Glad to get back to you, my peeps. Even on the steamy main island, one can feel the summer wearing itself out as he sips a Shirley Temple by the poolside, or sashays about summer festivals in his stylish yukata for his purely cultural observance of Bon. There has been much good reading to do, so much so that I, Atobe, am compelled to prescribe some of it for you. As my dear fans know, despite the abundance of Catholic imagery in manga and anime, serious evangelization efforts on these sacred islands get little press. Thankfully, there was a break in that this summer. Your American district of the Society of St. Pius X posted an interesting three-part interview with Fr. Daniel Couture, head of the Society's Asia district, last month. All three parts are recommended, nay insisted upon reading, but especially Part II, which speaks about the Society's small presence in Japan, which has recently borne some fruits.

Part I
Part II
Part III

Please continue to pray for the conversion of Japan to the Catholic religion. Every soul brought to the Lord Christ helps. I, Atobe, will focus my efforts on converting the remaining pagan members of the old Hyotei Gakuen tennis club.

Given the stormy weather as I, Atobe, head out this morning, it does not look a good day for sunbathing, though. Happily, the days itinerary is looking up. My plan, see, is to take the train into Akibahara--I, Atobe, can brook public exposure every so often; no need to helicopter in; must be green you know--and visit Cure Maid Cafe, which is running a special menu based on the comedy anime YuruYuri. Looks tasty, doesn't it? Too bad, ye Anglos. America is sadly devoid of maid cafes, minus one on the Left Coast, which does not count because it is more a center of degeneracy than of things cute, as such dining institutions ought to be.

The benefits of the cult of cuteness in modern society cannot be underestimated. Other required reading is the fabulous Wikipedia article, Cuteness in Japanese Culture. Even our guardrails are cute. Are yours? Oftentimes, adorability counterbalances the excessive cult of Eros. Take this anime that started just weeks ago. While Leslie crazes over Twin Angel Twinkle Paradise, which fails to connect with me, I, Atobe, much prefer Dantalian no Shoka, or The Mystic Archives of Dantalian in English. Though it is almost purely a a copy off last season's Gosick, it has already distinguished itself as a wonderful and unparalleled anime six episodes in. Perhaps the clearest sign of how much it stands out is the clothing designer. Even though it's just animation, the production company Gainax went the whole nine yards of lace and had Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, a lolita fashion outfit, do the costumes, as you can see in the opening. Baby, which actually runs a respectable establishment in San Francisco, is selling a positively kawaii Bibliotheca Mystique de Dantalian line of clothes in conjunction. Yes! For but $150 (plus tax) you--or perhaps just I, Atobe--can acquire a stylish Hugh "Huey" Anthony Diswald bowler.

Why should traditionalist Catholics appreciate the fashion, and the anime that promotes it like none before? First, I must point you to the magnificent opening, "Cras numquam scire" (yes, we Japs now have a fuller appreciation of Latin than the West). It's fine listening, and look at the pretty imagery! And look at all the traditional imagery shown to such advantage. The best part, though, is within the anime itself. In episode 3, Huey and Dalian encounter the former's old friend Camilla in a bookstore. Though Dalian is bribed with scones and agrees to have tea with Camilla, she insults her "hysterical clothing." Though the flashy blue outfit is technically long by today's standards, it is obviously meant to reveal rather than conceal, and looks timelessly radical.

At the tea, Camilla gladly explains, "This outfit is the work of a French fashion designer. It's all the rage in New York." Unconvinced, Dalian rebuts, "Your hair is absurdly short. And you are wearing an obscenely short blouse with pointed sleeves. Have you no common sense?" After Camilla gives the usual "But these clothes are very comfortable to move around in. I'm sure that they'll catch on soon enough," Dalian laments, "If so, there is no hope left for this world."

If only someone had said all this before 2011! Had liberation from decency not prevailed in the 1920s (like Gosick, Dantalian no Shoka is set after the Great War, but this time in England rather than the fictional Saubere), perhaps such manifestations of decay as legalized abortion (which was "all the rage in New York" even before Roe v Wade) would not have come to pass in turn.

Truer words were never spoken by man. But unlike your Western period animes, which feature superior styles of the past for petty nostalgia, or even to show contempt for "stuffy" Victorian and other old European sensibilities, our shows, so far from holding the past in contempt, feature amply virtue'd, hem-carrying females as protagonists, and even devout Christian believers (Dalian does have hope for the next world; after a couple dies in episode 4, she says, "Eternal rest grant unto them o Lord. And may perpetual light shine upon them" over them) as protagonists. Note, too: it is not Camilla's fad fashion that is on sale. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright is offering Dalian's lovely outfit. If you have $1,388, plus tax.

Be awed at the sight of my prowess!

P.S. I, Atobe, am almost not awed by the sight of, etc etc. I just found an embarassing high school video were my Hyotei pals and I mimicked our favorite anime, Lucky Star!

This past week has been tough for America, given the S & P debt rating downgrade, tumble in the stock market, and the deaths of thirty soldiers, mainly SEALS, with the loss of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan—The Long War if ever a long war there was—and the English fared perhaps worse still, as the rioting by hoodied, unemployed immigrants is only now calming down. Conservatism has never been a philosophy fitted to the ebullient and optimistic, and this is especially true in this later stage in the decline of the West—but still I do try and find some better news to help doff the weight of doom.

Usually I can do little better than vainly think, Maybe after this latest feat of multiculturalism in action they'll learn, and vote the British National Party into Parliament. Not gonna happen. But this time, from that other great British Isle across the sea, there is a piece of welcome, welcome news in which Christians may rejoice.

The Republic of Ireland has long seemed a lost cause to this armchair Pundit. Hibernia being the source of those migrants who have historically formed the backbone of American Catholicism, the cultural decline in the country which rules most of the island over the past few decades of prosperity has been especially sad. While all of Europe has suffered secularization, Ireland's case has been especially noteworthy, most recently because of the intensity of the clergy sexual abuse revelations there, and the decline in vocations sharper than that throughout the rest of ex-Christendom. Politically, the situation appears worse than anywhere else in Europe. Party politics in Ireland remain defined by the factions of the Irish Civil War; while the hard Left is respectably organized and wields considerable power, this has served as a disincentive for giving expression to politics of the Right. Ireland has no equivalent National Front, no Freedom Party of Austria, no BNP to speak of, and its Christian Solidarity Party is more often the subject of atheist jokes than dire warnings about Christian intolerance.

Until a few weeks ago, it seemed Ireland was set for a landmark of degeneration&mdashthe election of a "gay" President. Senator David Norris, an Independent, led in every poll by a huge margin. Even given the recent rise in anti-clericalism, which is cerrtainly a motive of the hapless secularists who support an open pervert who called John Paul II an "instrument of evil" and Benedict XVI a "Nazi", his popularity defied belief. A liberal Protestant? I knew the Irish were ready for that. But a supporter of joining the British Commonwealth? I did not think the famously proud Irish would stand for that!* To make things worse, he's a Joyce fanatic; I suffered through all of Ulysses, and cannot conceive of how a man can rave over that too long, generally uninteresting, and often sick epic.

We no longer have to worry about that. The media eventually reported that he once wrote a letter to Israeli authorities in favor of clemency for Ezra Nawi, a onetime "partner" of his accused of statutory rape of a 15-year-old boy. Yes, there is appears to still be a floor of decency which cannot be ignored without political suicide, and soon enough his supporters, so shocked that a practitioner of unnatural acts would condone the still inexcusable, largely left him and he dropped out of the race. Indeed! As I researched for this post, I found this revelatory article about the man who would be president. According to his campaign team (what a team to be on!), they left after unearthing a few “more controversial views on underage sex.” According the the minutes of a "Union for Sexual Freedom" meeting in 1975, “David said as a child it had been his greatest desire to be molested so he, more than most people, knows the rarity of the homosexual child molester.” Also noted is another, 1980s association with a pro-pedophile organization.

There we have it. Ireland has a second chance! Maybe her electorate of newly-chastened liberals will select someone better than an uncloseted gay-pedophile "ally" for their Head of State this October! American conservatives, surely justified in not having tuned into this race already, may take comfort in an Irish ignominy barely avoided.

Those requiring further encouragement are invited to listen to the skippy-happy ending song to the anime YuruYuri.

*Though I would, to throw Senator Norris a bone; while most Catholics automatically identify with Irish nationalism, I have long been an Anglophile, and regretfully unimpressed by the accomplishments of independent Ireland. Hence I support the determination of British-descended Ulsterites to remain joined to their mother country).

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A note to readers: My blog name has, as of now, been changed from crusader88 to simply crusader. Way back in 2006, when I established The Young and Once Good Pundit, now A Blog from Atobe,* I was not well versed with the ways of the Internet. Imagining, from portrayals of IMing on TV, that people frequently went by odd names composed of indicative words and random numbers, like angel32196, I knew crusader88 would be a good fit, since it had a ring, and I was born in 1988. It was only later that I learned of the significance of the number 88 in National Socialist circles. Hence, I shall now go simply by crusader, which remains politically incorrect while not causing false impressions that I am party to said circles. Yes, even in the Information Age, the mien of a Christian knight is quite sufficient to strike fear into the liberal hordes!

*I was originally waiting for Atobe to post, but he is busy rearranging his securities in this volatile market. "At least I have peace of mind," he told me, "now that I know those darn Yankees are making their August payments of interest on the debt they owe me."