Need someone who can read Japanese...

[sarea]

Is there anyone out there who can read Japanese who'd be willing to help me out?? I found scans of the last chapter of HG and am DESPERATE to find out what happens. I wouldn't make you translate the whole thing, but maybe just the last three pages or something, get the gist of what's going on? Plleeeassssee....

Comments

Complex is an understatement

[seldon.livejournal.com]

From what I've gathered, Japanese people usually call themselves by family name only. Given names are used only when the people are very, very intimate or when they want to be extremely rude. The -kun suffix is used almost as a standard, and the lack of suffix can be due to either a wish to establish a gap between speakers (either intentional or becase of a lack of familiarity) or because the friendship has gone beyond suffixes. This is one of those small details that are entirely rooted in culture...

This can cause some interesting situations... one of the plot threads in the epilogue movie to Kimagure Orange Road is that in the future the protagonist calls his girlfriend by her first name (Madoka) while in the present he still uses her family name (Ayukawa). This is a small detail that went over my head, but the fact that one of the characters makes a big deal about it (and the fact that you eventually find out he started using her first name the night they first made love) proves that the writer expected the (japanese) audience to notice this discrepancy and start wondering when the protagonists got so intimate.

It's also telling that during the entire series the main character had always used "Ayukawa" without any suffix, while he always used "Hikaru-chan" to refer to his then girlfriend, even he was always secretly pinning for Madoka...

I think I only confused myself even more :p I'll run this through him, see what he can add...

Re: Complex is an understatement

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

LOL! Actually that all made sense to me. However I am now intrigued by this movie you linked...

Re: Complex is an understatement

[seldon.livejournal.com]

However I am now intrigued by this movie you linked...

If you are interested in KOR you can try any of these
three sites. Warning, it is a japanese romantic comedy written in the 80s, so expect some weird stuff ;)