For my first thread, I’m going to talk about Denpa (電波). A term that’s still way too little-known, even though it shaped a large part of the visual novel medium and anime as we know it today, like Tsukihime, Subarashiki Hibi, Totono, or Saya no Uta. 🧵:

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I already do

I just learned a new word. Erotomaniac is more or less the same thing as parasocial behavior, but for romantic feelings I guess?

RT @fami_maga2: 【DQ女性キャラ・人気投票】結果💐. 1位 アリーナ（DQ4） 55票🏆️✨ .2位 ビアンカ（5） 46票.3位 バーバラ（6） 24票.4位 フローラ（5）….

He's burned out by Shonen Jump, what can you do. It sucks, but that's just how it is.

RT @alphafluxx_: It’s officially been one week since I finished Muv Luv Alternative😔

RT @PloyMeinster72: // Nasu was inspired by 1 episode of Evangelion and wrote roughly around 400 pages during high school and wanted to pub….

#JJK | Let's do this, King of Curses. Do you have enough cursed energy in stock?. #JujutsuKaisen #Fate

RT @scaramuccias: one man's trash is another man's treasure(?) #gilhaku

RT @GinzoAlter: I feel like im the only one who wants to see more of their weird fucked up Ex dynamic going on. (I just want more Eiri cont….

RT @kizu_skip: Alright enough doomposting. I'm not entertaining dumb Type Moon fans anymore. Emiya Shirou and Ryougi Shiki aren't "weak"….

Well, that person was a real nutcase anyway

LMAO

To wrap up, Denpa, literally “electromagnetic waves”, also serves as a metaphor for the invisible influences that run through us every day, from social currents to past traumas. It’s the feeling of living on a frequency no one else can tune into, a misalignment that isolates

You and Me and Her (Totono) pushes the concept further by blending denpa-kei (電波系) and denpa-san. Aoi Mukou is convinced she can communicate with electromagnetic waves. She has an odd way of speaking, behavior that feels incoherent or strange to others, and wild fantasies,

Among visual novels that best embody this spirit today, it’s probably Subarashiki Hibi, with its seemingly peaceful summer where reality cracks and descends into madness. Saya no Uta flips it the other way, here, it’s the protagonist’s perception of reality that twists.

Welcome to the N.H.K. puts muen shakai front and center through its protagonist. Needy Girl Overdose and Goodnight Punpun, with Pegasus and his “good vibrations”, are very much Denpa works in their own ways.

Denpa also digs into social alienation and trauma in anime. Neon Genesis Evangelion, Serial Experiments Lain, Paranoia Agent and Perfect Blue come to mind.

In the same vein, Tsui no Sora, Sayonara wo Oshiete and Jisatsu no Tame no 101 no Houhou are often cited as a founding “Big Three” of Denpa on the visual novel side.