Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Tokyo Calling! Fujita Maiko - Unmei no Hito English Translation



I am finally going to Japan in about a weeks time! I've only been to Japan once before, when I was around 11, and only to Nagasaki and Fukuoka, and truthfully, I don't remember much except for going to Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch-style theme park in Kyushu. Yeah, go figure. This time, I'm (finally) going to Tokyo. The whole trip got planned so suddenly, so it hasn't quite sunk into me yet, but I'm excited. I'll be taking lots of pictures, eating yummy food and hopefully doing lots of touristy stuff. I bust out my Berlitz Japanese phrase book and then gave up trying to cram Japanese in one week. I can say "Where is the bathroom?" and "Help!" so I'm set. I'm just going to have to rely on my friend who's fluent in Japanese. Well, I'm pretty sure I picked up enough random Japanese phrases from watching anime and J-dorama, so I guess I'll see how applicable that is in functioning in Japan.

I'm not staying for long, but if any of you have any recommendations of places I should visit/ things I should do, please leave a comment! Oh, just a little request, I do love reading everyone's comments but so many are anonymous ones--no need to sign in to any account, but if you can leave behind just a little s/n or nickname after the post to help me identify who you are, that would be great. Because I usually do recognize familiar names of people who emailed/ post on Yahoo or ff.net, and I like putting names to... words.

I was introduced to Fujita Maiko, a talented albeit rather underrated singer-songwriter by Selenity Shiroi and promised her that I would translated "Unmei no Hito" when I finished Chapter 66 of New Trials. I didn't realize it would take so long. You can find the romanization on her livejournal account. I translated mostly from Korean which is syntactically very similar to Japanese, but as always, a lot of the poetic syntax is lost when translated into English, so this is a working translation. Please feel free to suggest any changes; I just tried to stay true to the initial gist of the lyrics, which are very beautiful indeed but somehow doesn't sound quite right in English. I thought they especially related well to Chapter 66 and Card Captor Sakura in general. Thanks to Selenity for introducing me to this song.

運命の人 - Unmei no Hito

Fujita MaikoFated Person
romanization by Selenity Shiroi
English Translation by Wish-chan

daijoubu itsumo chanto waratteru yo
demo dare to itemo nani ka tarinai

It’s all right, I’m fine, always smiling a lot
But even if I’m with someone, something is missing

ima anata ga koko ni kuruwakenai no ni
aketa mado kara mieta mangetsu
suzumushi no koe ga sabishisa sasou kara
osaeta kimochi mata sawagi dasu

Even though there is no reason for you to come here
The full moon that can be seen through the open window
The cry of the crickets call out their loneliness
Suppressed feelings start to waver again

anata ni aitakute kurushiku naru yoru wa
harisaki sou dayo
dare ka wo omoutte konna kimochi nanda
soba ni ite hoshii

On a night when I want to see you and become anguished
I feel like I am going to burst.
So, to think of somebody is this kind of feeling
Please stay by my side.

chigau sonna koto ga iitainjanai
sunao ni narezu ni kuyashiku naru
hontou wa sabishii dake da to kitsuite
tsuyogari sugite umaku ikanai


No, I didn’t want to say those kind of things
It’s frustrating that I couldn’t become more honest
Truthfully, I realized it was just loneliness,
Pretending to be so strong and stubborn didn’t work out too well


tatta hitori unmei no hito ga iru nara anata ga ii no ni
anata hodo suki ninareta hito wa inai no
nee minuite hoshii

If there is just one fated person, I would like it to be you
There is no one that I like as much as you
Please, notice.

anata ga issho ni itai no wa dare desu ka
sabishige na senaka wo omoi dasu to setsunakute

Who is the person that you want to be with...?
I feel regretful recalling your lonely back...

anata ni aitakute kurushiku naru yoru wa
harisaki sou dayo
dare ka wo omoutte konna kimochi nanda
soba ni ite hoshii
anata hodo suki ni nareta hito wa inai no
donna mirai da to shitemo anata wa watashi no unmei no hito

On a night when I want to see you and become anguished
I feel like I am going to burst.
So, to think of somebody is this kind of feeling
Please stay by my side.
There is no one that I like as much as you...
No matter what the future holds, you are my fated person.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

New Trials Chapter 66: The Truth in the Heart



I wonder if it's just me, but in the summer time, the heat makes my brain function twice as slowly. Chapter 66 of New Trials is up for real this time, a month later than I intended, but it's a long one so hopefully it would be worth the wait. I was supposed to post it up yesterday, but I fell asleep before I finished editing. Truthfully, I'm still not quite satisfied, but I felt bad keeping everyone waiting any longer.

Without further ado:
Chapter 66: The Truth in the Heart

Spoilerish but not really: It's a chapter where a lot of people act like idiots and a lot of characters appear. I am starting to wish Sakura only had 5 points in her star circle. Lol. But I do enjoy writing about all the characters, especially expanding more on Jinyu and Kara. I remember I posted a character design for Kara back in 2003-ish, and everybody was speculating who she actually was. There was even a poll, and I was impressed many people guessed correctly simply based on her dress. Who knew it would take so many years to be able to write about her. I'm glad to give Jinyu more "screentime" as well. He was supposed to be a silent character, but while it can work in visual works aka anime/ manga/ movies, it's pretty impossible to do that in writing. And I never planned on Leiyun being an otaku, either. He was such a cool character, I don't know what happened to him. In a sense, this chapter signifies a new semi-arc, and I am pretty excited about writing the following chapters, much as I had difficult writing this one.

When I grow sick of all the songs on my playlist, I usually end up returning to the classics. U2's is always a song that always finds its way back onto my playlist, which I think is an indication it's a timeless song. Not that U2 needs anymore publicity. But I think it's a song that fits well with the theme of Chapter 66.