Embarassing revelation

I've been trying to get back into the swing of Japanese, which isn't really very easy (compounded by such a break since studying it). Even two months spent in Japan didn't get me back to the point where I stopped; the biggest help in my progress so far has been tutoring; relearning the technical elements. And while that's all well and good, I still need to understand it more conversationally--especially since my informal understandings of speech are weak. So my truly mortifying confession is...I've been watching anime lately to try and get used to the flow of the language. And yes...I enjoy it (oh dear). The reason I'm so embarrassed is that there is usually a stereotype of Americans who watch anime, and yes; I am superficial enough not to want to be associated with it. And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about--the skinny, nervous looking white boys who desperately seek after an adorable little Asian girlfriend; the girl who likes to wear cat ear hats (always some sort of animal ears! Keep those fursonas hidden away!) and rainbow knee socks because she thinks that's what they dress like in Harajuku (...it isn't. See earlier post on Harajuku). Really, I can't judge, since I've come along way in the evolution of my personal style (since I used to live in bright spandex and cat t-shirts in the 5th grade)--but mainly I would also not like to be lumped into that category, thank you (heh heh...cat-egory...)--mainly because I don't want to spend the rest of my life alone with my fun-sized pets and unicorn poster collection.

So, my series of choice is "Ouran High School Host Club", a comedy based off the growing trend in male host clubs with the twist of the club being an actual high school club at an elite private school. I was interested in this show after watching "The Great

Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief", which is an amazing and heart-breaking documentary of a Japanese host club. The anime and documentary really have very little in common, besides the fact that the hosts take on an appealing identity to charm women into parting with their money. Slight background for those of you who don't know what a male host club is: super-styled young guys (my stepbrother would probably describe them as dandies) entice women into their restaurant/bar/club where they laden them with compliments and affection, effectively getting the women to fall in love with them, becoming their ideal boyfriend whom they only see at night (much like a vampire, in a way). Comedic anime is fun because it takes these elements of real life and exaggerate it with such a swagger that it's easy to get dragged into it's humongous-eyed glow and pastel dreaminess. Real-life hosting is a fascinating phenomenon, but reflects the idea that if loneliness is a sickness, then treating it by getting in a relationship with a host is the equivalent of taking a cough drop to cure cancer.

But boy, does that have absolutely nothing to do with what I originally was going to go on about in this post! What I meant to say was: Hey, I'm trying to freshen up my Japanese and am doing so by watching anime because it's difficult to pause and rewind conversations with actual Japanese people, and even though it's a little embarrassing, I actually like it a little bit.

Who am I kidding? I dressed as Sailor Moon for Halloween one year. Whatever, I don't need to impress you.