Mushi:Vol1 TLnotes
蟲と眼球とテディベア
Chapter One
kakka
Literally means "Your Highness" or "Your Excellency". The kanji is "閣下"
Rinne
Her given name is written with characters roughly meaning "sound of bells".
Daddy Long Legs
An anonymous benefactor. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daddy-Long-Legs_(novel)
Mushi and Bugs
Mushi means Bugs in Japanese. However, the kanji used here (and in the series title) is 蟲, as opposed to the one for bug, 虫.
Sentience
The ability to feel and perceive subjectively. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentience
... And for some reason, translating this particular portion of text reminded me of the Zerg :\
Filial Imprints
A phenomena where animals learn or imitate certain characteristics of a stimulus. Its used in this case to descibe animals which treat the first thing they see as its parents. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_(psychology)
Gankyuu Eguriko
Literally means Eyeball Gouger - a person that digs out eyeballs. The kanji is "眼球抉子"
Chapter Two
Pan An
The original compared Sakaki's features to that of Pan An, a legendarily handsome man in ancient China (original reads 貌似潘安). His elegance and beauty had been compared to that of 'a willow of jade swaying in the wind', and is considered to be one of the five most handsome men in Chinese history.
Since this cannot be translated appropriately into English, we've taken the liberty of placing this into the context of popular fantasy, which hopefully relates more to English readers. Surely we all know about Prince Charming xp.
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Neptune King
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptuneman. I don’t know anything about this.
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Yang Guifei
Once again, I have taken the liberty to change the original referrence, which was made to the extraordinarily beautiful Royal Consort Yang of the Tang Dynasty in ancient China, to another equally legendarily beautiful queen that English speakers would know more about.
Despite Mushi to Medama being written by a Japanese, Royal Consort Yang is known in the history of many far-eastern countries and would certainly have been known to the ancient Japanese. Her beauty had caused incest and civil war. At the end, she was condemned to the death since the king finally decided her beauty is a power of evil. The Chinese proverb 'woman is the the source of a flood of evil' stems from her.
Used in this context, it can be considered as an innuendo that Rinne is the key to Sakaki's downfall into sin and purgatory.
Like pocket bells, personal computers, sexual harassment, or convenience stores
The Japanese abbreviate pocket bell into 'pokeberu', personal computer into 'pasokon', sexual harassment into 'sekuhara', and convenience stores into 'konbini'.
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Doraemon
Robot cat from an old manga/anime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doraemon
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Chapter Three
Nutgall
Tumour-like growth of plant tissue caused by infectious agents such as bacteria and fungi. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutgall
The nutgall mentioned here is a specific type grown on certain poplar trees, extremely poisonous, and used in traditional Chinese medicine. It is also the name of the traditional Japanese story mentioned here.
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Obake no Q-tarō
This is an old manga/animation involving a little mischievious ghost who's horrified of dogs. It was serialized between 1964-1966 and 1971-1974 as a manga, and was adopted into animation 3 times during the 60s, 70s and 80s.
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Chapter Five
Indulgence
A form of penance certificate given out by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages and thought to be able to discount any sins the person had already confessed and been forgiven. Detailed information from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence.
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Guriko's Offering
Getter Robo
An old manga/animation that had 'New' Getter Robos, which involved improved designs of normal Getter Robos. It is referred here as joke about Guriko's attempt at changing her own name. More information is in the wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getter_Robo
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