Anime Archives - My Japanese Wife

Dirty talk and Hentai

So the time has come for me to get a bit dirty and talk about something taboo here in the U.S. which is of course, pornography. Specifically porn of the anime type or more commercially known as Hentai. Talking with my wife about this, yes we talk about everything, she said the term hentai is used for describing more, hardcore porn. I thought all porn was hardcore? Interestingly enough tracing back to the origins of hentai I found that one of the first movies was produced in Japan in 1969 called A Thousand and One Nights. It was poorly accepted at the time but set the scene for later films to come. Though there are many hentai films, one that comes to mind in particular is a series called Cool Devices. Not that I’ve watched a lot of porn or anything. Cool Devices is an anime series of 11 episodes of unrelated topics mostly centered around fetish and BDSM types of situations and imagery. Good explanation, right?

But back to my point of porn being taboo here in the U.S. compared to Japan, and elsewhere for that matter. I can’t say I fully understand why that is other than the powers that be have instilled the values of sexuality on the people, rather than the other way around. From my perspective anyway, we here are a more conservative Christian based society that has learned that it’s bad to be sexual in nature or to have thoughts about it. Hence pornography is looked upon as something that is “dirty” and not “normal”. As we have seen in the recent Supreme Court ruling, gay marriage is now legal in the United States. There are still many who oppose the decision and idea the of it based on outdated values. Though everyone is welcome to have their own opinion on any topic, that’s what makes being alive wonderful. Another and more powerful reason why sexuality is looked down upon in the U.S. is that sex sells. The more “taboo” you make something the more people want it. The more you shun sex and sexuality the more money you can make from it. I mean just look at the recent buzz about Miley Cyrus and the “shock value” on her actions being sexual in nature. Don’t think for a moment that was something she thought of doing herself. Once people start to really, really see things for what they are, their mind begins to open to other possibilities. It’s pretty amazing, give it a try.

A notebook about death

There are still many things I have yet to discover about Japan or Japanese or something Japanish or Japaneseish, you get the picture. Through my extensive research so far of everything Japan, I am becoming and expert of course, I have found something called Death Note. Death Note is an anime series about exactly what it says in the name, a note about death. More to the point however it’s a notebook that is used to write someones name in to have them die. Quite something if you ask me. Could you imagine a notebook written for the soul purpose of the systematic destruction of a people(s) of your choosing? Come to think of it, it’s happened already many time throughout our history. Probably the most recent and notable is Mein Kampf authored by Hitler outlining his political agenda and plans for the new world Germany. With that there was also a book at the time called Sonderfahndungsliste G.B or better known as The Black Book which was a list of 2,820 Britons to be arrested by Nazi Germany of her successful invasion of England by 1940. So I guess an anime series about something similar isn’t too far off.

The Death Note series is composed of 37 roughly 20 minute blurbs taking you through a dramatic process of conflict and resolution around the notebook. The series starts with a shinigami or death god that drops the notebook from the “underworld”. Death gods are supernatural gods in Japanese culture who invite humans to their death. In the case of the Death Note series, a shinigami writes down a humans name they choose to die. The notebook is dropped by the god because he’s basically bored with the underworld and wants to give the power of the notebook to a human for his own personal “entertainment”. The notebook is picked up by Light Yagami who is a highly intelligent young high school student who believes the god picked him for the purpose to use the book. He immediately is enamored with the power of the notebook and wants to become his own god of a “new world” to rid the planet of anyone he’s see’s fit to die. Yeah, you can see where this is going already. Light is challenged by L, who is rivaled by Light’s intelligence and youth, to find who the user of the book is and bring him to justice. The notebook also has a set of particular rules to follow when using it. It’s quite an extensive list to describe but basically if you don’t follow the rules properly, bad things can happen to the user or otherwise.