[JELEINEN]

Originally Posted by proseusr

"Sempai" is an honorific used to refer to a mentor or someone whom you look up to. It's also used by students in lower grades to refer to upperclassmen. This term is extremely common in anime, especially in series involving school-aged kids. You can also hear it quite frequently in some military series, or in any series in which the main character has a mentor or role-model. Hikaru in Macross, for example, refers to his mentor Roy Fokker as "sempai."

"Sensei" is used specifically to refer to a teacher, an esteemed scholar, or (obviously) a martial arts instructor.

I know what the words mean. That's why I questioned the usage. But thanks for being condescending. I'm sure it helps sell lots of books.