Anime Expressions

In Japanese, “ara, ara” is a phrase that roughly translates to “oh, dear,” or “oh, my.” It’s a generic expression, and in many cases, the tone of the phrase is more meaningful than the words. In anime, this is part of a trope where a character misreads a situation, thinking it’s sexual in nature when it isn’t.

An anime crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out could mean a number of different things. In many anime and manga, it’s a common trope used to portray mockery of another character. In another circumstance, the face might reference ahegao, which is very sexual in nature.