I thought it'd be interesting to make a sequel to this thread, this time focusing on how characters refer to other people and how it informs the players of a character's personality as well as their relationship with other characters. A thread🧵.

Similar to how Japanese has multiple ways to refer to oneself, it also has multiple ways to refer to address others. Be it the different ways to say "you" with "貴方" (anata), "お前" (Omae), "君" (Kimi), "貴様" (kisama). https://t.co/3eLqYZsqgV

Or the various honorifics that can be added to the end of a name, such as ~"さん" (san), ~"君" (kun), ~"様" (sama) and so on. All these various methods of referring to someone have differing levels of politeness as well as level of familiarity between individuals.

In general, more polite usually indicates less familiarity, much like how in English, one would not use "Mr" or "Mrs" to refer to their friends. So for people one is not familiar with, it's standard to use more formal versions of "you" or use polite honorifics.

As a result, it's also standard for people who are closer to each other to use more informal versions of "you" and informal honorifics, or even just refer to someone by name without any honorifics, doing this is called Yobisute.

Now, it's important to note that a character referring to another without any honorifics does not necessarily imply that they're close to that other character, it could also imply that they're simply very rude. In fact, yobisute should not be done unless you're close with them.

The opposite is also true, the usage of honorifics or polite language to refer to another character does not necessarily imply that they're distant, merely that the character has a certain level of professionalism.

Touhou is somewhat unique in terms of how characters refer to each other. Namely, how rare it is to see someone use honorifics or even refer to each other by their last names. Everyone either use various forms or "you" or just use each other's first names with no honorifics.

In fact, honorifics and last names are so rarely used that it becomes notable when a character does actually use them. This thread will list most of them.

Reimu refers to everyone by あんた(anta)/貴方(anata) or by first name. The two exceptions to this are Kosuzu, whom she refers to as 小鈴ちゃん/Kosuzu-chan (and laterすずちゃん/Suzu-chan); and Miyoi, whom she refers to as 美宵/Miyoi-chan.

Since she's an employee of the SDM, Meiling refers to Patchouli and Remi using the honorific 様/sama, and uses さん/san for Sakuya. In general, characters will refer to their masters (such as Chen with Ran, or Youmu with Yuyuko) with 様/sama.

Yukari usually refers to people by the fairly formal 貴方/anata or by their names. However, during the events of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, she was incensed by Tenshi's actions enough that she goes down a few levels of politeness and uses お前/omae, instead.

Suika usually uses あんた/anta or people's names. However, during the events of IaMP, Yuyuko managed to impress her enough in the course of one conversation to get her to go up a level of politeness and switch to 貴方/anata. She also refers to Koishi as こいしちゃん/Koishi-chan.

Mokou is fairly rude, so she usually refers to people by お前/omae. There is also one instance in Antinomy of Common Flowers where she taunts Dream Reisen by calling her 鈴仙ちゃん/Reisen-chan.

Since Aya is a journalist, she shows some measure of professionalism and addresses people with the fairly formal 貴方/anata, as well as adding さん/san to their names. Though, she will drop the honorifics when off the clock.

Nitori is another business oriented character, and so she uses 貴方/anata and the さん/san honorific. Though, during the extra stage of Subterranean Animism, she addresses Marisa without any honorifics.

Sanae is from the outside world, so she's knows some manners and addresses people using 貴方/anata and the さん/san honorific. However, during the events of Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom, upon seing Hecatia's shirt, she addresses her as 変なＴシャツヤロー/Freaky T-shirt Weirdo.

As stated in the previous thread, Kaenbyou Rin talks like a phone obsessed teenager (from the 2000s, so no instagram or Tiktok), and addresses people with お姉さん/Oneesan (sis). She and Utsuho are also one of the few people who are referred to using nicknames (Orin and Okuu).

Though, when it comes to nicknames, Patchouli and Remilia are even more unique, as they're the only characters with mutual personal nicknames for each other. Remilia calls Patchouli パチェ/Patchy, and Patchouli calls Remilia レミィ (Remi).

Murasa is referred to as Captain Murasa by Nazrin and as Murasa by Nue. This makes her one of the very few characters who have ever been referred to by their last name instead of her first name (Minamitsu).

Since she's a bit old fashioned, Mamizou uses おぬし/Onushi to say "you", which is a somewhat archaic version of you, and usually only used by the elderly.

Sans undertale was translated to use the fairly informal アンタ/anta to refer to Frisk. However, when he pulls out his serious face, he goes down one level of politeness and uses おまえ/omae instead.

Kokoro is once again similar to Sans Undertale, but more extreme. She usually address people with the fairly formal 貴方/anata. However, during Koishi's story in HM, she gets so angry at Koishi that she goes down several levels of politeness and uses the derogatory 貴様/kisama.

To put it simply, Sans goes from "Hey there, buddy" to "You listenin', punk?". Kokoro goes from "Hello, dear madam" to "Why you f***ing bastard!".

Since Sumireko is a highschool girl from the Social Media generation, she uses the っち/cchi suffix to address people she's familiar with. Such as calling Reimu レイムッチ/Reimu-cchi or Marisa マリサッチ/Marisa-cchi. Think of it like she's calling them Reimu-oomfie/Marisa-oomfie.

Clownpiece starts off being fairly informal and using あんた/anta. After she's beaten, however, she starts sucking up to the protagonists and addressing them with 貴方様/anata-sama.

Aunn is a good doggo and knows proper manners. Thus, she addresses people with the さん/san honorific.

Kosuzu is not only a bookstore shopkeeper, she also looks up to the protagonists, so she often addresses people with the さん/san honorific. The exception to this is Akyuu, whom she addresses with no honorifics (Akyuu also reciprocates, addressing her without honorifics).

Because of her memory alteration abilities, Miyoi is often referred to by 美宵ちゃん/Miyoi-chan by everyone around her.

Finally we have Misumaru, who addresses the protagonists by their full name, followed by the くん/kun honorific (with the exception of Reimu, whom she only addresses by full name, without the honorific). This will require some explanation on what it means.

In general day-to-day usage, the -kun honorific is indeed used to refer to men, and would usually not be used to refer to women. That said, there are situations where it is not unusual for women to be addressed by -kun.

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