A short musing upon animé

Japanese culture has had a giant impact on Western culture lately.

I'm not sure why this is. Maybe the arrival of Pokémon and its accompanying television series kicked the door in for animé in general.

Either way, you can't walk down the streets nowadays without seeing someone dressed like they think they're a Japanese animé character.

It wasn't such a problem a few years ago when this was more of a niche thing, and when it was only gamers going to conventions who dressed like Final Fantasy characters.

But these days everyone's into it. And again, this isn't really a problem either.

Trends, be they idiotic or not, come and go and it's not the fault of the few originals that the trends happen.

Just ask Ian Mackaye, who basically invented straight-edge and emo by accident and has spent the ensuing twenty-odd years distancing himself from it.

The thing I dislike about it is how everybody seems to be so completely okay with what goes on in the TV shows and films that most of these people love.

These shows are unrelentingly bizarre and yet nobody seems to notice this.

Down to the very basic elements of Japanese animation, there are things that make no sense to us, like the way they constantly beat each other over the head with fans. I for one don't think a fan would hurt that much, but what do I know.

There's the fact that every single boy looks like a girl. Or at least, they certainly don't look like boys.

And the unsettling fact that every girl is ridiculously proportioned, disturbingly young yet also pubescent, and wearing preposterously revealing clothing.

But it's not even all of that that I'm talking about, it's the weirdness that goes one step further than that.

It's the Cat Bus in (I think) My Neighbour Totero.

It's the weird tree creature projectile vomiting in a film that I think was Spirited Away, but I forget.

I saw on (I think) Cowboy Bebop, blood dripping downwards slowly out of a giant hanging eyeball.

Pokémon, which consists of tiny monsters living in balls that you keep in your pocket, is practically USUAL next to that!

And I could handle all this weirdness were it not for the fact that all of these things just whistle by and animé fans don't react. They don't say 'that was totally weird, but it was awesome nonetheless.' They just accept it.

So stop it. Grr.

Leggings.

Sorry, Olivia, but...

Fashion is stupid.

Fashions as far back as... forever, have been stupid. People will do anything to be in style, and this has led to some utterly idiotic trends in the past.

Look no farther than any 1980s music video, each one a horrifying collision of asymmetrical haircuts, neon and chain-link fences, to see my point.

There was a period where I thought that our generation had squeaked by without too many hideously embarassing trends to look back on in a few years.

But then emo happened.

(No, not emo, emo!).

But no, as if floppy fringes and idiotically tight skinny jeans weren't enough, this year's dumb fashion choice du jour is... leggings.

Leggings.

That is to say, tights, but a bit thicker.

Everywhere you look now, people are wearing leggings and thinking that constitutes being fully dressed from the waist down.

And not just scandalously short dresses and leggings, either. I'm starting to see people wearing cardigans and leggings and thinking this means they're decent.

How is this possible? Leggings leave exactly nothing to the imagination. It's ridiculous.

I hesitate to use the phrase which properly describes it, but let's just say we're seeing a lot of outlines to things we shouldn't be seeing without at least paying for dinner first.

Honestly, I feel embarassed being near people wearing them. I seriously feel like I should avert my eyes the entire time.

It's like being shoved into the girls' locker room against your will, all the time.

So come on girls. Show some class. Leggings are not trousers, they are leggings. You're supposed to wear something over them.