Stop.

I’m sure any reader would come to a grinding halt after seeing such a post title, followed by a timely escape.

That’s why I say, stop. It’s not as bad as it looks.

By now you may be saying, ‘Ningyo, why start the very first post of this blog like this? No one wants to read an essay in their spare time, they’re probably exposed to enough in their work!’.

True. Which is exactly why I want to start with this topic – because it will hold so much prevalence over what will come.

Many people have conditioned themselves to relate this title with work, and thus, I believe, overlook the true meaning of the word. By definition, ‘essay’ is as follows:

es-say
Show Spelled Pronunciation [n. es-ey for 1, 2; es-ey, e-sey for 3–5; v. e-sey]
–noun
1. A short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.

A composition on any particular theme or subject, only usually in prose. Considering how we think and write everyday in prose, this is really not a noteworthy criterion at all.
Thus essentially an essay is ‘something written about something else’. Your twitter tweet talking about how unenjoyable your immediate life is can pass as an essay (assuming you didn’t make a poem out of it).
Also, note how it’s never claimed to be factual. Human speculation and interpretation is more often than not incorrect – In short, essays are more often than not, subjective ramblings.

So yes, when I say I’m going to study the hell out of a Touhou character, trying to make sense of what little canon exists, or when I write about how absurdly impossible every aspect of Needless is, I am undeniably writing an ‘essay’.

What I’m trying to get to here is that you needn’t immediately yield to that proverbial stop sign. School, college and university have poisoned this definition. True, I whine too when my psychology teacher mentions the word ‘essay’. But if an explanatory text somebody writes about your favorite mangaka that you enjoyed fully is actually an essay, who said essays have to be unengaging?

Oh, I’ll go as fast as you want me to, Yukarin.

About Baden Baden Lily:
A select few other blogs also deal with the analyzing of Japanimation themes, exploring their context and how they can be interpreted, or how the masses receive it. I can’t quite say their exploits are why I was inspired to do this. I doubt I would ever reach the acuity or insight of some of those bloggers. As said before, my inspiration is simply derived from two things: firstly, my desire to quell my pathological urges to create a visually pleasing blog, and secondly, my desire to simply ‘throw’ my ideas out there.

I never said everything to come in this blog will be analytical – rather, I’m sure that at some point, probably very soon, I will say something very biased or incorrect. I promised a presentation of thoughts, not facts backed by quotes and statistics. Which is why, by all means, correct me. Prove me wrong, present your own points. Further the discussion. It’s (hopefully) why we’re here. Remember how essays are subjective ramblings? It means that you can only be as wrong as I am.

Or heck, just let my ego settle in by telling me you agree and how correct I am. I’d be lying if I said I don’t prefer that over the former.

Oh, and for those of you who need a visual tie-in now matter what, that first image is in fact from a PV.

Ningyo

Related posts:

1. To Fill, Or Not To Fill