A few (ongoing) notes about the new J-List website:
- remember, subscriptions (both magazine and snacks) and game downloads are currently removed from the new J-List site, but they will return soon (sorry for the delay)
If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr, you know I’m quite a fan of yuri, the genre of anime, manga and games that explores the drama and/or comedy created when girls fall in love with other girls. So I’m naturally watching the third season of YuruYuri, the fun show about girls in junior high school who do cute things cutely. In the show, each girl is secretly in love with another girl, with everyone plotting a way to win that person’s heart one day, which makes for plenty of entertaining hi-jinx. One popular source for anime are 4-koma (4-panel) manga comics, whose characters and stories are expanded into a more properly developed story to fit the anime series format. Some of the most successful shows of the past decade (Lucky Star, Working!!, K-On!) have followed this hallowed path, which is especially suited for the slice-of-life genre.
As usual, it’s fun to trace the evolution of cute visual gags that animators use to express emotions in their characters. When Sailor Moon became popular in the U.S. in the early 90s, the trend was to show a character who was upset by animating a “sweat drop” above their head, which must have confused fans back in the day. As the years rolled on, the visual gags creators employ have changed. These days, blue shadows appearing above main characters’ foreheads are quite common, as are random blue lines, or sometimes a blue haze, to show a character in a difficult situation. One of my favorites visual images is when Ebina-chan from Himouto! Umaru-chan gets so shy that steam starts coming out of the top of her head…it’s just so cute to watch.
J-List is famous for several things, from our “Looking for a Japanese Girlfriend” kanji T-shirt to Tentacle Grape. Our customers also love the fuku-bukuro grab bags we sell every year. This year we’ve decided to start the ecchi grab bags a little earlier than normal, and we’ve posted the first one now, filled with great goodies your more perverted customers will like. We’ll get the PG grab bags posted to the site in the coming weeks.
