Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Oro?: Word Choice, Character, And Translation In Rurouni Kenshin, Tasha Layton

BYU Asian Studies Journal

Anime is one of the most common forms of entertainment in the United States. Its ubiquitous presence causes some Western viewers to forget that anime is, in fact, foreign film. One of the only things that reminds us of this fact is the strangeness of the scripts, particularly the grammar—a quirky grammar that is often a target for anime critics and comedic imitators. While it is true that the Japanese language used in anime is quite stylized, there are more important explanations for why the English versions sound unnatural. Audiences often think only of the denotations and semantic functions of …