On Nudity and Profundity: Defending Ecchi and Ambivalence

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Anthy, art, ecchi, fan service, Fanservice, Ghost in the Shell, Himari, Holo, Kanba, Mawaru Penguindrum, Motoko Kusanagi, nudity, Queen's Blade, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Senjougahara, Spice and Wolf, Utena

Revolutionary Girl Utena – Gender dynamics meet Yuri

Aelysium brought up an interesting discussion about the blatant use of ecchi in anime. I’m really pleased to have this small chat with him.

Aelysium: This post idea came to me after watching Philosotaku’s video titled a defense of ecchi. Whilst for a lot of people ecchi is definitely an end unto itself, for a great deal of others it is often a hindrance; a cliche that many would argue is ruining anime. I don’t particularly care for ecchi myself and often will be put off by any show that tries to cover up plot and character holes using well-endowed harems, however, I have to wonder if there really isn’t any subtle use for the genre. Is it simply pandering to an already subdued market or is there, beneath the prima facie titillation, something that can actually inspire depth in ecchi? I would argue the latter. Whilst ecchi is certainly not the pioneer of great philosophy, it isn’t the completely barren land of bustling valleys and gratuitous panty shots one might believe.

Some Retrospect After a Year of Blogging

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Alice, Aniblogging, anime, Anniversary, Himari, Ikoku Meiro no Croiseé, Kanba, Lemmas and Submodalities, Mawaru Penguindrum, Shoma, SnippetTee, Touhou, Youmu, Youmu Konpaku, Yune, Yuyuko Saigyouji

Looking back on how many seconds, hours, days, and months I spent on this site, it’s kind of overwhelming to think that I already reached my first year of blogging. It feels like it was only yesterday when I decided to put up Snippettee’s Blog, and just hours ago that I re-named it to Lemmas and Submodalities.

For some special reason, it’s fulfilling and gratifying to re-visit my old posts and comments of my readers. Every single article pops so many unforgettable anime screen shots and relives the young SnippetTee as she tries to verbalize her ideas. Now, as I write this post, lots of great memories are overflowing in my head that my fingers can’t even keep up with this sudden rush of thoughts.

Silhouettes and Geometry in Art

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Ef - A Tale of Melodies, Mawaru Penguindrum, Minimalism, shadow, silhouette, Tsuritama

Every so often I’m noticing that silhouette is one of the most wildly used art in Japanese cartoons. Its intricacy and mystifying nature are so brilliant that it wonderfully presents harmony in complementariness—it’s so defined but yet so abstract. Now that I’m thinking more about it, lots of anime that I enjoyed incorporated this visual feature into their animations.

6th Day of Anime: Hypothesizing With Mawaru Penguindrum

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anime 2011, dæmons, Mawaru Penguindrum, Penguins, Ringo's Diary

Two of the biggest questions of the year are what and where exactly is the Penguindrum. Apparently, the most recent episode already revealed that it can be found inside the Destiny Express. So since this is my last chance to speculate before the finale, might as well guess wildly that the Penguindrum is the heart. I was inspired to say this after seeing the apple inside that some sort of a spinning globe because it looked like a heart inside the rib cage. Apart from that, when it comes to fictions, it’s always being considered that the continuity of life depends on the heartbeat—survival strategy.