Group members:

Matthew Terry: analysis of Sakura Chiyo

Charlotte Cao: transcription, data

Destiny Harrell: analysis of Kashuma Yuu

Jingfei Wang: transcription, data

 

Methodology

In our project, we analyzed two same-gender characters from the same anime in the differences in the use of gender-related features by each character. After brainstorming, we finally decided to analyze the two female characters, “Kashima Yuu” and “Sakura Chiyo,” from the anime Gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun. We made this choice because the anime was one that all of us had seen before, which ensured that each of us had a basic understanding of it. Kashima Yu” and “Sakura Chiyo” are two of the most contrasting female characters. Gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun, a story about high school student Sakura Chiyo has a crush on schoolmate Nozaki Umetarou. Nozaki is actually a shōjo manga artist working under the pen name Yumeno Sakiko. When Sakura confesses her love to him, he mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. He invited her to his house and had her help with some drawings. So Sakura became Nozaki’s manga assistant. Once the characters were identified, we used the anime to analyze their gender-related features. For Kashima, we selected episodes 3 and 8, in which she appears as the main character. For Chiyo, we selected Episode 1, 7, and 9 for the specific gender language analysis. We analyzed each character’s dialogue and then evaluated the character’s use of gender language by combining the anime’s plot with their personality.

 

Kashima Yuu

Kashima Yuu is a second year in the drama club. She is often described as ‘princely’ and often is found surrounded by adoring female students. She looks fairly androgynous, with short hair and tall height for her age. She could easily be mistaken for a guy if it wasn’t for her wearing the female student uniform. Although she is part of the drama club and has a passion for acting, she often skips club meetings and hates having to do any of the setup work. She always finds time to flirt with the other female students, however. This, combined with her boyish looks, was what caused her to be called “The School’s Prince.”

She is good in all aspects of school and excels in any kind of sports. Kashima is very close to two of the other male characters, Mikoto and Hori. Mikoto is her best friend who has been in her same class for all of high school. Hori is her upperclassman in the Drama club, and she is constantly vying for his attention; however, usually, she just causes trouble for him with her antics. Kashima and the main character Chiyo are in different classes, but they interact through mutual friends.

In our analysis, we found that her gender language depends on the person she is talking to and her state at the time. For the most part, Kashima tends to use neutral terms, usually calling herself わたし and calling others by their first names or titles, such as 野崎、先輩、部長. However, she uses more feminine language when she has a normal, everyday conversation with a more intimate friend like Chiyo or Mikoto. In the conversation with these two people, the sentence final particles are changed from “よ,” which is the most common in the general scene, to “よね” and “の,” which are typically female enders. And when she wished Chiyo could comfort her, she says 慰めってよ！It shows that close friends are special to Kashima, so she chooses to use the feminine terms that are more friendly in front of them, which also distinguishes them from other students in the school. Another case that feminine enders are used a lot is when Kashima talks to herself without having any ridiculous ideas, such as 知ってるの and どういう話なの. It expresses Kashima’s perception of herself. Even though Kashima has a masculine appearance and is called the “prince of the school,” she still treats herself as a female in her daily life.

Kashima usually uses masculine language when he flirts with the girls as a “prince.”  She addresses herself in the more polite male first person pronouns as “僕.” As the second person pronoun,  she uses “君” and “お姫様,” which are respectful male terms and more in line with the qualities of fairy tales and general teenage fantasies. In the prince scenes, Kashima has more terms related to requests and commands. Instead of using masculine language to express her requests and commands, Kashima prefers to use neutral words, such as “ないで” and “て.” The purpose of this is to distinguish the prince from ordinary men, not to be too forceful in giving orders, and to make the girls feel warm and considerate. This is done so that Kashima can fully become the “prince” and make the girls feel attracted to the male. Another case in which Kashima would use men heavily is when she started to engage in some strange behavior and whimsical ideas. For example, she would use “だろう” as a question word, and her sentence final particles are trend to be  “だ” and “な,” which are typical masculine words. These lines are usually accompanied by an exaggerated expression or tone of voice. This use of masculine words contrasts more with Kashima in everyday life and Kashima as “the prince” and shows the “jerk” side of her character, making the character more vivid.

For Kashima’s favorite person, Hori, she uses neutral words in general, probably out of basic courtesy to Hori as her senior. Masculine words are usually used when Kashima is acting comical. Still, in the dialogue between Kashima and Hori, even when Kashima says some lines that sound funny and unrealistic, she does not use masculine words and prefers to use neutral words. It shows that she is serious about all of her thoughts about Hori and has no desire to be weird herself, which further shows that Kashima has different feelings towards Hori than others. We also found that Kashima sometimes adds お before verbs and nouns to show respect, and this kind of respectful word is also used by a female in everyday life. お mostly used when describing Hori, who is the head of the drama club, using this kind of respectful word to show Kashima’s admiration for his excellent acting skills. Kashima’s use of these terms also shows her preference for Hori. This attitude is usually seen when a female has affection for a male, which shows that Kashima treats herself as a female in everyday life.

 

Sakura Chiyo

The main female protagonist of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. She is a student at Roman Academy and a member of The Art Club, shadowing Nozaki (male protagonist) as his manga assistant throughout the anime. As an atypical representation of the “ideal” high-school girl, she is the personification of kawaii culture, being provided with a persona that denotes such feminine ideals. This is best depicted in her mannerisms when speaking to her crush Nozaki where she often clutches her hands to her chest, averts eye-contact or is shown with a deep blush. This is most obvious whenever Nozaki confides with Sakura on the latest Shoujo scene he has in mind to show romance, often filling in the gaps for him by voicing a high-school girl’s dream expectations for the situation.

This is also signified with language. Throughout this scene-type as well as in all her interactions with Nozaki, she is quite polite in how she addresses him, attaching the honorifics kun or sensei (for his author name). Since this is often used to denote respect between peers whom are not close or in a “professional” or “social” situation , it’s use in tow of their close friendship represents her admiration for Nozaki and places her in the “supporter” role. A position which she also finds herself in when dealing with both her friends Kashima and Mikoshiba whom she both also refers to with “kun”. This representation of the supporter is significant as it is a traditional aspect of the kawaii girl persona as an expected trait and so functions here as a device to show positive feminine qualities.”kun” is used as a kind of honorific title for peers and is generally used by a female, implying respectful affection. It is reflected in Sakura. In the anime, we observe that the male Chiyo most often refers to as “kun” is Nozaki, who Sakura has a massive crush on. The identity of Nozaki as a manga artist also gives Sakura a feeling of respect for him, in addition to her original admiration.

Even when there is disagreement, or she finds herself frustrated with someone; she never twists such language to fit her own needs nor displays a façade. She is genuine and sweet and so acquiesces to the societal expectation of politeness that comes with the idea of a kawaii persona. Although if she is overwhelmed with her feelings for Nozaki she may choose to use cute nicknames, in keeping with her character type, instead such as such as Mikorin (Mikoshiba)

This is further emphasized whenever she asks after others. These sentences usually end with the word “でしょ” or “なの”. These gendered expressions tie into the supporter role by helping to promote Sakura as a thoughtful, friendly and demure personality.

Exploring her use of language further, whenever she is in discussion with friends she will end most sentences with “のね” and “の” . She will also always use 私、あのね or a variation of the response sounds such as “えええ！“ often considered feminine reactions.

In these cases, the rhythm of sentence delivery will be fast-paced with a high-pitched inflection that, after analysis, we believe is intended to represent an energetic and excitable tone. As the only “normal” character that is dedicated to representing a kawaii persona this is intentionally done to accentuate the expected cheerful trait.

This is slightly modified when Nozaki is involved as whenever Nozaki does something affectionate unto her, such as offering her something or inviting her somewhere, as she proceeds to verbally beat Mikoshiba into submission with a rapid sequence of comments validating and confirming if Nozaki really did that for her (episode 7). However, since she employs such gendered language, these sentence endings often associated with girlish speech combined with the need to confirm her feelings being met accentuates the expected innocence trait. She is after all, meant to be the “shoujo heroine” of the story, all comic relief aside.

Something the author takes further pains to emphasize with other expressions such as　“もうもうもう！” (episode 1) or attaching もん to some sentences i.e. わかってたもん (episode seven). The expression is like a child attempting to draw attention to themselves adds to the sense of kawaii already expressed.

There are times though where Sakura will use masculine language to rebuke her friends for their bizarre behavior and antics. For example, she will transform some adjectives to end with “ぜ,” such as 面倒くさい→面倒くぜ, うるさい→うぜ. In this case, she will also use some rude words that seem to contradict her natural demonstration of character. She can be sloppy at times as well, employing phrases such as “タセ-”, “軽い!” or “何やってるの?” (Episode 7). While inflections and pitch help to convey a more feminine style, the language itself i.e. “やってる” undoubtedly make the tone of the whole sentence sound more male; although it should be noted it is often in a reaction of shock and exasperation and thus in a way, lends to her kawaii persona by reflecting an inability to handle the craziness she witnesses sometimes. Not to mention as a character who habitually uses female terms and is very feminine, he suddenly uses masculine terms for the role to contrast, creating a comic effect. And when Sakura talks to herself, there are very few cases where masculine language will appear. For example, “どんな内容になんだろう” (Episode 9). This shows the diversity of Sakura’s personality. Due to society’s expectations and restrictions on women, she is more accustomed to exhibiting the qualities of a fine lady, but she does get an occasional release from the stereotype of a female. I personally chalk it down to the author messing with the audiences expectations since it revolves around destroying personas and breaking the fourth wall multiple times.

Conclusion

After comparing Kashima’s and Sakura’s use of language, we found that although they are both female characters, there are differences and similarities in their gendered language choice. The main reason for the different gendered language usage is usually to emphasize the characters’ different personalities and how they are perceived by others. As mentioned above, Kashima generally uses more masculine and gender-neutral language. Kashima is the “prince of the school,” and she is often mistaken for a male by other characters. Even though she is physically a girl, she is not so attached to her feminine identity in an environment where she is always perceived as male, and the use of gender language reflects this. Sakura, on the other hand, is more likely to use feminine language in her daily life. She is short, cute, and has huge bows in her hair; there’s even a character who looks like her on Mikoshiba’s dating sim labeled the “kind classmate.” When talking to herself, Kashima uses feminine terms, and Sakura occasionally uses masculine terms to show the diversity of their personalities and their perceptions of their own gender. Kashima is more passionate and open about her feelings for Hori, while Sakura is more of a traditional kawaii female character, who will be shy and blushes in front of Nozaki. Although Kashima and Sakura behave very differently when confronted with their crushes, both of them tend to use feminine language when expressing their affection. It may be due to Japanese social stereotypes, as feminine language is often used to show respect and admiration in dialogue. The more frequent use of female words in romantic relationships or crushes proves that female is usually considered to be the inferior party in romantic relationships and that they are easily attracted to men who are more capable than they are. The scenes in which both characters use male language extensively are usually comedic. This proves that the silly and rude linguistic features of the male language can be said by the female characters in a way that creates a strong contrast and thus a comedic effect.