The Pros and Cons of Being an Otaku *Author’s note: Some stories in the essay are made up, so please read carefully. Glady (a pseudonym) is a quasi-otaku. That is, he does not really understand what the latter part of the word means, yet he considers himself one of them. In his belief that the Japanese-originated word is similar in meaning to the phrase “a hardcore fan”, which is someone fully devoted to something he admires or even idolizes, he is convinced of his being qualified to search through his miniature grey cells grouping inside his head to find out the boons and boos of living an anime-led life. The following is a rearrangement of his findings, categorized into the advantages and the disadvantages of the stated status. According to Glady, the word “advantages” must always be in plural form when it involves an anime-related issue. However, it is amusing to watch Glady’s report of his research. He listed a hundred benefits of watching anime, among which I handpicked the most important ones. Here are two most essential and convincing reason he could provide. His first claim is that enjoying a heart-soothing anime—a word meaning Japanese animations, in case you have been wondering—has healing power. Sometimes, just watching a captured frame or listening to a song from an anime like “Ojamajo Doremi” or “Onegai, My Melody.” makes one feel like having dozens of alpha waves in his brain. His next proof of the Japanese stories’ deserving a place in his heart is that they have helped his getting along with things in the “real” world. For example, a well-known story as seemingly lighthearted as “Doraemon” is in fact full of lessons for the audience, such as Nobita’s rare independency from Doraemon’s tool. Various stories do *teach people various morals, at least to him. On the other hand, Glady has only two disadvantages of being an “anime geek” (or “anime savvy”, or whatever he called it, without caring whether it is *grammatically correct) to present. Bless him. The first “small inconvenience” noted by Glady is the physical pain resulting from sitting stiffly in front of a rectangular monitor. Eye and body irritation (Yes, the whole body too.) are common after two or three hours’ playing. What’s more, there is emotional stress, particularly guilt. Bearing in his mind that he has duties to do, he couldn’t really feel relaxed at all, even in his free time or holiday’s session. He sincerely wishes that these two troubles vanish; still, he can’t get rid of them (or he would not have written them in the report). As one could conclude from Glady’s studied life, every coin—in this case labeled “2D rules.” —has two sides. We must admit that a cartoon may do some people harm. A *child spending all his time sitting in front of some sort of virtual world interpreter deserves to be pitied, yet he should not expect anything really cool to come out of it. After all, he is (unfortunately) living in another world and is not “with” his favorite characters, and his only way to communicate with them is by watching, an act whose quality is rarely interactive. However, there are loads of people, having fallen in love with some 2-dimensional Homo sapiens, who ultimately realized their potentials because of them, also. One of Glady’s friends discovered his loving mathematics through his repeated readings of some special episodes of Doraemon. In conclusion, the thing that really matters is what one does with the stories in his hand, not what the stories is about nor the time one spends watching them. ».Å. ¶éҶ١㨢ͷԻÊÑ¡¹Ô´¹Ð¤ÃѺ   Create Date : 29 ¡Ã¡®Ò¤Á 2552     0 comment Last Update : 7 µØÅÒ¤Á 2554 22:04:44 ¹.     Counter : 1236 Pageviews.   Share Tweet

Upon the Differences between Ravenclaw and Slytherin Students ***For most Harry Potter fans, the difference between “smart” Ravenclaw students and “mischievous” Slytherin ones seems too obvious; however, looking at how the Sorting Hat defined each house in Philosopher’s Stone, it is not so vivid that one can be so sure about how they differ. The Hat said the Ravenclaws have “…a steady mind,/ Where those of wit and learning,/ Will always find their kind;” while the Slytherins are “Those cunning folk [who] use any means,/ To achieve their ends.” So, what is the difference between “wit” and “cunning”? The two major differences can be illustrated in two points: the “unit” they act for and the way they do to get to their target. What the former point means is as follows. The educational heirs of Rowena Ravenclaw know that their intelligence is to be used to help others. Ravenclaw, the co-founder of Hogwarts has used a tricky, yet honest and smart, way to teach her students her opinion. While other houses’ students need to remember a password to get into their dormitory, each of the Ravenclaws has to answer a riddle instead. If he gets the answer wrong, however, he must wait for another student to come to help him. Needless to say, this effectively teaches the young minds the importance of asking for help from others, no matter how clever one is. On the other hand, the Slytherins will act if and only if the action benefits *them. For example, even though Draco Malfoy didn’t want to fulfill his duty of killing Albus Dumbledore, he did fix the gateway in the Room of Requirement to help other Death Eaters to roam Hogwarts. He knew that he would be punished to death if he had refused the job, so he thought he had no choice, which was not true at all. The other striking difference is the “means”, as stated in the Sorting Hat’s song, one uses to reach the goal. When confronted with Dolores Jane Umbridge, a cruel woman disguised herself in pink clothes and sweet voice, some of Ravenclaw students who are brave enough joined Harry and his friends to build Dumbledore’s Army, an organization to teach proper Defense Against the Dark Arts course. The motive is that they want to be “safe” from the Ministry of Magic’s plan to interfere the education at the school. At the same time, however, Malfoy and some other Slytherins chose to take Umbridge’s side out of the very same motive, that is, to be “safe”. Time has demonstrated which choice was morally better. Just these two differences should be enough to show that, even though the Sorting Hat didn’t drew the line between “wit” and “cunning” clearly, we can recognize in the course of reading that there is a clear-cut difference between the Ravenclaws and the Slytherins. In conclusion, according to Dumbledore, it is one’s choice, in this case the “to whom” and “how” **aspects of both house’s students’ deeds, that makes one’s characteristics, not one’s ability. * Corrected by Microsoft Word ** "-s" added later *** A sentence is deleted due to Pantip.com's Nomjin's advice. ».Å. ¶éҶ١㨢ͷԻÊÑ¡¹Ô´¹Ð¤ÃѺ   Create Date : 18 ÁԶعÒ¹ 2552     0 comment Last Update : 7 µØÅÒ¤Á 2554 22:04:57 ¹.     Counter : 1056 Pageviews.   Share Tweet