- "Friends"
- Work "Colleagues"
- "Members" of Group
- Partners in Crime
- "Party," Nakama in RPG Games
- Birds of Same Feather
- In Animal Taxonomy
- Kanji of Nakama
"Friends"
The way nakama 仲間 is used in most shounen 少年 anime is in the sense of "group of friends." If you're my nakama, you're one of my friends.
Manga: Naruto ナルト (Chapter 12, 終わりだ!!)
- ore no
nakama wa
zettai korosase ya
shinaai yo!
オレの仲間は絶対殺させやしなーいよ!
[I] absolutely won't let [you] kill my friends!- korosaseru 殺させる
To let kill.
(causative form of korosu 殺す) - ya shinai やしない
wa shinai はしない
To not do.
- korosaseru 殺させる
Work "Colleagues"
The word nakama doesn't always mean your friend. When talking about work, nakama can refer to your work "colleagues," whether you like them or not."Members" of Group
Similarly, nakama can refer to someone who has joined you in a group activity. In this case, nakama has a meaning like "member."
Manga: Sakigake!! Cromartie Koukou 魁!!クロマティ高校 (Chapter 14, 帝国の逆襲)
- Context: a character feels left out of the group.
- baka yaroo!!
バカヤロー!!
[You] idiot!! - mochiron omae mo
nakama da yo!!
もちろん お前も 仲間だよ!!
Of course you're nakama too!!
Of course you're in the group too!!
Partners in Crime
When have a band of pirates, thieves, or whatever organization, be it evil or good, so it can bean organization of heroes, too, why not, then basically everybody in that organization is your nakama.And of course, it often happens that there's a traitor among our nakama!
Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi 鋼の錬金術師 (Chapter 4, 車上の戦い)
- nakama ga uragiri wo?
仲間が裏切りを?
One of our guys betrayed [us]? - masaka!
まさか!
[That's unthinkable!]
"Party," Nakama in RPG Games
In RPG games, the word nakama normally refers to one's "party" instead. That is, the guys you do stuff with: kill monsters, loot dungeons, save the world, etc.
Game: Dragon Quest III, Doragon Kuesto Surii ドラゴンクエストIII
- *"Neruson-san wo nakama ni
kuwaeru no ne. wakatta wa.
*「ネルソンさんを 仲間に
くわえるのね。わかったわ。
*"Add Nelson to your party, [right]? [I got it.] - neruson ga nakama ni kuwawatta!
ネルソンが 仲間に くわわった!
Nelson was added to the party! - For reference, the text in the menu:
- nakama wo yobidasu
なかまをよびだす
Summon a party member.- yobidasu 呼び出す
To call [someone] so they come out.
To summon.
- yobidasu 呼び出す
- nakama wo azukeru
なかまをあずける
Leave a party member here.- azukeru 預ける
To leave [something] in someone else's hands.
To entrust.
- azukeru 預ける
- meibo wo miru
めいぼをみる
See the register of names.- In the game, you can recruit new party members from this list.
- yameru
やめる
Stop.- Leave. Exit. Close menu. Etc.
- Title:
- surii スリー (III)
Three. (katakanization of the English number.)
- surii スリー (III)
This usage also translates to isekai 異世界 anime which are heavily based on games.
Bird of Same Feather
The word nakama can also mean someone who is related to someone else somehow. This is extremely vaguely speaking, I know. In English, the idiom "birds of a feather" would fit this concept perfectly.For example, in anime you often have this cold-blooded emotionless sadist character with a dark past in one faction, who is fighting another faction, which also has a cold-blooded emotionless sadist character with a dark past. These two characters, despite being enemies, could be joined as nakama by their extremely cliched settings.
Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi 鋼の錬金術師 (Chapter 4, 車上の戦い)
- Context: good guy with mechanical arm fights bad guy with mechanical arm.
- o'
おっ
Oh! - ootomeiru nakama?
機械鎧(オートメイル)仲間?
[You're] automail nakama?
[You too have an] automail?- ootomeiru オートーメイル
Automail. - ...is used as gikun 義訓 reading for...
- kikai yoroi 機械鎧
Mechnical armor. - Automail are the mechanical arms found in Fullmetal Alchemist.
- ootomeiru オートーメイル
In the example above, despite the good guy and the bad guy being enemies about to fight, they're also, in a sense, nakama, entangled by the fact both have mechanical arms.
In Animal Taxonomy
When talking about animals, nakama can refer to animals related to another animals according to their taxonomies. For example:- ari wa hachi no nakama アリはハチの仲間
Ants are bees' nakama.
Ants and bees are members of the order "Hymenoptera," called hachi-moku ハチ目, literally "bee order," in Japanese.
Kanji of Nakama
The kanji of the word nakama 仲間 sort of shows its true meaning. The naka 仲 part means "relationship" while the ma ma 間 part means "span," in the sense of "space." Together, nakama 仲間 is, literally, a "span of relationships."- naka ga ii ne 仲がいいね
The relationship is good. (literally.)
[They are good friends, right?]
These can mean friends related to friends, or work colleagues related to other work colleagues, party members related to the quest of defeating the demon lord and freeing the world from its evil grasp, animals related to animals, etc.
Fun fact: in the shin megami tensei series, 仲間 appears written as 仲魔 most of the time, since you're actually recruiting demons (悪魔) to your party
ReplyDeleteHow about "comrade" as a substitute. Comrade is understood in the military sense of fellow members of a unit, but it's also understood in the sense of "comrades in the revolution", which is close to the meaning of "people you commute with" etc: you recognize them as fellow members of a class/group.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure. Personally I'm more familiar with the word "nakama" being used in anime than with the word "comrade" being used in English. It could mean the same thing, but I wouldn't know.
DeleteI do actually think "comrade" or "companion" are decent translations. Comrade is good because it implies a sense of solidarity - "camaraderie." You just don't turn on your Nakama! I think the feeling of "nakama-ness" is actually a unique and special Japanese thing. It speaks to the special social bonds that exist in Japan, one of the world's most homogeneous societies.
ReplyDelete