Pointless debate
I think today was better. It started out not being better, though. We're back on Fire Force, only now we have the Fire Force anime soundtrack to listen to while we work on it! Yay! We hadn't actually opened the CD Japan box with the CD in it yet, so we opened it up before we got to work, and I pulled out the CD, and it had the Infernal extinguishing prayer on the cover. In English! ...with the anime version. I mean, the anime version is exactly the same as our version except for one line, the one that's in the manga as "ashes as ashes."
And okay, I'll grant that that line sounds like it could use some work, but I guess the anime translations just rankle us because we have an entirely groundless theory that the translator for the anime was all, "Pshh, I can do better than them!" At any rate, the anime version is "ashes thou wert and art," and we're like, "Okay, I see where you're going and I'll grant you that it could sound very cool, but for a better rhythm you really should have repeated 'ashes': ashes thou wert and ashes thou art." The Japanese does say hai (ashes) twice, after all. We're still not sure that's an entirely accurate translation anyway, because the Japanese is "hai wa hai toshite," which literally means "ashes as ashes." I'm not sure what train of grammatical/linguistic reasoning leads to "you were ashes and are ashes." Maybe they tied it to "ashes to ashes," which in a sense means "you were ashes and will be ashes again," but the past-to-present tense thing still doesn't really click in my mind, because unless there's some implications I'm unfamiliar with, it's all present tense. In our minds it reads more as, "You ARE ashes, and now you will be treated as such."
And these are the kinds of linguistic rabbit holes we go down when we consider the subtitles of anime based on manga we translate.
Anyway, the point is, that irked us a little bit, but we really should just be good sports about it. So for now, we just don't look too hard at the CD jacket. In the meantime, we had a pretty good time typing up a first draft, and then we got to play Ring Fit Adventure and Pokemon, and of course there was Miraculous. Both of the episodes we watched today were on the lighter side, so that was nice. There's an episode where they actually make Kagami super likable! ...But I still don't want her to get Adrien. Sorry, Kagami. I do wish for your happiness...just not with Adrien.
And whenever we were taking breaks, like for food and stuff, we would discuss again how the new rule about having to give up their Miraculouses makes no sense. I mean, looking back at all the episodes, there's nothing to directly contradict the "rule," but there's plenty of circumstantial evidence! For one thing, Ladybug knows who all the other Miraculous bearers are, and the only ones who had to give them up are the ones that Hawk Moth knows the identity of. There's the possibility that the rule only applies to Ladybug and Cat Noir, because they're clearly unique among the Miraculous bearers, but! then there's Tikki.
Tikki always discourages Marinette from doing anything that lacks integrity, and that includes lying of course. Unless! Marinette is lying to keep her identity a secret. Tikki is all about creating dummies of Marinette to fool her parents when she needs to sneak out and fight bad guys and stuff. But in Weredad, Marinette (as Marinette) lies to Cat Noir about being in love with him, to prevent him from figuring out that she's Ladybug (because he's noticed she tends to be around right after Ladybug leaves). The lie was to keep Ladybug's identity secret, but Tikki still tells her she shouldn't have lied. Of course, part of that is the nature of the lie and how it ends up toying with people's feelings, but when Marinette explains that it was to keep her secret, Tikki didn't say anything along the lines of, "Well, that's a good point," or, "But could you have told a better lie?" ...Although she did say, "But now he thinks you like him." So maybe the evidence isn't strong enough after all. Still, if that was a rule, it should have come up as a rule earlier.
Today I'm thankful for getting to listen to our shiny new Fire Force soundtrack with its fancy music, finding a baby Lucario, remembering to turn in the two translations we had finished but not turned in, getting to do some exercise, and getting to watch Miraculous some more.
And okay, I'll grant that that line sounds like it could use some work, but I guess the anime translations just rankle us because we have an entirely groundless theory that the translator for the anime was all, "Pshh, I can do better than them!" At any rate, the anime version is "ashes thou wert and art," and we're like, "Okay, I see where you're going and I'll grant you that it could sound very cool, but for a better rhythm you really should have repeated 'ashes': ashes thou wert and ashes thou art." The Japanese does say hai (ashes) twice, after all. We're still not sure that's an entirely accurate translation anyway, because the Japanese is "hai wa hai toshite," which literally means "ashes as ashes." I'm not sure what train of grammatical/linguistic reasoning leads to "you were ashes and are ashes." Maybe they tied it to "ashes to ashes," which in a sense means "you were ashes and will be ashes again," but the past-to-present tense thing still doesn't really click in my mind, because unless there's some implications I'm unfamiliar with, it's all present tense. In our minds it reads more as, "You ARE ashes, and now you will be treated as such."
And these are the kinds of linguistic rabbit holes we go down when we consider the subtitles of anime based on manga we translate.
Anyway, the point is, that irked us a little bit, but we really should just be good sports about it. So for now, we just don't look too hard at the CD jacket. In the meantime, we had a pretty good time typing up a first draft, and then we got to play Ring Fit Adventure and Pokemon, and of course there was Miraculous. Both of the episodes we watched today were on the lighter side, so that was nice. There's an episode where they actually make Kagami super likable! ...But I still don't want her to get Adrien. Sorry, Kagami. I do wish for your happiness...just not with Adrien.
And whenever we were taking breaks, like for food and stuff, we would discuss again how the new rule about having to give up their Miraculouses makes no sense. I mean, looking back at all the episodes, there's nothing to directly contradict the "rule," but there's plenty of circumstantial evidence! For one thing, Ladybug knows who all the other Miraculous bearers are, and the only ones who had to give them up are the ones that Hawk Moth knows the identity of. There's the possibility that the rule only applies to Ladybug and Cat Noir, because they're clearly unique among the Miraculous bearers, but! then there's Tikki.
Tikki always discourages Marinette from doing anything that lacks integrity, and that includes lying of course. Unless! Marinette is lying to keep her identity a secret. Tikki is all about creating dummies of Marinette to fool her parents when she needs to sneak out and fight bad guys and stuff. But in Weredad, Marinette (as Marinette) lies to Cat Noir about being in love with him, to prevent him from figuring out that she's Ladybug (because he's noticed she tends to be around right after Ladybug leaves). The lie was to keep Ladybug's identity secret, but Tikki still tells her she shouldn't have lied. Of course, part of that is the nature of the lie and how it ends up toying with people's feelings, but when Marinette explains that it was to keep her secret, Tikki didn't say anything along the lines of, "Well, that's a good point," or, "But could you have told a better lie?" ...Although she did say, "But now he thinks you like him." So maybe the evidence isn't strong enough after all. Still, if that was a rule, it should have come up as a rule earlier.
Today I'm thankful for getting to listen to our shiny new Fire Force soundtrack with its fancy music, finding a baby Lucario, remembering to turn in the two translations we had finished but not turned in, getting to do some exercise, and getting to watch Miraculous some more.