Translation traps

The thing that stumped me about a particular sentence was not what I am pretty sure is a reference to masturbation that's both archaic and colloquial. (Oddly enough, "hand" and "between" are two of the kanji I do know, and yes, the sentence did exactly what you'd think given that it contained those words.) The thing that stumped me was the fact that "megane" was in katakana. It's a Japanese word! I said to myself, amid gnashing of the teeth. First no furigana, now this. Why do they hate me?

Then I thought about why words are written in katakana. 'cause they're imported from foreign languages, quoth my inner grammarian. Or sometimes when they're na- (here the lightbulb over my head went *poit*) Duh. Names. It's not a generic noun here, it's a NICKNAME. I am brilliant!

*bows*

(no subject)

At one point I wondered if learning Japanese from Inuyasha would be like learning English from Shakespeare.

Now I wonder: if that's true, is learning Japanese from Samurai Champloo like learning English from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead?