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(The) Great Passage (TV).


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sat Sep 03, 2016 8:20 pm Reply with quote


(The) Great Passage (TV)

Genres: drama
Themes: dictionary, workplace

Plot Summary: Araki is a veteran editor for the dictionary department at the Genbu Shobō publishing company. He is looking for a successor now that he's approaching retirement age. After Majime Mitsuya — a salesman who's a poor talker — meets Masashi Nishioka — Araki's coworker who is sociable and frivolous — Araki overhears their conversation and decides to recruit Majime into the department. The "odd couple" work together to compile a medium-sized Japanese dictionary titled "The Great Passage" (Daitokai).
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Also known as "The Great Passage". I've heard good reception about the movie before and fairly impressed by the preview.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 6:47 am Reply with quote
Episode 1

Good start for the first episode.

I like the realism dynamics and the characters introduced so far. The OP song also works quite well with its style. Mitsuya is an interesting character with knowledge and I'm curious to learn more about him.

The office environment looks realistic as well and animation is fluid with character designs looking simple yet credible.

Excited to see more of this, there's quite a bit of potential here.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24177
PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 9:38 am Reply with quote
So...when do the mechas show up? Wink

Yes, this looks like a very promising SoL. It's funny, much of anime can be stultifyingly derivative and formulaic yet it remains one of the few entertainment formats where you can actually have a show about a guy whose job is helping to compile a dictionary. Trying pitching that one in Hollywood.

I can't help comparing this show with March comes in like a lion (the abundance of water imagery in both certainly is a factor). We have two lonely, isolated, bespectacled MCs. I don't think Majime is fullblown depressed the way Rei is and, unlike Rei, he seems to want to change his situation.

I feel for Majime. I don't suffer from social awkwardness myself (believe it or not) but I can imagine how painful it must be. To not be able to pick up on cues that other people effortlessly translate must really feel like being adrift at sea.
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HelloBucket



Joined: 07 Apr 2015
Posts: 477
Location: Upstate New York
PostPosted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 8:50 pm Reply with quote
I really hope there are more of those adorable talking dictionary shorts as inserts. I want to follow the adventures of the little blue dictionary.

This whole episode made me kind of curious about the creation of Japanese dictionaries. I've never heard of the process described in such whimsical terms when it comes to English. I wonder if this is a flight of fancy from the work itself or if there's really a more romantic approach to creating dictionaries in Japan.
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crosswithyou



Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Posts: 2899
Location: California
PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 12:08 am Reply with quote
I believe the series is streaming on Amazon Prime but there weren't any previews for it. I would definitely be interested in reading some episode reviews.

Very interesting and unusual topic for the series so I'm eager to find out where it'll go.
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Darkmagick
Subscriber



Joined: 24 Nov 2011
Posts: 471
PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 10:48 am Reply with quote
crosswithyou wrote:
I believe the series is streaming on Amazon Prime but there weren't any previews for it. I would definitely be interested in reading some episode reviews.

Amazon has licensed all noitaminA shows for the foreseeable future, but at the moment, the show is not actually up on US Prime for whatever reason. It's on UK Prime, and I think some other ones, but since the reviewers are all in the US, they currently don't have a legal stream to use. The show has been assigned for Daily Streaming reviews, but...again, still waiting on the legal stream.

...Dammit Amazon. Gimme my CR noitaminA streams back. Confused
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:53 pm Reply with quote
I just contacted customer service of Amazon Prime Instant Video in the US via chat, and they denied that there is any official confirmation of a deal between Amazon and Fuji TV, and quote:
Amazon Instant Video Customer Service wrote:
...availability of the content will only depend on the content provider. Our both amazon US and UK sites works individually we don't have any information related with the UK webiste if you want to ask any question related with the UK website then please contact the UK support they will assist you with this.

I'm very upset, and would request that US anime fans contact Amazon, because they also told me, quote:
Amazon Instant Video Customer Service wrote:
...If you really want this video on our webiste , So that to help you with this I will go ahead and Considering your contact as feedback I have forwarded it to the development team of Amazon Instant video so that we can work on this feature. I’ll be sure to pass your comments on to the Amazon Instant Video team.
We'll consider your feedback as we plan further improvements. Customer feedback like yours is always important to us. I'll be sure to pass your message along to the appropriate department as we continue to improve the Amazon Instant video experience for our customers.


So let's get on Amazon's back, everyone! We're a really annoying, anal bunch, us anime fans. If enough of us contact them about this, they'll have to at least clarify whether or not there is a deal with Fuji TV!
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11603
PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 4:22 am Reply with quote
Sounds like your Amazon rep didn't know, didn't care and was too busy punching up canned responses to actually find out. :/

Anyway, Episode 2 was just as glorious as the first one. I love his landlady. And I got such a kick out of the two editors exchanging invisible high-fives when Majime told his escalator story. I guess when you're used to not fitting in, you can't tell when you're a perfect fit.

I feel like I'm watching a movie in 12 parts, they take such care with the details and the ambience. It certainly doesn't feel rushed. Some probably think it even drags, but not me.

Still absolutely hating the OP song for this though. I have to mute it the moment that stupid Caramelldansen synth starts in. You know how to tell how wrong it is for this? Majime is trying to walk with the beat and he walks 3x faster in that OP than at any point in the series. Blecch.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24177
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 8:38 am Reply with quote
Episode 2

Thank god the love interest has showed up because, to be perfectly frank, all that dictionary talk was boring the shit out of me. I'm guessing the young lady is a relative of the landlady - grand-daughter, perhaps? Presumably, she is the one who called so late. Anyway, it will be interesting to see Mr. Socially Awkward deal with her.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15576
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 10:13 pm Reply with quote
I am watching this show too, but honestly I don't know what to talk about with it. It is interesting.
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chaccide



Joined: 16 Aug 2016
Posts: 295
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2016 9:06 am Reply with quote
It took me a while to figure out why this felt so stupid. Who the f*ck does this sort of work by hand on paper? This isn't the 1950s, the people have cell phones. Publishers have been using computers to index dictionaries for decades now. I cannot watch them go through all this work when they could cut their time down by 90% by using technology.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24177
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2016 10:10 am Reply with quote
I had the same thought. Although, it wouldn't totally shock me if there were some places that were still old school like that.
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HelloBucket



Joined: 07 Apr 2015
Posts: 477
Location: Upstate New York
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2016 3:40 pm Reply with quote
The lack of technology definitely sticks out a bit, but even if it isn't realistic I think it works with the ideas in play: The idea of the dictionary being a long, arduous endeavor, the concept of craftsmanship as applied to dictionary-making, and the dictionary department being abandoned in the past (the former main building). Also, it really suits our main character, since he doesn't have a cell phone.

Random side thought: Is there any legitimate way to get out onto that balcony or do they always have to get to it from the windows?
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15576
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2016 7:28 pm Reply with quote
The more I think about it the more I think technology is really missing this from this system, and I was only thinking about the dictionary being digital before. Use tablets instead to record words they find, which could allow them to put them on at the office electronically (without even going to the office), be able to work at the office (without even being there), check to see if the word has been used yet because you are writing a fricken dictionary, organise the level of words you want. Get a head start on it actually being written before you the end process where they presumably sit down to do so. And it would be safer as they could keep a backup server offsite, where currently a building fire would destroy all of the paper. I think all of that sounds like a reasonable system to have in this day in age, and with looking for another ten years to complete it looks like something to switch over to.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11603
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2016 8:36 pm Reply with quote
Yes, all that is quite practical. But these people don't see what they're doing as an exercise in practical efficiency (Masashi would probably share your thinking), but as an art form. That's why, as the eyecatch skits emphasize, no two dictionaries are alike and have their own personalities.

If they're not comfortable with the technology, it won't be efficient for them to use it, and the old guy especially savors his handwritten notes.

There's something to be said for the old ways. When I used to have to graph things out on graph paper and manually crunch data (on a calculator at least - thank god I never had to master a slide rule!), I felt like it gave me a better feel for the numbers and a clearer picture in my head of what was going on across the study. It's of course faster and easier to do it all on Excel, and I wouldn't go back to the old way, but I still feel like I lost something in the transition. Now I'm just churning out data to meet a deadline. :/

So I can relate to them feeling more in touch with the words and meanings by writing them. Also, kanji is an art unto itself, and there's surely more resonance in writing it out than hitting two or three keys to have its perfect form show up on a screen. I can also relate to not having a cell phone. Smile

These characters may be an anomaly in the modern world, but they're not alone. Read what these people say about why they're still in the last century with their writing tools.
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