[alcaray]

I've been reading Gantz lately and I just hit a usage of the word (translated) "hypocrite". I've seen it several times before in anime and manga. Usually it is a more cynical character saying that someone who just did or said something nice or kind is a hypocrite. In a similar situation, an English-speaker would probably not say that. An English-speaker would tend to use the word hypocrite only when they had seen some evidence of hypocrisy. That is they would need to see the kindness and they would need to have seen some unkind behavior from that person too. But in the Japanese situations I've seen all the speaker needs to see is the kind behavior.

So I used to think that perhaps it was a translation issue. That the word that's being translated to hypocrite means something slightly different from what hypocrite means in English. Today I got the feeling that maybe the words are identical, but that the rules are different in the two different cultures. That it's reasonable to say that someone is a hypocrite if you see them doing something nice.

The other possibility is that this is an anime/manga thing that you would not likely see from a 3D nihonjin.

Anybody know?

[c0ke543]

I don't think so. The guy who calls the other guy hypocrite in gantz is cynical. He has a preconception of other people in general being hypocrites. He thinks everyone who is kind to others is a hypocrite. He believes everyone's true nature is a selfish one.

If I believed someone else true nature was something else, I would call them a hypocrite too. It just that guys preconception of other people default nature.

As for other anime, I can only speak on a case by case basis. I think hypocrite means the samething in both languages, and I don't think it is a translation issue in the case of gantz. One of Gantz over arching themes is morality. A cynical character who believes most if not all people are hypocrites fits well.