

In Tsubasa Family and Tsubasa Tiger, it was mentioned in a conversation
between the Fire Sisters and Tsubasa that both Karen and Tsukihi have
boyfriends[1][2].

Karen's boyfriend is named Mizudori （瑞鳥【みずどり】）.

Tsukihi's boyfriend is named Rousokuzawa （蠟燭澤【ろうそくざわ】）.

What is up with these ridiculous names? Has the author explained the names or
expanded the story on who they are?

1 Light novel - Nekomonogatari (White) Chapter 059. Anime - Monogatari Series:
Second Season Episode 4.  
2 Light novel - Nekomonogatari (Black) Chapter 002. Anime - Nekomonogatari:
Black Episode 1 (only Tsukihi's boyfriend's name is mentioned).


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monogatari-series
What is up with Tsukihi and Karen's boyfriends' names?


# From official source

I tried to find some comments from the author on the Japanese internet, but
came up empty-handed due to my lack of knowledge of Japanese. I do have some
very tenuous evidence that as of 2013, there was no such explanation even in
Japanese, discussed below.

According to the [Japanese Wikipedia page on the Monogatari
series](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%80%88%E7%89%A9%E8%AA%9E%E3%80%89%E3%82%B7%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA#.E4.B8.BB.E8.A6.81.E4.BA.BA.E7.89.A9),
very little is known about Mizudori-kun and Rousokuzawa-kun except that
Mizudori-kun is shorter than Karen-chan and Rousokuzawa-kun is taller than
Tsukihi-chan, suggesting that they look similar to Koyomi and adding evidence
for the Fire Sisters' massive brother complex. Tsukihi-chan talks a little
about Rousokuzawa-kun in Neko Black, during which she says he wants to fondle
breasts in a set-theoretic sense, and also says during Tsukihi Phoenix that
her relationship with him is chaste; she also says that Karen-chan and
Mizudori-kun haven't been getting along. The [Monogatari series
wikia](http://bakemonogatari.wikia.com/) also has next to nothing to say about
them. Since Koyomi, the viewpoint character, has absolutely refused to meet
them, we've so far never seen them, and it seems that they're more a minor
plot detail than anything; as far as I can tell, what I listed above is the
sum total of our knowledge about them.

As for their names, Nisio Isin, author of the Monogatari series, has a history
of making up bizarre names for his characters, usually ones full of pun and
subtext, and it seems the more minor they are, the more bizarre the names get.
From the Monogatari series itself, I submit "Kaiki Deishuu" and "Kiss-shot
Acerola Orion Heart-Under-Blade" and the name "Valhalla Combi" for the
combination of Senjougahara and Kanbaru; see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaregoto_Series#Characters> and
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Medaka_Box_characters> for examples from
his other work.

# Fan's interpretation

The next part is a little tangential since it involves an unofficial
doujinshi, but I take it as evidence that Japanese audiences also had no
access to an explanation as of April 2013 (the doujinshi's publication date)
since they were making up their own theories. I once found a doujinshi (a
very, very NSFW doujinshi, which could get you fired if you happen to be at
work, so I'm not going to provide a link, but the title is _Sukimonogatari_ \-
[SFW Cover](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VlYpf.jpg)) that offered a theory on the
names "Rousokuzawa-kun" and "Mizudori-kun", along with a random sex scene.
Here's part of a page (edited to be SFW) that explains some of the theory:

![Page 12 from Sukimonogatari](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Pd36r.jpg)

Note that in the doujinshi, boys named "Mizudori-kun" and "Rousokuzawa-kun"
don't exist; "Mizudori-kun" is Tsukihi-chan, and "Rousokuzawa-kun" is Karen-
chan. The upper-left panel gives a chain of transformations:

[月火]【Tsukihi】 (Moon | Fire)  
→ [水]【Mizu】 (Water. Based on day of the week progression from Sunday to
Saturday: 日月火水木金土)  
→ [瑞]【Mizu】 (Good omen. A kanji with the same reading as "water")  
→ [瑞鳥]【Mizudori】 (Auspicious bird).

[火憐]【Karen】 (Fire | Pity)  
→ [燐]【Rin】 (Phosphorus. Take the second character and replace the heart
radical 忄 with fire radical 火)  
→ [燐寸]【Macchi】 (Match. Match head contains phosphorus)  
→ [蠟燭澤]【Rousokuzawa】 (蠟燭 means candle. 澤 or equivalent
[shinjitai](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjitai) 沢 is a common character
used in names)

Koyomi takes note of the terrifying coincidence in the names they give each
other and the kaii that they are affected. Tsukihi-chan, called "Mizudori", is
a bird kaii, and "auspicious bird" can refer to phoenix. Karen-chan, called
"Rousokuzawa", was afflicted by a bee kaii, and candles can be made of
beeswax. When Koyomi asked why they choose such names, the Fire Sisters
explain that they chose those names because migrating **birds** and
[**candle** clocks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candle_clock) are both
methods of telling time, which aligns with the fact that the entire Araragi
family has names with timekeeping and calendar themes1.

# Conclusion

In summary, nothing much is said about these two in the novels or anime up
through the end of the second season, and no explanation is given for their
names up to that point. Although I didn't find anything official, the very
scant information on these two, along with the (admittedly weak) evidence of
the doujinshi, suggests that they're another example of Nisio Isin's famously
bizarre punny names for his characters, and no, he isn't going to explain them
(that would ruin the fun).

# Footnote

  1. [暦]【Koyomi】 means calendar.

[火憐]【Karen】 contains the prefix of カレンダー, i.e. calendar.

Tsukihi （月火） can be rendered as 月日, which contains the kanji for moon and sun,
which also means month and day.


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