Ever wondered how to pronounce the ‘x’ in Spy x Family? If you’re going to do it like the Japanese do, the answer is… you don’t pronounce it at all, as the ‘x’ is silent. Let’s look more at how we’re potentially mispronouncing some famous anime names!
You’re Saying it Wrong! Anime Names We’re All Mispronouncing
Do you pronounce the “X” in Spy X Family or are you normal?
— Pride (@PridefuISin) April 20, 2022
I saw a tweet by @PridefuISin asking whether people pronounce the ‘x’ in Spy x Family, which elicited lots of discussion by fans. So let’s roll up our sleeves and see how many anime names we’re potentially saying wrong!
In theory, an ‘x’ could be pronounced many different ways depending on the context. Spy ex Family. Spy by Family. Spy cross Family. If you like math, Spy times Family, Spy multiplied by Family, or Spy kakeru Family, in Japanese. If you like Sanrio characters, maybe Spy batsu Family? If you’ve read too many sexy doujins, perhaps your brain might supply Spy vs Family or Spy ships Family for the name. And so on.
But if you want to say it like the cool Japanese kids do, the ‘x’ is silent, so Spy x Family is pronounced as “Spy Family.” It’s right there in the title, too: スパイファミリー.
The X is Silent in Other Anime Names?
Since a lot of anime have an ‘x’ in their titles, this means the list of anime names you’ve potentially been saying wrong is quite long. Here are some examples…
- Kiss x Sis (it’s just “Kiss Sis”)
- Hunter x Hunter (Hunter Hunter, etc.)
- Servant x Service
- xxxHOLIC (to Japanese fans, it’s just ホリック or “HOLIC”)
- If you’ve ever wondered how to pronounce PxPxP, the popular onahole maker, it’s “PPP.”
What about High School DxD? Among Japanese fans, it’s not “D ex D” but just “DD”…which is probably a reference to Rias Gremory’s bra size. Makes sense.
Why is the Spy x Family anime so good? Read my blog post about the show here!
Some Anime Names are Tricky On Purpose
Of course, sometimes creators come up with names that even Japanese fans don’t know how to pronounce properly. In the same way that learning what four-syllable abbreviation will be used by fandom to refer to the work (e.g. 俺いも Oreimo, あの花 AnoHana), decoding the proper way to pronounce the title of a show is part of getting into that work.
Here are some anime titles that are more challenging to figure out:
- Inu x Boku SS is officially read as “Inu Boku Secret Service,” but I’m sure fans just called it “InuBoku.”
- You’re supposed to pronounce Masou Gakuen HxH as “Masou Gakuen Hybrid Heart.” Who the hell does that?
- れでぃ×ばと! is officially read as Ladies versus Butlers!
- DNA² is pronounced, “DNA 2” rather than “DNA squared” among Japanese fans.
- C³ is pronounced as “C Cube, and it stands for Cube×Cursed×Curious.
- Obviously, the star character in the Lucky ☆ Star is silent, so you don’t say Lucky Star Star. But then Lucky Star fans think the song contains the lyrics “I buy sausage,” so you can never make assumptions.
- Sometimes creators can be sneaky: Shining Tears X Wind is the official “Shining Tears Cross Wind.”
- The Clamp anime X is pronounced “Ex,” or often “Ex TV” if referring to the TV anime series specifically.
- Classic anime Megazone 23 and Galaxy Express 999 are pronounced “Megazone Two-Three” and “Galaxy Express Three-Nine.”
- The letter W is often pronounced as “double,” for example in product marketing, implying 2x the effectiveness. But if it’s Gundam W, you read it “Gundam Wing.”
- The “plus” in Rosario + Vampire is silent.
- If you think the ‘g’ in Evangelion is soft (as in giraffe) because the show features Angels, I’ve got bad news for you: the ‘g’ is hard (as in great). Katakana doesn’t lie: エヴァンゲリオン.
The X Refers to ‘Shipping’ Couples
Using the letter ‘x’ to tie two characters together first entered the awareness of Westerners in the late 90s when the first naughty doujinshi from Gundam Wing started to be a thing, and J-List would get requests from fans asking for more books with “Heero x Duo” pairings, and whatever. The name listed first denotes the seme with the second name being the uke. Man, those were such fun days…
So the ‘x’ in Spy x Family ties the two words together in a way that’s almost romantic. Does this mean the new fake family of Loid Forger is going to become more and more important to him in the future? That’s fine with me!
Incidentally, the term shipping, as in fans obsessing about whether two fictional characters should be in a romantic relationship or not, came from mid-90s X-Files fandom. So it’s tempting to think that the “X” might have leaked over from X-Files fandom, though yaoi doujins had already adopted this shorthand for denoting romantic couplings by 1995, so it’s likely just a coincidence.
It’s Golden Week in Japan this week. Read my post about the history of these holidays here!
Anime Fans Won’t Care if They’re Prounoucing Anime Names Wrong
I know from experience that most fans won’t care how the Japanese are pronouncing any given anime name and will go on saying Evangelion with a soft ‘g,’ as if it were an “evangelical” anime. They’ll pronounce the name in whatever way their peers are saying it to avoid embarrassment because that’s how human beings function.
Of course, pronouncing things is hard. When we see a symbol, we assign a pronunciation to it based on whatever logic our brains can apply to it, and we hope for the best. When I see a # symbol, I call it a “pound” because I first used it in programming back in high school, though I know logically that “number sign” is probably a better term. My wife, who is musically inclined, calls it a “sharp” while my Instagram-loving daughter calls it a “hashtag mark.” All these labels are “correct” depending on the context.
How to Know the “Canon” Way to Pronounce Anime, Anyway?
While fans might argue endlessly about how to pronounce this title or that, there’s an easy way to find out for sure: just watch the preview for the next episode in Japanese, and they’ll say it. Saabisu, saabisu!
Thanks for reading this post about the proper way to pronounce anime like Spy x Family! Got any other anime titles you struggled with? Post them in the comments below, or reply to us on Twitter!
It may be Golden Week in Japan, but J-List isn’t letting up adding gorgeous new anime figures to the site. See the newest cute and sexy anime figures we’ve posted for you here, and enjoy our new lower shipping prices and $25 shipping support coupon for all orders of $150 or more coming from Japan!
