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Spot the cliché: "Mou taberarenai."


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abunai
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Joined: 05 Mar 2004
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Location: 露命
PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:03 pm Reply with quote
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



Joined: 15 Jul 2006
Posts: 75
Location: Somewhere in chilly Canada
PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:22 pm Reply with quote
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
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Joined: 27 Jun 2005
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:13 pm Reply with quote
Gah Anime hyper 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
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
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Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:40 pm Reply with quote
PantsGoblin wrote:
(I don't think it is exactly "mou taberarenai", but it is something similar. Sounds like "mou taberaremasen yo"...)
That is the same thing, just more polite -- taberu > tabemasu (eat) / taberareru > taberaremasu (can eat)

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



Joined: 24 Apr 2006
Posts: 245
Location: California
PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:03 pm Reply with quote
Why do I get the feeling that this phrase probably occurs in every single episode of Slayers? Very Happy
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LydiaDianne



Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 5634
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2007 11:48 pm Reply with quote
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



Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1291
PostPosted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:27 am Reply with quote
I know Rin from SHUFFLE! said it a few times when Kaede woke him up.
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Richard J.



Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 3367
Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis.
PostPosted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 12:35 pm Reply with quote
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



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
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Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park
PostPosted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:49 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
That is the same thing, just more polite -- taberu > tabemasu (eat) / taberareru > taberaremasu (can eat)


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



Joined: 22 Jan 2007
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:30 am Reply with quote
Samurai Champloo - eating contest.
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abunai
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:03 am Reply with quote
consilience wrote:
Samurai Champloo - eating contest.

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



Joined: 18 Feb 2007
Posts: 16
Location: Israel
PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:51 pm Reply with quote
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



Joined: 28 Aug 2006
Posts: 92
Location: USA
PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:25 pm Reply with quote
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



Joined: 05 Jul 2006
Posts: 701
PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 8:06 pm Reply with quote
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



Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 12:32 am Reply with quote
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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