Koki: … This place smells different from a Chaos World.
Saigo: *sniff sniff* …
TL Notes:
The original title is a play on words: 鼻が利く (hana ga kiku) literally translates to "having a good nose," but it means that you have a good intuition. In French there's an idiom that conveys that (avoir du flair) while keeping the olfactive theme, but from what I gathered, in English "having a good nose" means that you have it specifically for something (like having a nose for deals) instead of just in general like the Japanese expression implies. In the end, I preferred putting emphasis on the intuition part of the idiom, hence the current translation of the title.
Saigo: Everyone in Justice Ride taught me that my birthday is something worth celebrating.
Haruma: Happy birthday, Saigo! Let's enjoy today to the fullest!
Shion: I hope Mikami-kun will have fond memories of today.[1]
Jigen: I suppose Mikami's training hard today like always.
MADGUY
Kyosuke: I heard it's your birthday today, which means we gotta fight! I'll give ya a taste of loss as your present!
Narushi: So what if it's Mikami's birthday? No one but me is worth my blessings.[2]
Matsunosuke: Happy birthday, Saigo. Your face… you're wondering why I'm wishing you a happy birthday, aren't you?
SLAM DAYS
Rui: He's catching bugs outside even on his birthday? His teammates hanging around him are amazing too…
Lance: Mikami asked me why we celebrate birthdays… he's got a point. Why are so we happy about them?
Q: It'd be nice if Mikami Saigo was happier on his birthday…
Shizuru: It's nice to see Justice Ride having fun… Happy birthday, Mikami.
WISDOM THINKS
Soun: It's Mikami's birthday. He seems to have made clear progress both as a person and as a Rider.
Hayate: I'm giving Saigo drip coffee bags! He's always drinking water, so I'm gonna teach him the wonders of coffee.
Koki: There's a spring with great water[3] on the mountain path. Check it out if you're interested.
Jo: Mikami doesn't seem to be interested in his birthday, but that's about what I expected.
TOWER EMBLEM
Taiten: Happy birthday, Mikami-kun. You're a man worth a thousand, and I have high hopes for your outstanding abilities.
Uryu: It's Mikami-san's birthday today. I'll work hard so that he doesn't take the lead not only in terms of age, but also in terms of combat skills.
GAMBITWIN
Kakeru: I heard it's Blue-hair's birthday today. So that's why his class is all together? They're getting along well~
Fralio: Happy birthday, Saigo! My present for you is a song, so you better listen!
TL Notes
I took some liberties here for the sake of flow. The original line is a bit closer to Shion hoping that day will be a special memory to Saigo.
I initially wanted to TL this as "I give my blessings to no one but me," which is closer to what the original is, but thought it sounded clunky, so I opted for this wording instead for the sake of flow.
口当たりのいい is more about the water having a nice mouthfeel to it, but it was awkward to include that nuance with the wording I opted for, so I went with "great water" instead.
About Iori Haruma: “A classmate I’ve spent time with.”
About Fukami Shion: “Fukami Shion’s homemade meals are exquisite.”
About Gamo Jigen: “Do Riders need a purpose?”
Iori Haruma’s thoughts:
About Mikami Saigo: “You’re my friend, even if you don’t think so!”
About Fukami Shion: “You’re super smart!”
About Gamo Jigen: “There you go with your mystery Rider talk!”
Fukami Shion’s thoughts:
About Mikami Saigo: “I’ve never seen him smile.”
About Iori Haruma: “He’s bright as the sun.”
About Gamo Jigen: “There, there… calm down and have some tea, alright?”
Gamo Jigen’s thoughts:
About Mikami Saigo: “Why do you want to be a Rider?”
About Iori Haruma: “Who are you calling an old sage!?”[1]
About Fukami Shion: “He’s braver than expected…”
General notes:
Saigo and Haruma are roommates.
Shion and Jigen are roommates.
TL Note:
人生二周目 is slang that’s hard to translate as is. It could be literally translated as “second-lifer”, but really, it refers to people who say a bunch of philosophical stuff to the point where they seem much older than they are, as if they had already experienced decades of life. In other words, it’s as if they were old people that have been reincarnated into the body of a younger person. I went for “old sage” because it felt like it’d be the best way to convey that “smartass old man” vibe Jigen has that makes people tease him.
Source: Ride Kamens Twitter
Originally posted on Dreamwidth & Twitter on Feb 22 2024.
Saigo: The rhino horned wasp will fly away if I don’t hurry!
※ Rhino Horned Wasp: An insect that lives in Nijigao City. It’s classified as an endangered species.
TL Notes:
The original name that’s used is ツノアリツノツノ, which would literally translate to “Horned Hornhorn”. It’s a reference to how a subspecies of leaf beetles are referred to in Japanese: トゲアリトゲトゲ, or トゲトゲ, is a kind of leaf beetle that has spikes all over its body, and the colloquial name literally translates to “spiky spikespike”. Things get messier once you get into the rabbit hole and discover that トゲナシトゲトゲ (”spikespike without spikes”) and トゲアリトゲナシトゲトゲ (”spikespike without spikes that’s spiky”) also exist. Bugs, man. Anyway, the bug that’s drawn looks like a wasp with a rhino beetle horn, and “horned hornhorn” sounded way too silly for me to write it down with a straight face, so I decided to call this little critter the “rhino horned wasp” in English.
早いって is more along the lines of “you’re too fast” literally, but considering the context, “wait” is more appropriate.
Source: Ride Kamens Twitter
Originally posted on Dreamwidth & Twitter on Mar 17 2024. Typesetting revised.
