HANNA BEE COFFEE
I am at a new coffee shop, next to a quaint, charming bookstore here in East Nashville. Not at the traditional and beloved Ugly Mugs, because they are closed for a staff summer party. That’s great—
Oh. I just saved a child’s shoe. It was a Croc.
Something tumbled off a mother and child standing in front my table. She didn’t notice. The child was just starting to realize it had lost something important, and was trying to figure out how to tell Mama, when I picked it up and brought it over to her.
“Ma’am,” I said, the dad realizing what’s happening.
(I’m watching them right now, they just took the shoes off, put them back on. I think this might be a reoccuring problem for them.)
(They just passed me and the dad said, with a twinkle in his eye, “Thanks for the recovery mission.”)
I had said, “Shoe down,” to the Mom. She smiled and said thanks, and put the shoe back on. I’m saying shoe, but it was a Croc. With a dinosaur on it.
I’m not at my usual cafe, as I was saying, my favorite, because of the staff party. That’s alright. I’ve been meaning to check this Hanna Bee Coffee out anyway.
My rating? It’s alright. It’s like all of the other cafes, bar Ugly Mugs.
Ugly Mugs has risen up and taken the crown for a few reasons. I can see now and am reflecting on exactly what sets it apart. If I had to break it down…
- It’s a large space with a variety of seating. Tables, large wooden table, individual circular tables, square tables, a counter, another taller counter by the window, a couch, and there’s outdoor seating as well, in a nice yard space on the side.
- Lots of light. Most of the store is windows. 3/4 of the walls of the store are windows, ceiling to floor. Awesome.
- Staff. Staff are friendly and cool. That’s always a plus.
- Community. There are all walks of people hanging out at Ugly Mugs. Remote workers, business people, friends, students. Everybody fits in.
So there ya go. The cafe that I’m in right now, as with many of these cafes, at least when I go seems to be mostly or entirely remote workers. (It makes sense with the times that I’m usually at these cafes, though. During normal 9-5 work hours.) The other people don’t stick around and hang out. The cafe I’m at right now is all remote workers, or students studying. Everyone has a laptop. Including me.
My Osaka Tully’s was a lot like Ugly Mugs. Large, lots of seating options, different crowd of all walks, entirely surrounded by windows, floor to ceiling, and a good staff. Bustling atmosphere.
Now I have a problem, which I can remedy easily, at this current time, which is to find an outlet. Eventually I will have to charge this laptop.
I like where I’m sitting right now, but no outlet…
TINKATON LORE
Tinkaton really is a gem. I can’t stop thinking about her.
I wanted to know more about her origins and her Japanese name, Dekanuchan. Truly, this Tinkaton is an interesting and captivating Pokemon. What is her story?
I feel there is a clue in her name, as there usually is. I’m especially wondering if her name holds a reference to her weapon. The deka is probably dekai, でかい meaning huge. And chan is just the cutesifying suffix that we put on things, like inu-chan, to make them cute. Puppy-chan. Now it’s cute.
It’s the nu part that I’m not sure about.
Dekanuchan’s middle form name is Nakanuchan. 中 Naka just meaning middle, probably. So, what’s the nu? Nuchan?
Kanuchan is the name for the first form of this Pokemon. Doesn’t that sound cute? Kanuchan. There was a girl in my English Club named Kano and I would call her Kano-chan. Kanuchan reminds me of that. So does that Ka mean anything? Or kanu?
There is one more clue about her that is significant — she is a Fairy type. That suggests that she is based off of a yokai, a Japanese fairy/spirit. There are thousands of yokai out there, and I don’t recognize her as any yokai I know. They’ve either made one up or are using an existing yokai as inspiration.
Alright. Time to get the TRUTH.
Okay. I just did extensive research (about 20 minutes worth). Here’s what I’ve dug up.
It appears that the Kanuchan/Dekanuchan Tinkaton line is not necessarily based off of any one character, and not a Japanese yokai, but rather is a production of brilliant creative synthesis. There was probably some inspiration drawn from from Iberian folktale creatures, especially the mouros, which would make sense as the Pokemon Violet/Scarlet world is based around the Iberian Peninsula.
Mouros may have been a primary source of inspiration.
From a Myth and Folklore Wiki: “The Mouros are a race of supernatural beings from Galician, Asturian, Leonese and Portuguese mythologies.”
(Galician? Asturian? Leonese? Do you know about those? I only know one of these words, Portuguese. Must be some deep lore.)
We can see from this picture, clearly depicting them in the act — they are small, and they are plundering. We know that Dekanuchan is also a fun of plundering, as her Pokedex entry said she loves to do.
They also have those tiny bodies and massive hands. I can see the resemblance.
Further supporting the theory of Mouros inspiration is that they were goldsmiths, and concerned with the extraction of gold from the earth. This seems to be part of Kanuchan aka Tinkatink’s character creation, as a “tinkerer” or “smith”, or simply a metal enjoyer. And you can see her hammer looks like it was forged from scrap. Perhaps she made it herself?
So, this all makes sense, and now we have the question of the ka in the name. Kanu, nakanu, and dekanu. I put “kanu” in my Japanese dictionary, and we have our answer.
That first kanji, 鍛, means forge, or temper. The second, 冶, means smithing. And Kanuchi is a reading of these two kanji, 鍛冶, and is a family name (so the dictionary says). The dictionary is also telling us that 鍛冶 is typically read as kaji (かじ).
So our beloved Tinkaton, Dekanuchan, is based off of an Iberian goblin blacksmith creature, and her name is a play on smithing and metalworking. There is actually some wordplay happening in her name, with kanu being a reference to kanuchi, and then nakanu being made of naka, meaning middle, and she is the middle evolutionary form, and kanu, the kanuchi element — and then for dekanu, again being deka as in dekai, giant, and still with that kanu as in kanuchi. Kanuchan itself almost sounds like Kanuchi. You can imagine a Japanese person out there with the family name Kanuchi that is already being called Kanuchan as a nickname.
There you have it, folks.
This is the Tinkaton lore. As the kids say, that’s the tea.
(I have to reference this article, In-depth article of Tinkatink inspiration sources, because this good man did extensive research on Tinkaton’s possible inspirations and historal background. I could only handle about twenty minutes of Tinkaton origin research. This man must have spent hours on it. Thank you for hard work Aashish Victor, you good man.)
Man, isn’t this how life goes? This is exactly how life goes. I’m still at the coffee shop, and I needed that outlet. My laptop is now approaching critical outlet-needing time. I’ve had my eye on an open table with an outlet, a table that has remained open for the entire duration of me writing my Tinkaton lore story—but as I said, I liked the spot I’ve been in. I’ve been watching this open table, knowing that I will want to make a move over there eventually, but no one seems to be wanting to take it, it’s been available for the last hour, and THE MOMENT I STAND UP TO MOVE OVER THERE, a group of friends sits down and takes it.
Come on!!!!!!!!!
How classic. I knew that would happen, too. I knew it.
This post is surely long enough already. I’m kind of stalling on anything I’m really supposed to be doing, like reviewing my Japan memoir one final time and making the last edits, before trying to send it to some people and get it published. I’m stalling on that. I don’t know why — I have a mental block.
I’m also in limbo about a potential job. It’s a weird place to be. I’m sitting in-between projects, in-between jobs, in a limbo state. I would prefer not to be, I’ll tell you that.
And, it’s raining.
(My limbo has been somewhat resolved. Official interview incoming.)
It finally rained today, after fifteen days of blazing sun.
I feel like a real farmer now, because I had been praying for, hoping for rain, for my good plants that need it, need a deep soaking and watering, my seedlings and juvenile sunflowers and zinneas.
This morning, sitting outside in front of the house and enjoying our coffee, as is our household tradition, Parker tells me that it will rain today and tomorrow. Today, 5mm, tomorrow 15. Well, we got the rain. Sweet, sweet rain!
And we got more than 5mm. Unless it takes a ton of rain to get even 5mm, I think we got more than that. That’s good. We needed it.
It has been drought conditions here in the last two weeks. Scorched earth. People’s Hydrangeas are going crispy and wilting. I seem them all around the neighborhood. I read that Hydrangeas need a lot of water. They are not native. (Well, four strains of them are.) I think the main varieties that we are using are not native to the US. I only see the same one or two types of Hydrangeas in the neighborhood. They have all been suffering in this drought.
THE FOURTH GIGACHAD
Now I will tell you about The Fourth Gigachad.
Tinkaton was the third Gigachad. On my team of serious ballers, of total Gigachads, Tinkaton was the third true boss to earn a lasting spot on the team. Tinkaton is not going anywhere, with her sass and power, and giant 100 kilogram hammer. That left us with three more spots on the roster. So yesterday evening, after writing up for you about Tinkaton, and going about my other life business, I found myself laying on my couch, and thinking.
Thinking hard.
Who will be the fourth Gigachad?
We found them.
Before I reveal to you who has next stood out from the pack and earned their spot on this team of true swaglords, I will tell you some of the failure stories. There have been quite a few failures.
It takes a lot to make it on this squad — to be an absolute Gigachad. I thought carefully about what exactly it takes. What do the success stories have in common? Why did Tinkaton rise up? Weavile, the ice-weasel? Garchomp, the sandshark?
I decided that it all boiled down to two essential characteristics.
- Swag (charisma, personality).
- Power
Swag but no power? Not good enough. Power but no swag? Can’t be on the team.
Here is the roster so far. Feast your eyes on these embodiments of Swag and Power.
Before I landed even on these three, there were many investigations.
I had very high hopes for this guy.
I spotted him rolling around in the desert, rolling his ball of mud (I thought it was poo, of course, as he resembles a dung beetle). It was a beautiful sight.
Cute and charismatic, and he was actually strong, for a tiny little dung beetle. He had one evolution, which I figured would be a Ground type, which at the time I needed. In my mind he was just going to become a larger, more badass dung beetle. Possibly with armor, rolling a spiked ball, anything like that. Maybe he would become something like Heracross, with a big horn and a powerful rolling ball.
I had much hope for this dung beetle Pokemon. He showed a lot of promise. I worked hard to evolve him, running around in a field for 1000 steps, having him roll his little ball around for about ten minutes, before he was ready to unleash his true power. Well, he finally was evolving, and I was excited to see what kind of a Gigachad beast he would become.
Imagine my shock and horror, when THIS is what came out.
Excuse me??? What the hell? A Psychic type??? A Scarab beetle???
You might think it’s cute. That first picture makes it look cuter than it is. It game it does not have a cute little face like that. It’s just floating in there, rolling its giant magic pink orb around in the air. It’s stupid. Not badass. Not an armored wrecking ball roller. A floating magic scarab Psychic beetle? Come on.
I was horribly disappointed.
I tried out quite a few other hitters, including this giraffe.
What an incredible Pokemon. Rikikirin. Rikikirin is huge, towering over most other tiny Pokemans.
Rikikirin is awesome, has some personality, definitely. But Rikikirin is too slow. Too slow. Take a hit, get smacked, good game. We just can’t have that.
Unfortunately, it was the same with my shiny green teddy bear.
Look at this guy. He LOOKS like a Gigachad. Yes he does.
This Pokemon has the air of a gangster. He is clearly up to no good. You don’t want to mess with him; he’s taking no nonsense. And mine was shiny. Very rare. (That’s why he’s green, he’s usually brown.) My Ringuma is the only shiny Pokemon I’ve ever had, because they’re so rare. And yet…
This Gigachad contender went the same way as the Rikikirin. Poor Ringuma was TOO SLOW and TOO WEAK.
Sad!
Here’s the deal. If you’re going to be slow, you have to take a hit. You have to be able to get smacked, and then turn around, say “Who threw that piece of paper at me????” menacingly, laugh and then clobber whoever smacked you. That’s how it has to be. You have to be able 1. Take the hit and 2. Knock them out.
At least, you have to be able to knock them out. If you can take 20 hits, you can take your time in knocking them out, fine. But if you can’t handle getting beat up, then you at least need to turn around and obliterate your opponent in a single strike, after letting them whoop on you.
Well, Ringuma couldn’t do that. He couldn’t take it and could just barely dish it out. Rikikirin at least would do serious damage. It could shoot two lazer beams from its eyes. That’s powerful.
(I just did some research — apparently this giraffe is a powerful Pokemon in competitive. Rikikirin may have some untapped potential, it’s true.)
Now, I did have another top contender, that was extremely powerful, and majestic. This Pokemon was a go-to of mine for a long time.
It’s a White Ermine. How amazing is that? This is モスノウ, Mosunou. Like, Moth Snow.
The only real problem with Mosunou was that it I got bored with it. It was too strong. It could hardly ever be killed. It was an absolute beast. It one shot everything. How incredible. But… where’s the charisma? Where’s the personality?
Not enough charisma. Mosunou could possibly make a reappearance, except it has been replaced as an Ice-type by the significantly more charismatic Manyuura. (Weavile.)
マニューラ. Sorry, Mosunou.
Manyuura aka Weavile is actually a legitmate gangster. It’s Pokedex entry:
“They travel in groups of four or five, leaving signs for one another on trees and rocks. They bring down their prey with coordinated attacks.”
A pack animal. That’s gangster.
So, who is the fourth Gigachad? You want to know.
I was on the couch, racking my brain. Who has what it takes to be a Gigachad? Who has potential? Thinking, thinking…
And then, Parker’s words hit me.
I had been telling him about my team, keeping him in the loop. He knew about Tinkaton’s glory and beauty. He was aware of my hope and faith in the pathetic weakling dolphin Pokemon. He knew of my disappointment in Rotom, of my anger and betrayal by the Psychic scarab dung beetle.
Parker had been following my progress and giving me answers to Pokemon questions that I didn’t want to look up myself, because I didn’t want spoilers. And so, he knew that there had been a Pokemon that I liked from early on, that I had a good feeling about, and it was this’un.
This is カルボウ. Karubou. In English, Charcadet.
Now, this little guy has some charisma.
I was immediately attracted to this Pokemon, for obvious reasons. Fire? Awesome. A knight? Incredible. We love Don Quixote. We love knights. Knights are cool. Flaming knights? Even better. And if the first form is this cool, well then how about the second? There was no way that this Pokemon did not evolve into something amazing, so thought I. I kept him in my party, I trained him, I fought with him… (I should say her, because mine was a girl.)
What happened with my little Karubou was this: I simply forgot about her. Parker’s research revealed that Charcadet needed a special item to evolve, and you couldn’t get it until later in the game, and I tried to get it, but it was too convoluted, and long story short, it was too long before I could evolve this swag little gangsteress, and I couldn’t keep it around, because unfortunately, it was so, incredibly weak. Unusably weak.
I had put her away, stored her in the bank, until another day—and I had all but forgotten about Karubou, until I was lamenting my struggles on finding the coolest, most Gigachad Pokemon for my team, and Parker then hit me with, “What about that one Pokemon? The teacup Pokemon.” (Because you had to defeat teacup Pokemon to get the shards to trade for the item to use on this guy to make it evolve… Convoluted, I know.)
Long story short, people, this is the story of The Fourth Gigachad.
I remembered my little Karubou, I now had the teacup shards, I went and hunted down the stranger in Pikke town, got the special item, the cursed armor, Noroiyoroi,ノロウイヨロイ. I gave it to my little fire knight child, and held my breath.
Now, ladies and gentlemen — here is the reveal you’ve been waiting for.
Behold; The Fourth Gigachad.
Come on!!!!! Come the hell on!!!!!!!!
Two swords???? NO hands??? Blue flame????? Ferocious look in eye????? A ghost??????
When my Karubou evolved into this baby, Soubureizu,ソウブレイズ, in English Ceruledge, I have to tell you.
I audibly gasped. I jumped up off the couch.
I’m serious.
Come on y’all. This is a Gigachad right here.
Visually, aesthetically, I could tell that this was an absolute top contender for being on the gangster squad. But there is another test — it’s not all about looks. Ringuma failed that test.
Soubureizu had to prove itself on the field of battle.
I had high hopes, and it turned out, yeah. She’s actually strong.
I mean, if you have two swords instead of hands, and your head and eyes are on fire, and you’re a ghost, you should be strong, right? How could you be weak? It simply wouldn’t make any sense. And that is true for Ceruledge.
Soubureizu is a true hitter. And her typing is perfect, a Ghost/Fire-type. What about the story? What does the Pokedex tell us about this mysterious anime-character-esque killer?
“An old set of armor steeped in grudges caused this Pokémon’s evolution. Ceruledge cuts its enemies to pieces without mercy.”
There you go. A flaming ghost knight with swords for hands, cutting her enemies to pieces mercilessly.
Welcome to the team, fourth Gigachad.
We wonder — who will be next? Competition is fierce. Only two spots left.
Could it be… this guy?
Investigations are ongoing. Stay tuned.
HAKUMUSU 