Saturday, November 15, 2014

Naeil's Cantabile

Recently, there's a new show that caught my attention. It brought back a lot of memories from my band days. It's an adaptation of a Japanese manga/anime (don't know which came first. Too lazy to research) called Nodame Cantabile. There was a Japanese drama based on this too. Apparently, it left a big impact on the fans. Since Naeil's Cantabile started airing on tv, viewers have been comparing Naeil's  Cantabile (Korean) with Nodame Cantabile (Japanese) and complained that the Korean version sucks because the show did not closely follow every detail of the Japanese version and that it used a modern song as the ending song ( which in their opinion is a big no- no for a show based on classical music). That arose after only two episodes. Seriously, if the entire show were to play classical music only, it would be really boring. It will put you to sleep.


Truthfully, the show is quite funny since everyone knows that Korean dramas are mostly tear jerking, with crying scenes in almost every series. Besides, there is no need for more sadness in our daily lives as life is a bitch already. I hope it stays funny till the end, as it's currently still airing, so I don't know how it ends.  Comedy is my favourite genre.


Naeil's Cantabile storyline reminds me a little of Beethoven Virus. It's about a bunch of outcast trying to fulfil their music dream, and being shunned. There were viewers that complain that Naeil's Cantabile did not mimic the Japanese version and that the classical songs from the Japanese version is way better than the Korean version. Frankly, if the show is to follow every intricate detail of the Japanese version, it would be pointless to shoot the Korean version. Might as well just dub the Japanese version into Korean. Better still just re-watch the Japanese version. It is called adaptation for a reason. It is taking a story and adding local features/details/flavour to suit the target market. It's localisation. Even McDonald's have localisation in different countries ( for instance pork burgers are sold in certain Asian countries).                      
                       

I took the liberty of looking up the meaning of Localisation from the dictionary to make this opinion seem more credible, as well as to show that some effort has been put in to writing this. And also to prevent verbal lashing (if anyone actually happens to read this and leave nasty comments) that the writer doesn't know the meaning of the word.

The meaning of localisation taken from dictionary.com-  (l10n) Adapting a product to meet the language, cultural and other requirements of a specific target market "locale". 
Localisation includes the translation of the user interface, on-line help and documentation, and ensuring the images and concepts are culturally appropriate and sensitive. There may be subtle cross-cultural considerations, e.g. do the icons make sense in other parts of the world?                       


         
I didn't watch the Japanese version so I can't really compare. I don't see the need to compare as they are two different shows.  It is understandable that hardcore fans find Naeil's Cantabile falling short of their expectation as the predecessor (Nodame Cantabile) left a strong impact on them. Many a time we tend to compare the successor with it's predecessor and forget to enjoy the latter as we are too engross in comparing them. And as for bad acting, there are dramas with far worse bad acting. Watch Blade Man and you'll know what bad acting is(especially the main actress. Her acting sucks big time).                  

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