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nanami-says · 3 years

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Part VI (3/3): chapters 75~78

Chapter 75

[Touji analysing Gojou’s technique arsenal]

"His stopping technique hasn't been as issue from the start”

Probably closer to “The stopping power has been there from the start”. You kind of have to guess what Touji meant here because the original line only says “as before”, “from before” but imo “hasn’t been an issue” just isn’t quite it...

"I can nullify the attraction technique with my extended reach inverted spread, even my speed is effective"

⇒ "The drawing power I can either dispel with the inverted spear or avoid with my speed, now that I have extended reach"

“Inverted spear extended reach” imo makes no sense - he’s got extended reach, sure, but that’s thanks to another cursed tool, inverted spear has nothing to do with this.

"Sorry, Amanai. Right now, I'm not angry for you. Nor do I feel vengeful toward anyone"

⇒ "(...) Right now, I’m not angry for your sake. Nor am I filled with hate towards anyone"

Kind of feels like they mistook 憎む (hate, detest) for 恨む ( to resent; to blame; to bear a grudge).

Cont. below:

"Right now it's just that everything feels right"

⇒ "Right now this world simply feels comfortable"

This is a simple but hard to translate line, so what I’m suggesting here is mostly a more literal translation to give you a glimpse of what the original wording was like. “Right” isn’t incorrect here per se but the original wording has a very strong nuance of “pleasant”, “comfortable”, “cozy”, “nice” etc. and “right” doesn’t really convey that kind of sentiment.

(jp)

"Motion and reversal. It is born by colliding both infinites. An imaginary mass rushes forth..."

⇒ "Standard and reversal. You create it through colliding both infinites together - you squeeze out that imaginary mass..."

What is meaning, when you could be making things sound Cool. Also, consistency, who?

Pretty sure that what inexplicably got translated as "motion" here previously was referred to as "lapse" (that’s the literal translation of the word used, too) as in "lapse technique" but since it doesn't actually say "technique" here, the translator probably didn't catch on that it's the same thing........ Or worse, they did realise and still chose to translate it in a completely different way. But tbh if I translated a single term a different way each time it appears, I’d probably get confused too 8D

Could probably go with “lapse and reversal” too.

(jp)

[Touji’s thoughts after being defeated by Gojou]

"But now the awakened power of the limitless stands before me. He's probably the greatest sorcerer alive. I wanted to discredit it. To crush it. The pinnacle of the jujutsu world and the Zen'in family. I wanted this for self-affirmation. And I deviated from my true self."

⇒ "But faced with an awakened user of the limitless technique, a sorcerer that probably has just stood on the top of the modern jujutsu world, I ended up wanting to deny him, to suppress him.The pinnacle of the jujutsu world and the Zen'in family that denied me. In order to affirm myself, I abandoned my usual self"

Emphasis mine because it kind of pains me what V*z did with this line… I’m guessing some of those choices were dictated by the bubble placements but still, personally I think they made it sound kind of disjointed. Not to mention, skipping “limitless user” when talking about Gojou and making it just “limitless power” is such a baffling move to me…

Also another terribly unfortunate example of the official English release doing away with any sort of repetition in text. Why would you get rid of Touji saying that he wanted to deny (also reject, renounce) Gojou the same way he himself got denied by what Gojou symbolises to him?? That was such an important part here and half of the point the line was making in the first place and they just cut it out….

[Touji to himself]

"I thought I had set aside such petty pride"

⇒ "Hadn’t you thrown away self-respect"

The word used here can be translated as “pride” and “conceit” but the main meanings are “self-respect” and “self-esteem” and imo the context strongly suggests it’s the latter here. Imo it wasn’t about “petty pride”, the thing that Touji said he had long abandoned was something much more fundamental than that. He just didn’t respect himself (or others) as a person. He says as much in the next line but that too got mistranslated… On top of that, making it specifically “petty” pride distances the translation here from such connotations even further.

Btw, this is another, rather major example of “written as” versus “read as”. So what Touji says out loud here is actually only “Hadn’t you thrown that away” and “self-respect” is only provided as context for “that”. Normally, in translation personally I try to prioritise whatever’s spoken out loud but imo in this particular case it’d make the line incomprehensible for English readers, so I agree with the decision to translate the additional context here instead. (Refer to part IV 4/5, ch. 48, Toudou’s “my friend” thing for a more in-depth explanation of the “written as but read as” device.)

Also ngl it kinda threw me off how they had him use “I” and then switch to “you” construction in the very next line when it was a direct continuation.

Cont. onto:

"To be proud neither of myself nor others... You chose that path, didn't you?"

⇒ "Hadn’t you chosen a way of living where you value neither yourself nor others"

What I said above. Could go with “respect” here too but I liked “value” more. “To be proud” imo is just off here...

Chapter 76

[Gojou to Getou at the church after the latter says there’s no point in himself being fine when Riko got killed]

"I'm the one who messed up. Don't worry about it."

⇒ “(...) It’s not your fault.”

I guess the translation here isn’t correct per se but considering the bigger context, imo “it’s not your fault” works better here. Especially since the line seems to be a throwback to the “it was my mistake”, “that doesn’t even count as a mistake” exchange from ch. 70. Imo it seems to be an intentional parallel of Gojou refusing to accept Getou taking the blame, so “don’t worry” doesn’t quite work for me personally here.

"Do you want to kill them all?"

⇒ “Should we kill them?”

A nitpick but imo it was more Gojou offering to either kill them himself or to do it together (probably the latter) and wording it as “do you want to kill them” puts the focus fully on Getou instead.

Cont. onto:

“Forget it, it’s pointless. From the looks of it, there are only followers of the faith here. The ones in charge involved with the jujutsu world are probably long gone"

“Pointless, huh. Does there… need to be a reason?”

⇒ "No, there’s no meaning in that (...) The main culprits who know about us [jujutsu world] have probably long run away"

“Meaning, huh. Is that really necessary?”

“Involved with the jujutsu world” is imo taking it a step too far. Also, “jujutsu world” is only supplied here for context but what Getou actually says out loud is “us” (or “our side”).

More importantly, the conversation about “meaning” that is happening here is extremely important as it gets directly echoed in chapter 78 when Gojou confronts Getou in Shinjuku, post Getou massacring the village. So while “pointless” isn’t wrong here per se for that reason I find the way they worded it here kind of lacking. Also, meaning =/= reason imo!!

[After Getou and Ieiri throw stuff at Gojou as part of his experiments with limitless]

"An automatic targeting option for jujutsu techniques?"

"Yup! Technically it's me that's the target though"

⇒ "Automatic selection of the technique's target?" (Gojou’s reply)

Getou here was inquiring about the targets of Gojou’s limitless technique specifically, not various plural “jujutsu techniques”, and it’s those targets that are now selected automatically. Imo otherwise Gojou’s reply (which was translated correctly) doesn’t really make sense.

[Gojou saying how he’s been using reverse healing on himself almost all the time]

"A fresh brain at all times"

⇒ “Delivering a fresh brain at all times”

Imo it’s those tiny details that build up a character, so I wish they kept “delivering” in. He actually uses a slightly more formal/polite phrase here, so he probably was being playful.

[Getou after Gojou asks if he’s alright and comments on him losing weight]

"Just a little tired from the summer heat. It's not a problem."

I’d definitely go with “I’m fine” here, especially since “it’s not a problem” as a reply to an “are you okay” question just sounds weird to me.

(jp)

“An endless cycle of exorcising and consuming”

“Exorcise. Consume.”

⇒ "Exorcise. Take in. Rinse and repeat"

“Exorcise. Take in”

Not incorrect, just offering my own version. I really like how the original wording was very simple, it makes it all the more impactful.

"It's a taste that nobody knows. The taste of a curse. Like ingesting a rag used to wipe up vomit"

⇒ “They all don’t know it. The taste of a cursed spirit. Like swallowing whole a rag used to wipe vomit and excrements"

This is one of my absolute favourite lines in the whole manga for how visceral and gross it is, some of which was lost (on purpose to make it more palatable?) in the official English translation. First off, it’s actually “vomit AND excrements” and not just “vomit” and on top of that the verb used here means “to swallow whole” which imo is a testament not just to the taste the way a much milder “ingest” is, but also to texture, the sensation of it. It paints that much of a more detailed and revolting picture.

Also, “nobody knows” or “no one else knows” would sound better in English but with the way the original has it as “everybody”, “all” when there’s a perfectly fine and, as far as I can tell, more common grammatical construction for “nobody knows” in Japanese makes me think “everybody” was here used intentionally, so imo it’s better to preserve it somehow.

(jp)

[Getou’s thoughts]

"Ever since that day it's been running through my head. What I saw was nothing out of the ordinary. A hideous evil, known to everyone. Knowing that full well I chose to protect them as a jujutsu sorcerer"

⇒ "Ever since that day I've been telling myself. (...) A universally known ugliness. I have always chosen to save people as a sorcerer supposedly knowing that full well"

“Running through my head” imo is too passive here, the verb used in the original implies active act of persuasion, that Getou was repeating those things to himself (that it’s nothing out of ordinary etc.). Also, “hideous evil” feels like they just translated the two kanjis components literally here, without checking the actual meaning of the word. Since later Getou talks about how he cannot find people’s ugliness “precious” anymore, “ugliness” works here better imo. (And it’s what the word actually means.)

Lastly, Idk why they translated “people” as just “them” in the last sentence here. (Btw, the grammatical construction used in that sentence suggests that Getou believes himself to have made that choice multiple times before.)

"Follow through with your duty as a jujutsu sorcerer"

“Duty” here could be also translated as “responsibility” but I’m mostly bringing this up as it’s another very important instance where the text and the reading differ - Getou says "sorcerer" out loud but the word is written as "the strong", which is a throwback to the conversation he had with Gojou in ch. 65 (part VI 1/3).

[Haibara greeting Getou]

“Hi, Mr. Geto”

...Needless to say in Japanese he calls him “Getou-san”. “San” usually gets translated as “Mr.” but it sounds just awkward here, considering there’s just one year difference between Haibara and Getou and they’re both technically teenagers AND still merely students. Not to mention, this is yet another example out of many where the official English release shows zero consistency where translating (or not translating) honorifics like “san” is concerned. Unlike the case where Nobara was talking about Ieiri and they translated it as just “Shoko” instead of at least making it “Miss Shoko” (ch. 63, part V 3/3), imo this should’ve either been kept as “san” or skipped entirely. (They actually did skip “san” in English when Haibara was referring to Getou in ch. 70, see part VI (2/3).

“What can I get you to drink?”

⇒ “Do you want anything to drink?”

A nitpick, but the official translation made Getou sound like a waiter here.

[After Haibara asked Getou what kind of souvenir he wants from his mission]

“Satoru will probably have some too so maybe something sweet”

Less certainty, “maybe will have some too” (just a possibility) instead of “probably” (most likely).

[Getou to Haibara]

"Are you okay with being a sorcerer? Doesn't it bother you?"

⇒ "Do you think you're going to be able to work as a sorcerer? You're not struggling?"

A more literal translation would be “isn’t it painful”, “isn’t it hard”, so imo “doesn’t it bother you” didn’t quite convey the original nuance too well.

[Haibara’s reply to above]

"Giving my all toward something I know I can help with is a great feeling!"

⇒ "Giving my best at things I can do feels good"

Phrasing it as “something I know I can help with” just doesn’t capture the nuance of giving your best at something because it’s something you can do that imo the original has and especially the “help with” bit just doesn’t fit. Not to mention the line gets echoed almost word for word by Getou in ch. 78 during his confrontation with Gojou in Shinjuku, so again “something I can help with” is a bit of an off choice.

Chapter 77

(jp)

[Haibara after Getou chides him for answering Yuki’s out of blue question about preferences in women]

“I’m a pretty good judge of character”

“Present company included?”

“? Of course!”

⇒ (...) “You say that sitting next to me?”

“? Yes!”

I guess you can deduce that since he’s the only other person left but Getou was speaking explicitly about himself here which imo isn’t immediately obvious from the English translation. For Haibara’s reply, it was more a confirmation of his previous statement rather than assertion of the sentiment in it. So, “Yes, I’m saying that” and not “Yes, I think that about you!” nuance wise. Like Yuki said - he didn’t get what Getou was actually hinting at.

“Is he your junior? Such an honest and cute kid”

⇒ "Isn't it cute how honest he is"

Could go with either translation but imo it makes more sense that she was saying Haibara’s cute because of his honesty instead of cuteness and honesty being two separate descriptors.

[Yuki after she says she hates the college]

“Just kidding. But I'm not lying when I say we do not see eye to eye"

⇒ "(...) But it's true that my and the college's policies don't match"

Could also go with "objectives" here. Overall imo it felt like a less emotion driven statement.

[Yuki listing the ways to “treat the cause” and create a world without cursed spirits]

“1. Eradicate cursed energy from all of humanity 2. Teach humans how to control their cursed energy.”

⇒ "(...) 2. Make all of humanity become capable of controlling cursed energy"

I guess "teach" is a bit too specific for me and implies a method where that wasn't the case in Japanese here.

Cont. onto:

"1) is not a bad idea. There was a model case for it after all"

⇒ "For 1), I thought it would go quite well. And there was a model case for it, too"

Could also translate it as "I rather thought I was on the right track with 1)". For the second bit “after all" makes it sound like there being a model case for the method was specifically the reason why it was a good idea where imo this was more of the case of it being an additional perk (because she'd be able to research the real thing).

[Yuki as part of her explanation why Touji was a model case for method 1)]

"There have been several cases where heavenly restriction has reduced a person's cursed energy to normal levels"

"Normal levels" is really vague and unclear imo, what it actually says is, "to that of an ordinary person" (i.e. a non-sorcerer).

[Yuki explaining why curses don’t get born out of sorcerers]

"There is a difference in how much we consume and use cursed energy because of our profession. But the real reason lies in how it flows through us sorcerers. It flows heavily within us"

⇒ "There's the matter of the amount of cursed energy that gets used up through [jujutsu] techniques and the overall difference in capacity but the biggest is flow. The cursed energy of a sorcerer circulates largely inside them"

Imo “because of our profession” was kind of vague when the original mentioned the consumption of cursed energy via techniques specifically.

“Then… why not just kill every non-sorcerer?”

⇒ "Then... we should just exterminate all non-sorcerers"

The original says 皆殺し (minagoroshi) which is an actual word that means also “massacre”, “annihilation”, “wholesale slaughter” whereas the translator clearly translated it as if it was just 皆を殺す (minna wo korosu, lit. “to kill everyone”). Obviously, those are two different expressions that paint rather different pictures. Imo “annihilation” implies a much more encompassing and systematic action.

[Yuki after agreeing that Getou’s proposed solution makes sense]

"Weed out non-jujutsu sorcerers and create a situation where survival rests on adapting to a jujutsu sorcerer-based society"

⇒"To continue culling non-sorcerers and force them to adapt into sorcerers as a survival strategy"

Idk, the official translation to me feels like complicating the statement for the sake of it… Especially stuff like “society”. Also, Yuki very explicitly mentioned “continuing” to cull (weed out) non-sorcerers which suggests it’d be a continuous process and effort.

"I used to think jujutsu sorcerers existed to protect non-sorcerers. But recently I've been doubting whether non-sorcerers are worth fighting for"

⇒ "(...) But lately something akin to... non-sorcerers' "worth" within me is wavering"

Emphasis mine. Getou was clearly struggling here to put his feelings and thoughts into words, which you just can't tell at all from the official translation. Also imo putting it as "worth fighting for" is over-interpreting it.

"The part of me that looks down upon non-sorcerers... The part of me that tries to resist that feeling..."

⇒ "The me who looks down on non-sorcerers. The me who denies that"

Ngl, to me “tries to resist that feeling” is putting a lot of words into Getou’s mouth that he didn’t say here… Also, phrasing it as “the part of me” feels a bit lacking to me when Getou is speaking almost as if there were two of him, at war with each other.

"If being a jujutsu sorcerer is like running a marathon, then the finish line is much too unclear"

⇒ "This marathon game called 'jujutsu sorcerer'. The vision of what’s at its end is much too unclear"

Mostly proposing a wording imo closer to the original. Also important since it gets repeated at the end of the chapter, almost word-for-word, but the official English translation for some reason elected to tweak the wording in that other instance...

[After Yuki expresses her regret at not having been able to meet Gojou in person]

“I’ll send your regards to Gojo”

Getou says “Satoru” here, he doesn’t call him “Gojo”. He never calls him “Gojo”, period. And Gojou never calls Getou with his surname in turn. It’s always, always the first name basis for them which is hugely important for their dynamics with each other AND also has a major plot significance in Shibuya arc…..

Also, the whole sentence had a nuance of Getou presenting himself as someone who can receive greetings on Gojou’s behalf.

[Yuki saying Getou shouldn’t be so down about Riko being killed]

"Whether there was another vessel, or another vessel was born. Whatever the case, Tengen is stabilized"

⇒ "Back then there was another star plasma vessel or a new vessel had already been born. Either way, (...)”

Emphasis mine. Imo it’s enormously important here that Yuki said “back then” (“at the time”).

[Getou about the mission that Haibara died during]

"Get some rest for now, Nanami. Gojo took the mission"

⇒ "(...) Satoru took over the mission"

This makes it two very impactful scenes in the same chapter where Getou calling Gojou “Satoru”, i.e. with his first name like he always does, got randomly changed to surname basis instead. Needless to say it’s such an important piece of characterisation of both Getou himself and the Getou-Gojou relationship and it’s just horrible that it wasn’t preserved correctly.

What I’m comparing here are the magazine versions for both JP and EN but the English volume release containing this chapter was published just recently (at the time of posting) and needless to say, those two mistakes didn’t get fixed there. This means that fans that only read the official English release of the manga will mistakenly believe that Getou used “Gojou” in those scenes and draw their own equally mistaken conclusions from it...

[Nanami about Gojou]

"Why not just let him take care of everything by himself from now on?"

Not incorrect per se but the original line is much shorter, impactful and almost callous, in a way. Something like ”Isn't that person alone enough already?” or “Isn't that person fine already by himself?”. Mind you, "can't he just do it all by himself" works too as does the official translation although I feel like it’s a bit too wordy but I wanted to point out how this line can be read on multiple levels. Also, Nanami referring to Gojou here literally as “that person” (so not even “he”) imo further drives home the sense of distance and frustration.

[Getou’s thoughts]

"If being a jujutsu sorcerer is like running a marathon, what if what's at the end of that road is a mountain of our fellow sorcerers' dead corpses?"

⇒ "The marathon game called 'jujutsu sorcerer'... What if at its end all there is a mountain of sorcerers' corpses?"

Written "comrades", read as “ sorcerer".

This is basically Getou answering the question he himself posed earlier in the same chapter - that’s why imo it’s of utmost importance that the wording is kept the same, especially since that is also the case in the original. But here the official English release goes with “at the end of the road”, when they used “finish line” just some ten pages earlier…

Also, “dead corpses”, just what? What is English language even… (They fixed this one for the volume release. Small mercies.)

"Mission Summary Spirit kidnappings and abnormal deaths within said village. The curse thought to be responsible was exorcised"

⇒ "(...) Mysterious disappearances and violent deaths occurring in the village. To exorcise the cursed spirit thought to be causing them”

So basically the first line was delineating what’s happening in the village and the second was the mission’s objective. “Was exorcised” makes no sense because why send Getou there? And “spirit kidnappings” is such an unclear phrasing…

Chapter 78

[After Gojou says “huh?” in reaction to Yaga telling him about Getou massacring a whole village]

"I also have no idea what the hell is going on."

Yaga actually only says here that he has no idea what's going on, there’s no expletives involved.

[Ieiri to Getou after he seeks her out in Shinjuku]

"If it isn't the culprit himself. What do you want?"

⇒ "Oh, it's the criminal. Want anything from me?"

The word used by Shoko here means both criminal and culprit but considering the bigger context imo “criminal” fits better.

"I'll ask for the hell of it - are these accusations against you false?"

Like with Yaga’s case earlier, all she says here is, "I'll ask just in case". Why try and make her sound edgy for the sake of being edgy here?

“Another one for ya”

...Again, Shoko doesn’t use any slang here. (She kind of does in the lines that follow.)

[Getou to Shoko]

"I'm not a child anymore. I don't need everyone to understand."

⇒ "I'm not a child. It's not like I want everyone to understand."

Mostly fine but there’s no “anymore” in the original and imo that’s also not what the line’s nuance was. (Imo it was more along the lines of “I’m not a child, I know that it’s impossible for everyone to understand”)

[After Gojou finds Getou and demands an explanation]

"You already heard from Shoko, didn't you? That's all there is to it."

"That's reason enough for you to kill all non-sorcerers? Even your parents?"

⇒ "(...) Nothing more and nothing less to it."

"And that's why you'll kill everyone besides sorcerers? Even your parents?"

Imo, “that’s reason enough” just doesn’t work here since I believe Gojou’s line was alluding specifically to Getou’s plan to “create a world with sorcerers only”. So it’s more of “and for that reason you will (...)”, “and to achieve that you will (...)” sentiment wise.

"You were the one who said pointless killing is useless!"

"There is a point and a meaning to it. It's also justice."

"No way! Killing all non-sorcerers to make a world of only sorcerers?! That’s impossible!!"

⇒ "Didn't you say not to kill when there's no meaning to it?"

"But there is meaning to it, as there is significance. There's even a cause."

"There isn't!! (...)"

Emphasis mine. Imo “point” and “meaning” aren’t interchangeable and Getou definitely uses the latter here. The word Getou says at the end can indeed mean “justice” but it also means “cause” and “purpose” and I like the latter two more here. (Also, ngl the issue of translation aside, “it’s also justice” just sounds kind of grammatically off…)

Cont. below:

"I'm saying that trying something impossible is pointless"

⇒ "What I'm saying is that there's no meaning in agitatedly doing something that's just impossible"

Gojou was harsher here in the original, both the word he used for “impossible” (also “something you just can’t do”) and the adverb he further emphasised it with were kind of patronising.

"You could do it, Satoru"

⇒ "If it was you, Satoru, you could do it"

Getou:"You're trying to convince me that it's impossible when you yourself could do it"

⇒ "And yet when it’s others, you tell them that something that you can do for them is ‘just impossible’?”

I find it interesting that Getou doesn’t, in fact, say “me” here but speaks as if in hypotheticals and says “others” instead.

Cont. below:

"If I could be you, wouldn't my impossible ideal become possible?"

⇒ "If I could become you, don't you think even this foolish ideal of mine would become realistic?"

“Become you” instead of “be you” is the biggest one but the whole line in the original was just more poetic. E.g., what I translated as “realistic”, while one of the possible translations for the phrase in question, literally means “one's feet touch the ground”, which is just so much more descriptive. Interestingly, the phrase usually gets used with the verb in the negative (“don’t touch the ground”) but that’s not the case here when Getou says it.

"This is the life I've chosen. All I can do now is give it all I got"

⇒ "I've chosen my way of living. Now all that's left is to do my best at things I can do"

Emphasis mine. This is an almost word-to-word throwback to Haibara’s line in ch. 76 but with the way the official English release translated (and slightly mistranslated for Haibara) those two lines, you might not have been able to make the connection. Needless to say, it shows how deeply Haibara’s life and death have impacted Getou.

[Getou to Gojou who was aiming his technique at him]

"If you want to kill me, kill me. There's meaning in that too."

⇒ “(...) There is meaning to that”

There was just no “too” here, the emphasis was fully on “there is meaning to THAT”. So Getou’s telling Gojou that killing him right here and now is the one thing that definitely has a meaning to it.

Also, the word used here is the same as the one used both in ch. 76 (church scene, multiple times) and earlier in this chapter - those instances got translated by VIZ either as “reason” or “point” (“pointless”) instead, which ngl ruins the whole continuity of it.

[Gojou in a conversation with Yaga, after the Shinjuku confrontation]

"I can only save those who are prepared to be saved"

⇒ "I can only save those who are prepared to be saved by others"

Emphasis mine on the bit that got skipped by the official translation as imo it’s a significant one.

[Getou to Shiwoo as he prepares to meet the organisation he’s planning to take over]

"I thought the Time Vessel Association had disbanded?"

"There are other groups with similar ideals"

⇒ (...) "Even if the organisations are different, the roots are the same"

So it’s possibly not so much that the ideals are similar but that those other organisations are just another form of the original TVA.

“Numerous voices of opposition”

Not incorrect but this could be also translated as "majority against" with the "the nays have it" nuance like you would have in parliament. The brief illusion of democracy before Getou murders someone in cold blood.

[Getou to assembled organisation members after a demonstration of power]

”Obey me, you monkeys.”

“I don’t like monkeys. That’s the truth I decided on”

⇒ “(...) I hate monkeys. These are the true feelings I decided on”

True feelings, you know? The ones Getou was struggling over in the last 3 chapters? Those true feelings? Got translated here as “the truth” instead. Needless to say but “I don’t like” is way too mild here.

Also, this is probably impossible to truly capture in translation but the word used here (true feelings) is 本音/honne and its kanji components literally mean "true” and “sound" respectively. In this particular scene where Getou first addresses the organisation members from the stage, he uses a fairly standard polite speech (-desu, -masu forms).

After he kills the Sonoda guy (possibly the same Sonoda who we’ve seen collect Riko’s dead body from Touji) the way he speaks takes a 180 turn, becoming very direct and unembellished - when Getou says “obey me”, he uses the imperative form.

So the true feelings, THE TRUE SOUND is depicted here via him literally rejecting "polite sound" and fake smiles.

[Tiny Megumi to Gojou]

"Who're you? And why're you looking at me like that?"

⇒ "(...) Or more like, what's with that face"

Not incorrect, just proposing a different wording.

[To be continued with Shibuya Arc]

#jjktranslation #jjk translation #jjk #Jujutsu Kaisen #JujutsuKaisen

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part VI (2/3): chapters 69~74

Chapter 69

[After Gojou barges into a room filled with middle school girls]

"He's tall for a high schooler!!"

⇒ "A high schooler? So tall!!"

The girls were just guessing Gojou's a high schooler.

"Show us your face!"

Not incorrect but I love that it was “Older brother, take off the sunglasses!” in the original. Obviously it wouldn’t work since in English you don’t really address strangers as “older brothers” (or sisters) the way you can do in Japanese.

[Kuroi to the curse user wearing a paper bag on his head]

“Those associated with Q wear pretty strange clothing, after all.”

Considering she's talking to a dude wearing a paper bag on his head it would be kind of odd if Kuroi was really saying just "Q people wear pretty strange clothing". It’s actually "wear even stranger clothing".

[Getou upon seeing Kuroi deal with one of the curse users]

"Wow, you're so strong"

Closer to "Hey, so you were [actually] strong", which implies he didn’t expect her to be.

[After Gojou says the curse user should change his job and join the sorcerers instead]

"Naw... your profession sounds kinda risky."

⇒ "Well well, [being] a job centre can’t be easy either"

It’s literally “the public employment security office”. I’m not sure but I think this might’ve been a joke? The dude taking a jab at Gojou saying they’re short on people by implying Gojou is behaving like someone from the employment office. Either way, he definitely wasn't speaking about it being risky - it'd be strange if he did because I can't imagine being a paid killer is a low-risk job either.

[Gojou to the Paper Bag Head curse user]

"You can change your real body at any time, right? If you're in danger, just switch bodies, okay?"

⇒ "You probably can choose which one's the real body at any time, right? If the real body is in danger, you just switch it to the safe clone instead"

Sure would be very magnanimous of Gojou to dish out actual advice to his opponent. He was actually just speaking of the way the technique works.

[Gojou explaining his technique]

"And by amplifying the limitless and negative numbers, impossible situations like having -1 apples are born"

⇒ "When I reinforce it, I get ‘limitless’. I guess you could call it 'negative natural numbers'. So then fabrications like -1 apples are born"

Idk if it actually makes more sense or not but this is closer to what he’s saying in the original. One thing I’m sure about is that it's not amplifying limitless and negative numbers but that limitless = negative (minus) natural numbers.

"In doing that, I can create a magnetic effect like the one before. But to tell the truth, it's quite difficult to use."

⇒ “When I do that, I can create an absorbing reaction like the one before. But it’s surprisingly inconvenient.”

Continued about Gojou’s technique:

(jp)

"I can't create a huge field of attraction close to myself."

⇒ "I can't create a too big reaction close to myself"

"Manipulating the cursed energy to use it accurately is a real pain. In other words, I get really tired"

⇒ "When I have to pay attention to directivity too, manipulating the cursed energy is, well, bothersome. In other words, I get super tired"

Directivity here is probably the electromagnetics term? More casual for the “tired” line.

“But this is all standard for my technique"

⇒ “But this all applies only to my standard technique”

Emphasis mine. "This is all standard for my technique" is incorrect. I had to check the fan wiki for the terms but according to it Gojou's basic techniques are divided in "lapse" and "reversal" and he was explaining that what he just said applied to the former. I think the terms are pretty inconsistent in the official English release, so the easiest way to put it is basically standard technique = blue (and that’s what he was explaining so far), reversed technique = red.

Chapter 70

[Getou after Kuroi got kidnapped]

"It's my fault. I didn't take into consideration Kuroi's importance to the enemy"

⇒ "It was my mistake. I’ve misread the value Kuroi-san had for the enemy side"

Emphasis mine (here in the line below). The meaning is there but since it’s directly connected to the next line, it would’ve probably been better for the conversation flow & continuity to keep it closer to the original wording.

“Is that right? It’s not a big deal”

⇒ "You think so? That doesn't even count as a mistake"

Gojou reassuring Getou that his misreading of the situation wasn’t really even a blunder. They both use the same word here (mistake).

[Riko protesting against being excluded from the plan to save Kuroi]

“I can't trust you guys with this"

Closer to "I still can’t trust you guys", so she's saying she doesn't trust them in general (no wonder as they've only met).

[Gojou to Riko after he agreed to her going with them]

"And don't even try backing out halfway. We don't care if you're scared"

⇒ "On the other hand, even if you get the jitters halfway and start saying you want to go home, I'm just gonna ignore you"

Not incorrect per se I guess but I tried to go for something closer to the original wording + he probably wouldn’t say “we” here.

[Kuroi in a conversation with Getou in Okinawa]

"Even if they can't kill master Riko, did they do this to delay the merger till after tomorrow's full moon?"

...An obvious nitpick but obviously Kuroi wouldn't say "master" about Riko... They were using “lady” all this time, why make such a blunder now haha.

[Haibara to Nanami upon their arrival in Okinawa as Gojou and Getou’s support]

"Well... I'm all fired up! I wanna show Getou what I got"

I'm guessing this was a decision entirely forced by the tiny first bubble, so I'm not blaming them for adding a filler here, but he doesn't really say "well". Also a point of interest: Haibara refers to Getou as "Getou-san". “Senpai” would be probably the more obvious option since they’re both students? But I guess it’s not a rule that you have to use “senpai” specifically to upperclassmen.

I’m pointing this out also because several chapters later (ch. 76) when Haibara addresses Getou directly they translated it as “Mr. Geto”, which, aside of sounding unbelievably awkward, also shows how there’s zero consistency in the official translation’s approach to honorifics.

"Besides, our senpai are putting their lives on the line for an innocent girl!"

The phrase used here actually means something like "working themselves to the bone", so the line was actually more about them working really hard rather than "risking their lives".

"We gotta do our part!!"

"What if a hurricane comes and the airport shuts down? What then?"

⇒ "As their underclassmen we also gotta give our best!!"

"If a hurricane comes and the airport shuts down, then all that effort would go down the drain"

It was less Nanami being worried and more complaining about their effort potentially turning meaningless.

“The senpai putting his life on the line…”

⇒ “The senpai working himself to the bone”

See above.

[Getou about Gojou]

"I suppose it's his way of showing compassion for Riko"

⇒ "It was probably him thinking of Riko-chan in his own way"

Again, the meaning is there but Getou didn’t put it in such a straightforward manner.

[Gojou after Getou protests to his proposition to delay their return to Tokyo to the next morning]

"The weather's great too"

Actually "the weather is stable, right". So less "the weather's so nice" but "the weather's stable so we should be able to return without a problem tomorrow".

Continued onto:

"Besides if we're in Okinawa instead of Tokyo, there'll be fewer curse users."

"Are you taking this seriously"

⇒ "Besides, compared to Tokyo, there's less fishy curse users in Okinawa"

“Can you speak a bit more seriously”

Emphasis mine. Gojou was making a pun by combining the Okinawan word for "fisherman" (海人/uminchu) and "curse user" (呪詛師/jusoshi) by saying 呪詛人 (jusonchu) here. Since the English official release made it just “fewer curse users'', him joking is not conveyed AT ALL, which in turn makes Getou’s reply really baffling too, since it’s not like Gojou was saying anything strange in English. Anyway, there might be some wording that’d land the actual joke better, but imo incorporating some variation of “this is fishy” works more than fine while retaining the original imagery. (If I got surprised by anything Viz does translation wise in jjk, I’d say I’m surprised the original translator didn’t go for it too, since it’s such an obvious one in English.)

Chapter 71

[Touji’s inner thoughts]

"I once went to see the Gojo kid with the six eyes to see what the fuss was all about"

⇒ "Half in jest I once went to see the six eyes brat that was born in the Gojou family"

“Half in jest” could also be translated as “for fun”. Not incorrect per se but this is closer to the original wording.

[Touji’s thoughts about Gojou]

"That's why I waited until you were worn down”

⇒ "That's why I whittled away at you. Until you grew dull"

The way the official English release put it here as “waited” is too passive when it was all a part of Touji’s plan and as such a conscious active effort (even if he was using others to do the work for him).

[Gojou reassuring Getou]

"My cursed technique didn't make it in time, but he didn't hit any vital organs. And I reinforced my cursed energy to make sure the sword didn't do any further damage."

⇒ "(...) After that I reinforced my body with cursed energy and didn't let him pull the blade anywhere further"

It doesn’t say “body” in the original but I think this is more accurate? Since he says “reinforced WITH cursed energy” which would imply he reinforced something instead of the more nebulous “reinforced THE cursed energy”.

[Gojou after making a note on Touji holding a different blade than before and a mysterious cursed spirit wrapped around his body that wasn’t there previously]

"Dammit! What's going on?!"

Imo closer to something like “can’t get a read on him”. (Lit. “mysterious”, “unfamiliar” but also a phrase that means “to not know the true nature”.

[After Gojou tells Touji there’s no bounty on Riko’s head anymore]

"Yeah, because I took it down, Mr. Hotshot. For guys with no openings like you, I took the advantage by creating an illusion of achieving goals"

⇒ "I took it down. It’s strained endurance - for guys like you with no openings, I change up the pace and create several fake goals”

The bit they translated as “Mr. Hotshot” has several meanings, including “grinning and bearing it”, “fake stoicism”, “pretended endurance (for sake of pride)” but also “strained endurance”. I went with the last one since judging by the explanation that follows later, I think Touji was mostly referring to his strategy here rather than making a jab at Gojou and calling out his bravado. (Although I can see how you could interpret it like that.)

"It was hilarious that you guys went to Okinawa though"

⇒ "It was hilarious when the Time Vessel Association guys went to Okinawa though"

It’s confirmed later in the manga but this basically implies this particular bit wasn’t a part of Touji’s plan.

[Touji to Gojou]

"It's regrettable none of the sorcerers with you died, but if there wasn't any time limit on the bounty, you probably wouldn't have stopped your technique until the end"

⇒ "It was shit (...)"

Once again, they made Touji sound almost like a civilised guy lol.

[Gojou realising the reason behind Touji feeling off to him]

“He has zero cursed energy! It's all innate physical prowess! I can’t read his moves!!"

⇒ "(...) Physical prowess due to Heavenly Binding!! It’s like I can’t read his moves at all!!"

Emphasis mine. Obviously I'm not surprised at this point but skipping important stuff again. The text here explicitly states that it’s Heavenly Binding, i.e. the same kind of involuntary binding that gave Mechamaru his power in exchange for taking a huge toll on his body. And yeah, such binding is innate but cutting the term out of the equation entirely is just a really baffling move that hurts the continuity.

They include it properly when it’s Getou speaking, so at least the info wasn’t missing from the arc completely. But imo then it turns it into a situation where Gojou, a hailed six eyes user, doesn’t recognise it as a Heavenly Binding but Getou does, which’s incongruous characterisation and setting wise.

Btw, what got translated as “physical prowess” in English, in the original actually says “physical(ly) gifted” (in English!). Gege has remarked in an interview they really like the phrase themselves, so just as a point of interest.

"That sharp instinct that can detect me even when unarmed"

This is an obvious one but just to clarify - Touji here means himself as in "even when I'm unarmed". That’s why he follows it up with,

"With your six eyes you can see the foreign cursed energy that flows out of this cursed tool. You don’t want it to get close. So now you're finally on defensive"

⇒ “There’s no way you with your six eyes would miss the peculiar cursed energy seeping out of this cursed tool. You’re scared and won’t let me get close. But now you've finally switched to defence reliant on the cursed technique”

Emphasis mine. The whole train of thought is basically a commentary on how Gojou’s insistics are sharp enough to keep Touji at bay if he stays on guard BUT now he’s finally stopped defending himself with his instinct and physical skills and turned entirely to his cursed technique. And that’s what created the opening for Touji.

(jp)

[About Inverted Spear of Heaven]

"It's effect: Forced stoppage of a cursed technique"

They skipped "activated [technique]" here, which imo is an important detail.

Chapter 72

[Getou about The main hall of the Tombs of The Star]

"This is the country's base for primary barriers"

⇒ "This is the base of the country’s main barrier"

Idk if this is more correct world-building wise but putting it as “for” felt a bit off to me personally. But if I’m not wrong it’s been implied that Tengen’s barrier = one of the country’s main barriers, so this line might’ve been pointing to that.

[Getou to RIko after he told her not going through with the merger is an option should she prefer it]

"When we were assigned this mission by our teacher, he referred to the merger as an 'erasure'"

Nitpicking but he words it as "when we heard about the mission from our homeroom teacher" and that's the more accurate version since the one that assigned this mission to Getou and Gojou wasn't Yaga himself but Tengen. Yaga was just relaying the message.

Continued onto:

"It's as if he looked at it as something wrong"

⇒ "He meant that it's something which should be approached with just that much sense of guilt"

So it’s not that just Yaga himself looked at it as something wrong (although obviously that’s also true) but he was telling the two that this is how they should see it.

“For a guy that smart, he likes to beat around the bush”

⇒ “Even though our homeroom teacher is a muscle brain, he often does things in a such roundabout way”

So Getou was saying that despite Yaga’s looks (and possibly lack of smarts), he can be subtle like this. Also, Getou calling Yaga "a muscle brain" is a nod to vol. 0, where he uses the same phrase to refer to him. (Idk what it got translated as in the English official release though.)

[Riko to Getou]

"Ever since I was born, I've been told that I'm special and different"

Just a note that this is another instance of “written as vs. read as”, so “star plasma vessel” is given for context but what she actually says out loud is “special”. (Refer to part IV 4/5, Toudou’s “my friend” thing, ch. 48)

"I've stayed away from dangerous things and survived until now"

⇒ “I’ve lived for the sake of this day, avoiding dangerous things as much as possible”

Imo this line was more about Riko’s whole life having been about and for the merger and imo “survived until now” doesn’t quite capture it.

"My parents died in a car crash. I don't remember it. I'm not sad or lonely anymore."

⇒ "I don't remember anything from the time my mum and dad died. (...)"

Mostly proposing something closer to the original wording.

Chapter 73

[Touji explaining how he got into the college unnoticed]

"You see, I've got this cursed spirit that can store objects"

Definitely not incorrect but the word Touji uses is the same as you’d use to say you’ve got a pet (“keep”, “own” but also “raise”), which is a very interesting detail.

[Getou interrupting Touji’s explanation]

“Shut up!”

I think I’d have gone with something a bit more neutral here like “Enough” (no exclamation mark) because interestingly enough, Getou’s line here wasn’t really foul-mouthed and judging by the punctuation the line most likely wasn’t shouted out.

"It's heavenly restriction, right?! Like us, revealing certain information can actually give you an advantage. I get that. That's not what I want to know."

⇒ "It's heavenly restriction, right? I already know that disclosing information amplifies your abilities the same way it does for us, sorcerers.(...)"

Again, no exclamation mark for the heavenly restriction question which imo implies the line wasn’t shouted. “I get that” makes Getou sound like he’s saying “I understand that” whereas what he truly said here was that he’s already /aware/ that’s how it works. Comprehension versus knowledge if you will, it was the latter in the original.

I worded the other bit as “disclosing” because it’s the same thing as “technique disclosure” which I already mentioned in ch. 51 (refer to part IV 5/5) and imo consistency is important when it comes to these things.

"How did you know about the entrance into the tombs? We made sure not to leave any residuals behind"

"My five senses are sharp thanks to my lack of cursed energy"

⇒　"How did you know which entrance leads into the tombs? (...)"

"My five senses are also amplified"

Emphasis mine. Touji’s reply was fine but I wanted to emphasise this is actually a direct continuation of the “amplified skills” talk and it uses the same phrasing. For Getou’s line, wording it as “about the entrance” makes it sound like Touji shouldn’t have known about its existence where obviously this is not the case. Getou was referring to Touji’s previous line from the same chapter - that as long as you know where the entrance is, it’s easy to get in (because there’s no security).

[Touji surmising what Kuchisake Onna’s domain must work like]

"An imaginary vengeful spirit. An innate domain with a pact that cannot be broken until the question is answered"(...)"

⇒ "A potential apparition… Probably a simple domain that enforces inviolability for both parties up until the question gets answered?"

1. “Imaginary vengeful spirit” here = “potential spirit” in ch. 20. Consistency, what consistency…. (Mahito and Junpei discussing them in the context of what people fear the most, part III 1/2.)

2. Emphasis mine. “A pact that cannot be broken”... just what? The line actually referred to neither party being allowed to attack/touch the opponent before the question gets answered and that’s what the effect of the simple domain here is. (And it IS “simple domain” and not “innate domain” here, too.)

[Touji’s reply to the curse’s question]

"Let's see. I'm kinda curious, but you're not my type"

⇒ "(...) I'm just gonna go here with you’re not my type”

Imo wording it as Touji being curious isn’t even close, if anything it was the opposite - it’s implied here with the grammatical construction he uses that he’s intentionally going with an answer that will most likely get him attacked right away. (Possibly because he doesn’t want to waste his time and he’s confident in his skills.)

[Touji about Getou standing right behind him when his cursed spirit’s domain got dispelled]

"Idiot... coming in close against me? You've got no chance"

⇒ "What an idiot... Entering my range, this is just way too disappointing/dull"

I suppose the meaning is kind of there but I found the original nuance of Touji being kind of exasperated with what he perceived to be a bad move on Getou’s part interesting.

[About curse manipulation]

"A cursed technique where one can control conquered cursed spirits. If the difference in level is two or more, one can take in a cursed spirit with practically no conditions attached"

⇒ "A cursed technique of taking in cursed spirits that surrendered to you and manipulating them at will. If the difference in grades is two or greater, surrender is skipped and the user can take in a cursed spirit with practically no conditions attached"

I actually like how they make it more concise here without (for once) dumbing down or actually altering the explanation, but I find the part about “surrender” relevant enough to mention and it got skipped in the second sentence.

Btw, I mentioned it before when talking about Fushiguro’s technique and how “surrender” got used in English when the original explains it as “exorcise” instead but here it’s actually “surrender”. (Refer to ch. 44, part IV 3/5; Megumi vs. Kamo.)

"His ability may be special, but the cursed spirit itself is not that strong. I can take it!"

⇒ "It has peculiar abilities but the cursed spirit itself (...)"

"His" makes it sound like Getou's talking about Touji here. The whole line was about the cursed spirit.

[Touji after defeating Getou]

"You'll be fine since you're a sorcerer"

I guess the meaning is there but it's something closer to "I cut you light enough that you shouldn't die if you're a sorcerer".

"Be sure to thank your parents"

⇒ "You were blessed by your parents"

Emphasis mine. Not incorrect and I’m guessing they made it “thank your parents” instead of “blessed” to avoid repetitions but like I’ve said multiple times before - I believe that repetitions in the original text are there for a reason. If Gege went out of their way to have Touji say “blessed” twice in a several pages’ span, it means there was significance in that. But the official release seems to be on a mission to remove all and any repetitions from the text…

"But you guys, with all your blessings lost to a monkey like me who can't even use jujutsu"

⇒ "But this means that with all your blessings you guys lost to a monkey like me who can't even use jujutsu"

A slight change but imo this goes better with the redone line from above (and is also closer to the original nuance wise).

"Oh... I remember now. Megumi. The name means 'blessings'. And I'm the one who gave him that name"

⇒ "Ahhh, Megumi! That was it, wasn’t it. I gave him that name, too”

……….Another moment when I really really wish the official English release wasn’t allergic to translator’s notes. Obviously this was done for English readers who wouldn’t know that otherwise and wouldn’t make that connection by themselves but it’s just so unnatural for Touji to spell this out like that. Who even talks like that...

Chapter 74

[Touji when delivering Riko’s body to Time Vessel Association]

“The corpse of the star plasma vessel, Riko Amanai. All in one piece”

Not incorrect but the vibe of the original is cruder, something like “full set, with head and all 4 limbs included”.

"You'll receive your money through the means we previously discussed. We'll add on a little extra for your troubles."

"Really? Even if they owe you that money, you still got quite a bit of help."

⇒ (...) "Seriously? Those might've been necessary expenses but nevertheless, you cooperated with us quite a lot and yet [you do this on top?]"

Shiwoo was very clearly addressing Sonoda, the Time Vessel Association dude here and not Touji. What is “even if they owe you that money” even supposed to refer to……... But I suppose as evidenced previously by the translation in ch. 67, the official translators didn’t really understand all that money talk...

(jp)

"The Time Vessel Association started in the Nara period as Master Tengen spread Japanese buddhism and preached the foundation of the jujutsu sorcerers"

Specifically "moral foundations".

"However, the worlds of jujutsu and religion do not see eye to eye. From that disparity The Time Vessel Association was born. And because of that, a non-curse user as yourself happens to be the perfect candidate for a job like this. Jujutsu sorcerers cannot lay hands on non-curse users"

⇒ "(...) That's also why our organisation consists exclusively of non-sorcerers. The reason is that while jujutsu sorcerers are allowed various transgressions, as a rule they don't harm non-sorcerers"

Emphasis mine because wow, this whole thing was so so wrong?? They just completely distorted such a significant bit of world-building….. It’d make zero sense for Touji to remain blameless in the eyes of the jujutsu sorcerers despite being a freaking assassin for hire just because he’s not a sorcerer, like the English translation here implies.

Needless to say the line actually addressed The Time Vessel Association’s approach - they actively choose to remain a purely non-sorcerer organisation in order to escape possible retribution from the jujutsu world. If they had sorcerers in their organisation, they’d be fair game but this way, they’re “just” civilians. That’s also probably why they hired Touji to make the kill for them instead of doing it by themselves. (Btw, you could also go with something like “exceed their authority”, “exceed their competence” for the bit I translated as “transgressions”.)

Also, way to refer to non-sorcerers/ordinary people here with a negation of the word you up until now used to describe specifically evil sorcerers lol. (Curse user = evil sorcerer, non-curse user = apparently an ordinary person? Quite a jump….)

[Shiwoo explaining why he didn’t kill Kuroi like Touji asked him too]

"You've never been shy to appease others in order to hide your true intentions, have you?"

⇒ "You've done a lot of blurring the chain of command and obscuring the true aim before"

I think this is probably closer to the original meaning. The English here wasn’t that wrong sans the “appease the others” bit where I’m guessing the translator couldn’t figure out the original line and which I’m not surprised about since it’s a weird one…

"What was Okinawa all about?"

"Hilarious, wasn't it. You'd usually use a car to transport a hostage. But there's risk in travelling on a public road"

⇒ "No, but why Okinawa of all places"

"(...) Normally, you'd use a car to transport a captured person right? It's very risky to use public transportation, too"

The bit about public transportation (and not public roads) was referring to Okinawa being only accessible by plane which tends to be public transportation (as opposed to a private car) and that’s why it’s riskier. But as Shiwoo follows up - the plane used had also been private (“a property of the chairman”), so in the end “public transportation” wasn’t an issue.

[Shiwoo rejecting Touji’s invitation to go eat together with the money earned from killing Riko]

"You don't plan on paying anyway"

⇒ "You never treat guys, do you"

So it’s probably not that Touji wouldn’t pay at all but that Touji wouldn’t pay for Shiwoo despite inviting him to “grab a meal with the earned money”.

[Gojou after explaining reverse technique]

"But it's easier said than done. And you know what else? I've never been able to do it before"

⇒ "But it's easier said than done. I've never been able to do that before either"

Not incorrect but why add stuff that just isn’t there when the line was clear without additional explanation...

[Gojou to Touji]

"You lost. You should've cut my head off. And you didn't use that cursed tool when you stabbed me in the head"

“Lost?”

⇒ "The cause of your defeat is that you didn't chopped my head off and that you didn't (...)"

"Cause of my defeat?"

Again, not incorrect but I liked the inclusion of “cause of defeat”, “reason for loss” in the original.

"The positive energy born from reverse cursed technique flows into the limitless cursed technique carved into yourself"

Hmm, it's closer to "you pour the positive energy (...) into the limitless technique engraved within yourself". "Flows" would imo imply it happens spontaneously which doesn't seem to be the case here. Then the opposite for “carved” where making it “carved into yourself” imo would suggest Gojou has done the carving, where it’s been stated before in the manga that sorcerers are born with techniques engraved into their bodies. (Gojou’s explanation to Yuuji in ch. 12, part II) Mind you that bit got originally simplified AND mistranslated as just “the ability to use cursed techniques is intrinsic''.

[to part vi (3/3)]

#jjk translation #jjktranslation #Jujutsu Kaisen #JujutsuKaisen #jjk

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part VI (1/3): chapters 65~68

Gojou’s Past Arc

Chapter 65

[Utahime about the barrier she and Mei Mei have been trapped in]

"Or it's a ridiculously huge barrier"

⇒ "Or could it be that it's an endlessly huge barrier"

A bit of characterisation + a bit of trivia.

"Let's split up and more unpredictably. If the spirit's barrier can't keep up, we should be able to get out"

Once again, the first bit sounds more like Utahime's giving a more general explanation.

"If one of us can get out, they can attack from the outside... or even call for help"

The "even" was unnecessary here, she was just listing different options. Tacking the "even" to "call for help" method imo kind of affects Utahime's characterisation as it makes her emphasise seeking someone else’s aid.

“You cryin’?”

“I’m not crying!! Respect your elders!”

Not sure if there’s a better translation considering English doesn’t have the same sort of multileveled polite speech the way Japanese does but Utahime here actually was saying “polite language!” since Gojou was using casual forms (as opposed to -desu/-masu).

[Gojou to Mei Mei]

“You wouldn’t cry. You’re strong.”

Again, not mistranslated but he’s using super casual language but also addressing her politely as “Mei-san”, which is a really amusing combination.

[Getou to his cursed spirit]

“Don’t swallow. We’ll take it in later”

This definitely should be “I’ll”! As in Getou himself will take it in (ingest it) later.

"There's someone here who said they put up a curtain and then up and left the auxiliary manager behind. And forgot about the curtain too.”

⇒ "There's someone here that left the auxiliary manager behind, saying ‘I’m just gonna put up the curtain by myself’. And then forgot the curtain"

It’s not like Gojou said he already put up the curtain (and then left) but that he would put it up.

[Gojou questioning the necessity of using a curtain]

"Does it even matter if regular people see us? It's not like they can see cursed spirits of jujutsu anyways."

⇒ "What does it even matter if we get seen by normies anyway (...)"

Emphasis mine. The word Gojou used to refer to regular people here was more derogatory. Could also go with “commoner”.

Getou in reply to the above:

"The prevention of cursed spirits is most important for the citizens' peace of minds"

⇒ “More than anything else, it’s people’s peace of mind that suppresses the emergence of cursed spirits”

The official English version basically swapped cause and effect, it should have been the other way around. What Getou was really saying here referred to what has been established early on in the manga - that it’s people’s negative emotions that cause cursed spirits to appear in the first place. And that’s why it’s imperative to avoid situations that could contribute to the general population’s stress levels rising, also through using curtains when fighting cursed spirits.

"For that reason keeping it confidential is important"

⇒ "That's also why threats invisible to the eye must be kept strictly confidential"

Why edit out the info about “threat invisible to [human] eye”... Basically what I said above.

"It's such a pain looking out for the weak"

⇒ “Fussing about the the weak is exhausting, really"

Other possible meanings include "taking into consideration", "paying attention to another's needs". Also imo putting it as "it's such a pain" doesn't really capture the original nuance of "tiring", "exhausting" well.

"Society should protect the weak and keep the strong in check."

⇒ "'The survival of the weak'. That's the way society should be. To save the weak and crush the strong."

Getou sounded much harsher in the original imo, especially the bit about what the position/treatment of “the strong” should be like in society.

(jp)

"Being righteous? I hate that stuff"

The actual word used here is 正論, which means “sound (just) argument”. Japanese dictionaries further explain it as “an opinion or argument that meets reason". To my understanding, it’s often used to imply saying correct sounding stuff for the sake of it, which imo would apply to this scene as well.

"Applying reasoning or responsibility to jujutsu is what weak people do."

⇒ "Heaping stuff like reason [cause] and responsibility onto strength - now that is exactly what the weak do."

Written as "jujutsu" but read as "power", "strength" and imo they should’ve prioritised here what Getou actually said out loud here in translation. (Refer to part IV 4/5, ch. 48, Toudou’s “my friend” thing for a more in-depth explanation of the “written as but read as” device.)

"Don't get all proud of yourself for spouting that garbage"

The phrase the official English release translated as "spouting that garbage” in the original belongs to so called “wasei eigo” (i.e. an original English term coined in Japanese) and it means either “opinion expressed from someone's point of view" or "a statement that is beneficial to oneself". The latter seems to be the more common meaning and it also has the nuance of said statement not necessarily being completely true or correct (because you’re bending the facts so they benefit you), which would also fit here.

Also rather than “feel proud” the verb here is closer to “feel good”.

[Yaga asks where Shoko is]

“Maybe the bathroom?”

⇒ “Probably the crapper”

More certainty to the statement + more vulgar word used for “bathroom” in the original. You could also translate it as just “toilet” but considering the way Gojou speaks in general “crapper” probably isn’t a stretch.

[Yaga to Gojou and Getou]

"To be honest it's quite the responsibility but this comes from master Tengen."

"(...) but it's Master Tengen's personal nomination."

Imo it wasn’t as clear in the English version but the nuance is that Tengen themselves specifically designated the two for the mission

“Two objectives”

Closer to "requests".

"Master Tengen, the star plasma vessel, has a perfect match”

⇒ “Star plasma vessel. A person compatible with master Tengen"

Once again spacing words/lines defeats the official translator… It’s not Tengen themselves that’s the star plasma vessel, that’s just the jjk in-world term for a person compatible with Tengen!!! That aside, “perfect match” is way too strong of a statement here.

Chapter 66

“Escort the girl and erase her?”

Gojou actually says it as “brat” here, “girl”, the way Yaga put it, appears in text but only for context. Needless to say this is important as part of young Gojou’s characterisation.

“Jokes aside(...)”

"I'll decide whether that's considered a joke or not"

⇒ (...) "I'm the one [in the position] to decide (...)"

Yaga actually uses the 冗談で済ます expression (lit. "conclude as a joke” I guess) and it's more like a situation where someone says something (e.g. inappropriate or awful) and then backtracks/covers it up with "just kidding". So he's asserting his authority over whether something can be joked about in the first place or not. It's hard to convey this properly but it's something along these lines.

"Master Tengen possesses the cursed technique of immortality... but it doesn't stop the aging process"

⇒ “Master Tengen possesses the cursed technique of immortality but isn’t perennially young”

“Master Tengen doesn't have a particular issue with aging. However, once a certain age is reached, the cursed technique will try to change bodies"

⇒ "There's no problem with just aging by itself but once senile deterioration has surpassed a certain fixed point, the technique attempts to convert the body"

Most likely it’s not that Tegen themselves doesn’t have a problem with aging but that it’s not the process itself that’s the problem here. In other words, it’s not an issue of Tengen’s attitude/feelings like the official translation would suggest.

Also, "change bodies" with “bodies” in plural mistakenly implies a swap/switch whereas the nuance of the original is definitely that of "remoulding”/“converting” the body" (singular) instead.

“Senile deterioration” probably could be also just “aging” btw.

"The barriers that protect both jujutsu schools, the pillars of the jujutsu world, numerous auxiliary managers' barrier techniques.”

⇒ "Both jujutsu schools, the barrier(s) that are the [very] base of the jujutsu world, (...)"

I'm not entirely sure but from the way this line is worded and spaced, the nuance felt closer to jujutsu schools being (part of) the barrier itself and that's what is the base of the jujutsu world as a whole.

"They're all strengthened by Master Tengen. Without Master Tengen, security and even undertaking missions would become more difficult"

⇒ "Their strength is all raised by Master Tengen. Without their assistance security or even processing missions would be beyond our control"

Not incorrect per se I guess but I find it very curious that the original phrases it as literally "digestion of missions”, which would imo point to the way the missions undertaken by sorcerers belonging to the system are being processed in the first place.

For the first sentence, the word used literally means "raise [the standard]", which is significant because it implies that Tengen's existence and barrier is what raises the overall level of sorcerers and techniques that rely on his assistance/are within its range.

"That's why once every 500 years Master Tengen needs to merge with a compatible star plasma vessel and rewrite the body's information"

⇒ "(...) they [Tengen] merge with a ‘star plasma vessel’ - a human compatible with Master Tengen - and rewrite the body’s information"

Same issue as I already mentioned for ch. 65. Star plasma vessel = a human compatible with Tengen. Heck, “star plasma vessel” was put in quotation marks in the original here, which would indicate it being a term for such a person.

"If the body is refreshed, then the cursed technique will follow suit"

⇒ "If the body is remodelled, the technique's effect also goes back to starting point"

The original was so much clearer and to the point here.

[Getou's reaction to Gojou's Digimon reference]

"Gotcha. So becoming a Metalgreymon is fine, but it'd be a problem if he became a Skullgreymon. So we reset back to Koromon, right?"

"Uh... Right... Anyway..."

⇒ "Umm... Heck, whatever. Let's go with this"

Getou’s line here actually had him resignedly accept Gojou’s explanation haha. The “Anyway” imo just doesn’t fit..

"The location of the star plasma vessel has been leaked"

Yaga actually puts it as "the girl who's the star plasma vessel" here. The significance of him including "the girl" is imo further highlighted later in the manga by Getou's conversation with Riko, where he explains how, back when he relayed the mission to him and Gojou, Yaga hinted at his dissatisfaction with how the jujutsu world disregards the humanity of the person who’s a vessel.

[Yaga to Getou and Gojou]

"If you fail, the repercussions could greatly affect society!"

It's actually "affect general public" and not "society" here (社会 = society, 一般社会 = general public). Previously in the conversation they were mostly discussing Tengen's influence on the jujutsu world but this is basically Yaga stating that Tengen not resetting their technique is something that'd have repercussions for the general public, i.e. "society as a whole" as well.

"Don't screw this up!"

⇒ "Proceed with caution!"

Characterisation + nuance.

”I get why the curse group Q is after her, but why does the star religious group want to kill her?"

Again, Gojou uses "brat" (also kid; urchin; little devil) to refer to the star plasma vessel girl here.

[Gojou after saying that he and Getou are the strongest]

"That's why Master Tengen asked us after--"

Again, closer to "that's why Master Tengen named us as the ones", as in he asked for the two of them specifically.

"Satoru. I've been meaning to tell you this.... You should be more mindful of the way you talk. Particularly around your superiors. We might be meeting Master Tengen, after all. You're way too rude."

⇒ “(...) "You should stop using "ore" as your first person pronoun. Especially in front of superiors. Maybe we'll be meeting Master Tengen after all. Make it "watashi" or at the very least "boku"."

Long explanation time!

So Gojou in the main timeline uses 僕/boku, i.e. the milder, typically male first person pronoun. When I first started consuming jjk, something about it felt vaguely off to me because it simultaneously did and didn't seem to fit his nonchalant persona.

But in the flashback arc we learn that young Gojou did in fact actually use to use exclusively 俺/ore, the rougher, far less polite male pronoun. This coupled with the fact that evidently he's stopped somewhere along the line is HUGE, portrayal wise.

So this scene is actually Getou telling him to switch to preferably 私/watashi (the most common/neutral pronoun) or at the very least 僕/boku.

When Gojou talks to Yaga directly after the Shinjuku confrontation, he’s still using “ore” but when he goes to meet Megumi for the first time, he’s switched to “boku” already.

Btw, flashback!Getou seems to be using exclusively "watashi" as his first person pronoun, no matter who he's speaking to, with possibly the exception of Gojou himself, where the pronoun gets skipped altogether most, if not all, of the time.

I totally get why they translated it this way because all the different first person pronouns don't exist in English.

I’m also aware that unless you get into semi-elaborate explanations it's impossible to convey this kind of nuance in something that at the end of the day is meant to be read casually and as such shouldn't require this sort of technical knowledge. But first person pronouns are an important part of a character's portrayal in Japanese and Japanese culture in general and as such it would have been really great to have the fact highlighted somewhere. This is again where I wish jjk would come with a glossary of terms-slash-translator’s notes at the end of each chapter and/or volume.

(Last note on first person pronouns: both Yuuji and Megumi seem to be using "ore" most of the time, but where Megumi adjusts the politeness level of his speech overall depending on the conversation partner, Yuuji’s very casual and direct no matter who he’s speaking to.)

"Is it our fault if the kid's already dead?"

At last, the translator actually conveys the way Gojou refers to the star plasma vessel girl!

[Q member after pushing star plasma vessel/Riko off the building]

“Forgive me”

Not incorrect per se but closer to “Don’t think bad of me”.

"Don't go making a mess, now. We just got in trouble this morning"

⇒ "Do give me a break, making me/us stand out like this. We just got scolded this morning"

This actually referred to doing sorcerer related stuff where the general public can see them. Putting it as "making a mess" sounded too random when the line was actually a direct reference to the events from the previous chapter, where our trio got scolded for using powers without a curtain, i.e. where ordinary people can see them.

[Q member to Getou about Riko]

“Hand over the child or die”

What’s up with making villains sound so polite? He was calling her “a brat” here.

"We, the star religious group, don't have the power to fight. But we have plenty of money, I assure you of that"

⇒ "The star religious group doesn't have the strength to fight sorcerers. But they do have the money, that I'll guarantee"

It's confirmed (and correctly translated) in the following chapter but even here you can still tell from the way he’s speaking here that Kong Shiwoo (as that’s his name as revealed in his character profile included in the volume release) isn't actually part of the religious group in question but a third party and a mediator of some sort. Also, why cut out “sorcerers” out of the equation here?

[Touji to Shiwoo’s star plasma vessel assassination proposal]

"Sounds good. I accept your offer"

Idk how I'd translate this per se but the second sentence sounds too formal and polite. The Japanese grammatical construction here actually makes Touji sound like he's doing Shiwoo a favour.

Chapter 67

[Getou to a Q member after he begs Getou to release him promising he’ll quit the organisation and become a rice farmer instead]

"A curse user rice farmer? As if..."

Not incorrect, but the verb used here actually means "be fit for", so Getou is implying that being a rice farmer is too good/high level for a curse user to be able to do properly.

[Shiwoo to Touji]

"I was wondering where you went off to. What are you doing here?"

⇒ "Just when I thought you disappeared all of sudden - what're you doing here"

Characterisation mostly. Touji and Shiwoo both speak to each other in a very casual, direct manner, so to me Shiwoo sounded too formal here (again).

[Touji’s riposte to Shiwoo accusing him of not doing his job]

"I can't help noticing you're not working"

⇒ "You're the one who should be working"

Now it's Touji that sounds way too polite. He's super direct and crude to everyone. The trend of making him sound much more civilised continues later in the English version as well.

"I did, you idiot. Whaddya think you're doing giving up all that money we gave you"

Closer to "letting go of the deposit money", so it was more specific in the original.

“That’s what I mean by wear down”

⇒ “Like I just said - ‘wearing’ [Gojou] down”

To me the English here sounded kinda disjointed from the conversation as a whole, when in the original it flows much more congruously.

“Going for a quick buck doesn't suit you"

⇒ "You're not cut out for leisurely earning buck"

The phrase used here basically implies that Touji’s not good at it. Not sure if the official English captured that clearly enough.

[Riko after regaining consciousness in Gojou’s arms and slapping him in the face]

"You jerk! If you want to kill so badly why don't you go first?!"

⇒ "You [detestable] low-life! If you wish to kill me, you go die first!"

Riko’s way of speaking in general is very peculiar and kind of old-fashioned and lofty.

[Getou trying to calm Riko down]

"Hey Riko, don't worry. We're not here to abduct you"

⇒ "Riko-chan, don't worry. We're not with the guys who attacked you"

Lit. "not the same as". Idk why they went with such a specific translation as "here to abduct you" when kidnapping isn't mentioned here at all.

“Liar! You look like a liar! And what’s with those bangs?”

⇒ “It’s a lie! You have the face of a liar! And your bangs are weird!”

Imo Riko literally putting it as Getou having “a liar’s face” and calling his bangs “weird” in the original was just funnier.

[Kuroi reassuring Riko about Getou and Gojou]

"My lady. They are our friends"

⇒ "Young lady, those people are our allies"

I mentioned it multiple times in previous posts but imo the word the English official release insists on translating as "friends" like here is much closer in nuance to "allies" instead.

"It's the bangs guy's cursed technique!"

"Could you not call me that?!"

⇒ (...) "Could you please not call me that?"

Getou is much more polite here and sounds more gently exasperated rather than indignant the way the English version makes him come off here as (especially with the “?!”). He's also using a polite language (-masu form) which marks the difference between Gojou and Getou - Gojou is very frank and direct with everyone whereas Getou adjusts the way he speaks depending on the other party. Since Kuroi's older and a stranger, he's being more civil with her than he's with Gojou or even Yaga.

Kuroi also uses a word that'd be better off translated as "bangs person" since she's speaking fairly politely here.

[Gojou about Riko]

"She's spunkier than I thought"

⇒ "She's a much more aggressive brat than expected"

Calling her a brat again!

"Aren't you gonna get all sad because of the merger? And here I was, worried about you"

⇒ "And here I was thinking how to be considerate of you, expecting you to be sentimental because of the merger"

First off, I could be wrong but this is probably Getou's line so they went off the rail trying to make it sound all edgy (probably thinking it's Gojou instead?) But also, the overall meaning was just different since Getou's saying he was worrying about how to even approach Riko.

"You talk about merger and death as if they are one and the same but you're gravely mistaken!"

⇒ "There are fellows like you that confuse 'merger' with 'death' but that's a huge mistake"

Imo Riko's line here implies that this is not the first time something like this has been suggested either to her or about her, which just imagine living with this kind of awareness...

"She prolly has no friends with the way she speaks."

"I'm thinking it'll be a cinch to send her packing"

“I talk fine at school, you know!”

⇒ (...) "Should be able to send her off cheerfully"

“At school I speak normally!!”

While Getou was playing along with Gojou here, he didn’t really sound here as juvenile and edgy as the English release made him…. Also, “cheerfully” could be also translated as “comfortably”, “gladly” or even “willingly”. Also, slightly different nuance for Riko’s line too imo.

"Lady Riko does not have any relations"

More like "has no family".

[Getou about the cursed spirits he dispatched for surveillance]

"I wish I could share their vision like Mei. But if something happens, they'll immediately let me kn--"

"It'd be good if I could share their vision like Mei-san does. Nevertheless, in case of irregularity, I should be able to immediately--"

Since the sentence cuts off and the verb isn't actually supplied in the original, it's unclear how exactly Getou would know. Hence, translating it as "they'll let me know" is imo misleading by being too conclusive.

Chapter 68

[Shiwoo on the phone with Touji]

"The 30 million yen paid to you was a service fee from the time vessel association. If the star plasma vessel dies, the money's gone. You might end up with nothing."

⇒ "The bounty is the 30 million yen of deposit money you received from the Time Vessel Association. If the star plasma vessel gets offed, that deposit money's gone. [So] if you mess up, you won't get the actual [assassination] reward money either"

...That's just not what Shiwoo's saying. At all. I admit I had to stare at the original for a moment to organise what's being said but it's just not /that/.

To break it down - the "service fee" (which is just plain wrong and idk where they got it from?) in the official English release actually referred to the "prize money" that would be paid via the head hunter website. Touji used the deposit money he originally got from the TVA for this. Needless to say, if any of the bounty hunters succeeded in killing Riko, that money would be paid to them AND on top of that Touji wouldn't receive the actual assassination money that's yet to be paid to him (separate from the 30 million!!). And that’s what the rest of Shiwoo’s line referred to.

"Why even hire you? We could have offered the money as bounty from the start"

⇒ "Because then they'll see it this way - why even commission you if they could have used it as a bounty in the first place"

Imo Shiwoo was speaking from the Time Vessel Association's POV here and basically laying out what their potential reasoning may be if the bounty plan succeeds. So "we" would be incorrect here.

[Touji explaining why using the bounty website doesn't threaten their money reward]

"He's the first in a hundred years to wield both the six-eyes and limitless cursed technique. As long as he's with her we won't be able to take out the star plasma vessel."

It actually says "some [several] hundred years" here!! So it's not just "a" hundred years but probably much longer than that. [The official fanbook confirmed it had been 400 years.] For the second line "can't be killed" without making it "we" would be more accurate considering the continuation of this particular conversation.

[Touji explaining his plan]

"First off, we'll be using those idiots for the remaining 39 hours of the mission to wear down Gojou and the sorcerers with him"

Not "the mission" but "the remaining 39 hours of the bounty time limit". The mission imo makes it sound like Touji's referring to his own assassination mission whereas it's explicitly stated here that he means the bounty time limit.

"The time limit turned out in our favour. Makes it easier to gather the curse users"

⇒ "It's good that we/you set up the time limit. (...)"

Most likely he referred here to the bounty time limit, which's what they themselves have set.

"But that's not the only thing" "?" "I'll be heading over soon myself. Looks like things are moving faster than expected. You better have that 30 mil ready"

-> (...) "Just talking to myself. I'll be slowly heading there myself too. (...) you better get back the 30 mln for sure"

Emphasis mine to highlight the line they skipped. Also, Touji was actually saying he’d be heading “slowly” lol. The 30 mil talk here actually was Touji telling Shiwoo to get the money back properly from the bounty website!!

Shiwoo’s reply to above:

"What's wrong with you. I'm not some bulletin board for help-wanted posters. There's a listing fee, a handling fee and--""

⇒ "Don't be stupid. It’s not just some random anonymous posting board. (...)"

Basically Shiwoo was asserting he's using proper channels (for the bounty website) and was being affronted that Touji'd doubt his ability to do his job properly. He certainly wasn’t talking about himself being or not being a message board here...

[Getou about the two intruders who eliminated the cursed spirits he had patrolling the premises]

"Could these intruders be the remnants of Q? If it's the hired muscle of the Time Vessel Association, this could be trouble"

I guess this isn't incorrect but interestingly enough, both in this and the previous line where Getou talks about "intruders" in the English version, he's actually calling them "unknowns". (The Japanese goes as far as to have the text be "unidentified" and the reading be "unknowns" in English.) Again, not really mistranslated but for the second sentence in the original he puts it as "moving at TVA's instigation"

"There's no intermediary?! His cursed energy is different than that of a jujutsu sorcerer as well. Could it be?!"

The old man was mostly likely saying "their cursed energy [is different]" and referring to the familiars Getou was using. (Since cursed spirits have their own cursed energy which obviously would be different than that of Getou himself.) It doesn’t really make sense to say that it's Getou's cursed energy that is different from a sorcerer since each sorcerer's cursed energy IS different anyway. That's how "residuals" work.

[About Getou’s cursed spirit manipulation]

"His technique is greater than mine. However, it's the same as shikigami users."

⇒ "Technique wise, his is more high level. But the sorcerer's approach should be that of a shikigami user."

Lit. “thinking” for the second sentence where I went with “approach”. So he was saying that the way a cursed spirit manipulator operates is the same as a shikigami user does (since they both use familiars of sorts to fight).

[About Getou]

"Doesn't like close-quarters and isn't expecting aggression. This is too easy."

"(...) and isn't on guard against a close quarters-attack. There's no kill more worthwhile"

Slightly different meaning for both parts of this line. Basically grandpa likes killing and especially enjoys it when he manages to take the opponent by surprise.

"You look like you've got a lot on your mind. Don't waste your time"

⇒ "Looks like you’re thinking hard but it's meaningless."

Idk, the English to me sounds kind of disjointed? Whereas in the Japanese it's imo obvious that Getou here basically said "there's no point in thinking this hard".

"It's foolish to create your own blind spots!"

⇒ "Creating a blind spot by yourself was your mistake"

Not incorrect per se but imo this captures the nuance better since it’s followed by “I got you” (“You’re mine in the English release.)

[part vi (2/3)]

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jujutsukaisen #jjk translation #jjktranslation

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part V (3/3): chapters 61~64

Chapter 61

[Esou about Nobara’s resonance]

"A counter technique!! It's like a game of chicken... If I don't deactivate my technique, this will never end!"

“A curse reversal technique! A game of endurance… So as long as we don’t deactivate the technique by ourselves, this is going to continue?”

Wording it as “counter technique” is imo both incorrect and misleading - you could counter a move in many different ways, whereas Esou was explicitly referring here to a specific effect of Nobara’s resonance technique, i.e. how it redirects the enemy’s attack back at them. That’s also what the next line speaks about - since it’s their own technique, it’s the brothers that have to deactivate it, otherwise they’re going to continue to suffer from its effects - but only until Nobara dies, which was explicitly stated would most likely happen first. SO it’s not like it would “never end”.

"Straw doll: resonance applies cursed energy to an opponent's body part using an effigy. This technique cases damage to the targeted area"

⇒ "(...) It's a technique that deals damage to the main body of the target by shooting cursed energy into a part lost by the target through a humanoid medium"

So very much incorrect... The gist is that by applying cursed energy to a fragment of the body, you attack the target's main body as well. "Targeted area" was just mistranslated.

The bit with “humanoid” (“human shaped”) is written as “doll” and read as “human shape”, which probably points to the fact that it doesn’t really have to be a doll, straw or otherwise, that acts as the medium as long as it’s humanoid. That’s why the technique later worked even when Nobara didn’t use a doll and just drove the nails into her own body instead - after all, nothing more “humanoid” than an actual human, right.

Lastly, the "body" of the target here doesn't necessarily have to be the opponent's actual flesh as evidenced by Nobara's fight against Nishimiya, where she targeted her broom instead.

"The range of the technique varies depending on the opponent's skill level and the targeted body part. All those factors influence the technique's effectiveness."

⇒ "The restrictions to the technique's range are very loose and the effectiveness changes depending on the level difference between [the user and] the target and the rarity value of the lost part."

Emphasis mine to showcase the bits the official translation got particularly wrong. The explanation actually focused on the very loose limitations to the technique range. Also, basically the more rare/valuable the part, the more powerful the technique is.

"When it comes to the straw doll technique, blood is not important. Resonance depends on the connection to the opponent. Kugisaki's blood is strongly connected to those two thanks to the supreme rot technique!"

⇒ "Within the straw doll technique 'blood' doesn't hold a high value. It's just that 'resonance' follows the 'link' with the target. And Esou and Kechizu's blood that right now is inside Kugisaki is strongly connected to the two through the rot technique!!"

Again, the original is just so much more informative and clear. Emphasis mine to point out stuff that was missing/wrong. In other words, the strong connection to the rot technique that Nobara’s resonance capitalises on here is not because of her own blood but the brothers’ blood that got inside of her body!! (Also the technique here is probably just “rot” without the “supreme” bit.)

[Nobara about her attack with resonance]

"It's a nice surprise that it works on the younger brother too. If I'm going down, I'm using resonance to take you two down with me!"

"It's godsend that it worked on the younger brother too. If things continue like this, I'm going to die anyway. [So] I'm gonna keep on driving resonance in over and over"

Different meaning for the second part especially. The English makes it sound like Nobara's kind of resigned herself to dying here, but imo the original doesn't really have the same connotation. It's more like "If I don't do something here I'm gonna die so may as well". In the following pages she does pierce her own flesh again.

Continued onto Esou’s reaction.

"Whoa! That's nasty! But no matter how many times you do it, it won't be enough to kill us. In this game of chicken, you'll be going down first! And while you're in decay with so much pain and poison, you won't be able to (move)"

⇒ "That's quite powerful. (...) If we just keep enduring it, the one to eventually die is going to be you!! What's more, while 'decay' is activated, because of the pain and poison you won't be even able to properly (move)"

….I guess… the translator was really proud of the “chicken game” line…. (The phrase they originally translated it as doesn’t even appear here…) Again, emphasis mine on the bit that got edited out in the official release. Also, let’s just say that “whoa, that’s nasty” just isn’t Esou’s style, okay.

[Explaining while Yuuji could move despite being subjected to the brothers’ technique]

"Yuji Itadori is Ryomen Sukuna's vessel, who is the king of lethal poisons. For this reason he is immune to all toxins"

⇒ "Itadori Yuuji is the vessel of Ryoumen Sukuna - a lethal poison, the king of curses. Because of that he has resistance to all poisons''

Judging by the way the original is worded and spaced, this 99% means that it's SUKUNA HIMSELF that is the lethal poison!!! This had been pretty much stated word for word as early as in ch. 1. When Yuuji swallows the first finger, Megumi expects him to drop dead on the spot because Sukuna's finger is "a special grade cursed object, a lethal poison"! (Actual quote.) It’s also implied in the same chapter with the line about fighting poison with poison given as the explanation as to why the sorcerers placed the finger at the school in the first place.

If Sukuna was actually the king of toxins, his abilities and techniques would probably refer to it in any capacity but that hasn’t been the case. So yeah, this is just another, rather serious mistranslation.

"They're switching! The weakened girl's gonna attack my weakened younger brother"

⇒ "(...) They're putting up the girl on the verge of death against my little brother who's even worse off!"

Kechizu’s state was even worse than Nobara’s here.

[Esou to Nobara]

"You think you can keep me frozen in place forever?!"

⇒ "You're saying you can stop me anytime?!"

So not that he was already frozen in place but that Esou considered Nobara’s gesture as a declaration that she can keep him in check at any moment.

(jp)

[Lead-up to Nobara using black flash for the first time]

"(The poison remains within Kugisaki.) However, the pain from the deactivated technique would help sharpen her focus"

⇒ "(...) However, with the pain gone now that the decay technique has been deactivated, her senses are sharpened"

Again, emphasis mine on stuff that’s missing/wrong. The original very explicitly states that the pain has been “cleared away”. So she’s still poisoned but it’s the sudden lack of pain that was the thing that sharpened her focus.

(jp)

"Before wing king can reach Kugisaki, the enemy that stands before Yuji will be defeated. Sincerity is Yuji Itadori's greatest weapon"

⇒ "To finish off the enemy standing in front of him before wing king hits Kugisaki - [that] 'sincerity', Itadori Yuuji's real ability"

Just a different nuance for the whole line. The first bit most likely expresses Yuuji's desire/goal.

(jp)

"He possesses physical prowess and a fighting sense greater than that of Maki Zen'in. He is also the center where cursed power coalesces. The man chosen by the sparks of black"

⇒ "Physical prowess greater [even] than that of Zen'in Maki. His fighting sense. And then with the power of the curse granted on top of that... He is beloved by that black spark"

Emphasis mine - that "power coalesces" line... It's not enough to just make something sound cool if the meaning isn't conveyed.... Also, with the way it's spaced out it was probably only Yuuji's physical prowess that was said here to surpass Maki's.

Lastly, I really like the fact that the original literally says "beloved" /”loved” here, so I wish they'd keep that in, but I'm also not surprised in the least that they didn't. (Probably wasn't deemed cool enough.)

Chapter 62

[After Esou sheds tears upon witnessing Kechizu die]

"Tears of affection... because of this surprising display of emotion, Itadori didn't finish him off"

⇒ "Tears of affection. The [displayed] amplitude of emotion beyond the expectations stops Itadori in his tracks of pursuit"

First off, the original uses present tense, which imo grants it more immediacy. Secondly, the phrase translated as “finishing off” is actually “pursuit”, so imo it would’ve been better to put it as such. Lastly, what I translated as “beyond the expectations” does also mean “unexpected” and “unforeseen” (so I guess it could extend to “surprising” as well) but imo here it might’ve actually referred to the cursed womb brothers displaying a range of emotions that has far exceeded what Yuuji (or Nobara) could have ever expected from what they’d thought was a curse right up until then.

“Kugisaki also stopped fighting”

⇒ “Kugisaki’s hand also stops at the same moment”

Same re present tense = more immediacy like above. Also it’s explicitly stated that she stops at the same time as Yuuji does. That’s the extent of the shock this realisation gave them.

"When successfully using black flash, jujutsu sorcerers are in a zone similar to what athletes experience"

⇒ "When a sorcerer succeeds in using black flash, they temporarily enter a state akin to an athlete’s ‘zone’”

A throwback to ch. 50. I already covered in detail Nanami's explanation on the mechanics of using black consecutively, including this line, in one of the previous posts (please refer to part IV 5/5).

[Esou after getting hit by Nobara’s remote attack]

“So it wasn’t just a countermove!!”

⇒ “This wasn’t the curse reversal technique?!”

Esou’s line here probably means that HE was expecting (only) Nobara’s resonance to come but she also used black flash! Wording it the way they did here was probably because the translator didn’t pick on this nuance. Also, like in ch. 61, calling it a “countermove” is imo misleading because you can counter a move in many different ways, whereas Esou was explicitly referring here to the reversal function of Nobara’s resonance technique.

Chapter 63

[Nobara musing what to do with the poison still in her system]

"I wonder if Shoko will be up this late... ?”

She doesn't call her just Shoko - it's "Shouko-san" here. If they wanted to avoid using Japanese honorifics, they should've made it "miss Shoko" or something that'd convey the respectful tone of the original.

[To Yuuji]

"What's with you? You're acting weird"

⇒ "What are you being all fidgety for. It's gross"

Characterisation!

[Nobara to Yuuji after he says he has killed 3 people before]

"Aren't you the one who should be having issues here?"

⇒ "Rather than me, you're probably the one who's not fine"

Wording it as "should be having issues" sounded kinda harsh to me and imo that's not the nuance this line had. She was being worried for Yuuji here.

[About having to kill people as a sorcerer]

"Honestly, I don't really have a problem with it. As jujutsu sorcerers, these kinds of things will happen"

"Honestly speaking, it's no big deal for me (...)"

Mostly proposing a different wording here because something about “don’t have a problem” doesn’t sit right with me.

"And if you haven't been in my shoes, then I don't want you telling me what's right and wrong"

⇒ "How to put it... The seats in my life? I don't want people who're not sitting there to affect my mind in that way or another."

I can’t emphasise this enough but this line had nothing to do with “being in someone’s shoes”. It was actually Nobara trying to put in words her approach to life and human relations and doing it through a metaphor. What’s more, it doesn’t seem to be an existing metaphor, so this was probably something that Nobara thought up by herself.

Obviously, the translator couldn’t have known it but the imagery gets brought up again, in a very very important scene later on in the manga, during the Shibuya incident arc. But again, that’s why you should put effort into translating what’s actually in the text instead of defaulting to generic phrases. Especially since their pick here doesn’t even convey what was being said...

Also, imo “don’t want telling me what’s right or wrong” seems like over-interpreting.

"Is that cold? Well, I guess there are people like you who do their own thing"

⇒ "(...) Well, I guess there are people like you who just come bringing their own chairs and sit [with me], too"

Again, this line as well had nothing to do with “doing your own thing”. Actually a continuation of the chair/seat imagery.

[Nobara to Yuuji about them having just killed opponents that weren’t cursed spirits]

"I'm not sure what to say, but... I don't think we've been given much of a choice. If they were flesh-and-blood jujutsu sorcerers it would've been impossible to keep them restrained for long. You know that, right?"

⇒ "I know this isn't much help to you but we didn't have the room to care about whether they were cursed spirits or curse users. Even if they had been humans, considering their level, we had no means of keeping them restrained for a long time. (...)"

Rather majorly mistranslated again. This was actually Nobara saying that even if their opponents just now had been humans, there was just no other approach available for her and Yuuji considering the enemy’s level.

The bit they unfortunately put as "flesh-and-blood jujutsu sorcerers" was actually another instance where the text and the reading differ - in this case what Nobara said out loud was "human" but "curse user" (and NOT "jujutsu sorcerer"!!) was supplied for the context. The line was also very clearly a direct continuation of the "had no time to pay attention whether the enemy was a curse user or a cursed spirit” line.

"Even so, because of the life I took, tears were shed. That's all"

⇒ "Even so, to think that among the lives I took, some of them shed tears... That's all"

Lit. "there were tears among the lives I killed". Idk how to put it well but to me the nuance here might've actually been that some of the people/curses/etc. Yuuji killed were capable of crying (for someone).

"How do you know about the finger?"

"That's what you're worried about?"

"So."

⇒ (...) "Do you even have the room to be worrying about this?"

"Nope."

Different nuance for the latter part of the convo, funnier in the original.

“We have to call Nitta first”

Again, like with the Nobara → Shoko line, he was actually referring to Akari as “Nitta-san” here.

[Yuuji’s thoughts in response to Megumi repeating himself]

"He keeps repeating himself to me like I'm a dog"

⇒ "He sure seems to consider my comprehensive faculty to be dog level..."

Imo just funnier in the original.

[Gojou on the phone with Utahime]

"Man! It wasn't just a Sukuna finger curse. When we investigated the corpses, they were bodies that consumed cursed objects!"

"Maaan, turns out those weren't just the finger cursed spirits~ We investigated the bodies and surprise!! Turns out they were incarnations of /those/ stolen goods"

...Dare I say, Gojou avoided actually naming the true nature of the objects here on purpose, since later he implies the conversation might be wiretapped. (Also when the death painting wombs had been first stolen the consensus was that this should be kept a secret.) Also again they translate "incarnation" as "consumed" instead when imo the two just aren't interchangeable. Also, like is often the case with Gojou - characterisation suffered again.

"The first years this year are something else, taking out multiple special-grade-level curses"

Actually "taking out one special grade curse each!". And he refers to them being "this year's (...) abundant harvest" (also "bumper crop") haha. Which is a phrase used outside of literal harvest context, I think.

"It's probably thanks to my awesome teaching"

⇒ "Is it because my skills as a mentor are good~"

Characterisation, mostly.

(jp)

[Gojou and Utahime discussing their plan to find out the spy in code]

"You wanted to talk about the party, right?"

"Well, did you find what you were looking for?"

"Not even close. Everyone is so busy"

"What now? Should we start asking the students?"

"I can't drink so non-alcoholic drinks are fine."

I remember thinking that for people using a secret code the "find what you were looking for" bit sounded like a bit of a giveaway and that the continuation seemed incongruous when reading it for the first time in English. In the original, they're talking about finding someone to put in charge of making arrangements for a get-together, so it makes more sense for Utahime to follow up with "no luck, everyone's too busy" and also for them to bring up the students next. Sentiment wise something like “okay, we didn’t find an adult to arrange this meet-up for us, so let’s try the students (minors). now. We don’t have to have alcohol anyway”

Continued onto the next page.

"I'm not sure how much those around Utahime know. I don’t want to assume the mole is a student. (What a pain) "

⇒ "Since we don't know what [who] may be listening around Utahime (...)"

This is the line where Gojou implies the convo might be being intercepted that I mentioned above. "What a pain" probably refers to having to talk in a code for that reason.

[Megumi in a conversation with Nobara about the Sukuna fingers resonating]

"Itadori and his consumption of Sukuna was just a trigger"

Again, this is actually "Sukuna's incarnation". ...I guess at least they're being consistent with this one, even if it's mistranslated and misleading...

"Don't tell him" [about the fingers resonating]

"I won't. I'm a lady after all"

⇒ "So. Don't tell him"

"I won't. Don't you underestimate a lady's thoughtfulness"

Nobara's line was more specific.

[Sukuna talking shit to Yuuji]

"You ate me. And the spirits I cut and scattered have woken up now. To help... keh heh heh heh! To help many people, right?"

⇒ "You took me in. So they have woken up, the cut up and scattered parts of my soul. You will save-- keh heh heh - many people?"

The first line was actually about the cut up fragments (fingers) of Sukuna’s soul (and body)! The second line had imo slightly different nuance as well but it’s not really mistranslated.

(jp)

"You brat! Because of you... people will die!!"

⇒ "Brat! People [will] die because you exist"

Much harsher tone because it’s not just “because of you” but “because you exist/are alive”. Also, wording the first bit as “you brat” is misleading - Sukuna wasn’t using it here as an exclamation per se, “brat” is just the way he addresses Yuuji in general.

"But who's to say that someone you save won’t kill someone in the future?"

⇒ "What will you do if someone you'd saved ended up killing people in the future"

This is a direct throwback to Megumi’s line at the juvenile detention center (ch. 6) - I discuss it in more depth in part I. As evidenced by this chapter as well, the phrase and the original conversation are hugely important for the Yuuji + Megumi dynamics, so I really recommend checking that breakdown out as well. Here I’m just going to reiterate that wording it as “who’s to say” is way too passive in tone and nuance.

“Don’t you dare tell him”

Actually just a repeat of the “don’t tell [Fushiguro]” from above.

Chapter 64

[Gakuganji speaking to Mei Mei and Todou]

"Special grade is something of a misrepresentation even within jujutsu sorcerers"

⇒ "In relation to the [overall] jujutsu sorcerer ranking system, special grade is slated diagonally"

I’d say that rather than being a misrepresentation, it’s more like “special grade” exists somewhat outside of the standard grading system. Btw, what I put as “ranking system” was literally “grading”, “classification” etc.

[Toudou about his hopes for Yuuji to become a grade 1 sorcerer]

"In other words, Aoi Todo and Yuji Itadori will share a bright future when we work together on missions"

Not incorrect but the original wording is 青い春, “blue/green future” - the Japanese word for blue actually also means “green” (e.g. that’s the word you use when you say the light has turned green) but also “unripe”, inexperienced”. More importantly, it’s apparently the title of an AKB48 song, which could be a reference considering Toudou’s hobbies.

[Nobara while discussing Ozawa, Yuuji’s middle school classmate liking Yuuji in romantic way]

”Huh? My heart just skipped a beat. Arrhythmia?”

⇒ “What was this vague sensation in my chest just now? (...)”

I wouldn’t nitpick this one if not for the fact that the same phrase as in this line appears at the end of the chapter again and in that context translating it as “heart skipping a beat” doesn’t make sense.

[Megumi explaining why he doesn’t think Yuuji has a girlfriend]

"Plus, he's got some posters hanging in his room. Not the kind someone with a girlfriend would have. She wouldn't like it."

It’s actually specified it’s bikini model posters. (So called “gravure”.)

"Are you the type to drink black coffee in front of a girl to impress her even though you don't like it?"

⇒ "Are you the type to play it cool and drink black coffee only in front of girls?"

She didn't actually say "don't like it".

[Ozawa upon seeing the way Nobara and Yuuji text each other]

"That's very casual”

Actually “frank”, “candid”, could also be “indifferent”.

[Nobara afraid that Yuuji’s not going to recognise Ozawa, his middle school classmate, because her appearance has changed a lot]

"Who're you?"

"That's gotta be the worst thing to hear from the person they like"

⇒ "Who?"

"Isn’t this the no. 1 line you wouldn’t want to hear from a person you long for when you meet them for the first time in a while?!"

Not that incorrect but it was more specific in the original. Also, the word that they translated as "the person you like" can also mean "a person you admire", it's not always romantic.

[When Yuuji replies that he doesn't have a girl he likes in their class in a middle school flashback]

"You have to pick someone"

"In that case, Ozawa"

⇒ “(...) If I have to say, then Ozawa”

This is actually another instance where the phrase that means "If I have/had to say" (also "if I'm forced to say something") appears in the context of Yuuji replying to a question about what girls he likes! It happened previously in ch. 35 but the line got rather mistranslated there, so it’s hard to make the connection (refer to part IV 1/5). Needless to say this is part of Yuuji’s characterisation as it implies Yuuji doesn’t really have set preferences for the kind of person he likes and only picks something when prompted.

Continued.

[When Yuuji’s classmates get surprised at his answer saying Ozawa is fat]

“But you know the way she eats and her writing and stuff, it's really elegant"

It’s actually the most common word for “beautiful”, “pretty” here, which imo makes it all the more powerful of a statement. Another set of potential meanings could be also “clean; tidy; neat”, btw, but judging by Ozawa’s reaction when she overheard it, it’s more likely it was either the first meanings OR a bit of both.

[Ozawa internal monologue/reflecting]

"I wouldn't like someone who doesn't like me either"

⇒"I also have no intention whatsoever of picking a person who won't pick me"

Imo, the line had a different nuance because the way she puts it as "pick", "choose" here.

“(I thought the me of today could)”

"But I'm just doing the same thing as those I don't like would do"

⇒ (...)

"But I'm living according to the same standards the people I hate do"

Also “scale”, “criteria”, “measuring rule”. I guess the meaning was mostly there but imo this line also suggested that Yuuji doesn’t live according to the constraints and measures other people set out.

[Nobara to Megumi]

"Anyway, Fushiguro, I realized how I truly feel"

Actually just "realised how I feel" (the construction used here literally says "noticed my (own) feelings”, very reminiscent of shoujo manga haha).

Continued.

"The idea of Itadori getting a girlfriend before I get a boyfriend really annoys me! He's supposed to be after me! My heart skipped a beat!"

⇒ (...) "[This is] the true identity of that vague sensation!”

This is the line I mentioned earlier where putting the last bit as "my heart skipped a beat" just doesn’t make sense. The previous instance was Nobara not being able to identify a feeling/sensation she got in her chest and this is her finally reaching the conclusion what it must’ve been.

t.b.c. in Gojou’s Past Arc

#jjk #Jujutsu Kaisen #jjk translation

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part V (2/3): chapters 58~60

Chapter 58

[About Sukuna’s fingers resonating with one another]

"The ones that possess an immense presence. The ones that are hiding. The ones that are already taken in by cursed spirits."

⇒ "1) The ones with too big presences. 2) The ones holding their breath. 3) The ones already absorbed by cursed spirits."

I added the numbers for explanation purposes, see below.

"One of Sukuna's fingers was hidden by a cursed spirit. When Itadori consumed the finger in June, it released its cursed energy"

⇒ "The Sukuna fingers that had been absorbed were holding back their power [while] inside cursed spirits. Then they unleashed their cursed energy with Itadori's incarnation [of Sukuna] in June serving as a trigger."

Whelp. On top of extremely simplifying the explanation, they mixed up the kind of Sukuna finger involved here - it was very explicitly stated in the text that it was number 3) "absorbed" (assimilated) fingers, and not 2) "hiding" fingers.

I guess saying that Itadori consumed the finger isn't wrong plot wise but it's actually referred to (here and many times more in the manga) as "incarnation"! The same word also gets used for the death painting brothers.

[Megumi remembering a conversation with Gojou]

"I was surprised you asked me to train you"

⇒ "It's rare for you to ask me for a practice, Megumi"

"To train you" wasn't wrong but Gojou saying "it's rare" here points to it either happening occasionally or having happened in the past and I'm not sure "I was surprised" quite conveys that.

"Are you feeling pressure because of Yuji's growth?"

⇒ "Did you get impatient after getting surpassed by Yuuji?"

Gojou actually says that Yuuji has surpassed Megumi here! Quite a different nuance from just "Yuji's growth".

"Megumi, your skill and potential are probably higher than Yuji's. All that’s left is the mental aspect"

⇒ “You know, Megumi, I think that both your real ability and potential are in no way inferior to Yuuji's. (...)"

Emphasis mine because pray tell, how does one reach the conclusion that "don't lose out to"/"aren't inferior to" equals to "are probably higher". “Skill” was fine btw but I’d probably go with “mindset” for the last line, personally.

[Gojou explaining why he thinks Megumi doesn’t know how to make a serious effort giving the baseball game as an example]

“Why did you bunt? You sacrificed yourself so that Nobara could advance. Well, good for you"

⇒ "Why did you make a sacrifice bunt? Did you want to advance Nobara to the next base even if it meant you'd be out yourself? That's commendable"

The nuance for the last line was just different - the word used there usually is just used as praise, either genuine or ironic but imo “good for you” has a different meaning. Also he says “out” but it’s written as “death” (although that is sometimes the case in baseball as well.)

“But no matter how many allies you have around you, you'll always die alone"

⇒ “(...) when you die, you’re alone”

I tried to phrase it a bit closer to the original because I feel like the nuance may just be different for this line but can’t quite put a finger on the how.

[Gojou to Megumi]

"To die and then win, and dying victoriously are two completely different things, Megumi"

⇒ "To win by dying and to win even if you die are completely different, Megumi"

Emphasis by Gege. Ngl, I had no clue what the English was trying to say here… This is most likely what the line actually meant.

[Megumi regaining his consciousness after he blacked out from getting hit]

"How long was I out? Was my divine dog destroyed? No, my technique's finished"

Actually "my technique got undone". Putting it as "has finished" is imo both unclear and misleading. Similar situation as in ch. 1 (refer to part I).

[Lead-up to Megumi using a domain expansion for the first time]

"A jujutsu sorcerer's growth never comes easy"

⇒ "The growth curve of a sorcerer isn’t always gentle"

Mostly, the line was more intricate in the original but also the grammatical construction used here that they mistranslated as "never" actually means "not always [necessarily]” instead.

"Here we go!!"

Not really incorrect but it's kinda generic and I guess something like "I'm gonna do it!" is closer nuance wise.

"With a firm base, skill and imagination, a person can change thanks to the slightest of events"

⇒ "A firm foundation, a handful of sense, and imagination. Then, [even] with a most insignificant opportunity, a person will change"

A pity they simplified "a handful of sense" into just "skill" here. Overall not really incorrect but I wanted to propose something that imo better conveys the original wording and vibe.

“Area expansion”

…”area”? What? Obviously this is actually “domain expansion”. I just don’t have words.

“Think bigger! My technique’s interpretation!”

First sentence actually referred to the second one, so it’s actually something like “Expand it!! The technique’s interpretation!!”

[Megumi to the cursed spirit after his shikigami deals it a finishing blow]

"Divine dog's claws even hurt it...You were no match!"

"(...) So something like piercing through you when you're not even paying attention was easy"

Less excitement, more dismissiveness, I’d say? Also, for the divine dog it’s actually specified that it’s “divine dog (totality)” and not just simply “divine dog”. The term appeared before in ch. 47.

Chapter 59

[Megumi talking about what he considers the basic rule for human interactions in a flashback to his middle school years]

"Basically, you shouldn't cross any line that violates another person's dignity. You should acknowledge each other's mutual existence. That's the rule. You ignored it and fed your stupid ego"

⇒ "In short, it's drawing a line in order not to jeopardise one another's dignity; [it’s] a process through which both parties can coexist. That's what the "rule" is”. You broke it, throwing your weight around and forcing everyone to walk on eggshells around you”

For the first sentence, Megumi says “it’s drawing a line”, so the nuance here was probably closer to “creating boundaries” rather than “crossing boundaries” like in the official English release. For the second sentence, the original literally says “the process through which one another’s existence is achieved”, so rather than acknowledging each other’s existence the sentiment is probably closer to live and let live? For the last sentence, they once again simplified it to the barest bones.

"I'll definitely tell Ikezawa and everyone today that we're not their lapdogs"

“You got this, Aida!”

"But we might be the next punching bags, so don't go overboard!"

Should be “Ikezawa and others'' and definitely “that I’m not their errand boy” for the smallest boy’s first line. If all of them were already being treated as errand boys like the way using the plural form here implies, the other student’s reply wouldn’t make sense.

[After Tsumiki sees Megumi has beaten up delinquents once again]

“You said you wouldn’t pick fights anymore”

“You’re not my mom”

⇒ (...) “Don’t act like you’re my guardian”

Imo the distinction is significant because there’s a possibility that Tsumiki as the older of the two probably did feel responsible for Megumi to an extent and acted accordingly, as if she was his guardian.

Also, he doesn’t actually say “mom” - this is not the first time where the official English release opts for a gendered phrase where the original uses a neutral form. (Like making Yuuji say his grandpa was like a dad to him when he actually said parent all the way back in ch. 2.)

[Megumi’s thoughts from back in the middle school]

"I hate bad guys with no brains and zero emotional capability. Walking around feeling proud. Disgusting."

⇒ "I hate bad people. The way they act like they’re superior, with their complete lack of imagination or sensitivity. Disgusting”

I guess I really dislike the way they worded it here, especially the “no brains” part since Megumi wasn’t really talking about intellect or smarts here but about imagination (and sensitivity), which he literally describes as being akin to "vacant lot", "empty lot", "raw land”, which is much more evocative.

"I hate goody-goodies forgiving bad people, justifying mercy. Makes me wanna puke"

⇒ "I hate good people. The way they forgive such bad people and perceive that act of forgiveness as something noble. They make me sick"

Mhm, way to just simplify the heck out of the whole line. I’m extra bothered by their use of “goody-goodies” here since this is yet another appearance of a rather formal word for “good person” (善人/zennin) in the original and which I’ve observed to be a very important part of the world-building in jjk. I discuss it at length in various previous installments, with notable examples including: ch. 9 (Megumi about Yuuji and about the kind of people he wants to save - part I), ch. 31 (Nanami and Yuuji’s conversation in the aftermath of the Junpei incident - part III 2/2), ch. 36 (Panda about Yuuji - part IV 2/5).

“Tsumiki, you’re a perfect example of a good person.”

See, the word he uses here to describe Tsumiki is the same as in the line above (善人) but because back then it got translated as “goody-goodies”, you’d never guess it since the vibes are just that different.

[Megumi reminiscing about meeting Gojou for the first time]

"In the first grade, my dad and Tsumiki's mom got married and separated just as quickly"

⇒ "When I was in the first grade of elementary school my father and Tsumiki’s mother, our respective single parents, got together and disappeared into thin air"

The original doesn’t mention marriage OR separation. Heck, especially for the second one, it doesn’t even come close to mentioning it?? I have no clue where they got this from.

What I put as “got together” can also be translated as “to have a liaison with (a man or a woman)” (among others). Since Tsumiki’s surname is also “Fushiguro” in middle school, it’s possible that they were actually married and many Japanese fans seem to think that as well but it’s not explicitly stated, at least not here, so those are most likely speculations.

As for mysterious “separation”, the word used here actually means "disappearance (of people intentionally concealing their whereabouts); unexplained disappearance", so imo the whole section means their parents got together and at some point both disappeared. As we learn at one point in the manga Touji first and Tsumiki’s mum sometime later.

(Btw, one fan scanlation used “evaporation” here instead and while this is another possible translation of the word in question, imo from the context it’s clear that the intended meaning was the “unexplained disappearance” instead.)

Lastly, Megumi uses kind of formal expressions when referring to both his own dad and Tsumiki’s mum, which imo is indicative of the emotional distance.

[Tiny Megumi about teenager Gojou]

"A weirdo with white hair said"

⇒ "A suspicious man with white hair"

Needless to say, he doesn't actually call Gojou a weirdo.

[Gojou about Touji]

"But he's a loser that just works for me. He left the family and had you."

⇒ "He's enough of a good-for-nothing to take aback even me. Basically, he left home and then had you."

Emphasis mine. Again, I literally have no clue where they got the translation they went with for this. “Works for me” - just what?? (Btw, one of the fan scans available for this had the latter part of this line mistakenly imply that Gojou had Megumi leave his house. The bit definitely referred to Touji leaving the Zen’in family.)

"You're something your dad used against the Zen'in family. His trump card"

⇒ “You’re something your father kept as his strongest card against the Zen’in family”

A bit of a different nuance than “your dad used” suggests.

"The divorce money makes sense now. I was sold to this Zen'in family"

⇒ "The mystery behind the funds for their disappearance got solved. Apparently, I was sold to this Zen’in family or something"

Again, the word for “divorce” doesn’t make an appearance ANYWHERE in this chapter, least of all this page. ...How.

Once again - fan scans had this as money that also evaporated but neither it nor the official English release make sense, considering the line is followed up by “I was sold” as the explanation. So yeah, imo the first sentence definitely referred to the money Megumi considered necessary for Touji (and co’s) disappearance.

[Gojou referring to Touji basically selling Megumi off]

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it's annoying. Especially your attitude."

⇒ “It pisses you off, doesn’t it”

“Yeah, it does piss me off. Especially that lack of delicacy of yours”

I mentioned it multiple times but imo repetition in the original text tends to be done on purpose and as a device and imo this was another example where this was the case. Megumi borrows Gojou’s words here. (Which mean “to be irritated, “to be angry” and not “it sucks”.)

[Megumi continuing about Gojou]

"But that annoying guy wrote off the situation with the Zen'in family. He made a promise that we would work as sorcerers in the future. We would be collateral and receive financial support from Jujutsu High in exchange."

⇒"This man pisses me off, but it was him who cancelled the deal with the Zen'in family, and made it so we would receive financial support from the technical college with me working as a sorcerer in the future [serving] as collateral for it”

I don’t know why they’d translate it as “we would work” here since who the “we” would be supposed to even entail other than Megumi himself? Surely not Tsumiki. Or Gojou. Also, putting the next bit as “we would be collateral” makes it sound kind of dehumanising to me, ngl, whereas Megumi was talking about his labour here.

Also, the same phrase for “pisses off” as above got used once again, which makes it three times in a row, so imo that was definitely a deliberate stylistic choice on Gege’s part.

“Jujutsu sorcerers. How stupid.

⇒ "Sorcerers, what even. How nonsensical"

Just proposing an alternate wording.

[Megumi about the curse Tsumiki got hit by]

"All we knew was that we didn't know anything. Tsumiki still sleeps."

The word used to describe Tsumiki’s state literally means “became bedridden”, which imo heavily implies she fell into a coma. “Still sleeps” is most likely a misunderstanding on the translator’s part since the word sounds like it’d mean that (but it doesn’t.)

[Megumi about Tsumiki]

"Always smiling and saying nice things"

⇒ “Always smiling and spouting lip service”

Another case where the translator seems to have translated the word based on the way it’s written as opposed to checking the actual meaning. (The “nice things” phrase.)

"It's not a bad thing to not forgive people. Megumi, that's your way of showing kindness."

⇒ “Not being able to forgive people isn’t a bad thing. That’s your kindness, Megumi”

It wasn’t just “not to forgive” but “not being able to forgive”! Which imo would imply the next line’s nuance was something similar to Tsumiki considering Megumi’s inability to forgive people to be something that stems from his kindness (e.g. because he can’t stand seeing injustice).

"Even spinning my short-comings in a positive light."

⇒ “She would affirm even my nature"

Imo this line was more of Tsumiki accepting Megumi as he is or at least that’s what the line says - makes sense with what I proposed for the line above too. Translating it the way they did in the official release kind of feels like overinterpreting.

"But even she would get upset when I hurt somebody. I was annoyed by the hypocrisy"

⇒ "But even such Tsumiki would get genuinely angry (...). I would get annoyed thinking she was a stickler to the rules and a hypocrite"

Emphasis mine. The phrase that the translators seem to have skipped here and I translated as "stickler to the rules" literally means "to play it safe", "to avoid trouble at all cost".

"Yeah, I know. I was immature. I'm sorry so please wake up already"

“I’m sorry, I was a brat. I’ll apologise so just wake up already, stupid older sister”

Just a different nuance and tone for the whole line.

"All I did was get rid of the Yasohachi bridge curse. My sister's sleeping curse is a separate matter."

⇒ "This Yasohachi bridge curse was probably only overlapping with it, and the curse that caused Tsumiki to fall into a coma probably hasn't been lifted"

The official English release makes it sound like sleeping (or more correctly, the coma) was the nature of the curse that Tsumiki was put under, whereas imo the original indicates it just as its effect, which is an important distinction.

“As for the finger and Itadori…”

⇒ “What should I tell Itadori about the finger...”

The “tell”, “say” is only implied here but it’s pretty clear from the context that was the meaning. Also, he explicitly says “to Itadori” here.

[After the Yasohachi bridge curse got defeated by Megumi who then retrieved the Sukuna finger from it]

"All of sudden I feel a presence. Did the finger get out of the barrier? Whoever took out the finger bearer is quite formidable."

⇒ “The huge presence that appeared all of sudden... Did Sukuna's finger get out of the barrier? If it was a sorcerer that exorcised the finger's host, they must be quite good......."

Emphasis mine on bits that got cut out in the official release. Because Esou was facing off Nobara, he probably assumed it’s likely there may be other sorcerers present and imo that’s what this line also suggests.

"Even so... The finger... Even if they fought against a special-grade and won, They more than likely didn't come out of it unscathed. I hope they're okay."

Just to clarify that the word used for “they” in the original indicates the speaker knows the people in question, so those were Nobara’s thoughts here.

Chapter 60

[Esou to Yuuji and Nobara after he activates his wing king technique]

“Start running and turn your backs to me”

“Run. With your backs turned to me” would fit better nuance and mood wise. (Esou didn’t want to show his back to anyone so now he’s’ forcing them to show theirs.)

[Nobara to Yuuji after he scooped her up because she couldn’t run as fast as he could]

“I got your back”

“Okay”

“Okay” isn’t incorrect per se but the word has the nuance of “I’m counting on you”.

[Nobara to Yuuji after he speeded through the forest while carrying her, allowing them to escape from Esou's technique]

"Well done, you deserve some praise"

“Yeah, yeah”

“Just kidding. Thanks!”

⇒ "You have my praise." (...)

Actually a set phrase! Spoken from a rather elevated/superior POV, which is why Nobara later reiterates that she’s genuinely thankful. Also, I probably would just go with a period for “Thanks”, imo nuance wise it didn’t require an exclamation mark and it’s not there in the original either.

[Esou after Yuuji gets splashed with Kechizu’s blood]

"There's no need to worry. My younger brother's blood isn't the same quality as mine"

Actually "doesn't have the same properties like mine”.

"You wouldn't even die from mine unless you were drowned in it."

Much closer to something like "unless you were to bathe your whole body in it".

"But it does hurt like hell"

⇒ "But it does hurt to death"

Not really wrong meaning wise but in the original it was “to death” instead of “like hell”, which combined with a previous line was probably a wordplay. "You won't die but it does hurt to death"

[Esou explaining how his and Kechizu’s shared technique works]

"If you take in one of our brother's blood and if one brother activates a technique"

Idk if it's clear here but it most likely doesn't matter which brother does which (could even be the same one). Also, definitely should’ve been “the” or “this” for technique, since Esou has just stated on the same page he’s now going to start laying out how a specific technique of he and his brother’s functions.

[Esou replying to Yuuji]

"Yes, the result is essentially poison. Our technique is 'decomposition'"

Should be “but what our technique is, is actually ‘decomposition’” nuance wise.

"It's activated now. In reality they'll be dead faster than that”

⇒ “Done with technique disclosure, so in reality (...)”

Emphasis mine. You know, the rule in jujutsu where if you explain your technique to your opponent, it gets a buff? “Activation” is just wrong here.

While it’s not phrased as such, the phenomenon is first explained in ch. 20 during Nanami’s explanation to Yuuji (refer to part II 2/2). It also gets mentioned by name later in the manga but oftentimes the official release would either skip it or word it completely differently so it’s hard to tell, like in ch. 51, when Hanami realises Toudou has lied to him (part IV 5/5).

[The history of how cursed wombs came to be]

"[In the beginning of the Meiji era] there was a girl with special genetic makeup who bore a cursed-spirit child"

Actually “with an idiosyncrasy that allowed her to get pregnant with the child of a cursed spirit”! Imo an important distinction since it’s not certain whether her first child that gets discussed here was born prematurely or not and the following pregnancies were all aborted.

"A child born of mixed blood - both cursed spirit and human.”

Skipped “grotesque child” at the end.

“It was a mysterious pregnancy. She would be ostracized by family and friends.”

⇒ "Starting from a pregnancy she had no recollection of, [followed by] the oppression from her kith and kin, it made her go insane"

This latter part of this section is filled to the brim with complicated language so I’m not entirely sure but I think this might’ve been the intended meaning of the line. The official translators were probably struggling with the vocabulary too, so they cut out some stuff entirely, to be precise - the go insane part. It’s the bit I’m not certain about myself but I scoured Japanese dictionaries and that’s the meaning that seemed to be the best fit among the options.

Anyway, to reiterate - the bit about the pregnancy actually says that the girl herself didn’t even know (couldn’t remember) how it came to be. The part about the relatives doesn’t mention friends, it’s actually a set phrase that means “one's relatives by blood and marriage (in blood and law); one's kith and kin” - I went here with the latter since it’s shorter and fits the overall vibe of the line.

“She would hold the corpse of the child and flee to a temple in the mountains. The temple was run by jujutsu sorcerers. However, her luck had run out."

⇒ “(...) However, this was when her luck run out”

Other than the nuance in the last line, this isn’t mistranslated but the whole section just flowed differently in the original and felt less disjointed.

Also! One of the scanlations I’ve seen had it misspelled as “Noshitori” but the evil sorcerer’s name is actually “Kamo Noritoshi” (and yes, it’s the same as the young Kamo but the “toshi” is written with different characters).

"The child born from a cursed spirit and human would become a prisoner of intellectual curiosity"

⇒ "His [Kamo Noritoshi's] intellectual curiosity would be taken captive by children born between a cursed spirit and a human"

Very much the other way around. It's very clear in the original that the subject of the sentence was Kamo's intellectual curiosity and not the child.

"Death painting wombs: numbers 1-3. Cursed objects worthy of special grade."

Closer to "cursed objects powerful enough to be classified as special grade"

"Did cursed energy originate from a mother's hatred? No..."

It's specified here as "did their cursed energy" instead (emphasis mine), and the question is actually left unanswered......................................................... So yeah, congrats on getting rid of this very intended ambiguity. It's something like "or was it maybe--"

[About cursed wombs]

"For 150 years, with only the notion of one another's existence, they would survive, sealed away"

⇒ "For 150 years, they endured the seal, relying only on one another's existence"

"The notion" just doesn't capture the sentiment of the line at all, which imo is most likely the follow-up to the narrator's musings about the origin of the death painting's immense cursed energy. (See above.)

"We're siding with that cursed spirit."

Actually "siding with them", read as "them" but written as "the cursed spirits" - probably plural as the original literally says "the side of the cursed spirits", so it possibly means cursed spirits as a whole as well, aside of Mahito and co specifically. Remember, the brothers are actually half-humans too. I explain in depth the “written as but read as” device in part IV 4/5 (ch. 48, Toudou’s “my friend” phenomenon).

"The future that the cursed spirits have painted is more suited for us. But that's it. Forget about what we owe for our freedom"

Not incorrect per se but Chousou actually says “forget the debt we owe them of our incarnation”, which would make it yet another instance where the official English release has cut out the term entirely. (Emphasis mine.)

[Nobara after stating that a technique that assures a win as long as it hits an opponent is indeed powerful]

"I'm a bad match for you!!"

Actually “the worst match [possible]” - more confidence in the line!

[Nobara to the death painting brothers after using Resonance on herself thus redirecting their attack back at them]

"Let's play a game of chicken, shall we?"

The actual wording is “contest of endurance”, I’m not entirely sure if the two have the same connotation.

[part v (3/3)]

#JujutsuKaisen #jjk #Jujutsu Kaisen #jjk translation #jjktranslation

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part V (1/3): chapters 55~57

Death Painting Arc

Chapter 55

“These three died under the same circumstances. Death by stabbing at their respective apartment’s entrance. Also, all three had recently complained to the building management (...)"

Explicitly specified that it’s “death by stabbing by a cursed spirit”. Also, Akari (Nitta) sounds very formal here in the official release but the thing is while the phrases she uses are rather proper and professional, the way she ends her sentences is very casual, which gives it an overall lax vibe. Keep that in mind whenever she speaks I guess because I’m not sure how much of it I’m going to cover here.

"Does the door issue have anything to do with jurei? Would jurei even trip a door sensor? They don't show up on cameras"

⇒ "Hey, is the thing with the automatic door a cursed spirit's fault? (...)"

More casual phrasing but also why skip "automatic"? Also, ah, gratuitous Japanese, I missed you so. Jurei = cursed spirit, I have no clue why they suddenly switched to all those Japanese terms in the last few chapters.

"It's not the door sensor, the door operator was influenced by the jurei and went crazy"

⇒ "Not the sensor, it was the [automatic] door operator that got affected by the cursed spirit and stopped working"

The original does say "door operator" but the thing is it DID NOT indicate a person the way translating the rest of the sentence as "went crazy" would suggest. It actually refers to "automatic door operator", or "automatic swing door operator", i.e. a mechanical part and that’s what the cursed spirit affected here (as opposed to a sensor which it wouldn’t trigger).

The verb used here is misleading if you don't bother to actually check it in dictionary because it literally says "go stupid" but it's not really what the phrase means most of the time. One of the possible actual meanings for it are "do not work", "do not function" and clearly those were the ones that applied here. For accessible door enthusiasts read up on automatic door operators here: https://www.beaconcdl.com/automatic-door-operators-simplified/

"It's hard to confirm from the crime scenes whether or not it's the same jurei. Some time elapsed after the crime."

⇒ "As for whether it's the work of the same cursed spirit or not, unfortunately we couldn't quite determine that. After all, time has passed and all"

More casual. Like I said before, Akari mixes up formal terms and job lingo with a very informal way of speaking (which makes her lines really entertaining).

“So the three of them got the same curse. And then it manifested after all these years?”

⇒ “So the three got struck by the same curse and after time has passed, it got set into motion?”

It’s not terribly incorrect but imo “manifested” didn’t really convey the nuance accurately.

“I’d like the three of you to observe as jujutsu sorcerers”

⇒ “As for the three of you I want you to investigate/probe into things from a sorcerer’s point of view”

“Observe” is too passive here.

“Oh well… That was our only lead”

⇒ “Ahhhh, our sole lead---”

I don’t really understand why they’d go with “oh well” here, the very picture of nonchalance…

“No problemo!”

Ahaha, Yuuji’s actually saying “Don’t mind it!” here (lit. “donmai” in Japanese), which is more endearing. But also he was consoling Akari here and “no problemo” imo doesn’t have the same connotation.

“We got some punks over there. Let's beat 'em up and make 'em talk"

⇒ “Oh, there are some delinquents here. Let’s beat them up and [help] rehabilitate them”

The official English release sure likes to water down everything Nobara says and make her edgier, huh. Her implying the trio beating those two dudes up would be beneficial for them was what made the line so funny in the original. Also, she actually puts it as “easy to tell”, “obvious ones” in the first sentence and “delinquents” is only implied.

“Sorry for not greeting you properly”

? Actually a set phrase that literally means “thank you for your hard work”, often used as a greeting, especially at work, but also at sports club etc.

“What?! What’s going on?!”

⇒ “What did you do! Just what did you do in junior high!”

It’s like they just put whatever into Yuuji’s speech bubble here.

(jp)

[About what Fushiguro did to the two delinquents in junior high to be so respected by them]

"To us... it's more like half of the punks in this area have been beaten to a pulp by Fushiguro-san"

⇒ "We... or rather all the delinquents, informal local gangs of all sorts etc. in the area got beaten the hell out of by Fushiguro-san"

The phrase that I put as "informal local gangs" means specifically "loosely organized criminal gang; non-yakuza organized crime group". It contains the character for "half" in it, so that's probably another case of the translators not bothering to research the actual phrase and just (mis)translating it by feeling it out. Way to diminish the scale of Fushiguro’s days of bloody glory.

“What! What’s going on?!”

⇒ “What are you doing? Just what are you [even] doing?”

Mistranslated again.

"Obviously one of the faculty... what's with the attitude?"

⇒ "It's probably the janitor. But why so cocksure?"

The word used means “janitor”, “orderly”. Btw, Yuuji adds “-san” here, so he’s actually speaking politely about the man.

[After the janitor recognised Megumi]

“He’s notorious”

Actually just “he got remembered”, “he remembered him”.

[Megumi about the janitor]

“Takeda-san’s a regular around here”

⇒ “Takeda-san is a regular employee”

The word “employee” isn’t used in the original but it’s clear from the context that this was the meaning. So it’s not that he’s there often but that he’s a full-time (and clearly long time) employee.

”Abandoning responsibilities”

“Dereliction of duty” would be a better fit, he uses a rather formal term here. (Also, the ring that “dereliction of duty” has to it!)

(jp)

”Or karma, getting what they had coming”

⇒ “Or stories about the accursed, the damned and such”

They once again assumed the word used means one thing because a similar phrase means it too, probably. (The janitor doesn’t say “karma” in his reply either.)

The term as a verb　罰が当たる = “to incur divine punishment; to pay for one's sins”

The term as a adjectival noun like here 罰当たり = “cursed”, “accursed”, “damned” (as in deserving damnation).

[Nobara to the two delinquents after one of them interjects something]

“Idiots A and B, you’re both still here?”

She actually only says “A & B” which is even better haha.

[Megumi’s underclassman telling the story of the men who got killed by the cursed spirit in question from back when they were students]

“They were scolded but apparently didn’t remember anything”

Skipped “they insisted that they don’t remember anything”

[Akari about what they just learned at the school about the Yasohachi bridge]

“A lead...”

⇒ “That’s [probably] jackpot?”

The word literally means “hit”, “success” etc. Definitely not merely “lead”.

"Paranormal spots, like schools, attract curses...so the jujutsu high staff goes there often."

⇒ “Curses tend to gather at paranormal spots, the same as it’s for schools. So Jujutsu Tech affiliated personnel patrols them regularly”

They simplified some of the world-building here. Emphasis mine. Also I’ll be switching from “Jujutsu High” to “Jujutsu High” (maybe even “technical college” and “college” sometimes) from now on! I tried to stick to “Jujutsu High” but it sounds kinda juvenile and strictly speaking, it’s not a high school but a technical college anyway.

[After Mahito asks why sorcerers don’t destroy cursed objects like cursed wombs]

"When it's a special grade, they just can't do it"

Idk if it's clear from the English here but the implied nuance is that of "it's not that they don't, but that they can't" even though the original line is shorter than that.

"They halt its lifestream, but preserve its existence with a constraint that prevents it from doing any further damage"

⇒ "They stop its lifestream but [in exchange] guarantee its [continued] existence with a binding that forbids them from doing any harm to others"

They just switched to "constraint" from "binding vow", without any explanation whatsoever after using the latter for 6 volumes. Don't get me wrong, "constraint" is more accurate than "binding vow", which was just a mistranslation (refer to part II, chapter 11) but imo this could have at the very least used a translator's note to indicate the change in translation for this particular term. Otherwise how are the readers supposed to know it’s the very same term.

For the explanation as a whole, it was definitely "guarantee" (also “pledge”) instead of "preserve" here. That's the word used and it makes more sense since as we already know from ch. 11 (and ch. 32), a binding in general but also between two parties is based on interest, so obviously both the cursed womb and the sorcerers have to get something advantageous from this particular deal. (Continued existence for the womb, damage prevention for sorcerers.)

“But Sukuna is doing damage.”

"That's an exception. It became a cursed object, but even after being split into 20 pieces, it's still able to attract curses after all this time and choose its vessel"

Mostly correct except the last part, which's closer to "and after time has passed, it's become able to attract curses. And that’s how it chooses its vessel". If it had the beckoning effect from the start, there's no way they'd have put it at a school of all places. Megumi explains as early as ch. 1 (refer to part I) that a powerful evil cursed object has a repelling effect on curses. It's only when it grows too strong or the seal weakens, that it starts calling curses instead.

Direct continuation from the line above.

“The Kusozo can be anyone”

⇒ “And for the death painting wombs anyone goes huh”

Kusozo = Death Painting Wombs. I really wish they’d use a glossary of terms if they insist on just throwing Japanese words around.

“Upon contact with jurei, I’ll lower the tobari”

Jurei = cursed spirit

Tobari = curtain.

[Mahito to just transformed/awakened death painting womb brother]

“Hey, sorry to bother you all of sudden but do you think you could run some errands for me?”

The first part is closer to “sorry to do this first thing after waking up”. Also, it could be just me but the whole errand thing may be a reference to a popular Japanese TV show where children are filmed going on their first ever errand?

Chapter 56

“We couldn’t even feel a trace of the curse”

⇒ “[It was as though] we were unable to pick up either on the residuals or the presence [of a cursed spirit] at all”

Emphasis mine. Megumi’s actually using the jujutsu term “residuals”. I have no clue why they’d cut it out, unless they just forgot it was one and thought it meant just “trace” instead 8D Inconsistent much.

[Talking about the Yasohachi bridge curse]

“We shouldn’t waste time”

“Why?”

⇒ “But isn’t it bad if we take our time doing this?”

I guess the meaning is there but imo wording it like I did (which is closer to the original) makes more sense considering Nobara’s reply. Otherwise she sounds rather callous.

[Megumi after his underclassman from the other day brings his sister over]

“She. Classmate.”

The dot makes him sound kinda crude although I guess they might’ve been trying to emulate the broken up speech from the previous chapter? He’s actually only saying “a classmate” here. You could go with “she’s a classmate” too, I guess, but keeping it brief would be probably better.

“This is just a little white lie so I can help her”

⇒ “Now that I lied to her, we really gotta help her”

The nuance here was more that since Akari told her she’s going to be fine, they really have to make it come true.

[After they just learned Tsumiki is most likely one of the targets of the Yasohachi bridge curse]

“Fushiguro, snap out of it! First we gotta check if she’s okay, right?!”

⇒ “Fushiguro, get a grip! Confirmation of [her] safety comes first, right!!”

The whole thing kind of sounds like Yuuji’s reminding Megumi of the protocol, or maybe rather the standard course of action in a similar situation. He actually used a more formal term here, so since he tends to go for simpler language a lot of the time, him not doing it for once imo has a significance.

[Discussing the next course of action]

"It’s likely that the mission was given with Itadori’s recent growth in mind. If it seems to be getting even more dangerous, even grade 2 may not be enough. All of us, myself included, recommend that you retreat"

⇒ “(...) If the risk [level] rises even further from that, then it may be too much for a grade 2 sorcerer. This applies to all of you as well. Personally I’d recommend you retreat”.

From the context I’d say the nuance was that this mission may be too difficult for Megumi & co. Who would even “all of us” refer to otherwise - I sincerely doubt Ichiji had the time to relay the information further while on the phone with Megumi at the same time. Also it wasn’t “even grade 2” but just “grade 2”.

"It's not a curse type that attacks. If it's the type that activates a jutsushiki from inside of its mark, I wouldn't even be able to protect her."

⇒ "If it's not the type of a cursed spirit that attacks but a type where a technique is activated from within the marked [targeted] human, there's no point in protecting her from the outside"

Emphasis mine to indicate what vital bits are missing from the official translation. Also, gratuitous Japanese strikes again but not fully because "cursed spirit" has somehow become just a "curse" all of sudden? (Jutsushiki = technique.)

[Akari and Megumi discussing potential activation conditions for the curse of Yasohachi bridge]

M:"But Itadori went down below as well"

A:"It probably does no good to jump from up top. If the curse is in a barrier, the order is gonna be important"

⇒ ”(...) if the cursed spirit is inside of the barrier".

Again, emphasising missing/unclear bits.

[About the domain under the bridge]

"It's impossible to have a ryoiki that's been endowed with an expanded and sustained jutsushiki. Which makes this ryoiki incomplete like the one we saw at the detention center. It's a blessing."

⇒ "Continuing to unfold [expand] a domain endowed with a cursed technique on and on for such a long time is impossible. So this barrier must be an incomplete domain like the one at the juvenile detention centre. This time it turned out to be lucky for me"

Emphasis mine. GJ (gratuitous Japanese) being extra strong in this one aside, the main point is that it’s just impossible to use a proper, fully realised domain expansion for such a long time (since it uses tons of cursed energy, see part II, Gojou’s explanation in ch. 15). Obviously this is yet another example in the long list of the official English release making it near impossible for the readers to properly understand the mechanics behind the concept of domain expansion.

[Nobara to Megumi]

"You're so deep in thought, you didn't even notice us"

⇒ "To think you wouldn't notice us at all, you must be really at your wits' end."

It wasn’t mere “deep in thought”, the original wording implied much more desperacy involved.

[Yuuji to Megumi]

"We’re not saying you gotta tell us everything. But you can trust us! We're friends!"

⇒ "(...) But at least rely on us [a little]! We're friends, right"

Trust is a big thing and Yuuji wasn’t really demanding that from Megumi here, in the original he just wanted Megumi to count on him and Nobara.

Also, another important point - this is where 友達/tomodachi instead of 仲間/nakama actually gets used! Up until now it had been mostly the latter that appeared in the manga and the official translation was rather inconsistent translating it as either “friends” or “allies”, without seemingly much logic behind it. My preferred translation for it in jjk context is “comrades”, since imo that’s the one that captures the nuance best since sorcerers are kind of comrades in arms. Anyway, Yuuji using the former here is all the more significant for it, since the word means simply “friends”. So, he’s not just calling Megumi a comrade, he’s saying they’re actual friends. (Probably the first real same-aged friends Megumi ever had.) I’m not entirely sure but this could be the first time the word gets used in the context of the 1st year trio! A milestone?

[Megumi explaining Tsumiki’s situation]

“Tsumiki is still asleep”

It’s actually "bedridden", “confined to bed”. Wording it as “still asleep” was imo kinda vague.

“This Yasohachi bridge curse will only appear in front of the cursed victims. Without any information we won’t know when she’ll be killed”

⇒ “(...) As she herself is unable to report anything, there’s just no way of telling when she’s going to be killed”

It turns out to be actually the case later in the manga but this already implied that Tsumiki may be in a coma and so unable to report anything out of unusual herself and that’s why they have no way of deducing when she's going to be killed. Putting it as “without any information” was simplifying it way too much.

"Crossing a river and barriers. The action of doing so has a significant meaning in jujutsu"

⇒ "Stepping over a river or a boundary. Crossing over to the other side. The act of doing so has a great meaning for jujutsu"

Ngl, I kinda struggled with this one myself but then it finally dawned on me that those are two separate examples and then it all became crystal clear haha ...The official release kinda skipped the second line (bolded) entirely though. Also, they most likely mistook 境界 (boundary, border, line of demarcation) for 結界 (barrier) 8D.

[Nobara about the cursed spirit under the bridge]

“This could be fun!”

⇒ “Exorcising this should be worthwhile”

I mean, maybe this will also be fun but that’s not what she really said here.

Chapter 57

[Nobara’s technique name]

Sureijuhou ⇒ straw doll ritual [technique]

I know I said I wouldn’t retranslate techniques because I don’t care but I didn’t account for the fact they’d just stop translating them entirely :”) Anyway, this is a super rough translation, just to convey the basics, don’t take it at face value.

[Discussing how to defeat the Yasohachi bridge curse]

“We should just pretend like it’s whack-a-mole, right?”

"Yeah. Just keep crushing the exists for me"

Imo there was no need to specify “for me” here. He does use a grammatical construction that literally says that but in this context, that’s probably not what it means, it’s just how you naturally phrase it for the sake of politeness (when you do something together with another person etc).

[Nobara and Megumi discussing the abilities of the curse under the bridge]

"So, in exchange for its jutsushiki's wide range, the main body can't attack?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure"

⇒ "So, although it is limited, in exchange for the technique's wide radius, the main body doesn't have the ability to attack?"

"Probably, but there's no certainty"

Skipping info again (emphasis mine) - Nobara mentions that the wide range of the technique is still limited to an extent. Also putting the next bit as “can’t attack” is kind of vague as she actually specifies it as “doesn’t have the ability to attack”. For Megumi’s reply the nuance was closer to that he agrees with Nobara’s assessment for most part but implies there’s no way to know for sure, probably in a broader sense, rather than that he himself doesn’t know.

"All the things we didn't know... The jutsushiki effect's area, the number of victims, the barrier - they all seem to drain its main body"

“The causes for concern - the technique's range, the number of victims, the barrier - they all seem to operate at the cost of its main body”

I’m guessing they translated the first bit as “all the things we didn’t know” because they didn’t check the phrase anywhere? As it is an actual set phrase, other translations for which include “reasons for uneasiness”, “discouraging factor”. Putting it as the way the official release did is imo misleading (and incorrect). Also, wording the latter bit as “they drain the main body” would imply active action and imo that wasn’t the case here.

[Esou after Nobara got angry about being grabbed at all of sudden]

“A female”

⇒ “So it was a woman”

It was actually a full sentence and if it was actually “a female” (which sounds so derogatory, ugh), the Japanese probably would have been different. Also, Esou actually uses a more polite variant here and it’s 女性 (josei) instead of 女 (onna). Both mean “woman” but the former is more polite, if you call someone just “onna”, you’d be very rude indeed.

[Esou after he tells Nobara the errand of death painting brothers doesn’t include killing sorcerers]

“Retreat now and I’ll let things be”

He actually refers to Nobara here as “miss” or “young lady”.

[Nobara about Esou]

"Is this a jurei cursed spirit? Or a curse user? Which is it? What is this smell?"

More emphasis on the smell! Something like "And what is even this smell?" or "Or actually, what's this smell?"

[part v (2/3)]

#Jujutsu Kaisen #jjk #JujutsuKaisen #jjktranslation #jjk translation

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part IV (5/5): chapters 50~54

Chapter 50

[Toudou analysing Hanami’s flower field technique]

“It catches you off guard at first. (...) Probably it’s nothing special”

⇒ “It seems like it causes you to relax your mind/feel relaxed. (...)There’s probably no need to be that cautious of it”

This matches what we were already told about the technique’s effect in ch. 16, where it was put as “weakens the opponent’s fighting spirit”. Seeing as it was mistranslated there as well, I’m not surprised they changed the nuance here, although it’s not as bad this time. (Refer to part II)

[After Toudou has analysed all of Hanami’s techniques so far]

"Also... look at its exposed arm!"

The way they phrased it is imo somewhat lacking of an expression because in the original the line puts more emphasis on it getting revealed after having been sealed (“released left arm”).

“There’s the possibility that these are all bluffs!”

⇒ "And then [finally] there's the possibility they're all bluffs!!!"

The original uses three whole exclamation marks here, so this coupled with the “and then” phrase that the official release skipped, imo emphasises how wary Toudou was being of Hanami here. Reminder - this comes after a pageful of rather in-depth analysis of all of Hanami’s techniques revealed until now!

“Clapping my hands is the trigger”

Actually “the activation condition” (emphasis mine). Seeing as the term pops up every now and then, imo it’d be best to just keep it as, so there’s no need to memorise what’s the translation you went with, not to mention that “trigger” doesn’t seem to have the same connotation as “condition”. (...Not that they seem to concern themselves much with this in the official release…) Previously in ch. 30, during the Mahito vs. Nanami fight, it was translated as just “condition” btw. (Refer to part III 2/2)

“The difference in body size… The difference after they switch is huge! Switching with me and with Sukuna’s vessel - it’s affecting my judgment!”

⇒ (...)Switching with myself. Switching with Sukuna’s vessel. The pressure to decide between the two whenever he claps his hands is dulling my ability to think”

Hanami focuses here on not knowing which one of the two is coming (enemies switching or Toudou switching within Hanami) being the thing that affects his judgement. Not sure if that was as clear in the official release or not.

“Using black flash consecutively isn’t amazing. Using it more than twice, it would be difficult to do so consecutively or on the same day.”

⇒ (...) If you use it twice, then [you can do it] consecutively. Or you could say, it would be difficult unless it’s [done] within the same day”

The original line is kind of disjointed, so I’m not surprised they got it wrong and I had a staring contest with it myself too, but basically the opposite meaning for the whole thing. Translating it as NOT being able to do it consecutively/within the same day after succeeding once just makes no sense whatsoever considering the explanation that comes next. (Also slightly mistranslated.)

“And it doesn’t matter if the first time was done out of pure luck or skill. When successfully using black flash, jujutsu sorcerers are in a zone similar to what athletes experience”

⇒ “(...) When a sorcerer succeeds in using black flash, they temporarily enter a state akin to an athlete’s ‘zone’”

Emphasis mine, to point out the stuff missing from the official release translation. “When successfully using” kind of implied using it consecutively and imo this wasn’t the case, it explicitly says that just once is enough to get the dice to continue to roll. And “temporarily” in turns explains why using black flash consecutively is likelier within the same day.

“The typical thought process of manipulating cursed energy becomes like breathing.”

⇒ “The manipulation of cursed energy that is normally done consciously/intentionally, comes to you as naturally as breathing”

In other words, the thought process in such moments is ATYPICAL, or rather, there’s just no conscious thought process involved once you become like this.

(jp)

“They’re going to switch places! I need to be careful of Sukuna’s--”

The nuance here was closer to, “the one I need to be cautious of/on guard against right now is Sukuna’s--”.

Chapter 51

[After it turns out Toudou’s technique isn’t limited to just himself switching places with others]

“What he said at the start of the fight about his cursed technique wasn’t the whole truth! He can make other swap places as well!”

⇒ “The disclosure of the technique was [all] a great lie!! So it’s also possible to make people other than himself switch places with each other--?!”

Let’s say Hanami was much more Unimpressed with Toudou’s omittance of truth than the official release would suggest. The word used also means “falsehood”, btw. I kind of wanted to translate it as “steak of lies” but it wouldn’t have suited Hanami because he uses a rather formal & kind of old-fashioned language. Also, I’m not 100% sure but i think “disclosure of a technique”/”technique disclosure” may be an actual jujutsu term?

[Toudou about the applicable targets of his technique]

“Are the targets I can switch limited to living things?”

Missing “within the technique range”, which imo is an important detail because it makes sense Toudou’s technique would have a radius.

“The branches on its face are incredibly vulnerable to attack!”

Not incorrect per se and maybe it’s even easier to understand this way but Megumi actually called them “brittle”, “fragile” here, the same way he did in ch. 46, which imo makes sense in so much as being wounded he’d automatically default to the expression he already used for them before? Although I may be reading too deep into this.

“Plants do not embrace cursed energy”

Closer to just, “do not get filled with”.

Chapter 52

“Understood, Nishimiya, you stay there with Shoko. Don’t worry, Miwa is with Mei.”

Again it’s a pet peeve of mine but I really dislike incongruous naming practices. She’s actually saying “Ieiri” (and “Mei-san”) here.

“A curse user is here at school. Or someone who’s working with cursed spirits.”

⇒ “There is someone at Jujutsu High who’s cooperating with either a curse user or cursed spirits.”

The way they translated this conversation in ch. 33 was imo kind of unclear too, so I’m not surprised the nuance got lost here either but basically, it’s not that the curse user is AT the school but that there’s SOMEONE at the school that’s in touch with them.

“I bet you’re not popular with ladies. Talking only about yourself”

⇒ “You’re not popular [with girls] for sure. Talking only about yourself even though you two have just met”

Nobara’s line, slightly different nuance.

“I see, Aoi! That makes sense. He works well with Yuuji”

⇒ “I see..! Aoi, huh! He certainly seems like a good match with Yuuji”

Imo this was more about their personalities/styles being compatible. (That’s another possible translation for ”is a good match”, btw.)

“They should be okay even if they’re up against a special grade”

⇒ “Seems like they’re facing a special grade, but [if it’s like this then] they should be fine”

Captures Gojou’s thought process better imo.

“Can’t let him die. (Heal him for me, wouldja)”

⇒ “No good if we let him die. (Hey, give him first aid)”

Gojou wasn’t actually expecting principal Gakuganji to heal the guy. Also, it’s hard to capture it properly but the first line is rather crude and the phrase that got translated as “can’t” has the nuance of “cannot” and “is not allowed” (but other meanings also include “wasted”, “purposeless”).

”The guy that was with Utahime is gone. Seems that running away was an option from the start”

⇒ “The presence of the guy that was with Utahime has disappeared. Looks like they’ve planned [even] how to escape”

Imo not so much that running away was an option as that they had prepared escape measures/routes in advance.

(jp)

“All that’s left is that special grade, who’s also good at running away. Yuji and the others are a little far away. In that case… Let’s get a little crazy”

⇒ “(...) But it’s also good at running away. There’s [quite] a distance from here to where Yuuji is… Can’t be helped [then]... Let’s get a little rough”

Not sure where the “[Yuji] and the others” thing came from. “Rough” could also be “reckless” here, which imo had the nuance that Gojou doesn’t have the time to be meticulous/accurate, and just seems to be a better fit than the much broader and abstract “crazy”.

“We all good! (As if)”

⇒ “Case closed! (...[that’s] probably not true)”

Minor, just wanted to point out the original wording.

Chapter 53

[After ponytail curse user implies he’s gonna finish Hanami off]

“But be careful, human. Know your place or I’ll kill you”

⇒ “Don’t you go around doing whatever you want, even though you’re just a human. I’m gonna kill you”

Harsher in the original, especially the connotation of “even though you’re just a human”, “despite being just a human”.

“The buddhist temple facade of Jujutsu High is just that - a facade. Thanks to Tengen’s barrier technique, the building changes every day”

⇒ “Most of the temples and shrines at Jujutsu High are just papier mache. (...) the layout changes every day ”

Implies there’s more than just one building and it’s those that change their locations, which would make the whole thing much more complex.

[After Getou says Master Tengen possess a technique of immortality]

“Immortality?! Who’s stronger, Gojo or Tengen?”

“Immortality, not anti-aging. It’s comparable to something like a tree”

⇒ “(...) Who’s stronger between him and Gojou Satoru?”

“He may be immortal, but it’s not like he has perennial youth. Just think about him as of a tree or something”

Points of importance: 1) Gojou is never really just “Gojo” when enemies (and sometimes allies) speak of him, it’s pretty much always “Gojou Satoru”, which is de facto the synonym for “the strongest”; 2) “it’s comparable” didn’t imo sound as dismissive as “just treat him/think about him as”.

“Other than the barrier, Tengen doesn’t interfere. Don’t worry about it”

⇒ “Other than operating the barrier, Tengen generally doesn’t interfere with reality. You really don’t have to worry about it”

Emphasis mine to showcase what they omitted in the official release, which imo provided a much bigger picture in the original. Also, while it literally says “reality”, imo you could also go with “the present” here.

“Before we had Jujutsu High retrieve the finger, I put a talisman on it made with Mahito’s juryoku. It’s an advanced seal, so it shouldn’t get undone”

The sudden gratuitous Japanese aside—and what the heck is with that even?—the line about “having JH collect/retrieve the finger” that had been mistranslated in ch. 32 is correct here.

I’m not sure about the line about the talisman but since the original puts it as “a seal on the inside” it probably meant that it can’t be removed because of the way Getou had cleverly placed the talisman underneath (or within) the seal?

Juryoku = cursed energy, btw.

[Getou about the possibility of there being a student that Sukuna has his eyes on and why it’s a bad idea to kill anyone]

“[This is just a theory] But there’s a landmine for Sukuna among the students. Worst-case scenario, if we were to trigger it, our plan might be over”

“If that happens, we should just kidnap Itadori. He’s just a pawn for us to use anway”

⇒ (...) “Then all we have to do is kidnap just Itadori himself first. At any rate, it’s a piece we’re going to use”

Getou’s line is fine but the first part of Jougo’s line definitely isn’t. He’s actually suggesting they could just kidnap Yuuji first and then they’d be free to kill the others. The second line, I’m not so sure but imo it didn’t really have the connotation wording it as “just a pawn for us to use” has.

[Getou after referring to Yuuji and Sukuna as bombs both for Jujutsu High and the curses]

“On October 31, in Shibuya. We need to set our plans of sealing Satoru Gojo into motion.”

⇒ “October 31, Shibuya - everything we can use for the sake of our plan of sealing Gojou Satoru, we need to save until then”

I don’t even know how they translated it the way they did... 温存する = “keep, set aside [apart] (for later use)”, that’s the word the original uses when talking about things that can be used against Gojou.

“The tobari’s results will be monitored by another human so get along, okay?”

⇒ “The results of a commission style curtain will be monitored by another human (...)”

Gratuitous Japanese again aside (tobari = curtain), the curtain being “commission style” is quite a detail to just edit out entirely, especially since it turned out to be a very vital plot device later in the Shibuya arc.

Again, hindsight is 20/20, but that’s exactly why you should translate what there actually is. Ngl, simplifying jujutsu terms over and over again has been really detrimental to both official English translators AND their readers who had to deal with having only half of the original info to go on.

Btw, the actual kanji characters used in “commission style” imply it’s something that can be handed over to someone else and still work without the maker present on site. (Which is exactly what happened later in the manga.)

Mind you, Idk if this got translated properly when the term appeared again in ch. 82 because I could only find the fan scanlations for that chapter (but it got mistranslated in the fan scans I read as well).

“Human casualties are as follows”

⇒ “Moving onto human casualties”

Implies they’d already covered different kinds of damage Mahito has done.

(jp)

[After Ichiji has listed all human casualties]

“Sorcerers waiting at the school. Those who were moving separately from Gojo and principal Yaga”

⇒ “They’re [all] sorcerers that were on stand-by at the school, people moving separately from Gojou-san and principal Yaga”

Slightly different nuance.

[After Ichiji says that what hanger rack curse user says makes no sense]

“I wanted to make a hanger rack. And I don’t know that monk’s name. That monk kid with white hair. I’m not even sure if it’s a he or she”

He cuts off some of his sentences here but imo, the second sentence was actually something closer to, “and that monk [told me] -- but I don’t know their name”. So he’s probably implying he was deceived. Also, he actually specifies the monk’s hairstyle here, calling it “bobbed” haha. (That’s also what Mei says in her next line.)

“We’re glad you’re okay, Fushiguro! (We get to eat pizza for it!)”

⇒ “(...) [seeing as] you're able to eat pizza and all"

Yuuji wasn't being crass with the whole "we get to eat pizza for it", the pizza line was in direct reference to the “glad you’re okay” comment. This way Megumi’s next line about preferring something easier on the stomach makes more sense too. ...Picture of Megumi eating included as absolutely vital for context.

“We talked about our truths that time. Perhaps we’re both right. Or both wrong.”

⇒ “That time you said both our truths [convictions] are correct, didn’t you. I think so too. But you could say this means we’re also both wrong”

I mentioned in part I that this bit gets mistranslated when it gets recalled again and this is basically it. Megumi is actually quoting Yuuji from ch. 9 in the first sentence here and only then continues with his own further thoughts on the matter.

(jp)

“There are questions without an answer too. You’re overthinking it, you’re going to go bald”

“Yeah, there’s no answer...It comes down to whether you can come to terms with it or not. It’s impossible to come to terms without a sense of self. Weak jujutsu sorcerers don’t have a sense of self. I’ll also get stronger and surpass you”

⇒ [Nobara’s line]

“Yeah, there’s no answer. So it comes down to whether you can understand and accept it as valid or not. But if you can’t even stay true to yourself, something like “acceptance” is just impossible. And weak sorcerers are unable to stay true to themselves. So I’m going to get strong too. I’ll surpass you right away!”

The phrase I translated as "staying true to yourself" is literally “to insist on one's own ideas; to have one's own way” (Dictionary for 我を通す). My guess is that they didn't research the phrase and instead only translated a part of it, 我, which DOES mean "sense of self" by itself but it just wasn’t as straightforward in this context...

Needless to say, I find it really unfortunate that the translation of this particular scene was so unclear and largely off, as imo it touches upon one of the main motifs of the manga and is at the core of Megumi & Yuuji's dynamics.

“Haha, that’s more like it”

⇒ “(...) you haven’t changed”

Lit. “as usual”, “as ever”, which imo means the opposite of what they went with.

“After all’s said and done, we took a day off because we thought the goodwill event was over, so we’re now playing baseball”

⇒ "[With all that had happened] We thought that the goodwill event was over but instead we just took a one day break and now we're playing baseball"

Emphasis mine, it’s very definitely “instead” and not “because” and again, the whole line pretty much meant the opposite of what they translated it as.

Chapter 54

(jp)

“So, a lot happened and people even died. Whaddya guys think? Should we continue the event?”

“If you put it like that”

⇒ “(...) What do we do? Do we continue the event?”

“Even if you ask us that...”

Yuuji’s answer is literally “Even if you ask us what we [should] do…”, which imo implies he just doesn’t know what the right decision is here, rather than him taking issue with the way Gojou phrased his question.

[Toudou’s reply to above]

“Then yeah, we should continue”

⇒ “It’s a given that we continue”

He literally says “it’s decided”, overall more certainty/confidence to his line.

Cont. from the line above

“What makes you say that?”

”Our circumstances now dictate we look at the results. To suffer defeat or experience victory - we grow regardless. Results are important because they’re unwavering”

⇒ “The reason?”

“Acquired strength is an accumulation of ‘results’. Reflect upon your defeats, taste victory. That’s how we grow. The most important is for there to be ‘‘results’ in the first place”

Imo what he was saying here just wasn’t so abstract as the official release would suggest. Important points: 1) “acquired strength” = also “a posteriori” [after the fact], in other words, here the strength one gains as they experience different things; 2) last line is literally “most important that ‘results’ exist there as ‘results’” but that was kind vague so I tried to put it differently.

”The unsettled feeling of having unfinished business during their school years will stick with them until the day they die”

Probably would’ve gone with “stick with us” instead of “them” but overall I like how they tackled this line, but just to give you a taste of Toudou’s vocabulary, the “unsettled feeling of unfinished business” in the original was “the feeling of incomplete combustion” lol.

[Recollection of Panda explaining the system according to which goodwill event disciplines for both days get decided]

“But that’s just a facade”

It’s actually correct here but I’m pointing it out because the line got mistranslated as “But that’s oversimplifying it” when it first appeared all the way back in ch. 10 (refer to part II). (I translated it as “public stance” myself.)

[Speaking to Yuuji]

"So you survived a special grade"

⇒ "So you fought off (...)"

Could also go with “repelled”. Needless to say imo that’s a huge difference.

[Kamo remembering his mother’s words after Yuuji says he wants to save a lot of people so he doesn’t die alone]

“You’ve got so much potential, Noritoshi. You can help a lot of people. You’ll be respected by those you save. Then you’ll be the one to receive help when you need it. You’ll only be alone for now”

⇒ “You’ve got talent, Noritoshi. You will be able to save/help a lot of people. And for every person you help, you’ll be acknowledged/accepted by people (...)”

Imo not so much that only people that he saves will respect him but that the more people he saves, the more he’ll be acknowledged by people in general. Also, imo “accepted”, “recognised”, “acknowledged” are all not only more accurate here but imo also just an overall better fit than “respect”, especially given his backstory.

“Become a great sorcerer and please come find me one day, okay?”

The second bit is literally “to come for someone; to pick someone up”, which again imo fits better because of his backstory. This is just my guess but the wording here doesn’t imply that Kamo doesn’t know where his mother is right now per se but more that they just cannot be together. (Because the Kamos are conservative pricks and forbid them from meeting.)

”Kugisaki's lost it! She's charging the mound”

Ahaha, apparently the word used in the second sentence is an actual term that would get translated as “bench-clearing brawl”, and which Wikipedia tells me is “a form of ritualistic fighting that occurs in sports, most notably baseball and ice hockey, in which every player on both teams leaves their dugouts, bullpens, or benches, and charges the playing area in order to fight one another or try to break up a fight.” If you look at the panel here, most students have truly left their positions on the field, so that’d fit haha. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bench-clearing_brawl)

[After Nishimiya stopped Maki from scoring by catching the ball flying on her broom]

“Whaaat?! No fair!”

Not incorrect per se but Yuuji’s actually using Tōhoku　dialect for “mind your business” here, haha.

“Due to lack of players, one members from each team may use jujutsu”

Actually specifies that this applies to “one of the outfielders”!

[After Toudou expresses his desire to face off against the pitcher!Itadori]

Y:“Why don’t you pitch?”

U:“No can do. Only Mechamaru can be the pitcher right now”

You can tell as much from the whole chapter, but this was actually “Mechamaru can only be the pitcher right now” because, you know, he doesn’t have an actual body to use right now. The way the official release worded it would also imply that others for some reason are unable to be the pitchers.

[After Yaga asks Gakuganji if he still hates Yuuji and he answers it’s not about hate]

"The fact that he's alive is thanks to Gojo"

⇒ "He's only alive at Gojou's whim"

Could also go with “because of Gojou's selfishness”; imo a slightly different nuance for this line.

[Yaga after Gakuganji says many people could lose their lives just because Yuuji is alive]

"However, there are lives that have been saved thanks to him as well. In reality, with Todo, he was able to survive against the special grade"

⇒ "(...)working together with Toudou he was able to fight off/repel the special grade"

Again the same line as for Kamo and (imo) mistranslated in the same way.

t.b.c. in Death Painting Arc

#jujutsu kaisen #jjktranslation #jjk #jjk translation #jujutsukaisen

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part IV (4/5): chapters 45~49

Chapter 45

[About talismans put on curses released for students to hunt during the group event]

“But even when exorcised with non-registered energy, it’ll burn red”

Not incorrect here, just pointing this bit out since it was mistranslated in the original explanation by Ichiji in ch. 40. (They kind of skipped the info about pre-registering cursed energy altogether.)

U:“It must be an outsider. Maybe an intruder?”

M:“Does that mean Master Tengen’s protective barrier isn’t working?”

G:“Intruder or not, this is an unexpected situation”

⇒ U:“Somewhere from the outside… Do you mean an intruder?”

[Mei Mei’s line]

G:“Whether it’s [someone] from the outside or from the inside, it doesn’t change that fact that those are unforeseen circumstances”.

Utahime was more asking and not actually stating anything here. Could go with “outsider” too but I wanted to capture the nuance of her still musing here better. As for Gakuganji, he wasn’t actually reiterating the line about “intruder” but “from the outside”! I.e. that it doesn’t matter if they came from the outside (of the barrier, I’m assuming), or from the inside.

[Gojou talking about the curtain]

“We’ll just rip it apart once it’s complete”

⇒ “So all you have to do is just rip it apart after it’s gone down”

Not wrong but Gojou sounded cockier here haha.

“In exchange for denying Satoru Gojo entrance, it gives everyone else free access”

⇒ “This is a [protective] barrier that, in exchange for denying ‘Gojou Satoru’ entrance, allows ‘everyone else’ besides that to enter and leave freely”

The original included more technical information, like Gojou calling it a “barrier” (結界/kekkai) even though normally the term used is “curtain” (帳/tobari). I’m not really sure on the specifics but, for example, the Jujutsu High is protected by Master Tengen’s “barrier” and when sorcerers want to conceal their fights from civilians they use a “curtain”.

Also, the original has “Gojou Satoru” and “everyone else” put in quotation marks so imo they should’ve signaled that somehow in the official English release as well.

“Why is there a cursed spirit here?”

Actually specifies “at Jujutsu High”.

“And whose curtain is that?”

“It’s probably coming from whomever is working with the cursed spirit”

Again, Megumi actually specifies that it’s “the curse user working(...)”.

[After Megumi interprets Inumaki’s riceball language with Kamo present]

“You can understand what he’s saying?”

“Does that matter right now? It might use expansion on us. We need to contact Gojo-sensei”

Megumi only says “domain” here (and it’s put in quotation marks again to show it’s a term) and not “domain expansion”. Also, he sounds more dismissive because the first line is closer to, “Something like that doesn’t matter right now, does it”.

[About Hanami’s speech]

“What the-- I can understand the meaning behind the noises it makes”

⇒ “What’s that-- Even though I don’t get what it’s saying from the sound, I can still understand the meaning”

Not incorrect, just wanted to propose something closer to the original wording.

“The forest, the sea, the sky… They’re crying from the tragedies they’ve withstood. We can no longer live in peace with humans”

⇒ (...) They’re crying how they cannot bear any more. Continued coexistence with humans is no longer possible.”

Imo the “can no longer coexist” referred to the forest, sky etc. Also just a slightly different nuance for the whole line, I suppose.

“They know that there are humans who care for the planet. But how useful is mere compassion?”

Hanami doesn’t really call it “mere compassion”, just “that compassion”, or, literally, “kindness”, “affection”.

Chapter 46

“We’ll have Inumaki stop it so we can keep some distance between us after we attack. We gotta do this if we’re gonna have a chance of getting out of the curtain. We need to find the principals.”

⇒ “Have Inumaki stop it, then we attack, and gain distance. Through a repeat of this, we’ll aim to get outside of the curtain and regroup with the principals”

Not incorrect per se but it sounded more like Kamo just describing their strategy to me.

Cont. on the next page.

“But how long can we keep this up. Inumaki’s cursed speech is losing effect. We can’t get in touch with the teachers either. It may even figure out a way to counter cursed speech.”

⇒ “But we don’t know when the current equilibrium will crumble. The effectiveness of cursed speech is bad as it is and we can’t even try and get in touch with the teachers. If he realises how to counter cursed speech, then it’s over.”

Lots of nuance lost here. First off, Kamo seems to have been talking about cursed speech’s low effectiveness in general, rather than referring to Inumaki getting weaker. And the line about the teachers actually said they “don’t even have a chance/space to contact” rather than that they’d already tried and failed.

“Finding Todo is a priority. Even Miwa would do at this point.”

⇒ “I’d like to join up with Todo, or at the very least Miwa, as soon as possible but....”

“Even Miwa” makes it sound like Kamo doesn’t really value her but he’s actually ranking her quite high, as she seems to be his next option after Toudou.

”The cursed speech he used wasn’t particularly strong, but his throat gave out. The enemy is that much stronger”

⇒ “Even though he wasn’t using a powerful spirit of language, Inumaki-senpai’s throat still got crushed. The difference in levels is just that huge”

When speaking about Inumaki here, Megumi actually didn’t refer to “cursed speech”, i.e. the technique, but “kotodama”, which’s what the technique uses, its main component, you could say. (“The spirit of language”, please refer to ch. 33 part IV (1/5). Also, as the phrase used in the last sentence is literally “higher rank”, imo it wasn’t so much about difference in pure strength by itself, as difference in levels (which will obviously also translate to difference in strength).

“You can’t cut me with such sword”

He literally calls it “this blunt sword” here.

“Its eye branches are its weak point”

Closer to, “are more fragile/brittle than the rest [of him]”.

[Maki about the new weapon she just switched to]

“But using this doesn’t feel right”

Actually “is vexing” or even “disgusting”, “revolting” etc., as, you know, it’s a weapon that used to belong to Getou, who once almost killed her. (Vol. 0)

Chapter 47

[About Maki’s special grade weapon]

“Indeed, that is not bad”

Actually “this is a good one”, a different nuance.

“Jujutsu sorcerers are interesting. And so emotional too. Every time one of their allies gets hurt, they leave new openings.”

⇒ “[It seems] jujutsu sorcerers are exceptionally compassionate.(...)”

What they translated as “interesting” was actually a descriptor for “compassionate”, which too imo is different from just “emotional”. All the possible translations given by the dictionary I checked are adverbs (highly, extremely, outstandingly, unusually, remarkably, exceptionally etc.), so imo, despite of how it was spaced in the original, it was intended as a single sentence.

[After Hanami explains how the bud that’s gotten lodged in Megumi’s body works]

“How nice of you to explain! You’re planning on killing me anyway, right?”

“I hear it’s more effective once explained”

This bit is interesting because while it’d been stated before that explaining a technique can lend it more power, Hanami is actually talking about speed here. I guess you could argue regarding the actual differences between speed vs. effectiveness but he did only say that “it'll work faster” this way.

[Hanami praising Maki]

“You have some nice moves”

Actually just “you can move well”, which imo has a slightly different nuance.

“I need to use everything I’ve got! Even if I get ripped apart”

⇒ “{Got to] Muster all of my cursed energy, even if it means my stomach/guts will rip!”

“I get ripped apart” sounds more drastic than the original imo.

Cont. onto.

“I choose who I save, unlike the others. I’m bearing the least burden. That’s why it’s inexcusable that I be the first to go down!”

⇒ “I’m not like the others. I choose the people to protect. I’m not [the one] bearing the most burden. That’s why (...)”

Again some of the nuance of the original seems to have been altered imo. I’m not 100% sure re the line about bearing burden but I think the meaning was probably closer to what I suggested. I am sure that he said “people to protect” and not “people to save” here, though.

Chapter 48

[Nishimiya about Toudou]

“If nothing else, you’re strong”

The phrase used here actually means “redeeming feature”. So you know, in Nishimiya’s eyes Toudou may suck overall but being strong is his only saving grace.

[Toudou to Megumi about Yuuji seeming different]

“You see it too. He’s beginning to spread his wings. He must find his own way. That is where he stands now.”

⇒ “So you’ve realised it too. When a person is beginning to spread their wings, it’s unforgiven for others to interfere. Itadori is in such a state right now”

Toudou was speaking rather loftily here, so maybe that’s why they seem to have gotten it slightly wrong but imo phrasing it as “must find his own way” didn’t really capture the original nuance of “it’s unforgiven for anyone else to so much as touch them”, which is what the second part of the sentence literally says. So it’s less emphasis on what Yuuji himself must do and more on what others aren’t allowed to do.

[Hanami after judging Toudou as weaker than himself]

“But he’s got a strong presence.”

⇒ “But this mysterious brazenness…”

Could also go with “impudence”, “shamelessness”, “boldness” etc. here haha.

[Hanami about Yuuji]

“You’re smart to close the distance. [I’ll commend you for that]

⇒ "You don't rush in recklessly. (...)"

...Literally the opposite meaning for this one. Hanami was commenting on Yuuji having attacked from the distance first.

“More agile than the girl! But his strength is disappointing”

⇒ “His instantaneous force surpasses the girl from before! (...)”

The word also means “explosiveness”, “explosive power”, so imo it pointed to Yuuji being able to unleash a lot of power in a short amount of time (although the actual output still fell short in Hanami’s opinion). Idk why they made it “agile” instead...

“Anger is a valuable trigger for a jujutsu sorcerer. There’ve been instances where people have been put on their heels after provoking an inferior opponent. The opposite is not good either. Mishandling cursed energy when angered, wastes your skills, and the fight will end in defeat.”

⇒ “‘Anger’ is an important trigger for jujutsu sorcerers. There are times when you can be beaten by a lower rank just because you’ve angered your opponent. Of course, the opposite is true as well. There are also times when you lose, because you became unable to draw out your true strength, with your cursed energy disrupted by anger”

They seem to have conveyed the nuance of Toudou’s lines here being a broader explanation this time but a lot of nuance has been lost nevertheless. Most importantly: “there are times” and not “there have’ve been instances”, this would be a different grammatical construction if the latter was the case; “the opposite is not good either” is just off; “wastes your skills” was imo unclear, it was closer to “can’t unleash your true power”.

“Your friend Fushiguro is hurt. And worst of all, our bonding time as best friends got interrupted, so I understand better than anyone why you would lose your cool.”

⇒ “Your friend got hurt, and worst of all, the honeymoon with me, your best friend, got interrupted as well. So I can understand rea~~~~~lly well why you’d be boiling with rage”

Once again Toudou using a much more poetic/lofty language in the original was flattened down in the official English release. (“Are boiling with rage” becoming “lose control”, freaking “honeymoon” - and yes, he actually used that word lol - becoming “bonding time”.)

More importantly though, there have been several cases before, when I mentioned that something is written one way but read differently, but didn’t go into the details. (For example, Sukuna’s way of referring to Megumi and Nobara in chapter 7 (refer to part I), or Nobara speaking about the Kyoto principal in ch. 37 (part IV 2/5). This is where I finally explain this phenomenon a bit more in-depth, using Toudou, who’s probably the best example.

If you've ever studied Japanese, you're probably familiar with furigana used over/beside kanji characters to indicate pronunciation. For example, the word “shin’yuu” which means best friend, would be written in kanji 親友, and then have しんゆう written over it in hiragana. Here, the actual word and the way it’s read match.

But in manga it's a fairly common practice to use furigana to provide an alternate reading. So you have 1) the actual text and 2) the reading.

1) can sometimes supply additional information as well (e.g. written as “technique” but pronounced as “talent”) but mostly it’s included to provide context and specify something to the reader that the characters would be naturally aware of, and 2) is what the character is actually saying out loud in the scene.

So in this scene Toudou doesn’t really say Fushiguro’s name out loud and only calls him “[your] friend/comrade", because it’d be obvious to Yuuji from the context whom he means here.

The same also applies most of the time when Toudou addresses Yuuji, like in the line that got translated as “Itadori, my friend”. In this case, the text is “Itadori” (to indicate to the reader that Toudou truly addresses him here) but what he is saying out loud here is “my friend”, which, btw, is actually said in English even in the original. So he’s literally calling him “mai furendo” here, haha. (In general, Toudou seems to opt for English equivalents quite frequently in the manga.)

Whelp, this ended up very long but basically, whenever I say that “it’s written like XX, but he actually says YY”, this is what I mean!

“But that anger is not for you. Suppress it for now”

⇒ “But that anger is too much for you. (...)”

Not 100% sure but this is probably closer to the original meaning. Also I just found the English translation really vague/unclear.

“Any more distractions?”

“Nope”

⇒ ”Did they disappear? Distractions"

“Yeah, not a single cloud [left]”

Aww, this isn’t incorrect but the wording in the original is just so lovely.

“Thank you so much. My best friend - Todo”

⇒ “(...), best friend!”

What I said for Toudou re text vs. pronounciation, except now it’s spreading, down to gratuitous English.

“For those who have experienced black flash, as compared to those who have not, their understanding of the essence of cursed energy is immeasurable.

⇒ “(...) the gap between their distance to the core of cursed energy is like heaven and earth”

Not incorrect but I really like the ring and the descriptiveness of the original wording.

Chapter 49

“You got to taste a sample of your cursed energy”

⇒ “You’ve grasped the ‘taste’ of cursed energy”

Imo not Yuuji’s own but cursed energy as a whole, as in that Yuuji has glimpsed what cursed energy truly is.

Extended cooking metaphor cont. onto the next page

“Until now, it’s like you’ve been putting ingredients that you’re not familiar with into a pot and cooking haphazardly”

Not incorrect per se but the original wording for the line about ingredients is “ingredients you never tasted yourself” and imo there’s a distinction.

“But with black flash, you’ve gained the ingredient that is cursed energy. As a chef, or in this case, a jujutsu sorcerer, you’re on a different level than you were just three seconds ago”

⇒ “But now through ‘black flash’ you’ve grasped the ‘taste’ of the ingredient that is cursed energy. As a chef, you’re now standing in a completely different dimension than the you from 3 seconds ago”

It wasn’t the “ingredient” (cursed energy) itself that was emphasised here but the ingredient’s “taste” (essence of cursed energy). Also Toudou is actually extrapolating on what he said on the previous page and he even reiterates his line from there (that mistakenly got translated as “you got to taste a sample of your cursed energy”). Overall, the text on those two pages just flowed better originally and wasn’t as disjointed. Also, this was another instance of text (jujutsu sorcerer) vs. pronunciation (chef)!

“Congratulations brother. You will be strong”

Closer to “you will be able to grow strong”. Also, re “brother” - it’s written as "super best/close friend” and spoken out loud as “brother” and again, it’s actually pronounced in English (“brazaa”). Heck, Toudou also actually says “congratulations” in English too haha.

[After Hanami has healed his own limb]

“It can heal itself?!”

“Cursed spirits are made from cursed energy”

Actually specifies that it’s the “bodies of cursed spirits” here.

“But its cursed energy is undoubtedly weakened. If we get its head, then it’s game over.”

⇒ “But it [healing] will infallibly/certainly shave its cursed energy. And if you crush its head, it’s game over”

Again, imo a more general explanation on how self-healing works for cursed spirits.

“I need to try a little harder”

⇒ “It seems it’ll be better to get serious to an extent”

Just to make sure that the nuance here is that Hanami had been holding back before.

“What a heavy hit! It’s not quite as heavy as the black flash hit from earlier. However, individually they have enough power to hurt me”

⇒ “Heavy! Not to the extent of the previous black flash hit but each [hit] has enough power to deal damage to me with certainty”

Imo the official release was a bit unclear, so I tried to tweak the wording. Especially the “individually” bit - imo it was intended to mean “each”. In other words, the two’s attacks, while not as powerful as black flash, are still potent enough to actually hurt Hanami with each respective hit.

[After Hanami dissolves his technique and Yuuji and Toudou's footing disappears]

“Our footing! We underestimated it! With this amount of mass I thought it was manipulating physical branches with its cursed energy. But it’s the embodiment of cursed energy! It made the illusion real with just its cursed energy. That’s a special grade for you!”

⇒ ”(...) We let our guards down! (...) Everything was materialised and manifested just with his cursed energy!! (...)”

Like in the instance above, imo the way the official release translated it was really unclear, especially the line about “making illusion real”, which actually was just “manifest”. (Again, “materialisation” is actually “realisation” but I used the former to make it easier to understand.)

(jp)

“You should be more true to yourself, Hanami”

“I’m not trying to be anything else”

“I’m not saying you’re lying. I know why you fight. But as long as we’re fighting, why not try to enjoy it?”

⇒ ”Hanami, you know, you should be more honest”

“I don’t think I’m pretending”

“It’s not like I’m calling you a liar or anything and I know what’s the objective you fight for. But I think you should try to enjoy the process - the present called ‘fight’ - more”

The meaning was there but I wanted to propose something closer to the original wording because it’s interesting to me how Mahito switches between very simple phrases and more complicated thought processes (like here he explicitly compares “objective”/”goal” and “the process”).

[After Hanami asks whether Mahito enjoys fighting]

“The pleasure I feel while fighting didn’t motivate me much until recently”

⇒ “It’s not until recently that the joy, that the pleasure, I feel at the height of a fight have become my motive”

So it’s not like they didn’t motive him much but that they only recently became his motive/incentive to fight!! Quite a significant distinction imo.

“Before I realised, all the deceit, cheating and killing left me satiated. Just like humans eat, sleep and rape, curses manifest instinctive behaviors as well”

⇒ “When I realised - deceit, tricking, killing - I’ve already been filled/satisfied without being aware of it. The same way humans eat, sleep and transgress/violate - for curses those are probably their instincts”

Not 100% sure about the first sentence but it’s something similar. Emphasis mine for the second sentence. In other words, it’s precisely deceit, tricking and killing that Mahito sees as curses’ instincts. Also the word that they translated as “rape” does indeed mean that as well, but imo it could’ve just as well been pointing to one of its more broader meanings, like “to violate” or “commit [crimes]”.

“We might have gained reasoning, but that doesn’t mean we should deny our impulses”

Imo “reason” instead of “reasoning” and “fight against our instincts” (since the same word gets used) instead of “deny our impulses”. Especially since they translate it as “reason” in the next panel.

“A spirit is blend of impulse and reason”

⇒ “A soul is a blend of instinct and reason”

Emphasis mine. I genuinely have no clue why the official release suddenly translated it differently here... Everywhere else they’d also gone with “soul” whenever the word appeared before, which, needless to say, happened in almost every other instance of Mahito talking about his technique and/or philosophy.

“You all right, brother?”

“No problem!”

“There you go!” ⇒ “Splendid!”

Also means “excellent”, another example where in the original Toudou is using a lofty expression and which sadly got a cut in the official release. He’s so proud of everything that Yuuji does, okay. :”( The first two are fine.

[to part iv (5/5)]

#jujutsu kaisen #jjktranslation #jjk #jjk translation #jujutsukaisen

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part IV (3/5): Chapters 40~44

Chapter 40

[Mai to Miwa]

“Maki? She’s worthless”

She actually calls her “just a small fry” here. Which imo is more dismissive than just outright derogatory like in the official release.

“An iai technique huh? That’s strange. I have the advantage in terms of reach. She’s probably looking to disarm my cursed tool and create an opening.”

⇒”An iai [technique], huh? On top of that there seems to be some trick to it. With our difference in reach… rather than myself, she’s probably looking(...)”

Not mistranslated per se other than the “there seems to be a trick to it” line, which imo shouldn’t have been simplified to just “that’s strange”. But the original showed Maki’s thought process better.

“She broke it with her leg? Why is she negating her reach advantage.”

⇒ ”She broke it?? With her thigh?? You’re getting rid of your reach advantage here??”

Again, the meaning was all there but some of the characterisation was lost. Miwa sounded so frantic and full of disbelief here, haha.

[After Mei states that Maki should get promoted at least 2 ranks ASAP]

“I agree but her family seems to be getting in the way”

⇒ “I think so too, but you know, the Zen’ins keep getting in the way. It stinks, right”

More casual speech overall in the original, also Gojou’s more colourful language got a cut again.

MM:“Heh… I don’t understand connections not based on money”

G:“And you’ll always be a cheapskate.”

I get why they went with “cheapskate” here, as the word Gojou originally uses would be accurately translated as “miser”, which’s the kind of word most people would have to check in the dictionary. (I know I had to.) Nevertheless it’s interesting to me how Gojou basically alternates between super casual speech and much less common terms like this one. He seems to like wordplays in general?

“Anyway, I can’t help but notice the video feed around Yuji seems to be a little inconsistent”

⇒ “Leaving that aside, the video around Yuuji keeps on cutting off for a while now, no?”

Again, meaning is there, the characterisation - sort of I suppose? But he was being more casual/straight to the point in the original.

[In reply to Gojou’s question whose side she’s on]

“Whose side? I’m on the side with money, of course. There’s no value in something that can’t be bought since you can’t exchange it for money.”

“Which side? I’m an ally of money, of course. Because there’s no value in things that cannot be exchanged for money. For you see, it cannot be exchanged for money."

I know it sounds like she’s repeating herself but that’s because she actually is. She’s literally saying that there’s no value in something that can’t be turned into money PRECISELY BECAUSE it can’t be turned into money lol. Also, imo “on the side with money” kind of muddled the nuance a bit. Other possible translations for "exchange" include "replace", ”turn into”.

Gojou in reply to above.

“I wonder how much!”

Actually closer to, “[I wonder] how much did you pile up”. The actual phrase is just “just how much did (...) pile up/stock”, so you have to supply the subject by yourself.

“I’m not sure what you guys have planned but Yuji’s different now”

⇒ “I don’t know what you’re scheming but Yuuji won’t be killed so easily anymore”

Again, the basic meaning is there but a lot of subtler nuance got lost.

(jp)

[Explanation on how the school can tell which side exorcised which curses during the competition]

“Talismans are placed on curses released in the area. When a curse is exorcised, the corresponding talisman also disappears. Using cursed energy, we’ve made arrangements for the following -- exorcisms made by the Tokyo school will be indicated with a red flame, while Kyoto’s will be blue. Maki is also participating, so we’ve made sure her exorcisms are marked red as well.”

When I read this for the first time in English, I found this explanation rather unclear. No wonder I did, as it omits vital details such as the original mentioning "recording cursed energy in advance" which imo seems to be pointing to them registering samples of all students' energy.

And then the Maki line adds that since Maki is there too, exorcisms performed by UNRECORDED forces will be marked red as well. And that's why later on the teachers weren't able to immediately discern whether the sudden destruction of curses was done by an outsider or not.

“All those one-on-ones. Did they forget the main objective?”

⇒“(...) Everyone’s waaay too disinterested in the game.”

“Main objective” sounds kinda formal and imo that wasn’t the nuance for the line.

[Nobara to Nishimiya]

“Got down here, you stupid witch!!”

Actually “you shitty witch”. Nanami would be proud ;;

“How dare you hit my sacred face.”

I like their take on this but it’s hilarious in the original because the word she uses literally means “your countenance”, as in you’d normally use it to respectfully refer to someone else’s face, definitely not about your own. And then she adds a “go-” prefix, which further ups the level of reverence haha.

“A scar on the face can be a good thing for guys. But not for girls.”

Not really a mistranslation, but I love the original wording with its juxtaposition of a scar on the face being likened to an "order" for a man and a "blemish"/"defect" for a woman. It adds so much more depth to the line.

[Nishimiya after she points out how unfair the jujutsu world is towards women compared to men]

“And Mai has to deal with even more discrimination than that”

Actually something closer to ”irrationality”, “unreasonableness”, “unfairness”, “derision”. Discrimination was the translators’ interpretation of that, I suppose.

Chapter 41

[About Inumaki’s technique]

“Cursed speech is words with spirit. Essentially, it’s infusing sound with cursed energy”

...They translated it the other way around (“the spirit of words”) in ch. 33… Needless to say, this is still the same technique and still the very same term being used. I’d be leaning towards the more commonly used translation of “the spirit of language”.

“However if you’re not sure it’s coming… you’ll be in a constant state of unease. Protecting your head is difficult as it is”

⇒ “On the other hand, if you don’t know if it’s coming or not, you’re constantly distracted. Even though protecting the inside of my head is already something I’m not used to doing”

Not really mistranslated but I wanted to propose an alternate translation, especially for the second part.

“Inheriting the Zen’in family cursed technique is reserved for the privileged. Every other jujutsu sorcerer starts at a level much further below. And even within their family, some women aren’t treated equally.”

⇒ “Unless you inherit the Zen'in family's cursed technique, you start out as a sorcerer from a losing position. And for women, some of them are not even allowed to stand on that starting line"

Just an overall different meaning for the whole fragment. After all, it’s not like you can control who will inherit what technique, even if you’re from one of the three big families. Also it was about women being discriminated on a more fundamental level.

“Can someone who thinks that curse Yuji is an ally really understand?”

⇒ “How about you try thinking hard with that head of yours that can even mistake [that] curse for a comrade?”

Written with “Itadori-kun”, read as “[the] curse” - there’s no reason for Nishimiya to call him “Yuji”. Also she actually says 仲間/nakama here, which, as I stated before, I personally prefer to translate as “comrade” in the context of jjk. The official release seems to alternate between “ally” and “friend”, which are rather distant terms imo. I’m not sure either what’s their basis for when they go with “ally” because they also used it when Gojou was talking about raising a future generation of strong and bright comrades in ch. 11 (refer to part II).

[Nobara in response to above]

“Does that mean we have to forgive the unfortunate no matter the circumstances? And if someone is blessed with a fortunate life, do they deserve to be ridiculed?”

⇒ ”So if someone’s unfortunate, they’re free to do whatever they want? Then what? If in turn a person is [more] fortunate, you’re not gonna be satisfied unless you can talk behind their back?”

In the original Nobara speaks in shorter sentences and uses rather simple language, which imo really conveys how angry she is about Nishimiya’s words. It wasn’t really a philosophical conversation.

“Have any of you ever stopped to consider the person behind the curse you’ve condemned?”

⇒ “And have you people even thought what kind of a person the idiot that you’re trying to curse [from now] is?”

Not “condemn as a curse” but “that you people are cursing”! Huge distinction imo.

“What do I care about whether someone’s perfect or if something’s fair? Is your life just a job?”

⇒ “Are you obliged to stand up to [things like] ‘perfection’ or ‘unfairness’? (...)”

Lit. “where’s the obligation to live up to”. Emphasis mine! Nobara wasn’t saying she doesn’t care whether someone is perfect or not, imo the nuance was more that there’s no need to force yourself to try and meet people’s expectations/standards.

“Boys versus girls? Give me a break! Just shut the hell up! I love dressing up and being beautiful! I love being strong!”

⇒ “Boys this, girls that? I don’t give a damn! Just do it all by yourselves if you wish! I love myself who dresses up beautifully! I love myself who [always] strives to be strong!”

I know fandom loves the “I love being beautiful! I love being strong” line - it definitely is short and impactful! But I actually really like the nuance that “strive to be/remain strong” has because it implies Nobara’s constantly putting in effort to improve herself and get stronger. Also the nuance of “I love myself who’s all those things [and more]” (emphasis mine) rather than simply “I love being those things”/“I love the act of”, even though to an English speaker the former may sound a bit awkward.

[Mai saying she can’t contact Mechamaru after his fight]

“It’s not a good sign if he was forced to use his finishing move and this is the end result.”

⇒ “If it’s like that [that we can’t contact him] despite him being forced into a corner to the point of having to use his finishing move, then he’s probably lost”

This was Mai speculating Mechamaru has most likely lost if they can’t contact him despite him having used his special move.

“I need you”

⇒ “If you’re not here, we’re in trouble”

Rather than Mai needing her personally, this was her reiterating Nishimiya’s importance to the team. (Same phrasing as in ch. 35.)

Chapter 42

[About Maki and her family]

Y:“But why wouldn’t they want someone so strong?”

N:“They don’t wanna accept someone they’ve already rejected. They’re stupid that way”

⇒Y: “Wouldn’t a jujutsu family welcome a strong sorcerer with open arms?”

N:“(...) Because they’re stupid/idiots.”

Slightly more informative for Yuuji’s line in the original imo. Let’s not forget that Yuuji’s still super new to the jujutsu world, so he’s not really familiar with its inner workings. Imo this line had such a nuance.

“So we have to win this event. You better put your life on the line!”

Not incorrect as much as it's just so much funnier in the original because she tells him to put enough effort to die one more time lol (emphasis mine).

[Maki to Tokyo team, telling them to focus on the competition rather trying to make her look good]

“Don't’ worry about me”

⇒ “Don’t think about unnecessary stuff”

Imo this showed Maki’s personality better.

[Mai to Maki, in her head]

“You thought you could get the jump on me? While keeping your distance as well?”

⇒ “So what if you’re in my blind spot. Aren’t you dumb to put distance between us”

This was more about it being advantageous for Mai, a gun being her weapon, if Maki gets farther away from her.

“I knew it! Maki has something I don’t”

⇒ “I knew it… Maki has a talent I don’t have”

How a single exclamation mark can completely change the meaning of a whole line. Yes, it is “I knew it” but as in “I understood it”, “I felt it”. It’s not some revelation about the fight itself, it’s the beginning to Mai’s retrospection about herself and Maki and their approaches to life that follows after. Also, it literally says “talent” there, not to mention the line gets repeated word for word at the end of the same chapter for emphasis before the conclusion is given to Mai’s musings. (Gege seems to like this particular trick a lot, huh?)

”Did you hear about the daughter of the Ougi?"

Hmm, I tried googling the phrase with “Ougi” in it just to check if it can have some hidden meaning but found out even Japanese fans weren’t sure about the exact meaning of the word. Probably a name, either of a person or of a place.

[Mai thinking about Maki]

“You were always so carefree. I hated it. You just kept moving fearlessly forward into the future”

⇒ “I hated how you were always boldly pushing your way towards the future as if you had no worries/unease”

Imo a slightly different nuance for this line (which’s just a single sentence). “I hated how” could also be “I hated you for” and other translations for “pushing your way to” include “plunging forward”, “pushing on”.

(jp)

[About Mai’s cursed technique]

“Unlike creating an object inside a domain, objects created with cursed technique: construction will not disappear after the spell is finished. However, an immense amount of cursed energy is used, which has a harsh effect on the body”

⇒ “Unlike materialisation of an innate domain within the barrier that occurs in ‘domain expansion’, objects once created with Construction Technique will not disappear even after the technique has finished. That’s why(...)”

Ever wondered why domain and domain expansion related stuff is impossible to understand? Well, here’s why. They only left “inside a domain” out of the whole explanation... “Materialisation” was actually “realisation” but I thought the former would be easier to understand. Also it literally says only “realisation of an innate domain” but imo it could be also interpreted as “inner domain and things within in”.

(jp)

“Maki has something I don’t. Kinda like Mechamaru’s Heavenly Restriction but the opposite. You were supposed to be born with a cursed technique but you traded that in for superhuman physical abilities. This skill was shunned by the Zen’in family. And it’s an ability I don’t have.”

⇒ “Maki has a talent I don’t have. (...) A talent which didn’t get appreciated in the Zen’in family and which I didn’t possess”

Like I pointed out earlier, this is the conclusion to Mai’s retrospection about herself and Maki and some of its effect was, in the original, achieved by repeating the line about Maki’s talent that Mai didn’t have, and by further expanding on it here.

Chapter 43

[About Kamo’s attack]

“A trace of blood on the arrow fletching. Like I thought, Kamo’s technique defies physics”

⇒ "The physics defying trajectory [of the arrow] was because of Kamo-san's cursed technique after all"

More informative in the original, I’d say. The arrows themselves are (and look) normal, hence double the wham i suppose?

[Megumi about Kamo’s Blood Manipulation Technique]

“The ability to control whatever touches his blood”

⇒ "The ability to control his own blood and whatever is stained with it"

Why would they skip the "the blood itself" bit…

[Kamo about Megumi’s Ten Shadows Technique”

“A cursed technique passed down in the Zen’in family”

Just to be clear, it’s actually specified here that it’s “one of the techniques”.

[Kamo about his technique]

“I can manipulate blood beyond its form or motion”

Once again sounds a bit like a more general explanation. “To manipulate blood means (...)”.

[After Megumi calls him out on doping]

“Very good. Although I don’t appreciate the negative connotation”

⇒ “But I’d prefer if you stopped with the vulgar phrasing”

Simpler, more direct language here.

[After Maki’s taken off with Miwa’s sword in tow]

“Mai’s sister is gone. Well, that makes sense. I’m useless without my sword”

⇒ “Mai’s older sister has gone somewhere. Well, it was a correct call as I can’t fight without my sword”

The phrase used here that got translated as “I’m useless” while can indeed mean something similar has the nuance of “to not be useful [in battle]” . So although it’s not incorrect per se, I’m not sure if I’d go with “useless” myself, especially because it comes with tandem with “correct call”/”good decision” wording. She DOES literally say she’s useless later on though.

“We’re a little disorganized after all”

Not incorrect per se but imo the original line might’ve had the nuance of “we’re not monolithic [as an organisation]”.

“Use this scent and whistle to control it. If you can, make it kill Itadori”

⇒ “This scent and whistle were used to train him [this cursed spirit]. If a chance arises, use it well and kill Itadori”

I’m not sure if this can be interpreted as it being JUST the curse itself that’ll do all the work.

Chapter 44

“- Why does everyone torment mother?

- Because she’s a broken mistress”

Closer to “dissolute”, I think. Also the word used for “mistress” can also mean “concubine” and “kept woman” but it’s apparently also an old expression for “close female servant”. It’s hard to say which it could have been without more context but it’d actually make a lot of sense if it was the last one, especially given the fact how Kamo is one of the olden jujutsu families, and very traditional at that.

“Then why do you favour me? Why did you deceive me into becoming a heir”

⇒ “(...)Then why did you take me in and lie about me being a heir”

I may be wrong but it doesn’t sound like they deceived Kamo himself but rather, everyone else. The word used also means “falsify”. “Favour” here is the same word as for “patronage”, btw.

“Then as the heir to the head of the Kamo family(...)”

It’s just “the next head” here, possibly an allusion to his plans for /after/ he becomes the clan head.

[After Kamo praises his growth as a sorcerer]

“Why are you acting all familiar with me?’

⇒ “What’s with this sense of comradeship you keep on showing?”

Not incorrect per se but I found the phrase he used interesting. Also means “fellowship”.

“I intend to kill Yuji Itadori”

“By principal Gakuganji’s order?”

“No, this is my decision.”

⇒ (...) “No, this is my personal/individual judgement.”

Emphasis Gege’s. The word does mean “decision” as well but imo “judgement” (as in “call”) fits better here.

“As a member of the Kamo and the big three families, I believe it is the right decision. You should also understand it. (I must play the part of the heir to the Kamo family)”

⇒ “(...) I consider it a correct call. It’s something you should be able to understand as well. (I must conduct myself as is appropriate for the heir of the Kamo family)

Lit. “think it’s(...)” for the first bit. Imo “you should also understand” could imply that Kamo’s trying to convince Megumi here but in the original it’s more him appealing to the common understanding he feels must already exist between them because of their similar positions within their respective families. Also, wording his inner thoughts as “must play the part” was imo giving off a wrong impression.

Cont. from above

“You and I are the same”

Not wrong but the original has the connotation of “the same kind”.

“He’s saying some scary stuff”

Skipped “all of sudden" here.

(jp)

“(I’ve never thought of myself as doing the right thing.) Actually, I’m sorry. I don’t care if I’m right or wrong. I only believe in my conscience. I will follow my conscience and save people. If you disagree with that then, let’s agree to curse each other.”

⇒ ”(...) No, I’m sorry, that is incorrect. It’s just that I believe/have faith in my own conscience. I will help/save people the way my conscience tells me. So if you’ve denied that, then there’s nothing left but to curse each other.”

Again, like in ch. 9 (refer to part I), the nuance here was actually that Megumi will save people BASED on his conscience. Here it’s literally “I will save people according to my conscience” (emphasis mine), which imo heavily implies that he will choose which people to save, as had already been indicated in ch. 9 as well. This is a huge distinction from the way he’s been (mis)portrayed in the official release as just wanting to save people because that’s what his conscience says or because he thinks that’s the right thing to do. (That’s Yuuji). Also, the way they phrased it as basically “let’s agree to disagree” was imo way too mild. And it wasn’t just “if you disagree” but “if you contradict/negate/renounce”.

“A shikigami! It was still around?!”

Not sure but given the context it might’ve meant “so he still had some left” instead.

Cont. on next page

“He used a wounded shikigami as a decoy!”

⇒ “He used a shikigami at the verge of being called off as a decoy!”

“This uses too much cursed energy, so I can only summon it once”

⇒ “This eats a lot of cursed energy so I can only summon it solo”

Lit. “a shikigami before the release/dissolution” for the first one. Coupled with Megumi’s reply, which was “as a stand alone” instead of “only once”, imo the whole thing meant that Megumi called the frog off intentionally.

[Megumi about the elephant shikigami]

“It only recently surrendered to me.”

⇒ “I’ve only exorcised it very recently”

Seems like they confused “to exorcise” (調伏) for “to surrender” (降伏)...The word he uses here is the former, it also means “to unwish”!

Btw, “surrender” is actually used later in the manga when Getou’s curse manipulation is discussed in the Gojou’s Past arc (ch. 73).. So to me there definitely seems to be a distinction between those two terms and which techniques they apply to.

[to part iv (4/5)]

#jujutsu kaisen #jjktranslation #jjk #jjk translation #jujutsukaisen

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part IV (2/5): Chapters 36~39

Chapter 36

[Talking about whether Kyoto students are planning on killing Yuuji]

P:”I wouldn’t put it past Gakuganji to give that order”

⇒ “If it were on principal Gakuganji’s orders, then it’s totally possible.”

The nuance is not so much whether principal Gakuganji would give that order as that if he did, the likelihood of Kyoto students trying to murder Yuuji would be very high indeed.

Nobara’s next line is a direct reply to (and continuation of) that thought.

“Are the Kyoto students the kind of lowlifes who would kill on command?”

⇒ “Are the Kyoto students a gathering of cowards who would kill on someone’s orders?”

Again, less emphasis on “on command” and more on “just because someone else told them to”.

P:”You first-years know Itadori personally because you’ve spent time together. We also know he’s a good guy since we got a chance to meet him. He’s optimistic, which is rare for a sorcerer.”

First off, Panda’s calling him “Yuuji” here and he also tends to call everyone with their first names, even Gojou, who, while only a direct supervisor to the first-years, is nevertheless a teacher at his school.

Second, Panda's vocabulary choice is actually really interesting here. He doesn't just say "good guy" and "optimistic" which both sound fairly casual. It’s actually yet another instance where 善人 (zennin), a formal expression for “good person”, “good people”, appears again. Previous examples include Fushiguro talking about the kind of people he wants to save in general, and Yuuji and Tsumiki more specifically, as well Nanami and Yuuji’s conversation in the aftermath of Junpei’s death. In the last one especially, Nanami spoke about how very few people are either “good people” or “bad people”. But here we have yet another person in the manga using the word to describe Yuuji. To reiterate, Panda doesn’t just say “good guy”, which would more likely use the more casual Japanese phrasing of いい奴 (ii yatsu)!

What got translated as “optimistic” is 根明, which holds the connotation of “natural optimist”, “innately cheerful person”. If it were just “optimistic”, I’d expect to be something like the more straightforward and casual 楽観的 (rakkukanteki) “optimistic” or something of the sort of 呑気 (nonki) “carefree/optimistic/easygoing” etc.. Also, it initially struck me as kind of odd that Panda'd say optimists are rare in the sorcerer world but then I thought, "hey it must be a really depressing job so I guess it makes sense?" but this sheds some additional light on it.

“Why’re you apologizing?”

She actually tacks on “stupid” at the end here haha.

“If your friend dies, the goodwill event’s pretty much done.”

⇒”If a comrade dies, there’d be no victory or loss to this goodwill event”

“Your friend” kind of made it sound (to me) like she was calling Yuuji Megumi’s friend specifically but imo the original had a broader meaning (of Yuuji being their comrade although that’s not explicitly stated). Also, the second part of the sentence imo had a different nuance originally as well.

P:”I bet the the Kyoto school is attempting to assassinate Yuuji, using the confusion of the team battle as a cover”

Actually “if my suspicions are right” (lit. “delusions”), the rest is fine.

“Answer the phone Fushiguro”

⇒ “Argh! Answer on the first ring, Fushiguro!!”

Emphasis mine, just much funnier in the original.

[Nishimiya about Nue]

“Electric shock wings. Looks like I won’t be able to move for a while.”

⇒ “(...) Looks like it’ll affect my ability to move for a while”

She doesn’t really say she won’t be able to move at all, like the official release would imply.

[After Kamo says there’s no reason for Kyoto students to try to kill Yuuji]

“There is... for the three big jujutsu sorcerer families.”

⇒ ”There are as many as one likes. For the higher-ups or the three big families.”

Idk why they edited “higher-ups” out entirely because it definitely paints a broader picture than just “three big families”.

[Toudou about Yuuji]

“He’s incredibly tough! He’s also aggressive at using the environment to his advantage.”

Second sentence is fine but in the first one he actually describes it as “wonderful”/”splendid”/”magnificent” toughness, which imo better conveys the nuance of the praise this was intended as (as opposed to a more general statement).

“He’s able to think a step ahead!”

⇒ “He’s quick at thinking up and implementing the next step too!”

Lit. “quick at assembling the next step”. Again, it wasn’t so much that Yuuji could think a step ahead at all, but the speed with which he could do it that Toudou was commending him for here.

“Despite his small stature, he’s stronger than me. And even though he doesn’t have much cursed energy, his strikes are effective. It’s hard to read his movements because he lacks cursed energy.”

⇒ “Despite his small stature, when it comes to raw power, he’s stronger than me. That’s why his strikes are effective even though he has little cursed energy. That’s also why it’s hard to read his movements from the flow of the cursed energy.”

To sum up, not necessarily stronger in general, just when it comes to raw power; the “that’s why”’s make it more of an organised and consecutive thought; the last sentence was just wrong.

[Miwa and Maki discussing the recommendation system for promotion as a sorcerer”

“In order to get promoted as a sorcerer, you need recommendations, right? And a lot of sorcerers follow the goodwill event.”

⇒ “You do know that promotions for sorcerers follow a recommendation system, right? Even sorcerers without vertical connections hear stuff about [what happens] the goodwill event.”

I’m aware that vertical sounds awkward but it’s an actual term, apparently. (Based on seniority, upperclassmen-underclassmen etc.)

“If you do well here, you’re given more chances to succeed”

⇒ “Students that do well in the event are given many chances for promotion while still at school.”

I just don’t understand the logic behind what gets cut out and why… Emphasis mine. Also, I’ve seen that one of the fan scanlations had this as “raises” instead of ‘promotions” but that’s a mistake. They’re pronounced the same way and share one kanji character, so that probably made them confuse the two (promotion=昇級; raise=昇給).

“You seem like such a good person”

Closer to “just how good of a person can you be”. More importantly though, the phrase used here for “good person” for once ISN’T the more formal 善人 (zennin, discussed earlier in the post). Instead, it’s the more casual “ii yatsu” but interestingly enough it’s written with the same kanji as the one used in used 善人. Normally you’d either write it with just hiragana (いい奴) or, even if written with a kanji, most of the time it’d be the by far more common 良い. So while it’s not formal like previously discussed instances, the kanji choice still seems like Gege’s specific approach for jjk.

[After Maki says she’s not going to go easy on Miwa]

“Don’t worry. I don’t need your pity”

⇒ “That’s not a problem. That wasn’t my aim anyway!”

Lit. “I didn’t say it with that in mind”. I kind of get where they were coming from with the “don’t need your pity” translation but that’s not what she actually says and imo it makes her sound more rude rather than just assertive like she was in the original.

[Toudou about Yuuji’s divergent fist]

“That delayed hit holds you back, doesn’t it?”

He actually phrases it as “is your bad habit”.

Continued below.

T:“As long as you remain satisfied with that, you’ll never defeat me. If you’re okay with the way you are now, our friendship won’t last”

Y, to himself: “What should I say. I don’t care.”

First off, Toudou actually says “if you’re okay with such level” in the second sentence. More importantly though, Yuuji’s reply is actually “What should I do. I don’t really care about that” (emphasis mine), which imo implies that while he may not care about the friendship bit specifically, he may still already think there’s some merit in hearing Toudou out.

Chapter 37

“It is impossible for the hand to advance faster than the eye. If you don’t have an eye that can judge quality, then you can’t create something of value with your hand”

⇒ “(..) If you don’t [first] cultivate an ‘eye’ that can discern good from bad, you can’t expect a ‘hand’ that creates works to grow [either]”

The original was all about growth and cultivation whereas the official release imo made it sound like the discerning “eye” is something you either have from the start or not.

“Your divergent fist stems from the cursed energy flow left behind by your superhuman speed.”

⇒ (...) is born from a delay which doesn’t normally occur - when the speed of your cursed energy can’t catch up to the speed of your superhuman physical abilities”

Official release wasn’t entirely incorrect and this probably stemmed from the desire to streamline the explanation but imo they should’ve kept the bit about how the delay in question just doesn’t happen usually/for most people.

(jp)

“Then why is your cursed energy delayed? It’s because of how you’re flowing cursed energy.”

⇒ “So then why does a delay in cursed energy occur? It’s because cursed energy is something you ‘circulate’.”

Continued onto Yuuji’s reply to above

(jp)

Y:“Weren’t we talking about increasing the speed of flow?”

T:”Most sorcerers have to consciously make cursed energy flow. Like when you feel anger in your belly or a bad gut feeling. Cursed energy nurtured on negativity is said to start from the belly and flow throughout the body. (...) That is how the cursed energy flows.”

⇒ Y:”Yeah, so I should just up the circulation speed, right?”

T:“To circulate cursed energy. For many sorcerers this is something they do consciously. (...) The theory is to circulate the cursed energy you squeeze out from negative emotions, treating your belly as the starting point.”

I hesitated if I should translate the whole thing or just do a commentary but figured this bit may just require both. Imo Toudou’s words here were more of a general explanation of the inner workings of cursed energy, its circulation and a delay that may occur in the process. It certainly feels like this is not something entirely specific to Yuuji, his case is just all sorts of extreme.

The most important distinction here is probably “to circulate the energy” (energy as the object) vs. “the energy flows” (energy as the subject). The Japanese is the former for most of the explanation and since the whole point is how the energy circulation is done on purpose rather than something that occurs spontaneously and/or on its own, I went with “to circulate” . Imo it’s more descriptive but also makes the whole explanation more comprehensible. (Also closer to the original wording.)

As both instances were translated in completely different manners and with differing nuances in the official release, it might’ve been difficult to make the connection but the concept of squeezing the cursed energy out from negative emotions actually appeared before, in Gojou’s explanation in ch. 12 (refer to part II). This is basically expansion on the topic.

Lastly, what they translated as “bad feeling in your gut” in the original was an expression that means “get angry”. But since Gege was definitely going for body organ related imagery, while the official release kind of changed the meaning of that particular phrase, imo it was an overall good choice because it allowed them to keep that imagery intact and that was the priority.

“Thinking of your own body as disparate body parts is what delays your energy. You’re not wrong in trying to flow cursed energy. But that’s just the first step. You can’t get stuck there. The flow of energy for an elite sorcerer is difficult to read. (But for different reasons than you.)”

⇒ “(...) is what gives birth to a delay in cursed energy. ‘To circulate cursed energy’. That by itself isn’t wrong. (...) The more top class the sorcerer, the more difficult it is to read the flow of their cursed energy. (Although for different reasons than with you.)”

Again, the whole thing sounds more like a broader explanation in the original but overall isn’t wrong per se so much as imo not entirely clear at some points. One of such points is the line about elite sorcerers. I wasn’t sure if in the official release it was as immediately obvious to mean “the energy flow OF an elite sorcerer” as it imo is in Japanese, so after some consideration I decided to tweak that sentence a bit too.

“We exist in this world with our entire body, mind and soul”

While I totally understand the temptation to make it the trinity of "body, mind and soul" because western minds are just begging for it, interestingly enough Toudou only says "[whole] body and [whole] soul" here. Granted, we have to consider that it may just as well be a cultural thing and an equivalent of said trinity may simply not exist in Japanese vocabulary. I'm also not familiar with Japanese philosophical thought (OR vocabulary) to be able to make any educated guesses. (Btw, one of the Japanese words for mind is actually 心 as in kokoro and it can be translated/interpreted as all three: mind, heart & spirit.)

[Referring to the line above]

“It’s so obvious that most everyone has taken that maxim for granted”

⇒ “It’s something so obvious that everyone has forgotten it”

Idk, something rubbed me the wrong way about the way they worded it. Imo what Toudou said wasn’t intended to be seen as a maxim of any sort. Not to mention “taking for granted” has the connotation of disregarding something you’re aware of (on some level) but it was literally “forgotten” here.

“Looks like we’re done talking”

⇒ “...there’s no need for words [anymore], huh”

As in, they reached an Understanding so deep, words aren’t needed between the two of them anymore haha.

(jp)

“Let’s go all out and I’ll show you the way”

⇒ “I’ll guide you with all my strength”

What they translated as “let’s go all out” and made into a separate statement was actually there as a descriptor for Toudou’s guidance. (“Show you the way” was fine, btw.)

“Survive this, Itadori. Make your way up here, to the new heights”

⇒ “Don’t you die, Itadori! Come climb to the top!!”

I’m just not sure if what Toudou said here really referred just to their battle, it feels more like a broader sentiment, Toudou’s desire for Yuuji to survive also in general and to reach the Top.

“Hey, you there. Your principal gave orders to kill Itadori, didn’t he?”

⇒ “Hey, you were told to kill Itadori by that geezer of yours, right?”

“You there” was actually “of yours”. Also, while “principal” appears in the text for context what Nobara actually says out loud is “geezer”. She’s very definitely not mincing her words and her original line was much more straightforward/simpler in language.

“So you do get angry. I’m crazy mad too, you know!”

⇒ “(...) But I feel the same way right now!!”

She didn’t really say anything like “crazy mad”, that just she’s also angry.

“I think I’ll just dump his scraps off somewhere”

The original wording is amazing for this line because Nobara uses a term that literally means “unlawful dumping [of garbage]”. (Japanese treat it very very seriously, there are high fines in place and all.) Also, on top of being extra mean here, she actually puts it as “maybe I’ll turn him into scraps”, kind of as if she’s musing out loud.

Panda in reaction:”Yeeesh, scary”

⇒ “Scary....”

It was just less, idk, derogatory vibe, more like he genuinely found Nobara terrifying here.

[Mechamaru after his attack made Panda hit the ground]

“(...) He’ll be fine. But we’ll be staying here for a while.”

⇒ “He won’t die. But he won’t be moving for a while”

The whole line was about Panda.

“I want to personally teach this first-year a lesson”

⇒ “I’ll be the one to cutely beat this first-year into shape”

The meaning is there but not so much Nishimiya’s personality. It was a combination of a more violent phrase + “cutely”. Referring to things, people and behaviours with variations of the word seems to be a bit of a Nishimiya’s quirk and fixation, and “cute”/”cutely” - her go-to epithet for most things.

[Mechamaru to Panda after the latter tells him they should get along as fellow cursed corpses]

“Well, lookit that. You’re nothing but a doll!!”

⇒ ”As if you know anything--!! You’re nothing but a doll!”

What Mechamaru actually says here is the beginning of a phrase that in full means something like, “Don't talk of things you have no clue about”, “don’t speak as if you know anything”. Chapter 38 opens with the same line, btw.

Chapter 38

"Why you...”

He actually says “[you’re] moving so much” here.

”It’s not as if I know much about Mechamaru, Nishimiya and Miwa.”

Not incorrect per se but since the phrasing used literally means “there’s no information on(...)”, this could actually refer not so much to only Panda himself but Tokyo side as a whole not having any information on those three.

[When Panda asks about his rank]

”I don’t think my rank matters right now but since you asked I’m semi-grade 1”

The official release omitted “[rank] against curses”. It’s been mentioned earlier in canon (Ichiji to Yuuji, car scene in ch. 21) that the ranking system is used in reference to curses and doesn’t straightforwardly apply when facing another sorcerer. So Mechamaru was actually speaking about that.

Since this is a Mechamaru heavy chapter, I want to mention his speech quirk! Basically, whenever he’s shown in his mechanical form, the last syllable of his speech bubbles tends to be written in katakana, i.e. the syllabary usually reserved for words of foreign origin, as opposed to hiragana, i.e. the commonly used syllabary. I’m guessing this stylisation was meant to signalise his way of speaking sounds robotic/different.

I suppose it’d be cool had the release managed to depict it somehow in their typesetting (e.g. by using a different font for last word in each sentence) but I imagine that’d be A LOT of extra work. Still, imo they should’ve attempted to indicate it somehow.

[About Panda’s birth]

“A cursed corpse that was born sentient and capable of having emotions”

Hmm, the original actually only says “possessing emotions”. They probably added “sentient” for emphasis.

“Panda is an abrupt mutation cursed corpse. And not a panda!”

⇒ “Panda is an ‘unexpectedly transmuting cursed corpse’. Panda is not a panda!”

I mostly re-translated the term because I thought it made the way Panda’s ability/body works a bit clearer but what I actually want to point out the most is “Panda is not a panda”.

The line actually appears again at the very end of this chapter and I cannot imagine the repetition was coincidental. Should’ve kept the wording the same.

“That’s still no reason to get so mad about it! You don’t want to be compared to me?! That hurts! I may just start crying!”

⇒ “But that’s not a reason to get mad about being mistaken for a cursed corpse! You don’t want to be like me? I’m going to get hurt. Should I just get hurt?!?!”

“Mistaken” was literally “treated as”/”taken for”. Overall, the official release wasn’t really incorrect but I wanted to propose something closer to the original wording.

[After Panda says Mechamaru’s real body must be either not too far away or just out of the battle area so he’s going to crush him here instead of searching for it]

“Neither is gonna happen. ‘Heavenly restriction’. Do you know what that is? It’s different from a binding vow. Think of it as bindings on the body that you’re born with.”

⇒ “(...) A ‘godsend curse’ - do you know what that is? It’s different from a standard ‘binding’ that you self-inflict upon yourself. It’s a binding that’s enforced upon your body by birth”

Emphasis mine. I actually like the sound of “heavenly restriction”, so I’m probably going to stick to it myself too, but I wanted to point out an alternate translation as the components for the term are literally “godsend”/”heaven’s gift” and “curse”/”spell”.

Btw, Touji’s another good example of a character with a “heavenly restriction” but when the term gets applied to him for the first time in ch. 71 (Gojou being the one to point it out), not only does it not get translated the same way, the term just isn’t indicated in any way whatsoever. They do translate it properly later for Getou’s line, so at least they didn’t cut it out entirely, but it’s practically a mischaracterisation that they did it for Gojou...

Other notes of importance: another instance of “binding” getting mistranslated as “binding vow” (please refer to: Part II, ch. 11); once again the part about it being self-imposed/self-inflicted gets chopped off for seemingly no reason?

[Mechamaru about the effects of heavenly restriction on his body]

“My skin is so sensitive that I can’t even let moonlight touch it”

⇒ “My skin is so fragile that even the moonlight is enough to burn it”

Ouch. Official release wasn’t incorrect per se but the original was more descriptive and vivid.

[About Panda, a cursed corpse being able to lead a normal life when Mechamaru himself cannot]

“[It] really pisses me off!!”

⇒ “I just cannot bear to stand it!!”

Lit. “[It’s] hopelessly insufferable/intolerable” but that doesn’t sound good. Imo the word choice in the official release was unfortunate and just too limited as “pisses me off” makes it out into just anger. Meanwhile, the original “insufferable”, “cannot stand it” offer a much wider range of possible emotions involved.

[Mechamaru thinking Panda didn’t survive his attack]

“He’s dead… No, you’re not worthy of death”

⇒ “Did he die? No, you do not deserve the concept of death being applied to you”

Lit. “for you even so much as the concept of ‘death’ isn’t appropriate/adequate”. Imo the official release simplified it a bit too much and I wasn’t sure if the original nuance is immediately obvious there or not. I wish they had worked around the phrase “concept of death” that Mechamaru uses here.

[Panda commenting how Mechamaru revealed his technique while “bragging about his misfortunes”]

“You certainly fit the bill as a jujutsu sorcerer.”

I think it might’ve been just, “You’re quite a sorcerer”, a far simpler statement? The official release kind of made it sound like Panda was implying that’s what sorcerers tend to be like but imo it he may have been criticising just Mechamaru specifically. Take this with a grain of salt though!

Chapter 39

[Principal Yaga about Panda’s “siblings”]

“You’ll get to know them both someday”

⇒ “One day you’ll understand. Those two will always-- [always lend you their strength]”

Imo judging from the grammatical construction the “know” here actually meant “understand” or even “see”.

[Panda about having 3 cores instead of one]

“(...) By switching between them, I can transform my body”

Not incorrect per se but the original actually had it as “by switching the main core, I can convert my body” (emphasis mine).

[Mechamaru about Panda’s strike in Gorilla mode]

“[It] resonated! I felt the damage even while guarding against it”

⇒ “It reaches all the way to the inside. You’ll take damage even if you guard against it!”

Could go with “reverberates/resonates all the way to the inside” as well, I suppose. Either way, as the original explicitly states “to the inside”, imo it would’ve been better to keep that information in. Also the second sentence is probably once again a more general explanation.

“Gorilla mode goes wild with the cursed energy. (No pun intended.) I need to hurry.”

Seeing as Gege here goes out of their way to have Panda say "gorilla" twice on top of using the "gori gori" onomatopoeia, I'd say the pun feels rather intended indeed. https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E3%82%B4%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B4%E3%83%AA ← meanings 2 & 3, I’m guessing. Just swapping the “no pun intended” for something like “just like a gorilla would” or “just like you would expect of a gorilla” (which is actually what the brackets in the Japanese say) would be enough to capture the original sentiment a bit better. It was a joke!

“Mechamaru thinks he failed with those two shots. But the truth is he crushed two of my cores.”

It actually says that he “nearly completely crushed” (emphasis mine). So they’re unusable right now but probably not irrevocably destroyed per se.

[Panda about Mechamaru]

“He blocked my field of vision, then accelerated using jets. He’s got skills!”

Slightly different nuance for the last one, I think. Probably closer to “he’s used to fighting”, “he’s experienced”. Could maybe even contain the nuance of “already got used to me”?

“I can fake my core’s location with energy manipulation”

A really obvious one but just to be thorough - it’s obviously actually “cursed energy”. Otherwise it’s fine.

[Panda about why he finds humans/people gross]

”They all get so worked up about achieving their goals. Plus, it’s hard to tell whether they’re trying to be cool or just sulking.”

⇒ “The way they would go as far as to put their life on the line to achieve their goals. Plus, it’s hard to tell whether they [just] don’t take something to heart or are actually being indecisive.”

What I translated as “don’t take to heart” actually means “lighthearted”, “open-hearted” and has the nuance of “not being particular about things”, so I guess that’s where the “trying to be cool” may be coming from? Idk. Second bit is literally “irresolute”, “hesitant”.

Cont. onto.

“But they possess qualities that I don’t have. I like that about them”

⇒”But well, such/those qualities that I don’t have are what I like about them I guess”

Or, if we want to keep it closer to the bubble placement: ”But well, such qualities that I don’t have. That’s what I like about them.” The nuance was that it’s such qualities as the ones that just got discussed are something that Panda likes about people.

[Instructing Mechamaru to be cautious]

“Your foe may not be the only one standing in front of you”

⇒ ”Your enemies may not be limited to the one in front of you”

Imo the English was a bit unclear in the official release? Could just as well be interpreted as “someone else may be also standing in front of you”, as little sense as it makes. Kind of sounds like something about the “only one” tripped them up a bit.

T:”Mechamaru, don’t you dare think that a guy that can’t quickly say what types of girls he likes can become an elite sorcerer”

Actually “can become a full-fledged sorcerer”. So imo the diss was a bit harsher because it’s not even a matter of becoming “a top-class sorcerer” but “a true/capable sorcerer”.

M:”This is for Valentine’s day”

MC:”What do you think I am?”

⇒ “(...) I’m not like that.”

I guess they didn’t want to get into explaining Japanese customs for Valentine’s day and that’s why they skipped it but Miwa actually specifies that it’s just a “friend chocolate” (lit. “obligation chocolate”). In Japan Valentine’s day is a pretty one-sided affair with women giving gifts to men. Such gifts are split in two categories - “the one”/’true love” i.e. a gift for someone you actually like; and “obligation” i.e. gifts to your male co-workers, classmates etc. So this could have definitely benefited either from a translator’s note or a translation along the lines of “This is for Valentine’s day but as a friend, ok!”.

For Mechamaru’s reply, imo it didn’t sound as harsh in the original.

[to part iv (3/5)]

#jujutsu kaisen #jjktranslation #jjk #jjk translation #jujutsukaisen

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part IV (1/5): chapters 32~35

Kyoto Goodwill Event Arc

Chapter 32

“Looks like you’re back to normal”

Most likely Mahito’s line towards Jougo. Also, what it really says is, “Looks like you’ve regained quite a lot of cursed energy”

“Not having a body is a pain”

⇒ “Not having a body is quite a puzzle, huh. Must be hard to maintain/sustain yourself, too”

They just skipped one line altogether in the official release... The line in question is really unclear, so tbh I’m not sure about it either, but since what he’s literally saying is “the efficiency of self-supplementation is bad too”, I’m guessing Mahito might’ve meant that when, like Jougo, you temporarily lose your body, it’s harder to control the supply (and flow) of cursed energy (among other things).

”Should I not have used the hostage to force a binding vow?”

”No, a binding vow is entered into willingly. Forcing or coercing a vow on someone isn’t easy.”

⇒ “Wouldn’t it have been better after all to just take a hostage and force him to make a ‘binding’?”

”No, a binding is thoroughly something that you place on yourself. A binding created through someone else’s interference, or a binding between two other parties is not easy”

Emphasis mine since it’s a really important bit but it usually gets the cut in the official release for some reason… (Like later on in ch. 38 during Mechamaru’s explanation of the difference between a normal binding and Heavenly Restriction.) I think we can agree in general that as far as the concepts of “binding” and “domain expansion” are concerned, they just consistently got it wrong almost each step of the way… Just calling “biding” a “vow” already majorly alters perception of the term but then they also mistranslated each additional explanation/further information on it.

Also, the hostage thing - the official release here suggests Mahito did use one. Not only did he not, he’s in fact insisting here doing that would’ve been more effective.

“Change into Sukuna, if you don’t want him to die”

Actually “give Sukuna your body” , spoken very informally, haha.

”It doesn’t have to be me specifically that smiles at the end. As long as curses emerge as the true humans”

The bit that got summarised as “at the end” in the original was actually “in one hundred years at a wasteland”. Unfortunately for the translators, the imagery ended up being evoked several times later on (mostly by Jougo himself).

”The authorities at Jujutsu High are still feeling out Yuji Itadori’s capacity as a vessel. They’re not sure how many fingers he can consume before he loses control. Exceptions aside, they’ll have him devour the fingers once after they’ve all been collected.”

⇒ “(...) are incapable of [properly] measuring Itadori Yuuji’s capacity as Sukuna’s vessel. They assume he’ll lose control after one of the fingers. (...)”

Similar but imo the official English release implies that Yuuji will lose control at some point, when in fact it’s Getou stating he probably won’t. He believes himself to have a better gauge of the issue and says the school higher-ups are underestimating Yuuji.

”It’s already under way. We’ve tricked Jujutsu High into gathering the fingers”

⇒ “(...) That’s why we’ve made JH collect the fingers in our possession”

Not only did the official release make it sound like JH gathering the fingers was the plan itself, whereas it was only a part of it, they just got it wrong in general because Getou is explicitly speaking about the fingers he/his faction used to have. Btw, the line gets recalled in ch. 53 but it’s translated correctly there.

”Tell me, what do you like about Satoru Gojo?! I like everything’”

⇒ ”Let's take turns and list things you love about Gojou Satoru"!! ‘Everything’”

It was “love”, not just “like”, haha. He also lit. says “[let’s play] Yamanote Line Game with things you love about Gojou Satoru”, which is apparently a college drinking game, where participants were “required to go around in a circle naming stations on the Yamanote line. Each participant must answer in rhythm with clapping, and must drink if they are unable to give an answer or give an answer not in the category.” (From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konpa#Yamanote_Line_game)

”On a related note, some lighthearted joking could do some good for Itadori right now.”

⇒ "Please keep that up, since Itadori-kun needs this kind of stupidity right now"

Aww, why would you get rid of Nanami roasting Gojou. Justice for Nanami’s deadpanning skills!

G:”Yuji, after all this are you just gonna show up like nothing’s happened?” Y:”Huh? Why not?!” G:”Think about it. You show up out of the blue after everyone believes you’ve been dead for two months… So... let’s do it! Let’s surprise ‘em!”

⇒ G:"Yuuji… Were you possibly thinking of just normally showing up, after we've put it off for so long?” Y:”Eh, we shouldn’t?!” G:”Even if you’re a sorcerer it's not every day that a comrade who [supposedly] died turns out to have been actually alive 2 months later. We’re doing it, right! A surprise!”

Imo the way Gojou phrases it here made it sound more like their turning it into a surprise was a good thing and something that’d make the others happy because hey, even in this line of job miraculous survivals aren’t common, especially once so much time has passed. And not merely because it’d be “out of blue”. A bit more believable why Yuuji went along with it. (Although he probably would’ve either way because we all know Gojou can be convincing when he wants to, haha.)

”But Yuta got to compete since there weren’t enough people.”

”And Rika was still around.”

Maki’s actually saying “because it was still before ‘Rika’ got released from the curse”. So the difference is that Maki’s statement is more concrete and she’s giving Rika’s presence as the reason why Yuuta got to participate in the first place. Obviously it still doesn’t make sense if you haven’t read Vol. 0.

[About Fushiguro]

"I’d say he’s more reliable than the head of the family.”

While the word used can also mean “head of the family”, judging from context the intended meaning here was most likely “the main family”. I’m not sure about the specifics but Megumi, being a Fushiguro, probably would be considered as belonging to a branch family, with the “main family” being obviously the Zen’ins. So Kamo’s most likely alluding to both Mai and Maki here. Another point of interest here is the phrase he uses, 出来がいい (deki ga ii), which can be translated as “turned out well”, “is superior”, “is high-quality”, “is excellent” etc.. My impression is that it gets used to refer to things/objects more (e.g. “this is a well-done product”) but when it's used for people, it's often for comparison purposes, so like we also have here. (For example, using it in a sentence “the younger son has turned out well” would imply that the older brother probably has got some kind of fault about him.)

”Everyone’s here, I see. I was actually on a business trip overseas.”

”Uh… He’s saying something”

No shit, Panda... First off, Gojou sounds much more excitable here. Something like, “wow, wow, everyone’s already gathered~ You see, I was actually on a business trip overseas”. And Panda’s closer to, “Uh, suddenly he’s in a story mode”. As in, dude barely appeared and is already starting to spin some story, haha.

“Utahime, that’s not for you”

⇒ “I don’t have one for you, Utahime”

[Nobara to Yuuji after she and Megumi find out he’s actually alive]

”You got something to say?”

Actually closer to “you’ve got something to say, right”.

Chapter 33

[Day 1 event explanation]

“The first team to exorcise the grade 2 cursed spirit in the designated area wins!!”

It’s actually specified that the cursed spirit was “released within the designated area” (emphasis mine). Same applies to lower level cursed spirits mentioned later in the same explanation.

Y:”Don’t you think this is a bit harsh?” N:”Just sit there and shut up”

⇒ Y:“Wouldn’t this look like rather extreme bullying from the outside…?” N:”Quiet! You just stay like this for a while”

Yuuji’s line is literally, “depending on how you look at it”. For Nobara I don’t actually have an issue with “shut up” but imo they made her sound harsher than in the original. Also, imo those were two separate sentences, closer to how I split them up.

P:”C’mon, he explained himself.”

It doesn’t actually say who was the one doing the explaining, just that the circumstances (which is the word Panda uses) got explained, we don’t know by whom. It might’ve been Yuuji himself but didn’t necessarily have to.

[Megumi explaining Inumaki’s technique to Yuuji]

”Inumaki is a cursed speech user. He can increase and strengthen the spirit of words. For safety reasons he limits his vocabulary”

⇒”Inumaki-senpai (...). Since it’s a technique that increases and enforces the spirit of language, for safety reasons he limits his vocabulary.”

Some (not so) quick notes!

I wish they kept “senpai” in. They did in the first chapter when Fushiguro was talking about Maki, so I’m not sure why they decided to cut it out later on.

The explanation Fushiguro gives for Inumaki’s technique is not so much “strengthen”, as “enforce”, as in “compel”.

The term Fushiguro uses that official release translated as “the spirit of words” here (and then put as “words with spirit” in ch. 53…) is not just any word, but kotodama (言霊), which refers to “the Japanese belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names. (...) The notion of kotodama presupposes that sounds can magically affect objects, and that ritual word usages can influence our environment, body, mind, and soul.” (From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotodama)

Regarding 3), it could have definitely benefited from a translator’s note, which’d at least indicate the concept, as it’s an important one for Japanese mythology and Shinto, among others. Even if you want to make things as approachable as you can to a layman, imo with a series like jjk that heavily draws from Japanese beliefs and myths, sometimes you can’t avoid a more specific explanation or two. If you insist on cutting all such references out, at some point you’re going to end up with a different work.

[Further explanation of Inumaki’s technique]

“It depends on the command’s difficulty level.”

The word Panda uses here would usually imply a difference in abilities/strength/power etc. between at least two parties. So while I’m not entirely sure, I think the meaning was closer to, “it depends on the difference in strength between him and his opponent”. Also the translation just omitted Inumaki’s name entirely in the next line but Panda actually uses his first name there, calling him “Toge”.

Y:”Gotcha. How is it that you can talk?”

⇒ “(...) So. How come you can talk, senpai?”

See, this is another example why I really wish they at least kept “senpai” in. Yuuji sounds a bit rude and really forward in the English version but the thing is he actually calls Panda “senpai” here, so he does give respect where it’s due. And it just makes the whole line even more hilarious and Yuuji more endearing.

[Maki about Yuuji getting added to their team]

”We’ve got an extra person now. Do we have time to change plans?”

⇒ “(...) Do we change the plan? We don’t have time, though.”

Minor but slightly different nuance.

”I don’t know what he was up to while he was gone but if it comes down to a brawl without any cursed energy involved, Itadori would win”

⇒”I don’t know what he was up to while he was dead, but in a brawl without any cursed energy involved between all Tokyo and Kyoto students, Itadori would win”

They probably cut it out to save on space but Megumi actually specifies that Yuuji would win against anyone from either school, which imo is an important distinction and holds extra significance because of the purely physical sorcerer type that Maki represents. Also it may sound awkward but he actually says “while he was dead” (emphasis mine), which, wow, someone’s holding a bit of a grudge huh.

”As of right now, Itadori is in control of his body. If Sukuna doesn’t appear, there should be no problem. This should be simple.”

⇒ (...)As long as Sukuna doesn’t come out, he’s just a freshman. Strangling him to death should be easy.”

Not incorrect per se but as you can probably see already, some finer details have been omitted. Like, oh, it not being a mere “this should be easy”, but a much more violent “throttling him/strangling him to death should be easy/simple”. Also, principal Gakuganji calls Yuuji with his full name here.

(jp)

[Toudou to Kyoto folks]

”Listen up. You too, old man. People like you, who have a crappy taste in women, are a lost cause. Plotting, scheming, doing whatever you want. But just try telling me what to do again, and... I’ll kill you.”

⇒ “Listen up. You too, grandpa. I have long given up hope on all of you, with your bad taste in women. Scheming and ruses - do whatever you want. But you just try and order me around again, and I’ll kill you”

Main points: Toudou calls the principal “grandpa”/”grandfather”; he calls their taste “bad”/”poor” and not “crappy”; “doing whatever you want” wasn’t another example but it referred to “scheming and ruses” (here: plotting, scheming) instead.

“While Toudou is raising hell, we can concentrate on our objective”

She actually specifies that they can concentrate on exorcising curses, as opposed to, you know, killing Yuuji, which is one of the ways the official release could be interpreted as.

”Todo might not actually kill him. Although he’s the kind who would”

⇒ ”Toudou probably won't go as far as killing him. Although he does seem like he would.”

”Then we’ll need someone to monitor Toudou to confirm the kill”

⇒ ”Then we’ll have to pick someone [among ourselves] that’ll be in charge of monitoring Toudou and dealing the killing blow to Itadori Yuuji.”

Neither Mai nor Mechamaru actually expect Toudou to kill Yuuji, hence Mechamaru's proposition.

G:"You angry at me?” U:"I’m not angry.” G:"That’s what I thought. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

⇒ G:"Why are you pissed off?” U:"I’m not pissed off or anything” G:"Right! After all, it’s not like I did anything [wrong].”

I felt like the nuance was a bit different, so I tried to go for wording that’d be closer to the original. Also, Gojou doesn’t say “at me” in his first line.

“The person might only be talking to the curse user though.”

⇒ “The person might be under the impression they’re only cooperating with the curse user though”.

It literally says “communicating”, btw. More importantly, the way it’s worded in Japanese makes it clear that the person in question may be convinced that they’re only dealing with the curse user themselves and may not be actually aware that they’re cooperating with actual cursed spirits by extension. Imo it wasn’t as clear in the official release, hence the change.

[Utahime to Gojou]

“Respect! Your! Elders!”

Not mistranslated but she’s actually just saying/yelling she’s the senpai/higher in seniority.

(jp 1, jp 2)

[Megumi asking Yuuji if he’s okay]

M:”Something happened, right?”

Y:”Huh? What’re you talkin’ about? ...yeah. But I’m okay. In fact, thanks to what happened, I don’t wanna lose to anyone anymore”

M:”Good. Me too. I don’t want to lose either.”

N:”But you got beat up the other day! It’s gonna be a flawless victory for Maki! We’re gonna wreck them!”

No huge mistranslations but LOTS of nuance lost.

First off, Yuuji says, “But it’s true that I’m alright. (...)”. Then, when Megumi replies saying he doesn’t want to lose either, he tacks "relatively" to it, and that’s what he gets chewed for by Nobara. She basically accuses him of playing it cool with, "what the heck is 'relatively' after getting knocked down like that before!? A complete victory!! We're gonna beat them black & blue!! Also for Maki-san's sake!!" She definitely doesn't say that it's Maki that's going to do all the heavy lifting in this competition, haha. “Relatively" getting omitted is also disappointing because it spoke volumes about the kind of person Megumi is and/or comes off as.

Chapter 34

Y:”Where do you think the boss curse is located?”

P:”Probably somewhere in the center. I doubt it’ll stick around there though.”

Panda actually specifies the boss curse was "released at similar distance from both schools" (emphasis mine).

”At the designated time, we’ll split into the Panda and Megumi teams just like we discussed.”

Again, she’s being more specific and describing Panda’s team as “specialised in enemy searching”.

Also, fun fact about Maki! She seems to call Fushiguro with his surname when referring to teams or speaking about him to someone else but when she addresses him directly, she’ll go with “Megumi” most (if not all) of the time. So whenever she says “Fushiguro”, she’s pretty much calling him that for everyone else’s sake. The official release elected to change the “Fushiguro team” here to “Megumi team” for some reason, which wouldn’t be so bad if they were at least consistent with it but sadly that’s not the case. The Kyoto Goodwill arc is just rife with inconsistent naming practices in general.

On that topic, honorifics like “chan”, “san”, “kun” aside, it’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine when characters referring to each other with surnames gets switched to first names when translated into English. I’m aware it may sound less awkward this way for some people but imo it's part of Japanese culture. As such it also plays an important role in building a dynamic between characters, as it’s one of the ways to show the distance between them. Especially in the case of these particular characters, where earlier we had both Maki and Mai insisting on Fushiguro calling them with their actual names (because they're related to him, because they want to be distinguished from one another, because they don’t like their family name etc.)

[Fushiguro calling out to Maki]

“Senpai, stop!”

What I said about naming practises and honorifics… You can’t just cut out “senpai” altogether in one chapter (as was the case with ch. 33) and then suddenly elect to use it again in the very next chapter. Even worse that it seems to be done at random, too.

[Nobara about Toudou after he attacked the Tokyo team all by himself]

”He’s a beast.”

⇒ “I knew that already but he’s a monster”

I could be wrong but from what I’ve observed, Gege uses “beast” sometimes but usually not in reference to his (human) characters.

“Todo will definitely come straight at us. Mai may follow suit and target me.”

Maki actually uses a phrase that means “take advantage of the opportunity” (lit. “take a ship/ride” haha) when talking about Mai here.

[Maki about Tokyo team’s strategy against Toudou]

“Todo’s a handful. Worst case scenario, even our combined strength might not be enough to take him down. At first I was thinking about positioning someone at the rear to keep him occupied - maybe Panda or Megumi-- Itadori! We’ll leave Todo to you. I don’t want to lose anyone who can help locate the enemy”

More like “worst case scenario, we may get destroyed even if all of us take him on together”

That's another "Fushiguro", which backs my theory about Maki calling him that for others' benefit and reverting to "Megumi" when addressing him directly

Curiously, Yuuji's “Itadori" here too. Maybe another instance of Maki calling him with his surname for the others’ benefit? She seems to call him Yuuji most of the time later on.

It’s not “positioning someone at the rear” but actually “leaving just one person behind” (emphasis Gege’s!).

“Sorry Megumi, I bet you wanted to fight Todo too.”

Same page, but Maki’s addressing him directly, so it’s actually “Megumi” in the original too.

“If I’m gonna fight, then I’m gonna win”

Yuuji’s actually calling her “senpai” here. Also, while the line’s not mistranslated, the grammatical construction used here puts emphasis on the speaker’s will, determination, so I suppose the nuance’s closer to, “but if I’m already fighting, then of course I’m going to win”. That’s a bit of a mouthful though and the original line is shorter and more impactful.

Chapter 35

[After Toudou asks Yuuji about his type]

“My type in girls? What does that have to do with anything?��

⇒ “(...) Why are you asking about something like that right now”

It feels like it was more of a matter of inappropriate timing than relevance here.

“I’m not really sure what’s going on here but I guess I like tall girls with big butts, like Jennifer Lawrence.”

⇒”I don’t really know but if I had to say, I guess it’s (...)”

Emphasis mine. Imo the “I’m not sure” wasn’t referring to the situation at hand but was more Yuuji stating he doesn’t really have set preferences. (Which is kind of proven later in the manga where in a more lighthearted chapter Yuuji’s junior high school classmate makes an appearance.)

“At that moment, a memory was born inside Todo’s brain of a past event that never existed”

⇒ “At that moment, a memory that didn’t/doesn’t exist poured into Toudou’s brain”

Definitely not a mistranslation but this is such an important line, I wanted to point out the original wording. I actually don’t remember right now how the other instance later in the manga got translated by the official release, so I can’t say anything about it, but needless to say, in the original the “memory that doesn’t exist” tagline was lifted word for word from this chapter.

(Curiously, the exact same wording for “poured inside his brain” was also used for the Gojou scene in Shibuya, except it was in the present tense instead. Interpret that as you will.)

[After Toudou says he’s going to confess to Takada]

“Don’t do it! I don’t want to pick up the pieces”

Minor change but closer to, “I don’t wanna [have] to comfort you” haha.

T:“It seems we are best friends”

Y:“But we just met!”

⇒ (...) “Even though you just asked about my name?!”

Imo the “you literally just asked my name” nuance of the original was just funnier.

N:“But Todo’s there”

K:“It shouldn’t be a problem. After all, he said he didn’t care about our plans.”

⇒[Nishimiya’s line]

“That’s not a problem. After all, he’s the one that said to do whatever we want.”

Not a huge change but imo the nuance was closer to what I proposed.

(jp)

“I thought I told you that I’d kill anyone who got in my way”

“No! You said you would kill anyone who gave you orders.”

“Whatever. Go away”

⇒ (...) “They’re the same thing. Go away”

So Toudou’s basically insisting the intent behind his words is more important here than the actual words used. (Or, you know, just being fairly unreasonable, take your pick.)

“I’m not the kind of guy who goes easy on someone just because they’re my best friend”

⇒ “I’m not such a boorish man as to go easy (...)”

Because apparently going easy on your ~best friend~ is actually a sign of unrefinedness/uncouthness, haha. Obviously the wording here that the official release omitted entirely actually points to Toudou’s values, which is a part of his character portrayal.

“I got to keep my eyes open so we can get ahead hunting down the curses”

⇒ “Our hunt for curses won’t even begin if I don’t search for the enemy from up here”

I don’t know if they just mistook the “won’t begin” line for “so we can get ahead” but imo the wording they went with for this line diminishes Nishimiya’s importance for the mission. She’s basically saying she’s the one in charge of spotting the curses and the Kyoto side won’t be getting anywhere without her. Our Tokyo protags seemed to share this opinion, that’s why they took her down in the next panel.

That’s also why Mai’s “I guess it’d be a problem if she wasn’t around” is also a bit unfortunate as far as translation is concerned, because what she said was closer to, “I guess without that person we’re in trouble.” Nishimiya was that important! (Also, Mai literally calls her “that person” here, which shows you how close Kyoto students are with one another.

[to part iv (2/5)]

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjktranslation #jjk translation #jujutsukaisen

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nanami-says · 3 years

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Part III (2/2): chapters 26~31

Chapter 26

“If there’s a curtain, chances are it’s at Satozakura High and still up”

⇒ “If there’s a curtain, there’s a high probability that he [Mahito] is not only alive but at Satozakura High”

Let’s just say the original definitely didn’t talk just about the curtain.

“It’s probably pointless to tell him anything”

⇒ “He’s probably not going to listen [to me]”

Lit. “even if I tell him [not to] it’s probably pointless”. Imo the official release was a bit unclear here.

J:”What’s the point of thoughtlessly saving people? That’s not what life’s about!”

⇒ “What’s the point of saving [people] at random? Your idea about the value of life is wrong!”

Lit. “don’t mistake/get wrong the value of life”. You can interpret this scene in many ways but to me it sounds like he’s repeating after Mahito. After all, it’s him that told Junpei that “there’s no value to life [itself]”. Junpei also might be saying here that those people don’t deserve to be saved.

Cont. on the next page.

“All your righteous people full of compassion… It’s just a bunch of lies! You can’t make me follow these stupid rules!”

⇒ “The emotions of righteous people! A heart! It’s all [just] the soul’s metabolism! It’s just make-believe! You have no right to tie me with rules created from lies!”

This seems to back up my theory about Junpei, in his agitation and despair, throwing a bunch of terms spoon-fed to him by Mahito.

”But is it really worth throwing your life away?”

The word used here for “life” is 生活, so it’s life understood as one's daily existence and not say, the kind of “life” as in “put your life on the line”, which’d be 命. The latter was used when they were discussing the value of life, btw. (Basically, Japanese have a lot of words for “life”.)

So it’s not “throw your life away” but “throw that life [that you had with your mum] away”.

J:”[Or else] are you saying that my mother and I got cursed by people with heart?”

Just pointing out that the actual wording is “by the heart of people”, “by a human’s heart”.

Y:”Sorry, I said all that without knowing what you’re going through. But you can talk to me. I promise I won’t judge you, Junpei”

⇒“ I said arrogant stuff even though I don’t know anything. If something happened, tell me. I will never do something like curse you [anymore], Junpei”

I know it sounds a bit awkward but it’s jjk, so having Yuuji actually say “curse” here feels like a pretty significant word choice on Gege’s part. I think I’ve seen it pointed out by Japanese fans before but this is basically Yuuji affirming all of Junpei the way Mahito did (although obviously with different intentions). If only Junpei met Yuuji first instead...

Y:”There are teachers there that are crazy strong. And friends you can trust”

⇒ “There are stupid strong teachers and many comrades you can rely on there.”

For some reason, this particular mistranslation of “trust” instead of “rely on” happens a lot in jjk when imo they’re not interchangeable.

“Comrades” instead of “friends” is my personal preference for translating 仲間 (nakama, and yes, that nakama), at least for jjk. I may be old-fashioned but for me “friends” indicates some extent of friendship between people involved, whereas imo here it’s more about comradeship with people you work with, especially when work in question involves putting your life on the line.

Chapter 27

“This is just like when you fixed my heart! Please help Junpei!”

⇒ “So just like the time when you fixed my heart-- Please heal Junpei [now]!”

I tried to phrase it keeping in mind bubble placements.

S:”You’re mine! Your future and everything you will ever possess! You don’t have a say in this! You’re hopeless!” [Mahito interjection] “How sad! You’re so pathetic, you stupid brat!”

⇒ “To think that you can’t save anything even when you implore me for help, offering up your dignity and your future! Offering up your everything!! [Mahito interjection] How pitiful! Nothing more miserable above this!! Brat!!”

If we insist on keeping the composition closer to the original, it’d be something like:

⇒ “[Your] dignity and your future! Even when you offer your everything! Even when you implore me for help! To think that you can’t save anything even then!”

“Dignity” here is the same word as previously used by Jougo and this is where imo “self-respect” might’ve actually fit better but I chose to keep it as “dignity” for the sake of continuity.

Sukuna also doesn’t really call Yuuji “stupid”, just his usual word for him, i.e. “brat” (小僧). (Not a very polite address in itself but it’s not any worse than usual in this particular scene.)

As for Mahito’s line.

“Did he not make a vow? It’s not like he couldn’t do something about the shape of the soul by using reverse technique. Could it be that Sukuna can’t heal others?”

⇒ “He rejected the ‘binding’ [that Yuuji offered just now]? While it’s not like using reverse technique would do anything when it comes to changing a soul’s shape... Could it be that he can’t heal others?”

In other words, you can’t, in fact, fix what Mahito did by using reverse technique.

Chapter 28

M:”And while he’s seething with hatred, I’ll force him into making a binding vow with Sukuna. That should help us win Sukuna over, which would be great.”

⇒ “When he urges a negotiation with Sukuna pushed by a hatred surpassing [the bounds of] interest, we will put a ‘binding’ on Itadori Yuuji. If it raises the probability of Sukuna joining our side, then awesome.”

Just an altogether different meaning for the whole line. “Interest” here is the same term (“one of the important factors for jujutsu”) as it appeared in the introduction of “binding”.

Also, he literally says “matter for great congratulation” in the last sentence but that’s kinda awkward haha.

[Mahito about his affinity with Yuuji]

“Mortal enemy” ⇒ “Natural enemy”

That being the original wording aside, it captures the essence of Yuuji being the worst match imaginable for Mahito better. (I literally guessed it just must’ve been 天敵 as soon as I saw this scene for the first time, even in English.)

Chapter 29

Y:”I couldn’t save Junpei and his mum”

⇒ “I couldn’t save 2 people”

Even if it’s pretty obvious whom he could’ve meant, that’s not what he says in the original.

N:”Always thinking of others”

⇒ “Just to what extent does he [think/care] about others”/”just how much(...)”

I much prefer the original’s more disbelieving tone as this wasn’t just a simple statement by Nanami. Also, the actual line is “just to what extent [...] about different people” so you have to supply the verb by yourself.

“And how are you”

⇒ “Let’s talk/worry about your body first”

“How are you” is a broader question, where Nanami was specifically referring to Yuuji’s physical state.

M:”You’re looking good, 7:3 hairstyle sorcerer”

The long long moments I spent staring at Nanamin’s hair and trying to figure out if it really warrants Mahito’s nickname for him to include the “hairstyle” bit or not. YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE.

Anyway, imo the 7/3 thing seems to point to the more obvious thing, like, idk, Nanamin’s technique? Which he’d actually divulged to Mahito before? Would definitely keep it simple “7/3 sorcerer” if it were me. Also, it’s more, “what, you’re looking all healthy, aren’t you” but that’s minor.

N:”I’ll explain later.”

⇒ “I’ll explain during the scolding”

How dare you cut out Nanamin’s emphasis on scolding Yuuji later. (Except after the fight Nanamin backtracks and says he’s in no position to scold Yuuji after getting saved by him. Continuity!)

Chapter 30

“It’s an area constructed with cursed energy. Once trapped inside, all hits are fatal and cannot be evaded. It’s also a technique I was never able to master. Most likely his cursed technique that messes with one’s soul has a condition - he must touch his target with the palm of his hand while in his base form. But if I’m in his domain, where I’m helpless against his attacks, that means I am now… literally in the palm of his hand”

Once again jjk official release gets almost everything wrong about domain expansion……. Let’s unload this, shall we.

To get it out of the way - the bit where Mahito’s technique is explained is mostly correct, although it should be “activation condition” (emphasis mine) and not just “condition”. As for the rest…. The first speech bubble is actually one long sentence haha but that’d be a mouthful, so I’m going to split it up a bit.

⇒ “To sublimate your fatal technique into a sure-hit fatal technique inside an innate domain created with cursed energy. It’s the peak of jujutsu that I was never able to achieve myself. [Mahito’s technique explained] But in a situation where I’m inside an innate domain with a sure hit effect, I’m literally in the palm of his hand.”

Emphasis by Gege.

To sum up!

When using a (properly realised) domain expansion, your endowed technique gains the effect of hitting 100% of the time*.

Domain expansion doesn’t automatically make an endowed technique fatal.

IF your technique is fatal though, now it’s a fatal technique that will hit the enemy for sure.

* There are ways to counter that effect as explained by Gojou in ch. 15.

The translator also probably confused “achieve” and “master”, they use the same kanji but obviously mean two different things.

“Crap. Jujutsu sorcerers are trash.”

This is actually a smooth segue of Nanami swearing saying “shit” into “jujutsu sorcerers are shit”. If you remember this line previously got translated as “sorcerers are idiots”, which just ruins the continuity. (Moreso as it’s worded yet differently here as well.)

“You have to force your comrades to accept the notion that they must willingly sacrifice their lives.”

⇒ “At times you have to force onto your comrades the resolve to throw their lives away for someone else’s sake”

The difference between a notion and a resolve, I guess.

1. “I’ve never been the type of guy who worries about the meaning of life or his purpose on Earth. I’ll make enough money to retire and move to a country where it’s cheap to live for the rest of my life.”

2. “I’ve always thought that having a purpose in life had nothing to do with me.”

Both instances appear in the same chapter just pages apart with practically the same phrasing used when Nanami’s talking about “having a purpose in life”. Imo the repetition was intentionally used for both parallel AND emphasis, so it’s disappointing the translator went with such different wordings each time, ruining the effect and the continuity in the process. It should be:

⇒ 1. “I’m the kind of human that things such as ‘doing something worthwhile’ or ‘having a purpose in life’ have nothing to do with. I’ll just half-heartedly earn money until I’m 30-40 and then just aimlessly enjoy life in a country where the prices are low.”

⇒ 2. “The kind of human that things such as ‘having a purpose in life’ have nothing to do with. [Even though] that’s what I thought about myself.”

See the difference? Ngl, at this point I can’t help but feel as if the translators were on the mission to take away all and any of Nanami’s depth, here and in general. He’s really gotten the shorter end of the stick A LOT translation-wise.

"I don't need to deal with other curses or other people as long as I have money. Money x10"

⇒ "Both curses and other people will [continue to] have nothing to do with me as long as I only have money. Money x7”

This actually comes right after line no. 1 discussed above. The expression that the official release translated here as “don’t have to deal with” here in the original uses the same word as both examples discussed above, and means "have nothing to do with" (lit. "are unrelated", “have no connection”).

[About Sukuna]

“With no concern for anyone but himself, he existed for leisure. For Ryoumen Sukuna whether Mahito or Nanami survives doesn’t matter at all. Only one person holds his interest. Aside from him, he truly doesn’t care about anyone else.

⇒ “I am my own Lord [Holy am I alone] throughout heaven and earth. His pleasure and displeasure the only guidance for life. Ryoumen Sukuna. For him, whether Mahito dies, whether Nanami dies, doesn’t matter. His only curiosity lies in one person alone. Aside from him, everything else can be damned.”

Last bit is lit. "doesn't care/matter from the bottom of the heart". Also, I’d say the original indicates not so much that he doesn’t care which one of them will survive as much as that he doesn’t care whether either of them will.

Also, the whole first bubble “Holy am I alone (...)”（orig. 天上天下唯我独尊) is actually a quotation lifted word for word from “Shōbōgenzō” (正法眼蔵, lit. "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye"), a collection of works written by the 13th century Japanese Buddhist monk and founder of the Japanese Sōtō Zen school, Eihei Dōgen. Pretty literal and functions as a phrase in standard Japanese I think, but Japanese dictionaries further explain it as “Nothing more venerable in the whole universe than I”.

Chapter 31

[Mahito about domain expansion]

M:”It’s definitely a last resort finishing move. And yet Sukuna…”

Idk about you but to me “last resort” has a somewhat desperate connotation? Something you’d prefer to avoid using. The original wording is closer to, ”truly a trump card and a game ender”, which sounds more positive. Also it’s not just “Sukuna” but “that damn Sukuna”, haha.

Y:”You gonna lecture me?”

N:”I’m not in position to lecture someone who saved my life”

⇒Y:“A scolding?” (OR “A sermon?”)

“There’s no way I could scold [lecture] someone who saved my life”

The way they translated Yuuji's line makes him sound belligerent and kinda rude? He was merely asking because that’s what Nanami promised him, after all. Nanami on his part for once wasn’t formal here. It seemed to be the “everything is shit” mode instead, since the word actually makes its appearance here too. It’s just impossible to translate it more literally or in a way that’d include it haha.

“But I didn’t change into him”

⇒ “But we didn’t switch”

It’s not like Yuuji himself changes into Sukuna after all, they just switch the ownership of his body.

Y:”So I’m not the one that saved you. That just happened by coincidence.”

While essentially Nanami getting saved comes down to being a coincidence, what Yuuji actually said here was, "so it was his [Sukuna's] whim" which puts more spotlight on Sukuna.

“I know people die and there’s no way to avoid death. But people should at least die a natural death. At least that’s what I used to think…”

⇒ “People die. Nothing can be done about that. So that’s why I at least want them to die a proper death. That’s what I used to think…”

Y:”What does it mean to die naturally?”

N:“I don’t know. Even if we assume it’s right for the deaths of the good to be peaceful and of the wicked to be punishments, most people aren’t good or evil. Death comes for all of us. But we all die differently. Making sure everyone dies a natural death sounds exhausting. I would n’t recommend trying.”

⇒ Y:”What is a proper death?”

N:”I don’t know that either. Even if we assume it’s proper for the deaths (...) Death comes for all of us. But no death is the same. Trying to ensure they’re all proper would be agonising for sure. I don’t recommend it.”

Emphasis on “proper” mine to showcase the fact they all use the same word in the original. I mentioned it multiple times before but whenever Yuuji talks about "natural death" in English release, in Japanese he's actually saying 正しい which means ”proper”, "correct", "right" etc. I guess using "natural" was the translator's extrapolation on what "proper”/”correct” way of dying is but imo it just doesn’t capture the sentiment.

Also this is another conversation where 善人 (zennin) for “good person” and 善人 (akunin) for “bad person” (in the English release here translated as “the wicked”) make an appearance. Interestingly enough, when Junpei was talking about “bad people” in the manga (conversation with Yuuji at Junpei’s house, ch. 24) he said 悪い奴 (warui yatsu), which is the more colloquial term that could also be translated as “bad guy”. So the 善人/ 善人 dichotomy may be more of a sorcerer specific thing even in jjk world.

Y:”I still don’t know what it means to die naturally”

Again, die naturally ⇒ die properly but this time the overall nuance seems to be different as well?

I’d make it “There’s just no way to know what ‘a proper way of dying’ is”, which’d make it a more general but also more emotional statement. (The grammar construction in question is used when you want to emphasise that you feel something definitely isn’t true/won’t happen for sure.)

He does follow it up with “so at least until I learn it”, though.

[to part iv (1/5)]

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjktranslatioin #jjk translation #jujutsukaisen

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nanami-says · 3 years

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Part III (1/2): chapters 19-25

Vs. Mahito Arc

Chapter 19 (aka why this blog exists)

J:”Yeah, we know that. But we flatter her because she looks easy.”

⇒ ”And the three of them know it as well. But they flatter you exaggeratedly anyway because they think you’ll let them do you”

Actually Junpei’s lines.

J:”I can’t believe people like that go to my school.”

Not incorrect, I just want to point out that Junpei didn’t just say “people”, the word he used is “race” (人種）, which implies he doesn’t see them as the same kind of human he is.

J:”Was it that guy who did it? There’s no way a person could do that! If he did it, he must not be human.”

⇒ “Was it that person just now? No, would such a thing be even possible for a human being? And if it was, would they really be a ‘human being’?”

Overall correct but the flow was different. Mind you, 人 can be translated both as “person” and “human being” (among others) depending on the context. Imo this captures the nuance better but YMMV!

N:”I’m here to identify the truth and uphold the law. There was a time when I thought the society had the same goals”

⇒ ”Adapting to the facts [in front of you] and managing yourself accordingly. That’s who I am. There was a time where I mistakenly believed society operated on the same basis.”

This was really hard to translate, especially since the phrase Nanami uses here is rather formal language. I actually checked the official anime subtitles for this one and they went with “I adhere to the facts and judge on that basis”, which I guess is close enough? I’d probably go with it as well if not for the fact that he doesn’t just say 律する but 己を律する (己/onore = I/me in humble language).

Seems like the exact meaning of the phrase is difficult to understand even for Japanese people - there are whole articles out there breaking down the meaning and giving examples of how to implement it in life 8D Anyway, the simplest explanation is “to control yourself”, with further nuance of “enforcing rules on yourself in order to achieve a goal”, “restricting your desires and impulses by your own will” etc.

Thanks a lot, Gege.

Btw, Ino, who respects Nanami greatly and considers him a mentor, actually uses the same phrase, word for word, in ch. 95! (事実に即し、己を律する) That’s how important it is. Also, continuity!

Y:”Let’s do it!”

N:”There’s no need to get excited”

⇒ Y:“Let’s go all out!!”

N:”No, if moderate’s enough, let’s just do it moderately”

They both used descriptors for just what kind of intensity they should approach the mission with. Imo, an important distinction because after they learn the full extent of the situation, Nanami takes back his words from this moment and agrees with Yuuji, going as far as to use the same words Yuuji did here.

N:”I wonder what others would think hearing you say that”

⇒ “I’m sure the others wouldn’t want to hear that from you [of all people]”

So not so much “don’t be rude” as “dude, you’re the weirdest of them all”. Emphasis mine.

N:”What I learned at Jujutsu High is that jujutsu sorcerers are idiots”

& “What I realized while at the office is that work is idiotic”

He actually says “shit” both times lol. If it was just the humour that suffered here, it still wouldn’t be too awful but unfortunately it’s not just that. The “sorcerers are shit” line gets recalled when Nanami’s facing death, trapped in Mahito’s domain, which makes it pretty damn important. It gets translated yet differently by the official release then, too, which further damages continuity I believe Gege intended for this.

”So I took the lesser of two evils. Nothing more, nothing less”

⇒ “If both are shit, then I just chose the one I’m more cut out for. That’s all as far as the reason for my coming back is concerned.”

I mean, if we realllllly insist on watering down everything that Nanami says (as JJK translators apparently did), then the basic meaning was conveyed but the original wording and nuance was closer to what I proposed.

N:”Prove to me that you can be useful in spite of the demon Sukuna inside of you”

⇒ “Give your best to prove that you’re useful despite carrying the bomb that Sukuna is.”

Considering how 2 pages later Nanami tells Yuuji that he’s not the one Yuuji should be proving himself to, it’d have been weird if this is actually what he’d said, wouldn’t it. But Nanami’s nothing if not reasonable, so that wasn’t the case.

Y:”I’m weak and useless. I’ve been hearing a lot of that these days”

⇒ “That I’m weak and useless... I’ve been realising that to a painful extent these days”

“I’ve been hearing it” would imply that someone was actually saying it either to Yuuji himself or to others which he was aware of. (I mean, other than Sukuna.) The original wording doesn’t really hold such connotation.

N:”If you think you’re in trouble, let me know”

Y:”Have some faith in me, will ya? Just a little.”

N:”It’s not about faith.(...)”

Y:”A child? I’d rather be underestimated”.

⇒ N:“If you decide you cannot win, please call me.”

Y:”Aren’t you underestimating me too much?”

N:”This is not about ‘underestimating’ or ‘not underestimating’.(...)

Y:”[Even] being underestimated would’ve been better over being treated like a kid.”

I guess the translators wanted to avoid saying “underestimate” 3 times in a row? Albeit that’s what the original does.

More importantly though!!

N:”I’m an adult and you’re a child. I have the obligation to look after you”

⇒ “(...) It’s my obligation to prioritise you over myself.”

Quite a different nuance, right. Not just “I have to look after you” but “your well-being [life] takes priority over my own”.

N:”Experiencing these little losses is what helps people grow into adults”

⇒ “It’s the accumulation of such small despairs that turns people into adults”

Not that wildly different but despairs (hopelessnesses) >>> losses, y/y. Also “helps” made it sound more positive when it’s both a poignant and at the same time dry statement.

Chapter 20

N:”There are techniques that aren’t affected if revealed to certain enemies”

Those two feel more like separate examples to me. I.e. that there are techniques that aren’t affected if revealed, and there are some enemies that you can afford to reveal your technique to. Could apply simultaneously but don’t necessarily have to, if that makes sense?

“There is a merit to revealing one’s hand and the rules it initiates. You can make your technique even more effective.”

⇒ “It has its merits too. The ‘binding’ of ‘revealing one’s hand’ amplifies the effectiveness of your technique.”

Wild lost “binding” appears! Like I indicated before, it’s the lack of consistency to translating terms that are consistent in the original, that has negatively affected the fans’ ability to understand the basics of jjk techniques and world-building.

[Explaining Yuuji’s divergent fist]

GJ:”But it’s a lot easier said than done for anyone else.”

⇒ “It’s not something that can be easily done on purpose”

N:”His physical strength is superhuman. The impact of his hit doesn’t have incredibly strong energy, but it’s still about 20% more than a normal sorcerer. That means his delayed hit comes from his main source of cursed energy. It must be quite annoying for those on the receiving end. Such potential. If he’s able to go out all and combine his full physical strength with a cursed technique…”

⇒ “(...) The initial impact contains little cursed energy but it still achieves 120% of an average sorcerer. And then the actual cursed energy hits with a delay. For those on the receiving end it must be more unpleasant than one could imagine. And he’s got potential for growth, too. If he becomes able to add 100% of cursed energy to a 100% body…”

Uhh, this was a tricky one because on the first read it doesn’t seem that terribly wrong but when you read the original carefully, you realise this and that got lost in translation. My version should be closer to the original meaning.

I:”We’re going to have to ask the murderer about the technique”

⇒ “That’s just something that you can’t know unless you ask the offender about their technique”

Obviously Ieiri wasn’t suggesting to literally ask the murderer.

“However there’s evidence the brain stems were modified. Their consciousness were also modified to create a state of confusion”

⇒ (...) This was probably done to create a disturbance of consciousness... a state of mental confusion”

Slightly different nuance for this one.

Y:”For me, the gravity of death is the same regardless. This isn’t right!”

First sentence is mostly correct but it should’ve been “the gravity of death of another person” (emphasis mine).

Second sentence sounds too mild for what is actually Yuuji being super mad specifically about the way those people were killed? The phrase he uses means something like "This is just in way too poor taste”, “way too vulgar” etc. I guess if you went for a less literal translation, you could say “just too disgusting”/”revolting”.

N:”This matter won’t be taken care of so easily. Let’s do it”

⇒ “Looks like ‘moderately’ won’t be enough here. Let’s go all out.”

This is the instance of Nanami retracting his words and backing Yuuji up by borrowing his own words that I mentioned earlier!

M:”Jujutsu sorcerers brand such entities as “special grade potential spirits” and fear them as much as powerful curses. The fact that they categorize them as such really shows their shallowness”

⇒ “Jujutsu sorcerers register them as “special grade potential apparitions” and remain on alert against them [on alert for their appearance]. The same applies to powerful unidentified curses. That they categorise them as ‘potential apparitions’ just shows how little they truly see.”

It’s not that sorcerers fear them per se but that they (most likely) monitor them and are on guard against them. When followed up by the “what people truly genuinely fear are natural disasters [forces of nature]” conversation, it becomes clear that what Mahito scorns sorcerers for is their short-sightedness for thinking all powerful curses must be born out of people’s imagination, ~urban legends~ etc.

[Junpei asking what Mahito was born from]

M:”Thanks to the hatred spewed between people I was born”

⇒ “I’m a curse born out of the fear and hatred people harbour towards [other] people"

or even

“I’m a curse born out of people hating and fearing people”

Again a quite different nuance. They really shouldn’t have edited “fear” out.

Chapter 21

J:’Don’t you think that whoever first said, ‘The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference’ must be rotting in hell? There’s no way hating people is better than feeling indifferent towards them.”

⇒ “(...) There’s no way that approaching others with evil intentions is better than not interacting [with them] at all”

The first sentence is mostly fine although the original doesn’t include the “is not hate” bit, it only says “the opposite of love is indifference”. The second part is quite different. After all, hating doesn’t necessarily imply there’s any action taken.

“Complicating simple things for the sake of meaning is such a Japanese thing to do”

⇒ “Japanese sure love it - complicating simple answers and gloating in it”

I didn’t like the “for the sake of meaning” bit, imo it’s over-interpreting.

J:”Indifference. That’s what humans should strive for.”

M:”Sounds more like revenge”

J:“Are you saying that I got it all mixed up?”

Junpei’s first line here is fine although interestingly enough he puts it as “a virtue humans should strive for”. Then it’s

⇒ M:“And yet you wish for revenge”

J:”Are you trying to say I’m contradicting myself?”

M:”In this world, only I understand the soul’s composition. I can even transmogrify living beings. Emotions come from the soul. It’s too simplistic to call it ‘heart’. People overthink the things they can’t see. (...)”

⇒ “In this world I’m the only one who understands the soul’s composition. After all, I change the shape of living beings by touching it. Emotions are products of the metabolism of the soul. It’s altogether too mechanical [of a process] to call it a heart. People assign too much value to things invisible to the eye.(...)”

Last one is literally “consider ‘special’ way too much”, simpler wording than what I went with but I tried to make it more legible.

The “metabolism of the soul” phrase is especially vital because Junpei throws it at Yuuji almost word for word when confronted by him at the school after his mother’s death.

More philosophy lessons from Mahito-sensei \o/

“Don’t limit yourself to just being indifferent. There’s no reason to live by such a restricting philosophy.”

⇒ “Don’t allow yourself to be shackled by the ideal called ‘indifference’. There’s no need for there to be consistency in one’s way of life.”

Mahito actually takes the “is ‘consistency’ necessary” stance a few times in the manga, including when he and Getou squabble about the relationship between the body and the soul in Shibuya. A pity about the mistranslation here.

“I support everything you represent, Junpei”

⇒ “I’ll affirm your everything, Junpei”

Imo the act of supporting and the act of affirming while similar aren’t one and the same, hence the change.

N:”Either come alone, or risk bringing Itadori with me. I chose the former, nothing more. He’s still a child, after all.”

⇒ “The risk of venturing [into the enemy’s territory] alone, or the risk of bringing Itadori-kun with me. I simply chose the former. He’s still a child, after all.”

Idk, I feel like cutting out “the risk” from the first option makes Nanami sound more callous? Like Yuuji’s a liability and going by himself is a sounder option. Whereas, it was actually him weighing two risks against each other and deciding that potentially endangering Yuuji is the one he can afford less.

[After Yuuji asks why he doesn’t know important jujutsu related stuff.]

I:”Because Gojou’s your mentor.” ⇒ “it’s because Gojou’s ...”

He actually uses a lovely adjective to describe Gojou, which can mean a plethora of things, including: irresponsible, sloppy, lazy, unreliable, careless, perfunctory etc. etc.

Ichiji? Not a member of Gojou Satoru Fanclub.

Y:”This feels like a bad plan”

⇒ “This feels so staged, I don’t like it.”

Lit. “play [perform, read] one's own work”. I think what Yuuji might’ve meant here was that the plan felt dishonest? Second sentence could also be “I don’t feel up for it.”

Chapter 22

M:”Was that some kind of cursed technique?”

N:”What do you mean by ‘some kind’? I don’t appreciate questions that are left open to interpretation”

⇒ “(...) I hate abstract questions that put the whole burden on the other person”

Lit. “that leave it to others”. Other than Nanami being more straightforward with “hate”/”dislike”, I think this was him expressing he doesn’t like people who don’t even try to think for themselves and immediately demand answers from others instead.

“It would be silly to not assume a connection(...)”

⇒ “It would be more unnatural not to assume a connection(...)”

Different wording (unnatural instead of silly), which imo affects Nanami’s characterisation.

M:”The shape of the body will always be dependent on the shape of the soul”

This sounds a bit too passive and generic? Closer to “The shape of the body gets pulled along by the shape of the soul”, which is literally what Mahito’s technique does.

I’m heavily paraphrasing but!

magazine raw scans: ”it's 6:30 PM now and I started working at 11 AM, so I'm going to finish by 7PM no matter what”

official English release:”it's 5:30 PM now and I started at 10, gotta finish by 6”

The time change is so random, I wonder if Gege simply changed it themselves for the volume release. Maybe to bring it closer to the common office job times? Typical Japanese work day at the office begins at 9AM and lasts 8h + 1h break (completely unpaid but compulsory). I guess if Nanami skipped the break then working 10AM-6PM would make it exactly 8h?

The biggest mystery of jjk.

Chapter 23

M:”Even if sorcerers can protect their bodies using cursed energy, they can’t protect their souls”

⇒ “Even if sorcerers can protect their bodies using cursed energy, they [just] aren’t used to protecting their souls”.

So it’s not that they “can’t” as in “are incapable of” and more that there’s never been the need, so they never learned how and aren’t used to doing it. As proven by Yuuji later it’s not impossible.

M:”Overtime? He restricts himself based on time! He was limiting his power until now!”

⇒ “Overtime work? A ‘biding’ based on time! He was suppressing his power by himself until now!”

Another instance where “binding” as a term makes its appearance (it even uses quotation marks) but wasn’t properly denoted by the translators.

M:”A large-scale attack, and he doesn’t care if he gets hit while doing it!”

⇒ “A large-scale attack [done] with the resolve of [potentially] getting killed along with me!”.

The phrase Mahito uses here is 相打ち, lit. “killing [hitting] each other at the same time”. Also, “doesn’t care” and “is prepared/has the resolve” are quite different, aren’t they.

Chapter 24

J:”The way a perfectionist is willing to lay everything out there is beautifully portrayed”

⇒ ”The change in emotions [leading up] to a perfectionist abandoning everything is properly portrayed here”

I’m including this because knowing Gege, it’s not just simple movie talk, and it’s actually foreshadowing Yuuji’s future fate or something 8D

I can’t decide if it’s “abandon” (also “throw out of the window”) or “sacrifice” because the word used can mean either. I’m leaving that to everyone’s interpretation.

“Like I thought, that sorcerer’s nuts!”

⇒ “He doesn’t look it but he sure does reckless things, that sorcerer”

How does "he doesn't look it but (...)" even become "like I thought (...)"? He was laughing at and enjoying the contrast between Nanami's appearance/attitude and his actions/fighting.

M:”My cursed energy is also controlled by my will”

⇒ “The spending of cursed energy too is among things I can supply by myself.”

I’m not entirely sure because it’s a tricky one, so take this one with a grain of salt. But the official release is definitely missing “spending/expenditure” and Mahito isn’t talking about using/manipulating his cursed energy in general but “the amount of cursed energy spent”.

“Mr. Irresponsible Gojou” ⇒ “Devil-may-care Gojou-san”

“Mr. Mature Nanami” ⇒ “The adult of [all] adults Nanami-san”/”the adult above all adults”

I just really enjoy Ichiji and his little epithets, I guess.

J:”Have you ever killed anyone?”

⇒ “Have you ever killed a human being/another human?”

Just putting it out there because imo there's a distinction between “anyone” and “a human being”. Especially considering how much of this arc was questioning what being a human means.

Y:”Um… I mean, the choice to kill will definitely find its way to me”

⇒ "How to put it... once I've killed someone, "killing" would become one of the possible options [to take] in my life".

Maybe the nuance was there in the official release too and I just didn't pick up on it but to me the former makes it sound more like he’s saying "I may still have to kill one day". Whereas the original seems to hold the connotation that if you do something once - even if it’s something as horrible as killing another human being - it becomes easier to do it again in the future because it's a choice you've made before, it's not untouchable anymore.

Chapter 25

[Yuuji expressing his regret over Nanami choosing to go fight Mahito alone.]

"Am I in your way, Nanamin?”

⇒ “Am I a burden [to you], Nanamin?”

A different nuance for this line.

“’My friend died but I wasn’t there because I’m a child.’ I wouldn't do that to you. That said"

⇒ "’My comrade died. But I wasn’t there. Why? Because I am a child.’ I would hate something like that" [to be put in such a position]

And this is just pure mistranslation. The whole “my comrade died but I wasn’t there because I’m a child” line is actually Yuuji painting a possible scenario (he does it with short sentences but the speech is overall polite). What they translated as “that said” was actually a follow-up to that scenario and could be translated as “something like that”.

N:”Being a child is not a bad thing”

⇒ “Being a child is in no way a crime”

I wanted to point this out since the original word’s most common meaning is actually “sin”, which is significantly heavier than just “not a bad thing”. Could also go with a milder “is not something to feel guilty about” here I guess.

G:”How’s the curtain coming along?”

M:”Can’t get in, can get out. This only applies to humans with weak cursed energy.”

⇒ G:”What’s the effect of the ‘curtain’?”

M:“Can't get out from the inside, can get in from the outside. (...)”

Literally the opposite for the curtain’s effect. Emphasis is Gege’s, too! Also Getou’s question was actually about how exactly the curtain in question would work, and not just how it was coming along.

M:”We’ll make them fight and force Yuji Itadori to make a binding vow in Sukuna’s favor”

Just to reiterate, whenever “binding vow” appears, it’s actually just “binding”.

[to part iii (2/2)]

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jujutsukaisen #jjktranslation #jjk translation

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part II: chapters 10~18

Cursed Training Arc

Chapter 10

[Referring to the mission at the juvenile detention center]

GJ:”There’s no way I’d send in first-years for that”

He’s actually saying something along the lines of it being unspoken of to send in first-years for such a mission. Not that he himself wouldn’t do that (which may be true too) but that their organisation as a whole wouldn’t normally.

“I had to pull some strings to get a stay of execution for Itadori”

⇒ “I forced them to grant Yuuji a practically indefinite suspension for his execution”

They simplified it waaay too much to the point the original meaning got completely lost.

Also, Gojou as a rule seems to call his students by their first names. The official release is super inconsistent about naming practices in general, so I’ll be pointing out some other instances as they come.

GJ:”I don’t care about his hardships”

⇒ "I have no interest in a dude’s hardships”

Uh, someone give Gojo a feminist t-shirt?

N:”He told us to live a long life. What use is he dead?”

⇒ “Telling us to live a long life while he himself dies? Hopeless.”

Not 100% sure about this but that’s probably the meaning of 世話がない Gege was going here for https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E4%B8%96%E8%A9%B1%E3%81%8C%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84 (the second meaning).

Also Fushiguro here specifies (which gets emphasised in the original text) that it’s the first time a peer/someone his age died, so most likely it’s not the first time a comrade of his died in general.

N:”You gonna elaborate on Panda? Or is he just, you know, a panda”

⇒ “Is “panda” really all the explanation you’re giving for Panda”

Not really wrong but imo the way original was so straight to the point was funnier.

[Explaining the Tokyo-Kyoto Goodwill Event]

P:”But that’s oversimplifying it”

⇒ ”But that's just the public stance"

The nuance was a bit different and also the English release made it sound like Panda was referring to the explanation itself, when he was actually disclosing the stance of the schools’ authorities, where they say one thing in public but mean another.

Chapter 11

GJ:”I’m just not the teacher type so why would someone like me be at Jujutsu High?”

I:”Why?”

Much more hilarious in the original because Gojou’s line is followed by “Ask me [why]” in a significantly bigger font, which is so Gojou. So when Ichiji does just that, he’s actually doing it at Gojou’s explicit request (read: command).

S:”Going for my footing, huh?”

⇒ “He planned to go for my footing right from the start, huh”

The “he planned to go for” (or “he was aiming for”) is implied and the actual line says only “for my footing from the start”, which would be clear enough for a Japanese speaker. You can also see now why the “from the start” bit just should’ve been there as it was pretty much the entirety of the original line.

S:”How boring”

⇒ “[Now,] you are boring”

Remember how I said earlier that Japanese doesn’t require you to put “you” (or “I” for that matter) in each time whenever you address someone? Well, here not only it’s included, it’s actually emphasised too. So it’s basically Sukuna judging Yuuji as inferior to Megumi.

“This is a binding vow”

⇒ “This is ‘binding’. A contract.”

The whole sequence where Sukuna explains “binding” (sometimes also translated as ”restriction”) got mistranslated, which carried onto later chapters. It seems the translator combined “binding” and “contract” into “binding vow” but imo it looks more like they were meant to be separate sentences, with “contract” being an explanation Sukuna supplies for “binding”, as opposed to an actual part of the term.

This way the follow-up makes more sense as well.

“A binding vow is based on mutual interests. It’s important in the jujutsu world”

⇒ “A binding based on interest. It’s one of the important factors for jujutsu.”

“Interest” could also be translated as “advantages and disadvantages”, I can’t decide which one’s correct/fits better here.

Anyway, whenever Sukuna says “binding vow” in this chapter afterwards, it’s actually “binding”. Actually, pretty much every time any character says “binding vow”, it’s just “binding” instead. (Except in the instances where the translators for some reason translated it yet differently.)

“The higher ups are the scum of the jujutsu world. Selfish idiots. Bloodline idiots, proud idiots - just plain idiots.”

Once again Gojou’s rather colourful language gets flattened… to save space? After he lists what kind of idiots the higher-ups are (with “just plain idiots” being just one of the examples), he sums it up with “a bargain sale of rotten tangerines”, and isn’t that just a lovely phrase. I cannot fathom why they’d take this out. Character portrayal! Is built on small things exactly like this one.

GJ:”And it’s not as people approve of massacres anyway”

Uh-huh, they sure don’t. What he’s actually saying is closer to, “With such a method of doing things, no one would follow/join me either”

“That’s why I’m turning to education” ⇒ “That’s why I chose education”

Slightly different nuance. It’s not that he decided it just now, it’s a done deal.

GJ:“I need strong and intelligent allies. I need to foster them”

The word choice here is also kinda unfortunate because imo "intelligent" is somewhat of a restrictive/limited term. “Smart” or even “bright” would be a better fit. Also he actually says “comrades”, which imo indicates a stronger bond than using “allies” does.

S:”Then Itadori will have to go into hiding for good.”

G:”Nah, I’ll have him ready in time for the goodwill event.”

⇒ S:“So are you planning on hiding Itadori for good?”

G:”Nah, I’ll have him return to school in time for the goodwill event.”

So it’s not just getting Yuuji ready for the event, the point is to let him return to school. As for the reason for it...

G:”Easy. I refuse to keep this kid from living the best moments of his life. Not just him, but everyone.”

⇒G:"The reason is simple. To do something like take away a young man’s youth from him is unforgivable [for me]. Not him nor anyone else.”

So it’s not “I don’t want to”, which would indicate Gojou’s will being the decisive factor, but “I’m not allowed to”, which implies his responsibility instead.

I’m guessing “best moments of his life” was the translator extrapolating on “youth” but imo they should’ve kept it as it is.

Chapter 12

F:“We weren’t able to save him. Even after we confirmed his death, they tried to bring his body back”

⇒ “In the end they weren’t able to do it, but even after we confirmed his death, they tried to bring back his body”.

First sentence is actually just “weren’t able to achieve it” and imo from the context it’s clear it too refers to bringing back the body.

GJ:”And you need to learn a bit of jujutsu”

⇒ “And you need to gain at least minimum knowledge of jujutsu”

Seeing as some 5 pages later he drops on Yuuji the “you can’t use jujutsu techniques lol” bomb, it’d be weird for Gojou to say that here, wouldn’t it.

Y:”I even almost got Fushiguro killed.”

⇒ “Quite the opposite, I almost killed Fushiguro”

I’d say he’s being more proactive about taking the blame here.

GJ:”The ability to use cursed techniques is intrinsic”

⇒ “In general, jujutsu techniques are intrinsically engraved into one’s body”

They got the intrinsic part right but overall it’s too oversimplified. So it’s not the ability to use cursed techniques itself (although that may be the case as well) but what kind of techniques you’ll be able to use that is decided by birth.

GJ:”Every jujutsu sorcerer is trained to control their emotions when channelling cursed energy”

⇒ “Everyone trains how to squeeze cursed energy out of even a tiniest spark of emotion”

“So when they’re overwhelmed with emotion, they try not to waste cursed energy”

⇒ “On the opposite end, when experiencing strong emotions, they take care not to waste that cursed energy”

The English release obviously might have been onto something with regard to jujutsu sorcerers learning how to channel cursed energy but that’s just not what Gojou was saying here. This was actually more of an explanation about how the approach to cursed energy channeled from one’s emotions changes depending on the strength/output of said emotions.

Chapter 13

F:”Again, shouldn’t have asked”

⇒ “Shouldn’t have asked, part 2”

A rare instance of Fushiguro being semi-funny taken away from us ;’( He said the same thing in ch. 12 but it got translated as “wasted my time asking” there:

P:”Sure, for a year worth of sausage”

This is one of the more baffling changes, like where did the sausage even come from??? Even considering that pandas (real ones which Panda is not) are not actually herbivores as is the common misconception, sausages are such an outlandish choice...

What he actually says is “Calpas”, which is obviously a parody of a popular Japanese soft drink called “Calpis”. Should’ve gone with “coke” or something if they wanted to avoid copyright infringement.

“What’s the matter? Losing heart?”

Imo one of truly impressive things (albeit definitely frustrating for a translator because it means so much more work) about Gege’s writing is that a seemingly insignificant line can appear much later on in the manga to provide a parallel. This means one must take great care to keep them consistent if you don’t want any meaning and continuity to be lost.

What got translated as “losing heart” is actually closer to “hurt your pride?” or “hurt your dignity?” and iirc it gets uttered by Jougo again in the future, in much different circumstances. This also seems to be the word used for “pride”/”dignity” in general in jjk. Can also be translated as “self-respect”. https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E7%9F%9C%E6%8C%81

← other meanings for reference.

Chapter 14

“Well, it was the right move to target me”

⇒ “Well, it’s clear that he targeted me [specifically], though”

The English release confused “[it’s] clear/obvious” for “right” here.

JG:”So that guy was exaggerating. Humans these days are weak. They don’t live in truth”

⇒ “In the end, it was a case of overestimation by the weak. Current humans are fakes after all. They don’t live in truth.”

“Current humans are fakes/a sham [curses are the real humans]” is an important sentiment for the curses (especially Jougo) and it gets invoked several times in the manga (including earlier in ch. 10 during Getou’s meeting with the curses at a restaurant), so it’s unfortunate the line got summarised as just “are weak”.

GJ:”Infinity’s something that’s naturally here. I just bring it into reality”

⇒ “Infinity is something that’s essentially present everywhere. My technique just brings it into reality.”

Slightly different nuance. Not just “here” but “everywhere”.

Chapter 15

GJ:”We should up the cursed energy and move onto the next step.”

⇒ “Looks like we should be able to up the cursed energy output faster than planned and move to the next step quickly”

Give my boy Yuuji the full extent of his well-deserved praise!

GJ:”This is domain expansion. An environment constructed with cursed energy and manifested through a cursed technique.”

I actually like how they worded this here because hey, it does sound good, right!

But it’s not very informative and yet the bigger problem is that a) it’s not exactly accurate, b) when only a part of the terminology used here appeared later on, it got mistranslated. All of this combined seems to have led to lots of confusion regarding domain expansion among fans. So let’s break this apart, shall we.

⇒ “(...) Using cursed energy, you construct an innate domain with a cursed technique added on.”

It may not sound as cool but it’s much simpler, right? The translator cutting “innate domain” out entirely was imo a particularly unfortunate choice. The verb I translated as “add on” literally means “bestow”, “give”. In the official release it often, but not always, got translated as “endowed”.

“The domain you guys experienced at the facility was an unfinished one that wasn’t manifested using a cursed technique”

What Gojou’s actually saying here is simply that the other domain was unfinished as it was still lacking that add-on technique.

Again to break it down in simple steps:

Use cursed energy to create an innate domain around you

Add cursed technique on top (“endowed technique”)

Voila, you’ve got yourself a domain expansion!

JG:”Your infinity! If we’re here in my more potent domain, my jujutsu will now reach you, correct?”

⇒ “If I neutralise your infinity or whatever with my more potent domain, my techniques will now hit you, right?”

Slightly different nuance and also the official release made Jougo sound too polite.

JG: “As a cursed spirit! With the pride of a new human, I won’t accept it!”

⇒ “With the dignity of a cursed spirit and a new human, I can never accept it!”

The word for “dignity” Jougo uses here is the same as in the bit that got translated as previously mentioned “losing heart?”. (Albeit it’s not the future instance I was referring to just yet.)

It also refers to both “new human” and “a cursed spirit”.

GJ:”The actions you take in life are forced upon you infinitely”

⇒ “Infinite number of activities are forced upon the act of ‘living’”

Different nuance, not “actions you take in life” but “actions forced upon the act of living”.

“Ironic, isn’t it. Given everything but unable to do anything. Dying slowly.”

⇒ Ironic, isn’t it. [That] once you’re given everything, you become unable to do anything. Dying so gently/easily.”

This part isn’t really mistranslated but there’s something about the original wording that I can’t quite put my finger on that makes Gojou sound so much more… gently cruel? Above everything?

Y:”He’s on a whole other level than us.”

Not really wrong but it’s missing “as a living being” (emphasis mine). That’s how divorced Gojou Satoru’s existence is from not just jujutsu sorcerers but humans as a whole, which is clear even to Yuuji who has still barely stepped into the jujutsu world.

GT:”Whaddya think? Should we save him?”

⇒ “What are you going to do? Are you going to save him?”

Granted, the fact that Getou is not planning on involving himself in the act of potential rescue, only becomes clear in the next chapter, so this bit is not a mistranslation per se.

Chapter 16

GJ:”This is jujutsu, right? I don’t sense any killing intent”

⇒ (...) It weakens your fighting spirit.”

In other words, this is an effect of Hanami’s technique used here. He’s not saying Hanami didn’t have any killing intent. (Although that might have been the case as well, seeing as they managed to get this close without being noticed.)

GT:”We need every advantage if we’re to seal him”

⇒ “We’re going to move in to seal him [only] after establishing our advantages”

Imo they simplified it a little too much and the original nuance ended up being altered.

P:”The teachers have their reputations. (...)”

M:”Is Mai coming?”

P:”Probably not. The students aren’t involved in the meeting.”

⇒ P: “The teachers have to be mindful of their position”

M:”So you’re saying Mai’s going to come?”

P:”It’s a speculation. After all, the students have nothing to do with the meeting.”

Mostly pointing out the original wording. Not “reputation” so much as “position”.

Chapter 17

[In reply to Toudou’s question about his taste in women/men]

“As long as a person is compassionate, then I don’t need anything else”.

I actually like how the official release tackled it because it’s such an ambiguous/broad/outright baffling phrase in the original.

What they translated as “compassionate” is actually 人間性, which basically means “human nature”. The whole phrase would be something like “as long as there’s unbudging human nature to that person, I won’t ask for anything more”.

Moreover, the word in question is the same as in the philosophical concept of “human nature” understood as “fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally”. (Quoting after Wikipedia, this is very much not my field haha. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_nature)

As some Japanese articles further extrapolate it as “possessing the quality of thoughtfulness/consideration/compassion”, imo the translation the official release went with is a nice way to sum it up. On the other hand it was such an intriguing phrase, I had to scratch the itch.

Fushiguro Megumi (15): I read.

F:”Last year, an unprecedented jujutsu terrorist attack that came to be known as ‘Shinjuku-to-Kyoto Night Line of Hundred Demons’ was led by the curse user Getou. Six cursed spirits - five grade 1 and one special grade - appeared on that line. (...)”

First off, the name of the incident is directly derived from a famous idiom in Japanese folklore (as well as a motif in traditional art) and the correct/commonly known translation would be “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” (If anyone’s interested, check out the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyakki_Yagy%C5%8D).

Secondly, it’s not Shinjuku-to-Kyoto but Shinjuku AND Kyoto, as in that it took place simultaneously in both locations.

Then it stands to order that the curses Toudou defeated were the ones that appeared in Kyoto and that’s what Fushiguro is saying as well.

F:“How did a grade 1 sorcerer win against a special grade curse?”

⇒ “There are grade 1 sorcerers that can win against a special curse. The surprising thing here is--”

The original meaning was just different. Also he doesn’t really say “refuse to use”, just “you don’t use”.

T:”Weak. Both your body and your taste in women”

Not wrong per se as I just like the original wording, which, while can mean “weak”, would be closer to “flimsy”, “very thin” etc. Think I’d go with “paper thin” personally haha.

Chapter 18

N:”You know I really respect you”

Mk:”Good for you”

Maki’s actually both more nonchalant and humble here and all she says is “‘s that so”. The coolest!

GJ:”Let’s talk about it”

Not really mistranslated, just closer to “Thanks for the other day”

M:”Hey! How dare you?”

⇒ “Excuse me. This is a problematic behaviour.”

Actually how dare you 8D She’s much more polite in the original, as is appropriate considering the difference in their age, social standings etc. Also you heard it here first, folks - Gojou Satoru is problematic. I guess “hey” could stay as “hey” but it’s more of an interjection than exclamation here.

“I’ll be sure to tell the people in charge about this”

⇒ “I’ll report this to appropriate authorities”

Again, just generally more civil.

Next conversation isn’t so much wrong as I just want to point out the original wording.

GJ:”We were attacked (...)” ⇒ “I was attacked (...)”

PG:”I’m sorry to hear that” ⇒ “That must’ve been catastrophic”

GJ:”Save it.” ⇒ “Don’t get me wrong.”

GJ:”The wave of power that you guys have been ignoring to maintain your status and in the name of your stupid traditions has gotten huge and is approaching”

“Ignoring” is waaay too passive, Gojou actually says “holding back”, “intercepting”, “damming up” etc. Ignore means you just don’t do anything whereas Gakuganji’s faction was actively trying to stop it from happening. Also, it’s closer to, “for the sake of your stupid status and traditions”.

GJ:“The new generation won’t be limited to special grade”

⇒ “The new generation won’t be measurable by mere ‘special grade’”

The official release wasn’t wrong per se but imo it was kind of unclear? The point here is that “special grade” as a category won’t be sufficient to encompass the new generation.

“If you think I’m the only one who’s gonna question your authority, you’re gonna be in for a world of hurt, old man!”

⇒ “If you think the only one going to bare their fangs is Gojou Satoru, you’re gonna be in for a world of hurt, grandpa”

Again, much more colourful language. Also imo him not saying “I” but “Gojou Satoru” instead is significant because of the implications his full name holds. (That’s what most people call him, it’s pretty much the equivalent of “the strongest”.)

Also, while he was indeed calling him “old man”/“geezer” before, the switch to “grandpa” here seemed deliberate. A geezer may sound harsh, threatening even, but a grandpa is harmless, right.

[part iii (1/2)]

#jjk

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nanami-says · 3 years

Text

Part I: chapters 1~9

This post is Part I of a bigger Jujutsu Kaisen focused translation project. Its main goal is to point out instances, where the official English release of the manga differs in nuance from the original or the text got mistranslated, and offer alternate interpretations. Please read the disclaimer page here for more information, including methodology, focus, composition, credits etc.

This blog contains spoilers!

Without further ado.

Introduction Arc, ch. 1~5

Chapter 1

T:“Let’s make it a fair fight”

⇒“Let’s make it a fair and square fight!”

CP:“Isn’t it against the rules to change the application?”

⇒“Is rewriting his club application truly fair and square…”

I interpreted it as the council president pointing out that Takagi having already rewritten Yuuji’s application was hardly acting fair and square but I suppose based on the tense used it could also refer to changing it based on the fight’s result.

Y:“Besides everyone needs to be in a club, right?”

⇒ “But our school has a compulsory club requirement for all students, right?”

Anyone who’s ever read a manga with a school setting, is probably familiar with the myriad of clubs or extracurricular activities Japanese schools tend to offer. Some make participation in one of these an actual requirement. Yuuji’s school was clearly such a case.

M:“I wonder if he’s like Zen’in senpai?”

⇒ “I wonder if he’s the same type as Zen’in senpai”

Just pointing out the original wording.

F:“The presence of the cursed object! I can feel it even stronger now!”

⇒ “The presence of a cursed object! It has clearly grown stronger just now!”

Fushiguro remarks earlier in the manga, how he can’t pinpoint where the cursed object is because the presence is so overwhelming (paraphrase). This line actually meant that the presence grew stronger only when he bumped into Yuuji.

Y:“I wouldn’t come here if I wasn’t so bored”

⇒ “It’s not like I would come here this often if I wasn’t free!”

says Yuuji after making a deliberate effort to make it that way and choosing a club that’ll let him be free by 5pm.

Yuuji’s Grandpa:“It doesn’t have to be all the time. Just whenever you can” ⇒ “It’s enough if it’s just [people] within your reach. But save the people you can save”

Imo the English release made it sound more like “whenever you can (if the time allows), save people” whereas the original nuance seemed to be closer to “if it’s someone you can save, do it”.

Interestingly, the grammar construction used here actually implies doing something in advance/in preparation for something else. In this case - so Yuuji forms a lot of human connections and doesn’t die alone like his grandpa.

F:“For that reason a cursed object is often found at such places as a talisman”

⇒ “For that reason at most schools a cursed object would be placed as a talisman”

F:“The more evil placed on a cursed object, the more it deflects other curses”

⇒ “By placing an even more evil cursed object, it’d act as repellent for other curses”

The point here was that for it to work as a talisman you have to place an cursed object that’s powerful = evil by itself and not to place evil on it.

Y:“I think you died peacefully, grandpa” ⇒ “Grandpa, I think you managed to die a proper death”

Y:“This is not a natural death” ⇒ “This ‘death’ is wrong!”

This is the first instance where Yuuji’s main motivation for becoming a jujutsu sorcerer later on makes its appearance. That’s why I’m not really surprised they translated it as “died peacefully” because how could they have known? But the actual meaning is closer to the wording I proposed. Making sure that if people die, then may it at least be “a proper/correct death”, and being able to choose the way he himself dies, is basically Yuuji’s leitmotif in the series.

I’ll be pointing out future instances later as well but for now, I’ll just say that this particular phrase and variations thereof often got translated as “natural death”, which just doesn’t hold the same nuance imo. I wish that wasn’t the case because it’s so vital to Yuuji’s portrayal.

F:”My incantation time run out” ⇒ “My technique got interrupted/disrupted”

Again, this is the 1st chapter, so nothing was established yet. Still the wording used was unfortunate because it indicated there was some sort of time limit involved when Fushiguro was simply referring to getting hit hard enough for his technique to dissolve. (Most likely because he lost his focus.)

“I can suppress it”

⇒ “I’m being suppressed---”

You could actually tell here from the usage of the passive voice this is actually Sukuna’s line.

“Under jujutsu regulations I will exorcise the curse known as Yuji Itadori”

⇒ “Itadori Yuuji, based on the jujutsu regulations I henceforth consider you a curse and will exorcise you”

Literally “I will exorcise you as a curse” (or if you just wanted to make it shorter). “The curse known as” imo sounded a bit strange.

Chapter 2

Y:”Hold up, it’s not a problem”

⇒ “I’m saying I’m fine”

Lit. “I’m saying there’s nothing [wrong].” A case of a relatively straight-forward mistranslation, I suppose.

GJ:"I agreed to come as long as they gave me the time to see the sights"

The rather casual phrasing Gojou uses here (and the grammatical construction) actually indicates that sightseeing was his main purpose and helping out was secondary. Also imo “I agreed” was overinterpreting, it’s simply “so I came”.

Gj: “Don’t worry, I’m the strongest jujutsu sorcerer”

It’s actually just “the strongest”, period. None of that fake humility for our man Gojou.

G:“Is that a personal opinion?”

F:“Yes, a personal opinion. Please do something about it.”

In this exchange both Gojou and Fushiguro say 私情, which literally means “personal feelings”, although it could be also translated as “self-interest”. “Personal opinion” isn’t wrong per se, but imo the emphasis on feelings/emotions being the deciding factor here was very important, so I wish they’d made it “feelings” instead. It crops up a lot later on, too, and Fushiguro refers to himself and his actions as “selfish” a lot, so it’d be an overall better fit.

“That finger is something called a special grade curse. It was able to gather curses and make itself stronger”

⇒ “(...) It had the effect of beckoning curses and making them stronger”

Another relatively straight-forward mistranslation.

GJ:”Who passed away?” Y:”My grandpa. But I guess he’s more like a dad”

⇒”My grandpa. But I guess he was more like a parent to me”

Yuuji doesn’t say “dad” specifically, which makes sense seeing as he lost both of his parents early on. So his grandpa was the sole parent figure in his life.

Y:”Are there a lot of casualties for curses like this?”

GJ:”Well, this is a pretty unusual circumstance but if you’re talking about potential damage, then yes.”

⇒Y: ”Is there a lot of damage/harm done by curses and such?"

G:(...) If we’re talking just about the scale of damage, then it’s quite common”

Not entirely sure but Gojou’s line probably means that while the case at Yuuji’s school was special because it involved Sukuna’s fingers, the scale of damage inflicted was pretty standard for curses encounter.

The word both Yuuji and Gojou use here is the same (被害) and I guess you could go with “casualties” for Yuuji but imo the meaning was a bit broader here.

[Gojou about Yuuji]

“Only once every thousand years or so does such a person with a phenomenal ability like this appear.”

⇒ “A person with outstanding talent that hasn’t been born in a thousand years”

Could go with “hasn’t appeared” instead, I suppose. We learn later that it’s been roughly 1000 years since Sukuna’s times of terror and to me this line indicates that Yuuji’s the first suitable vessel to have been born since that time.

Chapter 3

“I thought I told you to stop being late but not enough for me to get angry”

⇒ “This habit of yours of being late but not late enough to warrant scolding - I thought I told you to fix it”

Something about the way the English release worded it made the line really unclear to me, imo this way it’s much easier to understand!

[Yuuji explaining his motivation for wanting to become a sorcerer.]

Y:“Even if none of this really involves me there’s no way I can convince myself it’s not my fault”

⇒ “Am I supposed to persuade myself that ‘this has nothing to do with me’ or ‘this is not my fault’”?

Seems like the translators smashed two separate thoughts together, which resulted in the original meaning being lost. He’s not actually saying this doesn’t involve him, quite the opposite.

Chapter 4

[Fushiguro talking about Kugisaki’s delayed enrollment]

F:“The other was admitted a while ago”

The original nuance is closer to, “seems like their enrollment has been decided since quite a while ago”.

N:”Lucky you, getting to hang out with a girl like me”

⇒ “Be delighted, men, now you [finally] have a lady in the company.”

The English wasn’t really wrong, I just wanted to point out the original phrasing, which is somehow even more high and mighty? And imo slightly funnier. That’s Nobara for you.

[Gojou talking about Yuuji and how fast he’s adapted to the reality where curses exist and the sorcerer life.]

“Even though they’re obviously different, curses still take the form of a creature. And these are curses that are looking to kill him. Up against that, he still doesn’t hesitate to kill them.”

⇒ “Even though they’re grotesque, curses still resemble living beings. And such curses are also trying to kill him. But he’s able to take them on without a moment of hesitation.”

The English was imo really unclear here and you couldn’t really tell what was the point of the line. Not to mention it was simply mistranslated and the actual meaning is closer to what I proposed.

Chapter 5

Gj:“A curse that has intelligence often sprouts from a ruthless choice”

⇒ “A beast that has gained intelligence can sometimes force a cruel choice”

Btw, the actual phrasing contains “balance scales”, which directly connects to the imagery on the next page in the manga.

[Yuuji to Nobara]

Y:“You’ve been asking all the questions! What about you? Why’d you come to Jujutsu High?”

⇒ “I got asked this a lot myself too but why did you [even] come to Jujutsu High?”

(Emphasis mine.) I’m not 100% sure but this probably meant something along these lines.

N:“I would’ve died if I stayed in that village”

⇒“Had I stayed in that village, it’d have been as good as death”

Nobara’s definitely not saying she’d literally die.

Cursed Womb Arc, ch. 6~9

Chapter 6

F:”The original domain expanded due to cursed energy”

⇒ “An expansion of an innate domain using cursed energy”

The whole domain terminology was never kept consistent in the English release… I guess “innate” got translated as “original” here?

M:”You always want to save as many people as possible and focus on going out with a natural death. But who’s to say that someone you save won’t kill someone in the future?”

Y:”Then why did you save me?!”

⇒ “You’re particular about saving as many people as possible and granting them a proper death, right. But what will you do if someone you saved ends up killing someone in the future”

Y:”Then why was I saved?!”

Super important conversation and a cornerstone of Yuuji/Megumi dynamics, crops up a lot later in the manga, especially in the context of victims of either Sukuna himself or Sukuna’s fingers. It's not mistranslated per se but the nuance is closer to what I proposed. Emphasis mine as the line in question is particularly vital.

“But who’s to say” bit was particularly unsatisfying to me because it’s kinda vague and passive? Whereas this is imo more of an exchange about taking responsibility for your actions. Also Yuuji’s reply definitely can be interpreted as him questioning/accusing Fushiguro but he doesn’t actually say “you” (granted you can skip it a lot in Japanese and still have the text legible), it’s literally “why did I get saved” (in general).

Chapter 7

S:“Before I kill the curse, I’ll kill Fushiguro here. Next is Kugisaki”

I’m going to talk about it in more detail once Toudou starts his “my friend” thing but Sukuna definitely doesn’t say their names here. They do appear for context but he refers to Fushiguro as “the brat here” and just calls Kugisaki “[the] woman”.

I mean, he’s a freaking freeloader in Yuuji’s own body and he never uses his name, always calling him just “brat” (小僧). The only protag/semi-protag character that gets the honour of Sukuna bothering to actually use their name is Fushiguro, yeah, but that only happens once Sukuna develops his (unhealthy) interest in him and then it’s always full name.

Y:”I got ahead of myself”

⇒ “I was conceited”

“Natural death? I was naive”

⇒ “[is this] a proper death? No way! Don’t be spoiled”

“Naive” and “to behave like a spoilt child” sound similar but imo it’s definitely the latter here. He’s not so much merely attacking himself here as already forcing himself to get a grip.

S:”I’m finally free. You can be scared now”

I could be wrong but I feel like this line could really go either way. So Sukuna could be just as well saying “well then, now you’re officially free. You can be scared now” as in, now that he’s done talking, Fushiguro can go back to doing whatever it was he was doing, in this case being terrified of Sukuna.

Chapter 9

S:”Interesting. A shikigami user who isn’t afraid to mix it up”

⇒(...) even though he’s a shikigami user, he himself is the one attacking”

Not mistranslated per se, I just wanted to point out the original wording. Anyway, Sukuna’s implying that a lot of the time shikigami users would just attack with their shikigami and keep their distance.

S:”You gotta feel the curse more”

⇒ “You gotta put more curse into it”

Again, a pretty straightforward mistranslation.

F:”I’ve used all of my shikigami just trying to get out of this situation. Plus, divine dogs and great serpent have been destroyed”

⇒ “(...) just to get out of the innate domain.”

And he actually specifies that only the white divine dog got destroyed.

S:“Rather than using common talismans, this cursed technique is much more practical”

⇒ “It’s not just any common technique that uses charms. And it’s flexible, too”

Basically he’s Impressed. The start of Sukuna’s obsession with Megumi.

S:“That was a waste of opportunity”

Not “opportunity”, which can hold the connotation “right time and place”, so much as actually “waste of talent”, i.e. something innate (emphasis mine).

“I put my life on the line for nothing”

Actually Sukuna’s line. He’s mocking Fushiguro here, “you put your life on the line for something worthless”

F:“Then why did I save him”

He’s recalling Yuuji’s words, so it’s, “then why was I saved”.

[Fushiguro about Tsumiki]

“She was the kindest person. There was no reason to think otherwise. She was someone who deserved to be happy. But Tsumiki was cursed”

⇒ “She was a good person, no sliver of doubt about it. A person who deserved happiness more than anyone else. And yet Tsumiki got cursed”

I guess being kind does mean someone’s a good person but they’re not interchangeable.

[About his father]

“My father who didn’t even know my gender gave me the name Megumi. He’s still alive somewhere”

⇒ “My father, who gave me a name like ‘Megumi’ without even knowing my gender, is still living a carefree life somewhere”

Imo it flows better this way but also, they shouldn’t have skipped the “carefree” part. The whole thing was also just less disjointed in the original.

[About karma/retribution]

“Karma doesn’t happen on its own. Criminals are disciplined under the law”

⇒ “Retribution isn’t totally automatic. Bad people only first meet their judgement under the law”

“Karma” is indeed one of the other meanings for the word used but going by the context “retribution” seems to fit Fushiguro’s overall thought process better here. Also, I guess something “not being totally automatic” does in a way mean that “it doesn’t happen on its own”, but imo that seems like simplifying it too much. Fushiguro’s words here were pretty broad but not THAT broad imo.

Lastly, another important #jjk specific terminology gets introduced here. Fushiguro uses 善人 (zennin) for “good person” and 善人 (akunin) for “bad person” (also scoundrel, villain, wrongdoer etc.). The former especially is a pretty formal term and usually, a more casual & common phrasing that also means "a good guy/person" (いい奴) would get used instead.

Both terms also appear during Yuuji's conversation with Nanamin in the aftermath of Junpei's incident where they touched on what "proper/correct death" means and Nanami spoke about 善人 and 悪人 and how most people are neither.

“If only more good people could receive fairness. I’ll save people whether or not it’s fair”

⇒ “So more good people can receive fairness. [That’s why] I’ll save people unfairly”

I tried wording it keeping in mind bubble placements. A very important line, appears a lot in the manga later on. If “saving as many people as possible” and “allowing them a proper death” is Yuuji’s leitmotif, “saving people unfairly” (as in based on his own arbitrary assessment of their “goodness”) is Megumi’s.

S:”Show me what you got, Fushiguro Megumi!”

Another important recurring phrasing, this time for Sukuna. The word he uses here is 魅せる, written with the kanji character that means "charming", "bewitching". As for the verb itself, the dictionary gives us such lovely picks as "capture's one heart", "dazzle one's eyes", "fascinate", "mesmerise", "captivate", "enthrall" yadda yadda.

As it’s read the same way as the most common verb for “show” and because of the context, it definitely can be translated like it was here. But if you don’t know the other possible meanings, it’s hard to completely grasp the full extent of Sukuna’s obsession with Megumi. (It was quite an eye-opener for me personally with regard to the Japanese fandom’s devotion to the ship, too.)

Also, the first instance where Sukuna’s “Fushiguro Megumi” thing starts.

[Megumi to Yuuji]

“I didn’t save you because that was the logical thing to do”

⇒ “I don’t have a logical reason/explanation to give you as to why I saved you”

“I didn’t want to see a good person, no matter how dangerous, die”

⇒ “Even if it was dangerous, I didn’t want to see a good person like you die”

Could be “even if you were dangerous” too, I guess. But why would they cut out the “like you” part, I have no clue. He’s not delivering a generic spiel here, he’s calling Yuuji a good person to his face and telling him that for him, it was reason enough to save him.

[Yuuji to Megumi]

“I think your way of doing things is also right. But that doesn’t mean mine isn’t”

Nothing really wrong about the way they interpreted it here since it’s a particularly tricky bit. They do mess it up majorly (and I mean MAJORLY, you can’t really make out what the heck is being said at all) when the conversation gets recalled later on, after Yuuji’s back from the dead. I’ll discuss it then.

[to part ii]

#jujutsu kaisen #jjktranslation #jjk #jjk translation #jujutsukaisen

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