As the title says, I started a conversation with a random stranger. This is extremely rare for me. In fact, I don't remember ever doing it before.
So, I was at a Starbucks, and I was just sitting down with my drink, when I saw this girl with the Attack on Titan Survey Corps emblem on her pants. Because she was in close proximity, and I had nothing much to do besides drink my green tea-type-thing, I said to her, "I like your pants."
We had a pleasant conversation. We talked about our favorite genres, though we didn't get deep into any specific anime. Turns out she's going to Anime Central, too. She told me that she would be cosplaying as a Naruto character.
"Which one?" I asked.
"An OC," she replied.
"So I guess I'll just look for the headband then," I said.
It might have been a little foolish of me not to ask what village emblem would be on her headband. Heck, I didn't even ask her name. Nor did I give mine.
ACen is a huge convention, so I don't know if I'll run into her. I hope I do. She seemed like a really nice person.
If you're a fan of Naruto, Attack on Titan, One Piece, Sword Art Online, Case Closed (AKA Detective Conan), or any combination of the above, there's a cute little thing sponsored by Manga-Anime Guardians going on that involves all five series. Manga-Anime Guardians, a site dedicated to cutting down on piracy, is looking for people to pledge to obtain manga and anime legally, and is featuring a page with characters of all five series interacting. If you (and several thousand others) click the "join" button, the site reveals more characters. There are twenty characters in total to reveal.
Ever since the announcement of the re-dubbing of Sailor Moon, I've been thinking a bit about the days when anime characters received westernized dub names. Most English speakers knew Usagi as Serena. Likewise, Satoshi from Pokemon became Ash and Taichi from Digimon was Tai. I'm sure there are other series that gave characters westernized names, but I'm not as aware of them as I am of these three examples. If you know of any others, please comment and tell me.
Nowadays, dubbing companies want to preserve characters' original Japanese names. But what if they didn't? Think of an anime set in modern-day Japan. Think of the characters. What would those characters' names be if the dub changed them?
I have often wondered this, especially in the case of the anime, Azumanga Daioh. Chiyo would likely have a "cute" name like "Christie", Sakaki would have a more masculine name like "Morgan", and Osaka's nickname would be "Alabama". Even after all those name changes, there are so many gags and cultural references that they'd have to cut or change to make the show make sense for western audiences. Basically, the show would be butchered. Kind of like the original Sailor Moon dub.
My final thought on the subject regards anime in which the characters' names are clearly western to begin with. When I mentioned Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan to my dad for the first time, he had to cut me off to tell me that Eren's name should be Japanese. I tried to defend myself by telling my dad about Mikasa, but I purposely neglected to mention that her last name is "Ackerman".
I guess the east is as interested in western culture as the west is with eastern culture. At least, that makes things a bit easier to translate.
I wasn't into it before it was cool, but I resolved to see Attack on Titan before every anime-loving insomniac saw it on TV. So I did. Sure it was only a few hours before the dub premiered, but I did it.
I'm usually skeptical about popular stuff. Is it popular because it's good? Or is it popular because "everyone else is doing it"? I figured that I'd watch just one episode to see what the hype was about.
I ended up watching seven.
I don't remember ever watching that many episodes in a row when starting off a series. I usually do marathons at the very end, but not really the beginning. But this time, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.
There was something mysterious about all that disturbing imagery. Something intriguing. My brother put it nicely when he first talked about the anime to me: the titans look more like people than the actual people. I think that's the scariest thing about the anime. Scarier than the blood. And there is a LOT of blood.
Something tells me that I don't know what I'm getting into. I know it's only twenty-something episodes, but with the manga being such a huge hit, there's bound to be an Attack on Titan 2, and maybe even a third installment (don't quote me on that, though). I guess nowadays they're doing anime in periodic, bite-sized pieces so as to avoid filler.
I HOPE that the Attack on Titan manga doesn't continue for 15 years and wear out its welcome. Then who knows what will become of the anime? Will it end with a "false" ending? Will it be abandoned altogether? I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it-- and IF we come to it.
Another reason as to why I was hesitant to watch Attack on Titan was paranoia-- the fear of getting hooked. It's not the "becoming a fan" part that gets to me. It's just that I don't know how long the series will be. And judging by all the adoring fans who want MORE and want it NOW, Attack on Titan will be sticking around for awhile. I don't want to devote a decade of my life to it. But who knows? I just might.
