Engrish in Anime

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 12:20 pm

I always love it when anime pokes fun at different languages, particulary the English language. Which anime have you seen that poke fun at the English langauge? Right now I can only think of one that's from the Pretty Sammy OVAs.

Pixy Misa(in English): I shall return!
Pretty Sammy:I shall return? What does that mean?
Ryo-ohkyi: I dunno.

Umino · Post by **Umino** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 3:23 pm

In one chapter of Love Hina there's a whole bunch of signs up that read 'SATAN' instead of 'SANTA' (It was a Xmas theme banner).

hehe...

Satan...

Post by **Tiff** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 7:49 pm

Many, many in Excel Saga:

Random Excel-ness:
Excel: DYNAMITE LOVEU! OH YEAH, BABEH!

Pedro and Excel as they fall off a building:
Excel: BILLY JEAN
Pedro: JOHN TRAVO....!!!!!
I still don't get that, but it cracks me up every...single...time.

When Excel and Hyatt visit America:
Various American people: JESUSU! SHITTO!

Mafia people: Hey, Corleone!

Sailor Moon · Post by **Sailor Moon** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:03 pm

In my fansubbed, unofficial Marmalade Boy DVDs, every line is English. Their are about six different translaters for different episodes, and it's easier to understand without the subtitles. Their is so much Engrish, it's literally more then every other line. All the subtitles are written "Sweat and burnt toast" "You is wrong!" "You have begged of?" "That is good chance ball" "Then it make me not go home so late" "How about then?" "What? You're parents have gone for a time and the by worth also begged of?" SO many times I've sat their and went "Huh?" They were so confusing. I always crack up, but I've gotten so used to the subtitles, even though every subtitle is extremely confusing. You have to get that fan-subbed DVD set. It is so unintentionally hilarious. EVERY line is Engrish. You think they use babelfish to do their subs.

Dinozore · Post by **Dinozore** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 1:06 pm

You see a lot of Engrish in the names of characters, places, weapons, robots, etc. (Zoid names, for example, are all in English. The Zoids' names are written in English on the boxes of the model kits. And I'm still wondering who decided on the name "Wardick" for one of them -_-;;)

An amusing bit of Engrish is in an episode of Lupin III set in Italy. At the beginning, they show a map of Italy, which is labeled "Itaria".

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 11:51 pm

That reminds me of one of the episodes in BSSM S, where the senshi were trying to practice their english. I haven't watched the earlier S episodes in a long while, so my memory of it is a bit fuzzy. I remember Mako said 'thank you!' instead of saying 'welcome!' when someone came to the the door at Mamoru's place. Someone please refresh my memory on this scene ^_^

Post by **Tiff** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 12:23 am

RoastedTwinkies wrote:That reminds me of one of the episodes in BSSM S, where the senshi were trying to practice their english. I haven't watched the earlier S episodes in a long while, so my memory of it is a bit fuzzy. I remember Mako said 'thank you!' instead of saying 'welcome!' when someone came to the the door at Mamoru's place. Someone please refresh my memory on this scene ^_^

Rei: Hello!
Minako: Nice to meet you!
Ami: I am glad to see you.
Mako: THANK YOU!
Rei: Er..Makochan..taht's not really appropriate...
Mako: It's not?

XD LMAO I love that scene.

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 12:36 am

Tiff wrote:
RoastedTwinkies wrote:That reminds me of one of the episodes in BSSM S, where the senshi were trying to practice their english. I haven't watched the earlier S episodes in a long while, so my memory of it is a bit fuzzy. I remember Mako said 'thank you!' instead of saying 'welcome!' when someone came to the the door at Mamoru's place. Someone please refresh my memory on this scene ^_^
Rei: Hello!
Minako: Nice to meet you!
Ami: I am glad to see you.
Mako: THANK YOU!
Rei: Er..Makochan..taht's not really appropriate...
Mako: It's not?

XD LMAO I love that scene.

that cracked me up so much! I gotta watch that tomorrow XD

I think this was probably mentioned already in the PGSM topic, but in act 35 of PGSM I believe, when Usagi got the tickets from Minako, it said 'Rainbow Tuor' on them XD

Sorry for getting a bit OT, but... Not really engrish so much, but in the first episode of ROD TV, Maggie went to meet Nenene-sama at the airport, the sign she was holding said 'Nununu' on it instead of 'Nenene'. Is there termonology for the reverse? I make errors with my Japanese sometimes (I've made some really stupid grammatical errors when I was just started out and my Japanese friends thought it was funny), so what is this called?

Tempest · Post by **Tempest** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 12:59 am

Dinozore wrote:An amusing bit of Engrish is in an episode of Lupin III set in Italy. At the beginning, they show a map of Italy, which is labeled "Itaria".

::laughs:: That probably would have been the one I mentioned. That amuses me every time I see it.

Starscream · Post by **Starscream** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:42 am

Dragonball and Dragonball Z have an example that always makes me laugh.

On a sign at the entrance to the "Strongest Under Heaven" Martial Arts Tournament arena:

WELL COME

It's simple and a little subtle, but amusing nonetheless :)

Umino · Post by **Umino** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 10:16 am

I think I remeber in Excel Saga, a building was labeled 'This is a bank'.

I think it was the Xmas/Detective episode.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 2:48 pm

RoastedTwinkies wrote: Sorry for getting a bit OT, but... Not really engrish so much, but in the first episode of ROD TV, Maggie went to meet Nenene-sama at the airport, the sign she was holding said 'Nununu' on it instead of 'Nenene'. Is there termonology for the reverse? I make errors with my Japanese sometimes (I've made some really stupid grammatical errors when I was just started out and my Japanese friends thought it was funny), so what is this called?

I'm not sure what it's called. I haven't seen the scene, but are the letters in hiragana (the loopy, cursive Japanese syllable writing)? Because the hiragana for "ne" is pretty similar to the one for "nu," and that might be part of the joke.

Aya Reiko · Post by **Aya Reiko** » Sun Jul 18, 2004 3:24 am

Rainbow wrote:
RoastedTwinkies wrote: Sorry for getting a bit OT, but... Not really engrish so much, but in the first episode of ROD TV, Maggie went to meet Nenene-sama at the airport, the sign she was holding said 'Nununu' on it instead of 'Nenene'. Is there termonology for the reverse? I make errors with my Japanese sometimes (I've made some really stupid grammatical errors when I was just started out and my Japanese friends thought it was funny), so what is this called?
I'm not sure what it's called. I haven't seen the scene, but are the letters in hiragana (the loopy, cursive Japanese syllable writing)? Because the hiragana for "ne" is pretty similar to the one for "nu," and that might be part of the joke.

I think the main part of the joke is that Michelle is a bit scatter-brained and probably screwed up and used the wrong kana.

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 4:17 pm

Aya Reiko wrote:
Rainbow wrote:
RoastedTwinkies wrote: Sorry for getting a bit OT, but... Not really engrish so much, but in the first episode of ROD TV, Maggie went to meet Nenene-sama at the airport, the sign she was holding said 'Nununu' on it instead of 'Nenene'. Is there termonology for the reverse? I make errors with my Japanese sometimes (I've made some really stupid grammatical errors when I was just started out and my Japanese friends thought it was funny), so what is this called?
I'm not sure what it's called. I haven't seen the scene, but are the letters in hiragana (the loopy, cursive Japanese syllable writing)? Because the hiragana for "ne" is pretty similar to the one for "nu," and that might be part of the joke.
I think the main part of the joke is that Michelle is a bit scatter-brained and probably screwed up and used the wrong kana.

The letters are in hiragana. The story takes place in Hong Kong, which makes Nenene a foreigner there. I think michelle is native to Hong Kong and Japanese is her second language, which explains the mistake on the sign. That's an interesting theory. Thanks, Aya, for correcting my mistake.

DuoTheShinigami02 · Post by **DuoTheShinigami02** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 6:49 pm

My favorite Engrish moment:

In episode 14 of Tenchi in Tokyo (subbed):

(After meeting Masayo the biker for the first time:)

Masayo: Need a lift?

Ayeka: "Yes, but I have no money, okay?"

Masayo: "Okay."

Ayeka: "Thank you! Yea!"

Sasami: What's with the English all of a sudden?

It seems that Pixy Misa's not the only one who can speak it very well!

doodlebuguk · Post by **doodlebuguk** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:22 am

I agree Tiff, the engrish Excel spouts in Excel Saga is fricking hilarious! A favourite line of mine comes from the Bishoujo episode (the swimming pool episode) where Excel has eaten was too much and is lying beside the pool doing a very good beach ball impression:

Excel: I'm sekushii!... (I'm sexy!...)

Lol, the way her seiyuu says that line makes me laugh every time!

Pipestrell · Post by **Pipestrell** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 8:05 am

In Yami no Matsuei when trying to pass security guards on a ship, Tsusuki shouts.

"I have no money!"

Was he trying to bribe them?

Also, I'm surprised no one's mentioned Usagi's glorious

"Pleased to meet you cream stew!"

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 8:57 am

There is a LOT of Engrish in Azumanga Daioh, mainly because the main teacher, Yukari, is an English teacher. There are various times in which characters say things in English, in one episode, Kagura and Tomo are talking about how to say things and Kagura says "You...are...fool!" when they're trying to remember the English equivalent of "baka." In episode 23, though, Yukari delivers an entire speech in English when she's crowing over the fact that Nyamo doesn't know how to help the girls with math.

Another example is Taishi from Comic Party. He often says "My brother" or "my sister" to people as a greeting in English, and I think he says other things in English too sometimes.

Em · Post by Em » Tue Feb 01, 2005 7:14 pm

There one part in Azumanga were Kagura meet's this English person near the sation and ask if he needs help

Kagura: Help err HELP ME! HELP ME!
Guy looks around confused/scared
Kagura end's up help him with his bag's
Guy: Thank you very much
Kagura: um YAY! * gives guy thumbs up*

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 8:35 pm

That was in the anime too, I'm surprised I forgot about it! I think the two characters who use English words the most are Kagura and of course Yukari, so far as I remember.