Heroes 1x20 Five Years Gone (brief rewatch notes)

[oyceter]

Brief notes and fun with pronouns!

Spoilers through 1x20

Dude! Sylar as Nathan totally drops hints throughout the episode! He asks Matt specifically if he's sure our Hiro isn't an illusion ("You never know these days") and he mentioned that he knew how things worked to Mohinder. Also, there is even more Mohinder/Sylar slashy vibe going on.

Of course, the main purpose I rewatched was for the Hiro and Ando scenes, all of which still rock. Brief language notes: our Hiro refers to himself as "boku" (for those who aren't anime/manga fans, this is the somewhat younger and less aggressive sounding male pronoun for "I") whereas future Hiro refers to himself as "ore" (super masculine "I"). Future Hiro also addresses Ando as "omae" (super masculine "you"), and I never caught him actually referring to Ando by name, so I'm not sure if he dropped the "-kun" from "Ando-kun" or not (our Hiro calls him "Ando-kun," dropping the -kun would indicate more intimacy, though adding a -san would indicate less). Our Hiro calls Ando "kimi" in the beginning and probably does throughout the show (more polite, less macho).

But! When future Hiro starts talking to Ando and mentions that "it wasn't as fun without you," he switches over from "omae" to "kimi" (more intimate, less masculine)! Awwwww!

Comments

[xwingace]

In ep 21, when protesting that our Hiro isn't the same as future Hiro, I think he says 'Ore wa mirai no ore janai'... (I can't be entirely sure as that's said really rapidly and I have to go by subtitles most of the time *anyway* since I don't actually speak Japanese. I do know he doesn't actually say Hiro, like the subtitles would suggest) That might be a switch to using the more confident pronoun?

XWA

[oyceter]

Woe, I need to save episodes on Tivo more! I only had "Five Years Gone" saved so I couldn't check for other episodes =(.

Now I want to rewatch all the Hiro parts.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

That is just adorable of Hiro. I am so thankful for the internet, since it makes it so much easier for me to understand American and now Japanese Culture.

I was buzzing away to my flatmate about the Sylar and Mohinder vibe - this forming of a personal connection makes Sylar so much more interesting! Does he want a friend, a pet, an idealised replacement of the mentor he was hoping Mohinder's father could be? The whole time I was watching the latest episode and everyone was talking solemnly about how Molly would find Sylar, I was like 'ahaha, you GUYS, just wait around for him to call Mohinder again.'

[oyceter]

Hiro is so cute! Even Future!Hiro has moments of cute!

I am sort of boggled by the Sylar-Mohinder relationship, esp. Sylar actively reaching out to Mohinder. I mean... mass murderer brain eater! Who seems to think Mohinder will understand him or something!

[naye]

Hi!

Um, I was reading interesting LJs, and ended up here, and saw this post and had to pounce on the subject. Really hope you don't mind my butting in, but - Heroes! Hiro! Pronouns!

That last one I've been pondering for a while. I need to go back and rewatch to be absolutely sure, but I'm of the impression that Hiro actually started off using "ore". Then it changed, and I think the switch to "boku" happened after he failed to save Charlie, and lost faith in his powers. Since then, it seems to me that he's chosen to use "boku" when he's feeling more insecure (of himself/his powers, not so much of the situation), while falling back to "ore" when he's being all determined...

Or that's my non-verified theory of something that could possibly explain the fact that I know he switches pronouns, but have no idea why. I'm not exactly fluent in Japanese, and always before when I've encountered this kind of pronoun switching, it's been in characters who are put in very different situations (adapting to whether they should appear tough or polite, for instance), or who have actual split personalities of some kind... Hiro's way of switching is new to me, and I find it most intriguing!

Oh, I hadn't actually caught that future Hiro did switch back to calling Ando "kimi"! Awwwww! Did Hiro always use "kimi" with Ando, or is that a more recent thing? I have a vague memory of registering an "omae" early on, but I just finished mainlining the show in ten days, and could easily be getting my timeline mixed up...

[oyceter]

Not at all! Comments are good!

Also, that's awesome! I am annoyed because I delete all the Heroes eps. off Tivo after I watch them once, so I have been dying to go back and make detailed pronoun notes, but I've been too lazy to watch on the NBC site so far. So really, the only data I have is from 1x20!

But that's really neat that he may have switched around the time Charlie died; that's interesting! I actually haven't encountered that much pronoun-switching in most of the things I watch/read, but I know Masi Oka's been giving input for the Japanese. So... dunno!

I wish I knew if Hiro used "kimi" with Ando normally or not! I want to rewatch stuff now!

[naye]

Oh, I know - there's so much I would like to go back and check if I had the time!

I do still have the episodes around, though, and a quick rewatch of a few scenes does confirm that in the first episode, Hiro and Ando were both using "ore"/"omae". No "kimi" from Hiro yet.

First time I can find a "boku" for Hiro is in episode 8, right after Charlie's been killed... Given as pronouns are few and far between, I can't swear it's the first time ever he's used it, but I know it was after that incident that I started noticing it. But, yes. Charlie's killed, and even before he goes back in time, he uses "boku" when he's talking about trying to use his powers to save her. Hmm. Something to do with talking about her in the same way he would talk to her? I've never heard of that particular way of using pronouns before, but it does kind of make sense that he'd use "boku" around a girl he liked, but didn't know very well.

And I've been avoiding spoilers like crazy, so I haven't read any interviews or anything - Masi Oka gives input for the Japanese? Cool! You wouldn't happen to know how they're writing those scenes in general? I've been very curious if it's scripted in English, then translated, or scripted in collaboration with someone writing it in Japanese? Not to mention that I'd love to read anything Masi Oka has to say about his character!

[oyceter]

Oh huh! That's so interesting! I swear, I haven't seen that before in any anime or manga, but maybe I just haven't looked enough.

I'm pretty sure Masi Oka has been giving input; I've only read a few articles because of spoilers (I figured EW and Wired couldn't be very spoilery), and he's mentioned that he corrects the Japanese and that he's been gunning to include more manga references (to which I immediately started flailing and yelling "You are AWESOME!"). But alas, there aren't many details on how exactly the scenes are scripted, though I'm really curious now too.

Maybe I will hunt stuff down after the finale is over!