Hello! I hope you’re having a beautiful day! Thank you for the LGBMH chapter and for the CD drama translations recently, they are a delight to read! 💖💖💖
Reading made me wonder, if you don’t mind some silly questions…
As far as I know, in Japanese there are multiple ways to say “I” (watashi, boku etc… am I correct?) depending on the person and the situation (correct?), and I wondered which ones LGBMH main characters use and what it tells about them?
(A small related question would be, are Vansheld's young and grown-up forms' speech patterns different? (And overall, is his psyche different in his two forms?))
A bigger language-related question would be — across all Ameichi series, when looking at the suffixes characters use when referring to each other (honorifics, correct?) and overall how they talk to each other, is there anything interesting/unexpected that would add to the image of the character? (Someone younger not using a respectful one (like -san?) for someone older; something like that)(Or you could tell anything you find note worthy, please don’t feel restricted by the phrasing of the question; I would love to learn anything and everything!)
And the last one, are there things that can't be quite translated from Japanese to English? There is probably a lot that I just can't think about, but I would surely want to ask about them if I could <3
I hope these are not too much of a bother! Thank you in advance if you decide to answer them!
Oh gosh you're the absolute sweetest, thank you so so much! I'm more than happy to answer your brilliant questions!
Just a disclaimer: these subtle differences in language are pretty hard for me to articulate, and heck, I may have misinterpreted/misremembered some things, so if anyone has any corrections they'd like to point out, be my guest!!
LGBMH Personal Pronouns
Rose and Rise both use "watashi." To put things very very simply, "ore" is explicitly masculine and "boku" is usually used by masculine or tomboyish characters. "Watashi" is gender-neutral and/or formal, so most female characters use this one. There isn't much to infer about the twins from this pronoun alone. I'll get to their speech patterns in a bit; they're very distinct.
Vansheld, Delacroix and Uriel all use "ore," the most masculine of the main pronouns, also used by characters like Teito, Frau, Kaguya etc. I could only find one instance of Nocturne using a personal pronoun, "jibun"; this is the reflexive pronoun (like "myself") so it isn't used as a personal pronoun by as many characters as the other pronouns. It has a bit of a soldier-like but kind vibe.
Strauss uses "watashi," mirroring fellow baddies Ayanami and Landkarte. Weirdly enough, I don't think there are any significant characters in LGBMH that use "boku" (nor in Battle Rabbits! But in 07-Ghost, Labrador, Capella, Kuroyuri and Shuri use it)
Vansheld's Forms
Vansheld speaks more or less the same way in both of his forms. He doesn't transition between his forms intentionally, so I don't think he makes an effort to adapt his speech to his appearance. He has a slightly dramatic, casual, masculine speech pattern in both forms. Nothing you wouldn't expect from him!
By the way, Hijiri also has a younger form (via his talismans) and he sounds the same in both forms as well.
Honorifics / Things Lost in Translation
Before I start, please keep in mind that characters don't always speak the same way: their speech can very much change depending on the context. It'd take me way too long to analyze every sentence uttered in all 170 chapters of manga that Amemiya and Ichihara have published, but here's some stuff I personally find interesting.
And with that, it's time to dive into 07-Ghost! This is a bit of an obvious one, but Hyuuga uses "-tan" while referring to Ayanami and Kuroyuri:
But he never uses it while referring to Konatsu or Haruse:
"-tan" is an honorific used to convey endearment usually to very small children (it's an even cutesier "-chan"), but Hyuuga only uses it to refer to his superiors. This makes him sound really cheeky, and it makes me think he's only doing this to annoy Ayanami and Kuroyuri.
He also says "Kuroyuri-kun" though. "-kun" is usually used for younger men or male peers; and before you say "Hey, this proves that Kuroyuri is a boy!" keep in mind that it's also used in workplaces for subordinates/equals regardless of gender, so this doesn't really tell us much other than "Hyuuga is ignoring that his rank is lower than Kuroyuri's again" (Besides, we know that Hyuuga doesn't know their gender)
Something to note is that he doesn't use "-tan" for Katsuragi but instead opts for "-san," a respectful honorific. Hyuuga respects Katsuragi as a superior; he relies on him for help in humorous scenes and lists Katsuragi's "housewife-like attitude" as one of the things he values about the Black Hawks, but this lack of cheekiness adds a sort of distance between them, almost like he doesn't fully trust Katsuragi the way he trusts the others... or maybe he just doesn't want to annoy him? Similarly, Ayanami usually just refers to everyone with their names, but he calls Katsuragi "Colonel Katsuragi". Oh, also, Katsuragi/Landkarte always uses respectful speech, even when he's talking to Ea as a child or being a terrifying menace.
Everyone in the Black Hawks refers to Ayanami with "-sama," a very respectful honorific. Kuroyuri doesn't really use any honorifics for anyone other than Ayanami, and Konatsu mainly refers to the others with their ranks (Colonel Katsuragi > Lieutenant Colonel Kuroyuri > Major Hyuuga). Haruse uses "-sama" for Kuroyuri, once again very respectful. I can't recall any instances of the two Begleiters referring to each other unfortunately, but Konatsu calls Teito "Teito-kun" when he joins the Black Hawks, and Shuri "Shuri-kun" (when he's not calling him "that Oak"). He refers to the twins with "-chan" which is pretty cute.
Scooting over to the church side, Teito usually uses "-san" for people older than him but not for Frau:
Most people at the church refer to the bishops with their profession (Bishop Frau, Assistant Archbishop Lance etc) but this is pretty rare for Teito, because his relationship with the bishops is deeper than a regular bishop student or apprentice. The way he refuses to use "-san" for Frau implies a lack of respect at first, but as they get closer it adds to their brotherly relationship; they'd feel more distant if he used "-san." Teito doesn't use any honorifics for his friends, but he uses "-san" for Ouida who is presumably around his age. Hakuren doesn't do this, so you can really tell that Teito was busy staring at his shoes while Hakuren was making friends.
Mikage speaks more or less the same way Teito does, just slightly more playfully. Unlike Teito, he says "Frau-san" (in track one of the Michael drama CD).
Frau doesn't use honorifics for anyone at all as far as I'm aware, unless he's trying to hit on ladies. Labrador uses "-kun" for younger boys (like Teito and Hakuren) and "-sama" for Michael, but no honorifics for the other bishops. The same applies for Castor; the only difference is that he doesn't use an honorific for Hakuren.
Lance doesn't use honorifics for Frau or Castor (he can barely bother to remember his name), except when Castor turns into a child in the quelle; he calls him "Castor-kun" then. Lance calls Labrador "Lab-shishou," which is usually translated as "Master Lab" but it means mentor; they never really explain why he does this but it may be because he's really into fortune telling and Labrador can see the future. Or maybe he just looks up to Lab for another reason!
Frau usually uses "Lab" for Labrador and calls him "Labrador" very rarely. Castor on the other hand usually uses "Labrador" and seldom calls him "Lab."
Hakuren has a pretty funny way of speaking. I'm not sure how to explain it but there's this sort of ~drama~ to his speech that feels ridiculous coming from a 16 year old. For instance, he uses the word "-tamae" that's meant to be used while giving demands to people of a lower status. He's really dramatic. No matter how socially aware Hakuren is, no matter how much he tries to distance himself from his family, he's still an Oak at the end of the day.
Interestingly, he exclusively uses "ore" up until Kapitel 36, after which he starts using "watashi" even in his inner speech, but he keeps using "ore" around Teito. Maybe he's starting to feel a bit grown and professional now that he's become a bishop apprentice/royal tutor?
Hakuren always refers to the bishops with their title and uses respectful speech around them. He uses "-sama" for Ouka. Ouka doesn't use honorifics much but she does call Frau "Shishou-dono" because Teito introduces Frau to her as his mentor. "-dono" is pretty respectful, slightly less so than "-sama." People don't really use it in daily speech so it feels historical and dramatic. It fits Ouka's speech pattern well because she speaks in a very confident and basically archaic manner. She doesn't use any stereotypically feminine or soft particles like "ne," "yo," or "wa"; she instead uses "zo" quite a lot, which is seen as masculine. She uses "sonata" as a second-person pronoun, which is also archaic. Rise has the exact same speech pattern. Ouka and Rise both look very feminine, so their speech is almost funny in contrast. Their shared position as princesses is reflected through their speech not in a graceful and gentle way, but in a self-assured and assertive manner:
Rose has a very respectful speech pattern even when talking to Rise, so her speech always feels careful, but she also sounds sweet. She calls Rise "older sister" in the form of "nee-sama," not "nee-san." She uses "-san" for Vansheld though, which Uriel thinks isn't respectful enough for an angel lord!
Eve, Suzune and Lucia use informal speech with "wa," which is a feminine particle usually used by slightly older women. Joshua from Doomsday (who is, despite the name, a woman) uses informal speech with "ne" and "yo" but not "wa".
In complete contrast to Ouka and Rise, Mao has an excruciatingly cute way of speaking, but she also sounds... weird. She uses "desu" in more or less every sentence, which is technically respectful speech, but it's written in katakana (the writing system usually used for foreign words) so it feels tacked on. Her usage of it doesn't even make grammatical sense sometimes. Other particles in her speech are occasionally written in katakana as well. She also doesn't use a personal pronoun; instead she refers to herself with her own name, which is child-like speech. She also gets phrases wrong sometimes, like when she tries to say "I'll turn you into a beehive" (i.e. "I'll shoot you with so many bullets that you'll have as many holes as a beehive") but says "bird's nest" instead, which makes no sense. All in all, she sounds very alien, because she is one! She hasn't fully grasped Japanese yet.
Speaking of katakana, the most untranslatable thing is probably when creatures use katakana in their speech instead of the standard hiragana. This makes them sound weird and artificial, or like they're using a different accent. This is usually used by enemy creatures, like Onis and some Hollows, but Kaguya's Kodama and the cute little Roid creatures from Doomsday speak like this as well. Other speaking creatures like Fyuulongs or the animals in the Grand Finale Station don't speak in katakana, which implies that they don't sound any different from humans.
Last but not least, here's something about second-person pronouns. Throughout all of 07-Ghost, Ayanami uses either "kisama" (very rude, almost derogatory) or "omae" (rude) for pretty much everyone. He, naturally, uses "kisama" for Teito. Teito uses "omae" for most people. When he isn't brainwashed, the pronoun he uses for Ayanami is either "omae" or "temee" (ruder):
This is noteworthy because, in Kapitel 100, Teito refers to Ayanami with "anata" (respectful) and Ayanami refers to him with "omae." They use these same pronouns for each other in Battle Rabbits. Their mutual, deep disdain has transformed into respect. Sure, "omae" is still a pretty rude word, but it's nice coming from Ayanami! This development in Ayanami's speech is really hard to reflect in another language. Teito using "anata" can be translated into languages that have a respectful form of "you," but English doesn't have one, so it's lost.
And I guess that's all I have to say! Thank you so so much for these questions, I had a lot of fun with them! Feel more than free to ask me anything else about these lovely series ♥
