A smile of purest joy rose on her face, and she waited quietly for him to wake.
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Afterword
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(I’m blathering, so please don’t take this too seriously.) There’s an old expression, “Pretty things are dirty; Dirty things are pretty.” (Really) When I first heard or read the phrase, I thought, “That’s so true,” without any actual basis for it. This might be a little challenging for normal people to grasp, but it just might be that the most unforgivable thing is something that really we should all be forgiving, and the most wonderful, widely accepted thing is something we should all be denying. I mean, sometimes I just sit around thinking about stuff like this. If hatred is a kind of love, a phrase often spouted on awful melodramas, then is not love a form of hate? etc. Just a thought, don’t really have anything to support the idea.
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So I’m a pretty big fan of music, but when people ask me what kind of music I like, I always end up going, “Umm. . .” because I just like so many different kinds. Yet when I was in school, I was so fatally bad at music class that I wound up loathing it. I couldn’t even play the recorder. My fingers wouldn’t move. Never did learn to read music. How those little tadpoles relate to music baffled me. Of course, now you all think I was stupid, but my point is that I hated music for an awfully long time. There was a pressure involved in music at school, and a sort of pervasive attitude that “people who understand music are cool and have good taste,” which all just made me go, “Forget that,” and want to run. I wasn’t able to listen to it properly until some ten years after I graduated-quite recently, actually. Now I feel like I was really missing out. Good taste has nothing to do with it; anyone can listen to good music. . .that whole attitude just pissed me off.
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I don’t know what the goal of musical education was at school, but man, did it ever backfire with me. Story of my life.
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When splendid, important people dispense pearls of wisdom like, “Value your imagination,” or “Follow your dreams,” why does it always make you want to throw up? Always makes me want to say, “Shut up and mind your own business,” or “Screw imagination.” I see a phrase like, “The power of imagination and positive thinking,” and I want to start strapping bombs to people.
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I am what I am, and I’m not so good at being bright and merry.
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This causes me no end of trouble. I see everyone being cheery, and react like I’ve come across something incredibly sinister.
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Sure, I can laugh with everyone, but that creeps me out more than anything. Sigh...
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But this is a perfect example of why “Dirty things are pretty”
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is so very true. If you run into something creepy, then you still have to do something, right? But in that case, I’ve got to make a case for “Pretty things are dirty” just to be fair. . .and the more I think about it, the more I want to do something like that, which is how I’m living today.
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I think everyone is really much, much more simple and un-complicated. We’re all just banging our heads into whatever is right in front of us, but the world seems to be getting along just fine.
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Banging our heads into things seems to work. Ain’t it a shame?
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(Are you even trying to write an afterword?) (Ah, whatever...)
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BGM “THE GOOD LIFE”
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by NEW POWER GENERATION
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TRANSLATION NOTES
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Translating a foreign language work is a challenging task that can result in a lot of sleepless nights and headaches for the production team involved. The general rule of thumb for any English-language release is to make sure that it retains the intricacies of the source material, while not reading like a literal translation. It’s a difficult line to walk, but we at Seven Seas believe that preserving cultural nuance is of utmost importance.
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For this reason, we’ve strived to present a translation that is as close to the original as possible, while keeping the flow of the novel intact. The following pages of translation notes are presented here as a way to offer some additional insight into many of the terms, characters and other cultural items that you may not have understood while reading the novel. These notes also offer a further look into some of the choices that the editorial staff at Seven Seas had to make while bringing the work to you. Enjoy!
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The Prince Connection
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If it hasn’t become clear from reading the first three Boogiepop novels, it should be pointed out that Boogiepop creator and author Kouhei Kadono is a huge music fan. This is evidenced in everything from Boogiepop whistling Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Niirnberg” to many of the character names and chapter titles found throughout the books. In fact, it is this last point that we’d like to comment on.
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In the translation note section of Boogiepop Returns: VS
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Imaginator Part I , we explained that the 1936 movie entitled Camille starring Greta Garbo seemed to thematically relate to Orihata Aya’s character. While this is still a valid explanation, as Kadono-sensei does make numerous other literary and movie references in his novels, Gomanga.com forum user “Elric of Grans” was kind enough to point out a much simpler explanation-~“Prince [the singer/ songwriter] claims to have a personality that he calls ‘Camille,’ who wished to prove his critics wrong, and another called ‘Spooky Electric,’ who urged him to create The Black Album.”
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With that knowledge in mind, it’s easy to see even more Prince references jump right out. Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator Part 1 uses the Prince song titles “Sometimes it snows in April” and “If I was your Girlfriend” as interior titles, while Boogiepop Returns: VS
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Imaginator Part 2 has “Do U Lie?” and “The Sacrifice of Victor.”
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What’s more, all of these individual titles have an impact on the novels themselves, as they tie into the events thematically. It makes you wonder what other clever references are still to come.
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Chapter 1
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Onigiri
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Rice balls, which actually tend to be triangle-shaped. They are usually wrapped in seaweed and stuffed with either fish flakes, pickled plums, or other condiments. (pg.31) Tarkus
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Tarkus is clearly a Towa Organization Agent-although a very underused one, as he hasn’t shown up in later novels. Could
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“Tarkus” be a sly reference to musical group Emerson Lake and Palmer’s second album? You decide. (pg.34) Paisley Park
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Yet another clever Prince reference. As Boogiepop fan “Scintilla”
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points out, “Paisley Park is the name of a studio complex Prince had built near his home.” (pg.36)
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Dance Club
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Literally a “live house” in Japanese, this type of establishment is the sort of bar where bands play. We opted to use the term dance club to clearly convey the setting, but keep in mind that a ‘club’
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in Japan tends to be of the bar hostess variety. (pg.45) Chapter 2
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I must save Masaki
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Aya’s original Japanese chant was unworkable in English. In Japanese, she actually whispers: “Masaki dake wa” (“Only Masaki”) over and over, and at the end, she adds: “Tasukenakya” (“I have to save”) We could have reversed this and have the chant read, “I have to save” over and over, with “Masaki” at the end, but the repetition of Masaki’s name here is important to the meaning of this passage.
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Hence, we translated it as, “I must save Masaki.” (pg.63) Shishou
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In case Masaki’s usage of the term Shishou isn’t clear, it means
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“master teacher.” (pg.68)
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Chapter 3
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Best. Typo. Ever.
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Sometimes, even editors can make mistakes. That’s why it’s always a good idea to have a proofreader watching your back, as evidenced by this hilarious goof:
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“I have already been saved by someone else!” I shouted.
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Asukai Jin frowned. “Oh? Who?”
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“B-noogiepop!”
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Chapter 4
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Standardize
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Andrew is quite proud of this term, but it is worth mentioning that in Japanese, he specifically said he was going to make every human psychologically identical; it’s a neat phrase, but not nearly as concise. “Put all human psyches in the same condition” would be the most literal translation. (pg. 140) Harite
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A move from sumo where you slap the side of your opponent’s face with an open hand. (pg. 140)
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Anti-Magnetic Sheets
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Okay, this seems to be a made-up term, but since googling it produces an alarming number of sites dedicated to Asukai Jin/ Spooky E slash fiction. . .one can never be too sure. (pg.141) Chapter 5
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Calorie Mate
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Tasteless, extremely dry cookie-like bars containing a lot of calo-ries and a balanced range of vitamins. Needless to say. . .they are horrible. (pg.154)
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Chapter 6
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Followers
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When Asukai Jin answers the phone to which only his followers know the number, the word used here is actually nakama, which means friends, comrades, or companions. However, those words in English make it unclear as to who is calling, so the word “followers” was substituted. (pg.176)
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Mosh Pit
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The original analogy here was “oshikuramanju,” which many Japanese to English dictionaries list as “to play push and shove.”
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It appears to be a game where a group of people stand very close to each other and shove one another. Except, in this book, aren’t these people sprawled out and lying on their sides? (pg. 186) Sun Tzu