Botchan [Eng-Sub]
Everything started on tuesday or wednesday two weeks ago, when my Internet decided to allow me watching something online. The thing was Bocchan, and tbh I had no idea of what it was about. Nino had too many works going on, and I only knew the plot of the movie. Actually I started watching a little bit of Akamedaka, but Internet stopped me back then. Anyway, the thing is that Neen always amazes me with his acting.
So, first the subtitle is here,
Neen as a Botchan
or here
raw: light-of-angels
japanese soft subs:jpsubbers
And here the notes,
- First, this is based on a novel,
Botchan (坊っちゃん?) is a novel written by Natsume Sōseki in 1906. It is one of the most popular novels in Japan, read by many Japanese during their school years. The central theme of the story is morality, but the narrator serves up this theme with generous sides of humor and sarcasm.
The time frame of the narration is not given. It is also notable that pronouns are omitted in the first nine paragraphs. (Wikipedia * Imagine Jun saying it lol * )
Like The Catcher in the Rye or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Botchan, a hilarious tale about a young man's rebellion against "the system" in a country school, is a classic of its kind. Among Japanese readers both young and old it has enjoyed a timeless popularity, making it, according to Donald Keene, "probably the most widely read novel in modern Japan." (This is a much modern English version)
“Botchan” is required reading at school in Japan and you can imagine students identifying with the central character’s contempt for the fools around him in much the same way those in the West identify with the characters in “The Catcher in the Rye” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” - both of which “Botchan” has been compared to. (Source)
I've read a bit of Yasotaro Morri's translation and Umeji Sasaki's (Dover Publications) and actually preferred the later. But, endep up reading the Spanish translation by José Pazo Espinosa, and enjoyed it a lot. The novel is funny to read, a little slower than the SP, but Botchan's thoughts are always nice to read. Many people have called this a satire, and the tone is pretty raw at times, but it has its charm. I finished it in two days and what impressed me the most were Botchan's thoughts, so give it a chance if you can. I love the fact that the Botchan's name is never reveled and most of the other characters are referred with nicknames.
- Second, there's this thing about floors from buildings in British and American English, technically, I've been taught British English, but since there's no much trail of that,
Second floor in British English, is the floor of a building that is two floors above ground level, or in American English, the floor that is directly above ground level.
In the end, what I meant was the one directly above ground level, when Botchan is telling us the first incident. *Yes, the gif has nothing to do with this*
- Third, there were many details here and there which evoked the time when this happens, like the following ones, many of them are really interesting, so bear with me.
Okay, I think that's all, it was a lot. I didn't explain the food! But if you look at it, you'll get it, lol. To end this, I'll just say that I love teacher-students bond's stories, and this was really nice. I've read someone's opinion on this SP's ending being more satisfying, and I agree. I mean, all of Nino's Botchan's great speechs are completely based on the novel's Botchan's thoughts. When this happened I tried to follow the translator's words when it was possible, 'cause he is a professional, that's the reason for mentioning them. So, maybe if he would outspoken them in the novel, its ending would be a little closer to this, but some things may have happened anyway.
All in all, a pretty entertaining work, and a nice adaptation to a novel that it's surely familiar to most of the public, in Japan, of course. I'm never tired of Neen's acting, he's superb. He has great chemistry with old ladies.
Not my gifs, credit on them.
** Disclaimer: I don't own Neen, and now seriously, English is not my first language, nor the second, so, it surely have many mistakes and weird sentences. I really tried to correct them as much as I could this time, so take that into account. Not to mention how new I am to Japanese. *Sorry!
[Added]: Thanks so much for so many cute comments, I'm really hoping this could be helpful, I was really worried about mistakes and all, I still am, but it's encouraging, arigatou minna! :D
Lastly, yes I love notes, sorry!
That's all. See ya
So, first the subtitle is here,
Neen as a Botchan
or here
raw: light-of-angels
japanese soft subs:jpsubbers
And here the notes,
- First, this is based on a novel,
Botchan (坊っちゃん?) is a novel written by Natsume Sōseki in 1906. It is one of the most popular novels in Japan, read by many Japanese during their school years. The central theme of the story is morality, but the narrator serves up this theme with generous sides of humor and sarcasm.
The time frame of the narration is not given. It is also notable that pronouns are omitted in the first nine paragraphs. (Wikipedia * Imagine Jun saying it lol * )
Like The Catcher in the Rye or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Botchan, a hilarious tale about a young man's rebellion against "the system" in a country school, is a classic of its kind. Among Japanese readers both young and old it has enjoyed a timeless popularity, making it, according to Donald Keene, "probably the most widely read novel in modern Japan." (This is a much modern English version)
“Botchan” is required reading at school in Japan and you can imagine students identifying with the central character’s contempt for the fools around him in much the same way those in the West identify with the characters in “The Catcher in the Rye” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” - both of which “Botchan” has been compared to. (Source)
I've read a bit of Yasotaro Morri's translation and Umeji Sasaki's (Dover Publications) and actually preferred the later. But, endep up reading the Spanish translation by José Pazo Espinosa, and enjoyed it a lot. The novel is funny to read, a little slower than the SP, but Botchan's thoughts are always nice to read. Many people have called this a satire, and the tone is pretty raw at times, but it has its charm. I finished it in two days and what impressed me the most were Botchan's thoughts, so give it a chance if you can. I love the fact that the Botchan's name is never reveled and most of the other characters are referred with nicknames.
- Second, there's this thing about floors from buildings in British and American English, technically, I've been taught British English, but since there's no much trail of that,
Second floor in British English, is the floor of a building that is two floors above ground level, or in American English, the floor that is directly above ground level.
In the end, what I meant was the one directly above ground level, when Botchan is telling us the first incident. *Yes, the gif has nothing to do with this*
- Third, there were many details here and there which evoked the time when this happens, like the following ones, many of them are really interesting, so bear with me.
- Okay, first the 'surface area of a sphere' thing. Being familiar to this,'cause I love Maths and have study them for many years, I think the students weren't awared of the implications of this question. I mean, it's hard to give an explanation for a formula and at that level they surely don't need it, 'cause they won't understand it! It was understandable that he wasn't ready to explain it, but he could have sorted it out in many ways, at least this is my pov. But it's interesting trying to explain it on English, I didn't know how, hope it makes sense.. to the ones who enjoys Maths, lol.
- When they go to the theatre, they listen to this man doing funny but incredible catchy sounds.
Otojirō Kawakami (1864 - 1911) was a Japanese actor and comedian. In 1888, Kawakami developed a satirical song that would make him famous. ..he spat out the words in a husky rapid-fire patter, improvising verses as he went along. He sneered at the government, the rich, and the kind of people who dressed in Western clothes, aped Western ways, and spent all their money on geisha....The catchy chorus--'Oppekepe'-imitated the sound of a bugle or a trumpet. (Source)
He wore a jimbaori (coat worn over armor), a headband, a hakama (a divided formal skirt for men), and held a fan adorned with the rising sun during his performances. Kawakami married the popular geisha Sadayakko in 1891, and they established the Kawakami troupe. His wife became Japan’s first actress. In 1899, the troupe went to the United States, and performed in New York, Washington, and Boston. The following year, they were invited to perform at the Paris Exposition, and were a great success. The year after that, they toured 14 countries from Spain to Russia. They also made a recording of the oppekepe-bushi, said to be the first record made by a Japanese artist. (Source)
So, there you have, it's incredible how famous that oppekepe-song was, lol, plus the lyrics are great, so I put them on the subtitle, as much as I could. And according to what I read, this was compared to rap, and if you listen to some audios, it really sounds like that. - Yama Arashi, Hotta-sensei's nickname was pretty funny considering is Arashi's Nino calling it. But, on a more serious note, in the novel Botchan points out that Hotta-sensei's hair reminded him a Porcupine, and also he gives the SP's reason. In the special, it's metioned "He's like a warrior monk from the Mount Hiei Enryaku-ji temple" as a reason for the nickname.
Located in Kyoto's eastern mountain range on Mount Hieizan (比叡山), Enryakuji (延暦寺) is one of the most important monasteries in Japanese history and the headquarters of the Tendai sect of Japanese Buddhism. Many influential monks studied at Enryakuji..
Enryakuji was founded in 788 by Saicho, the monk who introduced Tendai Buddhism from China into Japan. At its peak, Enryakuji had as many as 3000 subtemples..
(Source)
Enryaku-ji is also the home of the "marathon monks."
The Kaihōgyō (circling the mountain) is a set of the ascetic spiritual trainings for which the Buddhist "marathon monks" (a term coined by John Stevens) of Mt. Hiei are known.
The ultimate achievement is the completion of the 1,000-day challenge, which would rank among the most demanding physical and mental challenges in the world.(These monks were in good shape) - The mention of the cat by the weird writer. This was surely fun, 'cause in the special it's hinted that this writer is the author, maybe Sōseki himself, living there by those times when he met his wife, although he was working as a teacher there in reality. Getting back to the SP, when the lady there mentioned the cat thing, it's because of Sōseki's previous novel I Am a Cat. The cat is just a good reason to try reading it, I think.
- A very cute detail, that I couldn't find a way to put on the subs, is the quote from Ikkyu-san, now what the boy from Botchan's school yells actually has sense, so I put it in the way that it meant something at least for me, so here's the whole story,
Ikkyu-san was a Zen Buddhist monk in the 14-15th century. The stories that we read about follow his deeds as a child, ..He’s depicted as a mischievous child and the stories about him are mainly about him outwitting adults.
One of the most famous tales is the one quoted,
One man tried to test Ikkyu-san and invited him to his house. There was a bridge that one had to cross to get to his house. He gave Ikkyu-san one clear instruction: “Do not cross the bridge”. It was impossible to get to his house without crossing the bridge. The man hid near the bridge to see what Ikkyu-san would do. He watched in horror as Ikkyu-san boldly crossed right through the middle of the bridge without a care in the world.
Angered, the man came out of hiding and shouted, “You fool, what did I tell you, do not cross the bridge!”
“Ah, but I did not cross the ‘bridge’, I crossed through the middle.”
This makes sense if you understand Japanese!
The word for ‘hashi’ in Japanese has several meanings - bridge and also edges/corner (it also can mean chopsticks for those who haven’t given up the thought of learning Japanese).
So in this case, Ikkyu-san did not cross the ‘edges’ of the bridge, but through the middle, which meant that he did not defy the man’s instruction.
The man was delighted by this response and showered him with gifts. (Source)
And this is why I ended up writing "Don't cross by the ‘edges’". But I couldn't explain it as it deserved in the little space.
Okay, I think that's all, it was a lot. I didn't explain the food! But if you look at it, you'll get it, lol. To end this, I'll just say that I love teacher-students bond's stories, and this was really nice. I've read someone's opinion on this SP's ending being more satisfying, and I agree. I mean, all of Nino's Botchan's great speechs are completely based on the novel's Botchan's thoughts. When this happened I tried to follow the translator's words when it was possible, 'cause he is a professional, that's the reason for mentioning them. So, maybe if he would outspoken them in the novel, its ending would be a little closer to this, but some things may have happened anyway.
All in all, a pretty entertaining work, and a nice adaptation to a novel that it's surely familiar to most of the public, in Japan, of course. I'm never tired of Neen's acting, he's superb. He has great chemistry with old ladies.
Not my gifs, credit on them.
** Disclaimer: I don't own Neen, and now seriously, English is not my first language, nor the second, so, it surely have many mistakes and weird sentences. I really tried to correct them as much as I could this time, so take that into account. Not to mention how new I am to Japanese. *Sorry!
[Added]: Thanks so much for so many cute comments, I'm really hoping this could be helpful, I was really worried about mistakes and all, I still am, but it's encouraging, arigatou minna! :D
Lastly, yes I love notes, sorry!
That's all. See ya