Bokkesan: Tucker Report

Tucker's episode notes (including name pronunciation/meaning) for our Bokkesan episode

• Title: Bokke-san
  • Pronunciation: the “kk” is a long consonant! Basically, there’s a slight moment of silence before the [k] sound in which pressure is built up and
  • Bokke is probably referring to a type of tattoo that was given as a punishment in ancient China...I think?
  • In the book MC is reading in manga, the word “bokke” has the reading 菩怪, which I can’t find in the dictionary. Individual characters mean “type of grass/sacred tree” and “suspicious/apparition” (the same character in the words “kaijuu” and “youkai”).
• Characters
  • Hinomiya Tsuru 火ノ宮満（ヒノミヤ ミツル） / ヒノ
    • “Hinomiya” means “fire shrine” while “Tsuru” is written as “fullness/satisfaction” (can also refer to a full moon). Not really sure if the name has any real significance.
  • Shijiro Sayu 尾白白湯（オジロ サユ） / サユ
    • Uses the character for “white” twice in a row? Never seen that before.
    • “Shijiro” means “whitetail” (like a deer), and “sayu” means “boiled water” (uses the character from white, too, since boiling water looks white)
    • The double use of the kanji for white HAS to be some hamfisted bullshit emphasizing her “purity” or something, and the boiling part has to be themed with protagonist Hi-no (fire)
  • Hyouzen
    • Guitar ice dude
    • First syllable is like “yo” but with a breathy H sound in front of it (think of how the English word hue is pronounced like “hyuu”)
    • Word “hyouzen” typically means “suddenly/sudden appearance,” but it’s written here as 氷髯 (ice + beard/mustache)
• Terms:
  • Nekogami
    • Literally “cat god” (neko + kami with a sound change)
    • Is supposed to be a bodhisattva, which in Buddhism is person/creature/spiritual being who is destined to attain buddhahood (enlightenment) in a future reincarnation

MISC NOTES:

• The translation I’m reading is hot garbage
• WTF are they really just summarizing important plot events rather than actually show them happen?
• OMG just skipped forward to the ending….omg it’s so bad! Even the characters think so!