Japanese summer season - Part 2
Jul. 22nd, 2010 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkwithheroesI contiune my Japanese season viewing with two new shows: Gakeppuchi no Eri and Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo. Both are comedies about young women making their way in the world and finding their dream. Of course, both are very different in terms of overall feel and tone. Gakeppuchi no Eri is based on an essay by a famous manga author and Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo is based on an educational manga. [Side note: Is it just me or are 90% of dramas these days based on mangas or novels? Weird.]
Gakeppuchi no Eri: Is the type of show that feels like something I've seen before. The plucky poor girl standing tall in the face all her Obstacles. What makes this show different is it's overall feel and the main character of Eriko. A lot of horrible things happen to Eri, but the way she handles them are so refreshing. She's truthful and funny; Eri's interesting. I love the way she is so straight-forward and just doesn't care what others think. She knows how to save her money and she knows what she wants. I like Eri and I enjoy this show.
I'm not sure if I'll look for the subtitles every week or if I'll wait and watch it all at once. I just know I'll watch it.
Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo: Is a thirty minute comedy about a 20 year old fashion saleswoman who becomes the teacher at a Japanese language school. If she can make it for three months - and if her nine students all pass - than she'll get a job at an actual high school.
Her nine students are from around the world: America, England, China, Sweden, Russia, Italy, and France. And, of course, they are all stereotypes: the Gundam geek, the girl whose always checking her Japanese directory, the Chinese girl whose upset about the changes in Kanji, the American businessman, the African-American man named Bob (they're always named Bob, aren't they?), etc. Every student is a stereotype.
It seems like this show will have a weekly thing where our Heroine brings her students to a new place to learn Japanese words and phrases that may not be used everyday. For example, the first episode had the class heading to a restaurant to learn words of cookware and whatnot. Bob works part time at a restaurant and his boss isn't happy that he doesn't know the correct words for things. Bob is taught the words and all is well.
I can see the show working like that. One week they'll head to an office or maybe a shop or even someone's home to learn new words and phrases. It's actually a very educational show and really makes you think how hard it is to learn a new language. Languages are really unusual, because every language has those phrases, rules, words, that even native speakers don't really understand or use. Whom verses who anyone?
Overall, the show gave me a bit of an education, but I don't think it's for me.
I also watched the second episodes of Hammer Session! - already very 'save the student of the week'. It could become very boring. Mioka's second episode seemed to go by very fast. But, it was rather sweet and sad. Oh, and Mari - she's kind of bitchy.
Gakeppuchi no Eri: Is the type of show that feels like something I've seen before. The plucky poor girl standing tall in the face all her Obstacles. What makes this show different is it's overall feel and the main character of Eriko. A lot of horrible things happen to Eri, but the way she handles them are so refreshing. She's truthful and funny; Eri's interesting. I love the way she is so straight-forward and just doesn't care what others think. She knows how to save her money and she knows what she wants. I like Eri and I enjoy this show.
I'm not sure if I'll look for the subtitles every week or if I'll wait and watch it all at once. I just know I'll watch it.
Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo: Is a thirty minute comedy about a 20 year old fashion saleswoman who becomes the teacher at a Japanese language school. If she can make it for three months - and if her nine students all pass - than she'll get a job at an actual high school.
Her nine students are from around the world: America, England, China, Sweden, Russia, Italy, and France. And, of course, they are all stereotypes: the Gundam geek, the girl whose always checking her Japanese directory, the Chinese girl whose upset about the changes in Kanji, the American businessman, the African-American man named Bob (they're always named Bob, aren't they?), etc. Every student is a stereotype.
It seems like this show will have a weekly thing where our Heroine brings her students to a new place to learn Japanese words and phrases that may not be used everyday. For example, the first episode had the class heading to a restaurant to learn words of cookware and whatnot. Bob works part time at a restaurant and his boss isn't happy that he doesn't know the correct words for things. Bob is taught the words and all is well.
I can see the show working like that. One week they'll head to an office or maybe a shop or even someone's home to learn new words and phrases. It's actually a very educational show and really makes you think how hard it is to learn a new language. Languages are really unusual, because every language has those phrases, rules, words, that even native speakers don't really understand or use. Whom verses who anyone?
Overall, the show gave me a bit of an education, but I don't think it's for me.
I also watched the second episodes of Hammer Session! - already very 'save the student of the week'. It could become very boring. Mioka's second episode seemed to go by very fast. But, it was rather sweet and sad. Oh, and Mari - she's kind of bitchy.
