Left Unsaid: 2. Breeding Dehumanization

Preface

Transgenders are the part of the LGBT community that has suffered the most. At least half of them have been kicked out of their homes, bullied in their schools, laughed at in hospitals and churches. People like Charlie Trueman and Tom Blake[1], characters from Tab Kimpton's great webcomic Khaos Komix, have to fight and safeguard their identity all the time, so that one day they will earn universal respect.

Okama, gay boys, blue boys, anime 'boys': transgenderism and homosexuality in Japan

Fire Emblem/ Nathan Seymour in his Hero suit

The past week (12-19 November) was Transgender Awareness Week, so I thought of bringing up some thoughts I had concerning how gender dysphoria and transgenderism seem to be often confused with homosexuality in Japan, especially in the media. Also, digging up internetic files can shed light to the aforementioned phenomenon, and I'm here to share the information with you.

Since Tiger & Bunny is a fresh 'hit' and its audience wasn't primarily children, Fire Emblem can be used as a good example of what I'm going to make a point of.

The nature of love in Yuri and BL

Almost a year ago, 2DT, whom we all know and love, wrote a thought-provoking post over at Yi's Listless Ink, titled Learning the Art of Love: Yuri versus BL. I gave my two cents in the comment section and got the thumps up. And since it's not often you get credit from the most-respected figure in the anisphere, I think I should treasure these ideas here in our diaries, while I revisit them, elaborate on and add to the discussion.

I'll kiss you and you'll fall in love with me- Ramblings on Shoujo

starsamaria: Over at tokyojupiter Anna T. wrote a very nice post about the current running shoujo series. It’s interesting that all 3, Kamisama Hajimemashita, Sukitte Ii Na Yo, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun feature a kiss in the first episode – I’m used to shoujo series taking a bit more time to get that far!

Reflections on Animanga Blogs- The Roundup

Blog carnival round up from Iris Alepoudeli

Left Unsaid: 1. Voluntary Death

Preface

This is the first post of a series of articles called Left Unsaid. The project will be dedicated on analyzing various social and personal aspects of life, usually subjects of ambiguous debate. We wish to use this series as a tool to go deeper into our own experiences and to help other people through mutually beneficial discussions. We believe that the world is beautiful and we wish to make it even better. This is one of our contributions to this effort.

Introduction

As a teenager I remember a word very intriguing to me: death. When I truly started to think and analyze the world around me, the majesty and absolute power of death seemed overwhelming to the eyes of this young boy. Like many other kids my age, I felt like it was something I desired to experience. On this article, I am using volume one of Confidential Confessions (CC) and the story of its heroines, Manatsu and Asparagus, to talk about my own experiences and explain how manga art treats one's wish to voluntary abandon life.

Reflections on Animanga Blogs

Allow me to start first to give you an idea of what I have in mind for this massive taking-notes session. :D

Blog Carnival: Reflections on Animanga Blogs

Grief and Loss in Anime: a case examination of Puella Madoka Magica Magi, Mawaru Penguindrum and X

Either you are recently introduced to anime or you are a seasoned fan, it's highly unlikely you haven't watched or simply heard about the first two shows in the picture above, because twitter, forums and blogs were abuzz and overly hyped about them last year. Now, it's highly possible you don't even recognize the hunks in the bottom and the anime/manga they are from, unless you are an obsessed fan of CLAMP or a MADHOUSE admirer. All three of them have as central themes the loss and how people face them. The important issue here is how these series present the themes and how well they handle them...

The Beautiful Sinners: Angel Sanctuary and Diversity

To be called a sinner is one of the hardest accusations a person can face throughout his lifetime. Sinners, through all of mankind's history, have been punished repeatedly for their desires and actions. Yet, through my personal experience in this world, it often seems to me that sin is a blessing, the road to happiness. In this article I try to prove this point by using Angel Sanctuary, mangaka Kaori Yuki's testimony on the nature of sin, as reference material.

Queers and the complicated reality

Look carefully at this picture. Focus on  the rainbow. Can you really tell where each color starts and ends? No, because rainbow is a spectrum of colors. And that's exactly where the problem with the pride flag lies. Its colors aren't gradient. I believe that this fact reflects certain solid ideas within the lgbtq community. Although the colors of the flag stand for ideals and not labels, and reasons of convenience might play a major role in the final creation-symbol (namely the flag), I think that when someone produces 'art', the subconscious always gets involved. In this case, it represents a denial in complexity and fluidity of identities ...

Warning: A comic follows whose last two panels are NSFW.

Learning and Teaching in Space Brothers

In episode 13 of Space Brothers the teams of astronauts-to-be are shown what we call a flaming video towards their dreams and possible jobs. There is a journalist who expresses her negative opinion towards space travelling, especially due to its high-cost budget that is supported through the citizen's taxes without any visible results for the present. JAXA asks of them to write a letter as a response.

What this situation has to do with learning and teaching? Learning is the change of the behavior and that's the goal of the letter they are asked to write. Teams A,B and C are to 'teach her a lesson' and convince her that what they want to do is worthy and beneficiary to everyone, as well as cancel any negative effects the journalist's stance had to the public.

A History Lesson from Hyouka

"It all becomes part of the classics, as per the rules of  historic perspective."

Dear The Paper and gendomike asked me to write for their blog. They are great bloggers and very kind hosts. Visit their blog to check my contribution. Enjoy!

Our Genshiken Diairies: The Greek Community Part 1

Introduction

We may not be advertising it a much, but The Beautiful World is a Greek based blog. As a team, both Foxie Lady and Neko-kun are not crazy about their country but they cannot help it and live in its reality. It is a part of this reality, our experience and opinion of the local j-community that we wish to share with our readers.

The main reasons that led to the creation of this article are as follow:
   - The need to share a positive side of Greece, rather than the -quite reasonable- negativity that goes around these days.
   - The wish to keep a sort memo of what happened the past six years, so that we can evaluate the present and future of the community.
   - The interest to see what some of our closest friends have experienced as Greek "Otaku."

The article is separated in two parts: the first one will present my memories of the past and some interesting information on the Greek Otaku community. The second one is going to be an estimation of the present and the future, written by myself and others whose opinion I treasure.

Some events and periods will be briefly mentioned, to save space and time. The article focuses mostly on the experience I had as an "Otaku" living in Athens.

Prism* and the free market of creativity

Bad news came up some weeks ago, when for reasons of copyright infringement, mangaka Higashiyama Show had been forced to put Prism, our favorite yuri manga of all time, on hold. This means that the constant rise in popularity the story met will also be put on a hold, so manga readers are going to miss a great opportunity to take a look on a realistic, high quality slice-of-life yuri.

The Beautiful World could not be sadder for Prism, one of the series for which, very soon, we plan to dedicate an exclusive article. Right now we would like to make a more general comment on the issue of copyrights. None of us has knowledge of how national or international law treats the subject. So we cannot take the position of an expert, but rather decide a stance as creative people and willing consumers of this market.

Lesbians, inspiration and work ethics

Each work one does has a purpose. Some works were made to be bring profits. Others to earn and build reputation. But there are projects that were thought of, and made for, the satisfaction of passions. This is the sort of a case I am going to present in this article, and it is perhaps my dearest story evolving around one of my projects and what, thanks to a sweet young couple, I found out about work.

IDAHO- Because a 'deviant' sexual orientation isn't a disease

For those who don't know what day is today and what make it a special one: IDAHO stands for International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Just like today, on May 17th 1990, homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of World Health Organization.

This blog supports the rights of all people to love and a healthy sexual life. Because we've experienced bullying for one reason or another. Because we know the agony and struggles of not being accepted by people that play a major role in our lives. Because we want to see this world change for the better.

straight or gay, cisgender or transgender love is love

To commemorate this day we share with you personal stories, our opinion on some articles and our thoughts. Acceptance of yourself and the others is a journey. Let your mind open up!

Saya Monou: a mermaid of sin

Illustration by CLAMP for the Tarot Collection - 0. The Fool

After I got into CLAMP fandom, I started exploring the various manga out there and of course X, being the masterpiece it is, wasn't left out. It must have been while I was still in high school and I wasn't that aware of the Internet communities out there or the streaming online - if I remember correctly. I was a newbie 'otaku'. So when I read about Saya Monou turning into a mermaid in the afterlife as punishment, question marks started floating over my head. And I guess that I'm not the only one feeling puzzled about this fact, if we take for granted the strong influence of Disney's The Little Mermaid adaption of the homonym fairy tale in the West. This article is my attempt to explain the imagery associated with Saya Monou.

Footnotes on Mushishi

Our culture values written speech a lot and this fact relates to the notion of 'study'. Study as an extended linear analysis didn't exist in oral people (tribes where written code isn't used or isn't common), since the latter didn't have written documents and they depended on collective learning from mouth to mouth a lot. But what exactly is going on with oral culture? What is oral literacy? What's the relationship of oral speech with the written word? And how is it all connected to Mushishi?

Lingerie: Choosing your weapon

Super-duper awesome Yi from Listless Ink offers me one more time the pondium on her brilliant blog. Check it out!