Mitsuba's Name isn't Sousuke
I hate tumblr. This is my third time having to retype all of this omg. Anyways, This was originally a highlight I made on instagram, but I've decided to post it on here.
MANGA SPOILERS
To start off, Mitsuba who lived and died as a human, and Mitsuba who is a supernatural are not the same person. They are separate beings and will be referred to as M1tsuba and Mit2uba respectively.
Now, M1tsuba's name is Mitsuba Sousuke. There is not doubt about that. His first name is Sousuke and his last name is Mitsuba. That is just that.
However, my take is that Mit2uba isn't "Mitsuba Sousuke" and instead, simply just "Mitsuba."
This is important because it separates their identities, while still relating them. Mit2uba is his own person, but he is still a part of M1tsuba.
Reasoning-wise: Unless M1tsuba had either told Tsukasa, or Tsukasa was able to find out through supernatural means, Mit2uba wouldn't have been aware of the name Sousuke until he figured out his mirror powers. In which by that time he would have been used to being just "Mitsuba", and taking on the name "Sousuke" would be inappropriate for a number of reasons. It would have been out of character as Mit2uba is jealous of M1tsuba, and seems to have a general distaste or guilt whenever he is seen as the other.
Even if Tsukasa had known about Mitsuba's first name, he never calls Mit2uba "Sousuke", so the reasoning still stands.
Evidence-wise: there is a lot. The reasoning is, well just reasoning, but the evidence is able to push this narrative a lot more forwards.
To start. Whenever Mit2uba introduces himself, He always does so as "Mitsuba" and never "Mitsuba Sousuke." There are many instances in which it would make more sense to refer to yourself as your full name, or even just your first name, however Mit2uba always just says "I'm Mitsuba." We even see other characters constantly introducing and referring to themselves with their first or full name, so it isn't just writing style.
exhibit one-
exhibit two-
exhibit three-
As you can see, he is constantly calling himself Mitsuba in his introductions, and inner dialogue.
The only time Mit2uba has ever been referred to as "Mitsuba Sousuke," or "Sousuke" in general was in picture perfect arc. This makes sense as in the picture perfect world, Mit2uba was trying to become M1tsuba by playing his role. In a picture perfect world, Mitsuba Sousuke would have never died.
Now onto the next evidences: Kanji.
Now I don't speak or read Japanese, however I have a surface level concept of how it works and google on my side. So take this section for what its worth, it may not be a 100% accurate, however I'm pretty sure the general information is correct.
Now as far as I'm aware, kanji is basically characters that have meaning to them based on how they're written.
Sousuke is spelled like: 惣助
and Mitsuba is spelled like: 三葉
There are alternate spellings, however this is the kanji.
In the name Sousuke as I've understood it, The first character is the one with the meaning, amd the second character is there for support.
In the following exhibit I have highlighted the characters used to construct the name Sousuke. And in the next, the kanji for Mitsuba is shown.
As you can see, Sousuke means "whole" or "all." This is in reference to Mitsuba's soul. M1tsuba is whole, until he has to pay the price for his "wish" and his soul is ripoed apart later making him "unwhole." This name would not fit with Mit2uba because Mit2uba isn't whole and instead only a part of M1tsuba.
Mitsuba just means "three" and "leaf." This is clearly in reference and foreshadowing to Mit2uba becoming school mystery number three. The name Sousuke fits more with M1tsuba and Mitsuba fits more with Mit2uba.
Now the next section is miscellaneous evidence of Mit2uba being referred to as "Mitsuba" ,or exclusively M1tsuba being referred to as "Mitsuba Sousuke."
These are not chronological.
And a side note should be: Hanako is generally referred to as "Hanako" over "Amane Yugi" and Tsukasa is sometimes referred to as "Tsukasa" over "Tsukasa Yugi." Whenever I say "everyone" I mean everyone excluding the Yugi twins, and characters without a last name.
exhibit 1-
The Hanako of the Opera Event occurred when M1tsuba had been long gone, and so we can assume that in this AU we are looking at Mit2uba.
Mitsuba's Art has his name under it, however it has the name "Mitsuba" and not "Sousuke." If you look at everyone else's art, their first name is written down, not their last. For example, Yashiro is Nene, and Minamoto is Kou and Teru. A weird exception to make, unless Mit2uba's name is just "Mitsuba", and not "Sousuke." Similar to how Amane is called "Hanako."
exhibit 2-
(mitsuba's name is second row first column)
The 77th chapter celebration character diagnosis!!
Mitsuba's name is recorded down has "Mitsuba" and not "Mitsuba Sousuke" even though, once again everyone else has been out down as "Last and First." We're clearly talking abt Mit2uba because of the image shown at the end.
exhibit 3-
The ghost hotel! This timeline also lines up to when Mit2uba existed and not M1tsuba.
As you can see the characters are referred to by first name, minus mitsuba.
exhibit 4-
In this image Tsukasa is talking abt a holiday in which you eat things with the character "う" in it. Therefore talking abt wanting to eat, Natsuhiko, Sousuke, and Kou.
During this time of post M1tsuba was already dead and Mit2uba was generally depicted in the arts.
However when talking about the "う" in Sousuke AidaIro choose to bring back M1tsuba for this art. Implying that drawing Mit2uba would have been wrong, as he isn't Sousuke, and doesn't have a "う" in his name.
exhibit 5-
This is art of M1tsuba based on the line on his scarf, and he is referred to as Mitsuba Sousuke.
However if that is not convincing enough, the text that accompanied this art included him talking about how his introduction wasn't available in sample chapters, and that if you wanted to meet him you'd have to buy the volume. This art was created in promotion for either the print or repreint of volumes 1-3, in which M1tsuba is introduced, but Mit2uba is not.
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That is all for now :)