Furuba vol. 22 [Tokyopop edition]
Fruits Basket vol. 22, Tokyopop edition. Translation by Alethea & Athena Nibley, English adaptation by Lianne Sentar.
As usual, I'm not drawing comparisons between translations because I think one is "more correct" than the other (although the official version has been adapted). It's just fun.
Also, it's always interesting looking at the slightly different information we get in each format. Shadow's translations are of the individual chapters as they were serialized in Hana to Yume, so we get banners at the beginnings and endings of chapters; in the books they're missing, but we get sidebars and the occasional new panel.
Chapter 126 (May 2006: original reaction to the chapter: scans and summary, scans and partial translation.)
Interesting choice to have Kyo refer to his father's house as "my house". And, "calm as you please", his father says, which makes me think back to Akito's "look at you, so unconcerned" to Rin in vol. 14 (although the Japanese text in those conversations looks different).
Another slight difference in translations (oh, Japanese, why are you so vague about pronouns?): here Kyo wishes his mom hadn't given up on herself, and Shadow's translation has him wishing she hadn't given up on him.
I do love that Akito says she'll be the one to answer Kyo's father's summons, and her conversation with her maid.
Hiro and Kisa, adorable as always. *^^*
Chapter 127 (May 2006: Original reaction: full scans and translation.)
I'm still uncomfortable that Arisa and Saki apparently bond with Akito so easily, given that Akito just stabbed Arisa's love interest and Saki is, well...not exactly psychic, but... (Do her abilities make more sense to Japanese readers?) Then again, maybe genuine repentance is what she's picking up on.
Hee, and Yuki gets his snark on. "Nice work, genius."
Ritual "suki" complaint, although Kyo being Kyo, I can see him saying "like" instead of "love" even in his head.
Translation comparison: when Saki talks to Arisa about Kureno, Shadow's translation says, "Your mind's a-whirl worrying about it, isn't it?" and TP's says, "I'm sure you're worrying about plenty of things right now".
**********
...the between-chapters picture of Kazuma and Akito ganging up on Kyo's scumbag father just completely made my day.
**********
Chapter 128 (June 2006: Original reaction: full scans and translation.)
Another round of "awww!" at Hiro and Kisa.
And the Sohma boys are back in their conference room (on the school roof). I always love these scenes, when Yuki and Kyo get filled in on what's going on back at "home".
I'd forgotten that Akito calls for them all before the curse actually breaks. And...I don't really understand why some people don't believe it broke because she consciously let go. I mean, the timing of it happening while Tohru is hugging Kyo is lovely (I'm still impressed that Takaya got away with that), but it's not the moment when the Cat is accepted, which is the other theory I've seen. (I don't know if anyone actually still believes that, though. Although...the banner at the beginning of ch. 131 in the serialization says that the release went from Kyo to the others, one by one, and ended with Yuki. So that's interesting. And looking back at old posts, at the time I wasn't sure which theory I bought into. ^^; So I guess I can't complain.)
I still wonder if Yuki ever tells Machi about the curse later, since it stopped being strictly necessary.
Chapter 129 (July 2006: Original reaction: full scans and rough summary, "almost-full-translation".)
...oh, Tohru on the roof, and then when Kyo finds her, telling herself to smile. Still so scared. ;_; It breaks my heart that she still can't quite let herself rely on the other characters, when most of them love her so much. Being scared of what's going on with Kyo himself I can understand, since he's got as much tact as a brick, but she keeps not wanting to be a burden on "everyone".
"Because I love you." Yay! (I do keep score. >.> I'm sorry, Twins! I really appreciate that you were so good natured about it when I talked to you forever ago.)
And Tohru still not quite being sure. Wow, so much damage. At this point Takaya's not subtle about her being as broken as the rest of them.
[This is one of the things I wrote first time around, which still touches firmly on one of my feelings about this scene: "The body language between them once Tohru's sitting on the wall and he gets close is just gorgeous--it's got the care of a 12shi's lifelong habits, and the hesitancy of exploring new territory, which is something we haven't seen with any of the other couples, really. (Haru and Rin had a bit of the discovery of each other, but not that deeper caution.) The actual kiss is lovely, as is Tohru's reaction when Kyo mentions that it's their second kiss. *^^*"]
"You know this is our second time, right?" "She really doesn't remember. Now it's like I attacked her in her sleep." Oh, Kyo.
"There's nothing for me to be scared of." EXCEPT FOR TRANSFORMING IN PUBLIC! *sighs* But the scene is totally worth it.
Chapter 130 (July 2006: Original reaction:full scans/translation. This is the second-last chapter of vol. 22, and at that point we still didn't know for sure whether the next chapter would be the end of the series.)
[Original comment on this chapter, when we had scans and no translation: "You know that thing, where new chapters come out, and I write about them? / I can't do it. My heart is too busy flying and being broken."]
Very significant translation difference: Shadow's translation has Akito saying she's jealous of Tohru because Tohru's "more beautiful at heart"; TP's says "You were so much prettier than me." (The actual speech balloon says "kirei dakara", but I don't know what the preceding one means, so... ["Boku yori zutto", if I'm putting the word breaks in the right places.])
And in the end I do feel bad for Akito here, because it obviously hurts her so much. She proved she could shackle the 12shi to her, but never that she could make them choose to be there no matter what she did, and that alone must have been horrible for her. At least she stopped trying to prove it.
Kagura. ;_;
I still don't have much to add to Flamika's original comment about Rin and Haru being released, which I originally quoted in the post I linked above. ("Rin and Haru's release really sticks out to me because it seemed to me that in that instant, Rin may have been more afraid that she had been released and Haru had not. For someone who tried so hard to free him for so long, I imagine it would have been painful for her to have freedom while he didn't. I think in the moment, it might have even overwhelmed her relief at her own liberation, or the pain that comes from the break with God.")
I would really like to know whether God spoke to all of them, or only Yuki.
And even so, all of the spirits are together at the end. Hmm.
Chapter 131 (August 2006: Original reaction: full scans and translation.)
Translation difference: Shadow's says "Our bond... Let us make it eternal here and now", and TP's says "I will now make it eternal". Again, I'd guess there aren't any pronouns in the Japanese. Whee!
Oh, poor cat. So wise, and look where it got him.
It's also interesting that the bond apparently never worked the way it was intended to--they were never all together again until it had become a curse.
Decisive action on Yuki's part! (As always, no sense of personal space, but Machi seems okay with it.)
Awkward!Rin is still the cutest thing ever. (But oh, the look on Kyo's face as Kazuma hugs him. It's such a triumph for Kazuma, too. Kazuma FTW!)
As usual, I'm not drawing comparisons between translations because I think one is "more correct" than the other (although the official version has been adapted). It's just fun.
Also, it's always interesting looking at the slightly different information we get in each format. Shadow's translations are of the individual chapters as they were serialized in Hana to Yume, so we get banners at the beginnings and endings of chapters; in the books they're missing, but we get sidebars and the occasional new panel.
Chapter 126 (May 2006: original reaction to the chapter: scans and summary, scans and partial translation.)
Interesting choice to have Kyo refer to his father's house as "my house". And, "calm as you please", his father says, which makes me think back to Akito's "look at you, so unconcerned" to Rin in vol. 14 (although the Japanese text in those conversations looks different).
Another slight difference in translations (oh, Japanese, why are you so vague about pronouns?): here Kyo wishes his mom hadn't given up on herself, and Shadow's translation has him wishing she hadn't given up on him.
I do love that Akito says she'll be the one to answer Kyo's father's summons, and her conversation with her maid.
Hiro and Kisa, adorable as always. *^^*
Chapter 127 (May 2006: Original reaction: full scans and translation.)
I'm still uncomfortable that Arisa and Saki apparently bond with Akito so easily, given that Akito just stabbed Arisa's love interest and Saki is, well...not exactly psychic, but... (Do her abilities make more sense to Japanese readers?) Then again, maybe genuine repentance is what she's picking up on.
Hee, and Yuki gets his snark on. "Nice work, genius."
Ritual "suki" complaint, although Kyo being Kyo, I can see him saying "like" instead of "love" even in his head.
Translation comparison: when Saki talks to Arisa about Kureno, Shadow's translation says, "Your mind's a-whirl worrying about it, isn't it?" and TP's says, "I'm sure you're worrying about plenty of things right now".
**********
...the between-chapters picture of Kazuma and Akito ganging up on Kyo's scumbag father just completely made my day.
**********
Chapter 128 (June 2006: Original reaction: full scans and translation.)
Another round of "awww!" at Hiro and Kisa.
And the Sohma boys are back in their conference room (on the school roof). I always love these scenes, when Yuki and Kyo get filled in on what's going on back at "home".
I'd forgotten that Akito calls for them all before the curse actually breaks. And...I don't really understand why some people don't believe it broke because she consciously let go. I mean, the timing of it happening while Tohru is hugging Kyo is lovely (I'm still impressed that Takaya got away with that), but it's not the moment when the Cat is accepted, which is the other theory I've seen. (I don't know if anyone actually still believes that, though. Although...the banner at the beginning of ch. 131 in the serialization says that the release went from Kyo to the others, one by one, and ended with Yuki. So that's interesting. And looking back at old posts, at the time I wasn't sure which theory I bought into. ^^; So I guess I can't complain.)
I still wonder if Yuki ever tells Machi about the curse later, since it stopped being strictly necessary.
Chapter 129 (July 2006: Original reaction: full scans and rough summary, "almost-full-translation".)
...oh, Tohru on the roof, and then when Kyo finds her, telling herself to smile. Still so scared. ;_; It breaks my heart that she still can't quite let herself rely on the other characters, when most of them love her so much. Being scared of what's going on with Kyo himself I can understand, since he's got as much tact as a brick, but she keeps not wanting to be a burden on "everyone".
"Because I love you." Yay! (I do keep score. >.> I'm sorry, Twins! I really appreciate that you were so good natured about it when I talked to you forever ago.)
And Tohru still not quite being sure. Wow, so much damage. At this point Takaya's not subtle about her being as broken as the rest of them.
[This is one of the things I wrote first time around, which still touches firmly on one of my feelings about this scene: "The body language between them once Tohru's sitting on the wall and he gets close is just gorgeous--it's got the care of a 12shi's lifelong habits, and the hesitancy of exploring new territory, which is something we haven't seen with any of the other couples, really. (Haru and Rin had a bit of the discovery of each other, but not that deeper caution.) The actual kiss is lovely, as is Tohru's reaction when Kyo mentions that it's their second kiss. *^^*"]
"You know this is our second time, right?" "She really doesn't remember. Now it's like I attacked her in her sleep." Oh, Kyo.
"There's nothing for me to be scared of." EXCEPT FOR TRANSFORMING IN PUBLIC! *sighs* But the scene is totally worth it.
Chapter 130 (July 2006: Original reaction:full scans/translation. This is the second-last chapter of vol. 22, and at that point we still didn't know for sure whether the next chapter would be the end of the series.)
[Original comment on this chapter, when we had scans and no translation: "You know that thing, where new chapters come out, and I write about them? / I can't do it. My heart is too busy flying and being broken."]
Very significant translation difference: Shadow's translation has Akito saying she's jealous of Tohru because Tohru's "more beautiful at heart"; TP's says "You were so much prettier than me." (The actual speech balloon says "kirei dakara", but I don't know what the preceding one means, so... ["Boku yori zutto", if I'm putting the word breaks in the right places.])
And in the end I do feel bad for Akito here, because it obviously hurts her so much. She proved she could shackle the 12shi to her, but never that she could make them choose to be there no matter what she did, and that alone must have been horrible for her. At least she stopped trying to prove it.
Kagura. ;_;
I still don't have much to add to Flamika's original comment about Rin and Haru being released, which I originally quoted in the post I linked above. ("Rin and Haru's release really sticks out to me because it seemed to me that in that instant, Rin may have been more afraid that she had been released and Haru had not. For someone who tried so hard to free him for so long, I imagine it would have been painful for her to have freedom while he didn't. I think in the moment, it might have even overwhelmed her relief at her own liberation, or the pain that comes from the break with God.")
I would really like to know whether God spoke to all of them, or only Yuki.
And even so, all of the spirits are together at the end. Hmm.
Chapter 131 (August 2006: Original reaction: full scans and translation.)
Translation difference: Shadow's says "Our bond... Let us make it eternal here and now", and TP's says "I will now make it eternal". Again, I'd guess there aren't any pronouns in the Japanese. Whee!
Oh, poor cat. So wise, and look where it got him.
It's also interesting that the bond apparently never worked the way it was intended to--they were never all together again until it had become a curse.
Decisive action on Yuki's part! (As always, no sense of personal space, but Machi seems okay with it.)
Awkward!Rin is still the cutest thing ever. (But oh, the look on Kyo's face as Kazuma hugs him. It's such a triumph for Kazuma, too. Kazuma FTW!)