Look at that perfect idol smile. Akasaka Aka would be proud

And yet again, there is just that one reference that is crazy to do. A certain character quotes the name of the movie The Spirit of St. Louis in Japanese, but the title is entirely different, translating to literally “My wings, those are the lights of Paris!” This is in reference to the legendary trans-Atlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh from New York to Paris, specifically the 1957 movie about him. But of course, what this means is that to accurately translate the line, I had to read through the actual movie script to find if the Japanese title was in the original English one. And of course, it wasn’t. As usual, the Japanese made up their own quote for a legendary foreigner. So in the end, to properly match the line, I ended up using the English title of the movie. So now you know what that random-sounding line means.

Torrent | Magnet

Do not doubt my ability to make everything I sub into an idol anime

This was a very satisfying and vindicating episode in terms of content, as it reflected talks I’ve given in the past about certain connections in logic that aren’t obvious at first glance, but are screamingly obvious in retrospect once pointed out. Yes, I’m being intentionally vague so as not to spoil you if you’re reading this first, but it’s at the end of the episode. No, my talk isn’t available, but I’d be glad to induct new followers into the Church of Idol.

Torrent | Magnet

Han Megumi makes for a cute BER

Good lord this episode was hard to do. I’m not even going to explain every last little thing we had to do to make it work, but there are a couple of points worth mentioning. First is the eponymous story of the tanuki and Mount Kachi-Kachi (details here on wiki). The summary is that kachikachi-yama isn’t a real place, it’s the sound of crackling wood on fire. This is also where the boat of mud comes from, and how it melts in the water.

Second is the relation between tanuki, sometimes called raccoon dogs in English, and their etymology. Something I only learned through research for this script was that actual raccoons, called literally “washing bears” in Japanese and several other languages, probably got that name from the original taxonomist Carl Linnaeus, who named them Ursus lotor for “washing bear”. It was only later when raccoons were separated into their own genus. The point of all this is for a joke that tanuki can be mistaken for raccoons, which are called bears in Japanese.

And finally, the more astute of you will notice that Trigger screwed up left and right field positions. A native English speaker would never do this due to the commonality of the phrase “out in left field” meaning in the middle of nowhere, but whoever wrote the line was confused.

Torrent | Magnet

This is very Great Gatsby

Finally, I can put my biomedical background to good use subbing. It’s rare that I can translate things related to my actual field. We’re starting to see where BNA may be going from here on out, setting up for some later reveals, and exploring more of the world from inside and outside Michiru’s perspective. Also, Nina is cute.

Torrent | Magnet

Poutchiru

We’re getting to the good banter now.

Torrent | Magnet

teiuka, mou neyo

They’re going hard with the beast wordplay, which we have done our best to turn into understandable and equivalent English. For example, the word for a resident of a city is 住民 (juumin), but here they change the first kanji to 獣 for beast, and it’s pronounced exactly the same. You can only see the difference when it’s written out. This happens a few other times, but your viewing experience should be exactly the same as a native speaker.

Torrent | Magnet

Hey, are you ready to go?

And we’re back with Trigger’s newest anime, this time about what it means to become an animal in a world still dominated by humans. Looking back, we’ve actually done quite a few from their studio, haven’t we. Although half the series was already released on Netflix, I’m personally taking it one episode at a time as we go. This was a good start, and already you can tell the themes are going a different direction than the recent Beastars. It’s also always a pleasure hearing Morohoshi Sumire in a leading role. You can feel some of Trigger’s signature style all over the episode, so here’s hoping for an exciting ride.

Torrent | Magnet