Japanese in Heroes - Part IV

Posted on October 16th, 2007 in Customary Drivel, Media, Unsolicited Commentary, Video, 日本語 by Deas

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このビデオの内容はネタバレになる可能性があるので、ご注意ください。
This video may contain SPOILERS. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

9 - Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman : 0.2)
10 - Claude Rains (Christopher Eccleston : 3)

First off - how on earth did Matt Parkman (played by Greg Grunberg) know that the language Noah Bennet was thinking in was Japanese? Hmmm… Intriguing. Thanks for hanging in with me and catching the last of this series. I think I explained fairly well in the video about why I’m so harsh to Jack Coleman. I think that Christopher Eccleston’s part is just too tiny to warrant any kind of meaningful commentary. So, I think I’ll just broadly close this out.

I’m a big fan of mixing it up in the media. I’ve wanted to encourage the slow steps forward that are being taken. Even when they are incredibly hokey attempts at Japanese - like the Kill Bill films, the Kevin Brauch opening to the American version of 料理の鉄人 (Iron Chef America) and dubbed version of the original, the 3 Ninjas trilogy (I refuse to acknowledge the existence of the most recent 2 films…which technically create a quintilogy…ugh). One of my most recent favorite attempts at mixing it up with an Asian language was the Joss Whedon show, Firefly, which was later extended and ended with a film called Serenity. It had a plot that featured a future where Chinese slang and expletives had entered English language. Sweet. I like hearing foreign languages used in fun ways. The cool thing about Heroes, though, is that it uses a foreign language in real conversational situations as well as improbable fictional situations. It’s great!

Now, for quick tease. I’ve only seen the first episode of the new season of Heroes. That means I’m 3 behind. But, having glimpsed only the first episode, I’ll say the following. At least one new foreign language appears to be used between a brother and sister. Japanese is going to continue to play a big part - but Kaito Nakamura speaks in English during at least one scene. There is a really interesting foreigner-in-Japan storyline to follow up, as well as a new Japanese plausible-love interest. Assuming that the languages will continue to pop up, I’ll be watching the new season, and jotting down the good moments and make a new set of videos. This time, maybe it will go according to plan and I’ll actually do a good job analyzing them. (This time I’m just lucky to have gotten them up without a computer.) Thanks for hanging with me! Feel free to comment below and rate the characters for yourself. Best? Worst? Thoughts?

One last recap:
1 - Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka : solid 9)
2 - Ando Masahashi (James Kyson Lee : 8ish)
3 - Boss at Yamagato Industries (Tohoru Masamune : 10)
4 - Detective Furakowa (Tadao Tomomatsu : 5)
5 - Charlie Andrews (Jayma Mays : 3)
6 - Kaito’s Assistant (Brad Greenquist : -320,782.002)
7 - Kaito Nakamura (George Takei : 9)
8 - Kimiko Nakamura (Saemi Nakamura : 9.5)
9 - Noah Bennet (Jack Coleman : 0.2)
10 - Claude Rains (Christopher Eccleston : 3)

[UPDATE: For those of you who want a more detailed look at the Japanese used in Heroes Season 2, doing some searches will yield some promising results. These articles were more for entertainment than for academic analysis, in retrospect.]