Japanese Pronouns: Difference between revisions

Note that, even more so than in most forms of media, the language used in anime is heavily stylized and quite different from the way actual Japanese people speak in real life. Take everything you hear in anime with a grain of salt -- non-native speakers who learned their Japanese from anime are easy to spot.

 

 

== First-person pronouns ==

===''Atai'', ''Ashi''===

: 私 "I, a cute little girl." Contraction of ''atashi''; used only by young girls or, rarely, by very immature and informal women.

** Out of the others in his class, Aoyama uses it, as does Iida when he gets emotional (he normally uses "ore").

** As for more reprehensible users, we have [[Smug Snake|Neito Monoma]] and {{Spoiler|[[Big Bad|All For One]]}}.

 

===''Chin''===

: 小生 Another archaic, self-deprecating form of "I" used by males with equals and subordinates. Nowadays it's rare but still used sometimes in letters and such.

* Kuroda Kanbe from ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'', who is in no way as humble as this pronoun implies.

* Tokitsu Junya, the "Detective of the North" in ''[[Detective Conan]]''. It's hinted lightly that he uses this as a way to make himself look humbler than he truly is. {{spoiler|And it's kind of a plot point, actually. See the character sheet to learn the reason why.}}

* Emilia Kishitani from ''[[Durarara!!]]'', a foreigner who speaks in broken Japanese and for some reason chooses ''this'' as her main pronoun.

* Shizuru (who isn't, either) in ''[[My-HiME]]'' and ''[[Mai-Otome]]''.

* Haruka, who admittedly isn't an idiot, from [[Chu-Bra]].

* Hazel from ''[[Saiyuki]]'' Gunlock, mainly to emphasize that he's foreign. (Also not an idiot. Maybe.)

* Tayuya in ''[[Naruto]]''.

* Hakumen in ''[[BlazBlue]]''.

* Lordgenome from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', post-[[Time Skip]]. Especially noticeable in ep. 22, when he's trying to remember what the {{spoiler|Moon}} is.

* Archtype-Earth, AKA our heroine [[Tsukihime|Arcueid]] before Shiki unintentionally turned her into an airhead, uses this. It is unknown if she goes back to using this after the events of Tsukihime because it is unknown if she reverts back to her old colder personality.

* [[The Dragon|Dynamis]] in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. It generally seems to be common among the members of Cosmo Entelecheia.

* The infamous "Waga Shikabane wo Koe yo" tech from [[Sega]]'s ''Sangokushi Taisen'' games, one of the many [[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]] inspired Japanese game series. It reached [[Memetic Mutation]] levels when videos depicting it were paired with J-ROCK group Onmyouza's similarly named ''Waga Shikabane wo Koete yuke''. For the Japanese illiterate, the phrases translate to "Over My Dead Body".

* Used in Japanese translations of [[The Quran]].

 

===''Washi''===

* Kotengu in ''[[Harukanaru Toki no Naka de]]'' uses this; technically, being a tengu, he is probably [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] or so, but he spends most of the time [[Sleep Mode Size|sealed]] in the form of a [[Small Annoying Creature]], so the pronoun seems a little out of place.

* Byakuroku and Daidai in ''[[Otome Youkai Zakuro]]'', to go with their anachronistic speech patterns.

* Lordgenome in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', pre-[[Time Skip]]. [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|Over a thousand years old yet looks like a middle-aged guy]] with a [[Bald of Evil]].

* Azazel in ''[[Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san]]'' as part of his [[Kansai Regional Accent]].

===''Temē''===

: てめえ A ''very'' rude and confrontational word for "you", almost exclusively used by rough-talking males. Commonly translated as "you bastard"<ref>not that it prevents Google Translate from translating it as "[[Obligatory Swearing|dickwad]]"...</ref>. A corruption of 手前 ''temae'', literally "that which is in front of me", though much more common. ''Temae'' was also used in the first person, usually by the lower classes, and was in contrast very self-effacing.

* So does Tasuki from ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]].''

* Video game example: I-no in ''[[Guilty Gear]] XX'' has absolutely no respect for other people, and thus addresses everyone this way.

* Katsuya Jonouchi generally referred to anyone he had a slight problem with as "temē" in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''.

* Anise of ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' uses this several times. (In which it's funny that in battle, she only says it if Luke and Jade are out of the party.)

* Hisui of ''[[Tales of Hearts]]'' uses it for ''everyone''. People who he warms up to, including the main character, graduate to ''omae'', and that's as polite as he gets.

* Kyo Kusanagi from ''[[King of Fighters]]'' uses this when speaking with Iori Yagami. When speaking with Ash Crimson, this gets elevated into a yell.

* Ichigo of ''[[Bleach]]'' frequently uses this. Then again, he talks like a delinquent anyway. Grimmjow uses it for pretty much everyone.

* Katakura Kojuro from ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' when talking to his underlings. And anyone he dislikes really.

** Tachibana Muneshige uses ''temae'' to refer to himself in a humble manner.

* Don Kanonji in ''[[Bleach]]''.

* Real Life Example. Johnny Kitagawa, the president of Johnny and Associates, uses you so much that it's both trademark, and will grab the attention of ALL of his talents in the room no mater which one he's talking to. In fact, the only person he doesn't call you is, fittingly enough, actually named You.

* Cowboy Andy from ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' uses this constantly. He still uses japanese pronouns for himself (most commonly "watashi"), but this is the only pronoun he uses for other people.

 

 

===''-tachi''===

* In one ''[[Minami-ke]]'' episode, Haruka refers to Chiaki and the others with her as "Chiaki-tachi".

* Used in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' in the instances where the catchphrase is said by a group. It becomes "Ore-tachi wo dare da to omotte yagaru?!" or "Who the hell do you think we are?!"

* In ''[[Super Robot Wars EX]]'', at least one of the Puru sisters say "Funnel-tachi" when using a Funnel attack.

* In ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' the SOS Brigade is referred by "Haru-tachi". The "Haru" can mean either Haruhi or [[Sixth Ranger|Haruka]] depending on the context.

* In ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'', Keiichi, Rika, Shion, and the others in the game club often refer to themselves as [[True Companions|nakama-tachi]].

 

===''Wareware''===

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Japanese Language]]

[[Category:Useful Notes/Japan]]