Mastodawn

I was living in Japan when Naruto first released. I recognized his name because it’s the little pink and white swirly fishcake slice they put on ramen.

His full name is Uzumaki Naruto, which translates to “Whirlpool Fishcake.” So of course, his greatest tool/weapon is a swirling ball of concentrated energy in his hands. And he’s obsessed with ramen.

Negima! also released while I was living in Japan, and the main character’s name, “Negi,” basically means “Green Onion” in Japanese. He’s from Wales, where the national symbol is a Welsh onion (same thing).

Negi is a 10-yr old genius mage who takes on a teaching job at a private academy. His students, who are all older than him, sometimes call him “Negi-bozu,” which is an honorific that’s basically like calling a child “kiddo” or “sport.” But “Negibozu” is also a slang term meaning “onion head,” which is a way to refer to someone as being young and inexperienced.

And it’s not just the Japanese language. The Japanese love English and try to squeeze it into their pop culture everywhere they can, whether it makes sense or not.

I became obsessed with the Berserk manga while I was there. The main character is named “Guts” (Gattsu), which is just an English word.

It not only describes how he was found (a baby nestled in the eviscerated guts of his dead mother who was hanged while pregnant with him), but also his determination and extreme willpower. Dude never gives up, no matter how much the situation is stacked against him. He’s got real guts.

Similarly, One Piece stars “Monkey D. Luffy,” who is basically a human monkey. He’s dumb, a wild child, constantly getting into trouble and scrapping with people. Plus he loves to climb stuff. With his rubber powers, he can stretch and climb pretty much anything.

His powers in Japanese are the “gomu-gomu” ability, which just means “rubber-rubber.” All the devil fruit power names in One Piece are just describing the ability in Japanese.

His crew member, “Usopp,” is a habitual liar. He has a long nose like Pinocchio, and “Uso” means “to lie” in Japanese.

Another crew member, “Zoro,” is an expert swordsman, just like the classic Disney hero Zorro.

There are puns everywhere in Japanese anime, but those are the first few that came to mind from my experience there.