But beyond that explanation…. …what to post about?  Am I missing some excellent series this season?  Or it really as bleak as I think?  As everyone said before it aired, Kimi ni Todoke is one of the better shows airing, but even then there’s a significant gap between it and the likes of Cross Game, Natsume Yuujinchou, and various other series that I would call excellent.  I’ve tried a few other series based on word of mouth – for example, Kuuchuu Buranko seemed to be getting some good “press” for being unique.  And boy, was it unique.  Unfortunately it isn’t for me.  As someone who likes shows with characters you can care about and stories which can really affect you, it had nothing to offer except overbearing oddball style and design.  I can’t sample every single series in existence, but I don’t think I’ve missed any hidden gem. Of course, series don’t have to be ongoing, and most of my favourite series are ones I’ve marathoned years after their completion.  But even on that front, I’m having a hard time finding any more series which completely click with me.  If you look at my top 10 list, you’ll find anime which all have one thing in common – they all dragged me into their world and completely enveloped my mind while watching them,  always anticipating the next episode.  Have I run out of these kinds of series?

Maybe I’ve already watched all the series that click with me in that unique way. I suppose all I can do is sit back and hope Natsume Yuujinchou gets another season.  Now there’s a show which hit all the right notes for me.

This is part of a Japanese cover to Harry Potter.  The name has been adapted into the Japanese katakana syllabary.  The romanized form is Harii Pottā.  This is comfortable for Japanese speakers.  Much more comfortable than twisting their tongues to try and pronounce “Harry Potter” with a proper British accent everytime they want to talk about it with their friends.  I wonder how many people are going to start rallying against the Japanese for daring to localize English words and names into pronunciations which are more comfortable for the portion of Japanese who may not know English perfectly, which is the whole point of localizing a film in the first place.

But you know, maybe when doing English localizations, we should ensure that the voice actors are comfortable with the Japanese language, and will pronounce names with Japanese accents.  For the sake of ensuring the best possible pronunciation and familiarity with the names, we should stick to Japanese voice actors only.  However, since these Japanese actors may not all speak perfect English, we should have the rest of the film also be in Japanese as well to ensure smooth dialogue.

Wait….I think this exists.  It’s called the original film. Maybe we should watch that instead.  Amazingly, ignoring foreign localizations of Japanese media somehow gets rid of the problem of having to hear foreign pronunciations of Japanese words and names.  Brilliant, eh?  But to complain about localizations of foreign material for fulfilling their intended purpose?

]]> http://omohide.com/883/pronounciations-in-dubs/feed/ 2 http://omohide.com/859/second-look-at-drama-and-melodrama/ http://omohide.com/859/second-look-at-drama-and-melodrama/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:14:20 +0000 Theowne http://omohide.com/?p=859 So I found this alternate definition of melodrama.

“A drama involves primarily a conflict of values within a man (as expressed in action); a melodrama involves only conflicts of men with other men.” – Ayn Rand

Now I’m not going to pretend I understand all the nuances of that definition, but it seems to make sense to me, in that it aligns somewhat well with my own list of dramatic vs. melodramatic shows.  For example, most people associate love triangles with soap operas – which are known for being melodramatic and superficial.  Well, a love triangle typically involves competition between two characters who are vying for the affections of another.  But I can think of a few love triangles which go beyond that – for example, Honey and Clover.  In that series, Takemoto’s involvement in a love triangle (more like square?) is a prompt for him to examine himself, questioning whether he really is the best choice compared to the other men involved.  It also is one of the factors which initiates some great character development (as anyone who has seen the show will recognize).  So this satisfies Rand’s definition of drama.  That said, I’m sure that this clear-cut definition of melodrama will clash with people’s intuitive definitions (which, like the dictionary definition, probably involves the idea of exaggerated emotions and feelings and all the subjectivity that comes along with such a definition).

It’d be interesting to look at other shows that have this triangle element (Kimi ga Nozome Eien, Touch, True Tears, Kimagure Orange Road) and examine how much of the emotional conflicts occur within characters as a result of the interpersonal conflict.  Touch belongs in the Honey and Clover camp, as I said last post, because the conflicts which occur as a result are primarily due to conflicting values and desires within the minds of the characters.

A show like the Kimagure Orange Road TV series might not be as clear-cut.  However, this comes together well with my negative response to the Kimagure Orange Road movie which ended the love triangle.  My main complaint back then was that there simply wasn’t enough introspection and personal regret happening in these characters minds over their actions.  They were just going through the motions of a love triangle dissolution with all the typical resentment and jealousy.    According to Rand, I guess the problem was that the film was that there was too much confrontation and interpersonal conflict, which would be more on the melodramatic side.

Author at ani-nouto posed the question of whether a series could be called dramatic and melodramatic at the same time.  While I think that either definition (exaggerated emotions or personal vs. interpersonal conflicts) could be applied to different parts of the same story, melodrama tends to severely “override” ones impression of a show, negatively.  All I really remember on NANA’s emotional front is the melodrama leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

About high schoolers:
Dramatic: Touch , His and Her Circumstances
Melodramatic: Bokura Ga Ita

About young adults:
Dramatic: Honey and Clover
Melodramatic: NANA

With darker subject matter:
Dramatic: Grave of the Fireflies , Now and Then – Here and There
Melodramatic: Saikano (Although I think this is a decent anime)

As I say that, I know there are lots of people who don’t see a distinction between some of the series I’m listing here.  It has a lot to do with the characters as well.  I found the characters in Bokura Ga Ita and Nana, for example, to be more superficial than the ones from Honey and Clover or Touch, and so I found their emotional troubles to be less meaningful, which likely caused them to come off as exaggerated.

But the original question here is, why was Dragonball (and Dragonball Z) as popular as it was?  It has become the “archetype” of shounen series, and the current king of shounen, Naruto, has many similar elements, for better or for worse.  Certainly there is the simple explanation – young boys like watching people fight on screen, and Dragonball Z, with it’s massive explosions and light-speed punching and kicking, delivered on that front.  I’m not sure that explains why I liked it, however.  “Jock” isn’t exactly a word that would describe me well, and I can’t say that the violence is what made me a fan.

Instead, it was probably pure idealism.  Now, I know what you’re thinking – what’s idealistic about evil villains destroying the world and it’s inhabitants.  Well, I mean idealistic in a moral sense.  Take Goku for example – he was a fighter who had a great deal of power and defeated many, many opponents in Dragonball Z (which was the series that I was most familiar with).  Yet even after being harmed by many of his enemies, he always had the instinct to forgive them and convince them to become good people.  Is that kind of idealistic forgiveness plausible in the real world?  Probably not for the majority.  Indeed, for the majority of the series Goku has the potential to kill anyone, but his instinct is not to harm a fly.  Doesn’t that appeal to the optimistic heart of a young kid in front of his television?

Not only is he inherently pacifistic, when the time does come, both he and other Dragonball characters selflessly sacrifice themselves for the sake of friends or family without hesitation.  Again, I ask, how could a young kid watching this not look up to these characters and their idealistic loyalty and courage?  Then we have the notion of energy-based power instead of physical power leading to the next point.  In one of the subplots of Dragonball Z, Goku’s son is pitted against a much stronger opponent, but the thought of wanting to protect his friends (again, the loyalty) allows him to bring out a “hidden” power despite his small size and original strength and defeat the enemy.  Do I need to even ask again?  Who doesn’t wish that in times of adversity, we could all summon some special power given only to those who morally deserve it?

Most of us want to believe that good will always prevail over evil, or that even when things look bleak, noble ideals like wanting to protect others will somehow give you all you need to overcome any obstacle.  So I submit that the popularity of of shows like Dragonball Z and Naruto are not merely due to a testosterone-driven need for violence and action, but also in part to the youthful satisfaction in seeing these idealistic concepts of good, evil, loyalty, friendship and righteousness come to life.