I agree that watching anime is more widespread, but I still wouldn't call it mainstream! In my experience, people talk about it like something all the weird kids do, so I don't normally let on that I watch it. When I do though, people are surprised, "I never would have thought YOU as an anime fan!" which is kind of surprising for me too because I'm so dorky I don't know why people wouldn't think I was. It's sad that revealing that you do drugs, for instance, is more socially acceptable than revealing that you're a fan. Still, I think that a successful fansub with cultural notes that is seen by a lot of people would have the potential to jump start accuracy; then people would go to other fansub groups and be like "Did you see what did? With the cultural notes? That was awesome. Do that too!" or other fansub groups would see it and say "That's a good idea, why don't we do that?" But like you said, the audience would need to be people who are in it for the accuracy, so some current fans who are there just for fanservice or something wouldn't cut it. Approval-seeking isn't necessarily bad though! In real life, seeking approval can also be a good trait especially if you're collaborating at work or something and you want to make sure that something you've done works with everyone else in the team. Nobody likes the "screw everyone, we're doing it my way" guy. Same with translators. I think it's important to ask the readers' input because there's a good chance they'd have good ones. Also, ya know, it'll keep the readers happy. Be glad that you don't have very nitpicky readers!

I never watch gag subs or anything, but if I did I wouldn't use them as replacements for the real thing or accept anything there as canon. I guess there are people who do that, aren't there? Well, eh, there's dumb people everywhere. I would rather have inaccurate mainstream subs than nothing at all though, as bad as that might sound. It's not a good feeling knowing that all the shows I'm enjoying, through I'm enjoying them with, aren't the real thing, and my outlook on it can be totally false. That's another good reason for me to start up my Japanese again (I should stop procrastinating already D:) But even if I get to the point where I can somewhat understand the words spoken, I won't know the cultural connotations or hidden meanings so I don't know if my experience will be more accurate than with subs. It'll get better in time though of course but I'm not the most patient person.

I actually have a speech coming up! For my final exam for that class all I have to do is present a speech...and then I'm done forever, thank gawd! But I think that taking some sort of course in speech is a good idea for everybody. I mean, sometime in everyone's life they'll have to do something that involves speaking to an audience, and some basic skill are better than nothing at all--even better is practice. We can imagine verbal speech as a scale; on one end there's day to day speech that you'd use with your buddies and on the other end it's the super formal stuff used for speeches and such. Ideally, the complexity of speech patterns would increase as you go to the speech end of the scale, but the natural factor will remain the same. Like during job interviews it's kind of confusing because on one hand you want to be professional but on the other hand you need to seem open and friendly: somebody others can work with. Or at least that's the impression I got when I did mine, but I work in retail and a lot of it is working as a team so they would need someone who's a good teammate. It probably varies from job to job, but a lot of workplaces in America prefer to hire people not only based on creds, but also their amiability. They want someone who would be nice to their coworkers and, if it's a job that involves working with the public, someone who's nice to the customers too. After all, America is a pretty polite nation. Maybe not as polite as Japan, but it is when compared to Eastern Europe where nice employees are hard to come by. I think it's just a cultural thing; that's always how it was there.

The Ne Sa Yo movement is an interesting venture. I can totally relate to it too! When I'm giving any speeches, when I feel a 'like' or 'uhh' coming on, I usually just pause to let my brain catch up, or drag out the word that comes before it. So like the Japanese kids, I'm also replacing the extra particles instead of removing them altogether. I agree, the little particles go hand in hand with nonverbal communication, and also add extra meaning to the sentence apart from what is literally said. That's why face to face communication can't be truly replaced by texting and IMing and stuff, and also it creates that effect when a public speaker seems really distant. You have to hold yourself kind of stiff, and that really cuts down on nonverbal communication. I think that's why we wouldn't really want to talk in speeches in day to day life anyway--there'd be less personal connection and we'd just sound really aloof. Like for example when a person is talking, they always look for visual cues and responses from their companion to indicate how they should continue. A rehearsed speaker would just plow through, and that would put a lot of people off.

Unfortunately in my class we can't give speeches on a custom topic so you probably wouldn't want to be in it! Well, you could always record yourself and if you really want to get the message out, post it on YouTube. I would Favorite it and maybe even, if I was feeling extremely generous, give it a thumbs up.

I didn't let the Anki suggestion go in one ear and out another; I installed it! I also made several decks for reviewing vocabulary from the textbook that I have. It's still kind of confusing to use, but it's a nice idea. As I will hopefully keep plowing through my Japanese, it'll probably come in more handy. Besides, there's a user guide and everything; there's no reason for me to lose to technology. It kind of reminds me of this app I used to learn hiragana and katakana; it was the same thing, where it kept showing me cards I had missed before until I mastered them. I learned pretty fast, I wish one could learn kanji as easy as that..