In manga and anime, sometimes a character's "eyes become money," me ga okane ni naru 目がお金になる. This happens when they've set their eyes on money, thinking about money, trying to get a huge sum of money, dreaming of becoming rich, and so on.
Sometimes this symbol is animated as eyes spinning vertically like a slot machine and stopping on a money symbol as if they hit a jackpot.
Anime: Keijo!!!!!!!! 競女！！！！！！！！ (Episode 3)
Examples
For reference, some examples of characters' eyes turning into money.
$ - Dollar Sign
The dollar sign ($) is a sign used with a number of currencies, including the U.S. dollar.
Double Stroke Dollar Sign
Anime: Keijo!!!!!!!! 競女！！！！！！！！ (Episode 3)
- Context: Nozomi fantasizes about being a top sports player and earning the wages of one.
- me ga doru maaku ni naru
目がドルマークになる
The eyes become dollar signs.
Middle: Selen Hemein セレン・ヘムアエン
Right: Phyllo Quinone フィロ・キノン
Anime: Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shounen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu You na Monogatari, たとえばラストダンジョン前の村の少年が序盤の街で暮らすような物語 (Episode 10)
- Context: three different characters have three different objectives.
- The one with money eyes seeks money.
- The one with heart eyes seeks love.
- The one with fire eyes seeks battle.
Single Stroke Dollar Sign
Anime: Action Heroine Cheer Fruits, アクションヒロイン チアフルーツ (Episode 9)
￥ - Yen Sign
The yen sign (¥) is a sign used the Japanese currency, the yen, and with the Chinese yuan.
Anime: Love Lab, Ren'ai Rabo 恋愛ラボ (Episode 2)
- Context: Sayori sees an opportunity to touch money.
- me ga en maaku ni naru
目が円マークになる
The eyes become yen signs.
Anime: Osomatsu-san おそ松さん (Episode 6)
- Context: Todomatsu drools over a huge pile of money.
Middle: Amamiya Elena 天宮えれな
Right: Hoshina Hikaru 星奈ひかる
Anime: Star☆Twinkle Precure, スター☆トゥインクルプリキュア (Episode 10)
- Context: gems, gems everywhere.
A hybrid example:
Right: Shigaraki 信楽
Anime: Gugure! Kokkuri-san 繰繰れ！コックリさん (Episode 6)
金 Kanji
Sometimes, the kanji for kane 金, "money," is used instead. This word typically gets the o お honorific prefix: okane お金, "money." This kanji also spells the homonym "gold," kin 金.
Anime: Hinamatsuri ヒナまつり (Episode 7)
- Context: Anzu opens a cash register, sees the cash inside.
円 Kanji
Sometimes, 円, the kanji for the "yen" currency, read en 円 in Japanese, is used instead, together with the actual value of the sum of money.
- Context: Ryoutsu Kankichi 両津勘吉 hears how much a company is willing to pay for the last piece of land they need in order to build a whole edifice.
- juu oku en
１０億円
Ten hundred-million yen.
One billion yen.- A note about numbers in Japanese:
- ichi-man １万 is 10000, ten thousand.
- ichi-oku １億 is 10000×10000, or one hundred million.
Fantasy Currency
Fantasy series often don't have dollars or yens as currency, so, sometimes, whatever currency exists in the fantasy setting is used for the eyes instead.
Anime: Hataage! Kemono Michi 旗揚!！けものみち (Episode 10)
- Context: Shigure's eyes turn into gold coins minted featuring the image of Princess Edgardo Latis Altena エドガルド・ラティス・アルテナ, who rules over the town where Shigure lives.
Anime: One Piece (Episode 570)
- Context: Nami's eyes turn into "berries," a fantasy currency in One Piece.
- me ga berii ni naru
目がベリーになる
[Her] eyes turn into berries.
Money on Eyes
In every example so far, eyes turned into money symbolically to represent greed. In some cases, there's no symbolism, it has nothing to do with greed, it's just money physically placed over eyes:
Right: Kukuri ククリ
Anime: Mahoujin Guruguru 魔法陣グルグル (2017) (Episode 1)
- happyaku rin de soubi wo...
８００リンで装備を･･･
Equipping eight hundred rin.
Anime: Mitsuboshi Colors, 三ツ星カラーズ (Episode 9)
See Also
Anime: Nisemonogatari 偽物語 (Episode 1)
- Money Gesture: a Japanese hand gesture that's similar to the American OK sign, but that signifies money instead.
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