Allthefujoshiunite

Allthefujoshiunite

A mathematical physicist who is caught up in her 'hobby' and constantly blabbing about anime and manga.

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Tidearticle

Monster without a name

Naoki Urasawa's work, Monster, is published between the years 1994 – 2001, in Big Comic Original magazine, having overall 18 volumes. It is later on adapted into anime series by studio Madhouse, aired in 2004 – 2005. The genre is mystery, psychological horror.

Monster tells the story of a Japanese brain surgeon, Doctor Kenzo Tenma, living in Germany since university. Tenma is respected and loved by people around him because he is extremely skilled and has a cheerful, kind personality. One day, getting tired of the political bias of the hospital he works for in treating its patients, he decides to save a 10-year-old boy rather than the mayor; only to find 9 years later that the boy, Johan, is a psychopath, involved in numerous murders. Fighting with the burning question inside and feeling responsible, he leaves everything behind and sets off on a journey to kill Johan. Imagine you are the doctor and you know the person lying before you, whose life is depending on you, is the reason of mass murders. Would you kill the person or would you save him, thinking it's not your decision to make no matter what?

Looking at Tenma, his story can only be categorized as a tragedy because what he learned, cannot be forgotten. Furthermore, trying to uncover the truth and desiring to know more only brings distress, depression and unhappiness to Tenma. "All lives are equal." motto is still important to him and in the end Tenma cannot bring himself to kill Johan when he confronts him the second time.

  • I liked that quote about tragic characters from the article by Berliz Gucbilmez; I think it exemplifies Tenma's motivation and philosophy that fueled him throughout that tiring cat-and-mouse expedition that took a lot of his years and life. Tenma's guilt and moral ideals were his driving force, and I daresay that's what so likable about him. :) – shiroyuni 9 years ago
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  • A long time ago, I bought books 1 and 2 of this, then discovered that book 3 was only available for £50 up. They've just started releasing the bumper version in my local book shop so I may finally get to read more of it :) – mattdoylemedia 9 years ago
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  • @shiroyuni Thank you, I hope there would be an English translation of the article because it has many other great ideas on tragedy and tragic character. I think what strikes me most is that at one point his actions seems like they are in vain but at the same time Tenma seems so heroic and we approve of his choices by heart. I agree with you on that point. : ) ------------- @mattdoylemedia Oh sorry that I kind of gave a huge spoiler in the summary : /. I feel your pain, you either have to wait for a reprint or pay so much, or take the longest road: learn Japanese. : ) It's great to hear that you get to read it, though, the story is perfect. If you have the chance you can also watch its anime, it is faithful to the manga. – Allthefujoshiunite 9 years ago
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  • I'm not sure Tenma's life can be seen as a tragedy. Sure he doesn't kill Johan at the end, but he also seems to be in recovery, and in a better place than when he first found out about Johan. – Winter 9 years ago
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  • @Winter. Hello and thank you for the comment. I think I didn't quite understand what you mean by "being in a better state" because to me, everytime he uncovers something new he gets deeper in the situation and harsh reality behind Kinderheim and the twins, the conditions he has to fight and defy the most important thought in his life drifts him apart. Actually not killing Johan puts him in the right track in my opinion. Another point I should be clear about is that being a tragic character does not necessarily equate to being crushed and devastated at the end of the story. The point I argued with a reference article puts Tenma in tragic category because of his lateness; he much later learns about Johan and when he gets to know, there is nothing more he can do to return the things as they were, 'being in vain' is the main theme of the tragedy. Maybe I wasn't able to convey the idea in a good way. Thanks so much for stepping by, I hope I was clear enough. – Allthefujoshiunite 9 years ago
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manga

"Why does my heart go doki doki?" The most serious situation in yaoi

Yaoi and shounen-ai genres (also may known as BL-Boy's Love) depict male/male romantic and/or sexual relationships in manga. Yaoi and shounen-ai have an extremely common trope. When the person initiating the relationship (term for the initiator is 'seme') tries to kiss/grope the other party (uke) or force sexual intercourse, the victim of the harrassment blushes and has a throbbing heart inside while externally screaming out "No!" and trying the shove harrasser away. This situation is called 'romanticised rape' and is shown in the form of 'true love'.

In yaoi, with this trope, the tension between the seme and uke is tried to be constructed and when seme acts too possesive, stalks uke and forces kisses or sexual intercourse, it is easily represented as "Loving so much that not being able to control one's self", however, it should be realised that this is what 'sexual harrassment' literally means. Yaoi is a great genre with big potential; sexist clichés used as a plot device only creates the oppressing gender norms and ruins the yaoi's possibilites to open up a door wich genres like shoujo or josei cannot do easily.

Writer's note: "Doki" is the Japanese sound corresponding to "thump" in English.

  • Is it not "shounen-ai" instead of "sounen-ai?" – ZeroReq011 9 years ago
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  • Ah yes it is. The h button is problematic ın te keyboard, i double check everytime but i didn't notice, thanks. – Allthefujoshiunite 9 years ago
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  • I've noticed this in Shojo-ai, yuri, and josei as well. It's in all three of the genres even if it is more present in Shounen-ai and yaoi. – Animegirlinglasses 9 years ago
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  • I wanted to write an article like this but I do believe you've captured the fundamentals of all I would say on the subject. I have always, ALWAYS hated rape in yaoi and I really do hate that it is one of the most basic ingredients to many stories that the genre produces. It is never okay and I do appreciate mangakas who can realistically portray the effects it has on characters like in the manga examples you mentioned (Yuutsu no Asa and Ten Count). And what I really dislike are the rape stories that magically blossom into a romance tale. The seme is not questioned or "punished" in a sense for his horrible behaviour, which is never okay. And also as you mentioned, I do believe it becomes a problem when readers of this material try to justify the seme's inexcusable behaviour. But it would seem that overtime, being exposed to such a trope again and again desensitizes you to an extent. Great article! – charlmeister 9 years ago
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  • @Animegirlinglasses I read shojo-ai/yuri/josei occasionally, though not as frequently as yaoi but you are right; reason behind us seeing the trope this often in manga is because this understanding is inherent in our culture. Stalking someone is equated to loving too much etc exists in real life also. @charlmeister I think you also should write about this because we have to talk about this issue over and over again, it's so important. There is another thing I've noticed; if the story is fluff and contain almost nothing explicit (only holding hands/kissing), the there is mutual love but if sex or smut involves, then rape is used as a plot device. I personally like smut, however I feel like it is used as an excuse to justify two men having sex (like homosexuality needs to be justified...*sigh*). I also like Harada sensei's works, she never sugarcoats these issues. Thank you both for the replies, I really appreciate the feedback! ^^ – Allthefujoshiunite 9 years ago
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  • I read a few yaoi in my life, but not too many. Quite often (and as you mentioned) the situation there goes from consensual to something almost rape like, and that has to do with power-play I suppose - as it's considered to be a turn-on in practically any culture. We have more than enough western counter-parts that play out the 'romanticised rape': the big (and mainstream) leaders in the game being 50 shades of grey and twilight. Bottom line is that this type of relationship is, on some level, desired... Human psychology. We like violence: violence + sex + semi-consensual response = gold mine. Manga, books, and movies didn't invent this: it's been around since the down of time. Great topic – crispychips 9 years ago
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  • This is very interesting, as someone who doesn't have a wide knowledge of manga, it was illuminating to see the different aspects possible for analysis. – SamHersh 9 years ago
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  • Yikes. And agree with you completely. – Tatijana 9 years ago
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Latest Comments

Allthefujoshiunite

I really like this show, too. As you stated, it is a fresh breath for our overly-stereotypical shojo genre. I still think Rinko and Takeo’s love is sugar coated too much but what the heck, it’s pure and sweet, it is not always the unpredictable that makes you keep watching something but the characters and their interactions during the process itself. : ) Only thing will give me diabeetus is seeing Rinko’s sweets and grabbing the Nutella jar xD.

My Love Story!!: More Than Meets The Eye
Allthefujoshiunite

I really loved watching Psycho-Pass and it was great to read such a detailed and well-put article. Just the point you made about Enforcers made me think. I think rather than Sybil trying to make Inspectors fail, both Enforcers and Inspectors are the most efficient way to deal with the overall situation (you made this point about something else in your article, Sybil chooses the consequences over process itself). System needs a branch to control society’s Psycho-Pass and deal with the ‘extreme’ situations. Of course it’s the dirtiest job of all but system puts effort to bring up the Inspectors and the best way to use their potentials they already have concerning the job is to use them in the same field while keeping them under control. It’s also reasonable because since their Psycho-Pass are already tainted, it will not matter because they are already disposable. Therefore, I do not think they are desirable because they are more free-thinkers than the Inspectors, I also do not deny that thinking out the box doesn’t bring you any advantages but this is not the actual reasoning behind Sybil’s judgement here in my opinion.

Saying that Enforcers are more successful doing their jobs than Inspectors may be the viewer’s opinion and viewer’s own understanding of success because success or ‘judgement’ for Sybil lies in the Dominator, if you pull the trigger in the right time and think nothing else, you are successful enough to maintain public order.

I don’t know why people diss second season this much, I thought it was good and had intriguing questions just as much as the first. Though, since you haven’t watched it, it was irrelevant of me to comment about it. ^^’

Thanks again for the post!

Psycho-Pass: The Ethics of an "Ideal" Society
Allthefujoshiunite

For me, another striking part is (and this is also relevant to Japan), the demand coming from the patients are mostly for their eyelids and/or noses. I have read an article, sadly I cannot cite it now, shows before and after photographs of the patients and you can clearly see that their racial characteristics have vanished and they look more like a ‘Westerner’. Okay, the beauty has a standard but it also has a racial standard too and that is Western beauty. Not being happy about how your nose looks is something but having problems with racial characteristics is another. I think it is also visible in the captions you added in your post.

Thanks for sharing!

200 Pounds Beauty: South Korea's Plastic Surgery Industry