#also I not so subtly want taitem to voice him ngl

[shinyhappydigistar]

So in my quest to write about plain donuts when the plot bunnies strike, I’ve gone full bore as I usually do, and try to figure out how certain characters talk. So in the spirit of @prince-kallisto and their analyzations of characters, (and the fact Larry's been analyzed to heck and back, haha) I decided to look more into how everyone’s favorite home-ec teacher presents himself! For my own reference of course, as well as yours!

The first thing that you begin to notice is that Mr. Saguaro is very verbose. Like, overly formal and polite, to the point him using such word-heavy language feels like it’s a buffer. Other characters speak a bit like this too, like Director Clavell, but this is to convey that he is a polite person. But not to the degree Saguaro does.

In fact, one thing I picked up on is that Saguaro makes a conscious choice to never use contractions! He always uses the full words like “I am” or “You are”, as opposed to “I’m” or “You’re”, which is formal to a fault.

But he does let the mask slip when he tastes the sandwich he made with the Sweet Herba Mystica, the fact he uses "It's" instead of "It is" is a huge giveaway! But he immediately regathers himself and uses his overly-verbose language, as if he realized he went informal if just for a moment.

Now, it’s never made 100% clear if he uses less formal language in his private life, as we never see him in a more private setting. I think in this case, we can use personal discretion!

But let’s briefly look over at the Japanese version, and see if there’s even more nuance!

In the Japanese version, the most obvious thing is that he uses “Wagahai” as his “I/me/myself”. This is a _very_ archaic and even somewhat arrogant way to refer to oneself in the first-person: it would indicate he is someone who presents himself as a figure of authority, or at the very least someone to be respected, in an exaggerated manner. But using such a dated way to refer to oneself is definitely a mirror to how much he wants to present himself a certain way to his students.

Continuing the concept of authority, he also uses a Western dialect, as indicated by using “-n” and “-nu” as negative modifiers as opposed to “-nai”, for example. Stereotypically, a Western Japanese dialect is associated with masculine figures of authority (although I’ve seen the odd case where a female has used it). I’m familiar with this concept, as Satsuma from Digimon Savers (or really, most men of authority that Taiten Kusunoki voices, lol) uses a Western dialect and I recognize he and Saguaro use the same speech pattern.

On the other hand, he uses the more general “Kimi” for “you/your”, indicating that while he sees himself as an authority figure, he still wants to be approachable to others. Using “-san” as suffix also shows that, despite his ridiculous fluffing of his own self, he still shows others respect.

In other words, it's an exaggerated gentleman's vocabulary. It's the reason his English localization is so wordy.

And yes, he also briefly cracks here after eating his Herba Mystica sandwich and exclaims "Sweet" with a tilde, which indicates the stretching out of a word in an exaggerated fashion: not something you expect from him (or at least, if you're an unsuspecting student!)

(Also a brief note, the student here refers to him liking sweets as a "Gap", which in modern Japanese slang indicates the difference between a person's appearance and how they act. So yes, Saguaro is Gap Moe XD)

Video sources: https://youtu.be/3H5v0lRVqIw?t=2687 https://youtu.be/0x27-39iM2Y https://youtu.be/hLI7mhXnVLs?t=3740 https://youtu.be/snj76WgZvTQ?t=1464