Hey so, watch this space 🙂 so to speak. I don't want to count my metaphorical chickens here before they've hatched, but I might be back translating very soon.
Thank you to everyone who's been so patient with the silence!
RMH
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Sade Olutola

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if i look back, i am lost
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ellievsbear
we're not kids anymore.
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★
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
DEAR READER

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@raintranslated
Hey so, watch this space 🙂 so to speak. I don't want to count my metaphorical chickens here before they've hatched, but I might be back translating very soon.
Thank you to everyone who's been so patient with the silence!
Sorry again for the long silence.
I've been... depressed and afraid, if I'm honest! I have twelve years of experience in tech, but the job market is a garbage fire, so I've been out of work for coming up on a full year. I ran out of unemployment and made the hard decision to go back to school and finish my Bachelor's.
And this first semester, where I was too late to apply for any financial aid and I can't really apply for scholarships because I don't have any transcripts to show for myself — it's especially scary. I am just in this awful financial free fall, and it's taking a real toll on me. Depression Brain is definitely taking all my energy right now.
I love translating, but I am in that phase of depression where even things you love are just. So hard to do.
I will be back, I promise. But now you know what's happening. Perhaps more honestly than any of you wanted to!
Still alive!
Still working back through older chapters and cleaning them up and adding more sound effects to them.
Just downloaded Chapter 23 Pt 1, which is also calling itself Final, so expect one more part there and possibly an epilogue? There's only one more scene of the movie to cover, which shouldn't take 20 pages, but I guess we'll see!
In addition to continuing the Lelouch of the Re;surrection manga, what would you like to see me translate next?
Lancelot & Guren
Light novels (the "main" ones)
Light novels (Kallen novel)
Light novels (Knights of the Round novel)
Lost Colors (the PS2 game)
More "Regret Messages"
The Complete R2 Profiles (Lelouch/Suzaku/C.C./Kallen first)
Another data book (specify in tags)
Another "canon" manga (Oz or Renya)
Something else (specify in tags)
Thank you all for the votes so far!!
For the record: some of these are MUCH lower effort than others. Each "Regret Message" (also (inexplicably?) called character poems) is less than a page, and I only have access to scans of Suzaku/C.C./Nunnally in addition to Kallen, so unless I seek out the CD on eBay and it turns out there are more of them, that's a max of 4 pages to translate.
The Complete R2 profiles for our main four characters are two pages each, and I already have initial translations for Suzaku and Lelouch's (I need to settle on a good translation for 罪, it's all over Suzaku's profile along with 罰 and two separate verbs that could both be translated as "atone") — so I really only need to translate C.C. and Kallen's, then polish it all up...
For the "main" novels, meanwhile, I have a good chunk of another chapter of Stage -3- Knight done, the "I order you to love me" scene, which the official translation made a real hash of, including skipping bits of narration and dialogue, not recognizing transitions to first-person in the narration, confusing metaphors for literal statements, and at one point just clearly not understanding a sentence about Suzaku's thoughts on Euphy, panicking, and inventing some of their own compliments for him to be paying her instead... this scene is exactly why I'm publishing my novel translations instead of keeping it the private practice it was supposed to be, back when I thought, "Oh, I can use the official translations to check my understanding! Training wheels before I try to translate the R2 novels!" ...sweet summer child, 2017!Li, who just assumed Bandai of America's translations of this series were always great......
Meanwhile, Lost Colors is waiting on my copy of the official Japanese game guide to arrive, and then I need to get my Japanese PS2 set back up, and then I need to get good footage of the game, which is a little trickier than you'd think; I wish I could rely on the game's own auto-advance dialogue options, BUT I CAN'T because even at its slowest, it goes too fast, frequently cutting off the vocal performances. 🤣
SO: if Lost Colors finishes first, I'll definitely start on it, but the second-place finisher is almost sure to actually come out first, just because I knew it would be much faster to publish. 🙂
(Also I have scans of Lancelot & Guren and Oz. I have scans of a bunch of data books, as well as my own physical copies of, say, Mutuality, which I meant to include in this poll, but forgot! For Renya, and anything to do with Roze, I need scans before I can make any progress.)
Oh, and I'm going to be opening commissions back up. I still need to translate a josei manga I was sent years ago, whose requester has been truly inhumanly patient, but once that's done, I'll be adding kofi links to posts going forward, and if your favorite doesn't win this poll, you'll have the option of ✨commissioning me ✨ and getting it to the very front of the queue!
(I should add a list of other "easy" fandoms to my header, like Kingdom Hearts and Tales of Vesperia, two games I'm super familiar with and which I have easy access to in Japanese. A good friend asked about how Sora and Riku talk to and about each other, and I'm just doing a close read for her basically for fun in a DM.
Meanwhile, the josei manga has few furigana and I don't even know the characters' names, so it's much much much more labor-intensive, and the ADHD just keeps bouncing off it, BOOOO.)
In addition to continuing the Lelouch of the Re;surrection manga, what would you like to see me translate next?
Lancelot & Guren
Light novels (the "main" ones)
Light novels (Kallen novel)
Light novels (Knights of the Round novel)
Lost Colors (the PS2 game)
More "Regret Messages"
The Complete R2 Profiles (Lelouch/Suzaku/C.C./Kallen first)
Another data book (specify in tags)
Another "canon" manga (Oz or Renya)
Something else (specify in tags)
Thank you all for the votes so far!!
For the record: some of these are MUCH lower effort than others. Each "Regret Message" (also (inexplicably?) called character poems) is less than a page, and I only have access to scans of Suzaku/C.C./Nunnally in addition to Kallen, so unless I seek out the CD on eBay and it turns out there are more of them, that's a max of 4 pages to translate.
The Complete R2 profiles for our main four characters are two pages each, and I already have initial translations for Suzaku and Lelouch's (I need to settle on a good translation for 罪, it's all over Suzaku's profile along with 罰 and two separate verbs that could both be translated as "atone") — so I really only need to translate C.C. and Kallen's, then polish it all up...
For the "main" novels, meanwhile, I have a good chunk of another chapter of Stage -3- Knight done, the "I order you to love me" scene, which the official translation made a real hash of, including skipping bits of narration and dialogue, not recognizing transitions to first-person in the narration, confusing metaphors for literal statements, and at one point just clearly not understanding a sentence about Suzaku's thoughts on Euphy, panicking, and inventing some of their own compliments for him to be paying her instead... this scene is exactly why I'm publishing my novel translations instead of keeping it the private practice it was supposed to be, back when I thought, "Oh, I can use the official translations to check my understanding! Training wheels before I try to translate the R2 novels!" ...sweet summer child, 2017!Li, who just assumed Bandai of America's translations of this series were always great......
Meanwhile, Lost Colors is waiting on my copy of the official Japanese game guide to arrive, and then I need to get my Japanese PS2 set back up, and then I need to get good footage of the game, which is a little trickier than you'd think; I wish I could rely on the game's own auto-advance dialogue options, BUT I CAN'T because even at its slowest, it goes too fast, frequently cutting off the vocal performances. 🤣
SO: if Lost Colors finishes first, I'll definitely start on it, but the second-place finisher is almost sure to actually come out first, just because I knew it would be much faster to publish. 🙂
(Also I have scans of Lancelot & Guren and Oz. I have scans of a bunch of data books, as well as my own physical copies of, say, Mutuality, which I meant to include in this poll, but forgot! For Renya, and anything to do with Roze, I need scans before I can make any progress.)
Oh, and I'm going to be opening commissions back up. I still need to translate a josei manga I was sent years ago, whose requester has been truly inhumanly patient, but once that's done, I'll be adding kofi links to posts going forward, and if your favorite doesn't win this poll, you'll have the option of ✨commissioning me ✨ and getting it to the very front of the queue!
(I should add a list of other "easy" fandoms to my header, like Kingdom Hearts and Tales of Vesperia, two games I'm super familiar with and which I have easy access to in Japanese. A good friend asked about how Sora and Riku talk to and about each other, and I'm just doing a close read for her basically for fun in a DM.
Meanwhile, the josei manga has few furigana and I don't even know the characters' names, so it's much much much more labor-intensive, and the ADHD just keeps bouncing off it, BOOOO.)
In addition to continuing the Lelouch of the Re;surrection manga, what would you like to see me translate next?
Lancelot & Guren
Light novels (the "main" ones)
Light novels (Kallen novel)
Light novels (Knights of the Round novel)
Lost Colors (the PS2 game)
More "Regret Messages"
The Complete R2 Profiles (Lelouch/Suzaku/C.C./Kallen first)
Another data book (specify in tags)
Another "canon" manga (Oz or Renya)
Something else (specify in tags)
(Shout out once again to @kattkriss! More Schnee here, and more broad references to what happened in Lancelot & Guren, but still nothing that I think you're missing terribly if you haven't read that story.)
[first chapter] [previous chapter] [next chapter]
(Shout out once again to @kattkriss! More Schnee here, and more broad references to what happened in Lancelot & Guren, but still nothing that I think you're missing terribly if you haven't read that story.)
[first chapter] [previous chapter] [next chapter]
(Only 22 pages? Is this really a whole chapter, or is it actually Chapter 14, Pt 1, and I'm missing something again... sigh!! Chapter 15 is properly long... a lot happens in these 22 pages, but hrm. Color me suspicious. @kattkriss sorry to bother you 😔🙏)
[first chapter] [previous chapter] [next chapter]
(Only 22 pages? Is this really a whole chapter, or is it actually Chapter 14, Pt 1, and I'm missing something again... sigh!! Chapter 15 is properly long... a lot happens in these 22 pages, but hrm. Color me suspicious. @kattkriss sorry to bother you 😔🙏)
[first chapter] [previous chapter] [next chapter]
(A longer chapter! Finally. :) And it's, perhaps appropriately, an entire chapter (Chapter 12) instead of merely Chapter-12-part-1...)
[first chapter] [previous chapter] [next chapter]
Fixed the link here! Thanks to the folks who pointed out that it was to Chapter 5 instead of Chapter 12, for some reason!
(P.S.: Chapter 14 is in-progress. 😁)
Quick housekeeping tip: "not a translation" is my tag for posts or reblogs that aren't (new) translations.
"this friggin post" is a tag for something that is being reblogged repeatedly in a conversation.
(I also think I'm probably done with reblogging that particular "friggin" post, because... yeah, that person is almost certainly just a troll, and wasting all of our time! But for the future 🙂)
Complete Best Regret Messages: Kallen
Read on Dreamwidth!
Extolling the Brave Chivalry of Youth[1]
Before I met you, I was really just irritated. I thought: "I want to change the world[2]," but though I lashed out, recklessly, I didn't actually believe I would be able to change anything.
When I lost my brother, it was like a heavy door had slammed shut behind me. I wasn't going to let that go. I'd fight to the bitter end. There'd be no going back, I decided. And then, someday, I'd die — just like my brother had. To the end, Kouzuki Kallen would follow no leader, serve no master[3]. Dimly, I'd thought that small, stubborn pride would be the end of me. But then: like a morning star coming into view, you called for me[4].
Whenever I was doing something for your sake, I felt lighter. No battle was too difficult. Whenever you directed us to a battlefield, I came running, wanting to be the first one there[5]. I wanted to become a lion, to rip your enemies apart with my teeth. To dirty myself with any amount of muck[6], so long as it cleared the way for you.
It's strange, really, if you think about it. It was supposed to be about loathing — and fighting against — Britannian despotism, but before I knew it, I had all this personal loyalty to you[7].
Hey, Lelouch. That last moment we had together, with that kiss… Well, if you'd said I love you[8] back then, it wouldn't have mattered if it was a lie — I still would have followed you all the way into your personal hell. But you already knew that, didn't you?
Not very characteristic of you, was it. Wasn't manipulating people by saying that sort of thing one of your talents…? Yeah, that was so uncharacteristically… gentle.[9] Is that what you were trying to say, when you told me to live on…?
Even though that sort of gentleness isn't at all why I fell for you[10], heh[11].
Translation notes below the cut. Original Japanese text for you to check yourself transcribed from the above image available at my Dreamwidth link.
Hm.
Anyway, for the record:
None of this means Lelouch didn't or couldn't have had feelings for Kallen, only that she didn't think he did when she kissed him; I would think that was the clear point of the scene, how her eyes were full of emotion afterwards and his eyes were still and unmoved. The fact that he cared about her (to whatever extent) is precisely why he didn't kiss her back in that moment, and tried to make her think he didn't care about her. This is what she refers to as "his gentleness": that he was carefully nonresponsive, rather than kissing her back or telling her he loved her, to spare her direct participation in the Zero Requeim.
別れのキス could mean parting kiss, but ねえ、ルルーシュ。あの別れのキスのとき is still not "Lelouch, about that parting kiss," because のとき changes the meaning. It's ambiguous as to whether あの別れの is modifying キス or とき, and regardless, the kiss was at most something that happened at around the same time as the parting, and...... not a goodbye kiss. For the reasons above, as well as the fact that there was a long pause after the kiss, where Kallen tried to gauge Lelouch's feelings for her, before she said goodbye and walked away from him. Two separate events. If she'd thought Lelouch returned her feelings, she wouldn't have said goodbye and walked away, ergo it was not, nor had it been intended to be, a goodbye kiss. Which doesn't detract from the romance of the scene, just from the romance of the kiss...
The "Word of God" to which I referred was indeed Koshimizu quoting Taniguchi to the other actors in a commentary track, rather than Taniguchi saying it directly himself, and it was about Kallen's reasons for kissing Lelouch rather than Lelouch's feelings... it was his attempt to explain to a young voice actor what her character's motivation was, after she expressed surprise that Kallen would kiss Lelouch at all. (Taniguchi is also now 0/2 here in terms of "actresses correctly intuiting that their characters were supposed to be harboring expressly romantic feelings for Lelouch", which is kind of funny to me personally!)
Also lbr, Taniguchi would hate his words being used this way, he's repeatedly shied away from directly answering this sort of question because, as he's said, he knows that his word carries a lot of weight, no matter how often he tries to tell people that their own interpretation is equally valid... so I guess if you want it to be a goodbye kiss, even despite everything above and how Kallen didn't know she was going to say goodbye until after the kiss was over, go for it? I guess??
愛してる is more dramatic than 好きだ and that is about the extent of the differences (and no, Code Geass isn't the only anime where siblings or other blood relatives have exchanged 愛してる's, and it can be used platonically by parents about their children, etc). None of which means that the imaginary 愛してる in this poem would have been platonic? Obviously it wouldn't have been...?
Regardless, here's a screenshot of my iPhone Japanese dictionary app, Weblio, and Jim Breen, you'll find similar example sentences elsewhere online:
WWWJDIC: Example Display
「愛する」は英語でどう表現する?【単語】love...【例文】They are in love...【その他の表現】be fond of... - 1000万語以上収録!英訳・英文・英単語の使い分けならWeblio英和・和英辞書
You may note that, for clarity's sake, some of these sentences have added modifiers, like 愛し合ってる to specify mutual love, and 真に愛する to specify true love, and あなただけを愛し続ける to specify a unique, forever love... almost as if 愛してる doesn't convey all those things by itself, or something.
(Jim Breen's sentences database is in wide use, and explained here. Weblio has additional examples from various sources, like professional translations from English into Japanese of various works (for example, Twilight, lol). Don't mistake anything I'm saying here from claiming that you, as a non-native speaker, wouldn't startle a Japanese friend, or indeed romantic partner, by using 愛してる out of the blue; just understand that it's not a magic spell and doesn't convey some telepathic knowledge on Kallen's part about Lelouch's feelings, good grief.)
@inspectorpoe
Torn between trying for the, like, sixth time now to explain to one of you folks that my objection to this particular kiss being called a "farewell kiss" is a semantic issue with the order of operations in the scene, and just being... completely exasperated that this is the hill we have all apparently chosen to die on, when it's almost the least of the problems with the original translation of this Regret Message.
As I have said now, twice, if the original translation had just included the word "When" in the sentence, that tiny fragment of their translation would've been fine. Inaccurate, in my opinion, to the scene, but not blatantly inaccurate to the Japanese, because yes, AS I HAVE REPEATEDLY SAID, 別れのキス by itself could be translated as parting/farewell/goodbye kiss. Or as "breakup kiss", because 別れる also means that sort of separation.
But:
ねえ、ルルーシュ。あの別れのキスの時、 Lelouch, about that parting kiss...
continues to be inaccurate, because it omits multiple words from the Japanese, changing both Kallen's tone and how this part connects to the rest of her sentence.
If for whatever reason you really need the sentence to contain "parting kiss", instead of how I translated it, which was "That last moment we had together, with that kiss...", then I would suggest: Hey, Lelouch, when we shared that parting kiss...
Or something like that.
Now, the original Regret Message translation would still have had half a dozen other problems, like translating イラついている as "plastered with thorns" instead of "being irritated"; like the strange editorializing about 嘘でもいいから and the stranger footnotes about 愛してる and わかってたでしょう?...
...but at least if they'd put a "when" in the right spot, their version wouldn't have confused people into thinking Kallen was talking about two separate instances, when she is clearly, in this Regret Message, talking about a hypothetical version of events where, after she asked him what she was to him and kissed him, Lelouch had said 愛してる — how if he'd done that, Kallen would have done anything for him, including participate in all the awfulness that led up to his public execution, which she would then have to live with, and which Lelouch not saying those words spared her from.
Are we done now, or am I going to get more replies on this post from people trying to get me to """admit""" that 別れのキス could be translated as parting kiss, lol, something I have never actually denied.
@inspectorpoe You're just embarrassing yourself at this point. I'm sorry Blottyparchment lied to you about this message — whether for internet clout or because they didn't think an accurate translation was shippy enough, who can say, but given their other translations were awkward but fine it's unlikely to be an honest error — but that's not actually my fault.
@inspectorpoe Uh-huh. Gosh, if only I had offered some sort of explanation for my translation of that line, like, maybe in this post you keep replying to, apparently without reading it...?
Idk, am I being trolled. Should I just stop responding. I should probably just stop responding, this has definitely crossed a line into disingenuous, and I doubt it's either fun or edifying for my followers.
Complete Best Regret Messages: Kallen
Read on Dreamwidth!
Extolling the Brave Chivalry of Youth[1]
Before I met you, I was really just irritated. I thought: "I want to change the world[2]," but though I lashed out, recklessly, I didn't actually believe I would be able to change anything.
When I lost my brother, it was like a heavy door had slammed shut behind me. I wasn't going to let that go. I'd fight to the bitter end. There'd be no going back, I decided. And then, someday, I'd die — just like my brother had. To the end, Kouzuki Kallen would follow no leader, serve no master[3]. Dimly, I'd thought that small, stubborn pride would be the end of me. But then: like a morning star coming into view, you called for me[4].
Whenever I was doing something for your sake, I felt lighter. No battle was too difficult. Whenever you directed us to a battlefield, I came running, wanting to be the first one there[5]. I wanted to become a lion, to rip your enemies apart with my teeth. To dirty myself with any amount of muck[6], so long as it cleared the way for you.
It's strange, really, if you think about it. It was supposed to be about loathing — and fighting against — Britannian despotism, but before I knew it, I had all this personal loyalty to you[7].
Hey, Lelouch. That last moment we had together, with that kiss… Well, if you'd said I love you[8] back then, it wouldn't have mattered if it was a lie — I still would have followed you all the way into your personal hell. But you already knew that, didn't you?
Not very characteristic of you, was it. Wasn't manipulating people by saying that sort of thing one of your talents…? Yeah, that was so uncharacteristically… gentle.[9] Is that what you were trying to say, when you told me to live on…?
Even though that sort of gentleness isn't at all why I fell for you[10], heh[11].
Translation notes below the cut. Original Japanese text for you to check yourself transcribed from the above image available at my Dreamwidth link.
Hm.
Anyway, for the record:
None of this means Lelouch didn't or couldn't have had feelings for Kallen, only that she didn't think he did when she kissed him; I would think that was the clear point of the scene, how her eyes were full of emotion afterwards and his eyes were still and unmoved. The fact that he cared about her (to whatever extent) is precisely why he didn't kiss her back in that moment, and tried to make her think he didn't care about her. This is what she refers to as "his gentleness": that he was carefully nonresponsive, rather than kissing her back or telling her he loved her, to spare her direct participation in the Zero Requeim.
別れのキス could mean parting kiss, but ねえ、ルルーシュ。あの別れのキスのとき is still not "Lelouch, about that parting kiss," because のとき changes the meaning. It's ambiguous as to whether あの別れの is modifying キス or とき, and regardless, the kiss was at most something that happened at around the same time as the parting, and...... not a goodbye kiss. For the reasons above, as well as the fact that there was a long pause after the kiss, where Kallen tried to gauge Lelouch's feelings for her, before she said goodbye and walked away from him. Two separate events. If she'd thought Lelouch returned her feelings, she wouldn't have said goodbye and walked away, ergo it was not, nor had it been intended to be, a goodbye kiss. Which doesn't detract from the romance of the scene, just from the romance of the kiss...
The "Word of God" to which I referred was indeed Koshimizu quoting Taniguchi to the other actors in a commentary track, rather than Taniguchi saying it directly himself, and it was about Kallen's reasons for kissing Lelouch rather than Lelouch's feelings... it was his attempt to explain to a young voice actor what her character's motivation was, after she expressed surprise that Kallen would kiss Lelouch at all. (Taniguchi is also now 0/2 here in terms of "actresses correctly intuiting that their characters were supposed to be harboring expressly romantic feelings for Lelouch", which is kind of funny to me personally!)
Also lbr, Taniguchi would hate his words being used this way, he's repeatedly shied away from directly answering this sort of question because, as he's said, he knows that his word carries a lot of weight, no matter how often he tries to tell people that their own interpretation is equally valid... so I guess if you want it to be a goodbye kiss, even despite everything above and how Kallen didn't know she was going to say goodbye until after the kiss was over, go for it? I guess??
愛してる is more dramatic than 好きだ and that is about the extent of the differences (and no, Code Geass isn't the only anime where siblings or other blood relatives have exchanged 愛してる's, and it can be used platonically by parents about their children, etc). None of which means that the imaginary 愛してる in this poem would have been platonic? Obviously it wouldn't have been...?
Regardless, here's a screenshot of my iPhone Japanese dictionary app, Weblio, and Jim Breen, you'll find similar example sentences elsewhere online:
WWWJDIC: Example Display
「愛する」は英語でどう表現する?【単語】love...【例文】They are in love...【その他の表現】be fond of... - 1000万語以上収録!英訳・英文・英単語の使い分けならWeblio英和・和英辞書
You may note that, for clarity's sake, some of these sentences have added modifiers, like 愛し合ってる to specify mutual love, and 真に愛する to specify true love, and あなただけを愛し続ける to specify a unique, forever love... almost as if 愛してる doesn't convey all those things by itself, or something.
(Jim Breen's sentences database is in wide use, and explained here. Weblio has additional examples from various sources, like professional translations from English into Japanese of various works (for example, Twilight, lol). Don't mistake anything I'm saying here from claiming that you, as a non-native speaker, wouldn't startle a Japanese friend, or indeed romantic partner, by using 愛してる out of the blue; just understand that it's not a magic spell and doesn't convey some telepathic knowledge on Kallen's part about Lelouch's feelings, good grief.)
@inspectorpoe
Torn between trying for the, like, sixth time now to explain to one of you folks that my objection to this particular kiss being called a "farewell kiss" is a semantic issue with the order of operations in the scene, and just being... completely exasperated that this is the hill we have all apparently chosen to die on, when it's almost the least of the problems with the original translation of this Regret Message.
As I have said now, twice, if the original translation had just included the word "When" in the sentence, that tiny fragment of their translation would've been fine. Inaccurate, in my opinion, to the scene, but not blatantly inaccurate to the Japanese, because yes, AS I HAVE REPEATEDLY SAID, 別れのキス by itself could be translated as parting/farewell/goodbye kiss. Or as "breakup kiss", because 別れる also means that sort of separation.
But:
ねえ、ルルーシュ。あの別れのキスの時、 Lelouch, about that parting kiss...
continues to be inaccurate, because it omits multiple words from the Japanese, changing both Kallen's tone and how this part connects to the rest of her sentence.
If for whatever reason you really need the sentence to contain "parting kiss", instead of how I translated it, which was "That last moment we had together, with that kiss...", then I would suggest: Hey, Lelouch, when we shared that parting kiss...
Or something like that.
Now, the original Regret Message translation would still have had half a dozen other problems, like translating イラついている as "plastered with thorns" instead of "being irritated"; like the strange editorializing about 嘘でもいいから and the stranger footnotes about 愛してる and わかってたでしょう?...
...but at least if they'd put a "when" in the right spot, their version wouldn't have confused people into thinking Kallen was talking about two separate instances, when she is clearly, in this Regret Message, talking about a hypothetical version of events where, after she asked him what she was to him and kissed him, Lelouch had said 愛してる — how if he'd done that, Kallen would have done anything for him, including participate in all the awfulness that led up to his public execution, which she would then have to live with, and which Lelouch not saying those words spared her from.
Are we done now, or am I going to get more replies on this post from people trying to get me to """admit""" that 別れのキス could be translated as parting kiss, lol, something I have never actually denied.
@inspectorpoe You're just embarrassing yourself at this point. I'm sorry Blottyparchment lied to you about this message — whether for internet clout or because they didn't think an accurate translation was shippy enough, who can say, but given their other translations were awkward but fine it's unlikely to be an honest error — but that's not actually my fault.
Complete Best Regret Messages: Kallen
Read on Dreamwidth!
Extolling the Brave Chivalry of Youth[1]
Before I met you, I was really just irritated. I thought: "I want to change the world[2]," but though I lashed out, recklessly, I didn't actually believe I would be able to change anything.
When I lost my brother, it was like a heavy door had slammed shut behind me. I wasn't going to let that go. I'd fight to the bitter end. There'd be no going back, I decided. And then, someday, I'd die — just like my brother had. To the end, Kouzuki Kallen would follow no leader, serve no master[3]. Dimly, I'd thought that small, stubborn pride would be the end of me. But then: like a morning star coming into view, you called for me[4].
Whenever I was doing something for your sake, I felt lighter. No battle was too difficult. Whenever you directed us to a battlefield, I came running, wanting to be the first one there[5]. I wanted to become a lion, to rip your enemies apart with my teeth. To dirty myself with any amount of muck[6], so long as it cleared the way for you.
It's strange, really, if you think about it. It was supposed to be about loathing — and fighting against — Britannian despotism, but before I knew it, I had all this personal loyalty to you[7].
Hey, Lelouch. That last moment we had together, with that kiss… Well, if you'd said I love you[8] back then, it wouldn't have mattered if it was a lie — I still would have followed you all the way into your personal hell. But you already knew that, didn't you?
Not very characteristic of you, was it. Wasn't manipulating people by saying that sort of thing one of your talents…? Yeah, that was so uncharacteristically… gentle.[9] Is that what you were trying to say, when you told me to live on…?
Even though that sort of gentleness isn't at all why I fell for you[10], heh[11].
Translation notes below the cut. Original Japanese text for you to check yourself transcribed from the above image available at my Dreamwidth link.
Hm.
Anyway, for the record:
None of this means Lelouch didn't or couldn't have had feelings for Kallen, only that she didn't think he did when she kissed him; I would think that was the clear point of the scene, how her eyes were full of emotion afterwards and his eyes were still and unmoved. The fact that he cared about her (to whatever extent) is precisely why he didn't kiss her back in that moment, and tried to make her think he didn't care about her. This is what she refers to as "his gentleness": that he was carefully nonresponsive, rather than kissing her back or telling her he loved her, to spare her direct participation in the Zero Requeim.
別れのキス could mean parting kiss, but ねえ、ルルーシュ。あの別れのキスのとき is still not "Lelouch, about that parting kiss," because のとき changes the meaning. It's ambiguous as to whether あの別れの is modifying キス or とき, and regardless, the kiss was at most something that happened at around the same time as the parting, and...... not a goodbye kiss. For the reasons above, as well as the fact that there was a long pause after the kiss, where Kallen tried to gauge Lelouch's feelings for her, before she said goodbye and walked away from him. Two separate events. If she'd thought Lelouch returned her feelings, she wouldn't have said goodbye and walked away, ergo it was not, nor had it been intended to be, a goodbye kiss. Which doesn't detract from the romance of the scene, just from the romance of the kiss...
The "Word of God" to which I referred was indeed Koshimizu quoting Taniguchi to the other actors in a commentary track, rather than Taniguchi saying it directly himself, and it was about Kallen's reasons for kissing Lelouch rather than Lelouch's feelings... it was his attempt to explain to a young voice actor what her character's motivation was, after she expressed surprise that Kallen would kiss Lelouch at all. (Taniguchi is also now 0/2 here in terms of "actresses correctly intuiting that their characters were supposed to be harboring expressly romantic feelings for Lelouch", which is kind of funny to me personally!)
Also lbr, Taniguchi would hate his words being used this way, he's repeatedly shied away from directly answering this sort of question because, as he's said, he knows that his word carries a lot of weight, no matter how often he tries to tell people that their own interpretation is equally valid... so I guess if you want it to be a goodbye kiss, even despite everything above and how Kallen didn't know she was going to say goodbye until after the kiss was over, go for it? I guess??
愛してる is more dramatic than 好きだ and that is about the extent of the differences (and no, Code Geass isn't the only anime where siblings or other blood relatives have exchanged 愛してる's, and it can be used platonically by parents about their children, etc). None of which means that the imaginary 愛してる in this poem would have been platonic? Obviously it wouldn't have been...?
Regardless, here's a screenshot of my iPhone Japanese dictionary app, Weblio, and Jim Breen, you'll find similar example sentences elsewhere online:
WWWJDIC: Example Display
「愛する」は英語でどう表現する?【単語】love...【例文】They are in love...【その他の表現】be fond of... - 1000万語以上収録!英訳・英文・英単語の使い分けならWeblio英和・和英辞書
You may note that, for clarity's sake, some of these sentences have added modifiers, like 愛し合ってる to specify mutual love, and 真に愛する to specify true love, and あなただけを愛し続ける to specify a unique, forever love... almost as if 愛してる doesn't convey all those things by itself, or something.
(Jim Breen's sentences database is in wide use, and explained here. Weblio has additional examples from various sources, like professional translations from English into Japanese of various works (for example, Twilight, lol). Don't mistake anything I'm saying here from claiming that you, as a non-native speaker, wouldn't startle a Japanese friend, or indeed romantic partner, by using 愛してる out of the blue; just understand that it's not a magic spell and doesn't convey some telepathic knowledge on Kallen's part about Lelouch's feelings, good grief.)
@inspectorpoe
Torn between trying for the, like, sixth time now to explain to one of you folks that my objection to this particular kiss being called a "farewell kiss" is a semantic issue with the order of operations in the scene, and just being... completely exasperated that this is the hill we have all apparently chosen to die on, when it's almost the least of the problems with the original translation of this Regret Message.
As I have said now, twice, if the original translation had just included the word "When" in the sentence, that tiny fragment of their translation would've been fine. Inaccurate, in my opinion, to the scene, but not blatantly inaccurate to the Japanese, because yes, AS I HAVE REPEATEDLY SAID, 別れのキス by itself could be translated as parting/farewell/goodbye kiss. Or as "breakup kiss", because 別れる also means that sort of separation.
But:
ねえ、ルルーシュ。あの別れのキスの時、 Lelouch, about that parting kiss...
continues to be inaccurate, because it omits multiple words from the Japanese, changing both Kallen's tone and how this part connects to the rest of her sentence.
If for whatever reason you really need the sentence to contain "parting kiss", instead of how I translated it, which was "That last moment we had together, with that kiss...", then I would suggest: Hey, Lelouch, when we shared that parting kiss...
Or something like that.
Now, the original Regret Message translation would still have had half a dozen other problems, like translating イラついている as "plastered with thorns" instead of "being irritated"; like the strange editorializing about 嘘でもいいから and the stranger footnotes about 愛してる and わかってたでしょう?...
...but at least if they'd put a "when" in the right spot, their version wouldn't have confused people into thinking Kallen was talking about two separate instances, when she is clearly, in this Regret Message, talking about a hypothetical version of events where, after she asked him what she was to him and kissed him, Lelouch had said 愛してる — how if he'd done that, Kallen would have done anything for him, including participate in all the awfulness that led up to his public execution, which she would then have to live with, and which Lelouch not saying those words spared her from.
Are we done now, or am I going to get more replies on this post from people trying to get me to """admit""" that 別れのキス could be translated as parting kiss, lol, something I have never actually denied.
Man the ship wars for this anime that ended almost twenty years ago really are alive and well, huh.
Anyway, here's your friendly reminder that it literally does not matter what was "most canon", there isn't a Fandom Police Force that's gonna come to your house and arrest you for liking a different ship than the one that became "endgame".
It's okay. I promise. You can just like what you like without it needing to be The True Couple.
Of all the shows in the world, Code Geass is the one where the merch team went “wait we’re meant to choose one?” when it came to official ships. There was even a mobile game where Lelouch had test tube babies with two of his female love interests, his male rival/bestie, and his little sister.
Everything is official and Sunrise approvals of all ships you’ll buy merch for, regardless of the sex, orientation, age, canonical feelings or blood relatedness of the characters involved.
And don't forget Lost Colors, the officially licensed tie-in game that predated Lost Stories, where your (male) silent protagonist can date him, albeit in a heavily-subtextual,-it's-2008 sort of way.
Also, unironically:
the real victory here is the friends you made along the way.
I met my current partner because we were both Code Geass fans back in the day, and that first conversation, which lasted for hours, was absolutely about our shared favorite ship. Now we've been living together for years, and our interest in the fandom itself waxes and wanes — but it will always be special to both of us because it's literally how we met.
So, I declare myself retroactively the real winner of this particular ship war. Anyone with a similar story is welcome to share my crown. 😌
(And yes, lifelong friends absolutely counts.)
Man the ship wars for this anime that ended almost twenty years ago really are alive and well, huh.
Anyway, here's your friendly reminder that it literally does not matter what was "most canon", there isn't a Fandom Police Force that's gonna come to your house and arrest you for liking a different ship than the one that became "endgame".
It's okay. I promise. You can just like what you like without it needing to be The True Couple.
Of all the shows in the world, Code Geass is the one where the merch team went “wait we’re meant to choose one?” when it came to official ships. There was even a mobile game where Lelouch had test tube babies with two of his female love interests, his male rival/bestie, and his little sister.
Everything is official and Sunrise approvals of all ships you’ll buy merch for, regardless of the sex, orientation, age, canonical feelings or blood relatedness of the characters involved.
And don't forget Lost Colors, the officially licensed tie-in game that predated Lost Stories, where your (male) silent protagonist can date him, albeit in a heavily-subtextual,-it's-2008 sort of way.