In a previous post I did an in depth analysis of the many different opening greetings, also known as aisatsu in Japanese, that Kamiki Ryunosuke showcased in his video. This time round it’s all about the other stuff. In the next couple of posts I’m going to look at the way he signs off, his sense of humour, his descriptive or explicatory language, the level of speech formality, and the effect of context on his language. Today however I shall focus on his sense of humour and his presence on screen.
1) What sort of humour does he use? What is his on screen presence like?
I found that for the most part Kamiki has a very smirky, self effacing, and slapstick sense of humour. A perfect example of this is how, after flourishing his Dragon Quest spell casting gesture, he leans into the camera and chuckles that the unpredictable spell parupunte is probably the perfect match for his videos because he never knows what’s going to happen in them.
Another great example is how, after trying out a slew of different high tension aisatsu, and filtering through the spoken and gestural components of some of his favourite YouTubers’ aisatsu, he looks up at the camera and says, “Out of all of the stuff I’ve done today…” He waits a beat. “Only 2% is original material!” The film crew in the background bust a gut laughing.
He does a beautiful job of setting himself up as the loveable fool, waiting a beat and then dropping a brutal, self-condemning comment bomb. His comic timing is fantastic.
I hope I will be able to accomplish this sort of easy-going and goofy presence on screen. It might be a one day sort of a dream though because it really does require a high level of Japanese fluency to be able to play with the language and the timing of conversation. It’s hard enough to create that sense of timing when you have people in the room let alone when you are talking to an imaginary audience that exists somewhere beyond the camera lens.
