#Mangastream

[richardsondavis]

So I started reading Jujutsu Kaisen and I know that I am pro-official translation but this time, I'll have to concede to my roots. I'm going back to the scanlations of JJK and to my surprise it's by JaiminisBox whom I regard as one of the greats of my scanlation years. When I was reading MHA I got to see them and they were great. And the fact that they don't have a watermark is just GOATED. Sad to see that they went down the drain when Shueisha launched its own app.

I'm not much for mangastream. Mostly because I find their Chainsaw Man translation to be the cause of that Twitter drama but then again, why would I get affected by this drama. It makes me uncomfortable, yes but it shouldn't worry me much. I know myself and I know what I like so I'll stick to my principles.

Okay, back to JJK. I was just interested to see what it was but the first chapter isn't really doing it for me. Maybe it's because it's just D.Gray-Man but more shounen.

[hq-analysis]

Haikyuu!! Chapter 242: The Chance That Connects

The cover and title pretty much sums up the chapter. It is the third years who decide the match. It is the third years that make Karasuno. 

They are the chance that connects. 

Chance favors the prepared mind.

That experience, that moment, that advice from their captain shape them into the people and players they are.

Since then, they connect their past and their future, their senpais and their kouhais. They carry all of their hopes and dreams, regrets and disappointments. They don’t let themselves falter and become the unshakable foundation of Karasuno that finally achieves the once impossible dream. They might be less flashy or noticeable than their kouhais, but they are the reason why their kouhais can soar so high and shine so brightly.

The last point feels like the culmination of all the sweat and tears, all the patience and persistence for the third years, because everyone are involved in connecting the plays. From their kouhais who flourish under their guidance and support…

to themselves who makes everything possible.

Chance does favor the prepared mind.

Captain Tashiro has left his mark on Karasuno. He has laid down the foundation of the current Karasuno.  This is his team as much as Daichi’s and Kurokawa’s. I am really happy that both he and Kurokawa have the chance to come and see themselves how strong Karasuno has become.

Regardless… the MVP for this match is the one and only SUGAWARA KOUSHI! <3333

Suga is the very personification of chance favors the prepared mind. He observes very carefully of the opponent from the sidelines, preparing himself and finally seizing his chance when it comes.

Congratulations, Karasuno for your first win in the Nationals! Go go Karasuno!

[transhawks]

Love going on Viz to find out Caleb did not translate it as "my back isn't broad enough" and instead did some dumb shit "with my neck on the line."" completely fucking up the meaning of that line and how important it was.

[ramjam]

nobody asked but i finally found the source text so i could properly fix this mistranslation. i may have not picked up all the characters correctly, but this is the correct translation. compared to the weird way mangastream has mistranslated it. like what:

[everycanute]

[delku]

i feel like "quirklessness being outright referred to as a birth defect by deku" REALLY flies under the radar in discussions by the way. like, that is ridiculously important to his (and others') perception of it. (i was going to quote the mangastream translation here (due to me misremembering how it went), but not only does it not do this, it... completely missed that deku was using that thin veneer of "a friend" to keep ofa secret.)

[wrongplaceworsttime]

me considering getting back into opm like:

i’ll just read the whole thing! oh wait that’s 160 chapters? hmm nevermind then, i’ll just read the monster association arc. that’s when i left off anyways, so that means i start at... chapter 78?? you mean this single arc is over half of the entire series at this point?! wait... if that’s the case then why not read from the beginning? 

or i guess i could always go find the last chapter i was caught up with and start from there... but that was years ago and i doubt that i remember the specifics of the arc :/

[kugisakiss]

what shounen jump series are you reading if any?

the ones I'm all caught up on: one piece, jjk, hero aca, witch watch, pppppp, mashle, hunterxhunter...

and I've got a couple others I've read the first few chapters of that I need to catch up on...

[just-absolutely-super]

ahhh I remember loving that Luffy's alias was "Lucy"

[nicastamatis]

i really love the way that, rather than lulling you into a false sense of security, oshimi chooses to make every mundane moment feel foreboding... every page feels cloying and claustrophobic, even when its two kids sitting on a bench in an open field

[kyanitedragon]

Viz uses "Kuzen" and Mangastream used "Dad."

I was wondering what the Japanese said...

...and the answer? Both.

The sentence itself says Kuzen (功善) with Father (父 / chichi) in the furigana.

[twomiddlefingersforthehaters]

(I've already talked about this before but I can't stop talking about it)

Raw: これで... これでやっとオレは.. なれる) ーーーじゃあな。 オレ唯一の... 友よ!!

Romaji: kore de... kore de yatto ore wa............. hitori ni nareru) ーーー jāna. ore yuitsu no ....tomoyo!!

Literal: (With this... With this now I can finally.... be alone) --- See ya. My one and only... friend!!

It's so intense, he deliberately pauses his words ("my one and only") as he looks into those blue eyes, then adds 'friend' to the sentence in an aggressive tone. And that word 'friend ' was completely separated in the next panel.

The typeface used in each panel is different and that's how it's usually used, thus it describes the situations.

Raw: その唯一がオレだからよ

Romaji: sono yuitsu ga oredakarayo

Literal: Because I'm your one and only.

Here Naruto completely cuts 'friend' out of the sentence, as he stares at Sasuke intently and says 'I'm your one and only'. [The Look on Naruto's Face when he saying this. Just look at it!!]

And Other translation be like 'oops! They are so gay, you better add friend or something to it'

1. VIZ

2. Mangapanda

3. Mangastream

[hq-analysis]

Haikyuu!! Chapter 244: Weakness Number 6

I must admit that I find this chapter as especially hilarious, mostly due to Bokuto and the reactions of his teammates, Akaashi’s in particular.

The long awaited meeting of the small giants. Finally! (And Yamaguchi’s first reaction is to glance at Hinata? Surprised to see another short player? Or wondering which one is shorter/taller? Or wanting to see what scene Hinata’s gonna make?)

All three manage straight two sets win. The difference lays in the scores.

Karasuno (25-23, 25-23)

Nekoma (29-27, 25-21)

Fukurodani (25-22, 25-21)

Based solely on scores, I’d say Fukurodani’s the strongest team, followed by Nekoma then Karasuno. However, if we consider the circumstances of each win, Nekoma and Karasuno are pretty even, and Fukurodani is much stronger than the two teams. Fukurodani has the largest gaps with his opponent compared to the others and that’s without Bokuto in full throttle. It’s likely the score gap will be wider if Bokuto’s more involved in the attacks.

Now, Nekoma is the only team that reach the score beyond 25, but it is rather typical of the slow starter team. Regardless, Karasuno has the same problem with adjusting Kageyama and yet they still manage to finish the first set with 25 points. In the second set, Nekoma manages to win more decisively likely without substitution while Karasuno struggles more that they put in Suga for the last points. However, it is based on the assumption that their opponents are more or less in the same level. If not, well… we can throw this analysis out of the window.

Otherwise, it still stands that Fukurodani’s the more well rounded team with skilled members, Nekoma’s the more defense-oriented and -skilled team and Karasuno’s the offense-oriented and -skilled team. Thus, objectively I can see why Fukurodani’s the best candidate for the spring high champion. While I have no idea who will come on top between Karasuno and Nekoma. By virtue of narrative, I can see Karasuno winning, but Nekoma winning will be no less interesting.

Well, let’s just wait and see?

Yup, that’s Eiwa, who loses to Fukurodani. Remember the fate of the last team who wears headband?

[codenamesazanka]

I need help writing the league of villains for a fan fiction. Like can you give me tips on to write their dialogue and stuff like that

Thanks for the ask! Here are some things that I think would be helpful, but please be aware that it's my approach to writing the League the way I interpret them. I'm sure there's people who finds my fic wildly inaccurate in terms of characterization. Sometimes I go back months later and disagree with my own stuff, given new information or outlook. You'll have different interpretations than me, and that's okay. And thus,

Tip #1: First of all, it’s fanfic, it’s fun, and it’s yours. You can do whatever the heck you want! It does not matter at all what you do with the characters, their dialogue, their personalities, their relationships, etc. I’ve read plenty of AU fanfics where I could not recognize Shigaraki Tomura/Shimura Tenko, despite the character having the name, but I still liked the story okay. Really, it’s all up to you and what you want. 

That said, to actually answer your question:

Tip #2: Re-read the manga. Read the scanlations - multiple versions from different scanlation groups. Read the official. No version will be perfect, some are better than others (Viz Official has its issues, but it is done by a professional translator and I tend towards it; Fallen Angels (Chapters 1-150s) was the first to scanlate and iirc they even included translation commentary at the end of their chapters; I found mangastream to be more accurate than Jaimini (Chapters 150-250s)), but having a variety of translations will give you insight into the intention of a dialogue, and different ways of achieving it. Read the original Japanese, if you can. 

Tip #2.5: Best way to figure a character, I find, is to describe the panels they’re in as if you’re writing a very plain, objective, impartial image description. Now you have an overview of their outward behavior, their actions, their dialogue. Using that, you have the basis for developing their motivations and personality. It’s the difference between ‘Shigaraki used gamer lingo a few times here, so he is a gamer... therefore he’s obsessed with games and that’s all he does’ and ‘In the first 100 chapters of the story, despite speaking sometimes like a gamer, Shigaraki is actually seen reading newspapers rather than holding a game console’.

Put another way, don’t assume generalized descriptions or traits for a character and write them based on that. You risk writing a trope or archetype or situation rather than the actual character. 

When a loved one dies suddenly, people will be in shock, before sobbing and weeping uncontrollably. That’s generally true, but the character may manifest grief in a different way. Someone close to Toga is killed - what does she do? You can write her breaking down crying, that’s perfectly reasonable. But if you look at the manga, when Twice is killed, she doesn’t cry right away. She gets angry; she lashes out. She’s deeply hurt by his murder, of course! But the tears she sheds for his passing are few in the immediate aftermath - her grief mostly takes the form of slicing Heroes’ throats.

Tip #3: Read everything else, for inspiration, for background knowledge, for tone, for your own gain outside of fandom.

Just the other day, I read Real, the wheelchair basketball manga by Inoue Takehiko. Its three main characters are marginalized by proper society - two because they’re disabled, one because he’s a high school dropout - and there were moments where I was reminded of the League’s situation. In the first chapter, the high school dropout makes a final visit to school where his teachers didn’t think much of him, and his classmates looked down on him. As he leaves, he thinks to himself that everything he does ends in failure and he’s an idiot, all the while he takes a dump at the school gates as a parting gift.

While I can’t see anyone from the League doing that exactly shot for shot, the spirit of it - being seen as a fuck up, being unwanted, being defiant in face of that, even in a inadvisable way - is similar.

Tip #3.5: Another book I’ve read years ago is Codes of the Underworld: How Criminal Communicate. It was very informative, and I think back to it sometimes when I write for the League. 

Criminals face severe constraints on communication imposed by the action of the law, and, unlike the rest of us, cannot easily develop institutions aimed at circumventing them. This central feature of criminal lives makes communication and above all reliable communication exceptionally hard to sustain. For instance, the same secrecy that protects criminals from the law hinders their opportunities to advertise their goods and qualities… In the underworld, moreover, punishments for mistakes and irrational behavior are harsher than they are elsewhere. In the world of regular business, failures of communication can lead to a loss of business, but in the underworld they can result in years behind bars, or worse.

I don’t follow it exactly, because the League is in a children’s fantasy story, and maybe this was obvious but now that it was written out to me, I know how to give the Villains an “edge” to them that a non-Villain might not have, because as Villains, they do often logically would to be secretive and brutal and cautious. Dabi walking around in broad daylight meant their hideout was discovered and All Might literally took down the wall to the bar; a breakdown in negotiations with Overhaul meant Magne dying and Compress getting his arm blown off. 

Tip #4: Related, let the League be assholes, because sometimes they are. Let them be mean and cruel and problematic. Sometimes they’ll be jerks to each other. Nearly all of them grew up in bad circumstances where they probably were not taught important lessons and details about respect and boundaries and being nice. They are definitely not going to be aware of the intricacies of fandom's (oft-American and oft-terminally-online) consensus about problematic behavior. And that’s fine. 

I remember once receiving an ask about why Shigaraki would pull Twice’s mask off in Chapter 224. Wasn’t that terrible of Shigaraki? Yeah, it was. It was also the quickest, most efficient way to get Twice to quit his arguing with the rest of the League, so Shigaraki can announce that they are going to rescue Giran (what Twice was arguing for). After that, he puts the mask back on for Twice. If you ask me, I’d say Shigaraki thinks this evens out - he does something mean that he knows will freak out Twice for a moment, but it’s because he’s arguing for Twice’s side, and he’s putting on the mask back at the end. 

You and I would likely never do something like that because we know taking away someone’s important assistive aid, even for a moment, hurts them and we don’t want to cause them pain for even a second if we could help it/there’s not ‘evening it out’/it demonstrates a power unbalance that perpetuates ableism/there are other ways to stop someone and grab attention/we know not to touch someone even the slightest without permission/etc. But does the character you’re writing know all this? Does he care? Does he think it’s worth following these rules? Does he have time for it, does he have incentives for it, does he have the lucidity, does he think he’s an exception because of this and that, etc, etc. 

A lot of things, most people often just don’t know until they’re taught to be specifically aware. As an example: When I was younger, I knew broadly that taking things without permission was bad; but what if I took these pair of scissors from my friend’s desk and used it and put it back before the owner knew? The owner is my friend. They once told me it was okay to take it, so it counts even today, right? It was just a pair of scissors, a common household item. My friend did not care; still does not care. But knowing what I do now about things like violations of boundaries, explicit consent, the continuation of these concepts for the most trivial and mundane things even in the deepest of friendship or familial ties - I feel the need to ask to use something. That’s me and what I’ve learned through the years, though. It’s probably not going to be [fictional character].

And sometimes the League are just bad people. Shigaraki tried to kill Toga and Dabi at their first meeting. Mr. Compress is seemingly a-okay with kidnapping and murder despite his ancestor being more of a Robin Hood type. Spinner likely knowingly doomed his family to even worse ostracism and harassment from his fantasy-racist hometown when he ran off to join a group of well-televised terrorists. 

That’s also fine. They’re not real. They’re fictional Villains, and you’re temporarily using them as hand-puppets to tell a story. 

Tip #5. For dialogue, it helps knowing what each character’s voice/speaking style sounds like. Some basics:

Shigaraki: 

“Shigaraki speaks with the normal masculine contracted speech, but with a sinister tone. Surprisingly not very cussy. He likes aggravating other people though.”

Caleb Cook notes that Shigaraki talks like an overgrown kid. (In comparison to ReDestro, who “uses more SAT words, since he’s had a formal education.”)

He can be a sarcastic smartass.

Kurogiri:

“Kurogiri is Extremely Polite”

He only refers to Shigaraki as ‘Shigaraki Tomura’. Always the full name, always just that.

He speaks very formally and respectfully; however, there is also a nastier side to him that comes out when he faces off Heroes: Saying to All Might, “I can't say I like the idea of having blood and guts inside my gate, but… if they're yours, I’ll happily oblige.” (Chapter 18); mocking Eraserhead and Mic when they're being sad over him, “Have you mistaken this place for a confessional of some kind?” (Chapter 254)

Dabi: 

“Dabi is like Shoto but ruder, though not to Bakugo’s extent”

He calls people names: Toga most often, as 'crazy'; he called Spinner 'lizard' once; when he first met Shigaraki, he said 'gross'.

Note that all the examples above are people younger than him; as far as I know, Dabi refrains from name-calling his allies who are older than him: Compress, Twice, Skeptic.

He inexplicably politely calls Ujiko ‘Ujiko-san’.

Compress:

“Compress is kind of like Sero. He’s got that trickster tone to him. Gets rougher when things don’t go his way.”

Likes to call himself an ‘old man’ at age 32; talks like an older gentleman as well. 

Twice: 

Twice contradicts himself a lot. Generally, he says one thing, his alter then says the opposite of that immediately afterwards. 

However, when things are urgent or serious, his alter’s speech fades. See Chapter 148, when he confronts Shigaraki about the Overhaul plan - he spills out his feelings with no contradiction. See Chapter 224, after they find out Giran’s been kidnapped - when arguing with the League about whether to say Giran, he’s completely coherent. 

Twice argues back with the alter sometimes, rather than the alter simply blurting out the opposite of what he says. 

After he gets over his clone trauma, the alter seemed to have…integrated into himself? He still speaks in contradictions, but less so, and it doesn’t seem to be a separate voice speaking out involuntarily

Spinner: 

“Spinner also speaks the normal masculine contracted speech like Kirishima and Kaminari, but he talks like Tokoyami during the Forest Lodge arc because he’s a Stain chuuni.”

An average, normal guy, compared to the rest of the League: not very polite, but not particularly rude; no great wit or affect (after he stops being a Stain fanboy), but not unintelligible; game references infrequently.

Giran: 

“Giran is also like speaks the normal masculine contracted speech similar to Shoto, but he’s a lot more mature.”

He calls Shigaraki “Shigaraki-san”, being polite towards him as a customer. 

He calls Twice by his last name, ‘Bubaigawara’, likely because they seem to be friends beyond just business. 

Toga: 

Toga is a generally polite girl, talks like a teenager. 

She can be bad at explaining herself! Seems to forget the people are lacking context for the things she says. “Hey, my best friend Jin just got killed by a Hero, which makes me sad, as well as worried that I'm going to be cut down like nothing as well, especially because I've been told how abnormal I am, even though I think I'm a normal person just like you, because I have emotions like love and fear, as any regular human does, and that lifetime of repression has hurt me.” -> Whatever she actually says to Uraraka in Chapter 289.

Only Toga uses first names with honorifics with the other League members. This is her being cute and desiring familiarity, but still polite. 

　◦ Twice is ‘Jin-kun’

　◦ Shigaraki is ‘Tomura-kun’

　◦ Dabi is, at first ‘Dabi-kun’; after she finds out he’s Touya, he’s ‘Touya-kun’ 

　◦ Spinner is ‘Spinner-kun’

　◦ However, Mr. Compress is simply ‘Mister’ 

Conversely, only Mr. Compress and Twice call her ‘Toga-chan’. All the 20-somethings dudes call her just ‘Toga’. 

*Note what the League calls each other. They all call each other using Villain names. If the male members of the League are using first names and honorifics for each other, they’ve either gotten extremely close and intimate and weirdly polite, or they’re being possessed by AFO. 

Tip #5.5. Instead of fretting over writing good dialogue right away, just write whatever you need to get a scene over with. You can go back later to change the tone and speaking style of the sentence.

Here’s a line I had for Dabi at first: 

“Whatever hospital he works at should be shut down for incompetency in background checks.”

Wayyy too formal. Here’s the line after I went back and fixed it:

“Whatever hospital he works at should be shut down for being shit at background checks.”

Still not my best shot, but better. Sometimes all you need is just to change a word. 

Tip #6. Humor. The League is ridiculous and hilarious. Always try to have fun with their interactions and antics.

[lostcauses-noregrets]

When Hange and Levi are talking to Yelena and Onyankopon, does Levi actually say something about Erwin laughing about something that Yelena says? I remember seeing someone say that somewhere, but idk if it was true. Do you know what I’m talking about?

I'm tagging @tsuki-no-ura here because this is definitely one to file under A Question of Translation. This exchange takes place in chapter 106 when Yelena explains to Levi and Hange that the pure Titans Marley unleashed on the island, which were originally intended to confine the Eldians inside the walls, were actually preventing Marley from attacking. The panel you're asking about is Levi's response, and I actually have three different versions of it.

The first is from the fan translation of the raws:

The second is from Mangastream, so I presume this is a semi (?) official translation of the chapter:

And the third is from the English edition of the tankobon (I think):

There was a huge amount of debate about this panel when it first appeared. The fan translation did not specifically mention Erwin but, many fans took the "he" to refer to him, meanwhile other readers argued that a better translation would have been something along the lines of "what a joke" or "don't make me laugh". Much as I love the fan translation, I'm inclined to think the Mangastream version is more accurate. The tankobon version seems to lack character. I haven't got a copy of the original and my Japanese is non existent anyway, so I'd be interested to see what Tsuki thinks.

[elmaxlys]

The Line™: Analysis

The Line™ is from :re 107, Donato talking to Urie as he's about to dismember Hige. It is as follow:

English (mangastream): "Taste how it feels. How I feel. How cruel it is. Cruel to be one of those who can only but watch over others."

Italian (J-pop): "Proverai quello che ho provato io. È dura assistere senza poter fare nulla." (You will feel what I (emphasis) felt. It's hard to spectate without being able to do anything.)

French (Glénat): Tu vas sentir ce que j'ai éprouvé. C'est si cruel d'être un simple spectateur. (You will feel what I endured. It is so cruel to be a mere spectator.)

As I do not know Japanese, this will not be an analysis about the accuracy of these translations but rather of the stylistic choices and the different messages they convey despite being translations of the same line.

Disclaimer, I first experienced this chapter through Mangastream's translation.

Second disclaimer, I am still learning Italian.

Let's see together why:

One of the strengths of the Mangastream translation of that line is the repetitions: "Taste how it feels. How I feel. How cruel it is. Cruel to be one of those who can only but watch over others." That makes the pronoun change only even more glaringly obvious and I love it. We go from general to personal to general again and it can be seen in the words used I LOVE IT. It's all woven together.

The use of imperative instead of the 2nd person indicative like in French and Italian makes the power Donato has over him in that moment so much stronger. Sure, the Italian uses the future, which can have an imperative value - but the correct mode slaps you right in the face with it. It's brutal, like Donato is being. The future, here, softens the blow. And the French? Near future with "aller". In terms of imperative, I want to say it's a slight step above the future simple, but more than that, near future with "aller" in the 2nd person sounds like a threat.

Why my beef with it, then, you might wonder. Well it sounds (as in the actual spoken sounds) weak and soft. "tu va sentir ce que j'ai éprouvé." Too much softness in there, you can't feel the threat. At most, you can feel a hissing sound and get reminded of a snake -> sly -> the devil etc but, mostly, it sounds weak to me. Compare with the English "Taste how it feels. How I feel." Donato is spitting these words, they're whistling between his teeth. He's angry.

And the "it"? Neutral pronoun. Abstraction. It's a general feeling that comes with the situation Donato is describing. Anyone can feel it. But then we redirect it! Straight at Donato. It becomes personal. We readers were not yet aware of Donato's grudge toward Mikito. But we know it's personal from that line only. And it's in present tense!! In French and Italian, it's a past, finished, tense (which also disconnects from the earlier use of future in that sentence, which can be interpreted several ways). But in English he still feels that way. Why? Because at the time this scene takes place, Koutarou is still out of his reach.

About the disconnection between the future and past tenses in French, here are my thoughts:

if I'm generous, it shows the distance Donato puts between himself and Urie. Donato is so much older, he has lived so many more things, has felt things Urie can't even begin to imagine.

what actually comes to mind when I read the sentence: the distance feels physical. It has no bearings. Donato has felt that before. Big deal. And now Urie will feel these. Wow. Nothing is anchored in the present so why is it relevant.

Another thing with the French is how it changes the verb. In English, we keep "feel"; in Italian, we keep "provare". In French, we go from "sentir" (feel) to "éprouver" (suffer, endure). This breaks what I said about the threat. Not only does "sentir" feel extremely soft, it is also extremely underwhelming, especially when put next to motherfucking "éprouver". With éprouver you can feel the pain, the weight. It's a miserable verb. And on top of that, with the "pr" it sounds wayyy more harsh than sentir. So with all we've said, here's how I'd rephrase the French:

Tu vas éprouver ce que moi j'ai éprouvé. (you will endure what I (emphasis) have endured)

"But Max, you kept the opposition future/past you complained about!" Nicely caught! See, with the repetition of the same verb but mostly with the emphasis on "I" ("moi"), it redirects the feels onto Donato's. And it instantly becomes a big deal. There's no distance anymore. Donato is involved. We breach straight into my generous analysis, only thanks to that "moi". Languages, amirite?

And you know one thing? That French sentence I just wrote is the direct translation of the Italian line. So while I think the Italian line isn't as strong as the English one for stylistic reasons that were my first point, I think it's still way more solid than the French.

Now let's delve into that second panel, shall we?

As a reminder:

EN: How cruel it is. Cruel to be one of those who can only but watch over others.

FR: C'est si cruel d'être un simple spectateur.

IT: È dura assistere senza poter fare nulla.

First thing we notice is English made two sentences. The repetition is, again, a strength. Second thing we notice, the English is twice as long. What's up with that. (spoiler: writing skills)

Now I want to bring to your attention the verbs used to describe the powerlessness. In English, "watch"; in Italian, "assistere" (spectate, witness, so really just watch); in French, "être" (be). I am assuming you all know what dynamic and stative verbs are so with that out of the way, you'll notice that the French is, out of the three, the only one to use a stative verb. This reinforces the powerlessness. It is not an action that is being done, it's a state of being that is being imposed on him.

What about the adjectives? In English, we have the intensive "how" on top of the repetition of the adjective "cruel". In French, we have the intensive "si" to insist on "cruel", again. In Italian, we have no intensive and we have an adjective that means "difficult" instead of the "cruel" we can find in both French and English. To what effect? In the English, this act of watching comes off as crueler and more painful than what Donato is about to do to Higemaru. In French, it's way less intense but we still understand the affect tying Donato to what he's saying. In Italian, however, it's a mere formality. It's a game, almost, and Donato has no involvement, no tie, which is sad because he had established one in his previous line, albeit briefly, through "io".

And now the rest:

In Italian, it's about the impossibility of action. It's about the immobility. This is interesting because the previous panels, when Donato describes what he's about to do, the Italian translation puts a lot of emphasis on this immobility "senza muovere né braccia né gambe" (without moving either arms or legs). For Italian Donato, what was the worst part of Cochlea was being confined and having had his freedom taken away.

In French, I like it a lot because it contradicts directly what Roma says later: "Je préfère rester dans le public, à huer, comme une simple spectatrice qui détruit les acteurs quand le numéro est nul." (I prefer to stay in the audience, booing, like a mere spectator who destroys the actors when their act sucks.) Here, Donato uses the same words Roma will later use in 135: "simple spectateur" (it's in feminine form for Roma, of course, but you get it). While Donato resents the cruelty of it all, the inaction of it, Roma basks in it. But Roma also acts on it, she's not a powerless spectator, despite her words. No, she's a spectator who destroys. It's that opposition between "simple" and "détruire" that defines Roma: even outside, she still plays a role - and she doesn't like it when she does have to act. Donato, on the other hand, through this sentence, comes off as the very opposite. Staying outside, alone in this experience, is painful. Here, it joins Uta's words in ch116. In French, "J'aimerais être plus impliqué. La solitude me pèse. Toi aussi, n'est-ce pas ?" (I'd like to be involved more. Loneliness weighs on me. On you as well, isn't it?) which Donato refutes immediately, like the liar he is. I would have liked more emphasis on the cruelty because as it stands, this line is pretty good in its implications but it's not perfect in terms of weight.

Now onto the English. "one of those who can only but watch over others". "one of those" humbles him but also implies he's not alone in this situation. Is he referring to other Cochlea prisoners? Is he referring to God or a divine plane? Honestly, I lean toward the second one. Why? Because of "watch over". For a second as I planned this whole analysis I became worried that it didn't mean what I thought it did, as one does. So I went to look in online dictionaries and I turned to Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries, and the former gave me this definition: "to exercise protecting care over; to keep in constant view in order to preserve from harm or error." while Cambridge gave me "to protect someone and make certain that they are safe" and I don't know for you guys but it sounds more like something divine than something Cochlea prisoners would do. On top of that, but maybe this is reaching too far, is the literal meaning of "over" when Cochlea is underground. And a final word on my favorite part of that sentence "only but". Even in French I have a weak spot for the restrictive negation, as it so elegant, but "only but" sounds so pretty, this is the shittiest argument in this whole thing and I had to end with this but Oxford dictionary lists it as poetic so I stand my ground.

Thank you for reading until here, don't hesitate to tell me what you think - and if you're Italian to correct me on anything I might have gotten wrong 🥰🥰