Karakuri Babble is a daily column by the editors of i360.com, usually on topics tangentially related to anime and cosplay.

In the past we have endorsed many things; in the future we shall support many others.

Got sent a neat English version of "Bad Apple!!".



The lyrics are ridiculous. I mean, they're very well done, reasonably close to the original, nice job with the rhyme -- but so melodramatic that I can't quite focus on the song. ("Wait, did she really just say 'carousel of agony?' Really?")

I'm not sure whether it's an artifact of the English translation or just a property of jpop lyrics in general. Some of both, I think -- constructions that sound natural in Japanese get translated to overblown English, and doujin groups have a poetic sensibility that lends itself to melodrama. I've complained about that before.

I don't know. It's one of the tough things about enjoying a medium rooted in cultural expectations that we only apprehend imperfectly. One day we'll figure it out. "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face"

words from chris, 2010-08-05 03:30:12, los angeles