Oni?

[Chaos Saiyajin]

Hey guys...after watching the original version of Fusion Reborn, I noticed that all of the Oni under Enma's command finish their sentances with 'Oni', much like an Animal Crossing character. Is this preminant in the Japanese manga as well, along with other anime episodes? Why do they say this anyway?

[Tatsunoboshi Horoko]

It's a speech quirk. Some characters in anime add a certain word or speech pattern to their way of speaking. (One character that I can't bring up to the surface of my mind uses "nanda na" at the end of every sentence.)

There was an EX Podcast that covered this...I don't remember which one.

[DBW]

Is this preminant in the Japanese manga as well, along with other anime episodes? Why do they say this anyway?

No, it's not in the manga at all, it's just something that they added to the anime starting with the street-sweeper guy in DBZ episode 12 and then later with Gozu and Mezu in episode 13. We actually see the Oni before this point in episode 6, when Goku first arrives at Enma's and then when that effeminate Oni drives him to Snake Way in that funky Steve Urkel car. However, they stay true to the manga and just speak normally in these scenes.

Like Horoko said, it's just a silly speech quirk, but this one is particularly dumb. Usually quirks like this have some sort of meaning or relevance behind them. Naruto's "dattebayo" gives a level of crudeness to his character and makes what he says seem more urgent (like he's a hyper kid or something), Lum's "da-cha" is extremely childish and shows her innocence and general lack of common sense (a 17-year-old saying "da-cha" is absurd). Meanwhile, characters like Dejiko and Puchiko use "nyo" and "nya" to play on the fact that they're cat-people, while Piyoko's "pyo-pyo-pyo" is just downright cute!

However, saying Oni at the end of every sentence (although it's kinda nifty) is really just silly. It's like if I said "human" at the end of every sentence.

Anyways, I hope this helps explain things a bit better-human. If you have any further questions-human, please feel free to ask-human!

[Nekoni]

Actually I read up on Onis a while ago;

It's part of their legend that they end their sentences with 'oni'

[desirecampbell]

If anyone wants a western reference, there was that Seth Green show "Greg the Bunny" with the Vampire puppet, Count Blah. He would saw 'Blah' at the end of every sentence.

[DBW]

Actually I read up on Onis a while ago;

It's part of their legend that they end their sentences with 'oni'

Never heard of that one! I'll take your word on it, though (considering Japanese legends, just about anything seems plausible ). If this is true though, then I suddenly have a beef to pick with Urusei Yatsura...

[Infinity's End]

taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni_%28Jap ... olklore%29

"In the earliest legends, oni were benevolent creatures said to be able to ward off evil and malevolent spirits and to punish evil-doers. Japanese Buddhism incorporated these beliefs by at least the 13th century, calling the creatures aka-oni ("red oni") and ao-oni ("blue oni") and making them the guardians of hell or the torturers of the wicked there. They also came to be recognized as Shinto spirits (or kami)."

So, oni are basically japanese demons - and they affix the "oni" at the end of all of their sentences. This is a big japanese thing - it's kinda like Pokemon - Pikachu says "pika pika" all the time, and so on and so forth...

[Casual Matt]

Japanese Buddhism incorporated these beliefs by at least the 13th century, calling the creatures aka-oni ("red oni") and ao-oni ("blue oni") and making them the guardians of hell or the torturers of the wicked there.

Holy crap. Gozu and Mezu to a tee.

I didn't know all that.

[Super Sonic]

If anyone wants a western reference, there was that Seth Green show "Greg the Bunny" with the Vampire puppet, Count Blah. He would saw 'Blah' at the end of every sentence.

Another one, and what I'm most familiar with were the oni from season 4 of JCA. Only there they were quite evil and malevolent. Are the ogres in YYH supposed to be oni?

[MisterFlashdude]

I don't think Pokemon is the best reference... since they aren't adding anything to the end of their sentence, that's just all they say.

[DBW]

So, oni are basically japanese demons - and they affix the "oni" at the end of all of their sentences. This is a big japanese thing - it's kinda like Pokemon - Pikachu says "pika pika" all the time, and so on and so forth...

Yep, the Oni are definately from Japanese legend, as with most everything you see in DragonBall Hell (err, well, excluding the theme park). There's even the classic "playing tag with the Oni" bit thrown in there (in Japanese tag is called "onigokko", literally: Game of the Oni) However, the Wikipedia article you quoted doesn't prove that they traditionally end every sentence with "-oni", and I can honestly say that I've never heard of this outside of the DBZ anime.

I'm not saying it's not true, just that I've never seen any proof of this. Considering that it was never used in the manga, and more importantly, never used in Urusei Yatsura (just for some pop-culture examples), it seems more likely that it was just some afterthought for the anime.

And yeah, like MisterFlashdude said, Pokemon is a bad example of this particular speech pattern. Digi Charat would probably be the best example of characters affixing rubbish to the end of every sentence.

Are the ogres in YYH supposed to be oni?

Don't remember what they look like, but if they have horns, clubs and wear some sort of tiger-print clothing, then it's a definate yes.

- To Hell with Gozu and Mezu (no pun intended), now this is what I call an Oni!

[MisterFlashdude]

Yes, the ogre's in YuYuHakusho are oni.