Questions about anime and manga in the broader context of Japanese culture. Includes both questions about cultural origins for anime/manga references and questions about the cultural impact of a particular series.
Questions tagged [culture]
190 questions
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Why do some anime in Japanese contain English?
It seems that many anime and manga aired or printed in Japanese, before they are dubbed or localized, contain English text or lyrics.
I've tagged a couple of examples here.
The first is from Digimon Tamers, wherein there are a couple English lines…
Cattua
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3 answers
Why is "I won't forgive you" a commonly used threat?
In a number of shows, "I won't forgive you" or some variation is used as a threat. Rukia uses it when she is trying to keep Ichigo to follow her into the Soul Society, saying, "If you follow me, I will never forgive you." It is used similarly in…
kuwaly
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42
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3 answers
Why are tentacles prevalent in anime?
What is the reason/motivation for the prevalence of tentacles (possibly NSFW Wikipedia link) in anime (esp. hentai)?
Did the anime subculture lead to it or does it stem from various aspects (possibly obscure) of Japanese art/culture?
user277
39
votes
6 answers
Why do many characters tend to have crazy hair colors and styles?
It's fairly common that anime characters tend to have "wilder" hair than most people we see in real life. This can be seen as far back as Neon Genesis Evangelion (though somewhat mild) from the 90s (though some older anime, like Akira, do not have…
Cattua
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36
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What kinds of activities can be found in a Manga/Anime Club?
We have a very popular Manga Club at our library.
The kids are interested in lots of different Asian cultures so we include cultural topics in our club such as Korean Word of the Day, Japanese Word of the Day and Chinese snacks like shumai and black…
Katherine
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Why do I have to light up the room before watching anime?
When watching anime, sometimes at the beginning of the show, I come across the warning message
テレビアニメを見るときは部屋を明るくして、テレビからはなれて見てください！
which can be translated as
When watching anime, light up the room, and leave some distance between the TV and…
hkBattousai
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What's the significance of revealing a character's blood type?
A lot of Anime shows will reveal the blood type of one or more of the main characters:
What's the significance of it? What purpose does it serve?
Where did it come from?
Mysticial
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25
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What is gap moe?
I often hear the word gap moe, but I do not know what it means. So what does the word gap moe mean?
Keale
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23
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What should a university-level course about manga and anime culture cover as part of its curriculum?
This question is not asking about a course that teaches how to create manga or anime, but a curriculum of a course similar to English literature. Such course would teach the history and culture of anime and manga by studying representative works of…
MartinTeeVarga
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Why is it that many anime and manga depict being a virgin male as something embarrassing?
From the long list of manga I read and anime I watched, especially in romance genre, including romance comedy, harem, etc, being a virgin has been depicted as something bad, especially a male virgin. Many of them have the virgin guy pretending that…
絢瀬絵里
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Is the term Otaku derogatory?
I know the term is widely used in America as a term for someone who has a love and anime and all things related to it. So in the US it's a term of endearment.
However in Japan the term is known more or less to be used to describe a shut-in / loner.…
Zilvarael
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Why does censorship level differ between manga and anime?
I have noticed that anime adapted from a manga heavily tone down the level of violence and "fanservice" (sometimes skipping them entirely). Why is the censorship level different between manga and anime? I assume they are bound by the same censorship…
Masked Man
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18
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4 answers
What does "padoru padoru" mean?
In the short Nero in a Santa outfit sings a "Jingle Bells" with some rather casual lyrics.
Hashire sori yo, kaze no you ni, tsukimihara wo, padoru padoru
The lyric is a song of this clip (for the full clip, click here). The song sounds like a…
Gagantous
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Why are the faces of dead people whited-out in photographs?
I've noticed that, in a number of different anime, photographs of people who have died appear with the face whited out, generally by reflections of light. Is there a tradition behind this? Is there a cultural reason for this, or is it just laziness…
kuwaly
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When did people start putting anime characters on vehicles?
I occasionally see forum posts of people in Japan showing off their anime-styled cars and I saw some whilst in Japan also. I believe there's also groups of these people who have meetups and such.
It's not just cars either, I've seen some boats and…
Toshinou Kyouko
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