Oni 鬼

oni 鬼 is a kind of "supernatural being," youkai 妖怪 often translated to English as "ogre" or "troll." Generally speaking, an oni in anime is a big, strong, scary, evil, rugged, powerful humanoid monster, who has one or two horns on its head, fangs, and the like, but designs may vary.


Nowadays, oni are normally portrayed featuring colored skin, specially red and blue, just like the modern day ogre is usually green. In anime, oni characters can usually talk and have some sort of connection with the demon world, afterlife, hell, or something supernatural like that.

Apparently, the word oni would mean it's an invisible spirit, originally, but that's rarely the case in modern fiction.

Human-like Oni

Although oni originally refers to a monster-like creature, in anime it's often the case a more human-like character is classified as an oni. When this happen, the only consistent feature they get is one or two horns on top of their head and nothing else.

Backstory, alignment, etc. does not matter. Just the oni horns is enough to call a character an oni.

Oni Girls

Those big, evil, scary, oni have been oni girls are legitimately one of the countless types of girls you can find in anime.

In English, sometimes the word "oni" alone refers to such oni girls. Like this: she's an "oni." In Japanese, the following terms are used to refer to them:

• onimusume 鬼娘
• onikko 鬼っ娘

I haven't been able to find the male equivalent for some reason, but there's a child equivalent:

• onikko 鬼っ子
  Oni child. A kid character who's an oni.
  (for example, the fire-breathing little brother of the oni girl.)

Such oni girls count as "monster girls," by the way, jingai-musume 人外娘.

Although oni girls usually do have horns, it'd be wrong to say a girl with horns is automatically an oni girl. That'd be like judging someone by their appearance. You can't say someone is American just because they're obese, in the same way, you can't say a character is an oni just because they have horns.

But since the fact they do have horns don't change, the following terms also exist:

• tsuno 角
  Horn.
  (note: the word kaku 角, written with the same kanji, means "angle," and there's also kado 角, which means "corner," and is part of the name of an ultra shit anime you really don't want to ever watch in your life, because if you do, you'll regret wasting hours of your time in such an immense, never-stopping disaster.)
• hayasu 生やす
  To make sprout. (plant, beard, but may be a horn too. Think FLCL.)
• tsuno-musume 角娘
  tsunokko 角っ娘
  Horn-y girl. Girl with horns.

oni girl. For example, you could say Zero-Two from FranXX is just a girl with horns, and not an oni, since she's not a spirit in connection with the other side or something occult like that. But oni.

Another hint is that oni character are usually associated with brutes, like cavemen, living the caves, of mountains. Which is why so many of the oni carry bludgeoning weapons and wear pelts.

Examples

For reference, some oni illustrations.

鬼ヶ島

That said, a girl with horns is usually also angirl. For example, you could say Zero-Two from FranXX is just a girl with horns, and not an, since she's not a spirit in connection with the other side or something occult like that. But her code, 02, practically spells oni , so yeah, maybe she's anAnother hint is thatcharacter are usually associated with brutes, like cavemen, living the caves, of mountains. Which is why so many of thecarry bludgeoning weapons and wear pelts.

Triangle Horns

もみじひらりチューイングゴム

Skin Horns

おいでやす黒い雨赤い傘

Uni-horn

セーラー鬼鬼の子

Red Oni, Blue Oni

Despite the fact you could make an oni any color if you wanted, the colors red and blue are specially common.


There probably isn't any deeper meaning to this, but in some cases it's a reference to a certain tale told to children about friendship.

The Wikipedia has story in Japanese (

In the story, a red oni tries to become friends with humans, but oni, being scary, scare humans away, so not a single human comes by to play with him. He then asks his friend, the blue oni, for help. The blue oni comes up with a plan: he'd attack the human village, play the evil oni, and then red oni would fend him off, saving the humans, and becoming acknowledged as a hero oni. Doing this, the red oni becomes friends with humans, and plays with them every day. But for some reason his old friend, the blue oni, doesn't show up to play with him any more. Later he gets a letter from the blue oni, which tells if he came to play the humans would think they're friends, and then the whole plan would fall apart, so he wouldn't come play anymore. The story ends with the red oni crying for having lost his old friend.

If I had to guess the moral, I'd say it is: do not lose your current friends to get new friends. Which is a common theme in fiction, and in anime, where you have characters who cut ties with their old friends of infancy in order to start hanging with the cool kids group, often regrettably.

Figurative Usage

Sometimes the word oni is used figuratively, or idiomatically, or in some way that doesn't literally refer to an actual oni. Here are some examples:

Merciless Person

Someone may get called an oni 鬼 for being "merciless," kichiku 鬼畜. For example, if they give too much work to someone, or give too many orders, or, well, really seem to have no mercy, they may be get called oni as you'd call someone a "fiend" or something of the sort.

"It"

In games of tag and hide-and-seek, the "it" may be called the oni in Japanese.

The term oni-gokko 鬼ごっこ even means "game of tag."

Weird Children

Sometimes, the term onigo 鬼子, or onikko 鬼っ子, may be used toward children. Here there's two different meanings.

First a child that's a "demon," that is, a child that's too misbehaved.

Second a child that doesn't resemble the parents. This has the implication that the child isn't actually a human child but some sort of spirit that took the shape of a baby or something. In the same vein, the term also applies to children born with teeth.

What's Gonna Happen?!?!

There's a Japanese idiom that contains the word oni 鬼 which's worth knowing about. It comes in two versions:

1. oni ga deru ka ja ga deku ka 鬼が出るか蛇が出るか
2. oni ga deru ka hotoke ga deru ka 鬼が出るか仏が出るか

In both cases, what's being literally said is if "an oni will come out" or will something else. What this idiom means in practice is that you don't know what will come out. "You don't know what's going to happen." And it's used in a situation where the outcome of something is unforeseeable.

Despite the fact you could make anany color if you wanted, the colors red and blue are specially common.There probably isn't any deeper meaning to this, but in some cases it's a reference to a certain tale told to children about friendship.The Wikipedia has story in Japanese ( 泣いた赤鬼 ) if you want to read it. I'll summarize it.In the story, a redtries to become friends with humans, but, being scary, scare humans away, so not a single human comes by to play with him. He then asks his friend, the blue, for help. The bluecomes up with a plan: he'd attack the human village, play the evil, and then redwould fend him off, saving the humans, and becoming acknowledged as a hero. Doing this, the redbecomes friends with humans, and plays with them every day. But for some reason his old friend, the blue, doesn't show up to play with him any more. Later he gets a letter from the blue, which tells if he came to play the humans would think they're friends, and then the whole plan would fall apart, so he wouldn't come play anymore. The story ends with the redcrying for having lost his old friend.If I had to guess the moral, I'd say it is: do not lose your current friends to get new friends. Which is a common theme in fiction, and in anime, where you have characters who cut ties with their old friends of infancy in order to start hanging with the cool kids group, often regrettably.Someone may get called an鬼 for being "merciless,"鬼畜. For example, if they give too much work to someone, or give too many orders, or, well, really seem to have no mercy, they may be get calledas you'd call someone a "fiend" or something of the sort.In games of tag and hide-and-seek, the "it" may be called thein Japanese.The term鬼ごっこ even means "game of tag."Sometimes, the term鬼子, or鬼っ子, may be used toward children. Here there's two different meanings.First a child that's a "demon," that is, a child that's too misbehaved.Second a child that doesn't resemble the parents. This has the implication that the child isn't actually a human child but some sort of spirit that took the shape of a baby or something. In the same vein, the term also applies to children born with teeth.There's a Japanese idiom that contains the word鬼 which's worth knowing about. It comes in two versions:

In Japanese, or, rather, in Japan's culture, an鬼 is a kind of "supernatural being,"妖怪 often translated to English as "ogre" or "troll." Generally speaking, anin anime is a big, strong, scary, evil, rugged, powerful humanoid monster, who has one or two horns on its head, fangs, and the like, but designs may vary.Nowadays,are normally portrayed featuring colored skin, specially red and blue, just like the modern day ogre is usually green. In anime,characters can usually talk and have some sort of connection with the demon world, afterlife, hell, or something supernatural like that.Apparently, the wordwould mean it's an invisible spirit, originally, but that's rarely the case in modern fiction.Those big, evil, scary,have been moefied into cute girls in anime, as one would expect. So it's no wonder there are terms to refer to them, too, as thegirls are legitimately one of the countless types of girls you can find in anime.