ALSO allergic to TEM

fascinated by how Battat simultaneously resents and covets Tenna

bonus because I couldn't resist

sir you're being too sillay

I think a good place to start is honorifics. I haven’t played the whole chapter, so I’ve yet to see many, but Mike is referred to by くん (-kun). I think that makes sense, since Mike is under Tenna, but he still has a tenderness for him. -kun shows off that fondness well.

Not really an honorific, but around the realm of referring to people, Tenna uses お兄ちゃん (Oniichan) to refer to Asriel, in the context of when he says “your brother” in the English version. This is notable because it is familiar language, so it, too, has a fondness to it.

In the same scene, Tenna (in the English version) mentioned Kris’ Mother (Toriel). But in Japanese, he uses ママ (mama) to refer to her. This is, once again, familiar language.

Now, context is very important in Japanese. It’s important in any language, just Japanese is particularly fickle with context. In THIS context, i think it would be safer to assume that his usage of familiar language is moreso meant to suggest warmth to Kris, who, obviously is not fond of the pestering from Tenna. Tenna is using these terms to evoke a sense of family, as he is pretty much trying to get the family back together (so he can be useful again, so he can be wanted again, etc.).

However, he doesn’t use honorifics for Kris (as far as I have seen). This, too, has a sense of closeness, as not using any honorific implies you’re close enough with a person to do so. I think we can all assume why Tenna decided this was the right move to make.

However it’s better late than never.

So he does actually use honorifics for Kris, Susie, and Ralsei. Each of them get appointed ちゃん (-chan) by Tenna. Usually people say that -chan is used for girls, but it’s actually used in a variety of circumstances. In general it can be used affectionately for someone younger than the user, and is sometimes like a “cute” nickname. I would argue in this case, it is Tenna doting on the three, however he doesn’t do this consistently. Its strategic.

When Susie talks to him in private (where Kris and Ralsei get to eavesdrop), he uses -chan with her. He specifically chose to use an affectionate term for her here, because he was worried about being caught. So he turns to his people-pleasing and scrambles to change the subject.

He also uses -chan for Kris but I cannot for the life of me remember when this happens. I do remember it being in another instance of him being strategic with his words, but I might have to update this post again to complete this explanation.

Ralsei has -chan used for him when Tenna is losing it right before bringing up the doom board. It’s during the “RALSEI MY BOY!” Segment. This fits for reasons you can extrapolate from above, but he is both desperate AND using softer language, which gives a nice and dissonant vibe to the way he’s acting in that scene overall.

As for additional observations, he uses キミたち (kimitachi) to refer to the three of them.

Kimitachi is yet another soft expression, used in familiar settings and the like. It’s a term that means “you guys” or something similar. It’s a term usually used by men, too. Compare this to the common (less familial): みんなさん (minnasan) used to say “everyone.” I believe he uses minnasan somewhere in the game to refer to his audience, however I don’t have a screenshot for it.

TLDR: Tenna uses a lot of affectionate and warm terms. How you interpret the reasoning behind this tender language is up to you. He uses soft terms for all three of the main crew, and continues to use it even when he is losing his mind (dare I say he uses affectionate terms MORE post-doomboard).

I’ll make another post later about his behavior and language during the TV World part of Ch.3, but that’s about all I got for what terms he uses for other people.

I shouldn’t have made that sentiment that short, but I was a bit rushed and should have waited a bit to fully get my thoughts out.

I am gonna play through it again soon when I have the time, but I haven’t gotten around to it haha. However I agree with the sentiment that he uses different terms depending on the setting and mood, which is something that happens in real life with real people. For example, around my family and strangers I may use わたし、 but around my partner I use ぼく。

As for the words themselves: Watakushi is like a formal version of Watashi, so you use it for things like… Your job, or an interview. Though I’ve noticed some people use it sarcastically with friends.

The question you’re talking about in English is phrased in a curt yet polite way, like asking “hey I don’t know his name but I want to.” It makes sense to me that Watakushi is used in this context because it’s a formal question, and names are a serious thing (in real conversation I almost never use words like あなた、 and instead use people’s names— the exception being with my partner [君] and my family [various terms of acknowledgement]).

I grabbed a screenshot of the question from しわはすさん on YouTube. As you can see, he does indeed use ワタクシ(Watakushi) here (in Katakana!).

…Aaand Watashi here, in Katakana (again).

I should have drafted this post more before putting it out there. There are some things I wished I phrased differently and some things that I feel are slightly off in hindsight after reviewing some screenshots. It’s also possible I accidentally wrote the おれ on Tenna’s notes page instead of Susie’s since I was also taking notes on her speech patterns.

EDIT: I FOUND THE おれ or rather what I thought was it.

So this is what I was talking of, and it’s during the flashback. I expect what happened in my notes is that he was using わた(く)し the whole time and I didn’t make a note of it because it was so frequent, but when the あれ came in, I noticed the change and made a note.

However I have one fatal flaw. One horrible problem with me. Actually a few. And it’s that I have bad eyesight and dyslexia.

I sometimes misread あ as お and vice versa. This is something I struggle with in all languages, not just Japanese. This is highly embarrassing and I feel horrible that I misread that. That is completely on me and I will be correcting my original post. I normally do not make these mistakes and I apologize for it. It’s an amateur level mistake to make.

The rest of the analysis stands fine, though. I have screenshots for all of them (even if I didn’t use screenshots for each point), this was the one thing I should have just held my tongue on.

…as for the あれ、that just means (in this context) “that person” or “that thing” kinda… because he is referring to himself, as a TV. Nothing too serious just talking about himself.

its ok Noelle…. they’re just like that😭

bonus krusielle

Day 05 : Obsolescence / Big Together

post chapter 3 castletown swatchtenna stuff from whiteboard. Grinnnnnns. ive wanted to draw this one for a while it's. quite self indulgent and idk if its super fully in character at all but it's a scenario i find myself thinking about a decent amount.

(continued under cut with some additional context)