#Japanese at least has kanji?

[azure-clockwork]

Every language I am learning on Duolingo and what is hardest about it, ranked by amount of xp:

Chinese (Mandarin): I speak more Chinese than the target audience. I spend lessons guessing what Duo wants and making mistakes cuz I forgot how English word order works. Also, if I were trying to learn characters, I would not be learning them via Duo even if I tried.

German: my German background is garbage. Nobody has formally explained how grammar works and I’m just brute forcing my way through. I have no clue which case to use.

Japanese: for some reason, I look at すし and think “shòu sī”. English pronounces it sushi. That hiragana is pronounced sushi. Why does my brain say it’s supposed to be “shòu sī”. Also, it hasn’t taught me any kanji yet, but I suspect it won’t do a great job of it.

Irish: bruh. Can you please explain the spelling. I know it’s a pretty regular spelling system but you’re not explaining how it works. Why. I am just guessing how things are pronounced but that’s a terrible idea because Irish spelling is even less Englishy than Pinyin.

Finnish: I’m two lessons in. I’m so hyped to experience vowel length. At least that’s a thing in Japanese too lol.

[mikurulucky]

Who else gets an urge or desire to learn a new language or resume learning a language you tried to learn in the past because your f/o canonically speaks it? Either because that f/o is multilingual or because your f/o is from media from another country, like an anime from Japan or a cartoon made in Russia.

Who else likes to imagine their f/o helping you learn their language? Or you helping your f/o get better at your language? Raise your hand if this is you in any way.

[loud-whistling-yes]

nobody touch me i just read kj encore and SO NO ONE'S GONNA FUCKING TALK ABOUT HACHI COMPETING WITH JOKER TO BECOME A THIEF???????

[vacalimpia]

english makes itself unnecessarily hard with some words i think the english language would really be benefited by having tildes. tildes change lives theyre a bit confusing to pick up at first but i think that small hurdle in primary and middle school education is worth it for distinguishing when to read "read" and "read" so they wont look the same

[iconsumeheadcanons]

who did the spoken japanese in the tmnt 2014 movie? its really bad?

[yumeka-sxf]

Japanese Linguistic Observations in Spy x Family - part 2

Part 2 - Anya's "Anya-isms"

I think Anya has one of the most interesting ways of speaking out of all the SxF characters. But like with Twilight's dialogue that I previously discussed, it can only be fully appreciated in the Japanese version. Probably the most noticeable thing about her dialogue is how it's written compared to the other characters.

Written Japanese is comprised of three different alphabets: ひらがな (hiragana) and カタカナ (katakana), which together are referred to as "kana," and 漢字 (kanji). Kanji are the characters that hold the meaning of words, while kana simply represent the various Japanese syllable sounds and don't have any meaning on their own (much like the letters of the English alphabet). There are only about 100-ish total unique kana symbols, however, there are over 2,000 kanji in common use today. So Japanese children will start out learning kana and then learn kanji gradually during their school years. This is why Japanese children's books are typically written only or mostly in kana. This is also why manga and books aimed at a younger audience will have kana "translations" of kanji written above kanji characters, which are called furigana.

With that in mind, it's not surprising that all of Anya's dialogue in the Japanese version of the SxF manga is written entirely in kana. Even though using kanji in her dialogue wouldn't necessarily mean she knows kanji, reading a character's dialogue only in kana definitely gives off childish vibes – it conveys feelings of youthfulness and innocence, like "they're speaking only in kana because they don't know the kanji for these words…they're just a little kid, after all." At least, that's the feeling I get when I read Anya's dialogue. Though I haven't read enough manga in Japanese to say for sure, it seems like this concept of making little kids speak only in kana is not unusual, as there's at least one other example I know of: a manga from the mid-2000s called Yotsuba also has a titular 5-year old whose dialogue is written only in kana.

What's also interesting is that all of the other Eden kids speak "normally," using kana and kanji properly in their dialogue. This helps to convey the fact that, despite Anya being roughly the same age as them, their "rich family" upbringing has forced them to grow up faster. In the below panel, you can see how Damian's dialogue uses kanji (with furigana translations) while Anya's uses only kana, even for words that have kanji.

Interestingly, I found at least two cases where Anya does use kanji in her dialogue: when she's calling out the name of her big "Arrow of Light, Seize the Star" move during the dodgeball game, and when she calls out her "Lighting Bolt, Deliver my Aid" move when she tries to throw Yor's weapon back on the deck in the cruise arc. As you can see in the below panels, the names of these "moves" is written in kanji (with furigana translations). This makes sense not only because this is parodying shonen series where the characters shout out the names of their moves, but because it emphasizes how determined Anya was at these moments.

But going back to how Anya's speech compares to the other kids, another thing that stands out is that she speaks very "plainly." Her grammar is (mostly) correct, except for a few mistakes you'd expect a little kid to make. But she uses pretty much no colloquialisms, almost as if she knows the language but lacks the experience for using it in normal social interactions. I don't think this is unusual for a kid her age who's still learning, but it definitely stands out when compared to her classmates. For example, in the below panel, Becky uses normal interjections and other colloquialisms in her speech, like "ne" (ね), "wa" (わ), and "yo" (よ), which are all standard Japanese linguistic devices for softening or emphasizing your sentences. However, Anya doesn't use things like this in her speech. Again, this makes her speech come off as very plain and abrupt, almost like she's not a native speaker.

She also refers to herself in third person all the time in the Japanese version. In fact, I don't recall her ever using an "I" or "me" pronoun. I don't know why the English version of the manga doesn't keep this characteristic of her speech. I think it's very important in highlighting the childish aspect of her personality.

Putting all this together – the fact that she doesn't use typical colloquial speech and refers to herself in third person – really emphasizes the childish, naive, and almost baby-like nature of her character. I'm curious if Endo made her speak this way simply to show what a little kid she is compared to her classmates, or if it will somehow tie back to whatever roots she has in classical languages that he keeps hinting at. Regardless, as I mentioned in my full Anya analysis, what she lacks in speech and school smarts, she makes up for in empathy and resourcefulness.

Besides all this, Anya does make typical speech mistakes a normal kid would make, like mishearing words or saying things wrong. She mostly uses casual speech, but does try to use keigo (polite speech) on occasion, though not always correctly. For example, she says "ohayaimasu" (おはやいます) for "good morning" instead of "ohaiyou gozaimasu" (おはようございます).

But the most consistent "mistake" she makes (though it's not really a mistake) is what she calls Loid and Yor – "chichi" (ちち) and "haha" (はは) respectively.

Japanese has many different words for relatives depending on whether you're talking about your own relatives or someone else's, and whether you're talking to them or about them. "Chichi" and "haha" are the general, neutral terms for "father" and "mother," and are also used when talking about your parents to someone else. However, they're not used when talking directly to your mother and father. There are many other words for that, the usual ones being "o-tou-san" (お父さん) and "o-kaa-san" (お母さん), or some variations of these with different honorifics. Damian refers to his dad as "chichi-ue" (父上) which is very formal, while Becky calls her dad the actual English word "papa" (パパ) which is very informal and normal for kids to use. But again, "chichi" and "haha" are typically only used when talking about your parents, not to them the way Anya uses them. This started from the very first chapter where Loid asks her to call him something that sounds "elite." He originally suggests the very formal "o-tou-sama" (お父さま), but when Anya says "chichi," he doesn't bother to correct her.

Hearing a little kid call her dad and mom "chichi" and "haha" is kind of like calling them "my father" and "my mother" even when speaking to them directly – it's not wrong necessarily, just strange. But again, this serves to further emphasize the childlike nature of Anya's character.

<- Return to Part 1

Continue to Part 3 ->

[vashtijoy]

shido's palace: those posters

And you know the ones I mean:

Shido, we can see right up your nose. But let's talk about the text on these. First, the really big bit on the left:

獅童正義 shidou masayoshi

Look at the kanji there. His given name is twice the size of his family name. Plus, his given name doesn't have the furigana (tiny text to tell you how to read it) that you can see against his family name—despite it being easily misread as a common noun.

Because, as eny fule kno, Shido's given name is spelled the same way as 正義 seigi, meaning "justice". This will be important later. The game lampshades this, by the way, in gossip chats around the election:

"Shido-san really lives up to what his name means. He's like justice personified." Okay, gossiping person, you do you.

united future

At the bottom, in tinytext next to his spooky Illuminati-esque Whole World In His Hands logo that isn't megalomaniacal at all, we have the name of his new splinter party:

未来連合 mirai rengou United Future

未来 mirai means future; 連合 rengou means a bloc, a coalition, an alliance or union. 連合ヨーロッパ rengou yooroppa, "a federal Europe"; 連合国 rengoukoku, "the Allied powers". So we get "United Future", perhaps less catchily "The Alliance for the Future", which is very much the sort of name new Japanese political parties tend to have.

what about that other bit

Hahaha, you mean this little thing?

This is Shadow Shido's slogan. This sums up his mission, his motive, the whole reason he wants power. And what does it say?

私のために、民衆は尽くす watashi no tame ni, minshuu wa tsukusu The people will serve me.

What a nice thing to say! What an excellent sentiment, befitting of a public servant in a democracy! And what an unashamed piece of shit, eh? You can see why Japan is underwater in his head.

Constructions of the form X no tame ni tsukusu are quite common; my dictionary lists several. So this little phrase is a play on words in at least two ways:

First of all, it's an adaptation of a well-known phrase, 民衆のために尽くす minshuu no tame ni tsukusu, "to serve the people". Shido has taken this and inverted it: the people will serve him.

But second—remember how Shido's given name, Masayoshi, is written the same way as seigi, meaning "justice"? One of those common little example phrases in my dictionary, under tsukusu, is the following:

正義のために尽くす seigi no tame ni tsukusu to work for justice

This is why his given name is in massive letters on the poster: because this play on words is deliberate on his part: Shido is justice, as his name should tell you; he defines what is good and right and true—and what's good and right and true is what is in his interests. And so the people will serve him. The same way they'd serve the nation, or society, or the public good.

It's a really interesting line. And, of course, it calls to mind Akechi—supposedly a detective, in the service of justice, and yet in reality....

BTW, don't forget this is Shido's Shadow talking. How much does Shido himself, the guy walking about upstairs, delude himself about all this? That's an exercise for the reader.

revision history

Click here for the latest version.

v1.0 (2024/01/14)—first published.

[seangardnerxiv]

Shadow and Maria's Complex Relationship

FOR DISCLOSURE: this thread is going to be discussing the complexities of Shadow and Maria’s relationship based on many different factors. Though I will be including the romantic interpretation (NOT a sexual one – I do not support nor condone sexualizing these two, nor any of the characters in Sonic, as they are almost all minors) as a potential, I will not be arguing to assign a definite label to their relationship – I will, in fact, be doing exactly the opposite (I am also not interested in engaging in shipping discourse over Sonic the Hedgehog characters). I would simply like to disclose that that will be discussed in case the topic upsets you and you would prefer to stop reading now. I accept this post may not be received well by some.

SPOILERS FOR SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS

So I've had to break out my Tumblr for this - my usual haunt is Twitter/Bluesky, but those don't really allow for longform posts. This is also a major departure from my usual FFXIV posting, so apologies to anyone who follows me for that.

Sonic x Shadow Generations recently dropped, alongside the short animations “Dark Beginnings” as well as the (non-canonical) manga “The Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog.” With it, discourse surrounding Shadow and Maria’s relationship has kicked up again, largely in two parties – that Shadow and Maria held a sibling relationship, or that Shadow and Maria held romantic feelings for one another (some people have also argued that Shadow is her uncle, or Maria is his mother, but I won’t be discussing those views). There are arguments for both drawn from a variety of sources – I will do my best to present both (if there are others I've missed, please feel free to comment and I will add them).

For siblings:

This Twitter post of artwork for Dark Beginnings has the following alt text: “Shadow and Maria reach out for one another in an infinite abyss (as long-lost siblings would) with the Moon and the Space Colony ARK in the background."

The manual for Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) describes Maria as “like a sister to Shadow.” I have also seen another screenshot of a different manual that states that Shadow as "like a brother to Maria," but I've been unable to find which manual it is.

Gerald refers to Shadow as “son” during the climax of SxSG.

For romantic:

Maria saying “I love you” in the Japanese version of SxSG uses the kanji “ai shiteru,” whilst her “I love you” in the Japanese version of the manga uses “daisuki.” Whilst it can be used for familial relations, it is apparently very uncommon for both of these to be used outside of romantic intent.

Shiro Maekawa – the original creator of Shadow and Maria – based them (or at least parts of them) off of a romance manga known as “Please Save My Earth” (with Maria sharing the Japanese voice actress for the female lead from the anime), and has frequently supported them together, often retweeting romantic art and posts of Shadow and Maria.

In a recent interview from Sega, Maria touching Shadow’s face in Dark Beginnings was equated to Beauty and the Beast.

For Tanabata – a Japanese festival celebrating the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi, and the separation of them as lovers – Sonic Channel posted artwork of Shadow and Maria reading the story beneath the stars. Sonic Channel has also published fanart for Valentine’s Day relating to Shadow and Maria (although they publish a lot of fanart).

Before I go any further, when the topic of Shadow and Maria in a romantic lens comes up, many of the same criticisms arise that I do not believe are fairly levied – namely accusations regarding their age, species, and familial ties. I would like to address – and debunk – these three before we go any further. Keep in mind while you read these – this is not meant to convince you that their relationship was one thing over another, but only to provide validity to a subjective point of view I feel is unfairly stigmatized.

“It’s incest because Shadow is Maria’s brother/uncle(?).”

While there were notions of family stated by both Maria and Gerald, Shadow was grown in a tube with alien DNA and has zero blood relation to the Robotnik family. Whilst there are abstract labels of “like a sister” or “sibling coding” that are only ever applied in a meta sense, neither of them define their relationship in such a way within the lens of the universe. And it is not as if the topic never arises - in Shadow Generations, Maria herself likens young Abraham Tower as akin to her little brother, but she makes no such distinction with Shadow.

“Sibling coding” is ultimately a nothing statement, and unless a proper adoption is made, it does not magically turn romantic feelings towards the two involved into incest. Frames of reference are often informed by what young people are familiar with, and they sometimes lack the proper tools to acknowledge that their feelings towards each other are more complex than they first believe - to say that this is something that potentially occurred with Shadow and Maria is not outlandish, and not a concept unique to Sonic as a series.

Similar examples to this include Clive and Jill from Final Fantasy XVI (Jill is accepted into the Rosfield household and raised alongside Clive and his brother, only to later enter a romantic relationship with him as an adult), Nero and Kyrie from Devil May Cry (Nero is fostered by Kyrie's family and considers Kyrie a sister initially, only for her to become his love interest as adults) and Sidon and Yona from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Sidon grows up perceiving Yona as a sister, only to realize his feelings for her are more complex later on). None of these are incestuous relationships, nor is Shadow and Maria’s were it to be romantic.

“It’s bestiality because Shadow is an animal.”

Bestiality is applicable to regular animals that do not hold human sentience of thought, as they are unable to consent to a relationship, like a dog or cat. Shadow is not this, nor are any of the anthropomorphic characters within the Sonic games - were you to change the anthropomorphic animals in Sonic into humans, basically nothing about the series' content would change. All of them are completely sound-minded beings that are essentially just people who look different. Shadow is not Maria’s pet, he is her fully sentient friend that holds the same degree of thought as she does – given that Shadow’s entire arc is about finding his purpose in life, degrading him to simply a lab animal rather than acknowledging he is a person defeats that entire arc (something the manga also touches upon).

A lot of people also cite Sonic and Elise from Sonic ‘06 (namely the scene where Elise kisses the deceased Sonic) as a reason why Shadow and Maria should not be done - while I think it’s valid if you didn’t like watching a human girl kissing Sonic the Hedgehog, I maintain that a good chunk of that disdain stemmed from two major reasons:

Elise was very poorly characterized in her game. She existed to constantly get kidnapped and be saved by Sonic, and so both the relationship and the kiss came off more like pandering than something earned.

Sonic '06 had a bizarrely realistic artstyle for the human characters, whilst all of the animal characters retained their cartoonish appearances. This clash of artstyles looked its worst when Elise kissed Sonic at the game's climax.

Maria, however, does not fall into these pitfalls. She does not exist to be purely a love interest for Shadow - she’s certainly not someone for him to save, as the entire inciting event of Shadow's character is his inability to save her when she saves him.

For a frame of reference, Shadow is more akin to an alien from Star Wars – a setting where humans also exist. It is not bestiality for a Human to hold a relationship with a Twi’lek, as both races are fully anthropomorphic and sentient. On a similar note, Beauty and the Beast is not considered bestiality either, even though the Beast bears obvious animalistic traits. Some people have also entertained the notion of Rouge and Topaz from Sonic X, even though the latter is human. This is all the same principle, and none of it is bestiality.

“It’s creepy because Maria is young.”

Shadow – while said to be ageless – is not an adult, and to imply that he is one is a fundamental misunderstanding of Shadow’s character – whilst there are many instances where he demonstrates maturity on some levels, he has shown much immaturity since his inception in Sonic Adventure 2 (his desire to destroy the world out of revenge for Maria), and his most recent storyline in Generations involves his naïve desire to change Maria and Gerald’s fates (or rather, an initial indifference to what it will bring). Not only that, but his time on the ARK was mired in confusion over the point of his existence – Maria was the one that helped him field through his confusion, and was arguably the more mature one between the two of them. We can safely say that Shadow is not an adult character, nor is he ever presented as one in the lens of the game.

As the closest thing Sonic likely has to an equal in both body and mind (Sonic holds his own immaturities similar to Shadow), he can likely be placed mentally close to his age of fifteen. This is reinforced by the leaked transcript of Sonic ‘06 that refers to Shadow as 15 (the red squared text in this image).

Maria has no canon age established in game material, but Sonic X lists her as 12. 15 and 12 is the same age gap as Sonic and Amy respectively.

In addition to that, many people have claimed that Shadow is over 50 years old, but this is only true of his chronological existence, not the time he has been conscious and aging. He spent 50 years stuck in cryosleep, and awoke exactly how he was when he was placed in there.

A similar example would be Aang and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender - Aang was frozen at the age of 12, and awoke 100 years later. Nobody, however, tried to claim that he was 112 years too old to kiss the 14 year old Katara, as Aang was physically and mentally still a 12 year old upon awakening - most people who watched the show were also actively rooting for these two characters to kiss, which they did at the show's finale. It's the same principle regarding Shadow - he is 50 chronologically, not 50 in mind or body.

If we’d like to really get into it, I would point out that nearly every character in the lens of Sonic is in and around Maria’s age range (according to the Sonic Channel). As stated previously, Sonic is 15. Amy is 12, Knuckles is 16, Rouge is 18, Blaze and Silver are 14, etc. Nobody bats an eye at notions of romance between any of these people (not that I’m saying they should inherently).

Romantic intent between minors is not inherently viewed as a bad thing - see the examples of Aang and Katara or Clive and Jill above, or for an in house example, consider the canonical (to Sonic X at least) relationship between the 8 year old Tails and Cosmo - yet for some reason when it comes to Shadow and Maria, a relationship is stigmatized.

To reiterate in the wake of the last point, my discussions of romantic intent ARE NOT SEXUAL IN NATURE. As I acknowledge these are minors, any notions of that are completely off the table, and I do not agree with anyone who would imply their relationship was a sexual one. I want to make that unmistakably clear.

My major takeaway from observing both the Sonic fanbase and those on Sonic Team seems to be that in western circles, Shadow and Maria as siblings is the popular perception, whilst in eastern circles, they are more commonly perceived romantically. But ultimately, Shadow and Maria’s relationship seems to have many contradictory signals that makes it hard to pinpoint a concrete definition, especially in the most recent releases – and I believe that this is fully intentional.

Shiro Maekawa has stated in DMs has stated this regarding their relationship when asked if he saw them as siblings or love interests (translated from Japanese):

“I think they have a special bond that is unique to them that doesn’t fall into either of those categories. Just my personal opinion.”

From the way that the two are written post-Sonic Adventure 2, this appears to be a sentiment that is fully carried forward – their relationship is more nuanced than a canonical label would make it. Maria was the only person who made Shadow feel loved, and Maria unquestionably loved him back. What kind of love that was is up to the viewer, especially given that Maria died when they were both young, before they even had a chance to expand upon their relationship, if that was ever on the table – not that they needed to, given that their bond seems to have transcended both labels. Maria was the only one who acknowledged Shadow as more than an experiment or a weapon, and Shadow was her rock in an environment where she was isolated away from her family and home. Maria was Shadow's person, and still remains that in death.

To disclose for me personally (in case it was not obvious), I have always interpreted their relationship as romantic - or at least having romantic implications - ever since playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog when I was a kid. I have both a fiancé and a sibling, and the way they treat each other is far more evocative of how I treat the former than the latter (especially in Dark Beginnings – I do not imagine my sibling through a shoujo filter while I wistfully think about cuddling them in a field of flowers). I do not take the awkwardly placed alt text verbiage from the Sonic Twitter account, used to fake-argue with the Wendy’s Twitter account, as gospel for anything, and I think that treating it as a damning disproval is silly. Had she lived, I believed the complex feelings they held would have been identified as romantic down the line. The relationship always just read as too intimately charged for me to perceive as siblings (it still does especially in the wake of seeing how she touches and speaks to him), even before I had a serious relationship. I think that arguing the nitty gritty over Twitter alt text and translations is silly, as all it took for me to takeaway that the relationship was still romantic was to play the game, watch the animations, and read the manga for Shadow Generations - but that's just me.

That said, I will concur that if you are weirded out by romantic notions between the two of them, that is completely understandable, and I would never argue that you should not feel what you feel for yourself. The sibling viewpoint is also wholly valid an interpretation, with or without word from a meta source. Though she had her grandfather and later Abe, she was largely alone on the ARK away from a family that she clearly loved and missed, and it’s not unusual to presume that Shadow filled in the role of a brother for her. I will also acknowledge that many things I have not mentioned - such as Shadow blushing at Maria calling him cool, or her saying "I love you" in general - are not inherently indicative of romantic intent, and can be read as fully platonic interpretations, and I find those that try to state that the romantic interpretation is the objective one just as irritating as those that state the sibling interpretation is the objective.

My intent is only to dispute the idea that romantic interpretations, and the people who hold them, deserve to be scrutinized. The pairing is completely innocent, and the treatment people have received for believing them to be romantic is obscene. Sweeping blanket statements have been made to insult all who do (some going as far as to wish death and harm upon them), all just based on subjective viewpoints held by people who see them platonically. The fact that there is so much discourse surrounding this topic, and that there is evidence enough on both ends to make an argument, means that Sega has intentionally left the relationship up to interpretation - including the romantic take.

Everyone unclutch your pearls.

But with all that said, I will reiterate that this post was not meant to convince anyone of one thing or another, but rather that both interpretations of their relationship are valid, as it is essentially a secret third thing that transcends both labels and is special only to them. Strictly defining their relationship as “siblings” or “love interests” (even as someone who perceives them romantically, I would never want that to be definitively confirmed for this reason) is deconstructing what is perhaps the most nuanced part of a series that does not always tend to be terribly nuanced, and a definition matters far less than acknowledging what Maria means to Shadow in the present – he is who he is because of her, and because of that, he is now living a life for himself. Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) ended in a way that had Shadow let Maria go, and Shadow Generations ends with him carrying her forward with him after accepting her loss. She was, and will always be, the person who loved Shadow - however you define that love is up to you.

Nothing has ever been hard confirmed by Sega, no matter how much either side wants to pretend it has been.

In summary, both points of view regarding Shadow and Maria’s relationship are simultaneously true and not true – it is a matter of interpretation according to the viewer what their feelings towards each other were, yet their relationship in the lens of what it is now after the tragedy of their existence (even before Maria died) is purposefully indefinable, and it should remain that way. Nobody should ever try to say that Shadow and Maria are definitively something - that goes for both points of view. I doubt it will, but I hope this goes towards removing the stigmas towards one of the more nuanced parts of this series, as nuance in Sonic the Hedgehog - frankly - does not come along very often, and it would be nice if that were encouraged rather than smothered.

Thank you for reading.

[cyziel]

i'm thinking about yosuke again and it makes me so annoyed because of how hard atlus dropped the ball with him. it's very obvious that they made his character arc with the intention of him being a closeted high schooler in the year 2011 that struggles with internalized homophobia who learns to finally accept himself, but then randomly decided to cut out the payoff to all of the setup so it just makes him extremely homophobic. the whole game is about accepting the part of yourself that you hate, and yosuke coming to terms with his bisexuality throughout the course of the story fits into that theme perfectly.

it's small stuff like this and so many other moments that make much more sense with the context of him originally being planned on having a romance route. he projects his idea of "manliness" and what's "right" onto both others and himself to make up for the social stigma placed onto him by society; he's trying to convince himself that he's "normal" so he can fit in. him feeling ostracized because he's the manager of junes' son is a blatant parallel to this, and the two of them could've easily been intertwined.

"i like you" in japanese is "ore, omae ga suki da" 《俺、 お前 が 好き だ》 -> known as the most common form of a love confession in japan and is almost always used romantically, especially given the context

this is an obviously repressed queer kid who has been struggling to grasp his sexuality and growing feelings for yu; there is so much subtext throughout the game that has all culminated to this moment—or at least, should've culminated to this moment. but it didn't.

funnily enough, i don't think it was atlus projecting their bigotry onto him at first until p4g, but making a genuine attempt at a good character arc that, much like the rest of persona 4, misses the mark in the worst way possible despite being so close to saying something meaningful (cough kanji and naoto). it's like they chickened out at the last second, but "forgot" to take out the parts that just make him a homophobic asshole with the context removed—and then even doubled down on it in p4g lmao. the thing i'm confused about is that hoshino (the former director of the persona series who is extremely disgusting and bigoted) was... already in the company when the lines were recorded??? so i'm baffled as to why they were allowed to come up with it in the first place before deciding against it.

this could've been really great and realistic representation that could've helped other queer people who were going through the same thing yosuke was—especially in the year 2008—and i'm super disappointed that they decided to cut it. persona 4 is about confronting the problematic elements about yourself, and i cannot think of a greater example of this than yosuke and his internalized homophobia.

(bonus: the closet is made out of glass)

[yuurei20]

Twst Characters and "you" (pt1)

(Many thank-yous to @/irafuwas for so much help with this post!)

The Japanese language has numerous words for “you,” which vary by person and situation.

君 / キミ (kimi) is a casual form of “you” that isn’t overtly rude, but can sound condescending in certain contexts and isn’t appropriate to use in formal settings or when talking to superiors. It’s very common in pop culture (music/anime/etc.), and depending on the situation, it can imply closeness or emphasize the authority of the speaker, such as superiors using it with their subordinates in certain academic or professional settings.

Q: “So it can either imply the speaker is pretty close with the person they’re talking to, or even something totally different--that the speaker’s trying to assert their authority? And it’s used not only in love songs, but also by teachers to address their students? Basically, the meaning can change completely even though it’s the same word?”

A: Yes! The Japanese language’s various “you”s are extremely context dependent! (If you are a language learner, the safest bet will always be just using a person’s name with an honorific! The honorifics used by the various characters of Twst have been compiled here)

キミ (kimi) is the form that Riddle uses most, often with the non-housewarden students who are in or below his grade.

Trey uses 君 (kimi) with the dwarves in Book 5 as well as with Jamil and Jade, both during vignettes that are hinted at taking place at the very beginning of the school year, so it’s possible that he wasn’t very familiar with them at the time.

君 (kimi) is the main form of “you” used by Cater, with two exceptions: once with Trey, and once to thank the first-years for their help in handling Riddle in a whispered comment that the others don’t seem to hear (this doesn’t include his ghost possession during Spectral Soiree).

Deuce uses 君 (kimi) upon meeting Ace, Chenya, and Epel for the first time as well as three other forms of “you.”

Ruggie shifts between two forms of “you,” and 君 (kimi) is one of them.

Azul uses three forms of “you” including 君 (kimi), Jamil uses 君 (kimi) plus four other forms of “you”, and it is possible that Rook uses キミ (kimi) almost exclusively (with at least two exceptions, both in Book 6).

Epel uses 君 / キミ (kimi) in both kanji and katakana.

Idia also seems to use 君 (kimi) very often, also with two exceptions (Ortho and human-Ortho).

Ortho also seems to use 君 (kimi) almost exclusively, also with two exceptions (Idia and Malleus).

君 (kimi) is also how the Dawn Knight addresses Silver, and is the form of “you” that Rollo uses for the first half of Glorious Masquerade (he rotates through three different forms in total).

It’s also used by Vil’s father Eric and is one of four different forms of “you” used by Fellow.

[tenkohibari]

A crazy theory about the traitor of Tokyo Debunker

°°°

I have a theory about who the traitor ghoul could be.

[This is all translated with the translator, I'm sorry for any possible lexical or spelling mistakes, I hope you enjoy my theory]

[Spoilers for everything up to chapter 7]

Okay, I think that they really told us the truth from the beginning.

No, don't go, listen to me--

I think that, in the preface, before the story itself, where they give you to choose a ghoul to supposedly save, that's where the truth lies. Who is the traitor. And that's why I've been studying each of the statements of the 19 ghouls (except for Ed and Lyca) and GUYS I HAVE FOUND SOMETHING.

Before I tell you who I think the traitor is, I'll give you a little introduction: I've studied each of the ways ghouls throw themselves off the terrace and I've found 5 different base drawings, because they are bases that are repeated within the ghouls when they throw themselves off.

For example, base 1 (that's how I called it) is used by Jiro, Alan, Jin, Luca, Leo and Ritsu. I've been looking for ways to relate them to each other, but I haven't found any. Neither between their statements, nor their names, nor their ways of acting in front of MC. I mean, these guys seem to apologize to MC (each in their own way) except for Leo... That said, Leo's statement seemed hopelessly interesting to me, but I'll talk about it in a few paragraphs later. I thought that maybe the Kanji of their initials in Japanese, or maybe the pronunciation of their names in another language give rise to a secret message of why they chose these characters for this pose, or maybe I'm just thinking too much.

Well, the next position, position 2 (according to me, again) is occupied by Yuri, Rui, Taiga and Towa. Here I think the position fits with the boys and their statements, because none of them seem to really want to let you go. That's why they are trying to reach out their hand towards the MC, although perhaps timidly, because they are really accepting their fate.

Position 3, occupied by Tohma, Haku, Haru and Zenji, in their posture they don't try to get close to you in the least. They know they are going to die and they have accepted it. Again, I don't know how to fit it or link them together, but I know that they haven't been chosen at random. In this game nothing is a coincidence.

Position 4, the last one shared between ghouls, is occupied by Kaito, Sho, Romeo and Subaru. Again I don't know how to link them together. Oh well Subaru's statement made me very intrigued, I'll also discuss it later.

Well, and there is ONE LAST POSITION THAT ONLY HAS ONE CHARACTER

That character is Ren. And I think he is the traitor.

WAIT DON'T GO, LET ME EXPLAIN

Now is when you will say "why do you think Ren is the traitor just because of his falling position?" well, WELL. To start with I don't think there are "coincidences" in this game, that is, if they have made an effort to make only one drawing for Ren, there must be a reason, right?

Well, let's analyze his line now step by step:

~~ "This is exactly the reason I didn't want to do this! I knew this was how it would end! What am I doing here? This is all your fault..."

'This is the reason I didn't want to do this'? What does he mean by 'this'? It could be anything, but what if he's talking about betraying MC? Because Taiga never said who the traitor works for. What if he works for Darkwick...?

We can't trust Darkwick, that's become clear throughout the chapters. Also, the ghouls are aware that they're trapped inside the academy, and that's not counting what he did to Lyca. So I don't rule out the possibility that Darkwick was the one who 'hired' our spy, so to speak. Also, from the beginning it's clear that Ren doesn't fit in at Jabberwock, where he was assigned... What is he doing there? What if the academy put him there by rigging the entrance ceremony? Because we all know that Jabberwock is home to a hundred anomalies... And if a student in charge of taking care of them deals with them, it won't look weird. That's why Darkwick brought Ren into Jabberwock and somehow bought him to work there. Because, do you remember the mermaid named by Hyde in chapter 7? The one that's not in Morktranken? The one under Haru's custody? Ren is from Jabberwock, he might know something about it... And have gotten hold of it to give to the patient... Although this deduction leads me to another question: why would the academy do this? Or is Ren working for someone inside the academy, like an independent body...? Like that janitor who appears four times throughout the story, that very suspicious one about whom we know nothing.

Guys, I repeat that in this game COINCIDENCES DO NOT EXIST

'I knew this was how it was going to end!' Ren knew there was something wrong from the beginning? Not even Taiga knew, in his statement he asked us what we had done wrong... And now Ren comes and tells us that he had a bad feeling from the beginning... This causes a lot of doubts. Because what is Ren doing telling us that if he lives always locked in his phone? That only means that he knows more than he says.

'What am I doing here? This is all your fault' To begin with, why does he blame us? Not even Leo (u, damnit bitch) talks to us like Ren does. Also, speaking of Leo, his statement tells us that "I will make those assholes pay for this" IN PLURAL which indicates that the traitor works for someone else and does not do it for his own ideals... With Leo's statement I completely rule out that he is the spy, to tell the truth. But I could be wrong.

Returning to the subject of Ren blaming us, I can only wonder what leads him to that. Why does he blame us? What leads us to the hell in which the game begins...? And why is Ren the only one who blames us while the rest of the ghouls either blame themselves or don't name it. I mean, not even Leo does! This just makes me think more and more that Ren isn't hiding anything good... And I also wonder why Subaru is the only one who blames himself directly. I know his personality is like that... But I can only think of Subaru and his misleading statement... Maybe the company wants us to think badly of him? After all, Professor Moby told us that the Hotarubi ghouls are hiding something. And we don't know if we've really discovered what they're hiding or if we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. And Haku seems pretty suspicious to me too, after telling the principal "have I ever hidden something from you?" BUT WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT HAKU RIGHT NOW. I know he's hiding something, but I don't think he's the traitor.

Now let's talk about Ren's position.

He's the only one who, when he jumps off the balcony, really seems like he doesn't want to do it. He's the one who stretches his hand out more emphatically towards MC, as if he were regretting what he's doing, or as if he's doing this because he has no other choice or... I don't know. His very stiff posture towards you just seems suspicious to me.

But that's because I think he's the traitor, right? Maybe I'm thinking too much, right?

Remember guys that this here is JUST A THEORY because there are still many chapters and many tests left to be able to refute what we've seen so far. I'm also a follower of several theories that I will be publishing and outlining in the future.

And I'm not an expert in making theories so if you see holes in this one, DON'T HESITATE TO DEBATE WITH ME IN A RESPECTFUL WAY. I'll be reading you ^^

[canmom]

Do you think Hideaki Anno is right-wing or is it too difficult to tell from his works?

Haha that's a question.

I'll focus on nationalism rather than trying to get into, say, gender politics here, since that's the accusation that most seems to follow Anno around.

Anno's politics are... hard to pin down from his work alone, I think. He's like... a prototypical case of that generation of 'apolitical' otaku that followed after the Anpo generation, with Eva pretty much the definitive statement of the 90s psychological turn. But that said... I can definitely see the argument that there are nationalist themes in some of his works like Gunbuster, though I definitely don't buy every reading in this series (lots of dubious kanji reading). He definitely has that otaku fascination with war machinery and war media (apparently he's a big fan of The Battle for Okinawa and watched it over 100 times), which can easily blend into imperialist ideology.

But there's complications here. For example, the Animekritik series cites the setting of Gunbuster in Okinawa as something formative to the nationalist ideology they are trying to illustrate - in part in relation to the ongoing controversy over American military bases in Okinawa. Anno has at least been on record as saying he's disinterested in Western culture, and I can see the reading of Jung-Freud as an external Other who is shown up by the Japanese girls, somehow simultaneously representing the USSR, Europe and the States. But anti-Americanism in Japan can come in both left and right wing flavours (c.f. Anpo). Communists want the Americans out too! Portraying Okinawa as a military training camp in a Japan-led military coalition certainly comes across as a more nationalist take on that whole matter, but I feel like it's got about the same level of serious nationalist commitment as Doctor Who putting random British people all over space.

When Gainax has played around with nationalist imagery it's usually been in a kind of ironic sendup way - see Ash's writeup about the Aikoku Sentai Dai Nippon controversy, in which Daicon Film staff were disdainful at the accusation that their goofy toku film reflected a genuine nationalist sentiment. While Imaishi takes it further, a lot of Anno's work is also about playfully reappropriating past works. In Anno's case a lot of that is classic tokusatsu, Ultraman in particular, and also Leiji Matsumoto's scifi, notably Space Battleship Yamato, which, well... you know the deal there lol. But it's not so simple to go from that to 'Anno is a nationalist'.

Eva doesn't tend to attract these accusations, but I recall the controversy came back around with Shin Godzilla, though to my mind it's hard to find a straightforwardly nationalist reading of that movie. (It's a film about the experience of the earthquake and Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown, and it's critical of Japan's bureaucracy, but equally one where the JSDF repeatedly get their shit handed to them and civilian infrastructure is what actually stops Godzilla - not to mention Godzilla is painted as quite a tragic figure here!) It all feels pretty tenuous.

I haven't seen as many of Anno's live action films as I'd like, so I can't comment as much on the more recent Shin films, Love & Pop, Shiki-Jitsu etc. And it's always possible for subtler allusions to slip by the anglophone viewer. Still, I don't personally think Anno's post-Gunbuster work is particularly nationalist in outlook. I certainly haven't seen any evidence of him favouring, say, war crime denial, anti-Korean sentiment, remilitarisation, etc etc. - he's definitely not as dubious a figure as someone like Hajime Isayama. But it's not like, anti-nationalist either! It's just kind of hard to read in those terms.

So I lean towards your second option, I'm not convinced he's a nationalist or particularly right wing. He happily associates with Hayao Miyazaki, who's definitely not a right wing guy. But Anno'll also let hilariously cooked stuff like whatever On A Gloomy Night was supposed to be into the Animator Expo. So I don't think he's particularly left wing either, he's no Ikuni! But Anno's fiction is very individual focused, full of psychoanalytic themes and internal conflict. He can vividly portray trauma and complex power dynamics. There's a lot to appreciate in works like Eva from a left-wing angle. I don't really know why this association of nationalism follows him around.

Idk, maybe there's a bunch of interviews I'm missing! Presumably you have a reason for asking this question...

[yeetushaitus]

i will defend capcoms translation of aai2 to hell and back because ykw if it gets more eyes on this game then im all for it but theres just. ONE thing that gets me about the new translation dont know if i can explain this very well but whatever ill try

also HUGE HUGE spoilers for AAI2, PLEASE dont read if u havent played the full game

ok so. i was just listening to a steamer play the collection in the background and at the end of the 2nd convo w simeon in ch2 i heard this

and thn i backtracked and noticed that he kept calling knight by his first name

i was like "huh did he always do that? swear he called him by his last name in the fan translation" and turns out he does

the only reason i even remembered that was bc in the flashback convo in ch5 between knightley and simon, when simon calls him horace it REALLY stuck out because up until this point basically nobody has called knightley by his first name, not even his best friend

imo his own best friend calling him by his last name kind of foreshadows the emotional distance simon feels towards knightley and just. dude this was SO intentional

and in case youre wondering, simon calls knightley by his last name, 内藤(naitou), in the japanese version too until the goodbye part where he calls him マノスケ(manosuke)

usually manosuke is written out with kanji, but when he says it here its in katakana which is only used for loan words blah blah blah ok

if im wrong sue me but using katakana like this is either a sign of closeness, like how in japanese edgeworth calls kay ミクモくん(mikumo-kun) in katakana(also probabaly partly bc he doesnt speak formal japanese with like. anyone?? see this post) or emphasis like how capital letters are in english(obv its not a one to one comparison but whatever u get it)

my japanese isnt the best so. take this w a grain of salt BUT

basically. the use of katakana emphasizes his use of knightley's first name so this was TOTALLY an intentional thing(bc otherwise they wouldve just written it normally) that the localizers just i guess opted to ignore???? or maybe im just a crazy person whos watched like every lets play of this game ever and im reading too deep into it

tbf its a REALLY small detail in the grand scheme of things but with how carefully every detail that hints to simon's identity as the mastermind has been planted in this game, its kind of sad that a lot of players will miss out on this

ANYWAYS sorry it was 2am at the time of writing this and im so bad at explaining my feelings but. hopefully this made sense idk i dont write good but like im convinced this flashback and this line specifically is like at least half of the reason i love manosouta

[elipapayo]

Headcannon last names for the Tulpar 5:

Curly: Curly Anderson

Reasoning: Curly isn't a super popular boys name, so I thought it would be really funny if he had a basic bitch last name. Maybe his parents wanted to give him a unique first name so he wouldn't have an everyman name.

Jimmy (Sorry you had to read that): Jimmy Wilson

Reasoning: It sounded enough like a name I'd read on FBI's most wanted. Also, he doesn't deserve a cool name. So he gets the basic name of Wilson.

Anya: Anya Solovyov

Reason: Anya is a Russian/Spanish version of the name Anna, but I got distinctly Russian vibes from her? So I went with Russian. Solovyov means Nightingale, which is a beautiful bird. I thought Anya deserved something nice. If I were to go the Spanish route, her name would be Anya Figueroa. The reasoning is a bit more complicated. From what I researched, Figueroa loosely means "Fig tree," and although I'm not religious, I always interpreted Anya as someone who would be, or at least came from a religious background. Fig trees are extremely important in some religions and symbolise inner peace. I thought Anya deserved some inner peace.

Swansea: Swansea Jensen

Reasoning: Swansea, as a name, is from Old Norse. Swansea has a modernized version of the name. Since Norse typically came from Northern Europe - mostly Scandinavia, if my memory serves me - I gave him a very common, modern Scandinavian last name. It's pretty popular in America, too. So, is my HC!Swansea from Scandinavia? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, he's a Jensen.

Daisuke: Daisuke Fukuzawa

Reasoning: Daisuke is a Japanese name meaning "Big, Assist" if Google is to be trusted (Don't worry, I didn't rely on the AI overview), And so I decided to go with Japanese for the last name. Fukuzawa, according to Japanesenames.info, has two Kanji in it; Fuku, meaning "Happiness," and Zawa, meaning "Marsh." Daisuke Fukuzawa is a Happy, Helpful Marsh, and he deserves it.

[henriiiii-1001old]

quick thing that i'm gonna post publicly bc i know tumblr has not been formatting the script correctly, so i'm just gonna make some corrections for you (not translation based, the japanese is just being weird):

米国からの新しいバイラルビデオがオンライン浮上しました によつて捕らえられた神秘的な幽霊のような幻影の21歳のJoel Hayes のYoutubeチャンネル へイズチャンネルはー夜にしてセンセーションを巻き起こしました オンラインインタビューでへイズは次のこを碓認しました。 映像は本物であり、 他にも見られるものがあります へイズの詳細をお楽しみに 不思議で不思議な体験

enjoy!!!!!

EDIT: THANK YOU TO @evrydaygets-darkr they helped me with a few things i got wrong!! it makes a bit more sense now

okay i 'translated' the full news report intro from mystifying oracle.

米国からの新しいバイラルビデオがオソライソ浮上しました によつて捕らえられた神秘的な幽霊のような幻影の 21 歳の Joel Hayes の Youtube チヤソネル へイズチヤソネルはー夜にしてセ ソセーシヨソを巻き起こしました オソライソ イソタビユーで へイズは次のこを碓認しました。 映像は本物であり、 他にも 見られるものがあります へイズの詳細をお楽しみに 不思議で不思議な体験

A new viral video from the US surfaced online of a mysterious ghostly apparition captured on 21 year old Joel Hayes' Youtube channel It rose to popularity overnight on Hayes' channel Hayes said in an online interview that "The footage is real, and there's more to see." Stay tuned for more from Hayes' strange and wondrous experience

pretty much what you'd expect, nothing hidden in there, but i still had fun and now i don't have to wonder what it says.

side note: some of it didnt translate correctly, so we had to use context clues for some of it (popularity, interview, etc) and the grammar was a bit off.

[helenstudies]

My handwriting in five languages

English | Burmese | Korean | Chinese | Japanese

I don't have the most beautiful handwriting but I love writing on paper with a pen!! my fav is black in because I feel cooler. The sentences are from books I had around.

my fav handwriting is definitely my Burmese handwriting. Look at those round things go!!!

my favorite language to practice writing in is Chinese. The hanzi (or kanji/hanja) feels so nice. It's like meditation

my favorite language to actually write things in is Korean. Maybe because now I'm fluent in a language other than Burmese and English. While writing long essays in Korean, I can FEEL my brain unlocking things.

least favorite language to write in is japanese. My brain has to switch gears from simplified chinese characters to traditional chinese characters to japanese chinese characters. maybe it'll get easier if I get to like N1 but right now, it's ugh. I love hiragana but I'm going to have an enemies to lovers arc with katakana. I can feel it.