Jul 19, 2024
compilation
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from Japan
seen from Singapore
seen from Canada
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
compilation
Made these for fun. Art taken from the PSVita 1・2 reload theme I ripped the sprites of, and then photo edited with some 2000s aesthetic wallpapers. Free to use :>
Dunno if anyone's ripped the images from the JR東海「推し旅」ｘダンガンロンパ page yet, but I did just because it would be sad to lose these after the promotion ends.
ENG VS. JP: Hangman's Gambit
Hangman's Gambit is the universal Danganronpa minigame, but have you ever wondered what the JP version was like? The translation choices, the gameplay mechanics, and the number of letters? Which one is technically easier? A very mundane question, but I promise there's some interesting info here.
So, here's covering the Trigger Happy Havoc: Danganronpa (Danganronpa: Academy of Hope, Students of Despair) and Super Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Hangman's Gambit minigames in English and Japanese.
But first, the name itself.
In Japanese, Hangman's Gambit is called 閃きアナグラム, which translates as "Sparking Anagram". It's a bit of a pun, as 閃き means to flash for a brief moment, as in a light (Think like a sudden shock of electricity in the dark) - which references the letters that show up only briefly (in THH:DR at least) - but 閃き also means an "instant flash of inspiration", like a cartoon light bulb above your head - which encapsulates the idea for the minigame itself.
The banner in Japanese is 閃きアナグラム開始！Which means, "Begin Sparking Anagram!"
Strangely, every version, both English and Japanese, has a ！at the end of their respective titles, except the JP version of SDR2, where the minigame banner simply reads 閃きアナグラム開始 without the ！at the end.
Also strange, the PC version of THH:DR specifically does not have the darkening red-tone effect as the banner displays (or, if it does, it was way brighter than it should be).
The reasoning behind this likely has to do with an overlooked error in re-exporting the visual assets for the PC version of the game, or the light engine on the PC port. This same issue does not occur for SDR2's PC port.
Something Important About Hinata...
The way Hinata speaks in the Japanese version of SDR2 is a big deal for his character, and what contrasts him so well from Naegi Makoto.
Before we jump into that, I must briefly explain how Naegi talks, as it is integral for the comparison.
Naegi is very mild-mannered. His self-pronoun of choice is ボク (Boku) in Katakana. While the only self-pronoun in English is I/me/my, Japanese has many, all written in different ways, and these pronouns tell you a great deal about the character's personality.
In this case, what does this say about Naegi?
Naegi using Boku as opposed to Ore - another male pronoun - shows he's very mild-mannered. Boku is more polite than Ore is, and makes him appear more soft, polite, and less boyish than a number of his other male classmates who do use Ore.
Boku can be written in Hiragana ぼく, Katakana ボク, and Kanji 僕. So why Katakana for Naegi? What does it show?
It can show many things, but in Naegi's case, it emphasizes that he, above all else, is a teenager. Yes, all his classmates (minus Hagakure) are, but when I say it emphasizes this, I mean it shows he embodies what a teenager is. He's young, but he's not a kid. He's a little awkward; he's not fully mature in how he reacts to the world yet. He's hip and trendy, and maybe a little moody. Combine this with Boku, and you are told all you need about Naegi out the gate as soon as he says "My (ボク Boku) name is Naegi Makoto": he is a mild-mannered growing boy, probably up to date on the latest trends, probably a little awkward and soft-spoken, nicer than most males his age, and maybe even a bit naive.
These are all things that we learn to be true as the game goes on, but just by his pronoun alone, we can tell these things about Naegi.
Furthermore, there are different styles of speech, such as what particles you use. Some are more masculine or feminine, some speech styles are more rude. In Naegi's case, he uses gender-neutral particles, once again hinting at his mild nature.
So, what about Hinata?
Hinata is the opposite. We can tell from the get-go based on his self-pronoun.
He uses 俺 (Ore) in Kanji.
As said, Ore is more rude and man-ish than Boku. Right out the gate, the audience knows Hinata is going to be more rude, boyish, and assertive than Naegi.
His particle choice, compared to Naegi, also is mostly masculine, and he employs ruder speech options. Again, this paints Hinata as someone much more outspoken, forceful, and meaner.
This was no accident. In fact, it was a core part of his character, stated in the SDR2 art book:
"No, that's wrong!"* The boldness of this catchphrase is truly what makes Hinata who he is. Each time he says it in a Class Trial, it feel more self-assured than the last. In the last killing game at Hope's Peak Academy, the protagonist was a well-behaved, un-masculine person, which caused some issues, and he was even criticized at a point for being "too arrogant for Naegi-kun". Kind men are fine and all, but for a protagonist, I want someone a little more fired-up!
*In English, both Hinata and Naegi's phrases are translated the same. However, Naegi says sore wa chigau yo, while Hinata says sore wa chigau zo. Yo is gender neutral, while zo is masculine and can sound ruder, hence this being the line that "Makes Hinata who he is".
But...why Kanji?
Using Kanji for a self-pronoun in a character signifies many things. In Hinata's case, it tells us he's intelligent, mature for his age, probably acts more grown-up and pragmatic than boys his age. It can also be a sign of being dignified, almost noble-esque. For example, Togami also uses 俺.
But...it's strange, right? Because while Hinata is smart and is more pragmatic, he is also pretty obviously still your average teen. In fact, it's something he laments: he's painfully normal.
So...should it not be オレ, Ore in Katakana?
After all, almost every teen boy protagonist in media uses オレ, or a form of it (like Goku, who uses オラ Ora, a "Southern" version of Ore, still in Katakana). Would it not make more sense for Hinata to then use オレ?
I actually don't think so.
Besides personality differences that could warrant the use of Kanji, I think the usage of Kanji is most purposeful as a subversion of expectation. Like I said, generally speaking, most teenage male protagonists uses オレ. Pick up any shounen, and the protag will likely be using オレ.
In my opinion, by using 俺, the same self-pronoun, just written in a different script, it imparts something very small but very noteworthy to the audience: something is off about this otherwise normal teenager.
Hinata talks about how he's painfully normal, but then, why not the painfully normal pronoun?
Out the gate it gives this off feeling. Ever so slightly, something is wrong with the guy that shows he's not as normal as he claims.
And then, Chapter 6 happens.
It's incredibly clever foreshadowing, all just by changing how the character says "I".
To add on...when Hinata underwent the Kamukura project, they truly ripped everything from Hinata, including how he speaks.
While Hinata uses 俺 Ore, Kamukura uses 僕 Boku in Kanji. I've already explained both Boku and Kanji script, so you can probably put them together. But in short, it shows Kamukura is far more mild, less assertive and less masculine. He is intelligent, regal, far above everyone else, but is polite.
More interesting is the way Kamukura speaks. He talks closer to Naegi, using gender-neutral particles instead of rude or masculine ones. However, he is even more polite than most characters, as he uses Keigo.
Keigo is "polite speech", and as it suggests, makes a character sound polite and formal. Characters like Tsumiki and Sonia use it.
In Kamukura's case, this makes him sound...like an academic paper. He is mild-mannered, he is polite, he is intelligent. The way he speaks gives the feeling of a reporter on the news, a scientific paper, an essay - someone who is there to relay information, not his feelings or opinions. Which is funny, seeing as he can't help but give his opinions in calling everything boring. I think that contrast shows, despite Hope's Peak's best efforts, Kamukura is still human.
It is still a far cry from Hinata, who's manner of speaking alone exuded so much personality, so much feeling, and a whole lot of self-expression.
Finally, I'll cap this post off with a fun fact: Kamukura probably was never going to have red eyes.
This is just a theory, but there is interesting pieces of evidence to support this.
In all versions of SDR2, early beta sprites are used for nearly every truth bullet. If a truth bullet is using a character sprite (such as a testimony truth bullet), it most likely is using an early version of the sprite by accident. This can be seen with Souda, Sonia, Nanami, Tsumiki, Komaeda, etc.
With this pattern in mind, here is the truth bullet with Awakened Hinata on it:
Beyond the fact he's missing the red eyes, you can tell it's a very early version as his shoulder and hair aren't as spiky as they should be.
They hadn't quite edited the sprite yet. But, I find the lack of red eyes interesting when compounded with a strange piece of merch I talked about here.
I won't repeat the details as you can check the post out if you'd like, but I will show the photos again.
Considering early beta versions of sprites are sometimes mistakenly used in Danganronpa merch (and other beta sprites were used in this merch line, such as Komaeda's), this makes me assume this, too, is a beta Kamukura sprite, and he was originally intended to have Hinata's eye color.
Komaeda Nagito, and His Tendency to Use Filler Words
I've talked about this here and there, but I want to make an in-depth post with examples.
So, something that's always bothered me about the Eng release of SDR2 is the fact that Komaeda...does not use filler words as much as he should.
Let me explain.
I'm sure you know words such as "uh" "um" "ah" "er" and suchlike. When you don't know something or are thinking, you tend to say something like, "Um...yeah, so..." or "My, um, appointment is tomorrow."
These words add no "value" to the sentence, and are only placed involuntarily while speaking because you are trying to think as you speak.
Japanese has plenty of these, too. Words like えーと(etto), あの (ano), ううん (uun), ええ (ee), and so forth.
But there's other "filler" words out there. Like our earlier sentence, "Um...yeah, so..." "Um" is not the only filler word. "Yeah, so" is also a filler word, as it adds nothing to the overall sentence. It can be removed.
Really, any word can become a filler word. "You know" and "like" have real applications, but if you, like, start, like, talking like this, it's, you know, kind of repetitive, you know?
I think the vast majority of people on Earth are guilty of speaking like this in their day-to-day lives. It's just easy to do. But when it comes to media, you'll notice characters rarely stutter or repeat words. When they do, even if it's a small amount, it's noticeable because the surrounding context is that nobody else is doing it.
With all this information in mind, let's talk about Komaeda Nagito's dialogue.
実はさ、ボクは入学前に、ネットでみんなの情報を調べてきてるんだよね。
さ(sa), is a normal sentence particle in Japanese. It's used for a myriad of purposes, although many people seem to liken it to the American "Valley Girl" accent when overused, especially with another conversation particle, ね (ne).
It is a misconception that sa is "masculine". It used to be masculine way back, but nowadays it's more or less gender neutral.
This will be the topic of the post. Komaeda tends to use sa and ne in a way that is seen as "filler". These particles can be likened to "you know?" and "like" in the sense that they are real words that serve purposes, but can be repetitive.
In the sentence above, I would say the ne is not being used in a filler-like way. Sa, however, is.
"So, to be honest, before I arrived at this school, I, um, did a little research about everyone on the internet."
In this way, sa, ne, or any other particle when overused (な na is another big one, and I see Souda using it a lot) can be any filler word. Some would argue that the sentence should maybe look more like...
"So, you see, to be honest, before I arrived at this school, I did a little research about everyone on the internet."
And this is equally as correct. It's more in-line with how sa as a particle is normally used, but when translating it as how it's being used here - as a filler word - "um" may sound more appropriate in English. Neither is incorrect however, and there's a myriad of other ways you could go about writing this.
"So, you know, to be honest..."
"So, like, to be honest..."
"...I kind of did a little research..."
"...I, well, did a little research..."
etc.
ううん、いいんだよ。複雑なのはボク自身もそうだからさ。
Here, I wouldn't describe sa as being a filler word...necessarily. It adds emphasis, but it's still completely optional. Thus, I wouldn't translate it as a word imperative to the sentence's meaning.
"No, no, I totally get it. I have pretty mixed feelings about this, too."
最初はね…恐れ多いって断ったんだよ。でも、どうしてもって言われてさ。
Here is an example of him using ne in a filler-like way. You've probably caught on that particles which stand-in as filler are used usually at the beginning of a sentence before a comma or ellipses.
Komaeda actually uses ne in this manner fairly often. One of his default voice lines is "boku wa ne..." - I am unsure how this was recorded in the English dub. Probably just "I..." but personally I'd go with "Well, I..." or "I, uh..."
And unlike earlier, I would say the sa here at the ending is indeed more filler-like (not entirely still, though. Akin to the usage above).
"Um, honestly, at first…I was humbled, but I refused. But, well, they wouldn't stop insisting on it…"
By the way, Komaeda is not putting himself down in this scene. Japanese culture emphasizes being polite in a way Western spaces do not. "I don't deserve it" is a very direct translation, but in English, it makes more sense to read it as "I humbly declined".
And all these examples are just in the first conversation you have with him! You can imagine how many more there are through the whole game.
Now, here's a big question I'm sure you're thinking: "Why was this left out?"
I don't know to be honest, because...they did it with other characters.
Such as Koizumi in the same game:
だってさ、なんだか変なヤツばっかりじゃん。天才だか超高校級だか知らないけどさ…
Although Koizumi suffers from some of the same translation choices made with Komaeda, hers appears to be more consistent.
Finally, we need to talk about Naegi Makoto. He and Komaeda share beyond a voice actor - they talk the same, too. They both use the same self pronoun and you pronoun, use the same script, and also have a habit of using ne and sa in excess...though Naegi maybe does it slightly less.
Also confusing, this sometimes gets translated, like here:
そうそう、こんな危険な学校だしさ、何があるかわからないでしょ？ だから…念の為にさ。
The only reason I can think it only happens sometimes or, in Komaeda's case, not at all, is some translators on the team either didn't feel it was important to include/didn't think about it, while other translators did. Game translation typically has more than one person at the helm. A lack of good management can lead to weird discrepancies like this.
Anyways, that's all I got for now. I hope you find it interesting, because it's one of my absolute favorite character quirks of Komaeda and I am so sad it doesn't get any love in English...
Mikan wants to be "forgiven"...but what does that really mean?
Hello. This is something that has been quietly on my mind for a while.
It's something shown in the game in chapter 3. Mikan really focuses in on "being forgiven".
And while not a mistranslation per se, I think it's inaccurate to what is happening in the game.
I've talked about this extensively - the fact ENG DR team has a very bad habit of translating things literally or very directly. This leads to either clunky dialogue, missed nuances, or just incorrect interpretations sometimes.
I think this in particular falls somewhere between 2 and 3. I'll explain why.
If translated literally, the English text works just fine, but as with a lot of literal translation, it misses the "feeling" of what was trying to be conveyed. If you want my translation...
Mikan: Won't someone just tell me what I did wrong!? Why won't anyone just let it be already!?
While Mikan doesn't say "What did I do wrong", there is a subtle emphasis on her talking about herself...I feel like it's a more natural way to word what is essentially "What is it that I did differently [to warrant this]?"
Anyways, to the main point...I hope you can kind of see what I'm getting at.
"Forgive" feels like...Mikan is seeking people to "pardon" her for perceived wrong-doings. And while not untrue I would say, the way Mikan specifically uses the word and the context it is in, to me, feels much more like she is using it like "allow" or "excuse".
Let me use another example to better explain myself.
The last line to me reads like Mikan needed this person to pardon her for being born; for existing. That her existence in and of itself was a mistake or wrong-doing that needed to be forgiven.
I think that's missing the point, though.
Mikan: They allowed me to exist.
See, the point is...Mikan is a very troubled person. She admits as much in the freetime events that wherever she goes, she is horribly bullied just for existing. That she hated being bullied, but even more she hates being forgotten.
She emphasizes her beloved (Junko) did not hate her, and in fact allowed her presence...
This line was heavily misread, I think. 許して受け入れて was read as two verbs in one sentence (which it is) but as "forgive and accept" which is incorrect to what it means. It's closer to "they tolerated me" (like, accepting and moving on). Which comes to how I would translate it, and my final point:
Mikan: They accepted me for who I am.
This is why I think the "forgive" thing is not only incorrect, but actually opposite of what this scene was going for. Junko did not "forgive" Mikan for the sin of existing. Rather, she was the only person who seemed to not mind that she existed, that didn't bully or ignore her.
She didn't "forgive" Mikan, she allowed her to be herself.
Another reason DR3 totally missed the mark, but I digress...
I guess while I'm on the topic, we all know that scene where Mikan has a little back-and-forth with Nagito...that, too, was misrepresented somewhat.
Putting the English here just for comparison sake. And while not the worst translation in the world, it certainly isn't how I would go about it.
Nagito: I don't...really get what you're trying to say... Mikan: Oh, you don't? (lit: you don't understand?) Mikan: Is that because you don't have any loved ones in your life? Mikan: Is it because there's no one who will love you?* Mikan: Oh, you poor thing...I feel very sorry for you.
*Literally speaking, she says "Is it because you are a person nobody allows" but considering the context thus far, it's easy to conclude she means that there's no one who will love/accept him for who he is.
*Adding "also" to the line is a mistranslation, I believe. も means also but it is also used for emphasis, which I think it is here. Not that it's impossible Mikan is using it to say "also", but in these lines of dialogue she is intentionally contrasting how she does have someone who loves her and that she can love, so to then identify a similarity between her and Nagito, I think, wouldn't make much sense...
Mikan is one of my favorite characters, so little details like this matter a lot to me.