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Posted in Literature Other media The Orient

The rise of Kinoko Nasu: A cultural autopsy

Fate/stay night and Kinoko Nasu feel like a whole genre on their own. But why aren’t there more Nasu copycats?

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Posted in Book reviews Literature The Orient

Fiction and the world: Our Sekai Breakdown

To be direct about it, Our Broken World (Sekai vol. 1) is my favourite novel ever written. Here is a review.

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Posted in Film and television

Barbitecture, or, An Alternate Reading of Parody

Attempting to review Barbie invites the question: What does parody mean in the post-ironic era?

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Posted in Other media

The Painting isn’t the Part You Hate: On Modern Art

The arguments used to reject “abstract” modern art are brazen, but false. I wish to directly address those who take such positions. And those who would ignore the issue.

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Posted in Literature Other media The Orient

After Nasu: The consumption of myth as data

Our search for the Nasu copycats means it is time to expand the conversation beyond just him. We came looking for a genre, but what does that even mean?

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Posted in Literature

The Mass Death Theory of Mystery Fiction: Explained

Kiyoshi Kasai’s mass death theory of mystery fiction. Explained directly in one link.

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Posted in Book reviews Culture and sexuality Literature Politics and current affairs The Orient Wider issues and society

Catch-up: Nine book reviews

Nine book reviews to catch up on what I’ve been reading and enjoying while taking a bit of a break from blogging.

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Posted in Film and television The Orient

Love & Pop & End

Love & Pop is a unique piece of art because it does not present answers, it presents a world too contradictory for any such thing to exist.

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Posted in Book reviews Literature The Orient

Tsukumojuuku and Symbolic Realities

Tsukumojuuku by Outarou Maijou succeeds in crafting something that seems authentically confessional out of deconstruction and metatext.

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Posted in Book reviews Literature

An Anthologised Review of Locked Outside of Mystery

A guest post? A review of an entire short story anthology? Now, this is something entirely different from usual…

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Posted in Film and television The Orient

Shin Godzilla and the Tyranny of Metaphor

It is true that Godzilla and nuclear disaster are deeply linked. But, simply applying the formula that Godzilla=nuclear weapons would pervert our thinking greatly.

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