In Japanese, nani kore なにこれ means literally "what is this?" However, being an instance of emotive right-dislocation, the phrase isn't used when someone is actually asking "what" this is, it's used to express shock, surprise, or disgust about something, like "what the...?" in English.
More technically, nani, "what, kore, "this," is a dislocation of kore nani これなに, which is a null-marked kore wa nani これはなに, which is a casual variant of kore wa nandesu ka? これはなんですか？ which does actually mean "what is this?" in Japanese.
It's also spelled nani kore 何これ. Variants include nanda kore なんだこれ, nanda yo kore なんだよこれ, nandesu ka kore wa なんですかこれは, nanda korya なんだこりゃ, and so on.
Examples
Manga: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Part 5: Golden Wind, JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Ougon no Kaze ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 黄金の風 (Chapter 456, ５プラス１)
- Context: Fugo フーゴ gives Narancia ナランチャ a math question to solve.
- 16 × 55 = 28.
- *stares puzzledly.*
- nani kore......?
何これ･･････？
What is this? - hehehe♡
へへへ♡
*giggle* - atatteru?
当たってる？
[Did I get it right]?- Literally "is it hitting," in the sense of hitting the mark, matching the correct answer.
- Also: the i of te-iru is contracted.
Left: Ruki ルキ
Right: Alba, アルバ
Anime: Sen'yuu. 戦勇。 (Episode 7)
Right: Alba, アルバ
Anime: Sen'yuu. 戦勇。 (Episode 7)
- Context: Ruki thinks Alba didn't do anything the last battle, then Alba tells her she wasn't paying attention, reminding her of his heroic feats. Convinced, she says:
- sou da na, Aruba-kun mo ganbatta ne
そうだな、アルバくんも頑張ったね
[That's right], Alba-kun worked hard, too, huh. - *her overly long sleeves extend, and she pats him on the head.*
- arigatou Ruki.. tte nani kore!? ude dou natte-n-no!?
ありがとうルキ・・って何これ！？腕どうなってんの！？
Thank you, Ruki.. wait, what is this!? [What is going on with] [your] arm!?
- dou natte-n-no - contraction of dou natte-iru no どうなっているの, literally "what has [it] become."
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