Joseph Riggs wrote:
> explains the unusual names such as "Allelujah" and "Lock-On". Is Setsuna's
> name a code name as well? Anyone know if it means anything in Japanese?
Safe to assume at this point that everything about the Gundam Meisters
are secretive even amongst themselves. It also struck me in the last
episode (on the boat) that two of them (sounds like the same for all
four) want to take order from Veda and don't want to think about
anything beyond the computer-generated mission plans. Over the years,
there are many different personalities for Gundam pilots, but overall,
they are just as likely to tweak or violate the orders that's given to
them. This is first time I see a Gundam pilot (4 of them actually)
who are happy and content to take marching orders on face value, from
a computer even.
Anyway, Setsuna's Japanese name had struck me as unusual long before
ep.1 aired. His name is written in Kanji (Setsuna) (dot) Romanji (F)
(dot) Katakana (Seiei) then in brackets in smaller font, the same full
name rendered in Hiragana. Traditionally, Kanji is used for Japanese,
Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese names, and Katakana for everyone else.
In recent decades, some Japanese families started to name their babies
with Hiragana names without a Kanji name. So those people have their
name in a mix of Kanji (family name) and Hiragana (given name). But
I've never seen a mixing of Kanji with Katakana or Romanji even for
fictional characters. Giving a Kanji rendering to a supposed
Kurdish/Arabic caught my eyes as extremely odd.
There is only one exception to the restriction of using Kanji.
Sanskrit is a phonetic language that's not derived from Chinese, so by
rule it should be written in Katakana. But historically Buddhism was
not imported directly from India, but via China and Chinese monks. So
Japan adopted Chinese Buddhist text wholesale, which is written in
phonetically translated Chinese and pronounced in a distinctly Chinese
instead of Japanese dialect.
The reason I mention such an obscure thing is that, Setsuna's Japanese
name is very distinctly un-Chinese and un-Japanese. The words,
pronounced in Chinese as "Sah-Nah", could perhaps mean "Kill
that/those" ("that" being a 3rd-person nonspecific pronoun). But I
think to most Chinese, the words "Sah-Nah" is more likely to evoke a
pseudo-Buddhist connotation, partly because "Sah" kill found in the
Buddhist text, partly because it's (other than in Buddhist text) so
implausible as a name.
Anyway neither makes much sense: "kill that" is a ridiculous name, and
there's nothing Buddhist about Setsuna and CB. OTOH, the other GM's
names are a Judo-Christian chant, a combat action, and "animals" so
why not give the lead character a name that's both pseudo-Buddhist and
mean "kill that/those".
Perhaps it's nonsensical sweet nothing created by lazy G00 writers, or
it could be nonsensical sweet nothing created by crafty CB leadership.
Or it might even be subliminal message relating to the latent
specialty roles for each GM, to be revealed later in the series. I am
thinking along the line of the Seven Deadly Sins in FMA. Perhaps
Allelujah will go fanatic/berserk, Lockon is a target-focussed drone,
Tiera is not human, and Setsuna is a transcendental
destroyer/cleanser.
Don't know if it's mentioned yet: Soma means "body" in Greek, in
particular the physical fresh and bone body. In modern usage, soma is
the bulbous cell body of a neuron. Could it be that Soma lacks a
soul? How curious then she's matched up against, out of the four, the
one with the most ethereal/sublime name.
Ehhh... right now I'm betting on the lazy G00 writer angle :(
--
Dr. Core
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