I got Jade Empire.

[A Black Falcon]

There was one anime series, Gunsmith Cats, that was set in Chicago, but the creators actually did a pretty good job of making it feel like it was set there [American muscle cars, Chicago skyline, American style buildings, lots of guns, sort of American sounding names]. On the original langauge track everyone spoke Japanese though...so I guess in that case listening to the English dub was probably better.

Like how Hellsing does a pretty good London... Big O also has a resonably Western society. Just like how some American shows have accurate depictions of Japan...

It doesn't get worse than Crete, where the Greeks and Turks have been fighting for ages. But even then, I knew many people from Crete, Greece, and Turkey (some of the coolest people I know are from Turkey), and they were very welcoming to each other. It's important not to mix governmental policy with public opinion.

You mean Cyprus... :D

Public opinion... yes, probably less xenophobic. But there is suspicion of Muslims, for sure, just like there is here... except perhaps worse because Europe has far more Muslims trying to immigrate. We get few in comparison. And many are feeling threatened by the muslims and the societal changes they bring...

Yes, but language is so very important to culture.

I know, but the point is that it isn't the ONLY factor in culture...

No no, it would be Chinese, but translated as well as possible. So the only people who might not get the jokes are those who only understand Mandarin and can't read English. No problem for us. Mo man tai!

Okay. You'd better find writers who understand chineese culture, though. :)

It's absolutely not necessary to know a foreign language in a movie as long as it's subtitled. That's what the subs are for! Heh.

It helps to know a few things, but really, those are the things you will probably learn by watching -- not things you have to learn so that you are able to watch. So you're completely right.

Yeah, I've never had a problem understanding emotions in any foreign movie that I've seen. Believe it or not, but the Japanese are humans, too!

I've seen articles about studies about emotions. Facial emotions are recognizable worldwide... different cultures show them to different extents, but it's not like in some cultures a frown is a smile and a smile a frown. Humanity has genetic elements in expressions (as the main element, really), clearly.