#SystematicRambles

[systematicallycapricious]

Just musing about a couple small oddities I noticed while going through the Japanese version of Ultimax. Disclaimer: I still don’t know a super-ton about the Japanese language, so these observations might not actually mean anything of importance. >_>

(And if anyone with better Japanese knowledge than I comes across this post and wants to help elucidate things, I’m always down to learn more.)

                                                            [1]

In Labrys’s arcade mode, Minazuki introduces himself as purely “ミナヅキ”, while in every other instance I can find in both story mode and arcade mode, he always introduces himself fully as “ミナヅキショウ” (like shown below with Chie).

The closest thing I can find to the contrary of his usual pattern is how he introduces himself to Adachi in “Episode Adachi” (pictured below), but even then he still gives his full name after a moment.

Meanwhile, in the English translation of Labrys’ arcade mode story, this discrepancy is entirely glossed over as Minazuki just introduces himself in his English-typical “Minazuki. Sho Minazuki”.

I haven’t checked through the manga to see if this pattern holds there too, ‘cause I’m not as familiar with its sequence of events as I am with the game and so would have to comb through it more meticulously. So there might be something there that affirms or breaks this pattern?

So yeah. I don’t really have enough sociocultural knowledge to know if him doing that is indicative of a closer relational position, of him being more disrespectful, or of it being some purely grammatical variation with little characterization meaning, though I do find it interesting from a “well, it’s an oddity of behavioral pattern if nothing else” perspective.

(Oh- and for additional context, in that scene in Labrys’ arcade story, Minazuki makes mention of how he and Labrys are the same, something that’s reiterated in one of his “spectating Labrys’ dance” voice lines in P3:DiM. Thus why it seems plausible to me that he might consider himself relationally closer to her. Though on the other hand, he might still see her as an inanimate tool as well, so not treating her with the same formality as he would a person could give credence to it being a more disrespectful form of regard instead? There’s not really enough context to tell, as even his Labrys-specific battle lines and DiM lines could be read either or both ways. :P)

                                                            [2]

In EpP4, when Minazuki stabs General Kagutsuchi and demands to know what he’s planning to do with Sho, he seemingly goes to refer to Sho as “this child(この子を)”, then pauses for a moment before changing his address to “Minazuki(皆月を)”, with “を” being a grammatical marker for the “direct object” of a conversation or sentence I think..? If there are more nuances to it than that, I haven’t learned them yet, haha. Anyways, after changing the direct object that he’s referring to, he then goes on to say the rest of the sentence.

Meanwhile, in the English translation, this is just simplified into “this boy” with no further distinction between the two apparent forms of address that the Japanese version has.

As for the manga, he just outright uses “皆月を” from the start, though, aside from dropping Kagutsuchi’s name from the dialogue boundaries, says the line exactly the same (どうするつもりだ). The English fan-scanlation on Mangadex follows in the footsteps of the English game translation in writing the line as “Just what do you intend to do with this boy?”. (Edit Aug 2024: the Udon official manga translation translates it as “What were you going to do with [Sho]?”)

Also, just for context, I think usually any other time that any character uses “皆月”, it’s translated as “Sho” rather than “that boy”? (With the exception of the manga ‘pronunciation subtitles inform you that the spoken word is entirely different than the written word’ thing where sometimes “皆月” is written but “この子” is spoken, I think.)

So yeah. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be an important characterization detail on Minazuki’s part, since this happens right after Yu gets him to realize that he's a person supporting Sho rather than Sho being totally alone, or if it’s just a negligible grammatical thing. Though, since I don’t think Minazuki ever calls Sho “皆月” outright outside of explaining Sho’s past to other characters, in which even then I think he uses “皆月翔” specifically, it kind of makes me think that him using a more direct form of address for Sho rather than an indirect one might hold some significance?

Although, as a counterpoint to that, we also don’t ever really see him directly conversing or interacting with Sho outside of a couple scenes in the manga and a couple lines in P3:DiM, so maybe he does call Sho by name more regularly and we just don’t get to see it. For example, in the P4U2 DNA Comics anthology, there’s quite a few times where Minazuki directly addresses Sho by his family name, but the anthology is non-canon as far as I know, so I can’t really count it. :T

Also, I haven’t extensively combed through every last instance for this point, so you may want to take it with a grain of salt, as some things may have fallen through the cracks. ^^;

                                Addendum: P4U2 Stageplay

I’m putting the stageplay in a separate section here mostly because 1) I don’t know how “canon” it’s considered and 2) my phonetic Japanese comprehension still needs a lot of work and I don’t have subtitles like I do with the game. Also I kind of wrote-up everything above before remembering that it existed. <_<;

Anyways, going through it with my limited comprehension, I can say that Minazuki sticks with his “ミナヅキショウ” full introduction and sticks to referring to Sho as “彼(him)” and “この子(this child)” throughout his appearances... with a single exception. In a flashback to when Minazuki confronts Ikutsuki with Tsukiyomi, Minazuki at one point says “翔(Shou)” specifically. However, as I don’t know the rest of the words preceding it, I don’t really know if he’s referring to Sho, of whom he kind of yeeted out of the body a bit beforehand, or if he’s referring to himself since he shares a name with Sho.

And as for what he says to Kagutsuchi just before he gets possessed, he actually seems to say just “どうするつもりだ、カグツチ？”, bringing the three variations full-circle by keeping Kagu’s name but nixing any direct reference to Sho.

[systematicallycapricious]

GUYS

GUYS GUYS

Okay sorry I’m probably way more excited over this than I should be but–

If Ultimax is coming to Steam, and if it maintains the lobby mechanics and avatars in that version, does that mean that the P4AU cast’s PQ-style models might get put up on the internet, or at least be more accessible to individual people? (Or hopefully still be in the game’s files even if they aren’t utilized in that iteration of the game?)

Because they’re hella adorable (just look at chibi Shabrys cackling over a victory), and they deserve more attention, so if they can be accessed like that I’m going to be SO HYPED.

[systematicallycapricious]

Just rambling about a couple things I noticed in the P4U2/P4AU manga while I was trying to find some stuff for Hi-no-Kagutsuchi.

Minazuki slew the reanimated remains of 024 when he awakened to Tsukiyomi. When I first read through this, I thought it was just a generic robot like the ones in Scarlet Memories(Ch13) that just happened to have the same hairstyle due to being the same generation. But no, this is the only one drawn like this in the manga I think, and it matches 024 perfectly. And she’s missing an eye! And an arm, but that eye is right there. Q^Q

The rings in Sho’s eyes seem to be caused by the Plume of Dusk’s awakening? Or like actualization or something? By that I mean the initial gain/formation of sentience, not every time Minazuki takes control of their body. Because almost every drawing of him as a child in this, where the eyes are visible anyway, those rings are absent. Then when Minazuki first awakens to Tsukiyomi, suddenly they’re there... and then suddenly they’re gone when he ends up reverting control back to Sho. There seems to have been enough room to draw them if they were supposed to still be there, so where did they go?

According to the game, Labrys specifically;

“He(Minazuki) was still unstable then and got captured. After that, Ikutsuki tried to erase Minazuki-kun while leaving the Persona.”

So perhaps it was due to him still coming into a stable existence? Which would kind of reflect in how Minazuki saving Sho during the ch13 combat chamber flashback seemed to be something more survival-instinctual and less really something coherent I guess, and why it began and ended so abruptly. (There wasn’t really a ‘personality’ to speak of yet, just that innate instinct of living things to struggle against impending harm and death... Which kind of now makes me wonder if Minazuki saw Sho’s body as his own when he first awakened to a sentience/consciousness, given there potentially wasn’t really time or a potential level of coherence to learn otherwise. Plumes consider themselves whatever they’re in the physical form of when it comes to sentience, so a human body would just, at first, be... a body, and by association it must be the Plume’s body, right? Then it wouldn’t just be “this is Sho’s body” from the start.. {Capri, you’ve been writing a similar scenario for how many months, and you just now consider that possibility? /)_-;} That understanding would come later. ..And also that makes me wonder now if Plumes inherently know that they’re Plumes when they become sentient enough to think/feel such things, or if they only learn that fact if an outside force enlightens them on the matter. Huh..)

And explain why the rings remain beyond that point I suppose... After all, Minazuki is, presumably, always aware and conscious after whatever point he fully stabilizes/solidifies, while when he’s not yet like that they fade when his consciousness does. Or, alternatively, just a stable soul versus one that’s kind of fluctuating in and out of existence I guess (maybe kind of like a kindling flame?)? (And additionally explain why they would match the ASSWs’ eyes, that also have those rings in them and more developed/sentient Plumes of Dusk within them? Though the rings were still drawn on the rebuilt 5th gens, whom I’m not sure if they actually have Plumes at this point or not (since they were removed during Labrys’s story, but were they put back in for the purposes of Sho’s past? Can ASSWs still logistically function with missing Plume/personality module components, since they’re still technically just robots and computers alongside that? :?), so maybe not? I guess on the ASSW’s they could instead be indicative of like camera lenses or something, since their eyes are artificial? But they were also included pretty prominently on other supernatural entities from the Sea of Souls/Collective Unconsciousness such as the Velvet Siblings and any and all Shadow-selves/replicas included, soo...)

Although then there’s these two pictures as well, so ???? They’re offhand, so there’s not really any context I can scour for clues for clarification on this. :T Sho went into his coma when they tried to remove Minazuki post-Awakening, so it doesn’t seem likely that these would be from after that? I guess it could be from before the Awakening but after that one specific combat test though? :? I suppose all that can be done on that is speculation.

Completely unrelatedly to that, Kanji just ripping a Shadow apart with his bare hands. ..in the middle of the torrent of Shadows, but regardless. Dang dude.

And Minazuki with a gun is terrifying and we should all be glad that he doesn’t have nor use one on the regular. That is all. xP

[systematicallycapricious]

A couple quick (and not very technically accurate from an artistic standpoint because idle doodling. xP) caretaker appreciation doodles done between working on other stuff, ‘cause they’re very appreciated. uvu

------

...Also yes, he would be a fictive. The character of Sho Minazuki has brought a lot of firsts for us... >_>; Um, though, for people who don’t know much about fictives, it’s important to note that they’re not actually their source materials, merely shaped off of them like any other alter can be shaped off of general traits and concepts. At its core, to my understanding anyways, it’s merely the brain taking a preexisting group of associated concepts and associating it to some of its own when it finds it necessary to process/cope/comprehend/etc. things, just as it could instead take generic archetypes of people or personality for that same purpose (using the other caretaker pictured here, that would be generic traits normally considered to comprise a “comforting mother” personality; or if we’re going by mental impressions or visuals, for a random example... maybe a “hipster” type of attire or hairstyle is the archetype utilized by a brain), or random or meaningful concepts of its own (for example, an important age or sensory trait that makes sense to relate to the content in question for that individual’s brain). And then from there, it can use and/or stick to as much or little of that group of associated concepts that comprise a fictive’s source character/s as it likes, thus how they can end up as people quite different from their source characters or be very similar. (Regardless of which way they turn out or later become though, they’re still separate individuals from those characters. One should generally respect them as such unless requested specifically by the individual or system in question. ^^)

And that’s your random splash of random info for the day, brought to you by a me who has been thinking and reading about this kind of stuff way too much lately between irl and fictional necessities. xD

Probably not going to make a habit of posting stuff like this, but my curiosity to try new things is getting the better of me at present. xP