Watson Watches: Gankutsuou

Way back in 2014, a friend and I collaborated on a series of articles we called Watson Watches, in which I forced enticed Watson to examine a bunch of new-to-him anime shows. Using a basic question/answer format, the general idea was to gain a fresh, non-otaku perspective on some conversely very otaku-friendly titles such as Azumanga Daioh, Kuroshitsuji, and Kill la Kill. While wading through some old files the other day for a long-overdue PC clean-up, I came across one such article that, for whatever reason, never quite made it onto the blog, and Watson was kind enough to allow me to belatedly post it rather than have it remain in a folder titled only: ‘Unpublished’. This is that piece. Read More

Sailor Fuku: The Long and Short of It

Despite or perhaps even because of its prevalence in anime, the traditional sailor-style school uniform, or sailor fuku, is one of the more misunderstood articles of clothing out there, particularly by those viewers who may watch anime only now and again or have little to no direct knowledge of Japanese daily life. I must admit, even as someone who consumed anime voraciously prior to my actual move to Japan, I was still surprised by some of the things I discovered firsthand, especially when it came to things like school-specific rules around sailor fuku and what students could/could not get away with. Read More