Execution (Eguzekyuushon): Translator's Notes

When I took on this project for myself to translate Mafu's latest song, I didn't realize what an intensive process it would be to translate something completely from scratch ^^' Luckily, my school had fall break this past week and I've had time to work on this translation between studying for my Japanese and engineering midterms. (And if I counted this as studying for my Japanese written midterm, that's my business, okay?) Truthfully, there are still parts of this translation that I'm not 100% on, and I am still a novice, so I would prefer if people would use this translation merely for reference, rather than some definitive translation (so that my misunderstandings of Mafumafu's intent don't get reprinted all over the internet, ehe). If you would translate certain parts differently, I would love to discuss. 日本語を勉強している学生として、もっと上手になりたい！

Execution is a song I adore for both its lyrical beauty and the incredible instrumental. Really, the melodic/harmonic contours, the instrumentation, the story of the song, and Mafumafu's dream-like voice are just a few of the things that draw me into this song. Particularly in his diction, I wanted to draw out a few of the themes I noticed as I was translating: Noh theatre, Othello, and opposing pairs.

Noh Theatre

Honestly, I'm not extremely knowledgeable about Noh Theatre. However, I have two things to point out. Firstly, the word he uses for farce, kyougen, does at face value refer to a lie or falsehood. But, depending on what characters are written, it can also refer specifically to a theatrical farce presented in the interlude of a Noh play. Secondly, the word I translated as "act" in "as the curtain resists falling on this act" is 幕 (maku), which is both the curtain and the act. So, I wanted to note this as another theatrical connection.

Othello

Although I write it quite ambiguously as "game board" in the first verse, the game board here is almost definitely an Othello board. I consider it to be confirmed, since he mentions Othello later in the song, and he mentions the board as being lined up in black and white—Othello is a game with two opposing player, where one plays as black and the other plays as white. Truthfully, I only recently learned how to play it on iMessage as "Reversi" with a friend, but I can explain that the premise of the game is to outmaneuver your opponent in order to turn as much of the board to your colour as possible.

Other than a game board, Othello is also a Shakespeare play where the eponymous protagonist is manipulated into believing his wife is committing adultery, and resultantly murders her out of rage. Certainly Shakespeare's story of Othello, too, has ties to Mafu's lyricism, as he describes in the song his own distorted love game. Don't you know what murder means?

Opposing Pairs

Throughout the song Mafumafu expresses several dualities. He expresses the duality of Othello with tragedy and comedy and the duality of the self with black and white. The duality I could not convey for the life of me was his use of 裏 (ura) and 表 (omote) in the line "Within the interior and facade of a birdcage are the imprisoned remnants of reality." Ura and omote are complete opposites, with ura expressing the rear, underlying, hidden, "offstage," or internal aspect of an object, and omote representing what is external, surface-level, or some visibly evident principle. In the end, with each word encompassing many abstractions I failed to adequately translate each in a single word T_T Other than that, his language itself encompassed two extremes. 病み可愛い (yami kawaii) which is "sickly cute" sounds very modern, is derivative of 夢可愛い (yume kawaii) and is strongly tied to the modern menhera aesthetic. Then, he gave me a hard time when he used a classical form to express "without believing." I am not yet proficient enough at Japanese to plumb the depths of his lyrical genius, but I was sincerely impressed by Mafu's dedication to this theme in even the extremes of diction he used.

Misc. Notes

Other than that, I wanted to point out a couple other things I noticed while translating. 口封じ (kuchifuuji) which I wrote as muzzling, can also have the implication of murdering someone in order to guarantee their silence. 定め (sadame) which I wrote as fate, does have the meaning of destiny/fate but also rule/regulation, which lends credence to the fact that the laws in this world are decided by powers beyond the speaker’s reach, almost as if within a play. Personally, I think this word also expresses another duality within itself.

Those are all the notes I have for this song. So, I'd like to end by saying that Mafumafu may be on an indefinite hiatus, but of course I still adore him with all my heart. He has cheered me on for nine years, so I will wait for him even if his hiatus were to end up being nine more years, www. Rest up Mafu-kun, and return when you're ready! Remember, your health and happiness are most important!

my contribution to the masc hypno genre

listen there really was just something about how in the book, snow’s 3-page descent from hesitant lover boy to deluded psychopath happens entirely in his mind. lucy gray gives him no indication whatsoever that she suspects him, that she’s going to leave or betray him. he’s just sitting quietly in the cabin waiting for her to return when that seed of calculated suspicion, which he has needed to survive the capitol, takes a hold of him and chokes the life out of any goodness left inside him. it really drives home your terror as a reader that “oh my god did he kill her? did she escape? what happened to her? why would he even think that?” in a way that when the movie had to adjust for visualization it lost some of that holy shit this guy has lost it emphasis.

Character references for the undateables

I love all the little details!!

Sharing these because knowledge should be #free and #available to #everyone

First one was from a cowboy themed aggie with @repliiku <3

Below the cut is the full jake outfit ❤️

one piece had an active fanbase before I was born which is kinda crazy to me. sanji's been getting dicked down for longer than I've been alive. incredible

Just A Small Morsel, Please Sir AU AKA Constantine Would Like to Disappear Please

Batman is about to go toe to toe with another god, and he needs armor that will prevent another "lost in the time stream" incident.

So he consults JLD.

The decide that if he has a piece of a really, really powerful entity, then that entity's powers should think that they're protecting the entity and in turn, protect Bruce.

So Constantine draws a summoning circle, and is bullied into making an actual good offering to the being the circle is supposed to summon. They include a note; it's written in an old, ancient language, but with JLD working together they figure out roughly what it says; something about requesting a piece of the most powerful being's belongings to grant them protection.

Thus, the ritual begins! The lights dim; cold green fog emanates from the summoning circle, the feeling of dread almost overwhelms the lessor experienced.

And then in the middle of John's chant, the ritual is forcibly stopped from the other side.

The offerings remain.

A single note floats down on top of the pile.

'I'm uh...flattered? But like, it's kinda weird to ask for someone's hair. Gonna have to turn this one down, sorry. No kinkshaming, though! I also won't tell anyone else what that kink is, Constantine, don't worry; I got ur back. Anyways stop the creepy hitting on me.

Danny'

Apparently, JLD had not correctly translated the language.

It's direct Translation, once they had that key provided to them by Danny, which once they got that they were able to figure out that one key letter was not what they thought, was more along the lines of;

'Oh Great High King, We Request A Small Parcel, A Small Snippet, Of Your Luxurious Hair. Just For A Little Bit. We Need To Use It For Personal Reasons. Just A Small Morsel. Thank You For Being Pretty. And Amazing. We Just Want A Small Piece. That Is All We Need. It Does Not Take Much. We Are Very Eager. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.'

Needless to say, multiple heroes have to stop Constantine from trying to throw himself out of an airlock.

@simplestoryteller

Finnish people really are proud of him.

Translation: Finlands cha-mpion! We know it. The world knows it. He was the best. Cha cha cha! (*also the jury gave finland 150 points and sweden 340 points, but lets not think about that.)

the kind of chemistry these two have is very entertaining

who wrote the wikipedia descriptions for catullus's poetry

do any of my mutuals speak French… I found this gay love letter in French tucked in a 23-year-old magazine I got for $2 at a secondhand bookstore and the Google translation isn’t great

Is it possible to love a character more than you already do? SOBBING because so many intricate details important for Sukuna's characterization gets lost in translation and lightning is an amazing person for bringing this to our attention (go follow them on their platforms ;_; They deserve it so much)

Sukuna's use of words are honestly so poetic and romantic, there is a certain grace and elegance with the way he presents himself, no doubt like a king. It may seem like he's a hot-headed maniac, but he's clever, cunning and intelligent. He knows when to let loose and when to reign himself in.

"You cleared my skies" I would literally melt at the spot, :') aaahhh I'm glad both of them ended up acknowledging one another, this really hits you right in the feels.

04.04.24 next step will be translating texts which means I’ll stay at the library until 8 pm. Then I’ll go eat sushi and contemplate the meaning of life 🍵

Lackadaisy Enrichment

How did Riku talking about Slapping Sora awake get translated to

It's my job to keep him on his toes

It's so funny that he talks about it casually with Donald Goofy and Mickey right before taking the dive a second time.

And the gestures look like ah yes he's showing how he might slap him, but in the English version THEY ACTUALLY EDITED SO HE DOESN'T SWUNG HIS HAND ALL THE WAY 😭😭