EPISODE 01 ------------- ["Girlhood"] (03:52.84 - 04:19.40) The line Mihari says initially in this scene is essentially about enjoying "a girl's lifestyle (女の子の生活)". Mahiro takes what she said and turns it around back at her, twisting it into meaning something closer to "a girl's *** life (女の子の性活)", as 生 and 性 are pronounced the same in this instance. That is to say, this is a pun that can't be translated fully in any convenient way. Thanks to /a/ for the many ideas for this scene! ------------- OP ------------- First off: If you think it's a euphemism, yes, it most likely is. [It's dair? It's nought! AbSENT? pRE:sent!] The Japanese OP lyrics are written out as devolving into soundalike nonsense using a combination of kanji, katakana, and the English alphabet. This attempts to capture that feeling of the lyrics crumbling into nonsense. [The Why of [I]] The Japanese lyrics make use of an extremely clever phrasing, "自我、字が". Both halves are pronounced "Ji-ga". The full line, "自我、字が、崩壊!" is pretty complex -- "自我" refers to the self, one's inner ego. "字" normally refers to an actual literal character such as a kanji or letter, and could be seen as a reference to how the lyrics crumble into nonsense as detailed above. But it's simultaneously being used to refer to one's literal CHARACTER, as in their personality. So, when written out fully, an interpretation of the line could be seen as "My inner self, and my very sense of character, are both collapsing!" So, to reach a conclusion in which (nearly) all sensibilities of the phrasing are kept while also keeping it to the quick beat of the song, we arrive at "The Why of [I]". It sounds absurd, but I can assure you the Japanese line does too. The reason why oneself ticks is eroding away as we speak. "The Why" and "of [I]" rhyme with each other and sound similar, creating a senstation similar to that of the Japanese line. "[I]" is surrounded in brackets to make it clear that it is a literal character -- the letter I, while still managing to represent oneself, "I". Yes, translating this song faithfully is hell, why do you ask? Speaking of... [Wha, madame? Who's that? Guy's the I, no lie!] Here come the gendered Japanese self-referential pronouns, and puns around them no less. The original line is "あれ、わたし、誰、オレOléお!" ("Are, watashi, dare, ore olé o!") Mahiro was originally a male, using the pronoun "Ore" to refer to himself in a very masculine manner. Thus, when the idea of referring to himself as "watashi", a pronoun befitting that of a young girl, comes up, he can only say, as the line implies, "What? Who the heck is that supposed to be referring to? Not me, I'm a guy!" (This whole thing about pronouns comes back more than once later in the show and will be detailed further in the below notes.) The last bit, "Ore Olé O!" is technically nonsense just to play around with how R and L in Japanese are identical sounds, but is more or less championing the idea of Ore as his way to refer to himself. Thus, I went with "Guy's the I, no lie!" to keep up the fact that it doesn't make full grammatical sense or anything in the source language, but plays around with the rhyming sounds of 'Guy', 'I', and 'Lie'. ------------- ED ------------- This song has a very cutesy rhyme scheme at various points. Thankfully preserving both that and the meaning of each line was not too hard. I don't think this song is too hard to read into, so there isn't much for me to say. Enjoy! ------------- EPISODE 02 ------------- [Mahiro and Lady Problems] (Episode Title) The title of this episode, when read very literally, is "Mahiro and the Girls' Day". It doubles as a euphemism for a period, and both meanings apply to this episode in different ways. Unfortunately, no true equivalent turn of phrase exists in English that would cover the exact same matters, so a different period euphemism was chosen that still covers the broader subject of the episode, that being the many issues he encounters with the high maintenance a girl's body and appearance require. [Red Beans Over Rice] (20:19.32 - 20:23.89) In Japan, this is often treated as a celebratory dish for various milestones like birthdays, holidays, etc. This includes, well, one's first period. Thus, the gag is of course that Mahiro doesn't find this occasion worth celebrating one bit. ------------- EPISODE 03 ------------- nashi ------------- EPISODE 04 ------------- [I came out...] (08:11.78 - 08:25.34) This scene is, of course, a gag about an everyday gaming session seeming as if it came out of a doujin. The translation here is inspired by the fan translation of the manga, which tries to keep the gag itself intact even if it doesn't make complete sense in English. [I narrowly avoided becoming the heroine of a new Route...] (12:16.87 - 12:19.71) This line uses 攻略 (conquer), a bit of slang used when you've managed to hit the flags for a specific girl's Route in a dating sim. Mahiro is saying that in nearly falling for Momiji, he would have wound up becoming one of the love interests from such a game himself, and thus Momiji would have been on the Mahiro Route. [T-then, a man's gotta, er, I'LL be off...] (12:25.42 - 12:29.99) In this line, Mahiro slips up and refers to himself by オレ (ore), a heavily male-associated pronoun. He then quickly catches his mistake and covers it up by swapping over to わたし (watashi), a much more flexible pronoun that a girl his (apparent) age would use. ------------- EPISODE 05 ------------- [Is this what they mean by "in vogue"?] (05:17.66 - 05:20.14) This line is referencing "インスタ映え" (Insta-bae), or the ability for something to really shine on Instagram. Crunchyroll chose to simply reference the platform directly, but considering its name was cut out of the term for this in the actual script, I chose to go with something equivalent instead. [Ugehhh, one of those sorts that'll go for anyone no matter the place!] (06:22.42 - 06:25.26) Mahiro uses "出会い厨" (deaichuu) here, which is referring to the sorts of guys who go out trying to hook up with girls, but do it in completely random places rather than anywhere intended for such a purpose. "厨" in this instance is slang for a freak/creep/etc. [I-I-I'm sorry, but I'm not the kind of girl...] (06:37.21 - 06:44.71) The three lines in this section have Mahiro wildly swapping and stumbling between "wata--, ore, wata... watashi" (オレ/ore being a male pronoun and わたし/watashi being a more feminine one, as noted in the previous episode's translation notes), showing that he still isn't used to referring to himself in a feminine way in public, especially in a panic. These are Crunchyroll's untouched lines as they tackled the situation well, but it's worth noting. ------------- EPISODE 06 ------------- nashi ------------- EPISODE 07 ------------- [Roufl] (16:57.74-17:01.16) This is technically CR's doing, but I'll explain it anyways. The label on the flour in Japanese says Warafuu (ワラフー), which is a reversed/scrambled reference to a popular real-life brand of flour, Flower [Furawaa (フラワー), A clever name indeed.] Think WcDonald's or something. ------------- EPISODE 08 ------------- [Uwaraba!] (09:15.80 - 09:17.75) This line's a Fist of the North Star reference. The series is filled with nonsensical exclamations of defeat. ------------- EPISODE 09 (Uwah, there it is...) ------------- [Can I get my New Year's money now, Onee-chan?] (12:35.38 - 12:38.65) This line is referring to a Japanese custom in which children receive a New Year's gift (お年玉, otoshidama) from family and relatives, generally in the form of money. [Ozouni] (13:26.28 - 13:28.62) This one's for the anon that got really mad about it. Ozouni (お雑煮), or just zouni, is a traditional soup made with mochi most commonly had for the New Year in Japan (often alongside boxed osechi). It's meant to be extremely easy to prepare, going along with Mihari's relative laziness in this scene. [Osechi] (13:35.57 - 13:37.45) Osechi are a big set of Japanese New Year's foods prepared in bento boxes. Honestly, I'm just going to direct you to Wikipedia if you want to learn more, as there is far too much to cover within the scope of these notes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osechi [First Shrine Visit of the New Year] (14:35.32 - 14:37.47) In Japan, it's customary to visit a shrine on the first day of the New Year to make your donations and wishes, plus determine one's fortune for the upcoming year. [Omikuji] (16:35.64 - 16:40.46) Omikuji (御神籤, lit. "divine raffle lot" or simply a "fortune slip") is a form of fortune telling offered by shrines. After making a donation, one pulls a slip from a box which tells the general outlook of one's life or current prospects. This practice is especially popular during New Year's, since everyone will be visiting a shrine anyways and it allows for one to peer into how their year will go, in theory. The Japanese have been doing gacha for a long time... [Yorokonbu!] (18:43.59 - 18:49.38) This section in general is a nightmare. Osechi have many puns behind their meanings. I did my best to try to get them across. The Wikipedia article linked above can clue you in some more. [They're like the PULSE that drives one's hard work!] (18:52.39 - 18:56.13) The line here refers to the Japanese name of black soybeans, kuro-mame (黒豆). Due to how many different words share pronunciations in Japanese and are only differentiated properly through use of kanji, mame (忠実) also means diligent or hardworking. in addition to being a term for legumes/pulses. Thus, we get the line I went with here, which leverages a similar double meaning of "pulse" in English. Thanks much to the anon who suggested it! As an aside, the "kuro" half can also be punned into "kurou" (苦労), meaning a labor or hardship. So you get "kurou-mame" (苦労忠実), "diligently attending to one's labors and hardships". [Rolled Omelettes] (19:03.46 - 19:07.20) Thank god, this one was so basic that I could just keep Crunchyroll's line. ------------- EPISODE 10 ------------- [That's for shore.] (03:17.12 - 03:18.31) Pun translation somewhat stolen from the anon that did the third anthology TLs (wyste, as it were?) because I liked it. The original line is a pun born of tashikani (たしかに, or "That's true" in this instance) and kani (カニ, or "crab"). Thus, the finger positioning meant to resemble a crab's pincers. [Yummies!] (11:31.47 - 11:32.52) Miyako uses "よさみ" (yosami) here, which is like a cutesy way of saying "nice!". The み (mi) appended at the end is a trendy way to make one's adjectives in speech sound cuter. I considered using a real-life alternative, but it wound up making me recoil in pain, so I simply went with this. [It's obligatory, okay?] (12:22.76 - 12:24.26) Obligatory (義理) chocolate is handed out without any special meaning behind it given to (generally) men by women. Mahiro stresses this fact to make sure that they don't think anything special of the gesture. ["Real Deal"] (20:46.69 - 20:50.09) The "real deal" (ナマモノ, namamono) here refers to real people being used as subjects for one's fantasies and creative works. Mahiro is telling her that she should be careful about not letting her delusions pass any real-life boundaries. [What am I... a whore or somethingggggg?!] (21:54.35 - 22:01.79) Mahiro uses the male-oriented "ore" (オレ) here, slipping up. The term 痴女 (chijyo), translated as "whore" in this instance, can also mean a female pervert/molester in addition to implications of prostitution and general sluttiness. ------------- EPISODE 11 ------------- [That's shore-tainly true.] (08:14.49 - 08:15.57) And we're back to this familiar stolen pun again, in a new form. [That color's so pretties...!] (15:41.84 - 15:43.67) Again, Miyako is using よさみ (yosami) here, where she's dressing up her compliment to sound cutesy. [These are some bleak school regulations!] (18:52.37 - 18:53.74) Calling something "black" in Japanese tends to imply that it's underhanded and the sort of thing you'd expect out of a shady corporation. I substituted "bleak" because it sounds similar and quickly clues you in on what he means anyways. ------------- EPISODE 12 ------------- [Mahiro's Future as a Sister] (Episode Title) This episode title is impossible to translate entirely faithfully, as it utilizes the same pun as the title of the series. Oshimai (おしまい) is used because it can be read as both "finished (done for)" and "dear sisters". I decided to stick with Crunchyroll's title after some deliberation, as it's pretty elegant and still gets the general idea across. A more literal translation without taking the pun into account would be "Mahiro's End and What Lies Beyond". [I left a gyotaku print!] (00:37.99 - 00:40.11) Gyotaku (魚拓), or fish printing, is a Japanese custom where fishermen record the fish they've caught by adhering squid ink to one side of the fish, then imprinting it upon rice paper. Asahi's love of fish extends even to snow angels! [Lily Room] (03:55.71 - 03:56.59) By the way, Yuri (百合) gains its name from lillies. [I need to keep in mind that I'm a...!] (06:41.61 - 06:45.04) This line reads something like "Even if I look like this, I need to keep THAT in mind...", but he uses "ore", creating the implication that he's reminding himself of his true nature. -------------