#but then 頭 is a go to for head and i often see it used interchangably with 首

[the-mononoke-facade]

One of these days I'm going to figure out when 瞳 (hitomi) is supposed to be referring to someone's eyes and when it's supposed to be referring to someone's pupils, because slitted/narrowed eyes and slitted pupils have two different connotations, did you narrow your eyes or do you have cat eyes? This is important information okay

[plandthealguidebooktranslation]

Azran Legacy Guidebook: Page 97

Previous Page: Page 96

(Continued from previous page)

The game was packed with minigames in addition to the main puzzles, such as the dress up and treasure hunt feature. You must have all felt very accomplished once it was complete.

Hino We had to be diligent to ensure that all of the events were 100% complete, but everyone put their heads together and worked hard to produce the final product.

The directors, Kumakai-san and Susuki-san, said “There was a strong feeling of: ‘we’ve done it’, this time.”

Hino From Kumakai and Suzuki’s points of view, for certain. The two years of development was a long time for the “Professor Layton” team, so I think there is a sense of accomplishment in that.

This is the sequel that the fans were waiting for, after all!

Hino This time, a lot of attention was paid to details. As I played the completed game, I found myself thinking “it even has this?!” Each world was made carefully.

You can touch even normal-looking items on the map and they respond, right?

Hino You could say “(you) can’t go this far with all of them!” but we were in an exceptional position, after all. I think they did a really good job.

What parts of “Azran Legacy” did you pay special attention to?

Hino The concept of this game is for players to be able to “play as and when they would like to”. Not just for the story, but we also wanted players to be able to solve puzzles, and complete the collection and treasure hunt freely.

So, what is your favourite scene, Hino-san?

Hino The latter half of the game, where many characters have a change of heart. I often wondered whether such a scenario would be suited to a handheld game, but the “Professor Layton” series always deals with the serious parts in a serious manner. I think it manages to provide a tasteful end for each character.

As a fan of the game, I think I still want to see more of the Layton and Luke duo…

Hino I think this will be a stopping point (ambiguous, could mean end, or just a pause) for the main series. However, it is possible that Layton and Luke will appear in spin-off works.

Oh, a spin off?!

Hino We are making something working off of the “Professor Layton” series, but whether it will be connected to “Professor Layton”, or a completely independent work, we don’t know yet. Overseas, this game’s ability to play the story and also freely solve puzzles has been well received, so people would like to see the series continue. But whether it will an adventure with Layton, or perhaps his son or daughter, or another different person entirely, we are still deciding.

In the iOS game “Layton Brothers: Mystery Room”, the protagonist is Layton’s son. So are you saying…?!

Hino I’ve made many games, but I don’t want to make something normal. Even with a new “Profesor Layton”, I want to create a constant feeling surprise of “what just happened?!” I hope to announce a new “Professor Layton” in the future.

I hope we can be reunited with characters like Emmy and Descole, who we parted ways with here!

Hino Should we continue on in the same universe, those characters will probably appear again. The world of Layton, or “Alternate London” as we call it, is all one coherent setting, so I wonder whether we can use that to create something new.

スタッフも今まで要求されなかったことを要求されて、とまどっていたかもしれませんね。

「きせかえファッション」などのミニゲ ー ム、コレクション、ひみつのワードなと、本筋のナゾトキ以外にもいろいろな遊びが詰まっている。 その分、完成したときは全員の達成感もすこかったでしようね。

日野 すべてのイベントが 100 %の完成度になっているかどうかは、常に精進しないといけない部分ではありますけど、みんなが頭をひねって考え出した、それぞれの苦労が結集された作品になりましたね。

ディレクター の熊谷さんと鈴木さんも、「今回は "やりきった"という感覚が強い」とおっしやっていました。

日野 熊谷と鈴木の視点から見てもそうでしようね。開発に 2 年というのは、『レイトン教授」チ ー ムにとっては初めての長期間でしたし、そういう意味でも達成感はあると思います。

ファンにとっても、待ちに待った続編ですからね!

日野 今回は、本当に細かく作られているんですよ。僕もある程度完成したものをプレイしているときに「ここまでやるの!?」という思うくらい、丁寧に 1 つ 1 つの世界を細かく作りこんであります。

マップの何気ない物も、タッチするといろんな反応を返してくれたりしますよね。

日野 「毎回はここまでやれないよ」というくらい、特別なポジションの作品ですからね。本当によく頑張ってもらったと思います。

『超文明 A の遺産』で特に注目してほしい部分はどこでしよう?

日野 やはり、今回のコンセプトで打ち出した「旅をしている気分で、好きなように遊べる」という部分でしようか。スト ー リ ー を追っていくだけでなく、 1 つ 1 つのナゾを解いていったり、コレクションやひみつのワ ー ドを集めてもらったりと自由にプレイしてほしいですね。

それでは、日野さんのお気に入りのシ ー ンは?

日野 後半に向かう部分での、いろんなキャラクタ ー の心の動きですね。携帯ゲ ー ム機の作品で、果たしてこういうシナリオが向いているのかと思うこともあったんですけど、『レイトン教授』シリ ー ズはシリアスな部分はシリアスに描いてきた作品ですから。それぞれのキャラクタ ーたちの終わりを、丁寧に作れたと思います。

今作を遊んだファンとしては、やはりレイトンとル ー クの名コンビをもっと見たい、と思うのですが・・・

日野 正式なシリ ー ズとしては、今回で一区切りになると思います。ただ、外伝的な作品でレイトンとル ー クが出てくる可能性はありますね。

おお、外伝ですか!

日野 『レイトン教授』シリ ー ズの流れを汲んだものは生み出そうとはしていますが、それが『レイトン教授』と付くものになるのか、まったく別の作品になるかはまだわかりません。物語を遊びながら、気軽にナゾを解いて遊べる、というゲ ー ム性は海外でも大きく支持されましたし、皆さんがまだまだ楽しみたいということであれば、何らかの形で継続していきたいと考えています。ただ、それがレイトンなのか、レイトンの息子なのか娘なのか、それともまったく違う人物の冒険になるかは、まだまだ考えている最中ですね。

レイトンの息子が主役の iOS 対応ゲ ー ム『レイトンブラザ ー ズ・ミステリ ー ルーム」のような作品もありますしね。ああいった形で、もしかして・・・!?

日野 僕もたくさんゲ ー ムを作ってきましたけど、やっぱり普通のことってしたくないんですよね。何か新しい「レイトン教授」を作るうえでも、「なんだとっ!?」ていう驚きの感じを常に出していきたいです。近いうちにそんな『レイトン教授」か発表できるといいなとは思います。

レミやデスコールなど、今回別れたキャラクターたちとも再会できるといいですね!

日野 今後も同じ世界観でいく場合は、そういったキャラクタ ー たちも出てくるでしようね。レイトンたちが暮らしている世界のことを、僕らは「異世界ロンドン」と呼んでいるんですけど、一本の筋の通った世界観になっていますから、それを使ってまた新しいものを生み出すのはアリなのかなと思っています。

[languagefeatures]

Japanese topic/subject split sentences

Something interesting about Japanese is that the topic and subject are often formally separate. It is more complicated in practice, but the rough guideline is that topics are marked with /wa/ and subjects are marked with /ga/. One result of this is that there are a number of cases where English would use a transitive verb but Japanese uses an adjective with both a subject and a topic. When I first was introduced to this concept, the learning resource told me to treat this as using a complete sentence as a predicate, so if that helps you wrap your head around it, there you go.

The following examples show Japanese text, Romaji text, a gloss, a more literal English translation, and finally the way an English speaker is more likely to phrase it.

寝ず子は　髪が　長いです。 Nezuko wa kami ga nagai desu. Nezuko-TOP hair-SUBJ long be As for Nezuko, the hair is long. "Nezuko has long hair."

シカマルは　頭がいいです。 Shikamaru wa atama ga ii desu. Shikamaru-TOP head-SUBJ good be As for Shikamaru, the head is good. "Shikamaru is smart."

動物は火が怖いです。 Doubutsu wa hi ga kowai desu. animal-TOP fire-SUBJ scary be As for animals, fire is scary. "Animals are afraid of fire."

ジョジョは背が高いです。 Jojo wa se ga takai desu. Jojo-TOP stature-SUBJ high be As for Jojo, the stature is high. "Jojo is tall."

As you can see, this pattern creates a lot of flexibility in the range of ways a concept can be expressed.

[momuse]

ーー最初に素ラーメンの写真を投稿した時は、ファンの方からもいろんな意見がありました。それが今では「八木メシ」として愛されるようになりましたね。

いろんな意見があるのは当たり前で、むしろ話題にしてもらえるのはありがたいと思っていました。つばきファクトリーでは同期が注目される場面が多くて、私は陰に隠れていたというか、「話題になりにくいのかな…」って感じることもあったんです。今��は、ファンの方が「八木メシ」を楽しんでくれることがうれしくて、料理を続ける理由の一つになっていますね。

ーー食費は意識していますか？

意識しています。でも、「1か月にいくら」とか予算を組んでいるわけじゃなくて、「できるだけ安く作りたい」という気持ちが、いつも頭の片隅にある感じです。スーパーにはあまりこだわりがなくて、安く買える「まいばすけっと」を利用することが多いです。単身者向けのカット野菜が豊富で、プライベートブランドなども充実していて、お得な買い物ができるので。

-- When you first posted a picture of plain ramen, you received many opinions from the fans. But now it's become to be loved as "Yagi-meshi".

Yagi Shiori: It was natural to have various opinions, and I was rather grateful to have the fans talk about it. In Tsubaki Factory, there were many occasions when my contemporaries got a lot of attention, and I was outdone by them. So I sometimes thought that I didn't have outstanding characteristics to be talked about. Now, I am happy to see my fans enjoying Yagi-Meshi, and it's one of the reasons why I continue to cook.

-- Are you conscious of your food costs?

Yagi Shiori: Very much. But I don't set a budget like "how much to spend per month," but I always have an obsession in the back of my head "I want to cook as cheaply as possible". I don't care much about which supermarket to purchase foods at, so I often go to MyBasket where I can buy ingredients cheaply. I can always get good deals there since they have a wide variety of precut vegetables which is useful for singles and private label products.

ファンからのアドバイスが「おいしい」への近道ーーつばきファクトリー・八木栞さんの「八木メシ」

[tempenensis]

Halo! Here's a reddit link to information and research papers about onmyodo consolidated by other people and a link to an overview. Tried to summarize below bits and pieces that may be relevant to jjk (and which I tried to understand to the best of my abilities :P )

I think this will be the last time I write such a long-ass ask again, my apologies

About cursed spirits and mono

Court onmyojis in Heian used divination to find out the cause of things like curses, strange events (kaii), natural disasters, illness, why your dog is barking at a seemingly empty spot (answer: Megumi's divine dog is barking back) and so on. Strange events were referred to as mokke (物怪) or mono no satoshi (もノノサトシ) and believed to be omens of calamity that were caused by mono or "things" which could be anything like the curses of gods or something from the Imperial mausoleums. Furthermore, during the rule of Emperor Kanmu from end of Nara to early Heian, the Ritsuryo system of government began to crumble as imperial rule changed hands and political victims were feared as onryō (怨霊) that caused disease or death to the Emperor's nearest relatives (but not the Emperor himself). The fear of strange phenomena spread through the aristocrats and became commonplace. Onymojis were believed to be able to deal with the curse of mono as well (otherwise it's off to the chopping board for their jobs (and lives) they go, chop chop). And so the Imperial Court funded them to perform quelling rituals and ceremonies to appease gods, clear away damages by insects, pray for harvests and prevent the spread of epidemics (which ironically was exacerbated by the court's overspending and large-scale deforestation but that's another story). For individual cases like the spirits of living persons (ikiryō or ikisudama), or spirits of dead people (akuryō, ryō, onryō, shiryō or bōkon), onmyojis might determine that spiritual energy or evil spirits (mono no ke) was the cause but mikkyō genja (験者) or ritualists were the ones to subdue it by incantations. JJK cursed spirits resemble mono no ke in that they cannot be seen and may harm humans. Whereas jujutsu sorcerers are more like genja ritualists (complete with flashy kamehameha bombs) (and besides being cursed).

Lifespan rituals

The most popular theory for Sukuna's fixation with Megumi has already been covered by this blog owner with additional info on the Ten Divine Treasures. Another theory is that Sukuna could have been aiming for a higher level of enlightenment. Besides the Shinto-Buddhism angle, Onmyodo also has its own set of rituals concerning life and death. Onmyodo is basically a system of divination and techniques that focuses on worldly benefits and has no vision of the world after death. The rituals were instead based on the Chinese beliefs in honmyō (本命), Zokushō (属星) or the realm of the dead (冥界) and by the end of Heian, there were more than forty Onmyodo rituals to pray for the individual health and longevity of aristocrats (commoners: eat the rich 👎). For the terms honmyō and Zokushō, the closest meaning I can give without being too horribly misleading would be the life/destiny that you are born with according to your birth year, zodiac, constellation and so on. The most popular ritual was Taizan Fukun sai (泰山府君祭), which originated around the beginning of the tenth century and was closely associated with Abe no Seimei (yes that guy you keep seeing in anime). Taizan Fukun (泰山府君) is the lord of the eastern peak of Mt. Tai in China, a deity that summons the spirits of the dead and administers the lengthening and shortening of human lifespans. Twelve deities of the realm of the dead including Taizan Fukun were involved in this ritual. It was implemented on every honmyō day, but also as needed for illness, childbirth, natural disasters, and strange events. Media adaptations often depict Abe no Seimei (or other onmyojis) using the ritual for resurrection or reincarnation 😅 e.g. Tokyo Ravens, Shaman King, Onmyoji (2001). I don't think Gege will go for the same cliché trope for Sukuna but it's still interesting to know.

Seimei and Dōman (Gojo and Getou)

Anyone who knows about the folklores of Abe no Seimei 安倍 晴明 would be familiar with his eternal rival, Dōman 道満. Like Gojo who's the strongest jujutsu sorcerer, Seimei was the leading onmyoji specialist of his time. His position as the Kurōdo-dokoro onmyōji (highest-ranking onmyoji), legendary reputation and long lifespan lent to the notion that he had mystical powers due to being born from a human father and a kitsune mother. During Heian, Onmyodo referred to the organization of onmyojis under the control of high-ranking people of the same profession (kinda like the JJK elders) rather than the system of beliefs known today. Onmyōji with official status like Abe no Seimei would be kanjin onmyōji (官人陰陽師) or official onmyōji. Non-official onmyojis would include hōshi onmyōji (法師陰陽師) or priest onmyōji, who had the appearance of Buddhist priests (like how Getou was dressed as a cult leader), and presumably the control of the Onmyōdō did not extend to them. Official onmyōji, under the strict supervision of their superiors, would not have been permitted to have any connection with criminal acts such as curses. Instead, the Heian nobility turned to hoshi-onmyojis like Dōman to lay curses on their political rivals. There were many incidents involving curses within aristocratic society in Seimei’s time, and in a majority of cases the curses were placed by hōshi-onmyōji. Dōman himself had been spotted visiting a noblewoman, Takashina no Mitsuko, who employed hōshi-onmyōji to put a curse on several prominent political figures. Getou: "Let's curse each other... to our hearts' content!"

War onmyojis (and questioning of Gege's probable naming sense)

The Sengoku era treated court onmyojis poorly (ceremonies were expensive to fund). Warrior onmyodo being more practical (divining auspicious days for battle/forming alliances and exorcising evil spirits) became prominent instead. Academies that taught Confucian studies with divination and medicine as part of the curriculum flourished and the most famous was Ashikaga Gakkō (足利学校) (not as modern as Tokyo Jujutsu High though). Like Nanami and co. who became professional sorcerers, many of its students went to the battlefield as diviners and doctors. When peace returned during Tokugawa Ieyasu's rule, a few practitioners thrived by attaching themselves to powerful men. One would be Tenkai (天海) and another Kanshitsu Genkitsu, head of the Ashikaga Gakko. Being Ieyasu's bff, a temple Fushimi Enkoji (伏見円光寺) modeled after Ashikaga was built and Kanshitsu appointed as its head. Ieyasu also sponsored Kanshitsu's Fushimiban (伏見版), a publication project printed with wooden blocks. I'm definitely reaching here for Tengen and Fushiguro but I do wonder if Gege ever chanced upon those names.

🦆A Tail of Many Kamos: 鴨川, 下鴨, 鴨, 加茂, 賀茂 🦆

鴨川 - the Kamo river northeast of the Heian capital (modern Kyoto)

下鴨 - the Shimogamo Shrine (下鴨神社), a Shinto shrine dedicated to the Kamo family of kami

鴨 - the clan associated with the Kamo shrines and the famous poet-priest Kamo no Chōmei (鴨 長明) who witnessed the end of Heian. Also Bucephala albeola.

加茂 - Kamo no matsuri (加茂祭) or Aoi no matsuri (葵祭), an annual festival of Shimogamo Shrine and Kamigamo Shrine and one of the three major festivals in Kyoto, also one of the three big jujutsu clans (加茂家) in JJK. It's funny that Gege would choose a name with the same pronunciation as a real-life historic clan, which brings to the next point.

賀茂 - the formal name of the Shimogamo Shrine (賀茂御祖神社), also a once-prominent Heian Onmyoji family that died out during the Sengoku era. Thereafter, the Tsuchimikado (former Abe clan) took over their hereditary duties of keeping the calendar. Abe no Seimei's teacher was the astrology scholar (tenmon hakase 天文博士) Kamo no Yasunori (賀茂保憲). Could Kenjaku be based on Abe no Seimei as well?

The Musical Exorcist

The rock-n-roll grandpa, Gakuganji, might be based on the lesser known lute-priests called biwa-hoshi (琵琶法師) or zatō (座頭). Their musical style is referred to as heikyoku (平曲), which literally means "heike music". Accompanied by their mōsō-biwa (盲僧琵琶), the often-blind lay priests would chant Buddhist mantras, placate earth deities, perform spirit pacification chinkon (鎮魂) of vengeful spirits including onryō, communicate with the dead (Principal Yaga 😢), purify defilements haraikikyomeru (祓い清め) and border rites kyōkai girei (境界儀礼) that expel malign forces. The thesis "From Heike to Nomori no kagami" suggests that the musical practices and theories of Heike correlate with Yin-Yang principles. Which I will not further expound bcos I haz zero music theory knowledge and also this ask is far too long 😛 Hopefully Gakuganji will not remain blind to the less-than-holy intentions of the jujutsu higher-ups as the story continues.

Hello, lore anon! Thank you for compiling another stellar read!

Aaw, you'll be missed, but it's fine. Just do things and drop by if you feel like it.

Yes, onmyodo has a large influence on Japanese pop culture. Numerous manga takes their inspiration from onmyodo, jjk only one of them. Onmyouji had a very large political influence in the court. They were also a legit government position, literally civil servants back in the day.

The legend of Abe no Seimei and his rival Ashiya Douman is also famous. Abe no Seimei was said to be born from a kitsune (fox spirit) mother and human father, so he is often thought to not be fully human, hence his supernatural ability. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these characters is inspired by either Seimei or Douman; Sukuna, Kenjaku, or Tengen.

Kamo, yes, it seems that Gege actually takes the name of the clan. The fanbook said that Kamo clan arised to influence during the heyday of Heian period, the Golden age of Jujutsu. While it's lesser known, Kamo family is quite a legend too alongside Abe no Seimei in onmyoudou. As you said, Kamo no Tadayuki and his son Kamo no Yasunori has been known to teach Abe no Seimei.

[jcisthebestfightme]

BJYX Song #3: If I Were Young

BJYX Song Series List

Disclaimer: This is all in my own head. 

Since it’s the 1 year anniversary of the airing of 11th anniversary of ttxs, I will write the companion piece of Nan Hai, “If I Were Young” by Ronghao Li. This song is actually extremely popular across the world. Many people, include multiple cast of CQL, has mention that they like this song. Does this make its significance to ggdd less special? I don’t think so. I think they have their own reasons for liking this song. It just shows how many different stories this song can touch. 

First, I want to mention that I love the music video to this song. The story goes very well with the lyrics and it’s almost like the mini-movie. That being said, it’s actually distracting to me when analyzing haha because I keep thinking of the story in the mv instead of ggdd. So I want to include the video of just the lyrics with full English translation instead of the actual music video.

Similar to the music video, the lyrics describes a story of an middle-age/elderly man looking back at his life with vivid imageries such as paying downpayment and punching the walls. It makes the song much more realistic but also harder to analyze the lyrics. So instead of taking apart the lyrics like I usually do, I will focus more on the overall message of different parts of the lyrics. 

This song was first mentioned by ggdd during ttxs filming. They were asked to show their playlist. This song is part of dd’s playlist. He said his playlist has a lot of sad song and he chose this song to sing as an example. Then, during an interview filmed on 7/29, the day after the airing of this episode of ttxs (7/28), ggdd were asked to describe each other with a song. We all remember that dd said “Nan Hai” without hesitation. What you may not have notice is that gg asked dd “That song you like, what is it called?” And the dd whispered “Nian Shao You Wei (If I Were Young)” and then that’s when gg said it louder into the mic. It’s speculated that ggdd probably watched the ttxs episode the night before so that they would know what song they were referring to. 

Even though the song was used by gg to describe dd, I want to analyze this song from dd’s perspective. Gg chose this song because dd likes it and he thinks it suits him. It also originated from dd’s playlist so I think the song has more significance to dd instead of gg. 

電視一直閃 (The TV keeps flickering) 聯絡方式都還沒刪 (Your contact hasn’t been deleted) 你待我的好 (The care you give me) 我卻錯手毀掉 (I mistakenly destroyed)

This first stance talks about how much care the past lover of the singer gave him and how he regrets giving this person up. The focus here is the symmetry between the meticulous, domestic care described in the song and how gg treats dd. 

也曾一起想 (We use to both want) 有個地方睡覺吃飯 (To have a place to eat and sleep [together]) 可怎麼去熬日夜顛倒連頭款也湊不到 (But how do we get past the difficult life, of working day and night, and not being able to even pay the downpayment)

Of course, ggdd have not been in a situation so dire, thankfully to their parents, that they do not have enough money for food or a roof over their heads. But this part talks about realistic challenges in life and I think it reminds dd about the hardship in the world they will need to face, even for a simple wish of living simply. 

牆板 被我砸爛 到現在還沒修 (The wallboard I smashed hasn’t been repaired to this day) 一碗熱的粥 你怕我沒夠 都留一半帶走 (A warm bowl of porridge, you’re afraid I do not have enough to eat so you only took half)

This stance describes the couple having a fight but the lover still loved the singer so much that they left half their porridge for them. I love this line the most because it sounds exactly like something gg will do. It’s so detailed and caring. 

給你形容 美好今後你常常眼睛會紅 (When I describe our future dream to you, you often have tears in your eyes) 原來心疼我 我那時候不懂 (I never knew until now that it’s because you were concerned about/cherish me)

The word “心疼” is difficult to translate because it has the connotation of being distressed for someone but out of love. Its literal translation if heart+ache. I can see this exact scene playing out with ggdd. They’re uncertain of their future because of so many obvious challenges they will have to face. And I think gg will probably “心疼” dd because dd is so much younger and have to also bear this responsibility. This is dd acknowledging gg’s concern for him and telling him that he has received his love.

假如我年少有為不自卑 (If back when I was young, I was not self-abased) 懂得什麼是珍貴 (And I knew to cherish what was important) 那些美夢 (Those beautiful dreams) 沒給你 我一生有愧 (That I was not able to give you, is something I regret my whole life)

The lyrics in the chorus is sang from the perspective of an older man regretting his decisions and lack of self-worth when he was younger, probably in his 20s. Since dd is still young and in his early 20s, we know that it’s not him looking back on his past. Instead, it’s him projecting to his future and think what his future self would tell his current self. It’s almost as if he’s lecturing himself to not have self-pity right now, cherish the love that is important to him, and be brave about facing the future. He’s warning himself about the regrets the singer of this song has. 

In this part, I also see the parallel with Wangxian. LWJ didn’t take action 13/16 years ago when WWX were bullied by everyone. He was scared because standing up for WWX would be against everything he was taught and his family. He wavered because hasn’t strong enough to fight everyone for WWX. So he lost WWX in the end. Re-meeting 13/16 years later was a second chance that was sent from heaven. This was when he started to fight for his love and protect WWX at all cost. Like dd said himself, LWJ only really realize his love after he has lost it when WWX died. But dd is also adamant that he’s not LWJ. He won’t let himself regret and lose his love like LWJ.

假如我年少有為 知進退 (If back when I was young, I knew when to fight/move forward and when to retreat/move backwards) 才不會讓你替我受罪 (Then I wouldn’t have let you suffer for me)

Similar to the previous stance, this is dd reminding himself to take current actions that he will not regret in the future. The understanding of the phrase “when to fight and when to retreat” exudes maturity. When you’re young and naive, you think that you should always try to fight forward. When you get hurt and become jaded, you become scared and retreats. But real maturity is when you learn the appropriate time to fight and when to take a step back. Dd’s understanding of this phrase shows that he has maturity much beyond his age, which we can see in other ways as well.

婚禮上 多喝幾杯 (On your wedding day, have a few more drinks) 和你現在那位 (With the person you’re with now)

This corresponds to the line in “Nan Hai” that talks about not being able to give you the future another person, in this case a girl, would be able to. The imagery of the wedding in this line is very traditional, at least to a Chinese person. You can vividly see the wedding with red veils, extended family with expectations of grandchildren, and friends drinking not to celebrate you but celebrating the sake of a tradition. Similar to “Nan Hai”, I think dd feels insecure about his age and gender, knowing he is unable to give gg this exact “wedding” and that another person can. But honestly dd, think about Wangxian. The best part about Wangxian’s ending is that they never had a wedding ceremony. Why? Because wedding ceremonies are not for the two people in love. Wedding ceremonies are what people feel like they owe the world. But the world was so cruel to them that they said “f- that” and just eloped on their own. Life belongs to two people. You owe the world nothing.

In summary, this song is dd constantly reminding himself to make the right decision right now so that he will not regret it in the future. From both “Nan Hai” and this song, we can see that even though dd seems straightforward, confident, and unfazed to what the world thinks of him, deep down, he’s actually fragile, insecure, and scared. Dd has the tendency to want to be strong and he wants to give gg everything. But everyone has limits and these songs represents his fear of not being able to live up to his own promises. It’s also because of this fragile interior that dd is attracted to gg. Even though gg seems nice, easy-going, and gentle on the outside, he’s actually very strong, confident, and secure on the inside. This is evident from my analysis of “If I Were A Song.” Gg is confident about the care he can provide for dd. These two love each other, need each other, and complete each other. 

[jokertrap-ran]

SinoAlice: Guild Co-op Event - The Songful Banquet of Cherry Blossoms Translation

*Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Welcome to my whims. Hameln is fine.

問題デス。春とイエバ！？ Question, question! What does Spring entail?

モチロン！潮干狩りとキャンプですネ！ It’s got to be clamming and camping, of course!

確かに以前の春は潮干狩りデシタが…… アレは春イベントに水着ヲ出せト言われたプランナーが苦シ紛れに考えたモノ。 I know we did clamming last year for the Spring Event, but that was only because the Planner managed to come up with the idea of swimsuits after much turmoil...

言わば産みノ苦しみノ歴史なのデス。 ソレを思い出サセルのは鬼畜の所業デスよ！ In other words, it’s the dark history of how it came to be; one of pain and suffering. Only a demon would make one shudder to remember such a time!

ソンな内情をブチマケラレましても…… Even if that’s how it truly is on the inside...

トニカクやり直しデス。春とイエバ！？ In any case, let’s start from the beginning again. When it’s Spring, it’s-!?

エ、エエ～ット……お花見……とか？ Um, errrr…Flower viewing, perhaps...?

ピンポーン！正解デス！！Bingo! That’s right!!

エッ、本当に！？ソンな正攻法でイイノ！？ Huh? What!? Something as straightforward as that does it!?

ええ。タマにはストレートも必要デス。 Of course. Simple is best, sometimes.

ワ～イ！お花見オ花見、楽しいナ！嬉しいナ！ Yay~! Flower viewing~! We’re going to be flower viewing! Oh, how fun! How exciting!

余興ノ人員も揃えマシタ。 まずはグレーテル、さらにシンデレラ、そしてハーメルンです。 The entertainers have already been gathered. First, we’ll have Gretel, followed by Cinderella and Hameln.

スゴイ！最初から混乱しか予想デキナイ！ That’s amazing! I can foresee the chaos and confusion they’ll bring right from the get-go!

お花見ナンテおかしくなったモン勝ちデスよ。 The one who makes for the most chaotic Flower Viewing wins.

じゃア、この3人ニハ早速余興ヲ──ん？ 誰か来たヨウですが ……コレは……？ Should we get the 3 entertainers started now then? Hmm? There seems to be someone headed this way? ...This is…?

……ナルホド。まあイイでしょう。飛び込み参加モ大歓迎デス！ ゲストを迎えテ楽しくヤリましょう！ I see...Well, that works too. Any last minute participants are welcomed to jump in anytime! Let’s all enjoy ourselves together with the guests!

ソウですネ。トテモ楽しくナリそうデス。 エエ。とても……ネ。 Yes, this looks like it’ll be real fun. Absolutely so, indeed...

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一度だけ。 友達に連れられて、アイドルのライブに 行った事がある。 Once. Just once, did I ever attend an Idol’s concert at the insistence of my friend who dragged me along.

それはまさに、夢の世界だった。 It was a world akin to a dream; something I never thought possible.

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「みんなー！今日は　ハ　ナ　のライブに 来てくれてアリガトウ！ハナにピッタリ のこの場所で、最っ高の歌を聴いていっ てね！」 “Everyone~! Thank you all for coming to     Hana’s     live today! I’ll grace your ears with the best and greatest song out there in this perfect place of mine!”

薄紅の花びらが舞う、酒に似合いの風景 に安如として乱入してきた『ライブラリ  No.1の　ア　イ　ド　ル　』とやらば、 クソが１００回つくようなくッッッッソ ド下手な歌を勝手に歌いだした。 The scenery was well-suited to a cup of sake, the air aflutter with the pink petals of the cherry blossoms. If only the place hadn’t been jacked by the “Library’s No.1    Idol   ” Speaking of, she’s so bad at it that she's about a 100 times shittier than what’s already considered crap; singing shitty songs all on her own accord and wrangling ears everywhere.

 「これは……聞くに堪えませんね……」 “This...I don’t think I can stand listening to this anymore…”

「おい、ナルシスト。あの女を消せ」 “Hey, Narcissist. Erase her.”

「私が手を下す必要ないかと」 “I doubt I’ll even have to do anything, really.”

そういって、ナルシストが指を示した失 では、極度の音痴に我慢の限界を迎えた ナイトメアたちが 怒　り　を募うせていた。 That being said, he pointed his finger at something. A group of nightmares were already     seething     in     anger     at the hellish ear grating they were forced to suffer through; already reaching to the limits of their patience.

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さくら～↑舞う～↓ 景色～↑↑のぉ～↑ The fluttering~↑ dance~↓ of the~↑↑ Sakura in the background~↑

Ｎｏｏｏｏｏｏｏ↑↑ 歌ウノヤメロォ！ NOOOOOOO↑↑ Stop singing!

ロォ↓マンス～↑ 恋のぉ～神～～↑↑ Ro~↓ mance~↑ The god~ of love~~↑↑

耳ガ腐ルゥゥ！助ケテェェ！！ My ears are about to drop off! Someone, save me!!

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「あたしの歌で踊りだしたくなる気持ち は判るけど、暴れるのはダメだぞぅ✰」 “I understand that my singing makes one feel the urge to dance but rampaging? That’s a big no-no✰ ”

ナイトメアの蹴散うした ハナさんとやらば、その場で軽やかに ターンをしてーー Kicking the Nightmare away, she did a light twirl on the spot.

「　ダ　ン　ス　ならこう踊らなきゃ！」 “You’ve got to     dance     like this if you’re going to do it!”

この世のものとは思えぬ醜い歌に合わせ、 心を抉るような　前　衛　的　な踊りを 始めました。 She started to dance     Avant    -    garde    , coupled with the horrid song that was out of this world; one so appalling that it almost felt like someone was gouging my very heart out.

「眩暈がしてきた……」 “I’m actually starting to get dizzy from seeing this…”

艶やかな褐色の肌を持つシンデレラさん の殺意の失わせるほどの醜悪な歌と踊り。 A horrible, ear-grating song and an equally unbeautiful dance. One that actually made the glossy brown-skinned Cinderella lose all the killing intent that she wielded.

これには、さすがの私も辟易です。 That being said, this also repulses me, of course.

しかし、不思議な事に、綺麗な足を持つグレーテルさんだけは 魅　入　ら　れ　 たように歌に聞き入っていたのです…… But the strangest thing was that Gretel, the one with beautiful legs, seemed     utterly     charmed     and     entranced     by the song...

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席なんて、ステージからもの凄く遠い スタンドだったけど。 The seats were so far from the stage itself. Rather than seats, it was actually more like a stand.

そこから観る会場はサイリウムの光に 包まれて、まるで花畑みたいだった。 Watching the stage surrounded by psyllium lights from afar, it bore a resemblance to a flower garden of sorts.

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ステージでアイドルが歌う。 あたしの席から顔なんて見える訳ない んおに、それでも笑顔だとわかる。 The Idol sung atop the stage. I knew that they were smiling, even though I can’t possibly see them from my seat.

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「ねえ兄様。あの歌…… 懐かしくありませんか？ 昔、兄様と二人で過ごした夜の 森で、冷たい月明りの下で聴いた……」 “Hey, brother? Isn’t this song nostalgic…? It’s the same song we heard at night, back in the forest where we lived together. Under the cold, icy moonlight…”

「森の奥から聞こえてきた、歌……」 “The same song that resonated deep within the forest itself…”

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ヤヤヤヤメヤメヤメヤメロメロンー！ SSSST- STO- STOP STOP STOP-!

オカシクナルルルルルルリルレロ！ I’M STARTING TO GO CRRAAAAZY!

わあ！斬新なコールアリガトー！ Wow! Thanks for new cheer!!

ハハハハナハナハ ナヒヒヒヒヒヒヒッ！ HAHAHAHANAHANAHA-- HIIE!!

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アイドルの歌と踊りに合わせて、会場が 揺れる。アイドルはキラキラしていて、 とても可愛くて。それを観るみんなも、 とてもキラキラしていた。 The venue broke out in an uproar in response to the Idol’s song and dance. The idol was shining in the limelight and absolutely adorable. And the audience shone too, as they looked on.

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クソ下手音痴女　ハ　ナ　の歌と踊りは 戦意を失わせた。怒りを抱く事すら 勿体ないろいうか…… Listening and watching the shitty tone-deaf woman     Hana     singing and dance made me lose all the fight in me. Or, more like...It would be a waste to even feel rage at this...

そういうレベルにまで達しているのは、 ある意味芸術と言ってもいいのか もしれない。遠のく意識と視界が、 現実を拒否するように段々と霞んでいく。 It might even be called art, considering just how bad she was. My consciousness slowly faded as my vision grew hazier, as if rejecting reality itself.

「スモークいいわね！もっと焚いて！ 会場をハナ色に染めちゃってー！」

“The smoke’s looking good! Keep it coming! Fill the area with colour―!”

音痴女の声に呼応するように周囲の木々 が揺れた。そこから 黄　色　い　煙　が大量に 吐き出される。 The surrounding trees shook, seemingly responding to the tone-deaf girl’s command. And then, a     yellow     smoke     spewed forth.

「これは……　花　粉　……？」

“Is this…    pollen    …?”

横にいたナルシストがそう呟いたような、 そうでないような……なんだ？頭が……

I feel as if the Narcissist beside me had muttered something like that...or not…? What’s this? My head... 

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大量の花粉が！これはイケマセン！ A large amount of pollen! This won’t do!!

桜の花粉ッてコンナに飛ばないのデハ？ I thought the pollen from cherry blossoms wasn't this bad?

ライブラリの桜ですカラ。 Well, it’s the Library’s cherry blossoms.

その一言デ説明が済むの、最高デスネ！ Nice! The explanation’s done and settled in a single breath!

こんな事もアロウかと。ハイ！花粉ブロック！ 99.9％花粉を遮断！機能性も抜群デス！ Well, I did think this might happen. So...here! Pollen Block! It’s 99.9% effective!

呼吸も99.9％遮断！死ヘノ片道装備デス！ But that prevents breathing itself by 99.9%! It’s a one way ticket to death itself!

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 ライブが終わったあと、会場から出っていく みんなは、とにかく笑顔だった。 あたしも、もちろんその一人。 Everyone left the venue with a smile on their face once the Live ended. I, of course, included.

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その少女は、歌を歌った。 皆を笑顔にしたいのだと、そう笑った。 それがあまりに純粋で、 あまりに無邪気で。 だから私は、彼女に新しい歌を教えた。 The girl sang, and sang she did. She laughed about wanting to make everyone smile. All so innocent, all so pure. Thus, I taught her a new song.

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アイドルって凄いなって思った。 たった一人で数万人を笑顔にできる、 そんなアイドルに、あたしは憧れた。 I thought that Idols were amazing. Just one person, able to bring smiles to countless others. I admired Idols; they were my admiration.

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その少女の声には力があった。 我らに活動を促す力が。 そうーー 我らの時代を、もう一度取り戻す力が。 That girl’s voice held power. The power to urge us to motion; to act. That’s right―— The power to reclaim our reign once more.

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あたしは小さい頃から病気がちで。 人退院の度に、周りに迷惑をかけていた。 誰かを笑顔にする事より、 誰かを悲しい顔にする事の方が多かった。 I was always sickly ever since I was little. I only inconvenience those around me, whenever I get admitted to the hospital. Rather than making people happy, I made people sad, more often than not.

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「スモーク焚きすぎちゃって道が見えな いわ。誰か道案内してくれないかしら。 これからオーデイションがあるのよね」 “There’s too much smoke; I can’t see the way. Could I perhaps, get someone to lead the way? I’ve got an audition on the way.”

ハナさんは、こちらをじっとみて言いま した。つまり、私達に案内を要求してい るのでしょう。その気配を察したシンデ レラさんは、冷たい声で拒絶しました。 Hana spoke, keeping eye contact with me the entire time. In other words, she’s probably asking us for help. Cinderella coldly refused after having grasped the situation.

「金はあるんの？まあ払われても断るけど」 “Is there money in this? Well, not that I’d take it either even if you offered.”

「そんなぁ……ひどいですぅ……！」 “No way...how mean…!”

ハナさんの泣き声に呼応して、一層花粉 がと飛散します。これは宜しくありません。 More pollen was scattered upon her cries. This isn’t appreciated at all.

「少しくとも、あなたの姿は美しい。 私が　案　内　いたしましょう」 “You’re a beautiful one, at least. Allow me to     lead     the     way.”

「ありがとう！貴方、お名前は？」 “Thanks! What’s your name?”

「ハーメルン、とお呼び下さい」 “Call me Hameln.”

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ハーメルン……メルちゃんね！よろしく！ Hameln…? Mel, then! I’ll be in your care!

メル……？ Mel…?

ところでぇ……メルちゃんは──ハナと手を繋いではくれないの？ By the way...Won’t you join hands with me, Mel?

？こうしてあなたの手を取っていますが── ? But aren’t I already holding onto your ha...nd…?

──テヘッ。 ──Tee-hee.

花粉のせいで見間違えましたね。失礼。醜い。 I’ve blundered due to the pollen in the air. Pardon me, that was unsightly.

ギャアッ！勘違イシタノハソッチナノニー！ Gyaah! You’re the one at fault though!

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こんなあたしでも。アイドルになれば 誰かを笑顔にできるのかな。 知らない人にも、幸せを感じてもらう事ができるのかな。 I wonder if I can bring a smile to someone else’s face too, if someone like me can become an Idol. I wonder if I can make people that I don’t know feel happy too?

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会場いっぱいに咲くサイリウムの光の花 に包まれて、可愛いドレスを着た わたしがステージで歌を歌うーー そんな未来を夢見ながら 桜の木に向かっ歌っていたある日、 頭の中に素敵な歌が流れてきた。 The venue was blooming with Psyllium Flowers of light. Dressed in a cute dress, I sang; and sang I did―— I continued looking on, holding onto that dream for the future. One day, while I was singing to the Cherry Blossom Tree, a beautiful song sounded in my mind

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入院した病室の窓から桜が見える。 その桜の木に向かって、あたしは 歌を歌った。 桜が散る頃には退院して、 オーデイションを受けに行くんだ。 I can see the Cherry Blossoms from the window of my Hospital Room. I sang to the Cherry Blossom Tree and sang I did. When the Cherry Blossoms scatter and I get discharged from here, I’ll go for an Audition.

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少女は夢を抱いていた。 しかし、少女は病も抱えていた。 やがて少女に声は枯れ果てて、 その儚き夢も叶うことなく――

だから、私はその身に命を蕾を宿した。 The girl held onto a dream. However, sickness also had a clutch on her. Eventually, her voice faltered and faded, that fleeting dream of her’s never coming to pass.

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――桜が咲いて、散って。 入院してから何回目かの満開を迎える。 あたし、少しは歌が上手くなったかな？ 早くオーデイションを受けたいな。 ――The Cherry Blossoms bloomed and scattered. I’ve seen many a cycle of it coming into full bloom ever since I was admitted. Have I gotten a little better at singing? I want to hurry and go for an Audition.

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これ以上、あのクソ下手音痴女のせいで 花粉を巻き散うされちゃ堪らない。 仕方なく、私達は手音痴女を案内していた。 しかし―― I can’t stand being showered by more Pollen because of the shitty tone-deaf girl. I suppose we don’t have a choice but to show her the way. But――

（あのブラコン、やけに大人しいな） (That Bro-con is being unsettlingly quiet.)

ハーメルンと手を繋いでご機嫌な音痴女 の後るに歩くグレーテルが、普段よりも 妙に静かで気にかかる。 いつもなら「兄様、兄様」と一人でぶつ くさ言っているはずなのに。 His unusual silence caught my attention, as he walked along behind Hameln, who had joined hands with the joyous looking tone-deaf girl. Usually, he’d be muttering “Brother, brother” all by his lonesome.

「……あ」 “…Oh.”

そのグルーテルが、小さな声を上げた。 That very Gretel made a small sound.

「兄様に……　花　が咲きました……」 “    Flowers     are blooming…on Brother..”

籠の中の『兄様』からは、全く似合わな いファンシーな花が咲いていた。 Fancy unfitting flowers were blooming in the cage where “Brother” was held.

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

何やら呻き声も聞こえますね。 I seem to hear something akin to moaning.

そんな事どうでもいい！兄様、兄様！ There’s absolutely no way that’s the case! Brother, brother!

でも意外と似合ってんじゃない？その花。 But don’t you think that suits him surprisingly well? That flower, I mean.

似合って……ああ……兄様、可愛いです…… It suits him…? …Ahh…Brother, you’re so cute…

ねぇ、ドラゴンがいるんですけどぉー。 Hey, there’s a dragon here though―

グウ……ズズッ……鼻ガ詰マッテ…… Ugh…sniff, sniffle…My nose’s all stuffed up…

呻き声はコレでしたか。何とも美しくない…… So this was the cause of all the moaning. It’s not the slightest bit beautiful at all…

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

――桜が咲いて、散って。 あと何回、この景色を見られるだろう。 歌おうにも声が出ない。 乾燥した唇が裂けて、血が滲んだ。 ――The Cherry Blossoms bloomed and scattered. I wonder how many more times I must witness this scene? No sound comes out even if I sing. My dry, chapped lips crack as blood oozes out.

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

少女の顔は美しい。伸びた四肢も美しい。 そして少女から漂う匂い。 これは――ああ、 今まで花粉で気付きませんでしたね…… The girl had beautiful features. Her limbs were all so beautiful as well. Then came the smell that came along with her. This is―― Ahh, I never noticed due to all the Pollen flying about up till now…

「この腐臭は、美しくない」  “This smell of rot is not beautiful in the least.”

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

――桜が咲いて、散って。 今年も、何とか見届けられた。 来年まで頑張ろうね、と 気気遣う看護師の声がする。 ――The Cherry Blossoms bloomed and scattered. I somehow managed to see the petals off again this year. I hear the kind, caring nurse telling me to do my best again next year.

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

いつの間にか桜の木の下に来ていました。 そこには、人の形をした植物が、綺麗な 花を咲かせていくつも立っています。 Before I knew it, I was already standing below the Cherry Blossom Tree. There were many human-shaped plants, all with stunning flowers blooming on them.

「兄様。兄様と同じ花ですよ」 “Brother. It’s the same flower as the one blooming on you, Brother.”

花が咲いた兄様と、花の咲かない私。 それがなんだか、とても悲しい。 Brother, who had flowers blooming on him, and me, who did not. That was utterly saddening, in a sense.

「それなら お　揃　い　になってみる？」 “Then how about you try becoming a     pair    ?”

どこからか、歌う声が聞こえてきます。 二人で過ごした、森の奥でも聞いた声。 あの時、兄様は近づくなと言ったけど。 I could hear singing coming from somewhere. A voice that I heard even back in the depths of that forest; back during the time I spent together with Brother. I recall telling whoever that had been to stay away from Brother, back then.

「じゃあ、願いを叶えてあげるね」 “Then, let me grant your wish!”

兄様、私はあなたと一緒がいいのです。 Brother, I want to be the same as you.

「ブラコン！」 “Bro-con!””

誰かが叫んでいるけど、邪魔しないで。 私は今、とても　幸　せ　なのだから―― Someone was yelling. Don’t get in the way; For I’m extremely    happy    right now――

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

あいつ、花に寄生されたのか！？ That guy; Is he being parasitized by those flowers!?

花を咲かすグレーテルさんも、また美しい。 Gretel’s beautiful even with flowers blooming on their being.

アンタも、頭に花を咲かせてもらえば？ How about we make one grow on your head too?

それも良いですね。きっと美しいでしょう。 That might not be too bad of an idea. It’ll be a dazzling sight to behold, I’m sure.

嫌味が通じないのか。このナルシスト…… Can’t you tell sarcasm when it’s in front of your face, you narcissist...!?

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

――冬なのに、桜が咲いている。 ああ、枝に積もった雪がそう見える んだ。それでもいい。 最期に見られて良かった…… ――The Cherry Blossoms bloomed and scattered. Ahh, so that’s how the branches look like with snow piled on them. This is fine. I’m glad that I managed to see it in the end…

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

突然現れた予定外の乱入者。 歌に合わせて撒き散らされる大量の花粉。 しかも思考を惑わすオマケ付き……と くれば、異変の　原　因　は明らかだ。 An intruder had appeared out of the blue; this was not planned. The large amount of Pollen being scattered around along with the song. Along with the added effect of addling your mind… In conclusion, the     root     cause     of this was startlingly apparent.

「どう考えてもアンタだろ？」 “No matter how you think about it, you’re the one behind all this, aren’t you?”

武器を突きつけつろ、ハナは震えた。 Hana trembled as Cinderella pointed her weapon at her.

「ち、違うもん！メルちゃん、助けて！」 “N-No, you’re mistaken! Help me, Mel!”

「残念ながら、あなたからは腐臭がする。 大変醜い臭いです。私に助けられる 価値は、地を這う虫ほどもありません」 “Unfortunately, there’s a rotting smell coming from you. It’s a horribly ugly scent. And I’m not obligated to help anyone or anything who’s worth is equivalent to a worm, crawling on the ground.”

「……っ」 “…Ngh.”

ハーメルンの言葉に息を呑むと、音痴女 は派手に笑い出し―― The tone-deaf girl sucked in a deep breath at Hameln’s words before breaking out into laughter――

「お前ら全員、花人形にしてやる！」 “I’m gonna turn all of you into Flower Dolls!”

義姉と同じくらい、

醜　く　顔を歪めた Her face distorted     uglily    ; it was almost as bad as Gishin’s own.

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

みんな、あたしの歌を聴かなかった！だから花人形にしてやったのよ！！ どう？これなら黙って歌を聴くでしょう！？ No one was listening to my song! That’s why I turned them all into Flower Dolls!! How’s that for a change? Now you’ll shut up and listen to my singing, right!?

人形にしなけりゃ聴いてもらえない歌なんて、アンタ才能ないんだよ。 それだけの話だろ？ If no one’ll listen to you unless you turn them into a Doll, doesn’t that just mean that you don’t have the talent for it? That’s all there is to it, no?

なのにアイドルを名乗るとは……ああ醜い。 And still, you dare call yourself an Idol…Ahh, how ugly.

違う……あたしは、アイドルなのおぉ！ No…I’m…I AM an Idol!

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

――あたしは、アイドルになりたかった。 満員の会場で、光の花に囲まれて、 楽しそうに歌うアイドル…… だって…… みんあの　笑　顔　が、見たかったから。 病気がちのあたしの周りには、 悲しい顔しかなかったから―― ――I wanted to be an Idol. An Idol, singing happily in a full-house venue, with flowers of light blooming all around… Because… I wanted to see the     smiles     on everyone’s faces. Because there was nothing but sad faces around me, due to my sickly nature――

「生まれ変わったら、今度こそ……」 “Next time, if I’m reborn…”

そう呟いて、少女は光の中に 消　え　去　っ　た　。 The girl murmured her last as she     faded     away     from the light. 

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

……結局、この少女も　駄　目　だった。 確か、これで３４人目だ。 それにしても、笑顔を見たいと言いなが ら、自分が見られる事が目的になるとは、 まさに本末転倒…… …That girl was a     no    -    good     either, in the end. I’m certain this makes it the 34th person now. Even so, to think that her goal would be for people to notice her despite how she’s always crowing about how she wanted to see everyone’s smiles… She’s certainly got her priorities wrong.

しかし、これだからこそ人間は面白い。 では、私は次の　苗　床　を 探すとしよう。 But this is precisely what makes humans all so interesting. Well then, I suppose I’ll have to find another     nursery    .

手始めに、少女を殺したあの３人を―― How about those 3 who killed the girl, for starters――

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━

桜さん。今まであたしの歌を聴いてくれ て、ありがとう。アイドルになる夢は叶 わなかったけど、あなたはあたしの、 たった一人の観客でした。 Dear Cherry Blossom, thank you for listening to my singing. I never fulfilled my dream of becoming an Idol, but you’re my one and only audience I ever had.

━━━━━━━━━━∘◦ ♯ ❀ ♯ ◦∘━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 

黒幕はアノ桜の木デシタ。 The mastermind was that Cherry Blossom Tree.

木にヨル支配とは、どこかで聞いたヨウナ。 A tree that rules everything? I feel like I’ve heard about this somewhere…

ソンな物語もドコかにアッタような？ I feel like a story like that exists somewhere out there.

トコロデ、あの桜ハどうシマス？ By the way, what are we going to do with that Cherry Blossom?

アア、ソレならすでに対処済みデス。大事ナ兄様に花ヲ咲かせた木ニ腹を立てタグレーテルが根本カラ桜ヲぶち倒しマシテ。 Ohh, that’s already been dealt with. Gretel was mad that the tree had made flowers bloom on his beloved Brother and chopped it up, roots and all.

エッ……黒幕を……？ Eh…He did that to the Mastermind…?

ソノ倒れた桜を眺めナガラ酒を飲ンでいた シンデレラが、「確か桜の木は、スモーク用のチップとして売れたな？」 と思いツキ、ハーメルンに命令シテ。  And then Cinderella was looking upon the fallen Cherry Blossom whilst sipping  on a cup of Sake pipped up, saying “Come to think of it, Cherry Blossom Wood  can be sold as Smoking Chips, right?” And thus, she ordered Hameln to procure it.

エエ……黒幕がスモーク用……？ Ehh…Using the Mastermind as smoking material…?

ハーメルンは「艶やかな肌の主の言う事なら」 と、ソレは美しく桜の木をカットして。 結果、ライブラリ特製燻製用桜チップとしテ見事に高値で売れマシター！ ハイこれ売上報告書。凄いデスヨ。 “If that’s what the master of glossy skin wishes.” Said Hameln, and he beautifully cut up the Cherry Blossom Tree. As a result, the Library’s Special  Cherry Blossom Smoked Chips are being sold for an astoundingly high price!! Here’s the Sales Report. Amazing, isn’t it!

エエエ……本当ダ。黒幕メッチャ売レてる。 Ehhh…You’re right. The Mastermind’s selling really well.

この売上デ燻製肉でも食べニ行きマセンカ？ How about we use the Sales earnings to go eat some smoked meat?

行クー！人ノお金で食べるオ肉大好き！ Count me in―! I love eating meat when someone else’s paying!

燻製に使うチップはもちろん桜デ…… The wood chips we’re going to use for the smoking will be Cherry Blossom, of course.

∘◦ -————❈ ❀  𝔉𝔦𝔫.   ❀ ❈————- ◦∘

[xiaomoxu]

Xu Mo - Painting Gallery Date (Translation) Part 1 and 2

SPOILER ALERT!!

This date from CN server which hasn't been released on EN server yet. Might contains some spoiler.

Brace yourself for angst moment from Lucien (as usual)☹

I'm doing this translation for personal reason, so I'm sorry if there's some mistranslation. Kindly tell me if you found some :) feel free to read it~ ^^

I used Lucien CN name on it, Xu Mo.

Read prologue part here

PART 1

I looked at the sketchbook on the door that I hung up by myself.

The paper stays on the page where I lost the puzzle, the missing part is just like my current mood, empty

Several days have passed, Xu Mo still did not reply.

MC: Is he still busy

Just when I was about to enter the house, my cell phone rang suddenly.

Seeing the name on the screen, after two seconds of shock, I quickly answered the phone.

MC: Xu Mo!

Xu Mo: Yes, It's me.

Different from this tone before, this time his voice has a familiar temperature.

Xu Mo: MC, how are you recently?

MC: I....

"Very good" That two words choked in my throats, unable to tell.

There was an inaudible sigh on the other end of the phone.

Xu Mo: It seems that we are the same now.

Xu Mo: Sorry, my research has entered a new stage recently. I spend most of the time in the laboratory and don't look at my mobile phone often, so I can't reply to your message in time.

Xu Mo: The results of this research, is related to the fate of many people.

Xu Mo: Therefore, even if there are many difficulties, I will still finish it.

He paused, then said as if talking to himself

Xu Mo: Moreover, I also want to give myself a chance.

His voice is very soft, but it makes me feel a little uneasy

After a short silence, Xu Mo returned to his usual tone

Xu Mo: Have you found those pieces of puzzles?

Hearing what he said, I was a little surprised.

MC: So you saw it.

Xu Mo: I will not miss everything you recorded, but I haven't had time to reply.

Xu Mo: Sure enough, as I expected, some anxious little fool began to think again.

I was busted and my face turned red involuntarily

MC: Xu Mo, do you have time on the weekend

Xu Mo: Yes?

MC: The puzzle is still not found. I think if you are free, can you accompany me to buy a new one? It's not very far from here,

I know that my excuses are very bad, but I only have one thought at the moment... I want to see him.

There is a sound of even breathing. He seems to be hesitating

Not wanting to burdened him, I quickly tried to change the subject.

MC: What are you doing?

As soon as the voice fell, a chuckle came from over there.

Xu Mo: I'm nodding (?) Dozing off. 我在點頭.*

(* I'm not pretty sure with the translation so I put the original text)

PART 2

On Saturday afternoon, I came to the agreed place early

The weather today is surprisingly good. The sun is transparent and bright, and the air is full of colors, which warms the heart.

It was obviously not the first time I met Xu Mo in private, but I still felt a sense of tension.

MC: So many people...

Looking at the pedestrians coming and going, I couldn't help but feel a little worried in my heart. Should I call to confirm my location, in case he can't find me.

Xu Mo: Don't worry.

Xu Mo: Even in the crowd, I can see you at a glance.

I turned back subconsciously.

The breeze blew, and the leaves trembled in the wind. Golden light Use gentle brushstrokes to outline the slender and tall outline like a sketch.

As if he had a mind reading technique, he pointed out my worries as soon as he spoke.

Xu Mo: Sorry, I am late. Have you waited a long time?

His brows are slightly furrowed, his face is full of guilt.

MC: No, I just arrived.

I smiled at him and said with some guilty conscience. In fact, I

have been waiting for about half an hour.

I looked at Xu Mo quietly from the corner of the light, raising my hand to sort out his hair unnaturally.

He was wearing a white shirt, a dark gray tie around his neck, and a document bag in his hand. He had apparently just pulled out of work.

The thought that he hurried over before he had time to rest, I couldn't help but blame myself.

There was a heavy sigh from above.

Xu Mo: It seems that you are still mad at me.

MC: What?

I raised my head and looked at him for unknown reasons.

Xu Mo: Since when did you start hiding things from me?*

(*this is the edited translation)

The leaves trembled in the breeze. I looked at his Xu Mo eyes, which were full of emotions that I could not understand.

I faintly feel that Xu Mo today is unfavorable in peace.

Xu Mo: Don’t you want to buy puzzles? Let’s go.

The familiar smile returned to his face, as if it was just my illusion

MC: I don’t want to buy it anymore.. It’s just a few puzzle pieces, so I don’t need to buy another one.

MC: It's rare that we are all free. Compared with this, I want to do other things with you.

Xu Mo's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched me, and my heartbeat, which was so easy to calm down, became chaotic again.

After thinking for a moment, he asked softly.

Xu Mo: Would you like to go to a place with me?

Without thinking too much, I nodded and agreed.

MC: Okay.

A smile appeared at the corner of Xu Mo's eyes.

Xu Mo: There are so many people here, be careful not to get lost.

He got closer, trying to hold me.

I couldn't help but step back, avoiding the hand he extended to me.

A hint of surprise flashed across his face. After reacting, I also felt a little flustered at my actions.

MC: I didn't mean to avoid it, I just....

It's just that the palm of my hand is sweating a little, so I don't want you to notice it.

A simple sentence, but I can't say it, like a fishbone stuck in my throat, a dilemma.

Xu Mo: Okay, I know.

Xu Mo slowly lowered his stiff hand in the air, and he nodded slightly, with a clear look.

Xu Mo: It's getting late, let's go quickly.

After speaking, he turned around without looking at me again.

The wind rustled the leaves, and it was clear that winter was over, but I felt a little bit of chill.

Seeing Xu Mo's back getting further and further away, I had to hurry up to keep up.

I keep blaming myself in my heart, and I have accumulated a lot of words when I realized it, but I don't know where to start.

For some reason, a bunch of withered platycodons suddenly appeared before my eyes.

The flowers are in season and will wither afterwards.

Will people's feelings become indifferent because of long-term absence?

Just when I lowered my head and thought, my left shoulder was suddenly hit hard.

I raised my head and realized that the familiar figure had disappeared from my vision.

MC: Xu Mo...

The faint sound was like a pebble in the noisy street and fell into the vast sea without a single echo.

MC: Xu Moー

I clenched my fists and shouted loudly.

The passers-by slowed down and looked at me curiously, but quickly resumed their pace.

I stood before the crossroad and stopped.

The sound of whistle, footsteps, and noise gradually disappeared. All the passing scenery and crowds were blurred in outline, and only the sound of my own heartbeat was infinitely amplified.

For some reason, a vague picture flashed in my mind. It was a little girl sitting under the camphor tree. The voice soft said to me...

Little girl: I also know that this elder brother will not come back after he leaves.

Suddenly, I felt flustered for no apparent reason, and subconsciously looked for him everywhere.

Xu Mo: MC.

I looked for the voice and turned back-

Xu Mo: I am here. (CG Karma included here)

The noisy city streets, like a weaving crowd, bustling, I can only hear my heartbeat like thunder.

Through the haze, through the sea of ​​people, my eyes meet that pair of eyes that have been searching for a long time.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Mo locked his eyes firmly on me.

Maybe it's like what he said, even if there are crowds, he can find me at a glance.

Everything around us suddenly slowed down, just like a framed lens in a movie. In our eyes, we only have each other.

MC: ...

No matter how flustered, restless, anxious, or even fearful before.

As long as you meet the eyes of the person in front of you, the heart that is wandering in the air and helpless can instantly settle down.

The spring sun shines softly through the gaps of the leaves, layer by layer, passing through hesitation and depression, and blooming freely beside those who are struggling to pursue it.

The sadness and sorrow that I have experienced have become worthwhile, and the thoughts that have been carefully hidden are finally conveyed.

The longing that I have always had but cannot express is pouring out at this moment, and it has become the most transparent thought and the most meaningful collection.

Everything is wonderful and incredible.

>> Proceed to next part

[dokidokivisual]

Gochiusa BLOOM episode 2 impressions

The second episode of Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? BLOOM is now out, so let’s have a deeper look at some of the content presented in it.

In this episode: learn more about Japanese ghost tropes than you ever wanted to know, and the answer to the perennial question of nature vs nurture.

As usual, I spent a lot of time writing this, so any feedback is welcome.

The episode opens with a scene from Phantom Thief Lapin, an animated TV series for children which exists within Is the order a rabbit? universe (the technical term is “play within a play”, or 劇中劇 in Japanese). I’ve seen some people being confused whether it’s live-action or animated, since it’s not outright stated in the show, but in the manga it is referred to as “anime”. The show is inspired by existing properties featuring mysterious thief protagonist like Magic Kaito and Lupin III.

In the establishing shots of the museum we see bunnified versions of sculptures and artworks like The Thinker, Discobolus, Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa.

Soon, the titular Phantom Thief Lapin appears, and if you listen to the background music, you might recognize it as an instrumental version of the song which was originally released as part of Comiket-exclusive Phantom Thief Lapin set (here’s an old post with some photos of it).

As we see Cocoa and Chino reacting to the episode, the show’s credits can be seen in the background. Unsurprisingly it appears to have the same staff as Gochiusa itself. I was wondering if Aoyama Blue Mountain shows up in the credits as the original author, but she does not, however this fact is mentioned later.

After this “cold open”, we move on to the A part, which is based on chapter 2 of volume 5. We see Chiya trying to convince Sharo to participate in various scary activities with her, with Sharo having none of it. While horror movies are self-explanatory, the other two things are rather Japan-specific.

Hyakumonogatari (百物語) - a ghost story game, where 100 lanterns are lit up, and as each new story is told, a lantern is extinguished. It is said that a real ghost will appear if 100 stories are told, so the participants customarily stop at 99.

Kimodameshi (肝試し) - a test of courage where a scary location is explored. Literally translated as “trial of liver”, liver being associated with bravery for some reason.

You might also notice Chiya being dressed up as a ghost. Japanese ghosts have some specific concepts associated with them, which are well illustrated in this scene.

Shinishozoku (死装束) - a white sheet that a corpse is wrapped in before being buried.

Sankakuzukin (三角頭巾) - “triangle head cloth”, part of the burial costume. Also called 天冠 (tenkan, “heaven crown”). Triangle pointing upwards symbolizes ascent to heaven.

Urameshiya (うらめしや) - a phrase often said by a ghost. Indicates grudge (urami) towards the living. While a ghost holds this grudge, it cannot ascend, and must stalk this world.

Onibi (鬼火) - “demon fire”, a phenomenon (similar to will-o’-the-wisp) of floating blue lights, which are said to represent the souls of the dead. It is never explained how the flames behind Chiya are actually produced.

Soon Maya and Megu are introduced, as “Team Beans”. The name comes from the fact that “mame” means “bean” in Japanese. This nickname was previously used in the name of the group “Petit Rabbit’s with beans”. We also see Cocoa planning something, which is kind of a spoiler for the rest of the story.

Some facts are revealed about Maya and Megu, namely that they’re childhood friends, and the fact that Megu is almost as tall as a giraffe. The official height for Maya and Megu was stated to be 140 and 145 cm respectively, but they seem to be slightly taller here, which might be explained by them growing up?

Rize tries to hit Chiya with water gun but misses every time. This is a reference to season 1 episode 4 where Chiya was able to dodge any ball thrown at her. This supernatural ability is never explained.

Sharo explains to Chiya how she’s grown since the old days and will be the one pulling Chiya forward now. This is related to how Chiya called Sharo a coward in the beginning, which she apparently took to heart. Funnily enough, Sharo still gets scared by a bunch of toy rabbits (and Tippy).

Anyway, it’s revealed that Cocoa was the mastermind behind it all.

And she did is specifically to bring Chiya and Sharo together, which was a great success apparently. “Suspension bridge effect”, anyone?

After this there’s an anime-original bath scene with Cocoa joining Sharo and Chiya in Ama Usa An. Interestingly Cocoa and Sharo used this bath before, in episode 10 of season 1, but not Chiya. Both scenes also touch on Sharo and Chiya’s past, with Cocoa acting as an outside observer. This type of wooden bath called hinokiburo (檜風呂) is considered quite luxurious and can be encountered in upscale ryokans.

We move onto B part, which is an adaptation of chapter 6 of volume 5. Cocoa is good at imitating Phantom Thief Lapin, and we learn that Aoyama Blue Mountain is really the original author of Lapin, which might explain why Lapin looks so much like Sharo. Interestingly in the manga it is mentioned how Sharo actually morally opposed to theft (both in this chapter, and the chapter the first half of the episode is based on), but it was cut in anime.

notsureifintentional.jpg but both parts begin with somebody peeking through the window.

Sharo is apparently really bad at impersonating Lapin, to the point where Inspector is a more popular character among children. However in Sharo’s defense there are plenty of works where the main character is not the most popular character... including Gochiusa itself.

Meanwhile, Cocoa appears to be a natural at this role, and eventually gives a piece of advice to Sharo: it’s not enough to wear Lapin’s costume, you have to become Lapin. Sharo doesn’t own a TV, so she didn’t see much of the show. There’s also another element at play here, namely Sharo always having to pretend to be someone she isn’t in order to fit in at school, and then having to fake smile for customers at her cafe. There’s a running theme of Cocoa not taking Sharo’s words for granted in this episode, which might be related to that. The idea is that children, and very pure-hearted Cocoa, have natural mistrust of Sharo.

The girls gather together to watch the show, and we see a bit more of the Phantom Thief Lapin show (as well as an unnamed “hardcore” show about a gun-toting samurai). It is revealed that the inspector has tragic backstory, which moves Sharo and Rize to tears. Also if you weren’t sure up to now, Sharo’s vow to protect her wife and children confirms that she’s definitely very gay.

In the end Sharo figures out how to do Lapin’s poses exactly like in the show, and thanks Cocoa by giving her Lapin’s mask. Which reminds me, why is it called a mask if it barely conceals anything about the person? Is this some sort of Superman/Clark Kent situation?

Next this episode features, for the first time this season, the ending sequence. It has a bunch of Alice in Wonderland references such as Tippy being the White Rabbit, and Chimame’s outfits. It metaphorically retells the backstory of Chimame (seen in season 2 episode 12) and how Megu and Maya brought Chino out of her shell. At the end the latte art seems like it will be different every episode.

After the ED, we see Sharo showing off her new skills at Fleur du Lapin. Aoyama and her editor Rin can be seen in the background. By the way, what are the chances she named Phantom Thief Lapin after Fleur du Lapin, she seems like a regular there. Anyway, Cocoa comes up seemingly to support Sharo, but ends up stealing the show, guess you can practice all you want, but natural talent wins out at the end of the day.

So that was the second episode, hope you enjoyed the review. Next up it seems we have Maya and Megu going to an open doors’ day at Rize’s school? Let’s see if I can write faster next time...

[eternal-bauhinian]

Fuck the Popo DLLM Translation

Another rap that complains about police brutality, quite eloquently in the title, if I do say so myself. The DLLM in the title , short for Diu Lei Lo Mo (屌你老母), also used throughout the rap itself, stands for “fuck your mother” in Cantonese vulgarity, and is a common insult thrown around the city.

I also confess that this one took me ages because, once again, colloquial Cantonese sucks, and worse still is that at least most of the other songs use more sophisticated wording which can be easily looked up.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

0:25-0:37: Chorus

Fuck the popo

我屌你老母(我屌你老母)

I fuck your mom (I fuck your mom)

Fuck the popo

我屌你老母 yea

I fuck your mom, yeah

×2

0:37-1:14

二百萬加一 我地守住一齊封

Two million plus one (1), we guard and block together

咪撚同我講你為份工 屌你幾錢人工

Don't fucking tell me you're just doing your job, fuck your salary

催淚彈 橡膠子彈 你班撚樣自由揮

Tear gas canisters, rubber bullets, you lot fucking wave [them] around freely

我咪帶住眼罩口罩頭盔 做個自由閪

Imma wear goggles, facemask, helmet, be a freedom cunt (2)

嬲嬲地 揸咪我要屌班速龍龜

Feeling testy, fuck those slow-as-turtle raptors (3)

咪撚 懶係 伸張正義收皮啦 毅進仔

We stand up for justice, shut up, Yi Jin brats

寧願做你口中嘅暴徒 我都肯願唔做兵

Rather be the rioter you speak of, I'd still refuse to be a (mindless) solider (obeying orders)

黑色洋紫荊 all black everything

Black bauhinia (4), all black everything

圍住警察總部 個個閪冧屌

Surround police headquarters, everyone wants [it] to close down

班撚屌 搞到我地學生市民受困擾

You shits keep fucking up, causing our students and civilians to be worried [for their lives]

我地保留自由身軀 認清道理分真假

We keep our free bodies, understand morals to tell between right and wrong

你哋擺明作賊心虛 所以膊頭冇冧把

You guys have a guilty conscience, so your shoulders are missing numbers (5)

1:15-1:26: Chorus repeat

1:26-2:04

警察 手法邋遢 知法犯法 仲要咁撚串

Police, [your] methods [are] dirty, know the law but break the law, but still are so fucking disrespectful

你遲早玩撚完 係人都知你係濫緊權

You're inevitably fucking finished, everyone knows you are abusing your power

意志堅定 態度鮮明 講明 不撤就不散

Determined and clear-stanced, [we] stated clearly that “no withdrawal [of the extradition law], no end to protests” (6)

你搞啲濕鳩大龍鳳 你柒野 一日又一單

You have inflated egos and present lies as truth; new reports of your fuck-ups appear every day

割席再 射波 柒撚到要寫歌

You end your amiability with us and then go AWOL, and fucked up to the point [I] have to write [this] song

快啲叫肥盧落黎 嗲兩句 快啲叫一哥

Hurry up and tell Stephen Lo to come down, bullshit a couple lines, hurry up and call for the Commissioner of Police (7)

我地罷工又罷課 唔係同你班傻hi玩

We boycott work and boycott class, we're not messing with you load of stupid cunts

懦夫 狗公上撚曬裝 擋laser 擋雞蛋

Cowards, the dog-in-chief (8) fucking dresses up; dodges lasers (9), dodges eggs

唔聽我哋要求 濕鳩下下要瞄頭

Not listening to our Demands (10), inflated egos who insist on aiming at heads

見撚曬紅 點會妥協 態度我照舊

See everything fucking Red, how can [we] compromise, I'll stick to my original attitude

And we sing Hallelujah to the Lord (11)

And we sing Hallelujah to the Lord

2:04-2:26: Chorus repeats

(Dog barking noises)

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Footnotes

The mass rally of 16 June 2019 brought 2 million people to the streets. The plus-one refers to a protester who fell to his death a day prior while protesting Carrie Lam only suspending the extradition law and not withdrawing it altogether.

“Freedom cunt” is a reclaimed insult used by some protesters.

“Raptors” is the nickname for paramilitary Special Tactical Force of the police, aka riot police.

The bauhinia is the flower of HK and a local symbol, which explains my current URL - “once a HKer, always a HKer”, even when HK is no longer my HK.

Police removed their identification numbers so that they cannot be reported responsible for their actions (and even those reported get off with just a slap on the wrist).

A common slogan for the No China Extradition protests, not used as often these days, though we kept the spirit.

Stephen Lo was the Commissioner of Police when the song came out. He retired from his former job in November 2019 (later that year) in the midst of criticism against police handling of the protests.

As mentioned in a previous post, police officers are compared with dogs.

Back in August, a university student was arrested for possession of offensive weapons, said offensive weapons being a bunch of laser pens for stargazing. People have since then started shining them at surveillance cameras to avoid identification and distracting police officers.

The Five Demands.

A Christian hymn sung by early protesters to avoid arrest for illegal gatherings (because religious gatherings have looser restrictions).

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The original video: https://youtu.be/RwQNodpXKEw

[1-mini-1]

My 2 Cents on Translating

I was skimming through my computer and found this blog post that I never posted. I think I was hesitant because I saw varying opinions on the subject in the fandom, but idk, these are just my thoughts from my experience as a fan translator for the vocaloid/utaite fandom and what I have learned. I'm not sure if any of my thoughts are unpopular opinions or not, but I'm also not sure how much discussion there has been concerning fan translators. Also, this is really long, so if you want to skim or ignore it be my guest lol.

I guess the first thing I'll talk about is how I think writing a translation is just as much of an artform as writing original lyrics are. I know that translations aren't from scratch like an original story is, but with Japanese especially, there's sooooooo much leniency in how things can be translated into English. Here's an example of how different translations can be. This is a quote from Natsume Soseki's "Kokoro" and three published translations of it:

私は冷やかな頭で新しい事を口にするよりも、熱した舌で平凡な説を述べる方が生きていると信じています。血の力で体が動くからです。言葉が空気に波動を伝えるばかりでなく、もっと強い物にもっと強く働き掛ける事ができるからです。

"I believe that a common reply, stated with passion on one's tongue, is more impactful than novel words from a cool head. The flow of blood powers the body. Words are more than waves disturbing the air, they induce great action in greater things." - From the Soseki Project site

"I believe that commonplace ideas passionately expressed are more effective in real life than the original inventions of a detached intellect. Because it is the heat of the blood that impresses us, for in addition to the words which reverberate in the air, the emotion by its intensity pierces to the soul." - Ineko Kondo

"I believe that words uttered in passion contain a greater living truth than do those words which express thoughts rationally conceived. It is blood that moves the body. Words are not meant to stir the air only; they are capable of moving greater things." - Edwin McClellan

Anyways, you get the idea lol. As you can see from these translations, the grammar structures are completely different; sometimes words are added, sometimes words are left out, and sometimes there are grammar patterns used in Japanese that just don't work in English. All these decisions are up to the translator. I've read some translations of things where whole relevant plot details were cut out just because the translator got annoyed (I'm looking at your translation of the Tale of Genji, Seidensticker).

I should probably talk about how I translate stuff. When I first started translating, I thought my lyrics were more liberal, but as I poked around and looked at other translators, I found that mine stuck more closely to the original format of the song (such as, I would keep the same phrases on the same line in the stanza, use the same format for punctuation, etc.). Song translation is different from manga or books because sentences can be broken up over a whole stanza, so translators can play a lot with how they want to arrange phrases for lyrics. I kept mine very close to the original song because I liked being able to easily identify the Japanese line with the English. I'm not sure if that's a translating "sin" but eh, that's how I liked translating my stuff. Maybe in the future I'll try something different

However, just because I saw many different translations for songs, I wouldn't go out of my way to say that any of them were wrong or bad, per say. Translating songs is a huge pain because there's no punctuation which makes it hard to keep track of everything. I've had times where I've been able to translate a 10 page story faster than I could translate a single song, just because having context and punctuation makes everything sooooo much easier. However, even if a translation is wrong, I don't think that makes it meaningless. I'm personally of the opinion that having some sort of translation is better than nothing, but that's something you need to decide for yourself. When I was first learning Japanese and couldn't fully understand the songs I listened to, if there was even just one line that I understood, I would embrace it and really love whatever meaning I grasped from it. Even if a song is translated correctly, there are lines that will impact people differently, and even an awkward or incorrect translation can resonate with the reader. Similarly, there are many times when I translate that I look at a line and think "aaahhhhh I want to change the meaning a bit because I can make it sound cooler and give it more impact than a direct translation would".

The next thing I noticed is that I kind of feel like people value native Japanese speakers (who have English as their second language, non-native English speaker) over native English speakers more (Japanese second language, non-native Japanese speaker)? Tbh, that feels like a double standard to me. Like idk, I'm fine translating Japanese into English, but I don't think I would be able to translate English into Japanese. In fact, most professional translating jobs have you translate into your native language, so I thought it was strange when I noticed that it seemed like native Japanese speakers had more favored translations. Or another one I noticed is that if someone knew more languages, their translation would also be considered better because of the assumption that taking multiple language courses is the same as being gifted with languages. Anyways, my point is that both English native speakers and Japanese native speakers both put a lot of time into learning their languages so I don't think one side should be valued less than the other. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Native English speakers may have a harder time understanding the initial Japanese, but shape it into English better, while native Japanese speakers understand the Japanese, but have a harder time putting it into English how a native speaker would understand.

No matter what the translator's native language is though, I've learned that having skills in a foreign language isn't the only requirement to be a good translator; you also need to have proper understanding of grammar and a large vocabulary in your native language. Also, proper reading of the translation requires the same amount of understanding for English grammar and vocabulary. I realized this after I took a lot of comparative literature classes and realized how much of a potato I am lol. I think it makes sense though, as a lot of the lyrics from utaite and vocaloid songs are usually extremely well thought out poetry. Multiple songwriters I've translated for have mentioned that as they tried to write better lyrics, they eventually had to immerse themselves in studying literature and their native language much more than the average person would. I often think that since literature and translating doesn't abide by scientific law that the humanities are actually more difficult to grasp than STEM subjects (and trust me, I've studied far on both sides of the spectrum).

The last thing I'll touch on is that… just appreciate your fan translators and don't give them a hard time please. Like nobody gets paid to do this stuff and usually they do it because they really like something, so just let people learn and try their best. Yes, they won't be perfect translations, but once again, fan translators aren't paid. They're translating out of the goodness of their heart. After all, translators don't need to translate a song to understand it, so in the end they don't really lose anything if they stop translating. As international fans, I feel like there are three options that we have to choose from eventually: 1. Rely on fan translations, even with their mistakes 2. Don't use translations and just enjoy the music or 3. Learn Japanese. I think all options are great, but they are personal decisions and shouldn't be used to knock other people down and make them feel bad. If there's a mistake in a translation, it is not intentional and the translator literally has no idea unless someone tells them (as translations are a combined reflection of both Japanese AND English ability). All I know is that Vocaloid was popularized from amateur musicians just doing what they wanted for fun, and so I think a really cool thing that the international fandom has that Japan doesn't is that we have awesome fan translators that are also amateurs and are doing translations for fun.

[mknaspa]

2k3 Raph & Don’s relationship +

the brawn and the brains / the brute and the pacifist (or peaceable)

ラフドンの関係

Raph: Watch your back brainiac

Don: Isn't that what you're for, Raph?

- TMNT 2003 s1e11 “The Shredder Strikes Part 2”

A lot of the Donatello’s true genius is that gentle, understanding nature of his. don's a perfect mate for the more volatile Raphael.

Raph needs someone to ground him and make him stable and Don needs someone to get him out of his own head every once in a while. To Raph, Don was a kindred spirit, and vice versa.

And I always thought they were pretty similar; it’s just that Don keeps his emotions inside whereas Raph vents and lets everything out. The fact that those two almost never really clashed against each other is one of my favorite things.

ラフドンの魅力 TOP 4+

1: They complement and/or balance each other so well

You really see this between them when you watch those 2k3 episodes, they compliment one another so well.

2: Raph was particularly protective of Don

Any time Don gets knocked out, Raph is right there:

I know that Raph was definetely the protector of the four, not only for Don. But Raph always have Don’s back. 

ドンは 4人の中では最も非力な為か、彼の背後には常にラフがいた。その逆も然り：s2 “April's Artifact” や s3 “H.A.T.E” では、ドンがラフを庇う場面も。

3: Raph looked after Don so much and teased him in a cute brotherly manner

On the rare occasions that Don is upset or stressed over something, Raph usually reaches out to try and comfort Don.

ドニーの機嫌が良くない時は、彼をなだめようとしたり、茶化したりしてみせたラフ。

btts では、「自分のせいだ」と意固地になるドニーに対して苛立ちを見せたこともあったが、finale episode では、頭ぐりぐり（tsundere 版 頭なでなで）しながらこれまでのドニーの功績を褒め称える姿も見られた。

4: Raph hasn’t ever gotten mad at Don

マイキーには癇癪起こしまくってるし、leo/raph argument はタートルズの伝統のとおり。

だが、ラフがドンに対してひどい怒りを見せたことは無い。s4 “Aliens Among Us” で、珍しく失敗続きのドンに呆れて冷たい態度を取っていたが、常に甲羅は隣り合わせである。

Though I think Mikey's actually the only one who's really equipped to deal with Raph's anger, Don's also a vital part of helping Raph cope: Don is pretty much unbiassed, neutral. So it's a lot harder for Raph to go bonkers over what he says. And Don just never take it out on people. He never feeds Raph's fire. That's a good thing.

Also, in my head, Raph is the guy who helps comfort Don the most often when he gets worked up over killing people ( check this post , and this ). 

Ah, Raph and Don had such an excellent dynamic. It’s such a shame that a few episodes we really see them interact for a prolonged amount of time in (e.g.: “H.A.T.E”(.

I’m never going to get over the fact that “Nightmare Recycled” was supposed to be a thing and never happened.

Other Relationships

Leo & Raph

Though I agree they have a very special bond, I can't stand that how everyone insists that they're the only ones who understand each other. The major stumbling block with these two as far as I'm concerned is that they don't understand each other. At all. And it's only because they a) love each other very deeply and b) have two other brothers and an entire city's load of thugs to cushion each other's impact that they haven't killed each other yet.

Mostly, I feel that what little bonding they manage, they do through violence, either against each other or their enemies. the rest is probably through the need to protect their brothers (since Mikey doesn't always watch what he's doing, and Don's a shitty fighter).

Mikey & Don

The two great forces of intellect: logic and creativity. Intellectually, the two make a great duo, in that Mikey can come up with wacky ideas, and Don can make them happen. I like it when Mikey is smart and is making Don think and see new things, pulling him out of his lab and getting him to live new stuff. There's a lot they could bond over that way.

Leo & Don

I always see them bonding over philosophy. I love how Don is always right there backing Leo up, playing the right hand man. I joke with 'Tower that Don's actually Leo's housewife: that's he's the guy who takes care of all the background stuff and fusses over Leo's health. And that bit in "The Big Brawl" where Don get's all protective-over Leo? There's also something interesting about the fact that Don is naturally submissive to Leo.

And Leo cares about Don too; Leo pretty much always does whatever Don want or gives him anything he ask for.

As for how Don interacts with Raph, most of it has to do with how I feel their characters connect. Raph and Don have different chemistry than Leo and Don, and they bring out different sides of each other. Which is why I actually (personally) tend to prefer Leo & Don, btw. I find they connect in a much more intellectual and mature fashion than Raph & Don, who even in canon tend to fall more into protector/protected, unless Don is being snarky (I just emphasize it a bit more for kink sake in some of the RD fan stuff).

[fuyonggu]

Huayang Guozhi: Nanzhong During Shu-Han

建安十九年，劉先主定蜀，遣安遠將軍、南郡鄧方，以朱提太守、庲降都督治南昌縣。輕財果毅，夷漢敬其威信。方「亡」〔卒〕，先主問代於治中從事建寧李恢，對曰：「「西」〔先〕零之役，趙充國有言：「莫若老臣。」」先主遂用恢為都督，治平夷縣。先主薨後，越嶲叟帥高定元殺郡將「軍」焦璜，舉郡稱王以叛。益州大姓雍闓亦殺太守正昂，更以蜀郡張裔為太守。闓假鬼教曰：「張「裔」府君，如瓠壺，外雖澤，「而」內實粗，殺「之」不可，縛與吳。」於是執送裔於吳。吳主孫權遙用闓為永昌太守；遣故劉璋子闡為益州刺史，處交、益州際。牂柯郡丞朱提朱褒領太守，恣睢，丞相諸葛亮以初遭大喪，未便加兵，遣越嶲太守巴西龔祿住安上縣，遙領郡；從事蜀郡常頎行部南入；以都護李嚴書曉喻闓。闓答曰：「愚聞天無二日，土無二王。今天下派分，正朔有三，遠人惶惑，不知所歸。」其傲慢如此。頎至牂柯，收郡主簿考訊姦。褒因「煞」〔殺〕頎為亂。益州夷復不從闓，闓使建寧孟獲說夷叟曰：「官欲得烏狗三百頭、膺前盡黑，蚊䴘無腦，毒蛇則有腦，而難致也。「斷」〔斲〕木構三丈者三千枚，汝能得不？」夷以為然，皆從闓。「斷」〔斲〕木堅剛，性委曲，高不至二丈，故獲以欺夷。

In the nineteenth year of Jian'an (214), after Liu Bei had conquered the Shu region, he sent the General Who Maintains Distant Places, Deng Fang of Nan commandary, to serve as Administrator of Zhuti and Commander of Laixiang, with his base at Nanchang county. Deng Fang thought little of wealth, and he was a stalwart and resolute fellow; the tribal peoples and the Han people respected his power and trusted him. 

After Deng Fang passed away, Liu Bei asked the Attendant Officer of Internal Affairs, Li Hui of Jianning commandary, who would be best suited to replace him. Li Hui replied, "I can only reply as Zhao Chongguo did when asked who should lead the campaign at Xianling: 'there’s no better choice than me'." So Liu Bei appointed Li Hui as the new Commander, and Li Hui had his base at Pingyi county. 

After Liu Bei passed away, a leader of the Sou people of Yuexi commandary, Gao Dingyuan, killed the general of that commandary, Jiao Huang, and raised the commandary in rebellion, calling himself King. A gentry leader from Yizhou commandary, Yong Kai, also killed the Administrator of that commandary, Zheng Ang, who was replaced as Administrator by Zhang Yi of Shu commandary. Claiming magical influence, Yong Kai declared, "Commissioner Zhang is like a gourd kettle; he might look fine on the outside, but within he is actually crude. It would not do to kill him; we should tie him up and send him to Wu." So he arrested Zhang Yi and sent him to Wu. Sun Quan secretly appointed Yong Kai as his Administrator of Yongchang. He also appointed Liu Zhang's son Liu Chan as Inspector of Yizhou and stationed him on the border with Jiaozhou and Yizhou. The Minister of Zangke commandary, Zhu Bao of Zhuti commandary, had been appointed as acting Administrator of Zangke, but he too did as he pleased. 

The Prime Minister, Zhuge Liang, felt that since Liu Bei had only recently passed away, the state was in no position to launch a campaign to deal with these threats yet. So he sent the Administrator of Yuexi, Gong Lu of Baxi commandary, to Anshang county so that he could administer that region from afar. He also had the Administrative Officer, Chang Qi of Shu commandary, assume control of affairs in the south, and he had the Protector, Li Yan, write a letter of instructions to Yong Kai. But Yong Kai replied, "I had heard that 'the sky cannot have two suns, nor the earth two masters'. Yet now, the realm is ripped asunder, and three regal calendars are being kept. As such a distant person, I am nervous and confused, not knowing to whom I owe my allegiance." Such was Yong Kai's arrogance. And when Chang Qi arrived at Zangke and detained the Registrar to examine him about wicked behavior, Zhu Bao killed Chang Qi and openly rebelled. 

When the tribal peoples of Yizhou commandary began to drift away from Yong Kai, he sent Meng Huo of Jiankang commandary to persuade the Sou and other tribal peoples. Meng Huo told them, "The government is demanding impossible things from you. They want three hundred crow-dogs whose heads and breasts are all black, and they want mosquitoes without essences. Vipers have essences, but it is difficult to acquire. They also demand three thousand branches of 斲 wood that is three zhang in length. Are you able to acquire such things for them?" The tribes believed Meng Huo, so they followed Yong Kai again. 斲 wood is naturally sturdy and firm, and it coils and bends, so it does not grow taller than two zhang; this was why Meng Huo mentioned such things to mislead the tribes.

建興三年春，亮南征。「自安上」由水路〔自安上〕入越嶲。別遣馬忠伐牂柯，李恢向益州。以犍為太守廣漢王士為益州太守。高定元自旄牛、定笮、卑水多為壘守。亮欲俟定元軍眾集合，并討之，軍卑水。定元部曲殺雍闓及士「庶」等，孟獲代闓為主。亮既斬定元，「而」馬忠破牂柯，〔而〕李恢敗於南中。夏五月，亮渡瀘，進��益州。生虜孟獲，置軍中，問曰：「我軍如何？」獲對曰：「恨不相知，公易勝耳。」亮以方務在北，而南中好叛亂，宜窮其詐。乃赦獲，使還合軍，更戰。凡七虜、七赦。獲等心服，夷、漢亦思反善。亮復問獲，獲對曰：「明公，天威也！邊民長不為惡矣。」秋，遂平四郡。改益州為建寧，以李恢為太守，加安漢將軍，領交州刺史，移治味縣。分建寧、越嶲置雲南郡，以呂凱為太守。又分建寧、牂柯置興古郡，以馬忠為牂柯太守。移南中勁卒、青羌萬餘家於蜀，為五部，所當無前，「軍」號〔為〕飛〔軍〕。分其羸弱配大姓焦、雍、婁、爨、孟、量、毛、李為部曲，置五部都尉，號五子。故南人言四姓五子也。以夷多剛很，不賓大姓富豪；乃勸令出金帛，聘策惡夷為家部曲，得多者奕世襲官。於是夷人貪貨物，以漸服屬於漢，成夷漢部曲。亮收其俊傑建寧爨習，朱提孟琰及獲為官屬，習官至領軍，琰，輔漢將軍，獲，御史中丞。出其金、銀、丹、漆，耕牛、戰馬，給軍國之用，都督常用重人。

In the third year of Jianxing (225), Zhuge Liang went on a southern campaign, taking a water route from Anshang into Yuexi commandary. He also sent Ma Zhong to campaign against Zangke commandary, and he sent Li Hui towards Yizhou commandary. He appointed the Administrator of Jianwei, Wang Shi of Guanghan commandary, as Administrator of Yizhou. 

Gao Dingyuan had established many defensive ramparts at Maoniu, Dingze, and Beishui. Zhuge Liang wanted to wait for Gao Dingyuan to concentrate his forces so that he could attack all of them at once, so he camped at Beishui. Gao Dingyuan's forces killed Yong Kai, Wang Shi, and others. Meng Huo replaced Yong Kai as the leader of the rebellion. Zhuge Liang then beheaded Gao Dingyuan. 

Meanwhile, although Ma Zhong took Zangke commandary, Li Hui was surrounded at Nanzhong. 

In summer, the fifth month, Zhuge Liang crossed the Lu River, and he advanced to campaign against Yizhou commandary. He captured Meng Huo, then brought him into his camp and asked him, "What do you think of my army?" 

Meng Huo replied, "I regret I had not known about it earlier, Sir, or else I would have defeated you easily." 

Zhuge Liang considered that although his chief business would be in the north, the people of Nanzhong enjoyed rebelling and causing chaos, and he wanted to see through their tricks. So he pardoned Meng Huo and sent him back to his own army. The two sides then fought each other, and Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times and released him seven times. This caused Meng Huo to earnestly submit, and the tribal peoples and Han people also reconsidered their rebellion. Zhuge Liang once again asked Meng Huo what his intentions were, and Meng Huo now replied, "Sir, you are the scourge of Heaven! We border people shall trouble you no more." 

By autumn, the four southern commandaries had been pacified. Yizhou commandary was renamed to Jianning commandary, with Li Hui appointed as its Administrator; he was also appointed as General Who Maintains Han and acting Inspector of Jiaozhou, and he shifted his base to Wei county. Parts of Jianning and Yuexi commandaries were split off to form Yunnan commandary, with Lü Kai appointed as its Administrator. Parts of Jianning and Zangke commandaries were also split off to form Xinggu commandary. Ma Zhong was appointed as Administrator of Zangke. 

More than ten thousand families of Green Qiang tribal people and other strong fellows from Nanzhong were moved into the Shu region and organized into five divisions; since no enemy could stand before them, they were called the Flying Army. Others of the defeated rebels were organized into the great clans of Nanzhong: Jiao, Yong, Lou, Cuan, Meng, Liang, Mao, and Li. These were organized under the command of the five Commandants, called the Five Lords. This was what the people of Nanzhong referred to when they talked about the Four Clans and the Five Lords. Since many of the tribal peoples were obstinate and not willing to enrich these great clans, the local Prefects were encouraged to distribute gold and silks and develop plans to persuade the stubborn people to organize themselves into the family divisions, with many of them securing conspicuous hereditary offices. This caused the tribal peoples to begin craving fine products, gradually bringing them under the control of Han, until they became Han subjects. 

Zhuge Liang recruited several particular talented people: Cuan Xi of Jianning commandary, Meng Yan of Zhuti commandary, and Meng Huo became his subordinates. Cuan Xi rose in office as high as General Who Leads The Army; Meng Yan became General Who Maintains Han; Meng Huo became Middle Minister to the Imperial Secretary. 

Gold, silver, cinnabar, and lacquer were taken from Nanzhong, plow oxen and war horses were used to provide for the needs of the army and the state, and the Commanders often used the local people.

李恢卒後，以蜀郡太守犍為張翼為都督。翼持法嚴，不得殊俗和。夷帥劉冑反，徵翼，以馬忠為代。忠未至，翼脩攻戰方略、資儲。群下懼。翼曰：「吾方臨戰場，豈可以絀退之故，廢公家之務乎？」忠至，承以滅冑。「蜀賜翼爵關內侯。」忠在南，柔遠能「爾」〔邇〕，甚垂惠愛，官至鎮南大將軍。卒後，南人為之立祠，水旱禱之。以蜀郡張表為代，加安南將軍。又以犍為楊「義」〔羲〕為參軍，副貳之。表後，以南郡閻宇為都督，南郡霍弋為參軍。弋甚善參毗之禮，遂代宇為監軍、安南將軍。撫和異俗，為之立法施教，輕重允當，夷晉安之。及晉世，因仍其任。時交趾不附，假弋節遙領交州刺史，得以便宜選用長吏。今官和解夷人及適罰之，皆依弋故事。弋卒，子在「龔」〔襲〕領其兵，和諸姓。

After Li Hui passed away, the Administrator of Shu commandary, Zhang Yi (Bogong), was appointed as Commander. Zhang Yi was severe in enforcing the laws, and he could not maintain peace in the region. The tribal leader Liu Zhou rebelled. Zhang Yi was ordered back to the capital, and Ma Zhong was appointed as his replacement. However, before Ma Zhong arrived to replace him, Zhang Yi developed military preparations and gathered together supplies. His subordinates were afraid for him because he was doing this. But Zhang Yi told them, "I am in the midst of a battlefield; how could I go off and leave things unprepared here? Wouldn't that be abandoning my duties to the state?" After Ma Zhong arrived, he vanquished Liu Zhou. Shu later appointed Zhang Yi as a Marquis Within The Passes. 

During the time that Ma Zhong was in the south, he was kind to distant people and accommodating to nearby people, and he displayed great love and kindness. He rose in office as high as Grand General Who Guards The South. After Ma Zhong passed away, the people of the south raised a shrine to him, and they prayed to him whenever there was flooding or drought. 

Zhang Biao of Shu commandary was appointed to succeed Ma Zhong, and he was also appointed as General Who Maintains The South. Yang Xi of Jianwei commandary was appointed as an Army Advisor to assist Zhang Biao. 

After Zhang Biao, Yan Yu of Nan commandary was appointed as the new Commander, with Huo Yi of Nan commandary as his Army Advisor. This Huo Yi was an excellent assistant, and so he succeeded Yan Yu as General Who Directs The Army and General Who Maintains The South. He worked to resolve divergent customs, and he established laws for the people and educated them. Both light and heavy things became abundant, and the tribal peoples and the Jin (ethnic Han) people were secure. When Shu-Han was succeeded by the Jin dynasty, Huo Yi was kept on in the same role. At that time, since Jiaozhi had not submitted, Huo Yi was granted authority as acting Inspector of Jiaozhou to govern it from afar, and he was able to select and appoint his own chief officials. Even now (~350 AD), the local officials are tolerant with the tribal peoples and lenient in punishing them, following the example of Huo Yi. After Huo Yi passed away, his son Huo Zai took command of his soldiers and established peace with the leading local families.

[osakaso5]

Yamato Nikaido Chinese Zodiac Rabbit Chat Part 3: Friend Or Foe

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4 | Part 5

Tsumugi: Good work, everyone! Your rehearsal is tomorrow. You leave for it early, so try not to stay up too late! I'll pick you up with the van! 

Yamato: Good job. Thanks for always driving us. I'd love to go to bed early,   but... 

Tsumugi: Is something wrong? ><

Mitsuki: Manager, good job! We're in Yamato-san's room right now.

Nagi: My beloved Tsumugi. We are in Yamato's room, preparing our poses for the event.

Mitsuki: Coach Nagi's instructions are really detailed!

Yamato: At this rate, I'm gonna have muscle pains before our actual rehearsal... Cut us some slack, Coach Nagi. 

Nagi: NO, you must focus your heart into being the rabbit. Now, jump up and down three times and say "boing".

Yamato: Hell no. Why don't you start going "meh meh"?

Mitsuki: Huh? Isn't that what goats say? lolol

Yamato: Who cares. Nevermind that, how long are we gonna keep doing this? Mitsu, at this  rate you'll be the prime  example of a Headache  Guy (1).

Tsumugi: Headache Guy..?

Yamato: That's what Nagi calls it. He told Mitsu to put his hand on his forehead like his head's hurting.

Nagi: YES. Also, he must keep his hand inside his sleeve >:-) That will increase his moe factor, you see.

Mitsuki: And apparently these two are retainers who'll protect me, lololol With a hamaya (2) and an ear of rice, lol

Tsumugi: So you've got your poses all sorted out. I can't wait to see them! lol

Choices/outcomes:

1. I'll send you videos of Kinako to use as reference!

Yamato: No, I'm good (lol) Send those to Ichi instead, with a "these are from our kind Yamato-san", so I'll have more points in his eyes.

2. Do you think you can become the rabbit?

Yamato: I wouldn't mind not becoming the rabbit... And besides, it's not that kind of event.

3. With this, you'll nail both the rehearsal and the performance!

Yamato: I don't know about that. I feel like Nagi might not understand what this event is about. We're meant to dance as an offering to the god of entertainment, not pretend we're animals (lol)

Mitsuki: My arm is starting to hurt a little, lol

Tsumugi: Don't overdo it if you think it'll cause  problems later! ><

Nagi: OH, you  are all so weak :-((( We were only getting started.

Yamato: Nagi, not everyone's as young as you. If we keep going, me and Mitsu will be frail old men  by tomorrow. 

Mitsuki: I'm not the same as you, geezer lololol

Nagi: So he says, Yamato.

Yamato: I have just experienced the ultimate betrayal.

Mitsuki: You're so overdramatic, lol It's a request from our cute Nagi, okay? Show us what you've got.

Yamato: Oh my, Mitsuki-kun. If I show  you any more than this,  I'll be completely  naked. 

Mitsuki: That's not even true, lololol Speaking of which, you always wear the same sweats. 

Nagi: Yamato, is that the only loungewear you own..? If you want, I could lend you some of mine.

Yamato: No thanks, people will think that I've gotten into Cocona, too. I can already picture TRIGGER and Re:vale finding out about it the next day. 

Tsumugi: We've got such a good network that even employees from other agencies would soon know about it, lol

Nagi: I hear that is because each agency plants spies in their competing offices to steal their marketing strategies and trends.

Yamato: Stop it, Nagi. Do you want to end up disappeared?

Tsumugi: Huh!?

Mitsuki: I told you! Nagi can't be a spy, because he's too weak against women!

Nagi: Nothing is impossible. I would not let that get in my way ;-)

Yamato: That overconfidence is your biggest problem.

Tsumugi: I always thought it was strange that Nagi-san knows so much, but could it be

Yamato: Hey Mitsu, stop laughing!

Mitsuki: I'm not as good of an actor as you! This is too much, lololol

Nagi: Things were just starting to get interesting X-)) Tsumugi, I apologize for teasing you. That was just a joke. A bit of improv.

Tsumugi: G-geez! You're too good at this! That startled me...

Yamato: Nagi really isn't the kind of guy  whose bad side you  wanna get on.

Translator’s notes..? 

1) originally 頭痛い系男子 (guy whose head hurts), this is a term mainly used to make fun of a popular pose, particularly in anime, where a guy holds his hand to his forehead for no particular reason. variations of the term exist for other poses of this kind as well, as you can see here

2) hamaya are decorative arrows that are meant for warding off demons. they’re often sold at shinto shrines around the new year’s

[jgfiles]

Joker Game Novel Translations: Book 4, Chapter 1 "Valkyrie" - Part 6 of 13

HE’S HERE! HE’S HERE! HE’S HERE! HE’S HERE! HE’S HERE! HE’S HERE! 

So yes, I couldn’t resist and I did this part as fast as i could. It helps it’s short though for once I wanted a really long part. ;_;

Anyway here we are with another of my attempts at making sense of how translator engines translate @great-blaster transcription of the Japanese text of Valkyrie (you can find the link in the notes of this message if you’re interested).

As usual I remember you all translators engine don’t really do a great work in regard to translating things perfectly, and that even if I tried to at least smooth the English a bit and to fix the sentences that were really impossible to understand, my knowledge of Japanese is really so low it’s not worth mentioning so I might have messed up more often than not…

Still, if you, like me, are a fan of a certain spy who had the gall to die on his mission... well, you can’t miss seeing him ‘back’ in action in this part (whcih is actually placed before his death, that’s why he can be back in action...). Enjoy how he’s being a perfect spy and some details on his look. Oh and there’s Yukimura too. Please enjoy this chapter and, please, if you spot mistakes you’re free to come hit me in the head with the right translation. I don’t mind.

Again a lot of thanks to @great-blaster who provided the original transcription and to @unnagi whose summary helped me to figure where this was going when Google translate was being particularly uncooperative.

5

翌日。 The next day.

ベルリン、アンハルター駅、午前八時―――。 Berlin, Anhalter station [1], 8am ---.

ポツダム広場南東に位置するドイツ最大の乗り換え駅構内は、着膨れした多くの人々でごった返していた。職場に向かう勤め人、通学途中の学生、食料品あるいはクリスマスのプレゼントを買いに向かう者。わき目もふらず足早に目的地に向かう者ばかりではない。列車を待つ間、足を止めて熱心に新聞を読む者、知り合いを見つけて朝の挨拶を交わす者、何人かで集まって話し込んでいる者たちの姿も見受けられる。 Germany's largest transfer station, which was located in the southeast of Potsdamer Platz, was crowded by many people bundled up in layers of clothes. Workers going to their workplace, students on the way to school, people going to buy groceries or Christmas gifts. However not everyone was hurrying to reach his destination. While waiting for the train, one could see people stopping there to read their newspapers enthusiastically, others who meet up with friends and exchange greetings in the morning, and also those who were gathering and talking with other people.

ドイツ軍がポーランドへの〝電撃的侵攻″を果たし、英仏との間に戦���が始まった後も、���ルリン市民の暮らしは何ひとつ変わりないように見えた。変化といえば夜間に灯火管制が行われ、嗜好品や一部の食料品が配給制となったくらいなものだ。 Even after the German army accomplished "the lightning invasion" [2] of Poland and the war with Britain and France started, the lives of the citizens of Berlin appeared to not have changed much. What changed were things like lighting control now being done at night and the rationing system affecting luxury goods and some foods.

雪村は駅構内の売店（キオスク）で小銭と引き換えに新聞を一部購入した。見出しにちらりと目をやっただけで新聞を折り畳み、小脇に挟んで左右を見回した。 Yukimura bought with some coins a newspaper at a shop (kiosk) in the station. He gave a glance at the headline then folded the newspaper and looked around left and right.

駅舎内のルネサンス様式を模した柱の陰で、新聞を読んでいる男の姿が目に入った。 In the shadow of a pillar imitating the Renaissance style inside the station building, he could see there was the figure of a man reading a newspaper.

男が広げる新聞の角が、独特の角度で折られている。 One of the corners of the newspaper the man is keeping open is folded at a peculiar angle.

雪村は何げない足取りで男に近づき、男の隣で新聞を広げた。ふと思いついたように新聞を畳み、ポケットから手帳と万年筆を取り出した。手帳を開いて、万年筆を走らせる。雪村は眉を寄せた。インクが出ない。軽く万年筆を振り、もう一度試みた。やはり駄目だ。 Yukimura approached the man casually, and opened the newspaper next to him. As if caught by a sudden thought, he folded the newspaper and took out his notebook and a fountain pen from his pocket. He opened the notebook and tried to write something with a fountain pen. Yukimura frowned. Ink did not come out. He lightly shook a fountain pen and tried it again. It didn’t work.

「お使いになりますか？」 "Would you like to use this?"

横を向くと、隣の男が自分の万年筆を雪村に差し出していた。流暢な癖のないドイツ語。ただし、万年筆を差し出した手の肌の色は東洋系だ。中肉中背。地味な灰色のスーツ。鳥打ち帽を目深にかぶっているので陰になって顔は見えない……。 When Yukimura turned to look at his side, he could see the man next to him was offering him his fountain pen. His German was fluent without peculiar traits. However, the color of the skin of the hand that had presented the fountain pen was the oriental one. Medium built. Sober gray suit. Since he wore a hunting cap [3] low on his eyes, his face couldn’t be seen...

「ありがとう（ダンケ・シエーン）。助かります」 "Thank you (danke sehr). I am saved."

雪村は、ドイツ語で礼を言い、男の万年筆を借りて、ペン先を手帳に走らせた。 Yukimura thanked him in German, borrowed the man's fountain pen, and trailed the tip of the pen on his notebook.

男に万年筆を返し、ふたたび自分の新聞を広げた。 He then returned the fountain pen to the man and opened his newspaper again.

―――五秒の遅刻だ。 --- You're five seconds late.

隣の男が新聞の陰で言った。指向性な極端に絞った低い声。鳥打ち帽の陰から覗く唇は動いたようには見えなかった。 The man next to him said hidden behind his newspaper. It was an extremely directional low voice. It didn’t look like the lips shadowed by the hunting had had moved.

誰だ？ Who was he?

雪村は新聞に視線を向けたまま、目を細めた。 Yukimura narrowed his eyes while keeping them on the newspaper.

日本で会ったことのある相手か？いや、この声はまさか……？ Was he the one he met in Japan? No, this voice wasn’t...?

首を振った。 He shook his head.

違う。それに、今は相手の正体を詮索しても仕方がない。 He’d been mistaken. Besides, there was no point in finding out the identity of the other now.

木国からの報告書類を手にいれること。それが、今回の接触目的だ。予め決められた角度に角を折った新聞。〝五秒の遅刻″。書けない万年筆。ここまでは手順通りだ。雪村は、やはり指向性を絞った低い声で相手に訊ねた。 To receive the report documents from the country of trees. That was the purpose of this contact. A newspaper with a bent corner at a predetermined angle. "Five seconds late". A fountain pen that can’t write. This was the procedure so far. Yukimura questioned the other party again with a limited directional low voice.

―――それで、調査を依頼した例の件は？ --- So, what they’re asking an investigation for?

―――『サムライの娘』の大ヒットには裏がある。ゲッベルスが報道機関関係者を密かに集めて指示を出していた。〝大々的に作品を取り上げろ。決して悪く書くな″。 --- There is an ulterior motive for the great success of "Samurai's daughter". Goebbels secretly gathered press reporters and issued instructions. "Talk about the work extensively, never write anything bad about it".

ふん、と雪村は鼻を鳴らした。思った通りだ。良い作品だから多くの観客を集めるのではない、多くの観客を集めた作品が良い作品。それがゲッベルスのやり口というわけだ。問題は……。 Hmm, Yukimura snorted. It was as he thought. It wasn’t because it was a good work that it gathered a lot of spectators, it was because many spectators were gathered that it was considered a good works. That was the Goebbels’ work. The problem was…….

―――証明できるか？ --- Can you prove it?

―――〝我慢できないほど長い″。ゲッベルスが自分で日記にそう書いている。 --- "Verbose to the point of unbearable". That’s what he wrote on his diary.

当然のように返ってきた男の言葉に、雪村は内心舌を巻いた。意味するところは〝ゲッベルスの私的な日記を盗み読むことが可能な内部情報提供者を飼っている″ということだ。金、異性、信条、甘言、あるいは脅迫。どんな手を使ったにせよ、一朝一夕でできる工作ではない。 Yukimura was left internally speechless by the man’s reply with was said as if it was a matter of course. The meaning was that "he had an internal information provider who could steal and read Goebbels’ personal diary." Gold, sex, religious faith, sweet words, or intimidation. Whatever means had been used, it was not a work that could be done overnight.

長期潜入任務者か？いつからだ？ Was it a long-term undercover agent? Since when?

頭に浮かんだ疑念は、だが、相手に尋ねるわけにはいかなかった。否、たとえ尋ねたとしても答えが返ってくるとは思えない。潜入スパイ同士が接触するのは情報交換のためだけだ。必要以上の情報はお互い訊かない、尋ねない。知らなければ、たとえ敵に捕まり、拷問を受けたとしても、答えようがない。被害は最小限に抑えられる。 Doubt filled his head, but he couldn’t ask the other. No, he didn’t think he would get an answer even if he were to ask. Infiltrated spies contacted each other only for information exchange. They shouldn’t ask more information than necessary, so he won’t ask. If he didn’t know, even if he were caught by the enemy and tortured, he won’t be able to answer. The damage would be minimized.

目的はすでに果たした。接触終了。 He already fulfilled his purpose. The contact should end.

後は相手が新聞を畳んで立ち去り、雪村はしばらくその場に留まって、相手の男を尾行している者がいないかどうか、周囲の確認を行う。必要があれば〝敵を排除″する。それがスパイ同士のマナーだ。 When the other would fold the newspaper and leave, Yukimura would stay in the spot for a while and check the surroundings to see if there was anybody who was tailing the other. If necessary, "he would eliminate the enemies". That was mutual courtesy among spies.

相手の男が、新聞の角を折ったページをめくった。 The other man folded the corners of the newspaper.

追加情報の合図だ。 It was a signal of additional information.

雪村は眉を寄せた。接触時間を極力短くしたいのは、スパイにとってはいわば第二の本能だ。どんな形にせよ〝追加″は珍しい。 Yukimura frowned. It was the second nature for a spy to want to shorten the contact time as much as possible. "Additional information" was unusual in whatever form.

―――逸見五郎はとんだくわせものだ。 --- Itsumi Gorō is unexpectedly much more than he seems.

相手の男の声に微かに嘲笑の色が滲んだ。 Sarcasm slightly spread to colour the voice of the man.

―――本人は女性問題でハリウッドから逃げて来たと言っているらしいが、理由はそれだけじゃない。逸見には資金横領の疑いがかけられている。日本から追われた原因も金だ。ナチスの金を使い込んで面倒なことになる前に、引きあげさせろ。 --- It seems he said that he has escaped from Hollywood due to problems with a woman, but that's not the only reason. Itsumi is suspected of stealing funds. The reason due to which he had to leave Japan is also money. Stop him before he’ll get in trouble by using Nazi's money.

無表情にそれだけ言うと、男は新聞を畳み、駅構内の時計を見上げた。鳥打ち帽の下に、色白の端整な横顔が見えた。意外に若い。 After speaking in an expressionless tone, the man folded his newspaper and looked up at the clock in the station. Under his hunter hat, Yukimura could see a fairly pale profile. He was surprisingly young.

男は自分の腕時計に目を落とした。新聞を確認すると、そのまま新聞を広げた雪村には目もくれず、雑踏の中に歩み入り、すぐに姿が見えなくなった。

The man turned to look at his own watch. He didn’t look at Yukimura but, after checking Yukimura’s newspaper, which had remained open as it was before, moved into the crowd and disappeared immediately.

Notes:

[1] Very likely this actually refers to Anhalter Bahnhof station a former railway terminus in Berlin, approximately 600 metres (0.5 mi) southeast of Potsdamer Platz. Once one of Berlin's most important railway stations, it was severely damaged in World War II, and finally closed for traffic in 1952, when the GDR-owned Deutsche Reichsbahn rerouted all railway traffic between Berlin and places in the GDR avoiding the West Berlin area. The station's name lives on in the Berlin S-Bahn station of the same name, opened in October 1939 as part of the North-South S-Bahn link. [2] It’s a reference to the Blitzkrieg ("lightning war"), a method of warfare whereby an attacking force, spearheaded by a dense concentration of armoured and motorised or mechanised infantry formations with close air support, breaks through the opponent's line of defence by short, fast, powerful attacks and then dislocates the defenders, using speed and surprise to encircle them with the help of air superiority. Through the employment of combined arms in manoeuvre warfare, blitzkrieg attempts to unbalance the enemy by making it difficult for it to respond to the continuously changing front, then defeat it in a decisive Vernichtungsschlacht (battle of annihilation). Despite being common in German and English-language journalism during World War II, the word Blitzkrieg was never used by the Wehrmacht as an official military term, except for propaganda. It seems that the term first appeared in 1935, in a German military periodical Deutsche Wehr (German Defence), in connection to quick or lightning warfare and, during the Invasion of Poland, Western journalists adopted the term blitzkrieg to describe this form of armoured warfare. [3] It should refers to what is called a flat cap, a rounded cap with a small stiff brim in front.

My two cents as well, this chap as Miyoshi and I simply can’t shut up about it:

LOL, when Miyoshi commended Yukimura was 5 seconds late I found it pretty spot on and, probably, what inspired his characterization in the drama cd in which he’s obsessed over such little details... though it turned out it was just an agreed upon sentence that confirmed he was a spy, like ‘my shoes are black’ when Kaminaga asked for a light in his own episode.

But well, It was fun.

While Yukimura isn’t bad, we can clearly see Miyoshi is much better than him... even though Miyoshi is surprisingly young.

SPOILER AHEAD.

In the end it’ll turn out that Yukimura isn’t a D Agency spy but a Navy spy opposed to Miyoshi who is an Army spy, because yes, Army and Navy had their own spies and Miyoshi’s superior ability was a hint to this. Yukimura is a soldier, a Navy one and therefore supposedly better than the ones of the Army, but D Agency managed to surpass even them.

Now... since so far there are no names in the stage for someone playing Yukimura’s role I fear they’ll simply hand it to Miyoshi. While on a side it’s a good thing as it’ll give Miyoshi a bigger role... well, Yukimura is different from Miyoshi so I’m not sure how it’ll turn out but we’ll see.

Back to the story Miyoshi is, as usual, as cool as humanly possible. He can even check Goebbels’ private diary. Also he’s his usual sarcastic, you’re lower than me self. And it’s interesting picturing him wearing something different from a fedora, really.

*sigh* I was really sad when my boy was done talking with Yukimura, I wanted to see more of him, I miss him so much... really, why don’t they animate this episode? ;_;

[ebanoryokou]

Day 25 東京

Due to a scheduled late start today, and the excitement of being in 東京, I got up for an adventure at breakfast time. 

Arnold, Kaitlyn, Ryan and I met for breakfast, then to go out and about in 品川区 (Shinagawa Ward) before the shops opened. While Kaitlyn and I were happy to walk the quiet streets simply observing things, Ryan was a little disgruntled that despite being a busy city, not much is open before 10am. But that’s the tradeoff; if you get late nights, you don’t get early mornings. We found a map on a street corner with directions to a nearby shrine. Despite having seen so many on this trip, I was still keen to see another. A small, local shrine often has a very different feeling to one that has become a tourist attraction. 

As it turned out, we walked in completely the wrong direction. None of us particularly minded however, as we’d set off rather aimlessly in the first place. Although we didn’t up at the shrine we were first looking for, we found a temple that had a large Buddha holding what looked like a garlic out the front. Upon entering, we discovered the story of お地蔵 (Ojizo), carved into stone, and お地蔵 dotted around the grounds. A little while later, we came across a shrine with Ginkgo trees and I remembered what I’d seen on TV the night before: the Tokyo Metropolitan symbol is a green shape quite similar to one of the Gingko tree’s yellow leaves. As it turns out, this is pure coincidence, and the symbol is not related to the common tree in any way.

As we approached the meeting time with the rest of the group, we headed back to the hotel. As we did, I felt my excitement building. Not only was I excited to be in 東京, but I’d actually been looking forward to what was happening this afternoon for the past ten years. Today was the day we would visit スタジオジブリ美術館 (Studio Ghibli Museum). But first, we visited 吉祥寺 (Kichijoji), and 井の頭公園 (Inokashira Park) within it. 

吉祥寺 lies just outside the 23 main 区 (wards) that make up 東京都 (Tokyo City), but is still part of the sprawling metropolis. It may be one of my favourite areas of the city. Home to many foreign restaurants and vintage clothes stores, this area was bustling and lively, but felt more peaceful than areas like 渋谷 (Shibuya) or 新宿 (Shinjuku). This is surely thanks to 井の頭公園 (Inokashira Park), which has a film dedicated to it called パークス (Parks). I watched this film about a year ago, after I got back from Japan last time. Watching made me desperately want to return to Japan, and especially made me want to visit this park. To actually be there was so exciting, as I could recognise so many of the places from the film. 

Although 井の頭公園 was extremely photogenic, my mind was slightly in another place. I was counting down the hours, then minutes, until we’d be in 三鷹 (Mitaka), just on the other side of the park, where the museum was nestled into a forest. 

Tragically, no photos are allowed inside the museum, but the shots I got of the outside were enough. I think the visit will be imprinted in vivid detail in my memory for quite a while. 

The intricacy, attention to detail, and not to mention whimsical quality of the architecture fit perfectly with films that exist in the studio’s portfolio. Not only this, but the exhibits inside, with rooms dedicated to the history of animation, where the studio gets its inspiration from, and offices full of concept art, pieces in development, and interactive gadgets showing how the films are made, were so perfectly curated. It felt like being inside the mind of 宮崎 (Miyazaki) and 高畑 (Takahata). 

We also got to see a film broadcast only at the museum. Todays short was 「パン種とたまご姫」(Yeast and the Egg Princess). It contained all the elements of a classic Ghibli film: witches, magic, delicious-looking food, adventure, and humble protagonists. How they managed to fit so much into such a neat little frame of time astounds me. i will never not be in awe of this studio.