My homepage is actually a link to my folder of some of my collected manga. In my manga folder there are two folders, GB and Non-GB. GB stands for Gender Bender, pretty self explanatory.

When ever someone constantly uses unnecessary Japanese terms I see it as someone trying to ‘show off’ their knowledge of the language. I understand and recognize the value of honorifics, while in most cases you can use ‘Mr.’ and ‘Ms.’ in substitution for –san; you cannot necessarily do the same with ‘-chan’, ‘-kun’, and ‘-sama’. Some people tend to use Japanese terms too often when there is no need, I will list some examples:

1. Baka – One of the most common words used to describe Ranma (from the series Ranma ½) by Akane. An example would be “Ranma no baka!” While it is correct, I consider that unnecessary. You could easily replace that with “Ranma you idiot!” and it will not affect neither your sentence structure nor your concept.

2. Sensei – Can mean one of several interpretations. It could mean teacher, mentor, doctor, or an authoritive figure.

3. Gaijin – Can be replaced with foreigner.

4. Iinazuke – Means fiancé.

5. Bonbori – While not a Japanese term, this is one of the most annoying mistakes made by almost every author! This is what many authors (or should that be the majority?) use to refer to Shampoo’s weapon of choice. Bonbori is a type of Chinese paper lantern damnit! The proper name for Shampoo’s weapon is Chúi. At first when I started seeing that term used to name Shampoo’s weapon of choice it seemed like a humorous idea, Shampoo chasing Ranma around with a ‘paper lantern’ hehehe…Now though...it is just plain out irritating to see that mistake again and again and yet again. For those of you who haven’t watched Ranma ½ or seen a Chúi; it is a Chinese version of a mace, blunt mace.