Nanami Quotes in Japanese (Jujutsu Kaisen), with Romaji and Grammar

Most anime heroes talk like teenagers in a hurry. Kento Nanami talks like a tired office worker who still answers every email politely — and for a learner, that makes him one of the most useful characters in Jujutsu Kaisen. I teach Japanese, and below are ten of the best-known Nanami quotes in Japanese, taken from the original Japanese with rōmaji, a translation, and the grammar underneath — plus an honest note on which lines you can borrow for real life, and which one should stay among close friends.

Can-you-use-it legend: ◎ = safe in real conversation · △ = fine in anime, odd in life · ✗ = don’t say this to a person.

Nanami quotes in Japanese

Japanese	Rōmaji	English	Use it?
後は頼みます	Ato wa tanomimasu	I’ll leave the rest to you	◎ Polite and warm
そういう小さな絶望の積み重ねが人を大人にするのです	Sō iu chiisana zetsubō no tsumikasane ga hito o otona ni suru no desu	It’s the build-up of little despairs like that which turns a person into an adult	◎ Wise, a bit heavy
勝てないと判断したら、呼んでください	Katenai to handan shitara, yonde kudasai	If you judge that you can’t win, call me	◎ Perfect pattern
ナメる、ナメないの話ではありません。私は大人で君は子ども、私には君を自分より優先する義務があります	Nameru, namenai no hanashi de wa arimasen. Watashi wa otona de kimi wa kodomo, watashi ni wa kimi o jibun yori yūsen suru gimu ga arimasu	This isn’t about underestimating you. I am an adult and you are a child. I have a duty to put you before myself	◎ Polite, but ナメる is slang
子どもであるということは、決して罪ではない	Kodomo de aru to iu koto wa, kesshite tsumi de wa nai	Being a child is never a crime	◎ Kind words
残念ですがここからは時間外労働です	Zannen desu ga koko kara wa jikangai rōdō desu	Unfortunately, from here on it’s overtime	◎ As a joke
信頼も信用もしているが尊敬はしていない	Shinrai mo shin’yō mo shite iru ga sonkei wa shite inai	I trust him and rely on him, but I don’t respect him	△ Not to his face
事実に即し 己を律する それが私です。	Jijitsu ni sokushi onore o rissuru sore ga watashi desu.	Stick to the facts, discipline myself — that is who I am.	△ Very stiff
気張っていきましょう	Kibatte ikimashō	Let’s put our backs into it	◎ Team cheer
労働はクソ	Rōdō wa kuso	Work is crap	✗ Crude — never at school or work

The grammar underneath each line

私は大人で君は子ども — why Nanami sounds like a teacher

Listen to Nanami for one minute and you will notice two things: he calls himself 私 (watashi), and he ends his sentences in です and ます. Inside the same series, Gojo chats in a playful, casual style, and Sukuna uses the rough 俺 with bare commands. Nanami is the adult in the room, and his grammar says so before his face does. That is why this Nanami dialogue in Japanese is such good study material — you can copy most of it straight into a classroom.

The structure of 私は大人で君は子ども is simple: で is the connecting form of です, so “I am an adult, and you are a child.” Students can use it to compare anything: 兄は高校生で、私は中学生です (“my brother is in high school, and I’m in junior high”). The second half, 私には〜義務があります, is the same “for me, X exists” frame as 私には夢があります — here the thing that exists is a duty.

One word breaks the polish: ナメる, slang for “to look down on someone, to underestimate.” Nanami only uses it because Itadori has just complained that he is being underestimated. Quoting the other person’s word back is natural, but don’t open with ナメる yourself in a polite setting.

勝てないと判断したら、呼んでください — たら plus てください

This is the instruction Nanami gives Itadori before they split up, and it is a model polite request. Break it into pieces:

Piece	Full form	Meaning
勝てない	勝つ → 勝てる → 勝てない	can’t win — the potential form, negated
と判断する	〜と + 判断する	to judge that… — と marks the content of the judgement
判断したら	判断した + ら	if / once you judge — the たら conditional
呼んでください	呼ぶ → 呼んで + ください	please call (me) — the polite request

Teacher’s note: たら is the “once this happens” conditional, perfect for instructions about the future. Kids can use the whole frame every day: 分からなかったら、聞いてください (“if you don’t understand, please ask”), 着いたら、電話してください (“call me once you arrive”). Compare three ways to say “call”: 呼んでください is polite, 呼んで is friendly, and 呼べ is a rough command. Nanami always picks the first, even with a student.

小さな絶望の積み重ねが人を大人にするのです — AをBにする and のです

Itadori suggests that surviving a deadly fight makes you an adult. Nanami disagrees: it is the little disappointments of ordinary life that do it. The core grammar is AをBにする, “to make A into B”: 人を大人にする, “makes a person an adult.” You hear it everywhere: 部屋をきれいにする (“make the room clean”), 音を小さくする uses the い-adjective version (“turn the sound down”).

積み重ね (tsumikasane) is a lovely word: 積む (“to pile”) plus 重ねる (“to layer”) — a stack built up slowly. Japanese teachers use it about study all the time: 毎日の積み重ねが大事です, “the daily build-up is what matters.” The final のです adds “this is the explanation”; it makes Nanami sound like he is giving a lesson, which he is.

子どもであるということは、決して罪ではない — 決して always waits for a negative

This line comes at the end of a speech in which Nanami tells Itadori that the hardest parts of the job can wait: right now he is allowed to be a child. Two patterns stand out. 〜であるということは means “the fact of being …” — である is the written, formal version of だ, so the sentence has the weight of a rule.

決して (kesshite) means “never, by no means,” but only together with a negative ending: 決して罪ではない. Without the negative it sounds broken. Students can say 決して忘れません (“I will never forget”) or 決して簡単ではない (“it is by no means easy”). It is formal and strong, so save it for things you really mean.

残念ですがここからは時間外労働です — office Japanese in a fight

Nanami used to be a salaryman, and he still works fixed hours. In the fight with Mahito, the clock passes his finishing time and he announces this line before going all out. The joke is that every word is real workplace vocabulary: 時間外労働 (jikangai rōdō) is the formal term for overtime — literally “labour outside hours.” In daily speech people say 残業 (zangyō), and Nanami’s dislike of 残業 is a running gag.

残念ですが (“unfortunately…”) is how polite Japanese softens bad news: 残念ですが、明日は雨です. ここからは means “from this point on,” and は marks a contrast with everything before it. Said with a grin while your family is still doing homework at 9 p.m., ここからは時間外労働です is a perfectly safe joke.

労働はクソ — the famous one, and why it stays at home

Nanami’s backstory is often summed up in two blunt conclusions: at school he learned that being a sorcerer is awful, and at his office job he learned 労働はクソ. The line is so well loved that it appears on the official Jujutsu Kaisen LINE stickers. Grammatically it is the simplest sentence in this article — topic は plus a noun.

The problem is クソ (kuso). It literally means excrement and works like “crap” in English — crude, not a nice word for a classroom, and a real mistake in front of a teacher, a boss or a customer. That is why I tag it ✗. If you want the same feeling politely, say 仕事は大変です (“work is tough”) or, casually with friends, 働くのはしんどい (“working is exhausting”). The humour of the original comes from the contrast: a man who always says です suddenly says クソ.

後は頼みます — three short words that carry everything

Nanami’s last words to Itadori are just 後は頼みます. 後 (ato) is “what comes after, the rest”; は makes it the topic; 頼みます is the polite form of 頼む, “to ask, to entrust.” In the story he hesitates before saying it, because he knows it will weigh on Itadori — which is why fans find it so moving.

In everyday life the phrase is ordinary and very useful. Leaving a class project to a friend: 後は頼むね. Passing a task to a colleague: 後はお願いします, which is even softer. Students who learn 頼む early can ask for help naturally — 頼みがあるんだけど… (“can I ask you a favour?”) is one of the most common openers among Japanese teenagers.

Is Nanami good for learning Japanese?

Honestly, he is one of the best models in all of shonen anime. He uses 私, polite endings, clear requests with てください, and adult vocabulary such as 判断, 義務 and 優先. Almost every line above can be said by a student to a teacher without changes. The exceptions are small but real: ナメる is slang, the 尊敬 line is something you say about a person and never to them, and 労働はクソ is crude, however funny it is coming from him.

The useful habit is to keep the pattern and change the clothes: 呼んでください becomes 呼んでね with a close friend, 労働はクソ becomes 仕事は大変です in polite company. Nanami also shows a subtle point — politeness is not coldness. He is formal and kind at once. The fastest way to feel that balance is to talk with people your own age in Japan; a friend’s reaction teaches you in one second what a quote list never will.

Keep going with the same method: our Jujutsu Kaisen quotes in Japanese guide covers the whole cast, and putting Nanami next to Gojo quotes in Japanese and Sukuna quotes in Japanese is the clearest lesson in speech styles you will find in one series. For another adult voice from the same world, try Toji quotes in Japanese, and Domain Expansion in Japanese explains the kanji behind every technique name. If you are starting from zero, our guide to learning Japanese with anime sets out a weekly routine, and our tuition page explains how live classes with Japanese friends work.

FAQ

What is Nanami’s most famous quote in Japanese?

後は頼みます (Ato wa tanomimasu) — “I’ll leave the rest to you” — his last words to Itadori in the Shibuya arc, which regularly appears in Japanese fan rankings of the series’ best lines. Among fans online, 労働はクソ is the most quoted as a joke, and そういう小さな絶望の積み重ねが人を大人にするのです is the one people call the wisest.

What does “rōdō wa kuso” mean, and can I say it?

労働はクソ means “work is crap.” 労働 is a formal word for labour, and クソ is a crude swear word. Among close friends who know the anime it lands as a joke, but at school, at work or with adults it is rude. 仕事は大変です says the same thing safely.

Why does Nanami speak so politely?

He is a former company employee and a self-described rule-follower, so he uses 私 and です/ます with everyone, even students. In Japanese, that speech style marks him instantly as a serious adult professional, the opposite of the casual Gojo.

Why does Itadori call him “Nanamin”?

ナナミン is a cute nickname made by adding 〜ン to his family name, the way kids turn names into pet names. It is funny because Nanami is so formal. Nicknames like this are common among friends in Japan, but you wouldn’t use one for a teacher you just met.

My child loves Jujutsu Kaisen. How do they practise with real Japanese speakers?

Tomodachi Japan is an online Japanese school for children living outside Japan, taught by Japanese school teachers in small classes of eight, with classmates their own age in Japan. Parents don’t need to speak Japanese — we guide you in English. The free school guide below has the timetable, tuition and scholarship details.