Extra Translation Notes for 1st Touhou M-1 Grand Prix R



Watching the full video before reading this is recommended if you'd like to avoid spoilers.



SPOILERS BELOW

















M-1 Grand Prix

Touhou M-1 Grand Prix is a parody of M-1 Grand Prix, the Grand Prix for Manzai No. 1 of Japan.
M-1 Grand Prix is an annual manzai competition. Contestants go through five rounds of
eliminations before nine (formerly eight) teams, as well as the winner of a 'second-chance round'
are selected to move on to the finals which are televised. The three top-scoring teams then
perform a second time and the judges do a final vote to determine the winner.



--[Opening]--

This isn't translation related, but if you're wondering why the subtitles are higher on the screen
when the judges are speaking, it's because the black stroke/shadow of the subtitle text blended
with the nameplates' writing in a way that made the subtitles a bit hard to read sometimes.
The subtitles were moved above the nameplates to make the text more clear.

Rinnosuke (about Yuuka): "If the cuckoo does not sing, kill it."
"If the cuckoo does not sing, X" is a famous parable with 3 variations used to demonstrate
the philosophies of 3 famous Japanese warlords. "Kill it" represents Oda Nobunaga's philosophy.
The other two, "Make it sing" and "Wait for it to sing" are the philosophies of
Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu respectively.



--[Scarlet Mansion]--

Flandre: "I read Twilight every night before bed."
The original joke uses "Bessatsu Margaret", a shoujo manga magazine.

Flandre: "I got cold feet."
The original phrase used is "binbou yusuri" which refers to the act of involuntarily
shaking/fidgeting one's legs. Things like restless leg syndrome.

Flandre: "Hold her. Put her on your back. See you tomorrow."
These are lyrics from the Japanese children's song "Genkotsu Yama no Tanuki-san".



--[Yuyuko & Youmu]--

Yuyuko: "Yuuko 2: Imperishable Night"
The original line uses Phantasmagoria of Flower View instead of Imperishable Night.
"Imperishable Night" was only used in the subtitles to make it shorter due to
"Phantasmagoria of Flower View" being too much text for a split-second subtitle.



--[Barrier Girls]--

Yukari: "Hey, what's this?"
Reimu: "Your elbow?"
Yukari: "It didn't work."
In case it's unclear what's happening here, Yukari is (incorrectly) attempting to
make Reimu repeat a word several times, ask her to say another similarly-pronounced word,
and get her to accidentally say the original word instead.

Queer -> Sapporo -> Beer -> Hops
Original words are:
shinpuru ("simple", though in practice the word in Japanese typically means "plain")
Okinawa (prefecture)
chanpuru (a dish associated with Okinawa)
goya (an ingredient used in chanpuru)



--[Witch Doll]--

Marisa: "You may experience..."
The original phrase Marisa says ("to iu katachi ni narimasu") is a kind of expression that's
sometimes used in business or service settings. It roughly means "It has come to the form of X"
where 'X' is the actual main substance of the sentence. Phrases like this tend to get
added on to sentences because using uncommon terms and phrases sounds more "refined".
However, it doesn't actually convey anything meaningful, as it's akin to literally saying,
"Our scheduled meeting will take the form of starting at 2 o'clock."
which really just means, "Our meeting will start at 2 o'clock."
Hence, Alice tells Marisa off for arbitrarily saying it in strange sentences.



--[Witch Doll FINALS]--

Marisa: "I'll just borrow him. Ha-cha-cha."
Alice: "No you won't! Are you Mortimer?"
Marisa: "Mr Slicker."
The original character mentioned is Gian, a bully who does and takes things without asking, from
Doraemon. When Alice asks "Are you Gian?", Marisa responds with "Buta Gorilla" who is effectively
the exact same character as Gian but just from older material.



--[Scarlet Mansion FINALS]--

Flandre: "Am I The Checkers?"
The Checkers are an old Japanese band. Their song "Lullaby of a Jagged Heart"
begins with "I've been a problem child since I was little."

Cirno: "I'm a metaphoric straight man."
The term used here is "tatoe tsukkomi" which is a manzai term referring to when a retort
involves comparing the foolish remark to something else. An example of this is Flandre's
"Am I The Checkers?" response that she gives earlier in the manzai.

"Wooden tarp Asian"
In Japanese, Flandre is trying to get Cirno to say "donai'yanen" (basically meaning
"What the heck are you saying?") but she mistakenly says "dorai ahen," meaning "dry opium."

*Cirno off-screen after being pulled to the side the first time*
While it isn't subtitled, Cirno is audibly attempting to repeat the "what in tarnation" line to
varying degrees of success in the background after Flandre and Remilia return to the stage.
It's most noticeable during the scene transition to the mock trial where there's no other sound.


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Disclaimer / Clarification:

This document was voluntarily put together by the translator/subtitler.
It was written based on my personal understanding and interpretation of the dialogue.
It's possible that I've missed some jokes or references.

This is not an exhaustive list of every joke--only ones obscured by language or cultural barriers.
To demonstrate what I mean (and serve as a bonus for those who didn't get the reference),
here is an example of a reference that wouldn't normally be noted:

In Scarlet Mansion's first manzai, when Remilia loses balance, her unbalanced pose is
one of Morrigan's grab animations from the Darkstalkers fighting game series.