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Answerman - Why Does Rock-Paper-Scissors Come Up In Anime So Much?


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Saidah Gilbert



Joined: 03 Oct 2015
Posts: 28
Location: Trinidad and Tobago
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 12:19 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comet de Rochambeau,


Isn't it supposed to be Comte?
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Sahmbahdeh



Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 712
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 1:14 pm Reply with quote
Wow, I never would have guessed this would have such an in-depth answer/history, simply based on the question. Really interesting stuff, and I find it hilarious that a global Rock-Paper-Scissors society exists.
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princess passa passa





PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 1:15 pm Reply with quote
Please note Japanese people use it ALL the time in their daily lives. It helps to take the pressure off one person making a decision and makes the decision making "equal"

They use so much that when I ask my kids to do something and pick a winner they get so confused. Just tell them janken and they start hustling.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 1:19 pm Reply with quote
Huh, I thought the game actually WAS Japanese in origin, but I guess it makes sense that it was taken from the Chinese. I remember looking this up before because I wanted to see how it managed to spread throughout the world (and when it happened). I mean, I can see WHY it spread everywhere: It's simple to remember, requires nothing more than one hand, and, until recently, was considered random enough to be used to decide things impartially without a third party (at least unless one or more of the participants is caught cheating).

Rock-paper-scissors is one of the few Japanese cultural things that's well known enough that localization never needs to change or explain anything because the viewer is assumed to know what rock-paper-scissors is. (And it's also one of the things so well known that most people nowadays have no idea it originated in Asia.) I've only seen one exception to this, the Pokémon card Misty's Duel, where there's an additional rule in that if neither player knows how to play rock-paper-scissors, you flip a coin instead to decide the outcome.

Saidah Gilbert wrote:
Quote:
Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comet de Rochambeau,


Isn't it supposed to be Comte?


Must be the mischief of autocorrect again.

Sahmbahdeh wrote:
Wow, I never would have guessed this would have such an in-depth answer/history, simply based on the question. Really interesting stuff, and I find it hilarious that a global Rock-Paper-Scissors society exists.


Not only that, but the Canadians have dominated the tournaments over pretty much the entire 21st century. The tricks you see in Hunter X Hunter when Gon and Killua enter the rock-paper-scissors tournament (as is shown in the thumbnail) are the same tricks the Canadian competitors use.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 1:22 pm Reply with quote
Sahmbahdeh wrote:
Wow, I never would have guessed this would have such an in-depth answer/history, simply based on the question. Really interesting stuff, and I find it hilarious that a global Rock-Paper-Scissors society exists.


RPS is serious business.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4064
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 1:36 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
At any rate, the actual Rock-Paper-Scissors seemed to (re?) emerge in Europe in the mid-1700s where it was, for some reason, associated with the French Army General Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comet de Rochambeau, who supported George Washington in the American Revolution. For this reason, the game is still known as "Roshambo" in Europe (where it does not mean a kick to the nuts).


Living in a part of the US that was heavily influenced by Lafayette, "Roshambo" seems like an Englishman got a hold of the name and spat on it.

Come on, you silly redcoats, it's French, it's not that hard...

Oh and why not "Rock Paper, Scissors"? Rochambeau is just easier to say.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13223
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 1:43 pm Reply with quote
Let's not forget the greatest application Japan has for the game Wink

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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 1:45 pm Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:

RPS is serious business.


A general rule I've noticed is that if anyone can make something into serious business, someone has done it, and if it's something the mainstream knows about, there's an entire group that'smade it into serious business.

That being said, these competitions are rather informal and party-like in their atmosphere (at least the major ones I've seen). They're not like golf, where everyone needs to look classy and such. They feel closer to those Red Bull gliding competitions.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 1:47 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
As for Japan, shoushiling made it there in the 1600s as a Chinese drinking game.


Although other Chinese drinking games also had Jun-Ken-like qualities to them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2SL0Q4xlTA

princess passa passa wrote:
Please note Japanese people use it ALL the time in their daily lives. It helps to take the pressure off one person making a decision and makes the decision making "equal"
They use so much that when I ask my kids to do something and pick a winner they get so confused. Just tell them janken and they start hustling.


We use flipping coins, but coins in ancient Japan weren't as distinctly two-sided to say "heads or tails".
Me, I could never understand how three or four girls in anime could use Jun-Ken to decide how one person would do something--Wouldn't the results basically be circular?

Amidakuji is usually the other big decision-maker for voting one-person's choice out of a group, but that one looks more final, and rock-paper-scissors has so many "do-overs", it's hard to stop. Smile
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AksaraKishou



Joined: 16 May 2015
Posts: 1410
Location: End of the World
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 2:41 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The University of Lisbon


...please do something more productive. Laughing
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4404
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 2:48 pm Reply with quote
leafy sea dragon wrote:
Huh, I thought the game actually WAS Japanese in origin, but I guess it makes sense that it was taken from the Chinese. I remember looking this up before because I wanted to see how it managed to spread throughout the world (and when it happened). I mean, I can see WHY it spread everywhere: It's simple to remember, requires nothing more than one hand, and, until recently, was considered random enough to be used to decide things impartially without a third party (at least unless one or more of the participants is caught cheating).

Rock-paper-scissors is one of the few Japanese cultural things that's well known enough that localization never needs to change or explain anything because the viewer is assumed to know what rock-paper-scissors is. (And it's also one of the things so well known that most people nowadays have no idea it originated in Asia.) I've only seen one exception to this, the Pokémon card Misty's Duel, where there's an additional rule in that if neither player knows how to play rock-paper-scissors, you flip a coin instead to decide the outcome.
.


I know I was pretty surprised when Goku used it as an attack in Dragon Ball. Prior to that, I had no idea it was a multinational thing.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin



Joined: 20 Apr 2009
Posts: 3524
Location: Bellevue, WA
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 2:51 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
I know I was pretty surprised when Goku used it as an attack in Dragon Ball. Prior to that, I had no idea it was a multinational thing.

Are you sure you don't mean Gon in Hunter X Hunter?
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 3:11 pm Reply with quote
princess passa passa wrote:
Please note Japanese people use it ALL the time in their daily lives. It helps to take the pressure off one person making a decision and makes the decision making "equal"

Useful though it may be, I keep experiencing ties, sometimes consecutively. Plus, the robots have already defeated us in such a game.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 3:25 pm Reply with quote
Zin5ki wrote:
Useful though it may be, I keep experiencing ties, sometimes consecutively. Plus, the robots have already defeated us in such a game.


Although Miku is a little less of a challenge to play against:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqRTBR7JzCU Anime smile
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epicwizard



Joined: 03 Jul 2014
Posts: 420
Location: Ashburn, VA
PostPosted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 3:30 pm Reply with quote
Every kids and family anime has rock-paper-scissors presented in some fashion. Newer episodes of the 2005 series of Doraemon have a mini segment called "Dora-Gao Janken" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvZoMJrFqeU), Sazae-san episodes since 1991 have a mini segment of the game (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dLJrUhJ7LE), a few episodes of Shin-chan have one of the characters playing it, Anpanman has presented it a good amount of times (e.g. Creampanda's main attack called "Rock-scissors-punch"), one episode of Mysterious Joker (I forgot which one) has Ginko and Momo playing it. The list never ends.

Last edited by epicwizard on Wed Nov 22, 2017 6:31 pm; edited 1 time in total
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