Hello guys,
I don't understand this dictionary example:
高校時代の同級生と 駅前でばったり会い、近くの喫茶店で 数時間積もる話に花を咲かせた。
It's translated as follows:
I bumped into a classmate from high school in front of the station, and we spent a good few hours chatting happily at a nearby coffee shop.
First, what's the clue the speaker only met one student? Second, I need a breakdown of 数時間積もる話に花を咲かせた。and why it's translated like that.
Do we say じゅうはっかげつ or じゅうはちかげつ? And also in this occasion, I'd like to know if anyone has a comprehensive source encompassing all one needs to know about the Japanese number system in writing and pronunciation.
Thx in advance
Sorry, I can't find a clip including it. But it's from Agents of the four seasons ep 4 20:50. Thx in advance.
Been thinking about this since I'm watching Inept Villainess currently. And with each episode I really strongly feel the swap should've been some kind of time loop or redo instead where Keigetsu goes back to fix her past mistakes.
The swap really takes from the weight of many scenes. Leelee goes to think Keigetsu has actually changed when in reality, it's a whole different person. And it's the kind of thing you know cannot end well story-wise. But simply making Reirin the person Keigetsu changes into instead would have made things more impactful.
The Otome Game Villainess formula also suffers the same problem. The heretical last boss is an example that really stands out for me. Pride really embodies the theme of contemplating her actions and their impacts. However, it always nags in the background that this is not in actuality Pride fixing her mistakes, but a person who incarnated into her who really committed none of these atrocities. Which really begs the question what was the need of the otome game theme to begin with? Simply making it a redo would've been perfect and would have made the scenes where she blames herself a natural result of what actually happened.
A series that executed this formula was Tearmoon Kingdom but it needlessly took the comedic route for some reason.
So, if anybody knows a series that does the formula correctly, recommend it please.
I don't ever remember seeing an anime so emotionally packed. The density of scenes packed with open emotional expression is insane, which is great. The best two things anime does are emotionality and character relationships and dynamics.
And while I'd have liked to say our anime here nailed it with these two, I really can't because they aren't backed with a solid story, which is super frustrating. You have all these unfathomably beautiful scenes and voice acting, but when this emotionality isn't substantiated plot-wise, it really leaves a bitter aftertaste that keeps nagging you.
To list my concerns in this regard:
There's simply too much we don't know about how the agents operate. In the anime, the phrase 'this country's agent' is mentioned a lot. So, how many countries do we have? Does each country have an agent, or what?
Are the agents' residences/powers public knowledge or not? From what we see, I'd guess not, but how exactly did the insurgents get to each and every one of them? Why don't they relocate?
How exactly does the succession work? For example, at the end, are Ayame and Ruri BOTH summer agents, or did Ruri just return upon being resurrected? They said the successor is chosen from the Four Season Clans in general. So, what if all these clans are wiped out? And to begin with, how were they determined?
How exactly could the insurgents get a FREAKING missile? Isn't this a super-millitary grade weapon? Can it be smuggled and launched without the government knowing ANYTHING about it? Doesn't the government offer ANY kind of protection to the agents?
Finally and most importantly, Nadeshiko has the power to resurrect the dead? That's insane. All the other agents' powers don't even begin to compare. And from what we saw, there's no cost or downside whatsoever. Like how is she NOT the one most targeted? Among all other human ambitions, does anything beat bringing back the dead? Even if it's limited to only a short time after death, that's still unbelievably powerful. Manipulating life and death like that. And even if you make the argument she's the most dangerous, she's still the most valuable. So, are these insurgents stupid or what?
This takes us to the next point: Characters and World
As someone who was most interested in the Hazakura sisters, I really wanted to see MORE of them. The very few scenes they show up in are very impactful, which is exactly why you'd wanna see them more. So, why this unequal distribution among characters? I don't know about the source material, but 14 eps certainly wouldn't be enough to explore 8-10 characters. Naturally. So, why don't we extend the anime 10 more eps? The story deserves better. Ugh, I really wish great stories got the space they needed in this industry. Also, if it's the same in the original material, I just don't get it. Why make a story about FOUR agents only to focus on one and sideline the others?
So many episodes are almost entirely dedicated for Hinagiku, and barely two episodes for the sisters. And not even entirely. And Nadeshiko comes at the very end, which makes her feel like an afterthought. She was just there as a Hinagiku replacement and an ex machina. So, it made me wonder: instead of affixing two traumatic storylines on Hinagiku, why not save one of those for Nadeshiko? Or even if you don't give them to Nadeshiko, it was enough to have the abduction backstory. Was the illicit child thing really necessary? That reminds me. Where the heck are the parents in this anime? We needed to have at least one proper parent in this story, like, come on. Anyway, all of this inevitably makes you feel Hinagiku is being glorified too much here.
As for the world, the glimpse we get is just too vague. Like what are the details of the shaping that occurred due to the existence of the four agents? Is the agency that manages them international or what? Also, why are there soooo many people who hate the agents? We need details. Even the backstory we got for the main villain was way too vague. Like why? Also, it's a pretty valid point that the agents could actually help people more with their powers. So, why just immediately dismiss it and make the main villains so irredeemable that this point gets thrown into oblivion? We could very much have this as a main conflict and dilemma. These are just children who never chose to have these powers, and they have the right to their own lives. So are we supposed to sacrifice them and rob them of everything for the world? A pretty great and heavy conflict.
In short, we REALLY needed a better equal distribution between characters. The Hazakura sisters really stand out for me because I don't remember caring so much about anime characters before. I was genuinely happy they got a happy ending. Yet, I can't help but feel it all happened too fast. Like the whole anime felt rushed, but especially this part. Ruri gets killed and then brought back almost immediately. So, the emotionality in this scene comes to feel unsubstantiated, which really bothers me. This could very well have been their storyline, where Ruri gets killed, Ayame replaces her. Then hears about Nadeshiko's power and tries to bring her back. And instead of making this happen in an ex machina way, she discovers there's some kind of condition or cost to do so. I'd have wanted to see that. Maybe even make the summer agent's power related to time travel somehow; I dunno. Anyways, there was so much potential here. So, it's all just unfortunate.
And even though I'm not bothered much about the whole ordeal here due to the sheer emotional greatness we see, which is a pretty great accomplishment, I still wish things were different.
Hi guys, for those who know Bungou Stray Dogs. I need to understand the phrase describing Yosano Akiko's ability: 君死給勿: I don't get why it's pronounced kimi shini tamou kotonakare. Where does 'koto' come from? Is it simply a spelling the anime came up with or does it come from old Japanese?
Hey there, everybody.
I've been an Arabic <> English translator since 2017. And the last three years have been especially fulfilling. I specialized in translating academic books and had 3 books published under my name, and reviewed countless translations. However, I've been unable to find any work for 6 months now. Sadly, Arabic has a very low global demand. And with the AI hit, seems nobody is interested in getting high-quality work.
So, I've been thinking, since I really wanna continue this path, to turn to Japanese as a language with higher global demand that I have a background and interest in. But first, I'm really frustrated since I'm being forced to do this, and by how my experience all those years basically amounted to nothing now. Also, I know achieving the same level of mastery I had in my main English pair would take a minimum of 2-3 years for me to start working as a Japanese translator, even with rapid growth.
So, I dunno, does the language have good demand right now? Do you, as a Japanese translator, have a good volume of work? Do you think it's realistic to aim for this shift? Do you think it's worth it?
Thx in advance
Warning: In addition to explicit depictions of suicide, the anime contains EXTREMELY disturbing depictions of physical and mental abuse. So, please proceed with caution.
Also, obviously, full spoilers.
My God is there not a single proper healthy adult in this anime.
It's been quite a while since an anime made me cry. And I really cried my heart out in the final sequence between Shizuka and Takopi leading to his sacrifice.
That being said, I really wish this anime extended to 12 ep or so because the concepts explored here are just very interesting, and I don't feel they were given the exploration they deserve.
Media sometimes explore what-if(s) where concepts we take for granted don't exist and the implications that follow. But unfortunately, I've never seen this idea fully pursued to a satisfying conclusion. And this sadly happened with Takopi too.
We see how Happians basically have no concept of malice or violence. For example, when Takopi slapped the mother, she called it a rough touch. It's evidently a foreign behavior to them. But then the intended role of Happians represented in Takopi becomes really confusing. I guess they're supposed to symbolize untainted childhood innocence. But this whole matter leads to an inconsistency when we think about the original sin.
In the beginning, I had thought the original sin here was ignorance. Takopi didn't understand the nature of the pain endured by those he wanted to help, and that's natural, as he's a Happian, especially given how highly complex it was. What further solidified this notion was how he was clearly turning a blind eye to the reality before him after killing Marina, which is why he apologized in the end for not trying to understand.
So, he basically switched from actual ignorance to feigning ignorance because of how unfathomably painful the whole ordeal was. He was exactly like the children in this regard. No matter how little a kid is, they'd deep down understand being unwanted and powerless. Marina would deep down know it's not about Shizuka. It's all her dad's and mom's decision and fault. Even killing Shizuka would change nothing. This was explicitly mentioned in Shizuka's case in the final ep, but for Marina, it was just skipped for some reason. More on that later, but the point is Takopi is the exact same. Especially after repeating many tries, he would get how utterly complicated the whole situation is. And how actual help would involve having the ability and courage to shoulder these children's pain along with them, not pretending everything is gonna be fine when it obviously isn't.
And I had thought the story would take the form of a time loop where he retains his memory and gradually comes to understand this complexity and becomes something akin to an adult who can shoulder the pain along with these children and help them move forward. Instead of the story taking that direction, his sacrifice just fixes everything magically somehow. So, we're just left confused: what exactly is the original sin? Was it atoned for? How? Etc. Etc. Etc.
Moreover, despite how emotional it is, Takopi's sacrifice feels too out of the blue. And again it magically resolves things. Marina and Shizuka wouldn't easily become friends like that after all this horrible physical abuse. Additionally, why is Azuma out of the picture at the end? Is the story trying to say he should've never been involved? And if so, why does his character even exist then? With 6 ep, wouldn't it be better to just focus on the two girls? Like, was his character just there to cause the tragedy of the original timeline?
Finally, it's heavily implied that somebody had to die in every timeline. The original line had Marina's mom dying. Then, it's either Shizuka or Marina. Maybe it became an inevitability in the latter lines because of the mother's death. So, the only way to avoid a human death was Takopi's sacrifice. Then, the question becomes: why wasn't this explicitly stated? It would have added a lot of emotional weight to the whole thing.
Overall, it's really a shame the series was cut short at that point, leaving so many things unexplored.
It doesn't strictly have to be a child-parent thing. Just heavily focused on the family theme. Also, emotionally focused, not comedy-focused. Give me the biggest list you can think of, and avoid the famous stuff like Usagi drop and spy x family. Finally, no ecchi and no focus shift midway, like Ascendance of a bookwork for example.
Thx in advance
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله
انا كنت عامل كورس ع يوديمي عن البحث العلمي من حوالي 10 شهور كده. وتكفلت حتى بأني اعمل تسويق للكورس كلفني مبلغ مش قليل ولكن لحد دلوقتي للاسف يعتبر مفيش عائد. حد هنا جرب قبل كده يعمل كورسات هناك او كورسات اونلاين عموما يقدر يفيدني في الموضوع ده؟
In general, to what extent do native speakers recognize peoples' names when they read them in kanji. And is this learned independently or do you just come across it as you learn the language?
So this is another general rant. But spoilers for HunterxHunter anime, ATLA, and Korra.
I genuinely don't know why this false dichotomy infests so much discussion about the MCs' impact in the large scheme of things. When somebody complains about how a certain MC is just largely powerless regarding the big issues of their worlds, the canned response is "this is not an OP isekai protagonist."
I just don't understand: if the story involves some large scheme of things, why make your protag someone who can do almost NOTHING about it? And why don't people realize this is just as big a problem as the OP protag who can do almost anything? At least for the OP protag, I can understand it. It's some wish fulfillment power fantasy that takes you away from reality for a bit. But what IS THE APPEAL IN A POWERLESS MC? If I wanted some reality dose, I wouldn't be watching/reading fiction. Simply, it's fine if the MC doesn't have absolute influence, just don't make it next to zero.
A very big example of this is Gon in Hunter. I REALLY don't like how unimportant Gon is in the large scheme of things. Like you have these many powerful characters and you just don't feel Gon is a threat to them at all mostly. A very clear instance is his battle against Knuckle. This battle has the stakes and the buildup to make Gon win, but he just loses miserably. And it'd be fine, if he narrowly lost, but he was just completely outmatched. And the story goes on to let him participate in the mission anyway, ignoring the whole condition and rendering the whole battle meaningless. You almost feel this battle just exists to make Gon look weak. Seems like our author was so afraid of making Gon OP that he went to the other extreme of making him really weak.
Like the only time I saw Gon as a threat was against Pitou and in his showoff against Morel. That's why I like Gon vs Pitou. Would have liked to see him go off against Murem for a bit, but oh well. Overall, it's just frustrating to see how little importance Gon has in big battles. And the thing is he doesn't even make up for this lack of power with something like intelligence or leadership. So, you just wonder why have the MC of a battle shonen have so little relevance in big battles.
You begin to wonder if he's THAT unimportant, why is he the MC. And even why was his character conceived to begin with? Like maybe Kurapika could've been the protag and Gon could've been eliminated from the story and not much would've changed.
The same thing applies to Aang in ATLA, which was really prominent in the moment Azula hit him with the lightening and cut off his avatar state. How ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING was that. For someone who is the avatar that is the strongest person in the world, you definitely don't get this vibe from Aang throughout the whole series. And the VERY MOMENT we're about to witness his power, he gets shut down immediately. Just WHY? Feels exactly like with Gon. Too afraid of letting Aang be OP. But if that's the case, why the heck have this avatar concept to begin with? Also, a bit of a tangeant, but it really annoys me to no end how Aang entered the last battle against Ozai while completely unable to enter the avatar state. And I don't get how nobody brings this up. Basically, if he didn't happen to hit that rock with his back, Ozai would've won. Like let that sink in for a bit.
That's why I feel no matter how much people hate Korra, the series REALLY gives you that feel of how much of a threat she is. Villains go through INSANE hoops to incapacitate her. Even to the point of poisoning her. Now THAT is what you'd expect from an avatar. But for Aang, we only see him as poweful figure towards the end of his series and in Korra basically.
This is mainly a rant about Anohana and Kiznaiver so obviously spoilers for them, but it can be generalized even outside anime and manga. I find it soooooo very frustrating when an interesting concept with a lot of potential is botched to the point of revolving mostly around just a bunch of love triangles.
For Anohana, the theme of loss could beget so much interesting stuff. But instead, we literally have all involved characters except one (Poppo) partaking in some kind of love triange. Not just one, but two intertwined love triangles. It was quite MORE THAN ENOUGH to have one love triangle. Let the rest of the group have other conflicts related to losing their childhood friend. But no, Jintan loves Menma. But Yukiatsu also loves Menma. Oh but wait Anaru also loves Jintan. Done yet? No of course not. Tsuruko here loves Yukiatsu.
It's like none of these characters except Poppo had any significant emotions towards Menma as a childhood friend. Only as a love interest/rival, which is kinda weird considering they were still children at the time. What's worse in that even Poppo's feelings, guilt, and conflict barely take any focus at all. Just a rushed processing towards the end. It's like the series was actively shutting down other themes that stem from losing Menma. Even the incident with her mother wasn't pursued to any considrable resolution. Another more infuriating aspect was Menma's brother's feelings which were brought up and shut down the very same instant. I just don't get this. If you don't intend to address it, why bring the matter up to begin with? Like this could've been a really interesting thing to explore, so why make us expect it only to shut it down right away? That's just misleading. Are you toying with the viewers?
As for Kiznaiver, it's pretty much the same ordeal, except the premise is infinitely much more interesting. Imagine if you can feel other people's pain just like they feel it. That's really super cool. So, what are we gonna explore here? Maybe how feeling others' pain could deter bad behavior such as bullying? Maybe how feeling others' pain would make us understand them better? Nope, just love triangles. What's the cause of most pain explored in the series? Just who likes whom. Is this really the best we could come up with for such an intriguing premise? I'm just really super frustrated because I liked this concept so much and I didn't see it in other media. The fact that the only execution of this idea is like this is really unfortunate to say the least.
Shisui. Has she met maomao as Tamamo? How much has her story progressed until the final LN chapters?
A random thing that really annoys me so much is how some characters in these games act like logic is some kind of alien technology. Like are we supposed to believe these guys have never heard the word logic before in their lives. I'd get it if they're praising someone's logical deduction prowess but the way it feels is as if using logic in and of itself is some kind of inconceivable miracle.
Do you guys know any media that has the logic battle format? Preferrably with courtroom setting like AA but okay if without. Plz give me names other than Umineko, Danganronpa, Tyrion Cuthbert, and Trials of innocence.