114-454: Ushio & Tora ( Japanese : うしおととら , Hepburn : Ushio to Tora ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuhiro Fujita . It was serialized in Shogakukan 's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from January 1990 to October 1996, with its chapters collected in 33 tankōbon volumes. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Ushio Aotsuki,
228-427: A manga art style and are often adapted into manga and anime . While most light novels are published only as books, some have their chapters first serialized monthly in anthology magazines before being collected and compiled into book format, similar to how manga is published. Light novels developed from pulp magazines . Plots frequently involve romantic comedy and isekai fantasy. To please their audience, in
342-551: A 70% to 80% share of the market. In 2009, light novels made ¥30.1 billion in sales, or about 20% of all sales of bunkobon format paperback books in Japan. There are currently many licensed English translations of Japanese light novels available. These have generally been published in the physical dimensions of standard mass market paperbacks or similar to manga tankōbon , but starting in April 2007, Seven Seas Entertainment
456-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down
570-594: A complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )
684-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )
798-454: A genuinely funny OAV series", adding as well that it is "worth watching once." Bamboo Dong of the same website called it "one of those shows that so stupid it's cute", and compared it to Inuyasha , recommending to watch said series instead of Ushio & Tora . Dong commented that despite its violence, the series is able to remain funny, but that the jokes "get re-hashed often and have a tendency to get old very quickly." Dong ultimately labeled
912-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as
1026-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it
1140-420: A new edition, including more illustrations and interviews, on April 15, 2015. Ushio & Tora was adapted into a ten-episode original video animation (OVA) series produced by Toho and animated by studio Pastel, released from September 11, 1992, to August 1, 1993. A single parody OVA episode was released on October 1, 1993. In North America, ADV Films released the first two episodes on VHS in 1998, but
1254-550: A reputation as being "mass-produced and disposable," an extreme example being Kazuma Kamachi who wrote one novel a month for two years straight, and the author turnover rate is very high. As such, publishing companies are constantly searching for new talent with annual contests, many of which earn the winner a cash prize and publication of their novel. The Dengeki Novel Prize is the largest, with over 6,500 submissions (2013) annually. They are all clearly labeled as "light novels" and are published as low-priced paperbacks. For example,
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#17327934744031368-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),
1482-498: A similar increase in popularity as it has in the Japanese subculture once it becomes recognized by the consumer audience. Popular literature has a long tradition in Japan. Even though cheap, pulp novels resembling light novels were present in Japan for years prior, the creation of Sonorama Bunko in 1975 is considered by some to be a symbolic beginning. Science fiction and horror writers like Hideyuki Kikuchi or Baku Yumemakura started their careers through such imprints. Another origin
1596-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate
1710-733: A venture to publish more light novels in the United States. The leader of this, publisher Yen Press , is a joint venture between Hachette Book Group (which owns 49%) and Japanese publisher Kadokawa (which owns 51%). Other publishers such as Seven Seas Entertainment , Viz Media (owned by Shogakukan and Shueisha ), Vertical (owned by Kodansha USA ), One Peace Books , J-Novel Club (owned by Kadokawa), Cross Infinite Worlds , Sol Press have all been making an effort to publish more light novels in English. Additionally, light novel authors have been starting to make guest appearances overseas at anime conventions. The 2019 Anime Expo , one of
1824-428: A web novel initially published in 2002, contributed to the popularization of 'Isekai' as a genre. This web novel became extremely popular, forming various adaptations such as an anime, manga, and even various movies and spinoff series. Because of the success of Sword Art Online , other novels such as KonoSuba, Overlord and Re:Zero became increasingly more popular. The success of Sword Art Online and 'isekai' as
1938-605: A whole contributed to the creation of write-your-own fiction websites in Japan and increasing popularity of light novels in the west as well. The Kadokawa Group's local subsidiary, Kadokawa Taiwan ( Chinese : 台灣角川 ; pinyin : Táiwān Jiǎochuān ), translated and sold Chinese versions of their own light novels in Taiwan and Hong Kong , after being established as the first overseas branch in 1999 by Kadokawa Japan. In 2007, Chingwin and Shueisha signed an exclusive contract to publish Super Dash Bunko and Cobalt Bunko under
2052-624: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of
2166-568: Is "Shuugawari no Kiseki no Shinwa" ( 週替わりの奇跡の神話 , "The Legend of Weekly Miracles") by Kinniku Shōjo Tai while the ending theme is "Kessen Zen'ya" ( 決戦前夜 , lit. "The Night Before the Decisive Battle") by Lunkhead . A complete box set , including the entire 39 episodes, was released on December 20, 2017. In North America, both seasons were streamed on Crunchyroll . The series was licensed by Sentai Filmworks in 2015, and began streaming with an English dub on Hidive in 2017. After
2280-564: Is "remarkably well structured", the characters "very likable" and the monster designs are "metal as all hell." Ekens concluded: "[a]s a potent nostalgia bomb, Ushio & Tora will scratch – or perhaps awaken – a few itches in current anime fans who fondly remember another time." うしおととら（２）（スーパークエスト文庫） (in Japanese). Shogakukan . Archived from the original on July 5, 2003 . Retrieved November 2, 2020 . うしおととら（３）（スーパークエスト文庫） (in Japanese). Shogakukan . Archived from
2394-500: Is a para-archery short featuring a portrayal of real-life Paralympic archer Aiko Okazaki [ ja ] , voiced by Kumiko Aso . Tasuku Hatanaka (Ushio), Rikiya Koyama (Tora), and Megumi Hayashibara (Hakumen no Mono) reprised their roles from the anime television series. Burnout Syndromes performed the theme song "Amateras". Ushio to Tora game was released for the Super Famicom on January 22, 1993. The game
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#17327934744032508-437: Is a nice break from the snarky anti-hero knowitalls and tellitnones of today." Reviewing the second season, Høgset noted that due to the cut down on its episode number, its pace "really picks up." Høgset called the conclusion a "bittersweet, but magnificent end", concluding: [ Ushio & Tora is] still a classic with memorable characters, fun interactions and a heart as big as the sun." Gareth Evans of Starburst commented that
2622-627: Is a type of popular literature novel native to Japan , usually classified as young adult fiction , generally targeting teens to twenties . The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbreviation of " raito noberu " is ranobe ( ラノベ ) or, in English, LN . The average length of a light novel is about 50,000 words, and is published in the bunkobon format ( A6 , 10.5 cm × 14.8 cm [4.1 in × 5.8 in]). Light novels are subject to dense publishing schedules, with new installments being published in 3–9 month intervals. Light novels are commonly illustrated in
2736-570: Is also a magazine called Tenman Light Novels , which established a Newcomer's Award and says that the awards for the best full-length works may even be presented in Japan. Additionally, translated versions of other works such as Nisio Isin 's Katanagatari have also been published in China . In South Korea , Daewon C.I. , Haksan Publishing and Seoul Cultural Publishers, Inc are known to translate many popular Japanese titles, and they are easily available at larger bookstores. The publication pace
2850-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,
2964-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing
3078-525: Is an action title created by Yutaka . Players can take the role of Ushio or Tora. Ushio to Tora: Shin'en no Daiyō ( うしおととら 深淵の大妖 ) was released for the Family Computer on July 9, 1993. Ushio is also featured as a playable character in the Weekly Shōnen Sunday and Weekly Shōnen Magazine 2009 crossover game Sunday vs Magazine: Shūketsu! Chōjō Daikessen . In July 2022, it
3192-643: Is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has
3306-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number
3420-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider
3534-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto
Ushio & Tora - Misplaced Pages Continue
3648-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to
3762-406: Is forced to free Tora, who would like to eat Ushio, but dares not since Ushio keeps the spear close by. The series focuses on their relationship, interspersed with battles against mythological foes, and with Tora's attempts to grapple with modern life. During the regular battles, Ushio slowly begins to notice that as much as Tora claims to be irredeemable, the demon takes to fighting evil and defending
3876-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through
3990-504: Is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered the language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and
4104-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey
4218-628: Is nothing particularly noteworthy, aside from a few clever bits of animation smattered here and there, and some admittedly funny extras." Barb Lien-Cooper of Sequential Tart called the series "Japan's answer to Stanley and His Monster ." Lien-Cooper remarked that the series "starts out like it's only going to be your standard cute anime with only slight hints of supernatural doings", and later it "changes into something BETTER than before. The episodes start working as credible horror anime, as well as above-average teen comedy anime." Lien-Cooper lamented that due to its "disturbing" violence and sexual references
4332-427: Is obvious" and that despite compressing thirty-three volumes into thirty-nine episodes, the series "does get through the story as best as it can." Homer conclude: "[i]t is a high octane action show at heart, with lots of fighting and cool looking monsters, combined with the sometimes comic, sometimes serious dynamic between Ushio and Tora means that it is definitely worth going for the ride." Brandon Varnell commented that
4446-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of
4560-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and
4674-505: Is quite fast, and it can be said that Korea is one of the countries outside of Japan that accepts Japanese light novels the most. Like in other countries, there are awards as well. In the United States , hundreds of different light novels have been translated into English, the two largest publishers being Yen Press and Seven Seas Entertainment . The success of anime adapted from light novels, such as Sword Art Online , along with
Ushio & Tora - Misplaced Pages Continue
4788-517: Is the serialization of Record of Lodoss War in the magazine Comptiq . Kim Morrissy of Anime News Network reported that Keita Kamikita, the system operator of a science fiction and fantasy forum, is usually credited with coining the term "light novel" in 1990. After noticing that the science fiction and fantasy novels that had emerged in the 1980s were also attracting anime and manga fans because of their illustrations by famous manga artists , Kamikita avoided using terms like "young adult" because
4902-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and
5016-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have
5130-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns
5244-517: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in
5358-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than
5472-676: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of
5586-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to
5700-408: The "amusingly antagonistic relationship" between Ushio and Tora the "highlight of the anime." Pezzano noted that the combination of action scenes and comedic scenes may turn off fans of either genres, but concluded: "[o]n the whole, though, if you don't mind the odd combination, Ushio and Tora is worth picking up." Andrew Tei of AnimeOnDVD praised the series for its comedy and the relationships between
5814-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),
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#17327934744035928-733: The 1970s, most of the Japanese pulp magazines began to put illustrations at the beginning of each story and included articles about popular anime , movies and video games . The direction of light novels evolved to cater to newer generations of readers, with light novels becoming fully illustrated in the popular art style. The popular serials then began to be printed in their now known novel format. Often light novels are chosen to be adapted into manga , anime, and live-action films. Some of them are serialized in literary magazines such as Faust , Gekkan Dragon Magazine , The Sneaker and Dengeki hp , or media franchise magazines like Comptiq and Dengeki G's Magazine . Light novels have
6042-551: The Best Comic category in 1997. By 2015, the manga had over 30 million copies in circulation . The series has been overall well received by critics, highlighting the relationship between the two main characters and praising its comedy and action sequences. The series, however, has been criticized for the simplicity of the story and (specifically the OVA adaptation) for the "out of place" gory scenes. Ushio & Tora centers around
6156-571: The Best Comic category in 1997. On a 2020 poll conducted by the Goo website about the best Weekly Shōnen Sunday titles, Ushio & Tora ranked second. On TV Asahi 's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150.000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, the series ranked 48th. Charles McCarter of EX wrote that "[t]he fun of this series stems entirely from the uneasy relationship with Ushio and Tora", praising as well Chikao Ohtsuka 's performance as Tora "changing from frightening to hurt and offended in
6270-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,
6384-772: The Kadokawa Group and Cobalt Bunko in Germany, for which publishing is done by Carlsen Verlag . A web novel is a literary work that is published mainly or exclusively on the Internet. Web novels offer authors the opportunity to share their stories directly online in a continuous format, reaching a wide audience. In Japan, many light novels begin as web novels before being revised and published in print. This model allows authors to receive valuable feedback from readers and further develop their works before physical publication. The low entry barrier also provides unknown authors with
6498-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently
6612-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand
6726-625: The acquisition of Crunchyroll by Sony Pictures Television , Ushio & Tora , among several Sentai Filmworks titles, was dropped from the Crunchyroll streaming service on March 31, 2022. It has also been licensed in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment , and in Southeast Asia by Muse Communication . A five-minute short, as part of a collaboration with Animation x Paralympic , aired on NHK BS on February 27, 2024. It
6840-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which
6954-501: The biggest Anime conventions of the year, featured creators such as Kumo Kagyu, author of Goblin Slayer , and Fujino Omori, the author of Is It Wrong to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon? . One popular genre in the light novel category is isekai ( 異世界 ) or "different world" stories. In these stories usually feature an ordinary person that is transported from a modern city life to a world of fantasy and adventure. Sword Art Online,
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#17327934744037068-484: The blink of an eye." McCarter labeled the series as a "grown-up, supernaturally powered Calvin and Hobbes ", and called the animation "relatively high", and the battle scenes "well-choreographed and executed." McCarter concluded: "while the fights are intense and entertaining, some of the best moments in this series are the quiet laughs that come from the giant Tora perched atop Ushio's shoulders, unseen and unheard by everyone but him." Kevin A. Pezzano of SciFi.com called
7182-434: The characters, concluding: "[t]his is one of those great old budget titles that should find its way easily onto your shelf." Mike Toole of Anime Jump called the series "just about the most shounen show I've ever seen", adding that despite its "formulaic premise, sloppy character design, and fairly lackluster animation", the series is "quite charming", praising as well its "fast-paced" action scenes and slapstick comedy , and
7296-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there
7410-423: The first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese
7524-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had
7638-467: The gratuitous level" and that they are "definitely not for the weak of heart at times." Grant added: " Ushio and Tora is an awesome series that lets plot take a back seat to character development to great effect." Jonathan Mays of Anime News Network commented: " Ushio & Tora fits all of the stereotypes of bad shonen anime: ugly character designs, lots of fighting, and a "save the female love interest" plot line. However, get past all of that and you have
7752-426: The innocent with more enthusiasm than he cares to admit. Ushio & Tora , written and illustrated by Kazuhiro Fujita , was serialized in Shogakukan 's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from January 24, 1990, to October 23, 1996. Shogakukan collected its 312 individual chapters in 33 tankōbon volumes, released from November 17, 1990, to December 10, 1996. An additional gaiden volume
7866-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system
7980-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of
8094-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,
8208-488: The lighter tone of the series' first half switched to a more serious one in the second half seems "unbalancing when considering all of the episodes together, but it is a change that is earned", concluding: "[t]he series itself is an action-packed fantasy, with elements of classic Japanese horror. It can feel a bit overly complex at times, but the narrative ultimately comes together in a satisfying way that builds on earlier story threads." Three critics of The Fandom Post reviewed
8322-709: The look and essence of the original manga to anime. Sanchez concluded: "[t]his first episode not only flows well and establishes a good base, but also maintains the looks and feel of great '90s anime. Ushio and Tora are constantly underestimating each other, which not only provides for great comedy, but also sets up great theme that can carry through the series." Reviewing the first season, Stig Høgset of THEM Anime Reviews commended its "raw, old-timer shounen energy", adding that it "oozes retro from every pore of its sharply designed body, and it's absolutely delightful." Høgset added that while some aspects feel "a bit basic and dated at times", "Ushio's cheerful idiocy and bursting enthusiasm
8436-441: The most celebrated artists from pixiv and the most successful works are adapted into manga, anime, games and live-action movies. Since the mid-2000s, it has become increasing popular for publishers to contact authors of web fiction on their blog or website to publish their work in print form. The material is often heavily edited and may even feature an altered story, which might compel someone who had already read it online to buy
8550-497: The name Elite Novels. Subsequently, GA Bunko and HJ Bunko , which were slowly starting to gain popularity in Japan, also signed exclusive contracts with local publishers. As time went on, the original exclusive contracts were gradually opened to other publishers. Translated versions of Kadokawa works are published by Kadokawa's Chinese subsidiary, Guangzhou Tenmon Kadokawa Doman Co. Ltd. In addition to Japanese light novels, there are works by Chinese as well as Taiwanese authors. There
8664-461: The new English dub made for the OVA. Toole, however, criticized its gory scenes, commenting that while "it doesn't match Violence Jack or Fist of the North Star in terms of sheer bloodletting", the level of it is out of place, concluding: "I rather highly recommend Ushio and Tora , but only for those not easily shocked by graphic violence." Brian Hanson of the same website commented that
8778-483: The novels did not appeal to one particular demographic. The 1990s saw the smash-hit Slayers series which merged fantasy-RPG elements with comedy. Some years later MediaWorks founded a pop-lit imprint called Dengeki Bunko , which produces well-known light novel series to this day. The Boogiepop series was their first major hit which soon was animated and got many anime watchers interested in literature. Dengeki Bunko writers continued to slowly gain attention until
8892-609: The only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as the Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little
9006-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by
9120-514: The original on January 29, 2005 . Retrieved November 2, 2020 . うしおととら（４）（スーパークエスト文庫） (in Japanese). Shogakukan . Archived from the original on January 29, 2005 . Retrieved November 2, 2020 . Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan ,
9234-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with
9348-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,
9462-570: The price for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in Japan is ¥540 (including 5% tax), similar to the normal price for trade paperbacks—light novels and general literature—sold in Japan. In 2007 it was estimated (according to a website funded by the Japanese government) that the market for light novels was about ¥20 billion (US$ 170 million at the exchange rate at the time) and that about 30 million copies were published annually. Kadokawa Corporation 's publishing subsidiary , which owns major labels like Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko and Dengeki Bunko , has
9576-411: The print release as well. The free novel publication website Shōsetsuka ni Narō is a popular source for such material. Popular works like Sword Art Online , That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime , Overlord , Re:Zero and KonoSuba were originally popular web novels that got contacted by a publisher to distribute and publish those stories in print format. In recent times, there has been
9690-467: The project was abandoned. In 2003, ADV re-released the series on DVD , with a new dub, and including all the episodes. An anime television adaptation was produced by MAPPA and Studio VOLN . It was directed by Satoshi Nishimura and written by Toshiki Inoue and Kazuhiro Fujita, featuring character designs by Tomoko Mori and music by Eishi Segawa. The anime consists of two parts: the first part (episodes 1–26) aired between July 3 and December 25, 2015, and
9804-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as
9918-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning
10032-460: The second part (episodes 27–39) aired between April 1 and June 24, 2016. For episodes 1 through 26, the opening theme is "Mazeru na Kiken" ( 混ぜるな危険 , "Mixing Danger") by Kinniku Shōjo Tai while the ending themes are "Hero" by Sonar Pocket and "Makeruna Chiisaki Mono Yo" ( 負けるな小さきものよ , lit. Don't Lose the Small Things) by Wakadanna. For season 2, episodes 1 through 13, the opening theme
10146-406: The series "definitely has the feel of being like a " best of " album from a much longer manga series", adding that "[s]ome of the characters introduced feel like they should have a larger impact on the progression of the story than they actually do [...] but are cast aside in the very next episode in favor of the new monster-of-the-week, never to be heard from again." Hanson concluded: " Ushio and Tora
10260-423: The series as "mediocre" and that the story "would have done so much better had it been given the time and energy to develop further." Todd Ciolek, also of ANN, called Ushio & Tora a "not-unwatchable demon-hunting series." In a review of the first episode, Miranda Sanchez of IGN praised the interaction between the characters and the comedic moments, also praising how MAPPA and Studio VOLN were able to transfer
10374-406: The series cannot be recommended to small children, but stated that "bigger kids through adults" should like it. Stephen D. Grant of THEM Anime Reviews called the concept of the series "amazingly cheap and contrived when you read about it, but manages to blow you away in just about every way." Grant stated that the comedy of the series is well handled, but pointed out that its gory scenes "bordered on
10488-401: The series has a "convoluted plot with a number of twists that sometimes work and sometimes don’t", stating as well that while the relationship between Ushio and Tora is "easily the highlight of this series", the "half-assed romance" between Ushio and several other girls, including Asako, feels "forced", "inconclusive" and a waste of screen time, also criticizing Ushio's lack of development through
10602-423: The series' home video release. Chris Beveridge particularly highlighted the use of older designs through modern animation techniques, retaining the elements that make them identifiable from their period of origin, which "allows it to stand out well against everything else today and provide a nod to old school fans that see something familiar and nostalgic." Chris Homer commented that the "amount of love for this remake
10716-608: The small light novel world experienced a boom around 2006. After the huge success of the Haruhi Suzumiya series, the number of publishers and readers interested in light novels suddenly skyrocketed. Light novels became an important part of the Japanese 2D culture in the late 2000s, with series such as A Certain Magical Index selling large amounts of copies with each volume release. The number of light novels series put out every year increases, usually illustrated by
10830-408: The son of a temple keeper, who after having reluctantly released the imprisoned powerful tiger-like monster, Tora, the two begin a journey together, fighting against supernatural beings threatening the world. An 11-episode (including an additional episode) original video animation (OVA) adaptation, produced by Toho and animated by Pastel, was released from September 1992 to October 1993. The series
10944-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this
11058-401: The story. Varnell, however, ultimately called it "a series that shounen fans will enjoy." Gabriella Ekens of Anime News Network commented that she enjoyed the series, calling it a "supernatural action series in the vein of Yū Yū Hakusho and Inuyasha ", and particularly highlighted the producers' efforts to recreate its '90s aesthetic with modern-day techniques. Ekens commented that the plot
11172-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This
11286-409: The surge in popularity of the isekai genre has helped to make light novels more mainstream. Furthermore, online book stores, particularly Amazon Kindle , have a tendency to overly recommend light novel titles after a customer has purchased one which, along with Ebooks being more accessible than physical books, has boosted their sales. In Europe , TOKYOPOP mainly translated and publishes works by
11400-602: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Light novel A light novel ( Japanese : ライトノベル , Hepburn : raito noberu )
11514-434: The travels and battles of Ushio Aotsuki, who is constantly being stalked and aided by a gigantic, supernatural, and sometimes invisible tiger-like monster named Tora. Ushio's family maintains a temple in Japan, where 500 years ago, his samurai ancestor battled that same monster to a standstill, and eventually trapped him against a rock using a cursed spear called the "Beast Spear", which grants strength, speed, and endurance to
11628-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,
11742-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of
11856-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It
11970-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending
12084-441: The wielder in exchange for his soul. Ushio accidentally opened their basement door Tora was trapped in. Initially, Ushio refuses to remove the spear pinning Tora down (as Tora made the strategic blunder of mentioning that the first thing he would do upon being freed would be to devour Ushio), but Tora's unsealed 500 years of demonic presence attracts various weak monsters to the temple that will soon take from and attack humans. Ushio
12198-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or
12312-595: Was announced that the series would receive a stage play adaptation, directed by Naoyuki Yoshihisa and starring Keita Tokushiro as Ushio and Takehiro Haruhira as Tora. It ran at the Theater Sun Mall in Tokyo from August 18–21, 2022. By 2015, Ushio & Tora had over 30 million copies in circulation. The manga won the 37th Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen category in 1992. It won the Seiun Award in
12426-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular
12540-735: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,
12654-418: Was later adapted into a 39-episode anime television series by MAPPA and Studio VOLN , which aired from July 2015 to June 2016. In North America, the OVA was licensed by ADV Films in 1998, and re-released in 2003, while the anime television series was licensed by Sentai Filmworks in 2015. Ushio & Tora won the 37th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category in 1992 and the Seiun Award in
12768-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )
12882-1023: Was released on May 17, 1997. Shogakukan re-published the series in a 19-volume bunkoban edition from September 15, 2004, to March 15, 2006. A 20-volume kanzenban edition was published between May 18, 2015, and December 16, 2016. Fujita drew a two-chapter short of the series to raise funds for areas devastated by the March 2011 earthquake . These chapters were published in Weekly Shōnen Sunday on December 26, 2012, and January 9, 2013. Four light novels written by Bunjūrō Nakayama (as Katsuyuki Shiroike) were published under Shogakukan's Super Quest Bunko imprint. They were released from December 18, 1992, to September 29, 1995. Two light novels written by Nakayama were published under Shogakukan's Gagaga Bunko imprint on December 18, 2008, and January 21, 2009. Two artbooks were published by Shogakukan on April 16 and July 16, 1997. Both artbooks were re-released in
12996-493: Was the first English publisher to print light novels in their original Japanese bunkobon format. Other United States English-language publishers that license light novels are Tokyopop , Viz Media , DMP , Dark Horse , J-Novel Club , Yen Press (Kadokawa's American joint-venture with Hachette Book Group ), and Del Rey Manga . The founder of Viz Media, Seiji Horibuchi, speculates that the US market for light novels will experience
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