Here’s a Japanese to English translation of the article:
Warning: broken English as crappy as Arnold.
This is Hideyoshi Kinoshita, an extremely popular character from “Baka To Test No Syokanju.”
OMG, though I know he is a dude! How sinful this Chinese dress is! Especially that Chun-Li head dress! Too irresistible! Jeeze, it is even much cuter than Honkōn’s Chinese dress! I know he is a dude in my head, but I can’t control my emotion! Reason and emotion are split. I’m so confused that I am actually thinking Hideyoshi is “cute.” For the first time in my life, I’ve undergone a gender identity crisis. Everyday I tell myself, “I’m not gay! No way!” in a state of self-denial. Otherwise, I will fall victim to Fujoshi. Ah, how dreadful Hideyoshi is. He is a genius actor. He can act like bishojo impeccably. He is the two-spirit.
Anyway, the origin of acting can be seen in the myth of Amano-iwato. Uzume was the first actor of Japan. Her acting was a ritual that revived the light of the sun goddess Amaterasu, the supreme deity of Japan. Thus, she eradicated the darkness. Viewed in these terms, to act is to let a deity descend and possess a human. God and human become one, and that is the origin of acting. Yes, the kannagi (shaman) is the first Japanese actor, and the Seiyuu is also an actor, and the forerunner of the idol Seiyuu is the miko (female shaman). A woman who works with divine rituals – perhaps we could say sister (nun). That is the root of Miko-moe, sister-moe, aidoru-seiyuu-moe. In this sense, experiencing the moe of Hideyoshi, who is a two-spirit, is a tradition passed down from the ancient world.
Hideyoshi has perfect female features even though he is a male. That is 変成女子Henjo-nyoshi (transformation to female). Archetypical theme of anime. In today’s sense, they are the “T” of LGBT. That category is cool. Yet, Henjo-nyoshi transcends even that.
Ah, “Kämpfer.” That is perfect Henjo-nyoshi. Seno Natsuru transforms to a woman, obtains special power, and becomes a Kämpfer. In this fashion he enters the women circle, a beautiful maidens’ world that ordinary dudes can never get to engage. Ah, I can picture these girls putting make up on each other! Watarase Jun from “Happiness!” too. He receives the light of divine grace, and becomes a woman. At that time he becomes one with God. That is “aham brahmāsmi!”
And, “Otome wa boku ni koishiteru”, aka “Otoboku”, and Miyanokoji Mizuho-chan. He dresses up as a woman, and becomes the No. 1 Onee-sama in his all girls’ school. Indeed he is acting the part of “Onee-sama.” A dude dresses up as a woman and becomes the top dog of the female world, and gets objectified by lesbians. Yes, becoming Souer! Ah, what a wonderful sister world! There is nothing more fabulous than sister love in this world. “Candy Boy” is incest, which is going too far, but sisterhood as a symbolism interests us; sisterhood in Maria-sama, like souers who are students in “Maria-sama ga miteru.” How madly we, the otaku, yearn for that!
How do we get close to our idols? Once upon a time, someone asked, “How do I get close to my idol seiyuu?” and a sage answered, “To be closest to a seiyuu, become a seiyuu!” That is right. That is the ultimate meaning of acting. Becoming one with moekko through moe, that is the goal. So if your idol is seiyuu, then go become a seiyuu. It’s best to make yourself a seiyuu. Aim at becoming seiyuu. If your idol is a girl, then become a girl. Act like a girl, live like a girl. That is acting. In other words, Mizuho-chan is showing us the path of Moe. Acting is the path of moe!
“Aham Moe’smi” means becoming one with a moe-character, and one way is to dress up like a woman, i.e., cosplay! Play the role of Onee-sama like Miyanokoji Mizuho-chan. Cosplay is acting, which can be Kagura(divine theatre). Moe-gura(moe theatre). Acting is metamorphosis. And Moe character possesses you. Becoming one with Moekko who is Brahman, thus, Miko is a being who realized “aham brahmāsmi.” By that, you will become a winner by getting the power of god. That is moe. So if Kagura means an art to worship deities, then Moegura means an art to worship Moe characters. And Moe-za is the stage at anime conventions.
Moreover, my moetic seiyuu is Horie Yui, aka Hocchan. Therefore, I listen to Hocchan’s voice, and as shravaka (voice-hearer), I become a jina (victor)! Jina’s road is also listening to seiyuu’s voice. And cross-dressing is also a path to jina. “All roads lead to moe.” That’s why the OP of “Otoboku” sings to us, “Please come with me, Amen!” Yes, Gautama Buddha also said, “come with me” when he was admitting people to be his students. The path of Moe starts when Moekko tells us “come with us!” That is the path of victory.
It is the same as an idyllic shepherd leading lambs to the right path. Especially an idyllic bishojo, like Nora-chan from “Spice and Wolf.” She calls a lamb like me, “Come this way.” Invited by the voice of Nakahara Mai. And I attain tranquility by hearing her voice. Thus, Nora-chan is iyashi-kei, or yasuragi-kei.
“Pastor” meant “shepherd” in old French. So, Nora-chan is also a pastor. I wish there were more female pastors in America, especially Onee-chan pastors. So, I would go to church every Sunday. And Yumina-chan from “So Ra No Wo To” is a shepherd-like idyllic sister of the church. Yes, Onee-chan pastor! I shall go to church every day! And her costume is a combination of a habit and a miko’s garb. Indeed, the combination of miko-moe and sister-moe is the ultimate form! Ah, that costume is perfect, isn’t it? I want to cosplay Yumina-chan!
Ah, that’s why I want to cosplay Yumina-chan and attain Henjo-nyoshi. And, the most perfect form of Henjo-nyoshi is Osaragi Hazumu in “Kashimashi.” Yes, Hazumu’s crush was a lesbian. So, that was an unrequited love if he remained male. But he changed his sex to female and became lesbian! Yes, if you want to become one with your love, then you become she. If your love is a lesbian, then be lesbian. That’s what Hazumu-chan showed to us. Indeed, Henjo-nyoshi is the path to victory!
That is the quintessence of cosplay: transformation to moekko. That is Henjo-moekko. That even transcends the vows of Amitabha. Moekko is Brahman and Jina. Buddha is a jina. Thus, Henjo-jina, Henjo-Bonten(brahma), Henjo-buddha, and all lead to Henjo-moekko. That is aham moe’smi!
In “Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra,” Shariputra, the wisest disciple of Gautama Buddha, implies to Apsara(divine maiden) that women can’t become Buddha. Then, Apsara turns Shariputra to a woman. Indeed Apsara makes Shariputra cosplay, proving to him that woman can become the winner. That is Henjo-nyoshi. Thus, cosplayer is the winner. Yes, gender-change is a form of acting. Gender-change is the most divine! By that definition, a dude who parodies Michelle Phan is also a winner!
Kabuki is also gender-change. Now, Kabuki is a dudes-theatre, but it used to be a female theatre. In fact, the founder of Kabuki was Okuni of Izumo who was a female cross-dresser. And, unconventional attention-seeking dressing such as cross-dressing was called “kabuku (verb)”. That is the etymology of “Kabuki.” So, cosplay is also “kabuku” in that sense! And Okuni was a wandering miko from Izumo. And, she was an actor and entertainer. And its vestige can still be seen as Fujioka Haruhi in “Ouran Host Club” and Daichi Kaoru in “Ladies vs. Butlers.” The 10th episode of “Ladies vs. Butlers” was so awesome! Kaoru-chan becomes the romantic object of a straight girl! There’s nothing more thrilling than the romantic topsy-turvy of gender-change! That’s the best part of Rabukome (love comedy)! That is so poetic, it leads me to moetic ecstacy, crying, “Moe!” Yes, they are very spiritual as the two-spirit. And the Takarazuka theatre is the spirit of that!
And of course, Hideyoshi inherits Kabuki’s soul. Thus, Hideyoshi is a kabuki actor and at the same time a shaman.
Indeed, shamanism is the origin of acting. And shaman is the winner. Cosplayer is an actor. Seiyuu is an actor. And actor is the winner. Therefore, Hideyoshi leads us to victory. Just like the great actor led us to victory by ending the Cold War. And moekko deities. And seiyuu who animates Moekkos. Indeed, all trace back to shamanism.
An Otaku’s lamentation: “I never ever had any chance to happily mingle with girls in my life. That’s why I never had a single good moment as a dude. What a miserable life… If I could, I wanted to be born as a girl. That way, I could have mingled with girls without any difficulties.” In this world of socioeconomic classification by marketability, it is especially the Otaku who never had any luck with girls that have been disdained as “social failures.” They are “losers” by natural selection. However, Moe will lead us to victory. Otaku are obsessed with transformation, and that obsession will be fulfilled by cosplay. We will attain tranquility by activating moe, and at that very moment, we will become the victors.
Thus, cross-dressing is the path to victory!
If you’re going to say what a good actor Hideyoshi is, and praise seiyuus, I have to mention that Hideyoshi is played by seiyuu Katou Emiri (the miko Kagami in Lucky Star, Blair in Soul Eater, Mayoi in Bakemonogatari, etc.). And she plays his sister, too.
Thanks a lot for the translation! This is definitely a viewpoint I’m unfamiliar with and that I would be sorry to miss out on. I never would have thought about comparing Moe to Brahman. Thanks once again. The English really isn’t that bad; I’ve seen worse, anyways.
@Hashi – Right on, Hashi! Wow, you are the seiyuu otaku! Hideyoshi, banzai! Katou Emiri, banzai!
@Multiball – Thank you for reading too! I’m really glad that you enjoyed it. Thanks to Diet staff, my writing is intelligible. Yes, we seen worse: Governator! (^_^)
Why not mingle with female otaku? They’re girls to