But there are also cute poems, and, as you'd expect from the author of The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom, a strong narrative with universal themes of friendship and being the odd one out.
Myers, whose two previous books are set in Japan and Hawaii, notes that he's more interested in telling a story than in elaborating a cultural tradition, and this story is more about universal values of friendship than about either Buddhism or the tanuki.
The ad's emphasis on universal values of friendship and camaraderie, depicted in an authentic sporting situation, rang true and avoided many of the classic traps of objectification or sentimentality.
Age and language were no barriers, as he and the children communicated through the universal language of friendship.
Rad acknowledged that the "unwritten context" of Tinder right now is romantic relationships, but he argued that the basic mechanism, where two people are only connected when they both express interest in each other, is "a universal thing across friendships, across business, across anything".
Films must also comply with this official rule: "The spirit of the Festival de Cannes is one of friendship and universal co-operation.
Yay!" It makes me uncomfortable the way "Sex and the City" always made me uncomfortable because it was supposed to tap into the universal joys of female friendship, and I never in my life had — or wanted to have — friends like those.
Because here they cover truly universal themes: weird male friendships; pregnancy worries; the ghastliness and kindness of other people.
Follow the universal moral values of love, friendship, modesty and kindness.
In the afternoon we move to NBC Universal where I continue my burgeoning friendship with Mr Goldblum and view Raines, his new police drama, and Paul Haggis's The Black Donnellys.
