カンダウリズム[Candaulism]
Love has no shape. Whatever it is, it is up to the person so we can’t define what love is. If you can share love with your partner, it is a good thing no matter how odd it looks. It is like a cliche; love makes you happy, and drives you crazy. Nah, I am not talking about yandere here, but a unique type of love. Actually…it is an extraordinary fetishism.
In the BL anime, 僕のセクシャルハラスメント[My Sexual Harassment], there is a scene in which Mr. Honma asks Mochizuki to sleep with the president whom they have a deal since the dealer wants to do so (yes, no men in this anime are straight). Poor Mochizuki, he ends up sacrifising his body whoever he meets for the sake of Mr. Honma. Anyway, here is something we should discuss. Why does Mr. Honma get Mochizuki to have a sex with someone else? Doesn’t he love Mochizuki? If he really loves Mochizuki, he wouldn’t be able to do something like this. But Mr. Honma never forces him to do such a thing, but strictly let Mochizuki decide. He is pretty sure Mochizuki is on because he knows Mochizuki loves him. Having said that, it doesn’t seem that Mr. Honma doesn’t love him because he really looks nice to him in the bed. However, he looks fine even though Mochizuki has a sex with someone else. Why?
To my surprise, there is a scene in which Mr. Honma has a sex with Mochizuki in front of someone else, or even observes him being almost raped by someone else. As for the former scene, it is as though he shows off his sex doll. I didn’t think I could find a term to introduce in an old anime like this, that is カンダウリズム[Candaulism].
We never knows what he truly thinks...
Candaulism is kind of fetishism you feel when you show off your girlfriend while she is naked or even have a sex in front of someone else. It sounds very sadistic, but at the same time it is a really masochistic behavior. Mr. Honma never looks like a masochist, but suppose he feels something by letting Mochizuki have a sex with someone else, I must say he is a Candaulist.
Why Candaulism? This stems from Kandaules[the king in the Lydia Kingdom of the olden Turkish] in the play, Le Roi Candaules(1901) by French artist, André Paul Guillaume Gide and the opera, Der König Kandaules by Austrian musician, Alexander (von) Zemlinsky(1871-1942). In this play, the king calls his servant Gyges to his room to show off his wife Nyssia when she’s naked. Because of this, Gyges and Nyssia who gets furious decide to kill the king to take over the kingdom.
Anyway, I sometimes come across such a porn video that amatuer couples secretly make love at a park, in the forest, or inside a washroom. Why do they make love in such a public place? They could be enjoying “being seen.” More or less, they have such a fetishism, I suppose so. Come to think of it, there are loads of men who enjoy taping when they do it, and even upload!
Here is one more term to explain, 寝取られ[netorare]. You can even abbreviate it as NTR. 寝取る[netoru] means to sexually snatch someone’s lover, and 寝取られ is a passive form of it. It could be both; a sadistic way that you get your lover to be raped on purpose, or a masochistic way that you feel fetishism to observe your lover to be tainted. It’s too complicated.
OMG, I have cosplayed a naked Nagisa Kaworu before. And I uploaded it on my blog to show…GYAAAAA! Am I Candaulist?
ええ、変態のオジサンですが、何か？^^
工場萌え[koujou moe]
There are unique types of moe[萌え];the objects for moe are not even necessarily cute girls, but various things. Even if it seems to be very ordinary to you, there are people who feel hot as such. Yes, I have heard of this type of moe a long time ago, but I didn’t think it was that special. But I was wrong. No matter how it looks, it is moe so long as you feel hot.
Have you already watched the latest Evangelion movie? I haven’t been able to find time to go to see it, darn it. But when I watched the first film(序), I fully realised it should be moe, that is 工場萌え[koujou moe] or plant moe. When Shinji sees the basement, Nerv with Misato, he is amazed to see how fantastic it is. The sunset lights up Nerv, and it looks very beautiful. As you may know, some of the buildings stretch upward and downward when the right time comes, it is really cool. Since the film started, I’ve heard some young girls around me are talking about Evangelion. They say Shinji is sissy, Kaworu is too white or something like that, however, one of them said,”I like Nerv! It is really cool and beautiful! I think I have a koujou moe. Yashima sakusen was so great.” She was the only one who appreciated Nerv, not the characters as far as I know. After I heard the conversation, I went home to watch the Eva first again, and checked how Nerv looked. Whoa, how could I miss this beauty? I didn’t realise it until the girl mentioned.
I quickly investigated how many people like plants, and to my surprise, it is more than I thought. In real life, those koujou fans are visiting plants and enjoy observating. Like Shinji is amazed, they love to see when it gets dark because the lights are so beautiful. Besides, there are even one-day tour that you can travel some plants with some other fans. And then there are some photobooks for plant fans, and you can learn how to travel and explore. I must say this is a firmly genre of moe.
Come to think of it, those plants are really popular among cosplayers. It makes sense. Because it is a perfectly suitable spot for Evangelion cosplayers…oh well, maybe Code Geass cosplayers like it, too. Yes, there are even cosplaying events at an abolished plant. Sometimes it is open for cosplayers, and you are allowed to do a photoshooting. But the ticket price is almost three times as expensive as that of a normal cosplaying event. ああ～、俺もそんなところでコスプレ撮影したいなァ。
Oh well, I feel like travelling some plants when I feel lonely. Give me a ride, Misato-san! Lastly, I shall upload a nice video, enjoy.
ごっくん[gokkun]
This post contains some pornographic contexts. Viewers’ understanding is required. Read the rest of this entry »
[Intermission] Second Anniversary-来たれオトメンの時代-
What have I done since the first anniversary? I have introduced the terms as before, and…cosplayed(even challenged nudity and BL cosplay), guided Otome Road. OMG, is this really okay? I mean, I am gonna be alright? I have done as I liked, almost no restriction. Maybe I will be punished for the future.
At any rate, can I celebrate myself at this very moment? Oh I have to say something more…oh well, I will do my best as before, really.
By the way, as though the world is celebrating me, I got a really really happy news.
これからも頑張ります！よろしくお願いします。＾＾
同人要素[doujin youso]
If you own a blog or a website which relates to fanart or that sort of thing, how do you make your About? I mean, how do you appeal your site to unknown visitors?
We Japanese otaku bloggers really care about this because it could cause some troubles. First thing first though, doujin(同人) literally means same person, so most people don’t seem to be aware of the true meaning of this word unless they are otakus. The true meaning, yes, is that doujin means fan-made although this word itself doesn’t mean. 同人誌(doujinshi) is a fan-made comic as you know, but who can understand “same person” means “a fan-made comic”?
Japanese is complicated and ambiguous. If you have learned it, you must have thought like that. We don’t tell things directly, so that is why it brings about a lot of misunderstanding and troubles. At any rate, Japanese bloggers who handle doujin stuff are most likely to tell what they are doing on the profile to make sure those who are not interested don’t come in, using a word 同人要素[doujin youso], or doujin context.
同人要素 means something related to doujin, in other words, fanart, or fanfiction. Nah, it is not that clean, nor that sound. If you are familiar with doujin, you do know what I am implying? Yes, doujin even implys porn, hardcore rape, BL, cosplay or whatever. Indeed, such a simple word means a lot of things! Doujin seems to have lost the original meaning, and it doesn’t mean fan-made only. As I have said, who can understand this although doujin itself is hard to understand?
Those who often use this word are women. Men prefer to telling directly, like saying, this site contains pornographic fanarts or something like that. Nonetheless, women seem to try to tell what the contexts actually are with a simple word, 同人要素. Anyone who experinces doujin understands for sure, but if not, it would be impossible to understand.
I understand how female doujin bloggers feel, especially those who work with BL[yaoi]. They don’t want to say homosexual love or gay’s love story, but sum it up with doujin. Well, I feel sorry but it’s hard to understand.
I always notify when I introduce such a pornographic term, don’t I? そんなの注意してもあんまり意味ないような気もするけど。だってみんなエッチな言葉が大好きでしょ？（笑）But it seriously made me think how I made introduction about my BL cosplay a while ago. I didn’t want to say homosexual nor gay. I was sure either shounen-ai(少年愛) or yaoi(やおい) could possibly tell, but not to anyone. だって俺、少年じゃないもん。オジサンだもん。So I used Boys’ Love after all, but even that, I don’t think it perfectly worked. I am still worried if anyone who are not aware of BL would watch the entry.
Meanwhile, cosplay is easier to understand. I am pretty sure almost no one misunderstands. Mostly, they would say like, “Please go back if you are not interested in cosplay.” Cosplay means, if nothing else, to wear the same outfit as a character from anime, manga, game, or whatever. There is no any other meanings.
I wonder how doujin bloggers out of Japan are doing about this. Has anyone experienced any troubles? Anyway, doujin yet to be understood by general people. So we need to draw the line to make sure there would be no troubles. So I do hope more comprehensible words would come out for the two societies.
戦国乙女[sengoku otome]
Speaking of an otaku idol[オタクアイドル], I can think of 中川翔子[Shouko Nakagawa] who is called Shokotan. She loves anime, manga, or cosplay so thanks to her, otaku culture has been easier to understand for general people. By the way, there is a unique type of idol, that is 歴ドル[rekidol], which is an abbreviation of 歴史好きのアイドル[rekishizuki no idol], or an idol who loves Japanese history.
As far as I know, there are two famous 歴ドル, 小日向えり[Eri Kohinata] and 美甘子[Mikako]. Eri loves Sangokushi[三国志, Three Kingdom Saga], and Mikako adores Ryouma Sakamoto[坂本竜馬] respectively. When I was a kid, I used to watch the anime Sangokushi a bit though I almost forgot how it was. The only thing I could still remember was that I respected 諸葛亮孔明[Koumei Shokatsuryou] because he was depicted as an intelligent person.
I am not too sure if the girls also enjoyed the anime Sangokushi or the game 信長の野望[Nobunaga’s Ambition] by KOEI while we boys did so in our school days. It’s way long time ago! あの頃から女子も三国志やってたのかな…Anyway, like above mentioned rekidols, there has been a lot of female fans who love Japanese history 2007 onwards. Yes, those players who enjoy 三国志大戦[Sangokushi taisen], 戦国無双[Sengoku Musou], or 戦国BASARA[Sengoku Basara] are not only male but female. Particularly, we call those girls who love Japanese history, 歴女[rekijo] which is abbreviation of 歴史好きの女性[rekishizuki no josei]. There is even a genre of moe called 武将萌え[bushou-moe]. If you tend to love Japanese old warriors, you have a 武将萌え.
幕末機関説いろはにほへと
It is said that female otakus are more intelligent and knowledgeable than male otakus. I didn’t know why, but now I think I figured it out; the three friends of mine are 歴女. One loves 幕末[Bakumatsu] or the nearly end of Edo Period[江戸時代, 1853-1869] so that she set up a blog for a certain Bakumastu anime only. I am not sure who she loved in the anime the most, but she investigated not only her favorite warriors, but any other trivia, or its background pretty well. I am not good at Japanese history so my score was in jeopady when I was a student. She is not Japanese, but I am sure I would be beaten if we two have a test.
One loves 源義経[Minamoto no Yoshitsune], actually she had a crush on him when she played the otome game, Harukanaru toki no naka de 3. After she finished the game, she started to collect whatever comes up with his name. She couldn’t help but open her wallet everytime she saw Yoshitsune-related merchandise goods. She even loved the TV drama, 義経 who was portrayed by Hideaki Takizawa, and bought its official guidebook. Of course, she seemed to know about him well. When I was investigating ヲタ芸[otagei], I came across a word 義経. That is, to describe a person who leaps from seat to seat during the performance. I didn’t understand why it had something to do with Yoshitsune, so I asked her about this. She clearly explained the legend of 八艘跳び[hassou tobi]. She was not an otageishi, but she knew about it. One loves 三国志, and a big fan of 趙雲[Chou un]. Yes, she of course read the novels, the manga, watched the anime or played the games. She mustn’t have missed Red Cliff, I assume. She becomes eloquent when it comes to Chou un and answers whatever I ask.
There is a unique bookstore named 時代屋[jidaiya] in Tokyo, which handles Japanese history-related books or miscellaneous goods. There is even a tea house so you can enjoy such a mood. The funny thing is that around 40% of the customers at this bookshop are women although almost all of them were elderly people at first.
Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi
I assume female otakus tend to learn more about what they love. Even if it has directly nothing to do with a character they love, the fangirls try to investigate whatever invloves him. That explains why those fangirls come to such a bookstore. Same goes to a certain weapon shop in Akihabara. Here, more than 40% of the customers are women too. They sell the same models of swords those were possessed by 沖田総司[Souji Okita] or 土方歳三[Toshizou Hijikata]. Needless to say, they are very expensive!
Come to think of it, there has been a lot of otome games which involves Japanese history as granting fujoshiotomes’ wish. Of course, this kind of game is really popular among cosplayers. Now the most popular one is 薄桜鬼[Hakuouki]. And there is a similar word to 歴女, that is 戦国乙女[sengoku otome] or feudal otome.
Wait, I am not familiar with Bakumastu, but a big fan of Mirage of Blaze[炎の蜃気楼] which focuses on 戦国時代[Warring State period, 1467-1573]. So I am a bit familiar with that kind of thing. OMG, can I say I am a 戦国乙男[sengoku otomen]? I got promoted from a normal otomen! わっはっはっは＾＾
- Takaya-san, we are 戦国乙男…
Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans 