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Teenage kids in Japan seem to be using this word　a lot these days and it doesn't really have any real meaning? (in the sense that they are using it)

まんじ！

I've seen different kinds on twitter etc where it is written in the kanji form;

うわ、めっちゃウケるｗ卍

こいつやばいな卍

卍スタバなう卍

etc.

It seems to me like it is just a thing you say after something both bad and good, and also that something can BE まんじ; i.e you see a hot girl > she is まんじ, you see a nice car > まんじ

I know that the Kanji 卍 is what marks shrines on Japanese maps, and that it comes from a symbol meaning sun(?). But the slang phrase has another meaning.

Thoughts or comments? What is the origin?

It takes me back a few years when the phrase パリピー (パリピーポー [party people]) came to be the coolest thing to say ever. At first people used it when actually referring to party people (like going to the club etc) but then it lost its meaning and now people can say パリピー to basically everything good or bad.

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  • This is just a guess, but maybe it's supposed to be まじ?
    – Kurausukun
    Jun 8, 2017 at 3:20
  • 4
    Apparently this is a real phenomenon, but unfortunately I have no idea what it means or how it's used. Maybe I've grown old too much :)
    – naruto
    Jun 8, 2017 at 4:20
  • Just as the transition from すごい → すっごい → すんごい, I wonder if this derived from まじ　(まじ → まっじ → まんじ).
    – istrasci
    Jun 8, 2017 at 15:55

3 Answers 3

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My Japanese is getting a bit rusty, but this Japanese site seems to say it has 3 main uses:

  1. The act of posing for a picture, and the sound you make during the pose
  2. A term for referring to yancha
  3. Something you say when you're excited about something
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This explanation about popular expressions of 2016 says: 「まんじ、卍」＝”まじ調子にのっている、友達同士の絆のマーク、意味をもたないケースも有”, which corresponds to (a) "being at the top of your game/being on a roll", (b) a symbol of the bonds between friends, or (c) no particular meaning.

That last one probably matches No. 3 from Brent Ackerman, but the differences in the other meanings listed suggest that the meaning is still fluctuating.

I didn't see any mention of it, but I wonder if the recent popularity of the word is related to the release of the movie adaptation of the 無限の住人 (Blade of the Immortal) manga, since, if memory serve, Manji is the name of (and symbol adopted by?) the badass main character in that story.

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As far as the user on the Internet goes, it's a substitute for マジ。i.e. "for real". If you replace 卍 with "for realz!!" and if it makes sense, that's what it means.

Sometimes it's a decoration for emphasis.

卍スタバなう卍

could be as easily

＊スタバなう＊

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