Nakama Britannica

Despite the academic tone of this articles title, and my rhetoric (which is usually inevitable), I have noticed that the majority of the articles on our blog recently have taken to the same format, so I’ll be staying away from quotation marks or overly critical statements for the duration of this latest monologue.
One thing that [...]

Lately, I’ve been reading a flood of essays tackling anime and escapism. Meditating on the latter, it’s clear that this subject is essentially very personal, if just because the word ‘escapism’ implies that the viewer has something to escape from. Of course, there is nothing new about that idea, as everyone slips into dreams every and now then, be it occasionally dragging ourselves to the local cinema, sitting for a few hours reading a book or spending an entire evening in-front of the TV. All of that is escapism too, and it’s exactly the same as enjoying hours of Japanese cartoons, just not as eccentric. But, after all, that’s an important distinction to make, as, in the deepest depths of our hearts, I think most of us yearn to be a part of the collective, to be (seen as) normal, but fact is, anime isn’t normal; it’s niche, foreign and strange.

First, and before all else, whether you’re Gothic or not, whether you like Gothic culture or not, I hope you will read and enjoy this article for its emotional and philosophical weighing of a fairly significant modern subculture. Article proper:
There is currently a topic on the forums of Nakama Britannica’s sister site, AnimeUKNews, asking whether [...]

After being lured into anime fandom through hard-edged science fiction and edge-of-your-seat action-fests I’ve always wondered how exactly I started to gravitate towards the whimsical drama and slice-of-life drama; my DVD collection and watch lists have taken on a split personality of sorts with the gritty thrillers and cyberpunk on one hand and mellow realistic [...]

As an anime fan, it’s not often that I say this, but lately, I’ve been watching a lot of live action US TV. My current favourite is The Wire, and at the moment, I’d much rather watch that than, say, Macross Frontier, Soul Eater or Code Geass. The funny thing is, four, maybe even five, years ago; my opinion was almost polar opposite. I was absolutely sick of US TV and about ready to claim anime as God’s own genre. During that era, I’d watch almost anything; Gainax’s mind-numbingly average This Ugly Yet Beautiful World remains probably the worst anime I’ve actually sat through from beginning ’til end. What a waste of time.

Warning: Spoilers below
As if heroes and villains were so straight forward, if only the world was black and white. Anyone who reads comic books will know that a hero’s path is never a simple one. When I first watched Death Note, I always thought of Light as the villain of the story. Light is our [...]

One of the more interesting debates I’ve read lately was kicked off when the UK’s first and only dedicated anime TV channel “Anime Central” invited the so-called crème of British cosplayers to strut their wares on digital television in front our derisive nation. Though many of the UK’s long-suffering elite were excited by this, just as many were horrified; not as much by the cosplay itself, but rather the anticipated reaction from random outsiders (themselves potential anime fans) only too willing to rip-the-enthusiasm out of the inescapably “geeky-looking” anime addicts.

No one believes me when I say I used to be a tomboy, I read far too much fluffy shojo manga for anyone to believe that! Shojo for those who don’t know is girls manga with storylines about romance, friendship and er… a bit of scandal. As I get a lot of requests from AUKN forum [...]

A lot has been said about the current crop of anime airing in Japan; some have described it as the worst ever, but then, someone will always say that anyway! What is clear is that there is no massive franchise sweeping all before it; there is nothing as well-animated and as thoroughly entertaining as Death [...]

Thinking up the topic for todays article wasn’t the hardest task in the world. All I had to do was look to my right and stare blankly at my shelves chock full of DVD’s. The question I propose to you in this article is “What is the purpose behind a collection? What do you get [...]