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Answerman vs. Ms. Answerman

OK, here’s the thing. The Japanese prefer to know the major plot points ahead of time so they can enjoy the episode more the first time they view it. This is similar to the French phenomenon where many French moviegoers watch the end of the film before the beginning so they can adequately take in and analyze the film without being concerned or excited about the ending. They already know what happens, so they can concentrate on the depth of the entire film. The Japanese are much the same way; witness some of the episode titles for Rurouni Kenshin. “The Sakaba sword breaks! Kenshin’s in trouble!”. Obviously this gives away a major plot point in the upcoming episode, but the concept of ‘spoilers’ doesn’t really exist in Japan and France, at least for the majority of film consumers. They already know Kenshin’s sword breaks, so they can concentrate on what happens in the rest of the episode, and pay attention to the various and sundry subtleties. It’s a different culture with different customs.