Forum - View topicCultural Exchange with a Game Center Girl (TV).
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Edjwald
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Cultural Exchange with a Game Center Girl (TV) Source: Manga (ongoing @ 9 volumes by Hirokazu Yasuhara) Demographic: Shounen Animation Studio: Nomad Genres: comedy, romance Themes: workplace Plot Summary: Renji Kusakabe works part-time at an arcade and meets a British girl named Lily. They exchange diaries and begin their friendship, or maybe something more. Air Date & Platform: July 06, 2025 (Sunday) Available on: Crunchyroll Episode Count / Runtime: Pending [EDIT: Fancy opener stuff edited. -TK] |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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I could see getting to know more about the games you find in the arcade with maybe some history thrown in to be interesting.
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15851 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I thought that the whole koala thing would point towards her being Australian, but apparently, she is English.
At least some of the accent work and slang was notable. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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I liked the first episode. A part of that was the language barrier actually being a convincing thing for once (and something that will likely improve over time). Showing off some different arcade games with a few classic types on display was fun (I miss when there was an arcade/game center nearby). The one aspect that has me a bit worried is the alluded romance. Unless I am mistaken she is like 14 or so while he is probably 18 or older, thus I hope that Renji is sensible enough to keeps things as a friendship.
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Piglet the Grate
 Posts: 1433 Location: North America |
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Lily is 13 and Renji is 18 and it is on my maybe list is all I am going to say about this. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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I was afraid the age difference was something like that and given episode 2 it does not seem to be turning into a friendship. I assume that everyone thinks that Renji will remain sensible and it is thus not problematic to support Lily in her endeavor. As long as things stay innocent things are fine, I guess.
Otherwise I liked the second episode. Some extra characters were added to the mix with Lily's school becoming a regularly visited location (the student president will likely get introduced later on). Seeing Lily make some new friends while having fun in the arcade will be fun. Finally, the mother is a lively character and Renji disguise's was something. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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They sure do love that Koala and given the third episode it is being featured in quite a few (crappy) games. I am a bit sad that the focus is more on the romance aspect than the game center side of things (I was hoping for something similar to Hi Score Girl). The age gap is thankfully no issue with the way they are handling it but the romance is simply not interesting.
So yeah, I hope that the show will drop the romance a tad and focus more on the slice of life and game center aspects, whether I will get that though..... |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15851 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 8
Granted, that I am not from the UK, but the bit about it being a UK tradition to cosplay at birthdays sounded a bit strange. It kind of sounded like maybe they got confused by something like the concept of a kids dress up party, something for much younger kids with the stereotype of boys as Spiderman and girls as princesses. And or maybe something like a fancy dress or themed party, where the entire party has the theme and not just costumes, which I don't think are anything like a tradition. It kind of made me wonder if maybe Japan doesn't have those sorts of things, and so has mistaken them as traditions. Also, apparently in Japan people don't cheer after singing happy birthday? |
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shosakukan
Posts: 385 |
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Roughly speaking, at birthday parties, in cases where they sing the song in question, after singing the 'Happy Birthday to You' song, Japanese people do not say, 'Hip hip hooray.' Instead, after singing it, usually they applaud and say, 'Omedetō(gozaimasu),' though. Probably, whilst the 'Happy Birthday to You' song itself was imported, the 'Saying "Hip hip hooray"' tradition was not imported into Japan. It is rather an interesting question that when and from where the 'Happy Birthday to You' song was imported into Japan (and how it spreaded). If you watch the 'Ikiru' film (rel. in 1952, dir. by Kurosawa Akira), in a scene, you can see young people sing the 'Happy Birthday to You' song at a café. I think that Oliver Hermanus directed Living, whose screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro was adapted from Ikiru. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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Given the title of the show it is nice to see it lead to discussion about cultural exchanges. Anyway, episode 9 could have been a finale in that it felt like a solid conclusion. The episode showcased how everyone can enjoy the game center in their own way (plenty of games for all) and it also showed that Lily has grown as a person. It had plenty of that darn koala too.
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15851 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I find it inherently funny that they would include that the Australian must love koalas because they are Australian, and thus would want to get the Japanese koala plush. The English sounded natural, which shouldn't be a surprise as she was apparently voiced by someone who grew up in Australia.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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10:
That was a fun tournament. Lots of over the top characters and dumb comments kept it entertaining (surprisingly little Koala action). I am glad that Karin got her long awaited rematch as a reward... even if she did lose again. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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I am not sure how to feel about episode 11 being the best one thus far while simultaneously being the first one to not take place in the game center at all. I did like the showcasing of some countryside charm though. Said charm included a Dagashi (I want to visit one someday), a secret arcade of sorts plus outdoor activities like fishing and building a den.
Seems like the final episode will be a festival outing. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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12:
That was a charming enough slice of life show. The romance element was thankfully never something creepy (though it also added nothing of value) and most of the characters were likeable enough. The game center adventures were fun and varied, even if that darn koala appeared a bit too often. |
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