お約束[oyakusoku]
A promise? No, no, no, this is a bit different from what it actually means. Yes, this means a promise, but if you place お[o] ahead of 約束[yakusoku], it would change the meaning somehow…Well, when you watch anime or TV drama, or read a novel, do you happen to be able to predict what would happen next or how the story concludes? If the story goes as you predict, and that is like what you have seen so many times, it could be what’s called, お約束[oyakusoku]. The funny thing is that nobody can break the rule-of-thumb, so everybody has to follow it…To get to the point, yes, it means cliche or cliched. Now we also say ベタ[beta] to mean the same thing. You can say like ベタなxxx [beta na sth] to mean cliched xxx. Okay, I shall give you some example I can think of…
お約束１. One morning, the protagonist schoolboy is almost late for the school because of oversleep. He is running towards the school, but when he turns at the corner, he hits a beautiful schoolgirl. At the moment he has a soft spot for her because she is so ladylike and pretty. At any rate, he has no time to chat, so he leaves with a word “I-I am okay.” Hopefully he can catch the roll call…When the teacher comes to the classroom, he says, “Well, today we got a newcomer, come in!” And when the door opens, it turns out to be the girl whom he hit minutes ago! She steps into the classroom, and finds him…And the two stare each other for the moment…To be continued.
Ugh, this is too cheezy. Who else can use such a predictable prologue? Anyway, this can be called ベタな展開[beta na tenkai, "a cliched storyline"]. So we have learned a protagonist shall encounter a transfered student ahead of any other classmates by accident.
お約束２. “Yes, we are over…I won’t see her anymore,” he sighs in his room. But his mobile rings, and it is from his friend. “Hey, what are you doing now!? Are you absolutely sure about this?,” “What are you talking about?”"Oh, don’t you know that? She is leaving Japan, she is going to Paris (otherwise possibly New York or L.A)! Her flight is 3 o’clock, so you can still catch it! Go!”"Well, we are finished, though…”"You will never see her again if you don’t go.” He starts to think over for several minutes…and leaves for the airport. Usually, the transportation should be a taxi. Of course, he doesn’t pay the driver, but leaves his ID(if he is a student, he could leave his student card and uniform). He tries to find her, but it’s too late. The plane she is supposed to get in leaves…”Oh no, it’s too late..,” when he is out of breath, he feels somebody is behind him. Yes, it’s her. Oh hey, how can she find him in such a crowding airport at once? And how come she knows he is at the airport? “I couldn’t leave as I thought…,” she says. The two embrace each other. The ending theme song plays here…Fin.
This is ベタな結末[beta na ketsumatsu, "a cliched ending"]. We have learned women have a radar to sense where he exactly is even at the crowding airport.
お約束３. In Korean soap operas, there are at least three of below items;
a. traffic accident
b. amnesia
c. conflict between parents over the marriage
d. triangle relationship
e. a mean girl
f. leukemia
お約束４. An ordinary schoolgirl is summoned to a different world on the way to school (or home). And she is supposed to be the Messiah to save the world (example, Twelve Kingdoms, Harukanaru toki no naka de, Fushigi yugi, Kyou kara maou).
お約束５. In bishoujo games, a protagonist boy lives by himself so that he can call in girls anytime. His parents mostly either passed away or are away due to the business for years.
That’s all I can think of now. But what about in your country? Above(expect no. 3) are all common in Japan, but are they so overseas as well? No way, impossible. So if you know any cliches in your country, please tell me. I want to know.
[Trial] 歌唱戦士Gundam Seed [kashou senshi Gundam Seed]
As I have said here, I finally took up AVplaya-san’s suggestion. So this is the new service on the karaoke equipment DAM[第一興商], 歌唱戦士Gundam Seed where those characters in Gundam Seed shall evaluate your singing. I choked a bit, but did my best(maybe?)…Anyway, let’s see how it goes together.
First, you shall choose your mobile suit before you sing. I selected the freedom Gundam[フリーダムガンダム, from the second one on the below line], and next you can choose a song you want to sing. But in this service, the songs you can enjoy are mostly from Gundam Seed or Destiny. So I selected Kira Yamato(Hoshi Souichirou[保志総一郎])’s Tomorrow…
Putting aside my terrible singing, this movie is awesome. I really appreciate how well they edit some nice fragments of those scenes as a karaoke video. Okay, before you depart, Lacus says, 必ず戻って来て下さいね、私のところへ[kanarazu modottekite kudasaine, watakushi no tokoro e, "Please come back to me"]. And after you finish singing, someone shows up and evaluates. In this video, Shin Asuka said, こ、これほど腕を上げてるなんて・・・！[ko-korehodo ude wo ageterunante...!,"I-I didn't know you have improved your singing a lot!]. Well, thanks for the compliment. (・з・)
You can print out your result. Who shall evaluate your singing is actually at random. There are numerous messages from characters, so it would tempt fans to collect all the messages.
If you come to Japan and happen to be a karaoke fan, why don’t you try this?
BTW, for more information about the lyrics and the translation, you can see here.
[Intermission] How much possibility to be yandere you have?
As I have said, I shall post my translation for the questionnaire to diagnose your yandere syndrome. Okay, when you go to this site, enter your name first. Anything is fine, this is just for your certificate.
Please answer each question and mark it. When you click it, a green dot shows.
When you finish all the questions, click 送信[soushin]. And you can see the result.
So I shall post my translation for all the questions.
Q1. You are a wonderful person.
Absolutely.
I don’t think so.
I am not sure.
Q2. You have to keep going.
I have to for everything.
I am doing my best all the time.
Dunno.
Q3. Once you start to think a bad thing, you can’t come off it.
I know I should come off it, but I end up thinking.
Sometimes I do.
I seldom think of bad things.
Q4. You think tomorrow is not going to be a good day.
No.
Maybe yes.
I will make it a good day if tomorrow is really sucks.
Q5. You have much responsibility.
Of course I have.
Someone else will do it if I don’t do.
I am forced to do it though I don’t want to do.
Q6. You don’t hesitate to sacrifice something for your important thing.
Partly it should be okay.
If it is really important, it can’t be helped.
That depends.
Q7. Your ideal is too far from your reality.
I don’t think so.
Maybe yes. But that’s what life is all about.
I have my ideal, but I can’t make it come to pass with the reality I am in.
Q8. Though you are sure it’s not good, you do it.
I don’t do it if I know it’s not good.
When I come to my senses, I already did it.
Nothing can stop it, so it can’t be helped.
Q9. Though things go as you planned, you don’t get satisfied.
I would be happy if things go well.
Nothing can satisfy me.
Rather, nothing goes well.
Q10. Even though it doesn’t matter to anybody else, you do care about it.
Of course, I care.
There is no accounting for tastes.
I don’t think about such a thing.
Q11. Here comes a UFO.
What are you talking about?
Oh, it’s a UFO!
They will kidnap me!
Rather…
Q12. A ghost is behind you.
It’s only your fancy.
Stop talking about scary things.
It’s an usual thing.
…
Q13. BTW, we got hungry, didn’t we?
…?
Yes, we got.
I know a good restaurant.
Come to think of it, I had a dream.
Q14. You are being chased by someone.
Why?
No way.
Actually, I have a debt.
I am starting to be nervous.
Q15. Your next door hates you.
Maybe.
So what?
I don’t care.
That’s true.
Q16. Your friend killed your dog.
I will kill his(her) one in return.
I will blame him(her).
Call the police.
I will endure.
Q17. You failed the exam.
Because it was too difficult.
Beacause I didn’t do my best.
I will make it better next time.
What should I do?
Q18. You lost something precious.
Cry out for it.
Find it until I can.
Forget.
Buy a new one.
Q19. You got humiliated in front of others.
I won’t go out.
I never forgive those who laughed at me.
I will humiliate those who laughed at me.
I won’t make the same mistake.
Q20. There’s a person who is doing the same thing as you.
I am glad.
I want him(her) to stop it.
I don’t care.
I will stop doing it.
Q21. Have you got a traffic accident?
No.
Yes, so what?
I got a huge injury a long time ago.
Q22. Have you almost got killed because of a natural disaster?
No.
I know someone who got.
I don’t want to recall.
Q23. Have you got strongly traumatized by physical violence?
No way.
I don’t remember.
I don’t want to recall, but yes.
Q24. There’s a time you can’t recall clearly.
No.
Memories are gradually fading.
There’s the certain memory I can’t recall.
Q25. You don’t trust your parents.
Yes, I do trust them.
Not I don’t trust, but it doesn’t mean I trust.
Even though they are my parents, I think they are the same as others.
Q26. You belong to the certain circle or organization.
Yes, it’s important.
I belong to the minor circle.
No, I want to be free by myself.
Q27. You have a custom that most people don’t do.
Yes, it’s my custom. I always do.
I didn’t care, but come to think of it, I have.
Not especially.
Q28. You can endure any pain depending upon the situation.
No way.
Possibly, yes.
There is such a time.
Q29. You must govern your desire.
Right.
Yes, but I am not good at doing so.
I don’t think so.
Q30. There is something more important than your life.
I don’t think there is.
I don’t know such a thing yet.
I think there is..
If you have any questions about your certificate, please feel free to aske me. Either you can write down on the comment board or let me know via e-mail from the sidebar. I will answer it. :)
[Intermission] 少年犯罪とヤンデレアニメ[Juvenile crime and yandere anime]
Well, I have heard hundreds of times that there has been a lot of serious juvenile crime(shounen hanzai) lately in Japan. I know this is not a good thing at all, but I am getting bored to hear this kind of news. Mostly, children murder either their mothers or fathers…otherwise both, otherwise thier siblings. And when it goes too far, they might burn down a house. But minors shouldn’t be identified, and anyone who is under 14 can’t be punished by law. It’s too lenient? Anyway, if you have watched the most awesome yandere anime School Days, you would be sure of nice boat! the final episode was postponed because of the incident where a real schoolgirl killed her father with an axe. How come recent schoolgirls can handle such a heavy weapon? So most School Days fans got disappointed in the end. Umm, whether such an incident happened or not, the episode shouldn’t have been on the air…I think.
But the press(or parents) always says the same thing, I mean, they immediately blame such a yandere anime or game everytime such an incident happens. Well, to be honest I don’t think so. I assume most sheer yandere fans are not so ridiculous that they can realise the reality. I daresay such murderers would be either really mental or too suseptible. Besides, some of them would love to write a fantasy novel. In their novels, they would create a violent story…I am not pretty sure they really get brainwashed by yandere anime, but the thing is, why should yandere game or anime be blamed first? In a soap opera, more violent things happen, though. I am not a yandere fan, but too bad, the more such an incident happens, the more yandere stuff might be blamed…Anyway, I hope nothing would happen in the real world just before the yandere episode is on the air. No more nice boat!(`・ω・´)
By the way, I found an interesting site. You can check how much possibility to be yandere you have. This questionnaire consists of 30 questions. If you understand Japanese, you should try it out. I think I would translate it for anyone who doesn’t understand, but wait for one more day. I tried it out, but the results is…
My score is 52, and it says You are becoming yandere. WHAT!? Whether you will be or not is up to you…No way! I don’t believe it! Well, you can get a certificate.
そっち系 [socchi kei]
Well, if you happen to learn Japanese, you would be sure how roundabout this language is. Yes, we Japanese tend to say things ambiguously at times when we are not willing to tell directly. But actually such Japanese would become convinient somehow wherever you place yourself. At any rate, this term is kinda useful. Whether you live in the otaku circle or not doesn’t matter. But know this term varies the meaning depending upon the context…
So breifly, そっち[socchi] means the other way of it, the opposite of it…something different from what you say or like. Also, this could imply something you are not willing to say. Ugh, I can’t explain well. Anyway, I shall write down some examples…
1. A: 俺、ツンデレ萌えなんだ。 だから涼宮ハルヒとか惣流アスカラングレーが好きなんだ。お前は？[I have a tsundere-moe, so I love Suzumiya Haruhi and Souryu Asuka Langley. What about you?]
B: えっと、俺は言葉様とか竜宮レナが好き…[Well, I love Kotonoha-sama and Ryuguu Rena...]
A: もしかしてお前、そっち系？[Don't tell me that you belong to...socchi-kei?]
B: うん、そっち系。[Yeah, right.]
In this context, this そっち系 obviously means a yandere-moe.
2. A: やっぱり死種ならディアイザよね。[Among those characters from Gundam Seed, it should be definitely Dearka ×Yzak, right?]
B: えー、あんたってそっち系なの？あたしはイザディアなんだけど。[Geez, are you in love that socchi-kei? I love Yzak ×Dearka, though.]
As you can see, this conversation takes place between two fujoshis. In this way, if your friend loves the switched pair of your favorite pair, you could say そっち系 to mean that pair.
3. A: 君、かわいいね。抱きしめてもいい？[Hey, you are so adorable. Can I hug you?]
B: え…あの、僕、男ですけど…[Er...well, I am a man, though.]
A: わかってるよ。[I know.]
B: あの…もしかして、そっち系ですか？[Well, are you...socchi-kei?]
Yes, this socchi-kei means a gay.
4. A: おい、ちょっとあの人見ろよ。小指無いよ。[Hey, look at that man. He doesn't have a pinky.]
B:本当だ。やっぱりそっち系かな。[He doesn't. Is he...socchi-kei?]
C: 間違いないね。[Absolutely.]
In this context, it means a yakuza (Japanese mafia). In the yakuza society, they shall cut down your pinky to show your apology or merely as a punishment. This is エンコ詰め[enko dsume]. エンコ means a pinky here.
In this way, そっち系 is used a lot lately anywhere. So make this そっち系 as your own language! 
美人局 [tsutsumotase]
In fact, when I explained some yakuza terminology in my previous post, I thought I should add this term. But I didn’t for some reason. At any rate, I think when you come across this term, you might be watching either a yakuza film or a two-hour soap opera or something like that. I have never thought I could encounter this in anime…but darn it, I almost forgot this anime, ひぐらしの鳴く頃に[Higurashi no naku koro ni] which is well-known as a ヤンデレアニメ[yandere anime]. If you have watched the tsumi horoboshi-hen of this anime, you could still remember…
Well, before I explain this term, I have to give away some spoilers. When Rena’s father got his girlfriend after he got a divorce, she gets annoyed because she wants to spend much time with her father only. However, when his girlfriend, Rina tells her they are going to marry, Rena decides to open her heart to her. But actually, Rina turns out to be a yakuza’s bitch and she wants to exploit as much money as she can. That’s why she pretends to be Rena’s father’s girlfriend.
In this way, an woman who actually conspires with a yakuza(or such people), approaches to an innocent man in order to exploit money is 美人局[tsutsumotase]. This is a peculiar reading, but if you type this in hiragana and transform, this kanji would show. Mostly, after a man and a 美人局 sleep together, her yakuza boyfriend would show up angrily, threaten him, and say like, ワシのイロに何さらすんじゃボケェ！[What the fuck did you do to my girlfriend!?] . And he would definitely blackmail the man to pay a huge consolation money…after he paid, he would know she turned out to be a 美人局. Oh no, this is too cliched.
I quickly investigated why this kind of woman is called tsutsumotase, and one of the theories tells that 筒[tsutsu, pipe] implies a woman’s sexual organ in yakuza society, and a yakuza makes a woman have such a “pipe” and go to an innocent man…Simply, 筒を持たせる[tsutsu wo motaseru] might be changed somehow to put it. That is a tsutsumotase. Umm, then what about the kanji? I still have to figure out more.
ワーキングプア[working poor]
It’s not a rare term everywhere, but it has been getting more serious here in Japan. I often encounter this term in the gossip magazines…Working poor is a term used to describe indivuduals and families who maintain regular employment but remain in relative poverty due to low levels of pay and dependent expenses(from wikipedia). Putting the general cases aside here, the reason why I would like to mention this term is that it happened to my cosplay mate….
He works for the certain anime filming company which has worked on School Days (that is why he is good at taking a picture as well). When I cosplayed L and Suefumi, he kindly took a lot for me). I am not familiar with this kind of job, but according to him, his holiday is once a week, so any other time he has to do this almost all the time. And I was really surprised to hear the amazingly low salary in this industry. Of course there is no bonus as well… One of his colleague in the other department at his company(she is from somewhere in China) could get less than 100,000 yen (about 833$) per month. Of course there is only one holiday in a week and she has to work from the early morning to the late night. So it means she has no time to do a part-time job, doesn’t it? Even though she loves to draw and paint anime, I really wonder how she could survive in Japan. Does the company give the workers accomodation? He said no. But this happens to not only his company, but almost every anime company…Oh hey, what about Studio Ghibli?
He is coming back to his hometown in order to pursue some even higher career and seek a well-paid job. Though he likes his job, it shouldn’t last forever…What a pity, if it was a well-paid job, he wouldn’t even have to come back. He is my very first cosplay mate, though…
絶望した！ アニメ産業の労働者待遇に絶望した！
男子校カフェ [danshikou cafe]
ｷﾀｰｰｰｰｰｰｰ(゜д゜)ｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰｰ!!
It’s a bit too late to announce now, but a while ago, a friend of mine told me about this. In one of the most fashionable town in Tokyo, Harajuku[原宿], an interesting themed-cafe has opened…this is it, 男子校カフェ[danshikou cafe]. As you can imagine, this cafe is a boys’ high-school style, and all the waiters get dressed as a schoolboy. Simply, I think this is a kind of spin-off of a butler cafe, I mean, for female otakus only. Having said that, the only thing I don’t get it is why this cafe is located in Harajuku. Harajuku is pretty popular among young general people(non-otaku folks). So if this cafe is aimed at female otakus or fujoshis, it should be in Ikebukuro[池袋] or Nakano[中野] where a lot of female otakus shop around. Is this for not only otakus but general people? According to the resourse, the concept of this cafe is a boarding school, so it should be away from the place where a lot of themed cafes are such as Ikebukuro or Akihabara. At any rate, they seem to hire handsome boys only because all the candidates have to pass several interviews…
Umm, I know there are a couple of maid cafes which have a specific theme such as 妹系 or ツンデレ系. So then does that mean there could be the same thing in such a danshikou cafe? Oh no, there has to be a オレ様系[ore-sama-kei], ショタ系[shota-kei], or 小悪魔系[koakuma-kei]? It could be the real Ouran High-School Host Club, couldn’t it?
You can go to the official website here (in Japanese).
小悪魔系 [koakumakei]
I think this term could be found both in the otaku circles and in the general society, and its connotation might slightly differ between men and women, rather than these two societies.
If he is so mischievous and sometimes teases you to enjoy himself, he would be labelled as a 小悪魔系[koakumakei]. 悪魔[akuma] means a devil and 小[ko] means small or a bit. So literally, it means a baby satan(am I correct?). So I think this is easier to understand than ヒール系[hiirukei] or 腹黒[haraguro]. He shouldn’t be that evil, nor merely childish. Yes, 小[ko] makes things more lenient. In general, it could be said as ちょい[choi]. For examle, ちょいオタ[choi ota] means a light otaku (not so deep). Well, 小悪魔 might be equal to ちょいワル[choi waru]. ワル[悪] means evil.
If he is just childish and active, he would be labelled as やんちゃ系[yanchakei] or 元気系[genkikei] such as Amano Ginji in GetBackers or Hihara Kazuki in Kin-iro no Corda. But he has to be a bit evil…and surprises you all of a sudden in many ways…Yes, I can defintely think of Hitachiin Brothers in Ouran High-School Host Club, Hinoe in Harukanaru toki no naka de 3, or maybe…Asaba in His and Her Circumstance. Having said that, 小悪魔系 seems to need a shota-looking. Here, 小 still functions. He shouldn’t be a mature Satan, but immature, I suppose so.
On a side note in BL circles, when this type of guy is uke(bottom), he should be labelled as a 小悪魔受け[koakuma-uke]. Even though he has a shota-looking, he seems to control the seme(top). When they do it, he asks the seme whatever he likes. But at the last minute, he changes his mind and refuses to have a sex…A while ago, khursten and I settled Wolfram in Kyou kara maou as オレ様受け[ore-sama-uke], but would he be qualified to be a koakuma-uke?
A while ago, I encountered an interesting discussion here. The question is, how different is the general object of 小悪魔系 between men and women? What men feel about koakuma-kei and what women feel about it seem to be different somehow…Women would generally think a 小悪魔系 girl would cheat men and play around. And sometimes she might be even very mean. Well, it seems to be like a 女王様系[joousama-kei] such as 沢尻エリカ[Erika Sawajiri] if you ask me. Also, she might wear a fake fur or leopard-patterned cloth or something like that (like Ayumi Hamasaki[浜崎あゆみ]). Meanwhile, men would think a 小悪魔系 would do the same thing, but we barely know she is doing this on purpose or not. She might be innocent or evil, oh no, hard to tell. In anime, I can think of Misamisa in Death Note, and in real world, it might be ゆうこりん[Yuukorin] who got back from Korinsei[こりん星].
May I have your opinion? What comes to your mind first when it comes to 小悪魔系?
内弁慶 [uchibenkei]
If you have watched the anime, さよなら絶望先生[Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei], you would know 音無芽留[Otonashi Meru] who is one of Zetsubou-sensei’s students. Even though she seems to be too shy to speak, she actually swears a lot only when she mails with her mobile (That is the only one way she could communicate with others). When I saw her for the first time, I immediately came up with this term, 内弁慶[uchibenkei] though the meaning is slightly different from the original.
内弁慶 means a person who is so arrogant at home in spite of being so timid outside. I don’t know how you say this in English, but I still wonder why 弁慶[benkei] who worked for the great warrior, 義経[Yoshitsune] is used here. So I took a quick look on the net, and it explains that he is the general object that most people think of when it comes to such a strong person. Come to think of it, there is another term using 弁慶…It’s 弁慶の泣き所[Benkei no nakidokoro] which means shanks(shins?). Even such a strong person cries when it hurts…At any rate, 内[uchi] means inside, so 内弁慶 means as I have said. But technically, it doesn’t work unless he/she is timid at home. So if Meru is so arrogant at home, she would be actually an 内弁慶. There might be other way around? I mean, 外弁慶[sotobenkei]…even though he is so arrogant outside, he becomes timid at home…Oh hey, this embodies a typical Japanese father, doesn’t it? If that’s the case, I would think of Asari-chan’s daddy, Iwashi…
By the way, there are some spin-off of 内弁慶. It is ネット弁慶[netto benkei]. Easy to guess? Yes, even though he is so strong at BBS or other internet bulletin board, he is not actually in the real world. I forgot about the program’s name, but I have seen this type of guys(maybe 2ch people) being hosted on the show. They were writing some people’s names who seem to have a bad reputation on the condition of anonymous. They looked so geeky, but their comments were so harsh…
Don’t believe because I made up this, but I might say メール弁慶[mail benkei] to describe someone like Meru. Umm, I know the real one among my friends, though. To be honest, I do not like this type of person. So she (she was one of my junior at university) was hated by everybody else as well. She never tells how she feels in front of people, but she swears by e-mail after thing happened. Just because Meru shows up in Zetsubou-sensei, I can see her doing. But even that, I sometimes feel like hanging her from the tall tree. Oh no, I shouldn’t say like this. This is just like her!
