Ian Andreas Miller. 11 November 2002.

     Naoko Takeuchi created several stories that she named Chibi Usa Enikki for 4 of the 18 volumes of the Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn manga.  Those stories are usually named Chibi Usa’s Picture Diary in English.  This article explains the names of the good and evil characters who appear only in those stories.  It also explains the names of the good and evil characters who appear only in the Juken Sens Hen (Exam Battle) stories that appear in volume 13.

     Images of the characters can be found in the gallery.

Lyrica Hubert, Lyrica’s Mother
[ Ririka Yubru, Ririka no Haha]

     Lyrica appears in the Chibi Usa’s Picture Diary story in manga volume 5.

     The Japanese write the name Lyrica with the katakana characters Ririka.  The katakana characters Yubru represent the French surname Hubert.  Lyrica’s surname is often misspelled as “Yubel” or “Yubelle.”

Vega, Altair, Zeta, Epsilon
[ Shokujo ( Bega), Kengy ( Arutairu),
Zta, Ipushiron]

     These characters appear in the Chibi Usa’s Picture Diary story in manga volume 10.  That story has the subtitle Tanabata Kaunto Daun ni Goyjin no Maki, which means A Tale of Warning on the Countdown to Tanabata.

     In the story, Ami says, “Vega is a star in the constellation Lyra.  It has a luminosity of 1.  It’s the fouth brightest star in the sky.  In China, Vega and the two stars northeast of it, Zeta and Epsilon, are called the three weaver stars.  Altair is in the constellation Aquila, with a luminosity of 9.  You can see them together high in the sky on summer nights.  They’re 16 light years apart.”

     Actually, Vega is the fifth brightest star in our sky.  It is also 51 to 58 times the sun’s luminosity.  Zeta Lyrae and Epsilon Lyrae are real stars.  (Actually, Epsilon Lyrae is not 1 star, but 4 of them — 2 groups of 2 stars.)  Altair has about 10.7 times the sun’s visual luminosity.

     Zeta’s name is often misspelled as “Theta” ( Shta).  Nobody in the story explains exactly which woman is Zeta and which woman is Epsilon.

Genius Loc
[ Chirei ( Geniusu Roki)]

     This phrase appears in some of the Chibi Usa’s Picture Diary stories and in the Exam Battle stories.

     The Latin phrase genius loc means spirit of the place.  (Geni loc means spirits of a place, but geni locrum means spirits of places.)  The genius refers to a guardian spirit.  The loc is a form of the Latin word locus, which means place.  Naoko Takeuchi wrote the katakana characters geniusu roki to approximate the phrase genius loc.  She also associated those katakana characters with the kanji chirei, which mean place spirit.

Resin
[ Rejin]

     Resin appears in the Chibi Usa’s Picture Diary story in manga volume 15.  She is one of the geni locrum who appear in the manga.

     Resin’s name comes from the phrase resin teeth.  Resin teeth can be found in dentures.  Many sources misspell Resin’s name as “Regine” or “Regin.”

Th-chan
[ Th-chan]

     Th-chan appears in the Exam Battle, Part 1: Mako-chan’s Depression ( 1 : Juken Sens Hen, Dai 1 Wa: Mako-chan no Yutsu) story in manga volume 13.  She is one of the geni locrum who appear in the manga.

     The Japanese term thi means escape.  The term () -chan is a suffix for the names of close female companions.

Bonnn, Mercurius, Kurume Sri
[ Bonnn, Merukurius, Sri Kurume]

     These names appear in the Exam Battle, Part 2: Ami-chan’s First Love ( 2 : Juken Sens Hen, Dai 2 Wa: Ami-chan no Hatsukoi) story in manga volume 13.  Bonnn is one of the geni locrum who appear in the manga.

     The Japanese term bonn means desires.  “Bonnone” is a common but erroneous spelling of Bonnn’s name.

     Mercurius is the Latin form of the name Mercury.  Kurume uses the name Mercurius as his pen name.  “Mercurious,” which looks like an English adjective, is a misspelling.

     If we put the katakana characters Merukurius backwards, we would get Srikurume.  The name Sri Kurume is pronounced the same way as Srikurume.  The term sri means mathematics in Japanese.

Ghost Sistern
[ Gsuto Shisutn]

     Ghost Sistern appears in the Exam Battle, Part 3: Rei and Minako’s Girls School Battle ( 3 : Juken Sens Hen, Dai 3 Wa: Rei to Minako no Joshik Batoru) story in manga volume 13.  She is one of the geni locrum who appear in the manga.

     We should notice that Th-chan’s and Bonnn’s names resemble altered versions of words that are used emphatically in the respective Exam Battle stories: bonn and thi.  Ghost Sistern’s name appears in the Japanese script as Gsuto Shisutn.  The Shisutn part resembles and altered version of a word that is used emphatically in the third Exam Battle story: shisut, which approximates sister.  Adding an n to shisut (sister, which is used in the story) is analogous to adding an n to sister to get sistern.  That sistern can be come Sistern when it is used as a name.

     Incidentally, cistern is written as shisutn in Japanese.  Although Ghost Sistern’s name can be written as Ghost Cistern, the Cistern does not fit the altered-emphatic-term pattern that Th-chan’s and Bonnn’s names follow because Cistern is not the altered form of an emphatic word that is used in the respective story.

Naruru saka, Ruruna Kbe, Makoto Hanmatsuura, Otakra
[ saka Naruru, Kbe Ruruna,
Hanmatsuura Makoto, Otakra]

     These characters appear in the Chibi Usa’s Picture Diary story in manga volume 17.  That story has the subtitle Himitsu no Hanm Puraisu D no Maki, which means The Story of the Hammer Price Shrine.

     Naruru is Naru’s younger sister.  Naturally, they have the same surname.  Their surname is written with the same kanji that are used to write the name of the Japanese city saka ().  Ruruna’s surname, Kbe, is written with the same kanji that are used to write the name of the Japanese city Kbe ().

     The first part of Makoto’s surname sounds like hanm, which is the the Japanese approximation of the English word hammer.  The han part of his surname means mediocre, the matsu part means pine tree, and the ura part refers to a body of water.  His personal name derives from the Japanese term makoto, which means truth.  In the story, he wears a cape and calls himself Debutcho Kamen, which means Chubby Mask.

     Otakra is one of the geni locrum who appear in the manga.  The first part of Otakra’s name derives from the Japanese term otaku, which means geek or nerd.  That term sounds like otaku, which means your house or you.  The second part of her name derives from kura, which means storehouse.

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