sa さ-form

In Japanese, the sa-form, sa-kei サ形, is a form of adjectives that ends in ~sa ～さ, and works like "~ness," "~less," or "~ity" in English, a noun referring to "how much" of a given quality something has. The resulting word is also known as a sa-meishi さ名詞, "sa-noun." For example:

• aimai-sa
  曖昧さ
  Vagueness. Vaguity.
  How vague [it] is.
• neko no kawai-sa
  猫の可愛さ
  The cuteness of cats.
  How cute cats are.
• umi no kirei-sa
  海の綺麗さ
  The prettiness of the sea.
  How pretty the sea is.
• un no na-sa
  運のなさ
  The nonexistentialness of luck.
  The lack of luck.
  How little luck [someone] has.

Manga: School Rumble, スクールランブル (Chapter 70, Three Violent People)

• Conjugation
• Grammar
  • The Lack Of
  • vs. How Much
  • vs. ～み
  • vs. ～度

Salt Bae

In anime, sometimes when a character sprinkles a food with salt, spice, or something like that, they do it in a specific pose, which is a meme called "salt bae," in Japanese known as shio-furi ojisan 塩振りおじさん, "salt-sprinkling old man," among other names.

Left: Gob'ichi, ゴブイチ
Right: Haruna ハルナ
Anime: Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken, 転生したらスライムだった件 (Episode 20)

• Original
• Examples
  • Non-Cooking Examples
  • Cameo
  • Fan Art
• References

〆

In Japanese, 〆 means shime 締め, "fastening," "tightening," the noun form of the ichidan verb shimeru 締める, "to fasten," "to tighten." To elaborate: this weird-looking symbol is just a quick way to hand-write shime.

Manga: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun 月刊少女野崎くん (Volume 1, Chapter 2, Page 18, ケガの理由)

• Kanji
• Usage

Parentheses in Japanese

In Japanese, parentheses （）, are used in multiple ways: they can show the age, gender or other personal information after someone's name; they represent furigana 振り仮名 (ruby text) in single-line layouts; on the internet, they contain emotes, such as "lol," etc.; they similarly enclose actions in theatrical scripts; they may contain thoughts or other comments; and they surround optional phrases or alternative phrases in grammatical examples.

• In Japanese
• After Name
  • Age
  • Personal Information
    • Gender
• Furigana
• Weekday
• Action Tags
• Thoughts
• On The Internet
  • Emotes
    • Speech Modes
    • Emotes in English
  • Commentary
• Optional Text
  • Alternatives
• In Evangelion
• References

【】, Brackets

In Japanese, "brackets," kakko 括弧, refers to symbols that enclose text such as 【】, （）, 『』, 「」, 〈〉, 《》. They're generally like English brackets, except that Japanese brackets may get rotated 90 degrees when Japanese is written vertically.

For [], {} used in examples in this site, see Reading The Examples.

• In Japanese
• 【】, Square Brackets
  • In Dictionaries
  • In Titles
• （）, Round Brackets
• 「」, 『』, Hook Brackets
• ″″, 〝〟, Whisker Brackets
• 〈〉,《》, Angle Brackets
• 〔〕, 〘〙, Tortoise-Shell Brackets
• ｛｝, Curly Brackets
• References

Reading The Examples

In this site, example sentences and excerpts typically follow a format of romaji, Japanese, and English translations, with symbols added to the romaji and translation in order to keep the Japanese text unchanged.

• {kiita} koto φ aru (romaji)
  聞いたことある (Japanese)
  [I] have [the experience of] {hearing about [it]}. (most literal translation.)
  I've read about it. (least literal translation.)

For reference, this article will list what the symbols found in the examples in this site mean.

• Semantic
  • [Word] in Square Brackets
    • [Translation] in square brackets
    • [Romaji] in Square Brackets
  • {Phrase} in Curly Brackets
  • 〇〇××△△
• Orthographic
  • (Japanese Text) in Parentheses
  • ´, Acute in Romaji
  • ~, Tilde in Romaji
• Standard Linguistic Symbols
  • φ, or ∅
  • *, Asterisk at Start of Sentence
  • #, Octothorpe at Start of Sentence
  • ?, Question Mark at Start of Sentence

φ

In this site, φ, the Greek letter "phi," is used as a symbol to represent nulls (zeroes) in examples.

See Reading The Examples for other symbols used in this site.

In grammatical analysis, "null" is how you refer to something that's not uttered (pronounced or written) but is meaningful nevertheless. They're represented by either φ or ∅ (empty set). For example:

• ore φ, Tarou φ
  俺、太郎
  I'm Tarou.

Above, φ represents a null particle (or zero particle) and a null copula (or zero copula). Compare with:

• ore wa Tarou da
  俺は太郎だ
  (same meaning.)

Above we have a wa は particle and da だ copula.

Although the meaning is basically the same, there are nuances between pronouncing wa/da and not pronouncing them. Also, it may look confusing how the copulas "am," "is," "are" show up in the English translation without an equivalent in Japanese, so nulls are useful in this regard.

• Other Nulls
• How to Type

△

In Japanese, a triangle (△), sankaku 三角, is sometimes used to mean an answer is partially correct. A right answer is a circle (○), while a wrong answer is either an X mark or, in school tests, a check mark (✓) or tick.

Anime: Owarimonogatari 終物語 (Episode 1)

• Gesture
• Placeholder
• Under a Heart
• As Eyes

○

In Japanese, a circle (○), maru 丸, has multiple uses: it typically means something is "correct," that an answer is "right." In this case, "wrong" is either an X mark or a check mark (✓), and a triangle (△) is half-right. It's also used as a placeholder, specially to censor words.

This article is about the circle symbol, not about a "circle," saakuru サークル, in the sense of a group of people that do an activity like drawing doujinshi 同人誌.

Anime: Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai ぼくたちは勉強ができない (Episode 1)
Anime: Himouto! Umaru-chan 干物妹！うまるちゃん (Episode 1)
Anime: Nichijou no Zero-wa 日常の０話 (Episode 0, OVA)

• Correct
  • Double Circle
  • Gesture
• Placeholder
  • Censorship
• Zero
• Diacritic
• As Eyes
• As Sweat

×

In Japanese, an "X mark" (☓), batsu-jirushi バツ印, typically means an answer is "incorrect," fuseikai 不正解, although it can also mean something is dame 駄目, "not good," NG, "not allowed," "didn't work out." The opposite symbol is a "circle" (○), maru 丸. These symbols are also used as placeholders.

Anime: Karin かりん (Episode 11)

• Gesture
• Incorrect
• Placeholder
• In Shipping
• As Eyes

Gainax Stance

In anime, Gainax pose, or Gainax stance, in Japanese: gaina-dachi ガイナ立ち, literally "Gaina-standing," refers to a way for a character, usually a giant robot, or giant robot pilot, to stand imposingly as it waits for battle: with arms crossed and legs apart, due to its prominent use by animation studio Gainax, ガイナックス.^{(dic.pixiv.net, tvtropes.org)}

Anime: Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster, トップをねらえ！ＧｕｎＢｕｓｔｅｒ (Episodes 4, 5)
Anime: Top wo Nerae 2! Diebuster, トップをねらえ２！ＤｉｅＢｕｓｔｅｒ (Episodes 2, 4, 6)
Anime: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, 天元突破グレンラガン (Episodes 3, 15, 25)
Anime: Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, パンティ＆ストッキングwithガーターベルト (Episode 2)

• Origin
• Definition
• Examples
• References

Sunrise Stance

In anime, when a character stands with legs apart readying their sword (or other weapon) thrusting it forward, and the camera perspective is warped so the sword looks far bigger than normal, that's called a Sunrise Stance (サンライズ立ち), Sunrise Perspective (サンライズパース), Brave Perspective, Yuusha Perspective (勇者パース), Brave Stance, Yuusha Stance (勇者立ち), Fukuda Perspective (福田パース), or, in Chinese, 大張一刀流 (Oobari Ittouryuu?).^{(dic.pixiv.net:勇者パース, dic.nicovideo.jp:サンライズ立ち, tvtropes.org:SwordPointing)}

Anime: The Brave Fighter Exkizer, Yuusha Exkaiser, 勇者エクスカイザー (Episode 43)
Anime: Onmyou Taisenki 陰陽大戦記 (Episode 20)
Anime: Aikatsu Stars!, アイカツスターズ！ (Episode 37)
Anime: Hacka Doll The Animation, ハッカドール　ＴＨＥ・あにめーしょん (Episode 9)

• Definition
  • Kanada Perspective
  • SEED Pose
• Examples
  • Rightwards
  • Downwards
• References

うわっ･･･私の年収、低すぎ･･･？

In Japanese, uwa'... watashi no nenshuu, hiku-sugi...? うわっ･･･私の年収、低すぎ･･･？, meaning something like "yikes... my salary, it's too low...?" is a text used in an internet ad by a job-search company called @type, which featured a woman covering her mouth in shock, presumably after realizing how little she made. The ad copy became a meme, with parodies found even in manga and anime.

Manga: Shinchou Yuusha 慎重勇者 (Chapter 10, もっと恐ろしいもの)

• Origin
• Examples
  • Vocaloid Songs
  • Meme Format
  • Covering Mouth Pose
• References

Gendo Pose

In anime, placing your elbows on a desk and interlacing your fingers in front of your face such that it hides your mouth and you look like you're scheming something important is called a Gendo pose, in Japanese: Gendou Poozu ゲンドウポーズ, in reference to Ikari Gendō 碇ゲンドウ, from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinseiki Evangerion 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン, a bespectacled, gloved character who did this pose a lot.^{(dic.pixiv.net)}

From left to right, top to bottom:
Ikari Gendou 碇ゲンドウ
Hasegawa Taizou 長谷川泰三
Luhy Jistone, ルーヒー・ジストーン
Unnamed Hayate's boss
Doma Umaru 土間うまる
Kuroki Tomoko 黒木智子
Nogizaka Gentou 乃木坂玄冬
Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinseiki Evangerion 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン (Episode 2)
Anime: Gintama 銀魂 (Episode 43)
Anime: Haiyore! Nyaruko-san 這いよれ！ニャル子さん (Episode 4)
Anime: Hayate no Gotoku! ハヤテのごとく！ (Episode 1)
Anime: Watashi ga Motenai no wa Dou Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui! 私がモテないのはどう考えてもお前らが悪い！ (Episode 13, OAD)
Anime: Himouto! Umaru-chan 干物妹！うまるちゃん (Episode 11)
Anime: One Punch Man, ワンパンマン (Episode 4)
Anime: Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza, 乃木坂春香の秘密ぴゃあれっつぁ (Episode 11)

• Definition
• Examples
• References

Tsukkomi Gesture

In Japan, a backhand slap on someone's chest, or, sometimes, doing the gesture on air, suggests the person is doing a tsukkomi ツッコミ, a "retort" calling out something stupid that someone else said, which is typically done in manzai 漫才, a type of comedy routine with a duo of comedians, namely the boke ボケ saying stupid things, and the tsukkomi calling out the boke.

Left: Minakami Mai 水上麻衣
Right: Aioi Yuuko 相生祐子
Anime: Nichijou 日常 (Episode 1)

• Examples