Trigun Maximum: Couch Scene Errata
Or: is a popular interpretation of one of the most pivotal scenes in the Trigun manga based on a mistranslation?
Source: Trigun Maximum v. 10 ch. 7.
Many thanks to my friend Jello and to @cerealandchoccymilk for their help!
[Major spoilers for Trigun Maximum ahead]
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Let’s unpack something I’ve been keeping bottled up for 6+ months now.
There are a lot of lines in TriMax that haunt me in a good way. If it brings something like that out of ya, I’ll trade my life (v. 2 ch. 4). That is why after all was said and done, I wanted to share my tomorrows with him (v. 10 ch. 4). Stop it, Meryl! Pull yourself together. You promised you’d never be this scared again (v. 14 ch. 6).
Now, obsessive fanatics like me keen viewers might have noticed that I'm pulling these quotes from two versions of the manga: the official english edition published by Dark Horse Comics, and the Trigun Ultimate Overhaul fan translation project. Overhaul improves on a lot of minor errors present in the Dark Horse edition and removes misgendering language that was not present in the original japanese, but aside from that, which version you prefer is a matter of personal taste.
(The quotes above are from DH, DH, and Overhaul, respectively. I like the way some parts are worded better in one, others in the other.)
However, there's a line that haunts me in a very bad way: this moment from the infamous couch scene, directly preceding Wolfwood's death.
Source: Trigun Maximum v. 10 ch. 7 (Dark Horse Comics).
Specifically that last line: Please don't... ...say anything stupid.
While there are a few fans who speculate that this might actually be Wolfwood's line, I think it's safe to say the consensus is that Vash is the one who says it. And I've seen a lot (and I mean a lot) of fans interpret this moment as Vash shutting Wolfwood down, warning him not to speak further... or something even harsher than that (which I'll elaborate on later).
However, I think this interpretation is a result of mistranslation and awkward wording in the Dark Horse edition—probably the version that most current english-speaking fans have read (from legitimate sources or otherwise).
From the first time I read the manga, I suspected that something was amiss with this scene and this line. Now that I have a copy of the japanese edition, I was able to confirm it.
Let’s compare them:
Source: Trigun Maximum v. 10 ch. 7 (Young King Comics).
The first thing that stands out to me is that this line from Wolfwood appears to have gotten eaten in the process:
カラッポなんていうて 悪かった… (roughly) For saying [your smiles] were empty sorry…
It's a direct reference to the scene where they first met, in which Wolfwood immediately saw through Vash's cheery façade and read him with disarming accuracy.
Source: Trigun v. 2 ch. 6 (Dark Horse Comics).
It's likely that the translator responsible for this part didn't have access to the original Trigun manga for context, so they didn't know what Wolfwood was referring to and just tried to translate as best as they could. Judging by the types of errors in the DH edition (mixing up speech bubbles, which characters are speaking each line, important names, etc.) it feels to me that there must have been a lack of communication somewhere in the pipeline. Translators usually work in less-than-ideal conditions, so it wouldn't be surprising.
Sadly, this is a very critical error. Without this detail, it's unclear what exactly Wolfwood is apologizing for in the DH version. It reads like he might be apologizing for asking Vash to smile? When actually, it’s supposed to be calling back to a very important and touching moment at the start of their relationship!
But then there's Vash's line, which is thus in japanese:
ムチャな事 ゆーな (roughly) unreasonable things don't say
The word ムチャ (mucha), also written as むちゃ or 無茶 with the same pronunciation, is an adjective meaning "absurd", "nonsensical", "unreasonable" (here are definitions from Wiktionary and Jisho). You can call something 無茶 to say that it's too much, too far, that it won't work (again, "unreasonable").
I talked to a friend of mine, Jello, who's a JP→EN translator, and we agreed that translating it as "stupid" gives the line a harsh, insulting quality that is not inherently present in the original. Even worse, "please don't... ...say anything stupid" has the entirely wrong connotation in english, making it seem like a warning to not speak further rather than a reaction to what Wolfwood just said.
I believe that these two factors combined—the omission of Wolfwood’s line and the phrasing of Vash’s response—is what leads people to perceive such hostility from Vash in this exchange.
Source: Trigun Maximum v. 10 ch. 7 (Trigun Ultimate Overhaul).
The Overhaul translation of this scene is a big improvement. It restores the context of Wolfwood's line about Vash's smiles being empty—so that we know what the heck he's talking about—and just the slight change in wording to "don't say... ...stupid things" helps to alleviate the "shut up" connotation. It still sounds a bit harsher than it should, in my opinion.
At first, my friend and I both interpreted this line (in the japanese version) as Vash trying to deflect Wolfwood's compliments or apology, in a "what are you talking about, you don't have to say that" way. "My companion is dying, he shouldn't be trying to comfort me", that kind of feeling.
But since neither of us are native speakers and may have missed some nuance, I asked @cerealandchoccymilk for his thoughts:
god yeah, i disagree with the "stupid" translations and interpretations associated with it. they're both harsh and doesnt capture the intent behind the words, and just uncharacteristic of vash in general tbh. i think 「ムチャな事」 is referring to wolfwood asking vash to smile in the previous page 「笑え トンガリ……おまえはやっぱり笑ってる方がええ」, theres no way vash could keep a smile when his partner is literally dying right beside him, so it's more like "there's no way i can do that." i honestly was a bit confused by what vash was referring to during my first read (probably bc i was reading 1 digital page at a time instead of 2-page spreads), but re-reading and considering the wider contexts cleared it up for me
(Thank you once again 🙏)
And I agree completely, I think that makes the most sense—and on a second look, it does come across more clearly having the two-page spread on the physical manga.
As you can see, there isn't just one way to interpret this scene, but the english translations (especially the DH one) lend themselves to much more negative interpretations that are a bit surprising to those who are familiar with the original text.
I want to emphasize again that I'm not blaming the translators for this! Translation is both a very challenging art and a very difficult science at the best of times, and it's impossible for nothing to get lost during the transition. On top of that, translators most often work under tight deadlines, in tough conditions, and for little compensation. Fan translators do everything for free!
And it's impossible to anticipate all the ways that readers will interpret your words and what conclusions they will draw from it. JP→EN translators are under an especially intense amount of scrutiny from very opinionated fans who are very often clueless about the translation and localization processes and industries.
I’m very fortunate to own and be able to read my favorite manga series in its original language to compare, so all I hope to do is share this information with other fans.
[EDIT 2023-12-17]
Another friend just tipped me off about an important detail I missed!
Vash's line of 「ムチャな事 ゆーな」 (mucha na koto yuuna, roughly: don't say unreasonable/absurd things) is actually a callback to something that Wolfwood said to him at the very beginning of TriMax, during the first time they fight side-by-side in the manga!
He said it in response to Vash asking him not to kill any of the armed bandits holding Lina hostage. "Don't be absurd!"
Source: Trigun Maximum v. 1 ch. 1 (Young King Comics). Scans courtesy of Trigun Ultimate Overhaul.
Source: Trigun Maximum v. 10 ch. 7 (Young King Comics).
It's very easy to miss, because nothing in particular about the line stands out on its own, but you can tell that it's deliberate from the way ムチャな事 (mucha na koto) is written in the same unconventional way in both instances. The default way you'd write the whole phrase is 「無茶な事言うな」 with kanji, or at least 「むちゃな事ゆうな」 with hiragana. But ムチャ being written in katakana adds a unique emphasis to it.
After Wolfwood reminds them of their first meeting, Vash quotes Wolfwood's line back at him! He's also harking back to a significant moment in their relationship: the first time Vash shared his philosophy of not killing with Wolfwood!
And despite how unrealistic Vash's request was at the time, and how perplexed Wolfwood was, he still followed through. He didn't kill any of the bandits in that fight. Of course that made a huge impression on Vash, and he remembered it.
At the same time, repeating this line communicates to Wolfwood that 「笑えトンガリ」 ("Smile, Spikey/Needle-noggin") is a request he won't be able to follow... but he's still taking it to heart.
In my friend's words:
they are referencing their own relationship to each other & speaking in code and in jokes and shit. if anything this isn't a rejection it's an affirmation. a very strong one in fact
This is such a subtle but powerful detail/easter egg that it made me jump up waving my arms when it was pointed out to me. It's also lost in translation in both the Dark Horse and the Overhaul version, since both of them translated the line differently in each instance.
Source: Trigun Maximum v. 1 ch. 1 and v. 10 ch. 7 (Dark Horse Comics).
Source: Trigun Maximum v. 1 ch. 1 and v. 10 ch. 7 (Trigun Ultimate Overhaul).
Again, I don't fault the translators at all: it's extremely easy to miss, happens very far apart in the manga, and is not as important as everything else going on in either of those scenes!
But it would be a cool detail to have so that english readers have the chance to spot it too. Perhaps in Overhaul 2.0?
[END EDIT]
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Why am I belaboring this point so much?
Vash's and Wolfwood's relationship is the emotional core of Trigun Maximum, and Wolfwood's death might be the single most emotional point of their entire journey (dare I say, the entire series?). You can really feel the care and intensity Yasuhiro Nightnow poured into it.
Who is your favorite character in Trigun? Nightow: When I'm asked this, I feel sorry for people who like other characters, but by a slight margin, it's probably Wolfwood. He was fun and easy to draw. When I had to kill him off at the end, I drew him with a tremendous amount of tension, making sure there was nothing left to draw about him. I had him do everything I wanted him to do and drew it all out.
(Source: 2007 Comickers Art Style interview)
Naturally, this is a scene that fans focus on intensely too, and use it to interpret the two characters’ whole relationship. But it's been a source of endless frustration for me to see fan interpretations refer to the wording of the Dark Horse english edition to justify their readings!
And it's not their fault! They're trusting the official translation! How are they to know that it's misleading, if they can't read japanese and don't have access to the original text?
Which is why I wrote this post. Hopefully, it has been informative and cleared some things up!
I know I should've done this many months ago, when the fandom was at its peak of renewed activity post-Stampede, or when the Trigun Book Club was happening here... but I tried ignoring it and just going about my daily fan life. Until I reached the point where I couldn't ignore it anymore. Better late than never?
Since the misunderstanding caused by this is so widespread, I would immensely appreciate anyone who shares this post with other fans! I know it's an uphill battle, but I have hope.
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This is where the informational part of the post ends. Below, I'm going to share some of my own personal opinions and grievances related to shipping and fan interpretations of this scene.
Remember, these are my personal opinions and they don't invalidate other fans' opinions. If that's not something you're interested in, you may stop reading now, and I hope you have a nice day!
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If you follow me here or on twitter, you might know that I’m very opinionated and have a few bones to pick with other Wolfwood x Vash/Vash x Wolfwood shippers. Despite how harsh my judgement may seem, I promise that 98% of the time, I’m not going around scoffing at interpretations that differ from my own.
But there's a reading of the couch scene that keeps bugging me: that just before his death, Wolfwood was about to confess his love for Vash as part of his final words, but Vash rejected him with the line "please don't... ...say anything stupid".
I believe this line in the Dark Horse edition, more than anything in the source material, inspired the very popular general interpretation of this ship where Vash is cold-hearted and hurts Wolfwood by rejecting his love, affections, and romantic gestures in order to keep him at an arm’s length and not “complicate” their relationship. Sometimes, they go as far as portraying Vash as not reciprocating Wolfwood’s feelings for him.
And I'm not making this connection without evidence! I'm going to use a few twitter posts to illustrate what I'm talking about, but my intention is not to single these users out; like I said, this reading is very popular in the fandom and many have arrived at similar conclusions.
Not relevant to this discussion, but mixing up canons is a pet peeve of mine and I’m contractually obligated to point out that Livio is not Wolfwood’s brother in the manga. That is a Stampede-only detail.
There's a post on twitter sharing an even harsher analysis/version of this reading that I won't include here because it's too identifiable (again, I don't want to single anyone out), but it has several hundreds of retweets and thousands of likes, and was shared by several BNFs in the english fandom. I'm highlighting this to show how widespread it got.
What drives me crazy is that it's all based on a very close reading of a mistranslation! But it's not their fault! They have no clue!
Even when they don't specifically quote the line or show the manga panel to confirm that they're referencing the DH translation, there's a hint that gives it away: calling it "chapter 64" rather than "volume 10 chapter 7". The former is how the chapters are presented on pirate websites hosting the DH version.
("Chapter 64" could also indicate that they read the old scanlation, but I doubt that since the english scanlation that I'm aware of for TriMax used much softer language for this scene.)
There are many analysis mishaps that are a direct result of readers not considering that the original text is in another language (japanese) that might not have the same connotations and cultural context as theirs, but this is one that they wouldn’t be able to catch unless they can read the original to compare, or (like me) are hyper-aware of the possibility of translation errors or awkwardness at all times while reading.
This is just my personal taste, of course, but this take on Vash's and Wolfwood's relationship is not my cup of tea in the slightest. Even spinning it as Vash rejecting Wolfwood in a self-sacrificial way because he doesn't feel worthy of his love, I still think it's out of character for Vash to be so openly hostile, when one of his most consistent traits is being evasive as to not burden others (and inadvertently hurting them that way). One could argue that something as extreme as Wolfwood's death is a situation where he would act uncharacteristically brash, and I could buy that, if that's what the scene in the manga was actually showing. But it's not!
I still believe that fans have the right to interpret the characters however they want, but when they offer the english edition of these pages as support for their interpretation, it bothers me a lot!
Anecdotally, I've been seeing this "evidence" brought up less frequently over the past few months, probably because many fans have since read the Overhaul translation during Trigun Book Club. But the resulting ship interpretation has spread far and wide and continued to be popular—mostly among english-speaking fans (another indicator of its origins).
Thankfully it doesn’t appear to be one of those interpretations that its fans insist is literally canon, or the only “correct” way to ship the characters… as far as I can tell. God knows how deeply this attitude plagues this side of the fandom. The translation mishap on this scene and resulting interpretations feel like rubbing salt in the wound to me.
I also disagree with the notion that Wolfwood was literally asking Vash to smile and Vash not following/dismissing his request was cruel.
Firstly… that’s an unreasonable (無茶) thing to ask of someone anguished by the encroaching death of his best friend/partner/lover (if you see them that way). Vash couldn’t smile genuinely in this situation, probably couldn’t muster even a fake smile. Not to mention that I think giving Wolfwood one of his signature fake, empty smiles at this moment would be cruel.
Secondly, I don’t believe this was Wolfwood’s intention, that seeing Vash smile right now was his literal dying wish. Rather, I view it as him using his last words to reinforce their bond by harking back to this sincere, emotional moment they shared when they first met. It might also be a subtle way to comfort Vash by saying “hey, don’t be sad when I’m gone. You still have much to live for”. Vash and Wolfwood often don’t say what they mean directly, instead reading between the lines, but they manage to communicate to each other exactly what they mean.
That's why, despite being a fervent shipper, I dislike the reading that "Wolfwood was confessing and Vash rejected him". That reading comes at the expense of Wolfwood's heartfelt message which doesn't even require shipping goggles to see...
...and at the expense of what I see as the real great tension of this scene: that Wolfwood has accepted his own death, is doing it on his own terms, but Vash hasn't accepted it. He's praying to God, possibly for the first time in his life, for Wolfwood to live.
But again, that’s just my take on it.
