fushigii yuugi?

Question

if the setting of the book was in ancient china, how come tamahome and the other characters in the book understood miaka who spoke japanese?

Answer 1

Well, I think this is an often occurance in anime and it just has to do with the fact that shows are meant to be enjoyed as easily as t hey can. And a show created in Japan for Japanese viewers or in any country for it's viewers if they make a show in a different language, reguardless if it takes place in another country or not, it will be less accessible to it's viewers. I think that although it takes place in China, viewers have an intuition that probably whats going on as it was stated about the 12 kindgoms anime, the speech in the sory may have been chinese but to miaka it was heard as japanese and it is shown as that.

Although it makes more sence to be spoke in the right language, it's less accessible to the viewers and would scare of viewers if they actually had to stand viewing it in the foreign language, and of course shows are primarily used to entertain and to have as many viewers as it can, so it would naturally be in the language of the country it was created in.

And as for fushigi yuugi itself, I think that althoug hit took place in china, the language spoke was indeed japanese and it was just the writing that was all in kanji (chinese characters) and the reason I say that is although it takes place in china, the book that they have was a translation that a japanese man made of the original so i think the translated version once the priestess went in, the language was Japanese, and I think also because the book is there to HAVe priestesses from another world to come in, that it would tailor itself to whom ever came in, so if it was a French person that the book called in, the language would have been in French, although it was taking place in anchient China. We have to remember that the book itself was a spell and a fantasy world and in fantasy worlds, anything can happen ^_^

Answer 2

I think it was mentioned somewhere that the language bariers were magically taken down so everyone understood each other. So Tamahome and the others heard Chinese while Miaka heard Japanese, no matter what they were saying.

Though since anime is from Japan, the main language would be Japanese for the viewers to understand.

If you want an anime where foreigners to the world don't understand the language, try The Twelve Kingdoms. Only the main character, who originated from the other world understands the language. Her friends don't.

Answer 3

Anime is a fiction so everything is possible. And it is the same with Stargate. How come the people on these far planets can all speak English when at the time of the Egyptians' gods English wasn't there yet? It all for the best of the show so as not to lose too much time in translating to be able to understand each other.

If you want a real anime with such a problem of communication, I recommend you Juuni Kokki / 12 kingdoms where the heroin is send with 2 friends in a other dimention and because of a special power the main character can understand the locals but not her friends. A very good anime just like Fushigi Yuugi.

Answer 4

Why did the Magic Knights in "Magic Knight Rayearth" were understood by the people of Zephyro?

Why did Hitomi in "Tenkuu no Escaflowne" was understood by the people of Gaia?

And so on...



A few reasons:

- The languages are translated instaneous through a medium, or just happened to be the same

- To make the manga and the anime more accessible to local consumers

Answer 5

Hey, I've been wondering the same too!