Sections
Boku (僕): what it means in anime
僕
ぼく · boku · I; me (mostly boys) JLPT N4
Boku means "I" and sounds softer and younger than 俺. Boys, polite young men and gentle characters use it; so do some tomboyish girls in fiction.
Where you hear it 15 of 42 series
Lines from the Japanese subtitles of episodes 1–3 of each show. A translation is shown only when it clearly matches the line; counts are subtitle lines containing the word.
-
Polar Bear Café · 55 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 2
僕と比べるのやめてくれない？
-
Death Note · 46 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 1
でも 僕なら… 僕にならできる
-
Tokyo Ghoul · 39 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 1
この店が僕と彼女の唯一の…
-
Your Lie in April · 36 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 1
僕には モノトーンに見える―
-
My Hero Academia · 35 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 1
そして 僕の 最初で最後の挫折だ
-
One Piece · 30 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 1
僕でも海軍に入れるでしょうか？
-
Mob Psycho 100 · 26 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 2
よくも僕を閉じ込めてくれたな？
-
Re:Zero · 21 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 2
僕１人じゃ こうはいかなかった
Also in: The Promised Neverland, Frieren, Attack on Titan, No Game No Life, Code Geass, Erased, Vinland Saga.
Usage and nuance
僕 is acceptable in semi-formal speech, which 俺 is not, so a schoolboy can say it to a teacher. In anime it marks the earnest, well-mannered or shy type: Deku in My Hero Academia, Light in Death Note, Mob in Mob Psycho 100.
A "boku girl" (ボクっ娘) is a recognised character trope: a girl who says 僕 to sound boyish or detached. The subtitles cannot show this, which is exactly why hearing the original matters.
Compared with 私, 僕 is less neutral and never used by adult women in ordinary life. Compared with 俺, it is the pronoun you choose when you do not want to sound aggressive.
Hear 僕 in Polar Bear Café55 lines in episodes 1–3 · tappable subtitles · free, no account