The one on the right is correct. 榊.
It's the name of a kind of tree. Cleyera japonica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakaki

>>110640

Unfortunately, the left one is from the introductory ballon identifying Sakaki in Ep1. It's also on her armband in the Culture Fest Episode - Ep7. Could the artists have possibly drawn the wrong Kanji over several months? I rather doubt it.

>>110645
Hm, it appears that 示 is just an alternate way of drawing the kanji radical ネ, although I believe the latter way (version on the right) is far more common.

Keep in mind that the Kanji used in names are not necissarily common ones.

There are 1945 kanji used in modern Japan. (The Joyo Kanji). However there are thousands of others which are not commonly used, except in names.

>>110647
And, indeed, Gothic renders it with ネ, and Meiryo with 示.

I found this out, because wakabas specify Gothic*, while the rest of the whole entire internet lets the browser pick, and it picks Meiryo. At which point the kanji mutates.

* so's the ascii-art (gothic-art?) renders correctly.

>>110647 Unfortunately I can't read the Kanji you use because I don't have that typeface installed. Can you direct me to where I can get it from? It would probably help.

So far, using my Kanji dictionary, the two versions I have are these: In the anime Sakaki's name is spelled with the Kanji 1568 & 347. That's the left image in the OP. The right image seems to be the Kanji 148 & 229, which come from other images published by ADV in magazines or online, which would I think be the one referred by Ralen in >>110640 as being the holy tree. I believe it grows by Shinto shrines. What I'm after is to confirm my identification of the left image, and then to figure out if it's used deliberately to tell us something about Sakaki.
Ideas, anyone?

>>110663
I'm not precisely sure what you have to do in order to be able to view Asian characters on your computer, but if you follow the instructions here it should probably help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Japanese#Japanese-language_characters

>>110663
I just looked up "Microsoft Japanese IME" for my computer and followed the online installation instructions. The fonts came with, though Meiryo wasn't one of them. I can't get any of the Japanese fonts currently on my PC to display Sakaki's name with the older version of the kanji--that is, the one with the central section displayed as 示 instead of ネ.

The kanji in question, 榊, is indeed the one for the sacred tree. (You may skip the remainder of the following paragraph if the fine details bore you.) The left third, which is the in this case is the identifying radical (the section that identifies the "family" for the kanji) under which it would be listed in a dictionary, is 木, or "tree". The remainder is 神, the kanji for "god".

I don't think it's meant to tell us anything about Sakaki per se any more than Kagura's name (神楽), which is the word for a sacred dance, is meant to tell us about her. (More fine details you're free to skip follow.) Osaka's real name, Ayumu Kasuga (春日歩), would translate as "a walk on a spring day." Koyomi Mizuhara (水原暦) is "water-field calendar," roughly. They're just Japanese names, not necessarily related to who the characters are.

>>110679
Don't forget about Tomo's name being written 智,the kanji for "wisdom." I'm pretty sure there was some witticism intended with that one.

>>110679
Meiryo ships with Vista. It's cleartype-enabled, and fucking awesome.

It is, of course, completely impossible to install it on XP. You can't find Vista ISOs anywhere on the net, 7zip can't extract the font from Vista's installer package, and inserting the font ahead of MSGothic in HKLM\software\microsoft\windows NT\currentversion\Fontlink\SystemLink doesn't make XP fall back on it instead of Gothic for UI fonts that don't do Kanji.

Oh, and there aren't any walktrhoughs on Google, in either English or Japlish.

>>110663
Oh, and to re-iterate, they're both the same kanji, in different typefaces.

>>110685
It can't be any greater than HGPSoeiKakupopTai

>>110683 That's interesting, because I've had a go at as many of the others as I can too. Most seem to agree with definitions here in >>110679, but Tomo's seemed to me to be 1110=Dragon, 85=Field or wild, untamed, and 1416=Congratulate.

I still haven't got round to downloading the typefaces yet (dial-up, V. slow)but will do so soon, hopefully before this thread dissappears.

Thank you everyone for your input so far - I'm learning fast how complicated the whole field is.

Anyone with any other ideas on our Azu girls' names, please jump in - the water's still heating up!

Picture related v.c. Inuff said?

>>110695 Well, I've now DL'd and installed the Global IME that should enable me to read Japanese characters, but unfortunately, IT DOESN'T! I'm using Win98SE with IE6 - can anyone advise? I have a little blue ikon in my system tray that says it switches me from English to Japanese, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Suggestions please - but not to upgrade!

>>110696
I think the IME just lets you type in Japanese characters, not read them.

I don't know if you have Asian character support already installed, and it's just not active, or if you don't even have it installed yet.

If you do have it installed, then all you should need to do is open IE, click on "View->Encoding->Unicode" and you should be able to view Asian characters on websites.

If you don't have support already installed then I'm not sure what you need to do. The website linked to from >>110667 says to install the IME, but that's not correct.

>>110638

榊＝sakaki
さ＝sa
ん＝n

>>110702

Kind of you to try, but if you have read the thread you'll see I can't read it. I don't seem to have the typefaces required. Can anyone tell me what I want to look for, and possibly WHERE to look please? [Safe picture adapted from NSFW board.]

>>110703
I think you're out of luck: you need an operating system that's not from the stone-age.

Windows 9x comes in many language varieties, and only the Japanese one can display japanese characters. And aside from that, it's no longer receiving security updates, and it's really quite likely that if your computer is connected to the internet, then it is 0wned.

At the very least, you need Windows 2000. Any live Linux CD will also likely be more capable than 9x, and may even have better compatability with modern windows applications. I recommend XP, because it has a point/click language bar, rather than you having to use various combinations of CTRL, ALT, capslock, shift and the number row. And protected-mode hibernate, remote desktop, and cleartype are all pretty nice advantages over 2k.

If all you want to do is see the moonspeak, then click here: http://arakawa.edrdg.org/~ssb/cgi-bin/access?Aelt=Japanese&Aesi=on&Aesu=on&Aeso=on&Ael=on&Au=http%3A%2F%2Fchiyochan.net%2Fazu%2Fres%2F110638.html%23i110696&AeC=on The helpful server will GIF them all for you.

But you still need to upgrade your computer, before it gets rooted.

>>110705
I guess you're right. Looks as if it's becoming inevitable. Anyway, thanks for everybody's input - I've learned a lot even so, including how to recognise how some of the complex Kanji can be deconstructed / disassembled into simpler parts.

By the way, I managed to find all of Tanizaki Yukari's kanji:
249=Valley
60=Mountain
607=Cold, cool, to chill.
The first two would be appropriate I think, considering she seems to be bi-polar!

Ja-ne!

>>110706
In the series I believe Yukari's given name is always written in hiragana, I've never seen it written with kanji before.