Everyone at J-List is super happy because we’re only two days away from the San Diego Comic-Con, one of our favorite conventions. We’ll have a big booth this year, with lots of great anime figures, plush toys, hentai grab bags, plus some secret items were working on now. We hope to see you in San Diego at booth 4929!
It’s nice to see anime series that have a totally new kind of story to tell. One show I started following is Koi to Uso (Love and Lies), the story of a Japan in the near future in which, to combat the country’s low birthrate, everyone is assigned a marriage partner by the government at age 16…whether they want to marry that person or not. Main character Yukari has had a crush on classmate Misaki for years, and she returns his feelings, but when he’s assigned by the government to marry the wealthy-but-cold Lilina instead, everything becomes complex. Lilina (also known as “best girl”) has no idea what love is, and asks Yukari to tell her about his feelings for Misaki, so she can understand the concept better. So far it’s a well-done series, with lots of romantic drama promised in future episodes. I also like the art style, which is fresh and unique in a slightly weird way. So, will you be watching Koi to Uso?
The other day I was browsing the Internet for discussions about Japan, and came across a post asking, “Is Japanese society oppressive?” I decided to ask my half-Japanese, half-American daughter what she thought on the subject, and she laughed out loud, saying, “Of course Japan’s society is oppressive, with everyone expecting kids to behave a certain way all the time.” While I understand how my daughter, and many of the Japanese students I used to teach English to, could tend to see Japan in that light, with so many rules to follow and school uniforms to wear, and (to a degree) pressure on young people enter certain kinds of careers, I’m not sure I agree. I’d personally describe Japan as more “ordered” than America, with invisible “grooves” that people in society are expected to click into…though many choose not to, like a guy I know who gave up his English teaching job to make a company selling anime on the Internet, and many others. One way of comparing Japan and America are the documents you create when applying for a job. Japan uses standardized forms called 履歴書 rireki-sho into which you fill out all your information: name, address, blood type, past school work history, plus hobbies. In America, we have open-ended résumés which seem to require years of design layout experience in order to create, at least as seen from Japan.
(One excellent anime series that can give insight into the pressures Japanese young people and adults find themselves under is ReLIFE, about a young man gets a second chance to return high school. It’s the kind of serious show fans say they want more of, then don’t support properly when it comes along. I recommend you check it out!)
It never fails: every time the J-List stuff gets done posting a batch of gorgeous new anime figures to the site, other batch Thecomes in the next day. We stock hundreds of amazing repeated figures from Japan, and you get 10% off instantly when you order. Browse our newest stock now!
