[Intermission] To Cosplay or Not to Cosplay
I am sorry, this post is in Japanese only. Read the rest of this entry »
[Intermission] Help me with my English?
I know this topic has nothing to do with this blog, but lately I’ve been thinking that I need to improve my English. It is not only for this blog, but myself. Since I haven’t spoken English at all, I feel I have almost forgotten how to speak.
I have tried some classified ads where people seek for a language exchange partner. But they are all the same, just a place for girlhunting. Because I always get rejected as soon as they learn I am a man. -___-
If you can help me, please speak to me. Even once a week is okay. Maybe about 20 minutes or so at a time. That’s pretty enough. If you happen to be studying Japanese, I will help you in return. ^^ I use skype to talk someone online. So if you have an account, let me know by e-mail. You can e-mail me from the sidebar.
Please know I am wanting a steady partner. I would like a person who can keep being my partner as long as possible.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.^^
Speak to me! You are right.
アッーーーー！[A,-------!]
Ha? What are you talking about? Why is this famous? But actually I have seen this a lot lately since I knew about yaranaika?
Technically, this has nothing to do with yaranaika, but it has a scent of that kind of thing…If you follow 2ch or Nico Nico, you might be possibly sure of this. But before I explain this, let me teach you how it should be pronounced.
As you can see, this is not written as アーーーーーッ！[Aaaaagh!] but アッーーーーー！[A,------!]. Too difficult! Okay, take a deep breath first, and just say あ[a]. Please end it immediately after you said あ. Do not shut your mouth yet, please pretend to continue so that anybody else can’t say anything. Umm, is my explanation okay? To be honest, I think no one can teach it well!
To get to the point, this weird shouting is to describe when a gay gets poked. Now you can see アッーーー！ easily since it has been an internet slang. At any rate, this is based on the Japanese baseball player, 多田野数人[Kazuhito Tadano] who succeeded in joining the Major League in 2004. Actually, he showed in the gay porn video with his juniors at school before he got a fame. At that time, some gossip magazines told the rumor temporarily, however as soon as he went to U.S., the rumor started to spread out.
After all, he had to admit he actually showed. According to him, he had to do that for money…Anyway, this became a fuss among 2ch bugs. This is also called TDN事件[TDN Incident]. TDN stands for his surname TaDaNo. Perhaps, you could see some screenshots from the video on 2ch or elsewhere. アッーーーー！is actually what the baseball player uttered when he got poked. The most famous conversations are 「四つんばいになれ！[Get down on all fours!]」「やれば返していただけるんですか？[Can you release us if I did it?]」「アッーーーー！[A,------!]」「気持ちいいんだろ？オラ、気持ちいいって言え！[You feeling good, eh? Say feeling good!]」「気持ち…いい…[Feeling good...]」
Oh, poor him.
オラニャン[oranyan]
Thanks of one of the regular visitor w, I got a tip for this post. Well, if tsundere is supposed to be a girl who is always cold but sometimes sweet to you, would it be alright to describe such a guy? If he is so cold to you, but sometimes becomes nice, could he be labelled as a tsundere as well? Well, maybe yes. Tsukimori Ren in Kin-iro no Corda or Wolfram in Kyou kara maou could be. But is there any other saying? Yes…that is オラニャン[oranyan].
In fact, this was not born in the otaku society, but kogals’ circles. To get to the point, オラニャン is an abbreviation form of オラオラニャンニャン[ora-ora nyan-nyan]. I can’t translate it! オラオラ[ora-ora] sounds like a rude guy’s shouting. Maybe you could hear this in such a delinquent boys’ story like Gokusen, Bebop High-School or something like that. Well, how can I put it…sounds like “Oi! Oi!”?? They would say like 行くぜオラァ！[ikuze, oraa!, let's go, guys!]. オラオラ金出せや！[ora-ora, kane dase ya!, Oi oi, give fucking money, eh?]. Does it make any sense?
Meanwhile, ニャンニャン[nyan-nyan] is actually a cat’s mew-mew. Caught on, haven’t you? Although he is so cheeky and rude in front of everybody else, he would be very sweet to a girl who he loves. Probably he could be still sweet even when others are there. In this case, it might be called as オラデレ[oradere]. There is a more common word to describe this type of guy, 恐妻家[kyousaika]. However, this is something like a husband who is under his wife’s thumb. Even though he is arrogant to his surbordinates, he can’t resist his wife or be very sweet to her.
I think you can see a オラニャン guy in real life. I have seen it in Korean soap operas. Umm, this is an irrelevant note, I have shared a room with Korean guy a long time ago. He was definitely a oranyan. He used to be very rude to me and other roommates, but he changed his attitude when his girlfriend was near him, or phoned him. In fact, he was hated by anyone else…To tell the truth, I didn’t like him, nor like this type of guy. Because I am an otomen, you know.
At any rate, speaking of oranyan, I can think of Inori and Morimura Tenma in Harukanaru toki no naka de, Maebara Keiichi in Higurashi no naku koro ni. Unlike tsundere, he would have to be cheeky[生意気], rather than cold. This is the most distinctable point between tsundere and oranyan.
SA・DA・ME ～運命と宿命～
If you happen to learn Japanese, particulary kanji, have you encountered any weird reading? I mean, even though those reading are not technically correct, it should bestow a better ring to it. That’s what’s-called, 当て字[ateji, phonetic equivalent]. I think you could find this kind of thing in the lyrics on Japanese pop-music. If from anime songs, I can think of 玉置成実[Narumi Tamaki] or TWO-MIX. Sometimes it makes me laugh because it sounds too poetic or too melodramatic, but this time I would like to mention 定め[sadame] which means a fate or destiny.
Mostly in the lyrics of songs, it would be written as either 運命[unmei] or 宿命[shukumei] and read as さだめ. This is not correct, but it sounds a little more fascinating, doesn’t it? I am not an English-speaking person, so if I am wrong, I would really appreciate it if you kindly correct me. If we read 運命 as さだめ, it would probably function as destiny. I mean, it is supposed to be like that. No matter what, it happens for sure. Irregistable and inavoidable regardless whether he/she wants or not. Let’s see some exapmles…
a. 彼は明日死ぬ。それがあいつの運命（さだめ）なのだよ。[He will die tomorrow. That's his destiny.]
b. 私たちが出逢ったのも、何かの運命(さだめ)です。[Our encounter should be something like destiny.] Ugh, this is too poetic.
However, if we read 宿命 as さだめ, it would probably mean it is destined to do sth since it was born or the certain point of its life. It’s more like the person must do sth no matter what. It seem to have less romantic connotation than 運命 does. Because he has a certain purpose in his life, he must inevitably do another thing to fulfill it. As a result, it becomes the thing he is destined to do…This is 宿命 as さだめ.
c. それが宿命（さだめ）というわけですな、永遠の刺客としての。[That's your fate, isn't it? As an eternal assassin.]
This is what Soutetsu in Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto says(I am sorry, I forgot in which episode he does and actually he doesn’t say さだめ, but shukumei). Anyway, the protagonist Youjiro who failed to protect Sakamoto Ryouma, has to find out 覇者の首[hasha no kubi] and destroy. Since he vows to do so, he must do whatever no matter what comes out. If 運命 is decided by such an absolute power, 宿命 might be still decided by the person’s will.
Lelouch in Code Geass vows to destroy Britannia for the sake of his younger sister. So whatever he sacrifises could be called 宿命. The fact that he was born in the Britannia Family, his mother got assassinated, and his sister got crippled would be 運命 because it has nothing to do with Lelouch’s will. However, even if he ought to battle with Kururugi Suzaku, and he doesn’t want to kill his childhood mate, he has to do so(are we going to see that next month?) because that is his 宿命.
Yorihisa in Harukanaru toki no nakade has to protect Miko(our protagonist). [Spoiler starts]In the certain episode, he kills a monster called 鵺[nue] which is actually his very first friend. Nue gets insane because of the spell, and kidnaps Miko. Yorihisa must protect Miko, so in the end he shall kill his best friend.[spoiler ends] There’s a line in his theme song;
d. 運命の悪戯か 宿命なのか[Is it a jest of fortune or shukumei?].
Yes, like we are confused, even he seems to be, too. Am I making sense? If not, don’t hesitate to tell me, please.
