日本語とアニメ

Because in ancient China they grouped everything like snakes and insects into 虫 without it really meaning "insect" but rather a garbage can term for anything not mammal, bird, or fish. So this has carried on through many other words, such as 爬虫類.

That's why you can write octopus (たこ) as 蛸 with the 虫 radical.

nouns:

鬼子（おにご） = wild child, badly-behaved child; child which does not resemble its parents, changeling

心境（しんきょう） = mental state, state of mind

言霊（ことだま） = mystical power inherent in words, spirit of language

上目（うわめ）遣い（づかい） = looking up at someone (with upturned eyes), glancing upwards

駆け引き（かけひき） = tactics, strategy, maneuvering

verbs:

すがる = to cling to, hang onto; to rely on, depend on

キメる = to dress to kill, dress to the nines

盗み見る（ぬすみみる） = to steal a glance at, look furtively at

うねる = to wind (e.g., road, river, etc.), to meander; to surge, swell, roll

adjectives:

アリな = alright, acceptable, passable

過保護（かほご）な = overprotective, excessive care

adverbs/onomatopoeiae:

いずれ = in due course, eventually, one of these days

ただでさえ = even at the best of times, under normal circumstances, as it is

十中八九（じっちゅうはっく） = in eight or nine cases out of ten, in all probability

expressions:

取り付く（とりつく）島（しま）もない = left utterly helpless, having no one to turn to

〜一方（いっぽう） = keep on being ~, continuously doing ~

けしからん = outrageous, scandalous, disgraceful

虫（むし）の知らせ（しらせ） = feeling in one's bones, foreboding, premonition, gut instinct

他人（たにん）の空似（そらに） = accidental resemblance (to someone else)

それはそれで = in that case, if that's the case

i was reading monster recently (perfect edition vol. 6 pictured above) when i came across this instance of an onomatopoeia that caught my eye. here's how we can probably interpret these two panels:

upper middle: カタカタ = shaking, trembling upper left: ガタガタ ガタガタ = trembling harder, shuddering

there are two basic differences here:

amount of onomatopoeia: four moras (カタカタ) vs. eight moras (ガタガタ ガタガタ)

quality of consonant: カ vs. ガ

now if you know me, you know i'm going somewhere with this vague "quality" term, but let's hold off on that for just a second to state the obvious: more is more!

more is more

well, duh, right? but it's still worth saying! compare these two sentences:

どんどん暖かくなっていく。 = it's getting warmer.

どんどんどんどん暖かくなっていく。 = it's getting warmer and warmer.

the difference carries over into english pretty nicely. it's a little redundant, or even childish-sounding, but it makes sense! so we can apply the same principle to the monster panel above:

カタカタ = shaking

カタカタカタカタ = shaking and shaking

so, with more of the onomatopoeia, we get more of the action, because it's lasting longer or getting stronger or for whatever other reason. but what about the other change in the onomatopoeia...?

カ vs. ガ

let's take a dip into romaji here: these two kana are ka and ga. thinking about it phonologically, they're a consonant+vowel group. let's look at the consonants:

/k/ = voiceless velar plosive

/g/ = voiced velar plosive

"velar plosive" sounds complicated, but it's just a scientific description of where the consonant is made (the velum = back of mouth) and how the consonant is made (by "exploding" = closing something, in this case your tongue, and then releasing it). what's important here is the voiceless and voiced distinction!

if you've never encountered this distinction before, here's your fun first-timer's experiment: touch your throat and say ssssssss. now do zzzzzzz. feel the difference? your vocal cords (yes, it's spelled cords) vibrate when you do zzzzzzz, but not ssssssss. that's the voicing distinction! sounds that vibrate (like /z/ and /g/) are voiced. sounds that don't (like /s/ and /k/) are voiceless.

ok, sure, but what of this voiced/voiceless distinction? well...you guys remember kiki and bouba? part of the difference between them is voicing: /k/ is voiceless and /b/ is voiced. as it turns out, the physical impression created by voicing is theorized to be universal in humans. in other words, voiced sounds "look" different than voiceless sounds! hence why kiki (voiceless /k/) is spiky and bouba (voiced /b/) is round.*

so what other impressions can voicing make? in general, voiceless sounds give a softer, lighter impression, while voiced sounds give a harder, heavier impression. this can even extend metaphorically to voiceless sounds giving a "good" impression and voiced sounds giving a "bad" impression. let's compare some pairs of onomatopoeiae with /k/ and /g/:

キラキラ /kirakira/ = glittering

ギラギラ /giragira/ = glaring

here's a famous one! the onomatopoeia /kirakira/ (with voiceless /k/) gives the impression of something light and pretty, while /giragira/ (with voiced /g/) gives the impression of something so bright it hurts to look at. we can even do a similar comparison in english: the double /t/ in glittering is voiceless, while the /r/ in glaring is voiced!

here's one that gives a physical impression instead of a visual impression:

コンコン /konkon/ = knocking

ゴンゴン /gongon/ = banging

our voiceless option, /konkon/, sounds like a polite knock on someone's office door. the voiced option, /gongon/, sounds like rapping a metal knocker as hard as you can (or like, a siege engine, lol). again, we can observe a similar pattern in english, with banging containing way more voiced sounds--in fact, in my english, that word is entirely voiced! (put your hand on your throat and test it!)

we can even have sensations playing out this way:

キンキン /kinkin/ = pulsing

ギンギン /gingin/ = throbbing

honestly, i would say neither pulsing nor throbbing is a particularly good sensation, but i definitely know throbbing is worse (or at least stronger...). again, for the english, the /p/ and /s/ in pulsing (the マシな option) are voiceless, while the double /b/ in throbbing is voiced.

last of all, let's return to the example from our monster panel above:

カタカタ /katakata/ = shaking

ガタガタ /gatagata/ = shuddering

i'm sure it's now blindingly obvious what's going on here, but let's spell it out for thoroughness's sake: if you're shaking or trembling a bit, that's カタカタ, but if it gets worse and bigger and harder to control, that's ガタガタガタガタ! basically, as poor detective suk gets more and more scared, his shakes get worse and worse. 可哀想にね。suk刑事、頑張れよ...!!

*there are other reasons for this specific case, too, so look it up if you're interested!

there's only so many sounds out there!

so, what did we learn? well, possibly we learned some useful new onomatopoeia, especially ones that you're likely to see in manga. but also, we learned how, on a very high level, sounds sound the same to everyone. the human vocal organs are restricted in size, shape, and acoustic power, so more or less everyone is making the same sounds as each other (compared to, for example, birds or whales or stars...). that means everyone's brain computes sound similarly, too, and we end up with strong, shared impressions like "/g/ is hard and heavy" or "/b/ is round and buoyant." this is phonology, but it's also phonetics and acoustics, and it's also even neuroscience and cognitive science!

Fem Jyushi

(Augh I want to make friends here, too..... But it's hard to manage multiple socials. Be my friend on Twitter 🙇🏻❗❗❗❗ )

JLPT N2 Grammar

使い方　[Verb (plain) / Noun+である / い-adjective / な-adjective+である] ＋ にしろ／にせよ

意味　even if ~, even in the case of ~, regardless, whether ~ or, no matter ~

Both of these (にしろ・にせよ) can be used interchangeably.

With a single use, the meaning is closer to: regardless of; even if. (See below for double use).

例文

何にしろ／何にせよ anyhow; in any case

いくら忙しいにせよ。 No matter how busy you may be.

ここは不便でどの駅に行くにせよ、徒歩で30分以上かかる。 ここはふべんでどのえきにいくにせよ、とほで３０ぷんいじょうかかる。 This place is really inconvenient, no matter which station you go to will take at least 30 minutes by foot.

～にしろ～にしろ・～にせよ～にせよ

JLPT N2 Grammar

使い方　[Verb (dictionary form) / Noun / い-adjective / な-adjective ＋ にしろ／にせよ] ＋ [Verb (ない form) / Noun / い-adjective / な-adjective ＋ にしろ／にせよ]

意味　whether ~ or ~

Both of these can be used interchangeably, but usually they have to be the same (にしろ＋にしろ、にせよ＋にせよ).

例文

来るにせよ来ないにせよ。 Whether you will come or not.

就職するにしろ進学するにしろ、自分でよく考えてください。 しゅうしょくするにしろしんがくするにしろ、じぶんでよくかんがえてください。 Think carefully by yourself whether you’ll start working or pursue higher education.

犬にしろ猫にしろ、このマンションではペットを飼ってはいけない決まりです。 いぬにしろねこにしろ、このマンションではペットをかってはいけないきまりです。 Whether it be dogs or cats, pets are not allowed in this apartment.

使うにしろ使わないにしろ、それをもらったことにはお礼を言った方がいいですよ。 つかうにしろつかわないにしろ、それをもらったことにはおれいをいったほうがいいですよ。 Whether you will use it or not, you should say thanks for receiving it.

しろ = modern imperative (very strong unless complementized)

返事しろ！ = answer me!

せよ = archaic imperative, occasionally still used in writing

恋せよまやかし天使ども = 恋しろ = fall in love, you false angels

you can also see related morphological forms in some non-standard varieties, like kansai japanese:

せえへん（関西弁） = しない（標準語） = does not/will not do

jyushimatsu month day 6 with todomatsu!!!!!!

Drunk Osomatsu shenanigans (not shipping)

(Click for better quality)

It's true that in the majority of cases, crucifixion in Japanese cartoons isn't meant to be conveying any specific theological message, but something Western audiences are likely to miss is that a large portion of those random crucifixion scenes are referencing Ultraman.

Ultraman's creator was a devout Roman Catholic who explicitly intended the titular hero to read as a Christ figure, and consequently, various Ultramen have been crucified on multiple unconnected occasions throughout the franchise's history. Crucifixion scenes in Japanese cartoons are often directly name-checking particular crucifixion incidents from Ultraman, right down to emulating the compositions and camera angles of specific shots. It's like an especially morbid version of the Akira slide.

The upshot is that, while it's true that the inclusion of gratuitous crucifixion scenes in Japanese cartoons typically has no (intentional) theological message, stating that they have no cultural significance is incorrect. A large chunk of the Japanese viewing audience are going to see them and immediately go "hey, that's an Ultraman reference".

Anyway, as an image tax, have a shot of four crucified Ultramen miraculously resurrecting a fifth Ultraman by shooting laser beams out of their hearts: