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

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/viewtopic.php?id=9199

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)

Last edited by captal (2012 May 30, 2:51 pm)

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.

Last edited by TwoMoreCharacters (2012 May 30, 4:46 pm)

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.

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.

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.

Last edited by yowamushi (2012 June 01, 1:02 am)

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).

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)?

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 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.

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.

TwoMoreCharacters wrote:

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

So you don't like ninjas?