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slamdunktheories · 6 days

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Sannoh's Unusual Team Slogan

Sharing a little Slam Dunk shrine that's in my study! Let's use this to jump into a topic that's rarely discussed: Sannoh's unusual slogan. I might be overthinking here but... considering that Inoue was a Literature major in college before dropping out to become a manga-ka, I'm pretty sure there's something interesting going on here and it didn't happen by accident.

Let's dive in!

Sannoh's slogan (一意摶心) was only revealed in TFSD and I loved it from the moment I saw it. Of all the team slogans that were shown in Slam Dunk, this was by far the best one IMO. What a kickass slogan. What a philosophy to live by. And so on brand. But... there's also something weird about it.

First, what does the slogan mean? The first phrase that comes to mind is actually 一意專心, a similar phrase that's pretty well-known in both Japanese and Chinese. It's a very similar phrase but not exactly what Sannoh has for their slogan. And 一意專心 loosely translates to: to focus or dedicate yourself single-mindedly and wholeheartedly to something.

It's a phrase that still gets used in modern day Japanese and Chinese. And it does seem to fit Sannoh. Just like the phrase itself, there's an air of austerity/Zen-ness to the way Sannoh is depicted in the story. The tradition of the team shaving their heads and resulting in that monk look, the simplicity of their uniform (in both design and colour choice), the discipline that's so evident in the way they play on court during the critical moments, etc. Of course, this is all inspired by Noshiro, the real life high school with a famed history in basketball.

But the thing that made me pause over the Sannoh slogan was the third character: 摶. TFSD was the very first time I'd seen this character in my life (despite being a native Chinese speaker and fairly well-read). I wasn't even 100% sure how it was pronounced. Why would Inoue opt for the more complicated and obscure 摶 instead of 專 when the latter would have been just fine per the modern phrase mentioned above? Was he trying to achieve something by opting for this character for the slogan?

So I did a bit of digging and it turns out... even Japanese natives don't know this character. In fact, some online Japanese dictionaries don't have an entry for this character. And for good reason: Sannoh's slogan is a phrase that first appeared 2,500 years ago during China's Zhou Dynasty, in an ancient text titled Guan Zi written by a philosopher. However, the phrase that was coined in Guan Zi (aka Sannoh's slogan) has virtually not been used outside of that particular book; all subsequent mentions of this phrase actually reference Guan Zi. And there's been barely a mention of this character in recent centuries.

Also, note that even though 2,500 years sounds like a long time ago, in some ways it isn't, considering that the Chinese civilisation is essentially one continuous civilisation that's ~5,000 years old so this was already 25 centuries into its development. The Zhou Dynasty already had a bunch of technology and tools; irrigation systems, canals, chopsticks etc. had already been invented. It was also the time of Confucianism, Daoism, and complex military strategies that still remain relevant today. (That seminal book on military war strategy, "The Art of War", came from this period. GREAT book, BTW.)

Anyway, the next time this phrase appears in another piece of text, it's written as 一意專心 (aka the contemporary version of the phrase). So it could be that the modern phrase that Chinese & Japanese speakers know so well is a corruption/mistranslation of the original phrase (aka Sannoh's slogan). Also, this ancient character 摶 has the additional meaning of unity, circle, and harmony, which 專 does not possess.

When you look at how 一意摶心 appears in Guan Zi, you get a fuller context of what this original phrase actually means.

The original is here for those interested, but loosely translated it means: to calm your breath and your pulse, to hold your posture upright, to purge your senses of distractions, and to singlemindedly and wholeheartedly devote yourself to a cause, letting nothing distract you physically or mentally from it.（full breakdown of this text here in Chinese)

So that is actually the context in which Sannoh's phrase appears and makes 一意摶心 so much richer than the modern phrase. Again, it evokes a Zen-ness and discipline that fit Sannoh to a T.

In my view, Inoue-sensei wanted to go back to the roots of that phrase and honour the original intent behind it, which carries connotations of unity and that makes sense for a team sport. I'm still amazed that he knows this phrase, considering that it is not known to be in any Japanese texts; again, it really only exists in a Chinese text called Guan Zi.

Anyway, hope this was interesting for at least some of you! Would love to hear what people think about this (and if you have insights on the Chinese or Japanese aspects, please do chime in! I'm not a literary specialist.)

Further reading: This article (Japanese) - it offers some interesting interpretations as to why it was picked for Sannoh's slogan that I didn't mention here since this post is already so long XD

#slam dunk #takehiko inoue #anime and manga #スラムダンク #chinese proverb #overthinking #nerd talks #geek

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pearldrone · 9 months

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OFF THE HOOK VERSES.. NINTENDO OF AMERICA!

purposefully dramatic title to begin this post, i am in that kind of mood. i'm going to be talking about, as you can see, how translations handled {..butchered} pearl and marina.

i'm going to preface this by saying i know WHY this is the way it is. the communications between NOJ and NOA were not there for the most part, and also the fact that nintendo is as huge of a corporation as it is, {.. also the fact they're a company IN GENERAL} it can be and IS unethical in some practices. my anger towards their characterization isn't directed towards the employees, as they just did what they could!

now that i've made this clear, let's get started.. everything from this point on is under the cut. hang tight, it's a long one.

the main way these two are different lies in the ways they interact with each other. if you've played the english version, of course you're going to be used to the unserious bullying dynamic they have.

here's an example. {manta maria stage announcement dialogue.}

however, in the original japanese text, it isn't like this. this especially shows within marina.. though i wouldn't say she's exactly mean in english, she's positively a bit more smug in the comments she would make towards pearl. i'm specifically referring to her here as the contrast in her personality is very noticeable, here's an example. these exchanges were from the mayo vs ketchup splatfest, first beginning with the english version.

🦑 "it's the glorious union of eggs and oil-- MAYONNAISE!"

🐙 "versus the red stuff that runs through my veins -- KETCHUP!"

🦑 "pshh. ketchup is BOOOORING. it's like the sheldon of condiments."

🐙 "boring? at least ketchup has flavor. mayonnaise is just tasteless lard!"

now the original..

🦑 "the opponents are: mild and creamy! the alluring oily condiment "mayonnaise!" and.."

🐙 "a collaboration of sweetness and sourness! the way it spreads throughout the mouth, it's the refreshing "ketchup!"

see how different that is? this was only the theme announcement, but even just in that small bit of text, you can get an idea of the shift.

now, with this, vague hints of joke bullying are somewhat there however it's worded in a much kinder way by marina. something that must be said is that marina originally is sickeningly sweet, and is always polite. she speaks in a very formal and gentle manner, she's also quite respectful and that especially shows with pearl. going back to the vague playful jokes, here's a comparison of dialogue remaining similar, but being worded in a much gentler fashion.

in direct comparison to the translated bit, which was above.

{also dialogue announcing the manta maria is currently in-rotation.}

marina has also seemed to be protective of pearl, sometimes worrying for her wellbeing.

as you can see, she worries about pearl potentially falling off the tower in blackbelly skatepark instead of thinking of her turntables. though this protectiveness is lightly hinted at in english, {marina commenting that she will "protect her precious pearlie at all costs" with her brella} it's more apparent here, don't you think?

this sturgeon shipyard conversation follows similarly to how it does in japanese, except marina exclaims to pearl that it's dangerous to start singing so suddenly. i can almost guarantee this is because of the pure destructive power of pearl's voice! the english translation hints at that same reasoning, but oddly enough? it's never outright said that her voice actually can destroy things, which was an interesting choice.

one more example before we move on. while it's a small detail, i feel it's worth mentioning. sometimes in their exchanges, pearl will speak of an idea or something similar to the text above, and marina will tell her to save it or to not do that now. meanwhile, in japanese, marina is more encouraging to comments pearl would make.

verses.. {more from blackbelly skatepark.}

these are far from the only examples of this, but i'll keep it to these for now. i may make a future post talking more about this.

you may have noticed..

the ways they speak to each other in english are very similar to the interactions between the squid sisters. {in case you wondered, callie and marie aren't any different across either versions. the same old 'sibling' bullying.} while interesting, it makes sense. as i stated much earlier, the communications between NOA and NOJ were not prioritized as much in splatoon two, which isn't the fault of the translators themselves. they used a dynamic with them that they were familiar with, as they seemingly had nothing else to go off of.. it's a very nuanced subject. i very heavily dislike the localizations, but i understand why it's been done in this way.

example, i do not like a vast majority of the way the octo expansion was handled.

this is a whole other can of worms, due to the fact that even beyond off the hook, things got kind of weird within it. if you're curious as to what is different, please take some time to watch the octo expansion retranslated mod, by ardnin with help by rassicas!

youtube

it's a wonderfully done mod that is about ten times more faithful to the original expansion LMAO. the chat logs also feel a ton more natural.

more examples of incredibly out of character dialogue are absolute GEMS such as these. {specifically this one above made me so mad the other day i could have charged a special.}

i hate almost every line of dialogue that came from fork vs spoon. that fest was a mistake, i die on this hill.

but anyways, that's about it.

if you read this whole thing, thank you. this subject is something i am very passionate about, and i'm glad i can share it. reblogs are always appreciated, i hope this taught you something new about these two. class dismissed.

#splatoon #splatoon lore #pearlina #off the hook #splatoon translations #pearl rambles #splatoon 2 #pearl and marina

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castleoflions · 2 years

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Welcome back for another comparison of the original Japanese text against the official English translations! We’ll also be doing a bit of analysis too.

This month, Yumeko's opening speech was heavily sanitized in the English release, compared to the original Japanese. There are also some points of clarification for words used, tone, and things that just don't have a 1:1 in English.

This one will be a bit longer, so let’s get into it.

Right away, the title breaks convention a bit this month. Normally the title refers to one singular "woman" (or "girl," as Yen Press insists on translating 女 — literally "woman" — as for some reason). This month it's women, plural.

Specifically, it's "Kakegurui Women" / 賭け狂い女たち

Specifically, it's the proper kanji form of "kakegurui"/賭け狂い, as opposed to the title version (賭ケグルイ) we see regularly, which has kanji followed by a string of katakana, likely for emphasis.

In English, "kakegurui" has been translated as "compulsive gambler." This isn't necessarily wrong, but some nuance gets left out. Kakegurui / 賭け狂い literally translates to any of the following, based on context:

Betting madness/insanity

Betting deviant/irregularity

Betting fanatic/enthusiast

One could make the argument that Yumeko is overtaken with a gambling insanity (closer to a true compulsive gambler), whereas Kirari, while still technically a kakegurui as well, is more of a gambling enthusiast: she uses gambling as a means to achieve her goals. I say this because the main difference between Yumeko and Kirari appears to be restraint. Yumeko must gamble or she withers and/or goes stir crazy, but Kirari can refuse a gamble and, as far as we've seen, be no worse for wear.

All of this to say, I'm not sure I would've chosen "Compulsive Girls" as the title for this chapter. Had it been up to me, I likely would've left it as "Kakegurui Women," so that all the different meanings of the term "kakegurui" could remain for the reader to interpret its layered meaning.

Next up is just a point of clarification:

Kirari does indeed say "Sayaka, come here, please," with the implication being "Sayaka, you should move away from Yumeko." Kirari seems to know something terrible is coming, and Yumeko is the harbinger. We joke about Kirari bringing up Yumeko when Sayaka is expressing her adoration and loyalty for Kirari, and it's definitely funny in a terrible sort of way, but Kirari has been shown to be someone who keeps her eyes on her goals, even if she has to wait and be patient: she knows Yumeko is up to no good and she needs to keep tabs on her. It explains why she insisted on knowing Yumeko's vote count last chapter even with the election decided, and I bet she knew what was coming as soon as Runa told her Yumeko didn't have any left.

What really inspired me to do a write-up for this month's release is how heavily sanitized Yumeko's opening speech was. While it is technically not wrong, the original Japanese kanji provides layered meanings, especially when coupled with the visuals we get for this speech.

In the official English release, Yumeko says this: Why do so many religions make self-control one of their core tenets? They prohibit the emotion of desire...They prohibit venting your desires...They tell you to live as if desire doesn't even exist. I could never understand that. I've never done it before. I never even thought about doing it. But now I understand. The more I restrain my desires, the greater the thrill is! That must be why god has ordered me to hold them back!

What Yumeko actually says in the original Japanese is: 何故数多の宗教がが禁欲を戒律とするのでしょうか？欲を抱くことを禁じ。欲を発散することも禁じ。さも欲ななど存在しないかのように生きよと。理解できませんでした。やったこともない。やろうとも思わなかったから。でも今なら解ります。禁欲するほどに��感が増すから、神は禁欲を命ぜられたのですね！

Why do so many religions have abstinence/self-control as a commandment? It is forbidden to have desire. It is forbidden to give vent to/radiate our desire. They want us to live as if desire does not exist. I couldn't understand it. I've never done it. I had never even thought of doing it. But now I understand. God commanded me to be celibate/have self-control because the more I abstain, the more pleasure I feel, don't I!?

I'm only going to touch on this briefly because I know this can be a point of contention with some of the fans of the series (and honestly because this topic could be an entire thesis on its own), but Yumeko's compulsion for gambling has, from the beginning, been visually and verbally portrayed as being an intrinsic and irresistible urge, synonymous with hunger, or — in Yumeko's case — sexual desire. The kanji being used fluctuates based on context, or exists as a way to convey multiple things at once.

For example, the kanji that was translated into "self-control" (禁欲) means "abstinence; self-control; celibacy; abnegation; asceticism."

The kanji for "desire" (欲) also means "greed; craving; desire; appetite; hunger; avarice; wants," and is the first half of the kanji used for "lust."

The English release says the more she can hold back, the bigger the thrill is, which can be interpreted in a few ways. The Japanese more explicitly says that her abstinence results in more pleasure / 快感.

The overall takeaway is this: Yumeko suppressed her irresistible desire and craving to gamble with Kirari until she found a way to circumvent it; by directing that energy into the destruction of the house pet system and, as such, Kirari's aquarium.

Which leads to minor, yet still scuffed translation...

In the official English release, Yumeko says this: President, you figured you could take me one after you took on everyone else. But Igarashi-san was with you as well.

What Yumeko actually says in the original Japanese is: 生徒会長貴女は他の方と戦った後で、私の相手をすれば良いと考えた。しかしそこには五十嵐さんがいた。

Student council president, after fighting the others, you thought that then you could deal with me. However, there was Igarashi-san.

The English release is confusing, insinuating that Sayaka was acting on Kirari's behalf somehow, when we know she acted of her own volition, even if it was ultimately intended to be for Kirari's benefit. The original Japanese is clearer: Yumeko was spiraling, until she noticed that Sayaka was out in the open, making moves that were all but certainly to benefit Kirari, and that Yumeko could use that to her advantage.

As for this next part, I just want to provide the original Japanese for comparison purposes. Again, the English here isn't necessarily wrong, but the Japanese paints a clearer picture, specifically in how Kirari asks what Yumeko got up to once she was rejected.

In the official English release, Yumeko and Kirari say this: Yumeko: Then you misjudged Igarashi-san's love. Kirari: Yes, I did. Hee hee! It all works out. ...So? Once you realized that you cannot take me on... What did you do then?

What Yumeko and Kirari actually said in the original Japanese is: Yumeko: 見誤りましたね。五十嵐さんの愛を。 Kirari: そうね。フフ。だから良いのよ。。。。それで？私と戦えないと悟った貴女は、一体何をしたの？

Yumeko: You misjudged it, didn't you? Igarashi-san's love. Kirari: Yeah, I did. [chuckle] But it's fine/good. ...So? When you realized you couldn't fight me, what on earth did you do?

The "what on earth/what the hell did you" phrasing speaks volumes: Kirari knows Yumeko has done something terrible, she's just waiting for the other shoe to drop at this point.

Next up is after Sayaka has been mobbed by the house pets. I've seen some...uh, interesting, takes on Sayaka's state during this part. Everything ranging from trying to scrounge up a DSM diagnosis to trying to trying to fabricate any reason why her nose was bleeding other than "she got hit in the face with like a hundred bricks of cash thrown by pissed off students."

I mean this in the nicest way possible: just look at what happened on the pages.

Dozens if not hundreds of house pets just threw bricks of cash AT Sayaka, many of them with quite a bit of force – you can see several students winding their arms all the way back to pitch the cash at her like they're throwing a fastball. If you don't think that would cause some damage, imagine being pelted with hundreds of inch-thick, paperback novels from just a foot or two away. (Credit to LarkinUniverse for this comparison) You could probably come away unscathed from a few with nothing more than a few paper cuts, sure, but dozens? Hundreds? Thrown with force and vengeance? Aims at your head? She's shown actively taking cash bricks to the face. She's bleeding because she got slammed with solid objects moving with speed and force, just that simple.

Anyway. Let's keep moving, we only have a few more points of clarification to go.

There's a bit of nuance that gets lost when Kirari tells Sayaka she doesn't need to worry.

In the official English release, Kirari says this: Sayaka. It's nothing for you to fret over. I'm fine being the emperor with no clothes...as long as you're there with me.

What Kirari actually says in the original Japanese is: 清華気に病むことではないわ。私は裸の王様でもいいの。貴女が付いてきてくれるなら。

Sayaka. It's nothing to worry yourself sick about. I don't care if I'm the emperor with no clothes [literally: a naked king], as long as you're with me...

Kirari seems to know that Sayaka will go beyond her usual fretting and worrying over this. The kanji Kirari uses mentions "illness/sickness," so she knows that Sayaka is going to be so shaken by this it might make her ill. And she's unfortunately right, but it's beyond the degree she may have expected, judging by her shocked expression. Sayaka is bloodied, tear-stained, and in deep shock from the experience, explaining why she's drooling, staring off into space, and muttering an apology over and over. And when I say "shock" I don't mean the "oh she got super surprised," kind of shock, I mean the clinical term used for someone who just endured trauma and needs medical attention kind of "shock" that can happen to anyone who experiences a traumatic event. And make no mistake, this is very traumatic for Sayaka: she just inadvertently destroyed the very thing she moved heaven and earth to try and protect: Kirari's beloved aquarium. Kirari doesn't care, because her love is in Sayaka, but Sayaka doesn't seem to understand that just yet.

Also as a petty aside: Enormous Ls to any and everyone who has been saying Kirari doesn't care about Sayaka for years. It says a lot that one of the first things Kirari did when she was finally fully detached from Ririka is go to dote on Sayaka in front of everyone (credits go to RayDaug for that observation), let alone the fact that she's just freely admitted — again, in front of everyone! — that she doesn't care if she looks like a fool and is powerless, just so long as Sayaka is with her.

Which leads us into Yumeko's declaration. This is one of Yumeko's classic "Sa, kakegurui mashou!"/"Now, let's get our gambling freak on!" moments. However, in this instance, the official English translates it as "Now, let us give in to our compulsion!" instead of the usual "Now, let's get our gambling freak on!" it's been using for basically the rest of the series up until this point. For the same reason as the one I gave with the title of this chapter, I'm not sure I personally would've gone with that if for the simple reason that Kirari doesn't seem to have gambling as a true addiction or compulsion the way Yumeko does. If I personally had to choose a way to bring this over into English, I might err on the side of "Now, let's give in to our gambling madness!" instead.

And now for the final speech, which I'm including because some people were wondering about the phrasing used, and that's part of the reason why I do these – for comparison! The content is more or less fine, though "love confession," is never outright said, however "love letter" is.

In the official English release, the final speech goes like this: This is nothing short of a confession of love for her. A love letter the general public could never understand. Only its recipient would comprehend it. That...or perhaps she's forced to now? But either way, just one thing is clear. She...or they...they just aren't normal. They're completely obsessed. They're just compulsive gamblers.

In the original Japanese, the final speech goes like this: これは告白だ。公衆は誰一人として理解できないラブレター。解るのは相手だけ、それとも彼女が理解らせたのか！？いずれにせよ、ただひとつ明らかなこと。彼女はもしくは彼女らはまともじゃないギャンブル狂。賭ケグルイだ。

This is a confession. A love letter that none of the public could ever understand. Only the other person/recipient can understand it...Or did she make her understand it!? Either way, only one thing is clear. She, or they, are not sane – they're gamblers. They're kakegurui.

The implication of the English translation is that Kirari is the same as Yumeko – she's just a compulsive gambler with the same intrinsic, irresistible craving as Yumeko. Whereas with the original Japanese there's room for interpretation. So far in the series, Kirari has shown shades of that gambling madness, but it isn't quite the same. The text itself admits that perhaps Kirari didn't fully grasp the depths of Yumeko's madness until now, when Yumeko has taken advantage of Sayaka's recklessness and inability to see the forest for the trees as a way to get to Kirari. For me, personally, I see Kirari's surprise and weariness here as evidence that she isn't driven by the same compulsion that Yumeko is. They may both be kakegurui, but they aren't the same kind of kakegurui.

That's it for this chapter's Lost in Translation. Hope you enjoyed reading and comparing the texts, and — until next time — I'll keep chipping away at karis. :)

Thanks for reading!

#kakegurui #kakegurui 95 #lost in translation #anime: lesbian gambling simulator

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fantasyinvader · 7 months

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I'm going to be frank here guys. After seeing these things in the Japanese script, it just feels like a confirmation of something I've felt for a long time. This game isn't as complex as people like to say it is, and a big reason why there has been so much argument over it isn't because of it's convoluted storytelling. I'd say it's because people don't want it to be that simple.

Case-in-point, the teacher theory. That was made because it's author looked at the events of the prologue and didn't like what it ended up saying about Edelgard. So we end up with this take that tries to say "sure, Edelgard may have hired bandits to kill her classmates but she only wanted to scare the teacher away for reasons" because of one line. One line to try and explain it away regardless of the fact the translation changed "you've done things to gain power" to "everything we've done is to give you power." Like, dude, she still put a hit on her classmates and is an accomplice to the bad guys. Can't wash that away. Ditto with trying to erase Dimitri's arc by misunderstanding Japanese.

But these takes spread because people wanted to believe in them, even when presented with evidence to the contrary. They tried to downplay the reveals of other routes as misinformation only to be slapped with the devs saying that the world supported Silver Snow. That interview was so damning people tried to discredit it, saying that it was simply pandering to Dimitri and Rhea stans before switching gears to argue death of the author. They said the translators made her look bad, citing her voice acting, but then got upset when a retranslation project revealed she's actually worse in the Japanese.

I mean, sure. The game never outright says that Edelgard's version of history was from the Agarthans, but the game does say (in a story cutscene in her own route to boot) that her father, her source, was their puppet. The game gave you a two and a two, you know what to do with them. They game is full of twos waiting to be paired up, and while some of the details were changed in the translation the core of the game is still there.

Edelgard is a villain who is willing to lie, cheat, steal and kill in order to get what she wants. She is still a hypocrite, and titling her through Byleth a "Hegemon" still makes her out to be an autocrat in the english text. Words have meanings after all. I myself was saying "in ignorance, Edelgard is a hero. In truth, a villain," long before I began looking into the game's Buddhist symbolism. That symbolism served to confirm what I was saying, in addition to the devs interview. The game would have needed a far more intensive rewrite to erase it's DNA. For example, the English text makes it out she holds similar ideals to Claude while the Japanese has her say otherwise, but looking through the game we can see the difference between the two. Claude wants a world where people aren't othered and cultural differences are accepted, Edelgard wants everyone to believe what she wants them to. Neither of their ambitions stop at Fodlan, but Claude wouldn't side with Edelgard real ends and is already against her for the means she says those means justified.

People need to accept Edelgard for who she is, as well as Houses for what it is. Her fans need to stop denying her character and actions, instead ask themselves what they are really supporting and if they really want to do so. And even though she is the bad guy, that's not a reason why you shouldn't like her as a character. Just try to like her for who she really is, not what you want her to be.

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singular-yike · 10 months

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Do we know more on Médias?

Hmm, our own cute little penguin friend! I'll note right now that there's not much that we know, so you might not learn anything new in this. Still, let's take a look at what we do have!

Southern Meteor Shower — Medias Moritake

Medias and Their Home

Medias belongs to a tribe of emperor penguins from a country far to the south of the Sanctuary and Devenagara, known unofficially as the "Southern Country of Penguins".

Not too much is known about this place, other than that it's extremely cold and home to many an emperor penguin.

Medias is a dispatch soldier from this land, sent to Devanagara upon Mitori's request, as an attempt by both countries to establish diplomatic relationships with one another.

On a personal level, Medias is doing this to raise money to provide for their friends’ chicks. Perhaps because of this goal, or maybe that's just how they are to begin with, they're apparently a "big sucker for money", and would do anything to get their hands on more.

Name: Medias Moritake

Perhaps customary to Medias' tribe, they originally had only one name: Medias.

This refers to a type knitted fabric made from a technique similar to the stockinette stitch, which came from Spain and Portugal.

Below: A diagram illustrating the stitch pattern in Japanese medias.

Medias (the character) is unique in the way that their name in Japanese is completely unlike what it is in English, and with JynX's blessing as well!

Their name in Japanese is instead Meriyasu (メリヤス), which is what the fabric is known as in Japanese. It came from Portuguese "meias" (rendered as メイアシュ [meiashu] in Japanese) and Spanish "medias" (rendered as メディアス [medias] in Japanese), which both mean "socks" but came to refer to the fabric in general in Japan.

In fact, Medias' Japanese name was originally Medias (メディアス) as well in the trial version of BPoHC, but JynX changed to Meriyasu in the full version, probably so that a Japanese audience would understand the reference as well.

As for why JynX chose this name, while I can't say for sure, it's probably a reference to the fact that the first European nation to reach as well as have a stable mercantile relationship with Japan is with the Kingdom of Portugal.

JynX thus chose a name with Portuguese origins to mirror how the Southern Country of Penguins is the predominantly Japanese-styled Sanctuary and Devanagara's first contact with a distant power.

As for their kanji name, Moritake (守武), which is positioned like a family name, is an established Japanese name that was granted to them by Mitori for their service to the Capital. The characters separately mean "protect" (守) and "martial arts/war/military" (武), fitting for who they are.

Title: Southern Meteor Shower

To be completely honest, I'm only mentioning this bit to point out that I honestly don't know why Medias' character title is Southern Meteor Shower (南方の流星群).

While it's obvious why "Southern" is there, it's where Medias comes from; I'm not really sure why they're called a "meteor shower", perhaps it's just because of how fast they can move? I truly do not know.

Ending

And that's honestly all I have!

There is their ability, but it doesn't do much other than explaining how quickly they can slide around; along with some notes for their spells, but those are really minor points that I don't really see the need to point out.

There's honestly not a lot that we know about them in terms of inspiration, so this is all I have. Even still, as usual, I hope you enjoyed~! :)

#len'en project #len'en #len'en lore #medias moritake

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call-me-rucy · 2 years

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hi rucy!! i'm not sure if you've talked about this before, but i had a question about the difference between the names of the Azran in English vs in Japanese. i know in the English version of Miracle Mask, they say Rutledge found the word "Azran" on all their ancient sites, which is where they got their name. is there a different explanation for it in the Japanese version? i know it's called Civilization A in Japanese, so i'm curious about how the lore diverges, if it does at all.

Hi! Thank you so much for this question, it’s been a while since I got to do this style of investigation, and it’s been SO FUN. Also quite long. I apologise for the length.

LONG STORY SHORT: “Civilization A” is a title rather than a name, never used outside of the title of the game afaik and in-game the Azran are called Azran.

NOW THE LONG STORY LONG:

I checked the class dialogue of Miracle Mask, to see how the Azran are referred to and if the explanation changed. The dialogue is fairly similar to the English version and the word they use is “アスラント” (“asuranto”, could be interpreted as “Aslant”). Here’s what Collin says, in the style of my usual comparative translations:

C: He surveyed archaeological sites at various places and found out they had something in common. (“found out”, no “looked for” like the eng version)

C: He was also the first person to discover that the civilization he had found had the name “asuranto”.

C: Nevertheless, the age of the “asuranto” civilization is still shrouded in mystery to this day.

So, seeing this, it’s clear that Azran is just the translation of “asuranto”. This is the word used in both Miracle Mask and Azran Legacy to say Azran.

Now, the “Civilization A” thing comes from the title of Azran Legacy, which was revealed after Miracle Mask was out in Japan and when it was already in process of translation. Checking the timeline:

02/2011: Miracle Mask JPN

06/2012: Teaser Trailer Miracle Mask ENG (They already had voice lines translated here)

08/2012: Title of Azran Legacy JPN

10/2012: Miracle Mask ENG

Surely they were already well advanced in the translation of MM when the notorious “Civilization A” first appeared, so the chance that the new title had some influence on the translation process of MM is little.

Let’s take a closer look at the title that was announced more than a decade ago now. (T.N.: Im SO OLD >_<)

レイトン教授と超文明Aの遺産

Reiton (Layton) Kyouju (Professor) to (and) Chou (Super) Bunmei (Civilization) A (A) no (‘s) Isan (Legacy)

Literally: Professor Layton and the Supercivilization A’s Legacy.

It seems like an overly complicated title. And it kind of is. But there is a reason for this!

And the reason is: up to that point Layton titles DID NOT use English words (apart from “Layton” and ignoring the “VS” cause 1) “VS” is a very, very international word 2) We’re only considering the main series here).

A while ago I got an ask about why Arianna’s ocarina is called “flute” in the title of the game. The conclusion I reached is that they didn’t want to use the loan word “ocarina”, but Japanese words as they had been using.

This is the same, I think. “Asuranto”, Azran, is a made-up English word. You can not write it with kanji (the Chinese characters the Japanese language uses). So, you choose another title that means a similar thing, maybe adds mystery and is in kanji (like they did with Spectres’ Flute). And you get “Professor Layton and the Supercivilization’s Legacy”. レイトン教授と超文明の遺産

This is how it would look btw:

最後の時間旅行 (Last Time Travel (UF) for comparison)

超文明Aの遺産 (Supercivilization A’s Legacy)

アスラントの遺産 (Azran Legacy with the english word) (Looks different, right?)

About the A, though? I’m lost.

I mean, “asuranto” does start with an A, but as far as I know they are never called “Civilization A” in either game, only “asuranto civilization”. I have to say I haven’t watched the 100% of the games in Japanese, but I have the most important parts. Apart from that, this is just speculation, the A could be because they are the first advanced civilization, and thus they deserve the first letter of the alphabet, as if it were a title of some kind. Or it might be just to look cool, they may have definitely wanted to break the “only Japanese words” pattern but weren’t confident it would be properly “Layton brand” but since it’s only for one symbol it’s not that big of a deal. Maybe a bit like Dragon Ball *Z* or Pokémon *X*?

I don’t know. I have no idea. If there is any Japanese speaker reading this that could come explain the A, I’d be eternally grateful.

Well, that’s it! I hope this was understandable and helpful in some way. Please feel free to ask further Layton questions, I’m always down to spending hours researching obscure 2012 Layton articles. Thanks a lot for the question, too, I had a lot of fun and even found things that I will be talking about in later posts! ^^

#professor layton #azran legacy #comparative translations #ask #thanks for asking #professor layton and the azran legacy

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theomnicode · 1 year

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https://youtu.be/WFbXbV0GaRk

The Saitama being a sun deity is becoming stronger and stronger. I saw this video and immediately remembered your theory.

Uuh which theories? I have far, far too many lol.

(Please dig me the theories being refered to I would appreciate those haha, I don't keep good tabs, I keep losing my stuff in my own archives...) (Also tbh I can't be arsed to watch Zoniin's one hour long video gah, I'm sorry if that's pertinent to this ask)

You prolly meant this when I took one of Murata-sensei's tweets about Garou arc ending. And also one of my divine power theories I've lost somewhere in the archives...

BUT the depiction of Saitama's divine power is definitely that of the sun and he has quite many sun motifs to go around.

From his bald head reflecting the sun, sun shining from behind him, fists glowing golden, the clash of divine powers looking like the sun itself, standing atop a monsterized sun, sun symbols like reading manga...the list goes on.

He's the sun man and sun deity, through and through.

Well that is, if he Awakened (ascended) to the full use of his powers, his divine power to be precise that is fueled by his emotions. I still hypothesise that he doesn't particularly know exactly how it works. He punches something, it relieves him of his stressfull emotions and uh, yea.

That's it. He's like "I punch stuff and it works."

When he's talked to about his divine power, he does not consciously remember either. And pelted with rocks too as punishment.

Then there's ofc the japanese mythos of Amaterasu, the sun goddess and rest which are probably a good source of inspiration to draw from.

Now if you allow me to detour from Saitama himself a bit...

Cuz he's prolly not the only "sun god" in the mix.

Let's talk about some potential Sun lore, divine power and mythos in OPM. This be a long one.

The interesting bit comes from that we also have a direct Tsukuyomi reference in the manga now and Tsukuyomi stands as one of the the siblings to Amaterasu, as does Susanoo. So it is probably fairly definitive at this point that ONE has read the mythos and some of that has been used as source of inspiration.

Amaterasu is the great and glorious goddess of the sun. An embodiment of the rising sun and Japan itself, she is the queen of the kami and ruler of the universe. The Japanese Imperial Family claims to have descended from her, and this is what gives them the divine right to rule Japan.

She is the center of Shinto, and Japanese spiritual life. Amaterasu can be translated as “Shines from Heaven,” with 天 meaning “heaven” (or Imperial) and 照 meaning “shines.” Amaterasu is shorthand for Amaterasu-ōmikami, which can be represented in Kanji as 天照大神, 天照大御神, and 天照皇大神. This longer version means “the great and glorious kami who illuminates from Heaven.” The most prominent of her titles is Ōhirume-no-muchi-no-kami (大日孁貴神), meaning “the great sun of the kami.”

Amaterasu is the Queen of Heaven, the kami, and creation itself. Though she did not create the universe, she is the goddess of creation, a role she inherited from her father, Izanagi, who now defends the world from the land of the dead.

Amaterasu’s primary role is that of the sun goddess. In this position, she not only serves as the literal rising sun that illuminates all things, but also provides nourishment to all living creatures and marks the orderly movement of day into night.

The sun represents order and purity, two of Shinto’s most important concepts. All things in creation are ordered, from Amaterasu down to the denizens of Jigoku and other hells. This order is reflected in Japanese society as well.

Through Amaterasu’s illumination, she represents not just order, but the justice that maintains it as well. The Imperial family has long served as the legitimizing power of any Japanese political entity, and they have always used this position to ensure that Amaterasu’s place as Queen of Heaven and her control of its courts are reflected in their rule. Thus, the earthly court systems and the justice they represent are reflections of Amaterasu’s divine justice, though she herself is not the goddess of justice - merely its final arbiter. She maintains harmony and balance in both the natural world and human society.

Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto is the Japanese god of the moon, a proud deity of order and beauty. The estranged husband of the sun goddess Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi spends eternity chasing her across the sky.

Tsukuyomi, sometimes called Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto (the great God Tsukuyomi), is rendered as 月読尊, or simply 月読 in Kanji. This name directly translates to “moon-reading,” a popular practice in the noble courts of pre-modern Japan where parties would stay up all night moon-gazing and reading poetry. An alternate Kanji reading is tsukuyo, moon-light, and mi, watching. Sometimes he is called Tsukuyomi Otoko (月讀壮士) or Tsukuhito Otoko (月人壮士), meaning “moon-reading man.”

Tsukuyomi is very much a match for his wife Amaterasu. Beautiful and serene, he believes in order and etiquette and enforces them whenever he can. His enforcement of such ideals extends to the point that he is willing to kill to maintain order, despite killing itself being a breach of etiquette in the heavenly court. Thus, there is irony in Tsukuyomi’s strict adherence to etiquette: to enforce it, he is willing to break it.

Tsukuyomi and his siblings Amaterasu and Susanoo were born of the purification ritual Izanagi underwent following his trials in Yomi.

Together, the siblings climbed the Heavenly Pillar and ruled the Heavens. Tsukuyomi married his sister Amaterasu, and ruled as her consort.

The Death of Uke Mochi When word reached Amaterasu, she was horrified and labeled her husband an evil kami, unworthy of returning to the Heavens. This separation of Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu was the origin of day and night. For all eternity, Tsukuyomi will continue to pursue Amaterasu across the night sky without ever reaching her; even during an eclipse, the sun will run from the moon.

Tsukuyomi lacked Amaterasu’s naturally glowing disposition. Whatever goodness he had was merely a reflection of her light.

(Kami means God, so this is probably a direct reference to the mythos) (Garou has the sun corona wrapped around him, ergo he was the sun eclipse and ill omen)

And as we know, the Moon God is an obvious reference to OPM God who's body resides in the moon.

So what do they say about moonlight?

It only reflects the sunlight. Because moon does not produce light on it's own.

And there's been bunch of parallels between Saitama and OPM God already. One stands in the heavens and reflects the sunlight, the beauty of overwhelming power of the sun, light and moral good aspects and positivity and growth and want for living, while the other crawls from the ever-dark side of the moon where no sunlight reaches, the dark corners and only ever seems to even connect with individuals with dark thoughts in their minds, notably about killing or death of something.

(If he turned around it would be such a nice parallel to Saitama image above wouldn't it? Heh)

There is one other occasions with usage of monsterized sun as motif, like when Black S combines to platinum S and experiences sadness and grief on a deeper level, because he feels all those consciousness of other Black S fade in death and merge into new individual.

One could hypothesise then that OPM God gains power from darker, deeper, negative emotions of the psyche, these powers work as it's fuel and it takes advantage of these openings in the heart to wheedle it's influence over individuals. When the spirit is weakened and people give into these dark thoughts and emotions in times of duress. Like when HE tried to hang himself and Garou gave up after Saitama beat him, future Garou turned himself into salt statue and Garou tried to get other heroes to kill him.

Emotions like self-loathing, hatred of other individuals enough to produce killing intent, dark triadism, those kinds of stuff. Saitama himself has to prep a serious punch with enough killing intent to vaporize enemies like Elder centipede.

So you could say that if Saitama is the Sun god, then OPM God is the Moon God and the other side of the coin, the forces that make the Earth spin around, if you allow some philosophy.

Saitama is the protagonist of the story and OPM God is proposed to be the final villain. So yea, it kinda makes sense too. The beginning and the end of the Ouroboros.

(And you can't say OPM God prolly ain't kinda obsessed and/or linked with Saitama at this point, the Abominable fist that turned against God, like Tsukuyomi chases the sun god Amaterasu. It ain't easy being Saitama.)

Sun is basically a large ball of hot plasma, so their divine powers are similar too. HE basically throws large balls of hot plasmas at people (like vaccineman and choze), so its no wonder he was such a scary opponent and a hit would vaporize anybody in an instant.

Besides cutting it with sun blade, which seems symbolic if anything in a chapter titled "The greatest obstacle". There is both the sun blade and the moon blade, naturally, to reflect the dualistic aspects of divine power I am guessing. Sunlight is the source of all life on Earth, but ultraviolet can also break down DNA and the thermal energy is very destructive.

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radiation, and is the most important source of energy for life on Earth.

I don't really see that much difference between Saitama's divine power of the sun or what Homeless Emperor uses and what gets forfeited from him and which then also kills him by burning him to crisp, besides the intent.

It's a sun, alright. Blast calls Garou's power "divine power" when he flares and glows with the power of Sun's corona (same look as in the cover page "Authenticity"), Saitama's copied power from Garou fuses with his own serious punch to create a ball of plasma in the sky and literal sun and Blast's friends wonder who's this person imbued with so much divine power.

It's all just some aspects of the power of the Sun.

(Praise the sun) (I'm sorry, not)

And as it stands, OPM God also resides within a depiction of heaven, much like when Amai-mask imagined Saitama as a being of overwhelming power in 174 "Beauty". The first attack Garou also used was Nuclear fission, third attack was Gamma ray Burst and our Sun is classified a red dwarf star.

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers active or main-sequence stars and other high-magnitude stars, where large amounts of energy are released.

The interesting bit is that Garou could also use and copy Blast's and Saitama's powers and then figured out something as absurd as time travel on his own. With just the knowledge of the flow and behaviour of all the energies in the universe.

Idk maybe he just slapped everything he knew and had copied together and poof, time travel concept. *shrug*

Whether there is more to divine power itself, like divine power having the capacity of manipulating reality of the cosmos itself (space-time) or whether Saitama's divine power is still in it's infancy, like Garou who only got a small impartation of power or if Saitama bending reality of the known cosmos comes from somewhere else, like soul or some kind of combined effect like mind, body and soul... Hard to say.

(Hah Saitama's divine power being underdeveloped...scary)

(Other side of the coin when Saitama reflects the moon on the surface of the water, btw)

I've thought this before, but I do think that one of the agendas, if OPM God is the chessmaster and the invisible hand, then it allowed Saitama to learn this ability from Garou who managed to figure out how to do it. He's a quick study and genious of techniques, so maybe he needed to be pushed to that point to actually develop such a technique and Garou was fond of combining other techniques into making his own.

So maybe the theory of Garou combining everything he knew into time travel concept holds some water then and it's not part of divine power in itself.

But Blast having space-time powers, so idk... need to know more.

I'm going to loan Rene descartes and the Pineal gland for a bit.

The pineal gland is a tiny organ in the center of the brain that played an important role in Descartes’ philosophy. He regarded it as the principal seat of the soul and the place in which all our thoughts are formed.

In Treatise of Man: In scholastic philosophy, these activities were explained by referring to the soul, but Descartes proudly pointed out that he did not have to invoke this notion: “it is not necessary to conceive of this machine as having any vegetative or sensitive soul or other principle of movement and life, apart from its blood and its spirits, which are agitated by the heat of the fire burning continuously in its heart—a fire which has the same nature as all the fires that occur in inanimate bodies”. The pineal gland played an important role in Descartes’ account because it was involved in sensation, imagination, memory and the causation of bodily movements.

As in perception, Descartes applied the term ‘idea’ again to the flow of animal spirits from the pineal gland: “And note that if we have an idea about moving a member, that idea—consisting of nothing but the way in which spirits flow from the gland—is the cause of the movement itself” (AT XI:181; Hall 1972, p. 92). Apart from the just-mentioned type of bodily motions, caused by motions of the pineal gland, there is also a second kind, namely reflexes. The pineal gland plays no role with respect to them. Reflexes are caused by direct exchanges of animal spirits between channels within the hemispheres of the brain. (Descartes did not know that there are “spinal reflexes”.) They do not necessarily give rise to ideas (in the sense of currents in the ventricles) and are not brought about by motions of the pineal gland.

The passions of the soul: The solution of this puzzle is to be found in a passage which Descartes wrote a few years before the Passions, in which he compared the mind with the heaviness or gravity of a body: “I saw that the gravity, while remaining coextensive with the heavy body, could exercise all its force in any one part of the body; for if the body were hung from a rope attached to any part of it, it would still pull the rope down with all its force, just as if all the gravity existed in the part actually touching the rope instead of being scattered through the remaining parts. This is exactly the way in which I now understand the mind to be coextensive with the body—the whole mind in the whole body and the whole mind in any one of its parts” (Replies to the sixth set of objections to the Meditations, 1641, AT VII:441, CSM II:297). He added that he thought that our ideas about gravity are derived from our conception of the soul.

In this, ONE may have juxtaposed the idea of heavy conscience with passions of the soul from Rene Descartes and having powers of gravity at one's disposal, like Blast has. Kinda like how Mob walks with heavy steps when he's in ??? because of heavy conscience. The more the individual feels about matters, the more passionate the individual is, the more weight is put on their conscience.

If we glean from this that the more weight on individual's conscience, the more space-time powers they have then...and reality manipulation being space-time powers then it would mean Saitama's conscience might be...very fucking heavy. Since he too, is wounded healer archetype like Blast.

First episode in OPM, about thousand civilians died in one fell swoop because he could have just punched Beefcake immediately, but did not, because he had grown so apathetic his conscience had taken a hike.

Oop.

The medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinasbelieved our conscience emerged from synderesis: the ‘spark of conscience’. He literally meant the human mind’s ability to understand the world in moral terms. Conscience was the process by which a person brought the principles of synderesis into a practical situation through our decisions.

Anyways, one other mythos from the aztects of their Sun god comes to mind when talking about sun gods.

OPM God is basically dead. It's incorporeal and it's body is inert in the moon. It only appears to people taking other forms and when enough divine power is present and only within their subconscious. Then it took HE's life and his power as his own. His temple underground looks reminiscent to aztec temples.

The rationale for Aztec human sacrifice was, first and foremost, a matter of survival. According to Aztec cosmology, the sun god Huitzilopochtli was waging a constant war against darkness, and if the darkness won, the world would end. The keep the sun moving across the sky and preserve their very lives, the Aztecs had to feed Huitzilopochtli with human hearts and blood.

Joe Rogan talks about how Aztecs burned people alive.

With this in mind...OPM God may stress out people first so when they finally die, it can digest the souls and they're more tasty this way but it would also give him their superhuman strenght and religious ecstacy of their souls.

If it feeds on the power of dark emotions, yea, it would probably give it more power with this kind of approach and feed into it's own cruel tendencies of manipulating people and watching them suffer and doing his bidding like slaves. Playing the evil, egotistical puppermaster.

That's why it's so goddamn large, it looks like a Preta path (hungry ghost) and why there's so many flowers of Lotus at it's feet. A pure, sacred flower. Might be all the souls it has nommed in it's quest to sustain itself in some way, since it's dead so it has no life energy and looks like death warmed over.

Kinda like Boros when boros got a taste of Saitama's serious punch, just shriveled up. Might be the reason it wants a living body as sacrifice to resurrect on earth.

This is a hypothesis though.

Nelumbo nucifera is a lotus species with historical cultural and spiritual significance. It is a sacred flower in both Hinduism and Buddhism,[93] representing the path to spiritual awakening and enlightenment. In Christianity, the lotus flower is often associated with the apostle Thomas and his coming to India.[94] It was also an important symbol in ancient Egypt, where it represented the path from death to rebirth to the afterlife.

Whether it has some kind of agenda at play, like the Aztec sun god and keeping some kind of darkness at bay and morally justifying this action of empowering itself...that I cannot say. But there is that dark shape below inside the God's dimension that Saitama awoke which wants to destroy humans cuz humans are apparently a plague, so there is that.

Kinda hard to make humans your avatars if the other agenda is to create monsters to destroy them at the same time, huh? Misantrophy all the same.

Idk, maybe it tries to take the human souls to himself first so they don't end up as sacrificial lambs for the resurrection of evil god? Ends don't justify the means though. *shrug*

Phew, that's a lot of stuff. I may've had a bit more to add but I lost my train of thought somewhere. Mostly mythos and hypothesis and stuff I've thought about here and there.

(The smallest ask sometimes gets the longest meta thoughts if I am so inclined lmao)

#opm #one punch man #asks #saitama #opm god #amaterasu #tsukuyomi #sun god #divine power #opm meta #sun #kami #aztecs #rene descartes #Treatise of Man #The Passions of the Soul #long #mythology #opm manga panels

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smokeybrandreviews · 9 months

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Gum-Gum no Excellence

I finished Netflix's take on One Piece yesterday and, i must say, it was superb. I did not think they'd be able to actually capture that kinetic, endearing, emotional, slapstick energy that the Straw Hat's exude but, to my joyful surprise, they absolutely did. This version of One Piece is every bit as valid as the manga and anime versions. In some regards, I'd say it's even better. Certainly the pacing is far superior. I mean, we spent, like, two episodes in Syrup village which is all you need. I hated that arc because it was so goddamn meh. Not in this adaption. You get in there, you get what you need (Usopp and Going Merry) and you're out. It's actually kind of amazing how adept the writers on this show were able to distill forty-five half hour episodes, into eight hour long entries, without losing the plot is borderline miraculous. There were changes made due to budget concerns and the like but, overall, the alterations were more positive than negative, something that is quite rare in modern Hollywood. I have an issue with the fact that this thing cribs way too much from that Pirates of the Caribbean aesthetic (this show is nowhere near as colorful or explosive as the manga and anime) but that, i think, is just for normie yankee appeal. I doubt the masses would except the technicolor camp of the original vision but who am i to day? What i can say is that the cast is pitch-perfect.

Months ago, when the cast was first announced, i wrote an entire essay about how perfect it was. If you're curious, it's titled "Bon Voyage". Search that up and give it a read. In short, i thought the cast was perfect. There was a lot of frustration about "forced diversity" and perceived "wokeness" but that wasn't the case at all. The characters actually skewed to how Oda, himself, saw them. Luffy was Brazilian, Zorro was Japanese, Sanji as French, Nami was Swedish (i think), and Usopp was Black. That sh*t is chock full of proper diversity and, surprise-surprise, the cast reflected that. Hell, Oda even praised Inaki Godoy for his portrayal of Luffy, even though he's Mexican, not Brazilian. To be perfectly honest, i think that cast, the chemistry of the main characters, is the strength of this show. Godoy's Luffy is a standout, capturing that naive yet powerful energy Luffy exudes. Dude is the engine which makes this show go but his energetic presence doesn't overshadow the rest of his crew at all. Emily Rudd's Nami is every bit the sardonic straight man i expected her to be and Mackenyu's take on Zorro is every bit the bad ass i imagined the Pirate Hunter could be in live action. The lone weak link, i think, is Jacob Gibson's Usopp but that's mostly because Usopp is useless in these first few arcs. Kid gets much more bad ass as the narrative progresses. Hopefully, we'll get to see a bit of Sogeking before Netflix inevitably axes this show because, if we're being honest, that Alabasta arc is about to cost a ton of f*cking money, and Netflix is notorious about not cashing out. I'm curious if this thing makes it past the three season death date because, seriously, even the supporting cast kills. Morgan Davies' Koby, Aidan Scott's Helmeppo, and Vincent Regan's Garp are perfect contrasts as the stalwart Marine contingent in pursuit of the free-wheeling Straw Hat pirates.

The villains, too, were pretty solid. I thought Arlong was kind of rushed but both Buggy and Mihawk were perfect. Their portrayal gives me hope that cats like Crocodile and the CP9 can be executed in live action rather faithfully. I don't know what the future holds for this adaption but i adore what we've gotten so far. and so do general audiences. Outside of the weird slather of grime the US perspective pushed on this technicolor wonderland of camp, Netflix seems to have cracked how to adapt anime. Well, if I'm being honest, that was more James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez with Alita: Battle Angel but One Piece is the next step in that growth. In terms of Comic adaptions, I'd say Alita is akin to Blade and One Piece is this genres X-Men. Cats can look at this show and see the ground work laid. They can crib that formula, tweak it as necessary, and really understand how to translate the very Japanese feel of anime toward the more mundane and formulaic notions of the American palate. I love what I've seen in these first eight episode and look forward to what comes next. I want Skypiea. I want Lougetown and Dragon. More than anything, i want Alabasta because i NEED Nico Robin. She's my favorite character of the entire series and it would be an absolute shame if we didn't get such an integral part of the Straw Hats. Hell, even Tony Tony Chopper needs to at least make a cameo. Netflix's One Piece was excellent. On it's own, as a show, it was fun, whimsical, entertainment. As an anime adaption, it's one of the best I've ever seen, up there with Alita and Speed Racer. All eight episodes are out right now. Go binge them right now. Support this fantastic show because we need more of this and less of sh*t like Bebop and Death Note. Even though i kind of like Netflix's Death Note.

#One Piece #Netflix #Going Merry

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smokeybrand · 9 months

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Gum-Gum no Excellence

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furinana · 1 year

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When I was playing the iOS version of SMT1, nobody could drink. If you tried, there was an extra line of dialogue where the bartender says something like, "Aren't you a little young?" and gives you juice instead. I don't know if it's just an international release thing, if it was added in the GBA or PSX port, or what. Felt a bit like they were trying to weasel out of a 'representing minors consuming alcohol' offense.

I always thought the Heroine was in her twenties by the present, but since she's the rebel leader and everyone's after her, she never shows anyone her ID.

Enforcing drinking laws might have made sense in the present, but after Tokyo is destroyed, why do the bartenders care? And how would they know that these random travelers are under twenty, if IDs aren't produced anymore?

I think it makes more sense if nobody cared about underage drinking laws by the time you reach bars. If memory serves, Kichijoji only has a cafe, and you only get bars once you reach Shinjuku. By then, things have gotten so bad that bars might start selling to anyone who can pay.

But really, we all know that if anyone's irresponsible, it's the bars of SMT2, for serving alcohol to two-year-old Aleph.

Hah I was very much suspecting it was a retcon. And that's because MT2/SMT2 already had an euphemism for beer which was Magical Fizz.

So I'm guessing they gave up on trying to be subtle and removed the lore of the protagonist having alcohol altogether for later rereleases? So teenager drinking bad but using guns and killing people still good?

Anyway since we’re at it, let’s compare the 8/16-bit era of mainline games chronologically on the drinking aspect:

In the SNES version of Megami Tensei, while they don’t specify what kind of drink you’re having, from Nakajima’s reaction it seemed very satisfying. The name of the shop is even “Poison Bar”, for goodness’s sake.

That being said, considering the game is a completely different (and far simpler) take on the story from the original novel, we can easily label Nakajima doing underage drinking and frickin gambling in the Underworld as non-canon.

ACTUALLY, I skimmed through its NES version and I don’t think any of those features were supposed to exist in the first place. Which means MT2 was where bars started being a thing:

NES and SNES for comparison. Yeah, the exact same English words are written in the Japanese text for the drinks. You know, something I can’t help but get awfully curious for is that while in later SNES titles the main character freely drinks liquor, in the game where this feature made its debut he’s literally the one who can’t have it.

No booze allowed for the MT2 protagonist. Only soft drinks. Even though both of his partners can have beer. It’s never commented why. If there are age differences, it’s not apparent. And they live in devastated version of Tokyo so rules would be far more lax.

It’s funny because this is the same game where the protagonist can go to a drugstore to get high from herbal medicine. Yeah you read it right.

And he can keep going for a LONG time.

...and overdose to the point of falling on the floor paralyzed and unable to do anything, much to the heroine’s chagrin.

On that note, there’s a single instance in the entire game where the MC finally is offered actual liquor. From... a guy that was Satan's disguise.

Paralyzed AGAIN, Takuma? And imagine getting roofied by goddamn Satan.

Maybe the reason bartenders don’t serve him specifically is because people that are familiar with him know he’s a danger to himself. Considering that [redacted] happens in a point of the game... yeah. You better stop and just fucking listen to what Asuka says to you, boy.

SMT1 is where the protagonist finally can join the fun with his companions. Everyone drinks the same thing. Equality baby! And no euphemisms!

They could drink in bars both when Tokyo was normal and after it got destroyed by the missiles, so I don’t think the excuse of “oh, the apocalypse made people stop caring” work, at least with the same weight as in MT2.

...AND THEN the sequel brought Magical Fizz back. Probably because SMT2 took cues from MT2 and/or they thought the word was still hilarious (I also do, ngl).

This little dialogue of the barman not letting you drink any more doesn’t show up in other games with the bar feature. Makes you wonder if Aleph is a lightweight since [redacted] or if other bartenders are just... irresponsible as fuck. And yes I’m also counting you on this, crazy MT2 drugstore girl.

One of the big highlights of SMT2 is getting Aleph shitfaced so he can temporarily get enough MAG to win the dance contest. Look at this madlad. Aleph must be great at parties.

You know which other infamous drink makes a comeback?

SUPER MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILK

Fairly enough, it’s exclusive to the Center’s bar. You know... the place where the Law side is located. No sinning next to angels, Aleph.

SMT:If is the game where some surprise factor indeed reaches the player since it happens inside a high school (and yet somehow our first-year protagonists can have liquor bottles stored in their pocket to either offer to demons or chug them down themselves).

Let’s be honest, this would be an unusual thing to keep around even for adult staff! It’s a school goddamnit. Unless they got it somewhere else like... perhaps the Underworld since Hazama connected both places together.

Actually, such “is this allowed?” age aspect is even commented by a NPC but for the gambling feature:

Considering the type of people you partner up with in SMT:If (and subsenquently the P1/P2 cast to some degree), the protagonists displaying delinquent behavior might very well be what they went for compared to the more ambiguous “left-to-the-player” interpretations for MT2/SMT1/SMT2.

With the exception of our good glasses girl, look at the rest of these hooligans!

Anyway I stick with my interpretation of the main cast of SMT1/2 being on their twenties (or looking as such like Aleph) while the rest are just teens playing with their luck.

#smt #smtii #smtif #mt #mtii

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igiveyoumyblood · 7 months

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'Sweet Venom' MV First Reactions

&TEAM gave us a stellar release with a great, hype MV, and amazing choreography which suited their theme perfectly. Last comeback, ENHYPEN gave us a great vampire-themed concept, in a similar vein. So, what do we get this comeback? A cheap-looking MV, a song which will definitely be seen in a sexual manner towards Niki, and a mediocre song.

I'm relatively sure the song will grow on me (in fact, as expected, it has over the course of writing this post), but I don't know about the other things...

'Sweet Venom' is in the same vein as 'Fever,' which is far from a bad thing... except that I don't like either song, feel that both of them are mediocre, and have concerns about how they are used to sexualise the younger members and ESPECIALLY Niki.

So when I say 'the same vein as Fever,' it is NOT a compliment. The only good thing about it is that both songs very much fit a vampire concept... and even that isn't good because they fit the sexy idea of vampires (my least favourite version of them) as opposed to the Gothic, superpowered, or horror-based vampires.

So with my very biased asexual rants out of the way, but with the warning that they will definitely cloud the rest of my interpretation of the song, let's talk about the MV itself. By which I say... there is little for me to talk about. But let's see how we go.

'Sweet Venom'

Okay, Japanese setting. I actually had to go back and check this was a Korean comeback when I saw this...

The only thing to say about this setting is that it's grungey and thus relates to other (lacking in plot) MVs like 'Pass the Mic,' - hence is something we aren't surprised to see ENHYPEN do.

Also the neon lighting adds to the retro feel of the comeback.

At this point we get to screenshots I took on my phone. For some reason, I wasn’t able to increase the quality. Please forgive me and just watch the MV.

I like the title screen - with the frozen lightning, the storm clouds and the font, it looks like an 80s horror film.

We get these scenes where everyone is frozen - either partying or fighting or both - except the members are kind of… not frozen? They’re all frozen in place but their mouths are moving and they seem conscious so idk… I will assume they aren’t frozen but are staying still for whatever reason. It’s pretty cool and likely a representation of their power… or another power which I will discuss later.

The dance is cool, I guess? I don’t think it expresses the story of the song well, it’s just vaguely retro and vampire-sexual.

Then we get the exact same frozen scene as before, except we have different members subbed in to reflect who is singing.

If the director isn’t trying to express a time loop of some kind through this, I genuinely have no clue what they wanted us to take from the MV.

Hello Jungwon.

I also find it interesting that they chose to have these pulses of light/energy through the dance scenes - is this a further representation of their power? Maintaining the frozen time bubble? Or is it just supposed to look cool?

At which point we get this montage of a bizarre combination of abstract photography art, partying, people just generally having fun, and the members with these dots projected on them. I can’t include all of the images since I’ve hit my mobile image limit but I’ll include some of my favourites in the next post.

These don’t seem to have much meaning or tell much of a story, except that people are being young and hedonistic - ahem, Drunk-Dazed, ahem.

OR, there is an alternate explanation I will discuss in the second part.

#enhypen #engene #enhypen theories #orange blood #sweet venom #mv analysis

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ratralsis · 1 year

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Mine name

The thing about writing is, I have no idea how to do it, but I know sometimes I'll find something that, despite being absurd, works.

Today's piece is another example of that. I've shared a few others. This is just one more.

Have you ever played Chrono Trigger on the SNES? Don't bother answering. It doesn't matter. I'm gonna tell this story either way.

There's a moment in the game, where this dude, this tiny frog man:

Shouts at a mountain, "Mine name is Glenn!"

At least, he does that in the original English version. In the original Japanese version, which is even more original, he says "我が名はグレン！", which just means "My name is Glenn," but it's kind of old-fashioned talk. Because, you see, his name is Glenn. Except, up to this point, he's only called himself Frog to you and the rest of the playable characters.

You meet Frog fairly early on. He appears out of nowhere when you're infiltrating a church full of monsters on a mission to rescue the kidnapped queen. I'm not gonna explain more than this, so either play the game, or don't. Either way, as a wise man once said, "If you can't keep up, don't step up."

Frog is a swordsman, as you might have guessed from that ridiculous picture of him by Akira Toriyama earlier. You know, the dude who did Dragonball. Or… does Dragonball? I guess he still does Dragonball. He also does Dragon Quest, which is way better, but I'm probably the only dude around who thinks that, so I tend to keep that opinion to myself. Anyway, as a swordsman, Frog is just as good, if not better, than your main character Crono, who is also a swordsman of a slightly different variety. Crono uses a katana, and Frog uses a broadsword. One is a curved sword with only one sharp side. The other is a straight sword with two sharp sides.

There might be swords out there in the world with three or more sharp sides, but I don't really like to think about those.

There are, of course, swords out there with no sharp sides at all, only sharp points. Those are called "edgeless swords," and they really do exist, primarily for dueling, because they're still pointy on the end.

Swords with really long handles and short blades that are pointy are often called "spears."

Anyway, enough talk about swords. This is about Frog, by which I mean Glenn. Because we learn, as we play the game, that Frog wasn't always a little frog man. He used to be a little regular man. Actually, a pretty normal-sized regular man. A regular regular man, if you will. He was friends with a great knight, named Cyrus, who was a really big regular man. Cyrus was very strong and cool, while Glenn was average and extremely uncool. Glenn was the kind of guy who let the other kids beat the shit out of him when he was also a kid, because, as he put it, "it hurts to be hit," and therefore he couldn't bring himself to defend himself from the other kids. He didn't want to hurt them.

Cyrus told Glenn in no uncertain terms that saying that meant that Glenn was simply too kind, or "soft," in English. But Glenn didn't change. He was soft up to the very end.

The very end being, of course, when Cyrus attacked a dude named Magus, or 魔王 in Japanese. 魔王 is, you SURELY know, just a generic title meaning "demon king," and is part of the name of Bowser in Japan: 大魔王クッパ, or "Great Demon King Koopa." See, Bowser adds that 大 to the front that means "big," because he's bigger than Magus is.

That is because Bowser is far stronger. Bowser is not in Chrono Trigger, but if he were, he would simply kill Magus with his fire breath and/or by pulling his arms and legs and head into his shell and spinning fast and crushing Magus to death with his body. Magus would not be able to handle that. Magus is pretty strong, but Bowser is far stronger.

Anyway, enough talk about Bowser. This is about Glenn, by which I mean Glenn's horrible and embarrassing defeat at the hands of Magus. Because we learn, as we play the game, that when Cyrus attacked Magus, he lost spectacularly. Magus murdered Cyrus SUPER HARD, and Glenn, well, Glenn was also there, acting as Cyrus's squire and/or little buddy. I'm not really sure what their relationship was. I think Glenn was trying to become a knight, but he was just too goddamn soft. He saw Magus kill Cyrus, and what did Glenn do? Well, it sure as hell wasn't kill Magus right back, I can tell you that.

Instead, what Glenn did was get zapped with a big spell by Magus, and that spell turned regular-sized Glenn into a smaller version of himself who was also a frog. So he started calling himself Frog, but he also became a pretty good swordsman, and he even rescued the queen of the kingdom… TEN YEARS LATER.

Glenn spent ten goddamn years being Frog, living in a hole in the forest all by himself. A lonely existence. A miserable existence! But he did it, without complaint, because what else was he gonna do? Stop being a little frog man? Fuck no. He didn't have the luxury to make a decision like that.

But then Crono comes along. Crono has learned a thing or two about Cyrus, and Magus, and how Magus is trying to summon a giant monster capable of destroying the world. And we know that this monster can destroy the world, because it does, 1399 years later, because, surprise surprise, Chrono Trigger is a time travel story, even though I haven't mentioned that before and won't mention it again.

So you might think, wait, if this thing destroys the world in 1399 years, doesn't that mean we know Magus fucks up the summoning? And yeah, we do, but Crono doesn't. At this point in the story, Crono thinks Magus created the thing here, and it destroys the world later. He doesn't know that it already existed.

That doesn't matter.

Forget all of it.

What matters is that Crono knows there's a sword out there in the world, called the Grand Lion (Masamune in English), that Cyrus used to have. It was made of a special metal. Crono has the broken Grand Lion and a big enough hunk of that metal that he was able to bring it to the world's greatest blacksmith, the man who originally forged it, and get it fixed up. And he also has the Hero's Medal, which Cyrus used to wear, which Cyrus got by defeating a really big frog.

Don't worry about the really big frog. He isn't important. You'd think he is, given that there's also a smaller Frog who used to be a man, but he isn't. He's just a big frog.

Crono hands over the Hero's Medal and the Grand Lion to Frog and tells him, somehow, it's not clear exactly how, because Crono is a silent protagonist, that he wants Frog to help fight Magus. And Frog, well, he doesn't know what to do. He's been beaten down by life. By ten years of living alone, in the forest, much the protagonist of the book I'm writing, because I don't have a single original goddamn idea in my head.

But Frog knows that sometimes a man has to stand up for himself.

男はな、立ち向かって行かなきゃいけない時もあるんだぞ。 There are times when a man must stand and face the things that trouble him.

Those were Cyrus's words to Glenn, years ago, and Glenn knows now that they are true. So, when Crono brings Frog to the mountain that blocks the path to Magus's castle, Frog asks Crono for the Grand Lion.

Crono stabs it into the ground. Frog draws it. And he announces to nobody, and to the world, simultaneously:

"我が名はグレン！" "Mine name is Glenn!"

And he swings the Grand Lion and cuts the mountain in half. He clears the way. He puts the sword away, and that's that.

And God help me, it's one of the greatest lines in any game I can think of, and it's as simple as a man telling us his name. His real name. Not the name he's been using for ten years. Not the shame he's borne for the last decade. He's done being ashamed. He's done running. He's done hiding. He's Glenn. And he always was, even if he forgot for a while. Even if the world forgot for a while.

#text post #long post #ratralsis writing

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