Why GAO GAO?

Even though I had many possible entry topics lined up before I started this blog, I didn't want to start without an adequate title. It does set the tone after all. I couldn't think of anything clever, witty or cool, so I busied myself with anything I could get my hands on, namely a N64 controller and old school SuperSmashBros. It was also to make myself look like I had other things to do than brush up on my Japanese. I watched 4 Rocky movies (so good! Mr. T's freaking awesome), started planning for an orchard in the backyard, which included knocking down the only tree we have left (which sounded fun) and lastly, getting the most I could out of Netflix while I could by watching streaming videos.

In doing so, I stumbled upon the series Air TV. I was drawn in initially because of the animation's Spirited Away-ish quality and the quirky character Kano Kirishima and her pet stray dog Potato. In the end it wasn't worth my time because the plot pretty much sucked and didn't make much sense. About something absurd like people with wings who are kind of like angels but not. Apparently among the anime sommeliers it's a top-notch anime. I don't get it.

Here's a taste of the dialogue.

Kano: "Hey you must be Citizen #1 of Dilly-Dally'ers. I'm Citizen #1, and Potato here is Citizen #3."

Potato: "Piko Piko" (kind of in a Pikachu voice)

Yukito: "So what do the Dilly-Dally'ers do all day?"

Kano: "Alas, that is the sad fate; they are in forever search of something to do, dilly-dallying their way around the world."

Anyway, the central female character is equally quirky and often says GAO when she's upset, which is the Japanese onomatopoeia for ROAR. She also loves dinosaurs. She even owns this shirt.

Okay, so what's a Japanese icon that roars?

Godzilla of course! whom I think is a dinosaur..

and then everything sort of just clicked. I love Japanese onomatopoeias. Zaa Zaa for the sound of pouring rain, Noro Noro for the sound of driving slowly. Zuru Zuru for the sound of something being dragged. And I too want to go to Tokyo like the fellow pictured here:


I thought about the animal wheel kid toy where you pull a string and an arrow spins around. When it lands on an animal, a generic voice says: the dog says: woof woof! or something of the like.

I tried to find a picture of such toy, but everything I searched for came up empty. Closest thing I found was this guitar thing. I'm not entirely sure what you're supposed to do.

Not the same girl as in the anime but here's what Japanese roars sound like:

Okay time for bed. Updates coming soon.