Release delayed because we figured it was a few weeks early for an 800mb 480p encode to be optimal trolling.
This is an announcement post as much as a release post, so let’s get this out of the way.
- Gonna run this thing into. the. ground. Everyone involved in it except for distro is here for the masochistic joy of doing this once a week, so barring actual flameout ragequits welp.
- Releases, at latest, when the next ep airs. Usually earlier. Usually -much- earlier. Usually much earlier than today, when it isn’t noticed that the release video is chilling at 800 mega, and then when the encoder doesn’t forget to leave his computer on overnight.
- Welp, may as well do the DVD version, not like I’m not buying it anyway. Things will be slightly less obsessive for TV that they were for Goku, to stay on a two-four day turnaround rather than two-four weeks; any complaints will be filed and resolved for home video.
- SHAFT didn’t finish the OP/ED? Then we don’t have to yet either. :colbert:
And stylistically:
- No honorifics. This will bite me in the ass when it makes something untranslatable, but oh well.
- This means I can finally use “Miss Kitsu”. (´ー｀) ウフフ
- Exception: -sensei for the Itoshiki family stays, because I can’t really argue with the official release.
- All else will match Goku as closely as possible.
Now, let’s get to the specific notes:
Avant
The entire sequence is based on the “the story until now” segment published in volume 2 of the comics, and as such is a direct sequel to ZSZS’ ep 1 A-part, which was based on the same segment in volume 1.
00:07 “The Two Soaked in Sin”, “Sensual Friends”, “Love Celeb”, and “Haou Airen”
These are all thinly-veiled references to raunchy girls’ comics; the first by Kitagawa Miyuki, the rest by Shinjo Mayu.
00:32 Though he was in his twenties, he applied for a middle-aged divorce,
Japan loves to pick particular phrases to narrow down societal problems, and one of those specific ones is middle-aged couples in particular divorcing.
OP
Titlecard after titlecard, with the occasional Literature of Despair thrown in. To be implemented (sometime), if they don’t put the real one in first.
A-Part: “Highway to Hell”
The reference is the novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, The Way to Paradise.
02:45 The mushroom is a special version of a Docomo mascot sold during test season; he writes the number five -> go wo kaku -> goukaku -> “pass the exam”. Kit-Kat -> “Kitto Katsu” -> “you’re sure to win”.
03:03 Sign reads “fan out”, implication “become prosperous”. Among the foods are “Kachimitsu” (a portmanteau of “win” and “honey”; “Money Honey”?), “Spelunker” (related to the main character dying if he falls even a little? Also, identical to “don’t slip”), “Grip Resin”
03:24 Class roster #23
Abiru is actually #22, #23 is Kiri.
04:05 Giving up halfway through because one’s number on a test is unlucky!
4989 revers to the various types of suffering defined by Buddhism.
04:53 Getting arrested for smashing your wine glass on the floor after drinking; Beer nuts no longer having peanuts; Not listening to one’s favorite, Mr. Children; Not reading one’s favorite, ZKC; Not putting out a fan book
Drinking and then smashing the glass was a popular pre-battle ritual during the Sengoku era. Nowadays it’ll just get you bounced or worse.
This is a complete miss on my part; it should be something about taking nuts out of a particular popular snack mix because the Japanese name for them is “falling flower”.
Mr. Children’s four-syllable abbreviation comes out readable as “Mess up and fail”; relatedly, ZKC’s comes out as “yeah you’re definitely gonna fail”.
Kumeta’s previous comic, Katte ni Kaizo, was canceled at volume 26. A fan book came out after volume 23.
05:07 Coc*
One of these taboos is not like the others.
05:12 Kochi -> Kochi; Osaka -> Osaka; Kamenashi -> Kameari; Hashishita -> Hashimoto; Koala -> Happy Puppy
The old Kochi, “Between the Rivers”, was changed to “Wise” due to flooding.
While both of Osaka’s names read “Long Hill”, the first can also be broken down and read as “Return to the Rural” or “Great Rural Rebellion” in a process opposite how Nozomu became Zetsubou, and thus its name was changed during the rebellion by the old feudal landowning class in early Meiji.
Kamenashi, lit. “Turtle Pear”, is pronounced identically to “There are no turtles here”; turtles legendarily living a thousand years, and the lack of them indicating that residents die young, it was changed to Kameari, quite literally “There are turtles here.”
Hashishita to Hashimoto, apart from being far easier to pronounce, also means “at the foot of the bridge” rather than “under the bridge”, a significantly better place to live.
Koala was a comedian who changed his name to Happy based on advice from an astrologer, then again to Happy Happy. It was unsuccessful; shortly after the change he divorced.
05:14 Class roster #28
Nami is actually #27, Fujiyoshi is #28.
06:02 Class roster #21
Kitsu should be #20, Kaere #21.
06:03 Neo J-bleep-U
Reference to the Japanese Teacher’s Union, which was until a split in the late ’80s effectively everything American teachers’ unions are accused of being, and thus was of course accused of far more. Japanese uses a circle to censor written text; she literally says “circle”, hence J-bleep-U rather than J*U.
06:45 Class roster #26
Matoi is #25; #26 is the minor character Nezu Miko.
07:25 Class roster #29
Fujiyoshi should be #28; #29 is Marui.
07:35 GoGo5572
5572 readable as “Coco x Nuts”, two male characters from Precure.
07:50 Class roster #17
Meru is #17, while Kaga should be #18; Mayo is correct.
08:01 Class roster #22
Kaere should be #21; #22 is Abiru, as mentioned earlier.
08:21 Class roster #19
Kaga, bumped from #18, lands in the as-yet unused #19.
09:32 Let us pin our hopes to you!
Japanese traditionally have prayer request boards that they hang on trees or structures at a shrine; they’re literally asking to hang these on him.
09:45 This entire segment rests on the fact that Japanese for “punchline” is also “fail”; I got as close as I could equating “gag” and “choke”
10:27 Please watch in a darkened room as close as possible to the television.
A complete reversal.
B-Part: “The Spring Postman Always Rings Twice”
Ref. James M. Cain’s novel The Postman Always Rings Twice.
11:03 We thought if we just managed to finish last season, we’d be able to cleanly be done with it.
But the future refused to change. [壁]｀∀´)Ψヶヶヶ
11:05 From Chapter 179; Originally published 27th December, Showa 82
Actually from chapter 134, which was actually published S83.4.2. Does this mean we’re getting 179, or 77 which was published S81.12,27?
11:05 Postcode 390-3939
Sa-ku-ra, sa-ku-sa-ku. Even though it’s just cherry blossoms blossoming, you’re the kind of person who reads tlnotes about SZS, so you now have the Love Hina OP in your head.
11:37 Personal effects found around the gorges after the snow melts.
“The gorges” again replacing “the sea of trees” for cultural relevance, consistency, and a personal twist. Aokigahara and its vast forest may be the hot place for Japanese to suicide, but among English-speakers it’s Ithaca and its sudden drops.
12:11 A Kogna Business; concert ten years later
A Kogna Business -> AKB; AKB48 sold a special limited photo album containing a ticket to a 10th anniversary concert on their second anniversary. It cost $500.
12:19 Haru Urara
Known as the losingest horse in racing history; in 109 races, she’s lost every one, and become a sort of mascot of perseverance.
12:22 Tashiro Drugs; Cafe Minamikaze
Tashiro Masashi was a minor celeb who was arrested for possession; Cafe Minamikaze appeared in Touch. No relation between the two.
13:20 Anisan Mark
There’s an actual brand Arisan Mark, but this refers more to the common nickname of Yakuza members as “Bro”->”Aniki” or “Anisan”. It will probably be a clever Teamster joke by DVD time.
13:56 And then she dumps you by text!
99% of the time I use mail, but making it text here just adds to the despair. I wonder if a Yuno wallpaper makes it more likely to happen?
14:25 The Chuo line stops; People talk about lung spots found during their checkup; Oka’s glasses turn blue
The Chuo line is the popular train to jump in front of.
Most company health insurance plans do their yearly checkups in the spring.
Oka is Okada Takeshi, manager of the Japanese world Cup team; he signified getting srs by changing his glasses frames to the team color, and promptly failed as usual. oh god I’m never going to get away from football jokes Eden has doomed me
14:53 The national secrets are squirting out.
and subsequently: AEGIS, propeller
The verb used here normally only describes incontinence; “AEGIS” and “propeller” are references to a series of high-profile leaks of naval technology related to the AEGIS cruiser and its propeller design.
C-Part: “Withering Heights”
Ref. Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights. The Japanese can mean either “to expose” or “to bleach”, rhyming with the actual translating “Windswept”.
17:41 The 23 misfortunes of Tokyo!
Tokyo is made up of 23 wards; the character for “ward” is a 90-degree rotation of that for “misfortune”.
17:56 bus sign
Tokachi-Tsukuchi. You can now clear out Sakura Saku in favor of that one song from Idolm@ster.
18:32 Bringing along suspicious persons is forbidden
In chapter 81 of the comics, Nozomu was temporarily fired for inviting particularly unsavory friends to the watchroom where he lives.
18:52 Entry fee: ￥400
The original price, set in 1970.
20:09 AV appearance; Besides that, they display themselves off of the program, too!
In addition to “Ride Together” being about B-list celebs roadtripping and talking about themselves, one of them later appeared in porn.
20:57 Etsu-Fuga Shrine
A slight miswriting of Koshikiiwa shrine.
21:05 To be continued
Yep, that was only half the chapter. More next week? More on the DVD? Who knows.
ED
Komori Kiri (Tanii Asuka) is credited twice; Kaga Ai (Goto Saori), Fujiyoshi Harumi (Matsuki Miyu), and Kobushi Abiru (Goto Yuko) not at all. Ueda Yuji, who appeared as Usui Kagero, is credited as Tokita, and Hito Nami (Shintani Ryoko) is moved to card 4 from card 2. This is the third time poor Saori’s been miscredited or skipped.
Wooo. Not too crazy about the lack of honorifics, but oh well. Glad gg picked this up, I was blown away by the typesetting in Maria+Holic, so here’s hoping the same amount of awesomeness goes into subbing this series.
Win.
Also, epic opening is epic.
Hey, I hear if you listen very closely while reading the subs, you can hear them say -chan, etc. and keep jizzing in your boxers. It’s cool brah, you can still feel japanese.
i am from the other group that subbed and released Zan…and i have to say it…. damn you guys are fast
please sub season 2
@whip, season two is already subbed, so look for it and you will find it.
hope you don’t stall/drop it in the middle of the season
Hiya Mandoric, here are a few notes from me.
@00:13: It’s left wing (左翼), not right wing (右翼).
@11:40: The letter in the picture is a will (遺書), not a resignation (退職願 / 辞職願).
@18:39: Since the phrase used is 晒し (さらし), self-exposure would be a more fitting translation than self-display. This would influence how the sentences afterwards are translated, as well.
The last one is a personal preference and an onegai (お願い). Between how the background text lists are translated at 04:52 and 14:25 (good job!), it would be great if the former method (softsubs) will continue to be used, instead of modifying/erasing the source material.
Hope this helps, and thanks for picking up Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei =)
Good catches; I’ve already tweaked the script for DVDs, though I’m kinda stuck keeping that pun for ep2 just to make it make sense in order. When I have the luxury of rewrite time, though…
As for softsubbing everything, I’d love to be able to do it, but getting all the signs in and on schedule is near-impossible on its own, so when deadlines loom it gets really appealing to do it much quicker in AFX. Sadly, I don’t believe any major mkv decoder supports a second video stream as an overlay, so hardsubs for the weekly releases end up necessary, according to the typesetter.
The lack of honorifics is kinda annoying. I think it’s best to keep them in, and don’t translate (because you can’t for many of them) them. Their meaning is generally understood among the vast majority of the community.
Anyways, thanks for the release. Hoping for more.
I find the lack of honorifics refreshing. They shouldn’t be used unless absolutely necessary.
Nice job on this S1 translation, definitely sharper than the Sumimasen effort, it’s tough to do SHAFT with all of the references!
Just noticed a little SHAFT-ian shout-out to themselves : @ 13:04, check out the people in the street – there’s Dorm Mistress with Yonakuni-san from Maria+Holic!
You’re doing well, keep it up.
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