Forum - View topicThe use of German in anime
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Iria51
 Posts: 138 Location: San Antonio, Tx |
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I have always wondered about this. There are quite a few anime series that use German names and words in their titles, as well as many villains and main characters that have German names. Elfen Lied, Gantz, and Weiss Kreuz jump immediatly to mind. You also see this in some video games that come out of Japan as well. My uneducated guess is that it is due to Japan's involvement in WWII on Germany's side, and that it must have left some sort of impression on the Japanese culture. I know that there were a lot of things that the Japanese learned from Germany at that time and I wonder how close their relationships were to one another. Anyone else notice this or have any thoughts?
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Starwind Amada
Posts: 981 Location: Easton, PA, USA |
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What about Asuka's German dialogue in Eva and Satella's in Chrono Crusade (which Tiffany Grant excels at in both)?
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The Ramblin' Wreck
 Posts: 924 Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love |
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German, like English, is "cool". Also Rozen Maiden has a lot of German in it. |
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ChibiBritt
 Posts: 52 Location: Denton, TX USA |
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I'm not 100% on this, but it's possible that it could be in relation to why there are so many English words in anime. From what I have gathered Japanese people enjoy the sound of English words. In many cases when say..anime songs are sung in English, like in most of Cowboy Bebop, it's more about how the song sounds to them...rather than what the singer is actually saying. It's one of the reasons why there are so many cute signs and titles for things in Japan. Even if many Japanese cannot translate...they like how it sounds when they say it. So it's possible that is the same for German words.
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Iria51
Posts: 138 Location: San Antonio, Tx |
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That's true and I hadn't considered that it might be the same with German as well, and I can understand why English might be a language which has become popular in anime and pop culture in Japan, because America has been a source for pop icons, movies, and music that could influence the youth culture. Also, English is taught pretty widely in schools in many different countries around the world. I think that Germany hasn't had the cultural impact on other countries like it has had on Japan though, so that's why I thought it was kind of odd that it was used so much in pop culture there. Maybe I'm just seeing things though. |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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You got it right. During the Meiji era of modernization, Japanese military decided to learn from the best: German Army and British Royal Navy. I'd say that influence is still in effect today. Most, if not all, mecha-oriented manga-ka and animators are fans of German weaponry, notably Hayao Miyazaki. However, there's still fans of the Brits, e.g. Kaoru Mori. Here is a good fight between Kriegsmarine and Royal Navy, featuring a bad guy from JoJo (I can't remember his name...) and Shirley Madison.
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Deltakiral
 Posts: 3338 Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK) |
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There are also WWII ties to FMA many of the characters are named after planes and tanks, Mustang, Hawkeye, Hughes just to name a few. There is also ties to WWII in gundam wing as well, the five gundam boys are shown in typical children clothing of the third reich. I thought this was just because of Japan involvement in WWII on the axis side.
That is quite intersting, I did not know that Japan looked at the German for influence, I thought it was mostly an American/English influence when the ship landed in Tokyo damned trade that cause huge cultural change. Also when does the Meiji era take place then? Delta Kiral |
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smutchi
Posts: 189 |
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That's a really interesting topic, I've been wondering at it, too!
My Japanese roommate told me that they also use the German word "Arbeit" (which means work) when talking about part-time jobs and the word "Rucksack" for backpack (of course the word rucksack is also used in English  ).
There's also the manga Pilgrim Jäger (Jäger meaning hunter).
Gantz is not really a German word... |
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Very true, then and now. - abunai |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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That's why they learned naval tactics from the Brits. Speaking of German influence: Japanese medical societies are also Germanic. All medical students today have to learn German in medical school. Just read/watch Black Jack for examples.
Go google. |
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Gauss
 Posts: 519 Location: Finland |
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[quote="dormcat"]
Could somebody give a summary of the "battle"? It looks like a fun round of b*llsh*tt*ng but I can't read the text. Also, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on a WW2 connection Iria51. As said the connection is much older. It's claimed that when Prussia won the war of 1870-71 against France, boys school uniforms in Japan were changed to emulate the winner's looks (makes one wonder what they would wear if France had won, dark blue jackets with red pants?). In addition, lots of people study foreign languages so it shouldn't be too surprising if a certain admiration of a culture rubs off in the process. Kousuke Fujishima of Ah My Goddess fame would be one of the more well known, having been an exchange student in Germany. Interesting to hear that medical students have to learn German. I guess it makes sense since Germany used to be the world leader in pharmacology and chemistry before WWI. Just odd that it would still be a required subject... |
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