2010-04-06, 11:49 | Link #161 | |
Hare Hare Sera Fuku!
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Sunny Singapore
Age: 32
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I don't like her that much too, because... she can't shoot fireballs or create forcefields At least she has a redeeming factor in that she has a battle cry (Mikuru Beam!) which Yuki doesn't, but Koizumi tops them all with a simple 'Fumoffu!' |
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2010-05-15, 16:40 | Link #164 | ||
Nyahahahaha♥
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(So this is a classical costume of this country?[country could also be translated as province or home country] It's a little tight around the chest area, but it's lovely.) Picture yourself wearing something from your country's past when it was commonly worn around. It'd feel weird to you as well being from the future when styles and types of clothing have changed. I wouldn't consider it weird or out of place.
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2010-05-15, 16:46 | Link #165 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Age: 38
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Was she speaking in general or to Kyon/someone who knows she's from the future? If it's the latter, it seems odd that she'd say "this country" (or variation to some extent, though not as bad) as opposed to "this time's" or something like that.
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2010-05-15, 17:15 | Link #166 | |
Nyahahahaha♥
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"朝比奈さんもまんざらではないらしく、フィッティングルームの鏡の前でくるりと回りながら自分の衣装《い しょう》を確認《かくにん》している。" (Asahina-san too was coming out [of the dressing room]. She twirled around the perimeter of the mirror on the fitting room's edge looking onto her clothes with confirmation [that Haruhi has good sense].) She's talking to no one in particular, just commenting out loud I believe.
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2011-05-30, 23:21 | Link #167 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Well, the fashionable sort of appearance has always been the kind that is harder for poor/low-status people to get than for the wealthy/high-status people. For example:
Pre-industrial times: 80% or so of working people worked outdoors, which results in a tan, high muscle tone, and low body fat. Being pale means that you can stay indoors all day long, out of the sun, rain, and snow. Being soft instead of muscled means that you don't have to do any heavy lifting or swing hammers, etc. all day. Being obese means that you don't do work that burns a lot of calories. In short, being pale, soft, and fat means that you can afford to be "lazy" instead of doing muscle-work. Industrial Era: Most people's labor consists of sitting or standing in one place all day (desk/counter/assembly line). The cheapest food is also the most fattening per unit weight unless you have short enough work hours to bother with cooking from basic ingredients the majority of the time instead of buying cook-n-serve dry, canned, or frozen stuff. Meanwhile, everybody who is not too-poor-to-eat uses motor transport instead of walking. The result is that it is the poor who are pale, soft, and fat due to having no time or money for exercise and healthy food. Only those who can afford to devote 2 hours a day to getting proper nutrition and exercise have thin, toned bodies (or those rare few who genetically get thin, toned bodies without needing any exercise). In such a society, "thin is in". To apply this to the present (early 21st century) vs Mikuru's time (date unknown but probably no earlier than the year 2100 given Mikuru's apparent abject ignorance of things that we consider commonplace): Present: Body modification techniques are extremely limited. Surgery consists mainly of inserting implants, and cutting/suctioning away material where it is unwanted and injecting it where it is wanted and hoping it stays there. Things like height and bust size are all but impossible to modify in a non-surgical manner once puberty is complete. Thus, having an attractive body is either a result of having great wealth and free time for surgical alteration, or of having won the genetic lottery. Future (speculative): Increased understanding of biology, genetics, and human development all the way down to the molecular scale allows hormonal and nanotechnological body alterations. Altering one's appearance is much easier and requires much less invasive surgery. As a result, people can change their bodies to conform to whatever the current generation finds appealing. What this means is that, with the masses able to gain the "fashionable" body type for themselves, appearance becomes an arms race between the elite trying to look different from the "Wanna-be's" while the "Wanna-be's" try just as hard to look like the elite (i.e. like the clothing fashion cycle in slow motion). You can expect to see the elite choosing "bizarre" looks just for the sake of being unique. *** Anyway, the idea of Mikuru being unattractive by future-standards might be part of why she is so freaked out by Haruhi treating her as a sex object and by Kyon and other boys practically drooling over her--it clashes with her self-image. Mikuru(Big) on the other hand seems more self-assured, so she may have adopted a broader mindset by then. |
2011-05-31, 02:43 | Link #168 | |
Anime Cynic
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: USA
Age: 35
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2011-05-31, 03:19 | Link #170 | |
Zettai Ryouiki Lover
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: The Bay Area
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2011-05-31, 06:48 | Link #171 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
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One possible future is where our understanding of the human body is sufficiently advanced that we can just change our body shape without difficulty, reducing the emphasis on appearence and our approach to body image. That's more a Ghost in the Shell or Ian Banksian approach.
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2011-05-31, 22:01 | Link #172 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
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When EVERY girl past puberty has them, they become boring and ordinary (I am speaking of relative ranking between girls here--if the average size were a G cup, then the fashionable size would be larger or smaller than that--"average" is never "fashionable" no matter what the average actually consists of). Why do we think that fat is ugly and low-status today when centuries ago it was a symbol of high status? As I tried to describe above, a fashionable appearance has to be one that takes effort to get, because a look that comes effortlessly to the majority is a dime a dozen. It's like asking why gold is worth thirty times more than silver despite having less actual utility--rarity increases the perceived value.
It's all about relative social position really. The typical middle class person has luxuries that even King Louis XIV could barely have dreamed of. Cool air in the midst of sweltering heat. Any food imaginable available hot and ready in a few minutes with the push of a button (yay microwaves). Talk in real time to people on the opposite side of the world, and then go to meet them in person in only two days' time. However, despite all of this, we still do not feel wealthy or fortunate, and that is because we know that for all we have, it is still "nothing special" compared to the people we associate with. It does not matter what you have--it's whether what you have is more or less than what your neighbor has--i.e. "keeping up with the Joneses". |
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