18469


I'm rewatching Kill La Kill and I've noticed that the word "kisama" is used by
every one of the bad guys (Student Council, Satsuki Kiryuin, Ragyo, and so on)
to address basically every good character (i.e. Ryuuko, Mako, her family,
etc.).

I know that in the Japanese language there are multiple different ways to
address another person depending on the level of familiarity you have with
them and so on, and I know that "kisama" is the most impolite way of
addressing anybody (and it's usually translated as "bastard" or something like
that when it's used).

My question is: why does Satsuki Kiryuin use "kisama" to address the Elite
Four? They should, at least, be worthy of a bit more of respect. Was it a
stylistic choice that Satsuki would address virtually everyone (with few
exceptions such as the butler and Iori, for example) in such a disrespectful
way, or is there a different meaning for "kisama" I'm not aware of?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-11T21:46:24.520
18468
2016-01-11T01:44:58.140
2016-01-11T01:43:00.033
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question
japanese-language kill-la-kill
Why does Satsuki address everyone using "kisama"?


> My question is: why does Satsuki Kiryuin use "kisama" to address the Elite
> Four? They should, at least, be worthy of a bit more of respect.

Well, for the one thing, this is anime. Typical conventions governing the use
of honorifics in actual spoken Japanese frequently go out the window in anime.

> [...] or is there a different meaning for "kisama" I'm not aware of?

It so happens that the "bad guys" that use _kisama_ frequently are precisely
those who typically speak in a mildly archaic-sounding register of Japanese
(from memory: Satsuki, Gamagoori, Sanageyama, and Ragyou - but _not_ Inumuta,
Nonon, or Nui). The use of _kisama_ in an archaic register of Japanese is not
harsh as its use in a modern register would be - historically, _kisama_ was in
fact a polite word (roughly "honorable person"); cf.
[here](https://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-
bin/wa?A3=ind1209a&L=CONLANG&E=quoted-
printable&P=222433&B=--&T=text%2Fplain;%20charset=UTF-8&header=1) or
[here](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=14412#comment-1279849) for what
little English-language reading about this I was able to find.

Even in modern registers of Japanese, I feel that _kisama_ is a smidge less
harsh than its typical (shoddy) English translation "you bastard", though I
don't know if other people would agree.

> Was it a stylistic choice that Satsuki would address virtually everyone
> (with few exceptions such as the butler and Iori, for example) in such a
> disrespectful way [...]

I imagine the reason that Satsuki addresses Soroi (her butler) using a
different pronoun ( _kimi_ ) is that _kimi_ is a more familiar term of address
than _kisama_ , and she feels that she can open up to Soroi more than anyone
else.

But really, I think this is mostly down to characters using more "powerful"
language for dramatic effect (e.g. to express Satsuki's general disdain for
most people) since this is an anime rather than real life. You'll see this
happening in many an anime; _Kill la Kill_ is by no means unique in this
respect.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-11T23:17:24.713
18469
2016-01-11T01:44:58.140
2016-01-11T01:44:58.140
1908
1908
18468
answer