Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans

 I don’t think I have to explain this, but actually I seriously feel this term could be a yearly famous word this year[年間流行語] The reason why I think so is that I have heard more than 10 non-otaku people around me saying this word in a conversation. It’s not so sure that I am going to see how it goes after Sky Crawlers releases. In this film, there are other keywords like ティーチャー[teacher], but why is just キルドレ[kirudore] going to get into the mainstream?

 キルドレ[kirudore] means children who stopped growing up at the puberty and have an (almost) eternal life. So in other words, they never get old. Yes, never get old…I know I might be wrong, but anyone wants to go on being young, doesn’t want to get old. If there is a reason why キルドレ is famous, the point should be here, I assume.  Director Mamoru Oshii[押井　守] wants to send his message to young people those who don’t have a purpose in their lives with this term he created. I am not an anime reviewer, nor good at writing that kind of thing, so I will leave it to you.

 What I want to say here is that anyone who has a purpose in life doesn’t get old? Or else, is there any other way around?  In real life, anyone gets old. This is true. But sometimes I see people who look so young for their ages. As far as I am aware, there are two types of people;

A. a person who has something keeps him/her going.

B. a person who has no responsibility.

 People who has no purpose in life do not realize their beings, so does that mean they don’t get old? This question reminds me of something I saw in Howl’s Moving Castle. A 19-year-old girl, Sophie gets transformed into an old woman because of the curse. The curse actually exposes his/her mental age, so she becomes such an old lady. She doesn’t really enjoy her life, in other words, such a boring life…

 At any rate as for type A, such people look lively, and their eyes are brilliant. I don’t know what exactly keeps them going, but they seem to enjoy their lives. So they don’t look old for their ages. As for type B, such people are free. It doesn’t mean they are NEET, but nothing seems to bind themselves. They have no spouse to rear, nor such an obligate work(though they are working). They don’t carry a heavy burden, so that’s why they look young.

 Me? I am definitely type B. I am just an otomen cosplayer, you know. I like to spend my time and money for my own, and have no responsibility. I have never thought of having a family(甲斐性無し！こんな男になっちゃダメですよ). What I am thinking about now is which character I shall cosplay next. However, before I became a cosplayer, I was much fatter and fed up with a stressful job. In such a time, one colleague said to me, “You look old for your age (at that time, I was 24).” I changed my life at a time, I mean, changed a job, moved out, and found a new hobby, cosplay. Since I became a cosplayer, some people say I am a student(!). I know I am too old to cosplay a 14-year-old Nagisa KaworuCome to think of it, I even changed my friends. It’s not on purpose, I didn’t realise it. What I am doing get me new people, new friends. Those new cosplay friends of mine are all like me. No responsibility… 

I know I shouldn’t say about キルドレ before the film releases. But in many ways, I feel キルドレ is going to be such a famous word. For general people, キルドレ just means to go on being young, I suppose so.

BTW, you want to be a キルドレ in that way? 

 Even if you are not an otaku, I think you would be sure of the nightmare in Akihabara where an insane man stabbed several people at random last Sunday afternoon. Tell me this is just a bad dream!! If you happened to be kindly worried about me, I must say I am okay. Hopefully, I was not there on the day, but at the local karaoke to clear my frustration. All of a sudden, a friend of mine called me, and she was so upset. She told me about the incident and two of our mutual friends were at the site at the moment. I immediately tried to ring them, but neither answered the phone. But after some calls, one of them finally answered and told me the both were okay. Even though I wasn’t there at that time, I was there before the day, around the same hour as the incident. What if it happened one day earlier?

 Following the incident, I got a lot of e-mails and phone calls from my friends to make sure I was okay. The news spread out so soon that even my friend in UK mailed me. I am working near Akihabara, so I went to the site next day. A lot of flowers were dedicated already…

 Now I am so scared, and really worried about what will happen after this in Akihabara. I guess the main boulevard woundn’t be blocked off as a walkers’ paradise for a while, and the police would be patrolling more strictly. Nowhere is safe, you know. Anyway, as for the murderer, it needs more investigation. But what I want to know is that he is actually an otaku or not. If he is, the media would paint a dark image on otakus like they did so when Miyazaki Incident happened. If he is not, why did he choose Akihabara? He came all the way from Shizuoka Prefecture in order to kill people? Anyone should be fine? No reason? Did he think it is okay to kill otakus? What deserves to die is not otakus, but him.

 I can’t help but praying for people who had to leave this world…Ah, rest in peace, rest in peace…

* All the photos are taken by the certain writer I work with.

 If you happen to be in Tokyo, and a big fan of Evangelion, you would be sure that Cure Maid-Cafe is supposed to feature Evangelion themed service. Actually this is not their first time doing this, but this year must be more than last year since the Evangelion movie DVD has just released. I have been to this maid-cafe a long time ago, but there was nothing special but humble maids. So I hadn’t been here since then…

 Meanwhile, I was looking for a new character I cosplay next time a while ago, and I decided to do Nagisa Kaworu for some reason. I am an オトメン, not ガチホモAnyway, just after I got the hairdresser’s to cut my wig, I got an e-mail from the certain writer. She was going to interview Cure Maid-Cafe, so asked me to go in cosplaying Kaworu. Well, I hadn’t tried my Kaworu’s costume out, so I had no idea how it went…But yes, I was on it.

Read the rest of this entry »

This post contains some pornographic contexts. Viewers’ understanging is required. Read the rest of this entry »

　 I don’t know how many anime fans would like to learn yakuza terminology, but I got a request I should make a post on this again here. So I shall introduce some which I didn’t do last time.

 Too bad, there’s not much anime series which follow yakuza society. However, there are quite a few yakuza manga. As far as I am aware, two major yakuza manga-ka are 池上遼一[Ikegami Ryouichi] and 倉科遼[Kurashina Ryo]. Speaking of the former’s famous manga, I can definitely recommend HEAT, and the latter, it should be 女帝[jotei] and 美悪の華[biaku no hana]. Okay, so I shall mention some new words here…

1. 弾く[hajiku]: To assassinate someone especially with a pistol. 拳銃[kenju] is also read as はじき[hajiki]. If someone says, 堀田さんが弾かれました![Hotta-san ga hajikaremashita!], it would mean Hotta-san got killed with a pistol.

2. 殺る[toru]: Yes, to kill someone. But in this case, it would emphasize he seriously would like a big reputation, so that he dies to kill a high-rank person in the yakuza circle.

3. 命[tama]: 命を殺る[tama wo toru] means to kill someone.

4. 臭い飯[kusai meshi]: Literally, it means a stinky food, but actually this means to go to jail. It probably origins from a horrible food in prison. But just 臭い飯 doesn’t work. You ought to say 臭い飯を食う[kusai meshi wo kuu], and it works.

5. エンコ詰め[enko dsume]: In this society, there is a weird way to show your apology. Yes,  if you make a big mistake, you would have to be punished. So…they would chop your pinky. Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! エンコ[enko] means a pinky.

6. ショバ代:[shoba-dai]: If you make a hot-dog(or takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba) stand on the street, a group of yakuza might come to you and say like どこにショバ代払てんねや、オゥ？[doko ni shoba-dai haroten neya, Ou?]. Even if you get a permission from the police, you yet to pay some money to them if you accidentally place a stand in the yakuza’s 縄張り[shimari]. But yeah? They would just threaten you. You don’t need to pay, but so long as you don’t pay, they would keep annoying you forever. ショバ stems from 場所[basho]. Techinically it is 場所代[basho-dai] which means money to use a space.

7. ダフ屋[dafu-ya]: If you go to a live performance, you would definitely see this kind of yakuza. They are walking around the cencert hall to sell and buy tickets. This is technically illegal, but some lunatic fans die to get a ticket from them. But be careful, they might be selling a fake one or an out-of-date ticket. And if you really really want to buy a ticket from them, you should wait until the show begins, otherwise you can haggle over the price. ダフ屋 means a yakuza who sells and buys tickets at an amazingly expensive price. ダフ stems from 札[fuda] which means a ticket or a token.

8. みかじめ[mikajime]: In kanji, it might be written as 見ヶ〆(not correct). But this is 当て字[ateji, phonetic equivalent], so don’t believe it too much. At any rate, this is something like ショバ代, but if a shop is controlled (or managed) by a group of yakuza, the owner has to pay some money to them. Mostly, this happens to nightclubs or host-or-hostess clubs. They are actually controlled by a certain group of yakuza.  

 As I said in my previous post, I am just a big fan of yakuza film. Not one of them, really! (;^^)

 Well, this is not supposed to be posted here, but I can’t help but writing about a wonderful meeting with the two visitors on my blog. Yes, of course this is my first time having a オフ会[off-kai], I mean, in real world I met two young guests all the way from Singapore. Windbell and double are staying in Tokyo for a week and a bit to have fun. And to my surprise a boy named double is 17. Ouch, ouch, OOOOOOOUCH, I am almost 10 years elder than him, so I am such an オジサン, am I not? orz Meanwhile Windbell is 20. Anyway, young is good…

 They already explored not only Akihabara, but Otome Road in Ikebukuro, so there was nothing particular left to show. However, it was Sunday so maybe we could see something interesting on the main boulevard. Yes, I was right. The street was blocked, and there were some 地下アイドル[chika idol] and cosplayers. I think you had better check the blogs of double and Windbell since their photos are far better than mine. Read the rest of this entry »

 A brand-new genre of 萌え[moe] has come though I guess this is to be for women. Before I start with this, I should talk about ファザコン[fazakon] first. If you really really love your dad, and if you always follow such a gentleman like your dad(or your ideal gentleman), you might have ファザコン[father complex]. There’s not only ファザコン, but マザコン[mazakon, mother complex], ブラコン[burakon, brother complex], and シスコン[shisukon, sister complex]. Oh hey, if an elder brother complex, it should be equal to お兄ちゃん萌え[onii-chan moe], and if a younger sister complex, it should be 妹萌え[imouto moe].

 At any rate, if there is a better ring to ファザコン in otaku way, I would like to replace it as カレセン萌え[karesen moe]. To get to the point, カレセン means to love a middle-aged man or even a bit old man. He wouldn’t even have to be that gorgeous and handsome, but gentle and good-hearted. If he seems to be a bit lonesome, it might be much better. I’d venture to say he would be a bachelor and…sorry for saying like this, but a ダメ男[dameo, sucker]. But I can ganrantee there are a lot of girls who love such a ダメ男.

 But why カレセン? カレセン is actually an abbreviation of 枯れたおじさん専門（科）[kareta ojisan senmon(ka)]. 枯れた is an adjective form of 枯れる[wither], and おじさん[ojisan] means a middle-aged man. 専門[senmon] means fancy, taste, or your department here. In this case, we don’t say 専門, but just abbreviate it as 専[sen]. Here’s a little more examples; デブ専[debusen, to love fat girls only] or ブス専[bususen, to love ugly girls only].

 Anyway, 枯れたおじさん means a withered middle-aged man litarally. So why is this a new type of 萌え? What’s the point in 枯れたおじさん? The above book mentions some points like below…

a. He can make the most of his free time.

b. He looks nice on the backstreet.

c. He prefers cats than dogs.

d. He prefers a bottle of beer than a can of it.

e. He must be drinking alone at his favorite bar. At a tiny little bar.

f. He is a kind of well-informed, but he is so modest.

g. He dosen’t follow women or money so much.

h. He accepts his age. This means he doesn’t try to look himself younger.

 Come to think of it, I actually have such friends, and I like them since I can relax in front of them. They kindly listen to me, and share with me his knowledge. In BL circles, there is already a genre called オヤジ受け[oyaji-uke]. Even though I can’t think of any karesen characters in anime at all (maybe Watari in Death Note? No way.), I believe there must be girls who has a karesen taste. 

 I wish I could be loved by such a karesen girl when I get older. (・ε・) Gyaaaaaa, what if I still remained single after 40!? Okay, I shall bet the rest of my life on karesen. orz 

 Well, this is kind of a ritual in Japan, we usually decide some yearly famous words at the end of the year. It could be what a celebrity says, a politician says, or whatever. I am not interested in this kind of thing, but maybe as for the last year, it could be どんだけぇ～[dondakeee] or　そんなの関係ねえ！[son-nano kankei ne] or something like that. Personally, everytime someone around me recites this kind of word, I get irritated though I have to laugh formally. Maybe that’s because I detest that kind of celebrities.

Anyway, something is becoming a thing among most schoolgirls. Yes, that is KY language. You know, when I was a schoolboy, コギャル語[hogyaru-go] was popular such as 超[chou]+adjective, 鬼[oni]+adjective which mean super- or hyper-. They used to say 超BAD！or チョベリバ[choberiba] which mean very bad. Sounds very nostalgic to me, do those recent schoolgirls still say like this? I don’t think so.

KY stands for 空気が読めない[kuuki ga yomenai]. I know you don’t say this in English like read the air(空気を読む). Er, to get to the point, it means not be able to feel what’s going on around you. It’s not clear if I say read the atomosphere, is it? On the bulltien board, it might be written like 空気嫁[kuuki yome] to ask someone to feel the atomosphere. Nah, it’s wrong. 嫁[yome] fills in for 読め[yome]. Sounds like 2ch, though.  

In this way, whatever should be abbriviated by those schoolgirls shall be called KY語[KY-go]. If they have a time to come up with these acronyms, why don’t they say it naturally? It doesn’t take time, though. At any rate, I shall list what I learned out here.

・ＡＭ＝後でまたね[ato de matane, see you later]
・ＡＴＭ＝アホな父ちゃんもういらへん[aho na touchan mou irahen, I don't need my stupid dad]
・ＣＢ＝超微妙[chou bimyou, very indescribable]
・ＤＤ＝誰でも大好き[dare demo daisuki, anyone loves]
・ＤＫ＝大事なところでかむ[daiji na tokoro de kamu, blow your important lines]
・ＦＫ＝ファンデ濃い[fande koi, very thick fundation]
・ＧＭＭ＝偶然街で会った元カレ[guuzen machi de atta motokare, ex-boyfriend I came across on the street]
・ＨＤ＝ヒマだから電話する[hima dakara denwa suru, I shall ring you because I am free]
・ＨＴ＝話ついて行けない[hanashi tsuite ikenai, I can't catch up with you]
・ＩＴ＝アイス食べたい[ice tabetai, I want to eat ice cream]
・ＩＷ＝意味わかんない[imi wakan-nai, it doesn't make any sense]
・ＪＫ＝女子高生[joshikousei, schoolgirl]
・ＫＺ＝絡みづらい[karamizurai, (someone is)hard to understand]
・３Ｍ＝マジでもう無理[maji de mou muri, I can't endure anymore]
・ＭＫ５＝マジキレる５秒前[maji kire ru 5(go) byoumae, 5 seconds prior to my breakdown]
・ＭＭ＝マジムカつく[maji mukatsuku, really piss off]
・ＮＤ＝人間としてどうよ[ningen to shite douyo, as a human being, what do you say about this?]
・ＮＷ＝ノリ悪い[nori warui, (someone is)not enjoyable]
・ＰＫ＝パンツ食い込む[pantsu kuikomu, pants bite into my...]
・ＰＳＩ＝パンツにシャツイン[pantsu ni shatsu in, (sorry, I will explain later)]
・ＴＤ＝テンションダウン[tenshon daun, lower my spirit] 
・ＴＫ＝とんだ勘違い[tonda kanchigai, what a big misunderstanding]
・ＷＨ＝話題変更[wadai henkou, change a topic]

 As for パンツにシャツイン, this embodies a geek’s typical conservative looking such as akiba-kei. A shirttail tucks in the trouser. This is not something most people think cool. 

 They make me giggle, but I am pretty sure they will all fade away as time goes by. But for now, why don’t you try it out if you happen to be a schoolgirl? :) 

 If you happen to learn Japanese, particulary kanji, have you encountered any weird reading? I mean, even though those reading are not technically correct, it should bestow a better ring to it. That’s what’s-called, 当て字[ateji, phonetic equivalent]. I think you could find this kind of thing in the lyrics on Japanese pop-music. If from anime songs, I can think of 玉置成実[Narumi Tamaki] or TWO-MIX. Sometimes it makes me laugh because it sounds too poetic or too melodramatic, but this time I would like to mention 定め[sadame] which means a fate or destiny.

 Mostly in the lyrics of songs, it would be written as either 運命[unmei] or 宿命[shukumei] and read as さだめ. This is not correct, but it sounds a little more fascinating, doesn’t it? I am not an English-speaking person, so if I am wrong, I would really appreciate it if you kindly correct me. If we read 運命 as さだめ, it would probably function as destiny. I mean, it is supposed to be like that. No matter what, it happens for sure. Irregistable and inavoidable regardless whether he/she wants or not. Let’s see some exapmles…

a. 彼は明日死ぬ。それがあいつの運命（さだめ）なのだよ。[He will die tomorrow. That's his destiny.] 

b. 私たちが出逢ったのも、何かの運命(さだめ)です。[Our encounter should be something like destiny.] Ugh, this is too poetic.

 However, if we read 宿命 as さだめ, it would probably mean it is destined to do sth since it was born or the certain point of its life. It’s more like the person must do sth no matter what. It seem to have less romantic connotation than 運命 does. Because he has a certain purpose in his life, he must inevitably do another thing to fulfill it. As a result, it becomes the thing he is destined to do…This is 宿命 as さだめ.

c. それが宿命（さだめ）というわけですな、永遠の刺客としての。[That's your fate, isn't it? As an eternal assassin.]

 This is what Soutetsu in Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto says(I am sorry, I forgot in which episode he does and actually he doesn’t say さだめ, but shukumei). Anyway, the protagonist Youjiro who failed to protect Sakamoto Ryouma, has to find out 覇者の首[hasha no kubi] and destroy. Since he vows to do so, he must do whatever no matter what comes out. If 運命 is decided by such an absolute power, 宿命 might be still decided by the person’s will. 

 Lelouch in Code Geass vows to destroy Britannia for the sake of his younger sister. So whatever he sacrifises could be called 宿命. The fact that he was born in the Britannia Family, his mother got assassinated, and his sister got crippled would be 運命 because it has nothing to do with Lelouch’s will. However, even if he ought to battle with Kururugi Suzaku, and he doesn’t want to kill his childhood mate, he has to do so(are we going to see that next month?) because that is his 宿命.

 Yorihisa in Harukanaru toki no nakade has to protect Miko(our protagonist). [Spoiler starts]In the certain episode, he kills a monster called 鵺[nue] which is actually his very first friend. Nue gets insane because of the spell, and kidnaps Miko. Yorihisa must protect Miko, so in the end he shall kill his best friend.[spoiler ends] There’s a line in his theme song;

d. 運命の悪戯か　宿命なのか[Is it a jest of fortune or shukumei?].

 Yes, like we are confused, even he seems to be, too.  Am I making sense? If not, don’t hesitate to tell me, please.

 This post relates to my previous post.

 Nah, it’s what’s called, a chain reaction? The same nightmare happened to another diva, Kumi Koda[倖田夾未]. If you happen to follow Japan’s entertainment industry, you might be sure of what has happened to her. In the radio talk show, when she talked about her assistant who got married, she said, “Well, I hope his wife could give birth untill she turns 35, because amniotic fluid would go bad after 35…” She never thought about this way, as a result she got blamed by a lot of women who are over 35 and single. What she said is not medically true, so even Dr. Nishikawa (she is 36) got upset about this. That’s strange, she used to be blamed because of her rude saying, ブサイクは生きる価値無し[No ugly people deserve to live]. At any rate, she had to apologize in public with tears…like Erika did so. In this way, apology followed showfolk piss people off shall be called 沢尻方式[sawajiri houshiki]. 方式[houshiki] means a method. Erika currently has no jobs because of her mistake, and Kumi had to cancel her promotion for her latest album (but she will do her live tour). Umm, she politely apologized, though…let’s say like 地雷を踏んだ[jirai wo funda]. 地雷[jirai] means a mine, and 踏んだ[funda] means tramped. To make a blunder when you speak is, we say, 地雷を踏む[jirai wo fumu]. Yes, we don’t know where exactly a mine is, but if we tramp it, BOOOOOOMB!

 Anyway, she had a huge reputation as a diva, everyone used to highly appreciate her. But what? Once she made a blunder, people has ostracized her…A tiny word could change everything, and destroy everything…even long-lasted reputation. Oh no, it’s like the famous word of destruction in Castle in the Sky, isn’t it?

 This almost happened to our idol 中川翔子[Shouko Nakagawa]. But she is okay, she just said the wrong information. Even that, she politely apologized…and the anchor apologized next…Everyone seems to be so careful, ugh. There’s often an old saying, 口は災いの元[kuchi wa wazawai no moto, Least said, soonest mended]. Yes, indeed.

 The day I would apologize to you would come someday??ｶﾞｸｶﾞｸｶﾞｸｶﾞｸ(((;゜д゜)))ﾌﾞﾙﾌﾞﾙﾌﾞﾙﾌﾞﾙ

 By the way, you can watch her apology here.