I would have giving Hifumi a straightforward negator power that boost her strength in some way, specially in conjuction with her yoyo, to give an "Brain and Brawl" dichotomy with her and alpha. Other that than that, that was pretty good, thanks you. Let see if I can come up with some too:
Momo, Unreality: Negates the target perception of their reality by trapping their minds on a dream-like world under their control.
Kai Izumo, unignorance: Negates the user capacity to ignore information, boosting their perception on all their senses tremendously, to the point it becomes crippingly overwhelming without aids or intense training.
Shura, Unorganic: Negates the user organical body, turning it into machinery that can can be upgraded and repaired like one.
Nemo, Unhidden: Negates her target ability to "hide" what is inside their minds.
Lando, Unstoppable: Same as in canon, but probably with different stopping condition.
Tsubomi, unending: Negates her body and mind ability to finish existing, constantly regenerating from damage against her will, even the tiniest bits of her consumed by others and carried in her decentdants will hold a piece of her mind and power.
I forgot I was going to do Unreality for Momo...I walked away from my computer and the thought just vanished from my head...
I was actually going for a dichotomy between Alpha and Hifumi, but I was going for cold logic vs. free-spiritedness. Again, this was mostly because they haven't really shown their stuff just yet. I also considered giving Alpha something to represent Bad Alpha, like Uninhibit to negate his kindness and good sense inhibiting his potential for cold efficiency, and something that increases attack output for Hifumi like Unrestrained, which would also give them a direct parallel in that both are releasing their hidden potential
For everyone else, those definitely fit, but it's rather telling that aside from Tsubomi I just had no idea who you were talking about, and even when I remembered who they were, I couldn't remember how those abilities related to their canon abilities. Maybe it's just because I never got super invested in it, but Yozakura Family really doesn't seem to focus on anyone other than the core cast in a particularly meaningful capacity, as evidenced by the fact that the power system literally only applies to the core cast. I really liked the Hazakura storyline because we got to see people outside of the family using the power system, but that was a pretty brief segment mostly meant to introduce the power system itself
The fact that there's no equivalent for the rest of the cast is troubling for me, and I think a big part of why I never managed to get super attached to Yozakura Family. I like it fine, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be able to hold a conversation about it, but aside from endearing me to the core cast, the world failed to capture my interest, so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage when discussing it
1 note
·
View note
Oc Creation: Names
the writing took longer than I expected but I’m done with the first part
all thanks goes to ayalaatreides for proofreading and editing.
When naming, its very self explanatory, they have to have at least a number in their name. Since numbers are the central themes, it's no surprise that's what all the characters are named after. There's a heavy use of Japanese mythology and folklore in the series. They have a pattern, it’s fun and easy once you get the hang of it. Let’s begin with the inmate side of naming: the inmates go by aliases instead of their real names, for instance in flashbacks no one referred the characters by their current names. In a post I explained cell 13’s Jyugo,Uno Nico and Rock’s names; as I said before, naming can be fairly easy once you get the hang of it.
Inmates
The inmates’ names are from their id number, but it could also be something deeper. With Jyugo, “Jyugo” is the Japanese number for “15”, his cell number. Uno is Spanish for “one” from the card game, citing his gambling habits and part of his id number “11”. Rock, when pronounced in Japanese, is “Rokku”, “ro” meaning “6”, “kuu” meaning “nine”, together mean “69”. Rock could mean as “strong as a rock”, like his inhuman strength would suggest. In Nico’s name, “ni” means “2” in the Japanese language, and “ko” is the phonetic symbol for “go” meaning “5”. Nico’s name means “second child”, his status being the youngest and most childlike out of all of his cell mates as well as his second personality that comes out later in the series. His name has different meanings attached, which are “smile” and “sunlight”, like his bright and energetic personality.
You have to remember. you can count numbers many ways in Japanese, for example Tsukumo’s name means “99” in Japanese.
In naming, take apart what's in the name, Rock’s “rokku”, “ro” being “six”, “ku” being “nine”. When it comes to a character’s kanji look at Kusatsu and Fujisan’s names. Kusatsu’s name in kanji is taken from Kusatsu, a town known for its hot springs. “Ku” means “9”, “Sa” means “3”, “Tsu” could mean “2”. Don’t believe me? Look at the kanji. As for Fujisan, it's a play on the term “Fujisan”, another notable hot spring, “fu” comes from “futa” meaning “2”, and “ji” like Nico, “ji” is the phonetic symbol for “shi” meaning “4” and “sa” = “san” meaning “3”, fitting since they both love hot springs so much.
Now time for the inmates from the other buildings. I’ll start with building 3, inmates Trois and Honey., “Trois” is french for “3”, his nationality being french. For Honey, the Japanese pronunciation is “hani”, “ha” from “hachi” meaning “eight”, “ni” being “two” like his cell number. Another american, like Rock whose name is in Japanese pronunciation.
In naming, look at their nationality when naming your inmates. If that's the case, then why is Musashi given a Japanese name instead of a German name? Easy: it's to represent the building he resides in.
Building 4’s theme is culture, since it has Japanese culture it’s made to reflect the theme of the building. Musashi's name is broken up into “mu” from “muttsu” meaning “6”, “sa” being “san” meaning “3”, “shi” being “4”, like his inmate id number 634. His name comes from Miyamoto Musashi, the author of the Five Rings, a renowned Japanese swordsmen.
Last but not least: building 5 inmates Upa, Liang and Qi. Their names are reflected in their nationality being Chinese. Liang’s name is Mandarin Chinese for “2”, his cell number. For Qi it’s “seven” like part of his cell number “7” in 71. As for Upa, “pa” is read as “eight” in Chinese. Like Nico, Musashi, and Uno, he has other meanings in his name as well., Upa’s name came from isha upa yoga (a form of yoga) referring to how he first appeared meditating, and also a buddhist monk, Upagupta. Qi’s name came from “Qi”, or
“the central underlying principle in Chinese traditional medicine and in Chinese martial arts. The practice of cultivating and balancing qi is called qigong.”
This links Liang, Upa and Qi together due to them having martial arts,qigong and medicine in their characters.
Now I’m done with the inmate side of naming; time to move on with the guards. They take another step but it’s lot of fun.
Guards
Let’s start off with the guards of building 13, Hajime Sugoroku. Hajime means “begin”, which is used in traditional martial arts such as karate,judo,aikido and kendo, matching Hajimes speciality in combat where he uses his fists for fighting. The kanji in his name means “one”, him being the number one man in Nanba prison. Sugoroku is a traditional Japanese new year’s board game. For his family, his brother Hitoshi’s name means “benevolence”, showing contrast to Hajime’s short tempered and violent temperament. Hitoshi can be spelled as “hitotsu” in different kanji meaning “one”, showing a connection to Hajime being his family.
Next is Seitarou Tanabata. His surname comes from the tanabata legend, and Tanabata’s a star festival held in japan. “Sei” means “star”, “tarou” is used for boys in japan and could also mean “eldest son”., Iif you look closely, his name could have a number if you look at “tarou”.
Yamato’s name is from a Japanese battleship, and Yamato is an ancient alternative spelling of japan. The kanji of his name Godai means “five great”, named after the japanese elements from Japanese philosophy.
The guards of Nanbaka are named from characters in Japanese folklore and legend, like Momoko Hyakushiki, Samon Goku, Kenshirou Yozakura, Kiji Mitsuba, Mitsuru Hitokoe.
Momoko, Samon, Kenshirou and Kiji are an allusion to the legend of Momotaro.
Momoko being Momotarou, Samon the monkey, Kenshirou the dog, Kiji the pheasant. For their names, “momo” in her name is another way of saying “a hundred” in Japanese, and “ko” is used for girls in Japan. “Hyaku” means “a thousand”, “shiki” means “command”. As her name suggests she's a commanding presence in Nanba prison and warden of Nanba prison.
Samon is named after a character from the Chinese novel, Journey of the West, the Monkey. “Go” means “5” citing building 5 the building he is supervising.
In Kenshirou, “ken” means “dog”, which is his motif in his design, “shi” means “scholarly officer” referring to his intelligent and informed personality, “rou” is a last name usually given to boys in Japan. Yozakura means “four cherry blossoms”. Taken from “yozakura”, an event that takes place after hanami, cherry blossom viewing at night, and “yo” in his surname means “4” referring the building he is supervising.
Kenshirou’s guard dogs of building 4 are named after flowers with numbers., In Japan people use flower language to convey emotions to each other. Since building 4’s theme is culture, it talks about japanese culture which uses hanakotoba (the language of flowers) which is proxy used in japanese culture.
The guards are dogs that are different breeds, and they have flowers in their names
I = one
Ni = two
Shi = four
“no” is a naming particle using “of” when writing Japanese. Their last name “hana” means “flower” in Japanese.
For tThe head guard dog Genrou Byakuya, Genrou’s full name means “mysterious wolf” and “Byakuya” means a “hundred nights”.
Next is Kiji Mitsuba. “Kiji” is Japanese for “pheasant”, “mitsu” is Japanese for “three”, “ba” meaning “leaf”, his surname together means “three leaves”, a japanese parsley which is a vegetable in Asian cultures. “mitsu” means “3”, which refers to his building that he supervises.
The guards of building 5 are named after characters from the Journey of the West novel.
Inori’s name means “wild boar”, “nori” meaning “hicklish”, his surname means “eight commandments”, taken from zhu bajie a character from Journey of the West who shares the same personality traits as Inori.
Part of Houzuki’s name means “law or buddhist”, referencing his outfit, “zuki” means “moon” and “Hou” is another way of saying “Hōshi” , “gen sanzou”. “Sanzou” is taken from “genjou sanzou”, a Chinese buddhist and the monk from Journey of the West, the wandering priest.
For the Daisen brothers’ names, “dai” means “great”, “sen” means “sage”. The brothers are named after some of the characters from the Journey of the West.
“Roku” means “6”, “koko” means “9”, “you” means “8”, “riki” at the end means “power”. Rokuriki is named after the immortal of elk power, Youriki after the immortal of antelope power, and Kokoriki the immortal of tiger power, as seen again with their weapons.
Ruka’s name means “flow of the river”. “Go” means “5” and “jo” means “pure clean unspoiled”. Ruka’s surname is taken from Sha Wujing, a river ogre from Journey of the West that accompanied Sanzou on his journey.
Hachiman is an inmate whose name means “eight thousand”, he's named after a synthetic divinity of archery, and his power hungry nature references this. Also named after Zhu Bajie, the pig, encompassing his violent traits.
For the supervisors of other buildings: for the supervisor from building 1 Tomato Ichijou, “to” means “rabbit”, and in his kanji “ma” means “ten thousand”; “ichi” means “one” and “jou” means “streak”. “Ichi” in his name references the building he supervises.
Nijimasu Nanairo means “seven colors”, his whole name together means “7 colored rainbow”. “Nana” meaning “7”, the building he’s supervising.
For Mao, a deputy supervisor, his name “mao” literally means “cat” in Chinese; his surname “ni” means “2”, “ji” means “dance”, “ma” means “under”, and “2” in his surname references the building he is working in. Mao is based on the nekomata, a cat demon with 2 tails for being from building 2. Also a reference to it his love for money, a reference to another legend, the legend of maneki neko which is seen holding a coin.
To the staff: for Mitsuru Hitokoe, “mitsu” means “3”, “tsuru” means “crane”, “hito” means “one”, “koe” means “voice”. Mitsuru is taken from the folklore “Tsusru no Ongaeshi, the crane returns the favor”.
The doctor’s name “okina” means “old man”, “o” means “drive or manage”, “to” means “ten”, “gi” means “justice, righteous”. His name’s taken from “Taketori no Okina”, the adoptive father of Kaguya Hime from The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
Kazari means “to decorate”, and Kagu 8 is an allusion to Princess Kaguya who was adopted by okina, and had many suitors wooed by her beauty. “Kagu” means “god,diety”, and “8” is another way of saying “ya”, the number 8 in Japanese.
So when naming your characters, look at the pattern from their names and how they are arranged closely: they have numbers like the title suggests.
Inmates
Jyugo = 15
Uno = 11
Rock = 6,9
Nico = 2,5
Tsukumo = 99
Fujisan = 2,4,3
Kusatsu = 9,3,2
Trois = 3
Honey = 8,2
Liang = 2
Qi = 7
Upa = ba = 8
Musashi = 6,3,4
Guards
For guards, they have numbers and are based on folklore
Hajime Ssugoroku = 1,2,6
Yamato Godai = 5 = Japanese battleship Yamato
Seitarou Tanabata = 1 = Tanabata legend
Okina Otogi = 10 = the Legend of Princess Kaguya
Kazari Otogi = 10 = the Legend of Princess Kaguya
Kagu 8 = 8 = the Legend of Princess Kaguya
Momoko Hyakushiki = 100,100 = Llgend of Momotaoru
Samon Goku = 3,5,9 = Legend of Momotaoru = Journey of the West
Kenshirou Yozakura = 4 = Legend of Momotaoru
Kiji Mitsuba = 3 = Legend of Momotaoru
Mitsuru Hitokoe = 3,1 = The Crane Returns the Favor
Mao Nimaijita = 2 = Nekomata,Maneki-neko
Tomato Ichijou = 10,000,1
Nijimasu Nanairo = 7
Inori Hakkai = 8 = Journey of the West
Houzuki Sanzou = 3 = Journey of the West
Ruka Gojo = 5 = Journey of the West
Kokoriki Daisen = 9 = Journey of the West
Youriki Daisen = 8 = Journey of the West
Rokuriki Daisen = 6 = Journey of the West
Hachimen = 8,10,000 = Journey of the West
47 notes
·
View notes
yozakura family and all the depictions of love just makes me so [kneels on the floor, head bowed] theyre so delightful to me. taiyo's entire arc being one that had lost his family and had discovered a new one who promised him that they won't leave him, that they wont just protect him, that they let him protect them. they trust him as their equal, and for him that need to protect was fulfilled from his 'failure' when his first family died. these siblings consider taiyo their family too; not just the separate entity of 'mutsumi's husband' but as brother, friend, family. he has integrated himself in their bond too! i like that his entire point is that everyone unanimously agrees he's a yozakura sibling too, even in the later chapters where people refer to him and his siblings. that when facing off ryu, he doesn't distinguish fake and real family, they just are his (and he too is theirs). he's just so consumed with the love and devotion that the family also has for each other.
now to get rambly about everything else about the siblings and how they love and how it kills me dead. time and time again they emphasize that the yozakura family loves each other. there's no other kind of bond for them, seemingly, but i'll think about that another time.
kyoichirou was created in the image to be perfect and it's part of his symbolism & design with the gloves that he never takes off. he's sentimental. he loves, deeply, he is made of it. he's an eldest sibling to his core and it physically hurts me how much he never tries to hide it / how much he cares. when the crux of his character is to be strong to protect others (taiyo's narrative foil and/or parallel) how can i not like him? he's atlas with the world on his shoulders, but where atlas carries it with punishment, kyoichirou would do it without hesitation if it means that his siblings are still there in the world. that we also very rarely ever saw him without his gloves, that he reached out without them towards kai and the twins and towards his father also just speaks to me so much. the connections that he wants to make as he fully sinks into his feelings.
over all i think the way the family dynamics/structure in the family is amusing though. momo and rei were out by the time (as characteristic of the family) they were independent, so it makes sense that they still act not just as siblings but as friends and colleagues. all of them love each other and that's what makes them strong, of course.
futaba is not just their eldest sister, but the closest thing to a mother they all had after rei. mutsumi is treated as the rightful matriarch, but clearly she still defers to futaba when needed. she says it herself that she raised the rest of the siblings, and she acts like a fussy aunt whenever she's flustered enough into acting a bit more irrationally.
i also find it interesting that nanao being the youngest is also their prodigy. he acts a little more mature than his siblings, but he's also a kid that they all baby and he lets them. that their specialties are also exemplifying how they care also sends me
2 notes
·
View notes