man I really love the significance of Kotoyuki's name and how it shows his lack of personhood. Like his name is so tied to his family that no one recognizes him as an individual...
Like "Kotoyuki" (寿幸) has a very beautiful meaning, "lifelong happiness". But the truth is it was chosen simply as the result of taking one kanji from each of his parents. It was solely to let others know "This is the son of Hidetoshi and Sachie".
And then his last name is Tsuneki, an anagram of "kitsune" (fox). The kanji (常喜) can mean "unchanging joy," reflecting their rigid way of life. The Tsuneki clan is Infamously known as this rich, powerful, traditional family. As a result, pretty much everyone only refers to Kotoyuki as "the rich young man" and nothing else. His family, and the wealth attributed to them, is all people see.
It's part of what gets Hinako unfairly judged for "marrying wealthy". No one ever considered Hinako and Kotoyuki have known eachother for years, and that she actually doesn't care about his wealth at all (if anything it's more of a deterrent).
Not to mention Kotoyuki wasn't originally a Tsuneki, he was born as Fujitori Kotoyuki. The name Fujitori (藤鳥) contains the kanjis for "wisteria" and "bird".
Wisteria in JP flower language has multiple meanings, such as "drunk on your love", "kindness", "we welcome you," and "never parting".
"Bird" reflects how Kotoyuki, like Hinako, desired freedom and the ability to "spread his wings"
The name "Fujitori" having this duality shows how he too was made to decide between two paths. "Fuji" represents Kotoyuki's first love, while "Tori" represents the freedom he yearned for:
By becoming a "Tsuneki," his "choices" and his "personhood" were taken away from him entirely. He is meant to serve only as a useful tool for his family. But even when he's acknowledged as the heir, his family do not consider him one of them:
They refer to him as a "fledgling". In JP, he's called a 「ひよっこ」 ("baby chick"), which is another way to read the first kanji in Hinako's name (雛). They still see him as the "naive weak bird" he was when he first showed up at their house, incapable of flying on his own without them.
Anyway, all this to say that I love how Kotoyuki's name has so many layers. From an initial impression it's filled with positive meanings but when seen with the context of the game, it reflects how he was treated as a tool of his family since birth, and was never allowed his own identity.
tangentwithtanner
theartofmadeline
dailybridgerton
andulkaphoto
germansingergirl
dededos
snowghoul
