Japan

[Witness]

↑ Why do you hate Progress™, sparks?

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Spoiler:

Fireflies.

[Anaxagoras]

蛍

[Doctor X]

蛍

Good. So long as they are not 蜩.

--J.D.

[Anaxagoras]

蛍

Good. So long as they are not 蜩.

--J.D.

蜩の鳴き声はお好きではありませんか？
日本の夏の音ですよ。

[Doctor X]

蜩の鳴き声はお好きではありませんか？
日本の夏の音ですよ。

--J. "三四" D.

[Grammatron]

[confused in American]

[Doctor X]

[confused in American]

The kanji 蜩 is for "higurashi" which are the cicadas that cry continuously during the Summer. Tentacle Hentai Aficionado Anax has complained about them previously.

Higurashi no Naku kor ni--"When the higurashi cry"--is the name of a set of visual novels, then a famous anime where when the higurashi cry Very Bad Things happen to people which include, but are not limited to:

• 1. Shooting
  2. Shooting small children in the face.
  3. Stabbing.
  4. Stabbing small children all over as well as in the face.
  5. Curry.
  6. Ritual disemboweling
  7. Ritual disemboweling with nails driven in finger joints.
  8. Forcible removal of finger nails: without ritual disemboweling "because we're not a bunch of sickos!"
  9. Tossing off cliffs.
  10. Tearing one's throat out.
  11. Being Burned alive in a drum.
  12. Hacked to death.
  13. Vivesected.
  14. Beaten to death with baseball bats.
  15. Shoving a knife in your own neck.
  16. Forced to wear maid outfits.

It is also the title to the theme song for the first season adaptation. It is based in a made-up village "Hinamizawa" which is, in turn, directly based on the real village Shirakawa-go that is a historical preserve and, now, has embraced the Higurashi fandom.

--J.D.

[shuize]

蛍

Good. So long as they are not 蜩.

--J.D.

I knew 蛍 and 蝉, but had to look 蜩 up.

[Doctor X]

--J.D.

[Witness]

Japanese mini-truck garden contest:

[Anaxagoras]

I saw that one on reddit and thought about posting it.

Seems sort of silly, doesn't it?

A miniature garden in the bed of a pickup truck?

[Doctor X]

Called Akiba Zettai Ryoiki A.D.1912, the new branch will take visitors to a different era of exposed thigh, with a “Classical English-style feel” present in the decor, uniforms and demeanour of the maids.

While the maids in many classically themed cafes tend to wear long uniforms, Akiba Zettai Ryoiki A.D.1912 is looking to give their customers a cute and contemporary take on the classical maid with specially designed outfits featuring shorter hemlines. The new branch will also be incorporating its original cute feline theme into the mix, with cat-ear headwear.

Wocket Neuzuru!

Could not find Tentacle Maids. . . .

--J.D.

[shuize]

Not long after I started dating my current girlfriend, we walked by a maid café.

"What do you think about that sort of thing?" she asked.

I said "I'd probably be more likely to spend my money on a prostitute."

I was expecting to get shit about it, but for some reason she seemed happy with that answer.

[Doctor X]

All jokes and teasing aside, I never understood it beyond the novelty. I have been taken to various "hostess bars." For me, the idea that some girl is only laughing at your jokes and tolerating your miserable drunk ass because you are paying her employer to do so seems rather tragic for you. Like you are a clown and the audience is laughing because you are so pathetic that you would agree to be a clown.

Your girlfriend probably respected you for being honest. Oddly enough, the series I allude to above takes the piss out of "maid cafes" to the point of naming its café "Angel Mort" or "Angel of Death" because, frankly, if you go to such a place, you are already dead. The customers tend to be the sad otaku who are portrayed as pathetic to disgusting. The "girls" are simply trying to make a living and tend to hate all of their customers for that reason.

--J.D.

[Doctor X]

But . . . still . . .



--J.D.

[shuize]

Your girlfriend probably respected you for being honest.

That may be it.

But this one is pretty clever. She might have known she'd do better to save up her irritation for later use.

[Doctor X]

As is always so.

You will be "wrong" again soon enough. When that happens:



"Sorry to make you Naku."

--J.D.

[Witness]

[Grammatron]

The plot is always thicker on the other side

[Doctor X]

The plot is always thicker on the other side

Ah, Товарищ 後輩, the anime I mentioned has nothing BUT plot . . . between getting your bowels removed, your head bashed in, tortured to death, or thousands nerve gassed:





So . . . much . . . necessary . . . plot!



--J.D.