Kurono Torigaa

"WA~I! Yatta!" -- two words the anime fans among you should immediately recognize ^_^

Welcome to Page 1, where I finally shut up about myself long enough to get somewhere in my rundown of the Japanese Chrono Trigger version. I'll begin where I left off before, right there at the beginning of the game

You know, technically the Millennial Fair is named the 1000th Year Festival, but things like that are open to interpretation, so the way it is is a 'fair' enough translation I suppose. *duck*

Anyway, at the fair is one of the strangest name-changes I've seen in this game: Lucca's comical battling robot, the one you think is named Gato? He's actually "Gonzales". Seriously! I'm not kidding. The question is why, Square, why? They took a name, even a distinctly Hispanic name, and replaced it with the Spanish word for 'cat'. Why?! He doesn't even look much like a cat below the ears...

Elsewhere on the name-change front, we meet an old guy selling weapons whose name is Bosch, not Melchior. I don't know whose idea it was to name the 3 Sages like that, but it's caused much more trouble than it's worth. For one thing, people started seeing religious connections all over the place. I'm not saying there aren't any, I'm just saying that these people are overdoing it, or to use the scientific term "their elevator doesn't reach every floor". I don't even know where that whole Melchior/Belthasar/Gaspar legend even came from. The Bible does not enumerate or name any of the Wise Men in the gospel, so I'm still a bit confused as to where those names even originated.

This is Gonzales. Really.

But I once again have strayed from the point; I'm here to discuss Japanese stuff, not argue religion, and Japanese stuff I shall discuss. Back to "Gato" for a minute (I promise this is the last time I'll talk about him, OK?), it's worth noting that the Japanese edition of his battle song doesn't even try to rhyme; it means, approximately [Oh, Gonzales / I am strong / If you beat me / 15 Points!!]. Nothin' about metal joints anywhere to be found.

Likewise his chant of defeat means [You are strong / You're amazing / So I give you / 15 Points!!]

Next up is Lucca's area of Leene Square. But first, a short CT Pronunciation Lesson:

Leene >>> LEE'neh

I bet all this time you were calling her "Leen", weren't you? Everyone seems to do that. As native English readers, we're trained to ignore a final E on just about any word. But the kana don't lie; it's Lee-neh and always has been.

Choujigenbusshitsutensou-Machine Ichigou! Try saying -that- five times fast.

So, what's new to be found with Lucca? Well, for one thing, the crowd is not commenting on her appearance. Instead, their dialogue tends toward dire predictions about her lack of mechanical skill and the likelihood that this invention will fail like the rest ('cept for the kid, he wants to know what the heck 'tensou' means). Her machine ("the invention of the century!" --Taban) is called the Chou-Jigen-Busshitsu-Tensou-Machine Ichigou, or in English the [Super Dimension Material Transfer Machine Mark I], or "Telepod" for short ^_^

One last point I'd like to make before we head to the Middle Ages: when someone tells you that "translation is never completely accurate" they are absolutely right. For example, when you play the Drinking Contest minigame (they never specify just what you're drinking, so let's go along with Square USA's "soda"), Marle makes a statement I don't know how to express properly in English. If I recall, the translation said something like "You're awfully competitive, Crono!" which doesn't quite get the nuance behind the word 'isshoukenmei' which is a noun describing the state of "exerting all one's might" or maybe "giving it one's all". They could have done better, but then they could have done far, far worse.

Onward ho! Through the Time Gate to the year 600!

In case you never got the joke, Banta is an anagram of Taban. In both languages.

Now, in AD600, there's quite a bit to do:

A visit to the nuns at Manoria Abbey (not "The Cathedral") can hint at their true nature if you read it right; most of them make innocent-sounding statements (much more so than the dead giveaways in the US version) followed by slightly unnerving laughs like "ufufu" or "ee-hee-hee". One, however, almost slips and says "My, what a delicious looking hum- uh, nothing, nothing!"

In Guardia Forest you may come across a Power Capsule (not Tab, there are no Tabs - tab is a dumb name for a capsule anyway).

Within the castle, it is interesting that the king uses the obsolete term "sonata" (which means "you" like so many other Japanese words do, but is not in use anymore) and that the chef wants to know the nature of this "Crêpe" that Her Majesty wants to eat.

Meeting Lucca after the vanishment of Marle, you discover that she was really the Princess Marrdia (not Nadia - all she did to think up her nickname was cut off the last 3 symbols. MA-A-RU | DeI-A).

Oh, and this chapter of the game is called "The Princess who Vanished" not "The Queen is Gone" - by this point you know she isn't the queen and it's reflected in the saved-game title.

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~Special Report: The Great Bromide Debate~

I'll bet you didn't even know there was such a tremendous debate, did you? Good, it means there's a strong chance that you're sane.

What is this debate about? The Bromide Debate was an attempt to resolve this (un)important, (not)world-shaking question:

What is the nature of the Secret Naga-ette's Bromide and What does it do?

That this Bromide is one of the few and far-between serious translator goof-ups in this game is something to be relieved at. However, the trouble I had to go to to make clear what the item really was and get it edited out of the Novel are the reason it has its own little subsection here.

The debate first began when I was editing Chapter 4 as it first appeared in the unrevised Demo Chapter release. The characters are led to a chunk of red -something- that is termed "Naga-ette Bromide" and has the effect of tranquilizing Naga-ettes at a distance. This is wrong, I said. I don't know what a Bromide is in terms other than chemistry (bromide = compound of bromine) but I'm sure they wouldn't keep around a dangerous rock like that. I'd bury it deep underground if it was that powerful against my species.

And besides, as I played through the Japanese game, I noticed that the creatures who come to stop you from making off with it call it "our treasured bromide". No one with any sense would keep a poison rock around as treasure. Wayne was thinking of Potassium Bromide, which is a sedative.

To make this point, I went and translated word-for-word the dialogue surrounding this terrible item's introduction into the game:

It was also here that I suggested a meaning found only in the Japanese dictionary: Publicity photograph. Though it made a lot of sense, I had nothing to back up this photo theory except for two things: a random stranger who said a bromide is like a trading card, and the fact that bromide compounds are used in some types of photography.

Wayne remained not-fully-convinced of the true nature (though it was obvious by now it had no place in the novel) until I related on the ezboard a correspondence I had had with a friend who is Japanese. See, we were discussing random subjects at the AnimeLyrics forum when the idea occurred to me to ask him what he thought of the word 'buromaido'. His shock that bromide has a chemistry connotation pretty much settled the matter right there.

A bromide is a collectible photograph of a celebrity, taken on "bromide paper" hence the name. The joke in CT was that the Mazoku (or "Mystics" if ye prefer) were keeping a photo of their favorite Miannu (Nagaette) hidden in a drawer. That makes it extra-disturbing later in the game when the old guy in San Dorino begs you for this Bromide. o.O; Kinda makes ya wonder just what sort of photo this is, now... ^_^'

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