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Tag: JRock

Lolita in JRock: What’s Up with That?

If we’re going to have a quick discussion on Lolita and how it pertains to JRock, I suppose we have to talk about what it is first. Historically, the term Lolita can be referenced back to a book. Wikipedia says,  “Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian. The book is internationally famous for its innovative style and infamous for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, middle-aged Humbert Humbert, who becomes obsessed and sexually involved with a 12-year-old girl named Dolores Haze.”

Okay, so the first “Lolita” was a fictitious, 12-year-old, sexually active girl who had a thing for much older men. Got it.

Anyone who knows anything about JRock and anime culture knows that “Lolita” is a term for a certain type of fashion – frilly, lacey dresses that are similar to something you’d see in “Gone with the Wind”, but have a decided sexually provocative and sometimes Gothic flare to them and we’ve seen some of our favorite JRockers sporting these dresses on stage. It sprung up amongst the Visual Kei (Visual Style, translated) thing back in the late 1980s, when all rock stars at least wore make-up. Except, the Japanese took this to an extreme.

I’ve personally seen many a woman wearing a Lolita outfit at an anime/yaoi con and I must say I’ve investigated getting one for myself to wear on Halloween, my favorite holiday. A forty-something mother of two wearing a Gothic Lolita outfit for anything but Halloween seems a bit strange, dont’ you think? Not that I’m above that, LOL. There are also many an anime in which boys are forced to wear princess outfits that look suspiciously similar to Lolita outfits. Hmmm…

So how did this 12-year-old-girl named Dolores inspire a fashion culture in Japan that culimnated in cross-dressing Japanese rock musicians? I have no idea. But I do know one thing, it’s both intriguing and just plain silly, at least in my opinion. I have to say, I find these Japanese cross-dressing rock stars courageous. There is no way any respectable American rock musician would have the balls to prance around onstage with his guitar in a Lolita dress. Okay, maybe Marilyn Manson… but do you really want to see that? I think the closest we did get to seeing something like that was Boy George in the 80s, LOL.

My main question here becomes: what’s up with Lolita fashion and male JRockers? Are the Japanese really insane? Are they just doing these things to make us say, “What the fuck?” I’m laughing to myself on that one. I’d love to hear your comments and views on the subject. Do you like it, hate it, want to be it?

My Top 10 Anime Opening JRock Songs

Okay, so I have updated my site, finally, after enduring much mental anguish because of a crashed hard drive:( That’s a whole blog in itself… and I’m still waiting to get my data back so I can finish my next book >.<

But, I did post on Twitter and Facebook about another blog that listed the “10 Best Anime Songs” and most of these songs were not to my taste, so I thought I would do my own. Granted, this is really hard because I like so many, but I’m giving it a shot. So here goes. Remember, I am no music critic. I like what I like and that’s about it. So please forgive some of my lamer comments, LOL. Let me know what you think!

Honorable Mention: Gundam 00 – Daybreak’s Bell by L’arc en Ciel

 

This song captures Gundum 00 so well, it’s just stunning. But I already have a place for a L’arc en Ciel song… alas…

10. D Gray Man – Innocent Sorrow by Abingdon Boys School

 

I just found this song (because I’m stupid and I just found D Gray Man, LOL) and it’s fast becoming a favorite.

9. Gankutsuou – We Were Lovers by Jean-Jaques Bernel

Okay, so not a JRock song specifically, but a very beautiful song for a really well-done anime. The artwork is fantastic and let’s face it, it’s yaoi:)

8.  Full Metal Alchemist –  Ready Steady Go by L’Arc en Ciel

This was the song that started it all for me. I literally fell in love with JRock after hearing this song for the first time and I’ve never looked back. I even stayed up one night until 4am turning this song into a ring tone for my old Motorola Razr cell phone. Yes, I’m that dedicated;) Thank you, L’arc en Ciel!

7. Bleach – Life is Like a Boat by Rie Fu

If you’ve never heard the full version of this beautiful song, you’re missing out.

6.  Casshern Sins – Aoi Hana by Color Bottle

What can I say? Awesome artwork and a very angst-ridden plot, but a happy sounding song. I have to say I listen to this song pretty much every day right now…

5. Death Note – The World by Nightmare

Ah, a cool song for an anime that has some of the best artwork ever (my opinion). I love the way the music gives you a feel for the story and how the opening follows it.

4. Blood + – Season’s Call by Hyde

Um… Hyde is a vampire, isn’t he?  This was also a ring tone of mine, he he he. I love Hyde’s voice…

3. Blood Trinity – Dress by Buck Tick

This song says vampire all over it. Haunting. Perfect. And love that bass line!

2. Bleach – D-Technolife by Uverworld

Just a plain cool song. The way they pull off the changes in tempo in the full version is awesome. They used this song back before Bleach turned into Inuyasha and had a million episodes that were all the same – just a new character to fight:( Sorry, but I got a bit tired of Bleach…

1. Ergo Proxy – Kiri by Monoral

I will never tire of this song and I must say this is in my top three all time favorite animes. The song fits the anime so well, it’s uncanny. The plot is just like the song – philosophical, dark and brooding and put together so well, every time I play it for my non-JRock friends, they all stop and listen in awe of it’s greatness:)

Are Anime Stories Better Than Hollywood? + Comments and Contest Winner;)

I’ll just get the “business” part over before hitting on today’s topic, if you don’t mind.

Yay!!! My comments finally work! I freakin reuploaded everything only to find out I did some disastrous boo-boo in setting up my page links, causing my comment dilemma. I’m over it. Moving on…

Congratulations to Lakisha for being the ebook winner at my “Grand Opening”! If you all are interested, I wrote everyone’s name down on a folded peice of paper and then had my younger son pick from a hat. Yep, that’s how it’s done.

Now on to the topic of the day:

Are anime stories better than Hollywood?

I just purchased and watched Avatar for the second time and I’m telling you, if there weren’t some MAJOR anime themes in that movie, well, slap me silly if you can find me.

I think to start off this discussion, we need to look at what anime stories have made it to Hollywood (and I may not list them all, I’m a bit delirious from figuring out my comment problem, LOL)

 

 

  • Astro Boy
  • Speed Racer
  • Transformers
  • DragonBall Z
  • Avatar – The Last Airbender (due out this summer, I believe)

Ooo, who slipped that Dragon Ball Z Yaoi pic in there???

There are talks of bringing more over here for live action film every day (take a look at some of my recent tweets…). I can think of “Ghost in the Shell” and I’ve recently heard something about “Bleach”! Yeah, that’s right.

Though I’d really like to see them try and do Full Metal Alchemist – who’d play Edward Elric? Hmmm, maybe that dude who played Jasper in Twilight? Oh, Oh, kinky thoughts…Roy could be Gackt with his new black hair;)

So why are all these big Hollywood film makers turning to anime? Is it that they’ve run our of murder mystery with cops, alien invasion, cutesy romantic comedy ideas? I think so. And I also think the story lines in anime are quite well developed and out of the box, so to speak. Maybe it’s the Japanese culture  and the exotic background that makes for such great story fodder. Now if we could only avoid some of the Hollywood gone anime disasters, like Dragon Ball Z… If only Hollywood would find a way to keep what’s so special in our anime special and not glam up the characters or reduce the intensity of the plot and let us in America see the drama, the heartache, the loyalty exhibited by our anime characters and not water them down for our namby-pamby American audience. Let’s show them what real anime is about and take it out of the “comic book geek” realm into the real worlds the anime depict. I do have a lot of hope for Avatar – The Last Airbender. But so help me God if they make that movie in any way cartoonish – and you know what I mean (*cough*, Speed Racer), I’ll shave my head. Okay, maybe I won’t, but I’ll do something rash, like write yet another blog about how Hollywood sucks. So there. Make it like Avatar, the movie, please…