All the shows that I like to watch come under one heading. Anime. Anime is the abbreviated pronunciation of ‘animation’ in Japanese and therefore, are Japanese animated productions featuring hand-drawn or computer animation. There are thousands of different anime, all with completely different story lines and memorable characters. To make their anime successful, animation companies have to find ways to make their characters stand out in various ways. One way is through speech. If a character has a different way of speaking to others, then they are more likely to be remembered by the audience.
For example, the protagonist, Himura Kenshin, from Rurouni Kenshin, a highly successful anime that ran in the 1990s and has seen multiple live action movies being made based on its storyline, the most recent coming out last September, speaks in a way that makes him stand out from those around him, often making him an easy target and causing trouble to come his way. Being an ex-samurai, Kenshin is a wandering swordsman who clings onto the past – this is evident in his speech. Quite often, Kenshin adds on phrases such as “that I am” or “that you do” to the ends of his sentences making him sound slightly old-fashioned and a lot older than he actually is. The way Kenshin speaks also shines light on his true personality. Kenshin was feared as a manslayer in the Edo period (1603-1867) and still is feared by many but the way he speaks contradicts all the rumours about him. His choice of speech makes him come across as being bubbly, friendly and a gentleman instead of the ruthless killer everyone makes him out to be.
Another example, is an anime called Hetalia in which there are three main protagonists: Italy, Germany and Japan who make up the Axis Powers. Hetalia is an anime about the countries around the world being personified as people in the most stereotypical way possible and presents well-known (and less well-known) historical events, such as World War Two in a comical fashion. Everything about the countries is stereotypical including the way they speak, act and dress and if you watch the anime in English instead of Japanese, you can hear that the voice actors even put on accents for the various countries making them even more comical and realistic. The other main countries that