#random Jp language notes

[roguemaki]

Fun Vocabulary & Translation Notes from the Chara Commentary

General

私（あっし）

asshi first-person pronoun mainly used by working class men note: Chuchu uses this

漫才

manzai = a traditional Japanese comedy format Typically performed by a 突っ込み tsukkomi (straight man) and a 惚け boke (funny man) Part 2 - Secelia wrote 21 "tsukkomi patterns" to react to Guel, who is (unknowingly) serving as the boke in this case. Part 3 - Elan and El5n's intro bit flops. Guel comments that it's like a failed attempt at a manzai routine, which Suletta recognizes from old archival material she's watched. Part 4 - When Shaddiq joins, he has no interest in joking around and playing the role of a boke.

普通

futsuu = normal; ordinary; regular; usual; common; average​ Part 2 - When Miorine asks Suletta if she thinks Guel is funny, her response is: 私は普通ですけど… Watashi wa futsuu desu kedo... note: literally "I am [my reaction is] normal," but translated it to "To me… he’s normal…" Part 3 - Adding ni makes this into an adverb, like in Suletta's line: やっぱり普通に聞いてるじゃないですか！ Yappari futsuu ni kiiteru janai desu ka! note: literally "So you were listening normally [in the sense of 'without issue']!" but translated to "So you did see and hear everything...!"

Part 1

弱肉強食

jakunikukyoushoku jaku = weak, niku = meat, kyou = strong, shoku = eat note: translated to "eat or be eaten"

水星生まれ！水星育ち！

Suisei umare! Suisei sodachi! Suisei = Mercury, umare = birth, sodachi = upbringing note: translated to "Mercury born and raised!"

Part 2

三下り半 (or 三行半)

mikudarihan mi = three, kudari = down, han = half literally "three and a half lines," refers to the Edo period practice of sending a letter of divorce typically comprised of 3 and a half lines in modern Japanese, it's a slang term that means a unilaterally decided, less than amicable separation note: translated to "a messy divorce"

Part 4

あれは役でげすよ

are wa yaku degesu yo = literally "that is the role" In his intro, Shaddiq says this. It purposefully uses an archaic conjugation to get the same number of mora as "alea jacta est" pronounced in Japanese (area yakuta esuto). note: translated to "playing the role as cast" (imagine it being said with the same cadence as "alea jacta est")

見せ腹野郎

miseharayarou mise = showing, hara = belly; one's true intentions, yarou = guy; bastard Chuchu calls Shaddiq this. The phrase works both in the physical sense (Shaddiq's outfit exposes his chest/stomach) and the figurative sense (his true motives have been revealed).

賽 (“die”) and 犀 (“rhinoceros”) are both pronounced sai

Alea jacta est is Latin for "the die is cast," which Miorine explains as 賽は投げられた sai wa nagerareta (literally "the die has been thrown"). Suletta hears sai and thinks it's the word for rhinoceros. note: I gave up and just put a TL note in the video for this, lmao

ふんぞり返る

funzorikaeru = to recline; to be arrogant Another description that works in both the physical sense (Elan is usually depicted as sitting back in a chair) and figurative sense (he's cocky). El5n calls Elan out for just sitting back and letting the Enhanced Persons suffer in his stead.

[jichanxo]

actually criminal that there's still no studio recording of the english version of 'the way things are' from the death note musical. god please i need a miracle

[sacchiri]

I recently bought the jp volumes of Hellsing along with the guidebook, and since I'm reading the series in its native language for the first time I might as well share some random things that stood out to me in no particular order.

This isn't meant to be an analysis of translation differences, I'm too lazy for that. Also it's been 12 years since I've watched the anime and read the low quality fan scans of the manga so some of these comments are just "Lol, forgot this was a thing"

Volume 1

... I really want to know who this guy is at the beginning, yelling at Alucard in overly familiar language to "Get your shit together!" and "You're the only one we can count on!!". We know from the style of speech that it's a dude, probably just some Hellsing rando, and maybe it's not all that strange since he has probably been working with the same soldiers for years--but it's still funny.

"I know, it's just so nice out :("

..The way "HELLSING Organization" is spelled out like this reminds me that apparently the name is supposed to be an acronym. No really.

...

God they're so silly.

Now that I think about it, the only thing Seras has done this chapter since being turned into a vampire is say "I'm sorry" over and over.... girl you got shot in the lung, why are you apologizing

Not a huge difference, but what Integra actually says here is "Leaving a corpse here for 20 years... You're a terrible person too, Father" and not "What were you thinking, Father?" as the Dark Horse translation suggests (note the lack of question mark in the raw version). I thought that might be of interest to some.

Something else I thought was interesting is the first line Alucard ever says to Integra, and how uncharacteristically polite he sounds.

O-kega wa gozaimasenka- That's two honorific 御's back to back! (He even said them in kanji, even Walter isn’t that straightlaced and he’s literally the butler.) This is also the only time Alucard uses this overly flowery gentlemanly language with her, and good thing too because it would be so annoying if he spent the whole manga ending his sentences with ~gozaimasu.

What I'm trying to get at is, after seeing this sentence in the Japanese version, I'm like 100% sure he actually heard her when she was mumbling to herself about hoping to find a knight in shining armor, and he was totally going the extra mile in playing into that role for their first encounter. Which is kind of sweet.

Lol they misspelled Alucard on the top left... or rather, they incorrectly spelled it right?

One would normally expect Alucard to be written アルカード, and indeed pixiv dict lists アーカード as a misspelling (the u sound is weak in Japanese, so it's easy to mishear arukādo as ��kādo). Hirano was definitely aware of the correct spelling though, since he used it in the pilot chapter and in his old character sheets. It was only when the manga officially began that he switched to the アーカード spelling. I doubt it was because of copyright issues because there is already a long precedent of vampire characters named アルカード in various old manga, OVA, and games in Japan that have coexisted without issue (like this guy Hirano mentions in volume 1's afterword).

Most likely Hirano simply thought it looked better, or was a means of differentiating his character from the others somehow. It certainly makes life easier for Japanese fans searching for fanart since アーカード is only going to bring up Hellsing and not the Castlevania character.

Jan Valentine even pokes fun at the spelling discrepancy later in volume 2, but since there wasn't a good way of expressing this in English it was left untranslated.

(Speaking of spelling inconsistencies, there's a lot of minor details I'm noticing now, like half the time the furigana for 吸血鬼 is written バンパイア and the other half it's ヴァンパイア... anyway)

Um, just noticed literally everyone's wearing glasses What should I do

Hirano's habit of jotting random comments underneath his panels is one of the underrated perks of reading the manga

The Dark Horse translation almost makes it sound like she's looking forward to seeing this battle play out, while in the Japanese she simply sounds apprehensive. Almost as if she's worried about them? And she's going out on the field personally to make sure nothing bad happens? Aww

Ok this is a weird tangent, but I just noticed the scans of the Dark Horse version I've been looking at use a slightly larger image range than the Japanese version does. It was only noticeable when I got to this part:

The second image is what the Japanese version of the scan looks like and I can confirm that this is what it looks like in my physical volume as well. You shouldn't be seeing the messy borders of the inking on the bottom like that.

Manga manuscripts are set up so that there are a few millimeters of bleed border around each page. You're supposed to color and line all the way up to (4) while keeping in mind that printing and paper cutting may result in the image being trimmed up to (3).

Either Hirano didn't color his lines all the way to (4) (this man has been drawing manga for years but this is Hirano we're talking about so it's very possible), or Dark Horse didn't honor the original bleed borders of the manuscript. I'm kind of leaning towards the former since there was a Hellsing exhibit in Japan a few years back where you could look at Hirano's original manuscripts and there's one where you can clearly see that he spilled a mug of tea or coffee across the entire page

Anyway, it's weird, and I'm curious to see if someone that owns a physical copy in English can confirm whether theirs actually looks like that. It's volume 1, page 141.

[radiant-featherball]

I steal @the-crow-binary​‘s idea and compared the english version of the Curse of Darkness manga and the japanese. TLDR: English version most of the time is the same as the Japanese version, with only a couple lines being different. So nowhere big changes as in the French version. Noted difference below (also random thoughts I had while comparing these).

JP -> EN Volume 1:

In general, the translator don’t use the term that has been used in previously English released media, so it’s just translated directly (like Trevor called Ralph here...) Case in point: “demonic alchemy”, “arts of the devil”  were both  悪魔 精錬 術 / Devil forging  “Devil’s sorcerer”, “master”, “sorcerer of dark arts”, “sorcerers”, “demon alchemist”   likewise were all 悪魔精錬士/ Devil forgemaster ...You think they would stick with one translation and be consistence with that

 The line in the opening has familiars in text, with Innocent Devils in ruby text ->  “Servant devils“.  “Truly, truly unsatisfying.” ->  “It was truly, jaw-droppingly easy“ Sounds like JP!Isaac wanted more of a fight, while EN!Isaac is just boasting about their power.

 “ infuriating clan” -> “insolent and disgusting clan” EN!Isaac adds a “disgusting“ when reporting about Trevor

Evil god(s) -> Evil lords

Really nitpicky: “So you weren’t dead after all...“ “...Were you, Hector?“ English treat these dialogue boxes as one dialogue. In JP it seems like two separate dialogue, the second sequence to his dialogue with Dracula. More like “So you weren’t dead after all...”  “...Hector is missing?“

So about the  “Oh well... It means that the Count favored Lord Hector that much...“ line I mean while 可愛がる can mean to favor, in which case it the line would be the same in both versions.  可愛がる also means be affectionate to like pets or loved ones (certainly the first thing that comes to mind when reading that). So here, sure they probably just meant a Lord favoring someone sense, buuuut take that as you will.  Probably too nice for Dracula, but whatever. side-note: The humans(?) with Isaac uses polite language when talking to Isaac (and Isaac when talking to Dracula obviously), but they drop that when they think Isaac also has turned traitor. “Even if Hector is not around anymore, I can serve as Count Dracula’s aide, sufficiently...” Again, basically the same in the jp, maybe nitpick it as “I alone can ...”. I just note he uses 側近, which is what Death was described as in CoD. So the devil forgemaster duo seems to be similar position as Death. Side-note: Sure technically Isaac is just talking about Hector and himself here, but it still gives me the mental image he thinks Dracula don’t need Death either. With this line and Carmilla’s comments in Judgement, I’m starting to think Dracula’s loyal servant do not like Death very much. ...Clearly the real reason Death was so dismissive of Isaac in the game. In the JP version when Isaac is attempting to create a demon the chant is, minus one line, word for word the same formula Hector used in the game.  Clearly the real reason Isaac fucked up is because he forgot a line.  

EDIT: Line is there, I’m just a dumbass. Volume 2:

I’m curious by the change of background. “Soon he is coming...“ -> “A great many of us... ...will be coming...“ “He’s cursed... an unlucky child...“ -> “He’s cursed. Poor child...“ unlucky as in bad omen sort of thing “Traitors who laid hands on (his) wife!!” -> “Traitors who bit the hand that fed them!!“ I admit it’s extremely nitpicky but. The Succubus said in Volume 1 “The deeper the darkness of one’s soul... ...the more powerful one’s demon magic becomes“, then when Isaac repeats it, it’s now “The deeper the darkness in one’s soul, the demon’s power becomes“. In the JP, both times it’s the exact same line.

[jasdiary]

“They say the most vulnerable piece in chess is the queen…would you like to play a game so I can show you who’s really vulnerable?~”

Full Name : Maria Regina Alarik

Nicknames : Mari, Mary, The Queen, Blood drinker, Reine de sang(Rook), Lamprey(Floyd), Lady of Red/Crimson Lady(Vin @authoruio ), Bloody Annoyance(Vin) Darling/j(Ellis @starry-night-rose )

Jp Va : Rie Tanaka

En Va : Lauren Landa

Age : 19

Height : 6’6 (200 cm) *204 cm with heels*

Homeland : Rose Kingdom

Birthday : November 2 (11/2)

Zodiac sign : Scorpio

Species : Beheaded being

Hair Color : Buttery Blonde (wine red highlights)

Eye Color : Wine red (Black scleras when using magic)

Gender : Female (She/Her)

Sexuality : Bisexual

Family : Amélie Alarik(mother)

Occupation : Student at Night Raven College, Member of Terrovania dorm

Twisted From : Bloody Mary from Identity V

Dorm : Terrovania ( @terrovaniadorm !)

School Year : 3rd Year

Class : 3-C

Best Subject : Poison Making, Conjuration

Worst Class : Animal Languages

Club : Film Studies

Dominant Hand : Ambidextrous

Favorite Food : Roasted Poultry

Least Favorite Food : Vegetables

Likes : Artwork, Fashion designing, Making her own clothes, Drinking, Chess

Dislikes : Her poor handwriting, Overconfident men, Being judged based off her looks

Hobbies : Horseback Riding, Gardening, Decorating random areas

Talents : Harp playing, Dancing, Singing, Speaking multiple languages

Personality :

Maria’s known for being self-confident, mischievous, and even comes off as cocky sometimes. She’s pretty popular and many people know her as she’s a genuinely easy person to talk to if you try! Maria is very much aware of how she looks to people : Intimidating and sly. Maria get’s visibly down and upset when she notices people steer away from her, she tried not to show it or talk about it but it does hurt her. Due to her mothers image and presence, people do tend to have some kind of expectation of her. Overall, Maria can be snarky, lovingly mean and a big tease!

Unique Magic :

Blood Stained Glass

“I’ll call checkmate now, hope that’s fine. Now, feast your eyes upon this Blood Stained Dome of mine!”

The user has the ability to summon a dome of mirrors surrounding them and those around. The user will create an image of themselves and can enter and run through any mirror, mirroring the original user's movements. The user and their image cannot touch, or the image will disappear leaving the user’s original body to travel through the mirrors. When this power reaches its limit, all the mirrors will shatter with blood seeping through the cracks and onto the glass. Drawbacks from this power are blood loss, dizziness and loss of reality.

Backstory :

Maria grew up with a loving and lavish mother. Amélie Alarik was known as one of the greatest magic wielders in the Rose Kingdom, always being rivaled by Iracebeth Rosehearts. Maria’s mother didn't care for rivalries, note the fame she has. She simply cared about providing the best life for her daughter, promising to love her forever.

As Maria grew and went out more, she always wondered why people would avoid her. While her mothers influence had been a reason, her blood is what makes her feared. The Alarik family is made of these supernatural beings , specifically beheaded ones. Once a child in the family reaches a certain age, their head will fall off and get stitches to reattach it. Amélie wanted to avoid telling this to Maria for as long as she could since she was a late bloomer to magic, she also always covered her neck up so her stitches weren’t visible.

Then it happened.

Maria felt sleepy that evening after school when her head started to droop. When she tried to snap awake, it was her head that snapped off. Maria could see her own headless body sitting on the couch, body shaking violently. All she could do was scream and cry.

Her mother ran into the room and regretted her decision to keep this family curse a secret. She did her best to calm Maria down while carefully picking her head back up and placing it on the other half of her neck. Amélie brang out her sewing kit that she kept on hand in case she needed a thread change or if…this happened. As she gently sewed Maria’s head back on securely with thick, crimson red thread, she explained to Maria what was going on and apologized for keeping such a secret.

Maria’s life was flipped upside down, she could barely look at herself in the mirror. Eventually, she grew up and matured. She accepted who she was and her flaws. Maria’s happy with her life, and she couldn’t love herself more. This was only the beginning of the Queen whose hands were stained as red as her lipstick.

Random Trivia!

Maria doesn’t get her height from her family genes, she’s just freakishly tall.

The Magic Mirror said her soul was split between Terrovania and Pomefiore, but ultimately decided on Terrovania.

She drinks non-alcoholic wine due to being under the legal drinking age.

Maria loves picking people up like a long cat. She enjoys watching them shut down.

She originally started making her own clothes because no clothes she liked would fit her tall ass.

She’s called “The Queen” because of how she quickly rose up to fame and power in her first year at NRC.

Maria and Vil are extremely close friends. Maria visits Pomefiore’s dorm on a daily basis just to talk shit with Vil.

She’s slightly protective over Riddle, knowing how his mother is.

Another Alarik family gene is black scleras and stained hands. Using any kind of magic will cause them to appear.

She may seem tall and lanky but she’s actually an undercover beefcake. She can definitely carry two people with each arm.

Maria, Vin and Alice( @starry-night-rose ) are usually all seen together, though the two ladies seem to poke fun at poor Vin all the time…

[kurapixel]

Is there a resource for direct translations of dialogue in Pokemon games from Japanese? I've always wondered what changes they made in the localization, and the Rika thing is a small detail, but I'm a big fan of these games and want to know all the details.

i mostly absorb details about the original jp text from the jp fandom via mtl osmosis so i dont know if there is a good comprehensive resource 😔

twt osmosis is more informative than you'd think tho? for example, i found a tweet that appears to be a reference for how each character referred to themselves which is usually their preferred first person pronoun & also how they referred to the main character. (some of them have a third line, but idk exactly what its referring to--most of them are various ways to say "that person" or "everyone", but there's some other random stuff 🤔 maybe its just misc ways to refer to other people)

anyways yeah. rika refers to herself in the third person as chili-chan 🥺 and refers to the main character as "jibun", which in kansai-ben is a casual/informal/friendly way to say "you"...

im disinclined to post the pics i saved as-is since i lost the tweet and it features the tweeter's art for the character's portraits, but i can post transcriptions some time if people want em, since its just info from the games? (i'll be away from my computer for a few days, but i might be able to track down the tweet too)

+ also there are text dumps for all languages that you can find/download (which i may have downloaded because i wanted to keep staring at rika dialogue. i've been meaning to look thru the korean one since i can actually read it) so it's possible to mtl (or for someone to actually translate) without playing the games, but its nowhere close to an actual tl (if anyone knows any translators noting localization choices/differences, please let us know 🥺🙏)

[casuallyyoa]

OCTOPATH TRAVELER 2 REVIEW

WHAT

Released on 24 February 2023, Octopath Traveler 2 is the numeric sequel to 2018’s Octopath Traveler. This title from Acquire and Square Enix uses the more ubiquitous “HD-2D” graphical style, giving this JRPG’s pixel art more ‘3D’ definition. After throwing in a worrying 100 plus hours into this game, here’s the Casual review, spoiler free.

OPTIONS

Playing on the Nintendo Switch, there isn’t really much you can tweak. Text language aside, you have Japanese and English dub. I played with the Japanese dub, because I need to establish my weeb status. Unfortunately, there’s no option to resize the text on the console, which I know was a problem with its predecessor. 

STARTING THE GAME

You once again have a choice to start with one of eight Travelers in the new land of Solistia. Their starting classes are also the same, with Ochette the Hunter, Castti the Apothecary, Temenos the Cleric, Osvald the Scholar, Partitio the Merchant, Agnea the Dancer, Throne the Thief, and Hikari the Warrior. Once you’ve selected your protagonist, you are thrown into their Chapter 1. They cannot be removed from the first slot of the party until you complete all their associated main story chapters.

PRESENTATION

The game has gotten even prettier, with more dynamic camera usage and cinematics / cutscenes. On that note, the cutscenes are also voiced, though any travel banters and majority of NPCs remain unvoiced outside of certain occasions. 

Both the playable characters and NPCs have more varied animations. Additionally, characters have different voices for the same skills, giving them even more character.

Yasunori Nishiki returns to compose the music. Despite the mostly horrendously bland names for the tracks, they’re nonetheless absolute bangers.

GAMEPLAY

The mechanics are essentially unchanged, with tweaks and balances as they saw fit. I’ll cover the out of combat stuff first.

Each character has their own Path Action with which to further interact with NPCs. Introduced to the game is a pseudo Day Night cycle, where in-game time passes both naturally or when you trigger it. This gives each character two Path Actions which provide similar results but through different methods. NPCs available can also change with either time, so each Traveler is already immediately more relevant where you may only stick with your main 4 in the first game.

In combat, the Break and Boost returns. Enemies have Shield points you Break when you identify their weaknesses to make them become vulnerable and prevent them from acting the next turn. Boost makes skills stronger, either by hitting multiple times, lasting longer, or just big damage.

Latent Powers are unique to each Traveler, giving them even more relevance and utility. We have Castti who doesn’t use ingredients for her concoctions - now also handily separated into offensive and defensive options - or Partitio, who simply gives himself max Boost to unleash Hired Help hell. They can later get unique skills to further set them apart even when they use the same job.

You get to use the Travelers solo for their respective Chapter One stories, so you are made to become more familiar with their respective gimmicks. In the first game, Chapter Ones could be scaling nightmares or simply harder with a solo character due to their skillset.

Special mention to Ochette: she can capture monsters which can be turned into consumables, then sold for a decent amount of money. They still do have random targeting, but there are also more monsters with All attacks that hit either multiple weaknesses or provide buffs.

EXP and JP grinding is a little easier this time, thanks to the Day Night cycle. ‘Tougher’ enemies spawn at night, so go wild and unlock all those Support skills. The base classes can now have up to 3 people equipping it at the same time, so you could run a whole team of Merchants.

Of course, there are secret jobs. Only one character can have them equipped at a time, and they’re much more involved this time. This means more exploration, or relevant quests.

STORY

The Travelers arguably felt quite distant in the first game, which they have rectified for 2. Besides the travel banters - now viewable in their entirety in the Journal - there are character pairs for Crossed Path stories to explore their dynamics and flesh out the world more. 

The story does feel more overarching this time, though admittedly some branches felt cut abruptly to be tied up in post-game.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Pros:

Mechanically improved from the first game

Story feels more connected

Absolute banging music again

Cons:

Side quest solutions can still feel quite arcane

Getting additional tavern banters also hit or miss

Still lacking in options

That said, Octopath Traveler 2 is this Casual’s…

 Highly Recommended.

[hanafubukki]

Jack Howl's Flower Bouquet Meaning

Twst Bdays Flower Language Masterlist

I'm going to start off by saying I don’t know much about Jack aside from the main story line and events.

Also, some of these flowers I'm not fully sure of or the ferns, but I tried my best and will probably come back and edit this post as I learn more and find out which flowers are which.

On a side note: We found out that the ribbon on the hat is dorm themed. The yellows and oranges really suit Jack’s style. These bright colors also give a contrast to the dark robes and such which I think is nice!

Did anyone notice that Jack’s smile kind of matches Leona’s? It’s adorable, the first year is learning from senpai.

Note: Flowers have different meanings in different countries and regions and it depends on colors too. I’m just going to list some flowers that I think they are, but I could be wrong lolol

Orange Flowers in general: Excitement, bold, enthusiasm 

Yellow flowers in general: Joy, optimism, friendship, and hope.

Marigold: Strength, power, light that lives in the persons heart, Honesty, vitality, and vigor. In jp, these flowers can be a sign of respect for the dead.

Maple (Acer): practicality, balance, calm, at rest, peace 

Proteas: Courage, strength, resilience 

Globe Flower: Welcome, gratitude 

Spider Mums: liveliness, sympathy, 

Flowers can be assigned to days too: Since October 11 is on Tuesday (in Japan), These are the flowers:

 Nasturtium: loyal, conquest��

Geranium: good health, friendship, happiness, good wishes 

Dahlia: commitment and kindness 

Red Hot Poker: Knowledge of true self, more than physical strength.

Random Fact: Anniversaries could also be considered, since its the 3rd bdays for all the boys, their flower will be Sunflower: strength, be well, happiness, male healing, confidence, self-esteem, assertiveness. Sounds just like them doesn’t it? 

Credit: Thank you to Lala (@/mobagehellocal) and Chris (@/jaberwockk) for talking flowers with me 🌺💚💕 Please, go talk flowers with them too. They are such nice people. 💚💜💕

[omentranslates]

Notes of ways I notice Paimon using Japanese in the dub bc what is up with her??

I don't have any pictures of Paimon but this thing kind of looks like her

i also did one of these for Xiao, Albedo and a couple others

-Paimon speaks like a degenerate

-she will routinely catch me off-guard with the shit she just. Says.

-if she were mine I would never want to take her outside what a mess

-uses オイラ as her pronouns? which is just mildly bizarre and I can't really find why they did this just other people also asking why

-it's a solidly masculine pronoun and it's associated with certain specific dialects? I've read in more than one place that it sounds like rural/redneck almost

-absolutely one of those things you'd get made fun of for having dialect if you let it slip in school or something it's not common in standard Japanese at all, it's not even common in media and always stands out when it's used

-the content of her dialogue isn't really as shocking as like the way she delivers it

-there is no respect, there is not toning it down, her commands are as aggressive as possible, she talks abt other people as rudely as possible, she does not change this even for like gods or govt officials

-if I could say one thing to Paimon I would remind her that there are children in the room

-I need this to be clear Paimon has some of the most aggressive sounding dialogue in the game and she is more rude than Xiao by far

-it sounds exaggerated bc I'm making a big deal abt it tbh it's just anime and you get used to it fast, but starting the game and her yelling at you for wandering off path was like "WHOA ok" and there are still moments like that on occasion even being used to it

-I think it's to play up how small and helpless she is as a little fairy that can't even walk? Like she talks big but can't back it up all bark no bite kinda thing

-tbf if it was like a male mc talking like that or like some like random buff fighter guy or whatever it would still be like "oh it's the tough guy" vibes but I guess that's common enough that it isn't notable? The fact that she's like this little pink fairy girl talking like that does just exacerbate the whole thing into wtf territory at times and she has a very rough flair to her speech that's usually associated with masculine language (these are stereotypes of course real life Japanese people don't exclusively speak one way dictated by their gender, but it's important to note that Japanese is a very implicative language and conventions like these play a big role in how they establish characters. esp since language like this isn't used commonly in real life by men or women tbh)

-I don't know very much abt Chinese yet so I can't speak for the content of her dialogue but the feel is completely different

-like I booted up the game in CN and she sounded like a different character like her delivery was completely different, she was like. Nice. Normal. When I could pick out the ways she referred to other people they were normal.

-I'm probably missing smth but as it stands I have absolutely no clue where JP and ENG Paimon came from

-JP Paimon speaks like a little monster and I feel like she would be literally unintelligible outside of anime

[kenkamishiro]

Lost in Translation: Choujin X chapter 1

Fun fact, I was planning to do fan translations for Choujin X with a scan group until it could get a simulpub release, though I didn’t expect it to get one from the very first chapter lol. I’m happy though since it means everyone can read it right away and it doesn’t mess up my schedule.

So instead I’ll be making comparison notes between the EN and JP text to supplement the official translation. I’m not doing this because the official TL is bad (I actually think it’s pretty solid and I hope it will maintain this quality) but because it’s inevitable for something to be lost in translation, and it’s nice to have that additional context for theory crafting and whatnot.

If you want to read it on Twitter instead, the original thread is here, but this is the proofread and way more detailed version 😄

This translation isn’t wrong, but there’s an emphasis on それ (which is TLed as ‘it’) that connotes a stronger, “other, that thing” feeling that isn’t present here. The general idea behind this sentence is: That [becoming a Choujin] resembles more of a disease [than a transformation].

Ely talks like a tomboy, she uses rougher speech patterns and the pronoun オラ (ora), a derivative of the masculine 'ore'. But it's a bit old-fashioned (eg. すまなんだ) which makes sense considering her upbringing with her grandfather on a farm. Hence her country bumpkin speech pattern in English.

Not sure if I should use Ellie or Ely? Ellie makes more sense based on the kana, but Ishida explicitly called her Ely so I might stick with Ely for now... (also istg that blond guy with the huge chin is a reference, I've seen him somewhere)

Tokio, I know your teacher is annoying, but it's rude to call her that lol. This is basically the oppai equivalent of paisen (senpai backwards, it’s slangier). Similar thing actually happened with Ely describing her dream hubby as Goldilocks instead of blond; ‘kinpatsu’ (blond hair) was inverted to become ‘patsukin’, hence the translation as Goldilocks.

Kurohara Tokio (黒原トキオ) and Higashi Azuma (東アヅマ). Kurohara is a common surname, means 'black fields'. Tokio is in katakana, so it’s hard to say what kanji it could be. 'Toki' could be 時 (time) or 外喜 (outside + delight). The 'o' can be the common male name suffix 男 (boy).

But when I think of Tokio, I think of TK's song called 'tokio'. You can read the translated lyrics here. If these lyrics end up being relevant to Tokio's character development I will eat my shoe lol.

Higashi means 'east'. Azuma (which can also be romanized as Aduma, it’s a softer ‘zu’ sound which is why Tokio called Azuma ‘Aju’ earlier in the chapter before correcting himself) is an archaic form of ‘east’. So...this guy is literally East East. The Choujin X equivalent of Moon Moon 😂

Someone also informed me that Higashi Azuma is a station in Tokyo, though the kana are slightly different (アヅマ／あづま vs. あずま). They effectively sound the same though nowadays, if I have to be honest. It’s like comparing the difference between 애 and 에 in Korean.

Tbh this is minor, but worth mentioning just cause it changes the meaning a bit. Tokio is saying something more like, “Why are we even talking about this [the roly-polies] again?”

I think I heard people talking about how the official TL doesn’t match the original text, but personally I really like how this was translated! Sis is using the expression  「爪の垢を煎じて飲む」, which literally means “boiling the dirt under someone’s fingernails and drinking it”. By taking the dirt/grime under the fingernails of someone that you admire, and boiling it and drinking it like a tea, you can become more like them.

But because idioms don’t tend to directly translate well between languages, translators often have to adapt it so that the meaning still remains the same. In English the closest idiom we have to this is “rubbing off on someone.” The “holding hands” bit was added to replace the physical aspect of “taking the dirt from someone’s fingernails” and also contribute to Sis’s sassy and very informal way of speaking.

So Sis is saying in JP (ignoring her personal speech style for now):

You should take the dirt from under [Azuma's] fingernails and boil it so you can be more like him.

And now in ENG it becomes:

You guys should hold hands or something, then maybe he’ll rub off on you.

It now sounds natural in English, still carries the same meaning as the original text, and also suits the character’s speech pattern.

Moving on, in that same panel the literal TL of Tokio’s dialogue is, “Policeman Azuma got dispatched again today,” emphasizing Azuma’s heroic deeds along with his family connections to the police. Another thing I want to note is that this is the second time Azuma has been called 偉い (erai) so far - noble, and now great guy. I’ll just dump the general English definition of 偉い from Jisho here so you get the general idea:

Great; excellent; admirable; remarkable; distinguished; important; celebrated; famous; eminent

But you can tell from how people describe Azuma as 偉い that others look up to him, think he’s a great person and Mr. Perfect. Always being placed on a pedestal by others. (What are the odds this will affect his mentality after the Choujin serum?)

The meaning is still pretty much the same, but I’ll offer a slightly different perspective. Sis mentions that if she were Tokio, she’d burst from the [Azuma] complex. (Clearly Tokio and Azuma's relationship is gonna crack at some point)

Tokio mentions an idiom about hawks (taka) before recalling his childhood memory about vultures. Vultures are called 'hagewashi', but in the chapter it mentions they can also be called 'hagetaka' (buzzard/condor, literally bald hawk).

The kids call him names like "Hagetaka Tokio" and "Hageo". But Hagetaka Tokio only really works in JP cause Hagetaka kinda mimics his last name (Buzzard Tokio doesn't give the same vibe). Same with Hageo. Hage-o = Bald-o = Baldy.

I also think Buzzard was chosen over another name for a vulture like Condor because Buzzard can pass off as an insult.

I would have translated this as, “I wanted to be a lion too...” but this is just personal preference.

A continuation of the 「爪の垢を煎じて飲む」 expression Sis used earlier. Without the adapted idiom the exchange goes something like this:

Tokio: My sister said I should bring home the dirt from under your nails. Can I have some?

Azuma: ...huh? What for, that’s scary. No way.

Tokio: I have to boil it and drink it, apparently.

Azuma: Don’t even think about boiling or drinking it.

But since the 「爪の垢を煎じて飲む」 expression was modified to make it sound natural in English, it means this conversation has to be modified too.

JP: My sister said I should bring home the dirt from under your nails. Can I have some?

EN: My sister says we should hold hands...so I can be more like you. What do you think?

The “dirt from under your nails” part got adapted to “holding hands”, hence how the 1st line from Tokio becomes, “My sister says we should hold hands...so I can be more like you.” “Can I have some?” makes no sense now in this context now, so it was changed to “What do you think?” as a question to Azuma to keep the similar conversation flow going.

JP: ...huh? What for, that’s scary. No way.

EN: Huh? What’re you talking about? No thanks.

Azuma’s next line is similar enough to the JP text except for the removal of “scary”. I think the reason it was most likely removed is because leaving it as it is could be constituted as homophobic (2 boys holding hands, absolutely nothing scary about it as bible thumpers would like people to believe).

JP: I have to boil it and drink it, apparently.

EN: She said to hold hands so you’ll rub off on me.

Tokio’s response to that is explaining what he meant by his proposal. In the original text he lays out the latter half of the idiom (he doesn’t even realize it’s an expression, poor boy), and in English he does something similar by going into why his sister said they should hold hands (so Azuma can rub off on Tokio).

JP: Don’t even think about boiling or drinking it.

EN: C’mon. That’s not how things work.

Azuma’s then rebuts Tokio’s proposal as ridiculous. In the original text he drops a typical straight man response (don’t do *insert whatever ridiculous thing the idiot suggested*). But since Tokio’s proposal in English isn’t as preposterous, his rebuttal is toned down in response by telling him not to take it literally.

Ultimately, even though a lot of this dialogue was changed, I still think it was successful in maintaining the original’s intent. Tokio takes his sister’s sarcastic suggestion literally and brings it up to Azuma, who dismisses it as silly. It would be nice if we could keep the expression as it was in Japanese, but in instances like this where it’s played off of in multiple lines, that’s easier said than done.

軟体 isn’t an actual word, it’s made up of the kanji soft + body. So kinda like Elastigirl, but Flexi was chosen instead. It doesn’t sound 100% right, but I don’t think I could come up with anything better.

Replacing the しい in 楽しい with the C plus that elongated pronunciation makes Johnny sound even more like a stereotypical Yankee, which is why he sounds like that in English 😂

Random but I found it interesting how Azuma called Johnny a youkai (妖怪) instead of something like bakemono (化け物) or obake (お化け) since they’re shapeshifting monsters.

Tokio is worried that if he doesn't do something right now, he's going to lose his friendship with Azuma. The sentence is fine as it is though.

Azuma’s line can also be worded as, "No hard feelings, okay?"

Bestial = 獣化 (juuka) = beast+change = beast transformation

That’s it from me, if you have questions about the TL feel free to send an ask or reply to this post, I promise I’ll check my inbox more often this time 😂

[uwumessenger]

random headcanons i have for each om! character teehee

hi it's been a while since ive posted some hcs bc uni has been kicking my a$$! luckily i only have a few papers to tidy up and im done. here r some hcs for each obey me character that ive accumulated over the past few months wink wonk

most are random but some constants you'll find are what i think they smell like, languages they can speak (other than their native (demon/angel) and eng/jp), and music tastes !

lucifer

i have a strong feeling that he showers twice a day: in the morning after waking up and at night before going to bed

his cologne is probably the type that will last in an elevator for like a week after he uses it once. i dont think this mf ever smells like anything other than his cologne

has a secret folder on his phone of semi-nudes and other scandalous pics from when he felt sexy at the time omg

aside from demon language/eng/jp he can speak french and knows latin

listens to classical stuff yea but he also listens to diavolos mixtapes (re: diavolo's section)

not a fan of sweets but will eat sweet things when craving

really bland sense of humor...borderline cringey 😭✋🏻

mammon

has gone to google images and searched for "inspirational quotes tumblr" "gold aesthetic tumblr" & "relatable crush post tumblr" then reposts it onto his socials or just taps thru them and giggles bc he relates

his cologne doesnt last as long as lucifers and probably smells common. he has to reapply a lot but it's a people pleasing smell. it's cheaper hence the constant reapplying

he probably does have an expensive bottle but is the type to totally overspray...eek

he is canonically a car guy 🥲 and probably tells the one in his room good morning & good night + kisses the hood every once in a while. has tons of car magazines

he doesnt really speak other languages but has attempted to learn spanish before

listens to whatever is on the radio. doesnt rly stan anyone but he eventually will listen to mc's playlist and mc's playlist ONLY

levi

lurks on mc's socials ALL THE TIMEEEE like he will rewatch ur stories and scroll thru ur feed and overanalyze ur tweets/rts or blog posts. if ur mc isnt the type to use sns much he still googles ur name all the damn time just to find any sites u might be on fjdjdjdjskks

probably streams on whatever youtube or twitch devildom site equivalent there is, but only has like 40 or so followers. which he is okay with!

until he sees someone else who gets more attention than him. then the envy starts kicking in bad. especially if they suck 🧍🏻‍♀️

classic gamer boy smell. you know, sweat, tears, must, and (sometimes) axe deodorant. lucifer has to do a scent check before he goes out to any event & lets him use his cologne. how sweet!

kpop stan!! more girl groups than anything and his ults are probably GIRLS GENERATION, wonder girls, twice, loona, & red velvet

cried when ioi disbanded and refused to leave his room. the only thing u could hear was downpour on loop at full blast

can also speak korean & communicate in echolocation like dolphins 😏

satan

listens to country music you cant change my mind

smells like whatever environment he is in. he doesnt really have a designated smell just throws some deodorant on and goes about his day.

he's sooooo bad at driving...gets road rage way too often so his license has been REVOKED

but hes totally a backseat driver. needs to be sedated on long trips

do not let him watch finding nemo when luke asks to watch it. it's not worth it. he will cause mass destruction.

if he was a human or lived long term in the human world he totally has the ability to be a doctor

is studying as many languages as possible, but he mostly knows latin & french & german etc etc. wants to learn all the dead languages out of curiousity

asmo

dont think this mf has ever held down a relationship. ever

he doesnt compromise much & is not willing to change his lifestyle to fit an s/o into it. you keep up with how he lives or it just isnt meant to be (but dont worry! he'll eventually learn...maybe,,,,)

has the hardest time out of everyone when it comes to breaking bad habits

his smell varies bc he uses a variety of perfumes (whatever is the most popular at the time) but he probably sticks to floral and fresh scents. he never uses generic people pleaser scents like mammon

listens to electropop, mainstream pop, & some alternative rock

as for languages he too knows french, spanish, italian, etc. in general, if it's a romance language he knows it!

opposite of lucifer in the sense where he loves sweets and will refrain from eating too many bitter things

i think we all know that asmo is the biggest rockstar of the group! he's probably been in a boy band at least once, but now he makes his own music

has tried to teach mammon how to sing once. ended up in a broken piano and bleeding ears...

beel

i feel like he is SO SHY

like unless ur close to him he will not start conversations or anything

i think he listens to r&b a lot ! and jazz 😎 maybe rock as well

smells like ur typical athlete with undertones of wet wipes. he carries them around bc he likes to clean his hands before he eats & is prepared for when theres no sink nearby

he can drive and he drives really well. no rough turns, parallel parks perfectly, and never has problems with merging

driving with beel is probably really soothing. left hand is steering the other is gripping ur thigh 😫

dont think hes really fluent in any other language but hes probably semi fluent in korean because levi wanted beel to help him out

definitely know how to order food in practically every language tho HAHAHA

belphie

he reminds me of randall from monsters inc

smells kinda musty IM SORRY but not the way levi does hes more like the kind of musty u feel or smell when it's a shitty morning

but that's only because hes so lazy, when he cleans up hes like satan

has definitely murdered multiple people before. mc is not the first 😐✋🏻

with that being said belphie has been put into prison at least twice when visiting the human world, the mf had such a strong hatred for humans theres no way he never got into trouble before

lucifer probably broke him out and they used the pen thingies from men in black to erase everyones memory of that 🙄

dont think he listens to anything other than music that'll put him to sleep. really likes lazy song by bruno mars but thinks that bruno mars put too much effort into the song. should have been one acapella verse and then finish

similar to beel hes only semi fluent in one language, probably french bc of lucifer. doesnt remember much but knows a couple of lullabies and bedtime stories

the sandman used to be his bff until they drifted. they do, however, like and comment on each other's sns posts.

diavolo

once he found out who nicki minaj was he became her #1 stan

def an ariana grande stan too 😌

choreographs dances when hes stressed...idk just seems like a diavolo thing to do

also makes rly bad soundcloud rap music sometimes. turns to poetry when hes feeling emo but only lucifer knows this. barbatos is suspicious of him but doesnt have enough evidence to confirm.

his dad is like hudson abadeer from adventure time aka marceline's dad? something must have influenced him to want to unite the 3 realms + he would need the approval to do so, so his dad must be more chill than all the others before him 🧍🏻‍♀️ IDK ok anyway

currently going through his hamilton phase bc of mc. whether mc's intent was to get him hooked onto it or just to explain it bc of something he saw online, he tells everyone that he found out abt it bc of mc!

this man cannot drive his skills are only second to jumin han

not too fond of many languages but knows the widely spoken ones like spanish, mandarin, etc. if it's taught in high school he knows it

smells like a las vegas casino. not sure why but i feel like he does. but there's also an interesting & nice smell to him if he embraces you. it's a smell you cant quite identify. but it smells nostalgic, it's mysterious, and it's tempting.

barbatos

very calm demeanor but underneath hes WILD hes probably done everything at least once oof

he just has a lot of control and stability over himself (must be nice!)

on a more angsty note i feel like he might have had his heartbroken sO BAD IDK he is hurting and maybe that's why hes so willing to obey diavolo and not abuse his time lord power thingies bc he learned his lesson the hard way

mans is so smart he knows every language you could switch languages mid conversation with him and he wouldnt be thrown off. he'd probably start speaking it too.

BUT HE SPEAKS VIET P E R F E C T L Y

listens to the same stuff as lucifer but also likes eminem. likes the movie 8 mile but criticized it heavily

have you ever been to a chinese herb shop? naturally, he smells like that. his room probably smells like it too. he doesnt really have a significant smell like some of the others

when he bakes he smells like whatever hes baking tho

one of the few out of everyone listed to have been able to travel to literally everywhere

solomon

was probably on kitchen nightmares once, but only to get feedback from chef gordon ramsay. then he used his magic to prevent the episode from airing...

was in an orchestra, one of the best times of his life. played the violin. asmo watched him in the audience once, but didnt approach him until well after that performance.

he CANNOT sing. he can, however, rap.

doesnt listen to music. he listens to podcasts! but every now and then he turns on background music, but prefers it to be instrumental stuff

never wears sunglasses. also does not have a driver's license. cannot drive a regular car. could maybe fly an airplane.

due to his immortality he has learned almost every language to exist, but finds himself speaking mandarin the most. knows most dialects too

similar smell to barbatos but u can also smell some sunscreen on him too. like, generic beach day suncreen

he has a lot of pact marks, so he once had the idea to match foundation to his skin. it took him two weeks but he eventually perfected a combination. yes he will help u find ur perfect shade if u ask him to

simeon

another country music man. has also made a tiktok or two to that one song that goes "he cant even bait a hook." they are private tho

angel country music exists and simeon invented it

if he visits the human world and wears more causal clothing he probably tucks his shirt into his pants

wears a speedo at the beach i tell u, speedo at the beach

he can speak german...i can feel it

uses his pointer finger to type and holds the phone like 2 inches away from his face so sometimes his nose will push a key hence all his typos

has no signature smell. he simply smells like your favorite scent all the time. if multiple people are around him at once, everyone smells a different smell. it's pretty rad

"what does he smell like to himself?" u may be asking. hmm...a church? 💀

luke

his first pet was a goldfish and a few months before the exchange program happened, he was given a koi pond!

secretly likes hanging out with levi sometimes just to play with henry. makes him miss his pet fish back home

so his favorite movie is probably finding nemo and he threw a fit when nemo touched the butt

luke is probably learning german bc of simeon, though he'd like to learn more of the dead languages just for fun

i dont think he listens to music often or has any preferences, he just listens to whatever is playing on the radio

but he finds himself listening to the music mc listens to

smells like freshly baked goods all the time. or fresh laundry. but like, not combined. just depends on the day

[nagasakidivision]

35 Facts Meme: Haruto Hirabayashi

So a meme in one of the RP communities I was in ages ago was to post 35 random facts about your OC, no matter how minor they might be! I always had fun coming up with silly OC trivia so I did it for Haruto as a character building exercise since he’s the newest one of the group. :V It’s below the cut to save your dash!

Haruto was raised by his grandparents.

Only his grandmother is still alive now, however.

His grandfather passed away due to what was legally determined to be complications from Huntington’s Disease.

His birth parents are just straight up out of the picture. He hasn’t talked to them in over ten years.

That said: his relationship with his grandparents is/was very positive.

He dotes on his grandmother, probably more than he needs to—she’s a pretty active old lady.

Have you ever watched Harold and Maude? Okay, she’s Maude. That level of “going joy-riding because she found a cool car and then getting away with it because people think she’s a sweet harmless old lady.”

His grandmother is a cat lady so he has reluctantly become a cat person by proxy.

He was born and raised in Nagasaki and is pretty proud of this.

He uses a lot of Nagasaki/Kyushu-specific slang.

Whenever he says “ugh…annoying,” just imagine the JP voiceover would be “haa~…yazeka~”

He’s an...enthusiastic drinker, more or less. Yeah, I know, that’s a stereotype about humanities majors, it’s just one he lives up to.

Quality over quantity, he’s a bit of an alcohol snob and has some level of familiarity with mixology.

Somewhere in his mess of an apartment he has a home bartending set.

Drink of choice: the Aviation, a gin-based drink with heavy floral notes due to the addition of crème de violette!

He is not organized in the slightest, on that note.

He’s primarily a gin kind of guy!

I kind of fudged stuff about his university since there’s only so much information about Nagasaki University in English, which is my primary language—I do know that they have a PHD program for philosophy but they don’t have one for undergrads so his B.A. is not in philosophy.

If I had to guess, since he’s basically never left Nagasaki for an extended time he probably had his original major in their Human and Cultural Studies program.

So he isn’t all bluster about his own skill, incidentally, Nagasaki University is extremely selective and only like 10-20% (results unclear) applicants get into their programs.

I made his specialty rhetoric, which was a bad move on my end because I am not a good rhetorician.

He takes about an hour to get ready in the morning when he hasn’t overslept between skin and hair care, multitasking while reading, and trying to pick out outfits.

He has a horrendous sense of direction and is regularly late for everything because of this.

Haruto does various odd academia-related jobs when he’s not writing, usually tutoring, sometimes working at an academic success center where he helps students with writing essays, and acting as a teacher’s assistant where he grades papers and organizes lesson plans.

His master’s capstone was a paper deconstructing utilitarianism which caused a slight stir, and got a good number of eyes on him.

Unfortunately half the reason he’s stuck on his PHD dissertation is because he’s trying to live up to his prior success.

Haruto is primarily within the school of deontology, meaning that he believes there is an absolute good and evil that can be categorically ascribed to actions.

Going deeper: a lot of what Haruto believes is grounded in existentialism, a belief that the world is fundamentally absurd.

(This formed part of his argument against utilitarianism: humanity has evolved so far beyond what their natural state of being is that it is now impossible to work out just how much impact a single person has and you can’t figure out what the maximum formula for happiness is now.)

He’s also argued in favor of intentionalism, the idea that you cannot categorically call an action good unless it is committed with the intent to do good without self-enrichment as a motivation.

Deep down, he’s a neurotic perfectionist and can’t quite admit it openly because then he doesn’t look perfect.

(Not relevant since I haven’t posted much prose-y writing but if you get a look at his inner thoughts, he’s weirdly fussy about very minor details of how he comes across and dwells on those—especially physical appearance.)

He’s conversationally fluent in Dutch!

This isn’t as random as it seems, Nagasaki University is known for its Dutch Studies program, which I believe is the only one in Japan.

He originally wanted his MC name to be Metaxu but that was kind of pretentious even by his standards (Damien talked him out of it.)

[etymology-of-the-emblem]

Nuibaba / ヌイババ

This likely seems like a strange place to start. But for me, Nuibaba was the first name I researched on my own, without prior suggestions, that made me feel like I’d discovered something new. So to me, to start again here, where I first found my love of etymology research, only feels right. Now for what you’ve come here for:

Nuibaba (JP: ヌイババ) is the witch of Rigel’s Fear Mountain in Fire Emblem Gaiden and its remake, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. Her name doesn’t appear to have a clear meaning at first, but by splitting the name into two parts, Nui (ヌイ) and Baba (ババ), it becomes easier to discern. Let’s start with the easier half, Baba. In many Slavic languages, as well as Japanese, baba means “grandmother”. On top of that, in Japanese, Czech, and Serbo-Croatian, baba can also be used to call a woman a hag or crone. Then there’s Nui. I initially assumed it would pull from Japanese, but that’s not the case. Rather, this seems to pull from the Taiwanese word for mountain, núi (𡶀). Thus, Nuibaba literally means “Mountain Hag” — quite literally what she is.

If we are to accept this meaning of Nuibaba, the name may be intended to relate to the classical Japanese yokai Yama-uba (山姥), also called the yamababa, meaning “Mountain Old Lady”. Yama-uba are often depicted as hideous, monstrous hags that attack and eat travelers and merchants. Appropriately, the witch of Fear Mountain sacrifices humans to keep herself young, and trapped in Nuibaba’s Abode are three peddlers to aid Alm in his quest. The decrepit, wrinkled form Nuibaba took in Gaiden also is fitting for the common description of the mountain hag. Shadows of Valentia instead seems to take influence from a variant of the Yama-uba called the yamahime (山姫), which takes a much younger and prettier appearance. The remake also has Nuibaba give Berkut a magic mirror, which could possibly be based on a more positive depiction of the Yama-uba that gives treasures or good fortune, though that’s a bit of a stretch.

Now that a connection to the Yama-uba is established, why wasn’t the name left as Yama-uba (ヤマウバ) or Yamababa (ヤマババ)? Of course, I can’t give an exact answer, but I do have a guess: the name was too Japanese for the European-based land of Valentia. That sounds absurd, given that Valentia is also home to a Saizo and a Kamui, but let me explain. Regarding Kamui, it’s important to note that, traditionally, the Japanese have been very opposed to Ainu culture mingling with their own even if they already have overlapped for who knows how long. Thus, when Gaiden was first developed, they likely thought the name was distant enough. As for Xaizor (Saizo in Japanese), it’s important to note that they didn’t leave the name as it would be read in Japanese. Rather than it being read as さいぞう or just writing it in katakana as サイゾウ (rōmaji: saizō), they instead rendered the name as サイゾー (rōmaji: saizō). Understand that the chōonpu (ー) is nearly exclusive to katakana, which is primarily used to communicate words and names from foreign languages into Japanese. Thus, the name feels less “Japanese”. A similar principle could’ve been used for Nuibaba. As for why a Taiwanese word was used, I really have no clue. But random foreign words have been combined with Japanese for names elsewhere in the series, as will be seen in the eventual post on Yewfelle.

[rjshepherd]

random kingdom hearts headcanons part 2

so heres a shit load of headcanons that i collected from deviant art. theyre not in any particular order, just a collection of random thoughts

long post under the cut

Xemnas and Ansem survived the end of KH3 . but not having terra's body or Xehanort's heart to fall back on they returned as their own people albeit at the age their hearts have actually existed. this puts them at roughly 13 years old. They were reborn in the sleeping worlds to wait for replicas or other suitable vessels

Xemnas Dragon survives the end of kh2 albeit only in a digital form. Caxceber puts it into a miniature body and renames it 無 (in the jp version) or mu, which means "without" or notty as in nothingness (in the pal ver). in this body it is like a dog with wings or more accurately, a guard dog with wings. Despite what happened the last time they met Mu is surprisingly protective of AU Kid!xemnas.

Xemnas was the one to give Isa his face scar. it actually happened some time into his life at the organization, maybe 1-2 years. it was'nt a punishment  in the traditional sense. more a reminder of where he belongs, like how farmers might brand their cattle. its an old scar now but it still itches when Xemnas is around .

BONUS HC: Axel found Saix freshly wounded and brought him to Vexen to get stitches. Unfortunately he was out of the castle, Caxceber filling in for him when she tried to take a look at his wound Saix bit her. this is how caxceber got the heart shaped scar on her hand

Akamaru was one of Vexens failed replicas. he was one of the later series that were more organic and humanoid but far less stable and sturdy. although awake and aware, when vexen died he was still a blank replica. escaping from his pod he latched onto the memories of the only person remaining in the castle, Axel.

Caxceber (oc) is the in house engineer for Org13. she takes care of all the electrics, plumbing, castle maintenance and security. she frequently butts heads with Xemnas despite him signing her pay cheques. to insure she always has a job ( or that xemnas cant kill her because he needs her) she regularly likes to change passwords, hides the tools and refuses to tell anyone else where the water mains valve is located. if anything should happen to her everyone is going to be getting cold showers in the dark for a long time.

Head Canon of the day: the reason everyone is standing on those pillars in the keyblade graveyard in KH3 is because they cant go back to the castle that never was. Xemnas crashed a giant dragon into it . thats not a head canon thats just the tea. Caxceber is incredibly bitter about it.

Head Canon of the day: it might not seem like it but everyone in org13 goes ham on all the different holidays. Xemnas messes with people on Valentines day, xigbar is in charge of st patricks day shenanigans , xaldin bakes for easter, everyone pulls in for halloween and luxords hogmanay/New years party is both famous and infamous. the only exception to this rule is Christmas. while everyone still celebrates it but Saix absolutely hates it. he will remove any and all christmas decorations he sees right up to 24th of December. because of this Caxceber likes to sneak decorate after hes gone to bed on christmas eve. it should be worth noting hes never complained about getting christmas presents. shout out to my friend rabergirl for saix' santaphobia headcanon.

practically all of the organization are bi or even poly lingual. Vexen Zexion and Saix speak german, Xigbar speaks Italian , marluxia and larxene speak French , Axel knows a bit of Spanish and Luxord knows some Latin from school. demyx cant "speak" another language but he is fluent in ASL/BSL. Caxceber speaks little bits of a lot of languages but isnt fluent in anything. the only people who cant speak another language are Xemnas and Xaldin. Xemnas never has need to speak to anyone outside the organization and Xaldin hates talking to people. lexaeus can speak german too but he keeps that to himself since he thinks its funny when vexen and zexion speak in front of him thinking he cant understand

Caxceber is the organizations best cook but Xaldin is the best baker. however the dusks do most of the actual cooking as no one ever really has time to cook for 13+ people with different tastes and dietary requirements.

xemnas and saix suffer from chronic migraines . whether this is a result of being norted or not is unknown. Saix has a habit of blacking out in the predome stage. because of this he is no longer allowed to go on mission as xemnas deems him too valuable to risk losing on something silly like bonking his head when he faints( not really but keeping saix alive is easier than teaching someone else his filing methods) on the rare occasion when both xemnas and saix are out of commission because of an episode xigbar is left in charge. no one is happy about this, least of all xigbar.

Caxceber and Ellie (ocs) own several antique buy and sell shops in twilight town and traverse town. there is an auction shop across the street from them in twilight town with a low wall. peeking over the wall is an 11ft ceramic giraffe wearing a sombrero and a sign hanging around its neck that reads "chico picante" which means spicy boy in spanish. caxceber has tried to buy him for their shop more than once.

there is a heartless in the basement of TWTNW that steals everyone socks out of the dryer. Caxceber calls him Gerald

[piduai]

Hi, this is really random but i would be very grateful if you could give me some insight on your translation process! i enjoy all your gk translations and i also have been translating a manga with a group(very bad choice) and i wanted to ask you how do you prefer to translate , do you usually change the structure no matter what to fit to the eng language or do you usually keep it closer to the original jp language ? i usually like to keep it closer to the original language cause eng sometimes can never convey certain things (eng is not my 1st language so it feels that way to me) but i just wanted to ask your thought process if you dont mind sharing! thank you~

rip to having to work in a group bestie, you’re braver than the us marines...

when i translate things i am possessed, i do everything in one go. i translated half of the gk fanbook in 3 days in 3 sittings, usually i’ll just open my text and i disappear off the face of earth for 4-5 hours, concentrating 100000% of my attention on what i’m doing and only taking a few bathroom breaks (that’s how i work too, i need to be forced to take my lunch break) so by the end my brain is super fried and i’m too disgusted and exhausted to even go back and check for typos LOL one day i will proofread what i already posted. hopefully.

as for how i translate, i usually try striking for the balance of language-appropriate and natural-sounding. my end goal is for the text to be legible and sound natural, ideally i would like it to sound the closest to something that was originally written in english (or russian). i try to avoid internet speak unless the original text also uses slang, and i usually just let go of details that aren’t essential and only serve as decoration in the original. for example in interviews the questions are more often than not very flowery and over-complicated in structure, i see no point in translating close to the original if the only thing that matters there is the question itself.

i’ll also let go of over-specific things that mean something only in a context most people just won’t understand. for example in the q&a in the fanbook the question about shiraishi being a hunk or a clown originally was ‘is shiraishi more of a nimaime or sanmaime?’. nimaime and sanmaime are roles assumed by actors in kabuki theatre, one being of an attractive man in a love scene and the other being of the comedic relief. i could have decided to be language-accurate and translate it as such and then make a translation note with the explanation, but chose to go for the context instead because at the end of the day that was the point of the question. if there’s the option of bypassing technical accuracy in favor of meaning i will take it if it makes the text easier to understand.

there’s a lot of things english can not convey though, you’re so right. for example tone and the usage of keigo are SUPER important in japanese because it gives you an insight on both the character and the way they interact with others; there’s a world of difference between characters who use ore, boku or watashi, but it is absolutely impossible to translate. ideally i would like the text to be accessible (in theory) to people who don’t know the next thing about japanese, but i tend to keep the suffixes (sans and chans) and words such as sensei without looking for equivalents, even though they don’t sound natural in english at all. in interviews i try to keep the tone rather light-hearted and funny, in manga i try to imagine how the lines would sound in real life spoken by a real person and adjust the tone as needed.

there’s also the way words are used in language context and dictionary definitions. for example the word ‘sabishigariya’ is listed as ‘lonely person’ in any given dictionary, but its usage 100% of the time in actual language would rather be ‘person who hates to be lonely’. the difference is subtle but it IS there. people treating japanese as a fictional language only used by manga characters is kinda cringe, they do it all the time, i keep seeing them trying to dissect a sentence by ‘analyzing’ each kanji in a word by separate meaning even though it simply does not work like that. i try to apply my knowledge of a speaker into, again, making it sound like something an actual human being would say in real life.

but it all is circumstantial, at the end of the day. more often than not i just read something, translate it in my head, write it out, and decide if i’m satisfied with it. if i’m not i just rewrite it. wouldn’t say there is a formula that i necessarily apply to it all the time. 

[rivclry]

MUNDAY! ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS

tagged by: somebody!

nicknames: orange, orange juice, yuki

zodiac: Aries Sun, Libra Moon, Gemini Rising (western) Fire Ox, Horse Ascendant (eastern)

height: 163 cm (5′4?? i think)

timezone: Japan Standard Time, EST back in Canada

listening to: nothing

last movie i saw: i honestly have no clue

last thing i googled: RRSP

average amount of sleep: 5-7 hours

what i’m wearing: a v v v long tshirt

dream job: Sound Designer/Composer for games

dream trip: honestly wanna go everywhere

favorite food: chana masala 

play any instruments: flute (my uni major), piano, by extension sax and keyboard related instruments, basics of bassoon and drums

eye color: black

hair color: black

languages: English, Korean, Japanese, and whatever French I can remember from french immersion

most iconic song: 忘れじの言の葉 (wasureji no kotonoha) from Grimms Note/anything by Kajiura Yuki ♡

random fact about me: i have this GIANT birthmark on my leg that looks like i was in some kinda accident

reason for my url: it’s her personal skill :joy:, olivia’s is pretty obvi, and beruka’s (xkanjou) uses the jp word kanjou (emotions, feelings) to say she has none

tagging: Y O U