"Can This Love Be Translated" As An Love Story That Might Teach More About International Marketing

 

I just finished watching the Netflix series Can This Love be Translated?. This is where Sota Fukushi reveals his polyglot reality. Sota was able to speak in English and now he's shown his ability to speak Hangul. Yes, and I tend to get confused between Hangul and Nihongo! Sota plays a side character, but when he does show up -- he NAILS it. The show was released all at once, presumably to compensate for the delay in release after it finished filming. Basically, it feels weird that Sota (who plays the side character Hiro Kurosawa), with Kim Seon-Ho acting as the polyglot Joo Ho-Jin. Ho Jin is a character that could speak  Chinese, English, Italian, and Japanese as his second languages. Go Yoon-Jung acts as an actress playing as, Cha Mu-Hi (an actress), who has her imaginary ego as the ghost Do Ra-Mi. She gets into a not-so-dramatic love triangle.

What interested me was the show moving between four different countries. Going from South Korea to Japan to Italy to Canada can have huge logistical costs. The show did it anyway, and it became like a huge giant international marketing scenario. For example, Mu-Hi had no idea about certain beliefs and cultures, or traditions. Every minute of Mu-Hi could feel like a business lesson about international marketing. After all, Power Rangers had to exist because Super Sentai was just too "culturally different". Certain Japanese shows get localized one way or another to fit the environment. In this case, Hiro is someone who learns to speak Korean even if he doesn't get the girl.

Watching the show felt like a strange mix of Japanese-innovated humor and Korean humor. Do Ra-Mi the imagined antagonist feels like straight of a Manga. Having Japanese actors in the script (and I feel that Kaho Takada was a cameo here, correct me if I'm wrong) is one thing. Seeing Sota here felt like Gentaro Kisaragi wants to be friends with ALL NATIONALITIES. In my case, I want to view the show with a humorous, business-like angle and discuss innovation and adaptation too much!