Blue Horizon and Japanese-style pronouns (for fun).

I wanted to do a reversal of English-style pronouns (he/she/they)! In Bangla we don't gender our pronouns in comparison.

In Japan personal pronouns are gendered! However, I'll admit that I'm not versed in Japanese any longer. I was worried "what if I come off too anime or clueless" but then I remembered the characters are anime in my head! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ I hope it's not too strange to think of it in a "Western way" (how I might see Texan girls and boys and nonbinary people referring to themselves).

When I was in Japan as a child I used "atashi."

(I also saw that in the Japanese version of ATLA Katara uses "boku," so maybe people in Japan see Western work a certain way too?)

If Japanese people have other opinions after reading the first book or just from the character's vibes already, feel free to mention (one day...not extremely soon as it is unreleased).

~*~

Full art of OCs with repeating alt text. Layla has a red eye, eyepatch, and an odd smile going, is dark brown with wavy white-silver anime hair. She wears a light green suit with green shadow, and a red shirt. Alia is also dark brown, has falling anime ocean blue curls, with a noticeable aqua highlight. She's smiling to herself and wears a blue-violet coat. Antonio has red eyes, a grin, is brown, has lighter ocean blue hair that falls like ocean waves, and has grabbed onto Alejandro, who looks a little shy, is sienna brown, has long violet hair, fuschia eyes (a power-up of red eyes), dark pink dyed locks in front of him, and he's wearing a pink shirt, as is looking back at Antonio. They both have slight blushes.

Main 6 + some friends' pronouns via my very basic ideas that might not fit well as a Western person. Their world also has a magic system that influences their ideas about gender (think Iron Widow or Simoun).

Antonio and Alejandro would start using "ore" very early in their teens. Raj and Fernando use "ore" too, but Raj sometimes uses "boku" around his brothers and a particular [mystery] friend until he's older. (A part of me thinks Antonio would switch to "watashi" very quickly in adulthood but a part of me is shrug.)

Alia uses "watashi." She would use "boku" around other girls partly because she's used to being around Layla.

Layla would use "atashi" unless she felt very serious (switches to watashi) as well as "jibun"! Around girls and sometimes other people she can use "boku." Around Antonio, her brother of many thousands of years, she would sometimes use "ore" even in public. (She can do so around Alia too.) Everyone ignores this.

(In my head Layla stays very "young"/casual in their diction for a long time but also doesn't like gendering. They're also intense + cold in mentality and shows that mostly around Alia and Antonio.)

raj is on the left rainbowy long anime silver hair on one side with an undercut on the other, dark brown skin and browner eye tone, silver irises, and a frown on his lips. he wears a white suit and violet-blue suit with pink tie and there is green foliage with various large leaves behind him.

fernando at the end has dark hair as a long braid, gold eyes, brown skin and a cheerful smile, wearing half-open white shirt. behind the triplets green foliage.

konna with wavy short lavender hair is looking toward a mysterious individual to her left with a small smile. she has fuchsia eyes, brown skin, and wears a dark violet loose-sleeved shirt with heart buttons. upon her is a gold necklace with a blue locket that has an aqua moon with vague hearts-and-or-wings on its upper and lower sides, and surrounding that blue is darker blue wavy craftmanship. behind her is part of a lit-up aquamarine tree and behind that is a very starry dark blue night sky.

khaleel with silvery white hair (glittery) in many braids falling around him. he has brown skin, red eyes with light brown sclera and is looking toward leo with a contemplative frown, and yet his expression isn't harsh. he wears an aquamarine shirt with aqua buttons and light green highlights, as well as a shirt with wavy light green and grassy green v-neck shirt collar design. behind him is the left part of an aquamarine tree with a dark blue night sky with stars in it.

Khaleel and Leo use "ore" until they're older.

maria looks very easygoing in a smiley anime way with a question mark by her indicating cluelessness toward everyone being "cautious" of her and "aware of her power." she has red eyes, long dark hair, black fluffy-sleeved dress cut off. jasmin is a chibi with medium light brown skin, brown eyes with eyebrows drawn, and a grin with a fang tooth. she has a long dark brown pony tail that falls by her feet and is playing a red-and-white guitar-looking thing with purple sleeveless shirt and white shoes. next to her it says lesbian and maria's arrows toward her says "cool rockstar" with a storm with lightning obscuring any hearts underneath and toward maria her arrow says "^_^" aka a cutie anime smiley face.

Mario uses "boku" when young; unsure when older--he's trans masc but likes theatrical flair. Probably "ore" still. Maria uses "atashi" for a long time. Jasmin uses "atashi" no matter what. Konna uses "boku." (She's pictured above with Raj and Fernando.)

Keya and Biju both use "boku." Priya uses "watashi." Posh Hat uses "jibun."

(Picrews.)

Ranvir and Armando's generation:

close-up of older armando and older ranvir respectively under a rose arch. the roses surrounding them are pink and darker pink upon a spring green arch. behind them are implied bushes with lavender flowers and a grassy lane with flower petals implied to have fallen on the grass. armando with medium light brown skin is looking at ranvir a little shyly with a slight blush; he has black pomade hair back with a gray streak and a beard and a lopsided smile. he wears a white shirt with a purple tie and gray pants. ranvir with dark brown skin is speaking to him with a smile on his mouth and is relaxed; he has short gray hair and gray beard. he's wearing a white undershirt and blue lungi with aqua stripes falling like water.

Ranvir and Armando would use "ore." (When they're older adults they use "watashi.")

Rajani uses both "watashi" and "atashi" until older. Nikiruka uses "watashi."

Lana uses "boku." Liliana uses "watashi."

Yunuen uses "boku" for a very long time until he's an adult. He switches to "watashi" by then. Tarak uses "ore" and so does Héctor.

(Picrews. Yunuen is the "mystery character" back when I wanted to hide more of the characters in the book.)

~*~

If I come off too clueless about anything, just ignore it and use your own headcanons! In my head I thought of it as "Texan people using Japanese" but maybe it's still very odd. I dunno! Hope it can be written off as clueless, anime or "Texan" in any case. (Genuinely I don't need this to be "canon.")

Edit: Currently my main worry is whether giving Layla multiple personal pronouns is "odd." Thus and thus.

Editing this post on 06/13/24 to say re: pronouns, if LGBT/queer Japanese people noticeably do it, it's good, so doesn't bother me if it's "odd" or not. People are valid. I looked up characters as well and am glad some of my favorite creators have made original female characters with "boku" pronoun, etc.

I'm still clueless about Layla and multiple pronouns; will leave it for now.