Forum › That Time I Was Blackmailed By the Class's Green Tea Bitch discussion
I was reading chapter 31 raw just now, and there were these two panels:
https://i.imgur.com/p6bsAeY.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/tEdes7n.jpgI really was flabbergasted. "Doki doki" as in the Japanese sound for heartbeats? In Latin letters? In a Chinese manhua!?
Keep in mind that these are the raw originals, not some scanlated version!
I can only figure that the author picked that onomatopoeia from Western websites dedicated to Asian manga... I mean, it's not uncommon for us otaku to use "doki doki" in our writings or fanart...
This isn't that surprising given some context. First, as you mention, "doki doki" as an onomatopoeia in romance manga is probably pretty commonly known. Second, the average manhua will know Latin characters with fewer knowing Japanese kana. It makes a lot of sense to use "doki doki" instead of ドキドキ given the intended audience if you're trying to play around with the trope.
That kind of was my point. In Japanese manga and Japanese websites they don't use "doki doki" in Latin characters but ドキドキ in katakana. If the author of this Chinese manhua had picked the onomatopoeia from a Japanese source, it wouldn't have been written in Latin letters.
The Chinese language prolly has some sort of onomatopoeia of its own for hearbeats... but this author chose to use something different, more original, more exotic. And they ended up with "doki doki" in Latin characters. I believe it's a case of a Japanese conventional sound effect reaching China in a roundabout way after a trip through the English-speaking world. Maybe it's just me, but it tickles me pink. 
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The Chinese language prolly has some sort of onomatopoeia of its own for hearbeats...
