30173
I've been watching Death Note and in Episode 14, Yagami Light refers to Misa
as Misa-chan.

In this episode, Yagami meets Misa. They're going to be combining forces, but
Misa adds a condition that they be boyfriend and girlfriend. Yagami is not
happy about this. He tries explaining that he'll have to be dating lots of
girls. This annoys Misa. It's at this point that he calls her Misa-chan and
tries to calm her down. Yagami's _partner_ hears this and comments "chan ka
yo?".

So I was wondering, is Light being condescending to Misa (afterall he is
rather annoyed with her) or, in this context, since she wants him to be her
boyfriend, is he playing the role? Would a high school boy call his girl
friend using "chan"?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-12-31T19:21:50.157
30168
2016-01-01T05:53:06.093
2015-12-31T19:45:54.437
4875
4875
question
word-choice
Use of `chan` between high school students
Some boy students call his girl friends using "chan", and others use "san" or
nothing. An affable person use "chan" or "san". An abrupt guy don't use "chan"
or "san" for his girlfriend. It's not true that all boys say their
girlfriend's name with "chan". That totally depends on their personalities,
relationship and situations.

Light is an prideful boy and has an haughty attitude to everyone in his mind.
So, under normal conditions, he don't use "chan" to call his girlfriend. It's
the same about the naughty and stupid girl, however he fervently wanted Misa's
special power of Shinigami and needed to humor Misa well in that situation.
Therefore he sweetly said "Misa-chan" that doesn't match his charactor. Ryuk
was amused at that wording and ridiculed Light's behavior filled with lies.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-01T05:53:06.093
30173
2016-01-01T05:53:06.093
11749
30168
answer