- "You're no longer a child. Don't just stand around doing nothing. It's about time you grew up Baby Boy Ryo."
- ―Setsu talking to Ryo.
Setsu Abe (Kanji: 阿部 節, Rōmaji: Abe Setsu) is an elderly woman who is the owner of the Abe Store in Sakuragaoka.
Biography[]
Setsu used to live in Manchuria with her husband, Tomekichi, who worked as a schoolteacher during the prewar occupation by the Japanese. During the war, the two tried to return to Japan but during the confusion of the evacuation Setsu and Tomekichi got separated. Setsu returned to her home in Tokyo but found that her parents were missing and the family home had been burnt down. She then traveled to Yokosuka to meet Tomekichi's parents who were also missing. However, the house was still there so she settled there, awaiting the return of her husband. She made the front of the house into the small candy shop that it is today and has waited there for the past 40 years, but to this day Tomekichi has never returned.
Setsu imagines there is a connection between her and Ryo Hazuki, like that of a mother and a son. She often teases Ryo, treating him like he is still a child.
Etymology[]
- The name Setsu means "section, period, verse, melody" (節).
- Setsu's surname Abe means "Africa, flatter, fawn upon, corner, nook, recess" (阿) (a) and "part, department, category" (部) (be).
Trivia[]
- As seen in a beta screenshot in the 1998 Shenmue Premiere art booklet, the Abe Store was originally going to be called the "Saitō Store" (斎藤商店). This also suggests that Setsu's surname was originally going to be "Saitō" rather than "Abe". [1]
- Setsu's zodiac sign is Sagittarius and she has a B blood type.
- In the English version, Setsu's words to Ryo that he "should have come yesterday" after he draws a losing ticket, could be taken to mean that perhaps his luck would have been better the day before. It has a slightly different meaning to it than her words in the original Japanese version. She says "For shame! Come back the day before yesterday!", which is a fairly obscure and old-fashioned expression which is spoken towards things or situations that you don't ever want to see again. By telling them to come back "the day before yesterday" you are saying that you want them to go away and not to come back at all. In the raffle ticket situation, Setsu is not directing this to Ryo, but towards the bad luck which has resulted in him drawing a losing ticket.
Gallery[]
