Japanese Manga vs Korean Webtoons: The war is on

I have never been able to understand the popularity of K-pop and K-drama that has taken India by storm in recent times. It even has a term, Hallyu, which in Chinese translates to Korean wave.  I have never listened to K-pop and did not know about BTS, one of the most popular Korean boy bands,…

Isekai boom and recommendation algorithm that is keeping it relevant

Isekai boom that started in the 2000s is here to stay. But not for the reasons we think and not in Japan. In many ways it has technology to thank for.

Hayao Miyazaki, the king of dreams and madness from Japan

As journalists, we all have that one personality that we would love to interview. Think of tech celebrities such as Steve Jobs, Elon Musk or maybe even Jack Ma (if we know where he is first), but not limited to them. You get the drift right? People who had humble beginnings, who are visionaries, and…

From Kabedon to Wabi-Sabi and Ikigai, the beauty of Japanese language

How many languages do you know that has a word for every damn thing? I mean like literally everything. I know one – Japanese.  The language, based on my elementary proficiency and reading popular literature, has a vocabulary so wide that it makes me wonder if there are any situations that cannot be described by…

How do Asian comics portray single women in their 30s?

There are three friends, women (29), who were friends right from their high school. They are at different stages of life, more or less. Let us name them Akira, Baka and Caito Akira has never been able to get a permanent job and the boyfriend she has been dating for four years is not looking…

Is Japan’s celibacy syndrome is driving the wild fantasy about male pregnancy there?

After omegaverse, a parallel world where men can give birth, I am recently into the genre of manga, where we are living in the world where humans have suffered mutation.  So people have grown animal ears and tails and also men can give birth.  These two are similar in a way that men can give…

The world of Omegaverse, where a man can give birth!

After more than a decade of reading manga, I was pretty confident that I knew everything that is to know about the world of manga and its genres including sub-genres.  Be it Isekai, where people are transported to a whole different world after their death (a reincarnation of sorts), Doujinshi (a parody of popular manga…

Kabedon, an act of romance or dominance?

When you are reading a shoujo manga (Japanese comics) there are certain things, lets term them phenomenon, that are common and becomes a rage over a period of time. Kabedon is one such phenomenon and went on to become much more than that. What is kabedon? Let me explain you with a scene. Recently I…

My favourite mangakas

What is the difference between having a favourite manga and a favourite author? Lame question. Of course everyone knows that you like a manga because it is good and you like the author because you love two or more of his/her works. Well I have a lot of manga I love (I would have read…

Setsubun, where you throw beans so hard that it might hurt

I was reading this comedy manga ‘Baby Kokoro no Mama ni’, a Japanese comic that follows the story of a college student Ryuji, his one-sided love interest and baby Kokoro who seems to be attached to him. In the manga, Ryuji says: “Ah I feel bad for all the fathers in Japan today.” I wondered…

A Waifu and A Wife, for the 2D and 3D world

I love Joichirou Saiba, the genius Chef from the manga Shokugeki no Soma and father of the title character Soma. This guy rarely makes an appearance in the story. But whenever he does, boy does he make it count. Joichirou is an amazing Chef, whose dishes are so heavenly that it gives you an orgasm…

Naruto is more about relationships than about ninja and their jutsu

Naruto. If you are an anime lover, there is no way you would not know about Naruto, which follows the story of a teenage ninja. Naruto would probably have been the first anime most caught on to during their teenage years and before they knew it they were hooked and continued to watch well into…