The Japanese government is getting into the anime business, with the publication of a new book featuring a Japanese schoolgirl, a swordsman and a warrior princess on the front cover.
Though the plotline fits neatly into the isegai genre, where a modern-day human is transported to an alien world, the title, which translates as ‘English Fundamentals 2’, is rather less romantic.
The tale is the latest printed partwork which accompanies the ‘English Fundamentals’ radio series, a course for English language learners produced by NHK, Japan’s public service broadcaster, which also publishes the books.
The print story, which features a second-year junior high school girl, a dragon and a magic kingdom, is designed to cover the vocabulary and grammar introduced in upcoming episodes, which deal with the function of talking about yourself.
Among the phrases students learn are “A dragon captured Princess Jonquil of Blossom Kingdom” and “Japan? I don’t know that Kingdom,” which are designed to delight the otaku, as mega-Manga fans are called, and lure them into learning English.
