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I started reading this Famitsu article about a new headset that is releasing soon. But I'm having trouble understanding how context or subject swapping / setting works in general.

I probably have a larger misunderstanding here since I've noticed I'm getting lost more often when it comes to more complex writing like this. But focusing on this article's intro we have:

HyperXは、ワイヤレスヘッドセット“HyperX Cloud III Wireless Headset”の予約受付をAmazonにて開始、2023年9月11日の発売となる。価格は2万1980円[税込]。バッテリー稼働は最大120時間となり、再設計された53mmドライバーと強化されたメタルメッシュフィルター内臓マイクを採用。USB-AまたはUSB-Cに接続可能なドングルで、PC、Xbox、PS5、PS4、Nintendo Switchで使用できる。

My own translation:

HyperX has a wireless headset, the "HyperX Cloud III Wireless Headset", that has begun accepting preorders on Amazon and will go on sale 9/11/2023. The price is 21980 yen [tax included]. The battery life has a 120 hour maximum and makes use of an improved 53mm driver, which has been redesigned, and a built in metal mesh filter microphone. With connection possibilities to USB-A or USB-C via a dongle, it can be used with PC, Xbox, PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.

Based on this, I think I understand the overall meaning. But what I don't understand is how we went from setting the context / subject to HyperX (HyperXは) and then just talking about this headset in general without resetting the context or the subject.

I guess I'm expecting to have something like このヘッドセットは after the first sentence and then all of the proceeding はs would be がs instead (e.g 価格は -> 価格が, バッテリー稼働は -> バッテリー稼働が). And this is even if my expected このヘッドセットは was omitted, I would still expect this がs instead idea to happen too.

It becomes especially confusing once we hit the sentence that starts talking about the battery life. As in my mind, I see this sentence setting the context / subject to be about the battery life (バッテリー稼働は), but then the latter half of the sentence starts talking about the 53mm driver and built in microphone without actually setting the context / subject to these.

So what is actually going on here?

Why aren't we resetting the context / subject as we go along? Or are we actually just implicitly setting them and its up to the reader to understand what someone is talking about at a given point? If that is the case, why does the battery life seem to be explicitly called out (バッテリー稼働は), but not the driver and built in microphone?

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Switching subjects explicitly is a rule in English, not in Japanese. The Japanese rule is "you can always omit the subject if it can be inferred", even in the middle of a sentence. A headset never sells something, and battery life never adopts a microphone.

The first part of this article should be parsed like this:

HyperXは、ヘッドセットの予約受付をAmazonにて開始。2023年9月11日の発売となる。価格は2万1980円。

HyperX started accepting preorders of a headset. It's released on 9/11/2023. The price is 21,980 yen.

As long as the parsing is correct, interpreting this shouldn't be difficult. Even in English, it's easy to tell that "it" refers to the headset, not the company. (Your confusion might stem from the fact that the symbol after 開始 is a comma, not a period. This is certainly not the most readable or friendly use of punctuation, but it doesn't make the article's intention easily misunderstood.)

The use of は is 100% correct. が is not used in the context of objectively conveying known facts.

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  • Is it a fair statement to say that が is only used when making subjective statements? (E.G その建物が高い That building is tall (to me), 鳥が青そう The bird looks blue) Sep 4 at 23:47
  • @Tylersanzura No. Please read japanese.stackexchange.com/q/68923/5010
    – naruto
    Sep 5 at 1:31

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