Welcome to the Nihongo Lesson feature. We strive to give you useful manga-based Japanese language tips and maybe even a glimpse into the translation process. This week's lesson will feature words from the epic battles from One Piece and Black Clover. In a previous lesson, we learned MAHOU (まほう), which means "magic." Now let's take this to the next level!

YAMI (やみ)

YAMI is not only the name of one of the coolest Magic Knight captains around, it also means "darkness." And it happens to be the type of magic that Yami Sukehiro uses. Darkness has always been a cool power to have in manga. Traditionally, it's the type of ability that villains like Black Beard from One Piece would use. That makes it pretty refreshing in Black Clover where the good guy uses dark magic while the antagonist uses light magic!

HIKARI (ひかり)

HIKARI means "light" and it's the type of magic used by Licht in Black Clover. Incidentally, Licht means "light" in German! Light magic is quite formidable with all that speed and Licht has been using some pretty inventive techniques. Luckily for the Black Bulls, they have a guy with Mirror Magic! The main rivalry in Hikaru no Go also features two characters with names that reference "light." Hikaru means "to shine" while Akira can mean "brightness."

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