What does your family think about anime?

Fandom

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Every December, I spend a lot more time with my family than usual. There’s Christmas, my birthday, John’s birthday, and my mom’s birthday all in one week!

Although home for me is just a thirty minute drive from where I live now, mentally it feels quite a ways away. Back when I lived at home, I was always really embarrassed of my interest in anime. When I was trying to prove to my parents that I was a grown-up, cartoons from Japan felt like a pretty childish hobby to have.

I was always nervous that my parents and sisters judging me for liking anime so much, but in reality it was all in my head. Even though I did some pretty embarrassing weeaboo things as a young teenager. Anime merchandise was expensive, so I drew pictures of the Gundam Wing pilots, often shirtless, and taped them around my room. I sang along to anime songs on car rides. My parents, wisely, refrained from commenting on any of this, probably to avoid encouraging me. And while I never grew out of anime, I thankfully grew out of doing stuff like that!

Short of my dad’s childhood love for Speed Racer, they didn’t—and don’t—pay much attention to it because it wasn’t something any of them found interesting. I remember once bringing a college boyfriend home to dinner who cracked a joke about my “weird” predilections, and how stupid I felt when the rest of my family laughed at it. I guess I didn’t think they’d really noticed! Of course, now that I’ve married another anime fan, those conversations are over.

My in-laws are pretty much the same. It’s interesting to hear my father-in-law’s West Virginia drawl juxtapose with his reference to “that anime stuff you guys like.” Like with my parents, for them it’s just another unfathomable thing the kids are into.

I’m bringing this up because I’m curious about other anime fans’ experiences. Were your parents disapproving? Confused? Did they start watching anime as a result, like this otaku mom from r/anime did? And if you’re a parent yourself, how do you plan to share your interest in anime, if at all, with your kids?

Screenshot via Kill La Kill.

 

Otaku Links: What’s trending

Otaku Links

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  • It’s time for Tumblr’s year in review! Here are the 20 most reblogged anime and manga on the site.
  • Want to rent an apartment modeled after the Jellyfish Princess anime, complete with real pet jellyfish? Now you can.
  • Why was episode six of Shirobako taken offline? Anime News Network says it’s a copyright infringement, but for what? One blog claims the estate of playwright Samuel Beckett had it removed since it portrayed women performing the play, Waiting for Godot. Whether human or anime, the estate has a history of banning female actors. HT @miangraham.

Universal Gundam laugh via gokusen-10kai

Otaku Journalist reviews Oishi Fun

Japan

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About a month ago I got an email from Oishi Fun, a Japanese snack delivery service. They asked if I’d like to review a box, and I agreed, eager to pair my twin interests of blogging and snacking into one activity. To be honest I was feeling pretty confident about it already, which is why I put it in my holiday gift guide.

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The box finally arrived about a month after we’d talked. I quickly realized why—it actually came all the way from Japan! The sparkly pink box was more like a present than a package, and came with a complete English list of all the snacks inside.

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As you can tell, there are a lot of them. Two of them (the Mario World package and the Pokemon box) come with a toy as well as a snack. Let’s take a look.

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This strawberry chocolate packaging is clever in that it’s shaped just like the pink-and-brown chocolate bites inside. Note the bat imagery – a bunch of the stuff this month was Halloween-y, I guess left over from October.

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There was not one, but two different banana snacks! The cake in the package is a small roll cake. The caramel is chewy and far more strongly banana than the cake.

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The one complaint I have is that these apple pie bites came pretty crumbled up. Didn’t affect the taste though—I think these flaky pastries were my favorite sweet thing. The onigiri chips in the third photo for my favorite savory thing. Sorry I didn’t get a closeup, but they’re triangular rice cakes flavored with nori and rice vinegar, which I love.

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Isn’t this art cute? Inside, they’re animal-cracker-like cookies on the outside, and chocolate on the inside. You can see another Halloween candy in the background—it’s a pineapple flavored lollipop. oishi8

Both the toys that came in this box came with a candy. This Delphox came with a small mint. The Mario 3D World package came with a holographic Princess Peach card and a pineapple-flavored mushroom 1-Up gummy. Including the Pikachu gum, I got three different Nintendo themed candies in this box.

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After eating all that candy, I finished off with a stick of Watering Kissmint. I can’t figure out the flavor (that green katakana says Mascot, I think), but it tastes like a tangier version of how I remember Doublemint gum tasting, back when that was a thing. The brilliant Katriel has let me know it is “Muscat” flavored, which is a kind of sweet grape!

I really enjoyed a chance to try Oishi Fun because they picked out snacks and snack flavors I never would have picked for myself or known that I’d like so much. To be honest, there wasn’t a single thing I didn’t like in this box. I’d been having a rough week  until getting this spangly pink box in the mail, and it turned my day around. It’s an indulgence, yes, and maybe not something you’d buy for yourself every month, but at just $25, it’s a fantastic pick-me-up. I can’t wait to order for a friend to brighten up their day.

Otaku Links: Black Friday

Otaku Links

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I hope all my American readers had a great Thanksgiving, and everyone everywhere else had a a great Thursday. I haven’t been online as much this week, so enjoy a short edition of Otaku Links:

  • My anime reviews for the week are live on Anime News Network! Why Onoda is the ultimate Midousuji apologist on Yowamushi Pedal, the joy and sorrow of Gyanko on Gundam Build Fighters Try, and times it really pays to have a significant other you can count on in Denki-gai.
  • A Haikyu! animator got fired from Production IG for tweeting her own erotic drawings of the characters on the show. That was super unprofessional of her, but I bet a lot of fujoshi can sympathize with her plight.
  • Crunchyroll sadly isn’t doing its epic 50% off deal this Black Friday, but Right Stuf has gone crazy with deals up to 80 and even 90% off! Click here to shop Right Stuf using my affiliate link, and I will make a small commission.
  • This week’s Answerman column on Anime News Network addresses a fan who really hates Vic Mignogna and wants to boycott Free! because of it. Answerman explains why this really just will penalize everyone at Funimation.

Illustration by Zain on Pixiv

Finally! My first Master Grade Gunpla

Figures and Toys

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It’s been over a year since I wrote about building my first Master Grade, and I finally did it. (The one I talked about last September ended up being a joint project between John and I since it was too hard for me—also it was a wedding gift so that made sense.)

For the uninitiated, Gunpla come in different grades of difficulty. Master Grade is a step up in both complexity and detail from what I usually build. I put the finishing touches on it Friday night while listening to ’90s emo music with my friends.

Gundam has really taken over my life lately. I’m reviewing Gundam Build Fighters Try for Anime News Network. I’m hyped as heck for the new Gundam: The Origin movie, which is based on the manga I can’t put down. I just constructed an enormous Gunpla holiday shopping guide. Most recently, I’ve just discovered Turn A Gundam amid my husband’s extensive Gundam collection. Considering it has a journalist supporting character and the main character’s name is Loran, I think I was destined to fall in love with it sooner or later! 

Actually, I had a whole post ready on the delightful absurdity of Turn A and why we all seriously need to watch more old anime, but then I found out I’m watching fansubs and in fact, Turn A won’t be legally in the U.S. until probably next year. So I’ll share my further thoughts on it closer to its release.

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Until then, plenty of other decent shows are available, like Gundam Seed, which my Master Grade Strike Rouge comes from. Read all about how I built it on Gunpla 101.