Forum - View topicSpot the cliché: "Mou taberarenai."
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abunai
Old Regular
 Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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I thought I'd have a little fun with you all, and share with you one of my favourite anime clichés: もう食べられない (mou taberarenai, "I can't eat any more").
Often occurring in anime, it invariably shows up as a moment of comedic relief, when a comical character is sleeping. Talking in their sleep, they mumble "I can't eat any more" or some variation on that theme. Sometimes, the phrase occurs when people are awake, after a genuine (not dreamt) session of excessive eating. It's hard to explain why this is so hilarious in Japanese culture. It has to do with the traditional Japanese reticence with regard to selfish behaviour in communal circumstances. Or, to put it a different way, Japanese food is often eaten communally, and people who hog food are considered to be behaving especially badly. In fact, not sharing is considered such a vice in Japan that one of the common terms of insult is 吝嗇 (kechi, "miser, tightwad"). Hence, stuffing your face is a violation of good taste, and therefore funny. If you'd like a Western equivalent, it's on a par with Barney Gumble's incessant burping, in The Simpsons. Consequently, dreaming of such bad behaviour (and thereby revealing an essentially flawed character) is funny, too. Anyway, long story short, I'm enlisting you all as a sort of "bird watchers". I want you to report, in this thread, every occurrence of this cliché that you come across. Just make it short and sweet: Name the anime, the episode, the approximate time mark (if you have it), the character who says it, and a brief description of the circumstances. I admit that this is a technical violation of the "no list threads" rule, but it has a definite point. I want to document the pervasiveness of this cliché. I'll start you off with: Sugar Sugar Rune, episode 22, approximate time mark 18:10. Chocolat is pulling a homework all-nighter, while her familiar, the frog Duke, sleeps beside her. In his sleep, Duke mumbles mou taberarenai-kero ("I can't eat any more, ribbit"). Good hunting! I look forward to seeing what you come up with. - abunai |
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EngrishFan
Posts: 75 Location: Somewhere in chilly Canada |
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Only one I can specifically remember off the top of my head at the moment would be from Cowboy Bebop. Can't remember if the line was what we're looking for, but it's probably close enough. Anyways, following the specified format:
Cowboy Bebop, episode 11, approximately 21:00 or 22:00 (can't remember exactly, it's been a while) spoiler[Ed is sleeping in an unspecified compartment of the ship in zero G when she groggly wakes up to the image of the rotten lobster ooze sliding towards her. She grabs it, exclaims "Mmm, more pudding" (or something like that), tosses it in her mouth, and swallows it in one gulp. Roll facing away from camera, going back to sleep while muttering "mou taberarenai".] |
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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Gah
 I know I've seen more of these but I can only remember these two right now.
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu episode 9, approximate time mark 02:40. Tessa crawls into bed with Sousuke... Kaname tries waking her up and she mumbles something (I don't think it is exactly "mou taberarenai", but it is something similar. Sounds like "mou taberaremasen yo"...). http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c233/PantsgoblinX/PDVD_195.jpg Galaxy Angel A episode 47, approximate time mark 9:50. Milfeulle stuffs her new Angel assistant with cake... http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c233/PantsgoblinX/PDVD_194.jpg I'm going to have to look more carefully for these now... |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6903 Location: Kazune City |
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I know I've seen this cliché more times than I can count or remember...Kero of CardCaptor Sakura is guilty of it on numerous occasions. I don't remember exactly, but I believe that the melon-bread-obsessed Ren from DearS says it on occasion. One thing I've noticed about comic relief characters and many main characters in general is that they have traits that don't conform to the traditional Japanese ideals, therefore making them interesting, distinctive, or funny. Selfishly overeating would be one of these traits. |
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RDespair
 Posts: 245 Location: California |
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Why do I get the feeling that this phrase probably occurs in every single episode of Slayers?
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LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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I can't give an exact episode but I do know that Tsukino Usagi (Sailor Moon) has said it more than once! And if it wasn't her doing it...it was Chibi-Usa!
What fun! Now I'm going to have to go and look for that! |
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Iwatch2muchanime
 Posts: 1291 |
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I know Rin from SHUFFLE! said it a few times when Kaede woke him up.
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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Using abunai's model:
Best Student Council, episode 1, approximate time mark 7:20. Rino has just been knocked senseless after running into Kaori. Pucchan, her "special friend," is trying to wake her up and Rino mumbles "I couldn't eat another bite." Thus the puppet Pucchan becomes exasperated. I don't know why, but this happens to be one of my favorite anime gags. |
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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You can be like I did as a little kid and exclaim in a loud voice "Onaka ga ippai!" when you are full. It is also true that it is bad manners to not finish your food. This also applies to taking too much wasabi and shoyu or other condiments. There is even an old proverb, and I paraphrase since it's been years since I've heard it, that is something about each grain of rice contains a thousand Buddhas. |
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consilience
Posts: 39 |
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Samurai Champloo - eating contest.
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abunai
Old Regular
Posts: 5463 Location: 露命 |
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Well, yes -- that is an example of the hilarity of overindulgence. But it is not an example of the cliché itself. I don't believe anyone actually even utters the signature phrase. There are plenty of examples of excessive eating as a (excuse the pun) gag. There are several recurring examples of it in Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge, for instance. But what we're looking for is more specifically those instances described in my first post, where someone sleeping or half-asleep utters the catchphrase or a variant of it. - abunai |
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Obaa-chan
 Posts: 16 Location: Israel |
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Actually, the Samurai Champloo that comes to my mind is episode 15 (Bogus Booty) around 07:20. But Foo does not utter the key phrase either. She says something like "I ate and ate. It's the first time I've been full in a while".
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8daze
Posts: 92 Location: USA |
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I'll give you the one that instantly jumped to my mind when I saw this topic:
School Rumble, episode 19, at the very end. It's just after the meteor shower scene (one of my favorite scenes, personally), and Tenma is sound asleep. We see her roll into the frame and mutter "I can't eat anymore" while still sleeping. I suppose it's meant to show School Rumble's offbeat humor even in one of its more serious moments. |
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Daemonblue
 Posts: 701 |
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Himawari! episode 8 at ~17:05
spoiler[Three of the girls get transformed into children and fall asleep, one of them makes the statement (the one in pink that has a tail if anyone knows the name :O)] |
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LydiaDianne
Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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Found one!
Saiyuki Gunlock at about 1:00:59 into the DVD (not sure which episode) Lirin is asleep on a bed and mutters the phrase. I'm sure Goku has muttered the phrase at one time or another as well but I haven't caught him yet. |
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