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Notes -
Has anyone been watching Tokyo Vice? I'm only a few episodes in but I'm really enjoying it.
There was a bit too much English in the first few episodes, as well as a bit too much 'Japanese people are mean to the protagonist because he is foreign'. But it seems that writers got that out of their system early on and it is evolving into a compelling drama with a cool period setting and likeable characters.
The author of the book, and protagonist of the story, is the most ordinary type of western journalist: proggressive, desirous to impose his values on other peoples, feeling Japan is morally inferior to the US.
A better writer would shy away from writing such a wish-fulfillment book, while not even having the decency to admit its fiction, but not Jake Adelstein.
There was a recent comment thread by @DaseindustriesLtd , where he showed the harms of consuming media, even purely for spectacle, by people he disagrees with. Idea relevant, given that you express distaste for open preaching that you already observed in this show.
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I was really surprised at how engaging I found Ansel's character, because he could easily have crossed the line to annoying. I loved his enthusiasm and optimism though. Looking forward to season 2.
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I was impressed by Elgort's Japanese as well, better than the bizarre dubbing of English dialogue by some of the Japanese actors in the first couple of episodes.
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