Post-Zetsuai, Amarissia Is Forced To Write A Letter

[amarissia]

Um, I want you all to know that this is entirely against my will and I don't really see the point as it's in English and not likely to ever be seen by oh crap that sword is really long and pointy fine I'll do it!

Dear Hayami Sho-san,

Kindly cease the voicing of obsessive-stalker semes with wandering hands, for you are pushing poor Sephiroth rapidly toward a dangerous breakdown, and making the writer of this letter wibble because we have declared Koji a Naoe-cousin and he's making me want more of the real thing. Thank you.

Amarissia

P.S. Please ignore the preceding paragraph and know that I am a puny mortal who worships at your feet.

Uh, don't tell Sephy about that post-script, guys, okay?

Wow. I have totally discovered one of Naoe and Kagetora's previous lives, and it's Zetsuai. Srsly. AWESOME.

EDIT: Cloud insists I mention that we also encountered Ryu-chan's voice.

Cloud: "YAY!"

Comments

[amarissia.livejournal.com]

Oh, you grew up in New York? Neat! Did you learn Japanese there, originally?

Wow...so a little slip of the tongue can be the difference between a polite request and an expletive. I wonder how many people mix them up and offend their listeners. :) Thank you, I must commit these to memory, to hurl at rhe Choir if nothing else...

[ayuka86.livejournal.com]

Yep, born and raised in NY. I never took a class or anything, but I learned by watching TV, reading manga, and talking to people around me.

So yeah, that happens a lot with foreigners, but because they are foreigners it's not fussed over as much. Sure, someone might say, "don't say it like that, it's rude." but most of the time it's shrugged off.

I remember one time, when I was trying to tell a story to a group of older women and started off with, "Saa," (Well, you see...) which is really impolite. I got a smack to the back of the head, a talking to, and apologies made on my behalf for reading too much manga. But that's because "I should know better."

[amarissia.livejournal.com]

Wow..that is awesome. :) And that's how we learn languages naturally, by listening, so that's probably the best way.

"Saa" is impolite, really? Probably a good thing you told me that, I had no idea. For once I'm glad I'd stick out in Japan; as an obvious foreigner, I guess everyone will expect me to make mistakes. Maybe I should walk around holding a sign that says "Baka no gaijin" just in case, heh.

I read somewhere that the Japanese spoken in anime is unrealistic and shouldn't be counted on as a learning tool...I wonder how many people have done that and gotten in trouble.

[ayuka86.livejournal.com]

Apparently it is. Between people our age, I think it wouldn't be so much of a problem but there's the whole respect/relationship thing to count when talking to others. Like, if you started a message using "Saa" "Maa" or any other 'rude' way to me, I wouldn't care... but if you did so to someone older than us or to a boss... well, it just wouldn't end well, I don't think.

And yeah, no one talks like they do in anime or in games. It's really played up and no one uses a lot of the words you'll learn that way. Songs are also said to not be the best learning tools since the lyrics are more poetic then grammatical, so...

But talking like an anime character can be pretty fun sometimes!

[amarissia.livejournal.com]

Hmm. :) Is there something non-rude you can say to someone older if you're stalling for time?

GAH...my experience of watching stuff in Japanese is all anime, horror movies and historical drama. I think I'm pretty screwed...

Fun but dangerous...seems like a lot of anime characters aren't very polite. :)

[ayuka86.livejournal.com]

You can use, "Ano..." or "Etto..." or the ever useful "Chotto..." All of which pretty much mean, "Umm..." except for, "Chotto." That one can mean, "Well... I'm subtly disbelieving/disagreeing with you." or "I don't wanna get involved in this kinda shit."

"Chotto dake," can mean "Just a little bit." So if someone askes you, "Nihongo wakaru?" you can say "Chotto dake."

Video game "speak" is also a lot of fun. Only Tidus could make the old-time "shupatsu!" (to embark) kinda cool sounding. ((It's a REALLY old-fashioned way to say, "let's go."))

[amarissia.livejournal.com]

Oh good, I forgot about "Ano". I like that one. Yike, I didn't know "chotto" was so potentially dangerous...

"Chotto dake", thank you! Does "Honno sukoshi" work there too?

HA, I just saw a video of Tidus saying that the other day and thought "Wow, another verb I don't know", so I'm kind of relieved that it's at least not very common.

Hmm, maybe anime-speak will get more popular now that so many non-Japanese are learning it, and will probably speak it to everyone when they visit Japan. :)

[ayuka86.livejournal.com]

"Honno sukoshi" can work, but I never really hear anyone say it in everyday conversation. I've heard, "Chotto sukoshi," though.

And yeah, that verb isn't common AT ALL, though I'm sure it's use got a little more common around the time the FFX came out. It was really funny because the only way I ever heard or seen that word used was in a passage written in the 60's about "one who embarks upon the religious path..." or something like that.

My friend couldn't think how to translate it into English, so I yelled out, "It means to embark on a journey!" and did the little Tidus-punch thingy. She just looked at me strangely and asked how the hell I knew -That- word.

In the Gravitation manga, there's a character called Ark, who speaks in "anime style" Japanese because he was said to have learned the language by watching H-videos.

[amarissia.livejournal.com]

:) Language instruction books never give the most useful, common phrases. When I was learning French, I remember wondering how often I would say "I go by train" to a French person...

I guess Tidus was being kind of appropriate, then, since Yuna was on a religious journey.

You did the Tidus-punch? :) I wish I had you around while I'm playing video games!

Ark, Ark...was that K's wife's bodyguard? Gravitation got so incredibly weird as it went on, I don't trust my memories of it. (Was there a giant panda?) That'll be me someday, prancing around Japan parroting phrases I learned from anime. I should aspire to be more like K, huh, since he seems to fit in well, aside from all the guns. K cracks me up, the American representative in Gravitation. :)

[ayuka86.livejournal.com]

Ark was Reiji's assistant, I think. Or something like that...

And K! Apparently almost all Japanese believe Americans own guns. Idk why though. Maybe its due to all those Hollywood movies we send there?

I drove my brother -crazy- when we were playing FF12 or when we play L4D together, because I'm one of those overly cautious/ has to check/speak to everything/everyone people. I also mimic characters / spout random lines.

[amarissia.livejournal.com]

I should reread Gravitation, it's such wonderful crack...

It's kind of scary the way we create images of our countries with the movies and shows we make. Anime, too, creates unrealistic expectations. There are probably a lot of people wandering around Tokyo right now like "Where are all the pink-haired people, and the mecha, and yaoi sex?" Yaoi anime, especially, kinda worries me. I noticed a trend of stories involving (pseudo-)Japanese guys being, um, seduced, let's call it, by men who look rather American. Hold on...

Dear Japan,

If we Americans have given you the impression that we all really want to molest you, my apologies. It may be true, but still.

Love,
America

Choir!Cloud's pal Ryu-chan keeps asking me where I keep my guns...

I used to play with my sister, and it drove her crazy that I wanted to do all the sidequests, get all the cutscenes, build up an unnecessarily huge stock of items. She was all about the fighting, I was in it for the story... :)

[ayuka86.livejournal.com]

That letter was very Hetalia, lol. :)

99 potions, 99 hi-potions, 99 ethers, 99 etc. for all!!

[amarissia.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see that on Hetalia! Japan hiding from America, who is of course very persistent, and a nice awkward apology scene.

Exactly, and 99 Curagas for each character, even though I end the game with none of them used. GAH.

Ooh, thank you for that forum link too, btw.