Why is the final form of Jimenez in SMT SJ called "Soil". Zelenin makes sense cause she's a Pillar, both figuratively and literally, but Jimenez just becomes a full fledged demon instead of a pseudo-demifiend like fusion.
OK, so the Japanese name for the Soil race is 大地人. "great earth person" (roughly) or even "Earthling," but that translation would not work for SMT's context. The key kanji here is 地, "ground" or "earth." TBH, any of these (but Earthling, it's too sci-fi) should have been the way the Jirae race was localized. Soil is a good localization for JImenez's race, then, but "Earth" may have been better (with 16 years of hindsight).
But why is he associated with the earth? He's the Chaos Hero of SJ (who has fused with an "earthly" beast) and Chaos is associated with concepts like the Ring of Gaea (/Gaia, "earth") and the terrestrial forces that oppose the celestial "heaven" of Law/YHVH. But not just that, Jimenez is basically a Mem Aleph stan in SJ. Soil post-battle dialogue:
And Mem Aleph herself is essentially just the concept of Mother Earth.
And one last thing: Awake Jimenez's race in JP is 覚醒人, "awakened person." And the operative kanji seems to be 醒, which can also imply "sobering up."
