> ラナ「だってIT社長って、女優と付き合ってからが **本番** でしょ？」

Hi. What does 本番 mean or refer to here? I know 本番 literally means “the real
thing”. Thank you.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-31T08:00:34.800
76301
2020-05-12T15:21:55.780
2020-05-12T15:21:55.780
78
36662
question
words
What does 本番 mean here?
This 本番 means "most important phase". ラナ is saying, other phases of IT社長 are
less important than the phase of dating with actress.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-31T08:45:20.273
76302
2020-03-31T08:45:20.273
37138
76301
answer
本番 is a little difficult to translate, but it refers to an "actual", "real",
"live" or "production" part of something, as opposed to rehearsal, testing or
preparatory parts.

Thus IT社長は女優と付き合ってからが本番だ (lit. "For IT presidents, 本番 comes after he dates an
actress") means the presidents of IT companies are not "real" (or successful)
presidents until he starts to date some actress. This joke is a reference to
the fact that many famous actresses dated or married the presidents of tech
companies ([examples](https://matome.naver.jp/odai/2154709869393842601)).

Another example would be 日本語の勉強は常用漢字を全部覚えてからが本番だ ("The main difficulty of
learning Japanese starts after you've mastered all joyo kanji.").
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-02T03:27:55.397
76338
2020-04-02T06:03:42.597
2020-04-02T06:03:42.597
5010
5010
76301
answer
I suggest to think the opposite things of "本番".

The possible opposite words are like below.

  * training (トレーニング)
  * drilling (訓練)
  * practice (練習)
  * rehearsal (リハーサル)
  * testing (テスト)

As you may notice, these actions are not the real purpose of you generally.
They are kind of acts toward **a big goal**. We call **this goal** "本番" in
Japanese.  
Generally speaking, we don't expect failure in "本番" situation but failure is
common in "練習".

In some kind of situations like presentations at a conference, matches in a
competition, recital concerts, and examinations of entrance, "本番" means such
events, especially emphasizing a message like 'This is not practice!! You have
been practicing for this!!'.  
This is the original and most basic usage of "本番" in my understanding.

I think "本番" is basically an event like above, but it is very useful word to
tell a situation like 'This is not practice!!'. So it's used in wide cases.

> 「だってIT社長って、女優と付き合ってからが本番でしょ？」

This indicates that the life of IT president who doesn't date an actress is
NOT "本番".  
In other words, the life of such a president is kind of 'practice'. (even
though every life should be "本番" because no one would expect failure of
his/her life) Therefore this line leads us to cynical impression.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-10T10:17:56.700
77189
2020-05-12T08:19:35.830
2020-05-12T08:19:35.830
38911
38911
76301
answer