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fishhjuice · 9 days

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An In-depth C-Side Characterization Guide/Cheatsheet by Dottie Fishjuice

Greetings! I am very autistic and therefore knowledgable/cursed about C-Side, and i hope to curse you too. I at least to my knowledge has read thorugh everything provided to us and pondered on it, and now i will be sharing.

This was very much inspired by the analysis provided by @/arogustus and @/evil-urchin.

Everything I will say I will point (at the very least try) to point the source of, because i minored in Comparative Literature so this is how I do literary analysis. The smaller text inside parathesis will be my thoughts and speculations, and I will try to keep these at a minimum, trying to stay as factual as possible.

C-Side as a Whole

C-side is the representative band of the Splatlands region. In fact, it is said that "No band reps harder for the Splatlands than this trio" in Splatbase, not even Deep Cut. They are, aside from Riot Act (which is like C-Side 2), the sole splatband to be from Splatlands.

The Riot Act introduction tweet [by the wording of SplatoonJP] calls them "exemplifying Splatlands values". These values can be a sensitivity to fleeting nature of life, and an effort to be as chic and bold as possible [from Fia's translation of the Artbook]

They have at least been active for 8~ years, being active at the same time as Squid Squad (from Beika's tweets).

In the words of Big Man, "C-side has been making great music for a long time", and has served as one of the musical influences to Deep Cut. [X]

In the tweet presenting Paintscraper [by SplatoonJP, for this bit was lost in translation], they are characterized as a "tight-knit trio". This fondness is also portrayed in several of Beika's tweets.

Who else but Kiki would come back to a band they quit once? Well, I'm pretty sure that the guys who let 'em back in probs would too.

Paintscraper is based on a demo that Walter made. I heard that he played the guitar himself too. It's very silly and ridiculous, but it has a unique charm to it. If I get the chance, I'd like to share it.

(I believe this to be also evident in their music, with Beika and Kikura dueting in all of C-side songs, even Splattack which is originally a solo, speaking into their cohesion as a band and whatnot. Not to mention with Splattack, Uotora and Kikura basically enabled Beika's revenge quest. With the vocalists shouting "C-Side" in Headhammer and Paintscraper, they seem pretty proud of themselves too (which they are and ill talk about it), but this is more speculation than fact. I will get into things more in individual character sections.)

One of the only bits of characterization given by Nintendo to C-side is the fact they have 1) the ambition and 2) the attitude. [X] (I find their ambition to be underrepresented in fandom)

In their introductory tweet [by SplatoonJP, this part again not being translated to English] , they are said to have come from lower economic backgrounds and have no formal music education, making up for this with the said ambition.

As for their attitude, Inue himself has said "The members of C-Side aren’t a well-behaved bunch.". C-side has also been called rowdy, and rebellious.

The combination of their ambition and attitude seems to manifest itself in the form of insolence. It is said that "These three don't doubt for a second that they're the greatest band alive." (And I would like to emphasize "These Three", not only Beika)

That isn't to say their confidence is totally misplaced. They are said to have the most momentum to become the most popular band of Inkfish world [X] out of all, to the point they might have even inspired a counter-movement in the form of H2Whoa ("An Inkopolitan retort to the wild "Splatlands sound" folks were used to"). This is also supported by how the exact word Beika uses to describe Inkopolis is repeatedly used to describe H2Whoa both in their introduction and their Splatbase page, pretentious.

Not only that, Bait and Click (normal and mutation) could also speak into the recognition they get as artists, since the W-3 Cellist is said to recognize only the most radical of works [X]

As for their opinion on salmonid, although Beika uses the word "funny" to describe the salmonid arrangement, Beika calls the Deep Cut arrangement of Now or Never "funny" as well, which overall seems to indicate they have the same level of enthusiasm or respect for Deep Cut and Omega 3. It's remarkably positive language for Salmonid.

They also seem to be very well loved within Splatsville. Despite having no billboards or posters in Splatsville unlike Wet Floor and Squid Squad, the statuettes of their shrimpets are all over Splatsville, in a food stand during Splatfest and in Grizzco office. (It seems to me more like they don't need to advertise in Splatsville at all, people already know who they are, whereas they have posters in Inkopolis)

Another thing to support this is the fact is that trains that come from Splatsville seem to play Clickbait, which you can hear during Big Run [X]. For comparison's sake, the Inkopolis trains play Calamari Inkantation, so it can be said their fame is at least comparable to Callie and Marie.

Speaking of these shrimps, they are implied to be the kind of animal that spooks easily by Frye in her boss dialouge, talking about how "[Neo3] can't treat her eels like shrimp"

Murch's suitcase features an older version of the C-side logo, indicating he is probably a fan.

Although SplatoonNA calls them grungy in their introductory tweet, it is pretty obvious from the tempo of their music, their characterization and the fact they are self taught that C-side is supposed to be less of a grunge band and more of a punk band. For us who are unfamiliar with the difference between genres, grunge is more dark, nihilistic, wretched, angst-filled and anguished, whereas Punk is more rebellious and filled with fighting-spirit. Inue also calls their music "bright, easy to groove to, but still heavy". (I would personally love to see them being characterized as such)

The fact they have no sad defeat theme also probably plays into how C-side is supposed to be bright. The name "Learning Curve" also is a bit more hopeful/positive, possibly giving a glance to how their lyrics could be. (This could speak into their attitude towards their fame, which came after years)

Again playing into their ego, "Rinse/Repeat" seems to be imply something about how effortless winning is to them.

Their music is supposed to be intentionally (by developers) reminiscent of Squid Squad's. In the words of Inue, "We’ve also been keeping in mind the feelings of "primary colors" and "impulses felt when starting something" from the first game." and in the words of Minegishi, "What was at the forefront of music in the first game was a fast, playful and summery feel using just a few notes. For C-Side, which plays a central role in the third game's music, we made the deep bass and upbeat melody stand out in their music while reminding the audience of the sound from the first game."

Interestingly, their music is also supposed to "counter" Wet Floor's.[X].

It is said that "They don't ask permission to cover other artists' tracks, and they claim their versions are better.". Although this brings up the question if they frequently cover other artists' songs, it is most likely refers to Splattack and Splattack only, as Beika feels the need to clarify why they covered Splattack.

And this is the end of the band section.

I will be getting into the very little we know of their individual characterization under Read More. This part will be a bit more speculative, and cannot be as factual due to the nature of how character analysis works. Your interpretation of these facts is just as valid. If you skimmed or scrolled this far, thank you so much for your time.

I will be going in the order of how much we know of these characters. Unfortunately because most we know about these characters come from Beika, in a way at times they are characterized by their interractions with Beika. I hope to not sound biased. Here we go.

Uotora

Uotora is a long spine porcupinefish.

One thing that jumps out from the album art itself is that Uotora has their spikes out. Spikes of porcupinefish, which Uotora is, only stick out when they are are inflated and otherwise is supposed to lay flat against their body. You already probably know that these fish inflate themselves when they are frightened/threatened. Given this fact, it is very likely Uotora has an anxious personality. (This could be also be playing into Uotora's name in an ironic manner. Uotora, which means tiger fish, could be a play on the scary fish being scared themselves)

They must have a bit of an ego though, considering "These three don't doubt they are the greatest band alive."

They, along with Kikura, seem to support/enable Beika's conflict with Ichiya, from the wording "In the case of Squid Squad's Now or Never!, they [as a group] even claim to be the originators."

They play the guitar and the drums in the Uotora demo. Listening closely, you can seemingly vaguely hear Beika singing along, which speaks to their bond.

Speaking of bonds, the phrasing of Beika's tweet characterizes them as just as willing to welcome Kikura back as Beika was.

Who else but Kiki would come back to a band they quit once? Well, I'm pretty sure that the guys who let 'em back in probs would too.

Best guitarist in C-side. Sorry Kiku.

Kikura

Kikura is a peacock bass.

Peacock bass are said to be aggressive and "downright belligerent" (pointing this out since it would probably affect them the same way Finn being a betta affects Finn)

Apperantly there is still an ambiguity about this, Kikura is the owner of the high-pitched voice without any doubt. In the music for Splatoon that has multiple vocalists, the vocals are panned to only play in one ear and which vocals play for which side line up with the album art for these groups, which makes Kikura who is in the right lined up with the high-pitched voice. We are also able to infer this from Clickbait, in the call and response part of the song, the high-pitched voice only sings when the guitar is playing.

They are stated to be often late to the studio.

They are said to be known for their deep and edgy guitar riffs [X].

According to Beika, they at some point left the band but came back. Beika speaks fondly of this, implying a level of trust between the two.

Who else but Kiki would come back to a band they quit once?

The relationship between the two seems to go beyond this. Despite Beika writing the Triple Dip, they are barely in it, propping Kikura in the song. This also happens in Splattack, which is not only turned into a duet, but also is more guitar heavy, at times removing the bass sections [X]. (It seems to me that Beika likes to show off Kikura)

They, along with Uotora, seem to support/enable Beika's conflict with Ichiya, from the wording "In the case of Squid Squad's Now or Never!, they [as a group] even claim to be the originators."

Again, they are implied to have a bit of an ego, "greatest band alive" yada yada yada.

The tweet about leaving is not about Riot Act, since Riot Act is said to be "Hot on the indie scene", implying it is a new development.

Riot Act is a side project, which in popular music, is a project undertaken by one or more people already known for their involvement in another band, which SplatoonNA also points towards. So no, Kiki didn't leave C-side for Riot Act (but did steal Finn from Beika).

However it might be important to mention when asked about No Plan Survives, they with Finn said "We wanted to play as freely as possible".

Beika

Beika is an inkling. Shocker.

Despite their vague similarities the idea Beika is Frye's brother is contradicted by canon, as Beika implied from their tweets (and the fact that C-side acted as a musical influence to Deep Cut) is older than Frye, not younger. (I made a chart for this)

They are the lower voice for the same reasons I stated for Kiku.

From their first tweets, they come off as friendly/cool or at the very least make the effort to come off as friendly/cool (I use cool very loosely).

There is likely a delibarate effort to cultivate a positive persona by Beika, in how they seem to chastise themselves about how upset they have gotten and /or how they presented themselves with "I rambled too much last night." Another thing pointing at how Beika might be avoiding negativity is with how they seem to undercut their criticisms of Inkopolis scene by stating how they like Bottom Feeders and how they would like everyone to listen to their music.

They seem to be very invested in the music making process, as their first tweets are entirely about their music.

They seem to have the potential to be overdramatic sometimes, as they start their rant with the words "I'm typing this in a drunken stupor". Then again, they are drunk so take this with a grain of salt. (You know C-side lyrics probably go hard)

THIS IS ACTUALLY SO IMPORTANT: Beika does not make the accusation that Ichiya stole the song while drunk!! Please look at the wording!!

I've said this half a billion times this year alone, but Now or Never is a C-Side original.

"I've said this a million times this year alone" clearly shows Beika has made this accusation before.

Other than being very funny, the fact Beika can't seem to even remember Squid Squad's name seems to imply they are indifferent to it. The fact Ichiya is the only Squid Squad member called by name in their tweets goes to show it is Ichiya and Ichiya alone that drives Beika's ire. This is also supported by Beika's, although backhanded, compliment.

The tweet Beika makes before revealing Ichiya was their middle schoolmate is "If there's anything better than a late night meal alone, let me know.". This could very well be interpreted as Beika associating that feeling of loneliness with Ichiya.

It is also important to point out Ichiya did contact Beika.

He decided he was going to go to Inkopolis, and then after a little while, he told me that he had debuted with a band. I tried listening to them just to find out that their sound was so soft that it made my ink churn.

Along with "The Secrets of Front Roe" pointing out Ichiya is avoiding Splatsville "for some reason", it is more than reasonable Beika is not making up the fact Ichiya and them know of each other, and it is not a fit of baseless jelaousy.

While dissing Ichiya, they make time to talk about how they think their fans are cool and talented.

... Any of you guys would be able to make a song that's just as cool.

While doing so they also flaunt their talent, showing the extent of their ego.

I mean our song is this one 300 times better, right? Just wanted to make it clear that we're not trying to pay homage to it or anything like that.

The "You have some nerve to come crawling back home." is said in a very, very harsh tone in Japanese. The wording specifically seems to imply they are very upset at Ichiya leaving in the first place.

While Beika is a loser, they aren't seemingly the type to back down from a fight. Rather than apologizing, they simply say "I rambled too much last night." and go on with their lives.

And this is the end of it.

NOW. For a complete speculation,

From wording of "Who else would come back to a band they left" and their need to prop up and show off Kikura,

The fact Ichiya is self taught much like C-Side,

The fact Ichiya is avoiding Splatsville,

The fact Beika seems too proud of their work and very involved in the music making process

The fact C-side is characterized through their ambition

makes me think Ichiya more likely than not did steal Now or Never. It seems to me Beika's pride and ambition would not allow them to lie about a thing they didn't do. If i were to guess, from the fact C-side's Now or Never is a duet, it is likely song was written together before Ichiya took off.

Thank you so much for reading if you actually read this far. See you when Side Order Art Book demolishes all of this!!

#splatoon #splatbands #c-side #cside #beika #kikura #uotora

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arogustus · 2 months

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Splatband Analysis: Ink Theory

(Disclaimer: This analysis in based on what I get out of looking into the character descriptions we have of the splatband characters. If you disagree with what I say, that is fine, we are all beheld to our opinions. Just don’t be a jerk about it.)

Edit: Put a Read More on this cuz now I realize this is long.

I’m gonna start this series with Ink Theory. You might have expected this to go in chronological order and have started with Squid Squad, but I have a good explanation for that. None of the other bands are Ink Theory. Plus this band has at least three pieces of artwork to them (and Yoko has an additional one thanks to Yoko and the Gold Bazookas, that’s how you know she’s special. Kitamura as well, but we’ll get into that later), so I feel there’s more to work with.

So, let’s start off with a band wide reading, since I feel they warrant it.

To start with, here’s the main thing we know about the girls, their knowledge of academic music theory and classical training. They’ve all been practicing since youth, making music a big part of their life, and studied music theory. However, of the six, Mayaya, Bibi and Karen are the ones noted to have graduated from music academies, while Yoko, Kitamura and Oonie are left unmentioned of their education. While it could be the writers simply didn’t want to repeat themselves too much, it’s just as likely that Yoko, Kitamura and Oonie went to less notable institutions like regular colleges that didn’t warrant mentioning. Just a thought.

The second thing to note is their rivalry with Bottom Feeders. While most of what we know comes from the Bottom Feeders side of the rivalry, which is appropriate considering their more volatile, chaotic personalities, the Haikara Walker magazine does mention the two bands got into a music battle during a concert in ZAPP square, fueled by their rivalry into an epic performance. So while it is clear Bottom Feeders started it, it’s also clear that Ink Theory reciprocates the rivalry, or at the very least indulge it for their own reasons.

With that out of the way, let’s focus on our ladies, starting with best girl:

Yoko

The first and foremost thing we know of her is her mutation and her unknown illness. Her hair is multicolored due to a mutation that is only aesthetically pleasing and not useful otherwise. Considering that her hair turns gray as it reaches the top of her head, and even her eyebrows appear to be gray, it’s safe to say it involves her ink color not being able to properly change. As well, she has a weakness to atmospheric pressure that essentially makes her always miserable. Despite that, her determination and hard work is highlighted as a strong suit of hers, being the frontwoman of the band and absolutely slaying on the trumpet. She’s someone who works through everything, regardless of her obstacles.

On the other hand, she’s described as being insecure about being overshadowed by her own bandmantes’ personalities (you should read how they describe her on Inkipedia, it’s just rude). It’s safe to say that at least three of her bandmates being well regarded academy graduates might have something to do with it. It’s probably why she gets nervous before large performances too. She feels she needs to work hard to keep up with the others and gets nervous because of it. It makes sense why she went off to “reinvent” herself in Splatsville according to Splatoon Base. Speaking of Splatoon Base, it mentions she comes from a conservatory background. Looking it up, the meaning I get out of it is that she studied at a smaller university where the focus was on the practical basics of performing, with less focus on the academic side (If I’m wrong, please tell.)

On the more minor stuff, she clearly likes the design of her hat. Like, it sounds like a stretch, but when you own three hats that share the same design element (the horns), then there’s probably something going on. Three makes a pattern after all, or however it goes. Also, in the Valentine’s day artwork, while everyone except Oonie and Mayaya has ice cream, she has fries and a drink. She’s probably not a fan of sweets.

I forgot to mention in the Valentine's Day artwork that Yoko wears a hat (shocker). But on that hat is text that, oddly enough, is not in the Splatoon font, but in perfectly legible Japanese. 可憐, which translates to “pretty”... and is pronounced “Karen”. Seriously, find one of those translators that speaks out the word, that’s what it says. Now, what this means is entirely unknown. The most obvious of course is that the artist is a Yoko x Karen shipper (how romantic to wear your girlfriend's name on a hat), and deliberately left the word as is to fuel the flames of shippers everywhere. Or we are all just insane and it means nothing. I know it keeps me up at night thinking about it.

Karen

The only based Karen in existence. She’s one of Ink Theory’s big name graduates, having been top of her class in her university, and even having gone on several competitions overseas. She went around the same time as Taka, who was her senior and is the main inspiration for the formation of Ink Theory. She’s clearly the main Eralien of the band, though the rest of the band doesn’t seem to mind having to wear uniforms inspired by Hightide Era.

She’s mentioned to be nervous about her popularity in Ink Theory, despite looking self-assured otherwise. Considering she’s been in several competitions and has won a ton of awards, it’s a safe bet to say she’s not used to the lack of attention she’s getting as part of the band. Not that she seems to want to bother the others with it. She provides emotional support to the team (Yoko lucked out on that), so she doesn’t really intend to feel that way. Trying to be humble but failing internally or something along those lines.

Bibi

Bibi’s another academy graduate in the band, and plays the kazoo because apparently she’s so good she can just do that (and it works). Much attention is put on the fact she’s essentially “The Face” of the band. She’s closer to the public, the fans adore her enough to pull her in front of the camera, and they even call her Queen Bibi. Clearly someone who’s aware of her popularity and relishes in it (Yoko and Karen are in the corner right now, just pointing that out). She’s also implied to be from a wealthy background, as she’s a large spender who’s never much struggled financially.

It’s never actually explained why she chose the kazoo over any other instrument for the band. Maybe she wants to show off a goofier side? Or maybe just regular show off? Food for thought.

Oonie

Now we return to one of the none-famous academy graduates. Oonie is stated to have parents who are famous musicians, possibly the classical kind, and who were strict with her upbringing. As a result she favored music genres of a different style before she eventually started appreciating classical again. Classic rebellious teenager case here, observing other genres as a form of rebellion and who only started appreciating classical music under her own terms. Her new outfit in Splatoon 3 outright supports it. Someone managed to find a pinterest picture a while back of someone in the exact same fit as her, it’s called Harajuku. Look up the word to learn more.

She’s also described as romantically inexperienced, and with a habit of falling for self-degrading people. She must be hunting for a relationship but keeps ending up with the self-deprecating type. I kinda have a theory on that, but I’ll save it for a headcanon post. And the final thing is the observation in the valentine’s day image that she’s ridiculously indecisive. She’s still staring at the menu after everyone else already has their orders. Also, she’s a Squid Squad fan, she’s got a charm of them on her bass case. Cute.

Kitamura

Kitamura has the shortest description, but I feel it tells plenty. Another not famous academy graduate, instead she’s highlighted as the mascot of the band. Everyone seems to know she’s cute and she’s fine taking advantage of that it seems. She’s mentioned to have a high singing voice, so she must sing, either casually or as part of the band and we just got unlucky in not getting any vocal music. Bummer.

She’s stated to live on her own, but following a curfew. Outside of implying she’s independent and diligent, adulting on her own and following her own strict rules, it also implies that the rest of the band lives with other people. Possibly with families or other friends they have. She’s also a trend chaser, following whatever new fads she hears about. She does seem to have some set in stone tastes though. If we can believe the urchin in that one Octo Expansion chat image is her (the one about Pearl’s early metal days, there’s an urchin wearing bows on their hair. If so, that gives her artwork number 5), then she’s got a taste for punk/metal stuff. Her new outfit in Splatoon 3 supports that, being a flowery white shawl worn over a dress studded with spikes around the base. I love that fit so much.

And for her place in the Valentine’s day image, she’s about to eat an ice cream sundae the size of her own head. And Yoko’s looking at her with what I assume is concern. Small people eating big food is a trope you never get tired of.

Mayaya

The final big name graduate of the band. Well, just graduate, as unlike Karen and Bibi, they just say “musical academy” without the famous adjective. Maybe they left it out? Anyway, she at least impressed her professor enough that they recommended she start teaching music immediately after graduating. She likely showcased that potential in a way, maybe as a tutor for other students, and she also had a close enough relationship with said professor to willingly listen to that recommendation. As is clear with Ink Theory, she chose instead to go out and make her own music first, to develop her skills before she decides when she wants to become an instructor.

She’s a freelance percussionist. Ink Theory seems to be her main band, but she also performs with other ones. Like she said, she’s focusing on creating her own music first, so freelancing is a nice avenue in getting tons of experience in other genres.

---

The first band is done. seven to go. Give me your thoughts if you have them, and criticisms too. Discussions are good for getting multiple perspectives after all. Especially if you all know something I don't.

#splatoon #splatbands #ink theory #yoko #karen #bibi #oonie #kitamura #mayaya #splatband analysis #my work #in case you're wondering' I just really like Oonie's name over Aachin

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arogustus · 2 months

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Splatband Analysis - Squid Squad + Diss-Pair

The Squad of Squid (and that one urchin). Squid Squad was the first splatband, with the two super cool songs that dominated the music scene, one of which is an emblematic part of Turf War gameplay. They’re also the band with the juiciest drama out of all the splatbands. Plagiarism, violence and relationship drama. This band has it all, so let’s see what all that was!

Also Warabi is here too I guess. They’re just one octopus, so it’s easy to jam them in here.

The Band

Squid Squad was Inkopolis’ hottest act back in the first Splatoon, and evidently have been playing for a decent while before they gained notoriety in Turf Wars with their latest album, Fresh Kids. They don’t make many public appearances due to their popularity causing them to get constantly mobbed by fans. Despite that, their success hides their amateurish nature, as outside of Ikkan, none of the band members know much about making music, practically winging it when it comes to their stuff, though definitely with a lot of passion for it.

Internally, the band seemed to be rife with discord between band members that got bad enough the bassist eventually up and left, though not before one final concert on Starfish Mainstage. After that, silence for everyone but Quinn, who later pops up in Diss-Pair in Splatoon 2. According to Booyah Base, the others were focusing on their solo careers. But they did come back as Front Roe, although now actively distancing themselves from their past, to the point of not even performing any of their old songs. They want a fresh start, and want the world to see them for their talent and not for their fame. Though it’s fair to say the failure of Squid Squad is probably still fresh in their hearts.

Ichiya

Oh, Ichiya. Who knew the guy who looks like a fish gasping for air out of water would be at the center of so much drama. Let’s start with the information we learned most recently. That is, that he’s not an Inkopolis native, but actually from the Splatlands! We don’t know what made him move over to Inkopolis, Beika is pretty vague about the circumstances, but he seems to have adapted pretty well to the local culture. His relationship to Beika itself is its own mystery. All we have to go over is that the two were close enough that they had shared knowledge of Now or Never. Maybe he used to be a part of C-Side before Inkopolis? Maybe the two were close friends, or dating? No one is willing to give a straight answer. According to Splatune 3, he and Front Roe have made no comment on the matter, though people assume they are outraged. Note the keyword “assume”, here, that’s just what the public thinks.

He’s described as selfish, with the temperament of a prodigy and rockstar charm that draws people to him. The trademarks of someone who’s letting fame get to their heads it seems, though not immediately noticeable considering the charm thing. He probably seems cooler when seen from a distance, but you realize his negatives once you get to know him. This aspect seems to have faded for Front Roe, considering their current distancing from their past fame is kinda antithetical to his personality in Squid Squad. He’s hiding his identity (poorly) alongside the others, so something must have changed.

On the topic of being a prodigy, Ichiya can’t read!.. Music. He doesn’t know how to read music, I assume his other reading levels are normal. This is shocking since he’s the one who writes the band's music. He’s just getting by with flashy guitar riffs. This is actually reflected in the music itself. I’ve seen plenty of musicians react videos of Splattack that point out how relatively simple and easy to learn and perform the song is. I wonder if this applies to other bands. At the very least Ikkan saw this potential and wanted to mentor him, but considering how that went (the two’s arguments got bad enough they got in a live shootout with each other), it’s fair to say he wasn’t receptive to that gesture.

Namida

Namida is the crazy girl of the team. We don’t get an idea as to how other than the bunch of nicknames she gets people to call her. The examples we got are “Mida-Chan”, "Master Namida", "Naminami", and "Girl from Planet Namik". Mida-Chan and Naminami sound like casual nicknames you’d get a friend to call you, while Girl from Planet Namik makes her sound eccentric and out of this world. Master Namida gives the feeling of wanting to be looked up to, probably a nickname used whenever someone asks her something. Am I reading too deep into these random nicknames? Yes, that’s the whole point of this analysis.

One minor thing is that she has knowledge in jazz theory. Seems she was studying jazz in particular before joining Squid Squad. Maybe she likes Ink Theory? At the very least she’s noted to be pretty skilled. Her lore is pretty sparse, all things considered.

Murasaki

Murasaki is next. The youngest member of the band, as the original Squid Research Lab tweet describes him as a youngster, and he’s called wild child due to his drumming skills. Not that he actually knows much about drumming, he’s like Ichiya in that he relies a lot on raw talent. Uncanny sense of rhythm, but not a lot of technique. He’s passionate, though, considering he cries during his drum solos. Energetic and emotional, especially once he gets going on the drum kit. The Squid Research Lab also describes him as “rough around the edges”. He must have been a prickly (hehe) kid, but one with a good heart.

We do get to hear about him in Splatune 3’s section for Front Roe. He’s hanging out in bars now, and gives a cryptic answer to the question of whether Ikkan would ever collab with Front Roe (I’ll go into that in Ikkan’s section). He’s probably just throwing off the interviewer for the sake of the band's privacy.

Small but funny thing, Squid Squad actually starred in a small, four panel gag comic once, picture below. Definitely the best treatment a Splatband has ever gotten before Splatoon 3. Considering it’s a gag comic, it’s hard to say if this is how Murasaki is treated by his fanbase. But uh, if it is, I think he’s got reasons to be a little prickly.

Ikkan

The other center of drama that also looks like a dying fish. Look at how much he and Ichiya have in common. He’s the oldest member of the band, and evidently the most experienced and responsible as well. Always arrives early before anyone else, and leaves the stage after everyone else. Even wanted to try and mentor Ichiya to help him actually learn music. Funny that he thought Squid Squad was just a passing fad in the grand scheme of things. Maybe he cared more than he let on? If you remember the Ink Theory valentine’s artwork

and look at his bass case, you can see he still has Squid Squad stickers slapped on them. And then there’s the whole thing with Front Roe’s other song, Sandy Side Up, which appears to feature vocals of both him and Warabi. The fact that both sides are being deliberately vague about a reunion does give the potential that it is a reunion, but there is no concrete answer.

Personality wise, beyond that dedication and passion for music, he’s not a very emotive person. That dead fish stare is apparently his default look, and he doesn’t move around a lot while performing. Still, when Ichiya shot him with a gun, he shot back with his own (what the fuck), and then he stopped showing up to rehearsals and eventually left the band entirely. His response to being asked a question he doesn’t want to answer (would he ever reunite with Squid Squad?) was to say “that’s a good question”, and then he just left the room and never returned.

According to Splatune, Ikkan (back in Squid Squad) actually stayed at a celebration party for one of their live shows up until the very end. Hard to say if it means he’s a secret party animal, or just felt obligated to stay. The latter tracks better with his personality in my opinion, as we know his response to an uncomfortable social situation is to just nope the fuck out. He also arrived at the studio before everyone else like always after the party, showcasing that diligence we know and love about him.

Now, as we all know, he did come back in a new band for Splatoon 2, Diss-Pair, having found an Octoling twink overseas who he befriended. It’s through here that we get a bit more insight about his reasons for leaving Squid Squad. Specifically he disliked the lack of tension, and them just being yes-men to whatever he said. Considering their overall inexperience, Squid Squad didn’t have much in terms of discussion over the songwriting process. But he did find it with Warabi, at least. Their first meeting was mistaken for an argument, and they have this balanced dynamic of pointing out each other's flaws while still trusting each other enough to not even have to look at each other during performances. He really respects the octoling.

Warabi

Diss-Pair’s other half, and an octoling that has been living on the surface for quite some time it seems. Now, I don’t mean offense, but I don’t much care for the “Warabi is an Octarian” headcanon. A lot of the info we’re given of them pretty heavily imply they were born on the surface. Their parents are famous actors, they had a musical education for gifted kids, they visit up to twenty countries a year on their tours before Diss-Pair. All of it just screams surface octopus. Marina does state she’s friends with them, along with Paul, who’s heavily implied to be an Octarian octoling. Maybe they’re friends because she’s an octoling DJ in a city notoriously lacking in the species overall? At least one thing we don’t know is where they are from, as Ikkan met them overseas. But yeah, surface octopus.

Anyway, onto the octopus, they’re a DJ, specifically a Beatsmith with a strong focus on EDM style stuff. Their interest didn’t start early though, having come after growing up surrounded by music genres from around the world through their actor parents, complete with classical music education. Electronic music came to them in their teenage years, which seems to be their main deal. No details on their exact relationship with their parents, but at the very least it seems they indulge them in their love of music, so the relationship might be positive. They’re apparently very demanding as a performer, with demands that seem all over the place, but that belies a clever and intelligent person. An eccentric artist it seems, probably someone who asks people to serve a bowl full of only red M&M’s, but who actually knows their shit. And considering they’re meant to be a mismatch with the stoic, unemotive Ikkan, it’s likely they’re much more lively and energetic compared to him just to make the contrast between the two clearer. Despite those differences and the arguments they seem to have, they get along and greatly respect Ikkan.

It’s nice for Ikkan that he found someone who he considers an equal.

---

I wonder what we'll learn about Front Roe once the Side Order artbook is released (nothing like it has been announced, but come on, it has to be coming). Will the Beika/Ichiya drama reach its tipping point? Will Namida get more crazy nicknames? Will Ikkan be there and somehow answer nothing? It's all I care about, really, I'd settle for just buying the splatband pages of the artbook.

#splatoon #splatbands #splatband analysis #squid squad #ichiya #namida #murasaki #ikkan #diss-pair #warabi #my work #I can't talk about clam guy cause we know jack about them im sorry #they'll get the spotlight one day i promise

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arogustus · 8 days

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Splatband Analysis - ω-3

To finalize this little series (till the Side Order artbook comes out and gives us info on the new bands (please)), we end it with my favorite band, ω-3! These fishy foes are the ones providing the tunes in Salmon Run, and I’ll be real with you and say they’re one of the Splatbands that I think has a big chance of showing up in the games. The games gotta focus on the Salmonids at some point, and they’re the most well known individuals as of now, so the chances are pretty good for them to be used to expand salmonid lore.

But enough about that. Time to see just how tasty these guys are.

The Band

In Salmonid lore, musicians hold an important role in Salmon Run as morale boosters. Individuals that show off talent in performance will unite to form bands, with ω-3 here being the best among them. In fact the Omega symbol is actually a title itself that is only bestowed to said “fattiest” bands, meaning their skill is without question. I assume this title also comes with ownership of the big venue in Jammin’ Salmon Junction, since it’s decorated with their logo, what appears to be a stylized version of the ω symbol. (Since it’s stated to be a title given to the best bands, I’m assuming the same thing applies to the building.)

There isn’t anything said about their relationship with each other, at least not directly. Considering their personality quirks, it’s safe to say they butt heads a lot (one forgets to take in others feelings, one is disrespectful to everyone, and one never listens to anyone). But I think we can infer a bit out of the way they play music. Specifically, there’s a lot of Call and Response in the songs, where one member plays a tune, and then another plays it back. It happens a lot between the cellist and the timpanist, but the DJ occasionally plays a part in it too. Each member also gets a solo in a song, where their instrument gains more prominence over others. Deluge Dirge, Fishing Frenzy, Frothy Waters. I’m no music scientist, but considering their personalities, it feels like they’re constantly competing for attention, despite being able to work together otherwise. Like, one of them just randomly breaks into a solo before dialing back and rejoining the group.

The Valiant Green Flame Born in Jigokudani

The timpanist here is, uh, the timpanist.Odd fellow in his late 20’s with an eyepatch made out of a colander, no reason given, though the eye underneath does look dilated. He’s got a lot of passion for drumming, playing with all of his heart and soul, as well as being determined and always striving towards his goals. Doesn’t do well with picking up other people's feelings, but very good at inspiring other salmonids with his rhythms. Compared to the others, who are said to be intentionally rude, this one feels more well intentioned, as it just says they fail to pick up on other people's emotions. Like they aren’t deliberately rude to people, they just don’t notice.

Salmonid fact, the titles they’re referred to with are mainly earned by having done something in regards to their tribe. We can infer some things from these titles as a result. The Valiant Green Flame here is pretty clear, he did something of great bravery at some point, which tracks with him being determined and goal oriented. What that thing was, we don’t know. He’s called a Green Flame, so maybe that has something to do with it? Salmonids have green on them by default, so, that’s something? Eh, we’ll move on now.

The Faithful Servant of the True Salmon Emperor Hizunamasu

The DJ here is the youngest member of the band, young adult or teenager, with plenty of tongue piercings and a personality that reflects that. A contrarian who opposes anyone and everything, and shows no respect to their fellow members. A damn good DJ though, which is probably why they’re still on the band. Basically a rebel with zero respect for authority, and who just seems to dislike everything. Well, all but one thing, it seems.

Their title is “The Faithful Servant of the True Salmon Emperor Hizunamasu”. Now, someone stated to be disrespectful to everyone being a “faithful servant” is definitely contradictory. Who is this “True” Salmon Emperor? Why would they be loyal to them? The questions are mounting here. Maybe a future Salmonid themed story mode will explain? Who knows.

The Firstborn Child of Alkyne, the Hidden Blade of Yakiharas

The leader of the band, cellist, composer, and number one old man. 50 years old and counting, a surprising age for a species that doesn’t fear death. He’s very stubborn, with no respect for anyone or anything that isn’t the most radical of works. Incredibly high standards that, as it turns out, C-Side was able to meet. They made two covers of Clickbait, after all. I guess he’s a fan? Or at least C-Side has earned his respects.

Emotionally clumsy, he’s got a delicate site with a strong appreciation for atmosphere, but struggles to express himself outside of his music. Surprisingly awkward sounding for a salmonid, but he’s got finer tastes, for sure.

Onto his title, he’s “The Firstborn Child of Alkyne.” Alkyne is likely a tribe or settlement of sorts, probably the latter, and he was the first born there. And “Hidden Blade”. Now that’s something. I assume he’s got some fighting skill, since the blade part implies he basically acted as a secret weapon of sorts.

—

And that’s every band in Splatoon and Splatoon 2. ω-3 doesn’t have much content on them, but I love them all the same. God I hope they show up soon.

As I said, this is the end for the bands, but I am gonna do a “What I Missed” type thing later to compile any details I missed out on. Things like the Hotlantis wall of signatures, in which I’ve noticed some fun details. There’s one more thing too, but I’ll explain that in a separate post.

Also, if you guys have your own observations, share ‘em with me in the tags or a reblog, or send me an ask. I’d appreciate it.

#splatoon #splatbands #splatband analysis #ω-3 #my work

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arogustus · 14 days

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Splatband Analysis - Chirpy Chips

(Disclaimer: This analysis is based on what I get out of looking into the character descriptions we have of the splatband characters. If you disagree with what I say, that is fine, we are all beheld to our opinions. Just don't be a jerk about it.)

Splatband Analysis - Chirpy Chips

It’s the autism and ADHD squad! The chiptune chippers, Marie’s and Nintendo’s favorite band and the only one to survive Nine years together without drama (bar that one time), it’s the Chirpy Chips! Love these dudes.

Now, before we go into this, let’s address the Harmony in the room. Specifically that she has a room, in-game, where she exists in the polygonal flesh to interact with as a shopkeeper. Her autistic swag made her popular enough to be the first Splatband character to show up in the games, which means we actually know her and how she behaves. So, I’m gonna leave her for last and go about her like this: First, I’ll look into what we used to know before Splatoon 3 about her, and then we’ll compare that to her appearance in-game to see if it matches up. See if she was done right by the game. Now let’s meet these chips!

The Band

The Chirpy Chips debuted after Squid Squad all the way back in Splatoon 1, nine years ago (God). Dominating the charts thanks to their chiptune rock style, made with the help of multiple Nintendo machines (Gamers), this band has managed to outlast Squid Squad without disbanding all the way to Splatoon 3!.. Ok, actually that’s not true. According to a Famitsu Interview for Splatoon 2, the Chirpy Chips actually disbanded ever so briefly! No word as to why, but they reformed shortly after and wrote and performed Blitz It during the high of joining back. After that they’ve stuck together ever since, only really going on break because Harmony started working at Hotlantis.

Don’t site that NoA post for Chirpy Chips Splat 3 that said there was drama by the way. The band was just on break, they are fine and NoA is just trying to stir up fake drama. It’s just like real life!

All of these guys are autistic. Like, that’s not a theory, but a fact. None of their descriptions make them sound neurotypical, that’s for sure. The band just seems to vibe perfectly with each other despite some of their issues, and they all go at their own pace. Turns out the secret to surviving in the music industry all along was to make neurodivergent friends.

One of their performance tricks that they do is to glow in sync during songs. It’s a super cool visual to imagine, though probably done through artificial means, at least for Orion and Sid. As far as I know, there aren’t any bioluminescent crabs or flapjack octopi. Anemone and squid on the other hand do have glowing members, but it doesn’t confirm if they do it naturally or are using artificial means too. Either way these guys are a colorful bunch. And also none of them know how to dance, emphasizing further that these four are all dorks.

Noiji

Noiji is the hyperactive guitarist of the band, a stark contrast to the significantly less energetic rest of the band. He’s described as uncontrollable and bright, with a sunny disposition and an irresistible urge to run up and down slopes. He sounds overwhelming, and maybe impulsive if that slope running thing can be applied to other actions, but somehow he manages to get along well with the others. What is his secret? Also to keep with the neurodivergenceness, he has a special interest for vending machines. He would have loved them in Side Order, that’s for sure. Honestly I love vending machines too, they’re really cool, but just too expensive for someone of my income level (for now, anyway).

He used to be a part of a punk band called BariBari before he joined the Chirpy Chips.Surprising considering his colorfulness, but he seems to either formerly be, or still is, a punk. No word why he left the band though or what happened to it, but during that point he met and befriended Orion and formed the Chirpy Chips with them. They’re described to be on good terms with each other, which makes sense since, again, they knew each other before the rest joined up.

Orion

The band's bassist and composer, a shy flapjack octopus. Yeah, despite being an octopus, they’re not an octoling, likely because of the fact the flapjack doesn’t naturally produce ink. They must be classified as something different to the inkfish, but what that is is something I don’t know. They’re an introvert, they don’t enjoy standing out or performing in front of crowds, and the compositions they upload independent of the band are done quietly. Makes one wonder how exactly someone like them made friends with Noiji. They’re an intellectual, geeky type, with a taste for outdated and strange subjects, as well as a preference for chiptune that they ensure the bands music keeps to.

Surprising us all, Orion also got actual dialogue of sorts in the Splatoon 3 Chill Season 2023 update! Specifically in the form of Harmony reading a letter written by them. As Harmony herself describes, they talk the way they play the bass, EXTRA. Mostly in the form of excited statements and jokes about the band's lack of dancing ability. Kind of a stark difference from what we know of them, either because they’re doing this via text without having to face anyone, or because they’ve become more outgoing over the years. Either way an honor. Also canon they/them! Good for they.

Sid

The band's drummer, and the eldest among them. They’ve been drumming for a while, having performed for several other bands before joining the Chips, and they have a strong reputation in the community because of it. It seems that because of this, they’ve taken something of a silent mentor role to the others, supporting them in the background without ever taking the lead. Sort of a big brother style relationship going on.

They’re described as easygoing, but with a hidden temper that only ever surfaces once a year, where they become way crabbier. To me it says that they don’t really express their frustrations often, just letting them simmer before they snap and vent it out. And even then they don’t draw a lot of attention that way.

Harmony (and fish)

The anemone of the hour, the band’s vocalist and visual designer. As said above, I’ll first go over the info we knew of her before her appearance in Splatoon 3, and then compare it to what we’ve learned now to see if it was faithful to her character.

She’s described as relaxed and going at her own pace, but to the point of being unmotivated. She’s frequently late for practice, and considering the state of her fish, who is “dying” of neglect (quote marks there cause the little guy is still alive somehow), it sounds a lot like executive dysfunction. I would know, I’m like her sometimes. Her singing voice is mentioned to also have been pretty flat and listless, but it seems years of performance has made it change to a much livelier tone in the intervening two years. She talks loosely and moves peculiarly, something the fans secretly enjoy. Why secretly? Is there a stigma against it? Her listless singing is mentioned to be a hot topic, so it might be the case.

We see in the bands’ album art for Splatoon 2 that she’s the one who mixes the chiptune music on nintendo consoles. Easy to say that she’s the pre-requisite in-universe Nintendo fan for this game. There’s one in pretty much every franchise. Skipping to “3” a bit, we can also assume she’s the one who edited the trailer, which shows off a lot of fun visuals and jokes, as well as her just goofing off like the dork that she is. For how reserved she comes off, she’s got an eccentric, goofy side hidden under there.

But now we’ve actually met her as Hotlantis’ shopkeeper! She’s a fan of the place, so despite the threat of having to work retail, she’s staying in the area in the actual manager’s place while he’s gone. She’s a fan of the store and all its useless knick knacks. As for herself as a person, it’s safe to say it all matches what we used to know of her. She’s pretty self-paced and blunt, commenting on your achievements out loud no matter how rude it sounds. She admits to it too if she beats you at tableturf, she doesn’t really know how else to talk. Her lack of motivation shows up anytime she needs to recite something Barry told her to do. She just plain doesn’t want to do any of it. She still does the work she’s willingly doing, she’s just going at her own pace.

The fish is a fish, no telling what is up with them. Though according to some artbook information in “3” (correct me if I’m wrong), the reason they’re so sick is actually because Harmony’s hair isn’t protecting it very well. They’re still sticking around anyway, granted we’re not sure how clownfish do without an anemone, but it still seems like they’re staying of their own volition.

—

Harmony’s, and later Dedf1shes inclusion, gives us all hope we can see more of our favorite obscure characters in the games themselves. And looking at Harmony, we don’t have to worry too much about them being out of character, since she’s pretty accurate to the info we know.

I love these weird goobers. They should continue showing up. But now we are in the finale. Ω-3 is all that’s left now. See ya next time!

#splatoon #splatbands #splatband analysis #chirpy chips #noiji #orion #sid #harmony #my work #i love them your honor #they are so silly

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arogustus · 1 month

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Splatband Analysis - Wet Floor

Watch out, the floor is wet. Cause I’m about to spill the tea on Wet Floor all over this floor. Get it? You probably do.

Wet Floor was the Squid Squad of Splatoon 2, what with the previous one falling apart due to the leader and the bassist attempting to kill each other. They’re not a band I think about often, but hopefully this analysis changes it. It helps that, as the main band, they get privileges such as a section in Splatune 2 where they get interviewed, meaning actual dialogue from these people! Which also reminded me that I missed the one for Squid Squad… I think once I’m done I’ll do a compilation post of all information I missed for some of the bands, and maybe even some stuff you guys pointed out!

The band

Wet Floor formed through the magic of social media connections, and were evidently recently formed before the events of Splatoon 2. At the time they weren’t used to crowds or live performances. Their main motivation is to spread more kinds of music in a world dominated by pop stars. That part is said in Kagi’s twitter blurb, but from the interview it’s clear the opinion is shared between the whole band, even if at different levels. They use docs to write their songs. The process we’re given is that someone writes a riff on the doc, and everyone adds to it on their own time. Compared to Squid Squad, there’s a pretty clear level of communication going on between the group, they all seem pretty close, and just have fun together in their work. Outside of Tsumabushi, none of them are morning people.

Kagi

Kagi here’s the founder, and really the one with the whole motivation of restoring indie dignity to Inkopolis. Wet Floor are his like minded peers, discovered thanks to social networking. Likely he wouldn’t have met them any other way considering he seems pretty shy. He prefers being in a studio over performing, and prefers the others take the lead over him.

Rather famously, his skin is a particularly unnatural tone of teal compared to the natural skin colors we see in other inklings. Unlike Yoko, who has her mutation addressed, no attention is brought to it anywhere for Kagi. It might have something to do with how Inklings look when young, where they’re a uniform color of their ink before eventually gaining their kid forms. Maybe Kagi’s mutation made it so that his body never formed fully? It probably bears noting he also lacks an eyemask too. What an enigma.

Mizole

Compared to most Splatband characters, Mizole’s descriptions lay out a fair amount of his personality in front of us. He’s shrewd, cynical and prone to making cutting remarks, and is mainly motivated by a desire to either subvert or exceed people’s expectations. Despite that, he does get along with his bandmates as seen in the interview, he banters with them without being actively rude to them. That said, his relationship with Ryan is more vitriolic. The two work together, but are prone to bickering due to conflicting viewpoints (Ryan is a fan of Squid Squad, he’s an enemy of Squid Squad, though obviously there’s more to it than just that), a frequent enough occurrence that Kazami is perfectly fine watching the two argue without having to intervene. Again, outside of that, the interview shows the two do get along, and music wise, when they work together, the results are magical.

He’s got a personal rivalry with Squid Squad, which influences him more than he wants to admit. We don’t know if Squid Squad were aware of this (they were busy with other stuff), so it’s likely to be entirely one-sided. His name, Mizole, comes from Mizore, the word for shaved ice. Get it? Cause he looks like a cone of shaved ice? His hair is at least semi-transparent, since you can see his eyebrows, not to mention an almost snow-white skin tone. Is it a condition or perhaps something regarding his species of squid?

Ryan

Ryan is our last inkling of the band, and co-vocalist with Mizole. She’s a faithful follower of the church of punk rock, quote the Haikara Walker, explaining her style and interests. A particularly big fan of Squid Squad, which causes friction between herself and Mizole. That seems to be what her descriptions focus on, her relationship with Mizole, so we don’t get much about her outside of this belief. It wouldn’t be hard to view her as an opposite of Mizole, since that would naturally make the two contrast each other more Diss-Pair style, but that’s speculatory talk. Sorry girl. Not much else I can get out of you.

Kazami

Unlike the others, I like her english name, Candi. It’s cute. She’s the youthful type, someone who comes off as “spontaneous and right-brained”. Right-brained here means she comes off as creative and artistic, but secretly she’s very serious about her performance. She’s very self-critical about her performance when she listens to her recordings. I mean, read this quote of hers from Haikara Walker, she says, “That didn’t sound cool, ‘cause I sucked so bad.” What the hell.. She might have self-esteem issues, but she refuses to let the others know about it, probably to maintain that cheerful vibe she gives off. That’s kinda sad… At the very least she’s having fun when she plays, especially when Ryan and Mizole bicker, so she loves herself a little chaos. It’s her favorite pastime.

She and Tsumabushi have a friendly rivalry going with each other, and are overall pretty close, to the point of even secretly training with each other. Ooh la la.

Tsumabushi

Lastly, the bassist of the band, and an archetypical one, I.E. he’s a supporter. He’s described specifically as a big brother. He’s probably the type who wakes everyone up during mornings, especially since he’s outright stated to be the only one to work well during them. Goes at his own pace, so probably a relaxed personality type. A very talented bassist who only needs to glance at the sheet music once or hear a tune to get it down. I wonder if he has arms?

—

Wet Floor is not my favorite band, but I’m beginning to see their appeal now. My main criticism is that none of them have gotten involved in any kind of drama since their debut. How can you be the lead band of a game when you haven’t committed an act of plagiarism or tried to kill each other, come on people, step it up.

Anyways, if you guys have any questions or wanna point out something I missed, I’m gonna open asks to let y'all toss your thoughts at me. See you guys next week.

#splatoon #splatbands #splatband analysis #wet floor #kagi #mizole #ryan #kazami #tsumabushi #my work

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arogustus · 2 months

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Splatband Analysis - Bottom Feeders

From my favorite band to their dedicated rivals, the Bottom Feeders. Like Ink Theory, they too got a fair amount of art to them, including a White Day art piece that shows them hanging out with other bands and shows off some character details. Be prepared to see that pop up a lot, considering the fact it contains three bands in total.

Starting off with the band wide analysis, they’re all stated to be from outside of Inkadia, somewhere up north. The celtic rock and some of their fashion choices make it pretty clear they’re from the Splatoon equivalent of Scotland. They seem to have moved into Inkopolis at some point before their Turf War debut, as a lot of info we get from them gives the impression that they live there, or at the very least spend extensive amounts of time in the area. They also have their own record label to stay independent.

The band is a chaotic bunch. They’ve nearly broken up multiple times (mostly due to Finn), their performances vary based on their mood, and considering the White Day artwork, physical fights amongst each other is common enough that no one is really interested in stopping them. Still, they’ve toughed it out together to the point they’re evidently still together by Splatoon 3, so despite their fighting, they do try to stick together. And also have the same last name? (Bottom in Japanese, Feeder in English.) It’s most likely to be a shared pseudonym they took up for band reasons. Or, considering the Scottish influence, a clan name? Needs more research in this area.

Finn and Tangle are the stars of the show here, getting some pretty meaty descriptions compared to Jawn, Blow and Muruta. The two are clearly the driving forces behind the band, with the rest simply being along for the ride for their own entertainment. At least it seems their rivalry with Ink Theory is something they agree on, as their performance in ZAPP Square was made particularly electrifying when they performed against each other.

Finn

Finn is a tropical betta fish, and their description embodies much about the species to a T. They’re stubborn, they butt heads constantly with their bandmates to the point the band has nearly dissolved, is willing to outright fight them as seen in the White Day artwork (Tangle is the main victim, but Muruta is also unconscious), and is the main instigator of the Ink Theory/Bottom Feeder rivalry (Both bands use traditional instruments to bring attention to more classic genres, which they seem to view as infringement on their territory.) The betta fish is notoriously aggressive and territorial, so it all matches. Curiously, Beika’s tweets imply they’re female despite having traits of a male betta (in fact, the behavior I mentioned is specifically in regards to them). Maybe they’re trans, or fem presenting? Or maybe Beika is wrong. I’m sticking to they/them until we get some more official sounding confirmation.

Despite this aggression, they do have some positives. their motivation is to bring attention to traditional styles of music to the world, so it's something they care about deeply. Despite all the mentions of the band nearly dissolving, it still exists in Splatoon 3. In fact, they actually have a collaboration with recently debuted band Riot Act in the song No Plan Survives (Kikura seems to have stolen Beika’s idea for the collaboration), which implies that, for all their aggressive tendencies, they’re fully capable of getting along with other people. The Splatoon Twitter itself states they came together harmoniously despite mostly doing their own thing.

Tangle

Tangle, the seaweed man himself. Currently the only sapient algae we have in the series, with everyone else being a sapient animal. He’s quite the oddity to even himself, since learning that he talks via the strings of his body rubbing together came as a surprise to him. Stuff like that isn’t focused on, but it’s not the first time a splatband character with some oddity to them went uncommented (Kagi’s skin color, Namida’s disconnected eyemask), so who knows if his nature as a sentient algae is also considered unusual in the world.

Onto personality, he’s described as a rebellious young man (does that make him younger than his fellow bandmates?) who’s dissatisfied with the state of the music scene. He thinks the music of the time has gotten voguish (read:Popular and mainstream), and wants a return to more straightforward styles. A commonality between him and Finn, it must be how the band was formed, considering they’re the two with the strong feelings about music, and him being the leader. Not that the others seem to like him that much. They consider his songwriting to be terrible and are apparently pretty harsh about it, something we will never be able to hear for ourselves since we can only hear funky squid (or seaweed in this case) sounds. At least he really enjoys singing in general, since the exciting avenue he discovered from learning how he talks is that he can sing out of his feet. What would that sound like?

Also Finn is fighting him in the White Day artwork. And judging by the others' reaction to them (read:ignoring it), this is a common occurrence.

Blow Bottom

Blow, along with Jawn and Muruta, got stuck with the short descriptions. Finn and Tangle are clearly our main characters of this band, but it doesn’t mean there’s nothing much to pick out from what we got. Like his fellows, he doesn’t particularly care about the band’s sound, he’s just here to have fun. Considering the utterly exhausted and apathetic look he’s giving to Finn and Tangle’s little spat in the White Day artwork gives the feeling he simply finds the unnecessary drama exhausting, like it’s not at all worth his time. Being a dad must do that to a person. Speaking of, he’s a dad (DILF Material certified), specifically to an only daughter. He cares about her a lot.

He’s also part of a rainmaker team with Ryu Chang and Kuze, Underpass Bass Drum. He plays it in his free time, though according to a little tidbit regarding the event in the Deepsea Metro called the Low Water Party, a rave where several people are implied to have died… anyway, the team showed up to the event and apparently performed (one of them played double bass, no mention who it was), so they evidently do music together too. No word outside of that on what their relationship is, but it seems they get on well enough to perform together.

Jawn Bottom

I can’t tell if the two dots are his eyes or his nostrils… anyway, Jawn doesn’t care much for the music and is more in it for the fun than anything. Likes motorcycles and meat, a real manly man here. But he’s apparently fine playing games with kids, he’s seen playing chess with Paul in the White Day artwork while completely ignoring the fight happening right next to them. Though judging by the sweating, he wasn’t expecting to be losing so hard.

Muruta Bottom

Muruta is in it for the fun over the ideology of music Tangle and Finn espouse. He likes cute girls. Not much to pick out from that, but the White Day artwork has something interesting. See there in the corner, blurry and super close up? That’s Muruta, unconscious, implying he got involved in the fight between Finn and Tangle. Hard to say why he’d be there, but the best guess is he tried to break them up. Those two seem the most likely to be at odds with each other, so it would make sense the reason for his knockout is he tried to get involved to stop them but got knocked out.

—

That’s the Bottom Feeders done. Now, just to answer this, I’m all over the place when it comes to using their names because I have my preferences. Sometimes the english localized names are actually good in my eyes. I just pick and choose which ones I like. Anyway, see you next band!

#splatoon #splatbands #splatband analysis #bottom feeders #finn bottom #tangle bottom #blow bottom #jawn bottom #muruta bottom #my work

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arogustus · 28 days

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Splatband Analysis - SashiMori

SashiMori. The band best known for several things. Giving us the dopest trailer of Splatoon 2, having Da Boy, Paul, as a member, and of course the ever present mystery of the mysterious former lead singer. Let’s talk about them.

The band

SashiMori started life as a loud rock band, Ryu-Chang, Karla and Taichi alongside the mysterious vocalist. According to Taichi’s descriptions, it seems he’s the one who founded the band in the first place, but lost control of it to their self-centered, authoritarian vocalist. We have yet to learn the identity of this strange, mysterious person… but we’re pretty sure it’s Pearl. Like, it’s mentioned in Karla’s section in Haikara Walker that the vocalist of the band before SashiMori (the context here either means a different band they were in or SashiMori itself before they took on the name, it’s vague) had vocals so strong only they were capable of handling it. We know Pearl was a death metal artist who wrecked her venues a lot, and it’s not a guess to say she was probably a lot more domineering before meeting Marina. They actually asked Nogami himself about this fact, and said it was up to our imagination. That’s just a roundabout way of saying “yes, but we’re not gonna tell you that.”

Eitherway, the other three kicked their vocalist and stuck together as an instrumental band before deciding to search for a new one. Clearly the three were close enough that they willingly stuck together and united against a common foe in order to keep playing without problems. So, they put out an application of fish Twitter, and that’s where Paul comes in. They laughed at first, seeing such a smol bean trying to join the big leagues. But once he wowed them, they made him the centerpiece of the band's sound, and SashiMori was born.

They also got to make an appearance in the White Day artwork, chilling with the homies of Bottom Feeders and Hightide Era. Well, all but one of them. You’ll see why in a bit.

Ryu Chang

Our big man Ryu is first. He’s a carp who grew up in a prestigious home at the base of Mount Nantai (another Pearl reference, seriously), who became a punk during his teen years and an established drummer after that. He was 35 in Splatoon 2, and that back in 2018, meaning he should be at least 41 by now (we are growing ever older every day). There isn’t much of a description of what he’s like now, but he did have a rebellious teenager phase at least, so it’s likely all that punk ideology stuff has carried on into adult life. He illustrates as a hobby, and created the little mascot you see in SashiMori’s album art, Mr. Wasabi. Wonder what the little guy is about.

He’s got a Rainmaker team going on with Kuze and Blow, Underpass Bass Drum, so he’s active in the Turfing scene. And as we established, the two also showed up in the Deep Sea Metro concert to perform for a bit. One thing I wanna note is that it’s considered an impromptu performance. They didn’t plan to perform together at the place, which begs the question: what were they doing in the Deep Sea Metro? Were they simply attending and got dragged on stage… wait, actually that makes sense.

He’s kinda hard to read in the White Day Art. He’s sitting with Blow and Taka, and we know he’s friends with Blow. The only other thing to tell is that he’s very much watching Finn and Tangle fight, but his eternal fish face makes it hard to tell what he feels about it. Concern? Annoyance? Attraction? Who knows.

Karla

Karla is a mystery. They’re very quiet, their age is a mystery, and no one even knows how they eat! Well, actually, according to science, the Scaly-Foot Gastropod doesn’t eat at all, but rather relies on symbiosis with bacteria living inside them to get nutrition. Sooo, yeah, lady just doesn’t eat anything. Neat.

That’s what their description focuses on, being very quiet and mysterious. Doesn’t even respond to questions during interviews, just goes “...” and that’s it. Obviously no indication that they outright can’t talk, just that they rarely do. They’re the silent type, maybe out of shyness, maybe because they just don’t have much to say, or maybe a third thing. At least it’s stated they don’t have bad intentions, so you know, they’re not evil.

Fun fact, Karla’s design is actually reused from an old concept for one of the Denizens of the Deep that would show up in the train. While that is concept stuff that didn’t make it in, and doesn’t mean that them being from the Metro is true, the evidence does point to it being a possibility. Would certainly explain their quirks.

Out of the four, Karla doesn’t show up in the White Day artwork. Finn is there, and she’s (evidently) female, so that wasn’t really a reason to stop them from showing up. Maybe they were hiding out of frame? Maybe they took the picture? Or maybe they’re just asocial and didn’t want to come hang.

Taichi Sawaberu

Taichi is, as can be inferred from the text, the founder of the band. He created SashiMori cause he wanted to add singing to his music after mostly being an instrumentalist, which as we can tell didn’t end well. Is the most experienced member of the band, being an experienced studio musician and all, so he’s been in the business for a while. He also has a lot of activities outside of the band. Hobbies most likely. You know, stuff like surfing, competitive knitting, high stakes bingo, whatever other kinds of hobbies exist. He must get out a lot.

Compared to the other two, he wasn’t fond of Paul at first. He thought he was, to quote, “tiny and awful.” Now, it’s hard to say if this actually applies to Paul for real, as from what we see, nothing really indicates him being an awful kid in any way. He did change his mind after a while, at least, so maybe he was just projecting onto him? If the Pearl theory is correct, it would actually make sense that he was projecting onto Paul his last experience with a small person. His opinion must be a lot more positive now.

We see in the White Day artwork that he’s having a spirited conversation with Nishida. Far as we know, Nishida is pretty introverted, so Taichi must have somehow gotten through to him. What they’re talking about is unknown, but let’s just place this as Taichi x Nishida friendship (wow!)

Paul

Autism be damned, that octo boy can work a turntable. Paul is the highlight of SashiMori, a ten year old octoling who’s the replacement of the previous singer. Instead of singing, though, he provides vocals by remixing them from whatever sources he’s got, including ancient human vinyls. He’s a DJ like most octolings, but he’s actually labeled a particular type of DJ. A turntablist, to be precise.

I’m gonna give thanks to @porubiteki, a moot of mine who knows a ton about DJ stuff and did all this research well before I decided to do this series. A Turntablist is a type of DJ specializing in manipulating music in real time. It’s basically the record scratching you see TV DJ’s do, but far more focused on compared to other forms of DJing. You actually hear that a lot in SashiMori’s music, which features it far more than any other of the Splatoon DJ’s. It’s also a well respected title in the DJ world due to how difficult it is to master the technique, and considering how Paul is highlighted as highly talented to the point of wowing three experienced musicians, it's safe to say he’s worthy of the title.

Personality wise, we don’t get too much. What we know is he remixes from a lot of other DJs, meaning he’s a fan of any DJ’s work. As highlighted above, he is very talented, which can only come from extensive work on his craft, especially for someone his age. Taichi thought of him as “tiny and awful”, but if the Pearl theory applies, it’s likely he was projecting onto Paul for being small. We see him playing chess, and humiliating his opponent Jawn in the process, so his smarts extend outside of DJ work too. Also, it’s well known that child prodigies tend to be a lot more mature for their ages, so it’s likely he might have some of those traits.

And now for the big question. Are he and Acht related or not? It’s a common question asked due to the fact he wears a beanie with a tag that has the same logo as DJ Def1sh, a crude doodle of an octopus face. Haikara Walker itself brings up the question, in the same paragraph as Acht’s potential relation to Marina. Specifically, they might be blood relatives, or just follow the same brand. Side Order revealed the Marina thing to be true… and it didn’t reveal anything about Paul. You had one job, Nintendo.

While Karla is the one with the “mysterious past”, Paul here is probably the one where the trope fits the most. It’s because his existence raises a lot more questions than it answers. Regardless of what his relation to Acht is, it’s clear from that that he’s from the domes. So, what’s a kid his age doing on the surface? When did he get there? The fact he had a Squid Twitter account implies he’s been around long enough to get familiar with all that stuff. Why is he even on fish Twitter anyway? Doesn’t he know that shit can traumatize even adults? Does he have parents? If not, has he been homeless the entire time before meeting SashiMori? Cause a kid doesn’t just show up to a band audition without at least some implication of family having taken him there. Questions and questions. Where is he now? Nintendo, please, tell us where our boy is, WE BEG Y-

—

And that does it for SashiMori. We are now left with three bands. Hightide Era, Chirpy Chips and ω-3.

#splatoon #splatbands #splatband analysis #sashimori #ryu chang #karla #taichi sawaberu #dj paul #my work #i'm back baby

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arogustus · 20 days

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Splatband Analysis - Hightide Era

So I was eating breakfast the other day when I found on the back of my milk carton this picture about a band being missing? Now, I think they’re exaggerating a bit on the “M.I.A.” thing. Sure, they haven’t been mentioned since Splatoon 2, where they got to cameo in the White Day artwork and are involved in the backstory for Ink Theory, but you know who else hasn’t been mentioned since Splatoon 2? SashiMori. And I don’t see anyone making a big deal about that (other than me, Nintendo, please), but I digress. Let’s talk about these losers.

The Band

Hightide Era is an indie band that developed a strong enough fanbase to get their music into the Turf War scene. The band started life with Taka performing on the street, before later being joined by Kuze, and then Nishida, in that order. One of the first things we learned is the meaning of the band's name, which refers to both the nature of the band's sound, brimming and full… and also the ecological realities of the world. Seems the band has environmental concerns they wanna draw attention to, enough to make it a part of their name.

Taka

The band's pianist and vocalist, and the overall center of attention of the band, which is exactly what they want. They’re an incredibly talented musician, having practiced piano since the age of Four, and attended the same prestigious academy that Karen did, having been her senior while she was attending. After that, though, they grew tired of all this academic music nonsense and took to the streets to perform, which is where they met Kuze and Nishida.

The most obvious thing to know about Taka, outright told to us in their own description, is that Taka is a shallow poser. Their main motivation for making music isn’t for any artistic merit, but just because it gets them attention and adoration. Which, considering they’ve been at it since the age of Four, is pretty concerning. Also very superficial beneath the surface. It’s an Ichiya situation, with a lot of surface level charisma concealing a superficial personality. It must be pretty effective too considering they have a dedicated fan in Karen. That desire for attention also keeps them from adding a bassist to the band, it draws attention away from the low notes they hit. What an ass.

White Day art time, we see our stinker leaning back on their chair, clearly spectating the epic battle between Tangle and Finn like a weirdo. They must get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing chaos going on around them. Or maybe they’re trying to peek at Finn? In which case they probably didn’t get to stay as a spectator for long.

Kuze

Kuze is the drummer and a stone fish. He plays on cheap drums because it provides a very messy but powerful sound that compliments the other members trying to look cool. He probably just likes the way the drum sounds and thinks it looks cool. He’s also a fashion designer, he made the uniforms the band wears. Probably has a lot of talents in that area, too.

He’s the third and final member of Underpass Bass Drum, so he’s an active turf player. It’d be cool if one day we got an idea as to what their weapon preferences are. Maybe they even wear a uniform too, what with him being a part of the team? Ah, I’m speculating.

White Day has him sitting with Paul and Jawn. He’s not playing the game, so he’s probably just hanging with them and watching, perhaps waiting for his turn. But there’s one thing you can see him do, and that’s giving Taka the side-eye. It gives the vibe that he knows about Taka and their shenanigans and doesn’t tolerate them too much. Or he’s just keeping an eye on them in case Finn notices and takes it as a challenge.

Nishida

Nishida is a herring and a guitarist. They don’t like being in the spotlight, despite the stereotype revolving around guitarists. May or may not have something to do with the fact they are the youngest of 247 siblings. Like, yeah, that’s a huge ratio of sibling teasing, bullying and fawning, especially since they’re the youngest. Still, they don’t hate attention, they’ve apparently been featured in a serialized magazine that talks about their guitar skills. And apparently people they’re trying to “put on airs” (it means they act like they’re better than others, to be snobbish), when really they don’t do that… most of the time. Is it trying to say that they’re only occasionally snobbish and act egotistical?

In the White Day artwork, they are shown engaged in conversation with Taichi in the back of the bar. They’re more social than they appear, at least, but we may never know what the nature of their conversation is. #Nishida x Taichi Romance. They also brought their guitar for some reason, despite absolutely no one else bringing anything. Wonder what that’s about.

—

And that’s Hightide Era. I never cared about them until today, but I’m glad to say I’ve gained an appreciation for them as of this analysis. There’s something to love about everyone, even if some of them could probably use a little less attention (*cought* Taka *cough*).

We are down two bands. The Chips that Chirp, the neurodivergence squad Chirpy Chips, and everyone’s favorite band of fish freaks ω-3. I’ll go with the Chips first, and then finish with the Salmons. This is fun.

#splatoon #splatbands #splatband analysis #hightide era #taka #kuze #nishida #my work #i see the appeal of these guys #they're all hot losers #it all makes sense now

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