#alexissubs

[ubawaretamono]

hey, mdzs fandom! i made this account especially for this so! if I hypothetically made a subtitle file for the stage play that was held earlier this year, would anyone be interested? is there a subtitle file already going around? if someone more skilled has done it already, it would be pointless lmao :') let me know! i'd love working on it

[ubawaretamono]

working on gift next since someya's natsume can't seem to leave my brain

[ubawaretamono]

I finally got around to fixing the old mdzs subs for the first installment! I'm really glad, they were bugging me so much hahah

Please wait warmly for the second stage play subs, I promise they are coming! ^^

[ubawaretamono]

Now that I'm actually properly studying audiovisual translation & subtitling at uni I'm tempted to go back and fix my old mdzs subs cause I honestly had no idea what I was doing back then

[ubawaretamono]

Quick update for anyone who might stumble upon this:

Unreal butai is fully translated and subtitled, just waiting for my lovely proofreader to greenlight it

I've finally started working on MDZS 2 butai! It'll probably take me months to finish it (I'm looking at the 3h30 runtime half scared half amazed at these actors' stamina) but I'm so excited I can barely think of anything else

Patiently waiting for July to come around and deliver the Gift butai (I miss Natsume)

[ubawaretamono]

Since I have too much free time on my hands, here's some interesting things and trivia I found out while subtitling Unreal.

Basically, (almost) all antiques cited in the show have some kind of reference to something that exists in the real world and/or in folklore.

All pictures are from Katayama Shuu's official twitter account.

First off we have the Fang of Flauros, フラウロスの牙.

This was quite easy to work with as 牙 quite literally translates into fang. What caught my interest was the Flauros part.

Flauros is a demon mentioned in the Ars Goetia, one of the five books inside the Lesser Key of Solomon, a 17th century grimoire. According to it, he is one of the Dukes of Hell. If summoned into a specific magic triangle, he will answer truthfully to all questions about past, present, and future.

His appearance is described as that of a "terrible and strong leopard", who if requested can turn into a "man with fiery eyes and an awful expression". (source)

Hence, the fang mention and the leopard miniature applied onto the pen. Nice detail.

Next up, the Mask of the Odd Fellows, オッドフェローズの仮面.

Again, easy translation, but I couldn't quite put down what they might be referring to with the Odd Fellows thing, so I did some research.

The Odd Fellows is a (once secret) fraternal society whose origin dates back to 18th-century London, later spreading on to the US as well. It still exists today, and it seems to have developed branches into other non-English-speaking countries as well.

It was founded with the intent to promote ideals of friendship, love and truth -- and its rituals involved the use of masks and costumes (not sure if they still do).

Fun fact about the mask seen in the show: it is a real Odd Fellows mask, as there are some still in circulation as antique pieces. It was borrowed for the duration of the show from a real antique store. Apparently Katayama Shuu, the manga artist for Unreal, has been in contact with this store since beginning her work on the manga. (source)

The Scale of Grotesque Meals, 悪食の天秤.

Now, this one was hard to translate, and I'm still not sure if I like the outcome.

悪食 (akujiki), from what I found out through dictionaries and translation forums, means something along the lines of: eating strange/bizarre things. It's not necessarily bad, but it's not necessarily good as well.

One example I found in a forum was: when someone eats insects, or frogs, and foods like those, that's 悪食. It is not inherently bad, many people have been doing it for a long time, but your first reaction will still be "what? they're eating that?!".

I pondered for a while with different options for translation, but the only things that came to mind were bad eating, strange eating, and stuff like that which took a lot away from 悪食. I switched to meals eventually to be able to work with a noun and not a verb. The alternatives were something like diet, nutrition, but none of that fit well in my opinion. At first I went with bizarre meals, but eventually ended up changing the adjective into grotesque, since I thought it fit better with the vibe of Unreal and the indeed grotesque side effect of the Scale.

Interesting reference: in the show, they mention that the Scale belongs to Beelzebub, who is known in popular culture as one of the seven princes of Hell, specifically the one representing gluttony and envy. While I haven't been able to find anything on any scale that might belong to Beelzebub, it's still a clever move to have this specific Scale linked with the name of Beelzebub.

Another nice little detail: Beelzebub is also known as the Lord of Flies, hence the insect-like wings on the back of the demonic miniature that's present on the Scale.

Last but not least, an honorable mention: the Hand of Madam Haze, ヘイズ夫人の手.

Sadly, there is not much to say about her. I haven't been able to find a reference to any real-life or fictional woman known as Haze/Hayes, or variants thereof, who would be known for her enchanting beauty and/or her jealousy.

The only half-plausible connection I could find was Charlotte Haze, the mother of Lolita in Nabokov's book. Her jealousy is indeed a major plot point for her character. Still, this doesn't convince me that much.

In terms of translation, I decided to go with Haze instead of other possible transcriptions for ヘイズ because I enjoyed the idea that while the other surnames are just surnames, haze is also an actual word with its own meaning. I thought it did a good job of keeping the mysterious vibe surrounding Unreal and the true powers of its antiques.

I translated 夫人 as madam partly because to me, it sounds more elegant than lady, and partly because I've encountered another 夫人 before (Madam Mo in MDZS), and those same ideograms in Chinese have been translated into madam for years and years by someone with more knowledge than me, so I thought I'd rely on that.

That's all! Welp, this was long. I'm not even sure who the intended audience for this is -- possibly just myself, for future reference -- but oh well, to anyone who might ever stumble upon this, thanks for reading till here :)

[ubawaretamono]

accidentally deleted a draft and that's on being on tumblr when you're sick and your brain's not working properly

[ubawaretamono]

main story is done!! just the cast comments are left (which makes me a lot more emotional than I'd like to admit)