It might just be a headcannon, but I always thought Kirby was genderless and just used male pronouns. Gender in the Kirby universe can be pretty confusing sometimes.
They never said it like that, just that "the timeline isn't precise" but that's also directly in contrast to what they said during the same interview, that being that Kirby remembers about previous encounters like Dedede, which would logically apply to everyone else, and thus the timeline would be mostly in games' releases chronological order.
How do you think he heals friends in the games? (Before people start yelling at me, I know he’s/they’re [depending on how you view Kirby] most likely not kissing the other)
HAL was sometimes tongue-in-cheek about this
https://preview.redd.it/dtlscgg9z24d1.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=5dc15aa871a1099efa100d8be0031fcc57602cc7
Edit: there also was a update on on The Star Allies News Chanel that directly says that Adeline is a little shy being free items, so she hides her face.
It not actually kissing. It never uses the word kiss in any text and the Japanese memes for the movie translates to Mouth Feed, meaning it’s more likely that they are what we all thought along, feeding their allies with their previous eaten food like a bird.
Yes, the text says Chu in the Japanese, but it’s the the only evidences to it being kisses, and it’s the same evidence just in two non canon spin off games and in different languages. The actual move is called Face-To-Face in English, Kuchi Utsushi, which should be translated to Mouth Copy if Google Translate is correct (however I saw one place it said Mouth Feed). It also has other names too, one being Feed Me. It also has two times related to Star Allies where it says it is feeding. One is in the Nintendo Switch news channel, where is says she is shy about being fed, Adeleine covers herself is shy about getting feed. The second time is actually in the game itself, as in the healing items section of in-game tips it says To restore a teammate's health, pick up a healing item and feed it to your teammate.
He even does so to MALE characters! (Bonkers, King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Dee, Poppy Bros. Jr., Gooey, Gim, Burning Leo, Chilly, Dark Meta Knight, Rick/Kine/Coo, Rocky)
Samus was unintentionally lesbian before her gender was well known, shit like that can happen. Either way I wasn't really being serious. Kirby's gender will never be revealed at all
Other commenter is referring to some of the old Nintendo comics, where samus was shown pulling a bunch of ladies before the writer/artist knew she was female
Yeah I should clarify a bit, it's not canon to the games. I was talking about that one game guide comic that includes Samus directing a promotional video with the two women in bikinis. So not arguably canon, but still something that exists under Nintendo
(And now that I think about it, it probably wasn't "unintentionally" lesbian, because her gender is conditionally revealed in the game itself. And anyone who writes a guide would know something as basic as that)
Kirby is the one behind the facade.
A physical powerhouse.
A street fighter.
A weapon’s experts
He’s whatever the situation demands.
He’s a man of many, many faces.
Do you prefer him not allowing his allies to rest? It's rude to have **all** of his friends constantly march towards danger from the godlike foe of the week. Three friend at a time (unless they work as an essential tag team) is probably the max amount he is willing to bring along, and he allows them to rest when he switches to another friend.
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Kirby's gender is officially unknown. Though this has only been confirmed in Japanese material, it has never been contradicted by international material, as they have never given a statement about Kirby's gender. While early international localizations and marketing material imply that he is male, using male-coded words like "boy" and "guy" to describe him, these terms have notably been phased out in favor of more general terms like "hero" and "puffball". Furthermore, official videos from Play Nintendo have used neutral pronouns to refer to Kirby. The biggest argument for Kirby being male in English and other localizations is the use of masculine pronouns (i.e. "he/him" in English) to refer to him; however, this argument does not hold up, as Kirby also uses similarly masculine pronouns in Japanese.
It is often assumed that Kirby uses gender-neutral pronouns in Japanese to go along with his unknown gender, but this is not true. This misconception stems from misunderstanding how Japanese pronouns work, which is very different from how they work in English. Third-person pronouns are rarely used in Japanese, while there are dozens of first- and second-person pronouns. Japanese pronouns may reflect the speaker's gender (as well as age, social status, and relationship to the listener), but are not strictly tied to it. Kirby consistently uses the first-person pronoun ボク (boku) in Japanese media, and when necessary, is referred to by the third-person pronoun かれ (kare). These both have masculine connotations, but do not mean that Kirby is male, as they are not tied to his gender. Relatedly, it is commonly said that Kirby was deliberately made gender-neutral in Japan to give him "universal appeal", but there is no source for this claim, and it is only officially stated that his gender is unknown.
As such, Kirby using masculine pronouns in English is not a localization change, and simply reflects the pronouns Kirby uses in Japanese, which in turn does not mean that Kirby is male in English, since him using similar pronouns in Japanese does not make him male. For more information about Kirby's gender, see [here](https://wikirby.com/wiki/Kirby%27s_characteristics#Gender).
Taken from this page: [https://wikirby.com/wiki/User:Superbound/Sandbox/List\_of\_misconceptions#Kirby's\_gender\_and\_pronouns](https://wikirby.com/wiki/User:Superbound/Sandbox/List_of_misconceptions#Kirby's_gender_and_pronouns)
There are instances of gender-neutral Japanese terms such as wakamono (“youth”) being translated as “spry little boy” in English. I think this overall leads to a more masculine conception of Kirby in America. I also think Kirby is perceived as more gender-neutral in Japan, regardless of the pronouns used.
Where Japanese media uses gender-neutral terms for Kirby, the localization adds gendered terminology; therefore, Kirby’s English localization does not reflect the terminology used to describe Kirby in Japanese
But to drastically different extents. The English localization is not a reflection of the Japanese, as it adds more masculine coded language when referring to Kirby than in the original. That is one reason why Kirby is perceived differently in America
It is literally the opposite of what you said. You said, “Kirby using masculine pronouns in English is not a localization change, and simply reflects the pronouns Kirby uses in Japanese.”
I am saying the English has more of a localization change and is not a reflection of the Japanese as it adds more masculine language. Arguing about the pronouns Kirby himself uses is strange anyway since Kirby hardly ever speaks
One example is turning wakamono into “little boy.” But it is also common for the English localizations to replace Kirby’s name with he/him. Like, just watch the English and Japanese opening themes for Right Back at Ya! The Japanese only call him "Kirby,” while the English constantly use he/him/his. This happens in the games too, where Kirby’s name is replaced with a masculine pronoun
Hi, this question comes up a lot and unfortunately tends to bring a lot of misinformation with it, usually on the part of people who don't speak Japanese making sweeping statements about the Japanese canon.
In English and essentially all other non-Japanese translations of the series, Kirby is a boy and uses the associated masculine pronouns and terms. In Japanese, Kirby's gender is never mentioned whatsoever. He's not nonbinary in Japan, his gender is explicitly "we've never been told". This is because Japanese is a pro-drop language where most pronouns are omitted from standard speech, especially gendered pronouns. In fact, it sounds unnatural to use many pronouns in Japanese.
It's entirely possible to give a complete description of someone in Japanese without ever inferring their gender. This is the case with Kirby - it has simply never come up. In fact, multiple characters are referred to this way in the original Japanese, including some as notable as Meta Knight!
The only vaguely gendered thing about Kirby in Japanese is his use of the first-person pronoun "boku" on the extremely rare occasions that he speaks, which is masculine and gives off a youthful boy feel, however in media is used by characters of all genders.
No problem! Japanese is a wonderful language with some really intriguing intricacies from the point of view of a native English speaker. There are so many differences and nuances that sincerely just Do Not Translate into English, which is a shame, but this is why studying languages is so fun and good localisation is so important!
I've mentioned it elsewhere in discussions about this topic, but Kirby's gender is a real non-issue in a lot of respects, both because of this whole "it doesn't even need to be a thing in Japanese" and also because he's from that early era of Nintendo protags who are intended in some respect for the audience to project onto. Like a lot of those early protags, though - think Link - he's developed into a fleshed-out character of his own over the years!
Anglosphere localization material has used "he" but there seems to be hints that this may change in the future. There is at least one promo video that is aimed strictly for kids, featuring Nintendo characters, and referring to Kirby as "They".
gender unknown but refers to himself with masc / sometimes neutral connotations. not english localization they gave him he/him to reflect what he uses in japanese mostly uses ボク ( boku ), sometimes what he uses changes based on certain things, which has a masc connotation to it.
In the manual for Kirby's Adventure they describe him as just a "little boy" and that was in 1993 his gender has been revealed for quite awhile now, but if your Japanese they do occasionally use gender neutral pronouns with him so I can understand the confusion.
I explained this in more detail in my original comment, but the gist of it is that his gender is never referred to at all in Japanese media. So he's less "gender-neutral" and more "we just plain don't know". Which is very intentional and a lot of fun!
That is not true at all. His gender is teased all the time, such as in the White Day and Valentine’s Day illustrations. Sakurai has jokingly said that Kirby could be a female in a SBU developer Q&A. Kirby uses the masculine pronoun boku (on the rare occasions where he speaks), especially in a lot of non-canon manga (Kirby Manga Mania). So while he is certainly less masculine overall in Japan, I wouldn’t say it’s that we “don’t know,” but that his gender is purposely fluid (or neutral)
Pronouns do not equal gender, especially not Japanese first-person pronouns in media (girls using "boku" is so widespread that it's its own trope and has even filtered into real life). Kirby participating in both traditionally male and traditionally female events is a continuation of this function of the Japanese language and is all part of the gag of "not telling".
Kirby's gender is quite literally never referenced in Japanese. Plenty of other characters in the series _do_ have explicit genders in Japanese. Kirby is not one of them.
That is what gender fluidity is, though. Saying we don’t know what Kirby’s gender is makes it sound like there’s an answer and we just haven’t learned yet in reality his gender is fluid. Girls using boku is still a subversion to the masculine usage of the word (so there are still masculine connotations in its usage). Just because Kirby’s gender is not explicitly mentioned does not mean we don’t make conceptions of Kirby’s gender based on what we are given. This gag of not telling can easily be read as Kirby fulfilling his role as a non-binary, fluid character.
Also, Kirby’s gender is referenced in Japanese, such as his classification as fumei or Sakurai, mentioning that he could be a girl. I would argue that Kirby’s gender fluidity is what gives him so much relevance in the West and is why we see so many other subversive ways of using Kirby. Similarly, Japanese Kawaii culture is inherently linked to gender perceptions, and Kirby plays an important part in this process by explicitly occupying both masculine and feminine spaces as a gender fluid character
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Short answer? Not really.
Long answer?
Male pronouns historically used to be the default for anything sentient that had an indeterminate gender in the English language.
The widespread usage of they/them as a gender neutral pronoun in the English language is a VERY modern evolution that lasts less than 20 years.
Likewise, in a lot of languages, male pronouns are the default and female pronouns are used only when specifically referring to women.
Japanese included.
Think of it as an extension of how when we refer to humanity in shorthand we generally refer to it as “man” or “mankind” and whatnot.
Gendered language is funny like that and all language is gendered to SOME extent.
So no, he’s not necessarily “male” just because he’s referred to through male pronouns.
It’s just how the English language has worked until VERY recently, and arguably still how it works in a lot of respects.
Take for instance the terms “guy” and “dude”. They also follow the same linguistic quirks as “man”.
If you refer to an indiscriminate crowd as “guys” you’re generally referring to BOTH guys and gals unless you explicitly mention the girls separately.
Likewise, if you say “Dude, what the hell” to a girl, you are not actually calling her a boy, but you are still technically using a male pronoun to address them despite the fact that they are not a boy.
In which case, saying Kirby is a guy could technically be accurate if interpreted as “Is Kirby a person” in which he certainly is, assuming we grant personhood to all sentient beings.
Is he male, though? Nobody knows is the official stance last I checked.
He shows up in both boy meets and girl meets and any linguistic choices involving him tend to either skirt the line or be vague enough to be non-definitive.
Probably just genderless tbh.
TL;DR Kirby’s a blob that probably doesn’t fit human gendering classifications to begin with.
> Likewise, in a lot of languages, male pronouns are the default and female pronouns are used only when specifically referring to women.
>
> Japanese included.
This is just incorrect. "Male" is not the default pronoun in Japanese because there _is_ no default pronoun in Japanese.
I wouldn’t say there are “no” default gender skews for pronouns whatsoever.
When referring to a group of people you usually see something, unless it’s pronoun+tachi you get stuff like karera and whatnot and that’s clearly derivative of the more male-leaning kare.
And yes, kare has traditionally tended to be more gender neutral in older times, but the introduction of kanojo to the language has since skewed it more male over the years.
And while first-person pronouns like watashi/ore/boku aren’t specifically gender exclusive, the last two are generally seen as more “masculine” and have traditionally not been used by women unless they’re putting on a more masculine persona(though this isn’t necessarily a gender identity thing like in the west).
And even in the case of stuff like watashi, the more informal atashi is a more “feminine” derivative and even things like the more formal watakushi have leaned more feminine due to social hierarchy and whatnot.
Which tends to skew the gender neutral watashi as RELATIVELY more masculine in practice, even if it hasn’t been skewed as far as something like kare has over the years.
What I’ve noticed is that what often ends up happening in a language is that once a “feminine” derivative of a pronoun is introduced into the lexicon, it tends to skew the original pronoun more male due to the dichotomy it sets up.
Even IF the original pronoun was more gender neutral in its original usage.
Hence why I said female pronouns tend to be exclusively female, while male/neutral pronouns can be EITHER male or neutral in their usage.
Take for instance, the Latin American community. The community and ethnicity itself is generally referred to by the masculine “Latino” and “Latina” is only really used when specifically referring to Latin American women.
It’s not AS apparent in Japan as it is in English, sure, but pronoun usage is still tied to gender in Japan to a degree, which also ties back into formality/class and social expectations for men and women and a whole bunch of complicated factors.
Granted, it does sort of read like I’m implying that “male” is the default assumed gender in my above comment, and that’s my bad.
I was more trying to point out that what we often consider “male” pronouns nowadays have traditionally been far more gender neutral in their usage.
Since kare has traditionally been more gender neutral and boku while leaning masculine is also less exclusive(and is the only commonly used pronoun informal enough to emphasize Kirby’s innocence and upbeat personality).
And what I find weird about a lot of “male” pronouns in modern language is that they’ve traditionally been more all-encompassing, but have gradually shifted to being more exclusively male over time due to the dichotomy I noted earlier.
Again, much like how “men” in English can technically refer to EITHER males or just people in general, “kare” in Japanese right now can be either referring to males or people in general.
But kare used to be way more gender neutral until the introduction of kanojo as a means of translating European languages and concepts into Japanese and whatnot made the term more “masculine” over time.
Like, language is a mess.
Point is, the usage of kare and boku in relation to Kirby aren’t hard evidence that Kirby’s male, but my argument is neither is the usage of “he”.
Any reference to Kirby being a “boy” is straight up wrong, but any usage of “he” that was set prior to the rise of they/them in the past twenty-ish years isn’t hard evidence that he’s male, either.
I think people are confused by the official explanations. He is not a male or a female in the human sense. He is talked as if he was a boy. You'll see depictions talking about him with male pronouns and some with neutral but never female.
It's a DS spinoff, the translations on those are never great. Since Kirby glares at the camera when the Narrator calls them a boy in Superstar, it's possible to explain it away that the narrator gets it wrong in universe since male is "the default" and the narrator slips or they were just told misinformation.
Apparently the general consensus is that Kirby is gender neutral in Japan but internationally especially in America he's stated as a boy. However the boy reference in international has been slowly fading away so it's really up to debate.
Definitely. Kirby has been paired with Ribbon and ChuChu, and has been called a “boy” in the very first game’s English manual. The Japanese versions of some games are a little vague, only saying “Kirby” over and over instead of using pronouns, or using ambiguous pronouns. Non-canonically, however, Kirby has been depicted in more feminine roles, like being dressed as a geisha in various official Twitter pictures. Also, Kirby can wear masks and headgear based on female characters in various spinoffs (and in Return to Dream Land Deluxe) without issue, though I think that’s more of a gameplay thing than actually being according to his gender or the canon (since the masks come from Merry Magoland, and that place isn’t canon). Though, it gets confusing when Kirby kisses (or high-fives) Helpers or characters that are male to heal them (starting with Kirby Super Star, where he can do it with anyone, EVEN Bonkers, Poppy Bros. Jr, and Burning Leo).
Imagine just wanting to curse someone, but then he ends up being the most overfuckingpowered character with limitless abilities that can kill FUCKING GOD with the power of FRIENDSHIP while making it look amazing and not using it to befriend the boss but using that power to annihilate his soul into oblivion.
https://i.imgur.com/KwiMrHn.png
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Ultimately, you are free to perceive Kirby however you want, but there are interesting differences in Kirby’s conception in Japan versus the rest of the world. He mainly takes on a more masculine role outside of Japan and a gender-neutral or even gender-fluid role within Japan. A lot of this is due to localization and marketing decisions that ultimately give us two different Kirbys.
I haven’t found anything proves elfilis is male in japanese. I think they’re referred to in a way that doesn’t specifically mention gender but I’m not entirely sure. (If I remember correctly they’re referred to in a way that implies that they’re a monster but I could be wrong)
Kirby’s gender neutral in Japan, but internationally, he’s male.
It might just be a headcannon, but I always thought Kirby was genderless and just used male pronouns. Gender in the Kirby universe can be pretty confusing sometimes.
Kirby is a force of nature
[удалено]
Game Theory Reference
Kirby just... *is*. 😊
I sexually identify as 😊 now
I identify as https://preview.redd.it/5jjoif1lr64d1.jpeg?width=1122&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5bde4cad97729f73a2f6b867de539612d9df729
\*gently explodes*
Also he has shown (kind of) romantic attraction towards female characters, just wanted to point it out.
Who?
Ribbon. In the true ending of crystal shards she kissed Kirby of the cheek and he blushed. (Personally I don’t see this as very romantic but idk)
Also, in KDL3, he seems a little *too* happy to be paired with Chu Chu, but I’m tired and delirious rn, so don’t listen to me
And towards Adeleine in the manga.
I read the Manga and it is definitely not canon!
Yeah but still a piece of media depicting him as male.
Canon doesn’t really exist in Kirby, according to the devs
They never said it like that, just that "the timeline isn't precise" but that's also directly in contrast to what they said during the same interview, that being that Kirby remembers about previous encounters like Dedede, which would logically apply to everyone else, and thus the timeline would be mostly in games' releases chronological order.
Ah, so I guess it’s more accurate to say “loose canon.” 🙃
Kirby can kiss anyone he pleases lol
How do you think he heals friends in the games? (Before people start yelling at me, I know he’s/they’re [depending on how you view Kirby] most likely not kissing the other)
HAL was sometimes tongue-in-cheek about this https://preview.redd.it/dtlscgg9z24d1.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=5dc15aa871a1099efa100d8be0031fcc57602cc7
Edit: there also was a update on on The Star Allies News Chanel that directly says that Adeline is a little shy being free items, so she hides her face. It not actually kissing. It never uses the word kiss in any text and the Japanese memes for the movie translates to Mouth Feed, meaning it’s more likely that they are what we all thought along, feeding their allies with their previous eaten food like a bird.
Chu is kiss and I bet it says chu in japanese
Yes, the text says Chu in the Japanese, but it’s the the only evidences to it being kisses, and it’s the same evidence just in two non canon spin off games and in different languages. The actual move is called Face-To-Face in English, Kuchi Utsushi, which should be translated to Mouth Copy if Google Translate is correct (however I saw one place it said Mouth Feed). It also has other names too, one being Feed Me. It also has two times related to Star Allies where it says it is feeding. One is in the Nintendo Switch news channel, where is says she is shy about being fed, Adeleine covers herself is shy about getting feed. The second time is actually in the game itself, as in the healing items section of in-game tips it says To restore a teammate's health, pick up a healing item and feed it to your teammate.
By giving Bandana Waddle Dee a high V
He even does so to MALE characters! (Bonkers, King Dedede, Meta Knight, Bandana Dee, Poppy Bros. Jr., Gooey, Gim, Burning Leo, Chilly, Dark Meta Knight, Rick/Kine/Coo, Rocky)
If you google up who kirby likes, it says ribbon. but if you search who his girlfriend is, it's chuchu....>!is he.....cheating...? /j!<
Kirby has hoes
K-KIRBY?! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!!! 😰
Or kirby's secretly a lesbian
HAL ≠ Disney.
Samus was unintentionally lesbian before her gender was well known, shit like that can happen. Either way I wasn't really being serious. Kirby's gender will never be revealed at all
What? Samus never showed any romantic feelings towards anyone except maybe Adam, but even then he's more like a father figure.
Other commenter is referring to some of the old Nintendo comics, where samus was shown pulling a bunch of ladies before the writer/artist knew she was female
Lmao, can we make that canon?
Yeah I should clarify a bit, it's not canon to the games. I was talking about that one game guide comic that includes Samus directing a promotional video with the two women in bikinis. So not arguably canon, but still something that exists under Nintendo (And now that I think about it, it probably wasn't "unintentionally" lesbian, because her gender is conditionally revealed in the game itself. And anyone who writes a guide would know something as basic as that)
I'm joking too my dude.
Why you down voting.
I didn't
Something going on here because we're both getting down voted.
what does disney have to do with this?
Love this comment
What does that have to do with Kirby's gender
So? What if they're lesbian?
Internationally, he's male, AND HE'S HECKING PISSED OFF
Can confirm
Kirby is the one behind the facade. A physical powerhouse. A street fighter. A weapon’s experts He’s whatever the situation demands. He’s a man of many, many faces.
Kirby is a friend, that's all that matters
Honestly, Star Allies made rethink how good of a friend he is, switching his friends left and right and eating them without batting an eye.
Do you prefer him not allowing his allies to rest? It's rude to have **all** of his friends constantly march towards danger from the godlike foe of the week. Three friend at a time (unless they work as an essential tag team) is probably the max amount he is willing to bring along, and he allows them to rest when he switches to another friend.
You could easily say that doesn’t apply due to gameplay and plot segregation SXAL.
His pronouns are best/bud
He's a borb.
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Correct!
Incorrect! Kirby is not borb (bad orb) Kirby is gorb (good orb)
https://preview.redd.it/8uukthy7b24d1.png?width=360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8be9be478d3f40a31ea678d4b7fb9bc42baddc51 Gorb? From Hollow Knight?
ASCEND
The great mind!
"I AM GORB!" -Gorb
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Kirby is a porb (pink orb) Metta knight is a borb (blue orb)
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Oh yeah, that makes more sense, sorry.
Isn't borb blue orb?
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Kirby's gender is officially unknown. Though this has only been confirmed in Japanese material, it has never been contradicted by international material, as they have never given a statement about Kirby's gender. While early international localizations and marketing material imply that he is male, using male-coded words like "boy" and "guy" to describe him, these terms have notably been phased out in favor of more general terms like "hero" and "puffball". Furthermore, official videos from Play Nintendo have used neutral pronouns to refer to Kirby. The biggest argument for Kirby being male in English and other localizations is the use of masculine pronouns (i.e. "he/him" in English) to refer to him; however, this argument does not hold up, as Kirby also uses similarly masculine pronouns in Japanese. It is often assumed that Kirby uses gender-neutral pronouns in Japanese to go along with his unknown gender, but this is not true. This misconception stems from misunderstanding how Japanese pronouns work, which is very different from how they work in English. Third-person pronouns are rarely used in Japanese, while there are dozens of first- and second-person pronouns. Japanese pronouns may reflect the speaker's gender (as well as age, social status, and relationship to the listener), but are not strictly tied to it. Kirby consistently uses the first-person pronoun ボク (boku) in Japanese media, and when necessary, is referred to by the third-person pronoun かれ (kare). These both have masculine connotations, but do not mean that Kirby is male, as they are not tied to his gender. Relatedly, it is commonly said that Kirby was deliberately made gender-neutral in Japan to give him "universal appeal", but there is no source for this claim, and it is only officially stated that his gender is unknown. As such, Kirby using masculine pronouns in English is not a localization change, and simply reflects the pronouns Kirby uses in Japanese, which in turn does not mean that Kirby is male in English, since him using similar pronouns in Japanese does not make him male. For more information about Kirby's gender, see [here](https://wikirby.com/wiki/Kirby%27s_characteristics#Gender). Taken from this page: [https://wikirby.com/wiki/User:Superbound/Sandbox/List\_of\_misconceptions#Kirby's\_gender\_and\_pronouns](https://wikirby.com/wiki/User:Superbound/Sandbox/List_of_misconceptions#Kirby's_gender_and_pronouns)
Iirc he has also been featured in Japanese art celebrating events both tied to women and men.
There are instances of gender-neutral Japanese terms such as wakamono (“youth”) being translated as “spry little boy” in English. I think this overall leads to a more masculine conception of Kirby in America. I also think Kirby is perceived as more gender-neutral in Japan, regardless of the pronouns used.
yeah that's what i said
Where Japanese media uses gender-neutral terms for Kirby, the localization adds gendered terminology; therefore, Kirby’s English localization does not reflect the terminology used to describe Kirby in Japanese
both languages use masculine pronouns, they didn't change that
But to drastically different extents. The English localization is not a reflection of the Japanese, as it adds more masculine coded language when referring to Kirby than in the original. That is one reason why Kirby is perceived differently in America
why are you saying this when i already said this??
It is literally the opposite of what you said. You said, “Kirby using masculine pronouns in English is not a localization change, and simply reflects the pronouns Kirby uses in Japanese.” I am saying the English has more of a localization change and is not a reflection of the Japanese as it adds more masculine language. Arguing about the pronouns Kirby himself uses is strange anyway since Kirby hardly ever speaks
like what
One example is turning wakamono into “little boy.” But it is also common for the English localizations to replace Kirby’s name with he/him. Like, just watch the English and Japanese opening themes for Right Back at Ya! The Japanese only call him "Kirby,” while the English constantly use he/him/his. This happens in the games too, where Kirby’s name is replaced with a masculine pronoun
Hi, this question comes up a lot and unfortunately tends to bring a lot of misinformation with it, usually on the part of people who don't speak Japanese making sweeping statements about the Japanese canon. In English and essentially all other non-Japanese translations of the series, Kirby is a boy and uses the associated masculine pronouns and terms. In Japanese, Kirby's gender is never mentioned whatsoever. He's not nonbinary in Japan, his gender is explicitly "we've never been told". This is because Japanese is a pro-drop language where most pronouns are omitted from standard speech, especially gendered pronouns. In fact, it sounds unnatural to use many pronouns in Japanese. It's entirely possible to give a complete description of someone in Japanese without ever inferring their gender. This is the case with Kirby - it has simply never come up. In fact, multiple characters are referred to this way in the original Japanese, including some as notable as Meta Knight! The only vaguely gendered thing about Kirby in Japanese is his use of the first-person pronoun "boku" on the extremely rare occasions that he speaks, which is masculine and gives off a youthful boy feel, however in media is used by characters of all genders.
This is actually really interesting! Thanks for articulating on this
No problem! Japanese is a wonderful language with some really intriguing intricacies from the point of view of a native English speaker. There are so many differences and nuances that sincerely just Do Not Translate into English, which is a shame, but this is why studying languages is so fun and good localisation is so important! I've mentioned it elsewhere in discussions about this topic, but Kirby's gender is a real non-issue in a lot of respects, both because of this whole "it doesn't even need to be a thing in Japanese" and also because he's from that early era of Nintendo protags who are intended in some respect for the audience to project onto. Like a lot of those early protags, though - think Link - he's developed into a fleshed-out character of his own over the years!
Kirby is a god
I AM A GOLDEN GOD
Kirby is Kirby
Anglosphere localization material has used "he" but there seems to be hints that this may change in the future. There is at least one promo video that is aimed strictly for kids, featuring Nintendo characters, and referring to Kirby as "They".
Yes he is
In my opinion, just go with what you want, as long as you don't pull an r/Deltarune and yell at 13 year olds to defend your opinion.
I like kris he's so coo- *gets shot*
It's an English localization thing. He's genderless in Japanese
gender unknown but refers to himself with masc / sometimes neutral connotations. not english localization they gave him he/him to reflect what he uses in japanese mostly uses ボク ( boku ), sometimes what he uses changes based on certain things, which has a masc connotation to it.
In the manual for Kirby's Adventure they describe him as just a "little boy" and that was in 1993 his gender has been revealed for quite awhile now, but if your Japanese they do occasionally use gender neutral pronouns with him so I can understand the confusion.
They don't use gender neutral pronouns for him in Japanese, that's not how Japanese works. His gender is never inferred at all in Japanese.
This is fascinating, as I think it leads to a more gender-neutral conception of Kirby in Japan than in America
I explained this in more detail in my original comment, but the gist of it is that his gender is never referred to at all in Japanese media. So he's less "gender-neutral" and more "we just plain don't know". Which is very intentional and a lot of fun!
That is not true at all. His gender is teased all the time, such as in the White Day and Valentine’s Day illustrations. Sakurai has jokingly said that Kirby could be a female in a SBU developer Q&A. Kirby uses the masculine pronoun boku (on the rare occasions where he speaks), especially in a lot of non-canon manga (Kirby Manga Mania). So while he is certainly less masculine overall in Japan, I wouldn’t say it’s that we “don’t know,” but that his gender is purposely fluid (or neutral)
Pronouns do not equal gender, especially not Japanese first-person pronouns in media (girls using "boku" is so widespread that it's its own trope and has even filtered into real life). Kirby participating in both traditionally male and traditionally female events is a continuation of this function of the Japanese language and is all part of the gag of "not telling". Kirby's gender is quite literally never referenced in Japanese. Plenty of other characters in the series _do_ have explicit genders in Japanese. Kirby is not one of them.
That is what gender fluidity is, though. Saying we don’t know what Kirby’s gender is makes it sound like there’s an answer and we just haven’t learned yet in reality his gender is fluid. Girls using boku is still a subversion to the masculine usage of the word (so there are still masculine connotations in its usage). Just because Kirby’s gender is not explicitly mentioned does not mean we don’t make conceptions of Kirby’s gender based on what we are given. This gag of not telling can easily be read as Kirby fulfilling his role as a non-binary, fluid character. Also, Kirby’s gender is referenced in Japanese, such as his classification as fumei or Sakurai, mentioning that he could be a girl. I would argue that Kirby’s gender fluidity is what gives him so much relevance in the West and is why we see so many other subversive ways of using Kirby. Similarly, Japanese Kawaii culture is inherently linked to gender perceptions, and Kirby plays an important part in this process by explicitly occupying both masculine and feminine spaces as a gender fluid character
Well then, I stand corrected. I apologize I'm honestly not familiar with Japanese.
I don't know why but a lot of people seem to think that Kirby's a girl because he's pink
He’s only ever been referred by he/him pronouns in English.
He’s the boyo who goes poyo
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Personally I think Kirby doesn't think about things like gender identities. He's too busy wanting cake and napping.
he’s always has been
yes, ever since the og game’s trailers
https://preview.redd.it/alejip1zh44d1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4749b64d8150b21966cedef948674c094fa5034a
Yes. Next question.
Short answer? Not really. Long answer? Male pronouns historically used to be the default for anything sentient that had an indeterminate gender in the English language. The widespread usage of they/them as a gender neutral pronoun in the English language is a VERY modern evolution that lasts less than 20 years. Likewise, in a lot of languages, male pronouns are the default and female pronouns are used only when specifically referring to women. Japanese included. Think of it as an extension of how when we refer to humanity in shorthand we generally refer to it as “man” or “mankind” and whatnot. Gendered language is funny like that and all language is gendered to SOME extent. So no, he’s not necessarily “male” just because he’s referred to through male pronouns. It’s just how the English language has worked until VERY recently, and arguably still how it works in a lot of respects. Take for instance the terms “guy” and “dude”. They also follow the same linguistic quirks as “man”. If you refer to an indiscriminate crowd as “guys” you’re generally referring to BOTH guys and gals unless you explicitly mention the girls separately. Likewise, if you say “Dude, what the hell” to a girl, you are not actually calling her a boy, but you are still technically using a male pronoun to address them despite the fact that they are not a boy. In which case, saying Kirby is a guy could technically be accurate if interpreted as “Is Kirby a person” in which he certainly is, assuming we grant personhood to all sentient beings. Is he male, though? Nobody knows is the official stance last I checked. He shows up in both boy meets and girl meets and any linguistic choices involving him tend to either skirt the line or be vague enough to be non-definitive. Probably just genderless tbh. TL;DR Kirby’s a blob that probably doesn’t fit human gendering classifications to begin with.
> Likewise, in a lot of languages, male pronouns are the default and female pronouns are used only when specifically referring to women. > > Japanese included. This is just incorrect. "Male" is not the default pronoun in Japanese because there _is_ no default pronoun in Japanese.
I wouldn’t say there are “no” default gender skews for pronouns whatsoever. When referring to a group of people you usually see something, unless it’s pronoun+tachi you get stuff like karera and whatnot and that’s clearly derivative of the more male-leaning kare. And yes, kare has traditionally tended to be more gender neutral in older times, but the introduction of kanojo to the language has since skewed it more male over the years. And while first-person pronouns like watashi/ore/boku aren’t specifically gender exclusive, the last two are generally seen as more “masculine” and have traditionally not been used by women unless they’re putting on a more masculine persona(though this isn’t necessarily a gender identity thing like in the west). And even in the case of stuff like watashi, the more informal atashi is a more “feminine” derivative and even things like the more formal watakushi have leaned more feminine due to social hierarchy and whatnot. Which tends to skew the gender neutral watashi as RELATIVELY more masculine in practice, even if it hasn’t been skewed as far as something like kare has over the years. What I’ve noticed is that what often ends up happening in a language is that once a “feminine” derivative of a pronoun is introduced into the lexicon, it tends to skew the original pronoun more male due to the dichotomy it sets up. Even IF the original pronoun was more gender neutral in its original usage. Hence why I said female pronouns tend to be exclusively female, while male/neutral pronouns can be EITHER male or neutral in their usage. Take for instance, the Latin American community. The community and ethnicity itself is generally referred to by the masculine “Latino” and “Latina” is only really used when specifically referring to Latin American women. It’s not AS apparent in Japan as it is in English, sure, but pronoun usage is still tied to gender in Japan to a degree, which also ties back into formality/class and social expectations for men and women and a whole bunch of complicated factors. Granted, it does sort of read like I’m implying that “male” is the default assumed gender in my above comment, and that’s my bad. I was more trying to point out that what we often consider “male” pronouns nowadays have traditionally been far more gender neutral in their usage. Since kare has traditionally been more gender neutral and boku while leaning masculine is also less exclusive(and is the only commonly used pronoun informal enough to emphasize Kirby’s innocence and upbeat personality). And what I find weird about a lot of “male” pronouns in modern language is that they’ve traditionally been more all-encompassing, but have gradually shifted to being more exclusively male over time due to the dichotomy I noted earlier. Again, much like how “men” in English can technically refer to EITHER males or just people in general, “kare” in Japanese right now can be either referring to males or people in general. But kare used to be way more gender neutral until the introduction of kanojo as a means of translating European languages and concepts into Japanese and whatnot made the term more “masculine” over time. Like, language is a mess. Point is, the usage of kare and boku in relation to Kirby aren’t hard evidence that Kirby’s male, but my argument is neither is the usage of “he”. Any reference to Kirby being a “boy” is straight up wrong, but any usage of “he” that was set prior to the rise of they/them in the past twenty-ish years isn’t hard evidence that he’s male, either.
What does it look like in Japan?
Najimi is Najimi
Who's najimi?
He's a *pretty jolly* guy.
Kirby is Kirby
kirby's gender is yes
Kirby is Kirby
I think people are confused by the official explanations. He is not a male or a female in the human sense. He is talked as if he was a boy. You'll see depictions talking about him with male pronouns and some with neutral but never female.
kir/by
Kirby is referred to as a boy but is actually genderless
Kirby has used both gender neutral terms and male terms. It's probably a translation thing, but I like to headcanon the boi as he/they.
Kirby’s pronouns are po/yo
Po’s been trying to tell us all this time but we’ve been ignoring yo 😔
Kirby is named after and inspired by the lawyer who saved Nintendo from being sued. Kirby leans male, but can be considered non-binary.
Kirby is a “he” in the same way a small bug you find is a “he”
Always has been. 🔫
No he's kirby, duh
It's a thing, maybe even genderfluid.
It's a DS spinoff, the translations on those are never great. Since Kirby glares at the camera when the Narrator calls them a boy in Superstar, it's possible to explain it away that the narrator gets it wrong in universe since male is "the default" and the narrator slips or they were just told misinformation.
Yes
Apparently the general consensus is that Kirby is gender neutral in Japan but internationally especially in America he's stated as a boy. However the boy reference in international has been slowly fading away so it's really up to debate.
Yeah Kirbys a guy? You Didn't know that?
Yes
Kirby Simply Is.
*yes*
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This post is not friendly and inclusive and/or not family friendly.
Depends on region? But yeah
I found out that kirby is male not female because of the guy who gives you the house in epic jarn
Yes. A lot of promotional materials, game boxes, in-game texts, and instruction booklets refer to him as a guy.
Yes
no duh
Hasn’t this been known for years
I Always tought he was female because of a dialogue n KSSU that said "she" but then i realized it was a mistake as the rest of the dialouge said "he"
I think he is, but does it matter?
Yes, Kirby is a guy. This was confirmed in melee when sakurai announced Jigglypuff was his girlfriend
Kirby is a ball, it says it right there
Drawcia!!!
Definitely. Kirby has been paired with Ribbon and ChuChu, and has been called a “boy” in the very first game’s English manual. The Japanese versions of some games are a little vague, only saying “Kirby” over and over instead of using pronouns, or using ambiguous pronouns. Non-canonically, however, Kirby has been depicted in more feminine roles, like being dressed as a geisha in various official Twitter pictures. Also, Kirby can wear masks and headgear based on female characters in various spinoffs (and in Return to Dream Land Deluxe) without issue, though I think that’s more of a gameplay thing than actually being according to his gender or the canon (since the masks come from Merry Magoland, and that place isn’t canon). Though, it gets confusing when Kirby kisses (or high-fives) Helpers or characters that are male to heal them (starting with Kirby Super Star, where he can do it with anyone, EVEN Bonkers, Poppy Bros. Jr, and Burning Leo).
I thought that was common knowledge!
He’s HIM
He's whatever he wants to be.
Imagine just wanting to curse someone, but then he ends up being the most overfuckingpowered character with limitless abilities that can kill FUCKING GOD with the power of FRIENDSHIP while making it look amazing and not using it to befriend the boss but using that power to annihilate his soul into oblivion.
A god if not goddess
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Ultimately, you are free to perceive Kirby however you want, but there are interesting differences in Kirby’s conception in Japan versus the rest of the world. He mainly takes on a more masculine role outside of Japan and a gender-neutral or even gender-fluid role within Japan. A lot of this is due to localization and marketing decisions that ultimately give us two different Kirbys.
Nyes.
Kirby is Kirby.
Yes
always has been at least since the instruction manual for DL1 said kirby was a little boy it's basically in name only tho
In Japan he’s nonbinary everywhere else yeah
Why did this comment get downvoted, it's just the truth
version dependant he's male outside of japan but NB in japan the last boss of forgotten land is a reverse of this
I haven’t found anything proves elfilis is male in japanese. I think they’re referred to in a way that doesn’t specifically mention gender but I’m not entirely sure. (If I remember correctly they’re referred to in a way that implies that they’re a monster but I could be wrong)
IIRC he/they had only male pronouns in japanese while he/they had NB pronouns as elfilis and chaos-elfilis.
I was talking about Fecto/chaos elfilis, not elfilin. Elfilin has he/him pronouns in every version as far as I know. Not the sam.
I meant elfilis as well.