おっす、heya! I'm baaaaack with another translation〜（＾ｖ＾）
This time, it's this scene from Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory:
【EN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOiy7QfOhpU】
As usual, I'm a big newb wrt 日本語 Japanese, and thanks to a certain someone for all their hard work and effort in teaching our small group 日本語 so far 💖
If anything's wrong/etc, please do post a comment so I can improve :D
Without further adieu (and with gratuitous use of yomitan + jisho), let's get this started!
Here's a table of character names (I abbreviated them):
Kairi → K
Riku → R
Fairy Godmother → FGM
K：それは？
→ [and] that is?
は is a particle that shows the subject of a sentence, and to me at least a sentence feels unfinished when it ends a sentence. With the rising pitch Kairi uses, this is a question.
FGM：では、会いに行きましょう
→ so then, let's go and meet [her]!
Here [her] is implied. Refers to The Nameless Star, which it's very curious the Fairy Godmother knows about. Quite diff to the EN too!
R：ええ？【EN: Huh?】
→ eh?
K：ここは⸻
→ this place is.....
Another unfinished sentence, Kairi remembers! Loving the vibes on this scene :D
R：知ってるのか？【しってるのか？】
→ [you] know [this place] already?
JP verbs are so flexible.... it's hard to put into words! The -いる part is like a continuing action. There's also context inferred here - ofc as with all translations, I put inferred stuff that isn't directly mentioned in [square brackets].
K：うん ソラと来て⸻【うん ソラと きて⸻】
→ Yeah. [I] came [here] with Sora...
うん is informal yeah, as expected here. Love the suuuper long dash「⸻」 here to indicate like trailing off / thoughtful mood ✨
K：さっきまで調査でも【さっきまで、ちょうさでも】
→ [I came here] too not long ago, at [the] examination [of my heart].
Interesting! In 日本語、Kairi's more explicit about it being the examination [of my heart] rather than "while I slept" like in EN.
Sentence structure confused me here, so I ended up making a guess based on the components I looked up.
K：ここは⸻
→ this place is......
Part 1/2 of my fav moment in this whole scene! I just looooove the way Kairi says this pair of lines :D
K：終わりの世界【おわりのせかい】
→ The Final World
Gosh, this is such a good name in 日本語。Romanised, it's owari no sekai、which uses the form 『<label> no <thing>』. おわり means end/「ending/close/conclusion」．．．but it also has a secondary meaning of 「end of (one's) life/death」.
This is a really powerful name for me that indicates that The Final World means that it's like lit. "The end of one's life world", which just hits like a tonna bricks...!
This and Kairi's tone leaves no room for doubt.
Such a great scene!
でもここには誰も⸻【でもここには だれも⸻】
→ but, who is in this place too? [there's nobody here.]
Another complex sentence structure. 誰も can mean either "everyone/anyone", or "no one/nobody", but the latter is only after a verb apparently. 誰 on it's own is also "who", so multiple ways to interpret this.
All lead to the same place tho in the end ^_^
FGM： ううん、よーく見て【ううん、よーくみて】
→ no, look closely and....
Credit t @yoroshiu for translation help here (and for other places too!)! うん means "yes", but ううん can be an interjection meaning "no", which I missed initially.
見て is the -te form of the verb 見る、which means "to see/look/watch/etc". Hence, the sentence is left open as she gestures for Kairi to take a closer look. It all checks out \o/
よーく I believe is intended to be 良く、which is "nicely/properly/skillfully/etc".
K：よく見ると、星がたくさん【よーくみると、ほしが たくさん】
→ on a closer look, [I see] lots of stars
たくさん is "a lot/a large number/etc". Not entirely sure but there's a slight rising tone in Kairi's voice too, so that indicates a questioning tone.
→ correct. this place exists as a space/threshold between life and death.
→ strong hearts stop [in this] place
Woah, what a lot to unpack! I'm proud I was able to decode this one :D
生と死の狭間 is like "life and death の [p. labeller] interval/space/threshold/loophole (in a wall)/etc", so quite literally there "interval/space between life and death, like it gives the vibe it's not a literal place (but ここ "koko" earlier in the sentence means "here/this place" which literalises it). 狭間 has many meanings, and I like the "loophole (in a wall)" one as it kinda fits, but didn't end up going with it.
場所【ばしょ】 isn't the word for place I know 【ところ】、but the dict is always right :P
Edit: @yoroshiu says that 場所【ばしょ】 means like more of a physical place, but 所【ところ】 can be more abstract, which def fits w/the "physical place" vibe here - tysm!!
More generally it's interesting in 日本語 it's like "strong hearts stop [in this] place" and not "gather here after death" as in EN. JP, as always, is context heavy - requiring inference to understand what's going on.
FGM：きっと彼女はここにいるはずよ【きっと かのじょはここきいるはずよ】
→ surely she should exist here [somewhere]
R：彼女？【かのじょ？】 【EN: She?】
→ she?
FGM：最後の鍵よ【さいご の かぎ よ】 【EN: The final key.】
→ [she's the] final key!
I feel like in 日本語 I automatically infer the "she's the", but in EN it's like just "the final key", which feels less human in a way, even tho it roughly literally translates to the same thing.
Again with the 『<labeller> の <thing>』 syntax, which is quite common in JP:
"end/final/conclusion/last の key/lock/key (to a problem)/clue"
...with よ being a sentence-ending particle that gives an informative feel**, like hoping to hand over some kind of wisdom.... though meanings in JP as in English are complicated and I'm a newb so identifying context here isn't smth I've got much xp w/yet.
ᓚᘏᗢ ᓚᘏᗢ ᓚᘏᗢ ᓚᘏᗢ ᓚᘏᗢ ᓚᘏᗢ ᓚᘏᗢ ᓚᘏᗢ ᓚᘏᗢ ᓚᘏᗢ ᓚᘏᗢ
That's all I got for now, thanks so much for reading! If you've got a scene you'd like translating, suggestions/corrections on the translations (or any other question)/brainrot rolling around in your head rent-free as a result of this, please feel free to let me know :D
終わりの世界 The Final World is just such an interesting phrasing in 日本語 Japanese hk adohwoqwidhjksdh 🌟✨ :D
Also also, I just love 日本語Japanese の Fairy Godmother's voice actor, whoever they are. It's just such a cool and expressive vibe!
I feel like I've improved a lot since last time I translated here, and I even know of a few compound particles - tho I'm not very good at remembering them yet :P
Oh. Oh. Stations of Awakening/Dives to the Heart and The Final World are opposites.
Birth/death
Night/day
Man made stained glass / natural salt pillars and water
And it’s so weird that water and day are associated with DEATH. There was a post on here a while ago where someone showed how kh treats water as darkness and now I’m thinking about that
And NOW I’m thinking about how the destiny islands are surrounded by clear blue skies and WATER.
And how DAYbreak town has water features flowing through it. And ends up underwater.
I don’t know what any of this means I’m just Charlie day talking about the mail
