He does! :> He talks very much not only like someone out of a period drama, but like an old fashioned otaku, who are infamous for using pronouns like "sessha," honorifics like "-shi," and even the same kind of laughter that Idia uses.

For a very brief explanation: the Japanese language has many pronouns ( more pronoun talk here: https://twitter.com/YuuRei20/status/1637546930917249024 ) and Idia switches between two of them: He uses "sessha" in general and will shift to "boku," usually when he starts to panic.

"Sessha" used to be mainly used by samurai, but it was adopted by people who identity as otaku several years ago.

"Degozaru" is more difficult to explain...if you are an anime fan, you might be familiar with the word "desu."

It is used to end sentences in a polite way, but it is not like you have to use it or people will think your sentence hasn't ended yet ww It is a politeness marker.

"desu" has a few variations depending on how polite you want to be. The most casual form of "desu" is "da."

We get a great example of someone intentionally adopting "da" to change the atmosphere of what they're saying in Phantom Bride, when Vil uses it and creeps Leona out ww

"degozaimasu" is a formal "desu." You use it at work while talking to customers, for example.

To rank them:
"neko-da" (that's a cat) informal
"neko-desu" (that's a cat) polite
"neko-degozaimasu" (that's a cat) formal

They don't change meanings--just formality!

The "-shi" honorific that Idia uses (NA writes it as "Mr." sometimes, but not always) comes up in modern-day situations as a way to refer to a third person who is neither associated with your group nor with the group to which the person you are talking with belongs.

In this listing of speakers at "Nikkei xTech Expo 2022," for example (pictures attached to Twitter response) all of the speakers who are associated with Nikkei xTech itself have no honorifics, because they are a part of that group.

The guest speakers, however, are listed with "-shi."

"-shi" also comes up in news articles, like this coverage of Anime Japan 2022's announcement. The two people mentioned are not associated with the news site itself, so they have had "-shi" added to their names.

"-shi" was also used by samurai and adopted by otaku a while back.

Q: So why don't news sites and stuff just use "-san"?

A: Since "-san" is a respectful honorific, that would kind of be saying "All of us are deferring to this person," which is bad for things like newspapers, which need to represent people and facts neutrally.

"degozaru" is something of an outlier and is not used in normal conversation.

I read that it didn't show up until the Edo period (1603-1867), again used by samurai and again adopted by self-described otaku a while back.

While technically Idia is speaking archaically he is also just speaking in outdated otaku/net slang, which is how he was localized for NA!

(And Idia does self-identity as an otaku in-game)

I do not know anyone who speaks like this (not to me, anyway ww) so I searched "why do otaku use '-shi,' 'sessha,' etc, and it seems a not uncommon question, generally responded to with a lot of sarcasm because this is the internet ww

The best answer was, "because it's fun" :>

(If you are learning the language and intimidated by Idia, no worries! Here's a twstsoku thread about no one understanding him ( https://twstsoku.com/archives/mvu4kk9d.html ) this glossary of the terms Idia uses, defined ( https://kamigame.jp/%E3%83%84%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B9%E3%83%86/page/210908868820105707.html ) and his VA saying he doesn't always understand his own lines https://twitter.com/YuuRei20/status/1577028067989417986 )