The Anime Blog

The other day we went to my folks house for Thanksgiving \(^^)/. I didn’t have turkey but I still over ate a bit (T_T). I made four pies for my mom and family and even though my sis is “sensitive” to nuts she still ate the pecan pie, which is my fave (^o^), along with rest of the fam (>_< ). Traffic on the way home from Southern Illinois was bad and there was an a-hole driver that kept cutting us off at the exit (>< #)t.

It’s hard sometimes to convey your happiness, disappointment, anger and other emotions on the internet or other written sources without the use of excessive wordage. If you’re short on time and hate bogging down e-mails, like me, you start looking for shortcuts to get the message across as succinctly as possible.

Also, on the internet, it’s hard to get the proper tone across. Sometimes we mean one thing but the words themselves say another. For example: “I really need the info on that game Robin. When will you get that thing done? It’s been a while and I really need that article!” Whoa! Sounds harsh, yes? What if we both understand a code, though, that attaches tone to the words? Let’s try this: “I really need the info on that game Robin (^^). When will you get that thing done? < ^_^; It’s been a while and I really need that article! m(._.)m” Hmm, let’s say that (^^)=happy, < ^^;=scratching the head in an embarrassed, or this case, worried manner, and m(._.)m= polite thanks, in advance in this instance. Sounds sooo much better than the harsh reprimand without the squiggly lines.

The squiggly lines are actually Japanese emoticons, aka, Japanese smilies, aka, kao moji. Most people on the net these days use smiley faces routinely to take the edge off a statement that might be taken askance. A friendly correction might come across as a curt one without a smiley. We have an established mode of smiley usage in the US and so do the Japanese.

Although smilies were first started in the West, the Japanese seized on the idea and made it their own. Whereas in America we use this sideways smiley : ) to symbolize happy, the Japanese use a right sided method to convey the same thing, namely, this (^^). Anyone familiar with anime and manga will see the similarities between the “happy eyes” of the anime characters and the happy eyes in the emoticon. In fact, kao moji are very anime/manga influenced. Many fans can see that certain symbols used in anime/manga are also used in kao moji.

The Japanese use two bytes on a keyboard enabling them to use more characters than we can in America. Their smilies, therefore, are much more diverse and complicated. It can be difficult to understand kao moji at first, especially if you’re viewing original Japanese emoticons, but here’s a primer for some that Americans can use on their keyboards.

Basics or the Spare Bits of Kao Moji

1. ( )= A face. It frames most emotions.
2. )))), or ((((= Depicts motion or movement.
3. d or b= Thumbs up; used on either or both sides of a face.
4. t= The finger, aka, the bird. Also used on the side.
5. m= Hands laid flat on a surface. Same as above
6. o= Can be cute chibi style hands. Used like arms
7. / or \= Arms in the air; used for happy or cheering. Ditto.
8. < , >, f = Can be arms scratching the head.
9. ), or ( = the “Oh my goodness” hands on the face gesture.
10. _, o, O, v = Mouths.
11. O, o, ^,< , >, ‘ -, `= Eyes; go crazy with these.
12. * or #= Blushing or flushed; rosy cheeks.
13. +, *, @= Kuh-ray-zee eyes.
14. ~= Sleepy eyes or closed eyes.
15. = =Whiskers
16. # = The veins that pop out when you’re ticked off or annoyed.
17. ; or T= Tears streaming down a face.
18. ;= Nervous sweat. Used like the sweat drop in anime.

Some Established and Often Used Kao Moji

1. Happy= (^^), (^O^), (^_^), (*^^*), (^.^) (this one’s used to depict a Japanese woman smiling. It’s considered impolite to show bone (teeth) when you smile or any other time.)
2. Happy dance= ((o(^o^)o))
3. “Hi”, “Whas up?” (happy)= (^^)/, (^^/
4. “Hi” (indifferent)= (- -)/
5. Yawn (”You bore me”, “I’m tired”)= (~o~)
6. Sleeping= (-_-)Zzzzz, (~ ~) ZZzzzz
7. “I’m so sorry!”, “Thanks so much!” (bowing politely)= m(_ _)m, m(_ _;)m
8. WTF= (+_< )
9. Embarrassed, apologetic, worried= (^^;), (^^::, (^o^;) (^_^;)
10. Scratching the head (WTF)= < (-_- , f(- _-)
11. Scratching the head (embarrassed)= < ^^;
12. Crying= (T_T), (;o:), (ToT), (/_;)
13. Ouch!= (#>< )
14. Ouch, you jerk-wad!= (#>< )t
15. “D’oh!”, upset, mischievous= (>< ), (>O< ), (>_< )
16. Glancing sideways= (> >), (< <)
17. “Uhhhh…”, or “Ummm…” or that pause that happens when something was said that just wasn’t quite right= (+ +), (o_O)
    
18. Disbelief= (@_@)
19. “I can’t believe you just said that.” or angry resignation= (-_-#)
20. “Way to go!”, “Good job!”= (^ ^)//, (- ^)b, d(^_^)b
21. Goodbye (waving)= (^_^)/~~~
22. “Oh my goodness!!” (happy)= )^O^(
23. “Oh my goodness!” (not so happy)= )-_-(
24. “Go to hell!”= t(>< )t, (- -)t

One thing to remember when using kao moji is to put them in context. To use these guys effectively you need to be aware of the tone you’re trying to convey.

You can make up your own emoticons using the basic parts of kao moji. There’s a slew of Japanese emoticons out there that I didn’t include since I didn’t feel they applied much to the average things Americans communicate about (I could be wrong).

More Japanese smilies can be found at this site and here that are much more complex than what I’ve listed. There are also some kao moji in the list that I made up on the fly using the spare parts. Once you have the basics down anything goes!