Reminiscing

[lebateleur]

So I was happily skipping back to the station after the fun that is a two-hour all-you-can-drink welcome fest, when el Pope comes up to me and says, "Have you talked to [....] yet? She's apparently really into Death Note and Bleach." And I did talk to [....], who turns out to be none other than demeter918, who is indeed a huge fan of Death Note and Bleach, and lives not twenty minutes away from me. Here is a dramatic recreation of our converstation.

Her: Death Note, Death Note Death Note.
Me: Bleach Bleach Bleach.
Her: Death Note, Death Note Death Note.
Me: Bleach Bleach Bleach.
Her: Death Note, Death Note Death Note.
Me: Bleach Bleach Bleach.
Her: Death Note, Death Note Death Note.
Me: Bleach Bleach Bleach.
Her: Death Note, Death Note Death Note.
Me: Bleach Bleach Bleach.
Her: Death Note, Death Note Death Note.
Me: Bleach Bleach Bleach.
Her: I'm really into slash, too.
Me: YAY.

It's so funny how one collides with other fen at the most random moments. I met takadainmate and cienna through a mutal friend, and didn't give them too much thought until I noticed the Mandarake bags sitting at their feet on the train. "Oh, you guys went to Mandarake? What kind of stuff do you like?" Which then turned into a discussion of various series which started at HnG and FMA before nudging its way toward KMM (I remember thinking, if they've heard of this one...) and further. This then led to me meeting girl_starfis, cathion, and ice_kristall at Comiket last year. I can't for the life of me remember how amasugiru and I got to talking fandoms, only that we did. (DNA's Satoshi, perhaps?) leviosa8 was introduced to me by the lovely ook, whom I got to know via HP fandom. teal_geezus I met in a KMM comm, and then ended up doing conference calls with her, fragilistikal, and several other fen besides. I've run into several other fen who live/have lived in Ann Arbor, where I spent some of my childhood and almost did undergrad. And of course, no discussion on these lines would be complete without mentioning metal_dog5, who has been my beta reader since I was in high school. We've known one another for over a decade, folks, and we owe it all to the good old MKRA.

So anyway, fandom is a cool place.

これで以上です。

Comments

[lakesrith.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering why Bleach is so popular. I've tried to watch it, but my heart was never in it. Maybe I just don't understand the plot...

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

The answer to that is (as with many series) that the anime took a stellar manga universe and made it not as cool (see also: Fullmetal Alchemist, Saiyuki).

[lakesrith.livejournal.com]

Ahhh! I see. The hard part about manga is that the good stuff in all in Japanese, and the English translations are far and few. I am currently trying to learn Japanese, but I am learning the romanji (sp?) and not the actual characters. So, that's kind of dissappointing about the Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist series.

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. I had no interest whatsoever in manga and anime until I could already speak and read Japanese. There's a huge gap in depth between what's really written and even the best English language translations - which I lament every time I translate something. Good luck with the study! I'd recommend that you switch to learning the kana as soon as you can; romaji is not going to be very useful in the long run.

[lakesrith.livejournal.com]

I had no interest whatsoever in manga and anime until I could already speak and read Japanese.

So you are not a native Japanese speaker? What was your first language?

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Oh, heck no. If only; then I might stand a chance at actually speaking fluently, instead of like a JSL learner. My native language is of course English.

[lakesrith.livejournal.com]

instead of like a JSL learner.

May I ask what a JSL learner is?

How long have you studied Japanese? Do you take classes or did you just move there?

What make you want to learn Japanese?

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Japanese as a Second Language learner.

I've studied for about eight years, having taken classes and moved here;)

I wanted to learn Japanese because I pretty much want to learn every foreign language there is; I got the chance to study Japanese and found that I really liked it, and now here I am!

[lakesrith.livejournal.com]

Really neat! (Sorry for falling back on emails!)

Then you are the person I need to talk to! I've been looking up ways of moving over to Japan for a while. I've looked into working for the American Government, but they only do unpaid internships.

I'm only 21 and just started getting my BS in Business. So how did you move there? How likely are women hired as professionals?

If you don't mind me asking... What do you do? What are the demands?

I am so desperate on moving there but I don't know the first thing to do... please please please give me some advice!

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Hmm...so you want to work here while still attending school? That might be tough - and expensive. If you're over here on a student visa, you're legally barred from working.

I came over first as a study abroad student. Then I taught English on the JET Programme. Now I'm working in a city hall, doing translation and interpretation.

The atmosphere is a lot different from Western workplaces. Your hours are longer, you're expected to do regular unpaid overtime, and there is a definite hierarchy. If you can't get used to that, my recommendation would be to try and work for an American company over here.

[metal-dog5.livejournal.com]

I'll take this opportunity to crack the whip and glare at you. Write faster, or I'll have to withhold any Renji pictures I might have get out the big pointy sticks...

[lebateleur.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's not fair at all. Everyone knows that writers write best when fed regular helpings of Renji. (And anyway, I've almost got that massive Saiyuki fic finished. It would help if I wasn't on a USB-less windows 95 machine at work these days. ::le sob::)

[demeter918.livejournal.com]

Indeed, it is. And YAY to BOTH Death Note and Bleach. =)