The legend of 'OKARO' [オカロ]

Have you ever heard the nickname "Okaro"? If you're a Sayaka fan, I bet you've done, at least once.

Sayaka is called OKARO mostly by the Japanese wotas (specially in written sources, more than the speech) but also sometimes by other members (Meetan referred to Sayaka as OKARO once in her blog).

But what is OKARO? Who invented it? Does it have any sense? That's what we will try to untangle today.

The legend says that the creator of this name is Maimai. Maimai is well known for being a bit dumb, right? That's how the OKARO name came to life.

To explain this, we have to see how Sayaka is written in kanji:


Sayaka is composed of two characters: 才 (saya) and 加 (ka). However, 加 (ka) has two parts, can you see? So, if we divide this kanji in two, we would have 力 (chikara) and 口 (kuchi).

Let's then think as Maimai does. When she saw Sayaka's name in kanji (才加) she didn't read it as two kanji, but as three characters: 才, 力,　and 口. To make the things worse, the read them not as kanji, but as katakana.

The 才 (sa) kanji is pretty similar to the katakana オ (o), while the two parts of 加 (ka) (力 [chikara] and 口 [kuchi]) are very similar - if not identical - to the katakana カ (ka) and ロ (ro).

So, what Maimai read was:



Yes, Okaro. As you see, it's just a misread, it has no meaning.

That's how the legend begins...

I don't know if Sayaka likes this, I don't even think it's widely used by the other members, but I've seen it. So us, as Sayaka fans, must know this to not ask: Who is Okaro?