0

I am currently reading a story titled “妖艶くのいち～濡れた花弁” (Unofficial translation: “Voluptuous Female Ninja: Wet Petals”). Early on in the story, a female ninja named Hasumi foils an assassination attempt on her lord. The assassin, who had both his hands sliced off, runs off into the bamboo forest. Her lord orders Hasumi to pursue the assassin and make sure he does not get away. She does exactly that. In fact, she manages to get in front of the assassin and cut him in two. However, as soon as she has done so, the following happens.

Panel showing ズオオオオオ

In case you are curious, one of the ninjas is gloating that she fell into their trap, another one is cheerfully explaining that the ninja that she had just cut down was bait to lure into the aforementioned trap, and one more boasts that she cannot escape them. By the way, this group of ninjas calls themselves the “竹輪房殺の陣” (Unofficial translation: “Fish Sausage Link Killing Squad”), which is actually pretty funny. I will leave it up to you to figure out why the name is funny.

With that said, the only part that I have not been able to figure out is the word “ズオオオオオ.” I tried to look it up in The Jaded Network (http://thejadednetwork.com/sfx/), but it is not in there. I also tried to Google “ズオオオオオ,” but I had no luck there.

If I had to guess, the word seems to indicate the sound of dropping down from a far height. However, I would very much like to hear everyone's thoughts on the meaning of the word.

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

I think your guess is close enough. Generally, ズオオオオオ looks like the sound of cutting through the air at high speed, which should match (well enough) your description.

For the real sound, I found the following:

Totally irrelevant to the question, but fish sausage looks to me more like 魚肉ソーセージ....

Improve this answer
4
  • I got that translation for 竹輪 from ALC (eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%e7%ab%b9%e8%bc%aa). Interestingly enough, the translation for 魚肉ソーセージ from ALC (eow.alc.co.jp/…) is “fish meat sausage” and “fish sausage.” Of course, other sources say “tube-shaped fish paste cake” for 竹輪, but that is a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it?
    – Micheal Gignac
    Commented Dec 8, 2022 at 22:42
  • 竹輪 is actually a specific type of "fish sausage" or "fish cake" made by pressing ground fish meat around a stick and then broiling or steaming it (thus, among other things, it has a characteristic long shape with a hole down the middle, which is part of how it gets its name). It is usually just called "chukuwa" in English too, I believe (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikuwa). But because of its well-known distinctive shape (and hole down the middle), it is often used as a euphemism in dirty jokes, etc, as well..
    – Foogod
    Commented Dec 8, 2022 at 22:59
  • @MichealGignac Didn't mean that it was wrong. Actually the ingredient is the same.
    – sundowner
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 13:21
  • @Foogod: Oh, I see. Well, I can't say I'm surprised that chikuwa is often used as a euphemism in dirty jokes. After all, sausages are often used as a euphemism in dirty jokes as well.
    – Micheal Gignac
    Commented Dec 9, 2022 at 20:46

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .