Runes

Runes used by the people from the city of Orth (Orth runes) occasionally appear in the series and directly match the Japanese syllabic kana alphabets.

The easiest way to decode them is reading the anime opening and end credits, where the names of the staff are laid over the corresponding Orth runes. Since each symbol is a match for a kana sign, they can be decoded with a moderate knowledge of Japanese. As a result, people decoded them independently; the result could be found on the Internet. Manga readers faced the problem earlier and thus found the solution first. There are some differences in style but overall it is possible to read both manga and anime texts.

Table of Orth city letters and corresponding Japanese romaji

Table of Netherglyphs used in Orth and Pictograms mentioned by Menae and Sherumi.

Written text is mostly used for illustrative purposes to create a mysterious look, but does not bring any significant new information. In the table above, the translation from Orth runes to katakana is presented, and below there are some examples of translated text.

All runes are strictly linked to the Japanese language.

Examples from the Anime

The first appearance of runes in the anime: Episode 1 (9m 44s); book cover

Letter of Lyza to Riko . It translates to "Waiting at the bottom"

One of the largest texts are Riko's notes on Reg:

1. Kaminoke: Hair

2.Moemasen: doesn't burn
Katai hada: hard skin

3. Kohi chotto gakai: Like coffee (skin)

4. Teheso: belly button
Chinchin: childish term for penis

5. Chotto kawatta beruto: Strange belt

6. Herumetto: Helmet
kawaii: cute or tiny (in relation to chinchin in 4.)

7. Saiten: Markings

8. Nande chinchin ga tsuiterun tarou: Why is there a penis attached? (why does he have a penis?)

9. Teshi tsuna suru: End of notes

Signature of Nanachi (ep.11 12m 07s) :

In the anime series, titles of books are copied and there are only few original titles. One text is copied from a poster in episode 1 and used later in episodes 7 and 13. Ibetsukaishi: Another beginning

Page of the book ep.13 9m 05s. ka e ra zu no mi ya ko na so "Capital of the Unreturned"

Cover of the same book (ep.13 5m 04s). Larger letters: "Exploration notes of the Abyss"

An example of handwriting from the third movie (5m 35s)

Mitty's passing is confirmed by the indicating lamp which turns off.

The lamps indicating life signals appear in the manga, anime, and in the second movie when Bondrewd notices Mitty's lamp has gone out. When transcript with English equivalent letters most of these names are: Isuke, Iroso, Pueru, Temuu, Hinika, Sumiko, Toran, Jitowa, Temu, Petora, Maruka, Kinshii, Kebihi, Shiyaroko, Susumu, Toimu, Shipube, Emupo, Iroso, Iitan. Some of these names are repeated multiple times.

Examples from the Manga

Spoiler warning: The following section contains spoilers. Read with caution.

Nanachi 's drawing for the letter to the surface. Labelling the characters; Reg , Riko & Meinya , Nanachi and Prushka (pointing to the whistle).

Pictographs,  Nether Glyphs and  Beyond Glyphs appearing in Distant Writings 1&2.