Remembering The Time I Played Japanese Video Games And Watched Japanese TV Shows WITHOUT Understanding Anything At All

As a 90s child and a 2000s teenager - one of the many things I could remember was playing video games without understanding ANYTHING. Yes, we're talking about Japanese entertainment. What truly upsets me with Japan right now is their lack of aggressiveness in the international market. Also, I think about screw it over with Japanese exclusive stuff. Now, time to throwback to the time when I actually DID PLAY video games and watched TV shows without understanding A WORD because as said - I'm not really Japanese myself! As said, my pseudonym is based on the name Robert AKIZUKI (Kotaro Minami's dub name in Tagalog) which served as a nickname in my childhood. So, let's get started now, shall we?

Who could remember having played the JAPANESE version of Street Fighter or Megaman called as Rockman? I could remember back when we still had the Nintendo Famicon - I had some Rockman cartridges and wondered why they were in Japanese and Megaman was in American-English. Who can remember the time when Street Fighter had the name swaps where Balrog, Vega, and M. Bison were originally known as M. Bison, Balrog, and General Vega? We can call them Boxer, Claw, and Dictator for both versions. Then you wondered why in the Street Fighter games where the names of Boxer, Claw, and Dictator were Bison, Balrog, and Vega that it was in JAPANESE? Yes, it's because those were the ORIGINAL Japanese names. Then, I also remembered having the Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge for the Super Famicom (hacked where you can select all power-ups from the beginning by pressing B and select) where it was in Japanese.

Then there were also Japanese-exclusive games such as the Kamen Rider games and the Super Robot Wars games. Who can remember playing Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger on the NES in Japanese? Back then, I thought it was Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers never mind that "Zordon" was really Barza These games were in Japanese so I couldn't understand a word. Many of the settings were in Japanese. How can I understand them? I wanted to play them but I couldn't understand a word! Screw them over!

The same can go when I started checking more Tokusatsu out on Youtube - all before Toei Ltd. kept doing that copyright strike. Though Toei now has the Official Channel - I wish I can see Janperson fully subbed now! Back then, I could remember watching more Tokusatsu series in RAW. Yes, in raw, so I was clueless about what was being said. It was better raw than nothing, right? Well, I just enjoyed the jingle without knowing the meaning. I watched Zyuranger on Youtube in RAW. I had no idea really what was being said so I was prone to making a lot of guesses. Part of the reason why one of my biggest Old Shames in fanfiction happened was me afraid to admit that I didn't understand what I was watching or that I just read episode summaries than watch the show and UNDERSTAND it. So, I did watch it and enjoyed it. However, fansubbers came (and later, Shout! DVD releases though it's somehow on a standstill) and watching them with decent English translations makes raw videos (without translations) a pain to watch. I want to hear the original voices AND read subtitles at the same time!

What was also weird was that back then was that I would watch stuff at NHK on Cable TV without understanding a word. It really just feels so dumb that I'd watch stuff without knowing what was being said. I even had other Filipino friends who did the same. However, after the dawn of subtitles being more available (whether fansub or legit) - I just crave English translations since I find myself the guy who's willing to read subtitles but not learn Japanese. Right now, I wonder if I'm still willing to learn Japanese after getting caught by the Hallyu wave even when I still prefer J-Pop over K-Pop?