I know, I know, release day was on December 24, 2019 yet I'm posting this on the 27th... Sorry this post is a bit belated; life, you know.
Relevant Wiki Poll: For those of you who use the wiki... Once upon the time the wiki used to have one article for each cruise ship (Entrance and Exit) in this arc; now, however, it currently has one (underdeveloped) article on both ships. Do you think it would be more useful to have one article per ship, or is having one article on both ships sufficient?
I've set up a twitter poll on the Baccano! Wiki's Twitter account here, so please do vote in the poll if you're on Twitter! If you're not on Twitter, lemme know in a reply? Thanks!
Yen Press webpage: Hardcover | Digital
Where to buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Rightstuf | BookWalker | iBooks | Kobo | and more... Check out the Yen Press webpages for more retailer links.
My release notes are under the cut; for those unaware, my release notes typically include notes on official name spellings and notable differences or discrepancies between the official and fan TLs (i.e. factual changes).
Note: I first post these notes on /r/Baccano and am copying them here via Markdown. Have tried to make sure formatting carries over, but apologies if I miss something.
Release Notes
Official Spellings
Character Names/Nicknames
Jacuzzi's great-grandson is Bobby Splot, and Bobby has nicknamed his friends Tall, Humpty, and Troy.
Carnea is spelled as is; we'll have to wait for Vol 13 for surname spelling.
The siblings' names are once again Claudia and Charon. Claudia has nicknamed the animatronic shark Sharkey.
'Once again' in that they were mentioned by name in Durarara!!x8, which YP has translated.
The filmmaker's name is confirmed John Drox.
This is also the spelling used in Durarara!!x4.
The four great weapons are called the Four Afflictions at one point and consist of Illness, Aging, Life, and Death.
The drug cartel's sniper is Angelo; Angelo is occasionally dubbed 'Gunslinger' by other characters. Meanwhile the freelancing demolisher he works with is alternatively referred to as the demolition specialist and demolition guy.
Angelo's son's name is confirmed Carlos.
This Carlos is likely the same Carlos who serves as a member of Etsusa Bridge's cast. Carlos actually predates Angelo, since his debut novel came out in 2004 whereas Baccano! Vol 12 was published in 2007.
The two mercenaries who obtain Charon's autograph are Kevin and Baum.
The group they work for, the Mask Makers, are also referred to as the 'businessmen' in the narrative.
The divorced couple's names are confirmed Misao and Hiroko.
The captain of the Entrance has his named spelled Folk Connor.
I believe the F.T. version of his name was Falk Corner.
The mastermind refers to themself as Copycat.
Other Names
The two cruise ships' names, Entrance and Exit, are named as such in the sense of "Entrance to paradise" and "Exit from the ordinary" respectively.
The casino on Entrance is called Fontana di Trevi.
The major movie distributor which will distribute the film Drox and the Walkens are filming is the McDannell Company.
Durarara!!x4 spells it 'McDonnell', not 'McDannell', and I believe the F.T. of Vol 12 used 'McDonnell' as well.
Naritaverse note: the McDonnell Company has ties to the American Jack-o'-Lantern talent agency whose Japanese branch Max Sandshelt heads in Drrr!!. John Drox has hired Kasuka Heiwajima (Drrr!! character) for quite a few of his films.
The film Claudia and Charon are promoting is Shark Flight, sequel to John Drox's Mode Gears movie based off the Mode Gears comic series.
Claudia's character is named Aisha, while Charon is the physical stuntman/'actor' for the Gear. Aisha's mother's name is spelled Carrie, not Kari.
Claudia's films other mentioned by name:
Attack of the Killer Edisons
The Wild Dog in the Wind (Angelo's favorite)
Czes simply refers to Firo as Firo, not something like 'big brother Firo'.
"The world had dubbed her 'Claudia-of-All-Trades," apparently.
The twin luxury ships' scheduled meeting event in the Pacific Ocean is referred to as the Crossing, not the Meeting.
Claudia calls Firo 'Uncle Firo', but Charon sadly refers to Keith not as 'Uncle Keith' but 'Mr. Keith' in the official TL. Tragic.
Claudia also refers to her great-grandparents as Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandfather Felix, which was a bit more formal than I was expecting.
Angelo calls Firo 'Firo', not 'Mr. Prochainezo.'
The Mask Makers refer to their leader as 'president'.
General Notes
I believe the fan TL indicates that the restaurant in Prologue 1 is in the "very south of South America," but the official TL isn't that specific. In other words, there's no indication as to what geographical area of S. America the restaurant is in.
The fan TL states that Illness and Death swing from the northeast and northwest sides of the room, but the official TL states they swing from the southeast and northwest sides.
Minor tidbit, but the businessmen yell the following to Angelo--"Quit talking like the hero in Contract to Kill!" instead of, "Stop acting like you're Chuck Norris in Hitman!"
Re: Angelo's thoughts on the Demolisher--sorry, the 'demolition guy--in Prologue 2: The official TL makes it sound as if the demolition specialist helped out the drug cartel once or twice a year during big conflicts rather than him and Angelo mutually helping each other out a few times.
Can I just call him the Demolisher anyway? Thanks.
Engel has once again converted metric units into Imperial units:
The dimensions of Exit in metric units: length 306m; height 55m; 52m wide
The dimensions as given by Engel: full length 1,004 feet; total height 180', total width 171'.
Time confusion? Maybe someone can help me out with this: while waiting to board the Entrance, Firo internally notes that Maiza and Czes returned from their search around half a month ago (fan TL says two weeks). In his subsequent flashback to the TV scene and Czes returning later that night, he remembers blurting to Czes, "Well, get this! Just a couple weeks ago, on the day you and Maiza came back..." ...and we soon flash back to the present, two weeks (and one day) later.
So...wait, wouldn't it be 4 weeks/a little over a month since the day of Maiza and Czes' return instead of half a month? Maiza & Czes return/Firo befriends photographer -- "couple weeks pass" -- TV day + "let's go on a family trip" -- next day Molsa presents tickets -- "two weeks pass." ????
Am I missing something, or did Narita accidentally confuse himself here?
I guess we have to assume Firo/Narita meant to say 'a month ago' rather than 'half a month ago', given the two weeks -> [family trip decision -> two weeks apparent sequence of events. However, does that conflict with anything else we know about the timeline? Maiza stops to visit Begg in NJ in Aug 2002 when he and Czes are on their way back to NY, so the day of their return/Firo befriending photographer must have also happened in August. But the Entrance is also departing in August, so...
So...maybe Maiza and Czes returned at the very beginning of August, and Entrance is departing at its tail end? That might work. Actually it sounds pretty likely when one remembers the mastermind is trying to recreate the Flying Pussyfoot incident.
I guess the alternative is Narita did mean half a month and only mean for two weeks to pass between the trip proposition and departure, but that would mean Maiza and Czes came back shortly before the trip proposition...so...moving on...
The official TL phrases a line as "many of [Felix Walken's] children and grandchildren] rather than "[Claire's[ descendants," so I guess it's confirmed Claire had more than one kid.
The amount of chips Firo garners while gambling is worth a hundred thousand dollars.
The official TL specifies that the mansion in Illness' flashback to when she was nine-years-old is "European-style," though I guess this info doesn't actually help narrow down the location.
Claudia's declaration to Illness in the fan TL, "If you need to kill someone, I'll kill them for you," is different in the official TL: "When it's time to kill you, I'll do it myself."
MISC
It probably goes without saying that Misao's (and Firo's) photographer friend lives next to Mikado from Drrr!!, right?
For those who might not have caught it or realized, Firo's offhand mention of how he and Luck once crushed a syndicate in Mexico over fifty years ago is a reference to the plot of the second audio drama *Firo Prochainezo Witnesses the 53rd Death of Pietro Gonzalez, which takes place in Summer 1936.
This isn't so much a release note as it is an idle observation I had while reading the official TL... Illness 'justifying' or 'rationalizing' her actions as the result of a sickness/'abnormal self' (even while trying to be 'human') sort of seems opposite to Yakumo's rationalization process in Etsusa Bridge (wherein he's obsessed with normalcy and insists that he is normal and him killing is normal). Anyone else get that sense?
"One, yet legion."
Here's the official TL's take on the chanting Illness hears on the phone:
"Death is a neighbor to be feared. Life is kin to be dreaded. Agony abides with light...fury and shame dwell in shadow...in their illustrious presence, I simply...consume a single leaf from the garden..."
Not too many notes this time around, I think. Partly because 2002-A is on the shorter side, but also because the fan TL was pretty close to the official TL overall. For now I'll just post what I have and not go into quotes I liked a lot since I have things to do and this post is already a couple days late...
Oh, right! Since this is the novel where Claudia and Charon's famous "comic book creator" father is mentioned, I'm going to link to this post (Tumblr version here) I wrote 9 months back in which I conducted a little investigation into where the JP wiki got the name "Clifford Walken" (possibly the dad in question) from. Might be worth checking out if you missed it? Speaking of Claudia and Charon's dad, what are the chances he's the creator of the Mode Gears comic series? I wouldn't be surprised.
August 20 (the release date online retailers were originally projecting) has come and gone, but September 3, 2019 is here--and with it Baccano! Volume 11! Well, it was. This post is a day late. Apologies.
Yen Press website: Vol 11 Hardcover
Where to Buy: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | RightStuf | Books-a-Million | BookWalker and more... (see links in the Yen Press site listings for hardcover and digital download).
Corresponding post on /r/Baccano: Reddit | Old Reddit (Old Reddit recommended if it isn't your default setting)
For those new to this, my Release Notes typically include:
official name spellings (e.g. of characters, places, organizations, etc);
notable differences between the official and fan translations (e.g. facts/canon info previously incorrectly translated)
any general official translation choice worth noting (such as a font change for a character perspective, though these are more noticeable in print)
You get the idea.
Release Notes under the cut. It's 1 AM here, so any further info I'll add in an edit + reblog.
Aile is the confirmed spelling for the leader of the Rotten Eggs (confirmed translation).
Archangelo is the confirmed spelling for our third named Maestro.
Esperanza C. Boroñal is the spelling for everyone's favorite Clown Count, as he is known around town. Alternatively called Count or Lord Esperanza, and fulfilling the role of governor.
Nicknames: Essie (instead of fan TL 'Essa'; the one he tells women to call him); and Speran (Elmer)
Trivia: His last name has alternatively been spelled Boronial and Boroñal in translations. Now...there's a character in the 2006 manga who has the same last name: Jacques-Rosé Boro[nial]. Narita has never explained this, so over on the wiki we deliberately spelled JRB's last name 'Boronial' to distinguish him. It'll stay that way unless Narita provides more info.
Dalton Strauss is Dalton's confirmed spelling.
Elmer's proposed nickname for him in the 4th color insert is Captain Dat.
Larolf Hancletia is the confirmed spelling of the Police Chief's name, the first name having been written as LaRolf in the fan TL (surname the same).
Monica Campanella is...nicknamed Moni-Moni by Elmer! (Occasionally 'Moni-Moni' has been written 'Monimoni', but the former has prevailed in the official TL).
Niki is Niki is not Nikki. no Nikkis here.
NeReNeReNeRenee is Elmer's proposed nickname for Renee. Oh, Elmer.
Zank Rowan is the confirmed spelling.
The Third Library is called, wait for it, the Third Library. However, Dalton's Special Archives are called the Special reference room in the official TL.
Remember how Huey referred to Renee as Maestra Parmedes in the YP release of Volume 10? Both Archangelo and Dalton are referred to as Maestro Archangelo and Maestro Dalton here; no special title is given to Dalton despite him being headmaster.
I don't think there was any doubt the serial killer would be named anything other than the Mask Maker, but to confirm: Mask Maker is their name.
Monica refers to the patisserie owner as 'Auntie'.
Elmer was known as the Calamity of Child and Light once upon a time.
Sorry for unsolicited opinion, but yahoo, I'm so glad! I loved how this sounded in the fan TL and wondered if the official TL would be different. Now I don't have to update the wiki.
General Notes
The devil’s coming, lantern lit. The devil’s coming, mask in place. Here to put a mask on you, Here with masks for every face.
--Official translation of the children's street song about the Mask Maker.
Chinese character choice: Esperanza wears a habit à la française with the Chinese character 火 (meaning 'fire') on its back. The original Japanese text uses the 火 character when talking about those who might recognize it, but Taylor Engel (YP translator) omits the character entirely: "If someone who knew had seen it, they would have recognized it as the Chinese character meaning “fire."
Begg's speech: The fan TLs emphasized that Begg is speaking at a rapid-fire pace by writinghisspeechlikethis, withnospacesbetween the words. There's no such visual cue in the official translation (digital edition, at least; need someone else to check phys. edition for me).
Still, even without the narration saying he's speaking "without pause," I think a reader will get the idea given how wordy and long Begg's dialogue is. It might not be an extreme visual opposite to how...h-he speaks...in 1932 at a glance, but it's nevertheless a stark contrast to Begg...when..we first....m-met........him so I'm sure the idea gets across well enough (and saves readers a headache along the way).
The official TL says that Lotto Valentino is located in the northwest area of the district which falls under the jurisdiction of Naples' viceroy (the fan TL said it was located in the northeast area).
During the passage talking about why the alchemy students can't have a public education, the fan TL takes on a more...specific tone whereas the official TL takes on a more speculative tone. ex) fan TL writes "Other reasons, among others, included someone who was visibly foreign..." whereas official TL goes, "Perhaps they were foreigners..."
The fan TL also says one student lives in the library and does odd jobs to earn a living whereas the official TL says some live in the library.
The official TL says that Lotto Valentino's young hoodlums started forming groups a 'few years ago'. As for the Rotten Eggs: the fan TL says that "there were rumors that, in addition to thievery and extortion, they even committed acts of piracy at merchant ships at night"--but the official TL doesn't say or imply these activities are mere rumor; it sounds like the Rotten Eggs do attack trading ships at night.
The fan TL indicates that the Rotten Eggs thug whose eyes Huey jabs is the same thug he kicks in the groin, but the official TL says Huey kicks another delinquent's groin. Does confirm later that the number of Rotten Eggs thugs involved was three.
Huey sits up to throw the potted plant rather than stand up (fan TL said he got to his feet).
Denkurō simply calls Zank 'Zank' in the official TL, not 'Master Zank' as in the fan TL (which the fan TLs do to emphasize he's speaking very politely/formally).
The official TL clarifies that there is always "just one witness at a time" when it comes to each Mask Maker murder.
The fan TL says "when [Huey] finally saw his mother a week later," which would make one think 'a week after he begged forgiveness', but the official TL's version is "until, on the day of the trial, he saw his mother for the first time in a week."
The official TL narrative writes Denkurō's name in the order "Denkurou Tougou," and I note this because the same translator wrote his name as "Tougou Denkurou" in that one color insert of Volume 5. I was told by someone else at the time that 'Denkurō Tōgō' would be the right order for an English publication, so...seems I can stick with that order after all.
Dalton says in the official TL that the drug is far stronger than that of opium.
Denkurō is the one who says the counterfeit gold and drug are thought to have been imported from Lotto Valentino, but Zank is the one who explains why Nile has come along; the fan TL attributed the Nile line to Denkurō.
Aile admits he wasn't just passing by when Elmer asks if he 'really' was (in the fan TL Aile says he 'was' passing by.)
Official TL confirms there are also "uncountable scars" covering Elmer's arms, not just his torso (notice that he was wearing a long-sleeved coat in the illustration; we've certainly never seen him wearing a short-sleeved shirt).
In the fan TL Larolf says Esperanza would be irritating even if he weren't a noble, but in the official TL Larolf says he wouldn't have trouble with Esperanza even if he weren't a noble.
The official TL specifically says that the triple-shot pistol Esperanza owns was created by 'Lorenzoni' and had been given to his family by a member of the Medici Family. I assume Lorenzoni is Michele Lorenzoni, an Italian gunsmith who lived in the 17th-18th century. Could Narita have been inspired by this three-barreled flintlock pistol, which was [potentially](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O97137/flintlock-triple-barrelled- lorenzoni-michele/) made by Lorenzoni for Cosimo III de Medici or another Medici Family member (note: Lorenzoni supplied the Medicis).
Narita says in the afterword he bought a stiletto and old-fashioned pistol from Sankaido in Kamakura to use as reference materials.
The final scene with Begg and Niki takes place a few days before the last classroom scene with Elmer, Huey, and Monica, not "several days after."
MISC
Naritaverse Reference: For those who are reading this volume for the first time--the paragraph referring to "ancestors of a noble family on an island in the north of Prussia" is making a Vamp! reference. The island in question is Growerth (spelled Gloerse in Durarara!! Vol 3, different translator), Vamp!'s main setting. Not sure which family in this case, though; there's more than one possibility.
I can't help noticing that Huey in Vol 10 (official TL) says "Maestra Parmedes" when he thinks I guess I should call her the same way I always did, yet in this volume he's referring to her as Maestra Renee.
The official TL never capitalizes city police (i.e. never writes City Police) when referring to them.
The official TL always tries to refrain from 'gendering' the Mask Maker when the MM appears/is brought up. It calls the MM 'they' and 'it' and refers to the MM as a 'figure' rather than a [masked] man or woman.
The official TL translates the Italian name of the book Elmer's carrying into English (automatically; it doesn't include the original Italian); fan TL just had the Italian version.
Huey suggests Elmer wring out his coat, not his shirt.
On at least two occasions the Boroñal family is referred to as the House of Boroñal. Makes you wonder if House Dormentaire will be referred to as the House of Dormentaire by Engel in future volumes...
During the flashback to Niki meeting the Mask Maker one month ago: rather than suicide being something she couldn't have accepted for herself (fan TL), it seems at the time she'd simply not yet "thought far enough to realize that ending her own life was permitted for someone like her."
The official TL uses a different ridiculous spelling for Elmer's sneeze onomatopoeia every time and it's pretty great.
Whew, this has taken up quite a bit of time... I thought about sharing some of the official TL's versions of some of the more well-known quotes from this book, but I can add those in an edit + reblog. And any other things I overlooked/didn't include this first time around.
The YP release of the tenth Baccano! volume 1934 Peter Pan in Chains: Finale is out (April 23, 2019)!
Here is its page on YP’s website. The page has assorted ‘where to buy’ retailer links, some of which include:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
RightStuf
And more...
Corresponding post on /r/Baccano: Reddit | Old Reddit (Old Reddit recommended if it isn’t your default mode)
Per usual, I will be putting my release notes under the cut. (If you are reading this on my blog proper as opposed to in-dash, the indented bullet points may not be as clearly indented as they are when viewing the post in one’s own dash. I’ve bolded the beginning of most non-indented bullet points in an attempt at clarity.)
--This is a lot longer than my Release Notes have typically been so far, just a heads up. Partly due to the fact that this is a long volume in its own right, but also I’ve been more thorough this time around. Also, speaking honestly, because I started indenting some of my own musings into it.
Edit: It’s 6:12 PM and I’ve been working on this all day...I’ve just now finished the afterword; normally I’d read the book again for double-checking purposes, but not this time! I do want this out on release day (April 23) after all... So here I go.
NAMES
Salomé Carpenter: Spelled as is.
Rubik: Spelled as is.
Annie: Spelled as is.
Rude: Spelled as is.
Context for those who may not have it: In this volume, Muybridge says, “I wish he’d gone to Rude or Beriam or...” and ‘Rude’ is a reference to the vampire Rude Gardastance from Vamp!.
The official translation of Durarara!! Vol 11 uses the Gardastance spelling, by the way!
Cazze: Spelled as is! (For context, Muybridge asks Bartolo how his “grandkid, lil’ Cazze” is doing).
Dolce: Spelled as is. (Name of the prominently featured restaurant/bar).
Croquis clan: ...is the spelling used for the ‘Croquis’ group which Narita mentions in the afterword. I’m very pleased.
Gansluck Hotel: ...is confirmed as the spelling of the hotel Gustav and Carol stay at. This isn’t ‘new’ news, as this is the spelling YP used in Volume 8; however, as the name was only used once in that book, I wanted to be sure that was the spelling and not a mistype.
Carnald Strassburg: ...is the spelling Engel used for him in Vol 9, and is again using in Volume 10! Sorry, I couldn’t help it; I’m so pleased this is the spelling Engel’s gone with.
For those of you who are familiar with the fan translation, ‘Tony’ in the first color insert is a typo on the fan translator’s part; 'Tony’ is actually ‘Donny’ as per the official translation.
There aren’t actually any surprises here! I was actually more surprised (not in a bad way, necessarily) by the nickname and title notes you’ll see at the beginning of the next section.
GENERAL NOTES
Muybridge calls Bartolo ‘Barty’ , which is pure gold. Since we’re in Rail’s PoV for that scene, the narration refers to Bartolo as Barty as well and that’s even better. Amazing. I want to give Engel a high-five.
On that note, Muybridge refers to Beriam as “greenhorn” and “lil’ greenhorn” (each the one time); he also refers to Ladd as a greenhorn when he recalls how Ladd broke into Nebula that one time.
When Huey addresses Renee (or thinks of her), he addresses her as Maestra Parmedes (the name he says--in this novel--that he remembers her by). How unexpected! I’ve been used to ‘Professor’ for so long (via the fan TLs) that I hadn’t even considered the official TL might use something else.
I checked with @toushindai; she has confirmed that the original JP just uses -sensei (e.g doesn’t do anything fancy). -sensei is also used for Dalton in the 1700s novels.
Maestra is, of course, Italian for a [female] teacher.
In one of the novel’s final scenes, Bartolo is “flanked by his twin bodyguards” according to the official translation. Now, the fan TL version of this line reads, “With bodyguards flanking him on either side,” and as such I did a double take. Check the indents below for why:
In the 1935 arc, a pair of identical twins are working for the Runoratas as hunters/bodyguards. So of course I immediately thought of them when I saw “twin bodyguards”--could that be them?
I tracked down the corresponding line of the original JP (it’s on page 441 of the physical tankobon) and saw 双子の護衛 (futago no goei). Futago is “twin(s)” as in “twin sibling,” goei is like ‘escort guard’ (i.e. the type of guard who follows you around).
I checked with @kaedesan721, and she’s confirmed that there’s no alternate interpretation possible: futago is strictly twins, so 双子の護衛 can’t (unlike ‘twin bodyguards’ in English) be taken to mean any ‘duo combo’ type of deal. Bartolo therefore does have actual twin bodyguards with him in Vol 10/1934.
There is no way that these twins aren’t Gabriel and Juliano (the twins from the 1935 arc). I always thought their first unnamed appearance (in the official LNs, not counting gaidens) was in Volume 18--but it seems it was actually eight volumes earlier!
What’s more, this means they technically debuted in the LNs first, i.e. before the Time of the Oasis gaiden that accompanied DVD Vols 6-8 in 2008 (Vol 10 was originally published in 2007). Maybe that makes sense, since Narita mentions “the Runorata grandkid” and “Nader’s childhood buddy” in Vol 10′s afterword; he must have already had some of Oasis’ plot in mind by then.
Welp, the wiki has listed Vol 18 as the twins’ unnamed debut for a while now...aka yet another false fact I was unaware was false. Oh, the pain...
Edit: Oh boy! If there was any doubt remaining, quash it now; the earlier in Chapter 5 of the official TL, we have “...especially the apparently identical twin youths...” --so, that’s that. Fan TL also did not catch this.
The official TL of this will on occasion refer to Sham’s vessels as Sham, rather the vessels’ names (if we know them). “Earlier, when Ladd had decked the large black Sham...” --as opposed to “decked Gig, who was Sham’s vessel” and “...into the Asian Sham who stood behind” as opposed to “Dragon.” This includes treating Sham’s name like a noun, e.g. “The solitary Sham scooted back...”
For those dying to know, Chaini’s ‘catchphrase’ is most often spelled as “hya-haah” in the translation. Her follower echoes this with “hya-haw!”.
For those who didn’t know they wanted to know: In the third color insert, Firo refers to Ennis as “my girl” (”My girl and my pals go nuts...”), and Ladd towards the ends refers to Lua as “my baby” (”As far as my baby’s concerned...”). Ladd soon apologizes for getting a little ‘sappy’.
Ronny doesn’t deny that he’s drunk on himself in the official TL of the color insert (he says “forget it” instead in the fan TL). I bother to mention this mainly because it makes me happy.
The fan TL introduces Salomé as the ‘subordinate director’ of Rhythm, whereas the official TL just says he’s “head of Rhythm.” I don’t necessarily see a contradiction here, since I always assumed ‘subordinate’ just meant ‘subordinate to Huey’. In other words, ignoring Huey, Salomé is the head. Checks out to me.
Salomé states as fact that the four-digit numbers imply Huey was planning to create “several thousand” test subjects in the fan TL, but he’s actually speculating whether that’s what Huey intended in the official TL (he also says “at least a thousand,” not several thousand).
Salomé also refers to Fermet as a ‘technician’, rather than ‘surgeon’. (But that doesn’t mean Fermet never did any surgical work; he did.)
If anyone can explain the “bleh” to me c.f. the line, “Before anyone could process the afterimage (bleh), an...”) I’d appreciate it.
Some of these lines are a bit opposite between translations? Rail asks Sham if he knows any ways to stop oneself from going crazy in the fan Tl, but in the official TL Rail actually asks, “Hey, is going crazy a way out?” --which is a clearly polar sentiment.
Ennis is referred to as Firo’s sweetheart in Interlude I: “...on the condition that his sweetheart Ennis’s crimes would be...”
The fan TL describes the smiles the five Sham vessels are wearing in Interlude 1 as “malicious smiles,” but the official TL calls them “fearless grins.” That’s certainly a different connotation...
Firo refers to the Hive Mind ‘water’ as a “kind of drug,” the narration also soon refers to it as a ‘solution’. Later, ‘liquid’ is used when Huey is thinking back to the hive mind research in Interlude III. Sham uses ‘water’ when thinking about how he’d spread his mental network beyond his authorized bodies.
Firo thinks, “And I thought Isaac and Claire were hyper” regarding Ladd in the official TL; the fan TL had Miria instead: “...he might even be crazier than Isaac and Miria.” I assume ‘Miria’ was a mistake on the fan TL’s part.
Ladd refers to Firo as ‘fella’ a lot in the official TL of this volume--I mean, enough times that I noticed he was using it a lot. Edit: Everybody’s fellaing it up.
This isn’t actually important; I just want to appreciate the fact that Graham refers to Shaft as a buttinsky in this.
Once at Dolce, Graham orders his barbecued ribs Carolina-style in the official translation; therefore, assume that the fan TL was mistaken when it said he ordered (like Sickle) Kansas-style. (Carolina makes more sense, since it means Sickle, Graham, and Chris did order a different style each).
If there was any confusion over the fan TL line, “By the time [the Poet] had been old enough to understand, his eyes were already altered,” the official TL clarifies that his (special) eyes had “been his for as long as he could remember.”
Christopher says to Sickle that he rescued Rail the day before yesterday in Dolce; the fan TL just says “yesterday,” so keep to the official TL to avoid being confused by the timeline.
Just to reaffirm: Graham continues to be referred to as Ladd’s sworn younger brother, and Graham also still uses the term ‘sworn younger siblings’ for Jacuzzi and Nice.
Here’s a line in the official TL I find curious: “Sham had rapidly used up and discarded his first body. Unlike him, [Hilton] treated the body linked to his by blood as a specially selected entity...” / I bolded ‘his’ because that’s referring to Huey, and hold the phone: isn’t "unlike him” implying/insinuating that Sham’s first body was also “linked to [Huey’s body] by blood?” Eh??
If so, did Huey have a son by Renee as well? Or did Huey contribute his genetics to Sham’s first body some other way, like creating a homunculus for Sham to inhabit using his own cells?
?????????????
Sham says he will find out Frank’s status “using the me inside Nebula” to Huey in the official TL, not that he “would have to infiltrate Nebula to know” as per the fan TL.
It’s true that we later learn in the novel that Huey objected to the suggestion Sham infiltrate Renee’s group, but this isn’t necessarily a conflicting statement. After all, “Renee’s group” is specific; just because Huey objected to infiltrating Renee’s group doesn’t mean he would’ve necessarily been against Sham infiltrating a different department of the pharmaceutical sector (or another sector, for that matter).
In fact, I’d expect the opposite. Why would Huey rule the entirety of Nebula off-limits to Sham, when it would be to his undeniable advantage to have at least one Sham on Nebula’s inside? Of course he’d want access/a pipeline to any Nebula research. Nebula is so huge that it would be easy for Sham to avoid Renee’s group entirely (esp since Renee’s group is one of the ones involved in the more secret research).
So...I imagine there must be at least one Sham somewhere else in Nebula in 1934 as well, not just the two Shams in Renee’s group.
Rubik agrees he used to be a frequent customer of the DD up until the “year before last” in the official TL, which differs from the fan TL’s “until last year.”
In the original Japanese, Narita said Isaac & Sham’s train was moving more than 100km per hour. Engel, like the fan TL, decided to convert this to “sixty miles” due to the American setting.
If I remember right Sham was addressing Isaac with -san in the original JP, and the fan TL occasionally had him refer to Isaac as “Mr. Isaac” and “sir.” I’m not seeing a similar treatment in the official TL.
When Graham reminisces about his older sister, he specifies that she grabbed “one of the wrenches Dad used for work” in the official TL. Could it be that Graham’s father was also a mechanic?
The fan TL writes Ladd’s dialogue as, “Well, when I was twelve, my friends and I used to fool around all the time” in the cafeteria, but the official TL is different: “Yeah, up until I was twenty or so...” So it isn’t actually suggested that Ladd was twelve when he broke into Nebula after all; honestly, that number never made sense to me so I’m glad to know my feeling wasn’t wrong.
Sham-as-Dragon asks Firo to consider what he would have done if “some bastard took Ennis from [him]” in the official TL, which is NOT what the fan TL version had: “If the eye taken had belonged to...let’s say, Isaac..”
The official TL also suggests that Firo has run into Claire-with-Chané more than once (e.g. more than the one time at Mist Wall). In fact, whenever Firo has run into Claire (which isn’t that often), Chané was always with him.
Oh, this is interesting: Sham doesn’t think something along the lines of the fan TL’s “I can’t use the researcher now...I have to be more careful” with respect to interacting w/Renee in Nebula. Not at all in the official TL...: “What I have to be careful of here is to avoid accidentally responding with the researcher.”
Well, I find it interesting because this potentially offers an insight into how Sham works. If I hazard a guess, this might suggest that, if Sham isn’t consciously ‘micro-managing’ vessels in close quarters (at minimum), any one of those vessels could just ‘happen’ to be the mouthpiece for his thoughts?
I’m sure there’s a better analogy out there than the one I’m about to use, but I’m imagining Sham as a ‘brain’ and his vessels as ‘fingers’. I don’t have to consciously make an effort and think about which fingers I want to move; for instance, I’m typing this up w/o needing to manually think through the process. My fingers move and press keys easily, moving out of muscle memory.
But I. Can. Stop, and choose to type out -this- with my index finger, or -that- with my index and middle fingers. After all, just relying on muscle memory with both hands means I’m--or, my fingers--are still liable to accidentally make typos. Actually, don’t we do this when we’re entering things like a credit/debit card number into an online form, or a driver’s license ID number? It’s not uncommon for people to deliberately punch in the numbers one-by-one, because we don’t want to mistype and have to redo...
Sham’s two vessels are in the same room--two fingers. How easily one of them could twitch if he doesn’t consciously keep it still.
Apparently Sham has thousands of bodies?! “...the thousands of bodies that acted as his hands and feet” / I mean, whoah. The fan TL didn’t give a number here; it just said “his individual vessels.”
Just how many thousands does he have? If he has 3000 vessels, to use a random number, that would mean the vessels authorized by Huey/Rhythm would still amount to a sizable 600 bodies. Even just 1000 vessels would mean 200 authorized ones...
The fan TL line, “Even Ronnie Schiatto, the terrifying man Nice had encountered a year earlier, paled in comparison to the brutes sitting from across from her,” slightly misses the mark. Per the official TL Nice still considers Ronny “creepier” than the Runoratas--but feels like the Runoratas pose a lot more actual danger to her.
One bit that always confused me in the fan TL was “...I hope Beriam hasn’t been talking,” as spoken by Bartolo to Muybridge in reference to why the Runoratas are in Chicago. The official TL take on this line makes a lot more sense: “...Beriam was nagging me.”
Actually, Bartolo’s entire line was something I never fully ‘got’ in the fan TL: “...I hope Beriam hasn’t been talking. To be truthful, we were rather surprised when Rubik explained it to us. Who would have thought that that would be on the same floor as us...”
Here’s the full line from the official TL: “...Beriam was nagging me. We were pretty startled ourselves when Rubik told us what was going on. After all, the bomber we’d been searching for incidentally was here, in the very same building.”
Yeah, okay, the official TL brings some much needed clarity here.
When Graham confronts Shaft in the official TL, he eases into the confrontation with a new variation on his typical “Let me tell you a story” intro. “Let me...tell a story that’s just for you. My story, by me, just for you, Shaft. A closed story.”
Miria isn’t kept bound to a chair in the middle of a single room, apparently; the official TL specifies that she was in a second room in the back of a suite.
Graham continues to refer to Ladd with terms like “my esteemed brother Ladd” and “my man Ladd.”
Dragon/Sham claims to Leeza that “the guy pretending to be the guard was the boss” in the official TL, not that the guy behind it was the “guard’s brother.”
Okay, looks like Bartolo was unscathed from the explosion after all: “As a result, [the bodyguards and Bartolo] were unscathed.” The fan TL had stated Bartolo’s eyebrows were half-singed off by the explosion. The official TL soon says, “Bartolo hadn’t even turned a hair”--maybe ‘hair’ is where the fan TL got the idea?
Bartolo internally refers to Muybridge as a ‘hedonist’; later on, Rubik does the same except more bitterly with “rotten hedonist.”
Aha... it looks like I misunderstood the fan TL this whole time about which man sprints out of the room. I’d thought it was Begg who’d sprinted out, but it’s clear in the official TL that man who runs off is the regenerated researcher. Which makes...er, more sense. Boy howdy, I’m a buffoon.
“Children of man. This time your request shall be granted” is what’s murmured “as if [by] the blue Chicago sky” right before Isaac appears & grabs Miria’s arm.
The researcher aims at Shaft’s leg, not his foot.
The official TL says that “most of the third subbasement had been allocated to the pharmaceutical sector’s sixth development lab” (aka Renee’s lab), not that “the last three floors of the building [are] devoted to research.”
As the official TL makes clear, Huey’s flamethrower is actually running down his sleeve: “[the fire] was coming from the tube of a compact flamethrower that ran down Huey’s sleeve.” It had initially looked to Renee as if the flames were coming from his fingertips.
The fan TL is wrong when it says that Huey stole Renee’s left eye: he stole her right eye. Even if the official TL of Vol 10 hadn’t specified this (it does; it specifies he runs his finger over Renee’s right eyelid), we know this for sure because her right eye is artificial in that one 1935-B illustration of her.
For those of you who first read the fan translation: the fan TL mistakenly attributes a line to Rubik’s thoughts when it’s actually spoken by Cal in their rooftop scene of Ch5. As such, it also misinterpreted the line.
Fan TL, Rubik’s thoughts: “I’ve been with Bartolo and Beriam for a long time...if this were my company, then we could do so much better.”
Official TL, Cal speaking: “Well, see, unfortunately... I’ve been mixed up with Barty and that lil greenhorn Beriam for ages now... Anyhow, I made this company, so let’s go full steam ahead for happiness!”
Also toward the end of Ch5, Rail tells Huey to relay the message, “I’m free, shithead.” This has been an important PSA.
Whoah. The fan translation entirely leaves out the line where Huey actually explains how he escaped prison to Begg: “I was merely torn into a few pieces, then had a flock of my own daughter carry me,” so he snickers in the official TL.
In the fan translation Huey just softly laughs at the question and doesn’t answer it.
All this time I thought Narita deliberately left out the answer so that the readers could piece it together (HA) from the clues... but no, Huey spells it out at the end?!
I mean, I’ve known for a while this was the solution, but to know it was actually stated in the book this whole time... 404 not found.
Bartolo not only calls Huey “a kid,” he goes one step further with, “A ravenous little rascal.”
It is a lunch that Bartolo/Huey/Gustav/Carol/etc are having together, not dinner or some other meal. Takes place in a private room at a high-class restaurant.
After the lunch engagement, it is stated that Gustav has reserved train tickets back to NY for the ‘day after tomorrow’.
Annie is described as “probably eighteen or so” in the official TL, which is different from the fan TL saying she “couldn’t have been more than sixteen.”
Victor arrives in Chicago two weeks before Firo returns to Alveare (Firo’s return happens in January 1935). It’s thirty minutes after Victor steps off that Chicago train that he receives the report about Huey’s jailbreak. (After which he becomes an “uncomfortably drunk mess sobbing” in front of his men).
When we’re taken to Beriam and his people, this is how the official TL refers to the original Felix Walken: “Nameless, one of the former Felix Walkens...”
In the afterword, Narita does actually mention ‘Zankurou’ again (”Denkurou and Zankurou”)--the fan TL left ‘Zankurou’ out. He also specifies that Baccano!’s “final boss (?)” will finally appear in 2002; the fan TL didn’t say ‘boss’, just “final (???”).
MISC
Came across a typo in chapter 4 of the digital edition: “One of the them [sic] was like a daughter to him.” Well, no matter; I’m more distracted by the idea that Gustav might consider Carol like a daughter to him. My heart just swelled three sizes. Edit: it’s on page 141 of the physical edition.
Ahh, that’s right; Sham was the Lemur guarding Natalie and Mary on the FPF.
This is more content-related, but how come Rail feels a “sharp pang” and then a “dull pain” when the needle is slid into them if they can’t feel pain? Rail does say the “sting of an injection,” so maybe it’s internal pain from the tranquilizer itself rather than the needle. Maybe there’s some sensation left in the subcutaneous tissue and muscle, but that still feels like it would go against what we’ve been told about Rail’s analgesia.
Hm...earlier in the translation, Salomé remarks that they’d specifically been messing with the ganglia in Rail’s body, so.
“Poor circulation can even make incomplete immortals feel temporarily unwell” is the official TL’s interpretation of Renee’s line, by the way, for those of you invested in all the nuances of immortality.
This is so inconsequential, but the madeleine Christopher stuffs into his mouth is specified to be one of his homemade ones in the official TL, and I just... I have questions. Did he pack some of his homemade madeleines in advance (i.e. before they fled the Russo manor)? Did he have access to a kitchen in these lodgings and think, oh yeah, now’s a great time to do some baking?
This scene takes place “somewhere in Chicago,” and the most specific Narita gets is “their lodgings.” If they’d returned to the tattered Russo manor Narita would’ve specified, right? I don’t think it’s likely they would’ve returned to the manor anyway, not at all.
Firo says “I don’t hit women or kids” to Ladd, and obviously that’s not an abnormal attitude for him to take--but this phrasing almost sounds like it’s a define policy/rule of his. You know, maybe that’s one of the reasons he ends up getting along with Angelo in 2002? Considering Angelo does make it an explicit policy of his.
I totally forgot that Huey sees Victor on the Chicago station platform while he and Sham’s train is just moving out for NY!
There are a lot of lines/passages in this translation that I quite liked! I might share them in a reblog or a separate post.
You know what, this translation reminded me that I’m actually really entertained by exasperated!Firo. (Firo isn’t all that shounen protagony anyway, but I’ve realized i can’t think of that many archetypal shounen protagonists who are...exasperated much? Definitely not frequently, since that would run counter to that plucky “I’m never done with this shit!” attitude many of them so often have.
You know the drill. Under the cut for length/potential spoilers.
Corresponding Post on /r/Baccano: Reddit | Old Reddit (Old Reddit recommended if it isn’t your default mode)
Like before, I started preparing this post in advance of the book’s release date.
NAMES
Ricardo, Rail, Frank, the Poet, Sickle, and Shaft’s names are spelled as you see here. Nothing to report. Actually, I do recall seeing ‘Reil’ and ‘Ricard’ once upon a time, though Rail and Ricardo were the more common fan spellings...
Placido’s executive is called Krieck here. Previous fan translations were Klik and Creek. Krieck is an actual German surname, so this translation choice makes sense to me.
Apparently the related surname ‘Kriek’ derives from the word ‘krieger’, meaning warrior or soldier? Whether intentional or unintentional, that does actually fit - ahem - “Krieck’s” role.
The Russo executive who Jacuzzi’s gang killed in 1931 is called Sidaris (not Sedley, which the F.T. of Vol 9 used).
Nebula’s chairman is Cal Muybridge in the YP translation, aka neither of the previous fan translations (Karil and Karl Muybridge). I’m...actually okay with this? I was never keen on ‘Karil’, and while I liked ‘Karl Muybridge’ a lot we do have one Carl Digness in Vol 16, so...yeah! Not having two C/Karls is more than reasonable.
Plus, “Cal” feels an awful lot like a nickname, which fits Karl - uh, Cal’s ‘friendly mischievous old man’ persona pretty nicely. More specifically it feels like it’s short for something - which may not be the case at all, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
I fervently hope that YP will spell Carl Digness’ name as Carl and not Karl, oh please please please.
Carnald Strassburg is the spelling Engel uses for Vamp!’s historical celebrity - aka exactly the spelling used in the fan translations!
However, know that the Yen Press translation of Durarara!! Vol 5 (translated by Stephen Paul) spells Carnald’s name as “Karnald Strasburg.”
Personally I much prefer the “Carnald Strassburg” spelling and was delighted, if a little surprised, to see Engel using it for Volume 9. Seems they’re not necessarily collaborating/cross-checking each other’s choices...which, hey, I guess means we’ve got a better chance of Engel reading Claudia’s name as Claudia, not Gloria.
General Notes
Nebula’s founding: In the YP translation, the following sentence from Chapter 2 reads as: “The Nebula Corporation had been established by Cal Muybridge just a few decades earlier.” // Why am I highlighting this? Because the F.T. version asserts that Muybridge founded it “ten years ago” which is...not the same thing. At all.
While this means we no longer have a precise year for Nebula’s founding, this does make more sense re: Ladd’s break-in of Muybridge’s office.
Anyway, I need to now update the Timeline and scrub 1924 as Nebula’s founding date.
Shaft calls Graham “Mr. Graham” in the YP release.
Carol “appears to be younger than fifteen years old,” and she hasn’t told any of the people around her how old she actually is...Yen Press writes “Huey’s vacation home” rather than “Huey’s cottage.” @vilatile you may find this relevant?
A wild Nile appears!: One of the eyewitnesses to the alley confrontation/bombing between Graham and the Lamia says this: "Let me just say this. It was a rather intriguing spectacle." / "Let me [just] say this" is a phrase oft-used by Nile, so...that's probably him! I had no idea he was a witness until now!
I had no idea because the fan translation of that line was *“I tell you, it was the best show ever!”* ...Which doesn't necessarily invoke Nile.
Typo: It’s a bit unfortunate since it’s very early into the book, but Elean’s name in Epilogue II is misspelled as Elian. YP used the ‘Elean’ spelling throughout Volume 4, so ‘Elian’ is surely not intentional.
When Sham is speaking via his five vessels simultaneously in Alcatraz, each pair of quotation marks is a different style/font. Thought that was a neat touch.
You know how Narita mentions his Hariyama-san stories in the afterword? Yen Press’ translates the full title as Hariyama, the Center of the World.
Some Translation Examples
I didn’t/don’t want to do too many direct comparisons between the official translation and...you know, but I feel like it’s worth doing so for the Poet’s dialogue? Both because he his obtuse way of speaking is a known headache for translators, and because he’s actually quite quotable/he’s got a few well-known quotes going for him. I’m sure I’m not the only one who was wondering how YP would handle his dialogue...
Quote 1, Fan vers: “What would approximate your existence would be if the the most favored musket of a serial killer was possessed by a goddess.”
Quote 1, YP vers: “Should a goddess come to dwell in a murderer’s well-tended musket, no doubt ‘twould be thee.”
The Poet is speaking about Sickle, here, and up until now I was using the fan-translation version as the header quote on Sickle’s wiki article. ...Which is mainly why I picked it beforehand, but the clear difference between them is a latent reason as well.
Quote 2, Fan vers: “Language can express the world in all its entirety. Perhaps a picture is worth a thousand words, but a thousand words can still describe the scene that one sees before him, ten thousand words can subvert the coming of dusk, and a hundred thousand words can reshape the fabric of the world.”
Quote 2, YP vers: “A look is better than a hundred words, but a thousand words can accurately describe what is seen. Ten thousand can turn that sight on its head--and a hundred million can recolor the word itself.”
The fan tr. version is what I’ve used as Poet’s header quote for a while, and honestly I was...nervous that YP’s translation would disappoint since it’s one of my favorite Poet and Baccano! quotes, and I always thought the fan translated version was well-done (just from a prose standpoint). “Subvert the coming of dusk,” “reshape the fabric of the world”... it’s a well paced, honestly eloquent paragraph.
The YP version is...starker. (Also 100 thous vs 100 mill - welp how about that). I decisively prefer the fan version on this; however, the YP version isn’t an utter letdown or wildly off-base, so... in other words, my worst fears weren’t confirmed.
Phew... In any case, I’ve updated the chapter names on the wiki and have renamed Muybridge and Krieck’s pages. If I notice/realize more things upon rereading (rereading since I initially went through it quite quickly), I’ll...either eidt this or reblog with addendums? Please do add on if you notice things I ought to have included.
Since I caught a glimpse of the YP translation four days before it was officially release, I was able to update all the chapter articles with the official title translations well ahead of schedule, as well as draft this post ahead of time. If you don’t have the YP version or for some other reason don’t have access to the chapter list and would like to see them, here’s the LN8 article on the wiki.
I think I’m also going to start using the tag “Official Release Notes - Baccano!” for this type of post, so I’ll go back and tag older posts with it at some point. Like this one I did a few days ago. Edit: She did not. The tag is “YP Release Notes.”
Corresponding post on /r/Baccano: Reddit | Old Reddit (Old Reddit recommended if it isn’t your default mode).
I’m also sharing notes on the subreddit and the wiki twitter account, hoo boy, so hopefully I’ve managed to keep everything straight. Whew...got this post out about two hours and twenty minutes after it downloaded onto my laptop + tablet, so on the one hand I am pleased. On the other, it’s 7:18 AM GMT and 2:18 AM GMT so who knows how many people will actually see this...
This might have taken longer had I not seen the preview, which surprisingly covered most of the names. Still, it's very possible that in my bid for haste/swiftness I've missed some things worth pointing out, so I'll go over it more slowly after this; if I notice anything along those lines (or if you suggest them), I'll definitely edit this post. Well... Maybe I should reblog with new info instead, since Tumblr’s format doesn’t really suit post editing post-publishing.
Oh! You could check back in with the Reddit version of this I’m doing for the /r/Baccano subreddit later on, since Reddit posts are much easier to edit.
Under the cut this time, for length purposes and spoiler precautions.
Confirmed Character Names:
Renee’s full name: Renee Parmedes Branvillier
Previous fan readings include: Renée/Renee; Paramedes; Palamedes; Brinvillier.
Since even the wiki’s inclusion/exclusion of the accent has been inconsistent in the past, I’ll emphasize that the YP version has no accent.
Gustav’s full name: Gustav St. Germain
Graham’s full name: Graham Specter
This isn’t surprising. It is, however, still worth noting for the fanlore, since you may occasionally still come across older Baccano! fan content that spells his last name as Spector.
Misery: Misery
Victor’s alias: Allen Becker
Previous fan reading: Alan Becker.
Victor’s job title is also confirmed to be Assistant Director.
Zankuro: Zankurou
The name’s in Nile’s color insert about Victor, in case you’re trying to find it.
Speaking of which: where Nile in the F.T. says that Victor is very human, “almost as much as Zankuro,” the O.T. says that he’s “on par” with Zankurou. It’s a small detail, but the difference does change the meaning.
Ryuujirou/Dragon: Ryuujirou/Dragon.
Gig: Gig.
The Caucasian Man: Simply referred to as the white man here.
Confirmed Location Names
The Chicago Hotel: Gansluck Hotel
Previous fan reading: Gunslack Hotel. Note that this hotel is only mentioned once in the LN, so we’ll have to wait until LN10 to see another instance of the spelling.
The Nebula-controlled town: Elleson Hill
The previous fan readings of this were Elson Hill, Elson’s Hill, and Elsen’s Hill, so I think this is actually the spelling that surprises me most. Oh, I’m not complaining - I just didn’t expect it, is all.
Alcatraz’ solitary confinement: The Dungeon (also just referred to as solitary)
Context: As @megamanthepidgeot pointed out in a Discord conversation, the F.T. refers to the underground jail cells Alcatraz uses for solitary confinement as ‘the Hole’. You’ve probably heard various crime flicks or shows use the term before. However, the Japanese word Narita uses is closer to ‘dungeon’, which Pidgeot says is more accurate since Alcatraz didn’t construct solitary until a few years later.
That said, the dungeon Narita refers to was a real place, and just as awful as Ladd makes it out to be.
Miscellaneous
Graham’s term for Ladd: “My brother Ladd.”
In the novels, Graham refers to Ladd as (兄貴はラッド Aniki wa raddo) - with aniki literally meaning ‘big brother’. Aniki is also often used by lower-ranking yakuza members as a sign of respect for senior/older members of the family, which I assume Graham’s usage inherently invokes.
In the Funimation English dub, Graham refers to Ladd as “Boss Ladd.” Graham uses “my brother Ladd” three times in Vol 8′s color insert, and “my man Ladd” one time.
Jacuzzi’s Age: Jacuzzi is clearly nineteen in Volumes 2-3, right? Where the F.T. says he’s “almost twenty” in the character list, the official translation definitely leaves no room for doubt when it comes to Volume 8′s mistake or retcon: “He’ll be twenty soon...”
Berga mistakenly remembers Ennis’ name as Eris in the first color insert.
While the theme binding the color inserts in the F.T. is pretty discernable, YP is much more firm in using the word ‘awkward’ to describe all of the color inserts’ subjects. Keith calling Firo ‘naïve’ in the fan translation becomes ‘clumsy’ with the O.T., as a side note.
It looks like Victor actually uses his subordinates' first names as well as surnames, sometimes. When he uses his agents' surnames it's with the title (e.g. "Agent Sullivan") but he doesn't do that all the time. For instance, when Donald calls him, he says, "Understood, Donald."
In the F.T. Sham says his vessels are being ‘erased’ in Washington D.C. and Chicago, but the O.T. says “Washington and Chicago.” Obviously there’s a big difference between Washington D.C. and the state Washington, so can a Japanophone confirm if the original JP makes it clear Sham’s talking about Washington D.C. or not?
Leeza continues to refer to Huey by Father, not Daddy.
Victor uses the F-bomb a total of three times in Volume 8, and they’re all in his infamous rant to Huey. He uses son of a bitch, hells, bastards, damns, shits, and goddamns in other places too.
@toushindai remarked to me that she was curious as to whether or not the official translation would correct Narita’s typo of 233 years (the year count is clearly wrong) but nah, it doesn’t. Quoting Victor from the YP: “I haven’t seen you in a while. What’s it been, two hundred and thirty-three years or so?”
This novel marks the first time in the main light novels that we hear Chaini and her follower in the delinquent gang’s background chatter – they’re not named, but you can tell it’s them due to Chaini’s signature cry. It’s usually been spelled hyaha before, but here it’s spelled hya-haah.
Spike’s white canes are called staffs in the YP version. Hm...
Despite Narita going out of his way to delve into the history of the FBI’s name in detail, YP has Victor say, “Ah… I see… Understood. Understood, Donald. I’ll call you back as soon as we verify the situation with FBI headquarters” in Chapter 3???
Oddly enough, the YP version calls J.M. Barrie's novel Peter Pan when the novel was actually called Peter and Wendy (the F.T. uses the latter). It was the play that was called Peter Pan; Or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. Sure, nowadays the novel is published as *Peter Pan*, but not back then.
In the F.T. Huey called Isaac “Mr. Dian,” but he just uses Isaac in the O.T.
I feel that it’s vitally important for everyone to know that Ladd calls Graham “the wild child” in Chapter 3: Front. “Hey now, hey, hey, hey, what, what, what’s this? You people know that kiddo? Graham, the wild child?” This has been your PSA.
He also specifically calls Graham his "sworn little brother" a little earlier, for the record.
I've wondered for a while whether I should read the name/pseudonym of the mangaka who drew the 2006 manga as either Ginyū Shijin or Shijin Ginyū; the YP version of the afterword here uses Ginyuu Shijin, so I guess that settles that.
Ice Pick Thompson is mentioned for the first time in the official novels here - spelled as is.
Edit: If I remember right the fan translation is a little more ambiguous/non-committal with how many men make up the Martillo executives in 1934, but the YP translation is more clear:
“Even if [Firo] was an executive, he was still one of a dozen of that rank in their group–they made up nearly a quarter of the syndicate.”
Here’s a rundown of haphazard notes on YP translation of Volume 7 I just posted in /r/Baccano, can’t format into tumblr post and have no time to format into tumblr post. I more skimmed the novel than read it, no time, so if people notice stuff I missed/should’ve included by all means share it.
It’s an external link so this post’ll probably not show up in search. This is very much me dropping a link and dashing off (sorry), gotta go.
Edit from the future: Here’s the Old Reddit link. I recommend using Old Reddit if it’s not your default mode already.
With the YP translation of 1933 <First> The Slash - Cloudy to Rainy- out, I’ve gone through and compiled some notes on the release. Originally posted on Reddit. Under the cut due to length.
Corresponding post on /r/Baccano: Reddit | Old Reddit (recommend Old Reddit if it isn’t your default experience).
(Disclaimer: I'm working off the electronic version for Kindle rather than the physical copy, since I won't have access to the physical copy for three days. If anyone in the meantime notices significant typos in the physical copy, share via a comment).
We already knew from the summary that Yen Press was going to write Larvae as the singular Larva, so the two main points of interest going in were whether or not they'd spell the name of Tick's younger brother as Tack (the fan-translation name, closer to the romaji) or Tock (in-step with the traditional English onomatopoeia).
Here to report that they've translated the younger Jefferson's name as Tock, which is surprising to probably no one. @sean-gaffney
Also, they've written Adele as Adele, not Adelle (which wasn't the main fan-translation name, but was used here and there by fans back in the day). I am relieved.
Whereas the fan translation of the character list describes Dallas as simply "trash," he gets two words in the Yen Press translation: "human scum." Heh.
I don't think I pointed this out in my brief write-up of notes for the volume four release, but Yen Press doesn't italicize Tick's elongated/drawled words, it just stretches them out a bit. So "yeees. I'll do my beeest" rather than, "Yeees. I'll do my beeest."
The fan-translation has Tick more formally refer to his step-father as "father," but here Yen Press just has him use the more informal "dad" instead. "Dad's aaall washed up" rather than "Father's aaall washed up." I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this yet; I did like the formal "father" since it implies respect, which is a small but characterizing point the narrative wants us to understand about Tick. He loves his stepfather, but his stepfather doesn't love/care about him. Using a term that inherently carries respect helped to reinforce that, I think.
On the other hand, the more informal "dad" can similarly come across as more affectionate, I suppose. And, well, I guess I'm okay either way. After all, the main thing that conveys Tick's feelings is that he's using father/dad rather than "my stepfather" or something like that. He fully sees the clockmaker as a parental figure.
(Although...Tock/Tim does refer to the clockmaker as "Dad" too, so that tempers that last point.)
Tock's pet Jimmy is described as a "white rat" in this, rather than a guinea pig (which is what the fan-translation used).
So, in the Prologue: Only Child section, the fan-translation had Maria refer to her grandfather as "grandpa." The YP translation straight up has her use Abuelito, and I'm curious to know if the Japanese wrote out Abuelito in katakana or if it just used the Japanese term. She does use abuelita later on in the fan-translation, which I would normally take to mean that abuelita was specifically spelled out in katakana. I may not *know* Japanese, but I can check the raws to look for katakana I can read, at least.
Funnily enough, Maria's grandfather uses an American idiom in the YP translation: "They get smeared with blood and fat, and they lose their edge before you can say Jack Robinson." That idiom's very American. I wonder if the translation should just be taken as a liberal one here.
Maria actually uses amigo and amiga when referring to people in the YP translation, by the way. I mention this only because the fan-translation for this novel doesn't made the gender distinction and uses 'amigo' in all instances. Also, the 'amigo' and 'amiga' terms aren't italicized in the YP translation.
Dallas' thoughts/dreams prior to waking up in the SoHo hideout are italicized in the YP translation. They weren't in the fan-translation. Italicizing them makes a lot of sense.
One thing that I've noticed thus far with YP translations of Baccano! is that they're a little more conservative when it comes to using swear words/vulgar language than the fan-translations are, and I was wondering how they'd write Dallas "Human Scum" Genoard, coarse as he can be.
...Well, he calls Ennis a "bitch" in the YP translation as he does the fan-translation, but calls Firo a "punk" instead of "fucker." (Also, he describes Isaac and Miria as the "cake eater" and the "skirt" in the YP novel. Amazing). Dallas has a "hit list" in the YP translation rather than a "shit list," the latter term I was admittedly quite amused by in the fan translation.
I guess the main thing in the end is whether or not the coarse, disrespectful tone Dallas uses comes across in the YP translation as it did in the fan-translation, and - yeah, it does. Sure, the vulgar language is a lot more scaled back in the YP translation, but the general language definitely still paints him as crass and insulting.
Yeah, looks like YP may be having Maria use a little more Spanish than the fan-translation: she says "Lo Siento, amigo" to Luck in Chapter 1 in the official translation (O.T). but just "I'm sorry, amigo" in the fan translation (F.T).
So when Miria insults Firo in Japanese (touhenboku) and later hopes he is kicked in the head by Yagyo-san, the F.T. takes the time to actually provide translation notes for both words. The O.T. doesn't. This was the case for the older novels, too, and I still think that's a shame. Translation footnotes never did anyone harm.
From the O.T., presented without comment: "Miria laughed happily, her eyes sparkling at her beau's bright idea."(Bolding mine)
Oh, okay, so take these two lines from the F.T.:
(Isaac, on the Genoard manor) "It looked pretty much like my house from the outside, so I had no idea it'd be this great inside!"
(Miria) "Ah... You're right! It did look just like home!"
Verus the O.T...:
(Isaac) "It didn't look much different from my folks' house on the outside, so I didn't realize it was such a nice place!"
(Miria) "Oh... M-me too!"
(Jacuzzi) "Huh? ...I-Isaac, Miria... Y-your families' houses...?"
Well. So the O.T. makes it more explicit that Miria's home was just as fancy as Isaac's was...and the implication that Isaac's home life growing up miiiiight not have been the best is more direct here, too.
Fan translation readers, you know how a plot point of 1933 was that Isaac and Miria wanted Firo to pay by having him literally say uncle? Bizarrely enough, the O.T. is translating the whole "say uncle" phrase as "say gyafun" instead. Directly. I mean, the phrase is 'explained' by Isaac in the text, at least...
When Maria enthuses to Tick about her love of slashing things, she uses the word "slash" in the F.T. versus "cut" in the O.T..
In the F.T. Tim just refers to Huey as "Huey," but in the O.T. he uses "Mr. Huey" instead.
Ronny's catchphrase continues to be translated as "well, never mind" instead of "Well, no matter" and I continue to be in pain.
Tick's sitting up on the floor when he grabs Dallas' wrist, by the way. It wasn't as clear whether he was recumbent on the floor or sitting in the F.T., but the O.T. makes it clear.
Nice's smoke bomb produces a white smokescreen in the F.T., but the O.T. describes the smoke as "murky gray."
The Linking/Connecting Chapter starts off with italics for Tim's thoughts unlike the F.T.. Again, the italics are appropriate.
That's about it for the main notes. There are a couple of passages whose translations I'll contrast in a separate comment, and I may end up editing this main post if I think of/come across more to add, but that's it for now.
On a personal note, Narita says in the July 2004 afterword that Jin Shinonome's four-panel manga Four-Panel Jackhad dealt with Baccano! (as a parody/joke content) in page 29 of the home page issue of Dengeki, and that the 1933 story is actually a continuation of that. Narita says this:
So those of you who read the Dengeki home page probably caught this, but…this story includes the continuation of a four-panel manga drawn in Jin Shinonome’s Four-Panel Jack, published in the home page issue 29. That’s right: I’m treating all information drawn in that Four-Panel Jack as fact. Ha-ha-ha, well, you know, he toyed with my story, and I couldn’t just let that lie, so this time, I toyed with his work, as payback. Thank you very much, Jin Shinonome, and also, I’m very sorry.
And so he'd asked his chief editor, “In the next Baccano!…could I maybe treat those four-panel jokes as if they were actual fact, not jokes?”
Now I need to find that manga in question. That's quite important. I had no idea that Vol 6 was partially inspired off something like that, because the fan translation didn't translate the afterword.
Shared some notes on YP’s release of 2001 The Children of Bottle over on the Baccano! subreddit, if you guys want to check it out. May edit it with a few more thoughts.
Corresponding post on /r/Baccano: Reddit | Old Reddit (recommend Old Reddit if it isn’t your default mode already).
Currently renaming the chapter titles on the wiki, already renamed Bilt’s page. Probably won’t rename the other character pages until I share the updates on the Wiki’s Twitter, which I think I’ll wait to do after I take a shower since while it’s 11:23 AM here, it’s only 6:23 AM EST.
The chapter titles...Well, instead of just using the bolded word, Yen Press lists the chapters like this on the Kindle version (the bolded words are capitalized in the sidebar since sidebar words can’t be bolded, I guess):
