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0 pointsbitwize10y ago0 comments

There's a pun in Azumanga Daioh about a cat's tongue. In Japan the expression "cat's tongue" means one dislikes spicy food; the joke would not have been translatable without some flavor text explaining the expression.

A lot of anime is like this: full of dualogue that should be translated as-is to capture the immediacy of a joke or expression, but that has context that doesn't make sense to a non-Japanese without explanation.

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krapp10y ago

At about :50 (but I suggest watching the whole thing) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFBZBAbbKt8

Also completely off topic, but here is the voice actress for Chiyo-chan, Tomoko Kaneda, being pranked in a taxi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTUYNaNK9ns

I wish there were more English subs of shows like this. I watch them now and then on Youtube but I can only get the most obvious physical humor because I don't speak or read Japanese.

bitwizeOP10y ago

That's exactly what I was thinking of.

Story about that clip: I was in Osaka getting wasted in a tiny bar. The bartender and some of the patrons were pretty into anime and games -- but the ones we tend to think of as "quintessentially Japanese" aren't universally known there. My compadres for the evening were big fans of ONE PIECE (which was the hotness in Japan at the time) but none of them had heard of Azumanga Daioh or even Katamari Damacy.

So when I said that my poor, drunken Japanese must sound like the cat thing from Azumanga Daioh, I showed them that clip on my cellphone by way of an example. Laughter all around. Those Japanese folks found the "American Sailor Moon" (a.k.a. Saban Moon) pretty funny as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS027mYtRu8

The atmosphere in that bar was so friendly that a few days later I endeavored to return. It took me like an hour to find it using my GPS and photos I'd taken from the first time around but eventually I did, and announced my triumphant return to the patrons with a hearty "HALLO EBRY-NYAN. HOW AH YOU. FINE SANKYU." Again, laughter, as they seemed to get the reference.

I haven't been to Japan since and the bar has closed down. The owner, I believe, decided to open a sports bar elsewhere in Osaka. More's the pity.

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