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This is hilarious you guys

Apparently the English version of Blue Exorcist has forgotten that a whole man is named Uzai.

Which is a great opportunity for a quick vocab/spelling conventions lesson, actually!

ウザい (uzai) is a slangy Japanese word meaning annoying/obnoxious. It's a contraction of うるさい (urusai) also meaning loud/annoying/obnoxious.

It's very, very commonly written with katakana for emphasis.

エレミヤ・ウザイ (Jeremiah Uzai) is the name of this Blue Exorcist character:

(Which. I mean. Aptly named man.)

It's always written in katakana because it's a non-Japanese name.

So yeah. That should say "Commander Uzai," which makes sense and fits a lot better in an otherwise formal sentence.

But there's a second way to figure that out besides context!

When i-adjectives and verbs are written in katakana, it's common to leave the parts that conjugate in hiragana.

Just like when you write them in kanji!

デカい (huge) デカかった (it was huge!)

ググる (to google) ググれ (just google it)

カッコいい (cool) カッコよくない? (pretty cool, isn't it?)

This doesn't happen 100% of the time, but if it's in a sentence instead of just a one-word utterance it gets more likely. We might expect ウザい here if it meant annoying, but it's all katakana like ウザイ, normal for a name.

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Left to right, top to bottom:

1 Katoh/Beelzebub: Forgot to put sauce on this. Not that it matters.

2 Rin: (staaaaaaare) Neuhaus: Wh-What?

3 Angel(?): Where are you, white rabbit?? Rin: What the-

4 Shima: uhhhh

5 "Anime Liu": You're more childish than me, aren't you? "Manga Liu": I don't want to hear it from a guy with a pez dispenser

6 aaaaaaaaaaa

7 Shima: IT'S NOT OVER

8 Rin: She....She let go....

From volume 32

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It got voice acted and now I'm crying EVEN MORE SOMEHOW

Cultural differences: the words we say when words aren’t enough

I learned a neat thing years ago in a Japanese short stories class, and now I have a burning desire to share it with the Blue Exorcist fandom, so!

There come times in every human’s life where we need to tell a close loved one everything we feel about them at once. Maybe it’s because one of you is dying or going away forever, or maybe it’s just because you really wanted them to know you care right now. Either way, it’s impossible to just sum up an important relationship in a few words.

But despite that–or maybe even BECAUSE it’s impossible to do–we have a default for what to say. A stand-in for all those feelings that can’t get said in the time we have.

Where I’m from, it’s “I love you.”

Right? Just think of corny movie scenes; it’s always like “If I don’t make it back, tell my wife I love her.”

And that makes sense, doesn’t it? It’s like…Thinking about you fills me with joy. I want nothing more than to just be with you. You have left a deep impression on my soul. My life is better because you were in it. “I love you.”

But there’s no reason it HAS to be worded that way, is there? The people you care about make you feel a lot of things and “I love you” is only one convenient way to say them. There are others.

In Japanese, the default If-I-Could-Only-Say-One-Thing-To-My-Loved-One thing isn’t “I love you.”

It’s “Thank you.”

And that makes sense too, doesn’t it? It’s like…You helped make me into what I am. You support me in all the hard times. You’ve done so much for me and I appreciate it so, so much. My life is better because you were in it. “Thank you.”

And like…I’d be crying at that scene from the chapter ANYWAY but I am crying EVEN MORE because I know that little tidbit.

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A new day, new discoveries. I discovered The Blue Exorcist and was pleasantly surprised.🤔 Why didn't I notice this beautiful piece before🥲

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Blue Exorcist Character Guidebook 2: Mephisto

Info on Mephisto from the new guidebook! Each character has a profile followed by relevant questions from fans, and then there's an interview section later where Kazue Katoh gives commentary on each major character and each manga arc. I have more guidebook than time, so I'm skipping the parts that are just like...summarizing who he is and stuff. So this will mostly be fan questions and Katoh's commentary

Biographical info

Gender: Male Age: (°w°) Rank/Titles: Director of True Cross Academy and head of the exorcism cram school, Honorary Knight for the Knights of the True Cross, King of Time Anniversary [T/N Katoh gives demons these in lieu of a birthday]: August 28 Blood type: ( ʹ - ʼ ) Height: 195 cm (184 cm without the "horn") Weight: 74 kg Skills and interests: movies, manga, anime, games, music, toys, miscellaneous subcultures

Fan Q&A

How do members of the Knights of the True Cross usually find out that Mephisto is a demon king?

I think some people might find out from books, the internet, etc even before they become exorcists. They do publish demon field guides that you can find at regular libraries, and Mephisto seems like the type to mention it in online interviews. Rin was the only one who didn't know.

How long has he had his current body?

About 200 years.

Which media from Assiah has had the greatest impact on him?

I imagine he would have been shocked the first time he saw a cinematograph.

Mephisto really likes all sorts of entertainment; has he ever tried making something himself?

Demons in general (not just Mephisto) tend to be bad at creative pursuits, though there are exceptions. Mephisto has a certain respect for human creativity.

Why is he so fond of Beelzebub?

Beelzebub just kind of struck a chord with him. Meanwhile, Beelzebub also likes being spoiled by Mephisto.

Which other demon kings get along with Mephisto the best?

In order: 1. Beelzebub 2. Amaimon 3. Egyn 4. Astaroth 5. Iblis 6. Lucifer [T/N it took me like an entire minute to work out that Azazel is the one missing from this list. Presumably because he's a rock]

Has Mephisto ever altered the past?

He sure does say a lot of things that imply that! [T/N: Katoh. Katoh. Katoh.]

How rich is Mephisto exactly?

He's actually one of the world's top businessmen and investors. His total assets are probably over one trillion yen [T/N: Jesus f*ck][T/N: that's about US$6.7 billion]

Author interview

Mephisto is a character who can solve just about anything; does that make him hard to write? Honestly, he's super easy to deploy. Mephisto has the plot in the palm of his hand and can fix stuff behind the scenes; he's the one pulling the strings. For adaptations and spinoffs, I just say "if you need to fill in a plot hole, make it Mephisto's fault" (laughs). But I do think it's dangerous to overdo it.

He even took on a sort of narrator role in chapter 44, didn't he? Around Volume 10, I was trying to treat each chapter like its own self-contained oneshot. Mephisto didn't even feel out of place as an omniscient narrator for one chapter, and for me that really drove home what a convenient character he is. Though I'm always wondering when and how to show Mephisto's own serious motives and inner thoughts, since he does fall into that eternal comic narrator role.

He can suddenly turn terrifying just when you were thinking he was comical. Hidden depths. Fundamentally he's on the humans' side, and he's often in charge of comic relief, but I do want to show his demonic side too. Same with the familiars; I want to portray the demons as something humans are afraid of.

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Got my Blue Exorcist character guidebook (v2.0) in the mail today, anyone have any specific characters they're interested in hearing about? 👀

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I just saw the best title drop I've ever seen

And I'm not sure other English speakers realize that it's a title drop.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End—called 葬送のフリーレン (Sousou no Frieren) in Japanese—is set in a fantasy world 80 years after the party of adventurers slays the demon king. It's a surprisingly soft and beautiful story about the party's powerful and long-lived elf mage grappling with themes of impermanence/remembrance/etc as she outlives the old generation of humans and befriends the new.

Let's look at that Japanese title a bit closer.

フリーレン is the name of the main character, no surprises there. 葬送（そうそう） means "funeral procession," spelled 葬 (bury/inter, note the 死 "death" surrounded by grass radicals) and 送 (deliver/send off).

Frieren of the funeral procession. Solid title, makes sense, main character mourning her old friends, got it.

We're calling her 葬送のフリーレン because she buries all her friends. There's no reason to expect any other meanings from the title...

...until eight episodes in when we learn that the demons in-universe call her 葬送のフリーレン because she buries all her enemies too.

Like. Hot damn. Active participant in making this funeral possible. Strap in, Frieren's about to outlive a b*tch RIGHT NOW.

Impeccable. Love that for her.

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What do you MEAN the local library will come pick up your overdue books at your HOUSE for FREE while you're NOT EVEN THERE

My god

Who do I call to double their funding immediately

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Dumb proposal

blue exorcist playlist for the beyond the snow arc that's like

Nineteenish increasingly angsty dark songs

Don't Stop Me Now by Queen

Back to Arsonist's Lullabye or whatever for a couple more songs

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Full Blue Exorcist Jump Festa Panel!

Watch it here! (mega.nz)

Presented by the VAs of Rin Okumura (Nobuhiko Okamoto), Yukio Okumura (Jun Fukuyama), Shiemi Moriyama (Kana Hanazawa) & Mephisto Pheles (Hiroshi Kamiya)! Features commentary of the latest anime season(s) and lots of new announcements!

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yoooooooo guess what's relevant again today

(huge spoilers for anime season 4 ep 12)

facets’s guide to the two most disturbing things ever said in Blue Exorcist

at least, I’m disturbed

(huge spoilers for chapter 98)

Keep reading

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look say what you will about VOLN's pacing choices but it is VITALLY IMPORTANT TO THIS ARC to have a studio that's at least a little horny about the demon eyes

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Oh thank god at least you guys were organized lol

Blue Exorcist Novel Masterlist

I’ve been going crazy looking for some of these post on my tags, so to make life easier for myself at least, I’m compiling a masterlist of the novels. Eventually, I’ll do the same for the character guidebook which… is still a WIP lol. tagging @silveryogi​ and @facets-and-rainbows​ here for their hard work!

Weekend Hero - all of these have been translated by silveryogi! <— this links leads to their masterlist!

Weekend Hero

I Want to Dance the Tango with you

Troubled Monk

Okumura Rin Rescue Team

Sir Pheles’ Beautiful Day

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Snake and Poison (Part 1 - Part 2)

Once Upon a Merry Christmas (Part 1  - Part 2  - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5)

With Love, from the King of Earth (Here)

Bloody Fairy Tale

Drunk Angel (Part 1 - to be continued…?) [Summary Post]

Bloody Fairy Tale (Part 1 & Part 2 by facets! ♥) & also the completed version here, of which you want to start at Part 2 if you’ve read the previous version before: (Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5)

Money Money Money

Character Question Corner

Spy Game

Spy Game (sneak peak) (WIP)

The Fundoshi Festival for Men

Kin-nii Leaves Home (Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3)

Yukio in Wonderland (Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5)

Downpour (Here)

Blue Exorcist Movie

Yukio and Liu-centric Short Story (WIP)

I’ll continue to edit this list consistently. If there’s more that has been translated already that I’m not aware of please let me know so I can update this! <3 

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(I have absolutely no ulterior motive in going really in depth with the kun-readings of 果 what are you talking about shhhh)

Kanji: 果

The kanji for "fruit" is a handy little pictogram of a tree 木 with a big fat fruit drawn in on top.

Readings and vocabulary

果 is pronounced か in most compounds, and means either literal fruit or the result of something (aka the figurative fruits of your labor.) This is the most common reading/meaning since a lot of these words are used frequently:

果実（かじつ） fruit/nut/berry (実 fruit/berry)

果汁（かじゅう） fruit juice (汁 juice, broth)

果物（odd reading くだもの） fruit (物 thing)

結果（けっか） result, outcome (結 tie, bind)

効果（こうか）effect, efficacy (効 effective)

成果（せいか） accomplishment, achievement, good outcome (成 become/make/achieve)

It's also used for two verbs related to results/finishing, in which case it's read は with a た or て immediately after it:

果たす（はたす） finish, achieve, accomplish, carry out (transitive, like 目的を果たす to achieve a goal)

果てる（はてる）end, be finished, be exhausted, perish (intransitive)

果たして, the て form of 果たす (finish or achieve something) can be used like an adverb, and it means something like "Ultimately..." or "In the end..." or "As expected, the end result was..." It's very often used in rhetorical questions showing doubt, like 果たして真実なのだろうか "But is it really the truth (in the end)?"

Meanwhile 果てる likes to be in compound verbs, where it means "completely/utterly" or "to the extreme," usually with negative connotations:

疲れ果てる（つかれはてる）be utterly exhausted (疲れる be tired)

変わり果てる（かわりはてる）be completely transformed, change beyond recognition (a change for the worse - for example, a person's 変わり果てた姿 "utterly changed form" generally means their dead and possibly rotting body) (変わる change)

朽ち果てる（くちはてる）rot away, crumble to dust (朽ちる decay)

And finally 果て, the noun form of 果てる, means "end" or "extremity" or "limit," i.e. the point you reach when you've done the verb 果てる. It can be spelled 果て with the て or 果 without, and is pronounced はて either way. It also appears in the adjective 果てしない "endless, boundless, eternal" (literally "not ending/not having limits")

As a phonetic element

果 is also used as a component in other kanji, most of which share the Chinese-derived reading か, the most common one being 課:

課（カ） section, lesson, chapter (with the "words" radical 言)

菓（カ） candy, sweets, pretty much always in the word 菓子（かし sweets, confectionery, snacks) (with the "plant" radical)

裸（ラ、はだか） naked, nude (with the "clothes" radical; this one's the odd one out when it comes to pronunciation)

踝（カ、くるぶし） ankle, ankle bone (with the foot radical 足)

顆（カ、つぶ） grain of something, granule (head/face radical 頁)

夥しい（カ、おびただしい) very many, countless, immense (with 多 "many")

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Kanji: 果

The kanji for "fruit" is a handy little pictogram of a tree 木 with a big fat fruit drawn in on top.

Readings and vocabulary

果 is pronounced か in most compounds, and means either literal fruit or the result of something (aka the figurative fruits of your labor.) This is the most common reading/meaning since a lot of these words are used frequently:

果実（かじつ） fruit/nut/berry (実 fruit/berry)

果汁（かじゅう） fruit juice (汁 juice, broth)

果物（odd reading くだもの） fruit (物 thing)

結果（けっか） result, outcome (結 tie, bind)

効果（こうか）effect, efficacy (効 effective)

成果（せいか） accomplishment, achievement, good outcome (成 become/make/achieve)

It's also used for two verbs related to results/finishing, in which case it's read は with a た or て immediately after it:

果たす（はたす） finish, achieve, accomplish, carry out (transitive, like 目的を果たす to achieve a goal)

果てる（はてる）end, be finished, be exhausted, perish (intransitive)

果たして, the て form of 果たす (finish or achieve something) can be used like an adverb, and it means something like "Ultimately..." or "In the end..." or "As expected, the end result was..." It's very often used in rhetorical questions showing doubt, like 果たして真実なのだろうか "But is it really the truth (in the end)?"

Meanwhile 果てる likes to be in compound verbs, where it means "completely/utterly" or "to the extreme," usually with negative connotations:

疲れ果てる（つかれはてる）be utterly exhausted (疲れる be tired)

変わり果てる（かわりはてる）be completely transformed, change beyond recognition (a change for the worse - for example, a person's 変わり果てた姿 "utterly changed form" generally means their dead and possibly rotting body) (変わる change)

朽ち果てる（くちはてる）rot away, crumble to dust (朽ちる decay)

And finally 果て, the noun form of 果てる, means "end" or "extremity" or "limit," i.e. the point you reach when you've done the verb 果てる. It can be spelled 果て with the て or 果 without, and is pronounced はて either way. It also appears in the adjective 果てしない "endless, boundless, eternal" (literally "not ending/not having limits")

As a phonetic element

果 is also used as a component in other kanji, most of which share the Chinese-derived reading か, the most common one being 課:

課（カ） section, lesson, chapter (with the "words" radical 言)

菓（カ） candy, sweets, pretty much always in the word 菓子（かし sweets, confectionery, snacks) (with the "plant" radical)

裸（ラ、はだか） naked, nude (with the "clothes" radical; this one's the odd one out when it comes to pronunciation)

踝（カ、くるぶし） ankle, ankle bone (with the foot radical 足)

顆（カ、つぶ） grain of something, granule (head/face radical 頁)

夥しい（カ、おびただしい) very many, countless, immense (with 多 "many")

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The opening credits have blessed us with at least four whole frames of demon!Rin