Talk:Soy Sauce Warrior Kikkoman

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I saw the Kikkoman flash animation, but it looks like it's typed
「キッコーマソ」"Kikkoumaso"
instead of
「キッコーマン」"Kikkouman".
Even the webpage, in the address says ".../kikkomaso/..."
Should the Japanese words for "Soy Sauce Warrior Kikkoman" be changed?
KevinJr42 18:13, 2004 Nov 7 (UTC)

According to this site, it seems that's just a mistake regarding Japanese characters. I'm pretty sure it was indeed intended to be "Kikkoman". Regarding the "u" that sometimes appears in the word, that's just something we may end up seeing in Romaji, which is when the Japanese writing is converted to the Latin alphabet, to help westerns on the understanding of the pronounce of Japanese words. It also depends on which language you're dealing with, though. Some people may find that "u" to be useful, while it may be just useless to others.
So no, I say the article should remain the way it is. Also because that's the way everybody knows Kikkoman. Written as "Kikkoman", and not "kikkomaso". – Kaonashi 21:59, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I run that site :)
I'm pretty sure the so/n thing is just a mistake since the two characters look so much alike, but I haven't seen the original threads so it could well have caught on as an intentionally humorous misspelling. the first "o" in Kikkoman is long, so you could write it Kikkooman or Kikkōman (the macron is preferred for wiki), but Kikkouman can't possibly be correct because of the way it's spelled in Japanese (long vowels are usually written as "ou" but not in this case).
I'll fix the article to use macrons.DopefishJustin (・∀・) 22:55, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)
Holy damn, really? That owns. I know I've seen your name around here several times, but I never noticed that was you in that site. That's pretty cool. About the article, I think using macrons would be fine.
Carry on. – Kaonashi 01:20, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

It seems probable it was written Kikkomaso to avoid trademark infringement. Dforest 08:14, 11 July 2005 (UTC)

I doubt so. No profit is being made out of this, so there shouldn't be any copyright issues. Now that I know more about the language, it's easy to see it's just a mistake. "So" is "ソ", while "n" is "ン". They are very similar.--Kaonashi 03:32, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Engrish

Where is the Engrish the article was talking about? If it was "Show me, show you", then I'd suspect that "Show you" is actually a smart pun on shouyu - Soy sauce. -Anon

By definition, Engrish does not only refer to mistakes at attempts on the creation of English texts by the Japanese, but it's also about disjointed sentences. Things that aren't entirely "wrong" grammatically, but that to English speakers, could sound at least strange. If you really pay attention, you'll see some of that on the translated Kikkoman movie. For example, don't you think "what a suckers!" is well, weird? =P
Take a look at the article about Engrish on Wikipedia. It explains what it is pretty well, even if it's not the kind of thing you can classify very easily. Anyway, movies like this one are common. Not every Flash movie made by the Japanese board 2ch gets a version on English, but the ones who do sometimes become popular because they are just weird/funny to westerns. Take a look at this site to see some more of these.
And yeah, there really is a "show you" pun referring to "shoyu", even though not a lot of people figure that out.--Kaonashi 01:06, 8 November 2005 (UTC)
I see. So there is an intended Engrish in the original and some genuine ones in the translation (didn't pick that up, first time round, and I liked watching the original more :D). I'll go edit the page, then. -Anon
No, wait. First, Engrish is almost never intended. There is no intended Engrish in any of the versions. The "show you" pun is not Engrish. It's just, well, a pun. Nothing wrong with it. I just fixed the article, by the way.--Kaonashi 04:44, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] References in the Flash Movie

I was able to figure out from the kanji that Kikkoman's sidekicks are sugar and vinegar and that his enemies are ketchup and Worcestershire. But what's the deal with "Basket Woman"? --Mr. A. 00:17, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

I remember reading about this on the Usenet/Google groups. Someone said the Basket Woman character is a reference to some other product they have in Japan. Probably some sauce or spice. I can't find the thread right now, so I can't be sure.--Kaonashi 03:32, 12 November 2005 (UTC)


According to http://groups.google.com/group/misc.fitness.weights/browse_thread/thread/6bcdc48dae3b9003/3c8139bb83d8d818?lnk=st&q=kikkoman&rnum=1#3c8139bb83d8d818/, the kanji can be read as "Kagome", which is also the name of a brand of ketchup. -- 06 December 2005

[edit] Kikko != Penis

The "Kikko" in "Kikkoman" most certainly does not mean "penis". Penis, in Japanese, is "Chinko," and has an entirely different kanji. "Kikko" really means "turtle shell", or "tortoise shell."

In the actual brand of soy sauce, "Kikkoman" literally means "tortoise shell 10,000," which is why the logo for their soy sauce has the hexagon shape.

The real pun in the Kikkoman character is that "man" (pronounced män) means "10,000" in Japanese, but in English it, of course, means man -- as in a human male. Knowing this, the creator put the kanji for "tortoise shell (亀甲)" and "man (男)" on the Kikkoman warrior's belt, so that instead of it meaning "turtle shell 10,000", it means "turtle shell man," which is read read "Kikko otoko (亀甲男)."


[edit] The Cat who Hangs Himself

"...or the cat hangs himself because omelet tastes horrible with soy sauce." I was under the impression that the cat hanged himself because Kikkoman got mad at him and shouted at him. That's what it seemed like from the cartoon, but I admit I don't understand Japanese. Is there language in the cartoon to support this (that the cat hanged himself because his omelet tastes horrible), or is this an assumption on the author's part? Without any context, just watching the cartoon, it very much looks like the cat hangs himself because Kikkoman (who he appears to admire greatly) got mad at him and yelled at him. Tzepish 01:16, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree - in the English translation Kikkoman yells at the cat for not knowing to put soy sauce on his eggs, then the cat says "I am so stupid!". So it seems that the cat hangs himself because he is so shamed for not knowing he should put soy sauce on his eggs... In fact, I'll change that now. 203.97.255.167 21:57, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
Just watched it again and I'm just confused... gah... 203.97.255.167 22:02, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
The whole section is poorly worded.

[edit] Ascii art

I fail to see the usefulness of this section, nominate for delete. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Zackariah (talk • contribs) 20:15, 9 January 2007 (UTC).