Anyone watch this before? I'm watching it at the moment and find it interesting. Thought you guys might find it interesting.

[Katsuo]

Somebody made an Anki deck for that program. See this thread.

I'm not into drama, but I loved the manga, and highly recommend it to anyone who is at a level where they can read most manga without using a dictionary much.

I read the book a few years ago and, coincidentally, watched the first episode of the drama yesterday. There's some awful foreign Japanese (I'm wondering if they made them speak that way on purpose- that's my guess) but it's quite funny. The whole series is available on d-addicts with jsubs.

I found about this series from this thread: http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=8872

This part cracked me up:

（ダイアナ）ストローは？
（ハルコ）立って言って。
（ダイアナ）た。
（ハルコ）立って言って。
（ダイアナ）た！
（ハルコ）た？ああ～！あ～っと...。立ち上がって言って下さい。

(stolen from the thread posted above)

I watched it too, but it's so rife with stereotypes that I found it really annoying.

ダーリンは外国人was the same, as far as the manga was concerned, but I found the movie to be much better.

Watched like two episodes and thought that it was annoying and corny with the stereotyping too. Might give it another go though. (update: No)

The manga is great.

Katsuo Wrote:Somebody made an Anki deck for that program. See this thread.

Thanks, I'm downloading this deck and will extract key vocabulary words to learn from (for the purpose of reading and understanding).

Bokusenou Wrote:I'm not into drama, but I loved the manga, and highly recommend it to anyone who is at a level where they can read most manga without using a dictionary much.

I'll have to get this manga then, the drama is interesting to watch.

captal Wrote:I read the book a few years ago and, coincidentally, watched the first episode of the drama yesterday. There's some awful foreign Japanese (I'm wondering if they made them speak that way on purpose- that's my guess) but it's quite funny. The whole series is available on d-addicts with jsubs.

I found about this series from this thread: http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=8872

This part cracked me up:

（ダイアナ）ストローは？
（ハルコ）立って言って。
（ダイアナ）た。
（ハルコ）立って言って。
（ダイアナ）た！
（ハルコ）た？ああ～！あ～っと...。立ち上がって言って下さい。

(stolen from the thread posted above)

I forgot about d-addicts. Best source for transcription.

The drama is TERRIBLE. So painful. The accents hurt my heart. Even the J-actors are reallly bad.

Interested in checking out the manga now though.

I agree, just terrible. I somehow managed to watch 2 episodes before I couldn't take it any longer. It's too bad it's so over the top. It seems like it could be a good show otherwise.

It is indeed terrible. If you like to spend your time in a most unbearable fashion, or if you are still in elementary school, go ahead, watch it. It may be something for you. But even then it might be just too boring.

I found this one very funny, maybe just because everything is so over-exeggerated, for instance right from the start with the black student. Or the teachers not knowing things, that even foreigners seem to be aware of, and have learned on their own. And the teacher who is always ranting and fuzzing over about something, hilarious!

By watching the videos, I also found new things to learn more about, such as 花札. I have seen, and even tried to play this game with an SNES Emulator, but can't say that I understood what it is all about. So it was a good opportunity.

As for the Manga, I read it at ニコニコ静画, or was linked from there to a website, where one can read it. This one is more on the serious side, but an interesting read. Not that I am to judge the quality of Manga, since this was only the second I ever read. In case of this one, also only the parts that have been made freely available, not the whole series. Maybe I am going to order the whole thing, on my next "Japanese material shopping spree".

All in all, it was worth watching it.

The problem is like most other "comedy" J-dramas. The first half is fun and enjoyable escapist entertainment. The second half is just over the top melodrama that saps all of the spirit out of the show.

I have a standing recommendation with Gokusen that you just watch the first half of every show. The instant faces and tones go serious, skip to the last 3 minutes to get the funny conclusion. Probably works just as well for other "comedies" (except anything by the writer of Ikebukuro West Gate Park, you must watch his stuff all the way through).

Nukemarine Wrote:The problem is like most other "comedy" J-dramas. The first half is fun and enjoyable escapist entertainment. The second half is just over the top melodrama that saps all of the spirit out of the show.

I have a standing recommendation with Gokusen that you just watch the first half of every show. The instant faces and tones go serious, skip to the last 3 minutes to get the funny conclusion. Probably works just as well for other "comedies" (except anything by the writer of Ikebukuro West Gate Park, you must watch his stuff all the way through).

I'm re-watching gokusen because it's been a long while and I want to see any difference from the last time I watched it. What I noticed about gokusen is, they are all pretty much the same. Start off with comedy, then the drama starts and a funny conclusion(Just like you said). I'm watching this drama just because I need some more materials. I actually recently watched this movie:

I know it's an old movie but it isn't too bad actually.

The show is definitely over the top with exaggerated accents, but how over the top is it? I know on a language forum like this, it "hurts our hearts" but the Japanese perspective is worth considering.

1. The VAST majority of foreigners in Japan speak either no or very little Japanese.
2. Those that do start to dabble in Japanese, often have atrocious accents- I think those of us that have lived in Japan have run in to this more often than not.
3. Those that finally get to some level of fluency will still often have problems with pronunciation and accent- I know I do and that I have problems with long う sounds and Katakana (is it オランジ or オレンジ? etc)
4. Lastly we get to the group that is in the extreme minority- those that can speak Japanese at a very high level with very little accent- even this last group is often easy for a native to pick out as non-native.

The number of foreigners I've heard speak Japanese this badly far outweighs those that speak it at a near-native level. I guess Japanese people find some humor in it as well- my wife laughed a lot during the first two episodes and picked up some word plays that I missed.

The acting is rubbish, but I like how they are actually teaching Japanese during the show- very useful for language learners. I learned a lot about the polluted 警護 they speak at restaurants. I know I'm not the only one to wonder why they insist upon using ~になります when food is brought out. I had the same thought as the actors when I lived in Japan- is it going to become a (insert name of food)?

It isn't just the accents, foreigners in that dorama are depicted as complete idiots.

If you take that part seriously, it's even offensive. I guess Debito wouldn't approve of it. (half kidding)

On the other hand, it can be fun and it teaches you a couple of interesting things.

I don't remember the show that well but isn't it just a bunch of foreign people obsessed with kanji and grammar but who also have terrible accents... Bunch of bullshit, I've never met anybody like that, lol.

I've watched the first 3 episodes and yes it's stupid but I've found some of it funny.
マジでございますか .. lol

It suffers from what most J-Drama's do, each episode a different characters get a story and the main character fixes it for them. Very boring format.

I couldn't help but feel that I only liked it because of the quirky little things related to learning Japanese. It's the one reason I'd suggest people watch this show (if they have a stomach for the stereotyping and Japanese exceptionalism, anyways).

On the other hand, the manga is pure gold.

Being Swedish myself I feel like I want to punch that Swedish girl in the face.

I agree that the plotlines are kind of stupid and the characters border on stereotypes at times but honestly if you're at the beginner/intermediate phase it's just nice to watch a show that's not terribly difficult to understand and has freaking subtitles. I watched it through once and then another time when I used it as study material for some lessons I did, but yeah I definitely don't have any desire to watch it again. I don't think it's as awful as other people are claiming it to be, I just think it's kind of tedious at times.

I'm watching it as I type this but I can agree that they really do stereotype a lot. The way some of them speak (definitely had to be on purpose, if not, then there is some serious problems going on). Other than that, it's fun to watch.

TwoMoreCharacters Wrote:Being Swedish myself I feel like I want to punch that Swedish girl in the face.

So you don't like ninjas? :O

The variety shows 世界まる見え!テレビ特捜部 and ネプ&イモトの世界番付 feature foreigners on the panel of guests every week. Check out the accents, they're BAD. Whether done on purpose or not, if you portray a foreigner with a shitty accent people will unfortunately believe that's how it is. Then again if these people are for real... Wow, no wonder they make fun of us haha.

http://video.fc2.com/content/20120602uUBX11qC
http://video.fc2.com/content.php?kobj_up...04k5eskQVC