Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! [2007-03-09]
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Eruanna
 Posts: 451 Location: Canada |
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The rant was a good point. I doubt Japanese people would be very impressed if they came to America and all anyone wanted to say to them was "LOL UR JAPANESE U LYKE ANIME RITE? I LYKE ANIME 2 LETS B FRENDZ"
But yes, I can imagine them being swamped by japanophiles like that, and it must get annoying. It would be like me, a Canadian, going to another county and everyone wanted to talk to me about Hockey. And Id be all like "....I dont care about freaking hockey!" As for the flake, it made me chuckle, but I doubt it's real. It seems like a troll to me. |
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roxybudgy
Posts: 129 Location: Western Australia |
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About the rant, I agree, Japanese visitors, heck, even people in general, should not have to be baraged with anime talk from people who's lives revole around it.
I'm currently studying Japanese and my classmates are just about equally divided between those who are studying Japanese to go with their Tourism degree which they obtained the year before, and people who are studying because they're anime fans, fresh from high school. I don't exactly fall into those two categories, I'm interested in Asian character based languages in general, studied at university, and yeah, an anime fan too. Anyway, I think it's kind of embarassing when they anime-mad students constantly ask questions about Japanese that they "learned" from anime, such as "What does 'shippuden' means?" (yes, I'm aware that 'shippuu den' has two u's but that's how they were pronouncing it, resulting in confusion for the teacher). When it comes to anime, I might bring the topic up, though normally I would wait to be asked about it, and only continue on it if the other person is interested. I'm embarrased to admit, but in the past, like several years ago, I was guilty of bothering Japanese exchange students with anime related talk, back in my stupid fangirly days. In my case, I had a home stay student, and I would ask her about the then latest Hayao Miyazaki film, Spirited Away, and I tried to get her to watch a Chinese subtitled version of Mononoke Princess, as well as a couple of AMVs. She kept discreetly avoiding the subject, and eventually, I realised that she did not watch anime (or at least certain anime/TV shows) due to religious reasons. Man, I was so embarassed. That experience has taught me to be more considerate of others. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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SO it looks like people are still having a deal with you and "excessive" anime fans, Zac. They'll probably never get out of it until reality hits them HARD.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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I should point out that the rant was especially interesting to me; back in college when I'd just started my career writing about anime, I lived in the dorms and watched a lot of VHS fansubs.
Just down the hall from me lived an exchange student from Japan. He was walking past my room one day and I was watching Martian Successor Nadesico, and he recognized it, and went nuts. He was so happy I knew what Nadesico was and that I liked anime. He and I watched the whole series together and became good friends even though he barely spoke English and I barely spoke Japanese. Turns out the guy was a big otaku, and was just happy to see something he recognized in the US. I realize this is rare, and I never brought anime up with the other Japanese exchange students - I thought it was rude and presumptuous - but the story reminded me of him. |
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Eruanna
Posts: 451 Location: Canada |
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That sounds like it would be embarasing. Man, Japanese teachers must get alot of the whole "I'm only here because I like cartoons!" deal from their students. It must get to be quite a nuisance. |
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Lady Multi
Posts: 673 |
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You're telling a guy who answers a multitude of questions about anime that he's not an anime-fan...are you nuts or what...?
... As for rant; Unfortuately, I never got the oportunity to talk to any of the Japanese students at my college. I'd have loved to hear them out--just let them rant. I'm inately curious about many things. Anime is fun; anime is what made me want to VISIT Japan (not just for anime fandom crap). Sure the location for animefandom it may be, but overall I understand that not everyone is liable to know about something (Japanese or otherwise). I wish my college offered more Japanese classes, but *sigh* it does not (2 semesters of language class and that be it~ wah~!) We did go to a Japanese resturant during class-time and have a nice Japanese lady show us the tea ceromony~! (I don't like tea, but those strange sweety things she gave us were interesting). Sure my classmates were almost ALL anime fans, but we all stuck around because the majority of us were interested in it as a whole~! (the girl who wore cat-ears every day got kinda creepy, though) Wah, I'm used to people around me not knowing enough about anime to talk about it~ so I use my knowledge to freak them out~  Pointing out the edited anime's little quirks to my "wtf is anime" cohorts is a joy~! Like: in one of the Pokemon episodes left out in the US a guy pulled a gun on Satoshi/Ash in the episode~! (they'd stare blankly)
~My all time fav moment~ people asked me what I wrote on my hat (in japanese characters: "I love yaoi!"~ I informed them that they didn't want to know~ they pressured, I told and explained~ I shut the most annyoing man I knew up with just a few words~ HAHAhahahahahaha... Okay, I've ranting...I sleeply...Goodnight~! Last edited by Lady Multi on Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:11 am; edited 1 time in total |
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PhatPhil
Posts: 37 |
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I dunno why people don't understand that behind Key's identity of greatly made games and anime series there is a group of people starving for money... In the greedy way, not like they NEED it.
They don't wanna sell the license unless they're getting paid a crapload. So simply put until ADV, Geneon, TRSI, Funimation or Bang-Zoom!(if that is a company) decides to fork over a couple million for the right, Air, Kanon and the Clannad movie, after it's come out mind you, will not be coming over here anytime soon... Speaking of Key, weren't we promised a Planetarian movie a year or so ago? I'd rather see a movie for that than Clannad... Then again Clannad has that slight fantasy feel/influence to it that AIR and Kanon have. Anyway, I just wanted to throw in my two cents... It's sad that these companies want so much for their licenses, but they're just trying to make money after all... Even if they maybe are asking for a weeeee bit too much from my perspective. But then again, what do I know? I'm just a fan. 
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Ichigo77
 Posts: 389 Location: California |
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Scanlations In my opinion I really find reading those stupid. I've met my fair share of people like that person met at the book store. Last year when I said I was saving my money to buy Advent Children some kid told me not to bother since "they" were going to ruin it in english, he pretty much encouraged me to download it instead of buying the legal product with the Japanese version. Its not going to kill anyone to wait 2-4 month's for a new tankoban. I mean I have to wait every month for a new issue of Sonic the Hedgehog, I couldn't download that even if I wanted too, but as long as people buy the legal versions I guess its not all that bad. Also I find it odd as to why someone who knows japanese enough to translate puts their talent to illegal use.
Rant I could see where the poster was coming from. When the japanese students came here 2 summers ago I spent a lot of time talking with them about anime, but they were ok with it since they knew before coming here us Americans would want to talk to them about it. We also talked about American things too so nobody really cared. It also had its advantages because I showed the guy I hosted Paranoia Agent dvd 1 and he liked it, also when we had a BBQ my friend brought over Samurai Champloo dvd 4 and he loved that anime. After we finished it he started reading my japanese version of the manga, couldn't put it down either. While in Japan last summer I talked to them a lot about anime manga which they liked a lot. They really enjoyed seeing the english version of the tankobans and anime. They also asked me questions about American shows and music, they really enjoyed talking about Spider-Man too, some thought the Black Spider-Man was really cool. |
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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I won't touch the sub vs. dub or scanlation stuff. It just isn't worth the effort. Like Zac said, it's a personal preference. If you like the dub, watch it and enjoy. If you like the sub, read it and enjoy. If you like the scanlation, please stop because it's illegal. About the Key people wanting too much money for their series, a message: If you lower the price tag a little, you'll actually get some money instead of getting no money which is your current state of affairs. I agree with the rant. People deserve a little respect for being themselves, not for being what you think they should be. While I'd love to discuss the merits of an anime series with a real Japanese person, I'd much rather talk about their nation's history and culture. (I'd love to discuss religion with someone from Japan or cuisine as well.)
By the by, am I the only one who immediately thought of Gin Ichimaru from Bleach when setting eyes upon that puppy? |
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bayoab
Posts: 831 |
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Because the majority of them are simply nowhere near good enough to be paid professionally to do the work. Then again, I know some translators who have gone on to professional work despite known issues with their translations. Also, to combine two topics, there are also those in the fandom who go up to the exchange students and are like "want to translate stuff for me". 
This isn't entirely about money. This is also about pride. They believe their work is worth that amount of money. If they were really in it for the money, they would just put it into a bidding war. The Japanese creators do take some pride in their work in how much money it can get in licensing. Of course, offering less money than they think it is worth can offend them. Strangely enough though, offering more than they believe it is worth will offend them too. There are various stories from industry representatives about throwing money at the creators and they simply say "No". |
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roxybudgy
Posts: 129 Location: Western Australia |
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That's so true. I won't name groups/people, but I did translation check for a scanlation group, and there were a couple of errors here and there, but one particular bubble had a translation that was completely off. When I asked the translator about it, he admitted that he had simply asked a Japanese friend of his, something like that. |
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Whearn9999
Posts: 211 Location: Texas City TX |
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Just to clarify: spoiler[It was her step-father or mom's boyfriend and there was no actual physical contact shown] But, yeah. The first show to come to my mind reading the Higurashi question was Elfen Leid. However, the point Zac made also applies to Elfen Leid as well. There is no sex. Just lots of nudity and buckets of blood. The rant was especially good this week. I look forward to the day I might speak to a Japanese person about all kinds of things. Not just anime. Funny thing is, there are a lot of people in Japan who think that everyone who lives in Texas rides horses and lives on ranches. |
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sabriyahm
 Posts: 291 Location: Georgia |
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Actually I have read a few scantalations but nothing of what's been licensed. I don't get the reading the licensed stuff because if it will eventually arrive in hardcopy why sit and squint at your computer. Plus I usually won't start a series until it's completely done so I never have the whole waiting months thing. I don't know how people do it. |
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ManOfRust
 Posts: 1935 Location: Seattle, WA |
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Nice job on the rant. I thought it was well written and made some good points. While I mostly agree with everything said, I do have a slightly different view.
I spent a semester as an exchange student when I was in college, and one thing that I kind of expected going in was that to some extent people were going to be interested in me not so much for who I was but for where I was from. You have to realize when you go to live in another country that the exterior image of your homeland has proceeded you and that many people are going to see you through that lens. I heard all sorts of weird misconceptions and got lots of questions about stuff I didn't know about, but you have to expect that to happen. (I got asked about Washington DC and New York a lot despite the fact that I'm from the West Coast and at that time had never been further east than Montana.) In most cases, you are going to automatically garner extra attention just because you are different and although that attention is not always going to be welcome you can't let it upset you. There were always people who were able to see me as me, and they are the ones I ended up becoming friends with. I didn't let the others bother me too much. I can see where anime fans here can be a bit over the top and how that could lead to less than ideal interactions if they let their fandom override their common sense and courtesy, but honestly dealing with situations like that is part of the adventure of going to live in another country. That being said, I think the rant makes some good points about how we should act when we run into someone from another country (not just Japan). You should treat them and their culture with respect. There's nothing wrong with being curious, and most exchange students are going to be flattered if you express a genuine interest in their home country, but don't expect them to be some kind of encyclopediac database of knowledge about every aspect of it and don't keep hounding them about something when they demonstrate they have little knowledge or interest in the subject. |
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Cloe
Moderator
 Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Hilarious. I loved this week's rant. My freshman year of college I was roommates with two Japanese students, one from Osaka and one from Okinawa. We never talked about anime much, but we did talk about other kinds of animation (one of them had practically the entire Disney collection dubbed in Japanese) and I learned a lot about traditional Okinawan dance and the Kansai dialect. It was kind of grating watching the other members of anime club (which I attended at the time) accosting them at school, begging them to come to the club. I don't know why... to make it more "legit," I guess. 
I love this new trend of puppy pictures, by the way. Dogs=love. |
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