I love how Strike also does that when someone asks about Belkia name as a human, even if it's in a "They don't want to share" way
NO SAME also like i really loved the phrasing used there specifically which gave the impression Belkia himself was in Strike’s ear complaining about it lol.
“He doesn’t want to say” is such a cute way to put it because yeah sometimes your characters do just be refusing to tell you things and you gotta shrug your shoulders and go “idk man they’re not answering”
For Belkia in particular, though, i think I’m going to interpret that as Bel himself loving the name Tsubaki gave him so much he absolutely refuses to even consider anything else. That’s his dead name now, and he’s gonna make sure it STAYS dead. Like… It’s so. Sweet, I guess? How much effort he puts into killing the person he was before he met Tsubaki. He changed the way he talks, the way he looks, the way he approaches the world, everything about him is different now, and I love that. I love him.
I also love that Tsubaki’s OWN manner of speech shifted so drastically only in the last decade, because he met Belkia, and Bel had such an influence on him Tsubaki can’t help but learn to be a little more cheerful, too, a little more silly, and a lot less sullen.
Team M mean so much to me. Also god bless Tsubaki giving Shamrock a new name bc what do you MEAN he’s named GREGOR I’m in tears. For context, Gregor is the name of Kafka’s novel “the metamorphosis,” whose original German title is “Die Verwandlung” and isn’t just a character motif for Shamrock, but also the name of his specialty attack (vol 11, chapter 62, “I Will Strike Them from You”). Its subchant is The Nighthawk Star, but that isn’t really relevant right now.
Come to think of it, I never really delved into how The Metamorphosis is used for Shamrock’s character, and I think the difference in messages between The Metamorphosis and The Nighthawk Star are interesting enough in their differences it would be worth comparing and contrasting them in the context of both each other and his character. Taking notes taking notes…
This got off track as usual but. Yeah. Names are… Really important in Servamp, and you can figure out a lot about the characters not just from their names, but how the narrative treats their names, how they treat the names of other characters, but also how they themselves interact with their names. It’s a really interesting method of character exploration imo
Like, for instance, majority of the Servamps and Eves have names that complement each other, right? They match in some shape or form. The two that always stood out to me were Envy pair and Pride pair, though, for the seeming lack of connection between them, but now we know WHY that is.
For Mikuni, it’s because the name he gave Jeje was never really meant as a sign of them being partners, but intended as a punishment towards him. A reminder of his sin. Of failing to protect Kiriko. Of being a monster who drives others to insanity. But it also served to throw his own faith back into his face since the origin of it, JJ, comes from “Jesu, Joy of man’s desiring” a lively chorale you’ll often hear around Christmas time which, in the original German, expresses a very close and familiar relationship with Jesus. It’s also the song that would play from the music box Kiriko gifted Mikuni for Christmas, and collecting them was her hobby. The name isn’t about Mikuni, but Kiriko.
For Hugh and Tetsu, it’s because Hugh was never the name Tetsu gave his Servamp, but a name belonging to someone else. The name Tetsu gives Hugh, however, appends the word for silver onto the end of it (Hugh the Dark Algernon III [Gin]) which serves to make them match. Silver and Iron. It’s sooo cute. Add Tetsu’s golden bleached hair and you’ve got the whole trifecta for the fable of The Honest Woodcutter (also unrelated but I thought it was funny)