Here’s a riddle for you: What do Gundam and black holes have in common? And, no, it has nothing to with giant robots or CERN-style technology gone crazy. It’s actually about…fashion.
Well, fashion might be a bit of an exaggeration, but we’ll give you a hint. What’s weird about the way Fumina Hoshino, from the new Gundam Build Fighters Try, wears her skirt?
Okay, that was a bit misleading. It’s not exactly Fumina’s skirt that’s…different (though it is incredibly short). It’s what she wears under her skirt!
But before we give you the answer, let’s take a quick detour through the land of zettai ryouiki. A more literal translation would be “the absolute zone,” but this is one of the many cases where a literal translation makes less sense than a talking duck without pants swimming in a bin of gold coins. It actually refers to the exposed thigh skin between a girl’s (or guy’s) skirt and the top of her (or his) socks, usually knee-high socks in my particular.
▼Like these gals!
街歩き04 日本橋のどこか。絶対領域は絶対なのです!そんな歌がありました。ラブライブ人気だなー。マネージャーの為のアニメなのに。 pic.twitter.com/VFbgVZopYV
— ぽよよよーん (@MoriinUNIQLO) August 30, 2014
▼Or Hatsune Miku!
初音ミク Project DIVA Arcade プレミアムフィギュア”初音ミク”入荷しました! #初音ミク #hatunemiku #vocaloid #shimokita #ゲーセン pic.twitter.com/EaBP0ocAoR
— ドラマ下北沢(プライズ専門店) (@doramapart1) April 7, 2014
▼Or this guy! (Look at number 3.)
下野紘がなぜ可愛いのか考えてみた
— 下野紘クラスタBOT♡ (@shimono_kb) October 18, 2014
1 くしゃっとした笑顔から見える八重歯
2包まれたくなる鳩胸
3 絶対領域GJ!
4 仕草が乙女
5 30代には見えぬ童顔フェイス
6 極めつけにあの心くすぐる声#共感してくれる人RT pic.twitter.com/P8VpCHAq3D
But Fumina has a slightly different style, doesn’t she? In addition to bare skin between her socks and tiny skirt, the Gundam character also wears short spandex leggings which stick out below her hemline. Which seems like a case of poorly matched clothes to us, but maybe we’re just old. Of course, a new style needs a new name…but what should it be called? Obviously, it needs to be something similar to zettai ryouiki, but what could we use instead of the zettai (“absolute”)?
As Twitter-using illustrator Hiroyuki Sanadzuna suggested, the black line of spandex around Fumina’s thighs have a gravitation power that pulls in our line of sight–it’s so strong we can’t not look at it. It’s almost…inescapable. Which is kind of like light and a black hole, so he offered this name for the legging-look: “Why don’t we call this the ‘Schwarzschild zone?'”
https://twitter.com/sanadura_h/status/525089529313509376/
It’s certainly not everyday that you see references to the Schwarzschild radius and Gundam in the same sentence, and the tweet/illustration was funny enough to get quite a bit of attention online. Whether or not it will actually catch on is another matter though, since, as one commenter pointed out, “That is way too hard to say! You need to come up with an abbreviation.” While it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue for English speakers, it turns into something right out of Jabberwocky in Japanese: Shyubarutsushiruto ryouiki.
We give it points for cleverness, but we’ll have to deduct even more for the actual name itself. Maybe something like “the event horizon” would be easier for everyone to say (and spell).
Or maybe Fumina should just get a longer skirt!
Sources: Hachima Kikou, Niconico News, Twitter
Image: Wikipedia (Alain R)
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