Let's Learn Japanese

[takenoko]

Katakana
ヨ Yo. Hiragana Yo よ,

Skipping Ye since it’s not a katakana that is used.

Kanji
超星神グランセイザー Chou-Sei-Shin Gu-ra-n-se-i-za-a
Chou = Super/Ultra. GranSazer a combination of Grand and Seiza 星座 the Japanese word for Constellation. The Za in Seiza means Sit/Seat, so a Constellation is where the Stars Sit.

炎のトライブ Honoo no To-ra-i-bu The Flame Tribe

弓道天馬 Ku-dou Ten-ma. Kudou 弓道 is an alternative pronunciation of Kyuudou which means Japanese Archery (lit. Way of the Bow) and Tenma fires a bow as his weapon and Sagittarius has a bow too, I think. Tenma is the word for Flying Horse (Pegasus?). And Sagittarius is part horse

獅堂剣 Shi-dou Ken. Shi 獅 means Lion. Ken 剣 means Sword. Fitting for Leo.

I skipped Mika because like most of the other ladies names in the ChouSeiShin series, they just don’t have any level of meaning the way the guys do. (I guess the wiki says her name looks sorta like Sheep, but eh)

風のトライブ Kaze no To-ra-i-bu The WInd Tribe

伝通院洸 Den-tsu-in Akira. In 院 means institution. Like a hospital is ByouIN. I guess part of his name is supposed to sound like Tsu-i-n Twin since he’s Gemini

雨宮涼子 Ame-miya Ryou-ko. Ame means Rain so it’s sorta related to Aquarius

秤谷仁 Hakari-ya Jin. Hakari 秤 means to Measure, and he’s a Libra/The Scales

大地のトライブ Dai-chi no To-ra-i-bu The Earth Tribe

松坂直人 Matsu-zaka Nao-to. I guess he’s named after Matsuzaka Beef since he’s a Bull

早乙女蘭 Sa-oto-me Ran for Otome-za/Virgo. Otome = Maiden

水のトライブ Mizu no To-ra-i-bu The Water Tribe

反町誠 Sori-machi Makoto. Makoto 誠 is kind of a cool name since it means Sincerity. It’s a good cop name. I guess his name is supposed to sound like the last part of SaSORI/Scorpion since he’s Scorpio

魚住愛 Uo-zumi Ai. Ai means Love. Uo means Fish and she’s Uoza or Pisces

三上辰平 Mi-kami Ta-ppei. I guess Kami sounds like Kani/Crab and he’s Cancer

[takenoko]

Katakana
ラ Ra. La la la? Hiragana is this: ら

ウルトラマン U-ru-to-ra-ma-n Ultraman Can you read almost all the katakana now?

Kanji
キューティーハニー THE LIVE Kyu-u-ti-i Ha-ni-i Cutie Honey

如月ハニー Kisaragi Ha-ni-i

如月 I honestly don’t know how these two kanji end up sounding like Kisaragi. Normally it’s more obvious than this. Gotoshi/Gotoku 如 means “As good as, Equal to”. And Tsuki means Moon. Sometimes you just have to memorize name kanji and there’s no tricks for it. This is also Gentarou’s surname in Fourze

早見青児 Haya-mi Sei-ji. Haya 早 means Fast and it’s a pretty simple kanji (Sun on a cross). Mi 見 means To See, remember it’s an Eye on legs? Sei is Blue. Ji 児 means Child a Line and Sun on legs.

早乙女ミキ Sa-oto-me Mi-ki. Sa 早 means Fast, oh yeah, this is the other sound for it. Otome 乙女 means Maiden.

剣持ユキ Ken-mochi Yu-ki. Ken 剣 means Sword and Mochi 持 means To Have

中条有次 Naka-jou Yuu-ji. The multiple personality guy? I don’t remember how often they mentioned his name

デューク渡 Du-u-ku Watari. Oh yeah, Yu can be attached to De to make Du. Makes sense since the Ti is actually a Chi so adding a Yu to that would be weird. Watari/Wataru, it’s all the same kanji

烏川真由美 Karasu-gawa Ma-yu-mi. Karasu 烏 means Crow/Raven. Note how similar it is to Bird 鳥. Do you see the difference? Bird has a line in the box, while Crow has an empty box. Because of how long it is, you’ll probably always know which kanji a name with Karasu is. Gawa/kawa is River. Ma/Shin is True. Yu 由 is Reason. Mi 美 is beauty

田中弘美 Ta-naka Hiro-mi. Tanaka is a super common name. Hiro 弘 means Wide/Vast. Hiroi 広 is the same deal, pretty simililar.

源さん Gen-san. Gen 源 means Origin or Source, it’s also a pretty common name.

秋夏子 Aki Natsu-ko. Aki is Fall/Autumn and Natsu is Summer, kind of a funny name

[takenoko]

Interesting enough to repost:

日曜日 Sunday

月曜日 Monday is Moon day

火曜日 Tuesday is named after a Norse god, Tiw, who is the equivalent of Mars. Kasei 火星 Planet Mars

水曜日 Wednesdei, "day of Wodanaz", ultimately a calque of dies Mercurii "day of Mercury." Wednesday. 水星 Planet Mercury

木曜日 Thursday is Thor's day (Roman god Jupiter was identified with Thunor). 木星 Planet Jupiter

金曜日 Friday comes from the Old English Frīġedæġ, meaning the "day of Frigg" (a Germanic goddess broadly equivalent to Venus). 金星 Planet Venus.

土曜日 Saturday is after Saturn, of course. 土星 Planet Saturn.

Katakana
リ Ri. Like the radical for sword. Hiragana Ri: り. Yup, the same.

リャ Rya
リュ Ryu
リョ Ryo

Kanji
美少女戦士セーラームーン Bi-shou-jo Sen-shi Se-e-ra-a Mu-u-n. Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon

美 Beauty. Remember, the top part is Sheep, and bottom is Big. Big sheep!

少女 Shou-jo. Young woman. Like the manga/anime genre which Sailor Moon represents.

実写版 Jissha-ban Jitsu 実 means Real. Sha 写 is like Photography, so Jissha means Live Action. Han/Ban means Version. So all together it means Live-action version.

月野うさぎ / セーラームーン Tsuki-no U-sa-gi. No 野 means Field, but you’ll see it more likely in names. Usagi means Rabbit/Bunny. And keep in mind that No is the particle for connecting two nouns. So Tsuki no Usagi sorta is like Bunny of the moon.

水野亜美 / セーラーマーキュリー Mizu-no A-mi. Mizu 水 Water. I’ve only seen A 亜 used in names, I guess it stands for Asia? Just remember that cross shape has an A sound. Mi/Bi 美 is Beauty, of course

火野レイ / セーラーマーズ. Hi-no Re-i. Hi 火 Fire. Rei has no kanji, but I’m guessing it’s Rei for Spirit 霊?

木野まこと / セーラージュピター Ki-no Ma-ko-to. Ki means Tree/Wood. Makoto 誠 means Sincerity, left radical for Talking and right radical for To Become. It’s also a slightly boyish name, which is fitting.

愛野美奈子 / セーラーヴィーナス Ai 愛 means Love. Mi 美 is beauty again. Na 奈 and Ko 子 are common name kanji. Ko being a common suffix for women’s given names.

地場衛 / タキシード仮面 Chiba Mamoru / Ta-ki-shi-do Ka-men, Chi 地 means Ground and Ba 場 means Location. Mamoru 衛 means to Protect.

黒木ミオ Kuro-ki Mi-o. Kuroki means Black Tree

[takenoko]

Sorry for the delay, couldn't get in goofy Internet time yesterday at work, and I wanted to grab as much Garo content as possible before doing this one.

Katakana
ル Ru. Kind of looks like legs. Hiragana Ru: る

ルーキー Ru-u-ki-i (n) rookie, (P)

ルージュ Ru-u-ju (n) rouge


Kanji:
牙狼 Gar-rou Garo

牙 Ga/Kiba means Fang.

狼 Rou/Ookami means Wolf. Left radical is the Dog radical and the right one is the kanji 良Good

Normally Makai uses this kanji: 魔界 (kai means world) which means “the realm of demons”, but in Garo it uses this kanji: 魔戒 where kai means Commandmants (even though the Makai relm really does seem like the standard understanding of the underworld)
スペシャル 白夜の魔獣 Su-pe-sha-ru Byaku-ya no Ma-jyuu Special Beast of the White Night.
呀-KIBA- 〜暗黒騎士鎧伝〜 An-koku Ki-shi Gai-den. Side Story of the Dark Knight. Oh you clever writers. Gaiden 外伝 usually means Side Story, but in this case they use Gai 鎧 as in Armor. Remember this is a pun, it doesn’t mean the correct title of this story should be “Armor Story”

Makai Senki is also written in English like Red Requiem, but apparently this is the kanji: 魔戒閃騎. Again, this is a case of tricking us with the kanji. Normally Senki 戦記 means Chronicles, but in this case Sen 閃 means Flash and Ki 騎 means Rider, but is the first kanji for Kishi/Knight. Maybe this was foreshadowing for Senkou Kishi Roudo.

冴島鋼牙 Sae-jima Kou-ga

冴 Sae Cold/Serene. Left radical Ice, right is Fang

島 Jima/shima means Island in Japanese. Like Iwo Jima is a famous example (In Japanese it’d be pronounced Iou Jima though)

黄金騎士・牙狼 Ou-gon Ki-shi Ga-rou. Ou 黄 you might recognize, it’s Ki Yellow. Gon/Kin 金 means gold. Together Ougon means Golden. Ki 騎 means to Ride and Shi 士 is Warrior, so Kishi is Knight. Ga 牙 is Fang and Rou 狼 is Wolf. His blade is the Garoken 牙狼剣

His flame technique is Rekka Ensou 烈火炎装. Rekka means Raging Fire. En means Flame and Sou means to Equip. Basically it’s Clad if Raging Fire

鷹麟牙狼 Ou-rin Ga-rou. Rin 麟 means Bright. Ourin 黄燐 means Phosphorus, so this is probably what they’re intending. In this one, Ou 鷹 means Hawk.

魔導輪ザルバ Madou Rin Za-ru-ba. Recognize the kanji for Demon/Magic Ma? The top part of Dou 導 means Road and is also pronounced Dou, but this kanji means To Guide. If Madou are together, it means Heresy. Rin 輪 means Circle/Wheel, see the Car radical on the left? Altogether it’s a Magic/Demon Guide Ring.

御月カオル Mi-tsuki Ka-o-ru. Mi 御 is usually O/Go and when used before nouns is a polite way to talk about that noun. So if you ever wonder why some words have a random O/Go in front of it like O-sushi, that’s why.

涼邑零 Suzu-mura Rei
涼 Suzu means Cool/Refreshing, water radical on the left
邑 Mura means Village. Guess it’s an alternate kanji for 村 which is also Mura and means Village
零 Rei/Zero. Top part is the kanji for Rain and bottom is Rei 令 which means Order/Command. If you see this in a kanji construction, you can probably safely guess it’s pronounced Rei

銀牙騎士・絶狼 Gin-ga Ki-shi Ze-rou/ Silver Fang Knight Zero. See how the kanji becomes the English name? Gin means Silver, Ga means something. Ze 絶 means to Sever/Cut off/Beyond.

魔導具シルヴァ Ma-dou-Gu Shi-ru-va. Gu 具 means Tool

邪美 Ja-bi. Ja is Evil/Wicked and Bi/Mi is Beauty. Note that Ja has a Fang kanji in it.

冴島大河 Sae-jima Tai-ga. Remember Ginga? Ga means River (water radical). So a Taiga is a big river

龍崎駈音 Ryuu-zaki Karu-ne. This is kind of a cool sounding name, probably the first clue that it’s fake, right? Karu 駈 means to Gallop, and Ne 音 means Sound

暗黒魔戒騎士・呀 An-koku Ma-kai Ki-shi Kiba. An 暗 means Darkness (Ironically has two Suns in it). Kiba is the alternate pronunciation for Ga/Fang. Actually, you’ll notice that this kanji has an extra Mouth radical. Apparently this is the kanji for “baring one’s teeth”, I can’t actually find any instances of this kanji being used in Japanese words though.

バラゴ No kanji, but probably Bara/Rose and Ko/Child? That’d explain all the roses in the Kiba movie.

コダマ Ko-da-ma. No kanji, but Kodama definitely means Echo

山刀翼 Yama-gatana Tsubasa. Katana/gatana means Sword, so it’s ironic that he uses a spear-like weapon. Tsubasa means wings.
魔導具ゴルバ Ma-dou-gu Go-ru-ba. Another Gu/tool. Guess if it’s not a Ring it doesn’t get a special name

白夜騎士・打無 Byaku-ya Ki-shi Da-n. White Night Knight Dan. Da 打 means To Hit. and Mu 無 means Nothing

鈴 Rin means Bells

冴島 りん Sae-jima Ri-n. No kanji like Tsubasa’s little sister, still Rin though.

烈花 Rekka. Retsu 烈 means Violent, Furious. Ka/Hana Flower. Rekka 烈火 normally means Raging Flame

号竜 Gou-ryuu. Normally Gou means Powerful, but with this kanji it means Gou 号 Number. So numbered dragon?

風雲騎士波怒 Fu-un Ki-shi Ba-do. Wind and Clouds Knight Bado. Ba 波 Billows/Waves and Do 怒 Rage.

布道レオ Fu-dou Re-o. Fu 布 means Cloth and Dou means Road/Path.

閃光騎士狼怒 Sen-kou Ki-shi Rou-do Flash Knight Lord. For some reason Roudo sounded better than Lord, which is why we went with that in the translation, but if you see later, Lord matches the knight Baron for Wataru. Sen 閃 is Flash and Kou/Hikari 光 is Light. Rou 狼 means Wolf and Do 怒 is Anger.

四十万ワタル Shi-ji-ma Wa-ta-ru. Remember your numbers? 4+10+10,000. So 400,000 is his last name. Weird

雷鳴騎士破狼 Rai-mei Ki-shi Ba-Ron Thunder Knight Baron. Rai-mei means Thunder, it can be broken down into Thunder+Nari/Scream/Cry out. Ha/Ba 破 means Destroy. Rou 狼 means Wolf of course, I guess they’re saying this has a Ron pronunciation for the sake of this name?

[takenoko]

Tomorrow Keitai Sousakan 7, that one's going to be surprisingly long.

Katakana
レ Re. Not too bad eh? Just the right half of Ru. れ

Kanji
セクシーボイスアンドロボ Se-ku-shi-i Bo-i-su A-n-do Ro-bo

林二湖 Hayashi Ni-ko. Ni is two. Ko is the kanji for Lake here, that’s why you’ll hear a lot of Japanese lakes with the Ko sound in it. Hayashi means Forest

須藤威一郎 Su-dou I-ichi-rou. That’s weird, two i sounds in a row?

林一海 Hayashi Kazu-mi. Kazu is one, since she’s the eldest daughter. And while Niko is a lake, Kazumi is an ocean.

名梨秀吉 Na-nashi Hide-yoshi. But they just call him Yocchan. Na 名 means Name. Nanashi is a particularly funny name since Nashi means Nothing, so Na-nashi means “No name” which comes up in one of the episodes

真境名マキ Ma-gi-na Ma-ki. Maki also has the Name kanji in her name.

[takenoko]

Katakana
ロ Remember what I said about this one before? Ro is the easiest katakana to remember, it’s just a rectangle. Hiragana Ro ろ looks kind of like hiragana Ru る. Just remember that Ro has no loop

Kanji
ケータイ捜査官7 Ke-i-ta-i Sou-sa-kan 7. Cellphone Investigation Bureau 7. Funnily enough, I don’t remember ever explaining the title before

網島 ケイタ Ami-shima Ke-i-ta. Ami means a Net, dunno if that can pun with InterNET in Japanese, but probably? Shima means island. Keita is sorta like Keitai in the way Keitarou’s name does in Faiz

桐原 大貴 Kiri-hara Dai-ki. Kiri is a kind of tree and Hara means Field. Dai is Big and Ki means Esteem/Honor

滝本 壮介 Taki-moto Sou-suke. Taki means Waterfall and Moto/Hon means Book. Sou 壮 means Manhood, Prosperity.

美作 千草 Mi-masaka Chi-gusa. Mi means Beauty, Masaka means To Build,Produce. Chi is 1000 and Gusa/Kusa means Grass

麻野 瞳子 Asa-no Tou-ko Asa is Flax/Hemp and No is Field. Tou 瞳 means Pupil (Notice the Eye kanji on the left side)

水戸 幸平 Mi-to Kou-hei. Mi is Water. To is Door. Kou is Happiness and Hei means Balance

支倉 真由子 Hase-kura Ma-yu-ko. Hase 支 means Branch or... Support. Kura 倉 is a Cellar/storehouse. Ma means True and Yu means Reason. Fitting for her character in every way.

榊 睦月 Sakaki Mu-tsuki. Sakaki means Sacred Tree, and... the kanji is the Tree kanji and the God kanji. Fitting. Mutsuki together means the First Month of the Lunar Year

如月 さやか Kisaragi Sa-ya-ka. Kisaragi is the Second Month in the Lunar Calendar. Oh hey, a pattern. I actually wrote up Yayoi’s explanation before doing this one, originally going “drrr, I don’t know what Kisaragi mean, it’s just a name so ignore it”. Guess I was wrong about that.

影山 弥生 Kage-yama Ya-yoi. Kage 影 means Shadows, which I think most people know. Yayoi is the Third Month of the Lunar Calendar.

網島 可憐 Ami-shima Ka-ren. Karen 可憐 poor; pitiful; cute; sweet; lovely. Same Ka as in Kawaii btw

御堂 優璃 Mi-dou Yuu-ri. Midou 御堂 Temple. Yu means Actor and Ri means Glassy

五十嵐 陽子 Igarashi You-ko. Not really sure if there’s a logical way to break down Igarashi. Sometimes Five has an i sound when counting, but how does Ten and Storm/Arashi make Garashi? Eh, it’s just a name. You 陽 means Sun

間明 蔵人 Ma-gira Kuran-do. I guess Kurando is a wine handler or something? I guess that originally his real name was simply “The true enemy”

唐崎 晶 Kara-saki Akira. Akira 晶 means Crystal, and it’s Three Suns

[takenoko]

We're coming pretty close to the end of the list of katakana. After that's done, I'll probably go back and add kanji pictures to stuff and tweak previous posts. I don't really have any plans to go over hiragana, it's more or less the same structure as katakana, just different shapes and maybe a few characters that aren't really used in katakana.

Of course, I'll be glad to research other series or go into more depth on something if I missed it the first time. This is for you guys, so tell me what you want to see.

Katakana
ワ Wa. Kind of like Fu フ with a line. Hiragana Wa わ.

Kanji
風魔の小次郎 Fuu-ma no Ko-ji-rou. Kojirou of the Fuuma. Fuu is Wind and Ma is Demon/Magic

竜魔 Ryou-ma. Ryuu 竜 Dragon.
He’s also called 風魔の独眼竜 Fuu-ma no Doku-gan ?Ryuu. Gan means Eye. Doku means Alone/Single. So Dokugan means One Eye. Doku is made out of the Dog radical and the Insect radical, how’s that mean Alone/Single? Gan has Eye on the left side and the radical for Good on the right (this kanji but without the dot on top 良)

霧風 Kiri-kaze. Kiri/Giri 霧 means Fog/Mist, if you recalled ShishiRanger’s powers.

劉鵬 Ryuu-hou. Not sure what Ryuu is 劉, I’m seeing it means kill, weapon,axe. Hou 鵬 means Phoenix though, bird radical on the right, the left is two moons

項羽 Kou-u. Kou 項 Paragraph, Item, Nape of Neck? U/Hane 羽 means Feathers

小龍 Shou-ryuu. Shou means SMall and Ryuu means Dragon

琳彪 Rin-pyou. Rin means Jewelry and Pyou means small Tiger

兜丸 Kabuto-maru. Kabuto 兜 means Helmet/Samurai helmet (remember how Kabutomush has the big horn?). Maru means Round.

麗羅 Rei-ra. That complicated kanji to the left is Rei 麗 Beautiful, sometimes you see them in girl’s names. That other complicated kanji on the right Ra 羅 means Rome

柳生蘭子 Ya-gyuu Ran-ko Ya means WIllow and Ran means Orchid

北条姫子 Hou-jou Hime-ko. Hou 北 is North. Hime 姫 means Princess
誠士館. Sei/Makoto 誠 means Sincerity. Shi 士 means Warrior. Kan 館 means Large Building/Hall

飛鳥武蔵 Asuka Musashi Asu/Hi 飛 means To Fly. Ka/Tori 鳥 means Bird. Mu武 meams warrior. Musashi and Kojirou are known as epic rivals in history.

壬生攻介 Mi-bu Kou-suke. Bu 生 Birth/Life. Kou 攻 means Attack.

夜叉姫 Yasha-hime. Ya/Yo means Night. Yasha 夜叉 is some demon or something

[takenoko]

What better way to end this segment than to cover Densha Otoko in preparation for AkibaRangers? After this I'll probably go through and rework sections and add in pics and stuff. Again, I'd be open for covering requested series, going into more depth for ones I did already but maybe went over too quickly, or answering generic Japanese questions.


Katakana
ン N/M. Kind of a weird consonant for Japanese. You’ll never see it at the start of a word (If you come up with a word which results in N in shiritori you lose for instance). Hiragana N ん, looks kind of like a n

And that’s all the useful katakana that you need to know.

Kanji
電車男 Den-sha Otoko. As we all know, Densha means Train. It’s made from the kanji for Electric and Car. Otoko just means Man

山田 剛司 Yama-da Tsuyo-shi. Yamada is like Smith in America, it’s the most generic Japanese name ever. And Densha is an everyman. Fitting. In general Tsuyoshi 剛 is pronounced as Gou, both mean “Strength” though. The shi 司 here is the same as the ji in Tendou Souji

青山 沙織 Ao-yama Sa-ori. Sa 沙 is Sand, note it’s the Water radical and the Small kanji. Ori 織 means Weave, the left radical is the one for Thread, which comes up a lot. Blue Mountains, Sandy Weaving.

陣釜 美鈴 Jin-kama Mi-suzu. Jin is a Battle Position and Kama just means Pot. Mi-suzu is Lovely Bell

武田 花梨 Take-da Ka-rin. Take/Bu 武 is Arms/Military and the first kanji in Bushido. Ka/Hana 花 is FLower. Ri 梨 is a Pear Tree, the Tree radical is on the bottom instead of the left side.

山田 葵 Yama-da Aoi. This Aoi 葵 means Hollyhock, not Blue. Flower radical on the top.

カケル Ka-ke-ru. No kanji, but probably the verb for Run/Dash. He’s the train otaku kid who has the train stations memorized

車掌 Sha-shou Conductor

鏡萌 Kagami Moe. Kagami means Mirror. Moe 萌 is that cute thing otaku guys like. The kanji literally means Bud, Sprout and it’s made of the Flower radical over the Sun and Moon kanji