Here you go guys, Greg's comments about the NHK documentary. We recorded a 45 minute segment about it with Greg last night, that should be ready for you guys late tonight on our website if you wanna check it out.
So yeah watching now. Impressive figures and impressive turnaround on this feature. Some of the footage was from like what? Last week? The family is creepy as hell. They say the first-born son got into it first but the mom sitting there with her kid moving him out of the way just so she can see the TV? Not cool. He's obviously not captivated by it. When I have kids I don't even want to attempt to force OP on them.
It's kinda funny watching older women talk passionately (otaku-level I mean) about OP. Sure, Oda doesn't mind if ANYONE enjoys his work, but they're the polar opposite of who he writes for/cares about.
She wants her children to learn about working/living together as a family and/or friends through OP. Yet she avoids giving attention to her own child to see the TV screen. Hmmmm…
‎18 year old girl hurt one of her friends but realized because of Luffy, friends aren't something you should lose.
‎44 year old writes that even Chopper and Usopp who are fairly weak and weak-spirited, are still able to stand up against powerful enemies for their friends. Basically, he enjoys that pure strength isn't everything.
They mention multiple times that OP is about 'a link between people'. Again, 'the great secret to connecting people' is another way to read the Japanese for 'One Piece'.
The researcher from Kansai College notes that in all the links of OP (yes, she fucking linked every character) the one characteristic she found between the core (the crew) is steadfast trust.
She said it's essentially the pattern of the story. Someone they trust is taken away and (in the process) may betray them. But believing in the individual, they will return them to their inner circle. Extending the pattern to individuals outside their circle and repeating in the essence of the story.
His room is far bigger than I imagined from the map at JUMP Festa.
Interesting. They note that no light from outside enters the workspace. Funny. Many of the movies you see there on the shelf are precisely what have influenced many of his characters. You can clearly see 'Truck Yarou' which is the series from which he pulled the character Kizaru. Not to mention the tale of Shimizu which inspired the Strong World snow battle.
Oda not doing a television interview is in line with the coverage that hit around Strong World.
If you're wondering who the Ghibli fellow is that manged to get an interview with Oda, he's Suzuki Toshio a big (huge) cheese there and Oda actually did a podcast with him about a year ago. I have that podcast on my hard drive btw. One of the MANY projects around SW I never got to translating.
As I figured long ago from his infusion of fiercely Japanese themes in his most powerful figures (the high-ranks of the Marines are essentially ALL Japanese legends or forms of religion) his intention is to 'draw' the 'Japanese spirit'.
Suzuki says that the old movies which inspired Oda were all about doing something for the sake of someone else even if it included dying. He thinks today it's more about what people want to do for themselves.
Uh-oh, back to another otaku now. He's from Ibaraki.
Okay so he's a salesman that got shat on when the economy went south and had to work crazy night hours. He got depressed and couldn't go to work or even leave his house so he became hikkikomori (Google it) Didn't think he had any value, glossy black blah blah blah.
But his little brother suggested OP. It's the story of Robin that hit home for him.
So now he wants to study to be a doctor and save others.
So they're talking about how OP isn't just a manga, it's a'message'. The professor suggests it's so powerful because it came out just as the fallout from the bubble bursting (Google bubble economy japan) hit and many parts of professional society were falling apart and only the very elite of the elite graduates were able to succeed which meant an end to thoughts like, "If you do your best, you'll succeed." This also meant 'the end of dreams' and people starting looking at reality instead of thinking about what COULD be possible. He takes an extremely long time to say that similar to regular people's problems, each of them has regret from their past, but due to the support of the group (crew) which is by no means 'elite', they're able to move beyond it.
It's funny hearing the lady talk about it. She's pretty awkward and sounds almost skittish talking about it because she doesn't seem to want to seem like she hasn't done her homework.
Professor goes on to say that today in society there's 'reading the air' which is supposedly very important. There's no precise translation but essentially it means to 'have a clue'. Ex: If you walk into a room unexpectedly and and you see everyone dressed in black and a coffin in the back, you wouldn't start carrying on like an ass. You'd realize you're at a viewing and quitely exit. That's 'reading the air'. However, due to that people are rarely able to say exactly what they want. They're even afraid to because they are scared of what others might think of them. They can only do that with their 'close friends'. Professor thinks it should be thus that people can talk about their dreams or speak 'freely' without being laughed at in the real world too.
And there you have it. May I say this is funny as hell to see NHK finally jumping on the wagon. OP has truly become the next Dragon Ball. NHK is basically the PBS of Japan. They're extremely conservative of Japanese values and reserved. It doesn't run the crazy as hell Japanese variety shows you see elsewhere, mainly news, educational programming and traditional morning dramas. Again, super valuable tool for seeing Oda's workplace via video. If there's an HQ version around somewhere it'd be great.
No further link leads to a translation of any sort.
