Medias Moritake
Medias Moritake mo̞ɾita̠ke̞ me̞ɾija̠sɯᵝ | |
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Medias in Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle | |
Character Titles | |
Southern Meteor Shower | |
Information | |
Species | Emperor penguin youkai [a] |
Abilities | Getting rid of friction |
Occupation | Soldier |
Location | Devanagara |
Music Themes | |
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Appearances | |
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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 (守) can mean "protect" and the second (武) 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 (鉈 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]
An illustration featuring Medias Moritake, Yago Ametsukana, Kurohebi, Taira no Chouki, Kujiru Kesa, Para and Kaisen Azuma on Pixiv FANBOX, indicating that they would be excluded from a certain "side project" that JynX was working on at the time. The image is pixellated as the clear image was uploaded as a donors-exclusive image.
Spell Cards[edit | edit source]
Name | Translated | Comments | Games | Stage | ||
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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]
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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 |
Southern Meteor Shower Medias Moritake |
Official Sources[edit | edit source]
- 2015/06/04 Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle - Official Profiles, Brilliant Stage 2 Boss
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Brilliant Pagoda or Haze Castle: Official Profiles - Medias Moritake
- ↑ Medias (in Japanese)
- ↑ Trick Nostalgie website: Guidelines
- ↑ Interview with JynX (2017): Bosses, Question 50
- ↑ JynX's Twitter: "I first thought of “Medias”, in the Latin alphabet. And then I was troubled over how to represent it in katakana."
- ↑ JynX's Twitter: "I just remembered that I really struggled between choosing 'mediasu' and “meriyasu” for Medias’ name in Japanese."
- ↑ JynX's Twitter: "Oh, I might have phrased that poorly. I say "what Medias is based on", but it's not really anything specific, but rather a general idea. Perhaps you could call it a 'motif' or a 'theme'."
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Interview with JynX (2021): Brilliant Route, Question 252
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