Hiro Nakamura. From Heroes.

チアリーダーをすくえ、せかいをすくえ!　(Save the Cheerleader, Save the World!)

While I may not be an avid anime fan, I do follow the Heroes series fairly closely. And, in honor of the upcoming Season Three of Heroes, I’ve decided to do my first post on Hiro Nakamura (なかむら　ひろ), the Japanese character in the series, and his faithful sidekick, Ando（まさはし　あんど）.

 

Throughout the majority of the series, Hiro and Ando speak Japanese. Hiro’s ability is to bend time and space, and, as he is caught up in the events of the series, ventures into America. The majority of the Japanese is spoken very quickly, but I’m able to catch some phrases now and then, and recognize some forms. Hiro is most prominantly known for shouting “やった!” or “I did it!” According to the Language Geek, this is the past tense of the verb ゆる, “to do.” There’s been some debate as to the accuracy of the Japanese in Heroes, however, I think it was probably the best they could do. They still make excellent use of casual slang, such as the affirmative “Sou…” “Sa” and so on, as is evidenced by the Youtube videos below.

Most noticeably, at one point, Hiro says “さようなら　です.” Masi Oka, the actor that plays Hiro, was born in Japan but moved to America when he was young; The actor that plays Ando (James Kyson Lee) similarly was born in Korea but moved when he was young. This means that their Japanese doesn’t seem to flow quite right at times, but nevertheless the majority of the time they sounded no different than the Japanese I heard speaking in Japan.

The main symbol of the Heroes series is the “helix,” which was supposedly invented by the Tokugawa-period Takezo Kensei. Ando observes that it is a fusion of two characters, 才 (sai) meaning “great talent” and 与 (yo) meaning “Godsend”. I, for one, can see the connection made between the two. But maybe that’s just me.

So….As far as a few of the things I’ve picked up from Hiro’s coversations:

Hiro calls Ando あんどくん。The clock that first registers Hiro’s ability to move back in time has prominant Japanese numbers. One of the signs in the Tokyo back alley says “soba” for soba noodles. The blue Tokyo subway sign is the actual sign for the Tokyo subway.

わかったね。Good for you.

そもとり. Exactly.

ほんと。Really.

てんぞしくれ! Beam us up!

 みたさ? Did you see me?

すごい. Great (lucky)

どうしてき. Homogenous

ヨグルト. Yogurt.

The Youtube videos below contain the first parts of only Hiro’s journey. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.