Anne in Japan

[steepholm]

In more anime news, I've picked up R.O.D. - the TV again, being more in the mood for it now and for its rather expansive way of alternating "sentimental" episodes with action-packed ones. Mostly I'm impatient to get to the scenes set in England - these are imminent, I think - but there's plenty to enjoy along the way.

This is the second anime I've seen in which two girls bond over Anne of Green Gables (the first was Dance in the Vampire Bund). Does that book have a very high profile in Japan? Or is it a case of one series alluding to (or borrowing from) another? Being a little further along with my kanji now, I noticed from its cover that in Japanese the book was entitled not "Anne of Green Gables" but "赤毛 の アン" - which translates as "Red-Haired Anne". I can see why a reference to a fairly obscure architectural term might have been discarded, but it's an interesting alteration, I think, and one that brings to mind the student who lamented to me in Taiwan last December that although she had been to Hong Kong and South Korea, she longed to go further afield, to a country where not everyone's hair was black. "We all look alike!" she cried.

Comments

[kalypso]

Well, I know Swallows and Amazons has a big following in Japan.

[steepholm]

It's strange what makes it and what doesn't, not just there but anywhere. It seems at times to be an almost random process. (Like Jerry Lewis being big in France, etc.)

[larryhammer]

Anne of Green Gables is huge in Japan. It's an extremely common assignment in elementary school, with the sequels being almost as popular among girls. A large chunk of PIE tourism is Japanese women taking in the settings of the series.

(Which makes Japanese versions of the books relatively easy to find as practice material, with the bonus of finding the English text being extremely easy.)

---L.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

What lnhammer said: Ken Campbell used to talk about it...

Also, Anne of Green Gables costume for your cat.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Interesting! That explains a lot.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Adorable!

[aryky.livejournal.com]

I haven't had any experiences like this in Singapore, but in China my 12-year-old students went to rather extreme lengths to distinguish their hairstyles without being allowed to dye their hair. The most memorable, of course, being the girl who had hair that was about neck length, except for two strands, one on each side of her face, that went down far below the shoulders. It was a really bizarre hairstyle - but it certainly made her look less alike!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

It's a basic human need, I guess! Along with the compulsion to fit in.