#(have english titles if they’re also subtitled in english)

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

„gerebloggt“ is an extremely funny word

[lurkingteapot]

Free Thai language learning resources

I’ve been learning Thai for the past 20 months. This list is by no means complete or comprehensive, what works for me doesn’t have to work for you, etc etc. That said: I’ve used most of these and found them useful, I thought you might, too. Have fun!

Youtube channels with free video lessons:

There are tons of wonderful teachers on youtube; this is by no means an exhaustive list. The three channels listed here are comprehensive, long-running, and updated regularly; if you have other favourites, please reblog and append!

Comprehensible Thai is a channel that teaches Thai in Thai, from zero, via the comprehensible input method. They have videos from total beginner through upper intermediate/lower advanced levels available.

Learn Thai with Mod – Mod runs a language school that offers good, structured group classes; she and her co-teachers often upload short videos about specific aspects of Thai. The channel has been around for a long time and they cover a lot of topics, including grammar points.

Thai Lessons by New (Learn Thai one Word one Sentence) – lots of good vocabulary and situational phrases

Other channels I like:

Advanced Thai with Kruu Momm -- one of my favourites, Momm’s a star. Not included in the upper list only because this is definitely more of an intermediate-advanced resource.

Thai with Grace -- I knew of Grace via her polyglot channel and travel vlogs before I realised she also teaches Thai. Fun stuff.

Kat talks Thai -- I believe Kat is more active on instagram (@kattalksthai), but these are still really neat.

Perth Nakhun’s Basic Thai playlist

Honourable mentions because they’re interesting and can be nice supplements (yes, the video titles on these channels tend to be clickbaity, the content is useful, though):

Stu Jay Raj: Stu is a polyglot based in Thailand. His channel is a bit of a mixed bag, but he has a very interesting approach to languages and sometimes does foreign accent reduction / accent analysis sessions on his channel (with consent and participation of those whose speech he dissects).

Thai Talk with Paddy: Paddy is an Australian who learned Thai when he was a volunteer in Thailand, he’s kept it up. Fun things about language learning and culture

Listening comprehension

I’m assuming many folks on here who are interested in Thai already watch some Thai shows (yes I’m stereotyping but also this is tumblr), which means you’re spending time listening to Thai.

If you’re not:

Netflix, Youtube, WeTV, and Viki all have several Thai shows with English subtitles available. The Youtube channel of Thai broadcasting giant GMMTV has English subtitles on nearly all of their uploaded series, some series are also subtitled in languages other than English. one31 is another huge channel; they have English subtitles on some series and some series also have subtitles in Thai. There’s tons more – find a rec list and a Thai show that sounds like you’d enjoy it, chances are you’ll be able to watch it for free, legally, on youtube. You can use the youtube controls (or the ones on netflix) to turn the speed down to 75% —this can make it a lot easier to catch what’s being said. 50% gets so draggy that I personally find it almost harder to understand, but ymmv—give it a shot!

https://lingopolo.org/thai/ has real-life recordings for listening practice; sign-up is required but it’s literally just an e-mail-address, user name and password. Using the site is free.

https://www.activethai.com/ has a section dedicated to learning the tones (under “Overview of Thai Tones”) including a self-test for listening that I found very useful.

Learning to read

I will always, always, ALWAYS recommend learning to read the Thai script. All available romanisations for Thai have drawbacks, and besides, you learned to read English with its “though through thorough tough thought”, you can damn well learn to read Thai. I promise it will help you improve your pronunciation (yes, really) and overall understanding of how the language works.

Learn-to-Read-Thai resources that seem comprehensive and like they should do everything in one:

Anki decks “Read Thai PHASE 1 - The Consonants“, “Read Thai PHASE 2 - Thai Vowels“, “Read Thai PHASE 3 - Consonant Classes” and “Read Thai PHASE 4 - Tone Rules” by Khruu Gaan (ครูกานต์). Anki is probably the most powerful spaced repetition software I have ever used. It’s free on all desktops and android. These decks have sound.

Memrise course “Read Thai: A Complete Guide to Reading Thai“

Other resources I used (In hindsight, I feel like I should’ve picked one resource to learn to read from and stuck with it; I think I was rushing and made things more complicated than need be for myself with my hodgepodge mix-and-match approach. But hey, I can read now.)

https://www.activethai.com/ – the site I started with. Teaches the consonants separated by class and with sound. The only reason this is no longer my top recommendation is that I ended up using this alongside a resource that helped me memorise what the words used to represent the letters actually mean because the site itself didn’t tell me, and I wanted that easy way to have 44 vocabulary words ready as soon as you’re done learning your consonants, and it gives you access to neat mnemonics such as ไก่จิกเด็กตาย(เฎ็กฏาย)บนปากโอ่ง.

The chart on Wikipedia’s English article on the Thai Script

the reference section of Thai-Language.com

In order to better learn to read Thai written in different fonts (modern and handwriting fonts can be tough at first), the Thai Script typographical styles overview on Thai-language.com was a huge help, as was throwing simple phrases things into gdocs and messing around to see how different fonts made them look. This chart from sanukmaak.com also helped.

Speaking and pronunciation

The hardest one for any new language for most folks. For me personally, finding someone who speaks the language and is willing to correct me was an absolute necessity, but I know that’s not always an option. If you’re going it on your own, make sure you check out the resources above for learning to hear the tones and those sounds and sound clusters not present in your own language correctly first.

Things to try on your own:

shadowing: Whenever someone on a show utters a sentence you think might be useful, or provide a useful pattern, or something just sounds cool, rewind and try to speak along as they say it, trying to make it sound as close to their pronunciation as you can.

try to record yourself and listen back -- yes, it’s cringe af but it will HELP.

memorising short sentences and phrases: tying back to the section above, there's a ton of youtube videos that is "phrases to use in [situation]" that are great for targeted learning if you're up for it

self talk (cautiously! don't want to cement bad pronunciation habits)

if you’re linguistically inclined: looking up descriptions on how to make a sound correctly sometimes helps, as does watching videos of folks who’ve successfully learned the language.

once you’ve learned to read: find sentences to read somewhere (twitter, a textbook, whatever) and read them into your phone’s dictation engine. See if the software understands you correctly. Adjust as needed until it does.

Websites and apps to find language partners or (paid) tutors

Like any other app where you ‘meet people’, please exercise caution on these.

italki (mainly for finding tutors and teachers, but you can find language partners on the forums)

Preply (web/app) (for finding tutors/teachers)

hellotalk (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners -- free to use basic features like messaging, voice rooms, etc; has annoying ads

tandem (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners -- free to use basic features, has ads

any other app or website that’ll let you meet people, like local facebook groups (yes really), instagram, etc

(note: Neither hellotalk nor tandem allow users to sign up without selecting a binary gender. it sucks. I’ve seen people who managed to circumvent this on Hellotalk by signing up via apple ID (? I think), but it’s hearsay and I have not managed to do so myself.)

Books (a book) that are (is) worth spending money on imo

Higbie & Thinsan: Thai Reference Grammar. The Structure of Spoken Thai. Orchid Press: Bangkok, 2002. Yes, it’s ancient in textbook terms. It’s not perfect, but it’s still the best reference grammar for Thai I’ve come across so far, and I use it frequently.

Random bits and bobs

Stu Jay Raj has two videos in particular that I, as a phonetics-and-phonology-loving person, loved and found extremely useful and wished I’d watched before I started to try and learn the script: Thai Vowels for Dummies in 5 Min v2 - A System Impossible to Forget and Thai Bites Extended Edition - Transliterating Thai using IPA. I realise these may be overwhelming and less helpful for people with no prior phonetics or phonology training, but they helped me so much it’d feel amiss not to include them.

Resources I recommend AGAINST using when starting out

drops/hello words -- seems like their Thai courses have been created using machine translation that wasn’t sufficiently proofread. They will assign you nouns in places of the corresponding verb or false cognates, and that’s within the first 10 or so lessons. Might be useful once the level where a learner can tell “ah, yeah, that’s … not right” has been reached? idk.

transcription as generated by google translate: BURN IT WITH FIRE. it’s a transliteration, i.e. 1-to-1 representation of 1 Thai letter = 1 Latin letter (extended), it’s not phonemic, it’s not going to help ANYONE (and those who can make sense of it presumably already read Thai and would be better off with just Thai script). Just. Stop.

Google translate as a dictionary: still shitty but not AS bad as the transcription function. Still, for the love of all that you hold dear, please, save yourself the pain and confusion and just use thai2english or thai-language.com instead.

---

And that’s that from me, friends. Yeeting this into the void before I second-guess myself more. Please append additional resources!

Edited to fix a couple of typos and errors on 2023-06-15

[ikeoji-subs]

Zettai BL Ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL Ni Naritakunai Otoko 2024 - Episode 4 Eng Sub

VS SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS and VS SCHOOL FESTIVAL

For downloading instructions and where to find the raw files, please check our masterpost.

[Subs link]

We ask that you not upload our subs to streaming sites.

Sharing with friends is fine. We’re also OK with folks sharing them in other ways as long as they aren’t public. Please use discretion when talking about the fansub outside of tumblr, but don’t hesitate to get the word out in other ways, and feel free to promote it here. Please credit ikeoji-subs whenever possible—we put a lot of time and effort into this.

Feel free to use the fansub for fandom purposes. Gif-making, meta-writing, and other fandom-related creative endeavors made using our fansub are not only welcome but encouraged.

We'd like to thank everyone who has left messages in the tags and elsewhere who've had nice things to say about the fansub. We'd particularly like to thank @respectthepetty for some especially kind praise. Every word of encouragement is deeply appreciated!

And big thanks to @my-rose-tinted-glasses for gifs! We’re so lucky to be able to benefit from your skills.

translation notes:

about “konpuraiansu” (4:28)

This was a tricky situation because Japanese uses an English loan word, compliance/konpurainsu, in a way that has a really different connotation from the way that word is usually used in English. It usually makes sense to translate Japanese words that are loan words from English as the same English word in a subtitle. But in this case, it didn’t really mean the same thing. 

Personally, when I think of the meaning of “compliance,” I think about bureaucratic systems of rules. Before grad school, I worked for a number of years in admin positions at a large university. Every year we would have to do “compliance training,” which mostly involved reading interminable powerpoint presentations and answering quiz questions about them. They were about things like using a strong password or not accepting gifts worth more than a certain amount of money. Not exactly the same type of thing Mob alludes to here. 

From what I gather, in Japanese “compliance” means something more like acting in accordance with social mores. English really doesn’t have a word that gets this idea across, as far as I’m aware. Thankfully, we do have a number of ways of talking about social norms. 

Another factor that complicated the task of translating Mob’s observation about contemporary teenagers is that the literal translation was that they are “too conscious of compliance.” This also wouldn’t be a typical way to use “conscious” in English. So I ran some replacement word options past Snow that described various ways in which a person might be too aware of or focused on something, and we landed on “preoccupied.” The line then became, “Aren’t high schoolers these days too preoccupied with social expectations?” (Correspondingly, the title of the segment became "Vs Social Expectations.")

In my conversation with Snow about this line, I also learned about some cultural context for this line that I hadn’t been aware of before. She explained that it was related to the Japanese word seishun, which basically means “the spring of youth.” Apparently, the literal meaning is “blue spring.” Part of the idea of seishun is that when you’re young, you can act in an impulsive, passionate way that flouts societal rules because you aren’t as aware of the rules and/or as concerned with the approval of others as a proper adult would be. Thus, if adolescents are excessively worried about adhering to social norms, it’s like they’re wasting the opportunity to enjoy a kind of freedom that won’t be available to them later in life. 

This theme continues when Mob chases after Hatano and his parents see them running from below. Not recognizing Mob, his mother comments on the “energetic young men” they see. When they each mention “the spring of youth” (starting at the 5:46 mark), they’re saying “seishun.”–Towel

about “when I’m 20” (4:39)

You might think, from this line, that Hatano is saying he’ll confess to Mob again when he’s 20 because that’s when they’ll be legally able to date. That’s what I presumed when I first heard it. But there’s actually no legal reason why Mob couldn’t date Hatano if he wanted to. Hatano’s dramatic daydream about Mob being handcuffed in a jail cell aside, it’s actually not illegal for someone in their early 20s–or any adult, for that matter–to date or have sex with a 17-year-old in Japan. Actually, when I looked up age of consent laws in Japan I was surprised to learn that the age of consent was only raised to 16 a year ago and that prior to that, it was 13! But of course, laws are one thing and social norms are another. If Hatano wants to date Mob openly without fear of being judged, criticized, or snubbed–or, perhaps more importantly, without fear of inflicting that sort of treatment on his beloved Mob–he’ll have to wait until he’s an adult in a social sense. Snow explained to me that traditionally, this happens when a person turns 20. Apparently 20 was also the legal age of adulthood for a long time, and it remains in place for some purposes (for example, the legal drinking age in Japan is 20). But even though many laws have changed, the idea that 20 is the age when someone becomes an adult in a social sense remains.–Towel  

about “if I keep on believing” (9:09)

Here’s a little Easter egg. I was finalizing the lines Haruhiko speaks here when I noticed something–they were already very close to the lyrics of a song from the Disney movie version of Cinderella called “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes.” I haven’t seen Disney’s Cinderella very many times, but my sister sang this song at a school recital in fourth grade, so the lyrics got burned into my brain. The part in question goes like this: 

No matter how your heart is grieving If you keep on believing The dream that you wish will come true

This part of Haruhiko’s dialogue was already really close to these lyrics, so I exchanged a few words (no change to the meaning, just switching out synonyms) to get it even closer. Here’s what his lines look like if I arrange them to match up with the song lyrics:

No matter how sad I feel now If I keep on believing My dream will definitely come true someday

Not the same, but kind of a remarkable resemblance, all things considered.–Towel 

blackboard writing (16:44 and 18:20)

At a couple of points during the scene in Mob's university classroom, there's writing on the blackboard at the front of the room. Snow translated what was written there, but there was no way to fit that translation in the subtitles. The information given there wasn't so crucial that this posed a big problem. But it's interesting enough to be worth including here.

At 16:44, the writing on the blackboard says:

School festival play: Momotaro Cinderella - 26 votes King Lear Yotsuya Kaidan Prison Break - 1 vote 101 Dalmatians Toyama no Kin san Planet of the Apes 24 - 1 vote

This is clearly a list of ideas for what story to base the class play on, along with the number of votes each idea received.

At 18:20, it says:

Cinderella: Cinderella Prince - Ouji Stepmother Stepsister 1 Stepsister 2

This is clearly a list of roles, only one of which has been assigned so far--the role of the Prince, given to Ouji.

about Mob’s horse sounds (19:24)

This might be a bit excessive, and it’s certainly an example of my perfectionism. But when I got to the part of this episode where Mob starts making horse sounds, it didn’t seem sufficient to just caption it “horse sounds.” I knew there were some specific terms for the sounds horses make, and I had heard of some of them, but I didn’t know their exact meanings. I went looking around for resources and finally found a really good youtube video that explained a bunch of different noises horses make and what they mean. In the end, the only new term I needed was “nickering.” When he’s not neighing or saying “gallop gallop,” Mob is nickering. The person who made the horse sounds video had an amazing quote about this type of horse sound–they described nickering as “a melodic symphony in the equine lexicon.” I’m guessing that other people watching the show with our subtitles mostly won’t already know the exact meaning of “nickering” either, so maybe I shouldn’t have bothered. But I like getting the specifics of things right. And who knows, maybe a horse enthusiast or two will watch this and appreciate the accuracy.–Towel 

If you'd like to hear some examples of real horses nickering, or hear the narrator of this video wax rhapsodic about horse vocalizations, here's the video I mentioned:

Tag list: @absolutebl @bengiyo @c1nto @come-back-serotonin @lurkingshan @my-rose-tinted-glasses @porridgefeast @sorry-bonebag @twig-tea @wen-kexing-apologist

[shipcestuous]

Okay, I come back with the third part of the ask! I have MORE amazing news, isn’t it great?

First of all, the best news for me is I have found yet another wonderful incest movie I have been looking for so long!!!! It’s called «Madame Solario». Hear me out, this is REALLY exiting, as it’s a French costume drama based on a book. Actually, there’s even an article called «“Saint Brother and Saint Sister”: The Motif of Fraternal Incest in Gladys Huntington’s Madame Solario» (here’s the link to the article https://dspace.uni.lodz.pl/bitstream/handle/11089/38892/PJAS_vol7_2013_Alicja_Piechucka.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y)

Here’s where you can watch the movie with English subtitles: https://tubitv.com/movies/100007671/madame-solario

Secondly, I went over your «Not available in English» list and tried to look for the subtitles. I actually had luck with some of them!

Der Kuss Meiner Schwester

Here are two links where you can download subtitles for this movie (it’s two different subtitles)

https://www.opensubtitles.org/en/subtitles/9593069/der-kuss-meiner-schwester-en (those are, I think, made by machine translation. I watched with them and they’re enough to understand most of the movie)

https://www.avsubtitles.com/subtitles.php?subid=16862&revid=20230717000859 (not sure about those, whether they’re made by human or machine, maybe a native English speaker would realize better than me)

Already after I found those subs, I stumbled across a comment on your wordpress under the post about this movie. I attach the comment in a picture, just in case if you haven’t seen it, because the user provides some information. (the subtitles they mention are the same as the ones from OpenSubtitles)

Syskonsalt

So, indeed, there are subtitles on OpenSubtitles for this movie: https://www.opensubtitles.com/en/subtitles/syskonsalt-2000-swedish-vhs-tvrip-xvid-movieboys-en  (Those, I assume, are made by a person)

Lunnye polyany (2002), also known as Les clairieres de lune

Once again I watched it before in Russian and I even have a fanvid about them! (promoting myself while I can lolz https://www.tumblr.com/familyromantic/705637767270531072/this-is-the-only-russian-film-about-incest-that?source=share) But now all of you can watch it too. I can say it is not a light watch and it has a dark, depressed atmosphere, but there is some sort of doomed love beauty as well. BUT I warn you that I have only seen the movie in a HORRIBLE quality, sadly.

Link to the subs: https://www.avsubtitles.com/subtitles.php?subid=18021&revid=20230827220208

Taboo: The Soul Is A Stranger On Earth

Three subtitles, but I glanced and they look the same lol (could be wrong)

https(:)//www.opensubtitles.org/en/subtitles/10009196/tabu-the-soul-is-a-stranger-on-earth-en (just delete the parentheses, I added them because Tumblr didn't like this link lol)

Additionally, not related to subtitles, but I want to let you all know I have Bror 2019 in HD if someone needs it (got it from a Swedish site with VPN). ALSO if any of the links I provided don’t work for someone or anything, I have it all downloaded, so contact me and I’ll send it to you. Or if you want to combine a movie and subtitles, I can do that too.

 I think that’s all, that was a long ask for real :)

[x]

Thank you for going through that not-available-in-English list! I'm pleased to be able to remove so many titles from it.

Do you happen to have any download links for Madame Salario? Having it on Tubi is so great but I like to archive the hard to find incest movies if I can just in case they get removed from streaming. It sounds like you do the same.

I did see that comment about Der Kuss Meiner Schwester. I downloaded the subs right away but haven't checked them against the video file I had. I didn't want to start partying until I was sure they fit and made sense and everything. I actually couldn't download the Syskonsalt ones originally but your link worked for me so thanks.

While we're on the topic, this movie, Yellow, is actually in English but has proven impossible find: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588898/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_9_act. Has anyone managed to see, or better yet download, this one?

[ridiasfangirlings]

Do you have any favorite "this scene is super meaningful if you've read the manga/short stories/other side material" easter eggs from the anime?

The whole episode 12 of ROK has multiple callbacks to LSW and unfortunately the English subtitles kinda flubbed two of them. The title being Knuckle Bump is the obvious one (especially since there’s no actual knuckle bumping that happens in the episode itself, so the title feels a bit weird otherwise) — this is something middle school Yata and Fushimi would do, most notably when they’re planning to interrupt the jungle Christmas party. When the title was announced in the preview part of the previous episode pretty much anyone who’d read LSW was immediately like ‘the Sarumi episode is coming up next!’ just from the title, which I think would be less obvious if you weren’t familiar with the novel. Similarly within the episode, the part that the English subs translated as ‘Fushimi Saruhiko is a stand up guy’ was actually Yata specifically using the word ‘sugoi,’ which in LSW translations was more often translated as Yata calling Fushimi ‘amazing’ (that whole ‘when have you listened to me with shining eyes and called me amazing’ thing that he says to Aya uses the same word). It’s a pretty simple moment but I think it was definitely intentional as a callback. Also at the end after Yata leaves, when Fushimi thinks about how Yata hit the mark calling Munakata Fushimi’s King, the subtitles also skipped this one — and to be fair I can see why, if you don’t know that the wording is intentional — but he specifically says ‘100 point answer’ in Japanese, referencing the ‘0 or 100 points’ that Fushimi uses for Yata in LSW.

There’s also a little subtle bit I liked in S1 with Totsuka’s death. In episode six we get the whole extended flashback to when Totsuka was still alive and there’s one transition I recall liking a lot, where we see Totsuka smiling with a little shine on his earring and then the scene shifts to present day, with Mikoto in his cell and the same earring shining. While the transition I think is intended to kinda infer that Mikoto is wearing Totsuka’s earring it’s really only clear if you’ve read Memory of Red, where it’s pointed out that Mikoto takes Totsuka’s earring after he dies. As I recall the shine on the earring was also a red color too, which a regular viewer would assume is just a symbolism thing with Mikoto being the Red King, but Memory of Red reveals that some of Totsuka’s blood is inside the hollowed middle of the earring. The scene doesn’t linger on this one which is something I really liked, it very much feels like something where if you’re anime-only it’s easy to overlook but if you’re caught up on the side materials you really get hit with the full emotional effect of the moment. 

Also from season one, possibly one of the biggest Easter eggs is just the ending theme itself. ‘Alone, in a Cold Room’ is sung by Neko’s voice actor and the lyrics are very sad and lonely in a way I think doesn’t make as much sense if you’re not aware of her backstory. In particular I feel like the title and references to the lonely room are probably intended to bring to mind the moment when little Neko realizes that she’s been using her powers on her ‘parents’ all this time and she’s curled up in her closet, wishing that they would accept her and take her hand again even though she’s not their real daughter. I don’t know offhand if Gora’s ever mentioned that the song was specifically supposed to be about that moment but I feel like it fits too well to not be intended as a reference to that part of Neko’s life, that viewers would only know about if they’ve read the supplemental material.

[emetophobiahelp]

Cells At Work! S1E4 Clarification

The initial warning for this episode wasn’t very descriptive, so I wanted to give a detailed description since the episode is otherwise pretty good.

First off, the preview of this episode (called “Food Poisoning”) after the credits of episode 3 has no concerning parts other than mentioning the title, and only a little bubbling, but that’s just normal function, not v*.

The first part of the episode explains the stomach and digestive system, they speak multiple times about “gastric juice” if that bothers you, and the acid bubbles at a normal pace that doesn’t cause any concern unless the idea of stomach acid bothers you as a whole. Then, tremors occur and the first weak parasite attacks. They describe that it causes stomach pains, which could be triggering, though not so much for me personally despite being a heavy emetophobe. This first parasite eats white blood cell, at around 11:24, then shortly after, he cuts through its mouth to escape. It’s not even close to v*, but it is quite bloody, if that bothers you.

At 14:33, right after the red button is pressed, it shows some gastric acid flowing over the walls, if that might bother you. After the second tremors, red button alert, and the parasite breaks through the cell wall with a scream, white blood cell will say what it is, then it starts to describe in detail of the side effects of it, mentioning v*. If you’re watching in Japanese like me, shut off the subtitles either before white blood cell says what it is, or be ready to turn them off quickly after he does, otherwise you will get jumpscared by the v* word on your screen through the long description that the narrator was about to say. So therefore if you’re watching dubbed, mute at that same point when the second parasite screams.

Afterward, existential cell guy shows up (basophil), and a possibly concerning visual comes up of the stomach acid erupting like a volcano. It’s not really bad, especially if you can just make yourself think of it as a volcano since it looks like lava anyway, but look away after the parasite screams if you don’t like that idea. He says some more existential stuff, and if you want to know what he says, make sure you turn subtitles back off as the other blood cells are watching the eruption, because after that, a monitor pops up pretty quickly, that if you have subtitles on, you are going to get jumpscared by the words “v*ing center.” It is also written in English, “Status: queasy” if that bothers you.

What they say in the control center directly after this isn’t really super important, they’re just asking if that’s the specific parasite and “Oh crap, here it comes!” Don’t turn subtitles back on here or unmute either if you’re on dub, because right afterward, there is a visual of acid spilling out a pipe and more side effect description, going very much into detail on what the body does. I would explain what, but I don’t trust that I wouldn’t get very anxious reading it even briefly, so I’m just going off that the narrator talks for a while and my non-emetophobic friend said it is especially very descriptive there and mentions what the muscles do. Just keep your subtitles off this whole time after the eruption (if you wanted to know what basophil said), or keep it muted if you’re watching in dub and turn your head if that visual might bother you. It erupts out of the pipe a bit after the description, which could be bothersome. I was only a little uncomfortable by it, but enough to where I skipped rewatching it while analyzing.

After this, the parasite breaks through the wall and screams again, and after you hear the scream, you can turn the subtitles back on. The only things said before it screams are “What happened to the enemy?” from the control center and that it’s tearing through the stomach wall.

After that, it’s safe for the rest of the episode to turn subtitles back on. There is no v* audio at any points, just descriptions on how it works. After eosinophil fights the parasite, at around 19:20, another eruption occurs in the stomach from it falling in, but it could be interpreted as v* and could be bothersome.

That’s all for this episode, and I’d say be wary of these parts, but the episode as a whole is quite good regardless of these mentions if you can avoid them like I did thanks to someone who doesn’t have the phobia analyzing it for me before I watched it and warning me prior. This episode introduces two whole new cells, so I wouldn’t recommend skipping the whole thing for these things. If you’re going to skip, skip from the second parasite’s first scream at 15:20 up until its second scream after 16:43.

[matt0044]

The Mythical "Arrogant Localizer."

Too often I find a perpetuation of this narrative, especially with A.I. set to wiz all over Anime subtitles, that translators or ADR Script Writers had it coming. That they dared to tamper with the original by "changing personalities" and "pushing agendas" so much that CR decided to axe them for the politically neutral A.I.

Here's the thing:

Whenever some weeb claims that a translator was arrogant or "couldn't listen to criticism," it's not that they're acting like they know better. It's because they do know better.

They know that Japanese words or sentences can't be translated one-to-one into English, owing to how each country that the originate from were world's apart before global travel grew in scale.

They know that context and setting matters, especially in the case of something like Fire Emblem where characters in a medivel-esque setting would likely speak not unlike Shakespeare characters.

They know that each character has a distinct voice. An honorable Samurai like Goemon is going to have a more refined sense of speaking compared to the wise-cracking Lupin or the sardonic Jigen.

They know, especially, that humor based on puns or cultural references won't always work from one language to another.

Know what they also know? That 4kids was actually not good. They grew up during the days of dubs being borderline overhauled because of a poor sense of marketing. They'd prefer to not go back to there because they actually love Anime.

Of course, a lot of them are beholdened to what their clientelle want for their title's international distribution. Thus those who's produced the Anime they're bringing over are entitled to step in and object if they so choose. There have been incidents like that but that they get rectified speaks to the level of quality control these days.

Like... Brendan Blaber's attempted changes with Love Complex were unilaterally shot down. He was an jerky freelancer who did ADR script writing and overstepped his boundaries.

And all of this are things that translators on Twitter will affirm. I get the allure of the conspiracy theory. Of trying to figure out what's really going on and that those in the industry wouldn't dare reveal their nefarious plans.

But if we're going to have any conversation about translation and what's too far for the localization process, we need to take off out tin hats to focus on what we currently have to work off of. Either that or apply for a job in translation and see things from the inside for yourself.

Furthermore, if any of these translators seem "testy" or "unable to take criticism," it's that they keep going on and on about their choices in translation and how the theory overall goes. Yet so many are too eager to paint them as the villains and won't listen to a damn word.

Frankly, they should be angry. Social Media has broken down the divide between fandom and those who work on their shows where you gotta kowtow to what the former wants or you're the bad guy. Even when you try to debunk misconceptions and misinformation, they still want their lightening rod for their ire.

So no wonder they seem like assholes. They're just done entertaining those who will never, ever, ever see them as anything other than the villain.

But even assuming that they’re everything outrage merchants have marketed them as, AI in Anime on any level isn’t a win in any sense. It’s starts with subtitles, then voice acting (and we all know how authentic those sound) and soon it’ll make its way over to Japan.

Animators dying or being hospitalized because they won’t be good little cogs for the corporate machine? A.I. ain’t asking for time off. Voice Actors complaining about salaries? AI ain’t asking for pay period.

But you know what? Let CrunchyRoll invest in this. Let them try to hoard more money… and crash n’ burn in the process. Because it’ll take a popular title being subtitled with very erroneous lines to make the webs wake up. Nothing like a few Titanics to scare the straight.

[not-so-rosyyy]

have you ever seen pangako sa yo, my mom has become addicted to this show and will not leave me alone about it, now mind you we are not filipino but shes watching it without subtitles or dubbing so shes trying to explain the plot to me but Idont think she actually knows whats happening 😭😭😭

LMAO ANON! I LOVE YOUR MOM ALREADY 😍

Okay, so Pangako Sa’Yo (literal trans: Promise to You/ international title: The Promise) is one of the most iconic Filipino drama series of all time. It was really big, with its fame reaching other Southeast Asian countries as well during its run. The series now has two versions: the 2000 original and the 2015 remake. If your mom is watching it on Netflix, then that’s the 2015 version (that one has English subs though so perhaps she didn’t turn it on? Lol)

I wasn’t able to watch most of the remake but I know it has some key details that are different from the original (which is the version I remember even though I was very young when it aired). But basically, it’s the same love-against-all-odds plot with a healthy serving of trauma, revenge, power struggles and class/ socioeconomic issues. It also has all the trappings of a classic soap opera: fixed marriages, forbidden relationships, mistaken identities, switched babies, murder…YOU NAME IT.

The whole story is so complicated 😂 but the main plot is about Angelo Buenavista, the rebellious son of a rich political family and Yna Macaspac, the poor adopted daughter of a humble couple as they fight for their love despite the objections of Angelo's evil bitch of a mom Claudia.

They’re destined though…in the sense that their story really started before they were even born. Because Angelo’s dad, Eduardo and Yna’s biological mom, Amor were also star-crossed lovers back in the day. They didn’t end up together because Eduardo was married off for political reasons and Amor’s life from then on was actively ruined by his rich family. Amor then gave birth to Yna, but left the baby to her mom when a rich American took interest in her (she only did this in the hopes of giving them a better life). She was abused by the American and while there in the US, she thought her mom and Yna both died from a landslide back home (Yna miraculously survived and was picked up by the couple who raised her).

Desolate, she vowed to take revenge on all the people who wronged her mainly: the Buenavista clan (sidenote but this was a very iconic scene in Philippine television history lol). 20+ years later, she came back as Amor Powers, a very powerful and rich woman who’s now on a mission to destroy every single one of the Buenavistas and their legacy. As all of their paths cross, all the secrets from the past that led to where they all are in the present come to light. Mystery, tragedy and drama ensues!

Anyway, anon may I ask where you're from? It's just so interesting that your mom is enjoying this series 😭

[mariacallous]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, due for release this year, is one of the most anticipated games in the industry’s history. Last year, its developer, a Ukrainian company called GSC Game World, announced that the game won’t be sold in Russia, nor will it include a Russian-language voiceover. In response, a group of pro-Russian hackers is currently trying to blackmail the game’s creators, threatening to release “dozens of gigabytes” of hacked materials meant to spoil the game if the company doesn’t apologize for its “disrespectful attitude” towards the game’s Russian and Belarusian players. So far, the attempt has failed.

In March 2022, the Ukrainian video game developer GSC Game World announced that its highly anticipated game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, which is slated for release by the end of this year, will not be sold in Russia. The company also changed the game’s title from Heart of Chernobyl (the city’s Russian name, rendered in English) to Heart of Chornobyl (the city’s Ukrainian name). Then, in the summer of 2022, GSC Game World revealed that the game will not include a Russian-language voiceover, though it will offer Russian subtitles.

Now, pro-Russian hackers have threatened to publish dozens of gigabytes of materials about the game if GSC Game World doesn’t apologize for its “disrespect towards players from Belarus and Russia.”

On March 11, the administrator of a group for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fans on the Russian social media site VKontakte said in a post that they had obtained an “enormous amount” of materials related to the game. According to the user, the stolen materials include information about the game’s plot, a description of the cutscenes, concept art, and maps.

The administrator published multiple screenshots as proof. He promised not to publish the rest of the hacked content if GSC Game World fulfills three conditions before March 15:

The company must “come to its senses and rethink its attitude towards players from Belarus and Russia” and apologize for its “disrespectful attitude towards simple players from these countries.”

It must add Russian-language localization back into the game.

It must unblock the group’s profile on the game’s official forum, which the user claimed was banned “for no reason.”

“We’ll wait until the 15th for the company to change its policy […] to accept its own fans no matter where they’re from, and for the return of RU localization, if not in the release, then at least as an add-on,” the statement said.

GSC Game World responded to the ultimatum the following day, confirming on Twitter that one of its employees’ accounts had been hacked, and that this isn’t the first time the company has dealt with hacking, threats, and attempts to “damage the production process and the company’s reputation.”

“We’re a Ukrainian company, and, like most Ukrainians, we’ve seen things a lot worse than this: destroyed homes and lives, the deaths of our loved ones,” read the company’s statement.

The game’s creators asked users not to look at the leaked materials or share leaked information so as not to ruin people’s experience of the game.

After GSC Game World’s response, the blackmailers made several more posts on VKontakte in which they shared photos of concept art for several game characters. “Unfortunately, the company viewed our request to reconsider their attitude towards ordinary players as a hostile one, but we don’t want to upload the most important materials unless absolutely necessary,” they wrote, vowing to publish 10 gigabytes of the 30 they claimed to have on March 15 if GSC Game World doesn’t give in.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is one of the most anticipated releases in video game history. It was first revealed to be in development in 2010, but its first official screenshots and trailer weren’t released until 2020. That same year, the game’s developers announced that the game would finally come out in 2021, though they’ve since pushed the release date back multiple times, one of which was due to the war. They’ve promised to release the game by the end of 2023.

[linuxgamenews]

Get Ready for an Exciting Journey with Elroy and the Aliens

Elroy and the Aliens is a mystery sci-fi point and click adventure game is releasing onto Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. All credit goes to the brilliant team at Motiviti for bringing this quest to life. All due to makes its way onto Steam. Get ready to dive into a blast from the past. Elroy and the Aliens, a 90s-inspired mystery sci-fi point and click adventure, is due to release on April 2, 2025. If you’re into old-school cartoons, epic space adventures, and brain-bending puzzles, this one’s for you. Set in 1993, the story follows Elroy, a rocket enthusiast from the quirky town of Slope City. For 18 years, Elroy’s father, a renowned archaeologist, has been missing. Now, Elroy’s ready to uncover the truth, and his search takes him on a journey that’s way bigger than he ever imagined. Armed with a love for rocket engineering, a sharp mind, and the help of Peggie, a local journalist with a knack for languages and history, Elroy sets off on a wild, intergalactic quest. Together, this dynamic duo faces ancient mysteries, shady mayors, and alien encounters, while unravel a decades-old enigma. With over 60 beautifully hand-drawn locations spread across two planets, Elroy and the Aliens promises a cosmic adventure full of heart, humor, and surprises. And trust me, the puzzles? They’re as challenging as they are satisfying. But it’s not just about solving a mystery. This game dives deep into themes of friendship, discovery, and uncovering hidden truths. Along the way, you’ll meet all sorts of characters—some human, some not—and make choices that can lead to multiple endings. Will Elroy and Peggie save the day, or uncover more than they bargained for? That’s up to you.

Elroy and the Aliens - Release Date Announcement

The game’s 2D hand-drawn art style screams 90s nostalgia, with vibes inspired by LucasArts and Sierra classics. If you’re a fan of Indiana Jones, Stargate, or even epic sagas like Hyperion, you’ll feel right at home. Throw in a stunning original score and full voice acting, and you’ve got a game that’s just as much about the feels as it is the fun. And let’s talk accessibility: Elroy and the Aliens is designed with everyone in mind. Subtitles, input options, and captions for color-based puzzles make sure no one’s left out of the fun. Plus, it’s also fully voiced in English with text support for Spanish, French, German, and Brazilian Portuguese. Whether you’re a die-hard fan of mystery sci-fi point and click adventure title or just like a good story with a side of humor and heart. Well, Elroy and the Aliens is ready to take you on a journey like no other. You can also try the Linux Demo on onto Steam. You don’t have to wait long. Wishlist it on Steam now and get ready for release day on April 2, 2025. Coming to Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Elroy, Peggie, and the mysteries of the galaxy are waiting for you!

[pillarboxed]

Mencari Hajar (2023) Review

Director: Sanif Olek

Runtime: 88 minutes

Language: Malay, Mandarin, and English audio; English and Malay subtitles

Certification: PG (Singapore)

Hajar (Nora Samosir) holding her identity card.

When I’m visiting relatives in Singapore for Hari Raya Aidilfitri or Hari Raya Haji (Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha), the TV is usually playing in the background. It often feels like there’s scenes awash with anguish and tears, which I’ve found strange, considering that we’re supposed to be celebrating. I expected that Mencari Hajar, last year’s Hari Raya Haji telefilm special, would have a similar sort of overly sentimental tone. I’m normally hesitant about this, my interest more quickly piqued by stories with subdued emotions—think something like Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story or Late Spring—but I hadn’t (and still haven’t) seen enough film and TV from my home country, so I decided to give Mencari Hajar a try.

The film’s title can be translated from Malay into English as “Looking for Hajar”. This describes what Kenny Goh (Michael Chua), a Chinese man, has been doing for a long time now: he’s been searching for his aunt (Nora Samosir) who was given away to a Malay-Muslim family as a baby. He doesn’t know that she goes by the name “Hajar”, though. He doesn’t know much about her at all. But Kenny is determined to realise his father’s final wish of reuniting with his little sister.

The overall tone of Mencari Hajar turned out to be well-balanced. While the start and end make extensive use of dramatic or melancholic music over slow motion or close-ups on faces, they don’t feel overdone. The middle sections are kept quite light, with gentle or playful instrumentals often being used to alleviate tension. For example, when Kenny’s adult daughter, Sarah (Joyce Harn), finally visits her parents after some time. Kenny nags at her incessantly—and her husband, over video call—but with the music, along with a hand-held camera gently moving with the characters, it’s a scene that feels light-heartedly familiar rather than frustrating. Even after Hajar’s daughter, Rina (Sharon Ismail), reveals the huge mistake she’s made, the film doesn’t shove their overwhelming emotions onto us. It makes us sit quietly with the characters. They’re mostly filmed in a two-shot, allowing us to see Hajar’s expression grow naturally from shock to despair to anger to acceptance while Rina sobs near her.

From left: Hajar's brother and Hajar's father

Since Mencari Hajar was made for Hari Raya Haji, it stands to reason that there needed to be some connection made to the holiday. So, while Kenny is trying to find Hajar, she is preparing to leave the country for Hajj*. This is one of the film’s several subplots.

Another subplot follows Sarah, who is not only Kenny’s daughter but also Hajar’s neighbour. Sarah moved into their apartment building about six months ago; the film depicts their growing bond even before discovering they’re relatives.

As well as adoption, Mencari Hajar portrays another way intercultural families can be formed: through marriage. Sarah is married to a Malay-Muslim man, and the film explores what this means for themselves and their families. Since Sarah is pregnant, the topic of postpartum care arises. Which tradition should she follow? Should she follow her Chinese mother’s advice? Or should she use the medicines that her Malay mother-in-law gave? The film doesn’t give us an answer. My mum, who’s been in a similar position to Sarah, didn’t use either traditional medicine. Maybe Sarah will do that.

The remaining subplot focuses on Rina’s struggles with supporting two young children as a single mother. Compared to the others, this story thread seems a bit out of place but by the end of the film, we’re shown its relevance.

From left: Kenny's wife/Sarah's mother, Kenny (Michael Chua), and Sarah (Joyce Harn)

At first, it felt like the story suddenly wrapped up all too nicely—despite its bittersweet ending. After further thought, however, I decided that even if my “logical mind” isn’t fully satisfied, the ending does work. I’d describe it as eucatastrophic.

Deus ex machina, a concept related to the eucatastrophe, doesn’t need to be avoided as much as common writing advice asserts that it does. That’s what I learnt from this film. In a LitHub article by Jonathan Walker, he discusses how he used a eucatastrophe in a novel written for his PhD in creative writing. He recounts his supervisor saying, “This is a story about Christian characters and beliefs. Shouldn’t it also have a Christian plot structure?” Walker explains that “[the] whole concept of the deus ex machina implies a secular worldview, in which divine intervention can never be the real subject of a drama, and so its introduction is always evidence of a failure of human imagination.”

Well, Mencari Hajar is a story written for an Islamic holiday. Shouldn’t it have an Islamic plot structure? I think it should. And it does. Which is very fitting.

Rating: 4/5

Mencari Hajar is available to stream on mewatch.

*Hajj is an Islamic pilgrimage that takes place annually but is only required to be performed by Muslims at least once in their lifetime. Hari Raya Haji takes place during the days of Hajj.

Last updated: Sep 2, 2024

[demifiendrsa]

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster - Announcement Trailer

Product Overview

Capcom Next segment

The Dead Rising remake, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, will launch digitally for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam on September 19, 2024 for $49.99. A physical edition will follow in November 2024.

A Digital Deluxe Edition will also be available for $59.99, which includes the following costume and background music packs:

“Costumes and Background Music: Willamette Parkview Mall Pack”

“Costumes and Background Music: Resident Evil Heroes Pack”

“Costumes and Background Music: Resident Evil Villains Pack”

“Costumes and Background Music: Mega Man Pack”

“Costumes and Background Music: Capcom Fighters Pack”

Pre-orders include the following costume and background music packs:

Costume and Background Music Set 1

Costume: Frank West 2006 (Dead Rising)

Background Music: “Dreams of Yore (Mall Music 2 arranged)”

Costume and Background Music Set 2

Costume: Chuck Greene (Dead Rising 2)

Background Music: “Super Shopper” (Dead Rising 2)

Costume and Background Music Set 3

Costume: Willamette Parkview Mall Bee (Dead Rising)

Background Music: “Happy Flight! (Mall Music 6 Arranged)”

Title logo

Key visual

Frank West character render

Screenshots

About

Say cheese! Everyone’s favorite zombie-hunting photojournalist, Frank West, is back in action with the beautifully remastered Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. Reanimated from the ground up with Capcom’s RE ENGINE, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is the definitive remaster of the 2006 classic Dead Rising, which delivered a fresh take on the zombie genre with incredible action, over-the-top combat, hordes of weapon choices, wacky costumes (trust us, they’re even wackier this time around), and a comedic yet compelling storyline.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster introduces freelance photojournalist Frank West as he ventures to Willamette, Colorado after overhearing there is something going on in town. Frank soon finds out he is in the middle of a zombie takeover and has 72 hours to uncover the truth about this outbreak!

Key Features

Improved Graphics – Experience Willamette Parkview Mall being overrun by hordes of zombies like never before in up to 4K resolution with a 60 frames per second frame rate! Updated Character Models – Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster introduces new, high-end character modeling for Frank West, the unhinged Psychopaths, NPCs like Brad, Jessie, Isabela, and the beloved Madonna, survivors of the outbreak, and the seemingly endless waves of zombies! ¡Ola! Bonjour! Ciao! – For the first time ever, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster comes fully packed with voiceovers for all characters in nine different languages, including English, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Castilian Spanish, and Russian! The game will also have subtitles across 14 languages, including the aforementioned nine plus Korean, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Polish, and Arabic! ¿¿Como se dice WOW?? Quality-of-(Undead) Life Improvements – Numerous adjustments and highly requested features have been added to the game, like:

Frank West now has the ability to move while aiming!

Aspiring photojournalists can customize action shots with filters to get the best glam shot of their favorite zombies!

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster now has auto-save functionality! Need a bathroom break? Don’t worry…manual saves are still available when you need a breather.

All NPC and survivor interactions are now fully voiced!

New and improved NPC behaviors!

Real-time lighting and shadow effects!

More intuitive and user-friendly controls!

New fine-tuned user interface!

[disappointingyet]

Tillsammans 99 (Together 99)

Director Lukas Moodysson Stars Gustaf Hammersten, Shanti Roney, Jessica Liedberg, Anja Lundqvist Sweden/Denmark 2023 Language Swedish (with English subtitles) 1hr 55mins Colour

Somewhat darker reunion for the Swedish (mostly ex) hippies

Lukas Moodysson’s Together, about a very earnest left-wing commune in Sweden in the 1970s, is one of my favourite films ever. It’s funny and joyous and life-affirming, never sappy or lazy. But immediately after that, his work became much bleaker, culminating in A Hole In My Heart, ‘watching which basically felt like someone was throwing shit at you’, I once wrote, and I’ll stick by that description. Then in 2013, long after I’d given up on him, there was We Are The Best!, a wonderful surprise that matched Together in both tone and quality.

And now we have Together 99. With any sequel made long after a much-loved original, the correct procedure is to approach with caution. The rationale for making this now is that we are now the same distance in time from the original as the original was from the year it was set. As the title suggests, this film takes place in 1999, when Together was shot. 

So the question the many people I know who loved Together will want to know is: will Together 99 made me as happy as the original did? And the answer is, probably not, or not in the same way. That’s not to say in any way that this is bad film (it’s absolutely not) but it’s certainly a harsher one (to be clear, there are tough bits in Together, but the overall feel of that film is much more upbeat than this one.) 

I felt at times that Moodysson was trying to get to a synthesis between the warmth of Together/We Are The Best! (and his terrific debut, Fucking Åmål*) and his gloomier films of the 2000s.   

So we’re in the last year of the century, and the commune is down to just two members: the instinctively optimistic Göran (Gustaf Hammersten) and the long-suffering Klasse (Shanti Roney, still looking like John Fogerty from Creedence Clearwater Revival). They’re both lonely and Klasse is clearly a bit fed up with Göran, but they’ve got nowhere much to go. 

Klasse organises a surprise birthday party for Göran, inviting the former members of the collective, plus a couple of the neighbours who they had taken into their circle. Peter (David Dencik) also turns up – he says he remembers all of them, but no one remembers him. There’s some initial awkwardness, but they have a lovely afternoon together. As evening sets in, though, assorted issues that lingered through the decades come to the surface, and there are some pretty gruelling scenes. 

Moodysson makes sure there are always funny moments, even as things get edgy. And two of the characters drift away from the rest and have a little adventure that is pure entertainment.

It’s shot with handheld cameras and feels naturalistic in an unforced way (as opposed to, say, latter-day Ken Loach). We’re right in there with these characters, and the actors all seem at ease with the parts they are playing, have slipped right back into them. It all feels right. The cast are all great, but maybe a special word for Gustaf Hammersten, whose Göran is the heart of both the commune and these films.

This is a very good film. But if you have fond memories of the vibe of the original, maybe you won’t want to see this one because it does add some sour notes, even while ultimately endorsing the underlying humanism that Together embodied. 

*The title it was given in English-speaking countries is Show Me Love, but that sells the film so short. 

[ranahan]

I think they’re supposed to be calling everything “Mandalore”, as in, the Galactic Basic name for Mandalore (the planet), Mandalore (the system), Mandalore (the star), Mandalore (the title of Mandalorian ruler), Mandalore (the state), and Mandalore (the culture). But hey, Basic also has Mandalorian (adjective) and Mandalorian (person from Mandalore). So the poor bastards have a grand total of two words to translate all those different things. This is not just a Mando’a—English problem; rather it’s a general translation problem because the people within a culture have a need for more specific words, while the people outside that culture can make do with less.

Agree it’s weird though if they’re using Mand’alor, which is Mando’a and should only refer to Mandalore (ruler). I don’t watch shows/movies with subtitles if I can help it; I get too distracted by stupid translation mistakes.

Something really nitpicky about The Mandalorian that's been bugging me since the beginning.

I really hate how they're twisting the word "Mand'alor". Like, "walk the Way of the Mand'alor", which to me makes no sense. And they also call the planet Mandalore "Mand'alor". (I'm referring to the subs).

A bit of clarification:

Mandalore is the planet

Mandalorian(s) is the people

Mand'alor is their ruler (Mando+alor. Alor means leader, so "leader of the Mandalorians"

If they want to call the people in Mando'a, it should be Mando'ad (pl. Mando'ade) aka Mando+ad(e) where ad(e) is "child(ren)", so "Children of Mandalore".

If they want to call the planet in Mando'a, it should be Manda'yaim aka Mando+yaim, where yaim is "home", so "Home of the Mandalorians".

It's pretty basic.

I don't expect them to delve this deep into it, but at least get the subs right and don't just call everything Mand'alor.

[cthulhubert]

I didn’t finish second year Japanese, but I learned enough to have Opinions on manga title translation, and I have a mood so I've decided to hemorrhage them here.

One of the first ones that really stuck with me was learning that Ghost in the Shell (both movie and manga) was originally titled 攻殻機動隊 (Koukakukidoutai, the official literal translation is “mobile armored riot police”, though “riot police” isn’t literal, just implied by the use of 隊  meaning “squad”). This makes the title something of a bait and switch type joke: it leads you to expect an action heavy procedural, instead of the cyberpunk meditation on the construction of identity when bodies are fungible. So I'm kind of 50/50 on that one. Ghost in the Shell remains a baller title, even if we lose the joke.

The other was a fan translation of a shoujo manga I loved: ヤマトナデシコ七変化, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge; which is definitely a contender for most Japanese per Japanese you can get. Yamato is literally "mountain", but it was also the name for the nation that would eventually grow into Japan (ie, the major ethnicity is still called yamato-jin, the precursor to the Japanese language—nihon-go—was yamato-go, etc); and a nadeshiko is a flower (dianthus superbus), but metaphorically referred to a kind of sweet, loveable young woman. Thus "yamato nadeshiko" became an idiom for the "ideal Japanese woman" (decorus, graceful, benevolent, etc). Shichihenge, meanwhile, means seven changes, is also a flower, but mainly means a traditional kabuki dance in which a performer rapidly changes their clothes seven times. (One of the ways I’m unreliable as a translator: I couldn't even begin to guess what the semiotics she was going for by using katakana script instead of kanji for "Yamato Nadeshiko"; from my perspective of ignorance it could be anything; it was actually standard for the time? emphasis? easier to read? distancing from tradition?). How do you even begin conveying that...? Well, the translators decided that rather than leaving it untranslated (as many densely Japanese titles go) or going literal (Mountain Fringed Pink Seven Changes), Perfect Girl Evolution got the idea across; which I suppose it does. The story is a Taming of the Shrew type. Eventually it got an official translation, and this time they just decided to rename it completely. Which makes some sense, except... the name they picked was The Wallflower. Like I suppose I can see it at the level of "Someone who doesn't dance at a party", but to me a wallflower is that way because they're shy or reserved; not because they're misanthropic, bitter and aggressive. Not only that, but the original title focuses on her transformation (and the many unexpected ways it goes!), not how she is at the start.

When I started reading Attack on Titan I was expecting a sci-fi battle on a moon of Saturn! The Japanese name is 進撃の巨人, Shingeki no Kyojin. The English subtitle was by the original author, and it was only kept for the official name because people were already familiar with it from fan translations. Kyojin is fairly directly "giant"; like, it's on the jp.wikipedia page for Jack and the Beanstalk; none of the mythological associations that "Titan" does (which is usually just transliterated: ティーターン). As for Shingeki, well, kanji is fascinating the way it allows for a lot of highly specific compounds which make homophones that are distinguished in speech by context; shingeki is very specifically the military maneuver to claim ground. [The] Giant's Advance, or Advance of the Giants or Advancing Giants. Maybe Charge would work. I am just utterly baffled why they couldn’t at least fix the completely incorrect participle.

I recently read 3月のライオン, Sangatsu no Lion, literally, the Lion of March (or March's Lion). It has a little tagline that's on most of the covers or a title page of the books, in English: "March comes in like a lion...". For what I can only assume was the sole purpose of irritating me, specifically, a lot of fan translators transliterated it in the stupidest possible way: 3-gatsu no Lion. Like... a Japanese person does not see 3 and pronounce it "three" in their head. If you're transliterating the characters, you should transliterate all of them and the transliteration of "3" from Japanese is "san"! It's either 3月のライオン or it's Sangatsu no Lion, not this halfway dumbshit! But that's actually somehow less egregious than the official translation's title, which is, wait for it, March Comes in Like a Lion. Like... way to miss the entire point! The title is pointing towards the notional Lion like which March comes in! You're primed to look for a character or situation going from being like a lion to like a lamb! She specifically did not use the idiom for the title! You can tell! Why would you change that‽

I don't like having 100% complaints, so let's mention another favored manga: 砂ぼうず, Suna-bouzu, aka: Desert Punk. Suna literally means sand and grit, but in Japanese that’s a metonym for desert. Bozou is... mostly a mildly derogatory word for a young man; they picked "punk" mostly for the "Juvenile delinquint" sense, but a closer literal translation might actually be "brat" (my dictionary also gives "sonny (derogatory)"). It's a great example of correct translation, because (as soon as you know they mean "punk" like a person not like a genre) the sense that comes to an English speaker from "desert punk" is a near exact match for the meaning a Japanese speaker gets from "sunabouzu"; which, well... just compare "Sand Brat".

Anyways, what set this all off what looking at manga and finding うちのアパートの妖精さん, Uchi no Apartment no Yousei-san, literally-ish: "Household’s Apartment's Fairy", which was translated as "A Very Fairy Apartment". I'm not sure I like it—it makes me think of an apartment complex or room full of fairies, unlike the contents, about a single fairy that lives with a family—but it's a lot less wrong than some of these other ones.

[tanenigiri]

Review #14: I Hear the Sunspot: Theory of Happiness

Japanese title: ひだまりが聴こえる (Hidamari ga Kikoeru)

Story and art: Yuki Fumino

English publisher: One Peace Books

Number of volumes: 5 in English, 6 in Japanese (ongoing)

The consequences of moving forward.

(This review contains story spoilers.)

The first volume of I Hear the Sunspot is among my favorites out of all the BL manga I’ve read so far. I raved about how unique the premise was in its review, and I still think that its execution was done very well. Even if the ending was more up in the air than usual, I still thought it was a good way to wrap that story up, although I obviously would want to read more about what happens between Taichi and Kohei afterwards.

Luckily, the series has four more volumes (and a fifth in Japanese) that goes into detail about that. And while I don’t hold these sequels in the same level of high regard as I do the first volume, I still think that they’re able to execute the series’ unique premise very well, and even extend it to storylines that I didn’t expect. This review will focus on the second volume, which has a (deceptively) hopeful subtitle in Theory of Happiness and takes place some time after the events of the first volume.

We find out near the beginning that an encounter during spring break has left Taichi and Kohei in an awkward situation. It’s later revealed that this is because of Taichi’s uncertainty with where he wants their relationship to go, and since he’s still left confused after Kohei’s confession, his instinct is to run away. This comes up in another major way later in the story, but I first wanted to talk about the scene that happens immediately before this, where Yoko - one of Taichi’s friends - is inviting Taichi, Kohei, and the rest of the friend group to another party.

It’s a very simple scene that features the usual banter between friends, but Kohei suddenly falls back into his usual habit of tuning everything out and putting a wall between him and the others he perceives as on the “other side.” But before he can even get that first brick in, Taichi reaches out to him and animatedly tells him what the conversation was about, and it takes him a while before he realizes that they weren’t even in speaking terms at that point.

There’s nothing about this interaction that’s particularly new development - Taichi’s empathy has already been repeatedly demonstrated by this point - but I still find this scene a huge highlight for this volume, as it shows that it’s become almost automatic for Taichi to make the effort to include Kohei into things, even (and probably especially) if he’s around his normal-hearing friends. It really shows just how huge of a deal it is for Kohei to have someone like Taichi with him, and I’m not surprised at all that only a few scenes after this, Kohei and Taichi talk about their awkward encounter and make up.

I also wanted to highlight this scene as Kohei isn’t the only one who’s visibly affected by what Taichi does here - there’s also Maya, a freshman who has a similar disability as Kohei and probably the most noteworthy character introduced in this volume. The mangaka describes Maya as someone who “complicates things for the protagonists” in the afterword, and I think that sums it up quite well - she spends the first few chapters deliberately trying to separate Kohei from Taichi and giving the latter even more doubts about the relationship.

It’s honestly infuriating, as we’re led to believe that she’s doing all of this because she herself has feelings for Kohei, especially since he’s spending a lot of time tutoring her because of their similar disabilities. Thankfully, the story does something more interesting with her character after the party invitation scene I talk about above. She sees how Kohei reacts to what Taichi does there, and she spends a significant amount of the rest of the volume trying to understand what exactly Kohei sees in Taichi.

Funnily enough, she gets exactly that the more she hangs out with Kohei, as he gets hit with a lot of memories about Taichi and tells her all about it. When she confronts him about it, Kohei gives a really heartwarming speech about what Taichi means to him, and it’s probably the most solid affirmation we’ve gotten about how genuine this relationship is - at least in Kohei’s side. And after a few scenes where Maya experiences Kohei’s empathy first-hand, she does get to a point where she understands why Kohei and Taichi are good for each other and even tells Kohei point-blank that she’s jealous of what they have - though it doesn’t prevent her from still being hostile towards Taichi.

I think the execution of her character could’ve been done better, especially earlier in the volume where it almost seems like she’s there just to mess up Taichi and Kohei’s dynamic and not get any development of her own, but I really like where Maya ends up by the end of Theory of Happiness. She’s in a unique position of being able to relate to Kohei about a specific aspect of his life while being clueless and even bewildered about another. and she even ends up indirectly pushing Taichi to the right direction in terms of sorting out his feelings about Kohei.

Speaking of which, there’s one other major thing that happens in this volume that complicates this plotline - Taichi dropping out of college and entering a new job. We’re initially shown that Kohei is not taking it well at all, and he ends up saying something that hits Taichi the wrong way. I definitely recognize how this is supposed to mirror what happens earlier in the volume with the spring break incident, so it’s nice to see that the day after this interaction happens, Kohei takes the initiative to actually clear things up and not let any awkwardness bring them apart yet again.

What does bring them apart is Taichi eventually deciding to pursue the job, and we’re even told that he hasn’t talked to Kohei for six months after he drops out of college. But a chance meeting between Taichi and Kohei one night leads him to realize his true feelings, and it leads to a slightly dramatic but still heartfelt confession scene that the entire volume has been building up to. Throughout the volume we see Taichi being ultimately unsure of what type of relationship he actually shares with Kohei, but after spending all this time away from Kohei and realizing that they both genuinely love each other, it finally gives Taichi the certainty that he's been striving to get for quite some time. I was definitely rooting for Taichi to finally realize what he’s been feeling by the end of this volume, and I do think they handled that scene well.

And it goes back to what I love the most about the I Hear the Sunspot series as a whole - the depth of its main characters that makes it really easy to connect with them. A lot of the manga I’m covering for this project are character-driven, and I think almost all of them have a really great main cast, but there’s something about Taichi and Kohei’s dynamic that makes both of them special. They aren’t necessarily my favorite, but they stand out in a very good way.

Random thoughts that I couldn’t fit elsewhere:

You’ll notice that I spent more time than usual talking about things that happen in the volume rather than the characters or their conflicts, and there were a lot of things I even had to skip over since I was already taking up too much space - I haven't even mentioned Taichi's workmates. I do think that’s one of the things that puts the first volume above its sequels - I Hear the Sunspot was a lot more compact with its storytelling, and it was able to say so much with a relatively simple storyline. Theory of Happiness has a lot more angst and drama as well as emotional payoff, but there’s a lot of story to juggle that it’s sometimes hard to keep up. I think the next three volumes also have this issue, and it’s one of the major reasons why I put that first volume in a whole other tier compared to all of its sequels.

I found the extra chapter really interesting, as it distills quite a lot of the themes of the entire volume into a simpler storyline. It also shows a lot of progress in both Taichi and Kohei, as they’ve become much better at not only communicating their issues with one another, but also recognizing if something is bothering the other. It also gives a sneak peek of one of the conflicts from the next three volumes, which really made me appreciate this chapter differently when I reread it.

I really liked that the story used Taichi’s no-holds-barred and blurt-it-out thought process to his advantage in landing his job. I also feel like it’s a great contrast to how he feels about his relationship with Kohei, since neither of them have been good at really communicating at this point, so to see communication as something that Taichi is rewarded for makes for a nice image.

Thanks for reading! You can read my review of the first volume of I Hear the Sunspot here. While I have my misgivings about it, I do think Theory of Happiness is a solid sequel, and I do like how it develops Taichi and Kohei’s relationship. Right now I’ve decided not to post a review on the Limit arc as my general thoughts on it are pretty similar to what I say above, but let me know if you still want it as I do intend on rereading them anyway.