1

In the anime R.O.D the TV, one of the principal characters is Nenene Sumiregawa, a famous author with an unusual personality for Japan: quick-tempered, brash, outspoken, defiant.

She lives in Tokyo now, and we learn very little about her past, but I’m wondering if she’s being portrayed as someone originally from Kansai. It seems to fit her personality better than the more cultured/repressed Tokyo style. I would guess it also fits her voice, because her seiyuu, Satsuki Yukino, hails from Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, in the Kansai region.

So, to those who are familiar with the series and who can judge such things: Does she sound like she speaks Kansai-ben (possibly influenced by several years in Tokyo)? Does she act like a Kansai-jin? Is she a character that most Japanese viewers would immediately recognize as being from Kansai?

Tom Zych
  • 264
  • 3
  • 10
  • A couple obvious signs of Kansai-ben are using _han_ instead of _san_ as an honorific, using _wai_ as a first-person pronoun, and saying _ya_ instead of _da_ (in expressions like _da ne_). Characters from Kansai don't always use these, but they are the stereotypical features of the dialect, like US Southerners saying "y'all", or New Yorkers saying "fuhgeddaboutit". – Torisuda Jan 17 '17 at 05:03
  • @Torisuda Hmm, none of that seems to fit. She always uses *san* for her editor. She always seems to use *atashi* or *watashi*. And to say someone was a woman, she says *“onnanohito da yo”* (or so my inexperienced ear hears it). Not that I’m great at parsing spoken Japanese, but it sounds like she probably is not speaking Kansai-ben. *Doumo*. – Tom Zych Jan 18 '17 at 01:38

0 Answers0