Say It with Hearts

Makie wears her heart on her sleeve...and her tongue?


"In a few hours, you'll become a mist of atoms ♥"
—Yuka Kazami - Lotus Land Story, final stage

Sometimes characters will use a Heart Symbol (♥ or ♡) in their speech bubbles, or sometimes dead-centre in their mouth. This is supposed to indicate their tone and show that they are Genki Girl or a Kawaiiko, that or they are squeeing like mad about something. Sometimes they're just talking in a sing-song manner and sometimes they're reacting to something that happens to feel really good.

However, sometimes it is done sarcastically by a much less enthusiastic character, or used in an inappropriate sentence in order to add an element of extra creepiness to a spooky person. Sometimes it is even Lampshaded when other characters mention the hearts, usually with a line like, "Don't say that with a ♥!".

Related to Lucky Charms Title, and more distantly to Wingding Eyes. A lighter variant is to use a music note to connote sing-song or facetiousness.

Examples of Say It with Hearts include:

Anime and Manga

  • Marmalade Boy has Miki saying that she can't believe her parents said the sentence "We're getting divorced! ♥" with a ♥.
  • This is often used in Love Hina.
  • As well as in Great Teacher Onizuka (especially by the title character).
  • Urahara in Bleach is a frequent example of the sarcastic approach.
    • Yachiru uses them, too, because she's basically a Cheerful Child. Hideously powerful, but cheerful nonetheless.
    • Chizuru uses the flirty Squee type of hearts when she gushes over Orihime.
    • Nemu's vocalizations are littered with these during the Hueco Mundo arc when Mayuri does... something to revive her from a very disturbing near-death experience.
    • Let's not forget Gin's cheerful 'Bye-Bye!♥' after kicking the gang out of Soul Society and cutting off the gatekeeper's arm in the blink of an eye.
    • Rangiku Matsumoto has hearts associated with her as well. There's also an amusing sketch in Bleach Official Bootleg of Hisagi asking for feedback of an new advice column he's set-up. Rangiku's feedback shows she thinks it's silly, stupid, hard to read, unreliable and simply not gripping. She breaks his heart, and she does it with hearts and flowers doodled all over the signature and comments boxes.
  • In Samurai Deeper Kyo Yukimura Sanada does it all the time.
    • Lampshaded in an extra, where someone asks how Sasuke can tell Yukimura and his Body Double Kosuke apart. Sasuke replies that Yukimura adds little hearts to the ends of his sentences.
  • Hisoka from Hunter X Hunter uses these, as well as diamonds, clubs and spades. Three guesses what his gimmick is.
  • Kazumi does this in Mahou Sensei Negima. The Squee is her showing off a photo of her first pactio/kiss.
    • Tsukoyomi uses these as she describes mutilation, torture and general mass murder and carnage. Definitely on the disturbing side. She drools too. Oh and also when she's talking about Setsuna and Konoka. So Yeah.
      • Konoka herself throws them around with great vigor, especially when she's healing or talking about Setsuna.
      • Zazie is able to nod with hearts.
      • Not to mention that about half of the chapter titles contain these.
      • Kaede, among others, here.
      • Teacher Shizuna also does it, as well as (in the Mangafox fanslation) having her speech written in cursive script (perhaps to represent a sexy voice).
        • Except that it's not Shizuna...
    • Lampshaded here with Negi, even.
    • And in chapter 293 Tsukoyomi does this again while saying "Ahhh..." when gushing over Negi's new level of badass.
  • Moyashimon has Mutou and Oikawa do this when they enthusiastically accept Itsuki-sensei's offer to dinner, only the little hearts are replaced with Anthropomorphic Personifications of microbes.
  • Katteni Kaizo - wherein someone said doing this at the office counts as sexual harassment.
  • One Piece's Chivalrous Pervert Sanji often adds a ♥ in the end of ladies' names, while his one visible eye takes the shape of a heart as well. Also, an early minor baddie from the Fishman crew added a ♥ to the end of his sentences.
  • Becomes something of a Running Gag in the manga Anne Freaks with Anna constantly doing this, even when talking about murdering people (she is an assassin, after all) and eventually the habit transfers to her sidekicks.
  • An early chapter of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle has Kurogane (the gruff Ninja) say "Kurogane is very happy ♥!" If this seems out of character, it's actually the Team Pet Mokona imitating Kurogane's voice.
  • The Millennium Earl of D Gray Man litters his speech with these; as he's the Big Bad of the series, this comes across as very odd and somewhat creepy.
  • Dakki from Houshin Engi does this pretty much every time she speaks. Additionally, her sister Kibi does this with stars.
  • Izuna from Izuna Legend of the Unemployed Ninja uses these sometimes.
  • Lucia in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch ends sentences with these when she's going on about her boyfriend or after she attacks with a "Love Shower Pitch! ♥". Hanon takes this to a whole new level, putting them after almost all her sentences and sometimes in the middle of words.
  • Hizuki from Time Stranger Kyoko is a male example.
  • Used a lot in the Ouran High School Host Club manga, mostly by Haruhi's dad and by Token Mini-Moe Honey.
  • Kankuro from Naruto gets the creepy version; he does this just before his puppet snaps every bone in his Sound Ninja opponent's body.
    • Karin often uses them when flirting with Sasuke (In the Viz manga, this is accompanied by a fairly cutesy-looking font when she does it in Volume 38). Ino also uses them when preparing to use Mind Transfer Jutsu to get Sakura's answers during the Chunin Exam.
    • Also, Ino does this several times in volume 8.
    • Kakashi does this a few times early on: "You... Pass! ♥"
  • Moka from Rosario + Vampire uses these when flirting with Tsukune. Well..."normal" Moka does, anyway.
    • Or just plain this:

Kapuchuu! ♥

  • Papillon, from Busou Renkin, insists that everyone use these when talking about him.

Tokiko: Papillon!
Papillon: *while wagging his finger admonishingly* Papillon♥. You have to say it with love!

    • Appropriately, his last line in the series after becoming a world-famous celebrity is "Say it with love!" yelled from the Eiffel Tower to a crowd of fans shouting his name.
  • Koizumi from Lovely Complex sometimes tries to address her love interest Otani in this way, but it usually only freaks him out.
  • Miharu in the Girls Bravo manga uses this a lot.
  • Icoro's cute animal sidekick Kuro of Kimi No Kakera ends almost every sentence with a heart. It should be noticed that most of the things he says are fairly nasty digs at Icoro.
  • Appears in the Sailor Moon Manga and carried over to the Gaiden Game Sailor Moon: Another Story.
  • It's used pretty regularly in Hayate the Combat Butler, by just about every character. Particularly heartful are the permanently cheerful occasional Chew Toy Izumi and Maria, for whom ♥s and a fixed smile serve as a warning of impending doom.
  • Noah does this on occasion. It's decidedly not cute.
  • In Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two., Renji's Cloudcuckoolander mom Sumire often appends hearts and musical notes to the ends of her speech.
  • Oddly enough, this crops up often in Detective Conan. Quickly gets disturbing when in an early appearance, it's dragged out for a Ho Yay joke.

Conan: You do have a reason for making us come and stay here, right?
Hattori: No, I don't... I just wanted to be with you~♥
(Conan aims his watch stun-gun at Hattori.)
Hattori: Ah! Don't shoot! I'm only joking!

  • Butterflies, Flowers: Domoto insists that Choko address him as "Director Domoto ♥" when on the job.
  • Mayu often speaks to Kaoru with hearts in Ai Yori Aoshi.
  • Narumi from Gakuen Alice is this trope, in the "squeeing like mad" or "extra-flirty" sense. (He has 28 hearts in the first chapter alone.) Misaki has Lampshaded this at least once. Also, Rui Amane Says It With Stars. Presumably he's just that sparkly.
  • In an episode of Mirumo de Pon!, Kaede gives Matsutake a coffee cup and includes a note, which his servant reads to him, including saying "heart mark" at the end.
  • Battle Royale is an intensely psychological manga with lots of deception and desperate attempts at heartwarming, so it is no surprise that its Manga is littered with this.
    • Memorably, the Big Bad Yonemi Kamon's speech is littered with these, all the while he's talking about rape, murder and the imminent bloodshed involved in The Programme.
  • Nagi does this a lot in Otome Kikan Gretel.
  • Envy's done it a few times in the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. It's done to great Evilly Affable effect. See the page picture.
  • In Saiyuki, Hakkai will do this. Usually it's to indicate that he's in full-on Team Mom mode, and treating the other main characters like unruly children, but he also did the creepy version once when threatening to break a minor villain's neck.
  • When Futaba tells Puni Puni Poemi she wants to see her transformation. Yes, that's an anime, but they made an Art Shift for this scene.
  • The most prolific user of hearts in Ah! My Goddess is Hild, chief demon and the ruler of Hell.
  • Bugsy uses this once or twice when talking to Gold in Pokémon Golden Boys. Ho Yay ensues.
  • Misa Amane from Death Note often talks like this, usually when the subject is Light Yagami.
  • Kureha from Tokko often talks like this.
  • Mitsuko, the sex shop owner in Nana to Kaoru, does this whenever she's discussing her wares with a customer.
  • Dead (Master) in |Black Rock Shooter: Innocent Soul likes to pepper her gushing over Rock with hearts.
  • In the Wedding Peach manga when a Bride is possessed by a love hating devil she gets aggrivated by anything to do with love, and even tells Wedding Peach that the ♡s Peach is speaking with are pissing her off.


Comic Books

  • Western example: Sometimes, Empowered does this.


Fanfiction

  • In Left 2 Die 4 ever, the main character is somehow able to pronounce an exclamation point.


Video Games

  • Etna in Disgaea can hit both 'sarcastic' and 'disturbing' when she uses this. Flonne does it straight: "Eternal love! ♥"
  • One of the fish in The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker, while neither kawaii nor genki, gives us one when talking about ChuChus.
    • Also, the sculptor, Carlov, speaks with hearts quite often.
    • There's another (rather odd) example in the Four Swords manga, where Red Link utters a ♥ after Gufuu grabs him and Blue and ties them together.
  • Deneb from Ogre Battle ends nearly all of her sentences with a heart. It's so much a part of her character that the heart being in a different font in the sequel Tactics Ogre kind of ruins the effect.
  • Millenia in Grandia II uses these sometimes after a few of her more... playful lines of dialogue.
  • Medicham in the first Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.
    • Lopunny in the second game occasionally ends sentences with a ♥.
    • The Kecleon Brothers of both games sometimes end their sentences with ♪'s.
  • The King of All Cosmos from Katamari Damacy does this sometimes. Some of his dialogue even has a heart symbol after each letter. There's also the fact that the first sequel is called We ♥ Katamari.
  • Alice from Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World ends just about every sentence with hearts. Especially creepy when she's telling you that "it's time to die! ♥"
    • Zelos pulls this off when he's being especially flirtatious.
    • Anise of Tales of the Abyss does this as well, as she is the Kawaiiko. However, Jade uses them once or twice as well, though it may be in jest.
    • Arche from Tales of Phantasia ends a lot of sentences with hearts. Since she is a Genki Girl, this is pretty much a given.
  • Almost all of the Riviera: The Promised Land girls use hearts in their speech. Fia uses musical notes instead.
    • Similarly, Cierra often did this in Dept Heaven Apocrypha when she was around. Other characters do it every now and again, too.
  • The Magypsies from Mother 3.
  • And another one: Paper Mario games tend to pepper their text with hearts, especially the original. This LPer has some fun with the tendency.
  • As the page quote indicates, this get used somewhat frequently in the PC-98 Touhou games (except the first, which kinda lacked dialogue sequences). It disappeared by the first of the Windows games. And yes, the three primary "offenders" (Yuka, Mima, and Marisa) were all varying degrees of crazy, so it tended to follow a particularly violent or mean statement (again, see the page quote).
  • Pops up now and again in Lunar: The Silver Star as well as its sequels and remakes.
  • In Half Minute Hero, the Time Goddess uses hearts and occasionally other symbols.
  • Naval Pranha (a Yoshi's Island boss) peppers her dialogue with hearts in Tetris Attack.
  • In Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Examining a letter from Detective Ema Skye reveals that she signed her name with a heart. Genki Girl Trucy, a magician, responds by saying that she always signs her name with a diamond. She suggests that Apollo Justice should sign his name as "Apollo = Justice."
  • Leslie of Arc Rise Fantasia tends to do this alot. Even during some of her Excel Arts.


Webcomics

(squirrel girls): ♥ ♥ Field test! ♥ ♥

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