xxxHOLiC Rou 190 translation

[starlady]

So my friend Sandy, aka merin_chan, is doing her doctoral research on transnational animation fans and fandom, and she has a link to her survey about the same up here at her LiveJournal. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel weird saying, "Oo! Survey!" so soon after SurveyFail, but unlike Drs. Ogi and Sai, Sandy isn't a creeper, is a fan, and is a pretty cool person. And unlike their survey, her survey is a) completely anonymous; b) has been approved by an accredited IRB; and c) isn't full of skeevy questions (I took it myself; it only took about 20 minutes). I know there are quite a few international readers of this journal, and I know she's looking for as much non-USA, non-North America participation as possible, so if you feel like checking it out, please do!

---

!!! page 01
Welcome ♥
to the world of the "cage"
-------------------
!!! page 02
-------------------
!!! page 03
Watanuki: Now then,

where is the end...?
-------------------
!!! page 04
Watanuki: You are...
-------------------
!!! page 05
FX: Gently falling

Watanuki: Huh...?
-------------------
!!! page 06
FX: Thrum
-------------------
!!! page 07
Woman: ...Strike.
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!!! page 08
FX: Inhaling

Watanuki: ...Strike...?
-------------------
!!! page 09
Doumeki: Strike?

FX: Pecking

FX: Chirp chirp

Watanuki: Yeah.
I'm sure that's what she said.

But
When you say it to me,
I kind of get aggravated like this.

FX: Chomp chomp

Mokona: All right! Mokona will strike!

FX: Bounce

FX: Slipping

Doumeki: A little more to the right.

Watanuki: The person I saw in the dream
Was the same as the customer, but...

That was a shape she took so that I could understand more easily.
-------------------
!!! page 10
Watanuki: But, her eyes were different.

They were cat's eyes.

Doumeki: The shamisen was a cat's skin.

So then...that?

Watanuki: ...Yes.
-------------------
!!! page 11
Doumeki: So,
Within the dream, if that shamisen

Told you to strike--

Watanuki: Striking a shamisen is...
-------------------
!!! page 12
Doumeki: Is this shelf okay?

Watanuki: Yeah.
I'm sure, during last month's cleaning, here...

Mokona: ♫ Warehouseman~ ♪ Warehouseman~ ♪
Though we can see you're settled in,
We can't get in anywhere,
Warehouseman~ ♪

We might as well throw this out, huh! ♪

Watanuki: Hey.

FX: Yank

Watanuki: Don't mess up the place we're putting stuff down.
Right after I say it.

FX: Fling

Mokona: But Mokona is helping!

Watanuki the tyrant!!

Watanuki: If you get in the way, tonight you'll only have one cup of sake!

Mokona: Watanuki the just!!

Justice!!
-------------------
!!! page 13
Watanuki: Go to the garden and help Maru and Moro.
They're playing the harp.

FX: Bounce

Mokona: Leave it to me!

Watanuki: He'll probably just get in the way again, though.

Doumeki: Found it.
-------------------
!!! page 14
Watanuki: ...Yes.

This is it.
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!!! page 15
Watanuki: The plectrum strikes the shamisen.
And this is our plectrum.

Doumeki: Was that here before?

Watanuki: Yeah,
Since before I became the store owner.

That's why I don't know its history.

But there's a reason that it's here, too.
-------------------
!!! page 16
Watanuki: There is no coincidence in this world.

Everything is inevitable...right.

---

Is it just me, or is that last panel on page 13 rather latently slashy? 

Don't mind me, I'll just be here in the corner going around the fannish twist.

Comments

[levels.livejournal.com]

Huh. So Doumeki can't see his dreams? I figured he did, what's with all the supernatural stuff going on in them. That, and how they gave a separate panel to Watanuki's right eye in page 3, and then the panel after it.

Thank you so much ♥

[ariadnechan.livejournal.com]

thank you so much!!
and yes Doumeki is so in love with watanuki, even he is learning folcklore to help him and maybe save him... I really hope Kimi return his feelings sometime soon!!!

[ariadnechan.livejournal.com]

about your friend i'm 38 i'm off the survey ask her if she thinks i'm in still or not!??

[merin-chan.livejournal.com]

Hi, this is Sandy! Sorry, I'm only allowed to interview 18-30 year olds this time around. That was the research plan I gave to my university's Ethics Review Board. But please feel free to email me if you have any thoughts to share about anime/animation. I love talking with all kinds of people about fannish stuff!

(Speaking of which, awesome Nightmare Before Christmas icon! That's one of my favorite movies of all time. ^^)

[shushu-yaoi.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot! XD They're soooo slashy!!!

[li-vox-il.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot! Doing the survey as a thank-you =)

Btw, I don't get why was 13 slashy O_o I'm so slow.

[scottishrefugee.livejournal.com]

>> Is it just me, or is that last panel on page 13 rather latently slashy?

All I saw was Doumeki's almost-smile and the box's pretty butterfly-shaped ribbon.

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I just keep looking at the speech bubble and replacing the text with "marry me" in my head.

It's a strange place, the inside of my head.

It is a pretty ribbon, isn't it?

[scottishrefugee.livejournal.com]

>> It's a strange place, the inside of my head.

Not at all ^^

>> It is a pretty ribbon, isn't it?

It really is, and totally Yuuko.

(And now I'm wondering whether that plectrum could made up of a male cat's bone, ugh.)

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia says bachi are mostly made of wood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachi). Thankfully.

Someone replied on the last entry saying they found the whole idea of discussing the qualities of the animal that went into the instrument completely off-putting in a cultural differences way. I didn't know what to say so I left it lying, partly because I don't like to add to the "Japan so foreign" discourse if I can help it. But also, for me at least (and it may be because I'm a violinist), it didn't seem terribly strange. We do the same thing with meat--it's just a different part of the animal, for a different purpose.

Well, that was a long digression.

[scottishrefugee.livejournal.com]

Oh thank God, I'm spared the cat-bone plectrum. Thanks!

You know, I completely agree with you. While I find the tradition of covering a shamisen with cat or dog skin a bit disturbing, I also realise that it would be hypocritical on my part to be so against it. Traditionally, many string instruments used to be made by using animal bowels, so what's the difference? Just think about the Stradivari violins. And they're European, and Italian to boot, so I feel like I'm slightly involved in all this.

I also happen to like digressing. :)

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

The upper echelons of string players still use catgut strings for certain situations--there are times when that sound is more desirable than the sound you get from metal strings.

Yeah, I don't find it hugely different from meat-eating.