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The Japanese Sneezing Superstition - A Superstition That Provides Benefits?
Who here believes in the power of superstitions? Here’s something that will get your mystical juices flowing. An interesting article about superstitions popped up in the New York Times. The article, entitled “In Defense of Superstition”, discussed how having superstitions can be beneficial to gain some sense of meaning in one’s life. They also give someone a big sense of self-confidence in doing certain tasks. One superstition came to my mind and one that is very relevant in anime and manga: sneezing.
In Asian culture, it is widely believed that someone who sneezes out of the blue is being talked about by other people not near them. If you sneeze once, someone is definitely saying something about you. If you sneeze twice, bad things are said about you. This superstition about sneezing has become a huge joke in anime and manga, where several characters talk about one character in one panel and then the next panel features the person being talked about sneezing (with some witty remarks and/or confusion). Sneezing blew its way through notable series such as Dragon Ball, Maison Ikkoku, InuYasha, Rurouni Kenshin, and Ranma 1/2.
Perhaps this superstition is helpful for others in terms of giving confidence that things are going to be just fine for them or an incentive to be more careful. Let’s say someone sneezes and he/she really believes that someone must be gossiping about them all of a sudden. That person can say to themselves, “Hmmm, maybe I should change my tune a bit.” or “Yes, someone’s talking about me! I feel important to someone!” That could give some meaning and motivation to alter their behaviors more positively. Of course, this can all backfire in a hurry, depending on the personality of the person sneezing. It is heavily argued that those who believe in superstitions tend to have a lack of control in their lives.
A great example of a “sneezing superstition” moment in anime/manga that stood out was in Rurouni Kenshin Volume 7, when the Kenshin-gumi spoke harshly about Saito Hajime. While at a soba stand, Saito sneezed repeatedly and even made a remark about how sudden sneezing is a result of ill will. He even goes on to say that it’s great that the Shinsengumi (his old troop) are still hated in the Meiji Era. You have to wonder if Saito’s comments were just a reassuring way of giving him more confidence to go and cause more mayhem since he doesn’t care what people think of him. The Wolf of Mibu’s mind is always a mysterious one, isn’t it?
So, what other Japanese superstitions do you think give people a sense of confidence? Feel free to share some crazy thoughts and let us have the wonderful moment of freaking out together.
Hope you didn’t just sneeze while reading this entry. :]
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What Character(s) Inspire You?
As much as I like to talk about the character(s) that inspire me (i.e. Vegeta), I want to know which anime/manga characters inspire you guys as a whole.
Do you have an essay you wish to share to readers about a character that makes you feel awesome? I would like to post some of your stories on this very site.
If interested, you can contact me at tonyyao82(at)gmail(dot)com.
Of course, you can always comment below. I love to hear who drives your will to succeed even higher.
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HOT! BLOODED! - The Rock Lee Story (Naruto)
“I want to show I can be a splendid ninja even if I don’t have ninjutsu or genjutsu. I want to prove it to the whole world!”
For those who believe that they have do not have the talents to achieve certain types of success, let me tell you an insightful tale. A tale where one enthusiastic young man must conquer multiple odds to reach his goal. It was a goal which required certain talents the young man did not possess. Despite his lack of talent, the young man presses on with nothing but unbridled enthusiasm and a passion to crush it. This is story of Naruto’s Rock Lee, a ninja who relies on his strong spirit to fight and more importantly, a stern reminder about keeping your passion going even through tough times.
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Breaking Down Character Armor (Erza Scarlet - FAIRY TAIL)
This entry is a fan request from an earlier entry on what characters I should cover next.
“If I don’t wear my armor, I won’t feel secure.”
In life, things aren’t always certain. Many obstacles are thrown our way, sometimes without warning. We often put up a barrier to protect ourselves from all kinds of harm. In Hiro Mashima’s FAIRY TAIL, there is one character who embraces protection both physically and mentally. The lovely and extremely popular Erza Scarlet is a character who specializes in wearing different types of armor to defeat her enemies. Her dependence on armor reflects how people put up “character armor” to fight against perceived threats and slowly harm themselves in the process.
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Princess Sapphire And The Power of Blue (Princess Knight)
If there’s one color that seems to be a constant favorite, most people will tell you the blue is the color that rules them all. Blue is loved by many people of both genders. Case in point: we have a manga heroine that radiates the aspects of what makes blue a popular color. Princess Sapphire, the lead heroine of Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight, appears to be a character that could suggest Tezuka has some deep fascination of the naturalness of blue.
First off, let’s explore the origin of Princess Sapphire. Sapphire was a girl who was given a “blue boy’s heart”, when she was supposed to receive only a “pink girl’s heart”. She ends up with both hearts and lives her life under the guise of a prince to inherit the throne of her kingdom. An angel named Tink is responsible for the blue heart transplant and is sent down by God to correct his mistake. Sapphire, however, refuses to give up her blue heart to Tink, while she struggles with love and a variety of persistent threats upon her visage.
What emotional aspects does blue represent? Blue is usually associated with calmness and focus for the most part. Of course, blue can also represent depression and being sad. When you look at the character of Sapphire, you see that she is strong, independent, courageous, determined, and calm. Despite her strengths, Sapphire has shown feelings of sadness and loneliness, as she struggles to be with Prince Franz Charming and to attend social gatherings as a “proper woman” (i.e. wearing a lovely dress). Sounds “blue” enough for you?
Another important note to point out is that the shades of blue have significant impact in people’s moods. Dark blue is considered a shade that represents power and integrity. Light blue is considered to be soft and understanding. You can say that dark blue is a lot more masculine than light blue. Sapphire appears to be an even mix of both shades, as she is an individual who demands respect, but also show compassion at the same time. There’s also the fact that Sapphire’s name herself is a shade of blue that happens to have characteristics that describe her perfectly.
I’m very curious about whether Tezuka used the psychology of the color blue when writing Princess Knight. Was he trying to point out that we all need a hint of blue in our lives to be stable? With regards to Sapphire, was Tezuka trying to inspire women using the traits of blue? The pink (a color that is considered to be the stereotypical favorite color associated with women) heart that Sapphire has was heavily targeted by an evil witch named Madame Hell. She desired it for the purpose of making her daughter, Hecate, popular. However, Hecate doesn’t show any interest in having the pink heart and was willing to give it back to Sapphire at one point. It seems as if Tezuka is trying to say that women should associate themselves with and/or appreciate colors that have better traits. If you’ve read Princess Knight, do you think Tezuka may have thought about the impact of color for the story?
In today’s world, blue still remains a constant and important color in life. Look how many logos of important companies are blue. Our skies and seas are blue. Blue is a color that will always finds a place in people’s hearts.
May blue be the color to continue enhancing our minds and bodies as it has Sapphire’s.
For more commentary on Princess Knight, you can check out Manga Bookshelf’s Off the Shelf column on the title.
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Blank Pages Can Be Cute - A Manga Error Lesson
What you see above is one of the biggest mistakes you will ever see in manga publishing. This photo is from the latest chapter of Yuru Yuri, published under Comic Yurihime. The girl reading the blank magazine above is commenting the fact that the girls in the magazine look cute. As you can see, the magazine is COMPLETELY blank. Ichijinsa, the publisher of Comic Yurihime, recently put a picture of what the magazine was supposed to contain.
Brian Ashcraft of Kotaku made a joke about the photo, saying how it’s more interesting that a girl finds a blank magazine cute. I suppose the manga can run with a new theme based on Steven Pinker’s “The Blank Slate” and show how demented the girl really is.
This huge printing error could unintentionally lead to Photobombs or memes, but I highly doubt it. I do wonder about the copyeditor(s) who overlooked the mistake. How in the world did he/she/they miss something like this?
Alas, as Bakuman has portrayed, it really is rough working in the manga publishing industry.
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The Young Adult’s Fight For Purpose (Solanin)
“I wondered if the Demon that whispered “Why not be free?” was Freedom itself.” ― Inio Asano, Solanin
In life, there are instances where the transition from being a teenager to an adult can be a harsh one. Many responsibilities have to be instilled into one’s mindset while whatever dreams they may have are left to fade. What happens when people desire to break free from the constraints of growing up? Inio Asano’s critically-acclaimed Solanin takes a look at the idea of adulthood and what it means to young people who are trying to find their way. It also addresses a serious issue on how to guide young adults to have successful lives on their terms.
Solanin revolves around a young girl named Meiko Inoue, her boyfriend, Taneda Shigeo, and their group of friends. Meiko works as an office lady while trying to find her purpose in life after graduating from college. She lives together with Taneda, who is a part-time freelance artist and also trying to find his calling. Taneda, who is part of a band with his friends from his college days, decides to get his band out to the public in hopes of making it big. Meiko subsequently quits her job to support Taneda, but ends up being lazy as she isn’t sure what to do with her newfound freedom. The story goes through some interesting and shocking turns, but in the end, Meiko becomes certain of how she wants to live her life through music. Despite Solanin running only 2 volumes in Japan, the manga was nominated for a Eisner Award in 2009 and a Harvey Award in the same year. Solanin also went on to become a live-action movie in 2010.
Given that life expectancy has increased, how can we truly define “adulthood” these days? How long does adolescence last now? Though the bigger issue at hand is the fact that there aren’t too many initiatives involved to help youths that face conflicted thoughts about life. In Solanin, you see that the characters are bordering the thresholds of adulthood. You can argue they are “in-between” adolescence and adulthood, like how most young adults feel in reality. I wonder if older adults are to be entirely blamed for slowly killing young people’s sense of purpose. Their set institutions, standards, and policies do not seem to promote a healthy well-being in the minds of young people. Governments may be enforcing rules hindering youth for the purpose of fueling their own egos. Older adults can develop a high level of selfishness when given great power. This leads to an idea that there is possibly a sense of ageism against youth.
Reading Solanin can make you think about what can compassionate folks do for those on the cusp of adulthood. How do we meet their needs and give them purpose? Not all young people are lackadaisical about life and those that are may realize the error of their ways. Some keys, as evidenced in Solanin, are to help find their passions and find out what makes them feel good.
Solanin has made me think about my depression period. During that time, I had so much freedom, but no purpose. I managed to find my purpose with the help of my friends. With the world becoming more increasingly complicated for young people to grow up in, I do worry that they will continue to be held down to a huge degree. Though as Solanin has reminded me, even the slightest amount of support from someone can give you purpose.
Despite the title being published in 2005, Solanin is still very relevant today. This manga is for all the dreamers out there. Don’t just dream, fight and keep fighting for your dreams.
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My Little Sister Can’t Be This Popular! The Love for “Imoutos”
I present to you: Cafe Bar NAGOMI! Yes, this is an actual “imouto” cafe in Japan.
Ever had or wished you had a little sister that made you go D’AWWWW every time she tried to make you smile? Do you get giddy (or wish to gleefully experience the moments) when your little sister acts pretty mean towards you and later apologizes for her behavior with a sad, puppy face? If so, you might be having a case of “imouto love”.
A subject that continues to fascinate me is the otaku’s love for “imoutos” (Japanese for “little sisters”). Imouto characters are prevalent in Japanese pop culture and it makes you wonder why male otaku are quite drawn to them in droves. Do most of them wish they had a little sister that relied on them?
If you’re curious about how much “imouto love” there is out there, here are some examples. Besides the most prominent series that features an imouto lead, Ore no Imouto Konna ni Kawaii Wake Ga Nai (“My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute”, also known as Oreimo), other titles include Imouto wa Shishunki (“Younger Sister Is In Puberty”), Koi Kaze, and Boku wa Imouto ni Koiwosuru (“I Love My Little Sister”). Imouto love is also implied in certain anime/manga series. There is currently a wide variety of adult-oriented material (a majority in the form of PC games) focusing on little sisters loving their precious oni-chan (“big brother” in Japanese) and/or vice versa. Japan sure has quite the sister complex, doesn’t it?
An article on Senile_Seinen talked about “imouto love” in a review for Oreimo and the author stated that the subject is becoming popular because of Japan’s low birth rate. He goes on to say that few Japanese people below the age of 30 have a sibling. They don’t know what it’s like to have one, so seeing media featuring siblings in wacky moments together fascinates them.
I’m curious about the mindset of creators behind imouto material: is there anything super-special about having a little sister rather than a little brother and/or older sibling? Well, besides the fact that the little sister has tendencies to look up to the older brother and can be extremely adorable as hell. There have been studies floating around about how having a sister can be beneficial in one’s life. Having a sister (younger or older) can make you a kinder person. Sibling conflict provides great education as well. Fights between siblings usually teach them how to control their emotions in heated moments. Siblings will also stick by you even after when parents pass away. Some important factors to note are that girls like to listen and they are often more talkative than boys. This gives female siblings an edge, compared to male siblings, as you can confide in them emotionally. Older sisters can be bossy and start ranting about life though, which seems like something the otaku don’t like.
Regardless, if you have a female sibling, you’re in luck and have a good chance to turn out to be a emotionally healthy individual. I do believe that Japanese otaku (who may not have had experienced the joys of having a younger sibling) honestly want a real young, cute girl who looks up to them in all aspects of life and/or is willing to listen to them (like an imouto would). It seems that otaku want a sense of control over someone to give themselves a shot of confidence. Does anyone really give otaku a sense of hope at all? Perhaps the structure of Japanese society should be blamed for how their parents turned out, since their behavior does have huge effects on the children they raise.
A couple of final questions I would like to pose to everyone: how would you believe the otaku will react if they actually had a real little sister that matched their expectations? Will they believe that reality (in their eyes) isn’t as deceiving as they think it is? Let’s just hope that otaku don’t want too many little sisters. Then again, Japanese men haven’t had the greatest reputation as of late.
Now, if you excuse me, I must rescue my precious Nanako-chan from the evil Shadows.
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Happy International Women’s Day With A Mikasa Ackerman Teaser!
March 8, 2012 marks International Women’s Day! To celebrate, I want to briefly promote another headstrong female that North American readers will be seeing later this year: Mikasa Ackerman, the lead female of the smash-hit manga, Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin), by Hajime Isayama.
Mikasa is a character who’s driven by her dark past to fight for her adoptive brother (and main character), Eren Jaeger. Mikasa is considered to be a prodigy in the series as she excels in combat. The character is portrayed to be a kick-ass woman who remains calm and efficient in the heat of battle. She truly is a character that doesn’t take crap from anyone and is willing to question authority. Fans have also argued that Mikasa really acts on her actions unlike most female leads.
If you love female characters like Olivier Mira Armstrong, you will love Mikasa. She’s up there on the list of tough female characters. Need more proof? Here’s Mikasa showcasing her desire to protect Eren and her friend, Armin, from ANYONE, even the army that she fights for.
Kodansha Comics will be releasing the first volume of Attack on Titan on June 2012. You can pre-order Attack on Titan at Amazon.
Dare I say Mikasa is the antithesis to the wimpy shonen girl?
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The Omega-3 Is Strong In This One - CRIMSONS: The Manga About Salmon
Many manga readers know that manga covers all types of subjects, so why not a story about a group of fish. A very unusual manga series called “CRIMSONS: The Red Navigators” is getting a great deal of attention in Japan. This tale of “hot-blooded ocean drama”, written by Takanori Kanno and published in Shonen Sunday Super, covers Shintaro, a young salmon, and his adventures with his friends. Another key note about CRIMSONS is that it’s under the supervision of Bunya Okuyama, an ichthyology professor at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.
So, now we have a manga about salmon. What makes salmon special compared to the life of a trout/tilapia/halibut/red snapper/tuna fish? Can we really learn anything about the mental aspects of a fish from reading a manga like CRIMSONS? Salmon though are known to be seductively lush. They also have delicate texture. Finally, the meat is pink. Salmon pink is known be to quite an a flirtatious color. Is Kanno trying to say that salmon are the most passionate of all the fish alive then?
You can read the manga at Shogakugan’s special website for the comic. If anything else, CRIMSONS has both fish AND human fanservice!
Look out, moeblobs. Sexy salmon are coming to get ya.
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