What honorific does Panda use when speaking to Yaga Masamichi?


In _Jujutsu Kaisen_ 's episode 16 "Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event—Group
Battle 2—" (Transcription: Kyōto Shimai-kō Kōryū-kai—Dantai-sen ②—; Japanese:
京都姉 妹校交流会—団体戦②—), during a flashback scene explaining Panda's origin, we have
the following conversation between Yaga Masamichi, principal of the Tokyo
school and Panda's creator, and Panda as a toddler or "preschooler":

> **Yaga:** Panda. Actually, you have an older brother and sister.  
>  **Panda:** I don't.  
>  **Yaga:** No, you do. They are in your body. _< mutters to self>_ What's
> with the honorific?

What exactly is the honorific that Panda uses here? I am somewhat aware that
there is a hierarchy of formal speech in the Japanese language, but I'm not
able to precisely identify what honorific is being used in the Japanese dub.
Is it perhaps the _—⁠masen_ ending used by Panda? Furthermore, what is unusual
about Panda using that kind of speech with Yaga, prompting him to comment upon
it?




He says "いませんけど", so you are correct that it's the - _masen_ ending since
there isn't really anything else in that response anyway.

The reason this is odd is because of what Yaga says that Panda is responding
to:

> お前にはお兄ちゃんとお姉ちゃんがいるんだ。

(You have an older brother and an older sister.)

If Yaga were speaking in the formal register he would've said:

> あなたにはお兄ちゃんとお姉ちゃんがいます。

Or something similar to that. Basically, お前 is pretty informal and いる（んだ） is
the short / casual form of "to exist", so for Panda to respond in formally is
strange.

The translated subtitle when I went to look for this scene had Yaga's response
as "And why the polite tone?".

So I believe this is just a translation error. There was no honorific but
Panda responded in the polite register which prompted Yaga's confusion.




He says "いませんけど", so you are correct that it's the - _masen_ ending since
there isn't really anything else in that response anyway.

The reason this is odd is because of what Yaga says that Panda is responding
to:

> お前にはお兄ちゃんとお姉ちゃんがいるんだ。

(You have an older brother and an older sister.)

If Yaga were speaking in the formal register he would've said:

> あなたにはお兄ちゃんとお姉ちゃんがいます。

Or something similar to that. Basically, お前 is pretty informal and いる（んだ） is
the short / casual form of "to exist", so for Panda to respond in formally is
strange.

The translated subtitle when I went to look for this scene had Yaga's response
as "And why the polite tone?".

So I believe this is just a translation error. There was no honorific but
Panda responded in the polite register which prompted Yaga's confusion.

