How are we feeling about ensekai’s emu3 translation!!! (I’m mad)

(if you remember the 3 whole posts i made when asahi got de-gayed on EN you'll know i am mad too and that this is probably going to get long)

i don't like to be too cynical but it was so obvious that they were going to change that line, i had a feeling since the event first released on JP and after the incident with Asahi where I went through and tracked down multiple other examples of EN removing queer subtext it became clear to me that in no way shape or form was "emu-chan really loves nene-chan" making it to EN without getting changed. what i didn't expect was them changing Nene's line after Luka's comment, which actually makes this whole situation far worse than many of their other instances of toning down queer subtext.

for anyone who isn't aware of what happened, in chapter 5 of the current Emu event, there's a scene where Nene, Rui and the Virtual Singers are talking about what would cheer Emu up. The vsingers all talk about how much Emu loves spending time with Nene, leading to the following exchange

If you look for them, any fan TL of this scene will be something similar to this:

Luka: ...Fufu. Emu-chan really loves Nene-chan, doesn't she? Nene: Th-that's nothing special...

EN's official translation is this:

So what's the issue? I'll start with Luka's part. In the original text, she uses the word daisuki, which can mean to "like a lot" or "love". It's a word you will see frequently in the idol/idol-adjacent genre of games, due to its ambiguity in that it can be read as either platonic or romantic when used towards a person, and often will be used in ambiguous situations so that it's harder to confirm the writers' intentions either way. so here, fans of the emu/nene ship could view the fact that emu loves spending her time with nene as more on the romantic side, but people who don't like the ship could view it as platonic and move on.

while they didn't translate daisuki directly, Luka's line still works, and still contains the ambiguity that works as ship tease in the original text. it's a perfectly fine localisation that still conveys the original intent. despite that, there is something to be said about EN's consistent refusal to translate daisuki as love in most instances when it's not used on An/Kohane (but then again, EN has literally teased An/Kohane on their twitter account so is it all that surprising?).

Here's some examples:

Aibou no koto ga daisuki de / he loves his partner -> he cares about his partner very much (The Power of Unity chapter 7 when Kaito is comparing Arata to Akito and Toya)

HARUKA-CHAN, DAISUKI DAYOOOO!!! / HARUKA-CHAN, I LOOOOOVEEE YOU!!! -> You're the best!!! (Dear Me, As I Was Back Then chapter 4 when minori is at an ASRUN concert. this one isn't actually that great of a localisation)

Honachan no koto daisuki dakara. Kore de iinda yo. / I love Honachan, so this is fine. -> I want what's best for her. And this is it. (Leo/need main story chapter 14 after Saki tells Honami she won't bother her anymore)

Minna daisuki de - taisetsuna tomodachi na no / I love them all - they're my dearest friends -> They're all amazing, and very dear to me. (Leo/need main story chapter 17. this isn't good either)

What's particularly amusing about that last one is that there's a second official translation for it that I assume was done by JP staff (since EN never promoted doing the Journey to Bloom subs like they did back when they provided subs for Petit SEKAI) that actually keeps the word daisuki as love.

Yeah. I love all my friends - and they mean the world to me.

It's a better localisation than the official EN team one.

Questionable localisation choices aside, Luka's line is fine and is actually in line with the original. The issue with this localisation very much lies with Nene's part, because that is an entirely new line.

In the original text, Nene's "that's just normal" or "that's nothing special" or however you choose to TL it, is meant to be her questioning Luka's statement, since all the things that the other vsingers said that Emu liked were pretty normal things like going shopping and playing video games with nene. To Nene, these things are normal activities for them to do together, so she gets embarrassed by the fact that Luka concludes from that information that Emu loves Nene. When I dissect it like that I think you can really tell what the writers were going for here lol.

"That's just us being friends" does still convey the idea that Nene thinks these activities aren't anything out of the ordinary and she isn't sure why the vsingers are picking these out as some of Emu's favorite things to do, but it's very different from the original line. "But those are just normal things we do together" is something I just came up with on the spot, but it's a lot closer to the original text and still conveys the same meaning. The fact they changed the line to "that's just us being friends" is, honestly, not even subtle that they're covering up queer subtext. The original scene was very clearly written in as ship tease, and EN mentioning "friends" for no reason, especially since the word nor anything close to it was not used in the original, is instantly a red flag because it's like the go-to for queerbaiting and censorship. This was intentional. There was no need for them to specify that the relationship is platonic, Luka's part is ambiguous for a reason so that fans can view it how they like.

Just to top all this off, here's Rin's original line just before that Luka+Nene interaction:

Oh, and! And! She said that playing games with Nene-chan is also super fun!

And here's Rin's line from the official EN translation:

That's not the same thing, but even more weirdly, the incorrect part (super fun->really loves) is a correct translation for the part changed in Luka's line. So, they can do it, they are willing to say "really loves", just not in the right places. Maybe because Rin's part is less personal than Luka's part? It's strange actually, this isn't the first time they've done this either. Off the top of my head I can think of an example from Shiho's Varied Kindness 2* story where they translated the word "suki" as really loves, despite that being much stronger than the original word used (and the fact that daisuki is used a lot in the Leo/need stories and it's incredibly rare if not entirely unknown for them to translate it correctly).

It's not subtle that they're trying to remove implications of the characters possibly being queer, they did it in curtain call and they did it in walk on and on, and multiple times before then too. And considering some of the content in this year's events and the amount of times they say daisuki alone, it's gonna keep happening. honestly i hate the fact that i keep trying to justify the translations in these posts. these translations are intentional. what happened in the curtain call translation back in october says enough. when a character who uses explicitly romantic language towards another guy passes as a straight character in the translation you know they're doing it on purpose.

oh and once again, it's only the EN server that has this issue. The scene in question was translated almost word-for-word on the TW and KR servers.

read fan translations. they're better than what EN gives us and people put a lot of effort into them.

i know there's a lot of issues around prevalence of fanon interpretations of the batfamily, especially when it comes to tim, but one thing i refuse to believe no matter how many comics may try to convince me is the idea that tim drake is tall. like look at him that is just a little guy

Hiiiii guess who finished her pmv. finally. um enjoy :3

Affirming Luffy is aroace and using it as an excuse to talk shit about a ship is both fucked up and just extremely wrong. And I'm saying "wrong" in the sense of "actually not accurate" because Luffy is not canonically aroace. It is a very popular headcanon and he does seem uninterested in both romance and sex. So much you could even say it's coded. But inside of that term, which happens to be a spectrum, by the way, there are infinite possibilities and different ways of experiencing both aromanticism and asexuality. Affirming Luffy denies relationships like those completely is both inaccurate in canon and also extremely harmful for the aroace community because he could still be canonically aroace and want those relationships. Maybe in different ways. Maybe with little to no frequency. But still, saying it's "wrong" to ship him with people that way is insulting to the aroace community and to the fans of Luffy ships. Not to mention that the people who often use a character being "aroace" as an excuse (I'm referring to when the character is not canonically uninterested completely in those relationships, by the way) are not even aroace themselves. They use our identity only in negative situations. They speak about being allies, but only mention our existence when it comes to harmful statements and ship wars that don't even matter. There's so much you could say about Luffy being aroace! So many possibilities about his way of seeing the world and experiencing love in different ways! And yet, people decide to infantilize his character and make a whole deal out of him not knowing what sex is and being an innocent baby who doesn't know what masturbation is. He's nineteen. He's a pirate. He is not stupid, thank you very much. He knows what he's talking about, whether he wants to do it or not is a whole other story and it depends on your views on him. And infantilizing him only comes from a place of infantilization of the aroace identity itself, and it's so, so fucked up. Of course, these people are also the ones who treat him like a baby and excuse themselves by saying "those are neurodivergent traits" when they probably aren't even neurodivergent themselves. It's disgusting. And also, as a reminder, do not post hate comments about a ship in its tag. It's really mean. Hope I made things clear <3

"Found out" set in kind of a made-up chapter where the girls are in trouble, or something.

I wonder if the reason why I tend to get overlooked as an LU writer is because I tend to write for Wild and Hyrule and not the "cool" Links like Legend, Warriors, Time or Four.

Been thinking about splitting out my Hinny Microfics into individual fics linked as part of a series on AO3 (as opposed to being chapters of one fic as they currently are posted), but I know anyone subscribed to my updates would probably get annoyed at all the notifications for old fics....

I have nothing against any of the marauder era ships, or anything....

but what's up with the trend of tagging all of them in a post that's only about jegulus one of those ships??

i honestly don’t hear enough people talk about how bad social anxiety gets post high school, particularly in work environments. Over the past two years I’ve become extremely hesitant to even speak in a lot of the spaces i'm in—classes, social events and especially workplaces. And as someone who has never felt socially anxious before I feel really alone in navigating this new obstacle.

like tell me why i have been at my workplace now for almost six months and can't muster up the courage to converse with my coworkers comfortably, while this guy who has been here for two weeks is already cracking jokes about Julie's terrible love life.

Self-Rec Tag Game

Rules: Share five of your own fanworks (fic, art, etc.). Then, tag five more people to share the things they've made. I’ve put categories below, but they’re more guidelines than rules.  1. Something you absolutely adore 2. Something that was challenging to create 3. Something that makes you laugh (or smile, if that fits more comfortably)  4. Something that surprised you (in how it turned out, how much other people liked it, etc.) 5. Something you want other people to see

Got tagged for this by lovely @shivunin! <33

1. Something you absolutely adore

this one <3 It's not even like, something i put a great deal of effort into or anything, but idk, it just makes me think of the DAO crew in a really fond and nostalgic way and it always gets me in the mood to play Origins

2. Something that was challenging to create

This Hawke estate pixel art i did at one point! I uhh avoid interiors a lot oops (not good, have to stop doing that) & haven't really tried pixel art or isometric art before, so this was tough! Also a lot of fun though :)

3. Something that makes you laugh (or smile, if that fits more comfortably) 

This xdd Because it always makes me think of various Science Endeavors and that is always very fun hehe

4. Something that surprised you (in how it turned out, how much other people liked it, etc.)

That the Sten comic did so well xD I'm glad we all agree though that Sten is very based for respecting people who stand their ground

5. Something you want other people to see

Cowboy centaur Varric bc i miss him :sadyeehaw:

gonna break the last rule and tag (bc i'd love to see so many ppl do this!) @shivunin (sorry if i missed you doing this yourself, this is your excuse to do it >:]), @greypetrel, @ndostairlyrium, @daggerbeanart, @a-drama-addict, @brainwormterrarium, @giantbukonut, @triflingshadows, @goofsoup, @creativegoblin, @superboyconner, @quakingbirch, @absyntthe, @exotic-inquiry, @hoiist, @wabart, @bearsizedant, @beelzebard, @cao-the-dreamer, @bigfan-fanfic @herearedragons, @drunken-drengr, @little-lightning-lavellan, @dreadfutures, @nanowatzophina, @curiouslavellan, and anyone else who'd like to! <3 (if you have several blogs you can ofc do it for a different one than i tagged, and it doesn't have to be DA related of course!)

I think we should bring back basic etiquette lessons such as shutting the fuck up when you’re watching a movie in a group that is not exclusively your friend group 🙂

...

Oh hey, it’s them!

no because why did i spend 3 hours making a promo only for tumblr to straight up not show my post on the dash at all :(

Inspired by @commander-lariel, @angrygoatwoman, @turbulentpumpkin43 and @tenmillionbees to write a little intro for Saedra as companion.

You spy a tiefling woman rising to her feet among the wreckage. She’s attractive, with dusky blue skin, and black hair in an elaborate coiffure, long braids thrown over her shoulders and graceful horns spiraling out of the buns on either side of her head. She dabs the corners of her dark eyes to fix her makeup.

As you approach she straightens her overflowing bodice and dusts off the trousers hugging her hips, glances over with a languid smile and gives you a long, thirsty once over.

“Well, hello there.”

Her smile broadens. “Another survivor? You can call me Saedra. Anytime honey.”

As she winks your tadpole gives a sudden shudder, and frantic images flash one after another of a dark, candlelit library, arcane manuscript swimming in your sleepy vision, a blast of light, noise and leering faces in a bustling tavern, and flesh, sweat-soaked and writhing in pleasure. The one constant is the sense of a curious, inscrutable presence—you are not the only one watching.

Her smile vanishes. “Looks like the bastards got to you too. Not that I have anything against tentacles, but I don’t appreciate people sticking things places without my consent. I suppose we’re both out of the frying pan and into the same fire. What do you say, love? I do fancy some company.”

Hey not to be a bitch or anything but maybe don't tag my posts where I talk about my very real trauma disorder that affects me in real life with some fandom nonsense