Dr. Frag was no doubt making a joke with his reference to foot-binding, but it is no laughing matter.
I know what you mean, it actually makes me wince whenever I think about it.
My sister was reading a book, I think it was called Kimono, about fashion in Japan centuries ago. One thing that was popular amongst women was black teeth. It was considered very unattractive to have white teeth, so they would all colour them black. It wasn't until there was cultural influence from the west that this died out. I'd never even heard of it.
But it goes both ways, in Australia it's considered normal for women to wear makeup, earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets. People also get their noses, lips, tongues, eyebrows, bellybuttons and nipples pierced. And there's tatoos of course. I consider most of this painful and unnecessary, but because I've grown up in this culture it doesn't shock me. I myself have a mowhawke.
Anyway, getting back to Astroboy, the thing I noticed most about his look in the new series is how narrow his shoulders are.
** SPOILER **
Here's a short clip of how Astro's leg jets work in the new series (190k), as shown in episode 1. Of course, don't click on it if you want to wait for the broadcast. I think there is still a bit of hi-tech mystery to it, but I think about little bits like this more than I do about their flying cars.
But in the case of corsetts or blackened teeth, no one was forcing the women to comply, it was their own voluntary compliance that made the trend last as long as it did.
