Zombieland Saga Episode 2 – I <3 HIP HOP SAGA
Group 2: Samuel Roberts, Jin Yu Li, Daniel Grigsby, Tianqi Lin, Jason Tseng
Our team looked at the second episode of the anime Zombieland Saga, titled “I <3 HIP HOP SAGA”, and took out a number of phrases used in conversation by two characters: Minamoto Sakura: the aspiring idol, and Saki Nikaido: the young delinquent, and analyse the ways in which their various choices in vocabulary imply masculinity, femininity, and the indexed features involved with each.
To summarize, Zombieland Saga is about a high school girl named Sakura Minamoto who, after being killed in a traffic accident in 2008, has now been brought back as a zombie along with six other eclectic characters by a strange man named Kotaro Tatsumi, who plans to turn the girls into a hit new idol group to revitalize the Saga prefecture.
Characters
Sakura Minamoto: Before dying, Sakura was a clumsy but cheerful high school girl who aspired to one day make it big in the idol world. One day, however, she was hit by a truck on her way to school, and many years later was revived as a zombie. Now, Sakura, while shy around her fellow zombies and having forgotten her past ambitions, wants to make sure that everyone gets along to survive in a world where people consider them to be monsters.
Saki Nikaido: Before dying, Saki was the young leader of the major biker gang “Dorami” in the 1990’s that expanded throughout all of Kyushu. After death, she retains her very aggressive demeanor, constantly sending threats and still aspiring to take control of the entirety of Japan. She was first very against the idea of being an idol, but later opens up to the idea after Sakura dubs her the team captain.
Quotes With Timestamps
*Japanese taken down by ear, so it may not be fully accurate
**Translations are taken from subtitles, and as such are not literal translations
Sakura:
- あたしほんとにうたれたとって。I got shot, for real! 9:20
- あたしもそうやったけど、大丈夫! I felt the same way, but it’s okay! 9:27
- アイちゃん待てって！帰ろう？ Ai-chan, wait up! Let’s go back. 9:32
- アイちゃんごめんて、危ないけんかいろ。I’m sorry Ai-chan… but it’s dangerous. 9:45
- *できない理由かんがえじゃね、できる方法見つけよぜ… ♪Quit coming up with excuses about why you can’t win! If you’ve got even a little chance, try to do that then!♪ 20:20
*One line taken from a song
Saki:
- 意味わからんじゃけど。 I don’t get any of this. 3:07
- *あたし死んだよな、なんでピンピンし踊るぜ？ I died, right? So how come I’m not dead? 3:12
- てめ、何ぶっ殺すけんなあ？ You screw with me and i’ll kill you, got it? 7:16
- ぶっ殺すぞ。You wanna die? 13:20
- *あたしはお前とはちげ、やりてことしかやらんし、根性あるしか奴認め。 I’m not like you! I do what I want, and I only got respect for people with guts! 13:35
*Use of both masculine and feminine present
Analysis
There are a number of aspects that show the stark contrast between Sakura and Saki’s characters. Firstly Sakura’s lack of second-person pronouns in her lines shows the more shy, polite side of her character, while not exactly giving any sort of gender marker. Saki, however, does use second-person pronouns, specifically お前, which not only indexes her brash nature, but also shows her more masculine style. Saki also uses words like てめ, which is a phrase often associated with delinquent boys and men, again showing that side of her personality. Neither character is seen using neutral terms like この方 or あなた.
The other most common gender marker present is the use of sentence ending particles. Sakura, while tending to speak in polite form likely do to her shyness, often would end her requests in て, such as 待てって. This shows both how her more casual feminine side comes out, as she uses these terms in more casual conversation with teammates, as well as possibly indexing the shyer side of her personality with the often negative connotations associated with feminine styles of speech. Saki uses multiple male auxiliary words and particles and the end of her sentences, such as ぞ, なあ, or ぜ. These masculine phrases index a more vulgar impression, further showing her position as a delinquent. Sakura does use ぜ in one line, line 5 on her list to be particular, and if one was to watch the whole scene they would notice she completely switches to a masculine style. This would be because this scene is actually a rap battle between Sakura and Saki, and so in order to index a more a aggressive nature, Sakura switches to a masculine style.
The most interesting gender marker seen is their use of first person phrases. While one might expect, if the present pattern were to continue, that Sakura would use 私 and/or あたし while Saki uses 僕 and/or 俺, it is actually seen that both characters use あたしwhen referring to themselves. At this point this seems predictable for Sakura, あたしwould be used as a more casual first person term around teammates which shows her feminine nature, however for Saki it is much more peculiar. Saki using あたし seems to index the idea that while Saki presents a very vulgar, frightening demeanor, she still acknowledges herself as a woman and is using her demeanor more for the purpose of gaining respect as the leader of her gang than anything else.
Conclusion
While masculinity and femininity both certainly seem present in both Saki and Sakura’s characters and vocabulary, it is the indexed meaning behind their speech styles that determine why these characters are speaking the way they do. Sakura, while having the classic “moe” personality of feminine characters in anime, often has her speech guided by her newfound shyness in her undead form, and her choice of feminine features index the more indirect, submissive connotations. As for Saki, her vocabulary marks her drive to show herself as the boss of a largely male dominated gang culture, yet her mixture of both masculine and feminine style shows that the masculine features are used more for their indexed assertive, dominant perception than actual masculinity.