The odd thing about this panel is that while there are some recognizably Japanese elements, it looks very… Chinese to me. Really. I’ve lived in Japan for about five and a half years now, and the things that strike me are 1. everybody’s head is really round, 2. everybody’s eyes are really squinty, and 3. there’s a hell of a lot of open space in the city layout as we see it and the crowd flow. Or is a corridor opening up for Rumi to walk through? And for some reason those elements all point me over to China, although that’s quite possibly only because I’ve never been there.
I can spot some vaguely Japanese elements in the signs, but for the most part they look really scrawled-out and hastily-written and nigh-incomprehensible. Is that meant to be reflexive of Rumy’s view of Japan now? That while she can recognize some elements of it to be her ‘homeland’, her ‘origin’, but for the most part, that she has become so Americanized that she has to really strain to read Japanese at this point?
It would certainly tie in very well to the title of the arc.
Good for Rumy!
(Although the run of consecutive fanservice strips was fun while it lasted…)
The odd thing about this panel is that while there are some recognizably Japanese elements, it looks very… Chinese to me. Really. I’ve lived in Japan for about five and a half years now, and the things that strike me are 1. everybody’s head is really round, 2. everybody’s eyes are really squinty, and 3. there’s a hell of a lot of open space in the city layout as we see it and the crowd flow. Or is a corridor opening up for Rumi to walk through? And for some reason those elements all point me over to China, although that’s quite possibly only because I’ve never been there.
I wonder if any of these signs say anything- and if so, in what language.
The sign in the bottom right seems more like Telugu to me than Japanese.
I can spot some vaguely Japanese elements in the signs, but for the most part they look really scrawled-out and hastily-written and nigh-incomprehensible. Is that meant to be reflexive of Rumy’s view of Japan now? That while she can recognize some elements of it to be her ‘homeland’, her ‘origin’, but for the most part, that she has become so Americanized that she has to really strain to read Japanese at this point?
It would certainly tie in very well to the title of the arc.
FarkUp: a lot of the specifics about this scene were left to Jason, but I asked for a fish-out-of-water vibe in general, so I wouldn’t be surprised.