#random Jp language notes

[roguemaki]

Fun Vocabulary & Translation Notes from the Chara Commentary

General

私（あっし）

asshi first-person pronoun mainly used by working class men note: Chuchu uses this

漫才

manzai = a traditional Japanese comedy format Typically performed by a 突っ込み tsukkomi (straight man) and a 惚け boke (funny man) Part 2 - Secelia wrote 21 "tsukkomi patterns" to react to Guel, who is (unknowingly) serving as the boke in this case. Part 3 - Elan and El5n's intro bit flops. Guel comments that it's like a failed attempt at a manzai routine, which Suletta recognizes from old archival material she's watched. Part 4 - When Shaddiq joins, he has no interest in joking around and playing the role of a boke.

普通

futsuu = normal; ordinary; regular; usual; common; average​ Part 2 - When Miorine asks Suletta if she thinks Guel is funny, her response is: 私は普通ですけど… Watashi wa futsuu desu kedo... note: literally "I am [my reaction is] normal," but translated it to "To me… he’s normal…" Part 3 - Adding ni makes this into an adverb, like in Suletta's line: やっぱり普通に聞いてるじゃないですか！ Yappari futsuu ni kiiteru janai desu ka! note: literally "So you were listening normally [in the sense of 'without issue']!" but translated to "So you did see and hear everything...!"

Part 1

弱肉強食

jakunikukyoushoku jaku = weak, niku = meat, kyou = strong, shoku = eat note: translated to "eat or be eaten"

水星生まれ！水星育ち！

Suisei umare! Suisei sodachi! Suisei = Mercury, umare = birth, sodachi = upbringing note: translated to "Mercury born and raised!"

Part 2

三下り半 (or 三行半)

mikudarihan mi = three, kudari = down, han = half literally "three and a half lines," refers to the Edo period practice of sending a letter of divorce typically comprised of 3 and a half lines in modern Japanese, it's a slang term that means a unilaterally decided, less than amicable separation note: translated to "a messy divorce"

Part 4

あれは役でげすよ

are wa yaku degesu yo = literally "that is the role" In his intro, Shaddiq says this. It purposefully uses an archaic conjugation to get the same number of mora as "alea jacta est" pronounced in Japanese (area yakuta esuto). note: translated to "playing the role as cast" (imagine it being said with the same cadence as "alea jacta est")

見せ腹野郎

miseharayarou mise = showing, hara = belly; one's true intentions, yarou = guy; bastard Chuchu calls Shaddiq this. The phrase works both in the physical sense (Shaddiq's outfit exposes his chest/stomach) and the figurative sense (his true motives have been revealed).

賽 (“die”) and 犀 (“rhinoceros”) are both pronounced sai

Alea jacta est is Latin for "the die is cast," which Miorine explains as 賽は投げられた sai wa nagerareta (literally "the die has been thrown"). Suletta hears sai and thinks it's the word for rhinoceros. note: I gave up and just put a TL note in the video for this, lmao

ふんぞり返る

funzorikaeru = to recline; to be arrogant Another description that works in both the physical sense (Elan is usually depicted as sitting back in a chair) and figurative sense (he's cocky). El5n calls Elan out for just sitting back and letting the Enhanced Persons suffer in his stead.

[jichanxo]

actually criminal that there's still no studio recording of the english version of 'the way things are' from the death note musical. god please i need a miracle

[angelwishess]

⑅˚₊ 𝜗𝜚 Kyra Lovelace

(REMAKE) || Pinterest Boards — Playlist(s) .

The magicless prefect of Ramshackle; an enchantingly beautiful young lady who always carries herself with a sense of gracefulness and elegance fit for a princess. But behind that fair facade, lies an endless curiosity, a desire for danger and a knack for causing trouble.

⑅˚₊ 𝜗𝜚 — BASIC INFO !

Nicknames:

Prefect / Prefect of Ramshackle

Henchman (Grim)

Trickster, Princesse de la Lumière (Rook)

Little Shrimpy / Sea Angel <- After events of Book 3 (Floyd)

Kid (Leona)

Child of Man (Malleus)

Lacy, Ra-ra (Cater, Jester)

Nicknames for others:

Floydie (Floyd)

Acey (Ace)

Deucey (Deuce)

Jestie (Jester)

Jadie (Jade)

Zul / Zulie / Octoboy (Azul)

Big Bro (Leona and Jamil)

Caycay (Cater)

She has a habit for calling people endearing petnames like “sweetheart” when she doesn’t know them very well … (not many of the nrc students like this WHAHAHA)

Grade/Class: Freshman, Class A

Birthday: May 5

Age: 17

Height: 172.72 cm (5’8 ft) ( 177.80 /5’10 with her heels! )

Dominant Hand: Right

Homeland: ???

Club: Spelldrive Club

Best Subject: Animal Languages

Hobbies: Designing and making clothes

Pet Peeves: Living routinely.

Favourite Food: Burgers and Steak Fries !!

Least Favorite Food: Steamed fish and liver

Talent: Making clothes out of just about anything!

Likes : Fashion, Cute things, Mythology, Folklore, Fairytales, Flower language, “Adventure”, Anything she thinks is “fun”, collecting weird random bits n’ bobs, learning new things, Ribbons n’ frills, Pranks n’ mischief, Amusement parks, adrenaline rushes, Freedom, Cute sweets and cafe hopping!

Dislikes : “Boring things”, Normalcy/Living life routinely, monotony, pessimism, indecisiveness, lack of freedom, strong smells, studying, silence, being told what to do, being told she ‘cant’ do something, her moodswings, humid weather, being looked down on / underestimated, people trying to “save her”.

Gender & Sexuality: cis girl, demisexual + demiromantic

Voice Claim(s):

Note, these are subject to change !

JP: Haruka Shiraishi (as Leticia from I Want To Escape Princess Lessons)

ENG: Jessica Brown Findlay (as Leonore from Castlevania) (just pretend its a liittle higher pitched hehe)

⑅˚₊ 𝜗𝜚 — APPEARANCE !

A tall girl with fair skin and rosey cheeks. She has long, wavy white hair that fades into a soft pink. Her eyes are also pink, but she has notable long, thick lashes. She has heart-shaped pupils, and she always has a gentle smile on her face. (Smiling resting face)

It is notable that she is very very beautiful. Her beauty can be considered uncanny, ethereal. And she has a very elegant, other worldly aura.

No, literally… She has an aura. 😭 a sparkly, sparkly aura …

It honestly started as a joke but its canon now?? I seriously dont know— best example I can give is something similar to Kokomi Teruhashi from Saiki K but her aura is pink and sparkly … And she doesnt have it all the time only when she smiles shoujo style yk HAHAHAHA

⑅˚₊ 𝜗𝜚 — BODY LANGUAGE / SPEAKING HABITS !

She carries herself in a way that is very graceful, fit for a princess. She walks elegantly , with perfect posture and often seems as if she is floating despite her feet being on the ground. She simply feels… Unreal. Well, that is until she trips and falls on her face. Despite her elegant and well-mannered appearance for a first impression— she is incredibly clumsy.

She has a lot of body movement when she speaks. Think of Giselle from Enchanted, thats exactly how she moves often times as she speaks.

She moves in a way that is elegant and regal.

Even when she gets more comfortable being herself, she still has some old habits from her past, an example being bowing/giving a curtsy whenever she introduces herself.

She has a very soft, soothing voice. Perfect for storytimes and lullabies. Its very stereotypically ‘feminine’, and most times she never raises her voice. From anger, that is. She can be rather loud after coming out of her shell in Book 1.

Her voice, similar to how she moves, feels whimsical and airy in a strange way. She truly does seem like someone thats been taken straight out of a fairytale! …Well, atleast until she comes out of her shell, and you get to know the real her.

⑅˚₊ 𝜗𝜚 — PERSONALITY !

Most notable traits || adrenaline junkie, carefree, unpredictable, impulsive, reckless, competetive, curious, accident prone, loyal, chaotic, enigmatic, cool-headed/unbothered, affectionate, teasing, mischevious, eccentric (I reccommend you check out my 🎀! twst shennanigans tag to see more memes of her and her personality lmao)

Kyra, at first, seems very elegant. The picture perfect image of what you think of when you think of the word “princess”. Shes soft-spoken, quiet, and mild-mannered. Usually not speaking unless spoken to, and always has a far-off, dreamy look on her face. She seems mysterious, and other worldly, like they pulled her out of a fairytale. Her presence attracts people and animals alike, they cant help but be drawn to her somehow.

Although she comes off as very mature and graceful at first— the true Kyra is a whirlwind of impulsivity and chaos. Shes unpredictable, and thinks in a way others way deem... strange. Shes bounce-off-the-walls energetic and eccentric, and unfortunately, a little naive too. Shes a dreamer at heart, after all!

She says and does things without thinking, often coming off as painfully honest and blunt. She says whatever she wants to and is extremely outspoken, not caring one bit about what she says. She also doesn’t understand social cues very well, either.

Ridiculously unserious, you can expect her to laugh at the worst times possible. Often times, she isn’t too good at reading the room, and can come off as insensitive when in serious situations. She herself, doesn’t see the issue with it, as in her eyes shes just “having fun”. Unfortunately, this can affect her realtionships with others, too, as she likes to have fun in her own way, and often times she does it by poking fun and teasing people, even if they’re in a bad mood.

She does what she wants, when she wants, and won’t listen to anyone who tries to tell her otherwise.

She adores the feeling of adrenaline in her veins and would do anything to chase that high. Because of this, she always has trouble and chaos burning hot on her heels. You can bet theres never a dull moment with Kyra around - from trying to juggle fish to exploding the alchemy lab to see "how many cool colors she can make", theres always something unexpected happening around her!

She has an insatiable, childish curiosity, and is always enamored by new things! She loves learning and experiencing new things, and always goes out of her way to try and learn every day. She seems to be quite oblivious to the real world, though. Seeing as she finds something new every day, be it as simple as a burger, a video game or a vending machine— it seems that even everyday things of society are all interesting and new to her.

Shes very honest, and sometimes even blunt. She enjoys a good challenge, no matter how ridiculous or extreme and hates being looked down on or underestimated. Because of this shes incredibly competetive when it comes down to it. Usually, shes very calm and cool-headed, but she cannot stand it when someone says she cant do something. Always filled with the burning desire to stand up for herself and prove them wrong, she’ll show everyone she isn’t some sort of delicate and frail maiden that needs someone to save her. (…Except for cooking, she cannot cook. At all.)

A huge klutz and so accident prone its ridiculous, Kyra always finds herself in the middle of some sort of accident or situation. Whether on purpose or not, if theres some sort of incident shes most likely involved somehow... Safe to say that the infirmary is her second home.

Despite her seemingly thoughtless behavior; Kyra is actually very compassionate. She's always the first person to come rushing in when someone is in need, and is a little too trusting of people, to the point of naivety. Shes extremely loving and caring, and even if she teases her friends, she adores all of them dearly and views them as family!

Kyra is a very positive person! She prefers to see the bright side of things, and is so cool-headed its honestly scary. She seems to never get upset, and faces everything with a bright smile! She holds no grudges towards anyone, and is so full of love sometimes its sickening. She chooses to always look forward, and move on from disasters with an even bigger smile than before.

Shes the kind of person that leaves a lasting impression. If you’ve met her, you’ll never forget her! No matter how rambunctious and chaotic she is, she spreads her love and her light to everyone she meets, and before you know it, she’ll find some way to worm her way into your heart! As a friend, and as a companion. A soul as lovely and as beautiful as her’s is sure to leave an impression you’ll never forget.

The best way to describe her is a walking contradiction. Chaotic yet serene at the same time, angelic yet impish in nature, selfish yet selfless. So easy to understand yet impossible to know. Otherworldly and proud yet so grounded and humble. She holds herself in a way that is regal, elegant. Yet she is so very inviting. So mature yet so childish, so disconnected with emotions but she feels them so deeply. Its curious, how it's possible for someone that burns so brightly to be so cool and collected.

Perhaps that is simply the role of a princess. And shes trying to figure out which parts of her have been thrust upon her by the expectations of others, and which ones are truly her.

⑅˚₊ 𝜗𝜚 — BACKGROUND / LORE (TW: for dehumanization.)

The life of a princess; from her birth is well defined. She must humbly serve her country and her people and wordlessly play the role she has been assigned.

She has no other purpose, after all. This is what she is meant for- the only thing shes good for. To not speak, nor think for herself. To act only for the sake of others.

Because that is what a princess does. She does not have any other identity outside of this. Nor does she need any identity outside of this. This is the only thing shes good for, what gives her worth. Purpose. She is nothing if not her title and her beauty, a tool for the kingdom to use for its advantage. She is someone— no, something to be used.

Perfection is her obligation. To be a flawless paragon, the ideal figurehead. To be something… Inhuman. And to be viewed as such. She is nothing more than her beauty, never valued beyond that.

But, Kyra is a dreamer. She wants, and she wants. No matter how many times she tries to stop it. She cant help that yearning for freedom she so desperately desires. Yearning, to be more than what shes told she is. Yearning to have more than what they have planned for her.

From her birth, she was forbidden from ever stepping foot outside the palace walls, her father much harsher on her than her other siblings, alienated from everyone in her life. She escaped through fairytales, and filled her head with dreams of the fantastical. Of course, this only made her want more. It fueled her wonder and curiosity of the outside world, and dreamed that one day she would be able to leave and explore the world for herself.

Of course, as years passed she had she had long played the role as “perfect princess”, obeyed every command and compliantly did everything the people asked of her. She threw away her own desires for the sake of her country- because that is her only purpose. And that is the only way she could ever hope to be loved. Otherwise… She’d be completely unlovable, if she didn’t comply. Her entire purpose is simply to sit still, to never speak and to simply and look beautiful. Acting almost like a doll.

Always admired, but never truly loved.

Always desired, but never known.

Always seen, but never heard.

And yet, you can only push someone so far.

After getting news from her father that she was promised to a prince, she stormed back to her room to weep. All of her dreams now crushed, and her hope gone.

She ripped out the pages of an old scrapbook shes had since she was a little girl. All of her dreams of adventure written and illustrated in lead and colorful pencils— now ripped to shreds. Nothing but little pieces of paper, of thrown out dreams. Dreams of leaving this palace and going to the beach, or an amusement park. Dreams of travelling the world and to see what it has to offer...

Dreams to make friends, and have grand adventures with them.

All hope was lost... Atleast thats what she thought, until she looked up to the sky and saw a shooting star. Out of desperation, she made a wish. The first time in years, as childish as it was she had no other choice.

And when she woke up, she was in a world she always dreamed of going to. And she couldn't be any happier. Maybe… Just this once, even just for a little while… She can be selfish too.

⑅˚₊ 𝜗𝜚 — NOTABLE RELATIONSHIPS !

Kyra ♡ Floyd — Bestfriends! Or more. || Theres no one on land or in the sea that could ever be more in sync than these two. Always on the same page and wreacking havoc wherever they go, they’re an inseperable duo attatched to the hip! They say they’re best friends and partners in crime, but everyone can see the dopey, lovestruck expression on their faces when they look at eachother. They’ll keep denying it, but no one knows why. (Wanna know more? Floyra’s intro post will be linked here!)

Kyra & Leona — “Big bro!” || Kyra seemed to take a liking to the beastman after the events of Book 2, often following him around like a lost puppy. She sees him as an older brother figure— sevens know why, but as time passes Leona found himself seeing her as his little sister, too. Perhaps, Kyra yearned for someone to call her older sibling. After all she never got to spend any time with hers.

Kyra & Malleus — Closest friend. || Both royalty thats underdeveloped socially, with a curiosity for the seemingly mundane things of the everyday life of humans— Kyra and Malleus are quite the duo, Kyra thought he looked so cool when they first met, and immediately invited him into Ramshackle! At the end of the night, she invited him to visit again the next day. When asked why, she said they were friends. And ever since, they’ve found comfort in eachother’s presence, and being eachother’s close friend.

Kyra & Crewel — “Dad!” || Kyra lacked a proper father figure in her life before arriving to TWST, her biological father being very distant. Crewel made her feel like she actually had a father figure, and now shes always quick to help him whenever she can. (… Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to approve of her choice with Floyd.)

Kyra & Adeuce — Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest. || Ah. The original trio. Kyra looks out for them— but most of the time just lets them be because she thinks its funny watching them flail around whenever they’re in trouble. Basically, they all act like siblings. Always teasing and poking fun at eachother, but also always the first to rush to eachothers side whenever real trouble arises.

Kyra & Azul — World’s Worst Customer. || Ever since Kyra ate his last contract during Book 3, it was basically downhill from there. Well, for Azul. Not Kyra, shes having the time of her life pestering and annoying Azul. He’s tried to ban her from the Mostro Lounge countless of times but it never works. Not when the employees are unsure whether to actually kick her out, since its either they anger Azul or Floyd if they do or dont kick Kyra out. Either way, Kyra will find a way back into the Lounge out of pure spite. She just thinks its funny to annoy Azul, and Azul is lowkey kind of scared of her…

Kyra & Jamil — Parallels. || Kyra wanted to be mad at him. To be dissappointed in him, to tell him off after the events of Book 4. But, she couldn’t. She didn’t feel angry at all, her anger from earlier while seeing Kalim cry was faded, sizzled into nothing but a gaping hole of guilt— because how could she hate someone she understands so very deeply? She understands. He doesn’t think so. How could he know she understands when all he sees is her running as free as the wind? But, he doesn’t know, that his freedom is eventual, and promised. And hers is temporary.

…On a happier note, Kyra and Jamil end up having a silly brother-and-sister-like relationship! Looks like Jamil has another person to babysit, and shes even WORSE than Kalim 😭

⑅˚₊ 𝜗𝜚 — OC RELATIONSHIPS !

Kyra & Poppy (@/justm3di0cr3) — “Lil’ sis!” || Both gleeful rays of sunshine that attract people, these two are inseperable! Kyra loves to spoil her little sister rotten with gorgeous dresses she designed, and they often have tea parties together to catch up! They love eachother dearly, and see eachother as family!

Kyra & Paige (@/4necdote) — “Mom!” || Kyra never had a mother, atleast not before Paige. And for that, she loves her so very dearly. Sorry Crewel, but shes a total Mama’s Girl!

Kyra & Elena — “Lil’ sis! pt. 2” || Elena has never been one to trust— But Kyra is just too presistent, too sweet and naive. To trust someone who calls herself a monster… How stupid is she? But even then… Kyra still believes in her. She says that she is kind even after all the betrayal, and deep down Elena wants to believe it too. Kyra sees Elena for who she is, and no one other than Azul and her brothers has done that before.

Kyra & Rory (@/screamintoad) — “Lil’ Bro!” || Complete opposites, both in personality and in style. But that doesn’t stop them at all! Kyra and Rory are dorm mates, but also sibling figures to eachother! Even with how much of a handful Kyra is, Rory always knows how to deal with her. Despite being months younger than Kyra. Safe to say Rory isn’t a stranger to Kyra’s chaos and randomness, and he’ll have to deal with it for life; seeing as they were both adopted by Paige and Crewel. Sibling til’ the end, right? <3

(If you wanna know more about her dynamics with other characters and her personality itself— I suggest looking through my Twst Shennanigans tag!! Its just a bunch of silly incorrect quotes honestly but it shows their dynamics pretty well HAHAHA)

⑅˚₊ 𝜗𝜚 — TRIVIA / FUNFACTS !

Kyra is Twisted from the stereotype of a Disney Princess!

While Kyra may be a stereotype, there are some princesses that I took inspo from the most! Those are: Giselle, Belle, Rapunzel, and Jasmine!! Cinderella and Snow White too, but thats just because theyre basically the disney princess blue print LMAO

^^ Kyra takes a lot of inspiration from Giselle especially!! She has a lot of her mannerisms. (Body language, the hand movements, ykyk)

In the canon storyline, no one knows Kyra’s past as royalty, and she never mentions it. She keeps it hidden throughout the events of the story, as she doesn’t want to remember it.

Kyra has a unique affinity towards animals that make them naturally drawn to her. Funnily enough, this also extends to merfolk and beastmen! Although its much more subtle.

Because of her past, Kyra is new to most things she interacts with in general. She was enamored when she saw a vending machine for the first time.

Kyra is an adrenaline junkie.

Kyra likes to dig through trash cans. Thats it.

With waaay too much energy, Kyra just cant stay still for a minute. Always off on some random side quest, working a part-time job at Sam's just for the fun of it to partying it up with Scarabia, she just can't stick to one thing for too long! She'll disappear for a minute and come back with something completely random. You really never know with her.

Despite how she seems, Kyra does NOTT take shit from anyone. If she doesnt vibe with you, she’ll just leave. And if you piss her off, its on SIGHT. Will absolutely throw hands regardless of who you are

Her single and only fear is Jamil after she does something stupid.

Wanna know my thoughts on why I designed Kyra the way I did? Check out my post here! I go into detail on her character design!~

Transparent PNG of her sprite here!

[sacchiri]

I recently bought the jp volumes of Hellsing along with the guidebook, and since I'm reading the series in its native language for the first time I might as well share some random things that stood out to me in no particular order.

This isn't meant to be an analysis of translation differences, I'm too lazy for that. Also it's been 12 years since I've watched the anime and read the low quality fan scans of the manga so some of these comments are just "Lol, forgot this was a thing"

Volume 1

... I really want to know who this guy is at the beginning, yelling at Alucard in overly familiar language to "Get your shit together!" and "You're the only one we can count on!!". We know from the style of speech that it's a dude, probably just some Hellsing rando, and maybe it's not all that strange since he has probably been working with the same soldiers for years--but it's still funny.

"I know, it's just so nice out :("

..The way "HELLSING Organization" is spelled out like this reminds me that apparently the name is supposed to be an acronym. No really.

...

God they're so silly.

Now that I think about it, the only thing Seras has done this chapter since being turned into a vampire is say "I'm sorry" over and over.... girl you got shot in the lung, why are you apologizing

Not a huge difference, but what Integra actually says here is "Leaving a corpse here for 20 years... You're a terrible person too, Father" and not "What were you thinking, Father?" as the Dark Horse translation suggests (note the lack of question mark in the raw version). I thought that might be of interest to some.

Something else I thought was interesting is the first line Alucard ever says to Integra, and how uncharacteristically polite he sounds.

O-kega wa gozaimasenka- That's two honorific 御's back to back! (He even said them in kanji, even Walter isn’t that straightlaced and he’s literally the butler.) This is also the only time Alucard uses this overly flowery gentlemanly language with her, and good thing too because it would be so annoying if he spent the whole manga ending his sentences with ~gozaimasu.

What I'm trying to get at is, after seeing this sentence in the Japanese version, I'm like 100% sure he actually heard her when she was mumbling to herself about hoping to find a knight in shining armor, and he was totally going the extra mile in playing into that role for their first encounter. Which is kind of sweet.

Lol they misspelled Alucard on the top left... or rather, they incorrectly spelled it right?

One would normally expect Alucard to be written アルカード, and indeed pixiv dict lists アーカード as a misspelling (the u sound is weak in Japanese, so it's easy to mishear arukādo as ākādo). Hirano was definitely aware of the correct spelling though, since he used it in the pilot chapter and in his old character sheets. It was only when the manga officially began that he switched to the アーカード spelling. I doubt it was because of copyright issues because there is already a long precedent of vampire characters named アルカード in various old manga, OVA, and games in Japan that have coexisted without issue (like this guy Hirano mentions in volume 1's afterword).

Most likely Hirano simply thought it looked better, or was a means of differentiating his character from the others somehow. It certainly makes life easier for Japanese fans searching for fanart since アーカード is only going to bring up Hellsing and not the Castlevania character.

Jan Valentine even pokes fun at the spelling discrepancy later in volume 2, but since there wasn't a good way of expressing this in English it was left untranslated.

(Speaking of spelling inconsistencies, there's a lot of minor details I'm noticing now, like half the time the furigana for 吸血鬼 is written バンパイア and the other half it's ヴァンパイア... anyway)

Um, just noticed literally everyone's wearing glasses What should I do

Hirano's habit of jotting random comments underneath his panels is one of the underrated perks of reading the manga

The Dark Horse translation almost makes it sound like she's looking forward to seeing this battle play out, while in the Japanese she simply sounds apprehensive. Almost as if she's worried about them? And she's going out on the field personally to make sure nothing bad happens? Aww

Ok this is a weird tangent, but I just noticed the scans of the Dark Horse version I've been looking at use a slightly larger image range than the Japanese version does. It was only noticeable when I got to this part:

The second image is what the Japanese version of the scan looks like and I can confirm that this is what it looks like in my physical volume as well. You shouldn't be seeing the messy borders of the inking on the bottom like that.

Manga manuscripts are set up so that there are a few millimeters of bleed border around each page. You're supposed to color and line all the way up to (4) while keeping in mind that printing and paper cutting may result in the image being trimmed up to (3).

Either Hirano didn't color his lines all the way to (4) (this man has been drawing manga for years but this is Hirano we're talking about so it's very possible), or Dark Horse didn't honor the original bleed borders of the manuscript. I'm kind of leaning towards the former since there was a Hellsing exhibit in Japan a few years back where you could look at Hirano's original manuscripts and there's one where you can clearly see that he spilled a mug of tea or coffee across the entire page

Anyway, it's weird, and I'm curious to see if someone that owns a physical copy in English can confirm whether theirs actually looks like that. It's volume 1, page 141.

[imustbenuts]

about kanjis and the jp language in the world building of THLLDA, spoilers for route 0 minimum and maybe a bit after. random thought blerhggehies

so uh. hm how do i begin. kanjis and names i guess?

kanjis are the basic building block of jp language, and each character holds its own meaning. in terms of literacy shift, the jp language throughout history in terms of grammar hasnt had major shifts for over 1000 years. its possible to read a text from 8th century nara, though it would be challenging bc some kanjis refer to different things or have fallen out of use since.

on a very fundamental level, the meanings of kanjis have not particularly shifted too much, though JP does have the quirk of creating their own kanjis which does not exist in chinese, which is originally borrowed from.

so with that, the kanjis that goes into the names of these characters in THL also has the same meaning as today's JP.

so, specifically for Sumino 済野　and Aotsuki　蒼月, their family names mean Empty Field and Blue (pale?) Moon. so far so good, very in line with existing naming conventions. cool.

one thing to note is that JP names tend to be rooted in place and nature. for example, family names like 鈴木 (suzuki, ringing tree) 木村 (kimura, tree village) is very common. sometimes its a vague island, a place, a river, but in general its a vague place.

(exceptions for certain surnames that's more bestowed by the emperor but still following some kind of place locale nature logic)

for first names, it can be often nature or some kind of force. force of nature, force of human emotions, nature, an appeal, etc etc.

Takumi 拓海 (something like Crashing Waves but kanjis mean Clearing and Ocean), Eito 衛人(Defender) and Darumi 怠美 (Languid Beauty) is still in line with that logic.

what this implies is that the meaning of kanjis have largely not shifted in however long the TRC has been in isolation mode. now, we know that language and culture shifts over time even in isolation no matter how hard it tries to be controlled otherwise, so now there's implications going on here.

the biggest issue i see is that in spite of these characters given names still following the Nature and Place logic, there are effectively.... no real Nature or Place in the TRC. words like Sun, Moon and Ocean would undoubtedly lose its meaning and strength over time, so something is going on here. this means whoever is effectively controlling the TRC has made it a point to preserve culture as hard as it possibly can. in a nationalistic vibe even.

we see hints of this in the library itself, where there are a lot of redacted stuff that Takumi can't read. theres culture that are wholesale missing and yet things deemed important enough like certain Foreign (US/EU) films are archived alongside confirmed JP works like the VNs Darumi quotes. (Saya no uta and Sayonara wo oshiete). Naruto and dragonball and the other 100 shounen mangas Kyoshika is into.

this means, kanji is a part of this whole linguistic culture and is still being preserved so hard that they cant fully wipe out the origins to what these words are referencing.

this goes even deeper if we follow the nationalistic angle bc yeah old JP poetry and literature is still revered and preserved hardcore. on a practical level, these culture products serve to entertain and placate the populace as whoever is in charge goes about trying to do... things.

this also means that the culture of TRC has really not shifted much. stuff like takoyaki is still takoyaki and anpan is still anpan. if we deem these as culturally significant, the TRC will likely make it a point to not have that base change.

there happens to also be similar attempts made to prevent the linguistic naming sense of today's japanese from changing too much too. there is a thing called Kira Kira Names (sparkly names) thats a point of contention over in japan.

to put it simply, parents have been giving their kids names written in kanji (as per legal requirements), but giving it pronunciations only the parents would understand. this is the JP equivalent of Tragedeigh names.

these are names like Pikachu (光宙 / ぴかちゅう), and Prince (王子様 oujisama). names like these reportedly give massive confusion in the legal side of matters like hospitals and administrations, bc they are so atypical of how a kanji should be pronounced, or how a person is usually named. (like these are noun names level.)

so if we follow this logic and assume that similar things are happening in the TRC, its very much possible that theres a lot of manipulation and media control to make sure things stay unchanged for as long as they need/want

[ansbobcar]

My LADS MC Profile!

A/N: Ahahaha I just wanted to share the profile while it's still fresh because I wanna make a fully fleshed out fanfic with her and most of the LIs with a main story where they do get to interact with each other!!! (Sorry that my LI OC, Mark won't be included in this one, maybe as a Cameo though...) So here's all the deets I have right now! If you're sensitive to slurs like just ANY please don't read miscellaneous section!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

EN Name: Millie

Full Legal EN Name: Millibyrn Auclair

Other Names: Rat, Pipsqueak, Mills, Lily, Otak, Windmill

CN Name: Jia Tianxi (家天希) (house, heaven, (to) hope)

JP Name: Erika (エリカ) (恵里可) (Blessing, Birthplace, Acceptable)

KR Name: Cha Eunseo (차은서) (Grace?)

Birthday (Age): 14th July (23 at the start of the main story, 24)

Height: 164 cm / 5’ 4’’

Blood Type: O

Symbol/Icon: Fernleaf

Evol (Class): Resonance (Anhausen)

Likes: Mushrooms, Trying New Things (Food), "I don't really know unless you put it infront of me"

Favourite Dish: Caleb's braised chicken, Side dishes with mushroom and fungus, Whatever Caleb makes

Dislikes: Eating (cherry) tomatoes on their own, strawberries, being called a strawberry-haired girl, being called "spoiled", when she can't find a place by using the navigation/gps app, being "behind"

Random Trivia and Miscellaneous:

1 -

Due to the Chronorift Disaster, her memory issues caused her to be pushed behind by a grade. As a result, she feels like she has to do better and often ends up pushing herself to the point she’s sick and Caleb/Josephine always have to nurse her back to health.

She holds a great sense of shame for not being able to understand and being behind in terms of her education. She once literally begged Grandma to enroll her into cram school but Grandma denied due to the fact it was out of their budget.

She once got called “retard sister” by one of Caleb’s classmates as an off-remark (mean girl) this one time she finished earlier and waited for him outside his high school. Although she didn’t break down right then and there, she did end up crying in her room and felt like absolute shit over it to the point that the next day she literally fell down the stairs. 

2 -

She also hated the fact that she was directionless, she always had to be chaperoned by someone until she joined middle school. By then she knew the route to and from her school and Caleb’s to the house and supermarket. She felt like a bird stuck in a cage. She felt like a dog on a leash even. She didn’t like that feeling particularly. Thus her main motivation when she was younger was to be more independent as a whole.

That along with how she was saved culminated in her wanting and aspiring to be a Deepspace Hunter. Not only to prove that she is strong and smart enough, but also to show that she can be left on her own.

3 -

Her legal name (Millibyrn Auclair, Jia Tianxi, Erika, Cha Eunseo) is technically not her birth name (the one her birth parents gave her). She has no recollection of her birth name, and as far as anybody including Josephine knows, there have been no records of her birth name since the Chronorift Disaster occurred.

She doesn't like her legal name and prefers everyone to refer to her as "Millie" in the EN Variation and gets peeved when her real name is used by people. This however, is not carried over to the other language variations.

4 -

It's my personal theory that MC's Resonance Evol when fully awakened/realised allows her to copy another person's Evol. However, due to the Chronorift Disaster, her memory regressed to a point where she lost that ability and EVER while also wanting her immortality adjacent powers/body, also wants to covet that ability as a whole. In the case of Mills, this fact is canon and Caleb/Josephine are terrified of triggering it again due to the fact that Caleb's own Evol is really powerful.

FANFIC NOTES AND WOES:

1 -

This will probably focus on making Xavier, Caleb, and Zayne love interests more than Sylus and Rafayel (simply because I can't logic Rafayel's branch route, and Sylus is literally gone for most of the story compared to even Caleb).

I can't discredit Rafayel out of the story at all even if I wanted to because he literally helps MC get kidnapped to meet Sylus. Not only Xavier and is part of the World Underneath chapters that I also need to adapt somehow, so it's impossible to remove Rafayel from the story.

The easiest fix I haven't fully thought out is to basically make Mills' have copied someone's alternate universe jumping EVOL and somehow her soul converged with the fish timeline Mills'/MC's soul.

In the meantime, Sylus is just gone beyond the 2 months that MC is stuck in N109 Zone. Outside of that, there's logically no proper way to timeline any sort of natural romance plot-line compared to the others. I'd rather ensure that Sylus maintains closure and even change their dynamic to be like peer/mentor or guide/peer because that's how it felt to me during Long Awaited Revelry. Plus Mills is not in the right state of mind for most of it (because GRIEF is like a big thing for Mills in this fanfic) that Sylus acts as her unpaid therapist. Until he gets a branch route I literally can't envision doing more with Sylus.

2 -

There was a twitter post that explained how all the timelines basically interact and cross in the main story and diverge before and after but that just rubs me the wrong way in the sense that the story treats everyone as a whole narrative but doesn't show it (due to the lack of interactions when its obvious there should be and how it treats all the LI storylines as separate).

The game can get away with it because its lore is sprinkled all over the place for you to jigsaw and pick up as you wish but for a fanfic like the one I'm writing/planning where it's imperative that I DO understand the chronological motivations of everyone due to the fact that the aim is to make a comprehensive all in one angst buffet for MYSELF first, the lack of interactions makes me extra stressed out.

3 -

Because it's my MC and not just the game's MC, a lot of her backstory stuff will include my own theories about the MC and just my personal OC stuff, such as the likelihood of MC's birth parents being part of EVER, and the fact that Mills grew up in a rundown orphanage before she joined the Gaia Research Center. I have to reread Sealed in Dust to see if its viable still.

Mills characterisation will definitely borrow and in a way correct certain behaviours or reactions that make more sense for the route/focus I have (looking at you why she didn't beat up Caleb for suddenly appearing and lying to her in Homecoming Wings MC)

4 -

The Fanfic will probably yo-yo between all these damn name variations depending on the tone of the chapter. Because I can't make up my mind about which one to permenantly use. It's like a way to say that I view the EN localisation as equally as the original CN and even the other versions, although I dislike the JP name variations the most. (WHERE ARE THE LAST NAMES!?? You can do so much with last names, the change from last name to first name basis!!!!)

Because there's gonna be expanded headcanon territory for Zayne and Caleb's interactions, I definitely need to use CN/KR or JP variations for those. It doesn't hit with the EN localisation as much. (Yes we're keeping the gege/meimei trope, I need as much angst, obligation vs desire conflict as possible to keep me interested)

And I want Mills to call Xavier, Sei-chan and totally have Mills call Caleb her universe (ALIEN StAGE AHAHAHAHAHAH)

[valeriefauxnom]

Yeah, I knew about the family's names in JP, it's always funny to see how they get converted, why, and all that! Like 'Chess' is pretty obviously a weird one for English speakers to name a kid after a game regardless of how fitting it is to her personality, so they tried to preserve the overall sound of it into Chelle (even if it now just sounds like 'shell').

Some of my favorite random conversions that I know of are Ranzarve to Ranzal, Elphyllis to Elisanne, and... Cougar to Curran. I also know of Alex's OG name was Shannon, which I have no idea why they felt the need to change that one since it's a serviceable name even in English.

Aslam to Audric is one that's kinda cool, since while Aslam is a cool Arabic name, Audric has ties to 'good, wise ruler', which, well... fitting, and makes it match with (Marcus) Aurelius as a historical good ruler of the Roman Empire.

No idea what's going on with JP Valyx but that's just funny from how you make it sound, if his name was just treated as something slightly different 99% of the time. Is is just a case of sounds getting lost at a native speaker's pace, as so many languages do?

Hm, JP Phares not paying Leonidas any deference is funny. Take it with a grain of salt, but per my 0.0001% of observations for how he speaks in JP, is it correct to say that he seems overall more formal otherwise than most the fam? Many of the brothers are overall 'ruder', from what I can recall, using ore as their personal pronoun, including Euden, I think?? But doesn't Phares tend towards watashi instead? I also think this because in English writing, he can be occasionally much more stiff/formal/obtuse in wording than more direct members, even when in active combat.

I think I can recall at least one instance of him going for 'waga' instead, which is... well, seemingly even more formal, but I'm unable to tell if it's meant in a mocking way, given this is the ch.12-13 initial attack. (Leonidas also seems to use it later in this conversation, which, again, if he usually uses 'ore', is that/could it be some kind of 'barriers going up' sort of thing they're doing by sliding into more formalities, or something else? Again, far far far far from an authority here, but I am curious for why they are swapping pronouns and guessing why.)

Interesting that he initially just seems to be talking to Euden to fight back, since he's using otouto. In fact, he seems to more be surprised Leonidas steps in for Euden, as like a 'oh, wow, cool, sure, that would work'. Google translate more frames the last line as 'that would be good, too', which makes it overall framed as a targeted attack on Euden to start.

I would wonder if this ties to the vague comments about Euden and his 'storm' in chapter 7 that Phares leaves on, if he's garnered a particular interest in Euden, and that's just an expression of it in JP since he doesn't really make much of it in ENG. The character relationship chart explicitly spelled out that Phares thinks Euden 'is talented', but neither party ever hints to as to what exactly he thinks Euden is 'talented' in. I guess you could take the joke comics to say that it's writing, if comic Phares can 'especially enjoy' parts of it, but given what Euden seems to be writing, that more came across to me as just his teasing tendencies when coming across whatever cringy things Euden was writing.

Speaking of, do you have/know any source at all for the JP comics??? 'Cause every site people seemed to make now seems to be down or the images broken, and now I'm sad. Even tried wayback machine, couldn't find the actual comics on the JP comic website.

Back to matters at hand, though, it is interesting that he drops all formalities with Leonidas. Are they just close enough in age that he doesn't really perceive Leonidas as his 'senior' all that much? Chelle makes note of them being upset whenever she tried to intrude, -was that perhaps due to there being enough of a gap between Leo+Phares and Chelle now that adapting to the presence of a 'younger' sibling could be noted, if that makes sense?

(Also random but why does Phares seemingly use the plural at the end of his conversation with Leo and Chelle in 12 about getting ahold of Beren? He uses 'kyodai', which seems to be more siblings, instead of just 'brother'. Was he thinking of going for other siblings or is this something else?)

But yeah, dunno how many opportunities Chelle had to send messages back to Leonidas, but I almost wonder if he was thinking she was trolling him partway through if she could send a message or two.

"Dear Brother: Euden is definitely not 100% stable. He nearly died in a snowdrift today. But somehow we're making progress. Keep an eye out on Grams, the Pope there seems to have bad intent towards Euden and our family, and was taking actions that would call for nothing less than war just to get to him."

"Dear Brother: turns out Euden's a mishmash of Morsayati and Nedrick (our real brother's) blood, plus maybe whatever other components Finlorda (Father's faerie king friend) felt the need to add to the pot. Oh yeah and the reason Father made a fake was because Nedrick was dying of wyrmscale (which he did, but he got better, thanks to dragon god) and he was big sad and couldn't accept this outcome (don't tell Phares even if he probably knows already)"

"Dear Brother: Now we're climbing a giant tree, and now a dude that looks like Father when he was younger is now with us and hovering around Euden. Euden doesn't seem to recognize him, but I do. Also Zethia decided to break her Auspex vows and is now playing halfsies with Nedrick for pact control over the aforementioned dragon god. Trust me, I'm sane."

Both she and Gatov noted Audric = Aurelius, but both seemed to decided to keep that to themselves since how the heck is that even possible?

Leonidas though would absolutely call him on it, I think, and might even piece together Euden's earlier words about Aurelius claiming that he left his 'thoughts' in the tree and figure that Audric was a ghost or something.

As a last note, yeah, poor Leo was probably having a roller coaster re. Phares the whole plot for that huge catch-up. Still probably a bit jarring to have him last attack you and then when you next see him is acting perfectly normal again!

I definitely get where @musicalsciectist is coming from in thinking there was communication, but it's actually not so certain. Gala Emile's story more frames it as a 'I sense ~bad vibes~ (whether that's from a report from Chelle or just him getting worried because they've been gone for months already, I don't know), go check something up in the North out', instead of a 'Go to Grams, Emile, our younger brother needs you to pick him up from identity crisis school'

Also is Leo using the royal we there or is he implying communication with Chelle? Who knows. though I'd tend towards the latter since he then follows with I.

More Dragalia Minor Mistakes (Or, when Dragalia's writers and/or translators failed a lore check)...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Dragalia was surprisingly astute to the general mass of lore it had. That being said, it's only natural that a few mistakes or lore contradictions would slip through the cracks over years of development, perhaps staff coming and going, yadda yadda. Consider this just the second of small logs of whatever I've noticed, throughout my meanderings through the wiki and more!

First up, we're starting today's category with 'technology', namely, the humble abacus. Dragalia's mishmash of technology is understandable, since they've been artificially kept in a state of technological limbo until canon time. And of their technology, we know that the abacus is something that's been lost to most of the world, it seems.

It's Xiao Lei's whole thing, for the rest of the cast to be amazed at how fast she's able to do math with, how cool that is, etc etc. It's this special Taiwuan thing that might save the scientists in Alberia a lot of work!

One problem: this random NPC, very Alberian, shopkeep also is randomly using one, to no amazement by the cast.

Whoops.

More relevant to the main story, though, Phares once incurs a small case of brainfog and mistakes the name of his own terminal illness:

This one I think I can reasonably provide a rationale for this being a translator's error, perhaps one who hadn't dealt with Phares or at least dealt with him for a while. Why? Wyrmscale is more literally in Japanese 'dragon scale - itis', (or, 竜��病, ryu urin byou, ryu=dragon, urin=scale, byo = character for 'sickness'), so a translator might have read that and just translated it literally instead of checking whatever lore docs they might have had that they'd already called it 'wyrmscale' in English!

Also related to the lore, this next one's more of a case of later lore contradicting the earlier one, and boy is it petty quibbling on my end.

In short, take a look at this dialogue from Elysium:

See anything wrong? No?

Well, my problem is the use of the word 'young' here! It is the singular word that goes against lore here, as I can't exactly argue against his opinion claim of 'immature!'

We've no less than three other canon sources at least that instead frame humans as a species as among the first in the universe, right along with dragons!

So, yes, Elysium, you're not wrong to call humans 'immature', but to call their species 'young'???? You know better than that! (no he didn't, since this dialogue came before any of the other contradictions here, I believe, but it's still technically an error!)

If we're on a dragon kick, pop quiz: who was Alberius' first pactbound dragon?

Some of you might be yelling 'MIDGARDSORMR' as others yell 'CHTHONIUS', and then you both might hypothetically look at each other and feel confused. Well, you may be glad to know that this was a genuine lore contradiction instead of one of you being 'wrong'.

It's understandable why people thought both options, even aside from the lore confusion. Midgardsormr as the first to really start hanging out with him, or Chthonius as the dragon he was tied body and soul to in the end, who literally merged with him?

Overall, I'm more of the 'Chthonius' side for what they ultimately intended, as we also see other descriptions painstakingly spell out that Mids was the 'first dragon to personally meet Alberius' instead of just saying 'pact with Alberius', and one slipped through the cracks, but still! These minor lore slip ups are what I'm cataloguing here. Honestly, between this, the non-pact slip-up with Brunhilda in the previous post I made, and other things like Alberius slapping Jupiter, he sure had a lot of pacting 'fun' and drama, huh?

Now I'll return to the royal fam lore drama. A long long time ago, I made a post explaining how the family says their names, as is said by their siblings. Some (Phares, cough cough) shooketh me greatly, as the aforementioned example's name might more phonetically be rendered 'Farez' to me instead of the 'Fairays' I was running with more since in my brain I was connecting it to words like "pharaoh" instead.

But I realized I overlooked their father's name. From what I'm seeing, only Audric says his own real name, as everyone else wants to call him His Majesty, Father, or the King.

And here's the doozy: his dementia aura he gives everyone has also been affecting he himself, because he says HIS OWN NAME two different ways!

Here's the relevant soundbites to demonstrate what I mean:

Here, we see one 'Or - Ray - Li - Us' and one 'Or - Rel - ii - Us'

I thiiink we see 'Ray' version twice vs the one time of 'Rel', but this more seems to be a division between his base form and Gala form.

I did a bit more digging, and we've also Gala Gatov... but his pronunciation is so foggy that it's remarkably hard to tell if he's saying 'Ray' 'Rel' or 'Ril', though I overall lean towards 'Rel' on a slowdown!

So... yeah. I guess it's ultimately up to you guys how you wanna say his name, because they sent mixed signals in English!

(As a bonus I'll just throw this other soundbite out here for any of you guys curious about how to say Vio Rhyse Alberia, since it's become a minor battle cry for the fandom in their grief)

Huh... you know, that might actually be a great place to meld into my final example!

'Vio Rhyse Alberia' is suggested once to mean 'Glory to Alberia'. Presumably, it's not just their modern language nor another real one, since we don't really see them bust out other similar phrases. Heck, even Audric's pronunciation here is a slight warp from the standard 'Al-beer-ia' with whatever little roll he's doing with the 'r' in there.

Specifically, it's likely 'Ancient Alberian', a language that Elisanne ID's as existing in ch.13, and one Phares is also likely able to read for him to be able to get the stuff it's written on up and working (+the fact he's specifically talented in 'ancient languages' plural).

This is... well, a big 'Hum' moment, in that while I cannot think of a way in which it makes sense, it's not as cut-and-dry as the others for 'this says x, this says y'.

If we're talking early Ilian church, specifically, this dates this machine to about 1k years ago, during the golden age of humanity and Ilia. It makes sense, since alchemy was also in its heyday then.

The thing is that Alberia just flat-out didn't exist until 300 years ago, until Alberius created it. With how similar 'Alberius' and 'Alberia' are in name, one might have presumed he named it after himself. But let's excuse that little bit, and just say it's a root that stems from earlier language in the same way humans are often named after objects even to this day.

It's still a bit confusing - this puts Ilia in a weird place to where she's fully comprehend-able to our modern crew and vice-versa despite seemingly speaking this different language. Ilia even seems to share a similar slang culture, with her joining the crew in occasionally butchering French on purpose (toot sweet in place of tout de suite). I might be tempted to excuse it like how English has developed, from a point where its written variety has greatly developed even when most of the words they were saying/writing are understandable, but this again is troubled by the existence of 'Vio Rhyse Alberia', a phrase that is clearly not a 'normal part' of their language.

This is giving me weird ideas where Ilia is speaking in this really ancient dialect that's just barely understandable to the modern day crew, kinda like how we can kinda piece out even some Old English or Latin with vocabulary even when it's written entirely differently. Take the good old people doing Old English covers of songs, where we see 'Irish-made' in a Pumped Up Kicks translation turned to 'Írisc-worht', which to me I can piece together 'Irish' from the first word and get reminded of 'wrought' from the second, which is a word that means, well, made from.

I digress. The best way I can really excuse the name is honestly a bit funny: that historians and all those scholars retroactively decided to call this language they (re)discovered 'Ancient Alberian' just because the land that they discovered it on or something is now Alberia, long enough before that the Church was able to pick it up again and start teaching kids it.

Alternatively, that there was a historical Alberia that Alberius stole the name from, that Euden would then go on to steal from Alberius when naming his own kingdom. "That's Alberia, this is Alberia, are there any more Alberias I should know about? Meow (says Leonidas' 'Alberia' reformed under his sovereignty)"

Sigh. Make of it what you will. But there's something funky going on in the linguistical history of Alberia here. The way I've personally decided to sweep it under the rug is treating them as spoken similarly enough for Alberius-Ilia-Euden to all mutually comprehend (Alberius additionally trapped in a cave and serving as a perfect time capsule of his language at the time), but the written form has warped far too much for any of them to understand each other. Still doesn't explain Vio Rhyse but hey, blame other lost language's influence or something and boom.

That's enough rambling on my end, however. If you've any other plot holes or lore failure checks, though, please let me know!

[hanafubukki]

Jack Howl's Flower Bouquet Meaning

Twst Bdays Flower Language Masterlist

I'm going to start off by saying I don’t know much about Jack aside from the main story line and events.

Also, some of these flowers I'm not fully sure of or the ferns, but I tried my best and will probably come back and edit this post as I learn more and find out which flowers are which.

On a side note: We found out that the ribbon on the hat is dorm themed. The yellows and oranges really suit Jack’s style. These bright colors also give a contrast to the dark robes and such which I think is nice!

Did anyone notice that Jack’s smile kind of matches Leona’s? It’s adorable, the first year is learning from senpai.

Note: Flowers have different meanings in different countries and regions and it depends on colors too. I’m just going to list some flowers that I think they are, but I could be wrong lolol

Orange Flowers in general: Excitement, bold, enthusiasm 

Yellow flowers in general: Joy, optimism, friendship, and hope.

Marigold: Strength, power, light that lives in the persons heart, Honesty, vitality, and vigor. In jp, these flowers can be a sign of respect for the dead.

Maple (Acer): practicality, balance, calm, at rest, peace 

Proteas: Courage, strength, resilience 

Globe Flower: Welcome, gratitude 

Spider Mums: liveliness, sympathy, 

Flowers can be assigned to days too: Since October 11 is on Tuesday (in Japan), These are the flowers:

 Nasturtium: loyal, conquest 

Geranium: good health, friendship, happiness, good wishes 

Dahlia: commitment and kindness 

Red Hot Poker: Knowledge of true self, more than physical strength.

Random Fact: Anniversaries could also be considered, since its the 3rd bdays for all the boys, their flower will be Sunflower: strength, be well, happiness, male healing, confidence, self-esteem, assertiveness. Sounds just like them doesn’t it? 

Credit: Thank you to Lala (@/mobagehellocal) and Chris (@/jaberwockk) for talking flowers with me 🌺💚💕 Please, go talk flowers with them too. They are such nice people. 💚💜💕

[jasdiary]

“They say the most vulnerable piece in chess is the queen…would you like to play a game so I can show you who’s really vulnerable?~”

Full Name : Maria Regina Alarik

Nicknames : Mari, Mary, The Queen, Blood drinker, Reine de sang(Rook), Lamprey(Floyd), Lady of Red/Crimson Lady(Vin @authoruio ), Bloody Annoyance(Vin) Darling/j(Ellis @starry-night-rose )

Jp Va : Rie Tanaka

En Va : Lauren Landa

Age : 19

Height : 6’6 (200 cm) *204 cm with heels*

Homeland : Rose Kingdom

Birthday : November 2 (11/2)

Zodiac sign : Scorpio

Species : Beheaded being

Hair Color : Buttery Blonde (wine red highlights)

Eye Color : Wine red (Black scleras when using magic)

Gender : Female (She/Her)

Sexuality : Bisexual

Family : Amélie Alarik(mother)

Occupation : Student at Night Raven College, Member of Terrovania dorm

Twisted From : Bloody Mary from Identity V

Dorm : Terrovania ( @terrovaniadorm !)

School Year : 3rd Year

Class : 3-C

Best Subject : Poison Making, Conjuration

Worst Class : Animal Languages

Club : Film Studies

Dominant Hand : Ambidextrous

Favorite Food : Roasted Poultry

Least Favorite Food : Vegetables

Likes : Artwork, Fashion designing, Making her own clothes, Drinking, Chess

Dislikes : Her poor handwriting, Overconfident men, Being judged based off her looks

Hobbies : Horseback Riding, Gardening, Decorating random areas

Talents : Harp playing, Dancing, Singing, Speaking multiple languages

Personality :

Maria’s known for being self-confident, mischievous, and even comes off as cocky sometimes. She’s pretty popular and many people know her as she’s a genuinely easy person to talk to if you try! Maria is very much aware of how she looks to people : Intimidating and sly. Maria get’s visibly down and upset when she notices people steer away from her, she tried not to show it or talk about it but it does hurt her. Due to her mothers image and presence, people do tend to have some kind of expectation of her. Overall, Maria can be snarky, lovingly mean and a big tease!

Unique Magic :

Blood Stained Glass

“I’ll call checkmate now, hope that’s fine. Now, feast your eyes upon this Blood Stained Dome of mine!”

The user has the ability to summon a dome of mirrors surrounding them and those around. The user will create an image of themselves and can enter and run through any mirror, mirroring the original user's movements. The user and their image cannot touch, or the image will disappear leaving the user’s original body to travel through the mirrors. When this power reaches its limit, all the mirrors will shatter with blood seeping through the cracks and onto the glass. Drawbacks from this power are blood loss, dizziness and loss of reality.

Backstory :

Maria grew up with a loving and lavish mother. Amélie Alarik was known as one of the greatest magic wielders in the Rose Kingdom, always being rivaled by Iracebeth Rosehearts. Maria’s mother didn't care for rivalries, note the fame she has. She simply cared about providing the best life for her daughter, promising to love her forever.

As Maria grew and went out more, she always wondered why people would avoid her. While her mothers influence had been a reason, her blood is what makes her feared. The Alarik family is made of these supernatural beings , specifically beheaded ones. Once a child in the family reaches a certain age, their head will fall off and get stitches to reattach it. Amélie wanted to avoid telling this to Maria for as long as she could since she was a late bloomer to magic, she also always covered her neck up so her stitches weren’t visible.

Then it happened.

Maria felt sleepy that evening after school when her head started to droop. When she tried to snap awake, it was her head that snapped off. Maria could see her own headless body sitting on the couch, body shaking violently. All she could do was scream and cry.

Her mother ran into the room and regretted her decision to keep this family curse a secret. She did her best to calm Maria down while carefully picking her head back up and placing it on the other half of her neck. Amélie brang out her sewing kit that she kept on hand in case she needed a thread change or if…this happened. As she gently sewed Maria’s head back on securely with thick, crimson red thread, she explained to Maria what was going on and apologized for keeping such a secret.

Maria’s life was flipped upside down, she could barely look at herself in the mirror. Eventually, she grew up and matured. She accepted who she was and her flaws. Maria’s happy with her life, and she couldn’t love herself more. This was only the beginning of the Queen whose hands were stained as red as her lipstick.

Random Trivia!

Maria doesn’t get her height from her family genes, she’s just freakishly tall.

The Magic Mirror said her soul was split between Terrovania and Pomefiore, but ultimately decided on Terrovania.

She drinks non-alcoholic wine due to being under the legal drinking age.

Maria loves picking people up like a long cat. She enjoys watching them shut down.

She originally started making her own clothes because no clothes she liked would fit her tall ass.

She’s called “The Queen” because of how she quickly rose up to fame and power in her first year at NRC.

Maria and Vil are extremely close friends. Maria visits Pomefiore’s dorm on a daily basis just to talk shit with Vil.

She’s slightly protective over Riddle, knowing how his mother is.

Another Alarik family gene is black scleras and stained hands. Using any kind of magic will cause them to appear.

She may seem tall and lanky but she’s actually an undercover beefcake. She can definitely carry two people with each arm.

Maria, Vin and Alice( @starry-night-rose ) are usually all seen together, though the two ladies seem to poke fun at poor Vin all the time…

[omentranslates]

Notes of ways I notice Paimon using Japanese in the dub bc what is up with her??

I don't have any pictures of Paimon but this thing kind of looks like her

i also did one of these for Xiao, Albedo and a couple others

-Paimon speaks like a little monster

-she will routinely catch me off-guard with the shit she just. Says.

-uses オイラ as her pronouns? which is just mildly bizarre and I can't really find why they did this just other people also asking why

-it's a solidly masculine pronoun and it's associated with certain specific dialects? I've read in more than one place that it sounds like rural/redneck almost

-yes this is the same pronoun Sans Undertale uses

-absolutely one of those things you'd get made fun of for having dialect if you let it slip in school or something it's not common in standard Japanese at all, it's not even common in media and always stands out when it's used

-the content of her dialogue isn't really as shocking as like the way she delivers it

-there is no respect, there is not toning it down, her commands are as aggressive as possible, she talks abt other people as rudely as possible, she does not change this even for like gods or govt officials

-if I could say one thing to Paimon I would remind her that there are children in the room

-I need this to be clear Paimon has some of the most aggressive sounding dialogue in the game and she is more rude than Xiao by far

-it sounds exaggerated bc I'm making a big deal abt it tbh it's just anime and you get used to it fast, but starting the game and her yelling at you for wandering off path was like "WHOA ok" and there are still moments like that on occasion even being used to it

-I think it's to play up how small and helpless she is as a little fairy that can't even walk? Like she talks big but can't back it up all bark no bite kinda thing

-tbf if it was like a male mc talking like that or like some like random buff fighter guy or whatever it would still be like "oh it's the tough guy" vibes but I guess that's common enough that it isn't notable? The fact that she's like this little pink fairy girl talking like that does just exacerbate the whole thing into wtf territory at times and she has a very rough flair to her speech that's usually associated with masculine language (these are stereotypes of course real life Japanese people don't exclusively speak one way dictated by their gender, but it's important to note that Japanese is a very implicative language and conventions like these play a big role in how they establish characters. esp since language like this isn't used commonly in real life by men or women tbh)

-I don't know very much abt Chinese yet so I can't speak for the content of her dialogue but the feel is completely different

-like I booted up the game in CN and she sounded like a different character like her delivery was completely different, she was like. Nice. Normal. When I could pick out the ways she referred to other people they were normal.

-I'm probably missing smth but as it stands I have absolutely no clue where JP and ENG Paimon came from

-JP Paimon speaks like a little monster and I feel like she would be literally unintelligible outside of anime

[kenkamishiro]

Lost in Translation: Choujin X chapter 1

Fun fact, I was planning to do fan translations for Choujin X with a scan group until it could get a simulpub release, though I didn’t expect it to get one from the very first chapter lol. I’m happy though since it means everyone can read it right away and it doesn’t mess up my schedule.

So instead I’ll be making comparison notes between the EN and JP text to supplement the official translation. I’m not doing this because the official TL is bad (I actually think it’s pretty solid and I hope it will maintain this quality) but because it’s inevitable for something to be lost in translation, and it’s nice to have that additional context for theory crafting and whatnot.

If you want to read it on Twitter instead, the original thread is here, but this is the proofread and way more detailed version 😄

This translation isn’t wrong, but there’s an emphasis on それ (which is TLed as ‘it’) that connotes a stronger, “other, that thing” feeling that isn’t present here. The general idea behind this sentence is: That [becoming a Choujin] resembles more of a disease [than a transformation].

Ely talks like a tomboy, she uses rougher speech patterns and the pronoun オラ (ora), a derivative of the masculine 'ore'. But it's a bit old-fashioned (eg. すまなんだ) which makes sense considering her upbringing with her grandfather on a farm. Hence her country bumpkin speech pattern in English.

Not sure if I should use Ellie or Ely? Ellie makes more sense based on the kana, but Ishida explicitly called her Ely so I might stick with Ely for now... (also istg that blond guy with the huge chin is a reference, I've seen him somewhere)

Tokio, I know your teacher is annoying, but it's rude to call her that lol. This is basically the oppai equivalent of paisen (senpai backwards, it’s slangier). Similar thing actually happened with Ely describing her dream hubby as Goldilocks instead of blond; ‘kinpatsu’ (blond hair) was inverted to become ‘patsukin’, hence the translation as Goldilocks.

Kurohara Tokio (黒原トキオ) and Higashi Azuma (東アヅマ). Kurohara is a common surname, means 'black fields'. Tokio is in katakana, so it’s hard to say what kanji it could be. 'Toki' could be 時 (time) or 外喜 (outside + delight). The 'o' can be the common male name suffix 男 (boy).

But when I think of Tokio, I think of TK's song called 'tokio'. You can read the translated lyrics here. If these lyrics end up being relevant to Tokio's character development I will eat my shoe lol.

Higashi means 'east'. Azuma (which can also be romanized as Aduma, it’s a softer ‘zu’ sound which is why Tokio called Azuma ‘Aju’ earlier in the chapter before correcting himself) is an archaic form of ‘east’. So...this guy is literally East East. The Choujin X equivalent of Moon Moon 😂

Someone also informed me that Higashi Azuma is a station in Tokyo, though the kana are slightly different (アヅマ／あづま vs. あずま). They effectively sound the same though nowadays, if I have to be honest. It’s like comparing the difference between 애 and 에 in Korean.

Tbh this is minor, but worth mentioning just cause it changes the meaning a bit. Tokio is saying something more like, “Why are we even talking about this [the roly-polies] again?”

I think I heard people talking about how the official TL doesn’t match the original text, but personally I really like how this was translated! Sis is using the expression  「爪の垢を煎じて飲む」, which literally means “boiling the dirt under someone’s fingernails and drinking it”. By taking the dirt/grime under the fingernails of someone that you admire, and boiling it and drinking it like a tea, you can become more like them.

But because idioms don’t tend to directly translate well between languages, translators often have to adapt it so that the meaning still remains the same. In English the closest idiom we have to this is “rubbing off on someone.” The “holding hands” bit was added to replace the physical aspect of “taking the dirt from someone’s fingernails” and also contribute to Sis’s sassy and very informal way of speaking.

So Sis is saying in JP (ignoring her personal speech style for now):

You should take the dirt from under [Azuma's] fingernails and boil it so you can be more like him.

And now in ENG it becomes:

You guys should hold hands or something, then maybe he’ll rub off on you.

It now sounds natural in English, still carries the same meaning as the original text, and also suits the character’s speech pattern.

Moving on, in that same panel the literal TL of Tokio’s dialogue is, “Policeman Azuma got dispatched again today,” emphasizing Azuma’s heroic deeds along with his family connections to the police. Another thing I want to note is that this is the second time Azuma has been called 偉い (erai) so far - noble, and now great guy. I’ll just dump the general English definition of 偉い from Jisho here so you get the general idea:

Great; excellent; admirable; remarkable; distinguished; important; celebrated; famous; eminent

But you can tell from how people describe Azuma as 偉い that others look up to him, think he’s a great person and Mr. Perfect. Always being placed on a pedestal by others. (What are the odds this will affect his mentality after the Choujin serum?)

The meaning is still pretty much the same, but I’ll offer a slightly different perspective. Sis mentions that if she were Tokio, she’d burst from the [Azuma] complex. (Clearly Tokio and Azuma's relationship is gonna crack at some point)

Tokio mentions an idiom about hawks (taka) before recalling his childhood memory about vultures. Vultures are called 'hagewashi', but in the chapter it mentions they can also be called 'hagetaka' (buzzard/condor, literally bald hawk).

The kids call him names like "Hagetaka Tokio" and "Hageo". But Hagetaka Tokio only really works in JP cause Hagetaka kinda mimics his last name (Buzzard Tokio doesn't give the same vibe). Same with Hageo. Hage-o = Bald-o = Baldy.

I also think Buzzard was chosen over another name for a vulture like Condor because Buzzard can pass off as an insult.

I would have translated this as, “I wanted to be a lion too...” but this is just personal preference.

A continuation of the 「爪の垢を煎じて飲む」 expression Sis used earlier. Without the adapted idiom the exchange goes something like this:

Tokio: My sister said I should bring home the dirt from under your nails. Can I have some?

Azuma: ...huh? What for, that’s scary. No way.

Tokio: I have to boil it and drink it, apparently.

Azuma: Don’t even think about boiling or drinking it.

But since the 「爪の垢を煎じて飲む」 expression was modified to make it sound natural in English, it means this conversation has to be modified too.

JP: My sister said I should bring home the dirt from under your nails. Can I have some?

EN: My sister says we should hold hands...so I can be more like you. What do you think?

The “dirt from under your nails” part got adapted to “holding hands”, hence how the 1st line from Tokio becomes, “My sister says we should hold hands...so I can be more like you.” “Can I have some?” makes no sense now in this context now, so it was changed to “What do you think?” as a question to Azuma to keep the similar conversation flow going.

JP: ...huh? What for, that’s scary. No way.

EN: Huh? What’re you talking about? No thanks.

Azuma’s next line is similar enough to the JP text except for the removal of “scary”. I think the reason it was most likely removed is because leaving it as it is could be constituted as homophobic (2 boys holding hands, absolutely nothing scary about it as bible thumpers would like people to believe).

JP: I have to boil it and drink it, apparently.

EN: She said to hold hands so you’ll rub off on me.

Tokio’s response to that is explaining what he meant by his proposal. In the original text he lays out the latter half of the idiom (he doesn’t even realize it’s an expression, poor boy), and in English he does something similar by going into why his sister said they should hold hands (so Azuma can rub off on Tokio).

JP: Don’t even think about boiling or drinking it.

EN: C’mon. That’s not how things work.

Azuma’s then rebuts Tokio’s proposal as ridiculous. In the original text he drops a typical straight man response (don’t do *insert whatever ridiculous thing the idiot suggested*). But since Tokio’s proposal in English isn’t as preposterous, his rebuttal is toned down in response by telling him not to take it literally.

Ultimately, even though a lot of this dialogue was changed, I still think it was successful in maintaining the original’s intent. Tokio takes his sister’s sarcastic suggestion literally and brings it up to Azuma, who dismisses it as silly. It would be nice if we could keep the expression as it was in Japanese, but in instances like this where it’s played off of in multiple lines, that’s easier said than done.

軟体 isn’t an actual word, it’s made up of the kanji soft + body. So kinda like Elastigirl, but Flexi was chosen instead. It doesn’t sound 100% right, but I don’t think I could come up with anything better.

Replacing the しい in 楽しい with the C plus that elongated pronunciation makes Johnny sound even more like a stereotypical Yankee, which is why he sounds like that in English 😂

Random but I found it interesting how Azuma called Johnny a youkai (妖怪) instead of something like bakemono (化け物) or obake (お化け) since they’re shapeshifting monsters.

Tokio is worried that if he doesn't do something right now, he's going to lose his friendship with Azuma. The sentence is fine as it is though.

Azuma’s line can also be worded as, "No hard feelings, okay?"

Bestial = 獣化 (juuka) = beast+change = beast transformation

That’s it from me, if you have questions about the TL feel free to send an ask or reply to this post, I promise I’ll check my inbox more often this time 😂

[ghosttoasties]

grimsley ramblings 4

Much of the imagery that I enjoy using in pokemon fanart comes from the character's names. Even if it's just silly immersion for me, in reality their names have backstory. It's also cool finding connections between characters too.

I like thinking about Grimsley's different names in other languages. In Japanese, giima can trace back to the plant vaccinium wrightii, which are related to blueberries (and are similar in color to him). It also can be the shortened form of "boogeyman," featuring the middle syllables. In kanji, breaking it down can mean "devil" and "deceit." It makes sense since the JP name for Dark type is "evil."

In Korean, it's a shortened form of the fruit blackberry, which could be read as "Blairy/Blaley." I'm fond of this one, because blackberries have colors similar to a roulette wheel, a theme present in Grimsley's suit. Very neat! Blackberries when first discovered were used as medicine, as it would seem to "magically" cure health issues like ulcers, venomous bites, and sore throats to name a few. This notion is seen again in folklore: if gathered under a certain moon phase, the fruit was thought to protect against spells and curses. They were also used to make indigo dye! Reminds me of someone...

In German, Astor is possibly referencing the plant family of asterids, which can include plants such as daisies, forget-me-nots, eggplants, peppers, morning glories and so forth. It is also stated that it can be a reference to the Astor family, who have roots in Germany and became one of the wealthiest families in history. They made an impact in places like the UK and the US in politics, public works, and other business ventures. This circles back nicely to Grimsley because one of the family members, John Jacob Astor, was one of the first founders of the New York Public Library. If you do not know him, he was actually the first multimillionaire ever, having a ridiculous monopoly on fur trade, was a huge real estate mogul, and unfortunately smuggled drugs. The family has since declined, but they have made their mark throughout history. Distinguished, I guess you could say.

In Spanish (and possibly my favorite), his name is Aza. It's taken from the azalea flower. The name of the flower itself comes from Greek, meaning "dry," since the flowers don't enjoy very moist soil. The flower blooms here in North America, including Mexico, and come in all kinds of colors. Interesting to note, they're also poisonous. Bees that have drunk its nectar go mad. When it comes to azaleas, different countries have varying symbolism. China in particular thinks of it as the "thoughtful" plant. The flower was also infamous in other places for being sent in black vases as death threats due to how poisonous they are. It blew my mind reading that because in other countries, like Japan, there's huge festivals centered around the flower. Last thing, it also can be taken from the word azar which means random, or chance. A usage could be «es un juego de azar» meaning "it's a game of chance." Pretty on the nose but I think that plus azaleas make it so perfect and simple.

I could go on for days about this! I could also talk about how all the Unova Elite Four names relate to each other in some odd way (for example, both Shauntal and Grimsley with forget-me-nots, Caitlin with orchids, and Marshal with lotus flowers, and etc etc). But for the sake of keeping this post a healthy length, I'll make other focused on the four of them. Most of my information hunting started from bulbapedia and it lead to subsequent further research, which has been really fun.

Those are just some localized names that stood out to me. I can't really go a day without seeing these plants and not think of him. The fondness of viewing azaleas at plant shops and buying blueberry sweets are my own amusing way of finding comfort in these stressful adult days. Thank you reading if you did. If there's any info you'd like me to expand on, include, clarify, or fix, please feel free to let me know as I tend to read a lot of articles and can be kind of scrambled.

💙💗

[uwumessenger]

random headcanons i have for each om! character teehee

hi it's been a while since ive posted some hcs bc uni has been kicking my a$$! luckily i only have a few papers to tidy up and im done. here r some hcs for each obey me character that ive accumulated over the past few months wink wonk

most are random but some constants you'll find are what i think they smell like, languages they can speak (other than their native (demon/angel) and eng/jp), and music tastes !

lucifer

i have a strong feeling that he showers twice a day: in the morning after waking up and at night before going to bed

his cologne is probably the type that will last in an elevator for like a week after he uses it once. i dont think this mf ever smells like anything other than his cologne

has a secret folder on his phone of semi-nudes and other scandalous pics from when he felt sexy at the time omg

aside from demon language/eng/jp he can speak french and knows latin

listens to classical stuff yea but he also listens to diavolos mixtapes (re: diavolo's section)

not a fan of sweets but will eat sweet things when craving

really bland sense of humor...borderline cringey 😭✋🏻

mammon

has gone to google images and searched for "inspirational quotes tumblr" "gold aesthetic tumblr" & "relatable crush post tumblr" then reposts it onto his socials or just taps thru them and giggles bc he relates

his cologne doesnt last as long as lucifers and probably smells common. he has to reapply a lot but it's a people pleasing smell. it's cheaper hence the constant reapplying

he probably does have an expensive bottle but is the type to totally overspray...eek

he is canonically a car guy 🥲 and probably tells the one in his room good morning & good night + kisses the hood every once in a while. has tons of car magazines

he doesnt really speak other languages but has attempted to learn spanish before

listens to whatever is on the radio. doesnt rly stan anyone but he eventually will listen to mc's playlist and mc's playlist ONLY

levi

lurks on mc's socials ALL THE TIMEEEE like he will rewatch ur stories and scroll thru ur feed and overanalyze ur tweets/rts or blog posts. if ur mc isnt the type to use sns much he still googles ur name all the damn time just to find any sites u might be on fjdjdjdjskks

probably streams on whatever youtube or twitch devildom site equivalent there is, but only has like 40 or so followers. which he is okay with!

until he sees someone else who gets more attention than him. then the envy starts kicking in bad. especially if they suck 🧍🏻‍♀️

classic gamer boy smell. you know, sweat, tears, must, and (sometimes) axe deodorant. lucifer has to do a scent check before he goes out to any event & lets him use his cologne. how sweet!

kpop stan!! more girl groups than anything and his ults are probably GIRLS GENERATION, wonder girls, twice, loona, & red velvet

cried when ioi disbanded and refused to leave his room. the only thing u could hear was downpour on loop at full blast

can also speak korean & communicate in echolocation like dolphins 😏

satan

listens to country music you cant change my mind

smells like whatever environment he is in. he doesnt really have a designated smell just throws some deodorant on and goes about his day.

he's sooooo bad at driving...gets road rage way too often so his license has been REVOKED

but hes totally a backseat driver. needs to be sedated on long trips

do not let him watch finding nemo when luke asks to watch it. it's not worth it. he will cause mass destruction.

if he was a human or lived long term in the human world he totally has the ability to be a doctor

is studying as many languages as possible, but he mostly knows latin & french & german etc etc. wants to learn all the dead languages out of curiousity

asmo

dont think this mf has ever held down a relationship. ever

he doesnt compromise much & is not willing to change his lifestyle to fit an s/o into it. you keep up with how he lives or it just isnt meant to be (but dont worry! he'll eventually learn...maybe,,,,)

has the hardest time out of everyone when it comes to breaking bad habits

his smell varies bc he uses a variety of perfumes (whatever is the most popular at the time) but he probably sticks to floral and fresh scents. he never uses generic people pleaser scents like mammon

listens to electropop, mainstream pop, & some alternative rock

as for languages he too knows french, spanish, italian, etc. in general, if it's a romance language he knows it!

opposite of lucifer in the sense where he loves sweets and will refrain from eating too many bitter things

i think we all know that asmo is the biggest rockstar of the group! he's probably been in a boy band at least once, but now he makes his own music

has tried to teach mammon how to sing once. ended up in a broken piano and bleeding ears...

beel

i feel like he is SO SHY

like unless ur close to him he will not start conversations or anything

i think he listens to r&b a lot ! and jazz 😎 maybe rock as well

smells like ur typical athlete with undertones of wet wipes. he carries them around bc he likes to clean his hands before he eats & is prepared for when theres no sink nearby

he can drive and he drives really well. no rough turns, parallel parks perfectly, and never has problems with merging

driving with beel is probably really soothing. left hand is steering the other is gripping ur thigh 😫

dont think hes really fluent in any other language but hes probably semi fluent in korean because levi wanted beel to help him out

definitely know how to order food in practically every language tho HAHAHA

belphie

he reminds me of randall from monsters inc

smells kinda musty IM SORRY but not the way levi does hes more like the kind of musty u feel or smell when it's a shitty morning

but that's only because hes so lazy, when he cleans up hes like satan

has definitely murdered multiple people before. mc is not the first 😐✋🏻

with that being said belphie has been put into prison at least twice when visiting the human world, the mf had such a strong hatred for humans theres no way he never got into trouble before

lucifer probably broke him out and they used the pen thingies from men in black to erase everyones memory of that 🙄

dont think he listens to anything other than music that'll put him to sleep. really likes lazy song by bruno mars but thinks that bruno mars put too much effort into the song. should have been one acapella verse and then finish

similar to beel hes only semi fluent in one language, probably french bc of lucifer. doesnt remember much but knows a couple of lullabies and bedtime stories

the sandman used to be his bff until they drifted. they do, however, like and comment on each other's sns posts.

diavolo

once he found out who nicki minaj was he became her #1 stan

def an ariana grande stan too 😌

choreographs dances when hes stressed...idk just seems like a diavolo thing to do

also makes rly bad soundcloud rap music sometimes. turns to poetry when hes feeling emo but only lucifer knows this. barbatos is suspicious of him but doesnt have enough evidence to confirm.

his dad is like hudson abadeer from adventure time aka marceline's dad? something must have influenced him to want to unite the 3 realms + he would need the approval to do so, so his dad must be more chill than all the others before him 🧍🏻‍♀️ IDK ok anyway

currently going through his hamilton phase bc of mc. whether mc's intent was to get him hooked onto it or just to explain it bc of something he saw online, he tells everyone that he found out abt it bc of mc!

this man cannot drive his skills are only second to jumin han

not too fond of many languages but knows the widely spoken ones like spanish, mandarin, etc. if it's taught in high school he knows it

smells like a las vegas casino. not sure why but i feel like he does. but there's also an interesting & nice smell to him if he embraces you. it's a smell you cant quite identify. but it smells nostalgic, it's mysterious, and it's tempting.

barbatos

very calm demeanor but underneath hes WILD hes probably done everything at least once oof

he just has a lot of control and stability over himself (must be nice!)

on a more angsty note i feel like he might have had his heartbroken sO BAD IDK he is hurting and maybe that's why hes so willing to obey diavolo and not abuse his time lord power thingies bc he learned his lesson the hard way

mans is so smart he knows every language you could switch languages mid conversation with him and he wouldnt be thrown off. he'd probably start speaking it too.

BUT HE SPEAKS VIET P E R F E C T L Y

listens to the same stuff as lucifer but also likes eminem. likes the movie 8 mile but criticized it heavily

have you ever been to a chinese herb shop? naturally, he smells like that. his room probably smells like it too. he doesnt really have a significant smell like some of the others

when he bakes he smells like whatever hes baking tho

one of the few out of everyone listed to have been able to travel to literally everywhere

solomon

was probably on kitchen nightmares once, but only to get feedback from chef gordon ramsay. then he used his magic to prevent the episode from airing...

was in an orchestra, one of the best times of his life. played the violin. asmo watched him in the audience once, but didnt approach him until well after that performance.

he CANNOT sing. he can, however, rap.

doesnt listen to music. he listens to podcasts! but every now and then he turns on background music, but prefers it to be instrumental stuff

never wears sunglasses. also does not have a driver's license. cannot drive a regular car. could maybe fly an airplane.

due to his immortality he has learned almost every language to exist, but finds himself speaking mandarin the most. knows most dialects too

similar smell to barbatos but u can also smell some sunscreen on him too. like, generic beach day suncreen

he has a lot of pact marks, so he once had the idea to match foundation to his skin. it took him two weeks but he eventually perfected a combination. yes he will help u find ur perfect shade if u ask him to

simeon

another country music man. has also made a tiktok or two to that one song that goes "he cant even bait a hook." they are private tho

angel country music exists and simeon invented it

if he visits the human world and wears more causal clothing he probably tucks his shirt into his pants

wears a speedo at the beach i tell u, speedo at the beach

he can speak german...i can feel it

uses his pointer finger to type and holds the phone like 2 inches away from his face so sometimes his nose will push a key hence all his typos

has no signature smell. he simply smells like your favorite scent all the time. if multiple people are around him at once, everyone smells a different smell. it's pretty rad

"what does he smell like to himself?" u may be asking. hmm...a church? 💀

luke

his first pet was a goldfish and a few months before the exchange program happened, he was given a koi pond!

secretly likes hanging out with levi sometimes just to play with henry. makes him miss his pet fish back home

so his favorite movie is probably finding nemo and he threw a fit when nemo touched the butt

luke is probably learning german bc of simeon, though he'd like to learn more of the dead languages just for fun

i dont think he listens to music often or has any preferences, he just listens to whatever is playing on the radio

but he finds himself listening to the music mc listens to

smells like freshly baked goods all the time. or fresh laundry. but like, not combined. just depends on the day

[nagasakidivision]

35 Facts Meme: Haruto Hirabayashi

So a meme in one of the RP communities I was in ages ago was to post 35 random facts about your OC, no matter how minor they might be! I always had fun coming up with silly OC trivia so I did it for Haruto as a character building exercise since he’s the newest one of the group. :V It’s below the cut to save your dash!

Haruto was raised by his grandparents.

Only his grandmother is still alive now, however.

His grandfather passed away due to what was legally determined to be complications from Huntington’s Disease.

His birth parents are just straight up out of the picture. He hasn’t talked to them in over ten years.

That said: his relationship with his grandparents is/was very positive.

He dotes on his grandmother, probably more than he needs to—she’s a pretty active old lady.

Have you ever watched Harold and Maude? Okay, she’s Maude. That level of “going joy-riding because she found a cool car and then getting away with it because people think she’s a sweet harmless old lady.”

His grandmother is a cat lady so he has reluctantly become a cat person by proxy.

He was born and raised in Nagasaki and is pretty proud of this.

He uses a lot of Nagasaki/Kyushu-specific slang.

Whenever he says “ugh…annoying,” just imagine the JP voiceover would be “haa~…yazeka~”

He’s an...enthusiastic drinker, more or less. Yeah, I know, that’s a stereotype about humanities majors, it’s just one he lives up to.

Quality over quantity, he’s a bit of an alcohol snob and has some level of familiarity with mixology.

Somewhere in his mess of an apartment he has a home bartending set.

Drink of choice: the Aviation, a gin-based drink with heavy floral notes due to the addition of crème de violette!

He is not organized in the slightest, on that note.

He’s primarily a gin kind of guy!

I kind of fudged stuff about his university since there’s only so much information about Nagasaki University in English, which is my primary language—I do know that they have a PHD program for philosophy but they don’t have one for undergrads so his B.A. is not in philosophy.

If I had to guess, since he’s basically never left Nagasaki for an extended time he probably had his original major in their Human and Cultural Studies program.

So he isn’t all bluster about his own skill, incidentally, Nagasaki University is extremely selective and only like 10-20% (results unclear) applicants get into their programs.

I made his specialty rhetoric, which was a bad move on my end because I am not a good rhetorician.

He takes about an hour to get ready in the morning when he hasn’t overslept between skin and hair care, multitasking while reading, and trying to pick out outfits.

He has a horrendous sense of direction and is regularly late for everything because of this.

Haruto does various odd academia-related jobs when he’s not writing, usually tutoring, sometimes working at an academic success center where he helps students with writing essays, and acting as a teacher’s assistant where he grades papers and organizes lesson plans.

His master’s capstone was a paper deconstructing utilitarianism which caused a slight stir, and got a good number of eyes on him.

Unfortunately half the reason he’s stuck on his PHD dissertation is because he’s trying to live up to his prior success.

Haruto is primarily within the school of deontology, meaning that he believes there is an absolute good and evil that can be categorically ascribed to actions.

Going deeper: a lot of what Haruto believes is grounded in existentialism, a belief that the world is fundamentally absurd.

(This formed part of his argument against utilitarianism: humanity has evolved so far beyond what their natural state of being is that it is now impossible to work out just how much impact a single person has and you can’t figure out what the maximum formula for happiness is now.)

He’s also argued in favor of intentionalism, the idea that you cannot categorically call an action good unless it is committed with the intent to do good without self-enrichment as a motivation.

Deep down, he’s a neurotic perfectionist and can’t quite admit it openly because then he doesn’t look perfect.

(Not relevant since I haven’t posted much prose-y writing but if you get a look at his inner thoughts, he’s weirdly fussy about very minor details of how he comes across and dwells on those—especially physical appearance.)

He’s conversationally fluent in Dutch!

This isn’t as random as it seems, Nagasaki University is known for its Dutch Studies program, which I believe is the only one in Japan.

He originally wanted his MC name to be Metaxu but that was kind of pretentious even by his standards (Damien talked him out of it.)

[etymology-of-the-emblem]

Nuibaba / ヌイババ

This likely seems like a strange place to start. But for me, Nuibaba was the first name I researched on my own, without prior suggestions, that made me feel like I’d discovered something new. So to me, to start again here, where I first found my love of etymology research, only feels right. Now for what you’ve come here for:

Nuibaba (JP: ヌイババ) is the witch of Rigel’s Fear Mountain in Fire Emblem Gaiden and its remake, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Her name doesn’t appear to have a clear meaning at first, but by splitting the name into two parts, Nui (ヌイ) and Baba (ババ), it becomes easier to discern. Let’s start with the easier half, Baba. In many Slavic languages, as well as Japanese, baba means “grandmother”. On top of that, in Japanese, Czech, and Serbo-Croatian, baba can also be used to call a woman a hag or crone. Then there’s Nui. I initially assumed it would pull from Japanese, but that’s not the case. Rather, this seems to pull from the Taiwanese word for mountain, núi (𡶀). Thus, Nuibaba literally means “Mountain Hag” — quite literally what she is.

If we are to accept this meaning of Nuibaba, the name may be intended to relate to the classical Japanese yokai Yama-uba (山姥), also called the yamababa, meaning “Mountain Old Lady”. Yama-uba are often depicted as hideous, monstrous hags that attack and eat travelers and merchants. Appropriately, the witch of Fear Mountain sacrifices humans to keep herself young, and trapped in Nuibaba’s Abode are three peddlers to aid Alm in his quest. The decrepit, wrinkled form Nuibaba took in Gaiden also is fitting for the common description of the mountain hag. Shadows of Valentia instead seems to take influence from a variant of the Yama-uba called the yamahime (山姫), which takes a much younger and prettier appearance. The remake also has Nuibaba give Berkut a magic mirror, which could possibly be based on a more positive depiction of the Yama-uba that gives treasures or good fortune, though that’s a bit of a stretch.

Now that a connection to the Yama-uba is established, why wasn’t the name left as Yama-uba (ヤマウバ) or Yamababa (ヤマババ)? Of course, I can’t give an exact answer, but I do have a guess: the name was too Japanese for the European-based land of Valentia. That sounds absurd, given that Valentia is also home to a Saizo and a Kamui, but let me explain. Regarding Kamui, it’s important to note that, traditionally, the Japanese have been very opposed to Ainu culture mingling with their own even if they already have overlapped for who knows how long. Thus, when Gaiden was first developed, they likely thought the name was distant enough. As for Xaizor (Saizo in Japanese), it’s important to note that they didn’t leave the name as it would be read in Japanese. Rather than it being read as さいぞう or just writing it in katakana as サイゾウ (rōmaji: saizō), they instead rendered the name as サイゾー (rōmaji: saizō). Understand that the chōonpu (ー) is nearly exclusive to katakana, which is primarily used to communicate words and names from foreign languages into Japanese. Thus, the name feels less “Japanese”. A similar principle could’ve been used for Nuibaba. As for why a Taiwanese word was used, I really have no clue. But random foreign words have been combined with Japanese for names elsewhere in the series, as will be seen in the eventual post on Yewfelle.