Ugghhhhh

First day of classes could have gone better.

I ran slightly late, so I was hoofin' it to my first class (Japanese), keeping close tabs on the time. I was outside of the building at 9:58, and after very quickly going upstairs, I found out I was late-- the clock in the classroom is five minutes fast, but it's the time the teacher keeps. So I was late. Fine, fine, so I should leave the house about 10 minutes sooner.

The class is full of social retards. I have a pretty good idea of who I don't want to speak to already, and no, it's not "anyone". Don't get ahead of me. The thing is, I knew Japanese would be full of annoying weeaboos. I learned that lesson in kendo-- anything authentically Japanese is likely to attract obnoxious anime fans, because of anime itself. I like Japan. I like Japanese things, even including anime. But I don't consider these interests hobbies (I'd still like to make kendo a more regular thing, though >_>).

I have a real problem with people who consider "anime/manga" a hobby. It's essentially calling reading comics and watching cartoons your hobby. But they're different, because anime and manga are JAPANESE!!! Ugh. My issue with this is that we're not Japanese. When American kids start using quirky Japanese expressions, it bothers me. When American kids flock to anyone with genuine Japanese experience, God save them if they should be an actual Japanese person, and treat them like gurus instead of regular people, which most people tend to be, it bothers me. The first person I knew I would not be spending much time talking to would be the girl who greeted me in Japanese, took every opportunity to speak at the teacher's slightest pauses (such as inhalation), sometimes also in Japanese, and then gave a sad, full-upper-body gesture complete with some sort of disappointing tone when the instructor said we wouldn't be getting through something or other. The next group was every person who nodded when the teacher said anime is one of the motivating factors for someone to pick up Japanese. The last guy was the guy next to me, who spent the whole time drawing manga.

It bothers me because it's not their culture. Whatever "knowledge" they possess and are regurgitating at everyone is, at best, an empty mimicry. It's something they saw or read, and it was probably in English. Even if it was subtitled, for example, there are going to be gaps in understanding. There are assumptions in the acts and speech that we don't have-- we as English speakers, we as Western thinkers, and most specifically, we as Americans. I can think of one instance off the top of my head where I just said "Why the hell is this character doing this?" It was in an anime called Claymore, and as far as the viewers and the other characters knew, the main heroine seemed to have died in some crazy, explosive battle. Another character, who was like a younger brother figure, just kept calling/screaming her name... for at least half a minute! No music, no sound effects, not even shots of what this kid was even doing, just thirty to forty seconds of "CLARE! CLARE! CLARE! CLARE!" and a blocked view of a fiery crater. That's the most dramatic and prolonged example, but I *know* that this sort of thing happens all over anime/manga, this repeated calling. In cases where the audio is dubbed into English, this can be muddled over with new dialogue specific to the translation, but in the original Japanese, it's quite prevalent. But I don't know what the hell it means, exactly how it's significant.

And that's part of the point. When they record or write something in English and change it, it's to cater to a different audience, and give it a familiar tone for American viewer/reader. Verbatim translations would leave dialogue very clunky, and some of the mannerisms wouldn't gel without a well-placed phrase here and there (kudos to the English writing teams).

It doesn't mean they're ignorant, necessarily. With our access to so much information, anyone not from Japan could read, watch, and listen enough to know what this or that means. To put it together properly, though, you'd need to be a part of some Japanese society. The experience is separate from the knowledge. These kids bother me, I suppose, because they act as though knowing is enough, and that they think they know enough to act.

They're also calling what I did on Saturday mornings a hobby, and that's a little silly.

I just want to avoid grouping with the zealots. I'm gonna hunt out the regular people (or "the squares," if you prefer) and cling to them with everything my sanity can muster. I can help those people, should they need it. I even sort of WANT to work with people. I realize that I'm flying my Freak Flag, with my long hair, my Bag of Holding, and my tendency to paint my nails, but those squares will be mine!!

Logic looks busy. I already have a 3000-3500 word paper due November nineteenth. We get to choose the topic, but we have to take a stand and make logical (GO FIG) points to support it. I dunno what I want to write about yet. I'm taking the class with Richy, and that was a HUGE relief, since there's a lot of group work involved with the class. Last time I had a group in class for a college course, no one communicated and we all failed a giant project. At least Richy and I have a fighting chance. The prof is interesting. He teaches at three places in addition to OCC. He speaks at Schoolcraft, University of Phoenix (they have a physical location on six mile in a business building), and U of M. U of M is his main school, and I know that not just because it's the biggest one, but because he uses their e-mail service. I have high hopes, but am a little intimidated by the workload presented on the syllabus.

I'll be in Japanese again Tuesday, and Wednesday will mark my first session of American Government.

Sean