TRC Translation Notes Volume 19 (Chapter 141 - 149)
Weâre catching up now! Here are the translation notes for Volume 19 by @giniroangou.
Highlights Include: judgement from Kurogane, Lava Lampâs vague goal, Kuroganeâs love advice, Sakura is the full package!, future sight clarifications, setting Lava Lamp free, oops Eagle Vision is still a bit of a dick, interesting Fai choices, the changing future, and clarity on the power level thing!Â
Chapter 141
Cover page - The official translation is actually correct on this one. Perhaps âThe Short-Lived Fugitiveâ would sound a little better?
p.9 - For some reason they translated it differently, but when Fai quotes Kurogane he is repeating the same line that we saw spoken previously. Funnily though, this was a sentence that Fai started himself, so while he ends up quoting Kurogane as having said, âSakura-chan is wavering,â the first part of the line was actually his own contribution (hence âSakura-chanâ instead of âThe Princess.â)
p.13 - Iâd like to point out that the word translated as âwishâ is not the same word we tend to see used during Yuukoâs deals. Yuuko grants wishes (ânegaiâ/éĄă) but Sakura and Fai are talking about desires (ânozomiâ/æăż). The difference in nuance is subtle enough that ânozomiâ can be translated as âwish,â but it doesnât have as strong a connection to the many other wishes weâve seen in this series.
p.14 - Mokona is back to saying âSyaoranâ with quotation marks when she talks about Lava Lamp. She speculates that heâs fallen asleep right away because he has so many things to worry about. I would interpret her lines at the bottom of the page as a reference to Lava Lampâs worries rather than Sakuraâs, though of course they apply to the entire group.
p.15 - You can remove the âI guessâ from Kuroganeâs line here - thereâs no uncertainty in anything he says on this page.
p.17 - As with all the previous instances regarding Lava Lamp and his goal of protection, there is no pronoun in his original line. He says heâll protect, and from the context we can guess heâs talking about Sakura, but thereâs no clue in the line itself as to who or what heâs talking about.
p.21 - In case you didnât catch this, Kuroganeâs line here is the same one he says back in Acid Tokyo when heâs commenting on Fai and Syaoran both lying. What he actually says in Japanese is âdoitsumo koitsumo.â Itâs a difficult sentiment to fully capture in English, but it basically indicates that youâre negatively judging a group of people.
Chapter 142
p.25 - The opponent on this page specifically uses the term âgood luckâ rather than âpure luck,â so Fai is repeating his direct words.
p.32 - Geo doesnât describe Eagle as the chairman of the tournament, but rather the head of the family that sponsors the tournament. ...which ultimately may amount to the same thing of course.
p.33 - The sound effect beside Kurogane (âpikuâ/ăăŻ) indicates a twitching movement, implying that he registers Sakuraâs response as something surprising or suspicious. While we get twin reaction shots of his face and Faiâs, their reactions end up feeling notably different because of the inclusion of that sound effect.
P.35 - âJerksâ is a bit strong, Iâd say. Kurogane says âyatsu,â a rough word usually (but not always) used by men to refer to men. Its tone varies depending on the context - it can be derogatory, neutral, or even affectionate. Here, Kurogane uses the singular form rather than the plural. You could translate his line to specifically relate to Syaoran and Sakuraâs situation, as follows: âThereâs no way sheâs going to know the true feelings of a guy who never says anything no matter how much time passes.â Alternatively, you could translate it in a more general sense as, âThereâs no way to know the true feelings of a guy who never says anything no matter how much time passes.â
p.36 - Kurogane continues to use rough language, but itâs not as openly hostile as it is in the translation. I feel like they just took all the subtext of these lines and pulled it out into the open. His original line is more like, âDonât just assume that if you keep silent no one will know somethingâs going on.â This helps explain why Lava Lamp seems relatively unfazed, and also gives a different nuance to Faiâs reaction.
p.37 - Eagle tells Sakura, âYour manners are perfect too.â SHE IS THE FULL PACKAGE.
p.38 - That âpikuâ sound effect comes back on this page, this time for Sakura - again, itâs a way to show sudden increased attention or surprise without a major physical reaction. Here itâs in response to Eagle mentioning that Sakura comes from another dimension.
Chapter 143
p.43 - When Yuuko asks if Sakura is serious, itâs more of a confirmation than a question. Then whatâs been translated as Sakura saying she wants to go alone was originally, âIâm going alone.â
p.45 - What Clow told Sakura was not about responsibility but about possibility - âYou can choose your future,â or in a more general sense, âFutures can be chosen.â
p.46 - Again, Yuuko isnât fully questioning here. Itâs more like sheâs saying, âSo you had that power too.â You could go either way on whether this is new information to her or not, but if it is something she didnât know, it doesnât appear to be unexpected. She also doesnât say anything about dreams in the original text - she just refers to Sakuraâs ability as âthe power to see the future.â
Sakura says that Yukito can see important events that will affect the future, not that he sees everything.
p.47 - Sakuraâs last lines here were mistranslated. She says, âIf itâs going to turn out like that future I caught a glimpse of, Iâll part from them.â (The last word on the page is âwakaremasuâ/âto part fromâ not âwakarimasuâ/âI knowâ)
p.48 - I interpreted Sakuraâs line a bit differently, to be, âIâll find him⊠and Iâll choose a different future than the one I saw back then.â Itâs a question of whether âat that momentâ refers to the future that she saw or to finding Syaoran, and its placement in the sentence could connect it to either, but she says âano tokiâ rather than âsono tokiâ which distances it from the first part of the sentence so⊠Iâm thinking this is what itâs supposed to be. Of course, this still implies that finding him is a key to choosing a different future, itâs just not necessarily the deciding key.
p.50 - This is a bit more clear in the Japanese wording, but Eagle is basically saying that he doesnât need Sakura to tell him anything because itâs in the nature of secrets to leak out, so he assumes heâll get the answer eventually anyway.
p.59 - This line is a lot more open to interpretation in its original form. You could read it as a full sentence, âFrom now on, be freeâŠâ or as the start of a sentence, âFrom now on, freelyâŠâ This could be a request for Lava Lamp to stop feeling bound to her or it could be a request that he allow Sakura her freedom. The context points heavily towards the former though.
Chapter 144
p.64 - Instead of just âFrom now on,â Sakura says, âThis very moment, and from now on.â She wants to make sure Fai knows her request starts RIGHT NOW.
p.70 - This lines come off a bit weird in the translation, like Sakura is talking about Syaoran as someone Lava Lamp doesnât know anything about, and then a second later treating him and Lava Lamp as the same person. This was not originally the case. I would change âoneâ in Sakuraâs first line to âthe oneâ or âthe person,â and then when she says that sheâs caused pain and hardship, she starts by saying, âFor you too.â
This scene also marks the first time we see Sakura use casual language when speaking to Lava Lamp.
p.75 - Eagleâs lines are a little different here. They were originally, âThose weapons arenât what youâve always used, are they? Why donât you fight with the weapon youâre most skilled at? Iâll permit you to use magic or whatever too.â
p.81 - âAutomataâ is written with the kanji for âmechanical humanâ (æ©æą°äșșé) but the reading is given in katakana as âautomata.â I would actually interpret Eagleâs line as, âDidnât you have any of these in your world?â I feel like itâs still meant to come off as kind of condescending though.
Chapter 145
p.99 - Yuuko tells Sakura the price would be too high for her to visit any world sheâs been to before: âFor example, Clow Kingdom or any of the worlds youâve passed through.â Clow is the only one she names because it was Sakuraâs starting point rather than a world she passed through, but itâs certainly not the only world with a steep return price.
p.101 - A little adjustment in nuance: Yuuko says that for Sakura who hasnât yet retrieved all of her memories, her luck is practically the only weapon she has to defend herself, so if she offers that up as a price she will have nothing left to protect her in the next world.
p.102 - The difference between âaloneâ and âisolationâ is expressed in the Japanese text through the kanji. Both times Yuuko uses the word âhitoriâ but the first time the kanji is äžäșș, representing âone person,â and the second time itâs çŹă, meaning âalone.â
Chapter 146
p.106 - Yuukoâs use of âweâ here was a weird translation thing. There are no pronouns in her sentence, but it can be assumed sheâs just speaking for herself.
p.110 - I am mystified by the little movement(?) arrow in the bottom right panel - itâs definitely not in the version I have.
p.119 - A small correction to Faiâs lines - heâd thought it would be all right earlier, but now thereâs no time left anymore.
p.120 - Faiâs original line wasnât about staying in Celes, but about staying in the same world for too long in general: âIf I keep staying in the same world and end up meeting the awoken Ashura-ou, IâllâŠâ Heâs thinking about his impending potential fate rather than one heâs already avoided. With these adjustments to the last couple pages, I would guess that Fai was ready to start running again under his own power and Kurogane sensed it so he grabbed Faiâs arm to keep him there.
Chapter 148
p.144-145 - You canât tell from the translated version, but Sakura and Lava Lamp are operating at totally different emotional levels here (at least outwardly.) Sakuraâs lines donât have any punctuation at all (no exclamation points!) and her first line starts with an ellipsis (â.... Let goâ).
p.152 - Big correction to this page: âBut one day, if someone appears before you who surpasses the reason why the two of you were restrained in separate places all this time, that enormous magical power, you willâŠâ
p.153 - Ashuraâs line could be interpreted as a reference to multiple worlds, but on a more human level it means, âIâve come for you, because thereâs more to the world than this place.â
Chapter 149
p.168 - I believe Yuuko is describing Chii and Freya as resonating with each other rather than the feathers. Yuuko then explains that the the two feathers together contain enough magical power to surpass Faiâs halved power.
p.169 - I would put Yuukoâs line here in present tense: âThe chances are one in two.â Itâs not over yet!
p.174-175 - Again, there are no exclamation points on any of Sakuraâs lines on these pages (or on the last page of this chapter for that matter.) Thereâs emphasis using bold or larger text, but I feel like the nuance is quite different. Also, her final line is, âDonât forget, from now on the future can be changed.â That âfrom now onâ is âkore kara mo,â indicating that sheâs already succeeded in changing the future, and itâs something they can continue to do.