#Reisuke Hōjō

[mirainikkicentricblog]

This is my new favorite obscure official artwork from 2011.

This is just so amazing.

It's a special illustration that was done for volume 12 of the manga.

[mirainikkicentricblog]

This post provides such a deep and thoughtful analysis of how Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh serve as mirrors to Yuno and Yukki, highlighting their struggles and growth.

I love the analysis of Tsubaki’s parallels with Yuno, Reisuke’s mirror of Yukki, and how Ai and Marco’s relationship forces a change in Yuno and Yukki's dynamic.

The way their bond shifts, symbolized by the 'Genjoudaha' track, is such a powerful reminder that their growth comes through facing these distorted versions of themselves.

This deep dive really makes me appreciate the intricacies of the characters’ development.

How Diary Holders Fifth through Seventh Reflect on Yuno and Yukiteru

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the various Diary Holders in terms of how they reflect on Yuno, Yuki, and the Yunoteru ship. Many of the main duo’s opponents serve as something like Funhouse Mirrors for Yuno and Yuki, forcing them to face warped and/or exaggerated versions of their own traits and issues. I suppose that’s true of a lot of great antagonists in fiction, but I really think there’s something cool about how his story breaks those traits and issues up across multiple parties to create such a distinctive, memorable cast.

I think the most interesting and blatant cases of this come with Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh.

Tsubaki (Sixth) is pretty clearly a reflection on Yuno. Yuno may be cynical about the world and may think that her life lost all hope for a while there, but here she sees someone whose life has been even worse than hers. Someone who’s experienced worse versions of everything Yuno did. Yuno’s in a cage each night? Tsubaki is in her cage nearly 24/7. Yuno’s physically abused all the time? Tsubaki is physically and sexually abused all the time. Yuno has one thing left that gives her hope (Yuki)? Tsubaki has actually lost the last thing she had that gave her hope (the ball from her mother).

One of the fun things about this one is that when we (the readers/viewers) first experience the showdown with Sixth, none of this is clear. Yuno’s history and motivations are still shrouded in mystery, so it just seems like Tsubaki is a girl who had a shitty life and was warped to madness by it. I wonder if anyone who saw this story arc for the first time managed to predict that it was foreshadowing some of Yuno’s issues?

Reisuke (Fifth) serves much the same purpose for Yuki. Yuki struggles with seeing his parents’ relationship collapse into divorce, and then having them be absent from his daily life for a couple of reasons. Reisuke struggles with seeing his parents’ relationship collapse into domestic abuse, and then having them be absent from his daily life because they’re dead. Both Yuki and Reisuke put on a veneer of “not needing anybody” or “being independent/an observer,” sheltering themselves from making personal connections such as friends because they’re afraid of the emotional pain of losing them later. They both claim they like it this way, lying right in the face of the truth: That both are deeply lonely. Even the fact that Reisuke is a child reflects on Yuki’s relative innocence about just how dark the world can get, and it gives Yuki a nice wake-up call to learn about the kind of crap Fifth has already endured at a young age.

In the end, the only person who can defeat the warped reflection of Yuno is, of course, Yuki. The same is true for the warped reflection of Yuki: It has to be Yuno to who stops him. You can look at that a number of ways, but I think it’s saying that they need each other to save one another from themselves — they can each only overcome their issues with the other’s help.

Ai and Marco (Seventh) are probably the most on-the-nose of the “funhouse mirrors” in the whole thing: They show us a devoted, balanced relationship, and they naturally come in to bring us that right as Yuno and Yuki’s relationship is at its lowest point in the series. There’s no better time to make them face a devoted couple than when their own bond is most damaged. Not only does this arc push them back together, but Marco berating them for their comparative failings at the end of the arc winds up really shaking their dynamic up a lot. Over the next few chapters/episodes, we start to see both of our leads work to change the very things Marco called them out on.

The soundtrack of the anime series spells this out nice and clear: The track “Genjoudaha” is introduced in a couple of the combat scenes with Marco and Ai teaming up against our protagonists. After Seventh is out of the story, we hear “Genjoudaha” a few more times in the anime — now used when Yuno and Yuki are working together to attack Eleventh. Yuno and Yuki’s relationship literally takes on the musical theme introduced by Marco and Ai’s relationship, telling us clearly that Yuki and Yuno’s relationship has irrevocably changed to match the equality of Seventh’s. (“Genjoudaha” means “Changing the status quo,” by the way. Initially, you might take that to refer to the the idea of one of the 12 Diary Owners being two people, but ultimately it’s just one more way the shift in the Yunoteru relationship is driven home by this music.)

[usagiblackrose]

Watch out with these kind of anime characters, they have similar features:

Cute appearance, cute pink cheeks, green clothes, hair color, sadistic thoughts...

[animegifskawaii]

[mirainikkicentricblog]

This post is a fascinating dive into the meanings behind the names of Mirai Nikki characters!

It's always interesting to see how their names reflect their personalities or thematic connections to gods and myths.

For instance, Yukiteru's name being related to 'glowing snow' feels spot-on with his often fragile, emotional nature.

And I love the insight into Yuno’s name, especially the 'always after you' part—it's so fitting for her intense obsession with Yukiteru.

I also didn’t realize that Ai’s name means 'beautiful love god', which fits her Venus-inspired persona so well.

Thanks for sharing these details—they add a deeper layer to the story and characters!

Future Diary – diary holders’ name meanings

While taking notes for a Future Diary fanfic, I got curious on the characters’ names. Most of the name meanings can be found at the Future Diary Wiki, but some kanji meanings on their names are not listed on the “Trivia” section of their corresponding articles. 

I also used Google Translate to get approximate definitions both from Chinese and Japanese languages. For the Western names, I have a dictionary on hand.

(L/N – surname; F/N – first name. Japanese surnames are written before the first name.)

Amano Yukiteru (天野 雪輝; First)  Based on Jupiter. *

L/N “heaven” (天) and “field” (野); means “belongs to the sky”. F/N “snow” (雪) and “bright”; (輝) means “glowing snow”.

Gasai Yuno  (我妻 由乃; Second)  Based on Juno. *

L/N “I” (我) and “wife” (妻), respectively; combined, means “my wife”. F/N “by” (由) and “is” (乃). It means “always after you”.

Uryū Minene (雨流 みねね; Ninth)  Based on Minerva.  *

F/N (みねね) possibly a diminutive of Minerva, or a derivative of Minna (من) meaning “the gift of God” in Arabic. L/N “rain” (雨) and “flow” (流). It means “falling raindrops”. 

Hiyama Takao (火山 高夫; Third) Based on Vulcan.

L/N “fire” (火) and “mountain” (山); “volcano” if combined. F/N “towering” (高) and “husband” (夫).

Keigo Kurusu (来須 圭悟); Fourth) Based on Mercury.

L/N (来須) means “coming soon”. F/N (圭悟) means “the precious announcement”.

Hōjō Reisuke (豊穣 礼佑; Fifth) Based on Ceres. 

L/N “rich harvest” (豊穣). F/N “thanks” (礼), “to help someone” (佑) Interestingly, the second kanji looks very similar to “祐” meaning “help of god”.

Kasugano Tsubaki (春日野 椿; Sixth) Likely inspired by the Roman goddess Proserpina **, or maybe after Apollo.

L/N “spring” (春), “day” (日), “field” (野) F/N (椿) means “camellia”, a flower sometimes associated with death.

Mikami Ai (美神 愛; Seventh)  Based on Venus

L/N “beautiful” (美) and “god” (神). F/N “love, affection” (愛)

Ikusaba Marco (戦場 マルコ; Seventh) Based on Mars.

L/N “battlefield” (戦場). F/N another form of Mark, meaning “hammer, a male, sprung from Mars.

Ueshita Kamado (上下 かまど; Eighth) Represents Vesta.

L/N “up” (上) and “down, under” (下), perhaps referring to a seesaw. F/N “furnace” (かまど)

Tsukishima Karyūdo (月島 狩人; Tenth) A nod to Diana.

L/N “moon” (月) and “island” (島) F/N “hunting” (狩) and “man” (人)

John Bacchus (or John Balks; Eleventh) Represents Bacchus. **

L/N Named after Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, better known as the Greek god Dionysus F/N John means “the gracious gift of God” from Hebrew.

Hirasaka Yomotsu (平坂 黄泉; Twelfth)  Refers to Pluto.

L/N “flat” (平) and “slope” (坂)  F/N (黄泉) in Japanese mythology his name is a reference to Yomo-tsu-Hirasaka, a slope that descends into Yomi, the underworld

Bonus: Akise Aru (秋瀬 或)

L/N “autumn” (秋) and “rapids, shallows, torrent [Jap], set [Chinese]” (瀬) F/N “or, either, maybe, perhaps” (或), likely an allusion to his apparent mysterious character.

* – Capitoline Triad god counterpart ** – Non-Dii Consentes

[mirainikkicentricblog]

Come up with playlists inspired by the 12 Future Diary holders.

Here’s my take on playlists for the 12 Future Diary holders, each capturing their essence and story arcs:

Yukiteru Amano (The Random Diary)

'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' by Green Day

'Stressed Out' by Twenty One Pilots

'Wake Me Up' by Avicii

'Faded' by Alan Walker

2. Yuno Gasai (The Yukiteru Diary)

'Saccharine' by Jazmin Bean

'Toxic' by Britney Spears

'This Little Girl' by Cady Groves

'RED love' by Faylan

3. Takao Hiyama (The Murder Diary)

'Psycho Killer' by Talking Heads

'Paint It Black' by The Rolling Stones

'This Is the New Shit' by Marilyn Manson

'THIRD/Antares Cr302' by Aki Hata

4. Keigo Kurusu (The Criminal Investigation Diary)

'Sound of Silence' by Simon & Garfunkel

'Somebody That I Used to Know' by Gotye

'The A Team' by Ed Sheeran

'In The End' by Linkin Park

5. Reisuke Hōjō (The Hyper Vision Diary)

'Kids' by MGMT

'Creep' by Radiohead

'Kids With Guns' by Gorillaz

'Little Talks' by Of Monsters and Men

6. Tsubaki Kasugano (The Clairvoyance Diary)

'Frozen' by Madonna

'Lilium' by Grissini Project

'Bring Me to Life' by Evanescence

'Cries of Avici' by Aki Hata

7. Marco Ikusaba & Ai Mikami (The Exchange Diaries)

'Shut Up and Dance' by Walk the Moon

'Love Me Like You Do' by Ellie Goulding

'Young and Beautiful' by Lana Del Rey

'7th Heaven' by ChouCho

8. Kamado Ueshita (The Propagation Diary)

'Happy' by Pharrell Williams

'Imagine' by John Lennon

'Pocketful of Sunshine' by Natasha Bedingfield

'All Star' by Smash Mouth

9. Minene Uryuu (The Escape Diary)

'Survivor' by Destiny's Child

'Unstoppable' by Sia

'Heads Will Roll' by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

'Bomb (English ver.)' by AleXa

10. Karyuudo Tsukishima (The Breeder Diary)

'Who Let the Dogs Out' by Baha Men

'Take Me Home, Country Roads' by John Denver

'Eye of the Tiger' by Survivor

'Counting Stars' by OneRepublic

11. John Bacchus (The Watcher Diary)

'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' by Lorde

'The Final Countdown' by Europe

'Seven Devils' by Florence + the Machine

'Herrscher' by Yōsei Teikoku

12. Yomotsu Hirasaka (The Justice Diary)

'Hall of Fame' by The Script

'Hero' by Skillet

'Ghostbusters' by Ray Parker Jr.

'Holding Out for a Hero' by Bonnie Tyler

[mirainikkicentricblog]

My cutie patooties ❤️

ดูเดิ้ลแก้เครียด แต่ก็ยังไม่หายเครียด อาถรรพ์เดือนพฤศจิกายน ปีที่แล้วฉันก็ซึมกับเดือนนี้ไปทีละ งง😭😭

[anggecity]

Future Diary – diary holders’ name meanings

While taking notes for a Future Diary fanfic, I got curious on the characters’ names. Most of the name meanings can be found at the Future Diary Wiki, but some kanji meanings on their names are not listed on the “Trivia” section of their corresponding articles. 

I also used Google Translate to get approximate definitions both from Chinese and Japanese languages. For the Western names, I have a dictionary on hand.

(L/N – surname; F/N – first name. Japanese surnames are written before the first name.)

Amano Yukiteru (天野 雪輝; First)  Based on Jupiter. *

L/N “heaven” (天) and “field” (野); means "belongs to the sky". F/N “snow” (雪) and “bright”; (輝) means "glowing snow".

Gasai Yuno  (我妻 由乃; Second)  Based on Juno. *

L/N "I" (我) and "wife" (妻), respectively; combined, means “my wife”. F/N “by” (由) and “is” (乃). It means "always after you".

Uryū Minene (雨流 みねね; Ninth)  Based on Minerva.  *

F/N (みねね) possibly a diminutive of Minerva, or a derivative of Minna (من) meaning “the gift of God” in Arabic. L/N “rain” (雨) and “flow” (流). It means "falling raindrops". 

Hiyama Takao (火山 高夫; Third) Based on Vulcan.

L/N “fire” (火) and “mountain” (山); “volcano” if combined. F/N “towering” (高) and “husband” (夫).

Keigo Kurusu (来須 圭悟); Fourth) Based on Mercury.

L/N (来須) means "coming soon". F/N (圭悟) means "the precious announcement".

Hōjō Reisuke (豊穣 礼佑; Fifth) Based on Ceres. 

L/N “rich harvest” (豊穣). F/N “thanks” (礼), “to help someone” (佑) Interestingly, the second kanji looks very similar to “祐” meaning “help of god”.

Kasugano Tsubaki (春日野 椿; Sixth) Likely inspired by the Roman goddess Proserpina **, or maybe after Apollo.

L/N “spring” (春), “day” (日), “field” (野) F/N (椿) means “camellia”, a flower sometimes associated with death.

Mikami Ai (美神 愛; Seventh)  Based on Venus

L/N “beautiful” (美) and “god” (神). F/N "love, affection" (愛)

Ikusaba Marco (戦場 マルコ; Seventh) Based on Mars.

L/N “battlefield” (戦場). F/N another form of Mark, meaning “hammer, a male, sprung from Mars.

Ueshita Kamado (上下 かまど; Eighth) Represents Vesta.

L/N “up” (上) and “down, under” (下), perhaps referring to a seesaw. F/N "furnace" (かまど)

Tsukishima Karyūdo (月島 狩人; Tenth) A nod to Diana.

L/N "moon" (月) and “island” (島) F/N "hunting" (狩) and “man” (人)

John Bacchus (or John Balks; Eleventh) Represents Bacchus. **

L/N Named after Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, better known as the Greek god Dionysus F/N John means “the gracious gift of God” from Hebrew.

Hirasaka Yomotsu (平坂 黄泉; Twelfth)  Refers to Pluto.

L/N “flat” (平) and “slope” (坂)  F/N (黄泉) in Japanese mythology his name is a reference to Yomo-tsu-Hirasaka, a slope that descends into Yomi, the underworld

Bonus: Akise Aru (秋瀬 或)

L/N "autumn" (秋) and "rapids, shallows, torrent [Jap], set [Chinese]" (瀬) F/N "or, either, maybe, perhaps" (或), likely an allusion to his apparent mysterious character.

* – Capitoline Triad god counterpart ** – Non-Dii Consentes

[mirainikkicentricblog]

Yukiteru Amano: Ok, so asking Yuno about her parents wasn’t a good idea. She's been crying in the bathroom for an hour, and she won't come out...

Yuno Gasai: *sobbing uncontrollably on the bathroom floor*

Reisuke Hōjō: *clearly feels bad for Yuno*

[mirainikkicentricblog]

Your repainting of a bootleg Sonny Angel into Reisuke Hōjō is absolutely brilliant! The transformation is spot-on, and it’s so impressive how you turned a rough figure into an elite little menace with an IQ of 200. The little details really bring Reisuke’s mischievous essence to life. It’s incredible how you managed to fix the flaws and make him so much more captivating. Amazing work, and the backstory of how it came to be just makes it even more charming!

I repainted a bootleg sonny angel to look like Reisuke Houjou. My mom originally gave it to me for Christmas thinking it would look like the picture on the box... which it sadly did not. I've had bootleg sonnies before, and yeah, they never look quite right, but this one was rough. I think it was originally supposed to be a dinosaur, but it was missing the spikes on the hat, leaving a huge hole on his head T-T not to mention the scuff marks and poor paint job. The poor baby was in dire need of a makeover. Thankfully, he now gets to live the life of an elite little menace with a 200 IQ!

[mirainikkicentricblog]

Wow, your illustrations look so cute.

You're an amazing artist!

My school is in a school break and I got so bored so I decided to draw 12 future diary holders.

[non spoiler about true identity of 3rd + first appearance of 9th]

[spoiler about true identity of 3rd + another 9th design]

in the case that you guy wants a better (?) quality of each characters

1st - Yukiteru Amano

2nd - Yuno Gasai

3rd - Takao Hiyama

4th - Keigo Kurusu

5th - Reisuke Houjou

6th - Tsubaki Kasugano

7th - Marco Ikusaba & Ai Mikami

[+ Ai as a member of Omekata]

8th - Kamado Ueshita

9th - Minene Uryū

10th - Karyuudo Tsukishima

11th - John Bacchus

(He looks so goofy wth)

12th - Yomotsu Hirasaka

I don’t know if I will draw another important characters but I feel like I might not draw them :(

[mirainikkicentricblog]

I think it's fascinating how you’ve dissected the connections between the Future Diary characters and their Roman god counterparts! The intricacies you’ve pointed out, like Takao’s fiery personality reflecting Vulcan’s destructive side, really make me think about the characters in a new light. I also appreciate the deeper dive into the complexity of certain characters' motivations—like Keigo’s trickery and Tsubaki’s prophetic nature. Your post makes me wonder how these themes of destruction, manipulation, and protection shape the story and its characters.

Hello once again. I thank you for your opinions regarding my previous question. It has provided valuable insight into the relationship between Rea and Yayoi and how future fans can interpret their relationship in their creative endeavors. Although, just like before, I come with a new inquiry. As I have looked back the series, I find myself wondering why certain Diary Holders do not properly reflect their mythological inspiration in certain aspects.

Of course not all of them are fallible to this shortcoming. Some of them are given traits that reflect their inspiration such as Tsubaki being an clairvoyant oracle and Kamado being a caring matron to orphans. Additionally, I do not mind if certain Diary Holders also have traits that are inverse of their inspiration such as Yukiteru being a timid and cowardly boy and Minene performing rather idiotic mistakes (I will never let her go for writing her real name and address on that beauty pageant form...). However, there are traits given that do not reflect other Diary Holders. As much as I enjoy the narrative weight of Takao being a serial killing teacher and Keigo as the cop hot on his trail, I do not understand how that correlate to their inspiration. Keigo's occupation is something I can see as an inverse of Mercury as the messenger god is also the god of thieves (an occupation Keigo came to loathe due to his father). However, Takao's occupation as a teacher is something I never understood as Vulcan was the god of the forge and fire. It's not as though smithing has become an extinct occupation in the modern era so I am confused why isn't he one.

Regardless, the crux of my inquiry is that are there any source of information regarding the reasons why Sakae Esuno chose those traits and occupations for the Diary Holders? It would be most enlightening if you could provide answers to my question. Once again, I thank you for your aid and I bid you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday.

Thanks for the ask! I think this got lost in my backlog for a bit, and I'm sorry about that.

Sakae Esuno has only ever vaguely spoken about how the Roman gods correlate to the various diary holders. Mostly just to acknowledge that the correlations are there; I seem to recall he only specifically made the Yuno = Juno connection clear. So how do all the diary holders align with the Roman gods? .... Yeah, it's not always clear, and we really only have our own interpretations.

The first OP from the anime helpfully lists out the related gods for our reference: Juno, Jupiter, Minerva, Apollo, Mars, Ceres, Mercury, Diana, Bacchus, Vulcan, Pluto, Vesta, Venus. But not in that numerical order. So, for anyone else out there trying to make these names align with their respective diary holders, here's how it breaks down:

Yukiteru Amano (1st) — Jupiter

Yuno Gasai (2nd) — Juno

Takao Hiyama (3rd) — Vulcan

Keigo Kurusu (4th) — Mercury

Reisuke Houjou (5th) — Ceres

Tsubaki Kasugano (6th) — Apollo

Marco Ikusaba and Ai Mikami (7th) — Mars and Venus

Kamado Ueshita (8th) — Vesta

Uryuu Minene (9th) — Minerva

Karyuudo Tsukishima (10th) — Diana

John Bacchus/Balks (11th) — Bacchus

Yomotsu Hirasaka (12th) — Pluto

With that out of the way, here are my best guesses at how these Roman gods align with the Future Diary characters in question.

This is just my personal interpretation, of course, based on my own research and reading about the Roman gods. Your mileage may vary.

And as you say: Some of these links will be incredibly obvious.

But some of them? Oh lord. If you make it to the part about Twelfth/Yomotsu, I might leave you more confused than you came in.

SORRY/NOT SORRY IN ADVANCE.

(This is a long post. Prepare yourself.)

Yuki/Jupiter - Jupiter is the supreme god, the king of all gods. As such, he was also associated with supposedly granting the right of kingship/becoming ruler in ancient Rome. And Yuki is both the favorite to win the survival game (per Deus) and the ultimate victor in the said game, so... that checks out. In addition, Jupiter supposedly negotiated with the second Roman emperor to establish rules around giving sacrifices to the gods. That might be seen as a connection to Yuki ultimately having to kill Yuno.

Yuno/Juno - Juno is the goddess of love and marriage, but she also was known for her jealousy regarding Jupiter and for having a war-like, violent side. So. This one is obvious.

Fiery man! Fiery guy! Of metal and stabbing!

Takao/Vulcan - Vulcan is the god of fire, volcanos, and metalworking. I can least least see the influence of "fire" in Takao's visual design given his bright red hair that flows out all over the place. But an interesting facet of Vulcan is his dual association with both the constructive and destructive aspects of fire. Because of this, Romans built temples to Vulcan only outside of cities so as to avoid inviting destructive fire into their own midst, and they often tried to encourage the god to avoid bringing them harm. The idea of a wanton destructive force that could rampage across your city aligns decently well with Hiyama's identity as a serial killer. Note how Takao's fiery red hair is tied back and controlled when he's being "constructive" as a teacher, but it's wild and unkempt when he's being "destructive" as a kiler. Furthermore, there's the "god of metalworking" aspect; Takao is solely reliant on a metal knife to kill his victims, so there might be a connection there.

Kurusu/Mercury - Mercury, the messenger, is the god of... a lot of stuff. Specifically: financial gain/commerce, eloquence/communication, travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery/tricksters, and thieves. Kurusu does win Yuki and Yuno over to his side with his words, and later on effectively negotiates multiple deals with Minene to get what he wants, so I think that covers the communication/eloquence aspect. You might even argue that the way he negotiates with his own enemies to get what he wants is a clever manipulation of "boundaries." But Keigo's ultimate betrayal of Yuki and Yuno serves as good example of "trickery," too. And... that's probably all I've got.

Reisuke/Ceres - Ceres is known for being associated with fertility. She is most immediately linked to agricultural fertility, but she also plays a role in marriages and motherly fertility, ultimately serving as an important patron to families. Reisuke's link to the idea of "family" is pretty much all over his storyline; see how he calls Yuno "big sis" and adores "playing" with her, and see how he pine for a normal family life in his chapter of Mosaic. In addition, I think poison being his favorite weapon is probably meant to link him with plants... but your mileage may vary on that. Also, there's the green. You can't deny that when you think "Reisuke," you think "green" — I think that's another example of the Roman god connection influencing the character's visual design.

Tsubaki/Apollo - Like Mercury, Apollo is the Roman god of bunches of stuff. But the most important thing is that he's the god of prophecy, truth, and light. Tsubaki is the figurehead of a cult dedicated to sight and foresight that's obsessed with eyeball imagery; not only did her followers believe Tsubaki had prophetic powers, but her diary eventually made those powers real. Apollo is also a patron of the protection of the young. Because of how Funatsu exploits Tsubaki and turns her into a perennial sexual assault victim, she kind of winds up taking her desire to protect others from a similar fate to a very unhealthy extreme by wanting to destroy the whole world, but I guess that could be seen as a corrupted version of protecting people. The fact that Apollo is the god of both healing and disease is an interesting dichotomy, too, that feels like it might have an application to Tsubaki's poor eyesightt somehow... ? Idk. But it's probably more likely that her eyesight is just a reference to various "blind prophet" mythlogical figures throughout history such as Tiresias.

Marco and Ai/Mars and Venus - You know what they (used to) say; "Men are from mars, women are from Venus" and all that. Mars is a god of war—or more specifically, "the use of war to secure peace," which I think fits Marco pretty nicely. The fact that his Apprentice Diary is combat-focused but only in a counter-attack way really reflects this. Venus is the goddess of love, beauty, sex, etc. — and obviously, Ai and Marco are devoted couple who serve as a point of comparison for Yuno and Yuki, whose own love is in pretty dire straits at that point in the larger narrative. So the "love" thing is clearly present in our dual seventh diary holders, but Ai's own Apprentice Diary also serves as a nice reflection of the Venus themes; it shows her men she's going to flirt with in the future, after all.

Kamado/Vesta - Vesta is the goddess of home and family. Kamado runs a home for orphans and is devoted to protecting the kids. Easy. NEXT.

Minene/Minerva - You can see vestiges of the name "Minerva" in the name "Minene" right off the bat, but let's go past the surface and look at Minerva. Like many Roman gods, she's all over the place, serving as a goddess of wisdom, war, law, justice, and the arts. Regarding her role as a goddess of war, Minerva is just like Mars in she has a particular niche within that field. She's specifically the goddess of "strategic thinking to secure victory." I think you can see that in Minene's diary allowing her to secure clever escapes. And although Minene isn't especially wise most of the time, she IS known to sometimes serve up nuggets of wisdom, such as when she's advising Yuki during the period when she's his "nurse."

Wisdom.

You could also see her innate distrust of/disdain for gods as being a strange sort of wisdom given the reality she lives in—I mean, Deus isn't exactly a benelovent or loving deity. Minene is a pretty ironic character, though, as evidenced by her ultimately becoming a goddess in her own right despite her hate and distrust for all gods and religion. When you consider that, her being associated with a goddess of wisdom and justice despite being a hot-headed terrorist all seems like further extensions of that irony.

Karyuudo/Diana - Diana is goddess of nature, the hunt, and wild animals. Karyuudo keeps (and excessively dotes on) trained hunting dogs. Which are animals. Not wild ones (though they do be actin' wild AF when stalking our heroes) but still: animals are inherently a part of nature. You feel? NEXT.

Balks/Bacchus - Bacchus is the god of wine and pleasure. And John (whose last name is sometimes translated as "Balks" and sometimes just literally as "Bacchus") is often seen with a glass of wine in his hand, sure. But Bacchus is also one of the least-altered Greek gods when he was translated into the Roman pantheon. In fact, many Greeks alternatively called Dionysus "Bacchus" even before that name became his official moniker under Rome, because Dionysus could supposedly induce "baccheia"—a form of ritual madness/religious ecstasy that was said to alter your state of consciousness, expanding your internal mental and spiritual awareness by inducing visions and spasms of euphoria. In that regard, I think "baccheia" sounds a lot like what John was trying to do to Sakurami City's entire population. He wanted to give them ALL future sight, after all, and thereby expand the city into a global leader. Or perhaps you could interpret the "baccheia" as the awareness John believed he already possessed. Consider that the counterpoint to the internal awareness provided by the baccheia is said to be a severe reduction in external awareness. And in the end, despite all his intelligence, John definitely failed to understand a major external threat.

Yomotsu/Pluto - OH GOD IT'S TIME TO GET NUTS. Pluto is the god of the underworld and the Roman counterpart of the Greeks' Hades. Hades was a darker, more threatening figure in comparison to Pluto, who was portrayed as a positive concept of the afterlife. Just like with Bacchus, the name is derived from an alternative name the Greeks came up with first; they started calling Hades "Plouton" around the time they began giving him a more sympathetic portrayal. Although the Greeks' underworld of Hades was seen as a desolate and despairful place, the Romans' vision of Pluto's realm was a place of abundant riches. This is probably because they gradually conflated the Greek god "Plutus" (the god of wealth) with the Greek's usage of "Plouton" for the god of the underworld, and eventually they became the same damn thing.

....all of which is to say that there isn't much linking the Twelfth and Pluto in actual Roman mythology, honestly. The only obvoius connection is the most famous story of both Hades AND Pluto: the tale in which they abduct the woman they later marry, Persephone. And, well... Yomotsu sure does abduct a woman. Minene, y'know.

But now we have to GET SUPER NERDY. Because the "Plouton"/"Plutus" confusion is actually KEY, in my opinion, to understanding the connection between Yomotsu and Roman mythology

It's not just that the Romans came to conflate Plouton and Plutus, ultimately resulting in their unique vision of Pluto. Because Dante Alighieri made a similar mistake! Modern translators of Dante's Divine Comedy seem to agree that, although Dante wrote down the name of the Roman god "Pluto" for one minor character? Based on the description given of said character, he actually meant to reference "Plutus" and just... he either borrowed the Romans' name for their underworld god and assigned it to a Greek figure, or he simply made a mistake. (Because of the latter theory, a lot of modern Divine Comedy translations just use "Plutus" for this briefly-shown character because it's probably more accurate.)

......BRUH.

All of this is leading into my theory that, despite the first OP of Mirai NIkki calling out "Pluto"? I believe Sakae Esuno was ALSO thinking about the Greek god "Plutus."

So screw Pluto; let's fucking talk about Plutus.

In Greek mythology, Plutus is the first being to introduce to humanity these concepts: (A) stealing is wrong, because people should only acquire wealth and property through their own diligence; and (B) people have a right to protect themselves and their own property, because that is justice. Plutus is pretty big on personal justice. But the B.C.-era Greek play Plutus by Aristophanes portrays Plutus as having been struck blind by Zeus. In the aftermath, he's living as a beggar, because his blindness has affected his ability to determine true justice. And instead of the good people earning more money than the evil people, as Plutus intended, wealth is now being distributed randomly, which runs counter to the justice he always wished to see in the world.

A focus on justice? Troubles with blindness??? Come ON.

That's GOT to be part of the inspiration for Yomotsu, right?

[mirainikkicentricblog]

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