Forum - View topicINTEREST: Manga Artist Has Awkward Experience at Family Restaurant
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Juno016
 Posts: 2406 |
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When I was in Japan, I was in a bookstore, checking out the classic manga section for Gash Bell's re-release tankoubans when some young girls started harassing this young guy shifting awkwardly through the erotic manga section nearby (it wasn't closed off, of course). They seemed to know him through college and he was trying to get away from them to avoid the humiliation.
I don't usually do this because I do prefer to be the quiet American who doesn't make stupid scenes in public, but in this case, I decided to walk up next to them and sorta budge in ("Excuse me") to grab a random erotic book to try and diffuse the situation. Seeing me, the girls started talking about ME checking out erotic manga ("AmeOta! Gross!") and I just smiled and turned my head toward them and, in short, said, "Yes, I am. But I'm not gross. I'm a human and I think it's great that Japan can sell things like this without public persecution over personal hobbies." (in Japanese, of course) And I started talking to the guy next to me, who initially looked uncomfortable, but warmed up quickly after the girls walked away and I started telling him I recognized the author of the book he first picked up. We shared our LINEs and a few weeks later, he invited me to go out for noodles. It's hard to feel proud as an otaku in Japan (or anywhere, for that matter), but I can certainly say that I felt some pride in that moment. The amount of times my co-workers tried teasing me for being openly into Pokemon was pretty dumb, and I sometimes wonder what would've happened if I had stayed there another year to experience the Pokemon Go phase. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24000 |
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Dude, you picked up a guy while you were both checking out porn mags ... GROSS!!!
(Be grateful I'm choosing not to riff on the fact that you guys went out for some "noodles.") |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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There's a bit of irony, if not hypocrisy in deriding "anime fans" .. and yet still watching Your Name (and fujoshi/otome shows, or shipping male characters) and then admitting that the aesthetics are similar between them (i.e. GuP = Your Name with tanks)
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simona.com
 Posts: 333 Location: Tokyo |
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that was actually more like not being able to tell one from another because of sheer dullness/ignorance. they don't look a thing alike. |
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1791 Location: South America |
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Your Name is the biggest anime in Japan since 2001, it's one of the few titles you would expect housewifes to know about. Girls und Panzer is obviously a niche title aimed at military otaku. So it's natural that a housewife would think that GuP is like "your name with tanks".
In my case I played YuruYuri on my computer while I was traveling with some friends in Washington and they though it was "Pokémon". While my father though My Neighbor Totoro was The Simpsons. Yes. I think that Anime in Japan apparently is in a situation where you have the mainstream stuff (Miyazaki and Your Name) and a huge underground world that is underneath the most popular stuff. Most people are aware of that (as a third women explained it to them) but they have no interest in the underground stuff. I guess it's like people confusing some obscure death metal band with Metallica in the US. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Should anyone ask me, the awkward experience described in this article overlooks a certain matter that I would consider a paramount cause of awkwardness: the fact the artist was dining alone.
Heavens, who eats alone in a family restaurant? I'd be most mortified by the prospect. Fast-food establishments aside, a dining partner would be required just for the sake of appearances. |
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simona.com
Posts: 333 Location: Tokyo |
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we all eat out or go to the movies alone in Japan, it's normal. |
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Lol I love to draw manga in my spare time and one day, I took the folder to work. My boss who thinks he's so funny picked it up and started reading the romantic parts out loud.
I wanted to die. 
@Juno016 YOU AWESOME PERSON!! Lol I bet that poor guy was so grateful to you. Young Japanese girls sound like total brats sometimes....so damn shallow. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24000 |
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Which is why when I dine alone I carry on an animated conversation with the empty seat across the table. That way the other diners will merely assume my companion is both invisible and mute. |
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Zin5ki
Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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↑
I can but commend your brave, brunching braggadocio, even if all comprehension of your method evades me! |
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Afezeria
 Posts: 817 Location: Malaysia, Kuantan. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9929 Location: Virginia |
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We had a guy like that who ate at the canteen where I used to work. He would sit at a table for four and have an animated conversation with the three empty chairs. He would even turn to look at which ever chair was speaking. Eventually the "nice young men in their clean white suits" came to get him. |
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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......yeah, you're right. Maybe I'm too immersed in this particular culture to see that it's everywhere. 
Mm. Sounds like a serious case of schizophrenia. 
Blood, do be more careful. lol .................. ............THANKS ALAN. NOW THE SONG IS IN MY HEAD. 
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9929 Location: Virginia |
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@Chiibi
Always happy to help. 
I was wondering if anyone had picked up on that reference. Sometimes things I remember are too far back. For those who missed the reference |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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The shocking moment you realize nowadays people get a family ... to be able to comfortably go to family restaurants and similar places ^^;
Consider yourself lucky your interest aren't more niche. Had your interest lay into something more vertical (like my interest in 筋肉娘) a few laughs at your expense would not have been all the collateral damage. |
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