AN ANIME EXPLANATION
Will our aspiring lovers overcome the chocolate disaster and find happiness? Can they overcome this trauma and bring new life into the world? Or is the Nikkei doomed to endless fear of population decline driven deflation?
XV. The Second Regression
Our lovers had come so close, only to be cruelly cast back into despair. The weeks leading up to final exams are filled with tears, occasional angry outbursts, and awkwardness among the circle of friends. Nothing the friends say or do can penetrate either her despair and guilt, or his anger at what can only be seen as a deliberate slight. Everything now depends on the friend group, they have a hard deadline of White Day to get the couple back on track or the romance is doomed.
Looming final exams add difficulty to the task, but do offer an avenue to pierce the fog of self-absorption, if the couple’s friends are devoted enough they will insist on reviving the study group, and will guilt the couple into participation. If the friends are insufficiently devoted all will end in despair at this stage.
XVI. The Second Study Group
If the friends manage to get the couple to the study group, things will go smoothly. Seeing each other in this setting will revive the love suffocating under guilt, fear and anger, and with a little effort by the friends to get conversations rolling, and keep them going, our heroine will tearfully explain the disaster, the gourmet chef friend will describe the chocolates that were spoiled in superlative terms, our hero will experience a simultaneous relief from his anger and despair, and overwhelming sympathy for the trauma our heroine has endured, and our romance is back on track!
XVII. Pre White Day Gift Shopping
Our hero sets out to find the perfect gift. Unfortunately, despite having known our heroine for a couple of weeks short of a year at this point, he will inevitably find that he has no clue what to gift her. To overcome this failing he will enlist the aid of one of the other girls in the friend group. He will choose the girl the heroine is secretly worried that he likes. There is nothing that can be done to avoid this error.
The hero and his companion will now set out to the local shopping center, and will explore a variety of shops, probably including a lingerie shop. The trip to the lingerie shop will not be directly related to the quest for a White Day gift, but will result from the need of the companion, the companion’s sister, or the hero’s sister for a new brassiere, or the companion’s mischievous desire to tease the hero by making him tell her what he thinks of various risqué garments. This will be observed by the heroine, who is either from coincidence, or paranoia at an earlier sighting of her crush with her attractive friend, immediately outside the lingerie shop.
Following this the shoppers will find a shop that sells tchotchkes, and will select a decorative strap, hair pin, or cell phone case. This may seem kind of lame to western observers, but rest assured these items have deep meaning for Japanese school girls. The inevitability of the gift taking one of these three forms, and their ubiquity in tchotchke shops may raise questions as to the need for the companion’s advice, but it’s best to just roll with this lest the reader delve too deeply into anime psychology and awaken that lurking horror, that greatest of sex-life banes, greater even than being someone who gets this allusion, the buried weeaboo in the reader’s soul.
XVIII. White Day Confession
The stage is set, our hero has passed through trials and triumphs; he has the perfect gift; the traditional day is upon him, and he has steeled himself to confess his love! Various delays, interruptions by clueless classmates, demands by teachers that our hero, or our heroine deliver items to some out of the way part of the school, and chance encounters with monsters, gods or demons will push the confession further and further back in the day, but eventually, after all hope seems lost, the hero will encounter the heroine on the roof of the school (an important, if generally forbidden, meeting place for young couples)
The gift will be given, and with a stuttering start, the hero will confess his love. (It is also possible that the heroine will independently decide to confess her love in this meeting, which will involve the two excitedly talking over each other and then coming to an agreement as to who can speak first, but such details are unimportant.)
The heroine (or hero if the speech order worked out in a more feminist direction) will hear the words, and initially be overjoyed, but doubts will creep in because apparently the words “I love you, please go out with me” in Japanese can also mean, “I like you but have no interest in dating you,” and even in extreme cases “I kind of dislike you and only hang out with you because we have friends in common,” it is at this point that the heroine’s observation of the hero with the companion during the shopping excursion comes into play.
The doubts and jealousy sown by that encounter will rise up and no matter how clearly the hero tries to convey his desire to move the relationship along toward eventual naughty time, the heroine will reflect on her obvious inferiority in sexual charm to said companion and interpret his words as a statement that he has no romantic interest in her, and just wants to be friends.
It is possible that the roles can be switched here, but such details are ultimately unimportant, since the heroine will express her acceptance of her perceived friend zoning by going ahead and confessing her own love, saying something like “I love you and desperately want you to take me right here on this rooftop, but I know you like me in a different way, so I accept that.” A sentence in Japanese which apparently can also be translated as “I know you love me dearly and want me sexually, but I am really not into you that way, so let’s just be friends.”
Thus the confession of love and desire, while clear and entirely mutual will be received on both ends as rejection.
XIX. Finals and Return to Go
White Day is March 14, fortunately for our couple this is a week or two before final exams and therefore the misery they, and their confused friends, endure as a result of this linguistic quirk will be somewhat dulled by the necessity of getting through the tests. Our lovebirds, despite having been head over heels in love for most of the year enter Spring Break still no closer to the bedroom than the prior year.
****
3. Interlude the Third
Again I remind my audience that it is important as we follow this relationship from beginning to baby not to get too involved with our couple. Emotional connection will just leave us unhappy as this process seems interminable to western sensibilities. Accordingly I have broken it up into several parts to allow my audience to digest the material in more manageable lessons. This also allows me to turn one really long submission into multiple shorter ones to help with the lack of content being submitted.
****
He should take up the way of the sword. Spend ten years sweeping the sidewalk in front of the master’s house awaiting an invitation to enter.
I’m just here for the anime tiddies.
Good. It’s not just me.
Hey that’s my schtick!
PG tiddies or X tiddies? PG I recommend Fairy Tail, much fan service, mixed with explosions.
rest assured these items have deep meaning for Japanese school girls.
*backs toward door*
This. Our schoolgirls are bad enough. I can hardly imagine the depth of girliness of Japanese ones.
Was Hello Kitty originally a Japanese thing?
Mochiron desu!
Was Hello Kitty originally a Japanese thing?
Yes, but quickly popular through Asia and the rest of the world.
because apparently the words “I love you, please go out with me” in Japanese can also mean, “I like you but have no interest in dating you,” and even in extreme cases “I kind of dislike you and only hang out with you because we have friends in common,”
Ouch
Thus the confession of love and desire, while clear and entirely mutual will be received on both ends as rejection.
There seems to be an excess of ambivalence and ambiguity in the Japanese lingo.
Direct is rude and overbearing
“Direct is rude and overbearing.”
So…rational adult.
Different cultures, different norms.
Our hero sets out to find the perfect gift. Unfortunately, despite having known our heroine for a couple of weeks short of a year at this point, he will inevitably find that he has no clue what to gift her.
Aren’t there standard gifts for White Day?
Korea follows up Valentine’s Day and White Day on April 14 with Black Day for everyone not in a relationship.
Frequently white colored foods.
I never pondered but you’ve got giri choco and honmei choco. I assume this is reflected in the ホワイトデー return.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giri_choco
I misread that at first as “Girl choco”.
It’s the honmei that comes with the girl
In the words of philosopher Avril Lavigne:
“Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?”
/also applies to yesterday’s navel gazer about men.
First Ozzy, now this Legendary WWE Star Hulk Hogan Dead at 71, per Report
At least we still have Lou Reed.
The afterlife needs entertainers.
They already have George Burns.
Malcolm Jamal Warner too. That was a quick three.
Don’t bring him up! I have been trying to resist a temptation regarding that death.
Add Chuck Mangione.
And George Kooymans from Golden Earring.
Wow, 2/3 through a second group already.
Must be preparing all the acts for a VIP arrival.
One of those does not feel so good. RIP.
https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1948415959527522565
He was just baptized 18 months ago.
Did he have time to spend all of Gawker’s money?
Gawker didn’t have any money.
I remember as a young lad being thrilled to watch Hogan and Andre the Giant at a Wrestle-mania at my Granma’s house.
She LOVED watching wrestling.
While older me could not care less about Pro Wrestling, it was fun at that time.
When I was about 10 and my younger brother was 8 for our birthdays (they are a week apart) Granma took us to see Georgia Championship Wrestling live.
We had floor seats, just a few rows from the ring.
I remember my brother and I looking at each other in shock as our sweet Granma stood on her chair and yelled at the referee, “He’s fucking cheating!” “Are you fucking blind you worthless piece of shit!?!”
This was because the guy she didn’t like was grabbing the pants of the other guy to keep him from getting away.
Sounds like your Granma needed to be more stoic.
I took the kids and their uncle Eric (40 yo man with downs syndrome who was a huge wrestling fan) to see Hulk Hogan at a publicity event at Ft Knox in the early 90’s.
They got his autograph. Eric talked about that every time I saw him until he passed a few years later.
I was amazed at how big Hogan’s head was in real life. It was like a 5 gallon paint bucket.
AI abomination, but funny.
https://x.com/AutismCapital/status/1948414233525514592
I’m assuming that is Peanut the squirrel.
“They are all looking down on us now”
There is more of that basic human thinking. Why would they do that? Are we really all that interesting? Freed from their mortal coil with the universe laid out before them and they choose to spend their time….what? Watching us pick our noses?
Awwww!
Japanese also uses different words between love that English doesn’t.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Loves
You essentially have:
suki – like or love
ai – romantic love. But this also encompasses suki.
Both are nouns – as is typical with many Japanese words like this you turn them into verbs by adding suru
To follow the tropes:
You need the big confession – “kimi ga suki!” I like (love) you!
At some point in the relationship past the third date “ai shite iru” – I love you. Literally it’s in the progressive tense “I am loving you”. Problem is no man actually says this and if they do maybe they said it once. It’s not cool to actually let the woman you love know it, so it’s generally rarely said and considered embarrassing.
My wife uses Aishteru or aishtemas.
You did well Ron!
Trump speak with forked tongue
President Donald Trump has promised to super-charge the U.S. electricity network to win the global race for artificial intelligence — but his administration is rejecting efforts to get that power from solar or wind.
The latest example came Wednesday, when the Energy Department said it terminated a pending $4.9 billion loan guarantee for the Grain Belt Express project, an 800-mile transmission line that would carry mostly wind-generated power from the Plains to some of the most strained parts of the nation’s power grid.
The announcement came on the same day that the administration outlined its plans to dominate the AI sector, including by expanding the grid, which it called “the lifeblood of the modern economy and a cornerstone of national security.”
Though thoroughly in line with Trump’s explicit preference for fossil fuels and nuclear power, the cancellation of the Biden-era loan guarantee left some power sector experts, business leaders and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle baffled. Killing the loan guarantee, they said, would directly contradict Trump’s goals of shoring up the power grid, cutting electricity bills and delivering power to new AI data centers.
Long infuriating article about how Trump is “killing” a transmission grid project because it carries wind power. Of course, in the absence of federal loan guarantees this vitally important and extremely profitable project cannot possibly be built.
Wind and solar are intermittent and unreliable, and therefore not appropriate to rely on for powering vital infrastructure.
What Is Inertia, and how can it help stabilize the grid?
Inertia in the context of power grids refers to the momentum of rotating masses, such as those found in coal, gas, nuclear power, thermal, and hydroelectric generators, that allows them to continue despite sudden changes in frequency. These rotating masses act as a buffer, absorbing and releasing energy to maintain a stable grid frequency. When there’s an imbalance between electricity supply and demand, the frequency of the grid can fluctuate. In systems with high inertia, these fluctuations are dampened more effectively, allowing for a more stable grid.
Traditional power plants, like coal, gas, and nuclear, provide this inertia due to their spinning turbines. However, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power are typically connected to the grid through inverters, which do not provide the same mechanical inertia. This absence has led to concerns that grids with high shares of renewables may be more prone to frequency instability and blackouts.
https://ratedpower.com/blog/Iberian-blackout/
Why do you hate mother Gaia?
We need to “invest” or else we will lose the “Green Energy Race”!
You’re not grifting properly. You need to report for reeducation.
Gaia can kiss my ass. I want my ac to turn on when I tell it to not when the wind blows.
Calm down sir, the chocolate ration has been increased.
Calm down sir, the chocolate ration has been increased.
Giri or honmei?
Honmei, as they do sincerely hate us.
Nakunata
Let alone AI.
If we are going to win this race to AI, and we will win, abandoning the green energy scam is vital.
Well… for some definitions of “win”.
I think it’s a colossal waste myself.
I expect the “win” to eventually come to some point where AI hallucinates an answer with massive repercussions that no one has the expertise to recognize as utter bullshit.
Because they are dependent on AI.
Bobarian, HAL and Cortona both went insane.
It is written.
Imokin Trio’s High School Lullaby
https://youtu.be/Ct0rSl0rV6U
Take the good with the bad.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin Deregulates Gas Can Design
https://x.com/epaleezeldin/status/1948382670834299204
I can’t read the comments but I imagine the concern trolls are out in force.
I put a spout on all of my cans:
https://ezpourspout.com/product-category/multi-spouts/
That’s what I’ve been doing. After I break the damn al gore one’s.
Not for nothing, but this is the best can I’ve ever owned.
But I did not pay near that much for it.
Justrite is the king of cans. I like the ones with flexible pour tubes over the funnel that picks up dirt and debris.
Our gas can has that weird spout where you have to squeeze a thing to get it to open. I can never get that to work so I just completely unscrew the spout, which splashes gas around, and completely defeats the purpose.
Don’t you feel safer?
The fact that these spouts universally cause more fuel to be spilled tells me that preventing fuel spills was never their intent.
My mower feels safer now that it has gas running down the side of it.
I thought a lot of the atrocities of the modern gas can were more due to plaintiff lawyers than EPA because of juries finding for the moron that wants to pour gas directly on fires and then is surprised it’s flammable.
That’s what drove Blitz Gascans bankrupt.
I am sure the lawyers would say they deserved to go out of business because their product was dangerous.
The can was only dangerous if you were an idiot.
And enshrined by the US CPSC
https://www.cpsc.gov/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/Fuel-Container-Gasoline-and-Other-Liquid-Fuel-Safety
EPA action does nothing for gas cans. More performative signaling by the Trump admin.
Just like guns, gas cans were never dangerous.
I’ll take it.
I must have gotten the one gas can that works.
I have a Canadian gas can.Not good enough.
“We recognize that there is no reason for the government to meddle in the design of gas containers. All previous rules revoked.”
Wow, that was supposed to be two separate comments.
What happened?
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin Deregulates Gas Can Design
I thought all the gas can idiocy originated in California. You can’t get the gas into them, and you can’t get the gas out of them. Either way, anything that gets rid of gas cans which take three hands to operate? I’m for it.
Fuck. Just shoot me.
By the way, this was my response after reading the first few paragraphs.
You wouldn’t even want to be a teenage boy in this country these days, let alone in Japan.
Our gas can has that weird spout where you have to squeeze a thing to get it to open. I can never get that to work so I just completely unscrew the spout, which splashes gas around, and completely defeats the purpose.
It’s not about safety, it’s about keeping a few molecules of the evil gasoline vapor from ruining our precious air quality and killing the planet. Making it more likely to set yourself on fire is a bonus.
Not Chuck too.
https://nypost.com/2025/07/24/entertainment/jazz-legend-chuck-mangione-dead-at-84/
Looks like the 80’s are getting purged.
Well, time to cancel the King of the Hill reboot.
*snort*
Please tell me you made that up.
rhywun:
I did not. It is jumping ahead and aging up the characters. But since it was announced, this is now the third cast member to pass.
So… like Roseanne, will it shit all over my cherished memories of the original? And maybe cancel one or two of the actors while they’re at it?
Gas cans. I have six of them. I did all of mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpQqQkBkBbU
Having leftover red beans and rice with lots of Tasso right now.
I dont know if y’all know this or not but the more Tabasco you put on them the better they are. You know you have sufficient hot sauce when the fumes burn your eyes a bit every time you take a bite.
No tasso around here anymore. 🙁
Tasso is great, I make shrimp and grits with it.
As Mad Scientist points out, safety was never the intent of the gas can abomination and it not just gas cans. Leftists have done a lot of things out of pure malice just to torment people in little ways. See: everything Barack Obama did. They have done things like that affecting every aspect of our lives.
They think they hate us but in fact they are head over heels in love with us compared to how I feel about them.
In their own little world
With the dextrous singers in tow, Stewart made a powerful gesture on behalf of liberal America, one that grooved and felt cathartic in the present moment. Though, as rousing liberal protest gestures tend to do these days, Stewart’s song and dance had the sobering effect of immediately reminding us how powerless and vulnerable liberal America is in the present moment. After all, our host did mention that Paramount is also the parent company of the network that broadcasts the “The Daily Show.”
As for Stewart’s monologue, it tried, somewhat successfully, to puncture one popular narrative about Colbert’s cancellation. Some, like CBS, argued the decision to terminate “The Late Show” was strictly financial, given that the show was not profitable. This “bottom-line” rationale has found a home among right-wing commentators.
——-
It was solid television, principled resistance and good gospel. Stewart flipped the bird to his corporate overlord and rinsed them with a come-and-get-me taunt. Liberal America laughed. Liberal America clapped. Liberal America gave him a standing ovation. And then liberal America wondered: Paramount would never deplatform “The Daily Show,” would it?
We’re the good guys. We’re the heroes. We cannot be expected to suffer the consequences of our actions, and we certainly cannot be expected to pay our own way.
Try not to strain your neck sucking your own dick, Liberal America.
If you think money is evil, especially other people’s money, and especially especially the money of other people who disagree with you politically, then yes, forcing those people to pay for your message is doubleplus good.
“This “bottom-line” rationale has found a home among right-wing commentators.”
We have plenty of shows on the network that lose $40 million a year, this was clearly political.
But yes, they do see themselves as the good guys. Even though just a year or two ago they were cheering on censorship and calling for the unvaxed to be denied health care.
*outright, prolonged laughter*
I dunno; how much money is it losing?
If Paramount ever paid more than $40M cumulative for the Daily Show, they deserve to go bankrupt.
“This “bottom-line” rationale has found a home among right-wing commentators.”
Math is a right wing conspiracy.
The left: Canceling this show next year is purely political!
Everybody else: It certainly doesn’t look that way when the show is losing $40 million a year. What did you expect them to do?
The left: You’re a conspiracy theorist!
I like to consider myself more of a “conspiracy pragmatist”.