Extra Translation Notes for 15th Touhou M-1 Grand Prix (Keiki Ver.)



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



SPOILERS BELOW

















--[Opening]--

Shion: "How about some Cracker Jacks?"
The original snack said is "kaki-pi", strongly flavored rice crisps mixed with peanuts.



--[Luna Dream]--

Doremy: "Like Robin Hood, that thief from way back?"
The original name said is "Nezumi Kozou", a thief from the Edo period. Upon being caught,
he was found to be extremely poor and divorced to prevent to prevent his punishment from
being legally shared. This created a legend claiming that he gave the money to the poor.



--[Oii! Mayumi-chan]--

The team name "Oii! Mayumi-chan" is a parody of "Oii! Hanimaru", an 80s show starring a haniwa that
ZUN claimed to have in his head during the creation of Wily Beast and Weakest Creature.
"Hanya" is a recurring part of the character's speech.

This manzai is based off of stereotypically stubborn/strict ramen shops.
It would be easy to just say that staff is busy and comes off a bit aggressively
as a result, but some ramen shops are on another level entirely to the point where
it's a defining part of the experience of going.



--[SakiMiko Household]--

Miko: "Oh, you can read newspapers?"
Japanese newspapers are rather notorious for using obscure kanji and complicated terminology.

Saki: "Then, please dial-"
Rather than anything about dialing a number, "Press the d-button." is the original line.
The "d-button" can be found on TV remotes.
It's used to access info like weather and news but also has the functionality of connecting
to online things related to the currently airing program such as live polls.



--[Miko-chan Miko-tan]--

Sanae: "Haku... Hakubi... something..."
Reimu: "You're getting colder!"
Reimu's original response is "There's nothing but hakubishin that it could be."
Hakubishin is the Japanese term for "masked palm civet".
There aren't really any other words that start with "hakubi".

Reimu: "Not Reindeer!"
The original word said is "reizouko" which means "refrigerator".

Sanae: "Dynamite Ryuzo?"
This is an obscure, one-off character from the manga Barefoot Gen.

Sanae: "No dogs were harmed in this hotdog's making!"
Sanae's original line is "The 'koppe' in 'koppepan' was named after a person." which isn't true.
Koppepan is a type of bread that's similar in shape to a hotdog bun and usually has various
fillings on the inside.

Sanae: "For example, kids who put board erasers on top of the doorway."
This is a childrens' prank in schools that use sliding doors.
Basically, you hold a blackboard eraser at the top of the open doorway and then
slide the door closed as much as you can such that the eraser is held up by
the door pushing it against the doorframe. The idea is that the next person
to open the door will have the eraser fall on them.



--[Miko-chan Miko-tan FINALS]--

Most of the repeated words (not the names) in the subtitles during the word game are different
from the original Japanese ones. An attempt was made to have them sound similar to the original.


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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.

I have no particular example of a vague reference worth mentioning this time,
so instead, here's a potentially interesting bit of both Touhou M-1 lore
as well as a behind-the-scenes translation choice related to it:



If characters seem to behave out of character or teams just seem altogether impossible,
that is all deliberate. This is Keiki's 15th Touhou M-1 tournament and is not technically
performed by the real characters in-universe. Thus, things like Sagume performing a manzai
or Miko being unusually aggressive would only happen here. The particularly unique style
of the stage, animation, music, and SFX are also due to this.

In regards to the English subtitles, 15th Touhou M-1 Grand Prix was uniquely translated by two
different people which can cause a clash between the two writing styles if left unchecked.
When writing, everybody has their own slightly different style and this tends to cause
a shift in word choice and tone.
After all, everybody has their own unique way of conveying thoughts and ideas.
That's not to say that one style is necessarily better than the other,
only that the difference is very much there.

But, because of the setting, a slight shift like this actually works in favor of the subtitles.
While adjustments and edits were made so that the different writing styles feel seamless,
some differences were intentionally preserved. In the subtitles for this video, most characters
speak a tad differently than they do anywhere else in the series.
Thus, the English dialogue in this one has a slightly unique feeling to it that isn't present in
any other Touhou M-1 editions.

In Touhou M-1 lore, Keiki made a tournament in her own style based on her interpretation of
Touhou M-1 in a way that is slightly different from Eiki's tournaments.
Likewise, the English subtitles for Keiki's tournament were largely written from a unique
perspective/interpretation that slightly differs from the rest of the series.

My goal with preserving the writing style differences was to create a very vague feeling that
something is different, but in a way that is hard to describe.
Alternatively, if everything feels the same as usual, then that's also great,
as it means none of the differences were distracting.