Thread: Honorifics?

Hi Bulbapedia! Long time user, first time poster. Sorry if this question has been asked before but I was wondering how does the Japanese version of Pokemon handle honorifics. I know Shigeru used Satoshi-kun which gave rise to Ashy-boy but what about the others? Does Satoshi start calling Kasumi and Takeshi with honorifics and then stoped, or has he never used them. or did he always use them even in their goodbye. And if he stopped midway, do you know which episode that happened in? Also does TR use honorifics with each other too?

Hi there and welcome!

First of all this is Bulbagarden, not Bulbapedia.

To answer your question the main cast (including TR) don't use honorifics with each other. It's only for people outside their inner circle.

IIRC, the only time Ash switched from honorifics to "normal" language in regard to his friends was with Cilan.* Even then, he never called him by his name before they started traveling together though, so no honorific suffixes, just polite form of speech. In the beginning of the series Ash didn't use honorifics at all, not even when speaking to adults (he only started doing that sometime during the Orange Islands arc or Johto, I think?). Nowadays, he normally uses honorifics when addressing adults and people of a higher rank, like Gym Leaders, even if they're more or less his age. In case he gets to know someone of a similar age as a "normal person" and only later realizes that they're Gym Leaders, he continues using normal language though (e.g. when he met Tate/Liza and Anabel).

*Edit: Actually, he switched from informal (when he first ran into Cilan he didn't know he was a Gym Leader) to honorifics during the Gym battle and then back to informal. Tsk!

I'm not sure but I think someone (Dogasu?) once said that Drew used to call May Haruka-kun and then eventually dropped the "kun" and called her simply Haruka, I think starting with that Wynaut ep after May saved him

I don't remember Shuu ever referring to Haruka as "Haruka-kun."

Adding to what everyone else has already said...some characters almost always have honorifics attached to their names. It's very rare to hear Joi or Junsa being addressed without -san attached, for example. Sakaki is pretty much always referred to as "Sakaki-sama" as well.

what are honorifics???

Originally Posted by djulienr

what are honorifics???

Japanese honorifics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Honorific speech in Japanese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically, it's the Japanese version of using Mr., Miss, doctor, professor, etc etc. They are often used to show the relationship between others, social rank, and using them often shows the level of intimacy between the speaker and whoever it is about. I am most definitely not an expert on it, but from what I understand, it's often considered impolite to disregard the use of them, unless the two people have a very close relationship.

We have honorifics in English as well. It's not just a Japanese thing.

I think the only honorific I hear given to the main characters is "-kun." I don't recall ever hearing "-chan" given to the girls besides Masato.

Shuu referred to Haruka as "Haruka-kun" in the veryyy early days of AG. He dropped it after the Sonanoo ep.

Don George is also "Don George-san" usually.

Bel refers to Iris, Dent, and Satoshi as "Iris-chan" "Dent-kun" and "Satoshi-kun" but refers to the other rivals without suffixes.

What else... Hanako is just Mama-san to most people xD

Oh yeah, Satoshi refers to most gym leaders as "[Name of gym leader]-san." There are exceptions though, if the Sanyou trio are anything to go by.

Masato calls Haruka "onee-chan".

Originally Posted by Aestivate

What else... Hanako is just Mama-san to most people xD

Including Ookido which is kinda weird. :O Why couldn't they give her a surname? Well, that would be giving Satoshi a surname too, but I'd prefer it over the weirdness.

You'd think they'd at least say "Satoshi's mom" or use her first name. Mama-san is so strange and bizarre.

I've heard real world adults use "Mama-san" before. So while it's weird, it's not *that* uncommon.

This show is the most honorific-free anime I ever saw.

Haha this is interesting, so the trios never used honorifics with each other (except Cilan for a battle) even when they first met. What about Shigeru with Satoshi, I heard he used -kun in the beginning. Did that ever change?