Tiny Stuff about Japan Thread - Page 4

patrick457 · #46 Apr 30, '12, 6:34 am

Oh, and remember the Mormon claim that Jesus went to America? He apparently decided to cross the ocean. Or go the other way and pass through Siberia. All this in order to live out the rest of His life in quiet retirement as a rice farmer.

I guess the Muslims were right: it was somebody else who was crucified, in this case, His brother with a name that very suspiciously sounds like a portmanteau (in true Japanese fashion) of Iesuzu Kirisuto.

patrick457 · #47 Apr 30, '12, 6:39 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Layp3rs0n

Uhhhhh....yeah no idea what that says...

"I can (roughly) speak Japanese; whether I'm proficient at it or not is another question."

Layp3rs0n · #48 Apr 30, '12, 6:41 am

You are certainly more proficent than I.

Lost Wanderer · #49 Apr 30, '12, 6:42 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Kenshin

I would be happy if I could watch TV ads for everyday Japanese products again. ;p

For some reason, this post compels me to announce that I'm now currently addicted to online anime/jpop radio. @w@

patrick457 · #50 Apr 30, '12, 6:47 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lost Wanderer

For some reason, this post compels me to announce that I'm now currently addicted to online anime/jpop radio. @w@

えええ、今更！？

This post also somehow compels me to confess that I became an avid listener of this (which is really the radio of a certain series later adapted into an animated show by an (in)famous animation studio involving a certain suicidally-despairing teacher and a class full of very quirky kids). When it was about to end.

Lost Wanderer · #51 Apr 30, '12, 6:56 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrick457

えええ、今更！？

This post also somehow compels me to confess that I became an avid listener of this (which is really the radio of a certain series later adapted into an animated show by an (in)famous animation studio involving a certain suicidally-despairing teacher and a class full of very quirky kids). When it was about to end.

LOL! I watched then read a bit of that. So retarded but at the same time addictive. I wonder if I should put that in my current reading list and keep reading again. I've been running out of series to follow since a lot of my current ones are reaching conclusion.

patrick457 · #52 Apr 30, '12, 7:14 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lost Wanderer

LOL! I watched then read a bit of that. So retarded but at the same time addictive. I wonder if I should put that in my current reading list and keep reading again. I've been running out of series to follow since a lot of my current ones are reaching conclusion.

I'm with you on 'retarded' (in a good way): the series began as a story about a utterly pessimistic, paranoid suicidal teacher and his class, which has by time turned into a sort of episodic gag commentary on daily life, politics and popular culture. They even eventually lampshade about how many of the characters are no longer true to their original traits within the manga itself.

The guy who writes the series BTW has a colorful background. He began his career writing manga filled to the brim with rather dirty jokes (something he'd apparently now actually much rather forget and bleach away from his memories), although there were already traces of the social commentary and potshots at/parodies of other works/writers which he would later become known for. At hindsight, he described his first series as "a manga that is embarrassing to buy and embarrassing to read, but even more embarrassing to the one who is writing it." (His other series, Katte ni Kaizō exemplifies this change perfectly: at its beginning there were the usual tasteless gags, but by the end, Kaizō's format already prefigures the one used in Zetsubō-Sensei.) Now, older and wiser (?), he's very big on self-deprecating humor taken up to eleven: this is the same person who held a funeral service for himself during the 2007 Kodansha Manga Awards (which he won) in lieu of a congratulatory party. His main reason? At that time he has had consecutive lucky breaks (Zetsubō-Sensei being adapted into anime, winning the 2007 award, etc.) he feared bad luck might come out of it as a result.

Oh, and BTW, Hayate's creator Hata Kenjirō was his former assistant. (In keeping with the self-deprecation, he often likes to mock himself as an insignificant, unsuccessful low-life in contrast to Hata, presented as an obscenely successful manga-ka.) And he has some sort sort of friendly (?) rivalry with Akamatsu Ken.

Sailor Kenshin · #53 Apr 30, '12, 4:13 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Layp3rs0n

Uhhhhh....yeah no idea what that says...

I didn't make it much past 'ee.'

patrick457 · #54 Jun 7, '12, 2:45 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailor kenshin

i didn't make it much past 'ee.'

此のスレを直ちに復活せよ！

So yeah, I just realized a crucial difference between Japanese and Western cultures: the Japanese have more willingness to suspend disbelief and considers imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete things as beautiful.

Sailor Kenshin · #55 Jun 9, '12, 3:13 pm

Wabi-sabi. Got it.

And about seven characters of what you posted above that.

CesarAugustus · #56 Jun 11, '12, 5:48 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by patrick457

えええ、今更！？

This post also somehow compels me to confess that I became an avid listener of this (which is really the radio of a certain series later adapted into an animated show by an (in)famous animation studio involving a certain suicidally-despairing teacher and a class full of very quirky kids). When it was about to end.

Good series!

Blessings!

patrick457 · #57 Jun 11, '12, 6:07 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by CesarAugustus

Good series!

Blessings!

I should add this: the manga is about to end also. I think it'd be Wednesday this week.

Crescentinus · #58 Jun 11, '12, 6:13 am

I so need to study Japanese again... o:

Lost Wanderer · #59 Jun 11, '12, 6:15 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crescentinus

I so need to study Japanese again... o:

Thanks for reminding me of what I need to do when I'm growing tired of waiting for fan subs and scanlations. :P

patrick457 · #60 Jun 11, '12, 6:29 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sailor Kenshin

Wabi-sabi. Got it.

About suspension of disbelief. I have heard from a certain teacher that the main reasons why the kaiju movies and tokusatsu series like Ultraman failed to become popular in Western countries is maonly because Westerners apparently found it hard to suspend disbelief seeing men wearing all these (oftentimes, especially back in those days, obviously fake) suits and pretending to be gigantic monsters or huge aliens while running over miniature models of towns and cities. The Japanese, however, do not have such a difficulty in willing to suspend judgment concerning the implausibility and the overt 'fakeness' of such stuff: this was after all the culture that produced noh, kabuki, rakugo, and bunraku, where a relative form of minimalism was normative. Ultraman in particular had a hard time being accepted because Western audiences apparently could not figure out if he was supposed to be wearing clothes or not, so that's another issue.

And wabi-sabi. Unlike in the west where something perfect and professional is much more desired, the Japanese as mentioned finds beauty in the imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. This explains the development of things like Japanese gardens, bonsai, and the concept of kawaii. It also explains the whole idol phenomenon: even if they aren't really that good of a singer much of the public still loves them despite of it, or should I say because of it. This air of immaturity, imperfectness and 'unskillfulness' endears them to people because it gives them something they can relate to. It doesn't matter if you're really bad at singing or acting - we can all grow and hone our skills together.