Golden Time:Volume3 Translator's Notes
Translator's Notes[edit]
Scarlet Letter[edit]
↑This is a translation of the expression, 淫の 字, meaning literally "letter of unchastity". Since the usage of this expression approximates in many ways the old "Scarlet Letter", I used that as the translation, though in fact there is no indication in the text that the letter would be red. In fact, it would be tattooed or branded on her forehead. Whether this was once done literally, I cannot say.
See The Scarlet Letter for more background on this old puritan custom.
French?[edit]
↑It turns out that Kouko is taking French class (see here). Here, though, she is trying to use English in the same way a rich English-speaking girl might use French, so I am using French to give the same impression here.
The original text in Japanese had, literally, in English, "My Boyfriend..."
Later, in chapter 3, Kouko tells Mitsuo, in English, "Go Home", which I have done again in French: Rentre chez toi.
In the anime as shown on CrunchyRoll, the voice part was of course left in the original Japanese, and Kouko is saying these things in English . . . and the subtitles were done in English as well. But in that case, the shock effect of Kouko's voice suddenly coming out in Japanese-accented English was fully there to anybody half listening, as opposed to simply reading the subtitles.
Conan Pun[edit]
↑There is some word play going on here. コナン (Conan) and 困難 (konnan =difficult/hard) sound almost the same.
Reshiki[edit]
↑This song is by the artist Reshiki, and the title is taken from a political buzz-phrase created by Hideo Higashikokubaru during his campaign to become the mayor of Miyazaki in 2007. Reference the Japan Times article here. The music video can be found here. It's a catchy tune, though I personally fail to see the connection between the song and the slogan. Banri must have been hearing the later part.
Face-Mein[edit]
↑This is a pun. The normal word for the surface of one's face is 顔面 (gan-men = face-surface). Here, however, Chinami has substituted the word for noodles, 麵, which has the same reading 'men' as the kanji for 'surface'. Hence Mitsuo's confused look in the second panel of the manga adaptation, chapter 26, page 19. I have used "mein" for noodles because these noodles are explicitly Chinese noodles. Think "chow mein."
Masquerade[edit]
↑Another pun. The subtitle of this volume, 仮面舞踏会 (kamenbutoukai) means ‘masquerade.’ The word used here, 顔麵舞踏会, is pronounced the same, but the first three beats (かめん = ka-me-n) now mean ‘face-noodles’ rather than ‘mask’ or ‘disguise.’
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