Survive Style 5+

    For this week's watching and listening assignment, I dove into the world of Japanese absurdist comedy with Survive Style 5+ by Sekigushi Gen. Rather than a standard narrative, the film intertwines 5 seemingly unrelated stories all linked together through the presence of an English hitman played by Vinnie Jones. From these different narratives we are able to see the different lives and lifestyles that are present in Japan, ranging from the NEET lifestyle of youth, the Japanese Salaryman and his family, and even the world of Japanese advertisement creation.

                                      

The film was extremely engrossing, utilizing the absurd nature of the plot to keep the audience invested despite the lack of a standard plot line. I particularly found the recurring plot line of the man turning into a chicken to be a great gag, as well as the science fiction heavy plot of the wife constantly returning from the dead in order to attempt to murder her husband.
                            

            

            

Because Sekigushi was primarily a TV advertisement director, the film is interspersed with absurd commercial structures including the pouring of water on one's head to grow hair as well as a Janus esque man arguing with himself as to whether he wants bread or rice. These gags, along with the themes of the film itself create a slapstick style of humor that fully enthralls the audience into the narrative as they watch eagerly for the next aspect of comedy.

         Because of the absurd nature of the film, the dialogue and sound design of the film almost comes as an afterthought, though I did find it interesting to highlight the absurd variation between the english terms used by hitman Vinnie Jones and his Japanese translator. These scenes that link the plot of the film together depict the indirect way that the Japanese society and language take in approaching the world around them. It is due to this difference that multiple problems ensue, including the death of one of the three NEET/hoodlums in question.

         All in all, I found the film to be quite entertaining, though I would focus on a more traditional film in the future if your goal is to further your understanding and appreciation of the Japanese language as a whole.

 

                    

The Voice Actress

 

For this week's blog project, I watched the short film The Voice Actress by Anna Takayama.  As the name entails, the documentary follows the world from the perspective of Kingyo, a veteran voice actor in Tokyo. As a voice actor in Japan’s entertainment world, the world she views differs drastically compared to that we are typically accustomed- with her embodying not only the characters she plays in the video game or anime, but even the emotions of the walkway as she boards the train. One of the most evident differences in perspective comes from her response to her fish dying, with the creation of an elaborate funeral procession on the beach.

 

 

 

She is able to utilize this different perspective in the creation of different emotional narratives, an ability possible only by her immersion into the roles and the impact that even the smallest things have on life. The film leaves the journey of Kingyo part way along her journey, as she completes an emotional reading for a new character.

In terms of furthering my Japanese understanding, I found it somewhat difficult. The video itself gave a unique perspective into the world of Japanese entertainment as well as the niceties of Japanese work culture. Despite this, as the monologue behind the shows were older in nature(antiquated to an extent), the terminology and speech patterns represented the older patterns filled with flowery language surrounding life, death and nature. 

I found the video to be quite interesting, with shockingly vibrant colors dominating some of the drabber aspects of life as well as a fun look into the life of people behind the anime that dominates different aspects of Japanese entertainment.

Alice in Borderland

For this weeks watching/learning activity I dove into the world of JDrama with the consumption of Alice in Borderland on Netflix. The premise itself is quite interesting with the the protagonist having to undergo different challenges to stay alive or be killed by the unseen moderators. The protagonist, Arisu, a gaming neat, is transported into the world with his only two friends Karube and Chota, forcing them to adapt to the games and the new rule structure or perish as those around them have.

                                                     

The challenges themselves take an interesting spin, often with a violent/horror twist on popular children's games. The show itself is based on manga written by Haro Aso back in 2010, with its ultimate completion in 2015.

                                                                    

I find myself pleasantly surprised by my understanding of various events with the show, as well as the dialogue used by the characters. Due to the game like structure of the challenges and the use of decreasing time to increase suspense, much of the dialogue comes in the form of counting, the changing of locations and location verbs and even life and death. I do, however, find myself relying on the subtitles to understand some of the heavier nuance of the show, including ideas of relationships, dreams, and desires.

All in all, the world of Alice in Borderland is interesting and I recommend giving it a try, reminding me of the horror aspects of shows like American Horror Story and the competition structure of shows like the Korean Squid Game.

Dashi Journey- Documentary

 

For this week's Japanese Listening/Viewing, I watched the mini documentary Dashi Journey by Eric Wolfinger.  The documentary itself was an interesting look into the world of the Japanese culinary world- tracing the various steps required in the creation of dashi, a stock that serves as a base for many different dishes in Japanese cuisine. Guiding the journey is the head chef of L'Effervescence Namae Shinobu, a three star Michelin restaurant. In the video we learn about the rigorous steps of Kombu farmers in Hokkaido to the Katsuobushi farmers in Makurazaki.

 

      

Despite the arduous nature of the production of the different ingredients, the producers of the ingredients have dedicated generations of lives into producing high quality basics for Japanese cuisine around the world.

In terms of my ability to understand the dialogue within the Documentary, I found myself pretty reliant on the english subtitles as the speech patterns focused on a combination of casual speech and instruction based dialogue that I was unfamiliar with. I was however able to follow some of the steps that the Katsuobushi farmers took to achieve their love of their craft, and the different role they played in producing content.