I'm super glad people liked my previous post, and I had fun writing it, so here’s more notes on Corbeau’s Japanese dialogue, and some of my rambling.
[Now with added notes from commenters and anons!! Represented with colored brackets and a footnote.]
Again, keep in mind I’m not fluent and things can have multiple meanings, a lot is up to interpretation. The official translation is the best source, there's just a few things that get left out sometimes, or idioms that are changed.
(Spoilers for mission 25 to 37, no post-game)
Forgot to mention in the last one, when he asks you if you want to join the Rust Syndicate, he calls you by your name instead of Omae. It seems like most characters call you your name without honorifics, with a few exceptions being Ivor (player-san) and Lebanne (player-sama). Even knowing that, Corbeau calling you your name alone could be very impolite. Again, it’s overly familiar. Honorifics exist to create a boundary, a degree of separation. To go from calling someone Omae and Yatsu, to just their name, would be crazy irl.
Side note that Canari uses Boku as her personal pronoun, which I think is neat. It’s sort of tomboyish, look up Bokukko for further explanation on that. Personal pronouns in Japanese are such an important character detail that have no English counterpart, which is such a shame. There's a scene in Your Name where the girl character, in the body of the boy character, accidentally says Watashi instead of Ore, and his friends call her out on it. And there’s a bit in My Hero Academia where Iida, a boy from a rich family, accidentally calls himself Boku in front of his new friends, when he’s been saying Ore previously. They notice, and ask if he’s a Bocchan. The English subs had to change the conversation entirely.
Corbeau says Ore, if anyone was wondering. It’s typically used by adult men, and it’s somewhat impolite. And as previously mentioned, Philippe uses Watakushi, which is most formal option.
At the Super-Tournoi De Jacinthe, Philippe yells out, Bosu! Watakushi to no dokkun wo omoidashitekudasai “Boss! Make sure to remember your special training with me!”
Corbeau responds, あのアホ いらんこといわんでええねん Ano aho, iran koto iwan de ee nen “That dumbass. He doesn't have to say unnecessary things.” Remember that in Standard Japanese, Aho is very rough, like moron or fucking idiot. In Kansai-ben, it’s not as mean, but it might still sound mean to a Standard speaker.
He doesn’t tell you about his “special training with Philippe” here, like he does in the English translation if I remember right. I might be remembering wrong. He says he and his team aren’t the same as the last time you fought. So he’s just totally brushing past what Philippe said.
Philippe seems a lot sillier in Japanese, whereas when I played in English I got the impression he was grounded and cool and had a lot of respect for Corbeau. In Japanese, he has a lot of respect for Corbeau. He’s a bit dense/oblivious on occasion. A brawns over brains type of guy. Very, very polite, extremely formal speech, very humble.
When you beat him, Corbeau say Honma omoroi na, omae to omae no Pokémon wa! “You and your Pokémon sure are interesting, huh!” Then, “It’s embarassing to admit, but I really did do some special training with Philippe.”
でもやっぱオマエとの勝負はおもろいな また事務所に遊びにおいで Demo yappa omae to no shoubu wa omoroi na. Mada jimusho ni asobi ni oide “But still, battles with you are great fun. Come hang out at the office again sometime.” He says Asobi, which means hang out or visit or play, and Oide, come. “Come play at the office again.”
When Lysandre shows up, Philippe says, Eh!? Eh!? Usotsu! “Huh?! Huh?! No way!” “That person is Mr. Lysandre, isn’t he?” He calls him Fladari-sama.
Corbeau says, Damare Gypso. Fladari-san no mae de hazukashii yaro “Shut the hell up, Philippe. You’ll embarrass us in front of Mr. Lysandre” or “You should be embarrassed” or “Don’t you feel ashamed?” Damare is very rude, more so than Shizukani, silence or Urusai, noisy.
Big skip, at the final strategy meeting, Corbeau shows up and says he figured you were in trouble.
Jacinthe pops up and says Sabigumiya minasama dakede wa, fuan de mune ga shimetsukeraremasu wa “With only the Rust Syndicate and you all, my heart feels tight with anxiety.”
Corbeau says いきなり会話に入ってきて ケチつけんなや Ikinari kaiwa ni haitekite, kechitsuken na ya “Don’t just barge into our conversation and start talking shit!” Kechitsuke means nitpicking, complaining, being a bitch.
Jacinthe ignores him, and shows the picture of an aerial view of Lumiose. Deciding that they have to do something about those flowers, Corbeau asks, ジャスティスの会のにーちゃん その立派な筋肉でなんとかならへん？Justice no kai no onii-chan, sono ritsuba na kinniku de nantoka narahen? “Big brother from the Fist of Justice, can’t you do something with those impressive muscles?”
THIS IS SO FUNNY TO ME. He calls Ivor Onii-chan, like he called that SBC guy Onii-san, only this time it’s a little more cutesy. Either he’s saying this because the Fist of Justice is run by a pair of siblings, and Ivor is the big brother, or, Ivor is older than him, and he’s being respectful.
If Ivor was younger, wouldn't he just call him Justice no kai no omae or Justice no kai no yatsu or even Justice no kai–san? In English he calls him “Mr. Justice”, which I feel suggests that he’s calling him Onii-chan personally. Like sometimes in anime, when a kid calls a stranger Onii-san, it’ll get translated as Mister. “Are you okay, Mister?” Whereas if the official translation was something like “Justice’s big bro” I’d take it differently. It’s hard to know for sure.
[Nii-chan being used for Ivor: actually, this doesn’t necessarily indicate that Corbeau is younger than Ivor. Nii-san is also often used to refer to anyone who looks fairly young (under 30), even by older people. Him using -chan adds an ever so slightly patronising connotation to it but with no real ill-intent given the scene/Corbeau’s character, whereas if said in a slightly different context (imagine a scene of a random thug calling out to a young college student who’s found themselves in the wrong part of town) it could be a lot more malicious/mocking in tone. The same applies for Nee-san/Nee-chan.]¹
(But, if we take it at face value, it could mean Ivor is older than Corbeau. We know Ivor is around the same age as Lebanne, and older than Gwynn and Canari. Lebanne is probably Jacinthe’s age. I have no idea what range anyone is in. The only canon ages are AZ and Emma, I think, so I’d go off of Emma’s appearance and level of maturity when guessing. She’s 21, and in my opinion she seems just a little older than the player. Maybe the same age as Urbain/Taunie? Cause they act like buddies.
Lebanne and Ivor strike me as being in their late 20’s, same as Jacinthe. She’s the kind of person that turns 30 and then says she’s 28 for the rest of her life.
Gwynn might be… a teenager. I have no idea. She kind of looks 30 to me. But maybe she’s short because she’s a child. And Ivor is so protective of her, it’d make sense if they were far apart in age. Canari has to be 18-21 at most.
We definitely know that Philippe is a good chunk older than Corbeau. To the point where he was already running a gang when he met Corbeau, who he says was a kid at the time (going off memory there). I have no clue how old Philippe is. Please let me know what you think.
Corbeau is definitely an adult, he has his shit together, but he’s not nearly as old as some people think. The glasses add 20 years. If I had to guess, I’d say he could be anywhere around 20-30. Yeah you know what I do think he could be younger than Emma. If she’s a full-on detective at this age, with only 5 years since we saw her, then it's not unreasonable that same-aged Corbeau could become the leader of the Yakuza in that time.
Personally, and you're free to disagree with me on this, I’d say the player character might be 18-22 at least. You’re still young, and in Japan you're not an adult until you’re 20, but you are old enough to go on vacation on your own and work for Emma and all the other stuff you do. I have my own head-canons for why you came to Lumiose but this isn't the place for that.
I think Urbain/Taunie is older than you, only by a little, because they’re the leader of Team MZ and act somewhat like a mentor to you. Maybe 20. Lida could be older than them? Since she’s a little rude sometimes, I doubt she’d call them an idiot if they were her senior, or judge their clothes. Naveen is prob 19 look at him that's a 19 year old. Either that or he’s the youngest, maybe a minor, and that's why he has to visit his family sometimes (I don't remember what they say about it).
Alright, back to the translations.)
Jacinthe says, Chotto iikashira “Can I say something quickly?”
Corbeau says, なんやねん いま火急のときや! Nanyanen, ima gakiyuu no toki ya! “What the hell? We’re in the middle of an emergency!” Nanyanen, though usually Nandeyanen, is Kansai-ben slang expressing surprise and bewilderment. There’s a lot of Japanese Manzai comedians with Kansai-ben dialects, and this phrase is heard often in Boke and Tsukkomi routines. The Boke, silly/stupid person, says something totally bizarre, and then the Tsukkomi, straight man, says Nandeyanen in response. Like, “What the actual hell are you talking about.”
The English line “But don’t you worry about me. Our favorite do-gooder just came to the rescue.” is でもなんとかなるわ 正義の味方が駆けつけてくれたし Demo nanto kaneru wa. Seigi no mikata ga kaketsukete kuretashi “But I reckon I’ll manage. The ally of justice has come to my rescue.” Seigi is justice, Mikata is ally/supporter. Not referring to the Fist of Justice. Unfortunately he does not call you his favorite </3.
[正義の味方 Seigi no mikata Ally of Justice used for the player: this is quite a common phrase in anime/game dialogue. In Japanese it sounds very lofty and you certainly wouldn’t refer to yourself with this, unless you were a kid playing at being superheroes with your friends, which is precisely why it’s often used by villainous or morally grey characters to taunt the heroes of a story by making their ideals and heroics seem childish. Again in this case, there’s no real venom (haha) in Corbeau’s use of the term as he does genuinely think highly of the player character and is just joking around — Philippe (and the audience) would immediately know who exactly he’s talking about on this phone call when he says this (even though you haven’t shown up on screen yet), perhaps why the localisation team opted for “Our favourite” to give that same effect. I’ve seen fanart of Corbeau where he uses this term for the player in a self-deprecating sort of way too, to play up their virtue and heroic nature in comparison to him, the leader of a yakuza group who’s had to resort to unsavoury things (“you’re a righteous ally of justice, my hands are bloodied and dirty” kind of duality).]¹
Then you walk up, and he says Matteta de “I’ve been waiting.” “And these Mega Evolved Pokémon have been waiting too, I guess.” “Well then. Guess it’s time to get back to work, it’s been a while.” Work as in Shigoto, job. Your job or his job, I’m not sure. Probably referencing when you worked for him.
Then he smiles and says, 安心しいや オレもペンドラーも手伝うさかい Anshinshii ya. Ore mo Penduraa mo tetsudau sakai “You don’t have to worry. Both Scolipede and I will help you out.”
He says another Kansai-ben term, Houna ikoka “Shall we go?” In Standard Japanese, it’s written and pronounced Ikouka, with a long o sound.
The ladder thing goes much the same, Corbeau asks “Is it a ladder that’s invisible to idiots?”
Philippe says to you, “Once you’ve decided which path to take, you’ve got no choice but to keep going down it.” I’d say in reference to the current situation, but also being in the Rust Syndicate. The grunts give it their all because that’s all they can do now, no turning back.
When they’re missing one more person and you ask what to do, Corbeau says かわいい子分ががんばっとるねん！Kawaii kobun ga ganbattoru nen! “My cute little henchmen are working so hard!” I don’t know where the sweetness came from but it’s not me. He says Kawaii, cute, adorable, lovely. 子分 Kobun is made up of the Kanji for small + part, with the Ko also meaning child, and can mean henchman, follower, protegee, member, offshoot or adopted child. Despite being a little mean to them earlier, I think he appreciates his grunts. Not to their faces, but he sees them as his family, maybe. He’s very loyal and protective of them. (I think I might be wrong on this one, tbd.)
あいつらのお天道様になるには オレがもっとがんばらなあかんやろ！Aitsura no otentosama ni naru ni wa, ore ga motto ganbarana akan yaro! “If I want to become these guys’ boss, I have to work even harder!” Otentosama literally meaning the sun, or God. Akan here means must.
Then, he says Anshinshi again, “Don’t worry.” Yakusoku wa hatasu! Ore ni makasetoki “I keep my promises! Leave it to me.”
If you fall of the roof, he’ll say, Omae… Nande ochiru nen! “You… Why the hell did you fall!” then Moppen nobore! “Climb it again!”
The second time, he says Omae… Dakara nande ochiru nen!! “You… Seriously, why the hell did you fall!!” and Moppen nobore ya! “Climb it AGAIN!” and オレに肉体労働させるなや Ore ni nikutai roudou saseru na ya “Quit making me doing manual labor, asshole.” Essentially. Not that he calls you an asshole, but he’s very rude.
Third time, sorry Corbeau, he says “…Maybe you’re making fun of the Rust Syndicate, huh?” then, Saigo no kyokoku ya de, giri giri nobore yaa!!! “This is your last warning, climb the hell up here!!!”
One of the grunts who previously just said ah… now says Iikagen onegaishimasu “Please cut it out.”
Someone that reblogged my last post brought up when he calls you kid during this part of the game, and there isn't anything like that in Japanese. His last line is something like “Next time you fall down, I’m going to be pissed” or “If you fall down again, I’m not helping you” or “Don't you dare fall again, you hear me?”
So, in summary, Corbeau calling the player character kid does not mean you're a child, or that he sees you as one. It is not a mistranslation, to be clear, it's just something that can be easily misinterpreted by an audience that doesn't have the same knowledge. And in my opinion, it's a fun word! (I wonder what calls you in other languages?)
For all you fanfic writers, I hope you let him keep saying kid without one of those “Stop calling me kid! I'm an adult!” moments. If he said baby you wouldn't be complaining. It’s the same thing, in essence.
That's all the Japanese Corbeau footage I had. Everything else he says is pretty much the same. Please let me know if I’ve made any mistakes or you disagree with me anywhere, or if you just want to add your two cents. I was really hoping for someone to write a post like this, but I got impatient and figured I’d have to do it myself, despite not being an expert on any of this.
Thank you for all the nice reblogs and comments on the last one :]
¹ Onii-chan, Seigi no mikata, and Kansai-ben anon who is fluent in Japanese and has lived and worked there.
Sources: DeepL, a dictionary, JapanDict, and this video vv
