There really isn't the junior/senior relationship in the west. There is very little interaction outside of your grade. You don't have a mentor through High School (tormentor probably tho).
When there is contact between different grades it is extremely casual. Juniors and Seniors would call each other by their first name (ie I'm sorry Sakuya). The honorific would be left out.
Anyway I think everyone understands sempai and honestly, it would seem weird without it.
In my experience, there's a *lot* of relationship between grades (Especially once you get to mixed-grade classes, like electives) and nobody really gives a shit what year you're in. At no point in high school were the majority of my friends from my own grade.
Still, yeah, sempai works better here than any western thing, since there's no word that would make it make sense in a western language.
When a show/game/etc. does not remove the honorifics, there is inevitably a bunch of people who will groan and complain. See /v/ and the "It's like I'm really Japanese!" meme.
However, in most cases, these stories are taking place in an obviously Japanese setting and these are important aspects of Japanese culture. They, far more than the west, put emphasis on respecting your elders and their supposed wisdom. (While there is some truth in this, I've noticed that old people are people too and, therefore, usually full of shit)
Regardless, the solution, to me, seems to be contextual. If a story is obviously taking place in a Japanese setting, keep all of the honorifics. If it's a setting that is more western in nature, (Zelda, Trigun, FMA, etc.) it may be better to just drop them altogether.
DocAquatic said: In my experience, there's a *lot* of relationship between grades (Especially once you get to mixed-grade classes, like electives) and nobody really gives a shit what year you're in. At no point in high school were the majority of my friends from my own grade.
Weird must be a location thing. I think the only mixed grade class was drama and music. Everything else was single grade.
Also was 9/10/11/12 as opposed to 10/11/12 (no Jr. High).
Something that would work even better than sempai would be sunbei, which is the Korean equivalent and what's actually written, but then again, Korean words are annoying as hell to pronounce.
That, and we Koreans make horrible dramas, so anything in a Korean setting is to be naturally condemned.
In this case, the term sempai would be more fitting than having it without, seeing as Meiling is referring to Sakuya in a semi-formal matter, rather than completely casual.
;;; ok, We'll stop right now. Let's just take this on NOTES.
GRRRR!Huff puffAh...! Senpai! A..Are you angry?Meiling is late... Grr... She said she'd come right after finishing her activities!Sakuya senpai, I'm sorry!