Kyoto punk band Otoboke Beaver doesnt care if you like their English

Kyoto is known for hushed temples, serene gardens and pastoral bamboo forests. None of that is reflected in the music of Otoboke Beaver, the city’s fiercest musical export. The all-female quartet’s second album, 2022’s “Super Champon,” dispenses 18 frantic punk songs in about 20 minutes.

The record was released internationally by Damnably, a British label that has signed several Japanese and South Korean bands, including Drinking Boys and Girls Choir, which will open for Otoboke Beaver at 9:30 Club on Sunday.

Named after a love hotel, the sort of hostelry that rents rooms by the hour, Otoboke Beaver formed when its original members were students at one of Kyoto’s dozens of universities. “We met at a club that had a band that played original songs. There were only four girls of the same generation, so it was natural for us to team up,” recalls lead singer Accorinrin by email.

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Of those four, only Accorinrin and guitarist Yoyoyoshie remain in the lineup, later joined by bassist Hirochan and drummer Kahokiss. Kahokiss’s speed and precision have generated several YouTube reaction videos by awed fellow musicians.

The band’s songs, which mix Japanese and English lyrics, include such feminist grievances as “I Won’t Dish Out Salads” and “I Am Not Maternal.” Of that song, Accorinrin says: “I’ve never wanted to get married or have children. Why shouldn’t I think so? That’s what I’ve always thought.”

Accorinrin’s English pronunciation is shaped by katakana, the Japanese phonetic syllabary used for foreign words. It transliterates English in ways that can sound odd to native speakers. This led to another Otoboke Beaver protest song, “Pardon?,” in which the singer repeatedly chants, “I don’t know what you mean.”

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“I was irritated by the comment, ‘If you can’t pronounce it properly, don’t use English,’ in response to my katakana English in ‘Don’t Light My Fire,’” a song from the group’s 2019 debut album, explains Accorinrin. “So I deliberately use English a lot.”

Yoyoyoshie is more sanguine about the linguistic gap. “I’m always so happy when people remember the lyrics and sing together even though we speak different languages, and when they try their best to understand and respond to our poor English [stage patter],” she says in an email.

While Otoboke Beaver’s music sounds angry, it’s partly inspired by manzai, a traditional Japanese form of duo comedy. “Manzai has been around me since I was a child, and I think it has influenced me in various ways,” Accorinrin acknowledges.

In the group’s songs, manzai’s two-person dialogues are recast as surprisingly complex vocal arrangements. “It’s very interesting when four people with different voices come together as one,” Accorinrin says.

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The band was also molded by the sensibility of the Kansai region, home to Kyoto and Osaka, whose inhabitants are reputed to be more outgoing than those in the Tokyo area. “I think being born and raised in Kansai has influenced the band’s style,” says Yoyoyoshie. “We use a lot of Kansai-specific language and intonation.”

If Kansai fans are more boisterous than their Tokyo counterparts, Yoyoyoshie still considers all Japanese listeners more reserved than American ones. “I have the impression that Japanese audiences enjoy the sound with their eyes and ears. American audiences mosh, dance and enjoy the music with their bodies.”

March 24 at 7 p.m. (doors open) at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. 930.com. $28.

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