Graceful and Polite Japanese#

Despite her fearsome reputation, Avril speaks with remarkable grace and humility. Her Japanese is soft, respectful, and considerate, leaving a positive impression on nearly everyone she meets.

For learners, her speech provides an excellent model of elegant everyday politeness. While it isn’t the formal business Japanese used in offices, it demonstrates how kindness and good manners can be expressed naturally through language.

Source: Goto Sora / Ichibusaki , The Woebegone Wonder Girl Wants to Be Wicked (KADOKAWA)

Furigana on Every Kanji#

One of the manga’s biggest advantages for Japanese learners is that every kanji is accompanied by furigana. This makes reading much smoother, allowing learners to focus on understanding the story instead of constantly stopping to look up pronunciations.

It’s an especially beginner-friendly feature that makes the series far less intimidating than many other fantasy manga.

Source: Goto Sora / Ichibusaki , The Woebegone Wonder Girl Wants to Be Wicked (KADOKAWA)

A Language Once Associated with Upper-Class Women#

Expressions such as 「〜ですわ」, 「〜ですの」, and 「〜かしら」 originated as refined forms of speech used by women from wealthy or aristocratic families during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At the time, daughters of elite households often received education at prestigious girls’ schools, where graceful speech was considered an important part of proper etiquette. Not every upper-class woman spoke exactly this way, but these expressions became strongly associated with elegance, refinement, and high social status.

Over time, they came to symbolize the image of the ojō-sama—the refined young lady of a distinguished family.

From Reality to Fiction#

As Japanese society became more egalitarian after World War II, this style of speech gradually disappeared from everyday life. Today, it is extremely rare to hear someone naturally say 「〜ですわ」 in ordinary conversation.

Instead, these expressions survive mainly in fiction. Much like the formal language heard in samurai dramas, they immediately communicate a character’s background without any explanation.

The moment a character says:

A Language That Creates Character#

Modern manga and anime often rely on recognizable speech patterns to make characters memorable.

For example:

• samurai use archaic expressions
• elderly characters speak differently from teenagers
• people from Osaka often use the Kansai dialect
• refined noble ladies may use 「ですわ」

These speech styles are known as yakuwarigo (役割語)—“role language.” Rather than reflecting how real people actually speak, they help audiences immediately recognize a character’s personality, background, or social status.

The “ojō-sama” speech found in reijo fantasy manga is one of the best-known examples of yakuwarigo.

Why Has 「ですわ」 Never Disappeared?#

Although almost no one speaks this way in daily life, “ojō-sama speech” has never completely vanished.

In fact, it has found new life online. Many VTubers, livestreamers, and internet personalities deliberately use 「ですわ」 as part of their character. Some play the role sincerely, while others use it humorously or ironically.

Audiences immediately recognize the persona:

What It Means for Japanese Learners#

For learners, it is important to remember that 「〜ですわ」 is something you should recognize—not imitate in everyday conversation. Unless you’re acting in a play, role-playing an aristocratic character, or joking with friends, using 「ですわ」 yourself would sound unusual to most Japanese people.

However, understanding it is extremely useful because it appears frequently in:

• reijo fantasy manga
• romance manga
• anime
• visual novels
• games featuring noble families

Learning these expressions also helps you appreciate how Japanese fiction uses language to build memorable characters.

Just as English fiction might portray a medieval knight or Victorian noble with distinctive speech, Japanese stories use expressions like 「ですわ」 to instantly evoke a world of elegance, tradition, and aristocratic refinement.

And that is precisely why The Woebegone Wonder Girl Wants to Be Wicked is such an enjoyable read for Japanese learners—it offers a chance not only to study polite Japanese, but also to experience one of the most iconic speech styles in Japanese popular culture.

Be Careful with “Desu wa（ですわ）”#

Because Avril and many of the female characters come from aristocratic families, they often speak in an exaggerated form of ojō-sama Japanese—the refined speech style stereotypically associated with wealthy young ladies. You’ll occasionally hear sentence endings such as ですわ (desu wa) or かしら (kashira).

While these expressions are instantly recognizable in manga and anime, they sound overly theatrical in modern everyday conversation. Unless you’re intentionally imitating an elegant noblewoman, it’s best to admire them as part of the story rather than imitate them in real life.

Source: Goto Sora / Ichibusaki , The Woebegone Wonder Girl Wants to Be Wicked (KADOKAWA)