The 'r' and 'l' debate...

I'll be straight with you. I'm more or less of a Dub hater. I think we all know that Anime is of Japanese origin. Many of us have first watched an anime dubbed. In my case it was dubbed in English. So, I'll let you know now, this is where I'm coming from.
I tip my hat to the reason that, without dubs, we'd have a lot less anime fans today. I have some respect for them, but I still hate how they tarnish Japanese names/things. I especially hate the way people pronounce Japanese names/things--namely the 'r' sounding ones. There are plenty of 'r' sounding Japanese names/things but they pronounce it a different way. In a sense that... Japanese doesn't necessarily have an 'r' sound. But I won't conclude it sounds like an 'l' sound as some people may have seen/heard it. We're just going to say it's a sound inbetween the 'l' and 'r' sound. It's not harsh sounding like an 'r' or as short as an 'l'. If I had to compare it somewhat comes close to a real short 'rr' in Spanish pronunciation; like right before you roll your 'rr'.

In case if you're wondering, I'm referring to these sounds that we, as the ignorant people, would try to pronounce and fail to (highlighted column in red):

Japanese alphabet in hiragana (green)/katakana(blue)/romanization(black)

Oddly, there has been a bit of a lost in translation bit in Japan. Because their alphabet system is more or less restricted to say nothing more but these sounds, they have trouble pronouncing words that we can pronounce fine. This includes spelling. Here are a couple of examples.

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Humanity Has Declined gif DUMP

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Ranma 1/2 gif

Because you and I know you can't changes sexes with a splash of water.

Just figured out how to take a part of a video clip and make it into a gif AND to get it to loop. It's pretty fun...

The vid pick wasn't exactly random. I finally finished watching all of Ranma 1/2 (the tv series, already watched the movies) yesterday. Been watching it on and off in order for a few years now. It's one of those comedy anime where you watch a couple of seasons and it gets pretty repetitive.
Which is why it took me too long to finish it. Since I watch anime as a  sport practically, I had this need to finish it. I usually try not to drop anime unless it's too annoying to watch.

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Japanese lesson (9): 以上

So, perhaps some of you have noticed as you finish each of my posts you see this kanji bit: 以上

The initial idea is to set some sort of line breaker of some sort to separate each post from anything else underneath it. My aim was to make a post perfectly clear that you've reached the end of the post.
But I didn't just pick any kanji. I wanted the one that reads "ijyou."

"What does that mean" you ask? While watching various anime, we usually have a character that gives a lecture or a meeting. Usually in a professional setting like a business meeting or a military proposal. After the lecture is over, they say "ijyou" or "ijyoudesu"

I figure I'll do the same. Just thought I'd let you know. You can use this term when conducting a workshop, speech, lecture, and the like as well.
This term has also been used after ordering something. Sort of like a reply you can use when they ask around the lines of "Would that be all?" Then you can reply "Ijyoudesu" (That's all). If you're in Japan of course.

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Anime Review (2): Humanity Has Declined

-gasp!-

Finally an anime more recent-ish that I can and will review. Firstly, this is not your generic type of anime. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita (aka Humanity Has Declined) has a different sort of humour that can be comparable to U.S. dark humour. If I gotten that memo, I might have not bothered watching it since I don't do well watching dark humour. ('course I usually rely on myanimelis.net as a database of finding an anime to watch. And it didn't even list it as a comedy...) 

Since I didn't expect it to be humorous I was surprised to see chicken CEOs in the first couple of episodes...  Though that sorta thing might have deterred me away, what kept me watching was the beautiful pastel, watery colours that was done throughout the show. The character designs were well-done and every character was distinguishable. With such cheerful tones, you would expect a happier look in humanity. In reality, you find a satirical look of humanity's problems in such a dark, playful matter. Irony. And who doesn't like sarcasm every now and then? 

As a side note, there isn't really a progressional story. Just an arc for every two eps or so.

The second thing that kept me watching was the main character. You never get to find out her name so she's just referred to as "Watashi" (Japanese pronoun for "I"). Watashi is relateable character who sees the world in a pessimistic and cynical matter. However, she is also smart and keeps any offensive thought to herself and acts accordingly. I didn't except such a personality being not a lot of pink-haired characters have a similar personality. As I review my favourite anime characters, they're usually dark-haired with smaller eyes. But Watashi ended up to be in my list of favourites. Without her, I wouldn't have enjoyed the series as much. 

Thirdly are the fairies. They're quite adorable and prolific when they're happy...The title for this series is pretty fitting. It pokes fun at us at certain ways I didn't catch right away. If given a chance, this is actually a witty anime. The pacing and the series of events could have been better though. So, though I can't give it a 10/10, it gets a 8.5 for originality, beautiful art, and a decent main character. I predict that this type of ironic anime will be seen more in future anime to come.

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Anime Epiphany (3): Masumi Itou

As I was watching Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, I've grown to really like its ending song, "Yume no Naka no Watashi no Yume" by Masumi Itou. The voice of that very song sounded very familiar as well. The slight, tenor screech (no offense intended) to the song made me think of the song "Blue Flow" from Haibane Renmei. Upon further inspection, the names didn't match. Of course "Heart of Air" (the vocalist to Blue Flow) sounded more like a stage name so I researched a lil more. Turns out Heart of Air and Masumi Itou are indeed the same person. 

She has also performed "Messiah" (under the pseudonym name, Hikaru Nanase) from Angel Sanctuary and was involved with Oranges and Lemons who perform the Azumanga Daioh theme songs. She's also a composer and songwriter. Not the most well-known, but I think she definitely stands out whenever she sings which works with the music whenever she arranges it herself.

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Japanese Lesson (8)

let us talk about my banner that says: just appreciation that is 日本

If you haven't figure it out yet, 日本 means Japan.
and actually if you separate those characters, it will mean something different.
日 = counter for days; day; Japan; sun
本 = generally means book (and other things that aren't important--just look in a dictionary for specifics)

Yes, if you split the kanji, you get something different. Like letters that make a word, putting kanji in a certain pattern, you get something different/new.

But just because you know a meaning of a kanji combination, doesn't mean it'll read out the same. For example and in this case, "日本" is pronounced as 'nihon' (NEE-hohn) and/or 'nippon' (Nee-POHN).
If you're talking to a Japanese local, your best bet is to refer Japan as 'nippon' as that is the more modern name for it.

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