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 will once again focus on the clever names from our JUMP START series Demon Prince Poro’s Diaries! If you’re enjoying Poro and the other JUMP START series, be sure to fill out the survey and make your voice heard!

MA (魔)

Demon Prince Poro’s Diaries is filled with demons with punny names. Some of the characters have the “MA” part of their name substituted for the kanji character that means “demon” or “evil spirit.” So the mushroom demon in chapter 2 becomes a MA-shroom, or in the English version, Evil Mushroom. Unfortunately, puns like this are often lost in translation…

KI (鬼)

Another pun that will surely appear a lot in this series revolves around the kanji for ONI. ONI are Japanese ogres or demons. When combined with other kanji characters, it is read as KI. And because many other characters can be read as KI, all it takes is a clever switcheroo to turn a SHINGOUKI from a traffic light to a Traffic Light Demon!

TSUKI (月/憑き)

Depending on the character, TSUKI can mean “the moon” or “ghostly possession.” You’ll notice that the Possessive Rabbit has a crescent moon on his forehead to make the pun more obvious. Also, the poor guy ends up on the moon after being walloped by Poro. You’re probably wondering why there are other rabbits on the moon making mochi in the final panel. The answer is simple! This is an Asian folktale that exists because you can see markings that look like a rabbit making mochi on the moon’s surface!

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