nakama

In Japanese, the word nakama 仲間 means "someone who's in the same group as you," or can refer to the group itself. This group is, often, a group of friends, colleagues, etc. But it can also mean other sort of groups, like in a "birds of same feather" sense, for example.

• "Friends"
• Work "Colleagues"
• "Members" of Group
• Partners in Crime
• "Party," Nakama in RPG Games
• Bird of Same Feather
• In Animal Taxonomy
• Kanji of Nakama

"Friends"

The way nakama 仲間 is used in most shounen 少年 manga and anime is in the sense of "group of friends." If you're my nakama, you're one of my friends.

Manga: Naruto ナルト (Chapter 12, 終わりだ！！)

• ore no nakama wa zettai korosase ya shinaai yo!
  オレの仲間は絶対　殺させやしなーいよ！
  [I] absolutely won't let [you] kill my friends!
  • korosaseru
    殺させる
    To let kill.
    (causative form of korosu 殺す)
  • ya shinai やしない
    wa shinai はしない
    To not do.

Work "Colleagues"

The word nakama doesn't always mean your friend. When talking about work, nakama can refer to your work "colleagues," whether you like them or not.

"Members" of Group

Similarly, nakama can refer to someone who has joined you in a group activity. In this case, nakama has a meaning like "member."

Manga: Sakigake!! Cromartie Koukou 魁！！クロマティ高校 (Chapter 14, 帝国の逆襲)

• Context: a character feels left out of the group.
• baka yaroo!!
  バカヤロー！！
  [You] idiot!!
• mochiron omae mo nakama da yo!!
  もちろん　お前も　仲間だよ！！
  Of course you're nakama too!!
  Of course you're in the group too!!

Partners in Crime

When have a band of pirates, thieves, or whatever organization, be it evil or good, so it can bean organization of heroes, too, why not, then basically everybody in that organization is your nakama.

And of course, it often happens that there's a traitor among our nakama!

Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi 鋼の錬金術師 (Chapter 4, 車上の戦い)

• nakama ga uragiri wo?
  仲間が裏切りを？
  One of our guys betrayed [us]?
• masaka!
  まさか！
  [That's unthinkable!]

"Party," Nakama in RPG Games

In RPG games, the word nakama normally refers to one's "party" instead. That is, the guys you do stuff with: kill monsters, loot dungeons, save the world, etc.

Game: Dragon Quest III, Doragon Kuesto Surii ドラゴンクエストＩＩＩ

• *"Neruson-san wo nakama ni
  kuwaeru no ne. wakatta wa.
  ＊「ネルソンさんを　仲間に
  くわえるのね。わかったわ。
  *"Add Nelson to your party, [right]? [I got it.]
• neruson ga nakama ni kuwawatta!
  ネルソンが　仲間に　くわわった！
  Nelson was added to the party!
• For reference, the text in the menu:
• nakama wo yobidasu
  なかまをよびだす
  Summon a party member.
  • yobidasu 呼び出す
    To call [someone] so they come out.
    To summon.
• nakama wo azukeru
  なかまをあずける
  Leave a party member here.
  • azukeru 預ける
    To leave [something] in someone else's hands.
    To entrust.
• meibo wo miru
  めいぼをみる
  See the register of names.
  • In the game, you can recruit new party members from this list.
• yameru
  やめる
  Stop.
  • Leave. Exit. Close menu. Etc.
• Title:
  • surii
    スリー (III)
    Three.
    (katakanization of the English number.)

This usage also translates to isekai 異世界 anime which are heavily based on games.

Bird of Same Feather

The word nakama can also mean someone who is related to someone else somehow. This is extremely vaguely speaking, I know. In English, the idiom "birds of a feather" would fit this concept perfectly.

For example, in anime you often have this cold-blooded emotionless sadist character with a dark past in one faction, who is fighting another faction, which also has a cold-blooded emotionless sadist character with a dark past. These two characters, despite being enemies, could be joined as nakama by their extremely cliched settings.

Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi 鋼の錬金術師 (Chapter 4, 車上の戦い)

• Context: good guy with mechanical arm fights bad guy with mechanical arm.
• o'
  おっ
  Oh!
• ootomeiru nakama?
  機械鎧（オートメイル）仲間？
  [You're] automail nakama?
  [You too have an] automail?
  • ootomeiru
    オートーメイル
    Automail.
  • ...is used as gikun 義訓 reading for...
  • kikai yoroi
    機械鎧
    Mechnical armor.
  • Automail are the mechanical arms found in Fullmetal Alchemist.

In the example above, despite the good guy and the bad guy being enemies about to fight, they're also, in a sense, nakama, entangled by the fact both have mechanical arms.

In Animal Taxonomy

When talking about animals, nakama can refer to animals related to another animals according to their taxonomies. For example:

• ari wa hachi no nakama
  アリはハチの仲間
  Ants are bees' nakama.

Ants and bees are members of the order "Hymenoptera," called hachi-moku ハチ目, literally "bee order," in Japanese.

Kanji of Nakama

The kanji of the word nakama 仲間 sort of shows its true meaning. The naka 仲 part means "relationship" while the ma ma 間 part means "span," in the sense of "space." Together, nakama 仲間 is, literally, a "span of relationships."

• naka ga ii ne
  仲がいいね
  The relationship is good. (literally.)
  [They are good friends, right?]

These can mean friends related to friends, or work colleagues related to other work colleagues, party members related to the quest of defeating the demon lord and freeing the world from its evil grasp, animals related to animals, etc.