by August » Tue Sep 06, 2011 2:42 am
Jared: 胸 = "Mune" not gender specific; when used as an adjective, it means "chest" (as in "my heart is pounding in my chest"); but it does not literally mean, " female breast" in the western sense — except for non-gender, general usage. As for a literal "child feeding breast", you do not use "Mune", which is mostly used in reference to males in songs and literature. As far as Anime usage goes, in MAZINGER Z (the father of all Super Robots shows), one of his weapons is the "Buresto Faiya" (or "Breast Fire") while his female counterpart, Aphrodai A, uses "Oppai Missairu" ("Boob Missiles"). Again, if we're talking about a female breast, the honorific is 乳房 = "Chibusa" (or "Nyubo", depending on the reading of the kanji), literally, "Milk Udder" — which also has a short form using the first kanji character of "Chibusa", 乳, that becomes "Chichi" (one of the forms of "Milk") — which is also used as slang for female breasts.
August Ragone
Showa GAMERA Special Features Producer
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