Eudial and Doorknobdaa

Here we are again, continuing on with our exciting look into the origins of the names of the Sailor Moon S anime Daimons. This is a continuation of Part One, so if you haven’t had read it, it may be interesting to read up on first.

Ready? Let’s go!

Snail Lady

Now that we’re moving on into the second set of Daimons – those working for Eudial – I think it’s interesting to point out that while the first group were rather… well, let’s be honest about it here… sexualized.

I mean, sure, this wasn’t uncommon with all of the previous Youma, Cardians, and Droids, but things were taken to a whole new level with the placement of the black stars on their chest, hips, stomachs, and elsewhere.

Once Eudial came about, this all stopped. I wonder if there was a complaint from parents, maybe? Don’t get me wrong, they’re still pretty sexualized, but I’ve always thought it was interesting and oddly inconsistent.

But enough of that! Let’s talk about… some more names?

• Soiya: This is a common chant heard at Japanese festivals, calling out to the gods, while you’re moving the portable Shinto shrines known as omikoshi.¹ You can listen to the shrine bearers chanting here. Judging by the character’s design as a festival drummer, this fits pretty well.
  • Neither here nor there, but the history behind the word soiya is pretty interesting. The other chant you’ll commonly hear during omikoshi events is wasshoi.² Apparently the word was originally shoiwa, but since it’s continuously repeated back to back, it’s hard to distinguish where the word cuts off and where it begins, thus shoi wa shoi wa shoi wa became wa sshoi wa sshoi wa sshoi. Soiya was apparently another deviation from the original shoiwa.³
  • Also, the bottom of her drum is an example of a tomoe.

Soiya and that wonderful tomoe

• Chagaama: Her name’s pretty straight forward, and is a slight turn on the Japanese word for a teakettle used in tea ceremonies, a chagama (茶釜).⁴
• Irondaa: Wow, this was a throw-away, one-off Daimon if I ever did see one. As far as I can tell, the name is simply in reference to iron (as in, “pumping iron,” i.e., weight-lifting). The daa part of the name is probably just the Japanese copula da/desu (だ / です).⁵
  • Interesting tidbit: she appeared for only about 30 seconds!⁶
• Darumaa: Anyone think Eudial has a thing here for Japanese culture? As a holder of a degree in Japanese History, I commend her efforts.⁷ Anyway! This is a painfully plain obvious reference to the traditional Japanese decoration / doll known as a daruma/dharma.⁸
  • To give you a little more context, the eyes of the Daruma are typically left blank when made and you fill one in when you purchase or receive one. At that time you set a goal, and when you fulfill that goal, you then fill in the second eye. This explains why she’s carrying a brush around with her.
• Hurdler: Hurdler… uh… jumps over hurdles. ‘Cause she runs. Seriously, they were getting kindly lazy here.
• Choukokka: Named after 彫刻家 (choukokuka) the Japanese word for sculptor.⁹ I know it’s not too important, but I find it kind of weird that she’s not really a sculpture and rather seems to be made of water-soluble clay. But what do I know about art?¹⁰
• Chikuoon: I’m pretty sure that if I gave you five guesses to figure out what her name was based on, you’d probably pick it out on the first shot – yes, it’s from 蓄音機 (chikuonki)¹¹ the Japanese word for gramophone/phonograph.
• Doorknobdaa: Here we are again with a normal word and the Japanese copula da¹² attached to the end, meaning something akin to “it’s a doorknob.”

The very Picasso-esque Choukokka

Not quite as creative as the meanings for Kaolinite’s Daimons, but I guess you can’t win ’em all! To be fair, I’m sure a lot of these names are a little more interesting for young Japanese children, since it’s a tad bit more exotic that it is for me.

That’s about it for Eudial, so soon we’ll be finishing up with Mimete’s selection of Daimon!

As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments!

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