兄貴の知り合い?
あにきのしりあい?
aniki no shiriai?
Listen to Ritsuka from Loveless say this phrase!
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aniki = brother
no = possessive particle
shiriai = acquaintance
aniki 兄貴
Kanji literally indicate “esteemed older brother.”
Other ways of saying “Older brother”:
onii-san= the supposed standard form
nii-chan = very informally
onii-sama = very respectful variant
aniue = another formal/respectful variant (more old-fashioned or historical)
Traditionally, using aniki is associated with gangsters and other tough sorts who live outside the law. As with other family terms, can indicate someone not actually blood-related. Although you can use aniki without being a gangster, especially in anime, it does still sound rough and somewhat unusual.
Ritsuka is a little unusual anyhow, since he most frequently refers to his brother by name as Seimei, which is basically a Japanese faux-pas. I mean, hardly anyone does this. I’m actually not sure why he does this. Is it because Seimei is dead? (No idea, really!)
おばあさまが
obaasama ga
Very simple phrase. Just two points to make:
1. “-sama,” a word I’m sure you’ve heard at some point in your career as an otaku, is an honorific suffix that, when attached to the ends of names is often translated as “Lord”/”Lady”/”Sir” etc. However, you may not have known that you can attach this suffix to the titles of your family members as well, to show more than average respect for them (or to show that you’re an extremely formal person). In general, people today don’t keep with this practice. These days, you generally only use “-sama” if someone is a special guest or something of the like. Otherwise, one shows a general level of respect by using others’ titles (sensei, shachou, okaasan, etc) or last name-san.
Some examples of using “-sama” with family members: “neesama” (Elder Sister), “otousama” (Father, though usually if one is that formal they’ll use the somewhat archaic “chichi-ue” instead)
2. “ga” here marks and emphasizes the subject of the implicit (incomplete) sentence, which in this case is probably “obaasama ga korosareta” (“My grandmother was killed”). Although Ion doesn’t say what happened to his grandma, it is obvious that something happened because of the use of “ga.” Think of it as an emphasizer.
Listen to Ion from Trinity Blood say “obaasama ga”
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o-baa-sama = (hon-)grandmother(-honorific suffix)
ga = particle marking the subject
