Welcome to the Nihongo Lesson feature. We strive to give you useful manga-based Japanese language tips and maybe even a glimpse into the translation process. This week’s lesson is all about how to say “I” and “me.” There’s a bunch of ways to say them, and they all have different connotations. Which one should you use? Uh, oh… One qualification here—for this lesson, we’ll focus on first-person male pronouns.  

WATASHI (わたし)

Watashi is the standard polite book learnin’ way to refer to yourself. Jonathan Joestar’s dad in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure uses WATASHI, and so does the old badass Neighbor guy, Viza in World Trigger.

BOKU (ぼく)

BOKU is more informal. Typically, young boys will also use BOKU.

ORE (おれ)

ORE is very informal and in some contexts can be considered rude. Your typical rough-and-tumble manga main character will most likely refer to himself by ORE.

NOW THAT YOU KNOW THE BASICS, LET’S PLAY ORE OR BOKU!
Which did Luffy use back when he was a kid, ORE or BOKU?	Raku’s not your typical tough-guy main character. Does he say ORE or BOKU?
Which did Sasuke use when he said “I’ll become Hokage!” ORE or BOKU?	Jonathan Joestar is a pretty tough guy. Does he use ORE or BOKU?

 
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