General anime discussion thread
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Thanks to anime I've know 100 words of Japanese! I just made a list. I think I'll make Japanese the language to learn this year. Does anyone of you understand it?
Probably not much more than any other anime viewer, but do remember if you try to learn it that anime use tends to differ quite a lot from every day Japanese use. Talk like you favorite anime character in Japan, and you'll probably get a lot of weird looks from the regular folks. Great supplementary material, though.
My ex-boyfriend knows Japanese, so when a group of girls from Japan visited his school he was to guide them around and talk with them. They looked at him strangely and said he had a foul language like a scumbag from the street. That's better than nothing though, I guess.
I could be wrong about this since I don't really know Japanese, but while your average anime character doesn't really speak with the common, everyday usage, various speech patterns are still used as characterization devices, just more exaggerated than in real life. Therefore, listen closely to the differences in speech patterns between characters from obviously difference backgrounds and social standings, while also marking how closely the show tries to adhere to real life in general. I'd trust a noitaminA series over the latest Shounen Jump adaptation, for example.
For an English example, in Shakespeare's plays, peasants spoke in prose, main characters spoke in blank verse, and if you had, say, a play within a play like in Hamlet, then the characters spoke in rhyme. Naturally, this doesn't reflect real-life usage either, but knowing these things and accepting the exaggerations, you can use that to make informed decisions about what probably would and wouldn't be acceptable and considered "normal" in real life.
Even though I took two semesters of a university course, I don't really speak Japanese. Just enough to get basic setence structure. The problem is that the verb-forms we learnt (the "polite" ones) are rare in anime. Also, verbs are often just left out.
For example, sometimes you hear them say:
So da ne. (Roughly: It is, isn't it?)
But that's because it's friends speaking. If you don't know each other that well, you'd be saying:
Sou desu ne.
That makes applying what I learned at university a tad hard.
For example, sometimes you hear them say:
So da ne. (Roughly: It is, isn't it?)
But that's because it's friends speaking. If you don't know each other that well, you'd be saying:
Sou desu ne.
That makes applying what I learned at university a tad hard.
Anyone else watching the new Gainax series Dantalian no Shoka? It's an adaptation, so I don't have my usual Gainax hopes/expectations attached like I would their original series. Looks interesting, if not at all new. It's what you'd get it if you took the grimoire concept from Toaru Majutsu no Index and put it into the world of Gosick.
Episode 3 of Baka to Test actually returns to the classroom, and this week brings more cross-dressing.
No.6 remains promising, but this wasp thing is kind of weird. Usagi Drop remains incredibly good. Penguindrum brings curry and angst and a cow outfit and I can't wait for next week's episode. I can't wait until I can buy stuffed versions of those penguins, and my very own penguin hat. Of course, that'll be a long, long time from now, at least without massive shipping costs...
Episode 3 of Baka to Test actually returns to the classroom, and this week brings more cross-dressing.
No.6 remains promising, but this wasp thing is kind of weird. Usagi Drop remains incredibly good. Penguindrum brings curry and angst and a cow outfit and I can't wait for next week's episode. I can't wait until I can buy stuffed versions of those penguins, and my very own penguin hat. Of course, that'll be a long, long time from now, at least without massive shipping costs...
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I had to look up Tsathoggua. Lovecraft? What? When? I don't remember.
I'm watching it. So far it's... conventional. Nothing special, but pretty.
Quit halfway through season 1, and kinda assumed I won't like that one either.
The show's turning out better than I expected. I like the pacing.
Penguindrum brings curry and angst and a cow outfit and I can't wait for next week's episode.
Anyone else playing Spot The Penguin Logo? I still don't know where this is going.
They made the genius girl Ichinose Kotomi to wave a wand in the air and she makes an incantation that seems to come from the Cthulhu Mythos.
I took one course of Japanese in college -- one of the best classes I took. Our teacher taught us how to write hiragana and katakana right away, then wrote everything in Japanese on the board for the rest of the class. She asked us at one point, "Is this difficult?" and we told her yes, it was. Then she just smiled and said, "Get used to it."
If you want to teach yourself to read/write hiragana, there's lots of tutorials online, and you can buy children's board books in Japanese to practice. (I learned several of symbols from some Sailor Moon and Pokemon books I got before I even took a class.)
Thank you. I've been thinking about learning hiragana and katakana. We'll see if I overcome my natural laziness.
Is it just me or does it feel like the week is lasting longer between new episodes? Maybe it's just because it feels like there are fewer good new shows than the last two seasons. Of the new stuff (not counting continuing 2-cour stuff like Steins;Gate, Tiger & Bunny, Iroha, etc.) I really only look forward to Penguindrum and the two noitaminA series.
Ah, thank you. Must have been a drama club prop. (I think Kotomi might have a better chance to summon an ancient one with her violin...)
I, too, find the season rather average. The only new stuff I really look forward to is Usagi Drop. Penguindrum is interesting and I'm curious, but I'm not (yet) into it.
Oddly enough, I'm more looking forward to this season's 5 minute shorts ("Double J" and "Morita san wa Mukuchi"); they're fun slice of life shows. Morita is pretty standard fair, but Double J is actually interesting - it's about the Traditional Arts Preservation club, and the main character's quest to find a traditional art to preserve. (Also, the 5 minute format is perfect for it.)
I don't suppose anyone has any thoughts on many fansub groups' discussions of a possible move to 10-bit H.264 sometime?
Explanation here.
It's a further evolution of the H.264 codec, which is what most video media today uses. I'm on a Mac (yeah, I know, anime on a Mac, lolwut and everything else, but whatever, it's what I like) and currently MPlayerX plays 10-bit H.264 fine for me, Quicktime 7 plays it but struggles with a lot of pixelation, and Quicktime X doesn't play it at all. Currently, I organize my anime in iTunes, but unlike QTKit (the foundation for QT7), AVFoundation (the foundation for QTX) currently struggles to play high profile H.264 level 5, which accounts for a lot of anime out there now. I've been relying on Quicktime 7 while AVFoundation catches up, but Lion hasn't fixed the H.264 level 5 issues, so if fansub groups move on to 10-bit H.264, leaving the current hardware decoding even further behind, I'm going to have to reevaluate and may have to just turn to MPlayer instead. I'd hate to have to move away from all the metadata and organization in my anime collection, though. Gahhhh! I'm not sure whether to be disappointed in Apple for not implementing more cutting-edge decoding in their media API's or upset at the fansub groups for so aggressively moving onto new codecs and new codec profiles and features. Well, if I did move on to just using their plain mkv's, it would mean I wouldn't have to bother with all the remuxing and everything I do now, but I'd still miss all my organization and metadata...
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Hm, I've been annoyed with the constant need to upgrade since... forever. I usually don't see the benefit - seems to me, the gain is little. Not against progress, but the ever-shifting default when my needs don't evolve at the same speed... So I'm giving an un-informed and half-hearted "No, thanks, but ask those who actually care." If I can't watch with my current equippment, I won't watch until it breaks. I might upgrade software, but even that's a "might".
It's not really relevant to me, though, since I'm using exclusively streaming sites, and - if I'm not mistaken - they're worse quality anyway - to meet the lowest common denominator. I never once downloaded a video file to watch locally. I'm just not interested.
My sympathy lies with those who wish to remain with the old format for now, but I won't invest any emotional energy in the discussion.
It's not really relevant to me, though, since I'm using exclusively streaming sites, and - if I'm not mistaken - they're worse quality anyway - to meet the lowest common denominator. I never once downloaded a video file to watch locally. I'm just not interested.
My sympathy lies with those who wish to remain with the old format for now, but I won't invest any emotional energy in the discussion.
I'd like to add that I'm really enjoying this season of Natsume Yuujinchou.
And on another note, the Puella Magi Madoka Magica OST 2 is out today!
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I'm finally getting around to watching Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?. I started it when it aired, but lost track of it. I remember loving the first few episodes, so hopefully it doesn't disappoint.
Pure, un-embarrassed fanservice from start to finish. As always, some episodes are better than others, but if you liked the first episodes, you're probably going to like the rest. Even I liked that one. Heh.
I enjoy fanservice as long as it doesn't become stupid, but what else I've enjoyed so far is how much it plays with all of the common moe cliches and tropes, and so far at least, not in a generic, serious way like IS, but in a mocking, self-ware way.
Yeah, the show stays pretty true to itself. A show like this is very easy to mess up, and on rare occasions they do, but overall it's good fun.
Infinite Stratos has the dubious distinction of having a beach episode as its highlight. Just for one episode they stopped pretending. (Almost)
Speaking of such things, I decided to give in and start watch Sacred Seven. The whole concept seems stupid from beginning to end, but it stars Megumi Nakajima as the delicious oujo-sama, so I have no choice.
Tell me what you think of it. I've started episode one, but quit almost immediately. (On a related note, Kamisama Dolls is picking up; it's promising to be surprisingly good. Not a masterpiece, but well worth a watch.)