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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back from an unofficial hiatus

Hello!

I've been (not-so) busy with school/life/relationships that watching anime brainlessly made me forget other responsibilities I gave myself.

So, I'm back on--not for the fame, traffic, money, and the like. Just that I need something to use as an outlet to get rid of this punt-up energy of this desire to share my knowledge/findings of life, but in this case, anime and japan-esque quibbles.

So, I'm back and not going to give an eff what others want/think 'cause that hasn't gotten me anywhere really. I've noticed people have been on (or stumbled unto) this blog probably in passing and leaving since this blog isn't recent. 'course carrying on hoping someone is reading and commenting might have been too much of an expectation. So I'm throwing that out the window.

So then, onwards in building up my posts once again. And excuse as I look through my posts and refine them somemore and get rid of broken links. Sorry about that.

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Anime Epiphany (2): Digimon style

nice long gap we got here...
Well, this is out of my own leisure this time; and no imaginative pressure this time


SO, I've been watching Digimon Adventure in Japanese which is pretty awesome. A few things that are rather annoying of course like the repetitive digi-volving or should i say the "shinka" haha.  *shrugs* It is an anime aimed at kids...Everyone remembered Digimon?  Good times in my childhood.  I'm currently watching it in Japanese. In the end, the difference between the original jap and the dub US version isn't terrible compare to say Cardcaptors? Hah. Still, I fully recommend you watching it in its original Japanese voices :]  There's a lot of fun jokes in there that U.S. translation wouldn't pick up hehe.

Anyway, being the anime nerd that I am, I picked up Hikari's voice which sounded pretty familiar which gave me a bad feeling... it's that bad feeling of an annoying anime character. What popped up? Chibiusa...  Looked it up and I was right.  It's somewhat a shame since I adore Hikari, but at times when she speaks up... That cursed pink-haired chibi thing pops up.  (Sorry Chibiusa fans, but she just rubs me the wrong way). I looked it up and well I was right heh.  Araki, Kae...Not sure if she's done anything recent lately... Hard to tell unless I want to go through that list... and I don't haha.
Another one popped up. Our lil Pinocchimon (aka Puppetmon) sounded very familiar.  So, seriously, I think this seiyuu is starting to become my favorite. Afterall, she is the voice of the kawaii Chi-chan! It just works for someone psychotic; in yet, retains a cuteness that you can't just... shy away (TAMAMA-DESU!) First thought was indeed Private Tamama! And yes, I was right.  Kozakura, Etsuko is too awesome-DESU.
I think i'll start uploading the episodes...

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Anime Review (1): Aria the Animation

Picture this: Italy on Mars paved with endless blue, blue sea. Then you have gondoliers as your tour guides around this Neo Italian city. A smile on this young female tour guide showing the lovely sites. Everyone seems content and relaxed. This is what this anime provides. It shows you the wonderful world of Neo Venezia through the eyes of Akari Mizunashi as she trains her way to be a professional gondolier meeting new people and experiences.
Oh Aria... Such a wonderful Anime. The ultimate slice-of-life anime out there with a fantastical edge. :]
My top favourite anime out there. I full-out recommend it. Like most slice of life, not a lot is progressed in the series. But after you watch season 1 and 2, a lot of changes happen in the last season (there's 3 seasons in total) in the most epic way. It's one of those series where it gets better in each season. Each character is likeable, relateable and has a story.

You can purchase it on DVD here :]

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Japanese Lesson (7): Pronouns

Very different from English, the Japanese language has various, variations (haha) on how to describe "I" and "you"
It mostly just depends on how you see yourself as in terms of femininity and masculinity.
Here's the mostly used-terms for "I":

• 私 watashi (unisex, standard); sounds like WA-ta-SHEE
• 私 atashi (female use); sounds like AH-ta-SHEE 
• 私 watakushi (selfish); sounds like WA-ta-koo-SHEE
• 僕 boku (male); sounds like BOU-koo
• 俺 ore ("manly" male); sounds like Oh-leh

In Japanese culture, it's really not polite to use "I" every so often. But when prompted, these are the terms you would use. Japanese people are usually seen as indirect and unselfish being that's their culture and they value of being discreet. Which is why they probably view the U.S. as stereotypically obnoxious whenever we use our pronouns.

Here's the mostly-used terms for "you" (which are all not usually polite to use, unless there's no choice in the matter)

• あなた anata (general); sounds like Ah-nah-tah
  note: wives usually refer to their husbands as that term though I'm unsure if the kanji is different, but the sound is the same.
• あんた anta; sounds like Ahn-tah (more informal and sometimes rude)
• 君　kimi; sounds like KEE-me (used for friends and probably little kids)

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Anime/Manga & Japanese Lessons (3&6): Kansai and ラブ★コン

何でよね！

Like any country, there are various dialects that is somewhat different from its standard language. One dialect in Japan I'll be talking about is Kansai dialect. It's a pretty funny dialect that is often used in Japanese comedic groups. It's most prevalent in the city of Osaka in the Kansai region.

In the anime world, characters from Osaka are often seen as side characters. You can say they're like the 'hick' part of Japan. Often teased about by the way they talk and their different customs. It's nothing to be offended about since we do it ourselves when you think about it.

A great anime to watch with prevalent Kansai dialect would be Lovely Complex (usually seen written as ラブ★コン　in Japanese media). When you watch plenty of anime and then watch Lovely Complex, you start to hear differences. Honestly, rarely you would find the main character with a Kansai accent/dialect in various anime. This is a great recommendation to notice standard Japanese and not-so standard haha.

Don't forget kids, that the U.S. has various dialects as well. We can understand each other (most of the time), we just sound different and sometimes funny.

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A short Anime/Manga lesson (3): Seiyuu

For those wondering, the term seiyuu (pronounced as SAY-you) just means voice acter/actress usually for anime.

It's seen written like this 声優. A nifty thing to note is that the kanji for  声 means voice.

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Anime/Manga Lesson (2): About the term "Anime"

the term "anime" (as seen written as "アニメ" and pronounced as AH-nee-meh) is pretty much the Japanese term for a Japanese animation, Japanese animated cartoon, Japanese animated film.
Therefore, there's no need at all to say something like "Japanese anime." It's already implied that it's Japanese. (It's annoying when people say it like that... and it's almost redundant)
This is not to be confused with the term "manga" (pronounced as 'mahn-gAH' NOT pronounced similiar to 'mango'). Manga contains still images out of Japanese orgin (think of a comic book only that bookstores like to call it "graphic novels" being that they tend to be real thick). Again, there's no need to say something weird like "Japanese manga." It's implied to be Japanese.
Got it? Good.

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Japanese Lesson (5) Addressing Strangers

Of course, there are times when you meet someone without introducing each other. Usually, we would just call them "miss", "madame", "mister", and the like. Japanese has titles for strangers as well.
When addressing... (far left as formal to far right as informal tense)

• a woman much older than you = obasama, obasan, obachan
• a man much older than you = ojisama, ojisan, ojichan
  
  Careful when you use them; otherwise, you may offend someone. Unless that person has some gray/white hairs, it may be better to use titles addressed to an older sister/brother which again are...
  
• older sister/stranger = (O)neesan and/or (O)neechan
• older brother/stranger = (O)niisan and/or (O)niichan
  using the '-sama' prefix is rather rare. You wouldn't call a stranger in such a highly received way would you?  Older cousins are titled in this way as well.
  A person getting offended (especially females) might be because those titles ("oba" and "oji") sound closely to addressing a granparenst which are...
  
• female grandparent = (O)baasama, (O)baasan, (O)baachan
• male grandparent = (O)jiisama, (O)jiisan, (O)jiichan
  notice it's only one letter/syllable away from the stranger title to a grandparent title (someone who's of senior citizen age) 

and as always, younger people don't have a special title to them. They're just not really addressed; if anything, say something like "that girl", "that boy", etc.

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Japanese Lesson (4) Family

Now that you know about prefixes, it'll be easier to talk about family.

Far left as the more formal to far right as informal form... When you're addressing...

• Mother, Mom, Mommy = (O)kaasama, (O)kaasan, (O)kaachan; Hahaue (this term was used in samurai families prior to the Meiji period)
  Notice that we use prefixes when addressing 'mom.' It's the same idea throughtout. The '(O)' part is optional, but it is often used. Reason probably being is that putting an 'O' in everything is probably tiresome, though probably is the most proper way of speaking.
• Father, Dad, Daddy = (O)tousama, (O)tousan, (O)touchan; Chichiue (used in samurai families as well)
  
• Older/elder Sister = (O)neesama, (O)neesan, (O)neechan; Aneki is another but rarely used
  
  you can insert the person's name before mentioning the"nee"+prefix part which is the same for elder brother and sometimes but rarely to mother/father
• Older/elder Brother = (O)niisama, (O)niisan, (O)niichan; Aniki is another but is rarely used as well

Similar to the "sempai" idea (as seen here), younger brothers and sisters don't have a title. To the older brother and sister, they would just call their younger siblings by their names. And being they are in a close relationship, they would use the -chan prefix or without a prefix at all.

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Japanese Lesson (3) Prefixes

For those that are familiar, when you're watching an anime series, you almost always cannot miss prefixes such as "san," "chan," "kun," etc. at the end of someone's name
For this reason, these will be explained.
To start, calling a person's name plainly is considered very rude unless you are close to this person. Of course this is somewhat true when you are in the U.S., but this goes a bit more deeper. This can even go beyond courtesy, but part of the culture.
Next, prefixes in the Japanese culture is always used at the end of the noun. This includes people, animals, objects, and the like. That aside, let us now define the prefixes.

• -san is the unisex prefix. Using "-san" (sounds like 'SAHn') is pretty standard and is often used. It's pretty much equivalent to calling someone Mr. or Miss or Mrs. I'd like to call it the safe prefix that can be used on anyone.
• -chan is the more feminine prefix. "-chan" (sounds like 'CHAHn") is used on children mostly. It's also ok to use it on girls and people who you are close to. Not a good idea to use on males being that it sounds more condescending though I have heard it used between guy-guy friends.
• "-kun" is more used on males though I have heard it used on females just more rare.
• "-sama" is the royalty type of prefix. This prefix is something that is used on royalty or like a servant to a master/mistress. I have heard it by females using it on their crushes as well.
• plainly saying their name is reserved for usually lovers or someone you are just real close to.

Conclusions: using prefixes indicates what sort of relationship you're in with someone so use them well.

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Japanese lesson (2): Japanese and American School Comparisons

It may be obvious that, naturally, schools in Japan and schools in the U.S. are different; but here are some qualities that you may have not noticed; whereas some stuff that you ought to know that remains the norm in Japanese schools.

• Before students attend high school, they are to apply and take tests to which high school they desire. So, in a sense, it's similar to students applying for college in the U.S. If they are really determined (or if parents force them to), students would go to cram schools which occur after normal school hours in a separate sort of facility.

• Once they enter high school, they only stay there for 3 years. It's funny since junior high for them goes from 6th-9th grade. So, in comparison to the U.S... Their "freshman year" is still in junior high.

• In grade school, the kids are to keep a dairy as a homework report for the summer. That's not-so bad if you compare to the junior high school kids and up that just have summer homework. Yep, it doesn't matter if you're going to school or not, Japanese kids WILL get homework haha.

• In high school, students are often given questionnaires as to what sort of career they want to shoot for. For some people, that may enforce an individual to really consider the future...

• Every student rotates for cleaning duty after school in which they clean their classroom and the like. (i doubt this was done in college). This not only teaches kids how to clean, but it may (or may not) enforce discipline in which seems to be only forced in bootcamps (at least in the US).

• Not sure if it's in grade school, but I know both in Junior High and High School they have student representatives both male and female which are pretty much the person that is considered a role model to the class as well as the "student pet" to the teacher. The student rep also runs student meetings within the classroom to discuss regulations, concerns, and who does what in the sports festival and the like.

• Contrary to U.S. schools of junior and senior high, Japanese students pretty much stay in one classroom all throughout the day. The teachers are the ones that transition to different classroom locations after each class time. I figure that builds up strong friendships/teamwork/pride within the classroom. Though by next year students change classrooms and may not see the same people again, but still stay within that classroom until next year again.

• Students don't really have lockers but cubbies where they keep their shoes. They would (usaually) have 2 pairs of shoes: one pair they wear for everyday use and the other pair that is worn within the school building; thus, they rotate shoes before the school hours after hours.

• girls and boys are taught separately during P.E. and yes, girls wore those bikini-looking bottoms for PE. They even had swimsuit uniforms o.O They don't wear them anymore, but they are still seen in recent anime for laughs & giggles.

• "senpai" and "sensei" is often heard during school hours. Senpai (sounds like 'sehn-PIE') is a title-prefix given to someone who is upperclassman to you. Whether this person is 1 year ahead of you or 3, you would still address that person as "name-senpai" or just simply "senpai." That sort of formality is used the same way for "Sensei" (sounds like 'sehn-SAY") only it's used for teachers/instructors. Underclassmen (known as "kouhai") don't really have a title used among the upperclassman, they're just called by their names.

• school trips seem to often occur after the school year (guessing at the end of elementary, junior high, but definitely high school). It's like a field trip, but they get to stay over night or two. So jealous over that.

• there aren't any school buses, students generally just walk and/or bike to school (considering the overpopulation and it's eco friendly ;p). The rich ones are usually seen transported by car.

• yes, students wear uniforms (even as far as kindergarten) and no, the girl's skirts actually aren't that short as they make it to be in some anime. (When you watch enough anime, you notice the type of genre you're watching by the girl's skirts sometimes.) As far as I can tell, high school students WILL have school uniforms. Junior high is seen often, grade/elementary is debatable.

• Also good to keep in mind that--Japanese students treat applying to high school as a U.S. student trying to apply for college. U.S. high schools are usually decided by taxes and location (unless your parents are really anal [or other circumstances...] and prefer you to be enrolled in a catholic school or home-schooled). 

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ドラゴンボール改: A Dragon Ball Kai Review

That is about my most favorite scene from Dragon Ball Kai. For those that don't know, Bandai has just recently re-released Dragon Ball Z calling it Dragon Ball Kai.
There's really no difference between the two 'sides a few things

• Bandai cut up the pointless powerups and those awe-faces that take up a good 5 min too long
• new openings and endings that of course weren't in the original DBZ
• it's in Japanese (original seiyuu) and subbed now to DL by decent subbers

It sure brings back memories. At the same time, it's fresh being that you get to hear 'em in Japanese. I doubt they'll be licensing Kai anytime soon.... hopefully.

Nov 2012: If you're curious, I did eventually dropped this series and it's been releasing on the Nickelodean channel last time I heard.

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Anime Epiphany (2): Etsuko Kozakura

As I was watching and editing Chi's Sweet Home for my Youtube channel, I've noticed the familar voice played by Youhei. After listening to him a while longer, I've noticed Youhei's "waaiii" and Tamama's (from Keroro Gunsou) "waaiii" are very similar. I confirmed it as true through animenewsnetwork. Both Tamama and Youhei is played by actress Etsuko Kozakura-san.

Ya, I'm good, hehe.

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