Japanese Linguistic Observations In Spy X Family - Part 6

Japanese Linguistic Observations in Spy x Family - part 6

Part 6 – Supporting character musings – Eden kids

In the first three parts of this post series, I talked in detail about how each of the Forgers' specific ways of speaking in the Japanese version helps shape their character. Now I want to analyze the supporting SxF characters in terms of their speech and see what traits we can infer. I'll discuss the Eden kids first, and then the supporting adult characters like Yuri, Fiona, etc, in the next post.

Japanese Linguistic Observations In Spy X Family - Part 6

I'm going to start with Damian since I feel he has the most complexity in terms of what can be analyzed from his speech. While there's nothing about his speech that really stands out to me, at least compared to the Forgers, there's still little telling nuances based on his choice of words and honorifics. He uses casual speech for fellow kids his age, and polite speech for (most) adults, which is normal…I say "most" adults though because, while he uses keigo (the standard polite form of Japanese speech) for Eden teachers and the adults in his family, he doesn't use it at all during his first encounter with Loid. He even calls Loid おっさん("ossan"), which is basically "mister" but for middle-aged or older men, instead of 兄さん("niisan"), which is the same, but for a younger man akin to Loid's age.

Later, as Loid's goody-goody act gets on his nerves, his speech becomes a bit vulgar. He adamantly shouts that he "won't hang out with that peasant girl," using the "crude" conjugation of "won't be friends with/hang out with", 相手にしねー! ("aitei ni shine!") instead of the casual 相手にしない ("aitei ni shinai"). He even says うるせー ("urusee") which means "shut up" and is even more rude than うるさい ("urusai"). I'm actually surprised he let himself talk like that in front of Donovan. I suppose it shows how passionate he is about his "aversion" to Anya.

Speaking of Anya, he's never addressed her by name in the Japanese version, opting instead to call her, at best, the casual form of "you," "omae" ("お前") and at worst, some rude name like "temee" ("手前"), the derogatory form of "you."

When it comes to his family, he addresses Donovan and Melinda as 父上 ("chichi-ue") and 母上("haha-ue") respectively. These are more formal terms for the standard polite ones typically used to address your father and mother, "o-tou-san" (お父さん) and "o-kaa-san" (お母さん). For Demetris though, he's more casual. Not only does he use plain speech, but he also calls Demetris 兄貴 ("aniki"), which is a term of endearment, like "Big Bro."

He uses casual speech with Jeeves as well, which makes sense since Jeeves is a butler and thus "lower" than anyone in the Desmond household.

To me, all of this implies that Damian is a fairly normal kid in terms of how he addresses those around him, with the exception being his extreme formality with his parents. Terms like "chichi-ue" and "haha-ue" are mostly used in uptight, flatulent families, and obviously families like the Desmonds match that description. But it also shows how this is forcing Damian to rarely get the affection and bonding he craves from his parents.

As a side note, I don't have much to say about Bill and George, since they're such minor characters and nothing about their speech stood out to me in the few chapters they appeared in. But I found it interesting that they both call Damian "Damian-kun," with "-kun" in this case being an honorific to show endearment for a male equal, similar to "-chan" for females. However, Damian doesn't use "-kun" with any of the other male students, which is another indication of his comparatively standoffish personality.

Ewen and Emile speak similarly to Damian, using casual speech for fellow kids and keigo for adults. The exception with them, however, is that they address Damian with keigo as well. Not only that, but they call him "Damian-sama," which is unusual among friends their age. The honorific "-sama" is more humbling than "-san" and is often translated as "Lord" or "Master." I wonder what Damian has done to make them think so highly of him.

Moving onto Becky, she uses feminine speech in most situations. This speech is defined by adding softening interjections at the end of sentences, like "ne" (ね), "no" (の), and especially "wa" (わ). She also uses a variety of honorifics for the other characters. She calls Anya "Anya-chan," with "-chan" being a term that shows affection between female friends. She uses the feminine "I/me" pronoun "atashi" as well.

Because of her infatuation with Loid, she calls him "Loid-sama," with "-sama," as I just discussed, being a very polite honorific used for someone you're subservient to, or at least someone you look up to immensely.

She's actually never called Yor by her name – at first she calls Yor 奥さま ("oku-sama"), which is a polite way of addressing someone else's wife, typically translated as something like "honorable wife." But after she sees how strong Yor is and "officially" decides to be her mentee (in her mind anyway), she calls Yor 師匠 ("shishou") which means "master" or "teacher" in a trainee to trainer sense.

But despite her high social status as a Blackbell, Becky uses the most childish terms for her mother and father, "papa" (パパ) and "mama" (ママ) respectively.

It's not uncommon for very young kids to address their parents in such a way, but it is ironic that everything else about Becky makes her seem like she wants to be more "grown-up" than she actually is, but she's still just a kid deep down, at least when it comes to her relationship with her parents.

<- Return to Part 5

KIMI NI TODOKE season 3 review

Sawako and Kazehaya are finally dating, but it isn't as easy and simple as expected. Meanwhile Chizu and Ayane navigate their own feelings about love.

I actually liked a lot this season, i'm not a big fan of romance and when the couples start dating i usually get bored, but it didn't happened to me this time.

About SawaKaze's relationship i enjoyed the conflict that builded up and the resolution, having them go "meeting parents" to awkwardness wasn't something i was expecting, but it made sense. Kazehaya worrying so much about doing the right thing, but losing the bigger picture while Sawako was overthinking things so much but still trying is something I love of her personality.

Then Kazehaya closing himself instead of actually talking his mind and hurting her accidentally wasn't as frustrating as i thought it would be. As I said before it made sense and I actually like a lot their talk in christmas and how it's made a parallel with the one of the past year to make the "break" of the conflict.

I really love their relationship how they grew through this season.

Chizu and Ryu were cute, one was waiting for this and it was incredible pleasing to see. Chizu's doubts and trying to navigate her feelings about Ryu before and after the confession was great especially how serious she is about it, so it didn't feel forced. A really wholesome childhood friends to lovers story.

And this season I fell in love with Ayane, don't get me wrong i already liked her, but developing her character and the arc it gave her was so good and relatable, is not the kind of character you always find (even if she is not the only one) so it felt refreshing and it was a good contrast with sawako.

Maybe, I wold have appreciated more of Miura tho, still i liked how things worked out between him and ayane. I'm not fond of all friends in a group ending up dating each other (it's boring), but i think this time it works, it felt real and how the bonds formed was natural.

To add i always adore seeing the friendship of the girls and how they accompany and support each other 🤧🤧

Now about Netflix's work, as an anime only fan i found it good paced and it was beautiful, but i didn't like how netflix uploaded it. The format of hour long episodes means people have to make themselves time to not cut it and that is annoying (at least for me), with all of them being up the same day... I really hate that.

I think there is a charm with building up the tension in weekly releases, especially with sawakaze bc it would represent more the six (6!!!!) months that pass, and that makes the payoff more satisfying (but maybe is just me).

The extra "6th episode" of summary was not the best choice in my opinion, it would have been better to be realeased before the season, it being after the s3 end it just feels weird.

So, this 3rd season was amazing, how the characters developed and the resolutions to their arcs were good. It definitely is a series that deserves it's popularity and i would recommend it to someone looking for a beautiful romance.

Japanese Linguistic Observations In Spy X Family - Part 6

Japanese Linguistic Observations in Spy x Family - part 6

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