(L) A Channel

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

It could also be spelled Tōru. The vowel is a Japanese long "o", which is pronounced like an elongated short "o". I prefer "Tooru", since that is the way to write it when you are entering Japanese on the computer. Windows can convert that to Japanese writing.

Not really, トオル is pronounced TO-ORU. In contrast Touru, Tohru, and Tōru should be written トウル and pronounced with one long o.

Generally, a consonant+vowel, followed by the same vowel makes both vowels pronounced as a long one, but in case of long o (oh, or ō) it is written as -o + u, i.e. followed by u not a o.

Now there are exceptions, usually marked with ', for example 胃之上（いのうえ）, pronounced (Ino'ue, not Inōe, Inoue, or Inoh'e); so in the case of Tooru versus Touru, since oo is not a long o (like ou, oh, or ō) the ' is not used.

[andyjay729]

I hate when fans of one show blame another for airing at the same time--but I can understand their frustration. If anyone, you can point fingers at the execs of the network airing A-Channel; they should've guessed that the House that Haruhi Built's latest effort would generate a lot of buzz, and might take away some viewers. Just like the exec for whichever network scheduled shows in the same time slot as, say, Glee.

I don't watch any of the big American live-action sitcoms (I'm more into Fox's animation and the Discovery and History Channels and their sister channels), so correct me if I'm wrong here.

But anyway, the point is that both shows have their own merits, are taking different approaches to comedy as Kaoru pointed out, and each should be judged on their own terms.

[broken270]

Spoiler:

Time to go back to school. Run, tired and weary, wakes up like the airhead she is and walks out the door. the funny thing is that while she is walking, she realizes that she was not wearing the other sock. I wonder why the mother did not say anything about it. It guess it was for her own good. So, she decides to go barefooted for the day. The wind blows, and Tooru informs her that she is not wearing any panties. I'm surprised she did not know that after talking for so long. Embarrassed, Runrun away, which causes some trouble for Tooru.

In school, it seems like Run went back home and has now worn everything properly. Yuuko slowly tilts her head to see if she really did wear everything, but Tooru immediately informs her that she did. Yuuko asks Run for her notes. The problem with it is that the writing is so illegible that one could not tell it was Japanese. Nagi saves the day and hands her the notes. Nagi throws in a dark joke about her being a supernatural being and managed to scare Yuuko. Later in the school day, but Run and Yuuko leave class for each other's reasons. Run collapses on the floor, scaring Yuuko. Nagi and Tooru comes in. Tooru checks her, and figures out that she is just sleep deprived.

It is raining outside, and neither of the girls have their umbrellas. Run demonstrates that she is a rain woman by getting herself entirely wet. Out in the corner is a man who is staring at the two of them. Fear that he is a dangerous person, Tooru takes her insie. Apparently, he has a bang fetish. Run thinks about using trash bags to go home. Nagi offer her place to go home to. While everyone is wishing to run there, Nagi does not want to be wet and calls a cab. Despite this, Run runs to her place, and everyone follows her. The teacher sees this scene and starts writing a poem about it.

The four girls arrive to Nagi's home. Nagi is revealed to have an older brother. The four girls take turns in taking the bath. Apparently, Run looks different when her bangs are down, and Nagi looks drastically different with her hair pulled down and her glasses off. Meanwhile, Yuuko is feeling awkward about being alone with Tooru, almost to the point of silence. Tooru gives her two options: silence, or a scary movie. When Run and Nagi return, Tooru is seen watching the scary movie while Yuuko is downright frightened. Now, they switched turns, but that does not stop Tooru from having some more fun with Yuuko. Tooru and Yuuko return, only to see Run and Nagi hallucinating with the heater turned in full blast. The girls have thier girl talk, and somehow Yuuko becomes the center of the world, with Run braiding her hair, Nagi giving her a manicure, and Tooru tickling her. The day ends with them listening to the rain coming down from the roof.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

Not really, トオル is pronounced TO-ORU. In contrast Touru, Tohru, and Tōru should be written トウル and pronounced with one long o.

Generally, a consonant+vowel, followed by the same vowel makes both vowels pronounced as a long one, but in case of long o (oh, or ō) it is written as -o + u, i.e. followed by u not a o.

Now there are exceptions, usually marked with ', for example 胃之上（いのうえ）, pronounced (Ino'ue, not Inōe, Inoue, or Inoh'e); so in the case of Tooru versus Touru, since oo is not a long o (like ou, oh, or ō) the ' is not used.

Thanks for the info. So "Tooru" is actually the correct romanized spelling here, not just the most convenient? Would "Tooru" and "Touru" sound different when spoken?

[tyciol]

It looks like MSPN-Fansubs' 3 promos are down. It's a shame as I was hoping to preview this first. But it's rori so I'll watch it eventuarry.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Thanks for the info. So "Tooru" is actually the correct romanized spelling here, not just the most convenient? Would "Tooru" and "Touru" sound different when spoken?

トル (toru) -> normal 'o'
トオル (tooru) -> halt exhaling between the two 'o'
トウル (touru) -> long 'o'

But for me it is very hard to tell the difference (my native language hasn't any more long vowels), so you're better off asking either a native speaker or someone who studies japanese seriously, I do it just for fun.

[Raiga]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

トル (toru) -> normal 'o'
トオル (tooru) -> halt exhaling between the two 'o'
トウル (touru) -> long 'o'

But for me it is very hard to tell the difference (my native language hasn't any more long vowels), so you're better off asking either a native speaker or someone who studies japanese seriously, I do it just for fun.

So far as I know there is no difference in how the long o is pronounced whether it's written おお or おう. The only time there would be a difference is if the う is a verb ending, and not a vowel extender; the verb 拾う (ひろう) would thus not be pronounced like ひろお.

[Decagon]

I'm not really getting into A Channel. A character like Run is just too far off in her own world to be endearing for me, and I'm not really feeling the jokes come through. I think I get a sense of dissonance from the more realistic art direction for the setting versus the more simply fleshed out character design.



... It also lacks a strong tsukkomi character IMO.

[Silverwyrm]

Originally Posted by Decagon

I'm not really getting into A Channel. A character like Run is just too far off in her own world to be endearing for me, and I'm not really feeling the jokes come through. I think I get a sense of dissonance from the more realistic art direction for the setting versus the more simply fleshed out character design.



... It also lacks a strong tsukkomi character IMO.

I feel the same about Run though I also thought she was better in ep 2 than 1, as were the jokes. As far as character design I'm still adjusting but Yuuko's face bugs me >.> As far as the lack of Tsukkomi I didn't think of that before but now that i do, a lot of the jokes do seem to just slide away.

In any case as I have previously stated about the second ep, I am still continuing this and will see where it goes. Its a type of show I like so some hijinks will be forgiven

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Decagon

...A character like Run is just too far off in her own world to be endearing for me.... It also lacks a strong tsukkomi character IMO.

The fact that Run is way out there -- or really way in there, lol -- is part of what I like about her and the show. I don't need her to be realistic or someone to emulate. But I can see why one might feel differently. She is amazingly loopy.

Why do we need a tsukkomi character? Are you really asking for this to be more formulaic? The crazy Tooru is like a wonderful anti-tsukkomi, following along and sweeping up Run's messes, rather than pointing them out. The humor is better without having to bash people with a harisen to make them get it. I much prefer the jokes to just "slide away," to quote Silverwyrm.

It's amusing to realize that Tooru is not just crazy jealous over Run, but realizes Run can wander off into trouble at any moment, and that someone needs to protect her from herself at all times.

Anyway, despite the fact I feel differently, I appreciate hearing details of another view.

I have to add that I thought ep3 of Nichijou was hilarious. The characters are much less interesting to me than these, but the humor is stronger and clearer. Each show has its strengths.

I used to be bothered by Yuuko's weird character design, but I'm loving it now. It's charmingly off, like her weird accent.

[Silverwyrm]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Why do we need a tsukkomi character? Are you really asking for this to be more formulaic? The crazy Tooru is like a wonderful anti-tsukkomi, following along and sweeping up Run's messes, rather than pointing them out. The humor is better without having to bash people with a harisen to make them get it. I much prefer the jokes to just "slide away," to quote Silverwyrm.

I wouldn't say I necessarily want a "strong tsukkomi", I'm still waiting to see more of how this goes in the third episode and how I adjust. A lot of the comedies I've been watching have a fast punchline at the end and this contrasts largely with what I've been seeing. So I feel in part I need to let this show's method settle in to appreciate it more, as I fell into a mindset of "this is how it should be done". Perhaps this may be what some others need to do or consider as well? It's easy to fall into a habit.

[Decagon]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

Why do we need a tsukkomi character? Are you really asking for this to be more formulaic? The crazy Tooru is like a wonderful anti-tsukkomi, following along and sweeping up Run's messes, rather than pointing them out. The humor is better without having to bash people with a harisen to make them get it. I much prefer the jokes to just "slide away," to quote Silverwyrm.

I think having tsukkomi characters helps to outline jokes and give it a degree of separation from cute girls doing cute/quirky things. Nagi does it to some extent but she's very laid back most of the time. I'm still sorting out my impression of Tooru , but having her as an anti-tsukkomi is interesting. I never really thought about it that way.

[ID555]

Ep1:


Awesome. I'm glad I found this show; this fills my K-on void much better than Nichijou. Mugi doing Kyoto-ben (I think) and a Yui-like girl that's even worse than Yui? SOLD! (Plus, three different songs in one episode? Nuff said)


Ep2:

Tooru's adorable. That freaking ringtone

[Midonin]

Spoiler for A Channel 03 - A Child:

And there's our first insert song that's not near the end of the episode and a solo. A peaceful little number by Tooru about her loneliness. Aoi Yuki seems to do great with that kind of thing. Also, the introduction of Yutaka, who is to Tooru what she is to Run. That'll certainly shake the dynamics up a bit. In voice and action, Satou-sensei is reminding me of Hosaka, complete with people (ie. Yuuko) saying he's kinda weird. Some good stuff this week.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Ep3 is my favorite so far. There were even a couple of laugh-out-loud moments to go with a heightened overall feeling of delightful humorous tension. And Yuuki Aoi may not be a great singer, but she does the insert song brilliantly. One more talent to chalk up to Ao-hime.

[Silverwyrm]

Originally Posted by ID555

Ep1:


Awesome. I'm glad I found this show; this fills my K-on void much better than Nichijou. Mugi doing Kyoto-ben (I think) and a Yui-like girl that's even worse than Yui? SOLD! (Plus, three different songs in one episode? Nuff said)


Ep2:

Tooru's adorable. That freaking ringtone

Nichijou is a different world than K-ON, so I imagine it wouldn't fill that void

Well if ep3 is as good as I'm seeing here, I'll be keeping this show myself.

[andyjay729]

Does anyone else think the OP song sounds like something by the Cranberries?

Great episode! I like how they're revealing more of Nagi...she may not say much, but you wouldn't like her when she's angry.

And how about Daisuke Ono rechanneling his creepy side as a pervert teacher? (I've thought that if they ever dubbed Minami-ke, Billy West might make a good Hosaka with his Zapp Brannigan voice from Futurama. If you could cast the dub for A-Channel, who would you pick as Sato-sensei?)

And lastly, I think with one new intro song per episode, this show may actually have more music per capita than K-On.

[Kagayaki]

I guess you could call Run a boke and Nagi a tsukkomi, like in the iPod scene, where Run is being a airhead as usual and Nagi calls her out on it. However, a lot of manzai style jokes run completely off of the ridiculousness of the boke. Instead, a lot of the fun in this scene felt like it was coming from both characters.

That sort of spreading the attention around is something this show seems to do well. The comedy almost never comes from only one character at a time. Instead, it's the interaction between the characters that's funny.

Originally Posted by andyjay729

Great episode! I like how they're revealing more of Nagi...she may not say much, but you wouldn't like her when she's angry.

Angry Nagi is the best

[Kotohono]

When I saw the seen with Run and her ipod and then the last seen I was like I couldn't have saw her doing that and Nagi's reactions to it was great, and so was it again to Run's not having a computer I laughed pretty hard . I agree with Yuuko that teacher seems a bit creepy/dangerous . Overall the episode was pretty funny and enjoyable, I'll probably be keeping this series.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

And Yuuki Aoi may not be a great singer, but she does the insert song brilliantly. One more talent to chalk up to Ao-hime.

I agree it was quite a good insert song .

P.S. is there going to be a single CD for all these randoms ala the way Seitokai no Ichizon did[possible with the ED], or these songs are part of to be character songs CDs?

[CrowKenobi]

Originally Posted by Konakaga

I agree with Yuuko that teacher seems a bit creepy/dangerous .

Wearing that shirt, absolutely!

Let's hope that no one gets him to sing about curry!