Talk:Tooru Mutsuki/@comment-25615147-20150125184131/@comment-10733658-20150128160909

Yeah, I've heard that is one very tricky thing about translating Japanese in particular. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I recall isn't null anaphora especially common for older manly dude-type speech patterns? I vaguely recall that's a particular type of "tough" speaking that pops up on occasion and makes translators yank out their hair.

I think your previous thought that Ishida is intentionally being ambiguous is probably right. He generally doesn't give us a good idea of what characters are thinking right away, and sometimes stuff doesn't become clear until much later in the series.