Mega Megane Moé
Hell and Heaven Moéltdown
Posts tagged Fandom
[Rapidfire] Weeaboo Wardrobe: Too many iron-ons, too little sanity
Oct 1st
The life of the anime fan is a strange one.
While many times I’ve advocated being proud of one’s fandom and not hiding your otaku secret from the public like it’s a badge of shame (unless, of course, you are a cute Mamiko Noto-voiced girl in an average-ish romance show), the way in which one goes around doing brings a little more into question.
There is a difference between being proud and being pompous, for one, as sporting a shirt that shouts in large, gangster-shirt font, “NAGATO IS MAI WAIFU” might be a bit too much. Likewise is a shirt that pictures your favorite anime girl in your favorite state of undress; and as much as you think The Anime Is For Porn Hentai, I personally don’t like embracing such traits.
Therefore, like the suave agent I am, I prefer the slightly undercover, low-key apparel that quite often, is lacking in official merchandise. And like the cheap person I also am, I found iron-on T-shirts to be a nice way to create my own niche and style for anime-flavored clothing.
I’ve also found T-shirts tend to go well with short-sleeve dress shirts, for the impression you care at least a little about your appearance.
Now unfortunately the deep analytical discussion about otaku nature and whether we should be repressing ourselves or not, is for another time (although I feel I’ve probably covered it at least once already), so let’s move on to the objects of attention for today: Read the rest of this entry »
Eating Your Cake Too: Shippers Anonymous and the curiosity of desire
Jun 25th
As much as I begin to unintentionally obscure my roots in the United States through my pursuit of foreign culture, sometimes I find myself having a distinctly American approach to things regardless.
And while I may not be chewing down on countless hamburgers or invading foriegn nations or driving pick-up trucks or however the wildly offensive stereotype goes, I do exhibit more than one trait in common with our most popular American, George W. Bush (or at least his government), in wanting to mess around with things that are distinctly not mine.
While perhaps the stage of anime is not quite as important as the global one, I was reminded of this way of thinking of “no, I want it THIS way” while watching some recent popular shoujo shows.
Maybe it’s not just an American way of thinking, but rather a fallacy of all humans, to want more than what is currently presented, but either way, I’m finding the topic of shipping to be one that’s sent me, as usual, on a variety of tangents; some serious, some sarcastic, some squeal-y, but all entertaining.
So put on your Cologne of Rabid Fanboy Protection +1 and let’s take a dive into one of the more divisive ways that a fandom manifests itself, into a lair typically more well frequented by the opposite sex (y’know, the kind that doesn’t exist on the internet … er … women), that of shipping.