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{{Useful Notes}}
Where English makes no distinction between elder and younger siblings, Japanese has words that classify both gender and age (relative to the speaker) for a sibling. There are four basic terms:
▲Where English makes no distinction between elder and younger siblings, Japanese has words that classify both gender and age (relative to the speaker) for a sibling. There are four basic terms:
;''otōto''
: younger brother
;''imōto''
: younger sister
;''
: elder brother
;''
: elder sister
They are normally found in conjunction with an honorific -- ''-kun'' and ''-chan'' being among the most common for all four, although ''-san'' and even ''-sama'' are frequently used for respected older siblings, or when addressing other people's siblings. "Baby-talk" equivalents such as ''-tan, -tama'' and ''-chama'' are not unknown, either, but are usually limited to younger children and [[Kawaiiko]].
Additionally, ''
In addition to these four basic words, there are numerous variations due to regional differences in pronunciation and from slang usages. Just as an example, here are some of the alternative versions of just ''nii'' that one may encounter in manga and anime:
* ''ani''
* ''anii''
* ''anigimi-sama'' (ani-kimisama; ''-kimisama'' is an honorific used to address a venerable person in the same bloodline; "k" often becomes "g" in compound words.)
* ''aniki'' (informal, "bro"; also slang indicating a fellow member of a street gang)
* ''aniue'' (very formal and slightly archaic)
* ''niiya''
* ''
Note that the terms for older and younger siblings are used differently. Younger siblings frequently address older ones by "title", but the reverse is far less common -- older siblings tend to address younger ones by name.
Japanese also has a "generic" term for sibling, ''kyodai'', that specifies neither gender nor relative age, and is usually used collectively, such as when citing all one's brothers and sisters together, or all the children in a family. In general it is not used in place of the four "basic" sibling terms, although when it is, it's most often used as "brother". Like ''aniki'' it has a specialized usage among [[Yakuza]], where it means "sworn brother" (i.e. one who has taken an oath of brotherhood with you).
It is also not uncommon for sibling terminology to be used for certain non-siblings. "Onii-san" and its variants are often used by children for older non-relatives (expect the kid [[Victim of the Week]] to address the hero this way throughout the episode, for example.) This one's hard for translators -- you want to stay true to the original, but can't exactly have the kid call the hero "Big brother" despite the fact that they've clearly never met before.▼
▲It is
See also [[Onee-Sama]]. For similar usage in a nearby country, see [[Chinese Sibling Terminology]].
{{examples|Examples: }}▼
== Anime
* ''[[Sister Princess]]'' -- thirteen sisters, thirteen different ways to say "big brother". The English dub goes through outrageous contortions to come up with equally individualized equivalents for the Japanese terms and mostly succeeds, even if it does have to dip into a couple other languages to do it.
* Chamo in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' addresses Negi as "aniki"; given the ermine's personality and habits, it's almost certainly intended as the gang slang as much as the literal meaning.
** Chamo also uses a different version of "nee" depending on which girl he is addressing.
** Negi also refers to his older cousin as "oneesan".
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** Naruto always adds nee-chan to Shizune and Ayame despite not being related to either.
* Being buddies rather than biological brothers, Simon naturally uses "''aniki''" to refer to Kamina on ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', though with the same amount of respect you'd expect from "''onii-sama''". The dub simply uses "bro."
* Similarly, the student gang in episode 14 of ''[[
* ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'': Kyon's little sister is [[No Name Given|always]] referred to exclusively as "imōtochan", including in the credits and the title of her [[Image Song]] album. Kyon's friends have even called her "Imōto-san" on-screen; apparently, [[No Name Given]] is some kind of tradition in that family...
** Kyon wishes his little sister would call him ''onii-san'' instead of using his nickname...
* Sakura in ''[[Fafner in the Azure|Fafner in The Azure Dead Aggressor]]'' is called anego by her two henchmen/friends.
* Skuld in ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' calls Belldandy ''oneesan'', but not Urd. It's translated to "big sis" in the dub.
** Belldandy refers to Urd as "Neesan".
* [[Digimon Savers|Agumon]] calls Marcus ''aniki'', dubbed to "boss." His actual younger sister calls him ''Masaru-niichan.'' Touma's younger sister, Relena, calls him ''oniisama.''
** Touma and Relena are an odd case -- they're half-siblings, Touma is half-Japanese and Relena is fully Austrian. Whether Relena ''actually'' calls Touma "oniisama" as a sign of respect or if it's just the [[Translation Convention]] in effect is never addressed. In the dub, Touma is usually called "Thomas," while Relena calls him "Tommy."
** For the sake of clarification, the reason Agumon calls Marcus/Masaru ''aniki'' in the original but "boss" instead in the dub is because, in this case, "aniki" means "brother" literally but also means "boss" according to the [[Yakuza]], therefore having the same connotations. The same reason is why Agumon considers himself Marcus' follower/employee.
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** Nanoha's older sister Miyuki refers to her older brother Kyouya as "Kyou-chan", rather than "Onii-chan", like Nanoha does. This carries over from ''[[Triangle Heart 3 ～sweet songs forever～]] 3'', when he was her cousin and [[Not Blood Siblings|not her biological brother]].
* In ''[[Outlaw Star]]'', Jim refers to Gene as ''aniki'', but just "Gene" in the English dub.
* In ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]'', Sanae Nakazawa is nicknamed "Anego" since she bosses the Nankatsu kids around like an older sister. In fact, Tsubasa didn't learn her real name until around the second half of the original TV series; since then, he stops calling her "Anego" and refers to her as "Sanae-chan" instead.
* In ''[[Scrapped Princess]]'', the main character Pacifica refers to her siblings as "Shannon-nii" and "Raquel-nee"
* In the TV series of ''[[Read or Die]]'', Anita calls her (adopted) sisters Maggie and Michelle "Ma-nee" and "Mi-nee." She ends up calling Nenene "Nene-nee" after rejecting "Nenene-neesama."
* The archaic formal term for "brother" listed above, ''aniue'', is familiar to any ''[[
** In a [[Lotus Eater Machine]] sequence inflicted on Mai, Mai tells Mikoto, who is apparently her little sister in this version of reality and whom she views as like a little sister, to not call her older sister by name.
* Haruka [[Minami-ke|Minami]] is always "Haruka-oneesama" to her little sister Chiaki. This is partly because of her [[Promotion to Parent]] and partly because, well, she's an [[Onee-Sama]].
* In ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'', Aya Fujimiya calls her older brother "Ran-oniichan" or just "oniichan."
* Souta in ''[[Inuyasha]]'' calls Kagome "nee-chan," while in the feudal era, Kohaku calls Sango by the more archaic "aneue" ([[Laser-Guided Amnesia|when he remembers who she is, anyway]]). Manten, the younger of the [[Youkai]] Thunder Brothers, calls his older brother Hiten "anchan," and most of the Band of Seven call their leader Bankotsu "aniki" or "o-aniki." Kaede refers to Kikyou as "onee-sama". (Inuyasha himself, being your standard [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] shounen protagonist, calls his [[Aloof Big Brother]] Sesshoumaru by his first name only, and both he and Sesshoumaru himself seem horrified when Kagome calls Sesshoumaru "''oniisan''".)
* Himiko in ''[[GetBackers]]'' addresses her older brother as "aniki." He's a casual [[Big Brother Mentor]]-type, so it fits. Juubei addresses his older sister as "aneja," which is written with the kanji for "older sister" and "person." Yukihiko Mirouku tends to use [Name]-niisan or -neesan for his siblings, while {{spoiler|Yohan, after revealing that he's Kazuki's younger brother, addresses him with the archaic "aniue." He calls his adopted older brother by name, while his adopted younger sister calls him by name.}}
* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', Kuwabara usually calls his big sister Shizuru "aneki," switching to "Neechan" when he's sucking up to or teasing her.
* ''[[Gash Bell]]'': The [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] [[The Gwen Stacy|Gwen Stacy]] Kolulu calls her bookkeeper, Shiori, "neesan", which is an important plot point. She goes on to call Gash's bookkeeper Kiyomaro "niisan" when he burns her book at her behest.
* ''[[Fruits Basket]]'': Yuki calls Ayame "nii-san", and when {{spoiler|Mine}} calls Yuki "otouto-kun", it's one of the first hints that {{spoiler|she and Ayame are a couple}}. In the not-actually-siblings department, Kisa calls [[Gender Blender Name|Tohru]] "onee-chan", and Haru calls Hatori "nii-san".
* Ryuuki in ''[[Saiunkoku Monogatari]]'' persists in calling Seiran "aniue" when they are alone together, in spite of Seiran's protests, {{spoiler|once he finds out that Seiran is actually his exiled older brother Seien}}.
* In ''[[Love Hina]]'', Motoko Aoyama refers to her older sister Tsuruko as "aneue".
* One of the hints of [[After War Gundam X|Olba Frost]]'s deep devotion to his older brother Shagia is that, for a ''very'' cocky and arrogant guy who can be [[Ax Crazy]] in battle, he actually addresses Shagia with the respectful "Nii-san" instead of the more familiar "Aniki". In fact, he did it so often that Olba's seiyuu Nozomu Sasaki has said that he came to dislike the word itself.
* The fact that you can use titles for your brother while talking to him caused a translation error in the second ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' movie, when Aeka said "my brother's tree" while talking to Katsuhito. Literally translating this into English led fans to conclude that he is not her brother (and therefore that the movie couldn't take place in OAV continuity).
** The dub also had to really wrack its brains when Tenchi's long-lost sister reveals herself and at one point goes on about all the various sibling terms she'll finally get to be called. The dub mostly keeps up when coming up with variations, and makes some of the dialogue refer to finally getting to have a brother-sister ''relationship'' with him. Maybe "sissy-poo" is a ''bit'' of a stretch when it comes to alternate terms, but... they did a pretty good job translating the most .
* Oboro in ''[[Utawarerumono]]'' puzzles Hakuoro when he begins calling him "aniki", but he just shrugs it off. Really, this is about as respectful as you can expect him to get.
* Yukino and Kanade from ''[[Candy Boy]]'' call each other "Yuki-nee" and "Kana-nee", often saying it twice wen they want to get each other's attention. Their younger sister Shizuku calls them both "neechan", although for Kanade she also tends to use the variety "[[Baka]]-neechan".
* In ''[[Maria Holic]]'', the priest Kanae thinks Kanako's issues stem from losing her beloved brother. (To Tchaikovsky syndrome in B minor. Yes, Mariya's behind this.) The term he uses for this nonexistent brother is ''ani-ue''.
* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', Nunnally often referred to her older brother Lelouch with the ultra-respectful ''Onii-Sama'' . His {{spoiler|fake younger brother, who he eventually accepts before his death}} Rolo refers to him as ''Nii-San''. (The dub uses "Big Brother" for both.) Not sure if it's in the canon, but fanon usually has the word ''aniue'' pop up in regards to Lelouch's relationship with his older half-brother Schneizel.
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* In ''[[Sorcerer Hunters]]'', Marron refers to his brother as "niisan" more often than he does his name, while Tira calls Chocolat "onee-sama". Eclair in the [[OAV|OAVs]] refers to her big brother Gateau as "aniki".
* In ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'', [[Those Two Guys|Keisaku and Eita]] always use the respectful ''ane-san'' for Margery Daw. You'll find that funny if you [[Bottle Fairy|get to know her]].
* In ''[[Baccano!]]!'', the [[Ax Crazy]] mechanic Graham Specter refers to his hero, the equally [[Ax Crazy]] Ladd Russo, as "Ladd-aniki". Luck and Berga Gandor call their older brother Keith "Kii-nii," and {{spoiler|Maiza's younger brother calls him "nii-san."}}
* In ''[[Death Note]]'', Sayu always calls Light ''oniichan''; he just calls her Sayu, as you'd expect -- though in the manga, there's a point where an [[Alternate Character Reading]] is employed, with the kanji for "Sayu" being read as ''imōto''.
{{quote|
* In ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'', the members of the street gangs refer to Yukine as Yuki-nee.
* In ''[[Amagami]]'' Miya with her famous "nii-nii" for her brother Junichi.
* Another rather famous "nii-nii" in [[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]] from Satoko. It's also someone's [[Berserk Button]].
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* In ''[[The World God Only Knows]]'', Elsie, a low-ranking devil who concludes a contract with Keima, considers him a god and pretends to be his younger sister. So, she calls him "Kami-nii-sama", thus mixing together "god" and "older brother".
** Kusonoki calls her older sister Hinoki "ane-ue".
* ''[[
* In [[Queen's Blade]] [[Catgirl|Elina]] calls her elder sister [[Action Girl|Leina]] "onee-chan," while both call their eldest half-sister [[Lady of War|Claudette]] "onee-sama."
* In ''[[Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl]],'' Hazumu has been gender-swapped, and the ship's AI has based [[Spaceship Girl|its hologram avatar]] on his new female form. Because of this, she call him/her "nii-nee-san."
* Evolves over the course of [[Ranma
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* Lots of characters in the ''Yakuza'' series call Kazuma "aniki" (for example, Rikiya of the recent ''Yakuza 3''). Of course, that shouldn't surprise anyone...
* Rose Bernstein in ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' calls her brother Adel ''onii-sama'' in his opening pose.
* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' has a character named "Aniki", who happens to be Rikku's brother. This was translated as "Brother", and throughout the game and [[Final Fantasy X
** Don't forget Aniki in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''... on second thought, [[Not That There's Anything Wrong with That|let's forget about him]].
* In ''[[Last Blade]] 2'', [[Bifauxnen|Kojiroh]] invokes "aniue" in one of her violent deaths.
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==
* One of the main characters in ''[[Tsunami Channel]]'' is called "Onii-Chan" by his robotic "adopted little sister", and we [[No Name Given|never learn his actual name]].
* In ''[[Red String]]'' [[But Not Too Foreign|half Japanese, half American]] Maaya Chiaki references the differences in terminology [https://web.archive.org/web/20110825030658/http://www.redstring.strawberrycomics.com/?p=528 when she recalls] being chastised by Teachers for refering to her elder brother by name after a visit to her grandparents' home in the States.
{{reflist}}
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