"I see that's why" isn't this line about Sora's friendships and connections? Sora was standing in between Riku and Kairi's portraits, and in DDD Roxas says "there's so many hearts connected to yours, that's why it has to be you"
Probably? But that is just the weakest of weak sauce.
“TELL ME! TELL ME WHY HE PICKED YOU!”
*levitates slightly*
*sees stained-glass platform*
“Oh, I see. That’s why. It’s because you have precisely four friends, none of whom is even Axel.”
?????????????????? ?? ? ? ????????
- Mod A.
That’s a major mistranslation. The line is actually “show me why the keyblade choose you” and as someone who has only taken Japanese 101 and was able to tell there was no he in that sentence I have no clue what so ever how the fuck they screwed it up.
Hang on let me go dig up some dang screenshots *grumble grumble*
Okay here’s Roxas’s proceeding line where he does actually say something about Riku
リクは俺が倒した名前: according to google translate it says “Riku is the name I killed”, I’m gonna take that as “I defeated a Riku once” cause I think that’s what the official English translation is (not sure it’s 4:30am here)
教えてくれ: Teach me though said roughly so Show me is a more accurate translation.
くれ after verb: It’s an informal / non-polite way of asking someone who is lower in status than you to do something for you. It sounds rough and even rude. You can’t use this construction to a superior, a casual acquaintance, etc., and women don’t often use it at all.
Ie Roxas be smacktalking Sora
おまがえ: You 選ば: Chosen れたわけを: Reason
In full: Show me, The reason you were chosen
If I had to take a wild guess how they screwed this up, sometimes in Japanese the subject will be dropped if it’s obvious what is being talked about. I’m assuming whoever translated this thought they were still talking about Riku.
But yeah there’s no he or it in that sentence. He’s asking why Sora is the chosen one. And the answer is the bonds he shares with others as Roxas figures out as he stares down at the stain glass.
わかったよ: Understand ソラ: Sora
I understand, Sora
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6U3O9biAH4&list=PLhcSrKyqhfh6M7vJJlWfN3ipXZy7d93KS&index=28
Why they didn’t fix this in 2.5….eh probably too much work.
Update: Someone point out that “why were you chosen” could also refer to Sora’s existence in general as an amalgamation of a bunch of things. To put it another way, why do you exist and I don’t. Which is a very good argument.
Also I looked up the full Dream Drop conversation alluded to in the original ask
Sora: C'mon, say something. Roxas: This could have been the other way around. Sora: Huh? Roxas: But it really has to be you. Sora: What do you mean? Roxas: There are so many hearts that are connected to yours. You’re me, so you can feel what I felt. Sora: No. Roxas, you’re you. We’re not the same. I wanted to tell you that. That you deserve as much as I do to be your own person. Roxas: Sora, see? That’s why it has to be you.
So yeah, I think we more or less have the explicit version of the original conversation here.
So in short, I was wrong about the keyblade bit. However I still stand by that going with “he” was a horrible decision. If only because it caused a lot of confusion and arguments that it didn’t need too. The original line was vague yeah but I don’t think it was meant to be confusing. I get it, the translator likely assumed they were still talking about Riku cause sometimes Japanese works that way but their innocent choice caused friction that is still going on to this day apparently. It also doesn’t help that there are a lot of innocent choices in the script that ended up getting retcon later down the road which gives the impression that we shouldn’t take the Kh II script so literally. Or at least, not put so much weight onto one word in a sentence.
Though on a side note, learning this made the scene way more powerful to me, so I consider this a win. Though personally, I think it would have been better to keep it vague (“Show me, why it’s you” or something along those lines) and let people come to their own conclusions as not everything in English has to be explicit. However that is personal opinion.
Slight Edit: Someone pointed this out to me
the word roxas use “選ばれた” is in passive form which is sometimes use to refer that someone’s action has cause a negative affect to you or cause you some trouble
Just randomly interesting.
