One, Two, Three, Four, Go

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

いち、に、さん、よん、ご!

In Japanese, "Go" means "five". But they are also aware that it means "move forward" or "take action" in English. So when the word is mixed into Gratuitous English, or included as Gratuitous Japanese, it becomes a pun, having both meanings at once.

This could apply to titles, names, dialog, and many things related to a Five-Man Band.

Perhaps in straight Japanese, the pun is there, but someone who knows Japanese would have to explain how the pun is there in any such examples.

Popular in both Manga, Anime, and Animesque shows.

Seven Is Nana is a Sister Trope.

Examples (Please be sure to explain how they fit here)

Anime and Manga

  • The original title for Speed Racer is Mach Go Go Go after the car, which is called the "Mach Go". So calling it the "Mach 5" in the dub just made sense. Since the word "number" can be pronounced "go" as well, an accurate translation of the original title would be "Mach #5, Go!" - all 3 "go"s have different meanings.
    • For those who care, "go" doesn't exactly mean "number," though it frequently can be used as such—it's a suffix attached to the name of a vehicle, which frequently do involve numbers but don't have to. E.g. Tetsujin Nijuhachi-go is literally "Iron Man #28", but Captain Harlock's ship, the Arcadia, is also referred to as "Arcadia-go" in Japanese.
  • GoLion (Voltron in America) is made of five lions, and they shout "Let's Go Lion!" before forming.
  • In one episode of Fushigiboshi no Futagohime, Bumo, Evil Counterpart to Pumo, disguises himself as the latter and tries to lead the main characters into a trap by explaining that the answer their Crystal Fortulette gave (6) meant to go to the Thorn (Ibara) Mansion, since one (ichi) and five (go) add up to six.
  • Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Go Go! is the second series of that franchise featuring a Five-Man Band.
  • In Hikaru no Go, Hikaru wears a shirt with the number 5 on it. And he's a go player.
  • Usually races in Initial D start with a different countdown, but this one appears a few times.
  • Played With in the song "Gohan wa Okazu" ("Rice as a Side Dish") from K-On! episode 20. At first it sounds like this trope is invoked, but actually the song contains the refrain "Ichi, ni, san, shi, gohan!" (One, two, three, four, rice!")
  • Opening 15 of One Piece, "We Go!", has the refrain "Ichi, ni, sunshine, yon, WE GO!" The romanization of "sunshine" is "san-sha-in," in which "san" is the traditional three.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Yusei's D-Wheel is called the Yusei Go. Its Wikia page should give some insights on the many possible meanings/puns of the name.

Fan Works

  • An active confusion between Japanese and English appears at a critical moment in the last chapter of Drunkard's Walk II:

"Colonel Sangnoir! You are critically wounded! What song do you use to heal yourself?"
Oh. "Key...keycode th-three niner six <g-go>," I managed to grind out. "<S-s-system...>" I tried to say next, only to burst into a round of exquisitely painful coughing.
"Three nine six five?" the figure on the right asked.
"No," said the middle one. "The English word <go>."

Live Action TV

Video Games

  • In Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 4, one of the songs is entitled "GO!"—getting its title from its 5/4 time signature. Throughout the track, a voice can be made out in the background counting off in Japanese.
    • Pump It Up Pro 2 has a different remix of the same "GO!" song mentioned above, with the same time signature issues.

Western Animation

Real Life

  • The video game creator Suda 51 got his name as a pun on his first name Goichi. "Go" meaning 5 of course, and "ichi" meaning 1.
  1. 555 is the emergency phone number in Japan, equivalent to 911 in the US.