"Gozaru" as a role language - Overlord, Kangoku Gakuen (Prison School), and Charlotte

"Role language" is a specific language which evokes a speaker's character such as age, gender, occupation, rank, time, appearance, and personality. This is an imaginary expression based on the stereotype which is mainly used in a fiction, while in reality people usually do not use. This concept is advocated by Professor Satoshi Kinsui. In many cases, personal pronoun and end of sentence provide an indication of role language. For example, to describe that a speaker is an old man, "washi"("I") is used as a  personal pronoun in place of "watashi," and "ja" is used at the end of a sentence in place of "da." "Watashi ga omae no chichioya da" means "I am your father." If you use a role language to suggest the speaker is an old man, it would be "Washi ga omae(or onushi) no chichioya ja." Washi, onushi and ja are role languages. In reality, very few old people use these words.

"Gozaru" is originally a courteous expression of "iru" or "aru" ("be") used at the end of a sentence. It was used in 14c. to 19c. As a role language in a fiction, it basically suggests that the speaker is samurai or ninja, with a personal pronoun of "sessha" or "soregashi" as "I" and other old-fashioned speech. For example, "Sessha wa Hattori Hanzoh de gozaru," meaning "I am Hanzoh Hattori." We don't believe a real ninja actually used such a word which easily indicated he is a ninja.

We can hear "gozaru" in some summer 2015 animes, e.g. Overlord, Kangoku Gakuen (Prison School),  and Charlotte. Are you aware who uses this? It is Hamusuke (Hamsuke, the Virtuous King of the Forest) in Overlord, Gakuto in Prison School, and Ayumi Otosaka (Yu Otosaka's sister) in Charlotte. As you know, they are not samurai or ninja. Then what does their "gozaru" suggest?

Hamusuke was born several hundred years ago and is known as the strongest beast. So, her "soregashi" and "gozaru" may suggest she is old and strong like a samurai or ancient soldier.
Gakuto is a high school student who has a strong otaku interest in Three Kingdoms, a historical China story in AD 3c. Gakuto's language suggests that he devotes himself to the ancient world so much that he is using old-fashioned words. Of course, Chinese people did not use such Japanese.

Ayumi usually doesn't use "gozaru." She only uses "gozaru" in an intimate talk with her brother Yu. She has a strong interest in star watching and pop idle. I suppose her usage of "gozaru" would suggest she devotes herself to something very much, or she is a kind of otaku, like Gakuto.
Her "gozaru" reminds me Saori Bajeena in "Ore no imouto ga konna ni kawaii wake ga nai"("Oreimo"). Saori is a leader of an otaku group and uses "gozaru," but actually she is from a wealthy family and speaks formally when not with her otaku friends. Saori's "gozaru" is a part of her character buildings to be an otaku.

So, recently, it seems "otaku gozaru" is sometimes used to suggest the speaker is a kind of otaku. Maybe there is not such an otaku who uses "gozaru" in a real world.

(Apr 19, 2016, corrected a typo "otaku" to "gozaru")