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2024/11/22: is there a particular reason tetora used to address kanata as “shinkai-san” in early ! stories? or is it just inconsistency in the writing

these are remnants of the way ryuseitai used to refer to each other in the early stories (particularly 2015-2016), and so you'll likely find them in very old story fan translations or in old physically released content (like the first ryuseitai CD drama from 2015). it's not just shinkai-san, there was also:

• shinobu used to call midori "takamine-dono" (was in hero show and the drama CD)
• tetora used to sometimes call chiaki "leader" instead of "taichou" (bits of this still exists in ! era main story, and drama CD)
• tetora used to call shinobu "shinobu-kun" from as early as piratefes, a story set in summer
• midori used to call chiaki "taichou" in hero show and drama CD, "buchou" in 2015 sportsfes
• shinkai-san used to be in hero show too
• there were likely more so this is just a rough list!

it seems that eventually, enstars finally settled on how they want each ryuseitai member to refer to each other, so a lot of the stories got their namings adjusted in-game after months of their release. now in-game, hero show has shinobu say "midori-kun", all of tetora's "shinobu-kun"'s that chronologically happen before repayment festival were changed to "sengoku-kun" since climax (repayment festival) is when tetora consciously makes an effort to switch namings, and so on and so forth.

but again, there's still some small remains of the initial namings not just in old fan translations, like the physically released drama CD from 2015, or the first main story of ! era.

as for why the characters used to call each other with those names at first, i'm not sure because i came to the fandom in late 2016 🤔 i guess they felt like it worked at the time enstars was released, but as the characters got more depth and shape, they decided it'd make more sense to settle on certain other namings.

i can see why they'd change takamine-dono for example, because it is strange that shinobu would call midori that when he calls tetora "tetora-kun" (and eventually it's established in Sparkly First Years that shinobu and midori got along as early as when they first joined school, so "midori-kun" definitely fits a lot more). and although "shinkai-san" is polite and suits tetora's respectful way of speaking, it sounds more distant than "shinkai-senpai" (which more clearly refers to him as a senpai from the same school).

for midori, maybe they figured it'd make most sense that he doesn't keep switching between "taichou", "buchou", and "morisawa-senpai" all depending on where he is with chiaki (unit, club, or any other situation), and made him settle with morisawa-senpai. on that note, hero show has a moment where midori calls him "buchou", and then chiaki tells him to call him "taichou" when they're doing unit activities, not "buchou"... this is still in the story to this day (and didn't get adjusted). so since it remained as part of canon, i like to imagine that midori got tired of constantly needing to switch depending on the place and went for something easier. but this is completely speculation!! most of these namings got silently changed (except for the buchou/taichou from midori) so we're prooobably meant to see most of it as "that was how they were always referring to each other from the beginning" LOL

2025/9/8: what happend to kanata in purple wisterias of may? why was he crying

please excuse my long answer, i’m bad at writing short answers…

for the short answer:

based on wisteria alone, we don’t truly get the answer. the story is set in early spring (so school had only just started), and it starts with kanata crying in the ocean. souma was looking for him and finds him there, and when he realizes he’s crying, he gets worried and wonders what’s wrong. kanata is bothered by the ruckus he’s making, and then laughs saying not to worry, the salty wind got in his eyes.

after that, they talk a bit about club duties kanata has to settle which eventually kanata says how it’s a pain but okay, he doesn’t want to go home anyway, and he was planning to sleep over in the clubroom. souma gets worried hearing that and offers kanata to stay at his home instead as he has something he wants to speak to him about anyway, and so kanata accepts and ends up staying in souma’s house

the rest of kanata’s scenes in the story mention his uncertainty as part of ryuseitai, especially with the new ryuseitai juniors, his frustrations with madara, but also eventually expressing that he doesn’t hate madara, and he’s glad that thanks to madara he got to meet chiaki.

that’s the short answer to explain the crying scene itself. from here on is an extended answer of my own attempt to explain a possible reason why he was crying, so please consider it an optional read in case you want to learn more!

for the longest time his crying scene remained a bit of a mystery. obviously it must have had something to do with his home, and people theorized he may have a bad relationship with his family. but then aquarium was released a few months later, revealing how he cares for his household and they care for him back but he’s been also trying to protect what matters to him (the aquarium) and that caused a conflict between the two.

(i remember at the time of wisteria’s release, i jokingly theorized the kanata crying CG exists just to complete the "ryuseitai crying CG collection" because climax came out with so many angsty CGs and it was only kanata left for one LOL)

but now, with meteor impact, !! era stories, and especially stella maris revealing so much about kanata, there can be a theory made on what that scene was implying. this is my own interpretation, but firstly, the things we learn about kanata in stella maris helps here. kanata recounts his time as a god, saying that he shut his memories away and convinced himself that he doesn’t want madara around to protect madara from harm, and that he did this for so long that he eventually became empty inside.

that empty kanata is who chiaki met in meteor impact, and by doing all the things kanata loves (hero acts, talking about heroes), chiaki slowly brought back all the things kanata always loved in the past, that he had locked away. but chiaki also introduced kanata to so much more: that he is not a god, but a human, and that he can be friends with "regular" people. that’s something kanata never truly realized about himself until chiaki expressed it clearly to him.

so (my personal interpretation of the events start here) from there on, kanata spends a lot of his time, especially during his 3rd year, regaining that humanity. regaining the memories he locked away, trying to make sense of the confusing feelings he has inside. after all, the feeling and concept of "loneliness" (which kanata had expressed feeling when he was young) is also something he blocked himself from acknowledging for so long until he felt it so strongly again in meteor impact, so surely there were many other feelings he was starting to feel again and try to make sense of

so now… what could have made kanata cry while in the ocean? other things we know is that in altered, 2nd year kanata (when he was still a god) doesn’t believe his mom has "died", but became one with the ocean. i’ll show the dialogue itself, translation by Mika Enstars:

Natsume: I might not fully understaND, bUT… That means Kanata-niisan’s mommy passed awAY, hUH? It seems like unpleasant memories were brought back uP.

Kanata: Mommie? No, my "mother" only finished her role. As a "goddess", she does not die, even after passing away.
She has become one with the vast "sea", and watches over us even today.
So, even if I cannot swim, I "love" to splash around in the ocean.
It is like I am being held by mother.
It wasn’t all good things, I would even get "reprimanded" from time to time. Because they were a very strict person back when I lived a normal life.
But, she was always right at all times, so if I ever get lost, I splash in the sea. And I’d ask, "let me know the answer".

so one interpretation of his crying scene in wisteria is… perhaps he was feeling lonely, or just lost, and now that a lot of his humanity was returning in him (and therefore a lot of his "human" emotions and memories), he was in the sea to find answers once again? 2nd year and 3rd year kanata show signs that he doesn’t yet know the truth of what actually happened to his mom (i.e. the reveal we learn in abyss after kanata graduates), so it’s possible that to him this was still what felt like a way to connect with his mom.

and in that wisteria scene with souma… after kanata spends the night in souma’s house, the next day kanata remembers mid into his conversation with souma that there was ryuseitai practice today, so he wants to go and let chiaki know he’s taking the day off (so he can help souma with the "slasher" person in school), but souma encouraged him to properly go to the practice session and be with his unit. kanata seems conflicted, saying ryuseitai "doesn’t sit well with him somehow", and that he doesn’t know how exactly to get on with the juniors in the unit. despite being in ryuseitai and being a senior in it, he was still feeling distant and lost in his own way, and so that crying scene could’ve been a moment of him being vulnerable in the presence/embrace of his "mother".

as for why he then says he doesn’t want to go home, i feel that it may have to do with what we later on learn in aquarium, that his own "selfish" desires are starting to blossom and it clashes with his household that are overly protective of him as their god. it’s possible that he wasn’t in the mood to go home and be back to his god duties that day, and wanted a time off from it. and if you consider how the next day, he tried to even take a day off from ryuseitai too, it does somewhat add up

but this is purely my own interpretation and isn’t fully based on something concrete, it’s just what i figure could be the answer since 3rd year kanata has a few instances where he has to go and do some god duty (like how in orihime and hikoboshi, he mentions needing to do ceremonies in the summer). plus, kanata goes on to remodel his household’s religion by the time he graduates, to fit better with modern standards. this eventually gave him a lot more freedom and less need to constantly do god duties, and it’s part of why !! era kanata feels a lot more in touch with who he is as a person (and why he could eventually talk about himself in stella)

there’s other ways to possibly interpret it, like something bad had happened at home (hence him not wanting to go home), but personally i settled with the above interpretation! but we never get the one true answer for it, so it’s up to interpretation. 3rd year kanata is very fascinating to look back on after what he revealed about himself in stella, as it finally gives context to why kanata seemed so distant in his 3rd year (especially the early days)!