Utena Fansub Ep 2 Translation Notes
Here’s episode 2! A huge thank you to @dontbe-lasanya for their incredible efforts at editing my translation!
Revolutionary Girl Utena Episode 02 For Whom The Rose Smiles.mkv
Also, episode 1 has been revised. I’ll update the link on my original posts, but if you’re looking at a reblog it will still have the old link. From now on, I’ll be posting a link to a folder with all the episodes after each release, so you can easily find old episodes. You can find the new ep 1 and all other episodes as they release here:
Haru Dipthong’s Utena Fansub - Google Drive
Translation Discussion
Utena uses boku. There’s no way to convey this aspect of self-identified masculinity in english, so the translation needs to make up for it in other ways. One way I did this was the “Master” translation of 様 (sama), but this isn’t self-identified (in fact, Utena dislikes the use of 様). I saw a good opportunity to do this here:
まあ、一人部屋らしいから、クールな僕の趣味には合ってるよ。
I think I’ve got a room to myself. Kinda perfect for my bachelor lifestyle. (my translation)
I’m gonna have to be on the lookout in the future for other opportunities for Utena to gender themself masc!
—–
世界の殻を破壊せ…
世界を革命するために！
Destroy the shell…
and revolutionise the world!
Other translations often translate this as “For the revolution of the world!” or “For the sake of revolutionizing the world!”. I believe these translations are trying too hard to make explicit the function of ために to express purpose/aim. I think it’s unnecessary - a simple “and” will do, because the fact that “revolutionising the world” is the point of “destroying the shell” is wholly self-evident through context.
—–
I didn’t have space to talk about the A-ko/B-ko translation or Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku in the first post, but there were some interesting decisions to be made!
かしらかしら、ご存じかしら？
My oh my, haven’t you heard? (my translation)
This was in important translation because it gets used so many more times in the show, and it needs to make sense in many different contexts. The shadow girls tend to echo their opening lines in their closing lines:
でも、勇者様、わざと負ける難しさをご存じかしら？ かしらかしら、ご存じかしら？
but, sir knight, haven’t you heard how hard it is to lose a fight on purpose? My oh my, haven’t you heard? (my translation)
The opening line needs to be able to be recontextualised from a relatively innocent phrase that signifies the shadow girls are gossiping, to a more sinister taunting of “the knight” for being naive (or, in the first episode, not knowing what they’re getting into).
I went with “my, oh my” for かしらかしら because it sounds a bit old fashioned and feminine, just like the Japanese. I originally had “have you heard?” but it didn’t sound nearly taunting enough when repeated in he closing lines.
—–
絶対運命黙示録
Certain destiny: the Revelation! (my translation)
Most existing translations have this as “Absolute Destiny: Apocalypse” or “Absolute Destiny: Revelation”.
- 黙示録 is the word for the Book of Revelation, from the Bible. It’s not just describing any apocalypse, but the Biblical, Christian Revelation. I think “apocalypse” has become more generic in modern English, whereas “Revelation” is decidedly Biblical. This also influenced some of the decisions to jazz up the rest of the song to emphasise the Biblical references.
- The word 絶対 can means “absolute” as in “without question”, but “absolute” has other meanings besides this in modern English (e.g. “extreme”). I decided to go with “certain” because I believe the original Japanese is trying to get across the unquestionable destiny of the Revelation: “It’s absolutely going to happen”. Also, maybe I’m too online but I think “absolute” just sounds silly here. Online vernacular has made “absolute” an almost jokey word (e.g. “absolute unit”).
However, I did include the classic name of the song as the lyric at the end of the song before it goes into the syllable switching chant:
絶対運命黙示闇
Absolute destiny: Apocalypse!
Note the slight difference here in the japanese. 闇 means darkness, and 黙示闇 isn’t a real word, it’s just a combination of “Revelation” and “darkness”. The last kanji in the more common 黙示録 means “record” as in “the records of the Revelation”, the Book of Revelation. While the meaning doesn’t change much with the substitution of 闇, it makes the line feel a bit darker, a bit edgier, which made it feel appropriate to include the edgier classic name of the song here.
出生登録、洗礼名簿、死亡登録
Records of childbirth, records of baptism, records of death. (my translation)
Other translations have this as “birth records” and “baptismal registry”, which I think sound awkward. “Birth records” has too few syllables for the line of the song, and doesn’t sound poetical enough, while “baptismal registry” reeks of someone looking up the word in a dictionary and plopping it in without thinking about how it would sound in a haunting apocalyptic song.
もくし くしも
しもく くもし
もしく しくも
Revelation, Apocalypse
Apocalypse, Revelation
The syllable switching chant is impossible to translate - doing such a thing in English just makes it sound silly. Since this line comes directly after the switch up with the original song name, I decided to use the synonyms Revelation and Apocalypse in an alternating sequence to give the same impression of a haunting, cult-like chant. I think this alone makes the decision to use the original song name worth it! Really happy with how the song has turned out.