I. I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the year I turned 11. Like so many other Harry Potter fans, I was hoping against hope that Hogwarts was real and that I'd get a letter inviting me to attend (of course, no such thing happened). But then, I read a phrase that I didn't… Continue reading Why I’ll Never Be a Witch in Harry Potter’s World: Language, Politics, and the Elitism of a Magical Education
Tag: literature
Where Ghost Words Dwell: In which I share a discarded scrap from my novella
Things have been pretty quiet around here. Bear with me while I adjust to some life changes, including a new job and a rowdy litter of puppies. But I've also been writing a novella at the same time. It's kept me sane since January, for which I am grateful considering some of the really shitty… Continue reading Where Ghost Words Dwell: In which I share a discarded scrap from my novella
A funny thing happened while I was at Clarion: On Filipinoness in writing
So, one of the grandest adventures of my life ended a few days ago. I'm back home and my jet lag and letting everything soak in and reconsidering a lot of things. I may not have blogged during all my time there like I planned, but I think I'll be posting a series of… Continue reading A funny thing happened while I was at Clarion: On Filipinoness in writing
In which I battle with my heritage of smallness, pre-Clarion
*It is not within the scope of this post to define exactly what Filipino culture is, on the whole and overall. I will not attempt it because I do not know and because I may not be able to catch myself from thinking Tagalog-centric thoughts that will discredit the other regions, tribes, and languages. The Philippines is… Continue reading In which I battle with my heritage of smallness, pre-Clarion
Pinoy Otaku Literature
I liked a lot of things–most of them firmly rooted in pop culture–including anime. When I began to write seriously, I also began noticing how different the plots and characters between the anime serieses I loved and the works of fiction I loved. I even tried to push away the anime influence for a while; and even though I took a seven year break from watching anime, the influence has not left me. Proof of that is how I’ve attempted to alter my drawing style several times in an attempt to alter the trappings of my imagination (though my style still has solid anime-esque foundations nowadays).
Here is my friend, the good-natured, utterly polite (at least in person), and ever-controversial polemicist Karlo David, articulating more eloquently than I ever could, how this generation’s writers and artists can own something as foreign and popular as anime and transform it into art with a Filipino sensibility. 🙂
Anime can be very reaffirming
The Filipino youth of this past two decades has an imagination highly influenced, if not dominated, by Japanese animation. Fanfiction, Wattpad stories illustrated anime-style, even the music and fashion sense – the symptoms are everywhere. This younger generation is an otaku generation.
I have been particularly exposed to this fact. During my time in the Ateneo de Davao, many members of the literary org, SALEM, were practically more into anime than literature, and were in the club with writing fanfiction as their main writing background. Many of my friends there were consequently anime fans. In Dumaguete I might very well be the first and so far only graduate student of Silliman University to have been made a member of its humble otaku club, SU MAGE, and several of my students in NORSU are no strangers to anime either. Indeed, I think I can say with…
View original post 2,937 more words
