3

I'm asking what pronouns Foo Fighters uses for herself, or what other characters use when referring to him/her in the Japanese version of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 6: Stone Ocean. I am aware that he/she's actually something like a colony of plankton living inside a woman's corpse, and that the English version elected to use "they/them", but I want to know what pronouns are used in the Japanese version.

кяαzєя
  • 41,910
  • 21
  • 140
  • 255
ashaad.montgomery
  • 33
  • 4
  • 1
    which episode/ minute? Or are you talking about the manga? – Pablo Sep 04 '22 at 23:11
  • They are many. You are but one. – кяαzєя Sep 05 '22 at 00:20
  • @Pablo Does it differ between the anime & manga? If it differs between the anime and manga that would be good to know as well. In particular it was from episode 17 onward, in which Foo Fighters does a lot of fighting while other characters watch and comment that the use of they/them in the English subtitles became apparent to me. Two specific examples would be: in episode 17 a bad guy uses "they/their" around 7:00, and in episode 18, around 2:20 Jolyne uses "their" a several times in a row. Those would be episode 5 and 6 of the "second batch" of 12 episodes. – ashaad.montgomery Sep 05 '22 at 11:13
  • 1
    @ashaad.montgomery I've watched the anime a while ago, I dont remember it very well. I didnt read the manga. I believe I watched it subbed. I asked you because may be I can rewatch it later and tell you – Pablo Sep 05 '22 at 11:22

1 Answers1

3

They're called "F・F" which is (obviously) abbreviation of Foo Fighters, or sometimes called as "あんた" which is colloquial version of "あなた", which means "you".

As far as I remember, they weren't called with pronouns, though Japanese fanbase sometimes call them as "she/her", though it's quite rare since we also usually call them as Foo Fighters or F・F.

Side note: In Japanese, there's no words that's equivalent to "they/them", so we usually call non-binary people as their name or nickname. So, in this case, "F・F" is the equivalent word of they/them. That might be the reason that English version used "they/them" as Foo Fighter's pronouns.

Skye-AT
  • 331
  • 1
  • 7
  • 3
    The character in question uses "atashi" to refer to themselves in the first person later on. While it is feminine sounding it's not exclusively to one gender. https://dic.nicovideo.jp/t/a/%E3%83%95%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA – кяαzєя Sep 05 '22 at 02:52
  • @кяαzєя Ah, yes. I should have wrote that in my post. Most of (or maybe all of) first person isn't exclusive to one gender, so I've completely ignored about the fact that the Foo Fighters called themselves as atashi. Thank you for your comment. – Skye-AT Sep 05 '22 at 04:31
  • Thanks to both Skye-AT and кяαzєя. This might be digressing a little, but when you say atashi is not exclusive to one gender, do you mean in anime, or in real life as well? I'm aware anime sometimes have this trope called "Bokukko", where tomboys might use "Boku", but I have also heard from others that it would apparently be considered unusual in real life for a girl to use "boku", so I understand anime does not always reflect reality. My understanding is that atashi is most commonly used by girls and young women. Sorry if this comes off a bit dumb, Im still learning about Japan, thanks again. – ashaad.montgomery Sep 05 '22 at 10:31
  • 1
    @ashaad.montgomery It's in real life as well. I've actually seen a girl who uses "boku" as their first person too (though she've changed that to watashi later on). In regards to your understanding, yes that is correct. I'd say 90~95% of users of atashi as their first person is women (as far as I'm aware age doesn't matter though). – Skye-AT Sep 05 '22 at 11:12
  • @Skye-AT Thank you very much, I think that answers just about everything. – ashaad.montgomery Sep 05 '22 at 11:22
  • 2
    Just to add in, FF uses atashi when she becomes Etro. Prior to that it was watashi, which is more gender-neutral. This is because FF reads Etro's memory and is disguising as her. – Jimmy Sep 06 '22 at 02:09