Japanese Culture

This page is about various parts of Japanese culture, and the Japanese language that can be hard to translate into English. Specifically parts that can change how the character, or their relationships can be perceived.

Important Terms

The Japanese language uses 2 alphabets, Hiragana, and Katakana. These two alphabets technically don't inherently have meaning, and use symbols called Kanji which give the alphabets meaning.

All three styles can be used interchangeably depending on the word, in that case usually one style is the most common, but there are times when a word can only be written in one specific style for it to be correct. Additionally, there is something called Furigana, this shows how the word is supposed to be read, normally this is used in works made for teenagers who might not know how it is meant to be read, but there are times when they change how it is supposed to be read for stylistic reasons. Normally Furigana is written with Hiragana.

When it comes to the author's writing style, he uses the different writing styles to portray a specific character in a specific way.

Honorifics

In Japanese there are different honorifics that can be used in different ways. This list will involve nicknames, and explanations if a character doesn't use honorifics with a specific characters.

List of Honorifics and other styles

• -San, this honorific is gender neutral, and is equivalent to mr/mrs. in English.
  • Generally speaking in World Trigger, characters in middle school and high school, call their seniors in middle school and high school, -senpai (lit. senior), while anyone who is at least college aged, -san

• -Kun, this honorific is generally used towards men, but can be used with women as well. It is primarily used when the speaker is friends with the person they are talking to, but can be used with work colleagues of any gender.

• -Chan, this honorific is meant to be "cute", and is meant to be a very endearing honorific, so this is generally used for people like children, grandparents, but when it comes to teenagers to middle aged people, it is more common to see it be used towards women due to the tone, however it can be used towards men if the speaker is a close friend.

• -Sensei, this honorific is generally used to refer to teachers, but can be used for any type of expert.

• In World Trigger, when a character refer to another using Katakana, it usually means the two characters are friends or family. for example, Replica says Yūma, and Yūgo's name in Katakana. However in the case of Yūma, he seemingly refers to everyone in Katakana due to not knowing how to read, as when introduced to Arashiyama, Yūma's dialogue bubble had Arashiyama's name in Katakana.

Honorifics used

• Replica, and Yūma Kuga in general calls people by their last name with no honorific, and in Katakana. However there are cases where they will call someone by their first name.
  • Examples include, Osamu by his first name, and Arashiyama.

• Osamu Mikumo
  • Osamu calls Yūma, by his last name with no honorific.
  • Osamu calls Kitora by her last name with no honorific.

• Osamu and Yūma's classmates, and teachers call them by their last name and -kun.
  • Mizunuma calling Yūma, and Osamu by their last name and -kun.

• Moribayashi calls Mizunuma, Mizunuma-sensei.
  • this is most likely Moribayashi giving respect to Mizunuma in the sense of they are both teachers.

• Kei Tachikawa
  • Tachikawa calls Kumagai, Kuma because he misread Kumagai's name wrong 6 times in a row, and Kumagai tolerates it.
  • Tachikawa calls Betsuyaku, Taichi as Tachikawa isn't sure how to read it.

• Tetsuji Arafune
  • Arafune calls Murakami by his given name: Kō, but Murakami calls Arafune by his family name of "Arafune" because Murakami thinks Arafune is a cool name.
  • Arafune originally calls Reiji by his last name (8 months ago), but now calls it by his first name implying they got much closer.

• Murakami and Arafune call Kageura by his nickname: Kage. they became friends due to Murakami and Arafune being master and disciple, kage and Murakami are in the same class, while Kageura and Arafune knew each other due to being related to an Okonomiyaki restaurant owner, and being a regular customer.

• Kunichika doesn't honorifics when talking to Konami, Kitora and Katori, as she drops honorifics with people she thinks are smarter than her. However she uses -chan or -sama, when it comes to Kon.

• Tsuji refers to guys younger than him with the honorific -kun, but calls Urushima by just his last name due to Urushima's personality, for other characters like Yuiga, Satori, Hanzaki, and Midorikawa by just their last names as well. He also calls Koarai, Koala, and Minamisawa, Kai-kun.

• Yōsuke is fine with calling people by his given name, but Osamu and Izumi still calls him by his family name, as Osamu doesn't feel comfortable calling his seniors by their given name, while Izumi doesn't want Yōsuke to call him by his given name.

• Izumi calls Kunichika by her given name as he wants Kunichika to call him by his given name.

• Wakamura gets called Rokuro-san by the other 16 year olds as Rokuro rolls off the tongue well.

• Some of the other 19 year olds refer to Kakizaki in different ways. Arashiyama calls him Kakizaki, Ikoma calls him Zaki-chan, Yuba calls him Kuniharuu, and Jin calls him Zakki. While Kakizaki calls them by their family names.

First-Person Pronouns

List of pronouns

The author uses the three writing styles to given the character a specific image, if Hiragana is used, then they have a sociable image, Katakana has a youthful image, while Kanji has an adult image.

There are different first-person pronouns which can be masculine, feminine, or gender neutral.

Watashi: Generally it is counted as gender-neutral, but if used in casual conversions, it is more commonly used by women.

Boku: It is mostly used by men of any age, and it is in the middle between formal and informal. It can specifically give a "mama's boy" or "teacher's pet" type of personality.

Ore: It is almost exclusively used by men, there is range for the meaning, but it is seen as either extremely casual, if not outright rude, as it can be seen as "being among close friends" to "i want to show off my (masculine) superiority"

Jibun: Gender-neutral, but is mostly used by men regardless. this pronoun is very neutral, and basically "refers to the self" making it so when used in first-person it can give a distant feeling. On the other hand, it can be used as a reflective pronoun, It can be used to refer to other people (ie, a second-person pronoun like "you"), as a reflective pronoun as well. In the Kansai region it is more commonly used.

Atashi: In the current day, it is used by women (and rakugo performers regardless of gender), it is less formal than Watashi, but sounds a little feminine, so it is mostly used by women in casual conversations.

Uchi: Informal, gender-neutral, but is more commonly used by women as it avoids the "cuteness" of Atashi, however it can also be "us", or "our".

Pronouns Used

• Replica uses Kanji Watashi This gives Replica a mature, and adult personality.

• Moribayashi uses Kanji Watashi. This gives Moribayashi a more mature personality.

• Eida (3 idiots) uses Katakana Ore. Due to Eida bullying others, and having his pronoun be written in Katakana, this gives him a "young and tough" personality.

• Both Miyoshi, and Yotsuya use Katakana Ore. This gives both of them a young and sociable personality.

• Ichinose uses Hiragana Atashi. this gives her a more casual and sociable personality.

• Osamu Mikumo uses Hiragana Boku. This gives Osamu a "teacher's pet" vibe, due to it being in Hiragana, it is meant to give a more sociable personality.

• Yūma Kuga uses Hiragana Ore. This gives Yūma a sociable and casual personality.

• When Yūma was quoting Yūgo, he uses Katakana Ore, But in Yūgo's final moments he used Kanji Ore. The assumption is that it is supposed to give Yūgo a more casual personality, but it is possible that he uses Katakana Ore when he is playing around, but Kanji Ore for when he wants to be serious.

• Ren Tsukimi uses Kanji Watashi This gives her a more mature, and serious personality.

• Tatsuya Kuruma uses Hiragana Boku. This gives Kuruma a more, sociable, and humble personality.

• Koskero normally uses Hiragana Ore, but uses Kanji Jibun when talking to his superiors during missions. With Koskero's personality, it can be assumed that it is supposed to give Koskero a, casual and sociable image when normally talking, but when talking to his superiors during a mission, he wants to give a mature personality.

A Character's Literacy

Yūma Kuga

During Chapter 1, Yūma was hit by a car, and when asked for his address, the dialogue bubble of Yūma saying it is completely in Hiragana, while Replica tells Yūma the address using Kanji. Only using Hiragana to write an address is only used if the speaker can't really read Japanese, as while not knowing a city's name if you are new can happen, but using Hiragana (for example) the numbers imply Yūma can't read numbers. It also seems like when Yūma somewhat knows a word, it is written in Katakana. For example Yūma says the word "dangerous" in Katakana, which is very rare in real life, but considering how he was raised in a war zone, it would make sense that he would be more easily recognize how to read "dangerous". similarly, the Kanji for Japan, is written in Kanji, but the Furigana is written in Katakana which implies something along the lines of, "he can read the Kanji for Japan, but hasn't memorized how it is spoken".

Later on in Chapter 1, Yūma was shown writing his name in Hiragana, which is only done if the writer was trying to be cute, or didn't know, and due to Yūma's personality, it can be assumed he didn't know how to write it.

Examples like this continue throughout the series, but due to the amount of times Yūma speaks, more will not be listed.

Notable Scenes

• In Chapter 1, When Yūma says "Four-eyes decided to stick his nose into this". He uses "Kanji Jibun" to refer to Osamu, as well as only speaking formally in the sentence. which accidentally gave Yūma an extremely distant and cold-hearted tone.

• In Chapter 2, when Yūma is showing off the money he has, he uses more casual "Hore" instead of the more common "Hora".

Desu vs. Da

In Japanese, there is a copula called "Desu", this can be modified to either be formal (Desu) or informal (Da), however the context can be changed to be (for example) in the form of a question in a formal (Deshō) or informal (Darō) suggestion.

When to use Desu vs. when to use Da, can be a bit complex, as there are multiple ways to use either or. The main example used is about deciding when taking part in a conversation, as how close the two speakers are affect the tone of using either Desu or Da. If the two people are close, and one side uses Desu, then the other person might feel a sense of distance as while using Desu isn't rude, it makes the situation more formal than it needs to be, so using Da is preferred to close the distance. On the other hand is two people aren't close, and one uses Da, it might scare the other person as it could give a sense of aggression and assertiveness, but if the speaker speaks very casually to everyone, and the listener knows that, then there is a good chance it will just add to their casual personality, however this is assuming the speaker is not trying to be rude, as people trying to be aggressive would use Da.

• Osamu Mikumo when talking to any type of senior, will use Desu, but has been shown to use Da when talking to someone like Yūma.
• Replica, despite using Kanji Watashi, uses Da with Yūma, showing off how close Replica is to Yūma.
• Yūma Kuga first introduced himself using Desu, but has since switched to Da when speaking.
• When Yūgo Kuga was being quoted, he used Da possibly showing off a more casual personality.
• 3 Idiots use Da, and due to them being bullies, it gives them a more threatening personality.
• Both Miyoshi, and Yotsuya use Da when talking to Yūma, showing off a more casual personality.