ボク少女/俺女[boku-shoujo/ore-onna]
There are several kinds of the first person(一人称) in Japanese. When Japanese learners start to work on this, they usually learn 私[watashi] first. This is the most common and polite one, that’s why. わたくし(watakushi, kanji is the same as 私) is too polite, if you ask me. However, if you are learning with anime, manga, TV drama, or whatever, you would definitely know more first persons such as 僕[boku], 俺[ore], あたし[atashi], or わし[washi]. Needless to say, some of them are men’s use, and others are women’s use.
Having said that, especially in anime a strange thing happens(well, a lot of crazy things happen anytime, if nothing else). I mean, even though she is a girl, she might be using ボク[boku] to address herself. Does this ring a bell to you? Grammatically and logically, this is definitely wrong, but for some reason this happens…If you encounter this kind of girl, you can call her ボク少女[boku-shoujo] or ボクっ子(娘)[bokukko]. ボク is mostly written as katakana rather than kanji. Maybe that’s because it would sound cute, I assume. Anyway, this type of girl could be innocent and adorable, and she might be lolita-looking and diminutive. Speaking of a ボクっ子, I can think of Ayuayu[Kanon], Mitsuki[Double Cast], Makoto[Idolm@ster], Ai-chan[Cat's Eye], Kino[Kino no tabi], Utena, Hanyu[Higurashi no naku koro ni], Akane[Toki meki memorial 2]. Ugh, there’s too many, never ends. If she turns you on, you would sure have a ボクっ娘萌え[bokukko-moe]. But why? I don’t feel anything about this, so I wonder why this could turn you on? I guess a little girl who says boku makes herself more cuddlesome. Yes, of course this can happen in anime[二次元]only. I have seen a real ボク少女, but it was too painful to hear.
Meanwhile, there’s another type of girl. If she uses 俺[ore], she could be labelled as a 俺女[ore-onna]. We don’t say 俺っ子[orekko] for some reason. At any rate, 俺女 might be very cool and such a delinquent girl. ;^^ Yes, she tries to look herself stronger, but the real her is so lonely and weak…When she stops using 俺 and says 私 with a shy voice, she would show you her dere-side. Nah, this is an average クーデレ girl, isn’t it? Anyway speaking of a 俺女, I can think of Touma[Minamike], Kaori[City Hunter], Azumi[あずみ], or Kiyomi[Sotsugyou]. Even though they don’t say 俺, I would like to count Tomoyo[CLANNAD] and C.C[Code Geass] because there’s no feminine utterance from them like ～わよ[...wayo], ～のよ[...noyo], ～わね[...wane].
Too bad neither can turn me on!
Soshi said,
April 4, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Hahaha, if I was animated I’d want to be an 俺女！ Ore-onna are usually tomboys(お転婆)?
Neohybrid_kai said,
April 5, 2008 at 10:10 am
Ah, this is a bit off topic but one thing that I love from japanese language is that it has the word “boku”. I geet a feeling that when a grown-up man uses “boku” he kind of wanted to show the childish side inside him, something that didn’t exist in my native language. Btw I’m curious, is it weird for a gaijin to use “boku” in real life in Japan there?
Back to topic, If I remember correctly, Mamoru from Sispri is also a boku shoujo right? I think it’s because she’s the first female character who uses “boku” my image of boku shoujo is a tomboyish girl, which I’m not into ^^; That’s why when I watched Kanon years ago (the old one) I was shocked when I hear Ayu using boku, I mean, how could such a cute dojikko like her used a boisterous word ?
About ore onna, so far I haven’t seen them in anime that I’ve watched BUT I have seen them on a reportage about buttler cafe at otome road on youtube ^^;;; yes I think they’re so cool lol. But still, nothing can beat tsundere-moe XDD
bangin said,
April 6, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Soshi: Wahaha, so you should show your dere-side sometimes. And you can kill guys for sure. XDD
Neohybrid_kai: I don’t think so. Even if he is an adult, he can use boku. It sounds humble, but less polite than watashi. If you don’t need to be that formal, nor want to be that rude, you could say boku. I like this. I want to stay humble even if I place myself in an informal setting. Well, when I get used to place there, I would use 俺.
So gaikokujins can say boku. Not weird at all. ^^
In my case, the very first bokukko I saw is Ai-chan in Cat’s Eye. She is the youngest in the three thieves. She is a bit androgynous, so when I saw her for the first time, I thought she was a boy.
I heard all the butlers in the cafe at Otome Road are real, I mean, trained young boys. Really? Don’t you think it was a 男装喫茶? I know one in Akihabara. They are all 俺女.
Neohybrid_kai said,
April 7, 2008 at 10:14 am
Ah, I see. Thanks for the information
About the butlers, by the voice it seems like woman, I forget the link to the video though, and you could be right too ^^
bangin said,
April 8, 2008 at 2:41 am
There is a 女装喫茶 in Akihabara as well. ^^