Hey everyone!
I know that I'm pretty late to the party and there's already a bunch of people that talked about the translation of this Anime, but I think that I still have a lot to offer in this post since I'm focusing more on the Japanese side of it.
Disclaimer
This post is a little bit like Translator's Notes from the days of fansubs for those that remember seeing those. They are also still pretty common in the Manga world of scanlation.
I'm gonna talk about various trivia and nuances that are a bit hard to translate directly into English. Since Japanese and English are very different languages, it's often up to the translator to interpret the meaning behind a title and present it in a nice way to their target audience. There's also a lot of terminology, expression or jokes that are linked very closely to the culture, so keeping it as is, is often gonna result in clunky titles.
*Very important: I'm in no way saying that the official titles are bad or wrong; or saying that what I offer is a "better" version. I'm only a random guy on the internet that finds the Japanese language really interesting and wants to share with people my knowledge and love of the Language&Culture.*
Also, I'm not a native speaker in either English or Japanese, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
Title
This is a copy-paste from one of my other post I made before the season started: Summer 2024 Anime Titles
- JP: しかのこのこのここしたんたん
- Romaji: Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan
- EN: My Deer Friend Nokotan
Now comes a juicy title. From the start, the original one is written entirely in hiragana, which makes it super hard to spot where the words starts and ends. There's also a bunch of「の」which is a grammar particle.
The beginning「しかのこのこの」can be seen directly as the name of the main character of the series "Shikanoko Noko", but "Shika" can mean "Deer"(鹿) and "No ko" can be the possessive particle 「の」(no) and 「子」(ko) for "child" or "girl" in this case. So her last name is literally "Deer's girl" and her full name is literally "Deer's girl's girl". And on top of that, in the title, they added another "noko" just for good measure.
Two pairs of「のこ」(noko) can also be seen as the onomatopiea「ノコノコ」to describe something or someone appearing "shamelessly" out of nowhere.
The last part「こしたんたん」can be the Yojijukugo(四字熟語), four-character compound word:「虎視眈々」(koshitantan); that is use to express the feeling of "watching vigilantly for an opportunity", "with an eagle eye". The Japanese expression uses「虎」(tora), so for a more direct translation, a "tiger looking eagerly".
There's also another character with the name "Koshi" and with the nickname "Koshitan", "-tan" being a "cutesy" way of saying "-chan"
Names
*Names doesn't always mean anything and Kanji can have multiple meanings
- Koshi Torako (虎視虎子)
- Tiger
- Look at
- Tiger
- Child/Girl
- Shikanoko Noko (鹿乃子のこ)
- Deer
- "possessive particle" (kanji used in names)
- Child/Girl(Kanji)
- "possessive particle"
- Child/Girl
- Ukai-sensei (鵜飼)
- Cormorant (type of bird)
- Domesticate
- Hi-no-minami School (日野南)
- Day/Sun
- Field
- South
Episode 1
PS: I'm aware that there's been a revised version of the subtitles on the YouTube version of the episode, but I think that there's still a lot of people that have or are gonna watch it with the original CrunchyRoll subs.
Wisdom King [0m03]
The "wisdom king" at the beginning of the episode is referring to Acala, or 不動明王(fudoumyouou) in Japanese, a deity from Buddhism. He is known as a "remover of obstacles and destroyer of evil".
Shinsengumi [0m12]
For those that didn't know, the Shinsengumi was the name of a real military elite force during the Edo period (1603-1868) that was made out of commoners and low rank samurai to go against people that were anti-shogunate.
Background voices [0m44]
I'm sure it was somewhat obvious, but the "chant" that we can hear in the background of multiple scenes シカシカシカ(shika shika shika), is the word for "Deer" repeated.
Girl meets deer [2m20]
A bit of nuance in the title of the episode, it's written with the English transliteration of "Girl"(ガール) and "meets"(ミーツ), but uses シカ(shika); so it's literally "Girl meets shika".
Attractive [2m54]
The text written in the background when the narrator says that Koshi is "attractive" is: 「女子高校ミスコン」(joshi koukou misukon) "Girls' Highschool Beauty(Miss) Contest".
Great at school [2m55]
In the next screen we can see the results of the finals of the 2nd semesters (2学期期末テスト), with Koshi being in 1st place with 500 out of probably 500.
Another interesting thing about this board is that all the names that appear on it has a Kanji for an animal at the start of them.
- 猫山田: Cat
- 狐坂: Fox
- 狛居: "lion-dog" (狛犬)
- 兎田谷: Rabbit
- 熊谷: Bear
- 戌井: Dog (zodiac sign)
- etc.
Just as I planned! [3m07]
The "Just as I planned" /「計画どおり」(keikaku doori) scene with Koshi is certainly a reference to the infamous Death Note's line: "Just according to keikaku" (TL's note: keikaku means plan).
Going so well [3m09]
When describing the highschool life of Koshi as "seems to be going so well", in Japanese they used a Yojijukugo(四字熟語), a four character compound expression:「順風満帆」(junnpuumannpann).
It's written with "docile" + "wind" + "full" + "sail".
You're gonna have a "smooth sailing" in life if you have a "docile wind" and a "full sail".
Background character [3m22]
The character in the background is Mikey(マイキー), one of the main character of Tokyo Revengers, an Anime/Manga about a gang of delinquent.
I quit the gang life [3m29]
When Koshi says that she "quit the gang life", she's using the expression「足を洗う」(ashi wo arau), literally to "wash your feet", commonly used to talk about quitting a "shady business", to "wash one's hands".
Down the drain [3m31]
Another common expression was used when she was saying that all her effort "will go down the drain", it was「水の泡」(mizu no awa): literally "Water bubble", to give the image of something fragile that is gonna disappear instantly.
Detective Co… [3m58]
Obvious reference to the main character of the infamous series Detective Conan, which is, well, a detective.
Hajime-chan! [4m02]
The name that she says right after stopping with Conan, is Hajime. This one is a bit harder to pinpoint because it's a somewhat "normal" name, so I'm not really sure who it could be referring to.
In the episode discussion, u/Nukeman8000 mentioned it could possibly be about Hajime Kamegaki, one of the Storyboard writer and Key Animator that worded on Conan.
Chiba mo useland [4m18]
The part with the "Chiba mo useland" really confused me when I saw the English sub, especially since I read it as the Japanese pronuntiation of "mo" and the Englsih "useland". It's only after doing some research that I realized it was supposed to be "mouseland" to make a "not copyright" reference.
In Japanese, she started saying Tokyo Disneyland, but corrected herself by saying Chiba instead, which is actually the city that's in it's address.
In the end, she said「千葉のディズニーなんたら」(chiba no dizunii nantara), which translates to something like: "The Disney something in Chiba".
Beautiful and composed womanly appearance [6m28]
When Koshi tries to hide the fact that she's an ancient delinquent, and talks about how she has a "beautiful and composed womanly appearance", in Japanese she uses part of an expression that fits with the backgrounds used:「立てば芍薬、座れば牡丹」(tateba shakuyaku, suwareba botan).
It translates to something along the lines: "I'm like a peony when standing up and like a tree peony when sitting down", which are two types of flowers portrayed in the background images.
There's also usually a third part of this expression that was omitted:「歩く姿は百合の花」(aruku sugata ha yuri no hana); "the appearance of a lily when walking".
And I'm probably looking way too far into that, but in today's culture "lilies" are often viewed as a synonym for "girls love", with yuri(百合) being the Japanese name for lilies.
And in this scene, we can also see Koshi holding a book with "虎とシカ"(tora to shika) written on it: "the tiger and the deer" or directly the beginning of the names of Koshi and Shikanoko.
But I'll let you all get to your own conclusions 😉
Nroh! [8m25]
The part that was translated into "Nroh" was「のつ」(notsu), "つの"(tsuno) written backward, like "Nroh" being "horn" backward.
It could also be seen a bit like a replacement for "おつ"(otsu), an abbreviation from「おつかれさま」(otsukaresama).
It's something that is a bit hard to translate directly, but it can often be seen as "good work" or "thank you for your hard work".
Good morning! [8m56]
When Koshi officialy greets Shikanoko into the classroom, she says「ごきげんよう」(gokigen'you) for "Good morning".
This is a very uncommon way of saying this and is infamous in the anime world to be used by someone that appears to be a "rich girl" with perfect manners.
Instincts [10m08]
When Nokotan talks about her instincts that tells her that Koshitan is a deliquent, in Japanese, she explicitely says「野生の勘」(yasei no kan): "wild instincts". This connects more directly to Koshitan right after that trying to confirm if she's a "wild beast".
Middle episode transition [10m53]
The text written during the middle part of the episode is of the location the image are from.
Bathroom note [14m26]
The sign on the bathroom door is: "Currently broken"/"Out of service", and sign by "Student council".
Buttcheek [19m23]
Never heard this English expression before (I'm assuming it's in the same way as saying "my ass", but more "child-friendly"), but in Japanese, she basically said "Not "Riiiight?"", in the sense of "don't say that in this situation".
Older sister [19m33]
Towards the end of the episode, Nokotan uses another nickname for Koshitan:「アネゴ」(anego), that was translated into "older sister".
It's a way to address a girl older than yourself, but it's also very often used in the context of a gang, for a "girl boss/leader/superior".
Club sign [21m06]
The text written on the board above the club door is:「シカ部 求む！新入部員」(shikabu motomu! shin'nyuu buin), "Deer Club" "Seeking new club members".
by Toki_Madoushi
1 Comment
As always, thanks for doing this!