Mogu Mogu

  🥚 PREMISE Like many, I got interested in this anime because of  Takahashi Saki ’s beautiful character designs and gorgeous animation by  Clowerworks , shown in trailers and in the sweet, very  romantic  opening. The production quality of this show is, frankly, incredible. The attention to details, the use of colours and the camera work to convey specific emotions – without using the crutch of the score–, feels reminiscent of old school Anno cinematography. It began seemingly with some interesting characters, on a surface level, since they are attempting to say something concrete. Later, I will explain why I am stressing the  surface  here. What I wrote is based on watching the complete series (12 episodes) in Japanese with Japanese subtitles and later checking every episode in its English official subtitled release. My opinion will not change upon seeing the to-be-released  actual last episode  in July of 2021.  Spoilers are prese...

CONTENTS: i. Introduction of me and Evangelion ii. Introduction of a man iii. Unescapable: The review begins now  iv. The other three and Shin Evangelion v. Ten years vi. Fanservice vii. Characters:  - Shinji  - Asuka  - Ayanami - Mari  - Others viii. Music ix. Action scenes x. Themes xi. Conclusion   This review contains spoilers for Shin Evangelion / Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time . 🧵   INTRODUCTION of me and Evangelion      From the age of six to when I became a reclusive sixteen-year-old, on Tuesdays and Thursdays my aunt used to take me, my sister and my cousins to the swimming pool to do actual physical exercise. I loved swimming but I hated going. I felt like the other kids and teachers there were seeing me in a way I had not agreed to and, as a trans man, I now understand fully that odd fear for my body to be exposed to the judgment and sight of other people I do not trust.  Especially on Tuesdays, as I kept s...

📚 Introduction Consuming Japanese media from an early age made me develop an inquisitive curiosity for other cultures and their narratives. The context and society originating them are vital to understand them fully.  My mind always wondered what the difference between Japanese storytelling might be compared the ones I was used to (Italian first, European second). My eyes were taking in the glamour of anime and manga designs, transfixed. They were so different from the cartoons I used to watch from France or the United States! Also, I kept asking myself how or why some characters wore a particular type of clothes, had specific quirks, colours or behaviours. That rough analysis was the beginning of something bigger. I started to delineate patterns throughout stories, some kind of fil rouge that helped connect the dots. The characters came from a specific culture, with a specific background and a specific history, like every country on Earth. They were also based on traditional th...

  Have you ever felt the primal need to create, to draw, to write? The  aesthetic  invading your thoughts, the love of beauty. An image stuck in your mind that needs to be set free.    Famous manga author  Noda Ayako , whose most known work is  Double , winner of the 2020 manga excellence award at the 23rd JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL held by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, writes her BLs under a pseudonym:  Arai Niboshiko . I will focus on her 2014 work,  Adana o kure , or as the original cover states,  Give me a nickname , published by onBLUE comics .  It has been translated into English by Yamada Emi and is available on  Futekiya . I have purchased a physical copy, but you can use any website that offers digital manga for rent or purchase. I used my digital copy purchased from  Renta  for all the pictures you see.   This review contains  spoilers  and  depictions and/or discussions of sexu...

  I have abandoned this blog for too long, counting almost two years on the dot. However, a lot has happened since my last review! I got into a PhD program, and I am indeed focusing on queer representation in Japanese animation and comics; I published a book on the same topic (it is in Italian, but maybe one day I will translate some chapters or some extracts); I presented a section of my research at a university for the first time; I am writing a paper (this will be in English, so maybe I will share a link lol); I have added links on the sidebar to two articles I published on online animanga news sites! I have not been slacking off!! I swear!! However, I thought I could not keep writing twenty pages for each review I wanted to make: it takes a lot of time, and many people prefer shorter insights. I do not mind the idea of writing less, but I will have to keep my you-must-know-everything-about-this-topic monster at bay, or I will never complete anything. I remember some...