In the continued series about miscellaneous information regarding the translations of Dragon Ball and linguistic detail, we will in this article look at how polite (or the lack thereof) the pupils of martial arts masters are in Dragon Ball, when talking towards or about their masters.
There is in Dragon Ball, as is symptomatic of plenty of other children's comics featuring martial art and artists are trend for characters to not bother with the polite first person prononimals and instead just stick to what they know, be it "ore" or "atashi," being respectively the most informal male and female self-references possible.
We will be focusing on two characters for this article, Tenshinhan of the Crane Xian School of Martial Arts and Kuririn of the Turtle Xian School of Martial Arts. Both of are fierce fighters and devoted to their martial arts and masters, but the former abandons his teacher after the teacher shows plainly to be a slaughterous arsehole, whose slaughterous younger arsehole brother the young Tenshihan wished to emulate.
Xian are immortal mountain hermits of Wu Xia, Chinese martial arts myths and stories, that due to consistent and dedicated mastery of their techniques as well as disciplining themselves to an ascetic life-style have achieved supernatural abilities and a seemingly endless lifespan. Used in the context of Toriyama's fantasy comedy manga, it denotes either a lecherous old git or a deceptively powerful being, both of whom have or have not been living an ascetic lifestyle, though the Turtle Xian is characterised by his worldly and plainly prurient habits.
So, we begin with Kuririn, whose debut in the third volume of the Dragon Ball manga introduces us to a young warrior monk with a holier-than-thou attitude and apparently as immoderate world-view as the Turtle Xian. After performing an unsuccessful somersault from his boat to the lonely island-house of the martial arts master, he asks the oldster if he is the Turtle Xian and then proceeds with this courteous if exaggerated introduction:
わたくし はるばる東の村からやってまいりました クリリンともうします！！ ぜひ 武天老師さまの もとで 修行をさせてくださいませっ！！
Watakushi harubaru higashi no mura kara yatte mairimashita Kuririn to moushimasu!! Zehi Muten Roushi-sama no moto de shugyou o sasete kudasaimase!!
"Thus humble one by the name of Kuririn have come from a faraway village in the East. If you, venerable master (laoshi) Muten, would graciously deign to put me under your tutelage?"
(Volume 3, Dragon Ball by Toriyama)
All of this is said whilst bowing forward and attempting to combine body- and spoken language in the most boot-licking way possible with the humble "I", watakushi, the humble verbs mairimasu ("to go") and moushimasu ("to be called/to say") in their polite conjugations, teineigo. All of this is rounded off with him using the honorific title -sama ("lord/lady/sir/madam"), the formal equivalent of -san and the hyper-formal kudasaimase ("if you would gracious deign to do"), an older and more decorous version of kudasai ("if you would please").
These are lines spoken by a relatively young boy, quite the advanced vocabulary, but, alas, as things go on Kuririn's watakushi turns into a mere informal boku during the Tenka'ichi Budoukai ("World's Best Fighters' Tournament"), and occasionally the not-so-formal-as-watakushi, watashi, which in fact proceeds his change of polite pronominal into boku. Such as when he is told the news that he and Gokuu, his friend and fellow-student, will be attending said tournament:
わっ わたしたちも出場できるようになるんですかっ！？
Wa-Watashi-tachi wa mo shutsujou dekiru you ni narun desu ka !?
"W-We will be able to participate in it (=the World's Best Fighters' Tournament)!?" (Volume 3, Dragon Ball by Toriyama)
Later, whilst wanting to push a giant boulder in the same manner of Gokuu, to impress their teacher and prove his worth for the tournament, he uses boku:
おつぎはボクです！ 悟空ほどはうごかせませんけど Otsugi wa boku desu! Gokuu hodo ha ugokasemasenkedo "I'll be next! Though I'm not able to move it as Gokuu did."
Thus far not all too impolite, let us look at Tenshinhan.
Tenshinhan is thoroughly polite his old git of a teacher, the Crane Xian, and at a pivotal moment when the Crane Xian orders one of his students to help Tenshinhan to outright kill Son Gokuu, since he not only beat up, but also exploded the younger brother of the Crane Xian, the world famous assassin Tao Bai Bai, by immobilising Son Gokuu with telekinesis.
わ…わたしはただ… この試合だけはおもいきり戦ってみたいのです… 手助けは いりません 実力で かならず勝ってみせます…
Wa...Watashi wa tada... Kono shiai dake wa omoikiri tatakatte mitai no desu... Tedaasukete wa irimasen jitsuryoku de kanarazu katte misemasu...
"I-I only want to... fight this bout with all my strength... sir... Help is not needed, I shall assuredly be victorious..."
"Watashi" makes an appearance instead of his regular "ore", and otherwise keeps a fairly neutral polite language, such as tedaasuke ("to lend a hand; assistance"), which ought to be prefixed with the honorific o- thus o-tedasuke, implying an elevation of the term referring to assistance by way of his teacher ordering the other student to paralyse Son Gokuu.
After winning the tournament and atoning for his previous crimes, Tenshinhan asks the Turtle Xian if he and his fellow student would not be able to stay at the ageing master's place:
あの… やはり われわれもごいっしょさせていただけないでしょうか… Ano... yahari wareware mo go-issho sasete itadakenai deshou ka... "Uhm... Nonetheless we shall perhaps not be in position of joining you, would we..."
The formal and at times archaic wareware ("we/us"), is joined by the honorific go-issho ("honourable join along") and the humble verb in the negative, itadakenai ("to no be able to be granted").
Speed ahead to the arc wherein they deal with the slug-like Demon King Piccolo, Tenshinhan's tone turns notably more informal in his polite speech, when expressing his want to join the Turtle Xian in fighting said Demon King:
そんな消極的な方法しかないのですか？ オレは…やはり戦って勝ちたい…！
Sonna shoukyokuteki na houhou shikanai no desuka? Ore wa... yahari tatakette kachitai...!
"Nothing more than a half-hearted method, you say, sir? I too want to win this fight...!"
Ore appears now more frequently in Tenshinhan's informal and formal speech patterns.
When the cast rejoin after years apart, for the next Tenka'ichi Budoukai, we get these exchanges:
<INSERT DIALOGUE FROM THE 14TH, 15TH, 16TH AND 17TH VOLUMES>