Kawaii!
Overnight, it seems, my house has been turned into a shrine for anime. In fact, it's become a shrine to Japanese consumerism in general. Recently I told you about my purchase of my first real anime production cel -- a fragment of a series called Boogiepop Phantom -- but it gets better.
Bonnie repainted Emme's room pink some months ago and finally got around to hanging up some wall scrolls we'd collected for Emme. Three of her four walls now have giant Sailor Moon wall scrolls, and the four sports a Sailor Moon calendar. Added to that, Emme's bed is covered in Hello Kitty sheets, bedspread and throw pillow.
We picked up a Maho Tsukai Tai (Magic User's Club) poster at Anime Boston 2003 last weekend, which I've been ordered to frame and find a suitable, conspicuous spot for. It's bordered with pink, so my first thought was the hallway outside of Emme's room, but that's not conspicuous enough for Bonnie. So, I'm thinking of maybe hanging it in the family room.
What's more, our spartanly decorated living room -- previously graced only with a few framed photographs and a wall scroll of My Neighbor Totoro we picked up from a Japanese toy store in Cambridge last year -- now sports a large, horizontal wall scroll of Kiki's Delivery Service (apparently our living room is now Hayao Miyazaki-themed). Now all I have to do is get one of those Spirited Away movie posters (actually, I have one that was included with NewType, but it was creased and is thus unsuitable for general display).
The boy's bedroom is punctuated with centerfolds from video gaming magazines -- things like Mario Sunshine and the like, Japanese imports all. My stereo equipment is largely Sony and Onkyo these days. My video game systems are all made in Japan. At least 50 percent of our DVD collection is Japanese animation.
One of these days I really have to make a concerted effort to learn Japanese. It's taking over my life.