Learn Hardcore Japanese: sutoraiku zyan. - That was a strike, right?

じゃん is a very casual sentence-ending expression. It comes from じゃない / ではない, but in modern conversation it often does not literally mean a negative.

Here, it adds a feeling like:

See?
That totally is one
It’s a hit
That’s exactly it
That’s your type, isn’t it?
depending on context

So ストライクじゃん。 is not usually understood as It’s not a strike. Instead, it is more like strongly pointing out that something is a strike / a hit / exactly right.

Why isn’t it ストライクです or ストライクだ?

Because じゃん gives a different nuance from plain です or だ.

Compare them:

ストライクです。 = neutral/polite statement
ストライクだ。 = plain statement
ストライクじゃん。 = casual, expressive, often reacting to something just noticed

So じゃん makes it sound more conversational and emotional, like the speaker is saying:

That totally counts
See, it is
That’s exactly your type

It often sounds like the speaker is pointing something out to the listener.

Is じゃん the same as ?