AppliMonsters Episode 42: Rei's Determination! Operation: Search for Hajime!

[Nemomon]

Yeah, it's ようこそ はじめ (Youkoso Hajime).

 

[Garmmon]

And for me, out of that two, it actually was Elena that was extremely rude, and not Rei. Plus, it looked like they saw and treated him like a free slave. I hardly can imagine Anezaki going to bring a water to either of the girls because they just said they wanted it. But maybe it's just me, and me not knowing the rules of show business...

I don't live in Japan so I won't claim to know a lot about their culture, but in Japan and especially in the workplace you're expected to be very formal and polite, even more so if it's your first day. And Rei just...not only doesn't greet anyone, but even talks back to Elena (effectively his senior in the company), which is kind of unspeakably rude and disrespectful by Japanese standards, lol. (I guess manager is a higher position than idol, but that doesn't excuse his total lack of manners to people he meets for the first time)
Elena did push it a bit (she even admits it when talking to Rei on stage), but mostly because Rei started it and she was annoyed with his rudeness/disrespect.
Not sure if it shows in the subs, but Rei is super bad with polite speech (the regular speech you use when talking to someone you aren't close with) and has to keep correcting himself while talking to the other company members. haha

 

[Nemomon]

From me his behaviour was pretty natural, since he's a higher position than an idol, he doesn't really have to greet them, and he came there to work, not to greet people. So his "let's go" to Eri looked pretty natural and normal to me. But then again, I also do not live in Japan, so maybe indeed out there it sounded rude. However I myself do work on a movies studio, and I'm daily dealing with actors, actresses, directors, producers, screenwriters, bg actors, and people that think they're bigger stars than they really are, and real stars that for a change usually are pretty humble. And greeting someone is pretty rare, and happens only after working for a longer while. Enough that people will recognize you. Newcomers are never greeted.

 

[Unknown Neo]

Jumping! Happy! Thunder! Rei doing things that aren't what he normally does. Funny. ...Anyone going to ship Rei and Elena? Jokes aside, At least we found Hajime now. ...But they just didn't hide the name huh? Though I figure they don't think the name is something to run from like the west might. But next ep should be a funny breather. Nice to see the other Appmon again.

 

[Jay Ukyou]

From me his behaviour was pretty natural, since he's a higher position than an idol, he doesn't really have to greet them, and he came there to work, not to greet people. So his "let's go" to Eri looked pretty natural and normal to me. But then again, I also do not live in Japan, so maybe indeed out there it sounded rude. However I myself do work on a movies studio, and I'm daily dealing with actors, actresses, directors, producers, screenwriters, bg actors, and people that think they're bigger stars than they really are, and real stars that for a change usually are pretty humble. And greeting someone is pretty rare, and happens only after working for a longer while. Enough that people will recognize you. Newcomers are never greeted.

This is 100% a cultural misconception then. In Japan, greetings are one of the most basic forms of politeness, even outside the workplace. You wouldn't handle greetings like Rei does even among people you consider friends, much less in your place of work, and DEFINITELY not on your first day. Rei's lack of greeting and lack of any level of polite speech is just breaking so many social cues, it's akin to wiping snot off your nose and then shaking someone's hand. Yeah, maybe you didn't -mean- to be rude, but it's still incredibly off-putting.

 

[Shadow Shinji]

It is definetely a cultural thing. For instance, here in Spain, it is quite common that people kiss each other on the cheeks when they meet up, even between two males. But in the countries of Northern Europe, it would be kind of awkard to do such a thing, even in an informal situation (I can tell). Regarding the particular situation in the episode, it would haven't been that offensive if your boss wouldn't greet you the same as Rei, some bosses here can be extremely morons condescending sometimes.... It has always been told that Japanese people are extremely polite, dunno if this is widely-speaking true or it is kinda an exgaeration.

SoftMon I'll very sad if you get to leave the place...I love to have other Offmon fans around here