While everyone in the anime blogosphere is busy arguing about subs-srs-bsns and rawwatching=imawesomekneelbeforezod, I’m here kinda reflecting about how I myself am continually losing my proficiency because I don’t have anymore real-world outlets to refresh or retrain myself. Oh, and I decided to skip the JLPT3 this year because of personal scheduling conflicts. It’s true for me (at least) that anime or any other Japanese visual culturing alone cannot make me brush up on my Nihongo. There really has to be some sort of two-way conversation.
Video, audio and text can only give me “half” a conversation. It improves my listening skills, trying to pick up every word and process them on the fly to hopefully make a coherent understanding of whatever has been written or said to me. But the other “half” of it is primarily answering back. Me, talking or writing. It’s definitely HARDER. So there I was back in mid-2006, on the way to Japan. I really expect this to happen to me. I know fully well that no matter how many hours I expose my eyes and ears with kanji madness and moe~ seiyuu speaking, the real way to learn the language is doing it MYSELF. No more fiction, I have to apply it in real life.
So indeed, my early months were a nightmare. I was trying to speak with the Japanese folk in my workplace, but I was frequently corrected by them in terms of speaking the right words, the formality, timing, diction, etc. I’m thankful they were patient enough, but I still don’t wanna trouble them too much, so I decided to sign in the slightly formal Nihongo schooling a friend recommended. Every weekend I go by train to somewhere in Meguro, attending lessons. I had initially requested to skip the very basic lessons because I already know something. But because admittedly I only am capable in the hearing part, I had to cram to keep up with the kana and some basic kanji. It was fun because not only can I practice conversation with a teacher, but also with my fellow students. My classmates were of different nationalities, so there’s definitely no (English) cheating in conversations, I really have to think and speak in Japanese because this is the only common among us. And it’s a small group of students per class so it is easy for the teacher to nitpick about our strengths and weaknesses. I attended those sessions for two seasons (26 weeks), and from there life in Japan was a bit easier.
I was in Japan for about a year, and finally I went back home to the Philippines in mid-2007. With those lessons (and Japan-life in itself) as a foundation, I passed JLPT4. Now I have a certificate to brag right? Well wrong. It doesn’t end there of course. I continually have to find outlets to maintain the skill that I had. Unfortunately, I have no Japanese friends, and I can’t continue schooling because I am busy. I was able to take lessons in Japan, well because, heck, what “else” am I supposed to do there? Aside from work, there is nothing over there. I just can’t hop the densha to be an otaku in Akihabara every weekend, nor do I have the finances to hop the train to be a tourist elsewhere. Back home, weekends can be a million other things because I have more friends to be with, transportation is cheaper, and what the hell, it’s MY COUNTRY and I know it! Another bummer is that there is little chance that I would be able to go back to Japan by my employment. My resignation is more probable than that.
So without an outlet of “real” studying, I had to relegate myself to consuming anime and related stuff. This is where I discovered how it goes down like the economy. The first casualty was about the To Heart 2 ~Another Days~ game. I was supposed to play it and post summaries like before but the extreme complexity of the dialogue astounded me. On that note though, kudos to Leaf. I was able to finish Circus’ Da Capo II without much fuss, and I’m going through Key’s Little Busters without problems today. But TH2AD was nightmarish, it has more complex sentences and words. Good writers, Leaf has.
The second thing I discovered was I am watching more subs than raws. I could argue that my anime watching has undergone a bit of a diet, but I was a bit overwhelmed by some anime series, namely Strike Witches, Lucky Star OVA, and Special A. Okay, there’s military-speak in SW, otaku-speak in LS, and odd shoujo-speak in SA, so it was a bit off of real Japanese conversation material, but for these shows I was willing to wait for the subs. I was fine though in Shugo Chara, Naisho no Tsubomi OVA and Itazura na Kiss, among others, but they feature simpler conversations.
Thirdly, I got tired watching jdorama. I don’t have much interest in those anymore, especially since I am not frequently exposed to Japanese TV anymore unlike when I was in Japan. Back in Japan I “always” have the TV on, and so I absorb things like the quirky variety shows, random owarai, dramas, movies, showbiz gossip, etc. How I miss the gossip part lolz, especially when the trend is that many idol girl celebrities have owarai comedy actors as boyfriends. I noticed more of those than having a jpop or regular actor boyfriend. Cute girls go more for the funny not-so-handsome man eh? (self: chansu?) Similarly, my jpop music consumption has been lowered, with Animax-Asia not showing Music Station lately. Have they canned that already?
The active and passive form of my Japanese training fails me, so today I’m witnessing my return to innocence, and at this point, I’m still not sure what kind of solution I’ll take. Well… maybe I can relate this to the recent US Election perhaps? Suppose my time in Japan was the Clinton era, and after that, my Japanese skills going downhill is the Bush era, perhaps this is the time for “change”? Maybe a different kind of outlook, a higher purpose and a greater sense of responsibility.
Self-reflection: So why was I learning Japanese in the first place?
Yup, it was the animu. I was too engrossed in Japanese entertainment in general, that I want to understand more, consume more, and enjoy more of those things. As I grow up, and my real-life responsibilities increase, I had to sacrifice some time away from my hobbies, resulting in some lack of interest in the entertainment. You can also notice that in my sparse blogging. And so that kind of answer, “all because of the animu”, doesn’t apply anymore. So the solution is change… a change in the answer to that question of self-reflection. Do I still have a reason for learning it? For now… I’m not sure yet. Who knows, maybe I’ll have a Japanese girlfriend, or another job going to Japan, or taking interest in other aspects of the culture aside from animu. Whatever reason it may be, it’s not there yet. Just like Obama, all I have for now is “hope”, that I can revive my interest in learning the language through another reason.
Originally a shoujo manga aimed at young girls, this is a small anime about a huge topic… or should I say a topic huge to girls who are growing up. Well basically… it's about girls growing up.
I know that a lot of people may not like this anime, and indeed in the surface it just looks like some fanservice anime about young Japanese love/sex/physical education. While the original manga was supposed to be for young girls, I think no modern Japanese parent in their right mind would pick up and buy an OVA anime like this for their growing-up child. I saw a lot of pantsu and underage fanservice goodness, which borders on the absolute controversial. This leads me to think that this time, the anime is specifically aimed at lolicon otakus. And as some of you know, I tend to be a lolicon every now and then (or more often than not lately?). Of course I'm going to give it a positive review merely based on that. NO, I am NOT. I don't like Naisho no Tsubomi just because it completely fulfilled a LOT of my anime preferences… or should I say fetishes. This anime is a surprising and timely reminder of why I am watching anime in the first place. (more…)
Remember this little cute scene in Lucky Star where Yutaka-chan silently listens to music, slowly bobs her head to the tune, and then sings some lines of Mojipittan? Absolute moe~! In the original scene though, it's completely silent before she sang, so many wondered what she was listening to. Now that we know, shall we make her listen to other songs instead?
It gets old fairly quickly but please do look at some of these, some are equally cute, and some weird ones as well. There are also those long long medleys of multiple songs, but those sometimes lose the point entirely. I think there are better ways to go about this meme, so I'm looking forward to seeing more out of this Yutaka-chan listening scene.
Remember this little cute scene in Lucky Star where Yutaka-chan silently listens to music, slowly bobs her head to the tune, and then sings some lines of Mojipittan? Absolute moe~! In the original scene though, it's completely silent before she sang, so many wondered what she was listening to. Now that we know, shall we make her listen to other songs instead?It gets old fairly quickly but please do look at some of these, some are equally cute, and some weird ones as well. There are also those long long medleys of multiple songs, but those sometimes lose the point entirely. I think there are better ways to go about this meme, so I'm looking forward to seeing more out of this Yutaka-chan listening scene.
Another one of those viral flash videos from IOSYS. This is a bit lesser known, but they certainly brought the cuteness factor higher here. This song is still rehashed from Touhou music, but not only that, it was actually made from three themes! Unbelievable! And to think that the lyrics make more sense than the Marisa thing…
Total sugary moe~! Touhou seems to be an overflowing source of doujin and meme ideas. I haven't even played any of those games yet.
Another one of those viral flash videos from IOSYS. This is a bit lesser known, but they certainly brought the cuteness factor higher here. This song is still rehashed from Touhou music, but not only that, it was actually made from three themes! Unbelievable! And to think that the lyrics make more sense than the Marisa thing…Total sugary moe~! Touhou seems to be an overflowing source of doujin and meme ideas. I haven't even played any of those games yet.
I would like to thank everyone, be it fellow anime bloggers, avid and new readers, or crawling bots (yep gotta thank them too) for visiting my site. You have been my inspiration and motivation to continue this expression of fandom. I don't need to make mentions because in one way or another all of you are awesome!
I'm pretty consistent too… the blog has garnered 1.5 million hits. That's almost 500,000 peryear.
Please also cast your votes at the Anime Blog Awards. Readers can now vote on the People's Choice. They represent some of the best anime blogging has to offer. Because I believe the anime blog community is the best blogging community on the internets… ever!
I look forward to more anime, more moe~, more dorama, more lolis, more… eh screw it… I simply want MOAR!
Pocky + Orange Range + Aragaki Yui = TOTAL DOMINATION. This is a rare but absolutely catchy commercial that only a few people caught and cared to spoof. But still, it's pure WIN for pocky fans. Look especially at the Hatsune Miku version. Super-moe~!
What else can I say? This should be the dance of the century!
Pocky + Orange Range + Aragaki Yui = TOTAL DOMINATION. This is a rare but absolutely catchy commercial that only a few people caught and cared to spoof. But still, it's pure WIN for pocky fans. Look especially at the Hatsune Miku version. Super-moe~! What else can I say? This should be the dance of the century!
Well good riddance, I've started playing the game again. I heard there's the new Da Crapo II Second Season anime, so I should pick up my slack.
On another note though, I think my likehood towards these games is slowly fading for some reason. I don't think it's because of my busy real-life schedule, and I recently got my copy of Another Days too. Is this bishoujo game/eroge/galge industry in some sort of recession? I don't find any new game particularly exciting. I don't see many posts about them in english anime blogs either. Somehow there's doesn't seem to be much energy in the game genre at all, and I would wonder why. Please read on for my random thoughts. (more…)
The new Niconico (9) site is quite confusing I agree. All we gotta do Just Be (β) http://bit.ly/2BWLNF>>>13 hours ago
Updating #NaNoWriMo 2000+ word count for the fail. I'm probably 8000 words behind the schedule. >>>2009/11/06
Ok I only know him by snippets and I don't care about Faux News, but Jon Stewart's parody of Glenn Beck is spot-on+EPIC http://is.gd/4OSGX>>>2009/11/06
Es ~dirty aspiration~ subbed by me http://bit.ly/1Pnjvb I went with the Mitani Nana version because it's so epic. >>>2009/11/06
@Canon2D Now it needs MikuMikuDance for the ultimate perfection. >>>2009/11/06
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