Is this a movie? If only there were some way of knowing.
The Avengers finally opens in Japan this week, but the film has already raised hackles with the silly, potentially offensive tagline on the posters released in Japan. The tagline is 日本よ、これが映画だ (Kore ga eiga da) which translates as, “Hey Japan, this is a movie.” I can’t even make up something that silly. The Avengers: Hey Japan, this is a movie. Seriously.
Because of the wording — “Kore ga eiga da” instead of “Kore wa eiga da” — the emphasis is on the word this, potentially implying that Japanese audiences wouldn’t understand what movies are without The Avengers‘ help. Understandably, some people were pissed while others laughed about it. Columnist Takashi Odajima compared it to The New York Times saying, “Hey Japan, this is journalism.” Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima tweeted a newspaper ad for Japanese film The Kirishima Thing using the tagline, “Hey Hollywood, this is a Japanese movie.”
To make amends with the Japanese, Marvel should CGI some Pokémon fanservice into the film:
[Sources: Kotaku, The Mary Sue, Ruined Childhood, The Daily What]