Hisone and Masotan

Everything has once more come to a close, and a new beginning of rebirth. While thinking upon and overcoming each of their own regrets and insecurities, we’ve watched all of these characters reach a new chapter of their lives. Although it was only a small amount of time, and they were only able to change one tiny part of history, the waves of repercussions will travel into the future, and hopefully be able to change someone else’s life for the better. Translating Hisone and Masotan did have its difficulties, as many fantasy themed anime have, but at the core of it the heart and soul of each character remained my impetus and guiding light each week. And from here on out, even if only a little, I too will think hard on what I take for granted, and the value that exists between me and others. And maybe, if I can, I’ll become a little more honest in my own life, both to myself and to those around me. Thank you once more for joining us on this flight through Okada Mari’s (and Higuchi Shinji’s) world. May you shine brighter than the stars.

tsuru: Hello hello, tsuru here. HisoMaso was an… interesting show to work on. Between the military terminology and ranks; the weird English (?) terms like ‘レアメタル’; obscure titles (taifu and the rest); their own personal terms like matsurigoto, fushido, and kusabime, all three of which we got wrong; and random other crap (the legendary comm-bus, which thankfully only showed up the one time), the show exacted a blood toll, though at least it was Japanese this time and not Greek. Overall, it was a bit different and just about entertaining enough, but perhaps a little like the $20 box of White Lovers I saw in my local supermarket the other day: probably decent, but not at that price. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed coming dragonvoring with us and agree that Iiboshi is best girl. Tune in again next season for batch fixing, mountain climbing, magic casting, room camping, and last touring. Thanks as always for watching.

Staff:

Supervision: joletb (1)
Translation: Akatsukin
Editing: tsuru
Timing: Akatsukin
Typesetting: joletb
Encoding: joletb
Quality Checking: Akatsukin, joletb (1)
Song Translation: Akatsukin
ED Edit: tsuru (original)
Song Styling: joletb

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Does her gaze lead beyond that far-off sky?

Kugyuu really likes calling people scum.

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Imagine the man who gets to enjoy Father’s Day with this woman

It’s in my nature to focus heavily on the writing of every anime I watch, as a translator, but Hisone and Masotan is made so much better due to the truly emotional art and animation, not to mention the flow of music and use of the OP theme. But really, the facial expressions are unbelievable and conveying so much in this show, far above the usual in anime.

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Hot, sweaty, impure miko

Chugga chugga choo-choo!

So there are things to explain, things you can easily google, and things I’m not going to mention just in case they were meant to be secret (or nothing at all). The most immediately obvious change is Okonogi from High Steward to Senior Vice-Steward. Turns out last week’s closed captions were wrong (go figure)! The other is this weird term 楔女 which we have as a  contraction of Bind-maiden. You can see what each of the kanji mean on your own. Oh, and then there’s the しめ縄, the braids, which are those large braided ropes you see hung everywhere at Shinto shrines. That’s about all I can remember to say for now. Meanwhile, Natsume is being written as an interesting foil to Hisone, and I’m excited to see this explored in more depth later, as well as the resolution of a certain earlier foreshadowing thread that is quite loose right now.

tsuru edit: kill me

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That’s quite the old plane she’s got there

Remember that line about the bedroom last ep? Turns out that was a proper noun, Fushido. Also we get real religious this episode, so hang tight while we figure out the best way to convey obscure and outdated titles all over the place.

tsuru edit: What’s that? You want to know more about the obscure and outdated titles that are all over the place? Say no more, friend!

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Even if your path has been decided, that doesn’t mean it won’t lead to happiness

Rabu. So there’s this very, very strange reference this episode to “Sotoori”. It seems that many Japanese were a bit puzzled by it as well, but one person gave some hints about what it means. First, it seems to be a similar naming to Operation Yashiori from Shin Godzilla (which I have not seen, unfortunately). Second, it may be a reference to Sotoori-hime (衣通姫), who you can read more about here. One way or another, my guide seems to think that Akishima may have been aware of the true plan from the very start. Was she? You can decide for yourself.

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PS: I meant billion, not trillion. Still a lot of Yukichis.

Ah, to have graduated high school and be so full of hope

Hey, remember last week when I talked about Matsurigoto? Well despite the inability of Japanese people to speak English, I’m using the now official term “Ritual” for it. Third time’s the charm, right?

There are also two bigger things I’d like to note. First is “Ken-san”, which seems to be a reference to Ojarumaru, just FYI (Update: It was probably this Ken-san). The second is what we had as “yellowtail thunder”. The term 鰤起こし is highly specific, a phrase used in northern Japan during the months of December to January in yellowfish catching season. referring to the sound of the characteristic thunderstorms that occur. The more you know.

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This is pure Okada right here

There are a couple things I have to explain, even though I was hoping to get away with it for a while longer. Last episode this very interesting term マツリゴト (matsurigoto) showed up, and I translated it as “ministry”. Now, the reason for this is that in ancient Japan, the religious leader of the country (who was also the political leader too) and his other high ranking people were collectively called this, at least from my research. However, given all of the religious symbolism, the way the term is used, the fact that Hisone was called a miko, and the location shown near the end of this episode, I’m tentatively changing the translation to “Festival”. That too may be wrong, but I’m hoping it’s closer.

I also want to make a quick note of Iiboshi’s talk about White Lovers. He says that their hearts are white, and then that the girls “embody blankness”, or 空白を持つ. Looking at the kanji of “kuuhaku”, the first word, you’ll notice something interesting. Blankness or emptiness comes from the two kanji meaning white and sky. I assure you that this is no coincidence. With all of that said, this is a pretty fun episode again, so enjoy it and mourn that you don’t have your own life-sized Nao doll.

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Amakasu and Nao were both okay, but Hitomi’s my girl

And this is despite making me include an actual TL note. We make it clear, but Futomomo literally means “thighs”. There are also some easily Googleable terms thrown in again this episode for good measure, and I won’t bore you with their meanings here. This is good stuff.

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We always need more Saitou Chiwa

Man there is just a ton of acronyms for little reason in this episode. TAC doesn’t mean anything so far as we can tell, but at least RTB and ACM (aerial combat maneuver) are relatively real. Also the so-called “comm-bus” that we had to make up for モーボ appears to only exist in Japan or Asian countries. And if you were curious, Hisone jumps up four whole ranks this episode.

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