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A Personal Ikoku Meiro no Croisée Note – Kisses and Boundaries
The most significant cultural differences are often the smallest things. Something as simple as a greeting can reveal ideas and societal behaviors that are worlds apart. Ikoku Meiro no Croisée, an adorable short anime about a little Japanese girl “lo...
Giving Out That “Perfect” Ten. We, the Connoisseurs
I have often thought what separates an anime watcher from an anime fan is that the latter has a frame of reference for her tastes within the medium. She can tell a good anime from a bad one on a deeper level beyond entertainment values. Perhaps even…...
Reimagining Gender Roles Through Fairy Tales
by SnippetTee.
As kids, ideally and realistically, we were taught that the prince should always be the one saving the princess and not the other way around. And even in harem genre, regardless of how pathetic the male character is, for some reason t...
A Year in Review and a Happy New Year
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Filed under: Life Update Tagged: 2011, 2012, Anime, anime blog, blog, blogging, design, fashion, Hanabira, information graphics, information visualization, listless, Listless Ink, Manga, New Year, resolution, yihsieh, yuri, yuri blog
An Act of Love ~ A Gripping Connection!
by Ephemeral Dreamer.
Love is a strange thing, indeed. From the charming confessions to ginger kisses to steamy sex, love acts are widely varied and allows us to express our feelings in so many different ways. All these cute (or sexy) displays of af...
Life, Love, and Things in Between – An Usagi Drop Approach
Over the weekend, with a bit of hesitation and a lot of curiosity, I started reading Usagi Drop. People had warned me against the manga when I first finished the anime adaptation. I was thoroughly impressed by the short twelve-episode series. So the...
On Trying To Tamper Down My Delusions – Just A Little Bit
by TheBigN.
I would be totally fine if they at least showed something like this throughout the show's run. We all know how Homura truly feels about Madoka.
On my blog, I think I’ve mentioned that I have some yuri-tinted goggles, but since I like keep...
BDSM in Working!! – Some of Them Want To Be Abused
by 21stcenturydigitalboy.
“Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to be used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused”
– Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics
A lot of physical abuse happens in Working!!, but it’s...
Gosick Review
For all its overly sweet visual glamour and historical inaccuracies, Gosick has a surprisingly dark and compelling plot. To be fair, even I had been quite vocal about some of its outstanding weaknesses—in addition to the earlier amateurish cases, the...
Finding an Oasis in a Foreign Labyrinth: Japanese Bathing Culture in Ikoku Meiro...
by AJtheFourth.
When in a place that is completely foreign to them, especially for an extended period of time, people tend to seek out creature comforts that remind them of home. This way, even for a small moment, they can be connected with somethin...
Beauty in Symmetry: The Everlasting Allure of the Hime Cut
by Shance and Yi.
Shance: It is so often said that hair is a symbol of a woman’s beauty. It can be styled in a thousand ways, and can captivate men with all but a single touch. That being said, it is no wonder that a lot of us love certain hairstyle...
Learning the Art of Love: Yuri versus BL
by 2DT.
“They are starved for it; they watch endless numbers of films about happy and unhappy love stories, they listen to hundreds of trashy songs about love — yet hardly anyone thinks that there is anything that needs to be learned about love.”
–...
Life Update – Brief Stuff
Forgive me for yet another week without any substance. Even this blatant excuse for a filler post is a few days behind schedule. I suppose the last few days have not been so kind on my relaxing ideals. I feel slightly disillusioned by people and by...
Where does the Soul Reside? The Heart Versus Brain Debate
If you regularly follow my tweets, you might find that I toss around “♥” quite often. [1] The heart symbol, or rather the heart, has become quite an indispensable part of our modern culture—a short hand for love, a source for passion, and an organ fo...
Guest Write for Listless Ink!
As most of you know by now, I am in Taiwan. It has been quite a drastic change at this stage of my life; so drastic, in fact, that I am finding it increasingly difficult to do all the things I want to do. Trying to juggle all these things at this pac...
Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox~ Review
If you were to ask me in another year whether I had seen Sengoku Otome ~Momoiro Paradox~ (Battle Girls ~Time Paradox~), I would most likely say no. It is not that Sengoku Otome is a terrible anime—although it is certainly not good—the series is simpl...
In Taiwan
Just another not-so-small update on my personal life.
A lot of things have happened over the past year, and somehow I find myself leaving my home of over a decade in sunny California and liberal SF Bay Area, and ending up in the far east—the lovely...
Oral Sex in Redline: Delicious, Plump Lips
Late last night, I watched Redline, a racing movie set in an intergalactic world. The movie is a visual pleasure with some of the sharpest, smoothest, and boldest animation. The style easily shines through not only the actions and glamours, but the s...
Petite Musings on Children’s Fashion: Characterization in Usagi Drop
This summer season has some of the most fashion-forward anime in a long time. The panache of Mawaru Penguindrum and the eye-catching traditional aesthetics of Ikoku Meiro no Croisee are easily apparent. [1] However, there is a little girl who has an...
Honey Crush – The Bittersweet Yuri of a Yurei, the Impossibilities of Some Love
It has been a while since I last wrote about yuri manga. After having read so many one-shots and short romances, many blander stories just start to blend together, especially, say, those about two young students in school mired in love triangles.[1]...
Thinking Inside the Box – A Game of Destiny in Mawaru Penguindrum
Mawaru Penguindrum, with its clear attention to fashion and a fairytale-like story, has easily captured my inner little girl. Inherent in fairytales is the idea of destiny—the princess is destined to meet the prince and live happily ever after… etc....
Tenshi no Hanabira Zome
Tenshi no Hanabira Zome opens with the delicate sounds of bristles softly brushing against paper. Surrounded by admirers, Shizuku is a skilled calligraphy writer focused on her art in silence. She is perfect in almost every way: beautiful, smart, ath...
Paris Haute Croisée: Culture Fascination and Identity in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée
Heading into the summer season, a number of people had correctly told me that I would absolutely love Ikoku Meiro no Croisée, an anime set in the latter half of the nineteenth century about a little Japanese girl in the bustling fashion capital, Pari...
Beauty in Disorder: An Ode to Sex Hair
by 2DT.
“A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction…
[Does] more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.”
- Robert Herrick, “Delight in Disorder”
I close my eyes, and there she is again. Another late evening and a girl h...
Guest Colloquium: The Idolm@ster Episode 1 (2DT and Yi at The Untold Story of Al...
Guest Colloquium: The Idolm@ster Episode 1 (via The Untold Story of Altair & Vega)
2DT: Idols in Japan are tautologies of fame. Sure, sometimes they sing and dance, or do seiyuu work (Apparently Nakagawa Shouko’s star ascended through the sheer dig...
Fashioning a Fairy Tale – Transformation of Alice in Mawaru Penguindrum
Last night, on a whim, I watched Mawaru Penguindrum with a few friends, and what an incredible visual experience that was. Immediately, the series bombards us with a dazzling, unreal array of bright colors, gorgeous imagery, and above all, brilliant...
Occult Academy Review – The World is Ending, But Who Cares?
As a 90′s kid, I grew up in the midst of the occult fad: Nostradamus’s Prophecies, Roswell, hoax alien paraphernalia, X-files, and countless others; conspiracy theories and the paranormal were some of the biggest draws in media, news, and box offices...
The Manipulation of the “Marquis de Carabas:” Feminine Wiles in FLCL
by AJtheFourth.
Recently, I watched the entirety of FLCL for the first time with someone for whom the series had a dramatic impact on his ideas of adolescence and maturity. Such an impact, in fact, that remnants of its influence linger in his every...
Bridging the Gap Moé and Authenticity – Kurumi ♥
This is yet another post on my biggest anime crush last season (and in a long while)—Kurimizawa Ume.
In the romantic drama anime, Kimi ni Todoke, Kurumi and the heroine Sawako vie for Kazehaya’s heart. While Sawako is an absolutely lovable, kind-hear...
Personal Note
This post is a personal note on some changes to come in my life.
Some time ago, I mentioned I was applying to medical school. That was my post-college plan. As I waited to hear back from various schools, a lot of things happened, some good, but mor...
A Touch of Battle Girls – Textures in Sengoku Otome
Just some quick thoughts about a much neglected series of this season–Sengoku Otome: Momoiro Paradox.
Sengoku Otome, despite all its flaws, is actually surprisingly pleasant to look at. No, I do not mean the revealing breasts, sexy hips, large breas...
Taisho Yakyuu Musume Review – Growth and Feminism… and Yuri
Set near the end of the Taisho Era in old, modernizing Japan, Taisho Yakyuu Musume juxtaposes a pervasive attitude of the time—women have a set place in society as subservient housewives—with the social changes brought about by a group of young schoo...
A Thousand Origami Cranes
A legend once claimed that a wish would be granted to one who makes a thousand cranes. There have been many stories based around this myth. And once in while, someone will fold a thousand cranes in the sincerest hope that a wish would come true.
Som...
On Hanasaku Iroha Fanservice – A Late Night Blooming
Let us just have some fun today. Nothing too serious.
My favorite anime this season is by far Hanasaku Iroha. It starts as a seemingly compelling drama that develops into a more servicing portrayal of the lives of these young ryokan girls. While many...
Victorique’s Late Victorian Fashion, the Anachronistic 1924 Gosick
Most people, including me, watch Gosick for the heroine Victorique. Indeed, some of my favorite things about Gosick are Victorique’s gorgeous dresses. The flared trims, the fitted cuts, and the pretty waistlines—every detail on her is outfitted with...
Reminiscing 200
Just about eighteen months ago, I celebrated my 100th blog post. I’m not a very prolific writer, and so it was kind of a big deal. Now this is post 200.
It has been a really rocky year-and-a-half with some of my life’s lowest moments and this blog’s...




