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Interview: Akiyuki Simbo


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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 6:55 pm Reply with quote
Something which annoyed me about this show was how the middle-aged aunt character has the same babyface as the teenage girl characters. Isn't the running joke with her that her childish behavior contrasted with her age is strange and semi-grotesque (that's how the lead seems to react to it)? But giving her such youthful looks really interferes with that.

I'm uncharitable and think they were more interested in having another visually-appealing character than in the scenes making sense.
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2417
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 6:56 pm Reply with quote
johnndergrosse wrote:
When the hell did we start calling it Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl? Why aren't we calling it Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko or Electromagnetic Wave Woman and Adolescent Man?


Yeah... I clicked on the article thinking it was about a new show. I had no idea that english title was being used for this... not even close to the original title.

Megiddo wrote:
Animerican14 wrote:
what the heck is up with the varying romanization of the director's name?

In the west, 99% of people use Hepburn romanization because it's the closest equivalent to the roman letters that are used. Whereas in Japan, in addition to Hepburn they also somtimes use Nihon-shiki romanization. The differences between these two romanizations (as well as the senpai/sempai choice of whether to translate the text (which would be senpai) or how it is pronounced (which would be sempai) leads to various kinds of romanization that are pretty much all correct.


You can romanize it however you want, it doesn't really matter. Its a ん and if you want to romanize that as n, m, or whatever feel free. But your explanation makes it sound like the one system uses "m" because the sound it makes is an "m" and no it isn't. I'm sure some linguistics person has a handy chart to show where the sound falls between n and m, but it isn't either. Both the n and m are approximations chosen because there isn't an english letter with an exact equivalent sound.

This translate the text thing isn't exactly right either. Some one had to have originally placed ん with an 'n' but ん in Japanese is actually not categorized with the 'n' sound from the な line because they are actually slightly different. I mean the first person to come up with that stuff could have just as easily used an 'm' for ん. So if you are really accurately keeping the text, you need some kind of accent or something to seperate that n from the other n.

I don't really have a preference, but this kind of 'choice 1 is better because it accurately keeps X' and 'choice 2 is better because it accurately keeps Y' is kind of dumb. Now both are sort of correct, but being sort of correct is not the same as being correct.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 7:00 pm Reply with quote
Sinbo's handlers/managers/whoever told us it's Sinbo. Specifically asked that we use that from here on out. It's as official as it can possibly be.
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Chagen46



Joined: 27 Jun 2010
Posts: 4377
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 7:06 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
You can romanize it however you want, it doesn't really matter. Its a ん and if you want to romanize that as n, m, or whatever feel free. But your explanation makes it sound like the one system uses "m" because the sound it makes is an "m" and no it isn't. I'm sure some linguistics person has a handy chart to show where the sound falls between n and m, but it isn't either. Both the n and m are approximations chosen because there isn't an english letter with an exact equivalent sound.


-Prepares chart-

Japanese final N, which is expressed with ん, is pronounced with the tongue against the uvula. English N is pronounced with the tongue against the teeth. This is also how Japanese initial N is pronounced.


However Japanese final N when before p or b, as in Shinbo's name, it's pronounced "m".
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 7:35 pm Reply with quote
SilverTalon01 wrote:

You can romanize it however you want, it doesn't really matter. Its a ん and if you want to romanize that as n, m, or whatever feel free. But your explanation makes it sound like the one system uses "m" because the sound it makes is an "m" and no it isn't. I'm sure some linguistics person has a handy chart to show where the sound falls between n and m, but it isn't either. Both the n and m are approximations chosen because there isn't an english letter with an exact equivalent sound.

This translate the text thing isn't exactly right either. Some one had to have originally placed ん with an 'n' but ん in Japanese is actually not categorized with the 'n' sound from the な line because they are actually slightly different. I mean the first person to come up with that stuff could have just as easily used an 'm' for ん. So if you are really accurately keeping the text, you need some kind of accent or something to seperate that n from the other n.

I don't really have a preference, but this kind of 'choice 1 is better because it accurately keeps X' and 'choice 2 is better because it accurately keeps Y' is kind of dumb. Now both are sort of correct, but being sort of correct is not the same as being correct.


The Japanese ん sound is the same as an "n" or very close to it. In any case, there's no debate over how its supposed to be romanized (most of the time, as I'll get to in a moment). The reason it isn't on the "n" line of the hiragana/katana sound chart is because there's no vowel sound after it.

There is an issue with some Japanese sounds and how to romanize them due to the sound difference, particularly ふ and づ but that's not the issue with the "n" sound. Its normally romanized as "n" no matter what romanization system is used. The issue only comes up when it comes before "p" or "b" because when you actually SAY it, your mouth tends to naturally pronounce it as "m" because of how the mouth movements work. This is why you sometimes see "sempai" and other times might see "senpai", and I believe how that gets handled DOES differ by romanization system.


Zac wrote:
Sinbo's handlers/managers/whoever told us it's Sinbo. Specifically asked that we use that from here on out. It's as official as it can possibly be.


Er, they told you Sinbo or Simbo? What you wrote and the article title don't match. I'm assuming the official one is the one in the title and you just typed it wrong in this post.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 8:01 pm Reply with quote
HitokiriShadow wrote:


Zac wrote:
Sinbo's handlers/managers/whoever told us it's Sinbo. Specifically asked that we use that from here on out. It's as official as it can possibly be.


Er, they told you Sinbo or Simbo? What you wrote and the article title don't match. I'm assuming the official one is the one in the title and you just typed it wrong in this post.


Simbo. Sorry, my brain is out of service this week.
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halochief_90



Joined: 06 Feb 2006
Posts: 466
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 8:02 pm Reply with quote
ElectricDork wrote:
halochief_90 wrote:
There's nothing wrong with being a unemployed or whatever, but these shows seem to either try and encourage it or just create the illusion that this lifestyle is somehow cool.

That's not the case with this show (Psychoelectric Girl). The lead character is positively irritated by the girl's reasoning for shutting herself away, and goes about shattering her illusions and helping her take the first steps towards re-integrating into society. By the fourth or fifth episode, spoiler[she has a job.]
Given your description of the show it is kind of funny then that Simbo says "Who cares if you are a hikikomori?... who cares if you can't take that very first step yet?" Apparently, your friends do care and they might pressure you to take that first step.
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Tanteikingdomkey



Joined: 03 Sep 2008
Posts: 2350
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 8:15 pm Reply with quote
halochief_90 wrote:
To me, these NEET or hikikomori shows seem like the same kind of power fantasy that male harem-shows are. Only in this case, the NEET shows aren't exactly a giving off a positive message. In Heaven's Memo Pad it shows that NEETs can be all be part of cool club!

I can agree with you in some cases however Heaven's Memo pad does not work (same for eden of the east). in these two cases the term neet is redeployed and is used to prove the point that all people have value (something that is a bit lost on the anime adaptation). It is used to show how people who are commonly looked down upon and are written off as useless by society actually are very valuable people if only they were given a chance, and that it is not ok to look down upon them.

That said I am not sure the directors response is a strong idea.
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sukochi



Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Posts: 37
Location: Tokyo, Japan
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:32 pm Reply with quote
Try working on his projects!!! Thats all Im saying!
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Melicans



Joined: 01 Feb 2012
Posts: 627
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 10:52 pm Reply with quote
Great interview; been waiting for this eagerly since Denpa Onna is my favourite anime. I'm wondering though, can anybody say how much of the series was adapted? I know there were 8 light novels, but how many of them made it into the series?

Quote:
[...]so please re-watch the box set with the original novel also in hand!


Ah, I would if I could read Japanese. It's too bad light novels are pretty much nonexistent/have little to no market over here.
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:14 am Reply with quote
Quote:
[...]so please re-watch the box set with the original novel also in hand!

Isn't this dangerously close to saying the anime doesn't stand on its own?
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5589
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:39 am Reply with quote
Quote:
so it is not uncommon for us to think, “We want to continue this!”
I would love if they did >.<. My favorite anime from the studio...

Megiddo wrote:
Animerican14 wrote:
what the heck is up with the varying romanization of the director's name?

In the west, 99% of people use Hepburn romanization because it's the closest equivalent to the roman letters that are used. Whereas in Japan, in addition to Hepburn they also somtimes use Nihon-shiki romanization. The differences between these two romanizations (as well as the senpai/sempai choice of whether to translate the text (which would be senpai) or how it is pronounced (which would be sempai) leads to various kinds of romanization that are pretty much all correct.


True, but to me the only "correct" one is the one that "sounds" correct. How is his name actually pronounced?
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nargun



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 930
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:06 am Reply with quote
Kougeru wrote:
True, but to me the only "correct" one is the one that "sounds" correct. How is his name actually pronounced?


I do believe that you are telling the man how to spell his own gods-damned name.

I think that you should stop doing that.
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:07 am Reply with quote
Kougeru wrote:
How is his name actually pronounced?


シンボ
しんび

Like that.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5528
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:15 am Reply with quote
Fencedude5609 wrote:
Kougeru wrote:
How is his name actually pronounced?


シンボ
しんび

Like that.


Except that's how it's written, not pronounced. And anyway, your hiragana reads "Shinbi".

I think you're all drowning in a glass of water. Japanese themselves have never been particularly coherent with romanization
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