Extra Translation Notes for 3rd Touhou M-1 Grand Prix



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



SPOILERS BELOW

















--[Opening]--

"Losers bracket"
Technically this is not a losers bracket, as there is no bracket being used in it.
It's a type of repechage in which those who fell just short of making it to the final televised
competition are put into a separate, special round where the teams are given a second chance
to make it back into the main competition. This applies to the rest of the series
where the term "losers bracket" is used.



--[Yuyuko & Youmu]--

Touhou MX is a parody of the TV station Tokyo MX.

"Meirin Blood Chocolate" is a parody of Meiji chocolate bars

"Watermelon on a Dipstick" is a parody of Suika Bar, a watermelon flavored popsicle.
The original product name pronunciation is "suikabaa" (lit. "watermelon bar") but the product parody
flips the syllables and calls it "suibakaa" resulting in the word "baka" meaning "idiot".



--[Tewi Kourin]--

Neko Musume and Nezumi Otoko are both characters from the manga "Gegege no Kitarou".



--[Wind Girl Judging]--

When Ran replaces Yukari, the handwritten paper that's taped onto the nameplate says "Ran".



--[Witch Doll]--

Marisa: "It finally surfaced! Your delayed retort."
The term used here is "nori tsukkomi" which is a manzai term referring to a style
of retorting in which the person doing the retorting goes along with the situation
before actually pointing out its absurdity. An example of this is Rinnosuke's
reaction to the store being closed in the previous Tewi Kourin manzai.



--[Miko Miko Spark]--

Truth or Dare
They specifically refer to Ousama Game (King's Game) which is a drinking game where
a "king" is chosen and they can order other (usually random) participants to do something.
It's basically only the "dare" part of Truth or Dare.

Rhythm Game
The general goal in this game is to keep a 4-beat rhythm going without dropping it.
When "passing" it over to someone, the person passing it assigns a number of times that the
receiver must say their name and then that receiver passes it to someone else in the same way.
For example, Reimu saying "Marisa, two" means Marisa must say her name two times and pass it to
someone else, such that the last syllable of both her name and the passing each end on a 4th beat.

Marisa: "Ya don't say."
The Japanese phrase that Marisa says is "darou ne" and she pulls out a brand of
hair dye called Blaune (pronouned "buroune"), hence the pun.



--[Commercial]--

The commercial is a parody of a McDonald's commercial in which the box of
lamprey eels was a box of fries instead.



--[Tewi Kourin FINALS]--

Tewi: "My interjection... My locomotion."
The original words are "ainote" (interjection) and "Ainori", a TV show.
The pink van is iconic to the show.

Tewi: "Reisen goes to school by bus!"
"[Person] goes to school by bus." is a generic stock phrase meant for English learners.



--[Closing Ceremony]--

Kanako: Karura + Gyuki
Karura is a guardian deity originating from Hindu lore.
It appears in the manga/anime GeGeGe no Kitarou,
in which its arch-enemy is Gyuki (AKA "ushi-oni").



--[Credits]--

The illustration of Rinnosuke in front of a bunch of signs is him in front of Kourindou.
The big red banner says "Seizure" and the white label says "Tewi's Performance Fee".



--------BONUS TRACKS--------



--[Flan's Straight Man Audition]--

"No~! Silly~!"
This "iyan, bakan" line that is being said in Japanese comes from a comical,
not-family-friendly song of the same name. Parodying its lyrics as a joke became a running joke
on a comedy TV program called Shouten. A common format of its usage is to trick someone into
thinking you have a song for them but instead singing a variation of this song's lyrics.



--[Yukari Yakumo's Surefire Stories]--

The show Yukari is hosting as well as its format are parodying a real talk show called
"Hitoshi Matsumoto no Suberanai Hanashi".



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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 Tewi Kourin's second manzai, Tewi and Rinnosuke mimick Konata and Dr. Tofu respectively.
Konata is a character from Lucky Star and Dr. Tofu is a character from Ranma ½.