Kraughne:

Miland:Here's a question for you manga fans: do the characters in Japanese comics reflect what is being talked about here? What's your opinion?

Actually, that isn't quite the case, unless the manga deals with traditional social ideas (like Welcome to the N.H.K.).

Sometimes though, you can see little trickles of deeper Japanese culture like in Yotsubato!, where a fearless, slightly crazy five year old girl explores the world around her, with the occaisional reaction from another character which is a bit different to what I'm used to in Australia (then there's the fact a 5 year old can explore her (much more densely populated than in Australia) town without an adult and still be safe, although I assume this is somewhat intended as a bit of a stretch).

Then there's things like Gintama, which are full to the brim of pop-culture. And then you get to things like Gundam which don't focus on the culture at all (well, they focus on near futuristic space-era wartime culture, but that's a completely different kettle of fish).

Of course, from what I've picked up, the differences are always only slight, we're all the same after all. But it's those little, tiny differences or customs which are interesting (well to me at least, I could be a nosy foreigner though).

@Kraughne: I get a feeling this NHK is alot like Australia's ABC crossed with a commercial network...

ceigered:it's those little, tiny differences or customs which are interesting ..

One thing I was thinking about was the faces in manga cartoons, which suddenly switch from normal to wild-eyed and back again. Here's an example (at 0:57-8, just before the dubbed voice shouts "Key change!"). Any connection with this Japanese culture / free will business?
Here's a possibility: with the stress on conformity, the emotional pressure builds up so that the release can be violent. Possibly the comics express inner feelings rather than the outer expression, though, so they can be cathartic for readers.

Well, the character doing that eye thing there can be like that sometimes (he has anger issues ). Of course, the context of that anime/manga (Full Metal Alchemist) is some what between humour (so emotions are purposely over played, and the main character seen there at 0:57 is somewhat over the top in those settings) and "oh dear god the whole world is going to end", so maybe that isn't the best example. But it is interesting that most Japanese manga, even the more socially-orientated (e.g. social issues or real-life settings) often accentuate emotions in the characters well beyond anything you'd ever see in public, but I'd say it's somewhat universal (maybe whoever started the movement to accentuate the slightest emotions with the biggest facial expression changes possible secretly wanted to express themself, who knows...).

More serious manga, particularly ones for my age level (Seinen/Jousei), often have a better mixture between the over-the-top humour and serious real life situations (e.g. "dear god my job is ::::, oh why won't that girl in the PR department accept my sudden proposal, etc"), and so the way emotions are expressed can be contrasted between comical and somewhat frighteningly realistic (e.g. almost realistic facial expressions, tears, etc). In these serious moments, there doesn't seem to be too bigger difference to what things are like in the west, unless things like families, life-wishes or life after death get involved. But that's got to be some deep manga

ceigered:Well, the character doing that eye thing there can be like that sometimes (he has anger issues ). Of course, the context of that anime/manga (Full Metal Alchemist) is some what between humour (so emotions are purposely over played, and the main character seen there at 0:57 is somewhat over the top in those settings) and "oh dear god the whole world is going to end", so maybe that isn't the best example. But it is interesting that most Japanese manga, even the more socially-orientated (e.g. social issues or real-life settings) often accentuate emotions in the characters well beyond anything you'd ever see in public, but I'd say it's somewhat universal (maybe whoever started the movement to accentuate the slightest emotions with the biggest facial expression changes possible secretly wanted to express themself, who knows...).

More serious manga, particularly ones for my age level (Seinen/Jousei), often have a better mixture between the over-the-top humour and serious real life situations (e.g. "dear god my job is ::::, oh why won't that girl in the PR department accept my sudden proposal, etc"), and so the way emotions are expressed can be contrasted between comical and somewhat frighteningly realistic (e.g. almost realistic facial expressions, tears, etc). In these serious moments, there doesn't seem to be too bigger difference to what things are like in the west, unless things like families, life-wishes or life after death get involved. But that's got to be some deep manga

I think Miland has a good observation. I don't watch anime/manga, except I have watched several of the movies of the Japanese producer who did Spirited Away, Princess Monoke, Grave of the Fireflies, and Island in the Sky. I have noticed that the explosiveness of emotion is very prevalent, to the point of being irritating to me. More specifically, loud laughter and dialogue begin with very abrupt starts. I don't notice anything quite like it in American animated films.

This emotion thing is perhaps limited to animation. I haven't watched a lot of Japanese stuff but the live action stuff seems pretty normal to me, emotion-wise, not much in the way of explosive emotion.

I don't like the big eyes, blue hair, etc in anime, I don't watch any of that stuff, so I can't say how things work in that.

I do know that sometimes things work differently in different contexts. I have been watching a lot of Korean historical dramas recently, and I commented to a Korean friend about how exaggerated the acting seemed to be. My friend told me that this is something mostly limited to the historical dramas; she said if you watch the same actors in dramas set in the modern day, the acting is much more normal. According to her, the exaggerated emotions that I saw are mainly associated with historical dramas, there's a kind of extra theatricality given to it.

Then again, since that conversation, I watched a couple more dramas, and not all of them seemed so exaggerated, so maybe it also depends on the director, or maybe my friend was flat-out wrong.

To people who want a sample of Japanese culture, try watching some Japanese drama~ I guess Japanese drama is in no way a big thing like here in Asia, since America already produces so many for its own people. Because, even in Japan, the anime/manga is limited to a relatively small proportion of the society, but TV Drama belong to mass media broadcast, so it can reflect Japanese culture better on a general aspect.

And there are many good onese too. Some acutally quite social-minded. Take CHANGE or Monster Parent for example.

And sorry I didn't respond to the question about Chinese culture's supposed similarity to the Japanese one. That's because I don't know how to answer it, not being very sensetive to cultural difference...

LyzTyphone:To people who want a sample of Japanese culture, try watching some Japanese drama..Because, even in Japan, the anime/manga is limited to a relatively small proportion of the society, but TV Drama belong to mass media broadcast, so it can reflect Japanese culture better on a general aspect.

That'a a very good point, because you just reminded me that Japanese films show the humanness of their characters. i was thinking of films by Akiro Kurosawa like The Seven Samurai, Tora!Tora!Tora! and Kagemusha.

I noticed that too - one big thing between Japanese films and US films I've noticed is you have the Goody (he's good, don't forget it), and you've got the Baddy (don't even try crimethinking about him or his nameless minions). Japanese films I've seen more often than US films tend to humanise both sides so you're now trying to figure out who exactly to side with - e.g. there's more character development on the antagonist's side than in some US blockbuster films.

Then again, none of us seem to be Japanese residents so we probably have only seen a small selection of Japanese movies, and probably the cream of the crop (the ones that get exported more than the others). So who knows

Just remembered the 70s series The Water Margin, but that's definitely good guy - bad guy stuff.

filmoj.net also has 3x japanes e-o subtiteled movies listed. KienLi (lernu.net uzanto) is also interested to get known about your movie favorites. Currently he also tries to promote e-o dublado.