FGC:Episode 04 Cut 026

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Screenshots Cut # Description/Dialogue Commentary



026
They reply at the same time, but Toji responds with decision, dash, and spirit, startling Kensuke.

Kensuke (concurrently):“Yes.”

Toji (concurrently):“Yes!! I'm Suzuhara.”

Reichu: "Washi… Boku ga Suzuhara desu." This is a good time to point out the fact that Japanese has multiple words for "I" — a subtlety that is impossible to translate into English. The word a person uses depends on various factors like gender, age, social standing, and current situation (who you are with and who you are speaking to). Toji here wants to make a good impression on this hot older woman. He starts off calling himself washi — his 'default' "I", apparently characteristic of males from the Kansai region — but he quickly, and quite tellingly, changes this to the more polite male pronoun boku. Although anime is, obviously, a simplification of the way things work in real-life Japan, paying attention to things like personal pronouns lets you pick up these sorts of cultural subtleties. If you want to learn more, start Googling!


thewayneiac: Strangely enough, AWL claims in Manga (Mangle) Entertainment's EOE commentary that there is no word in Japanese for "I", a total falsehood. We will deal with this later, though.