Sword Art Online (that is a link to watch the first episode for free from crunchy-roll) is a Japanese Anime where video game players are trapped in Virtual Reality game. I was recommended this show by a friend sometime ago but never thought I would want to read the subtitles. Reading the subtitles was not as bad I had thought it was going to be. While the second half of the show takes place within the video game, the first half gives deep insight into Japanese culture.
The first thing I noticed was how similar their buildings and streets are to those around the U.S. and how similar the video game cultures are. SAO starts off with shots of homes, businesses and crowds of people. The houses were those that would have looked at home in many neighborhoods across the nation with windows and doors similar to our own. These were urban homes, not rural or suburban ones, similar to row homes in cities here in the U.S. The crowds of people that were excited for the release of SAO looked like video-game crowds that swarm stores here for the new Madden.
While the exterior of these homes are not too different from those around Philly or Boston, the interiors have a number of differences. Many of the homes in SAO had wooden floors that were walked with bare feet. All of the characters took off their shoes at the front door before entering the rest of the house. The interior doors were also very different, unlike the hinged doors here they have sliding doors for bedroom doors that remain exposed instead of sliding into the wall. The doors were often times made of what looked like framed paper of frosted glass.
One very specific detail that was different was how they read in the show. One character was reading a magazine and the pages appeared to be read right to left and up to down instead of left to right and across. This actually threw me off guard. I did not realize that was how Japanese was written down and read.
I had the same mindset, not watching to expand what I watch because don’t enjoy subtitles. It’s great once you get over the subtitles and start to appreciate the different styles of storytelling and production! Great post.