Myriad of Leaves

Kono teido ka...

Many a moment in an anime, tv-series or game you will in Japanese media hear the phrase この程度か (kono teido ka), which at its most literal is "is it to this extent?", but is deeply dependent on the scene and it most often occurs

japanese

Regarding Arisen Ones

WARNING – Spoilers regarding the Dragon’s Dogma games. The term “Arisen” is used within Dragon’s Dogma and its related games to refer to an individual who has entered a pact with a dragon by having their heart taken by force or willingly to

japanese

In memoriam: Akira Toriyama

Rest in peace, Akira Toriyama (05.05.1955 - 01.03.2024) 御冥福を御祈っております A luminary in the industry, not just for his work Dragon Ball amongst others, but also for his design work on games like Chrono Trigger and Dragon Quest. His influence reached

japanese

Return of "Old Sport"

I wrote a while back about how a Japanese translator handled the adaptation of the term "old sport" in the seminal novel The Great Gatsby. This time around I have not just one, but three more translations of the term from their respective translations

japanese

Piece of my mind to feast upon

In a Christmas Carol’s third chapter, wherein the Ghost of Christmas Present, a towering incarnation of Yuletide jollity, guides Scrooge through the homes and streets of various people that the miser knows, but does not know his impact upon, he comes across the

christmas

Quick X-Mas post update

Greetings of the winter variety, readers! I am bringing a much needed update as regards the posts, and when you can expect to see more of them. Life has been hectic on my end and time has been sparse in terms of writing articles.

names

Of Margarethus and Mathildus

There are countless female names derived from male names, such as Joanna, Jacqueline, Roberta, Victoria and so on, but the reverse is also true. There are quite a few purely female names that have male counterparts, such as Mathilda becoming Mathildus, Elisabeth becoming Elisabethus

japanese

On Bison and Cammy

It's a common misconception that Street Fighter character, the amnesiac British soldier Cammy's relationship to the mysterious main villain of the series, General Vega ("Master Bison" in the West), is a creepy one. So, Cammy approaches Vega and asks him to tell the truth

japanese

Baronet Eagle of Street Fighter

So, Tiamat's otherwise superb Street Fighter Plot Guide mentions this bit about Eagle, a tonfa wielding gentleman from Street Fighter 1 - this regards his opening bio in the arcade mode of Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper: Street Fighter Zero 3 Double Upper: Eagle,

japanese

Speech Patterns: Akatasuki Musashi

SNK’s timeless classic The Last Blade, and its sequel and spin-offs, feature a host of fencers and fighters who are based off actual historical people or out of entirely new fictive cloth. Akatsuki Musashi (暁武蔵) himself is not merely inspired, but is

japanese

Speech Patterns - Palpatine (Star Wars)

Palpatine (“Lego Star Wars – The Skywalker Saga”, 2022) The duplicitous Sith Lord turned chancellor turned emperor from Star Wars has to wildly varying modes of speech depending on which of the personas that he is using, Sith Lord or politician, the former speaks in

Speech Patterns - Sunpoo (Chibi Robot)

Sunpoo (“Chibi Robot!”, 2005) The ursine stuffed imitation from Nintendo’s eccentric adventure-platformer “Chibi-Robo!” (GameCube, 2005),featured a diminutive automaton, the titular Chibi Robo (ちびロボ, lit. “tiny robot”) whose quest to bring happiness to the household that he lives with leads him to meet

japanese

A question of Hokuto Fists

In the seminal martial arts epic “Fist of the North Star” (Hokuto no Ken), there is a scene near the end of one of the early major story arcs, where the brothers Raoh and Toki face off. These two are practitioners of the eponymous

japanese

One word, multiple kanji

In Japanese you will from time to time encounter that a verb can be written synonymously with different kanji, but these meanings whilst sharing similarities can differ in usage. For example: Tsukuru (つくる) – “to create/make” 作 – Making of smaller things. 造 – Making of

japanese

Writing out the I

In the manga adaptation by Gatou Asou of the 2012 CGI animated feature of Shoutarou Ishinomori's classic, Cyborg 009, titled "009 Re:Cyborg", I am across a panel that stuck with me in terms of how it highlighted the nature of Japanese writing. The

japanese

Aggrandising Japanese Keigo

Whilst browsing through some of the linguistics that I own, I encountered this gem from Bjarke Frellesvig's excellent A History of the Japanese Language, p. 371: The inventories of forms used in these functions have changed over time, as have rules for their combinations.

names

New Years Post + Quick Name Analysis

Before ringing out the year 2022 and in with 2023, I thought I may make a quick post related to a classic Science Fiction franchise and its relation to the as classic tropes of naming characters: Enter Doctor Emmet Lathrop Brown: When we discuss

japanese

Santa-san

A friend of mine asked me recently as to the origins of the Japanese name for the voluminous giver of gifts, Santa Claus. A direct transcription of the name Santa Claus is サンタクロース (Santa Kurôsu), but he is typically referred to as サンタさん (Santa-san)

japanese

Yuru - Yule

From the 11th volume of Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura.Lo, a micro translation-comparison sort of thing. In the 11th volume of Vinland Saga, a group of country nobles and loyal vassals to King Canute plead their case to His Majesty, in this quote

japanese

Thor versus Thor versus Thor

With the advent of the new God of War Ragnarok game, and the appearance of another fresh interpretation of the Aesir, Vanir, Jotun and other members of Norse mythology, it behoves me to make a comparison with previous incarnations of one particular Aesir, Thor

japanese

Robotto!

Word robot first appeared as early as in the 1920s science fiction play, R. U. R (Rustrom’s Universal Robots), by Czech playwright Karel Čapek (1890 – 1938), wherein the automatons featured within the story are not mechanical humans, but synthetic ones created from various

japanese

Final Fantasy Royal Titles

Final Fantasy is no stranger to royalty. In fact, in most cases the main playable cast will contain a prince, princess, king and queen either secretly or quite obvious - such as in the cases of the most recent numbered Final Fantasy game. Previous

robots

AI in Fiction

Computers are machines, governed by calculations, i.e. numbers, the language of “logic”, thus the majority of AIs in fiction are represented as superficially polite, but wholly uncaring and calculating. Humans are, conversely, beings of pure emotion – perceived as floundering and fragile – incapable of

politeness

Morbid honorifics

When a person succumbs to the mortal coil and passes away, we have in all cultures words of varying degrees of formality and respect to refer to this posthumous state. Japanese being the focal point of this blog and seeing as Elizabeth II just

english

Carolean or Caroline?

So, with the recent passing of Elizabeth II and the her period of regency dubbed the "second Elizabethan age", it isn't too far for some people in politics to proclaim the new era to be called the "Carolean" derived from Carolus the Latin version