Character Quirks Guide

updated for 2022

Going from the bottom to top on Magireco wiki's main page character list:
Notable character quirks / personalities and how I (try to) retain them for english translations.

Tsuruno: Speaks mostly "normal", but when she gets fired up she puts extra emphasis into her words that should be reflected.

Natsuki: Formal with others, keeps positive energy going in conversations she's a part of.

Mami: Speaks more eloquently, less contractions. Indeed instead of yes, quite instead of very, etc. Uses surnames for everyone.

Nanaka: Calculated and chooses her words carefully, use longer / less common words, portray intelligence but remember that she does have a good heart and cares for others. Uses very polite/formal word choice.

Momoko: Tomboyish and friendly, speaks a bit boyish and let's ya know how she's feelin'.

Asuka: Don't do tasteless suicide jokes, her quirk is meant to be funny about her obsession with retaining her honor, and even Sasara comments jokingly about her all the time.

Iroha: Notably polite. She knows how to use please and thank you. Very by the book Tokyo Japanese.

Hinano: Speaks a bit more openly / less formal / casual. "Swears" to some degree just based on her informalities and way of addressing others.

Rena: Third person, tsundere.

Ayaka: Open new tab because her jokes take work to both understand and find out what they reference, and if you can safely localize them without changing meaning or if they need a footnote. Her jokes are absolutely horrible but damn do I love puzzling my way through them.

Manaka: Third person.

Emiri: Gyaru, uses yabai nonstop and totally has a thing for cutesy ways of changing words or sometimes shortening words. 勿論 -> もち for example. Honestly, just have fun with what she says, it's like totes impossible to get her chara wrong.

Masara: Cold and near emotionless. Gets right to the point and expresses quiet sadness when she flat out does not understand something emotional or friendly.

Meiyui: Depicted as having an accent, so I have her speak vaguely around some topics and use longer words than necessary. Sometimes end her sentences with ", yes." to go along with her ネ.
本当に戦闘服て言われたカ？
"Was this really called martial arts wear?"
Do you hold certainty that this was called martial arts wear?
Since the emphasized ka, yo, ne and random katakana'd JP words can't just be translated one to one, I do things like this to retain her uniqueness.

Rika: Gyaru. Simpler/softer on the slang than Emiri but still goes nuts sometimes when she's excited about a topic.

Kaede: Retain fuyuu. Speaks slowly and stutters from nerves.

MegaHomu: Extremely polite to everyone. Uses surnames for everyone.

Felicia: She's gotta real boyish way of speakin', so ya gotta make damn sure she sounds like it, got it? Sometimes she dun get big words, so hope Tsuruno's there to help her out so ya don't gotta go lookin' around for what word she thinks was said.

Kyouko: Like that cow girl, Kyouko ain't takin' anything from people she doesn't like. Madoka ain't written for kids, so let Kyouko say fuck if she wants to.

Ayame: Has a lisp, pretty much exclusively shown by あたし -> あちし. Since english doesn't work that way, very rarely change T or SH sounds to CH to retain that feel, but only on words that won't be utterly confusing. Shoes -> Choes, Trouble -> Chouble are examples I did. I also have no idea how lisps work IRL, so sorry if that's completely incorrect.

Karin: Don't end every sentence with nano, that's insane. Add words to emphasize what she's talking about and/or write in a bit more of an upbeat slightly chuuni style.

Tsukasa & Tsukuyo: Keep the "nee~" since it's their catchphrase and commonly known + understood. Occasionally keep their "ne" at end of sentences especially if it leads to the legendary double nee. Tsukuyo speaks extra politely, but there is no feasible replacement for degozaimasu at the end of 90% of her lines. Tsukasa speaks somewhat boyish.

Alina: Third person, keep romaji on her awful english words, and if appropriate, on her loanwords to retain the "our characters may not fully understand her, and neither will the audience" intent. Retain emphasis on her broken Japanese and ケド、 ヨネ、 and カラ where possible. Probably the most appropriate character to go wacky with in translation.

Seika: Very shy and easily nervous.

Mitama: Elongates many words, so occasionally throw one in to keep her playful demeanor. Like Heey~ or Riiight~?

Ria: Uses haughty ojou-sama speech. Use big, royalty style words.

Mifuyu: Overly polite speech similar to Tsukuyo. Can't think of a way to specifically emphasize ワタシ nor do I ever hear anything different from the VA, so leaving it out.

Kanagi: Uses some militaristic words, uses surname for everyone with formal respect despite seeming distant. Depending on usage, change "Umu" to Yes or an affirmative or uncertain Hm.

Nagisa: Third person. Don't end every sentence with nanodesu or everyone will go insane. Write her in a more childish/comedic and slightly demanding way to emphasize her way of speaking.
Nagisa wants cheese! vs Nagisa's gotta have cheese!

Ryou: Third person surname for self. Boyish reporter speakin' style.

Ikumi: Flips between Maid Mode: ultra cutesy third person Kumi Kumi kyun kyun, and Me Mode: uses I and speaks much more like an adult.

Touka: Grab a dictionary and pull out those big girl words. Either end sentences with nyaa, or change a word to include a cat pun if you can think of a good one. Occasionally elongates words in a childish manner.
Nyanii~? : Meowhaat~?
Urasai nya! : Shut your meowth!
Nyaniooo!? : What was nyaaat!?

Nemu: Speaks in a warm motherly / librarian manner, but spits fire at Touka when necessary. Uses more poetic or literary terms over Touka's purely scientific terms.

Sakurako: | Speaks like this. | Make her a little robotic sounding, but remember she does learn how to express emotions. It's okay to sometimes contract words and give her warmer speech when she's talking about things she's taken to heart already, but sometimes her robotic understanding (or lack thereof) of human speech and idioms is the punchline of a joke in-game.

Ui: Notably polite like her sister. Struggles with big words sometimes, so you may have to struggle to find out what she's sounding out if Iroha isn't there to correct her. Uses kid words on occasion, as one would expect.

Sayuki: Speaks super cutesy and ditsy. Pull out history book because she refers to samurai terms sometimes.

Hikaru: Occasionally blend words together (What are you on about!? -> Whattaya on about!?) and just generally give her more boyish / gang member voice.

Livia: Kick up accent to 11 to retain her Kansai dialect. To -> Ta, You -> Ya, shorten all kinds of words, add some unique southern charm to her speech.

Ryou: Speaks a bit like an old man from the countryside.

Yozuru: Extremely polite, but less Tsukuyo and more "customer service" or "butler" polite. Struggles with understanding emotions and how to respond to social situations.

Meguru: Announcer speaking style.

Rui: Goes back and forth between ultra chuuni "Mwa ha haaa, bow before the mighty wizard!" and being ultra embarrassed or hilariously polite to others when out of chuuni power.

Yuuna: Rich girl speech, use bigger words and politeness, but retain a tiny bit of "I'm better than you," except around Mami of course, then she goes full on polite with flattery.

Shizuka: Given her unfamiliarity with many common cityfolk words, items, and general terms, have her speak in a more "foreign-style," but not archaic or stupidly dense. Use older english words and occasionally less contractions, but don't necessarily go overboard with it. "I don't get what you're talking about, but don't laugh at me!" vs. "I know not that which you speak of, but your jesting has gone on long enough!" She also sounds out many words she doesn't understand, and a running joke is for her to mispronounce them or assume something wrongly about them.

Mikage: Uses "Mii" in third person, Mitama is "Nee-cha." Adds "tan" to characters she gives nicknames to.

Juri: Uses "Juri-sama", use all the swears and tough guy speech you can think of with her.

Himena: I play with her mental state and the fact she's sharing her head with her boyfriend in her speech. Watashi-chan -> this cutie. Watashi-chan-tachi -> us cuties. Depending on context, switch her to using I/me when visibly angry or upset for emphasis, we/us when she COULD be including her bf in a sentence and tired of using "this cutie" over and over. While none of this is in the original script, I feel it adds to the experience in a way Japanese wouldn't necessarily be able to.

Ashly: honestly idk lol. She has a hammy over the top accent so either go with a bodacious Californian style of speaking or add something fun to it. I swap her English with romanized Japanese but add some fun spin to it just to make her seem fun and not perfect at it.
What's up my tomadachis!? vs How are my friends doing?

Nayuta: Polite rich girl speech. Can't think of anything to do with desuno.

Yuna: Since elongating the end of every single sentence is too much, try to emphasize her tired, but firm way of speaking instead.
"There is no need to do that." / "That will not be necessary." instead of "Don't do that."

Hotaru: The one time elongating end of sentence is necessaryyy. She's so tired and constantly does iiit.

San: Strict instructor that has a no nonsense speech style. Except when she's talking to old friends, then she switches to ultra cutesy little sister speech.

Miyuri: Listen to this, listen to this! Miyu uses her nickname and repeats the start or end of a sentence sometimes!

Asahi: Strict / less nonsense speech. Use less contractions than normal but not outright gone. In a similar way as Meiyui, add slightly longer sentence structure.