Medias Moritake

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守武もりたけ メリヤス
Medias Moritake
mo̞ɾita̠ke̞ me̞ɾija̠sɯᵝ
Medias Moritake
Character Titles
Southern Meteor Shower
Information
Species Emperor penguin youkai [a]
Abilities Getting rid of friction
Occupation Soldier
Location Devanagara
Music Themes
  • エンペラーロード ~ So cute! (BPoHC)
Appearances

Medias Moritake (守武 メリヤス, Moritake Meriasu) is a penguin youkai and the second stage boss of the Brilliant route of Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle.

General Information[edit | edit source]

They are a penguin deployed from a kingdom far to the south. Their reason for moving so far away from home was to raise money to feed younger penguin chicks.[1]

Personality[edit | edit source]

Medias is a serious and diligent soldier who tries to act mature most of the time. However, their animal instinct shows through when someone mentions fish and do not take kindly when people refer to them as a pet.

Abilities[edit | edit source]

Getting rid of friction

This ability allows them to move at high speeds without the restraints of friction. This is shown in their attacks, which have them moving very quickly.

Background Information[edit | edit source]

Name[edit | edit source]

Their full name is Medias Moritake (守武 メリヤス). Their first name Medias (メリヤス) is a loan word from Portuguese, referring to a kind of knitted fabric made from a technique similar to the stockinette stitch, which came from Spain and Portugal[2]. In their surname Moritake (守武), the first character () can mean "protect" and the second () translating to "martial arts/war/military", fitting with the fact that they are a member of an army. They got their kanji surname from the emperor for their service to the capital.[1]

"Medias" is written as "莫大小" in Chinese[3], which while not a traditional Chinese word, was borrowed from Japanese to refer to the same kind of knitted fabric.

Though the names of many Len'en characters can be linked to various bird species, Medias' name notably contains no such references, despite being a bird youkai themselves; This is explained by JynX that Medias, as a penguin youkai, is merely a flightless bird, and therefore does not have as much significance as those who have a Bird's Name[4].

Interestingly, JynX first came up with Medias' name in the Latin alphabet and then its Japanese rendering. They apparently struggled with how to render the name in katakana[5], debating between メディアス (mediasu) and メリヤス (meriyasu).[6] A remnant of this can be seen in the music room comments in the demo version of Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle, where the katakana for their first name was written as "メディアス" (mediasu), more closely reflecting the word's actual pronunciation in Portuguese. JynX ultimately chose to prioritise the meaning of the word over its native pronunciation, in order to put emphasis on what Medias as a character is based on. Thus メリヤス (meriyasu) was chosen, likely as a Japanese audience would more easily figure out the word's meaning if it were in its Japanese loan word form.

Origin[edit | edit source]

JynX clarifies that Medias isn't directly based on their namesake, the medias fabric. Rather, this name references the general idea that Medias is themed after.[7]

Based on this, considering their background story along with the fact that their name originates from Portuguese, it could be deduced that Medias, and by extension all the penguin mercenaries that were dispatched to Devanagara alongside them, reference the Portuguese being the first European people that came into contact with Japan, as mirrored by Devanagara establishing diplomatic relations with the distant "Southern Country of Penguins" via requesting reinforcements from them.

Design[edit | edit source]

Medias has short light blue hair and eyes. They are dressed in blue and white clothing, a blue cape that resembles penguin wings and an oversized blue hat with eyes and golden ornaments that makes it resemble a penguin head. While a tail is not visible in Medias's in-game portrait, JynX stated that they are able to grow and remove their tail up to their convenience. Medias appears to be wielding a sword in their left hand, and a type of Japanese billhook (nata) in their right hand.

Appearances[edit | edit source]

Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle

While Yabusame Houlen and company are flying to the Capital City, they encounter Medias, who seems curious of the trio. Yabusame believes Medias is cute and wants to take them home as a pet penguin. Tsubakura Enraku refuses, since Yabusame is the type of person to dote on something and then get bored and discard it. Shion is jealous of it, since they were already established as the pet of the Senri Shrine and attacks them. After Medias is defeated, Yabusame loses interest and flies away.

Medias recognizes Taira no Fumikado as one of the rebellion leaders and ambushes them. After the penguin is defeated, Fumikado and their lackeys make fun of their appearance, not believing they are a penguin.

Additional Information[edit | edit source]

  • Medias is fond of seasonal fish, squid and shrimp.[8]
  • Medias was a soldier prior to arriving in Devanagara, although it is unclear what organization they were a part of.[8]

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Spell Cards[edit | edit source]

Spell Cards
Name Translated Comments Games Stage
Total: 8
冷爪「爪先立つ鵝」 Cold Claw "Flightless Bird Standing on its Claws" BPoHC St. 2: E/N
氷爪「エンペラーダンス」 Frozen Claw "Emperor Dance" BPoHC St. 2: H/U
冷道「ペンギンロード」 Cold Path "Penguin Road" BPoHC St. 2: E/N
氷道「ペンギンハイウェイ」 Frozen Path "Penguin Highway"[b] BPoHC St. 2: H/U
冷河「氷山の爪」 Cold River "Iceberg's Claw" BPoHC St. 2: E/N
氷河「皇帝の爪」 Frozen River "Emperor's Claw" BPoHC St. 2: H
王河「皇帝の剣」 Royal River "Emperor's Sword" BPoHC St. 2: U
リ・スリル Re-Thrill BPoHC Upgrade

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. There is no official confirmation that Medias is a Youkai; However, they do have the same traits of other animal youkai so it is generally accepted that Medias is one themself.
  2. Might be a reference to a Japanese novel Penguin Highway.

Official Profiles[edit | edit source]

南方の流星群

守武 メリヤス
Moritake Medias
●種族
コウテイペンギン
●能力
摩擦をなくす
      的な能力

はるか南方からやってきた派遣兵士。

帝は『人でなし』たちを平定する為、
そして他の国と国交を結ぶ一環として、
无現里の"遠く"の者達に援軍を要請し、
兵力を増強させていた。

遥か南の地方から来たというこのペンギンは、
仲間達のヒナを養うための資金を得るため、
都への派遣に参加した。

帝の下でそれなりの武勲をあげていたが、
あくまでそれなり。

もともと誇り高い部族で当人も気高いのだが、
金に弱い。 金の為ならなんでもやる。

そして暑いのが大嫌い、夏なんてなくなればいい。

都の為に戦うに際して、帝から漢字の名を賜った。

Southern Meteor Shower

Medias Moritake
●Species:
Emperor Penguin
●Abilities:
Something like getting rid of friction

A dispatch soldier from the far South.

In order to suppress the “inhuman ones”
and to establish diplomatic relationships with other nations,
the Emperor called for reinforcements from Mugenri's "distant regions"
to reinforce their military strength.

This particular penguin from the far South
participated in the dispatch to the Capital
in order to raise funds to help provide for their colleagues’ chicks.

They achieved some moderate feats of valor under the Emperor,
but it the end it was only moderate.

They're normally a dignified person from a proud tribe, but they're a sucker for cash,
and so they'll do anything for money.

They can't stand the heat, either. They'd like it better if summer wasn't a thing.

For their service in the Capital, the Emperor bestowed a Kanji name upon them.

Official Sources[edit | edit source]

Official sources

References[edit | edit source]