In Defence of the Term “Waifu”

So usually I am not one to write these types of posts on my blog, but unfortunately this is a topic that has frustrated me and a few others for the past few days.

“You Talkin’ To Me?”: New York and Mental Illness in Taxi Driver [OWLS Blog Tour September 2018 – “Self-Care”]

In favor of positivity and good mental health, we will be exploring the importance of self-care. Sometimes, we are lost in our thoughts and emotions that it can cause a negative impact on our lifestyle and our relationships. For this month’s topic, the OWLS bloggers will be exploring the mental health of pop culture characters and how their mental health affects their environments. We will explore the dangers of mental health illnesses and how it might lead to self-destruction and/or how one has the power to overcome their demons. In addition, we will share our personal stories and struggles about mental health and discuss positive ways in handling mental health issues.

The concept of self-care is twofold: while the word literally means taking care of one’s self, it also involves taking some sort of action when doing so. Whether these actions are positive or negative, there will always be consequences. However, there is also the grey area of whether an action can truly be seen as good or bad. Suicide, for example, can be seen as an example of an action that may fall into the grey area. While, for the most part, suicide is considered a bad decision due to the fact that the person committing it will leave behind their loved ones and their dreams and aspirations, in the mind of the victim, suicide may be the only choice they have left to receive “self-care” [NOTE: I am not advocating for suicide here. As a person who has had suicidal thoughts in the past, I am talking about what thoughts could potentially go on inside a suicidal person’s head]. This idea of what constitutes as “good” or “bad” is one of the driving points of Martin Scorsese’s seminal film, Taxi Driver, which also featured a young Robert De Niro in the titular role.

My Experience With The Battlefield V BETA (PC)

So this past weekend gamers, young and old, got a chance to try out the Battlefield V BETA; a game that has already had its fair share of controversy for various reasons. I, for one, did not care about the controversy and was only focused on the gameplay aspect of it, since Battlefield 1 is one of my favourite FPS games of all time and I wondered how DICE would improve on it. So when the BETA was launched I finally had a chance to find this out for myself and the results are mostly positive.

My Love for Professional Wrestling and Why I’m Not Ashamed of it [OWLS Blog Tour June 2018 – “Pride”]

Welcome, everyone, to my first blog tour for OWLS (Otaku Warriors for Liberty and Self-Respect). For those of you unfamiliar with OWLS:

We are a group of otaku bloggers who promote acceptance of all individuals regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and disability. We emphasise the importance of respect, kindness, and tolerance to every human being. Even though we come from all walks of life, each and every one of our amazing members are dedicated to our cause!

As you can guess from the title, this month’s theme is “Pride”. Below is the prompt that was given to us:

In honor of “Pride Month,” we will be discussing the word, “Pride” and its meaning. We will be exploring pop culture characters’ most satisfying and joyful achievements or skills that they possessed and whether or not these qualities could be seen as a positive or negative aspect in their personal lives and/or society.

So what is pride? Given that it is “Pride Month”, the first thing that comes to mind is queer pride. Pride can also mean the following, according to fellow blogger Matt-in-the-Hat:

Pride is having the abundance of confidence on one’s own skills or traits. People can have pride on certain things like their skills in their hobbies or even their own personality such as being kind or cocky. Showing some pride can be a good thing because it shows how much the person cares about something and it makes them stand out and different.

Today, however, I’m going to play the black sheep of the blog tour and talk about a form of pride that is very personal to me: pride in an interest or fandom. In this case, my love for professional wrestling. On a personal note, this took a lot of courage and self-motivation for me to write about as this is a topic I usually keep to myself.

Dealing With Depression Using Dark Souls

Disclaimer: The views and comments made in this post do not necessarily reflect how other people suffer from depression. Everyone is different and everyone experiences things differently to others. These are purely based on my personal experiences.

Before I start with this personal post of mine, I’m going to try my best not to turn this into a sob story. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been dealing with depression for a very long time. This, naturally, has had an effect on many areas of my life: feeling shy and socially anxious around people (especially women), putting too much pressure on myself due to societal and family expectations, saying negative things to myself when I do something wrong, even if it’s miniscule (“useless”, “idiot”, etc.) and so forth. Luckily, though, I have learned overtime to accept my depression and realise that it’s a part of who I am. By acknowledging this fact, it’s made the coping process a bit easier for me these days. 

Ecchi Then VS Now: What Has Changed?

NOTE: This article contains sexually explicit images. Viewer’s discretion is advised

When one talks about ecchi anime what are the first things that pop into your head? Panty shots? Sexual innuendo? Women in skimpy clothing? Male characters in precarious situations? These are just a few of the many elements that classify an anime as ecchi. While these elements have been mainstays in most ecchi anime, the way they are used today seems to be a bit different compared to late 20th and early 21st Century anime.

Ghost in the Shell: A Stylish, Surprisingly Good Live-Action Adaptation

Like most of us, when we heard this film was being made, I was quite skeptical as to how this would turn out since Hollywood has a tendency to turn every adaptation they touch into shit. On top of that the film also received harsh criticism for its casting, accusing it of “whitewashing”. After hearing mixed responses I decided to go watch it myself and create my own opinions about it. I initially went into this film with low expectations and came out very impressed with what I saw. I did not go into this film with any sort of agenda, I went to watch this film with an open mind and as an anime fan.

My Experience With The Resident Evil 7 Demo

What is the Appeal of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure?

My first blog post for Suitably Bored, a blog I recently became a contributing writer for. Hope you enjoy it 🙂

Drifters: First Impressions

Drifters, to be honest, was the anime that I was looking forward to the most this season. Not only because it is the second series created by Kouta Hirano (Hellsing/Hellsing Ultimate), but I have also previously read the first three manga volumes and was impressed by what I read. What the series does well is incorporate many different historical figures from different time periods and pits them against one another. Historical figures that make an appearance include Joan of Arc, Oda Nobunaga and Rasputin, just to name a few. Figures who you would usually consider “good” may be considered “evil” and vice versa, but their reasoning is left to the audience to decide whether their actions are justifiable or not. Now that the anime has been released will it live up to expectations or fizzle away into the afterlife?