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 look into the naming conventions of a group of characters that have been featured prominently in the last few issues. Now let's start the detective work!

THE VINSMOKE ORDER

SANJI has been around in One Piece since close to the beginning. But with the recent revelations that he is a member of the Vinsmoke family, we are now getting to meet his siblings. SAN can mean "three," so is it any surprise that Sanji's younger brother is named YONJI? Not really if you know that YON can mean "four." This is a silly little joke, and Oda Sensei has used it before! Remember the YONTAMARIA fleet? Remember the Guppy Mermaid Quintuplets? Sanji's sister is REIJU and REI can mean "zero." What will Sanji's other relatives be called...?

ONE, TWO, THREE FOR ALL

In My Hero Academia, the mysteries behind the One For All Quirk have yet to be completely revealed, but we do know that it operates on a system of successors. All Might has passed the Quirk down to Izuku, just as it was given to him. Interestingly, there seems to be a secret hidden in the names of the wielders of this Quirk. So far we know of three characters who have had One For All—Nana Shimura, Toshinori Yagi and Izuku Midoriya. NANA can mean "seven," the YA in Yagi could mean "eight" and the KU in Izuku could stand for "nine." Is this all a coincidence...?

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