The ‘Family’ in School Centric Anime
July 14, 2013 2 Comments
The world of dreams and fantasies that school centric anime portray further allows them to explore the complex nature of the Japanese family and its place within Japanese society. The ‘Japanese Family’ is full of diversity, with differences and differentiations depending on social class, historical cultures, legal cultures, and economic conditions (White, 2011). There is not a single, all-encompassing ‘Japanese Family’, although the Meiji Government (1868-1912) attempted to create one with their reinterpretation of the ‘ie’ household (extended family based on patrilineal descent). This version of the Japanese family became a matter of state concern in the establishment of a modern nation, but it only exists because of the force of ideology and power promoting it; it is a dream of what a family should be, rather than what it is (White, 2011; 129). The family is often viewed by the state as a continuation of its power, ideology and morals, a unit that recreates social and cultural norms and can pass down a sense of belonging to something substantially larger than itself. It is therefore essential to have a solid family structure in place in order to create society, and to engender the moral imperatives of honour, self-sacrifice, and pride. Read more of this post
Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! 12 – Different Perspectives
December 23, 2012 1 Comment
Chuunibyou is a fascinating and complicated idea, one that embodies the surprisingly simply but occasionally complicated notion of imagination. Throughout this series we have been told how ridiculous and embarrassing Chuunibyou is, with repeated examples of the strange and the wondrous shown in the form of Rikka and Dekomori. Chuunibyou is a social Haiku, as a term it is used to condense and concentrate numerous complicated social and cultural situations and attitudes into a single, easily used idea. At its most basic, Chuunibyou is essentially a term used to describe adolescence, a period in everyone’s life where external influences and ideas can have a tremendous impact on how you view yourself and the wider world. It is therefore tremendously difficult to truly label someone as a ‘sufferer’ of Chunnibyou, apart from those who act in the most extreme ways. Rikka, Dekomori, and the past Yuuta are all perfect examples of the more extreme end of Chunnibyou, with each character taking on a new, and altogether different personality. The way they act, speak, and interact with the wider world around them differs tremendously from the social ‘norm’, therefore marking them out as wider, or perhaps dysfunctional. Read more of this post
Filed under Anime, Autumn 2012 Season, Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai, Commentaries Tagged with Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!, Kumin Tsuyuri, Makoto Isshiki, Rikka Takanashi, Sanae Dekomori, Shinka Nibutani, Yuuta "Dark Flame Master" Togashi