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

 It’s not very uncommon that spin-off works(anime, novel, or live-action movie and drama) come out when the original gets popular. But this is a good thing or not, I mustn’t say. Even if it could satisfy general people, it wouldn’t even necessarily content the sheer fans as well…Mostly, those fans who really really follow the original might be dissatsified. Yes, when it goes too far, fans shall inslut the spin-off with this term, 原作レイプ[gensaku reipu].

 原作[gensaku] means the original, and レイプ[raipu] means rape. Caught on, haven’t you? This is an insulting word for such a hideous spin-off which almost ruins the original. In other words, it’s like raping the original and destroying it. Fans are particular, so I don’t think it’s possible to create such a spin-off which could content all the fans of it. When something like visualized(like a movie or anime) becomes a novel, this doesn’t seem to happen. But the problem is the other way, I mean when the novel or manga becomes a live-action thing, this could seriously inflame fans. I am not going to take up anything to give you an example, but mention some points which make fans angry.

a. There are some new characters who never show in the original. 

This might destroy the original’s image and fans really hate it when the new character stands out more than others. Also, when the plot has nothing to do with the original, it could be the same thing.

b. The character design or the cast don’t go well with the original.

 This really happens when a live-action movie or drama version comes out. It would be a nightmare if an amateur becomes the lead such as Higura

c. The most important episodes or plots get eliminated.

 Yes, this means the director doesn’t understand the original at all or merely misunderstands…so eventually it destroys the original. When such a long story becomes a film, a director has to omit some parts to edit. If this doesn’t go well, fans would be angry.

d. People who don’t know the original are quite pleased.

 As I have said, fans are particular. The more the spin-off contents general people, the more fans dislike it. Also, the more the press advertises it, the more fans are not willing to accept.

e. The original’s author already passed away.

 What if the author had seen this? Yes, fans would value the author’s thought, so there’s no way to know how the author feels about the spin-off if he/she already passed away.

 There are a lot of threads where fans insult the certain spin-offs by using this word. If they don’t really like it, why are they doing this? Because they are sheer fans, so they end up seeing it no matter how terrible it is. I think it’s not a bad thing because people those who don’t know the original are pleased although I sometimes get disappointed to see such a spin-off…The point is, that anyone who wants to see and anyone who doesn’t want should be apart so that there will be no arguement.

　 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 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? :) 

 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.

  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!

 If a father displays an image of his baby on his standby screen, or shows his boring home video when you come to his place as a guest, you could say it’s 親バカ[oyabaka] or 子煩悩[kobonnou] to mean a doting father (of course it counts such a mother). However, I have heard of this term バカ親 lately though these two things seem to be quite similar…but actually not.

 If you have watched the ongoing TV drama オトコの子育て[Men's nurturing], could you remember where Maruyama-senei gets annoyed by ridiculous complaints from stupid parents. Yes, things are more irritating than this drama. I still remember the first thing about バカ親[bakaoya, stupid parents] was delinquent in payment for school lunch. But nowadays, parents have started to make no sense more and more. I just took a quick look on the situation on the net(here). So below is some examples of those complaints.

1. Wake my boy up, and make him go to school because he wakes up late.

2. Make the school yearbook again because I can’t see my son in it enough.

3. Pay the mobile bill for the term you confiscated my kid’s cellar.

4. We got a divorce, so we want the principal to judge which of us should have a custody for our kids.

 These make no sense. But if school denies, such バカ親 usually threaten the teachers saying like,”We will sue your school!” or something like that. To be honest, I feel so happy that I am not a schoolkid nor a teacher everytime I hear this kind of thing. Besides, it is also said as モンスターペアレンツ[monster parents] to mean バカ親. 

 Having said that, we shouldn’t miss those tragic students’ suicides because of bullying. As such incidents increase, the number of such monster parents would increase as well, I suppose so. When things like this happen, school don’t usually admit there is bullying. Or sometimes we might be told the teachers turn out be a pervert or something like that. I can’t judge which side is wrong, but one true thing is that this situation would go on…

 Alas, what about the children’s future?

 Huh? What does that mean? I had no idea about this term, maybe I just thought of the adult anime, ゆんゆんパラダイス[yunyun paradise] or something like that…

 This is something was born in 2ch as far as I know, and this seems relate to my previous post 電波系[dempakei].  Anyone who doesn’t make any sense could be labelled as a 電波系, but ゆんゆん means the very moment the person’s 電波[dempa] turns on. I mean, when she starts to make no sense, watch out, she would be probably in the ゆんゆん mode.

 But why yunyun? The clue is the school song from the certain high-school, 福島県立清陵情報高等学校[Fukushima Prefectural Seiryou Information High-School]. The title of the school song is 宇宙の奥の宇宙まで[uchuu no oku no uchuu made, "To the end of the inner universe"]. This is wow, just wow, who else could come up with such an awesome title for school song? At any rate in number 1, a line says,

　若い稲妻　ゆんゆん　発信　ゆんゆん [wakai inazuma yunyun hasshin yunyun]

 It doesn’t make any sense. How can I translate this? Well, a young thunderbolt yunyun, telegraph yunyun…Is that correct? I don’t know. Besides in number 2, a line says, 若い竜巻　よんよん　受信　よんよん[wakai tatsumaki yonyon, jushin yonyon, "a young tornado yonyon, receive yonyon"], and in number 3, a line says, 若い積乱雲　やんやん　交信　やんやん[wakai sekiran-un yanyan, koushin yanyan, "young cumulonimbus yanyan, transmit yanyan"]. …Yes, it sure embodies such a 電波系.  When someone posted this lyrics on the net, it got famous in 2ch…Anyway, whenever a school assembly takes place, all the students sing out ゆんゆん altogether. So if you enrolled at this school, you would probably be such a yunyun person…Putting it aside, I guess the writer who made this lyrics must be worshipped in many ways, and all the students must be proud of him.

Speaking of such a yunyun character, who could be entitled? Well, I might think of Euphemia in Code Geass. When she gets Geassed in episode 22, she comes out to the stage, and says…you know what I mean? I would think she should be a ヤンデレ[yandere] at the moment, but for the audience, all the things she said seem to be ゆんゆん.  (((;゜д゜)))  

 If you picture most akibakeis on your mind, what are they like? They are wearing glasses and too conservative clothes, and messy hair, white skin…something like that? Just like the most stereotyped one, 電車男[densha otoko]? What about his figure? Yes, if he is extremely fat, he would be labelled as アキバ体型[akiba taikei, "Akiba figure"].

 Having said that, I really wonder if a very skinny otaku counts as アキバ体型, but as far as I know, the answer is no. Speaking of a nerd, most people could imagine his figure would be either very fat(such as 長岡芳樹[Yoshiki Nagaoka in Doukyusei 2] or very skinny(such as 宅八郎[Taku Hachiro, a real figure otaku]) , couldn’t they?

 However, those fat otakus seem to be highlighted more than skinny those because here is a spin-off of アキバ体型 which points out such fat otakus…That is オタボリック症候群[otabolic shoukougun]. Well, this term stems from the serious disease among middle aged men, メタボリック症候群[Metabolic syndrome] and puns upon it…At any rate, in Japan this syndrome has been remarkable lately so most people who are over 30 get to be aware of it. I am not pretty sure who made up this funny pun, but the fact that such a spin-off has come out could prove that fat otakus are more stereotyped objects of “akibakei”?

 Oh no, I should be aware of オタボリック, too. Come to think of it, most of my friends go to gym…

 I have been so busy lately, and things don’t seem to settle down…I don’t have much time to post. I am sorry about this. Having said that, I didn’t miss Tokyo Game Show.

 Well, I am quite curious about this kind of thing often happens abroad. In the anime Ookiku furikabutte, the protagonist Ren Mihashi who had previously held the position of ace pitcher in his middle school’s baseball team, but only due to the fact that his grandfather owns the school…In other words, he has a connection with something that gives him a better chance than anyone else. Yes, we Japanese say コネ[kone] which derives from connection though it doesn’t sound good. When I was a student at university, a lot of career advisors used to say like ”The more connection you have, the better” or something like that. (Seriously, I couldn’t believe how they could say like that in front of all the students?) At any rate, how many connections you have could give you so much possibility…Yes, in Japan the great power works so well. In Ren’s case, the reason why he used to be rejected by his teammates is not only the fact he has a connection, but also the real him…so eventually they were jealous of him.

 In this way, コネ makes it easier to start something. But even if it comes to pass, it might matter to you somehow…like Ren. Having said that, I think I have seen so many people who got famous just because of コネ, especially in the entertainment industry such as Koutaro Koizumi(Japan’s ex-prime minister’s son), Hikaru Utada(the singer Keiko Fuji’s daughter), or Mari Sekine( the comedian Tsutomu Sekine’s daughter), Emiri Henmi(the singer Mari Henmi’s daughter), Shouko Kitano(the filmmaker Takeshi Kitano’s daughter), and so on. Just because he/she is the son/daughter of someone who is a great celebrity, they can get into the same industry as parents…this is what’s called, 親の光は七光り[oya no hikari wa nanahikari, "one's parent's coattail"]. The more common form should be abbriviated as 親の七光[oya no nanahikari].  Literally, I could translated it as parent’s light has seven layers (correct me if I am wrong). But why seven? I quickly investigated, and the number Seven stands for such a strong great power, so seven itself is not so meaningful…

 I am not saying that all of above celebrities are doing good. Even though some of them made a debut thanks to 親の七光, the glory didn’t last so long…For example, Shouko Kitano made a debut as a singer at the age of 15, and her first song was composed by Yoshiki(the ex-leader of X-Japan). However, she could only release two songs. Even her first album didn’t come out. Meanwhile, Hikaru Utada still keeps working because she is a talented singer although she has a connection with music industry. After all, unless he/she is quite something, they can’t survive so long…though even now this still happens.

 What about in your country? Does this kind of thing happen so often?

 In fact, I am a big fan of yakuza(Japanese maphia) or host-and-hostess manga such as Ikegami Ryouichi(池上遼一) or Kurashina Ryo(倉科遼) . However, this kind of thing are hardly made into anime because of excessive violence and sex scene. So I was a bit surprised to know this anime, 瀬戸の花嫁[Seto no Hanayome] which happens to relate to such a yakuza society. Even though such excessive murderous depiction can’t be seen in this anime, I couldn’t help but paying attention to some yakuza terminology. Actually in episode 5, when San’s father replaces the ex-teacher, he makes his students take a kanji test. But the funny thing is that, all the words on the test are yakuza terminology. Also, those words are in accordance with the way yakuza folks say…So I shall mention some yakuza terminology here.

1. 刺青[monmon]; Normally, it is read as irezumi which means tattoo. I think it should be 紋紋[monmon] in kanji. 紋[mon] stands for emblem or logo, so 紋紋 stands for an emblem of yakuza…yes, that is tattoo.

2. 手錠[wappa]; Normally, it is read as tejou which means handcuffs. Actually, this term could also belong to police terminology. When they cuff someone, they would say ワッパをかける[wappa wo kakeru] to mean to cuff. Besides, to get arrested could be said パクられる[pakurareru].

3. 縄張り[shimari]; Normally, it is read as nawabari which means turf. Shimari could derive from the verb 取り締まる[torishimaru,"control"] or a noun, 島[shima] which stands for territory(領土[ryoudo]).

4. 拳銃[chaka]; Normally, it is read as kenjuu which means a pistol. But I think this got common for general people though we know this is actually a yakuza terminology. Also, in the olden time, we could read it as hajiki(ハジキ). I don’t hear this nowadays anymore.

5. 刑期[otsutome]; Normally, it is read as keiki which means a prison term. We say 刑期を務める[keiki wo tsutomeru] to mean to serve one’s term. So otsutome(お務め) is a noun form of this 務める. Having said that, we usually use お勤め(otsutome) which means work, not お務め, though. Well, I often hear a woman who is waiting for her husband(?) coming out of the jail in a yakuza film, and when he comes out, she would say like お務めご苦労様でした。[otsutome gokurousamadeshita] to mean welcome back.

6. 女[iro]; Yes, it means a mistress or simply a girlfriend. I have never heard, but even 男[otoko] might be read as iro somehow…Besides, 女 could be also read as suke. Speaking of suke, there’s a term which relates to it, スケこま師[sukekomashi]. こます[komasu] means to cheat or a nuance of ～してやる[shiteyaru]. The closet English is…well, be gonna do or shall do or something like that. At any rate, スケこま師 means a playboy. When yakuza folks use it with the latter meaning, they would say like いてこますぞ[itekomasuzo]. I think the plain form of いて should be いる[iru], and should be written as 射る[iru]. 射る might mean to kill or to beat up for yakuza circles. So いてこますぞ means  ”I’ll beat you up.”

7. 白状う[utau]; Like 手錠[wappa], there’s one more term which is shared with police society…this is it, 白状う. 白状 is normally read as hakujou, which means confession. So the original form is 白状する[hakujousuru], which means to confess some hidden information one knows…Police would also say 吐く[haku,"throw up"] to mean the same thing. In yakuza society, it is said like ウタわしたろかい、おぅ！？[utawashitarokai, Ou!?] to mean “I’m gonna make you tell, eh!?(゜д゜)ｺﾞﾙｱ”

8.強要む[kachikomu]; The advertising line for this anime says かちこみラブコメディ[kachikomi love-comedy]. 強要 is read as kyouyou which means enforcement. 強要する[kyouyousuru, force to do sth, or to threaten] should be the plain form of this 強要む. Or else, it could be written as 殴り込む. Normally, it is read as nagurikomu which means to raid. But in yakuza circles, it could be read as kachikomu.

 Of course, there are more terms that I don’t mention here. But this blog is for anime fans, not yakuza fans, so I’d better stop here, didn’t I? ;^^