#NAMI Nigori

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NAMI Nigori, la nueva variante del sake mexicano

La familia NAMI crece con el lanzamiento de Nami Nigori, el primer sake Nigori producido en México.  Con un sabor dulce y frutal, y un bajo nivel de alcohol, el nuevo NAMI Nigori es la oportunidad perfecta para adentrarse en el mundo del sake.  Continue reading NAMI Nigori, la nueva variante del sake mexicano

[gyakutengagotoku]

GSvsAA - Apollo Justice - Character Profiles

As promised, I shall deliver. The profiles for DD and SoJ will be following shortly, like tomorrow.

Some of these name puns may be familiar to old fans since the days when GS4 hadn’t yet been revealed as “Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney” to the West. Fortunately for us, the following mainstream games (setting aside the incredibly long pause of mainstream games between AJ and DD) have had some quick notice of localization.

*prays hard for DGS* They have a bundle pack now. Come on, Ms. Hsu and crew, I know you guys can pull through...

Please check this post or the master post for more details on this translation project. As usual, spoilers below.

Link to DD profiles.

Main cast

Apollo Justice - Odoroki Housuke (王泥喜 法介) odoroki is Japanese for “surprise”. The hou (法) is “law” and suke, often pronounced “skeh”, is a common ending for boy names. The entire name comes to “Surprise! Here’s a new law boy!” Mr. Takumi designed his name as such since GS4 at the time of its reveal back in TGS 2006 was meant to appear as a surprise for fans who were expecting good ol’ Nick. Trivia: It seems Takumi and the crew had trouble coming up with kanji for his name. They went with “king”, “mud”, and “happiness”. Why mud? Well, not too many kanji avail for the doro part, and splitting it up even more would have been too clunky. (Also, he feels like mud most of the time anyway. >:3c )

Trucy Wright - Naruhodou Minuki (成歩堂 みぬき) naruhodo, as many of us fans know by now, is an expression of understanding like “I see” or “Okay”. minuki comes from the verb minuku, which means “to see through” to the truth. Her original surname, Enigmar, is Nanafushi. More on that below in Zak’s entry. Mr. Hat is Boushi-kun, or “Hat-kun”.

Phoenix Wright - Piani-to (ピアニート) No, that’s not what he’s called in the game, but it’s a fan-favorite name that has pervaded the Japanese fanbase since 2006-7. It’s a mix of the English word “pianist” and the acronym NEET, for “Not in Education, Employment, or Training”. It’s an alternative to “Naruhobo”, which isn’t as widely known among Jap fans, but I still sometimes see it. Ever since he returned to law in DD, though, it’s been a name reserved for his AJ-era self. Regardless, he’s still a terrible piano player and has been procrastinating on practice.

Kristoph Gavin - Garyuu Kirihito (牙琉 霧人) garyuu can mean “dragon’s fang” or “self-taught man”, but it can also refer to a person of (usu. unrecognized) exceptional talent or genius. Interestingly, the ryuu in his name is the kanji in 琉璃, ruri, for the gem lapis lazuli. Blue is a rather symbolic color for this character. Kirihito, with the above kanji, is literally “man of mist” or mystery. Written differently, it can also mean “killer”. As usual, Takumi likes to give his first-case villains some really direct, spoilery names.

Klavier Gavin - Garyuu Kyouya (牙琉 響也) As mentioned above, garyuu can mean “dragon’s fang”. The G-shaped medallion he wears is actually meant to somewhat resemble a dragon’s fang, though it’s also supposed to be a G for “Garyuu Wave”, aka The Gavinners. I believe this name was chosen to parallel everyone’s favorite dragon-boy, aka that spiky blue bird-man-guy-dude. Kyouya is a common boy’s name as well, though the kyou (響) in his name means “echo”, “resonance”, or a distinctive “sound”. Unlike Phoenix, he's a good musician.

Episode 1

Shadi Smith - Urafushi Kagerou (浦伏 影郎) ura, written as 裏, means “back”, as in the background or the back side of something. fushi, from the verb fuseru, means “to hide, conceal, lie in wait”. kage is “shadow”, and rou is a common albeit a bit old-fashioned ending to a boy’s name. More on his actual name down below in Zak’s entry.

Olga Orly - Sakai Masaka (逆居 雅香) The saka in her last name is the kanji in sakarau, which means “to disobey, defy”. (It’s also the first kanji in Gyakuten Saiban, but that’s probably just coincidence for once.) It also comes from her nickname “Ikasama Sakai”, as in “Cheating Sakai”, which is also a palindrome. masaka is an expression of disbelief, like “Impossible!” or “No way!” It also fits well with her last name as a sort of tongue twister. Trivia: Takumi named her after a senior he had in high school who had the nickname “Ikasama Sakai”.

Episode 2

Wocky Kitaki - Kitaki Takita (北木 滝太) His full name is literally three kita, as in the expression “Kita kita kita!”, which I can conveniently describe as “Come at me, bro!” His family name is known in-game as the Kitakitsune Clan, or the Northern Fox Clan, and the first kita in his name (北) is “north”.

Alita Tiala - Namina Minami (並奈 美波) Her name was picked to parallel Takita up above; it’s made of three nami, which by itself means “wave” and isn’t really relevant here, but minami means “south”. Trivia: It seems the staff had a difficult time remembering her name, often mistaking it as “Nami Minami”.

Guy Eldoon - Yatabuki Mugitsura (矢田吹 麦面) yatai is “food stand”. The name of his stand backward so happens to spell yakibutaya, which is a a food stand for ramen noodle served with roast pork. The irony is he only serves miso ramen (localized to salt). The two kanji of his first name, when squished together like 麺, means “noodle”.

Edit: Well, I’ve been informed that this isn’t quite the case, as “Yakibutaya” is more of a brand name of noodle, rather than an actual category of noodle stand. I once saw this joke made in a 4koma comic series from the AJ anthology, but now I’m out of ideas.

Trivia: It’s been implied that this guy’s stand is the usual place where Nick and Maya frequently stop by for her favorite miso ramen. It may even well be the same place where she and her sister used to go, though Eldoon’s gone through a number of these stands. His dog’s name is Renge - “lotus flower”, which the root is sometimes used in noodle broths, but it can also refer to the Chinese-style of spoon. Her name has thus been localized to Spoon.

Plum Kitaki - Kitaki Koume (北木 小梅) Her English name was taken from her Japanese name, which is literally “Little Plum”.

Pal Meraktis - Ukari Teruo (宇狩 輝夫) Ukari comes from the word ukkari, “carelessly”. kari is “debt”, and considering his situation before he was killed, that’s a pretty big debt he carries. Meanwhile, I’m not sure about his first name. It could just be another case of taking someone’s actual name.

Winfred “Big Wins” Kitaki - Kitaki Tsunekatsu (北木 常勝) His name comes from the phrase tsune ni katsu, which means “always wins”. Even the kanji are the same.

The Rivales Family - Katagi (華汰義) Clan katagi refers to non-gangsters, as in the “good citizens”. So, uh, I guess these “Rivales” guys are actually pretty good-natured gangsters? Trivia: Actually, Takumi got this name from a dentist’s office in his neighborhood. I swear he comes up with the oddest places of inspiration.

Wesley Stickler - Kawadzu Kyousaku (河津 京作) kawazu means “frog”, probably referring to the old Chinese legend of a frog who lives in a well and knows nothing about the outside world, but believes it knows all there is to it. In other words, it’s a person who willfully lives in ignorance. (Also, his face is kinda... frog-like? Well, maybe more like a zombie.) kyousaku means “bad harvest”. Well, it’s true he’s been studying hard, but I think it’s clear he isn’t very successful with applying his knowledge.

Episode 3

Romein LeTouse - Romaine Lettuce (ローメイン・レタス) It is what it is. Takumi admitted in an interview that he came up with it just because he happened to see it in a recipe once.

Lamiroir (ラミロア) It’s probably taken from the French word “miroir” (”mirror” in English), in reference to the phrase “mirror image” of a person. It’s actually supposed to be “le miroir” in French, since “la” refers to feminine-group nouns, but in this case, I’m sure “la” works for her. Check Thalassa’s entry below under Episode 4 for more details.

Machi Tobaye - Maki Tobahyu (マキ トバーユ) maki means “curl” or “roll”. He does have some curly hair, doesn’t he? It also can mean “wrapped up [in]” depending on what verb it’s paired with; perhaps like how he’s been wrapped up in something beyond his control? His last name may be from the phrase toraba-yu, meaning "job change”, from the French word “travail”, which actually just means “job”.

Edit: Mr. Takumi strikes again. In his official statement, he forgot where the inspiration for this name came from, so I can’t make any decisive claims. In other words, my hopes and dreams have been crushed.

Daryan Crescend - Mayudzuki Daian (眉月 大庵) His last name sounds like mayu-suki, that is “likes cocoons”. Also, the second kanji in it is tsuki, “moon”. There seems to be a connection there with his localized name. In an interview, Takumi mentioned that Daian came from a list of “cool names” for prosecutors he drafted up back then. As it turns out, daian can also mean “backup plan”.

Episode 4

Valant Gramarye - Arumajiki Varan (或真敷 バラン) arumajiki means “unworthy”. It also sounds like the words “all magic”. Varan is taken from baran, which when paired in zakkubaran, means “frankly”.

Vera Misham - Ese Makoto (絵瀬 まこと) ese is “sham” and makoto is “truth”. The first kanji in her last name is also that for “picture”.

Drew Misham - Ese Doburoku (絵瀬 土武六) doburoku refers to a type of unrefined, cloudy saké; also known as “nigori”, which means “murkiness”. I don’t know if this means he drinks, but it was thanks to a bad cup of coffee that he met his death.

Spark Brushel - Hamigaki Shoutarou (葉見垣 正太郎) hamigaki is literally “brushing teeth”. shoutarou is from... shotacon; that is, the shoutarou complex. Uh... at least he’s got the blush stickers? Trivia: That he shares a similar name to Hami-chan (Pearly) has been the source of a crack pairing with him and Pearl. *shudder* On a lighter note, Hamigaki was originally the name for a rakugo artist who was supposed to appear in the game. By rakugo naming conventions, it would be “something-something-tei Hamigaki”.

Zak Gramarye -  Arumajiki Zakku (或真敷 ザック) See Valant’s entry above. For his real name, Shadi Enigmar, it’s Nanafushi Kagerou. nanafushigi is the “Seven Wonders”; his first name is the same as from the Shadi Smith entry. Trivia: Both nanafushi and kagerou are insects. The former is the stick insect; the latter is the mayfly. One is usually in hiding and the other has a infamously short lifespan. Deep.

Magnifi Gramarye -  Arumajiki Tensai (或真敷 天斎) tensai means “genius”. Being paired with arumajiki sure is ironic, huh?

Thalassa Gramarye - Arumajiki Yuumi (或真敷 優海) I can’t find a particular pun behind her name; it sounds like a common girl’s name. The second kanji umi (海) means “sea”, so perhaps that inspired her localized name. I can’t help but wonder if her name was picked to match with Zak’s real name, Nanafushi (Enigmar), to create the “Seven Wonders” and “Seven Seas”. The Troupe has been known to tour the world, after all. (This is just my speculation, though.)

That’s it for AJ profiles! Time to move onto the 3DS games.

[marichromatic]

Today we went to the Ramen Festival and there was a booth selling sake so I had to get some. The junmai is actually from the state of Sinaloa, here in Mexico, and it's really good. I was surprised with the quality it has, no wonder they managed to get a place in the festival. Huge thumbs up to them. #sake #junmai #nigori #nami #sakecup #sakazuki #alcohol (at Asociación México Japonesa, A. C.)