heroines are even little girls[つるぺったん]. OMG, this is hilarious. This is really legal? Is it okay?? Of course, as you can imagine, this is linked to a porn industry. Not everything is porn, but you can even buy porn video where real sentai bishoujos show. Er…I still remember such anime though I forgot the title. Oops, there’s one more term I have to mention, but I will talk about this next because it relates to doujin.
Actually, those fans who really love tokusatsu are not only male otakus but fujoshis. It’s normal that girls yearn to be like Sailor Moon, but this is not what I mean. Ask tokusatsu fans about the heroes in the series. They are all bishounens! So what does this imply? Yes, it lures fujoshis so that they create doujin comics with 3D bishounen. This is called ナマモノ[namamono]. Of course, any heroes in tokusatsu should be handsome. If you look back to the past Masked Rider series, you can confirm all the heroes are handsome. But as far as I am aware, things changed after Masked Rider Kuuga[仮面ライダークウガ] in 2000. There has been a lot of bishounen heroes who seem to be able to get fujoshis at once since this series, I assume?
An irrelevant note, I have two friends who love Masked Rider series. They recommended Masked Rider Den-O[仮面ライダー電凹] in 2007, so I watched a bit. But I stopped watching it soon because the storyline is too complicated. Can kids really understand this? I think it is almost for adults. Then I tried Masked Rider 555[仮面ライダーφ] in 2003. I can understand this, but the story is too dark like a soap opera. This is something mothers love…Maybe this divides into two parts; before the heroes transform, it is for mothers(or fujoshis), and after that, it shall be for kids, no?
Oh, never mind.
* He is the lead, Kano Hayato[叶 隼人] in Exceedraft. Oh no, I used to be a big fan of him. I wonder how he is doing now.
Nightmare in Akihabara
Even if you are not an otaku, I think you would be sure of the nightmare in Akihabara where an insane man stabbed several people at random last Sunday afternoon. Tell me this is just a bad dream!! If you happened to be kindly worried about me, I must say I am okay. Hopefully, I was not there on the day, but at the local karaoke to clear my frustration. All of a sudden, a friend of mine called me, and she was so upset. She told me about the incident and two of our mutual friends were at the site at the moment. I immediately tried to ring them, but neither answered the phone. But after some calls, one of them finally answered and told me the both were okay. Even though I wasn’t there at that time, I was there before the day, around the same hour as the incident. What if it happened one day earlier?
Following the incident, I got a lot of e-mails and phone calls from my friends to make sure I was okay. The news spread out so soon that even my friend in UK mailed me. I am working near Akihabara, so I went to the site next day. A lot of flowers were dedicated already…
Now I am so scared, and really worried about what will happen after this in Akihabara. I guess the main boulevard woundn’t be blocked off as a walkers’ paradise for a while, and the police would be patrolling more strictly. Nowhere is safe, you know. Anyway, as for the murderer, it needs more investigation. But what I want to know is that he is actually an otaku or not. If he is, the media would paint a dark image on otakus like they did so when Miyazaki Incident happened. If he is not, why did he choose Akihabara? He came all the way from Shizuoka Prefecture in order to kill people? Anyone should be fine? No reason? Did he think it is okay to kill otakus? What deserves to die is not otakus, but him.
I can’t help but praying for people who had to leave this world…Ah, rest in peace, rest in peace…
* All the photos are taken by the certain writer I work with.
ケモミミ萌え[kemomimi-moe]
OMG, this has got into the mainstream already, so there’s no need to explain…However, I thought this genre of moe is supposed to be for men. But actually even among female otaku including fujoshis, this is getting very popular. To get to the point, ケモミミ[kemomimi] is an abbreviation of 獣の耳kemono no mimi], which means animal’ ears. If he/she has an animal’s[bat, pig, fox, rabbit or whatever] ears, whatever it is, it shall be called ケモミミ. And if this turns on you, you sure have ケモミミ萌え[kemomimi-moe].
First, it used to be just a cat’s ears thing, 猫耳[nekomimi]. Those cute girls who have cat’s ears on their heads can count. Whichever the ears real or fake doesn’t matter. Speaking of a 猫耳 girl, I can immediately think of Shugo Chara!, Di Gi Charat(I know it’s a bit old), OMG, Arare-chan in Dr. Slamp also cosplayed a nekomimi girl…, however, even some maids poccess a cat’s ears lately…At any rate, humanized cats used to play an important role not only in anime, but any other genre of arts. Personally, I wonder why it had to be a cat. Cats are moody but adorable, I daresay they are kinda tsundere whereas dogs are obedient. In fact, I had a cat years ago, and she used to cling on me when she got hungry, but left again after I fed her. >< When she felt lonely, she showed her dere-side. I suppose this tsundere attitude quite embodies girls’ temper, so that’s why nekomimi has become a kind of moe…no?^^ Just kidding.
But this nekomimi thing is not for male otakus anymore. Female otakus and fujoshis are intrigued to it for sure now. Come to think of it, we have seen girls always make guys dress as a cat in anime, haven’t we? In Code Geass, Miraye made Lelouch and Suzaku cosplay a cat, and the same went to Maebara Keiichi in Higurahi no naku koro ni. Why do girls make guys dress as a cat?? Yes! Actually this happened to me! Anyway, there are even some anime where bishounens with nekomimi show such as LOVELESS or Lamento.
As I have said, nowadays other animals’ ears are also getting popular like a fox, a racoon dog, a frog, a sheep, a pig, or anything. There are all classified as a ケモミミ[kemomimi]. Speaking of a ケモミミ anime, I can think of A Wolf and Spice, Shugo Chara!, Inuyashiya, Utawarerumono, or Gintama.
On a side note; there’re a lot of Comic Markets in Japan, but if you really love nekomimi or kemomimi, you can even find a comic market selling ears-related comics only. We shall call this minor event みみけっと[mimiketto]. Oh, it should be written in hiragana.
Alright then, I shall upload a photo of me with kemomimi. If you don’t mind, I hope you could see. But I don’t take responsibility if you get sick. Read the rest of this entry »
[Intermission] My fifth cosplay
Since I learned buying costumes by auction, I have started to get more costumes. Thanks to this, I can buy a lot of costumes at the reasonable price, and because of this, I can’t stop cosplaying!! More and more characters I want to cosplay come up. Come to think of it, how come I had not tried auction? Because I was afraid of those bad auctioneers. However, I didn’t have to be worried about this since we can choose those reliable ones.
When I was thinking about the next character I cosplay, I got a wonderful present from my friend…and this is it.
This is Japanese traditional school unifrom, 学ラン[gakuran] which is a collared button-down jacket. When I was a junior high-school student, I used to wear this, but since then, I had never wore it (In my high-school, the uniform was a blazer). And now it has come to me again?? He bought this gakuran for cosplaying, but this is unfortunately too tight for him, so that’s why he kindly sent it over as a gift. Oh no, what shall I do? Now that I got such a wonderful present, I should use it, shouldn’t I? So I started to think of any characters who wear a gakuran…
However, I couldn’t come up with a lot. Shibuya Yuuri in Kyou kara maou wears a gakuran all the time, but I am not a shota-looking so it doesn’t suit me at all. Umm…who else? Maybe I should find other characters who occasionally wear a gakuran, I mean, not all the time…So I decided to cosplay him.
He is Rukawa Kaede[流川 楓] in Slam Dunk. If you haven’t watched this anime, maybe you might be sure that this is a basketball anime. In my school days, this anime was really popular as well as Dragon Ball and Yu-Yu-Hakusho. I have never been a sport guy in all my life(of course not, I am such an indoor otaku!), but in fact, I used to yearn to be a sport guy. Rukawa is actually a man of few words. Oh no, I didn’t realize, but he is a tsundere! A male tsundere because he doesn’t speak at all and very cool. But I wonder if he shows his dere-side…Anyway, at this Shouhoku High-School[湘北高校], the school uniform is a gakuran, so I can make the most of it. ^^
Meanwhile, I was strongly recommended the anime which most JUMP fangirls love…yes, that is Gintama[銀魂]. Actually this anime is so popular among not only manga fans but cosplayers and fujoshis. I have seen a lot of Gintama cosplayers at the events. Because I wanted to challenge more characters, I started to read the manga. This is hilarious, and makes me laugh so much. Anyway, I decided to cosplay these two guys.
The left guy is Okita Sougo[沖田総悟] and the right guy is Hijikata Toshirou[土方十四郎]. Both are the members of the police, Shinsengumi[真撰組]. Hijikata is the lieutenant, and Okita secretly tries to take his place. Yes, he is a 腹黒. Hijikata is so manly that he is pretty far from the real me. Maybe Okita might be easier than him, but my cosplay buddy told me that his sharp eyes look like mine a bit so I would look nicer as Hijikata. I don’t know…
If you go to COSPA, you can buy not only Shinsengumi’s outfit but Gintoki’s costume. But the price is over 10,000 yen(about 110$). I think you could get it around 5,000(50$) yen or so.
As usual, I shall upload some photos here. Read the rest of this entry »
Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans 