Hello! Thank you for your hard work always! I enjoy seeing them on my dash to keep me busy hehe! X) I just read one of your translation note regarding to riku's illness and I believe the reason they don't refer it to asthma is because Riku's illness is more broad and from what I assume its probably Chronic, (most likely some sort of COPD symptom) since I wont be able to confirm as I don't read the script. It's very fun reading your translation work! I'm very happy! (i7 radiates rainbows!) ^^
Hey! Thanks for enjoying the translations o3o
The most specific thing we know about Riku’s illness comes from the novel, where Yamato says that he has weak bronchial tubes. Iori also gets (I think) really really close to saying “asthma” when he confronts Riku about it early on. As far as I know, COPD is an outside-stimulus thing? Caused by smoke or particles in the air over a long time. (Like, it can be genetic, but that’s in 1-2% of cases, which WOW that’s rare...wiki also says that the genetics is only a part of the susceptibility, and not the full cause??). I’ve also heard that childhood asthma symptoms can generally get less severe as someone gets older/goes through puberty, which seems to fit with Riku’s experiences (his long-term hospitalizations tapered off as he entered middle school).
I don’t have any breathing issues myself, but from friends with asthma they seem to say that Riku’s symptoms and triggers fit the bill for a particularly severe form of asthma.
I was talking with a friend earlier, though, and a more interesting reason could just be for artistic reasons! There was a case in Prince of Tennis where a character was said to have a specific illness, but there was a lot of lashing out against the author for the portrayal of said illness, so he later had to retract the specificity and say it was just like that specific illness. Bamco may be doing the same thing here: they’re avoiding saying any illness outright so they have some wiggle room for how it actually affects Riku and so we can have more drama.
