[Loulou*di S3V1 L 3-1] Hana-Doll 3rd Season THINK OF ME:MONO Translation
Translation below the cut.
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Project Archive: L 3-1
Ageha: Stories are, without exception, tragedies. In the shadows of happiness, there is calamity.
Rui: In the shadows of glory, there is despair.
Toki: In the shadows of salvation, there is sacrifice.
Ageha: And there, affixed to a stage tailor-made just for them, stands three. Each one born talented and gifted, but there was nary a single soul that would give them the time of day. Hence, from the sliver of opportunity they created and bestowed themselves with, they found deliverance and hope.
Rui: What lies in these hands of mine is nothing more than a singular husk of a vessel. Then, a peerless strength manifested before my very eyes, unveiling the glory and ruin that lined the journey ahead, enrapturing my soul.
Toki: Fearing the brand seared onto the weak from birth, I lived only to worship the false god named envy, until, finally, the hand promising deliverance appeared.
Ageha: There was no mistake. I was chosen.
Rui: My continued existence was granted by that entity.
Toki: This time, it will not slip past my grasp.
Ageha: Even if it meant I would be devoured by my own hubris.
Rui: No matter how fragile, or how foolish it was.
Toki: I would not waver, even if the lambs that were slaughtered could fill the oceans.[1]
Ageha: That’s right. I will not be daunted, for our utmost goal is the pedestal in the clouds.
Rui: Surely that brilliance will never disappear and remain undying.
Toki: There would be no regrets…
Ageha: …no matter how much I would suffer…
Rui: …no matter how unsightly, how cravenly I would become…
Toki: …even if I would lose something important to me…
Ageha: … I have to climb higher, aim farther.
Rui: Raise my head higher.
Toki: Become stronger.
Ageha: I will see nothing, hear nothing.
Rui: I will become one with the prowling darkness.
Toki: All for the sake of happiness.
Ageha: Carrying what little pride I have left, I–we–will surpass a horizon nobody has reached.
Rui: All I wish is for that journey to be well until the very end.
Toki: Holding that one little wish to my heart, I stepped forth onto the boundless earth.
(Audience claps and cheers)
Ageha: The curtains have risen. Come, let us begin. This is a story of a legend.
Rui: This is a story of ruin.
Toki: This is a story of deliverance.
(Glass breaks)
Narrator: Hana-Doll Project: a marriage of entertainment and medical science. A special seed will be sowed into the human body, and subsequently the seed will resonate with the human’s growth, allowing the latent abilities of the human to bloom forth. It is a project that can artificially produce highly-talented idols, idols that are close to ‘perfection’.
Translator’s Notes:
This drama track reads like a story/legend/fairy tale/folk tale. A lot of liberties were taken for the translation and not all the words were one-to-one translated. e.g. Toki does not actually mention any lambs at all in this line. A literal translation pertaining to the sacrifices mentioned would simply be ‘a lot of sacrifices’, but a problem would be discerning how the word ‘sacrifice’ is used here as Toki is referring to the ritualistic act rather than the more common usage in the context of giving up time or commitment, hence my choice for translation. This is applied in other instances in this track as well.
Rui and Toki both use ‘onore (己)’ to refer to themselves here, which is an archaic first-person pronoun. In modern context, this could be used to address someone else in a derogatory manner. Conversely, Ageha uses his usual first-person pronoun ‘ore (俺)’ throughout, of which its outdated kanji form is the same as ‘onore’.