The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses is a harem comedy that focuses on the theme of a found family. Spoilers ahead for both the anime and manga, by the way. Hayato Kasukabe returns to Miura to close his recently deceased grandmother’s cafe, Cafe Terrace Familia. But he discovers his grandmother had taken in five women...

I had hunted for a cheap English copy of Musui’s Story for several years. Finally, I stumbled across a copy buried in a used book store for $5. Katsu Kokichi wrote his autobiography toward the end of the Tokugawa period. Musui, to use his retirement name, wasn’t a scholar, administrator, or a samurai of any...

The journey story stands as one of the oldest types of stories, although the Cinderella story is likely the oldest story pattern. The journey pattern involves a hero of some sort traveling across various places, facing all sorts of challenges, and, at the same time, delving into their own psychology. This story archetype remains popular...

I enjoy a good yokai story, having studied yokai stories and even reworking versions of them for modern readers, freeing them from their late 1800s English and Latin (which were often the first time these Japanese stories were written down). If you are curious, I collected all of these into my Tales from Old Japan...

The year 2026 marks a milestone anniversary for JP. I’ve been writing at least one post a week for 15 years, totaling well over 1 million words. That’s hard to believe! Of course, I’ve studied animation for even longer, well into 25 years now. Over that course of time, I’ve seen animation in general and...

I’m a prose writer, but I dabble in bad poetry. Most of it are wordplay experiments and free writing that isn’t worth showing to anyone. Although I’ve read Robert Frost, Shakespeare, and many Western poets, Japan’s poetry resonates with me more. Japan favors succinct, symbol-coded poems that follow differing syllable patterns. The musical nature of...

Some stories linger for years after you experience them, floating within your mind like glittering snowflakes, touching your thoughts and actions in ways you can’t quite see. And yet you sense something has tinted your life’s painting more vivid where desaturated pigments once dominated, creating a more vibrant glaze that hints at how your mind...

If you want your love for someone to remain in the static gray area or unrequited, anime has the guide for you! The steps within this handbook will ensure you too can remain in the perpetual will-they-won’t-they zone! You too can remain indecisive and string romantic interests along, creating a space for perpetual confused connection....

Anime and manga don’t shy away from gentle, charming stories. And sometimes at the end of the day, a gentle slice-of-life story about friendship and love is just what the doctor ordered. The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity is one of those stories. I will spoil the story in this article: this is one I...

Urusei Yatsura stands as Rumiko Takahashi’s first serialized work. Rumiko, if you aren’t familiar with her, is one of the most influential manga artists: her career spans from 1978 to today. She created a range of works, including Inuyasha. Urusei Yatsura ran as an anime series in the 1980s and was remade in 2022. Urusei...

It seems everything in the United States has a political dimension to it, even to what type of bath soap you decide to buy! Anime, unfortunately, is no different. It’s not unusual for me to receive an ugly message that touches on political or racial topics. I’m more troubled by the lack of understanding such...

The idol fandom–Japanese and Korean–has many different aspects that can be positive, neutral, and negative. I’ve written a few times about the negative side, and I will touch on that side again in this article. Everything positive has a negative side built into it. Understanding that negative side emphasizes the positive. Unlike anime and manga’s...

Could South Korea or Japan disappear as nations? For those who asked this question: my apologies for taking forever to answer it. Modern nation-states, at least the developed ones, seem too solid to just disappear. Conquered, sure. But disappear? However, it has happened in the past. Amazonian and Mayan civilizations, for example, disappeared. Jomon civilization in...

If you’ve watched anime or read manga for any length of time, you will have come across the phrase “precious memories.” This phrase appears across all sorts of genres, most often in slice-of-life stories. When I first got into anime, in my early-to-mid 20s, the phrase made me cringe a bit. It struck me as...

Suzume released in 2022, and I only got around to watching it in 2025. You might be surprised to learn that I don’t watch cinematic, stand-alone anime films all that often. I find it hard to cordon two hours to watch a single film. I don’t watch live-action films for the same reason. I’m bad...

Ren continues my Teahouse Mysteries series. I have plans for 2 more books within this series. As the middle book in Mameko’s character arc, it aims at developing a hinge that forces Mameko to reflect on her actions. While each book offers a standalone mystery, I weave hooks into each novel that the others tie...

I can sum Witch Watch in a word: forgettable. As I sit down at my laptop to bang out this article, I remember little of the series, and I had finished watching the series a few days ago. It’s not that Witch Watch is terrible, that I remember of it. The story is a romantic...

Monica Everett is a genius mage who delves into the mathematics that underpin magic. She even worked out how to do the impossible: Unchanted Magic. Magicians normally need to use chants to weave the underpinning physics. Monica, however, is able to instantly see the numbers behind spells. Her father, too, researched the numbers behind reality,...

Lately, if you want fantasy stories and historical fantasy that isn’t an isekai of some sort, you have to look toward shojo and away from shonen and seinen categories. My Happy Marriage continues this trend. Set sometime between 1912 and 1926, My Happy Marriage explores a world where supernatural talents–in a word, magic–exists alongside demons...

In many ways, Dealing with Mikadono Sisters Is a Breeze is an inverse of Ouran High School Host Club. The story also touches on the softer side of masculinity in ways that might make some traditionally masculine men uncomfortable. I will spoil the story as I delve into this. Yuu Ayase has inherited the beauty...

My Dress Up Darling‘s second season continues the slice-of-life romance among Wakana Gojo, Marin Kitagawa, and their love for cosplay. The season divides into various arcs that develops Wakana’s character and goes into Marin’s realization that she loves him in addition to the stories of several of the supporting cast. This discussion will spoil the...

I always have many different writing projects going at once. And I’m please to reveal that Bloomsbury Publishing now has my latest book Be Kind; Rewind! (Re)Introducing Fun Retro Media and Vintage Technology to Libraries available for pre-order! This professional development book aims at librarians, but unlike most prof-dev books, I avoid stuffy writing. Throughout the...

Welcome to Earth’s premier defense and industrial team! As a mecha pilot, you’ve proven to have the character, flexibility, and capabilities to serve your fellow citizens in this exciting and challenging career. This handbook offers an overview of what you, as a new mecha pilot, need to know about the history and policies of this...

What do you think of when you read “anime tourist?” Anime tourist can refer to two quite different meanings. The first, and most obvious for older anime fans and people who aren’t in the fandom, relates to tourism. Namely, it refers to people who visit areas featured in different anime. Many towns and cities in...

You likely haven’t heard of Hakuin Ekaku, but you’ve no doubt heard of his most famous question: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” This question is a koan. Koans are a method, tracing back to Chinese Buddhist tradition, to break the logical mind so you can be more open to nirvana. While koans...

Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive? is a romantic comedy with the usual love triangle set in high school. But this story has a few twists that are sadly realistic. I have to spoil the story to discuss the characters. Yu Natsume is a high school boy who has an interest in flowers and wants to...

Manga is increasingly being translated by large-language models (LLMs), or artificial intelligence as most people call LLMs. The Ancient Magus’ Bride manga, for example, used Mantra Engine for part of its English translation (Schley, 2023). LLMs are software programmed to teach itself patterns in inputs and then use those patterns to generate new patterns based...

If I was in Texas, I would (possibly) be going to prison for watching Please Put Them On, Takamine-san. In my quest to expand my exposure to stories I normally avoid, I gave this ecchi a watch. Okay, a half watch. I worked on writing projects and did other things as I half-watched it. This...

Rock is a Lady’s Modesty sits in the girl-band category and within the yuri genre. Categories can span different genres. Girl-band stories can fit in the yuri genre, shojo genre, and other genres, for example. Rock is a Lady’s Modesty has overt lesbian tones to it, but with a twist. In order to discuss the...

If you haven’t seen Takopi’s Original Sin, stop reading this and go watch this anime–unless you struggle with mental health and suicidal thoughts. Takopi’s Original Sin is a rough watch with beautifully ugly, deceptively difficult animation. It has 6 episodes on Crunchyroll. I will have to spoil the story to discuss the many layers...