Charbonnel

I was interested how so many people mentioned how slow Taishin is, and yeah, I get it. In some ways it’s funny to be a foreigner that’s (a lot) faster than him but equally, I found it refreshing. Often most characters you’s compare Taishin to would be too fast by comparison (verbally and in thinking), and rush to conclusions through overthinking, which it feels Taishin doesn’t do, since, slow that he is, he DOES communicate properly.

I’m here late and with a language nerd comment! I’ve only seen episode 1 so far, but I would have watched way sooner had I known Taishin uses dialect! A pleasant surprise, since I do not speak his dialect (which sounds like Hakata-ben to me?) but I can understand what he’s saying. Before today I had never heard this dialect though.

I suspect had I only studied standard Japanese (since I am non-native) I wouldn’t have picked up on what he was saying right away, but because of living in a dialect region myself and knowing both my local dialect and standard Japanese, it was pretty easy to get a grasp on what Taishin was saying.

I had a glance at the manga after watching the first episode and wow. It’s rare to see actors that so closely resemble the manga characters, especially facial features wise.

No worries! I’m pretty lucky although it’s taken a long time to get here.

Been a while since I’ve seen any Gaga subs for other language shows so I wouldn’t know either, but the speed thing makes sense in an unfortunate way. It’s a shame since I’m sure most fans would happily wait a day or two for good human translations, but perhaps I’m wrong?

Also so true about fansubbers. I can still remember the most divine fansubs I have ever seen, where the subber had gone over the documents shown and translated them too! I have only respect and admiration for fansubbers.

I agree with this but didn’t know Gaga had stooped to using machine translation, although it checks out with their recent poor track record. Thanks for mentioning it. For Japanese dramas unless they’re heavy in technical terminology I don’t need subs luckily, since I speak Japanese. So usually, I will just check individual words or phrases, often for onomatopoeia and the like - which the teaser had one killer line I did want to pick apart.

For other languages though I’d definitely wait for fansubs. The best subtitles are always done by fans these days I notice.

In episode 1, the subtitles said “Message me when you get home” (帰ったらDMをして/kaettara DM wo shite), but personally what I heard was (会えったらDMをして/aettara DM wo shite) which would translate to “Message me if you’re free/want to meet”, and made more sense at that point in the conversation. The only difference in the pronunciation is whether or not there is a ‘k’ at the start. I didn’t hear a ‘k’ at all, which would make it the second option.

Chiaki did choose to message him upon getting home which would be common etiquette for either situation, which doesn’t really help with which sentence was said. I did also see a couple other obvious (pronoun/context) mistakes in that scene, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this too was an incorrect sub.

EDIT: Since it’s bothering me, I went back to try and read the DMs. First Chiaki just introduces himself (blurry but legible) and says something to the effect of thanks (very blurry so I can’t be exact). The response from AE is just “thank you, until we talk again”, which js also just very standard.

Think there may have been an error in the subs, or perhaps the audio just didn’t catch it. Spoiler tagging for those who haven’t seen episode 1.

I love the concept (and some nice attention to detail, stylists) but the second hand embarrassment is here too…hopefully that improves.

Finished it. My favourite duo was definitely Fuji and Asagi, they were hilarious but sweet to watch. I loved this show because it’s just so goofy. I also find it funny how all three male leads went on to star in BL at some point after this, and it’s interesting to see how they’ve evolved from here. All the love for the Takarazuka Revue ladies here too, with all their charm~

This feels like five dollars and a dream but I love it! I’m a massive Takarazuka Revue fan, and was sure from the first time I came across this it would likely involve some former Takarazuka Revue performers. Over the top, messy, but all in all fun!

An understandable conclusion to reach too, thank you for your thoughts on this! I also recall an initial feeling he didn’t like Shu He when they met, and half wondered if somehow the Crown Prince had planted him there, or some similar conspiracy.

Thank you so much for this deep dive! Truly a fascinating read - I’m somewhat familiar with Buddhism but different sects often have surprisingly contrasting teachings too. The points you summarise here definitely crossed my mind, but the reference to actual history is equally intriguing.

Coming back here after rewatching episodes 8-12 and left pondering….what drove Huai Yi to grow into what he became. If he was so close to a life of monkhood, how did he become so cold and comfortable with being cruel?

He always knew Zi Ang’s motivations and feelings, but never truly accepted them. He seemingly forgot, or never truly appreciated the lengths Shu He went to reunite them. I also feel lost when he says Zi Ang ordered the deaths of the prisoners of war. Was that truly done by Zi Ang, was it Huai Yi, or was it a lie? I never truly reached an answer to this question.

Every other major character makes some kind of sense to me, but not Huai Yi. He has no clear motivation. He cares for his brother, but not enough to attempt to persuade or appease Shu He. It kinda feels like the writers just needed a secondary villain of sorts.

It’s pretty implausible for Odaijima to have been asleep because his role in the gang demands the kind of vigilance not afforded to overly heavy sleepers. He’d have been awake from the moment Kataoka first touched him, if not earlier. As for keeping his eyes closed, it checks out with his personality and the awkwardness of a first timer. Pretending to be asleep the whole time saves him from embarrassment and responsibility.

Reflecting back to Kataoka, he probably also knows there’s literally no way Odaijima slept through it, and so would see it as an unspoken thing between them, since Odaijima didn’t push back or object. Culturally it wouldn’t be something to speak about afterwards. If Kataoka addresses it, Odaijima loses face, and if Odaijima addresses it, it puts Kataoka in an awkward position. Only very close people who know eachother well would have this conversation, and these two are not yet in that position.

So I don’t think it makes Kataoka a total hypocrite, because everything else about him points to the statement being true. In a world where somehow Odaijima was asleep, Kataoka is absolutely a hypocrite. However, Odaijima being awake just points to the greyness of the whole situation. Just my opinion though, and you’re free to feel Kataoka is disingenuous for what he said.

Well I can tell you two things!

Almost certainly not purely AI subtitles, because I’ve unfortunately seen a Japanese movie that got AI subtitles and trust me, it would have been far more incoherent. AI fails at connecting and restructuring sentences and often assigns pronouns at random or based off gender roles of actions (criminal = male, but random gossip may switch between he/she for the same person being talked about). Unless there has been major, Japanese to English specific developments recently, these aren’t AI.

Also, AI subtitles would not change key words in the sentence the way these subtitles did in changing ‘mouth’ from the dialogue to ‘kiss’ in the subtitles. In Japanese those two words sound nothing alike (kuchi, kisu) and are not used interchangeably in these types of conversation. (AI can mishear but will always choose the literal translation)

Thank you for this. Both of those were bothering me, the latter moreso because it wasn’t difficult to translate at all, someone actively chose to change out the word used for one that doesn’t connect with the sentence or previous episodes. The first one perhaps a context issue, but still odd because even a blunt direct translation would be “she was my sister, I thought.”

As for your theory, dark though it is, it would add up tone wise and dynamic wise. I hadn’t really stopped to consider it that way because I’ve known of very young mothers being “older sisters” because of the problems associated with being a mother at an early age. Even so, that would not explain the position of the father - unless it was simply deemed more “socially acceptable” due to a large age gap - or your theory, which also fits.

Reading this comment reminds me distinctly of Happy of the End and made me realise how similar in some ways their storytelling are.

Perhaps a random note but I often use doramas for listening purposes language wise. Most of the time I can get 80% or more IF the show isn't heavy in technical language (such as law or medical dramas), but here I struggle with Kataoka. I’m used to dialect and rougher speech patterns, but the way he speaks is less dialect and more of a slurring and muttering manner of speech, clearly markable as a rougher way of speaking, but harder to pick up because he’s murmur-y at times. Just interesting because I can understand everyone else in this show no problem, but his speech mannerisms are tricky for me.

That language nerdery aside, it’s keeping me interested enough so far. Character wise one wonders how Kataoka has survived as long as he has - not to do with Odaijima, but the organised crime life in general.

If you weren’t a fan of Revenged Love for those reasons, this is worse. It’s more explicit, more rough around the edges, and while it has been at least 6 years since I watched, I can still clearly recall a lack of general respect between characters. I don’t recommend this in your case, although excuse how late this reply is.

This show will never have a second season because the rules changed shortly after it came out. Media like this was banned in mainland China, and it is already so long ago.

Revenged Love is based on the same novel, complete, and really very good. If you haven’t seen it, I would definitely recommend it!

Been in cinemas a whole month and still selling out at weekends, that’s gotta mean something. My review may be a bit critical but I did very much enjoy watching. Watching in cinemas or with surround sound is a MUST for getting experiencing the sound design in all its brilliance.