#charlotte chuhlhorne

[troius]

I don't really understand why Kubo felt the need to bring back reanimated Arrancars under Mayuri's command, but I'll give him his props for foreshadowing this way back then. He put in a significant amount of effort into this, first with Rudbornn collecting the bodies of the Privaron, and then with Mayuri finding the lab.

It's pretty funny though, that Charlotte gets to point out that she wasn't foreshadowed at all (it should be Gantenbainne completing the quartet), and gets shocked for pointing out the hole in the storytelling. Kubo REALLY WANTED her here, and we'll have to reserve judgment on whether that was particularly wise.

[littleeyesofpallas]

BLEACH - Resurrección

Baraggan Louisenbarn’s resurrección is,

 髑髏大帝 [アロガンテ]: Arrogante

The katakana アロガンテ is pronounced “A-ro-ga-n’-te” a nice direct transliteration of the Spanish, Arrogante, obviously meaning “Arrogant.”   The Kanji however is basically totally unrelated, 髑髏大帝 meaning 髑髏: “Skull” (esp. weatherbeaten, used as symbol of death) or ”death's head,” and 大帝: “Great Emperor.”

His release call is 朽ちろ “Kuchiro” meaning, “to rot“/“to decay” or “to die in obscurity.“  It’s actually the same word that the family name Kuchiki uses to mean “Rotting/Rotted Tree.”  When you put them all together the imagery does kind of have a unifying theme, but it’s a little nebulous, and if even one of those words isn’t properly explored or conveyed the whole things is lost.  “Decay, Arrogant: Skull Emperor!“ doesn’t really communicate anything sensible, but “Die in obscurity, Arrogant:Old/worn-out skull emperor!“ pulls together better.

Abirama Redder’s resurrección is,

空戦鷲 [アギラ]: Águila

pronounced “A-gi-ra,” approximating the Spanish for "Eagle."  The kanji 空戦鷲 reads 空戦:"Air Battle” as in a “Dog fight” between airplanes and 鷲 :“Eagle."

The release call, 頂を削れ: “Itadaki o kezure" is interestingly handled. Viz uses "Scrape the summit!" which is in fact a pretty literal interpretation of the subject  頂: “summit”/”peak”/”crown (of the head)” and  削れ: “shave”/”sharpen”/”scrape.”  The more liberal interpretation used by some other translators has been “Scalp!” as in to cut the skin(and hair) from the top of someone’s skull.

Both actually seem to fit the theme surprisingly well, and if taken to be a reference to “Scalping” it may be a riff off of Abirama’s general design having vaguely native american aesthetics.

Perhaps my all time favorite case of Kubo’s dissonant naming is Charlotte Chuhlhorne’s resurrección,

宮廷薔薇園ノ美女王 [レイーナ・デ・ロサス]: Reina de Rosas

I think you can tell just by looking that there’s no way these two are direct translations between Japanese and Spanish.  The katakana レイーナ・デ・ロサス is pronounced “Re-ii-na de Ro-sa-su” approximating the Spanish for "Queen of Roses”  which is what Viz wrote as the translation: "Queen of the Roses."  But the kanji actually reads, 宮廷: “Imperial Court,” 薔薇園ノ:Rose Garden’s, 美: “Beautiful” 女王: “Queen;” so his sword’s full meaning is really, “Beautiful Queen of the Royal Court Rose Garden.”  Very different from just “Queen of the Roses.”

The release call 煌めけ: "kirameke" however was actually handled correctly, Viz used "Glitter" which is fairly literal.  “Sparkle” or “Twinkle” would also have been appropriate.  “Kirameke” is also the root of the sound effect, “kirakira” which is supposed to be the sound of sparkling/twinkling/glittering.  Japanese has a curious affinity for onomatopoeia for things that don’t actually make a noise, and it’s used mostly in manga as sound effects.  “Kirakira” is often used not just for the literal reflection of light but for a kind of metaphorical sparkle like energetic or bright attitudes, frequently relating to characters like pop idols; thus the association with Charlotte’s flamboyance.

Next up is Findorr Calius’s

蟄刀流断 [ピンサグーダ]: Pinza Aguda

The katakana ピンサグーダ is pronounced “Pi-n’-sa-guu-da”: Pinza Aguda, Spanish for "Claw, Sharp."  Once again Viz translated the Spanish, not the Japanese, as “Sharp Pincer.”  The kanji  reads 蟄: “Hibernation* (specifically of insects),” 刀流 : “Sword Style,” and 断: “Judgement.” 

*okay so scientifically speaking what crabs do in cold weather isn’t actually called “hibernating” (and neither is what insects do; that’s “torpor.”) at least not in English, but Japanese doesn’t have different distinct terms for all of those so the “hibernating” here is referring to when crabs go dormant, referencing Findorr’s ability to suppress his own power with his mask.

The release call, 水面に刻め: “Minamo ni Kizame” was translated by Viz as "Carve upon the water" which is more or less accurate.  But he specific word,  水面: “Minamo” is a compound of the kanji for “water” and “face” meaning literally, “surface of the water.”  Also, the verb  刻め: “kizame” has a few implications as to its use; it can mean “engrave” or “carve” but also “nick” or in other words a “fine cut.”  The idea is that it specifies a small or shallow mark, so rather than a grand motion of smashing or slashing into the water, the battle call reads more like “break the water’s surface” like emerging thru the surface of the water.  (i.e. a long sleeping crab rising up from the still water.)

and the last of the 4 Dragons, from the Dragons -vs- Ants battles, Choe Neng Poww’s

巨腕鯨 [カルデロン]: Calderón

The katakana カルデロン: “Ka-ru-de-ro-n’" approximates the Spanish Calderon which is both a common name for the "Pilot Whale" as well as a “Cauldron.”  The kanji is largely unrelated and reads, 巨腕鯨 “Gigantic Arm Whale,” which Viz took the liberty of just calling "Great Whale."

His release call, 気吹け: “ibuke” was translated as “Breathe” which isn’t exactly wrong, but the obvious interpretation that was meant here was “Blow” as in from a whale’s blowhole.

In the final stretch here, I know Baraggan’s got too many goons...  Ggio Vega’s resurrección is

虎牙迅風 [ティグレストーク]: Tigre Estoque

The katakana reads ティグレストーク: “Ti-gu-re-Su-too-ku” which is a little clunky but meant to be the Spanish Tigre Estoque, meaning "Tiger Rapier."  The kanji reads 虎牙迅風: "Tiger Fang Swift Wind."  Viz of course translated the Spanish, not the Japanese when they did this.

The release call, 食い千切れ: “kuichigire” means  食い: “Bite” and 千切れ: “Tear off”/”rip to shreds.”  Which doesn’t come across super succinctly in English, but the idea being the command to “rip to pieces with you teeth!”  Viz translated this as “Bite off“ which again is not technically incorrect, but also doesn’t functionally communicate the intended meaning.

and finally...

巨象兵 [マムー��]: Mamut

Katakana, マムート: “Ma-muu-to” from Spanish “Mamut” meaning "Mammoth."  All super straight forward.  The kanji just reads  巨象兵:"Gigantic Elephant Soldier.  You can kind of tell Kubo threw this one together without a lot of thought.

The release call is 踏み潰せ: “fumitsubuse." Viz called it "Stomp Down" which is kind of weird considering the phrase pretty commonly can just be translated as “Trample” or “Crush under foot.”

One thing of note, these last two didn’t show up when Baraggan first appeared and only got added into the background as the first 4 fights went on.  They share the feature of being prehistoric animals (a sabertooth tiger and a woolly mammoth) which is actually a play on Baraggan’s own gimmick being age.  But the timing of their addition and the lack of a theme in the first 4 fraccion suggests heavily that Kubo didn’t have a theme in mind until right around the time Ggio and Nirgge showed up.

I’ve got more of these Resurreccion posts btw: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

[troius]

I'm almost...impressed at how much horribly ill-advised ambition Kubo is bringing to the table here? Dude is really trying say things, or at least explore the concept of gender-as-performance, by booking a fight between a drag queen and a trans girl in the pages of Shonen Jump.

That's insane! I only know enough about queer theory to be dangerous, but even I know that this stuff is regularly debated by PhDs in academic journals, and that even those academics can have a hard time reconciling the intellectual work with the deeply personal subject matter. And Kubo is trying to use it to juice a fight scene in his comic book?!?!

[troius]

Not gonna lie, it feels kinda cheap that Mayuri can pop a grate strong enough to restrain Hitsugaya out of nowhere.

[troius]