#context context context

Before anything else, this is my first Trigun, so it was my first time in hearing it. But it’s quite obvious to me that “needle noggin” is Nicolas poking fun at Vash’s (old) hair style. A nod of sorts. It isn’t immediately apparent if you’re not familiar with the previous versions of Vash.

Needle noggin, yes?

Now, in Japanese, Nicolas calls Vash “tongari”. I thought it was “尖り togari” which means sharpness. It makes sense looking at OG Vash’s spiky hair design. But then I realized it’s really “tongari”.

And just what exactly is tongari?

It’s this! とんがり Tongari is the product name of this cone-shaped corn snack! It’s a play on the word 尖り togari.

So this whole ass time Nicolas has been calling Vash this thing which is a perfectly perfect reference!

To my understanding, tongari has been Nicolas’ nickname of choice for Vash in other versions of Trigun. I don’t know if “tongari” was localized or left as is, so if anyone can enlighten me it’d be appreciated. If it was localized, I’m really interested to see what the nickname became. I don’t really like the this iteration of “needle noggin”. Yes it’s a reference to the old Trigun but “spikey head” would’ve been a more accurate and natural word choice. “Needle” just gives me unnecessary horror vibes like Pinhead, ya know?

But there’s something very playful and cute even in tongari because it’s a snack that looks like Vash’s hair. There’s a level of intimacy in this nickname, it requires the understanding of this inside joke of theirs. Neither needle noggin or spikey head encapsulates that nuance. But it’s hard to localize it without extensive contextualization.

Conclusion: so ya telling me Nico calls Vash a whole ass SNACK in an episode titled HUNGRY, no less, is what I’m getting, your honor

you know how you can say "omg i love this shirt!"

horeru is kind of similar, i'm not really 'in love with' a shirt

but on the flip side it can also 100% mean 'i fell in love with someone'

F.