In Japanese, an "X mark" (☓), batsu-jirushi バツ印, typically means an answer is "incorrect," fuseikai 不正解, although it can also mean something is dame 駄目, "not good," NG, "not allowed," "didn't work out." The opposite symbol is a "circle" (○), maru 丸. These symbols are also used as placeholders.
Gesture
Making an X by crossing your arms in front of you also means "wrong," "not good," "not allowed," NG, and so on.
- Context: Nozaki Umetarou 野崎梅太郎, a mangaka 漫画家, explains why he can't add delinquent characters in his manga that actually do illegal things.
- houritsu ihan suru to tomerareru-n-da
法律違反すると止められるんだ
If [they] break the law [the publisher will] stop [the manga]. - mane shichau kara tte
マネしちゃうからって
[They say] [it's] because [the readers, who are kids,] will copy [it]. - enu-jii
ＮＧ
No good.
For the record, it doesn't seem to matter if it's the right or left hand in front.
Anime: Eighty Six, ８６―エイティシックス― (Episode 3)
Incorrect
An X may mean incorrect, in regards to a mistake or wrong answer. When this happens, a circle means the correct answer.
- Nana Maru San Batsu ナナマルサンバツ, literally "Seven Circles Three X's," is a series about quiz games, as in such games a right answer gets a circle while a wrong answer gets an X.
- Context: someone gets a yojijukugo 四字熟語, "four character idiom," wrong.
- saishoku-kenbi
才色兼備
(For a woman) to have both wit and beauty.- Correct, marked by the circle: saishoku 才色, from saichi 才知, "wit," and iro 色, "color."
- Incorrect, marked by the X: saishoku 才食, with shoku 食 meaning "to have meal," or "to eat," taberu 食べる.
- In this episode, a character who often uses four character idioms wrong makes this mistake when complimenting a girl for eating a lot of food.
The dame meaning probably derives from this.
- On Playstation, the X means "no/cancel" and the circle means "yes/confirm" due to this.
Exceptionally, graded school tests don't use an X for wrong answer, but a check mark (✓) or tick, which is very confusing, to be honest. A circle still means a correct answer. A triangle (△) means partially correct.
Anime: Himouto! Umaru-chan 干物妹！うまるちゃん (Episode 1)
Anime: Nichijou no Zero-wa 日常の０話 (Episode 0, OVA)
Placeholder
The circle, X, and triangle can be used as placeholders or to censor text, used in this order. For example: "thing X, thing Y, thing Z" would become "thing 〇, thing ×, thing △." For single-character placeholders, a single symbol is used. Variable-length words often use two of them instead, e.g.:
- maru-maru-san to batsu-batsu-san
〇〇さんと××さん.
Mr. X and Mr. Y.
- ~san ～さん - a honorific suffix, used after a person's name.
- Context: two characters try to make plans.
- One suggests a certain date (month X, day Y).
- maru-gatsu batsu-hi
○月×日
Month circle, day X. (literally.) - See also: Japanese date format.
- maru-gatsu batsu-hi
- The other gestures an X, meaning that date is "not good" for her, dame.
In fiction, it's common to use placeholders in dates. Notably, some series like Megaman take place in the year 20XX, which could be any year from 2000 to 2099.
- Context: a well-known murderer tells an anonymous bulletin board that he's gonna kill everyone in that thread.
- hon'nin desu ka? kao! up!!
本人ですか？顔！うｐ！！
Are [you] [the murderer himself]? [Your] face! Upload it!
- hon'nin - the person themselves, as opposed to someone speaking in their behalf.
- nanashi-san atto oopun
名無しさん＠おーぷん
Anon @ open.- Open probably refers to open 2 channel, おーぷん2ちゃんねる, a bulletin board based on 2ch.
- The incrementing numbers 193, 194, 195, 197, 197, and so on at the left side of each response is the identifier used to cite what a previous user posted.
- The 2017/11/×× is the date. Japan uses a year-month-day date format. The ×× where the day would go is a placeholder, meaning there's no specific date, either because this is a piece of fiction where the date isn't important, or because the website in-universe omits it for some reason.
- tsuchi 土, "dirt," inside parentheses next to the date refers to the weekday: doyoubi 土曜日, "saturday."
- koroshite-miru baaaaaaaaaakka
殺してみるバァーーーーーーーーッカ
Try killing [me], stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupid. - wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
ｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗ
*laughs anonymously.* - keisatsu koko miteruu?
警察ここ見てるー？
Police, are [you] seeing [this]?- koko ここ, "here," as in "this thread."
- miteru - contraction of mite-iru 見ている.
- oi kora, satsujinki, hayo jishu shiro
おいコラ 殺人鬼 はよ自首しろ
Hey, murderer, go surrender yourself already.- hayo - synonymous with hayaku 早く, "quickly."
- kuso-gaki ga
クソガキが
[You brat]. - nichan'neru shuuryouuu wwwwwwwwwww
にちゃんねる 終了ーーｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗｗ
2channel is finisheeed, lolololololololololol.
In Shipping
In Japan, when fans ship a character with another character, a multiplication symbol (×), read kakeru かける, "to multiply by," separates one character from another. In the west, a slash (/), which is a division symbol, is used instead. For example:
- Naruto kakeru Sasuke
ナルト×サスケ
Naruto multiplied by Sasuke. (literally.)
Naruto/Sasuke. (how a "slash" fanfic is represented in English.)
Traditionally, the names are in a seme × uke order, such that a NaruSasu fanfic and a SasuNaru fanfic have different relationship dynamics.
- Context: Tsunashi Youta 十陽太 talks about the manga he has to draw.
- sessha kakeru anija kapu no orihon de gozaru!!
拙者×兄者カプのオリ本でござる！！
[It] is an orihon with me/[my] older brother as couple!!- Using sessha 拙者 as first person pronoun and ending one's sentences with de gozaru でござる are things samurai and otaku characters do.
- Komike mo chikai shi, ganbaraneba!!
コミケも近いし頑張らねば！！
The Comiket is soon, too, so [I] have to work hard!!- The Comic Market is a convention where indie manga can be sold.
- orihon: {tokutei no sakuhin wo daizai to shita} niji-sousaku dewanaku, orijinaru no naiyou no hon (ikooru doujinshi).
オリほん［おりほん］：特定の作品を題材とした２次創作ではなく、オリジナルの内容の本（＝同人誌）。
orihon: not a derivative work [that] {makes as theme a certain work}, a book of original content (= doujinshi).
As Eyes
In anime, sometimes a character's eyes are drawn like X's.
Middle: Shamisen シャミ先
Right: Hinatsuki Mikan 陽夏木ミカン
Anime: Machikado Mazoku まちカドまぞく (Episode 10)
- Context: two X eyes symbolize a character is dead, or passed out after getting beaten.
- Context: a single X eye is a simpler way to draw >_<, which is a simpler way to draw eyes closed.
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