#for various nuanced reasons. but also i am objectively correct

[blueskittlesart]

Idk if this been asked before and I’m sort of new but I’m curious of your ranking of all the Zelda games!

this fluctuates, but here are the ones i've played all the way through!

oot

botw

majora

sksw

eow

totk

alttp

wind waker

nes zelda

link's awakening

twilight princess

[pikahlua]

Wow, okay, I’ve seen a bit of the translation drama now, and I regret to say a lot of people who very clearly do not know how to speak Japanese are being extremely polarizing about some perfectly acceptable word choices in the official manga. This is precisely the sort of stuff I hoped to help minimize when I started doing my translations. It’s been a while since I had to put out a warning like this, so I’ll do it now.

Be careful about getting too married to a particular word choice in English. A lot of word choices are very much up to a translator’s discretion. Language is fluid, and Japanese lends itself particularly well to puns and wordplay.

For example (and this is a particularly good example to explain my point), let’s talk about this panel:

Re: this post

Which leads into what seems to be the crux of the matter: Toga's "love." I've noted in passing before that having her use the word "suki" to describe this love is very curious. It's just an adjective that means something is the object of your affection. It's not a specific word for love like the nouns "ai (love, but broadly)" or "koi (romantic love)" are. "Suki" is just as often translated as "like" as it is "love."

In the above panel, we have the phrase “suki na mono wo suki to iu” (which I translated as “you tell those you like that you like them.”) The word “suki” is being used as an adjective to modify “mono.” However, there is an interesting nuance that is impossible for me to convey in an English translation!

The word “mono” can mean both “(tangible) thing” and “person.” Usually we can tell the difference based on context and the use of the correct kanji. BUT THERE IS NO KANJI USED IN THE ABOVE PANEL. The effect is that what this “mono” refers to is ambiguous. Is it the “things Toga likes” or the “people Toga likes”? It’s not clear: which means that both readings are correct! In fact, the word is probably meant to include BOTH meanings. “All things or people Toga likes.”

And the reason I can’t properly translate that into English is because I have no word that refers to such a thing. In English, it’s a question of “what Toga likes” vs “whom Toga likes,” but in Japanese BOTH meanings are captured by just one phrase.

The most accurate and extremely awkward translation in English would just be “You say who and what you like.” It’s not really something a person would say naturally, especially depending on the context of the conversation surrounding the phrase.

Additionally, “suki” is a very vague word that can be translated in many ways. It gets translated into English as various words all the time. I just decided to go with “like,” but “love” or “dear” would be just as viable. Like I said, it’s kind of up to the translator’s discretion. (And think about the corollary in English. “Like” may not usually mean “love,” but if you were in high school and told someone, especially of the opposite sex, “I like you,” “like” suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.)

Anyways, the whole point of this is that I just want to caution people against jumping to conclusions about these things, especially as you encounter disagreements about such things by fans in the wild. It may be true that a translator has a particular agenda they’re trying to push that runs counter to the message of a story, but it may also be a much more honest and correct translation than you expect. And if you ever need it, I’m always happy to give my perspective on a specific translation to point out the more charitable and non-charitable interpretations, the potential ambiguities, the nitty-gritty grammar issues, etc. (to the best of my ability, of course--I am not a final arbiter on these things either, just another learner myself).

[omoi-no-hoka]

What have you found you need to be very careful with when translating narrative texts? When I write in different languages there are of course different nuances and ways to express thoughts, but I wondered if there was anything that showed up often in your line of work, esp since for me at least thinking in Jap takes viewing things in a very different light.

Hi! Thank you for your ask!

This is a very interesting topic. I’m a self-taught translator, in that I have no formal training. I was just hired because I could do both English and Japanese haha. So my opinions perhaps aren’t as informed or correct as someone who has actually received formal translation training/certification.

I often have to translate rather difficult business negotiations or explanations about issues that arise, and what I most commonly struggle with is not so much a difficulty with nuance, but with the fundamental sociolinguistic differences in relaying information in Japanese and English.

Japanese communication in general is much more vague than English. At the sentence level, we see subjects or objects or tenses omitted. At the topic level, we can see what an English-speaker would deem “essential information” omitted, such as the start date of an event, or the cause of an event, etc. 

The sentence-level omissions are just the way Japanese works and I can’t explain that. But the topic-level ones... This is just my personal opinion not backed by research, but I believe that in Japanese culture, there is a certain safety in vagaries. You can’t be held accountable for not meeting a deadline if you do not state an ETA, for example. The person hearing this vague explanation will no doubt have questions, but will often be hesitant to ask them because they understand the safety of vagaries as well, and also do not want to come across as rude by questioning them. There is a trust in both parties that they are acting in good faith.

So let’s go through a hypothetical scenario that can happen at my job and see it in action.

👆 mfw i am having a good day and it’s 5:59 and I’m thinking I get to home on time for once but then everything catches fire and they all go 「Omoi-no-hoka様、とても申し訳ないですが、、、」(Sidenote: Everyone just calls me Omoi-no-hoka-san, but when they know they’re asking a big favor I’m not gonna like, they put -sama on in an attempt to appease the beast lmao.)

Let’s say that an issue suddenly arises. No one can access any of the Microsoft Suite apps so no one can get any work done. This is a major issue that must be relayed to our client immediately. 

Here’s the example Japanese I’ll receive that I need to translate into English. Sorry if my Japanese isn’t perfect. 

クライアント様、

お世話になっております。田中でございます。

早速ですが、ただいま弊社のO365が急にアクセスできなくなりまして、それによっていくつかの営業に直接関連するタスクができかねる状況になっております。

迅速にこちらの問題を解決するように努力しております。

進捗がある次第またご連絡差し上げます。

取り急ぎでございますが、よろしくお願いいたします。

Now here would be my direct translation of this email:

Client-san, (most clients working with Japanese people know about -san but not about -sama, so I change it to -san.)

Hello. This is Tanaka. 

I am sorry to report that we have lost access to our Office suite suddenly and this is preventing us from completing various tasks that directly impact operations. 

We are working as quickly as possible to resolve this issue.

We will inform you when we have updates.

Kind regards,

If our American client were to read an incident report that vague, they would immediately fire back 30 different questions. When did the issue start? What tasks can you not complete? How are operations being impacted? What is being done to resolve the issue? Has the cause been determined? What is the estimated time until restoration? Who is to blame for this?

Therefore, when I receive a translation request like the Japanese above, I will go back to the person who wrote it and tell them that they need to provide additional information. We need to anticipate the client’s questions and give them what they need to know from the first report. 

The problem isn’t that the Japanese person is bad at explaining things; it’s just that the conventions of Japanese and English communication are different. 

Different Nuances Regarding Requests/Imperatives

There are also some sentence conventions, particularly with making requests, that have very different nuances in English and Japanese.

Japanese is sort of famous for being roundabout to the point of being unclear, whereas English is very straight to the point.

However, surprisingly, it is the exact opposite when asking someone to do something.

In Japanese, it is common to say “Please  ____.” or “We ask that you please _____.”

However, this is rather direct to an English-speaker’s ear. The more polite English becomes, the less of an imperative it becomes and the more of a request it becomes. “Would you please  ____?” or “Would you be so kind as to ____?” We phrase these “imperatives” as questions.

For this reason, many times I will take the “Please ___” I see in Japanese and change it into the above question-style imperative. This is something I often give feedback on to my coworkers who use Google translate when they don’t want to bother me because it does make quite a difference in nuance.

[umbruch-modus]

How To Begin With Your Very First Invention

The little light bulb inside your head has lit up as well as you are stuck with the idea that you developed something You are uncertain yet just how useful your idea goes to this time around, however, something. informs you that this may be the Luck you were searching for. What you do next and exactly how you approach your next actions is exceptionally vital as well as will certainly either lead you on to splendor or will ruin your endeavor. The steps that I will certainly lay out a little later may appear unneeded; nonetheless, I want to guarantee you that in the end, you will certainly be happy that you took my suggestions.

Before we wage the discussion, I would love to provide a couple of words of knowledge. While working with your concept you will certainly experience individuals who will slam your job and also attempt to prevent you from forging ahead. Several of the objection will certainly be deserved as well as the need to be taken into account. If you see that a valid point is raised that you never thought about before - the much better off you are. It permits you to stop briefly as well as see your concept from another perspective (or angle). Nonetheless, you might additionally encounter a supposed devastating objection that is not based upon any type of facts.

When you learn exactly how to separate these two, you will be far better off. My recommendations to you -

- Do not be afraid to inquiry experts, since the majority of specialists are one-track minded and oblivious to various other points

- Do not be afraid to test other people's ideas, wait for your principles and also be firm

When you are ready to market your idea, you will need to take care of big firms. Bear in mind that the bigger the firm is, the more bureaucratic it is. Lots of big companies lose focus and also often work with staff members who are either not received the job, or just not interested in what they are doing. If you stumble upon these individuals that are attempting to make you feel trivial (and also your concept unimportant as well as not practical) don't get dissuaded by this - opportunities are you will certainly be far better off dealing with a smaller company that is extra focused and also going to take dangers!

- Do not be afraid to find that your idea is malfunctioning. Time out, make corrections, re-analyze as well as move ahead

Action 1 - Stay Focused and Document Your Idea

This action has significant benefits, because -

1. You will plainly define your invention idea 2. While documenting your idea, you may locate means on exactly how to increase your invention

Constantly attempt to place on paper what it is that you designed - precisely define your suggestion, its objective, restrictions, and target audience. If you can not exactly define your idea, after that this implies that you need to take an action back, re-analyze your reasoning, and streamline things.

Case Study 1

In the final evaluation, John K. should have stopped right before making any type of adjustments to his initial Automatic Knife System and also asked himself the adhering to - am I better off with the original system or with a pedestrian mechanism that has extra features? Are the extra attributes also required?

While laboring difficult on his invention, John K. creates technical illustrations and decides that his future product will profit from the enhancement of additional things - a scissor as well as a screwdriver. The enhancement of these products makes the last product larger and much heavier.

The above example clearly shows the following - focus on your initial concept and also disregard additional, superfluous attributes that could muddle your vision. Additional attributes will certainly enter into play later on, as soon as you clearly explained as well as formed your invention.

Action 2 Exploratory Stages - Determine if your concept is distinct

Once you've documented your concept, you should start thinking about the following - exactly how unique is my concept? To answer these questions, you will have to do some legwork and hit your local library and also the net. Unless you allowed a huge quantity of your spending plan to Patent Attorney, who will investigate for you, you will certainly be much better off doing a preliminary study by yourself. Why? Because you might uncover during your exploratory searches that your style is not one-of-a-kind and also save yourself from paying Large Legal representative fees. A note of care - don't get dissuaded if you determine that the suggestion similar to your own already exists and also already patented. The reality that a person concerned similar conclusions as you, just a bit previously is excellent - you have competitors! Competitors are good, competition is healthy and balanced! Very carefully check out the contending item, even take it apart, if required. Determine what separates your concept from rivals, its restrictions, and also just how effective it was an additional individual (or a business) with marketing it. As you can see, you can really learn from the mistakes of others, prevent their blunders, as well as advance fully aware of the competitors and also their constraints.

Action 3 - Product Security Considerations

Whether you determined to create a baby product or some sort of house device, special care must be absorbed describing potential hazards associated with using your product. If you invented a new plaything developed for small children, attempt to come up with the listing of parts that can damage your little customers. Remember that lots of people, regrettably, neglect exploitation handbooks. Establish what can or might fail with the operation of your product and also identify means on just how to boost item safety. The questions that you might ask on your own are the complying with -

1. Am I using proper materials? 2. Maybe the part which contains the most risks should be revamped?

Attempt to find up with a comprehensive list of parts that can be potentially unsafe as well as fix your style before you start marketing your item. You might think of this step as unneeded, but let me alert you - most advertising business will need you to explain all Safety attributes of your idea, and you could save yourself a long time by doing preparations in advance. Find out more advice by visiting InventHelp Wiki

Step 4 - Demographics and Determining who will Utilize Your Item

Ones you have a clear image of your item and also you worked out all nuances of product style, attempt to determine that will certainly utilize your item, when, and where. Try to ask on your own the adhering to inquiries -

1. What is the age brace of the target market? 2. Is my product developed for Guy, Females, or Both? 3. Where and also when can it be made use of?

Your product is most likely customized for sure sectors (for example, farming); after that think about those that will profit the most from your invention! If your product is designed to collaborate with certain dirt or crops, then you ought to target geographical region rich with preferred features. As one can see, this action needs comprehensive study, preparation, as well as leg job; the advantages, on the other hand, will be payoff satisfying!

Appropriately responding to these questions will assist you properly market your product and also remain abreast of the competition. Also, recognizing the solution to those questions will help you in putting finishing touches on your product. Exactly how? If your item is made for youngsters, then it should be brilliant as well as vibrant. If your item is designed for a chilly environment, you need to stay clear of advertising it in areas where it's warm all year long.

Step 5 - Create Complete or Little Range Design of Your Item

It is exceptionally essential to create a working model off of your concept. Why? By having a real-life design of your idea (or a scaled-down variation of it), will help you to -

1. Determine its constraints as well as provides you a chance to re-think some aspects of your preliminary layout and also make necessary improvements 2. Improve your last style

Along with those things, the last version will certainly help you psychologically. There is no much better feeling than having the ability to physically see and also touch the production of your mind! The truth that you are touching the real-life version of your last style will certainly provide you a positive mental increase equal to no other you've experienced during the design procedure, encouraging you much more to succeed!

As soon as you prepared your version, try to determine what materials will enter right into the building of the real-life product. Will your item be developed of plaster or metal? If metal, after that what kind of metal - is it lightweight aluminum, copper, or some type of alloy? As soon as you establish the essential materials, estimate the manufacturing price since the rate that you'll charge for your item will certainly depend on the production cost of each device. You do not need to be 100% appropriate at this phase with your product options, yet it's great to recognize what materials will enter into the production of your product so that you have a ball-park figure on the last cost of your item.

The best method to approach this step is to attempt as well as make use of a notepad the final version of your product, the method you see it now. Your illustrations ought to show your final idea/product under various angles, in a 2-D and 3-D. The picture could not be rather because not many people have essential illustration abilities. However, this attractive task will assist you profoundly strengthen your style and pinpoint products that you still require to service. Also, I highly advise that you produce your initial item prototype from clay or any other material that is easily available. Why? This model together with initial illustration will assist you to discuss your concept to the technical individual who, subsequently, will change your layout right into a very technical design illustration.

Step 6 - Estimate Cost and also Gross Profit

When you established that will certainly use your product as well as where (or your product's market), it is time to believe "huge" - try to exercise cost/benefit analysis of your product. Below is a case study -

Mary A., a homemaker with 3 little children, designed a plastic bottle holder for babies and also tiny young children. Her bottle owner was designed as if it would hold both the bottles, spoons and also container caps. Mary A. developed countless illustrations of her product as well as with the help of her hubby handled to create a major variation of her product constructed from clay. Before entailing an engineer, Mary A. approximated that her item will be made totally out of plastic. The approximated manufacturing cost of 1 bottle holder is $3.00 (we assume that the factory lies in China and also delivery prices are currently factored into the approximated manufacturing expense). Mary A. did comparative purchasing and established that other sorts of Child Owners are marketing around 15 dollars. Also, Mary learned that three local baby shops each offer 1000 consumers per day (including online purchases); also, each shop calls for a 40% compensations per each acquisition - implying that $6 is paid as a commission to the store for every $15 purchase. Mary A. promptly figured out that her total earnings will be $6 per each container holder ($ 15 - $6 - $3). Assume that one-third of all consumers in each store have either infants or toddlers who still require container owners (roughly 330 customers per shop), Mary A. can create earnings in the quantity of 330 X 3 X 6 = $5940.

Step 7 - Product Advertising

The right advertising technique is necessary for the success of your suggestion. Partnering with an advertising and marketing company that you can trust and also rely upon will pay large rewards over time and also need to not be neglected. What should you find out about marketing firms? The majority of these businesses are split into two groups (I will call them groups An and B) -

Team B: These businesses provide inventors complete flexibility in marketing their suggestions. Inventors pick what to state and also concentrate on highlight locations that they believe are most relevant to their invention. IdeaJets is a market where individuals with suggestions as well as companies who look for sharp minds fulfill. Along with assisting you to find an appropriate partner that can aid you to understand your suggestions as well as desires, IdeaJets likewise brings inventors in contact with various other enthusiastic people to cultivate as well as advertise the society of creativeness as well as success. You can meet your other inventors making use of the IdeaJets messaging system or in Online forums. With any luck, by sharing concepts and points of view, individuals might see their inventions or concepts in a new light, improve, and also re-define them to more increase their possibilities to succeed. Since now, IdeaJets is completely complimentary!

Team A: These companies assert that they have particular expertise and inside connections in a broad variety of sectors. In addition to been expensive, numerous firms that belong to this group are implicated in scams, and also the creator must very carefully consider who they are dealing with.

[itsvitobrainpills-blog]

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[cupidsbower]

This wallpaper is dreadful, one of us will have to go

When I was young, and took myself Very Seriously As An Artist, I used to think that art could be objectively good or bad. 

I don’t think so anymore. Instead, I think the evaluation of all art is far more subjective than is entirely comfortable.

I mean, obviously, I still think my taste is super excellent... I’ve just come to understand that many people don’t share my excellent taste, no matter how educated or informed it is. They think their contradictory taste is super excellent, and even have good reasons for thinking so. I concede they are correct. And I am also correct. We’re all correct! Because we are all judging based on different premises.

That’s not to say you can’t quantify art in various more or less objective ways. If you set out a list of criteria, you can assess art against it, and end up with assessments that are fairly consistent. This is how art tends to be included in the Academy, for instance, and be part of a formal curriculum.

It’s also supposedly how art critics have a job. They assess new art, like films, against an agreed upon set of criteria, and come to a conclusion about whether it’s good or bad art, worth seeing or not, based on how well the art meets those criteria.

But here’s the thing about judging art that way... the criteria are much less objective than we like to think they are. I’m a fan of plot and characterisation, so I tend to agree with the kinds of formal criteria that end up being used for fiction within universities. Of course, I’ve also had credible academics tell me that any science fiction that meets the criteria isn’t SF because it’s too good. Just stop and think about that for a minute.

To unpack that, there are two biases working in any formal system of judging art, not within every critic, but just as part of the systemic workings:

the biases in what is considered “good” in any given era (that is, who gets to make that choice, who has the power); and

the biases in the people applying the criteria to a piece of art (as in the SF isn’t SF example, but more importantly, when the art is made by a woman or person of colour or someone else who Shouldn’t Make Art... at least in the eyes of the particular critic making the judgement).

Those “objective” criteria we set so much stock by are usually, still, even now, based on the things old white dudes value as art. And despite my love of well-constructed plot and nuanced characterisation, I have come to understand that sometimes there’s more value in breaking the rules than sticking to them, when the rules reaffirm the inequalities that are such a burden for so many real people in the world.

Which is a long-winded way of saying: you can tell me that Venom is a bad film all day long, Anon Commenters. But so far you don’t bring any convincing arguments to show me:

why your criteria for “badness” are better than mine for “passableness” (I’m not even arguing for “goodness” for heaven’s sake), or even what your criteria for badness are, and 

why I should agree with the critics’ taste over the tastes of a bunch of feminist-leaning women and queers (ie. fandom), not to mention, of course, my own super-excellent and well-educated taste.

Give me actual reasons, as opposed to “it’s objectively bad” and “tone issues” and maybe we can have a conversation. I’ll start by saying I concede there are pacing issues, and one major hole in Venom’s characterisation (we aren’t given enough of him falling in love with Eddie for his motivation in the climax to be entirely believable). I don’t think those things are enough on their own to make the movie “bad” because there are other things of value that balance them out, like a male lead who emotes all over the place.

In short: I’d appreciate it a lot if you stop parroting film school talking points, and actually think. You probably have good reasons for thinking the film is bad, and I would genuinely like to hear them, even though I’ll probably not agree with you. But repeating the same tired phrases over and over will not advance our understanding of each other or the film in any useful way, and it’s frankly a waste of my time when I could be reading Venom fanfic instead.

ETA: I do also see the irony in arguing about this in regards to a film that cost $100 million to make. That’s potentially a worthwhile conversation to have too. I’m not entirely sure how much capitalism should inflect the value of art as something we make part of our inner landscape, quite apart from the money we spend on it. It’s one of those thorny issues I have never reconciled.

[toraonice]

I don't think you're homophobic, a bad person, or any of that and am sorry you're getting outright hate BUT I think you're missing a lot of the point. I am not going to presume that you aren't LGBT, but I am unsure if you understand how LGBT people are irritated at how het pairings as "overt" as v*****ri are typically accepted as they are (/cont)

(cont) yet so many gay pairings portrayed in the same vein are “ambiguous” or argue that it isn’t canon. The “they’re DEEPER than romantic love” is also hurtful as people aren’t discriminated against for friendships and erases what makes them so special to LGBT fans.

(cont 3/3) Essentially, I think although you have good intentions in trying to be objective, with what I said in mind when you add separate commentary such as pointing out that soulmates can be platonic or the late night drama thing it does deeply hurt people, because it sounds like you’re trying to downplay them—intentionally or otherwise

Hello! First of all, thank you for making a concrete example and articulating your point logically!

I’m taking this occasion to write a long reply that encompasses my view of Victor and Yuuri’s relationship also with regard to heterocentricity. It’s long, but hopefully it’s exhaustive… 

I think some people may be a bit wary about this topic and interpret my words in a negative way. For example, by saying that their bond is “deeper than romantic love” I am not trying to say that romantic love is a bad thing or that they cannot be or become lovers. I actually see it as something positive, not negative. There are people who know each other, start dating, have a passionate love story and then break up within a year. I believe that, since the bond between Victor and Yuuri is not limited to romantic love (which can be included) but also includes respect, friendship and other feelings, this makes their relationship deeper than two people only bound by romantic feelings.

Also, when I said that soulmates can be platonic and that the Japanese Monday dramas are not necessarily centered on love stories, I was trying to be fair to all interpretations. I don’t mean “so this proves that Victor and Yuuri cannot be in a romantic relationship”; it just isn’t something that proves either theory.

Regarding Japanese dramas.. Not sure how many people are familiar with it, but in the 2nd Tiger & Bunny movie there is a scene with the 2 protagonists on the roof of a building that is commonly referred to by fans as “gekku” (the same kind of drama as the scene of Victor and Yuuri at the airport). Usually this kind of scenes, in the TV dramas, feature a man and a woman, but when “gekku” is used to describe something unrelated to dramas, like scenes from an anime, it often includes a slightly humorous nuance, very similar to when two people are fighting and someone tells them “you look like a married couple”. (The scene itself is usually serious and when fans use “gekku” they don’t mean to make fun of it, but at the same time they don’t seriously mean to imply that the characters are romantically involved)

I agree on the fact that if Victor and Yuuri had been a man and a woman everyone and their dog would think that they’re in love with each other, while part of the reason some people are skeptical about it is that they are both men. I myself don’t really it like when, especially in series where the sexuality of characters is not clear, two characters of opposite sexes are seen as more likely to fall in love with each other than characters of the same sex. This happens because some people think that unless a character is declared as homosexual they must be heterosexual because “that is the standard” (these people in many cases are not even trying to be homophobic, they just do not realize that what they are implying is heterocentric). I don’t think that there is a standard, and of course there are many more possibilities than just “heterosexual” and “homosexual”, therefore if a character’s sexuality is unconfirmed I am usually open to any possibility.

I will stray a little from YOI. I was an enthusiastic X-Files fan at the time the series was still airing and the protagonists weren’t officially lovers yet (yeah it’s a long time ago but I might not be as old as this makes you think lol). I was also a member of the official forum and identified myself as “intellishipper”, fans who shipped the protagonists but didn’t necessarily want them to become romantically involved in the series unless it was relevant to the story (normal “shippers” just wanted them to get together). This is because I liked X-Files for what it was — a sci-fi thriller drama — and I didn’t want it to suddenly become a love story or focus too much on the romantic relationship of the characters. In fact, to this day I still don’t really like how their romantic relationship was handled in the series… (even though I’m a shipper!) X-Files taught me that sometimes, even if the characters you ship officially get together, depending on how it’s portrayed it might be disappointing, and in that case maybe it’s better that everything is left vague and that you keep on fantasizing on your own… (Sorry if someone disagrees about the protagonists’ relationship in X-Files, this is just my opinion)

The reason of this digression is to explain that the way I view Victor and Yuuri’s relationship and its portrayal within the series is very similar to my experience with X-Files. I personally like them together, but since the series is fundamentally a sport anime about figure skating, to me it’s fine if they don’t confirm whether they are romantically involved or not, because either way there are enough hints to be perfectly able to perceive them as in love with each other even if it’s not stated out loud. At the same time, I respect people who want them to officially get together and people who prefer to see their relationship as platonic too, because in the end everything is open to interpretations and therefore I don’t think it’s correct to force one interpretation on others.

I understand that people who see this anime as important for the LGBT+ community would prefer that they are confirmed as lovers because we would have a “regular” (non-BL) anime featuring an official homosexual couple with a strong, healthy relationship, which would be a step forward in the portrayal of LGBT characters in Japanese anime too. However, exactly because it��s a Japanese anime, as I tried to explain in a previous post a few months ago, the local cultural background is an obstacle to that, therefore I wouldn’t be surprised if even in future works they never confirm anything. Also, what Yamamoto said about “relationships without a name” too makes me think that maybe she doesn’t find it important to give a name to their relationship but she just wants to portray a very strong bond between two characters which viewers can interpret how they prefer. Kubo too made a few tweets last August that suggest how one of the reasons they didn’t use a man and a woman is that they did not want people to automatically interpret their relationship as romantic “just because they’re a man and a woman”. If you read that negatively you might think “does she mean that if they are both guys they cannot be seen as romantically involved?”. I don’t know what she meant in detail of course, because I’m not inside her mind, but I also think it can be interpreted in a positive way: if the characters are a man and a woman people will see them as automatically in love only because of their genders, regardless of the deepness of their relationship; however, if they are guys the average viewer cannot apply their heterocentric point of view to them and they will only see them as in love because their relationship really suggests that.

By the way, I still think that YOI, even without confirming anything, is an important step forward for the portrayal of LGBT+ characters in Japanese anime because it shows two male characters having an intimate relationship (however you want to interpret it) without their surroundings going “eww gross” or making jokes about them. In the series, no one says anything or questions Yuuri’s sexuality when he decides to interpret the role of a woman in his early version of Eros, no one ever makes fun of Yuuri and Victor’s relationship, no one looks grossed out when they see them with wedding rings (Phichit even congratulates them for their “wedding”). As Kubo said, within the world of YOI no one is discriminated for what (or who) they like. Everything is just portrayed as normal. In a way, the fact that any possibility is viewed as normal might also be the reason why they don’t feel the need to declare anyone’s sexuality or whether they are romantically involved or not, also because in the end whether Yuuri and Victor are engaged or not, or are having sex or not, is not really relevant to their performance as figure skaters. The aspects of their relationship that are relevant to the story are what has already been shown to us.

To sum it up… I understand the various points of views, including the fact that a part of the fans would prefer to see Victor and Yuuri in a confirmed romantic relationship (be it because of their personal liking or because they would like more outspoken LGBT+ representation), but as long as the creators don’t confirm anything I will stay open to any possibility. I’m sorry if some of the things I said were taken the wrong way and I hope that what I wrote above was enough to explain that they weren’t meant as something offensive or negative but were just my attempt to be unbiased toward any possible interpretation. I myself am generally annoyed by the heterocentric view of the world (which in Japan is oh so popular..) and to me whether a pairing is het or homo makes no difference, therefore in my mind Victor and Yuuri in their current stage are very much like Mulder and Scully when their romantic relationship wasn’t confirmed in the series: no matter how you look at them they must be in love with each other, but it’s not confirmed, therefore fans who think their relationship is platonic have the right to think so (in the X-Files fandom too there were fans who didn’t ship them or were indifferent, but this didn’t stop the creators from making them a couple later on).

As a translator, I’m striving to be unbiased toward any interpretation and therefore to translate official material so that the original meaning/nuance is preserved and in English it doesn’t end up sounding more/less suggestive than it was in Japanese. Since they are very different languages, sometimes it’s hard to keep the exact same nuances as the original text, and of course if you ask 10 people to translate a line they will translate it in 10 different ways, but I’m trying to be careful especially with parts that might be easily misread (I mean, it’s useless that I translate something as sounding shippy when the original doesn’t… If the original does, of course I would keep that nuance).

In any case, if anyone ever thinks that one of my translations doesn’t sound right or that something I said sounds homophobic or hurtful, please let me know and I will explain more in detail what I meant. I always try to write my opinion without being offensive to anyone, but sometimes it’s impossible to write something so that all the people who read it will interpret it the exact same way, especially when talking about topics where readers have contrastive views. I respect all opinions (people who like Victuuri, people who dislike Victuuri, people who are indifferent, etc) and I just wish for everyone to live in peace without attacking each other.

Final notes:

1) Sorry for mentioning series unrelated to YOI, but since X-Files contains a het pairing I thought it would make a good comparison to show that my view of YOI isn’t influenced by the fact that Victor and Yuuri are both guys.

2) I was trying to be very neutral when I wrote my short review of the original drama at the YOI event, but to be honest some parts sounded just like a BL drama and it would take a genius to manage to “no homo” all of that… Of course the scriptwriter made it so that if you want to see their relationship as platonic you can still justify everything with “they were drunk”, but yeah…

3) Adding sources: 1) “What Yamamoto said” comes from the May Febri interview which I’m currently translating; 2) Kubo’s tweets from last August are something that wasn’t explicitly related to YOI but were definitely referring to YOI; 3) What Kubo said about no one being discriminated in YOI’s world is also a tweet from the end of last year, I made a post about it too.