In anime, sometimes characters have "horns," tsuno 角, protruding out of their heads. Typically, this happens when the character is a "demon," akuma 悪魔, or part of the "demonic clan," mazoku 魔族.
Anime: Yū☆Yū☆Hakusho 幽☆遊☆白書 (Episode 39)
Meaning
The word tsuno 角 means a "horn," or "horns" in the plural. It may also refer to other horn-like protrusions, such as the tentacles of a snail.
Note that the English word "horn" has other meanings. See "horn" in Japanese for a list of senses and translations.
- Context: Yoshida Yuuko 吉田優子, Shamiko シャミ子, grew horns and a tail overnight.
- nanka tsuno haeta--!!
なんかツノ生えたー！！
Horns sprouted [out]!! - ato shippo!!
あと尻尾！！
[Also] a tail!! - haeteru
生えてる
[They're] sprouted. (literally.) - hae-sorotteru--
はえそろってるー
[They're both] sprouted.- A compound verb from haeru and sorou 揃う, "to complete [a set]," in the sense that horns and tail make a full set.
- ishi de ugoku--!!
意思で動くー！！
[They] move by will--!! (literally)- In the sense Shamiko can move them like she can move a limb, i.e. they're part of her body.
Kanji
The kanji of tsuno 角 is also used to write kado 角, which means a "corner" instead. That is, these two words are homographs.
- machi-kado
街角
"Town corner." Corner of a street of a town.
Examples
In anime, characters with horns tend to be oni 鬼, a type of apparition in Japanese folklore.
Anime girls with horns in general can be called tsunokko 角っ娘, while the oni specifically onikko 鬼っ娘.
Anime: Urusei Yatsura うる星やつら (Episode 1, 町に石油の雨がふる)
Besides the oni, horns are also common in monster girls.
Anime: Demi-chan wa Kataritai, 亜人ちゃんは語りたい (Episode 1)
- The monster common type of monster girl. Known as:
- sakyubasu
サキュバス
Succubus. - inma
淫魔
Lewd demon. - muma
夢魔
Dream demon.
Anime: Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san. Z, よんでますよ、アザゼルさん。Z (Season 2) (Episode 12)
- inkyubasu
インキュバス
Incubus. The male variant of the succubus.
Monster girl characters that have horns also may have a cute "fang," kiba 牙, "tail," shippo 尻尾, and "wings," tsubasa 翼, and pointed ears, known as "elf ears," erufu-mimi エルフ耳, or akuma-mimi 悪魔耳, "demon ears."
Anime: Machikado Mazoku まちカドまぞく (Episode 8)
- Context: a tehe pero てへぺろ pose.
Anime: Machikado Mazoku まちカドまぞく (Episode 1)
- Context: laughter lines.
Anime: Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 魔入りました！入間くん (Episode 3)
- gizaba
ギザ歯
Jagged teeth.
Surprisingly, they're not all demons. Some just look like demons.
Anime: Boku no Hero Academia 僕のヒーローアカデミア (2019) (Episode 18, 文化祭)
- kuro-shirome
黒白目
Black sclera.
Hand Sign
The corna コルナ is a hand gesture signifying horns, and the devil, and the evil, among other things. It looks like this:
Anime: En'en no Shouboutai 炎炎ノ消防隊 (Episode 18)
- Context: Shinra awakens.
- rokku-n-rooru!!
ロックンロール！！
Rock 'n' roll!!
No comments: