Vending Machines

Japan is always interesting, the country can take something so common and turn it into something so strange. Vending machines are common everywhere around the world, usually in america they will serve food and drinks, but watch as I introduce some strange vending machines that Japan has,
1. Car vending machines
2. Vegetable vending machines
3. Cigarettes vending machines
4. Porn vending machines
5. Egg Vending Machines

All kinds of these different machines are everywhere around Japan most of them are pretty normal selling drinks, food, cigarettes, and other normal items, but once in a while you will see these weird machines in different places. 

During my 10th grade trip to Japan, my friend and I encountered one of those vending machines that sell porn and we comtemplated on buying something but we felt a bit embarrassed to buy porn in such a public place.

Hello Kitty gone to far

So I got food poisoning on Friday which led to an entire day of vomiting and bathroom trips on Saturday...which was great....but during one of my moments getting sick I was reminded of another thing that gets me sick to my stomach. 

And here we have it HELLO KITTY overboard!!!! These are a few items inspired by the Asian cartoon icon.

Hello Kitty Exhaust Pipe

A Hello Kitty themed house

If this does not prove obsession I am not sure what will...

There are so much more interesting hello kitty items all over the world, thousands and thousands of ordinary household items have been inspired by this cutesy Asian cartoon character. Of course the obsession exists here as well, but in Japan and Taiwan you see girls completely covered in hello kitty items.

Genre Pt2

Mystery: Titles that involve unexplained events, main characters will attempt to find the causes of it.
Psychological: Titles that deal with the philosophy of a state of mind in most cases detailing abnormal psychology.
Romance: Any love related story.
School Life: Having a major setting of the story deal with some type of school.
Sci-Fi: Science fiction, titles involving twists on technology and other science related phenomena which are contrary or stretches of the modern day scientific world.
Seinen: Titles meant for young men targets the age 18-25, has stories that address issues of adulthood.
Shotacon: Representing a sexual attraction to young or under-age boys.
Shoujo: Work intended for females involves a lot of romance and strong character development.
Shoujo Ai: Less extreme version of Yuri "Girl Love"
Shounen: Work intended for males involves a lot of fighting and/or violence.
Shounen Ai: Less extreme version of Yaoi "Boy Love"
Slice of Life: A genre representing day to day tribulations of one or many characters. Challenges or events can happen in real life and the stories are usually but no all the time, mirroring our own world and timeline.
Smut: Deals with series that are profane or offensive, particularly with regards to sexual content.
Sports: Titles that are related to plots involving sports
Supernatural: Titles where amazing and unexplained powers or events that defy the laws of physics happen.
Tragedy: Titles that contain events that result in a great loss misfortune.
Yaoi: Titles about relationships between guys
Yuri: Titles about relationships between girls

Now thats the end of all the genres.
Most works fall under a few of these genres at a time, because some of them can work with each other, now I hope this helps remove the fear that some people have of unknown genres and will entice people into reading new titles.

Genres Pt1

So as I was reading some random mangas this week I have realized how hard it is for people to get past all the mainstream manga titles and really enjoy all kinds of manga. The main problem here is not that mainstream titles are just that good or its hard to find other titles. The problem with the whole situation is that people do not understand the other genres because of this so many titles are passed on.
An understanding of most people is that if I do not know what this is than I probably will not want to read it. Now there are people who do look towards new and different titles, but not that many.
I am going to list some genres and give a quick description of each:
Action: Titles that entitle fighting, violence, chaos, and fast paced movement.
Adult: Titles that have content meant for adults, usually has intense violence or graphic sexual content and nudity.

Adventure: plots that have to do with characters going on an adventure or something like it.
Comedy: Any manga that has humorous situation or satirical in tone, usually has happy resolutions.
Doujinshi: Fan based work that is inspired by official anime or manga, not to be grouped with original works
Drama: Titles that bring emotional responses. instilling sadness or tension.
Ecchi: Titles borderline hentai and non hentai, ecchi will refer to fan service put in to attract a certain group of fans.
Fantasy: Any titles that involve but not limited to magic, dream world, fairy tales, myths
Gender Bender: Male characters dressed up as girls or turning into girls or Female characters dressing up as guys or turning into guys.
Harem: Titles involving one male or one female character surrounded by many characters of the opposite sex.
Historical: Titles having to do with old or ancient times.
Horror: Titles associated with stories of fear or shock, painful emotions of dread, terror, detestation, and abhorrence.
Josei: Targets woman 18-30 romance is less idealized and more realistic, the stories are explicit and mature.
Lolicon: Represents a sexual attraction to young or under age girls
Martial Arts: Titles with a martial arts theme.
Mature: Contains subjects that are too extreme for people under the age of 17, may contain intesne violence, blood and gore, sexual content, or strong language.
Mecha: Titles with large robotic machine themes.

To be continued for rest of the genres....