{"id":647,"date":"2006-12-15T16:35:58","date_gmt":"2006-12-15T08:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/2006\/12\/15\/japanese-titbits-3-zettai-ryouiki\/"},"modified":"2007-02-20T23:38:01","modified_gmt":"2007-02-20T15:38:01","slug":"japanese-titbits-3-zettai-ryouiki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/2006\/12\/15\/japanese-titbits-3-zettai-ryouiki\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Titbits #3 – \u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you may or may not have noticed, there are two new banners in the random rotation. Don’t try refreshing this page because I’m using WP-Cache<\/a> so the banner changes only after the cache expires. Instead you can view the new banners (rei.gif<\/a> and zettai.jpg<\/a>) using the direct link.<\/p>\n

\"Zettai<\/p>\n

I’m sure everyone knows and loves Rei, but what the heck is \u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178? Answer lies after the break.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178 (zettai ryouiki<\/em>) literally means “absolute territory”. It is used in Evangelion for Absolute Terror Field<\/a> (AT Field) which powers the Eva units. Although the term “absolute terror” was derived from Sigmund Freud<\/a>‘s writings, “zettai ryouiki<\/em>” was first used by Eva and has absolutely no relationship to “absolute terror” in psychology. (Absolute<\/em>ly. Get it? LOL!…nvm)<\/p>\n

And right now, zettai ryouiki<\/em> has almost nothing to do with Evangelion either, although it is frequently printed in the same style as it appeared in Evangelion (pictured above) as a form of homage. In fact, \u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178 today has more to do with knee socks than angst-filled mecha pilots.<\/p>\n

Here’s a typical example of the zettai ryouiki<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Zettai<\/a>
\n\u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178<\/span><\/p>\n

In the online Japanese geek lingo, “zettai ryouiki<\/em>” refers to the area of uncovered thigh between the skirt and the knee sock. It can be found in almost any mo\u00c3\u00a9-type game or anime. It’s considered a mo\u00c3\u00a9 attribute, just like nekomimi<\/em><\/a>, megane<\/em><\/a> and tsundere<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Zettai<\/a>
\n\u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178<\/span><\/p>\n

The presence of zettai ryouiki<\/em> requires socks that go above the knees. Thus in the above picture, Tama-nee (red hair) is the only girl with it. In fact, Tama-nee from ToHeart2<\/strong><\/a> is well-known for her awesome zettai ryouiki<\/em>. :P<\/p>\n

\"Zettai<\/a>
\n\u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178<\/span><\/p>\n

Another well-known zettai ryouiki<\/em> belongs to Rin Tohsaka from Fate\/stay night<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Zettai<\/a>
\n\u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178<\/span><\/p>\n

Pretty much all maid characters with short skirts have zettai ryouiki<\/em>, such as the girls from He is My Master<\/strong><\/a>. Here’s a Mitsuki cosplayer.<\/p>\n

\"Zettai<\/a>
\n\u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178<\/span><\/p>\n

Akiba-blog<\/a> regularly goes around checking out the cosplayers at Akihabara for zettai ryouiki<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

In fact, zettai ryouiki<\/em> has become a science. According to Hatena Diary<\/a>, the golden ratio for the ultimate zettai ryouiki<\/em> is 4:1:2.5 (length of skirt : zettai ryouiki<\/em> : length of socks above knee) and the acceptable margin for error is \u00c2\u00b125\u00ef\u00bc\u2026. The ratios are generally off because it is thought that the ultimate zettai ryouiki<\/em> would generate so much mo\u00c3\u00a9 that the equivalent energy would be enough to vaporize the planet.<\/p>\n

\"Zettai<\/a>
\n\u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178<\/span><\/p>\n

While the term was originally used in Evangelion, it was not until the new millennium before zettai ryouiki<\/em> was first used in its current context. According to Wikipedia<\/a>, it was apparently used in reference to a desktop mascot program in the creator’s blog on 21 March 2001 and took off after becoming a web meme and subsequently referred to in various doujinshi.<\/p>\n

\"Zettai<\/a>
\n\u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178<\/span><\/p>\n

Banpresto<\/a> (a division of Namco Bandai Holdings and the makers of Super Robot Wars<\/a>) registered \u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178 as a trademark under digital media last year but it is unknown whether it is related to Evangelion, for which they have the rights to develop games.<\/p>\n

\"Zettai<\/a>
\n\u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178<\/span><\/p>\n

And not too long ago, COSPA<\/a> released an event-limited zettai ryouiki<\/em> shirt<\/a> which I have yet to find.<\/p>\n

The subtitle of Broccoli’s Galaxy Angel II<\/a><\/strong> for PS2 is \u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178\u00e3\u0081\u00ae\u00e6\u2030\u2030 (zettai ryouiki no tobira<\/em>) or “Door of the Absolute Territory”. I wonder what that means? <_<<\/p>\n

\"Zettai<\/a>
\n\u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178<\/span><\/p>\n

In conclusion, \u00e7\u00b5\u00b6\u00e5\u00af\u00be\u00e9\u00a0\u02dc\u00e5\u0178\u0178 are cool. <3 Tama-nee<\/a><\/p>\n

This ends yet another useless post brought to you by DM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you may or may not have noticed, there are two new banners in the random rotation. Don’t try refreshing this page because I’m using WP-Cache so the banner changes only after the cache expires. Instead you can view the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,12,28],"tags":[75,1095,112,60,134],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.darkmirage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}