Translation: also srs fkn bsns

Whips were cracked, and an 18-hour improvement was made. Maybe this can continue.

Avant

This time is from vol. 3’s “story until now” segment.  Presumably they’re gonna keep doing this all the way up to vol. 13 or 14.

00:07 The silhouettes flanking Nozomu are those of Edogawa Conan and Ayasaki Hayate.

00:13  A character in Aome Kyoko’s novel “Murder Incident: Pistol Nocturne”, set in the Taisho era.

00:23  Senior Night makes sense, and Freeter Night might, but attracting what would be the Wal-Mart Greeter crowd in America doesn’t strike me as a great move for a club.

OP

Kara this time, courtesy of Koda.  This is the first time I’ve done proper kara for anything, isn’t it.

A-Part: “She who Has”

The reference is the short story by Asada Jiro, She who Waits. Pun is made due to the closeness of  motsu/持/have and matsu/待/wait.

02:36 Behind Fujiyoshi are a wide array of sports comic heroes; the middle section is taken directly from the comics, where it’s actually legible, and consists of, right to left, Mihashi Ren (Big Windup!), Echizen Ryoma (Prince of Tennis), Shindo Hikaru (Hikaru no Go), Ohzora Tsubasa (Captain Tsubasa), Sakuragi Hanamichi (Slam Dunk), Shimohara Kozue (Attack No. 1), Inokuma Yawara (Yawara!), Konno Nagisa (Nagisa Me Konin.)

02:40 From the bottom of your heart!  Go! Go! Fight Pro Baseball Relay

Referencing Sapporo TV’s “From the bottom of your heart! Fighters Go! Go! Dome”; the Nippon Ham Fighters are the Hokkaido team.

02:43 Weekly Shonen Magazine, TOH 0 – 0 HOK, and then later King Records

Weekly Shonen Magazine is what SZS runs in, and King Records is one of the sponsors of the show.
The score format is localized; in Japanese, teams are referred to by their sponsor rather than their location, but going to location, as is standard in English, let me change TOH, for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, to ‘DO, as they’re here represented by “Hair” rather than “Raku”.
This is obviously in reference to their star pitcher, Darvish Yu, and his fabulous hair.  (The batter, judging by stance, is Nakamura Norihiro, who’s previously been referenced several times throughout Zoku.)

02:53 From here on, analog will change to digi

Japan’s DTV transition is set for 2011.  Relatedly, the deer character on the screen below this banner is the maskot for the changeover; he’s a deer because “upgrade to terrestrial digital” -> “chidejika” -> “jika” = “deer”.  Lately he’s been notable in the news for attempts by his owners to prevent fanart.
The TV on the far left appears to show someone resembling Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, former SMAP member and spokesman for the digital changeover.

02:58 Rakuten’s abbreviation continues to be “hair”.  Darvish is really p. fabulous.

03:07 Obama Ramen; Akamatsu-ya

Obama Ramen got a sudden boost in popularily over the past year, but has had a name for itself far longer.
Akamatsu-ya is an obvious nod to Kumeta’s rivalry with Akamatsu, author of Love Hina and Negima.

03:14 Those waiting for the pachinko parlor to open include Kenshiro from FotNS and Kinniku Suguru from Kinnikuman, both properties that have spawned popular pachinko machines.

03:36 In a way, isn’t this Shokotan cuter?  And, of course, Magazine J is Shonen Jump, home of decades worth of popular sports comics.

03:58 Fujiwara Tofu

Initial D.

04:02 Melancholy of Majiru

It even has a nonsensical name like that usually does.

04:07  The first of Majiru’s three #1 hopes is just literally “beast of light”, but it’s pronounced almost identically to “pikachu” and used as a slang name for it.  The second is a particular recurring subcharacter who was formerly in government and now lives off his influence.  The third is, of course, Kamiya Hiroshi.

04:14  SHAFT is hiring, if you don’t really want to get paid.  (This gag was used in Goku, too, wasn’t it.)

4:28 Fuji-ya

Different writing of the name of a bakery chain.

04:59 Nebata Hardware

Specializing in retail of cutter knives?

05:01 π Touch

Yayoi from Idolm@ster has a catchphrase “High Touch”, accompanied by a pose like Nozomu’s here.

05:05 is a reference to the changes in the Gun and Sword Law after the stabbings in Akiba last year; the panalties for unexplained possession of large knives rose to a fine of no more than \500,000 or no more than three years imprisonment.

5:09  Even though the anime keeps outdated year jokes, it changes page references to cut references.  Odd.

05:18 The public determine society!

Public literally “those under heaven”.  A reference to the comic Hana no Keiji, where Toyotomi Hideyoshi is quoted as saying “Those under heaven determine heaven!”.

05:25 Taruki-tei

In Idolm@ster, the production company’s office is above this restaurant.

05:49 The poster behind Nami is her actress’s character in Amagami, Sakurai Rihoko.  The snowflake motif is also common in promo stuff for Amagami.

05:57 The character here is Hikawa Kutsuki, played by Abiru’s actress in the online mahjong game Peach Wars Pairon

06:06

• Taiwan + sweets + Nagura + sailor uniform

Watanabe Marina, former idol singer of “Don’t Take Off Your Sailor Uniform”, married to Nagura Jun, and famous for her knowledge of Taiwan and sweets.

• Singer + Hokkaido + fresh caramel

The talent Tanaka Yoshitake, who started his career as a singer-songwriter, and currently manages a farming concern in Hokkaido known for its caramel.

• Lyrics + basis for anime + gourmet book

Lyricist Akimoto Yasushi, who also cooperated on the basis for Akazukin Chacha as well as Oh My Konbu, a cooking manga.

• Cuisine + singing + comedian

A really common combination; Kumetan thinks it’s Gucchi Yuzo, former SMAP member, who shone brightest on a variety show featuring the band in which he was often involved in cookoffs.

• Idol + foul-mouthed + thief

Abiru Yuu, idol who confessed to youthful crimes on a variety show.

• Actor + lewdness + bottomless

Ishida Jun’ichi, formerly the “Emperor of Trendy Drama”, who stepped down from a side job as a newscaster due to an adultery scandal.  Appeared in a fashion magazine bottomless, wearing a sweater and leather shoes.

• Gag + moe + societal commentary + self-criticism + Japanese paper + added cuts + OAD + blog + redraw

Kumeta.  In particular, he maintains a “paper blog” at the end of every volume of the comics and often redraws things for book format.

• Stop the useless animation production + protect “Quickening” with all your might

Gainax doesn’t appear to be subcontracting any of Zan like they recently normally have for Shaft shows.  Why this has anything to do with “Quickening”, the translation of the Japanese title (but not the English title) of the Evangelion 3.0, is unknown, given that animation production for nthe new Eva movies is being handled by Khara, Anno’s company.

• Inoue Kikuko + age 17

Eternally.

06:18

Gravure idol Kuroyanagi Tetsuko

Actress, talent, essayist, MC, UNICEF goodwill ambassador.  Appeared recently on her TV program Tetsuko’s Room in costume.  … She’s closing in on 80, I don’t think they really want to see this.

Mathematician Osim

Former manager of the Blue Samurai, he abandoned life as a mathematician to play and then direct soccer.

Caricaturist Kida

Pitcher for the Yakult Swallows who had planned on drawing comics and in fact joined the art club in middle school rather than playing baseball.

Designer Inagawa Junji

An actor whose name was synonymous with ghost stories, but who had previously worked as an industrial designer.

Pro gamer Suzuki Shiro

Formerly an announcer for TBS, and a self-proclaimed fan of Resident Evil and Onimusha.  Imagine Dan Rather singing the praises of Quake and Unreal.

Artist Yashiro Aki

Not only a singer, but also an oil painter whose works were displayed at the Le Salon show in France five years running.

Interpreter Jong-Nam

Kim Jong-Il’s eldest son, notable for his fluency in English, French, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese.  Once arrested on a false passport attempting to visit Tokyo Disneyland.

Yabecchi continuing to play soccer

Part of the comedy duo “Ninetynine”, and with an ambition of joining the pros from the fourth grade on, several universities attempted to recruit him for their athletics programs.

Architect Oda Kazumasa

Singer-songwriter who’d planned to put down the microphone after university, tried to go out with a bang, and changed his mind when he lost his “final” contest.

Mori singing and dancing again

Former SMAP member, now an Autorace star.

That German GK’s life as a trader

Oliver Kahn, former German WC goalkeeper, with a deep interest in finance.  After his career he’s appeared as a commentator on financial news programs.

That comicker’s power to defend the country (Airborne)

Itagaki Keisuke, author of Grappler Baki, and former member of the JGSDF’s 1st Airborne Brigade.  Almost a boxer in the Olympics before being diagnosed with hepatitis.

If the cookie shop those thieves had started had been a great success

Small Time Crooks, a Woody Allen movie in which the main character assists in a bank robbery and then attempts to launder the money by starting a cookie shop.

If his father hadn’t designed mobile suits he’d have been a great mechanics nerd

Amuro Ray, Gundam protagonist, whose heart was always more in Haro design even if history did make him an ace pilot.

If that blue robot hadn’t show up he’d have been on Japan’s skeet shooting team

Nobita’s sole talent in Doraemon.

Dog of the JT*, Kumeta Kouji

Kumeta, author of SZS, holds a teacher’s licence.

Revised Katte ni Kaiszo in Monthly Sunday

Should be “Katte ni Kaizo”, I typoed.  After all, Azumanga got a revised rerun.

Kyoto making dolmas

KyoAni, rather than Sunrise’s B-team, making the Idolmaster anime, and presumable making it about how eleven of the girls felt horrible sorrow over their careers flaming out and the twelth dying of karmic AIDS cancer.

These commas and periods are annoying

People who complain about Kitsu’s punctuation, SHAFT kind of agrees, lol.

I don’t want to say to make the anime like the original, but I want you to care deeply for the author’s intent and the fans

Read: copy that shit exact or else

06:19  A noble cause, but only the far south of the Tokyo metro area saw broadcast before the polls closed.

06:21  Asama Sakuya, from the game Akai Ito, who shares Matoi’s actress.

06:33  The right ward, but isn’t it a bit late after midnight?

06:46  Aso Taro, current PM, infamous as “Rozen Aso” after being seen reading Rozen Maiden at an airport.  The Diet must be dissolved and new elections called by mid-September.

06:47  Tamori is one of Japan’s big three TV comedians; he famously never appears on screen without sunglasses, even in period pieces.  That’s his picture.

06:53  Writes “Druaga” using a series of kanji rather than properly, doesn’t get sued by Namco.

07:07  Master Higgins

More properly, but less familiarly, “Famous Takahashi”, legendary during the FC era for being able to tap the A button 16 times a second; he famously said that kids should only play an hour a day, though, even as a mascot for Hudson.  Amazingly did not go on to a career in porn.

07:28  SHAFT was dead-on, North Korea sent up seven missiles a week before this episode aired (and thus long after it’d gone off to the TV stations in final form.)

7:43  Nagashima Kazushige; played for the Swallows and then the Giants over eight years, anchored Pro Baseball News after retirement, worked as a talent, is a black belt in Kyokushin karate, won the Japanese Academy’s new actor award for his role in Mr. Rookie, voiced Sosuke’s father in Ponyo, Miyazaki’s newest film, and was the son of baseball great “Mr. Giants” Nagashima Shigeo.

07:48  Former PM Fukuda, criticized for being dovish on China.

07:53  Yamamoto Mona, TV announcer fired after a scandal; the signs are shows she worked on

07:57  Tamasue Dai, investor turned track star.

08:03  Hata Masanori, who enjoys mahjong but made a name for himself an animal lover, documentarist and author.

08:07  The Dreamcast, killed by Sega’s lingering debts, poor management, and the initial success of the PS2 as less of an expensive console and more of a cheap DVD player.  The sign has to be a last-second addition, as there was a scandal a bit over a month ago where someone posting on 2ch trolling the hell out of Sega was found to be at work at Famitsu’s publisher.

08:09  Idolm@ster’s anime being a completely different giant robot show that just happened to star the female cast.

08:12  Negima, of course.  The sign quotes a post on Akamatsu’s blog.

08:13  Kumeta himself, his shirt displaying one of the Idolm@ster dance judges.  “Company S” being Shueisha, publishers of Jump, and the sign describing their unusually low minimum commitment.

08:15  Maeda, regretting his commitment to Kumeta when he could have followed Hata, another former assistant who went on to write Hayate.  Sign is a catchphrase for Ueno Clinic, specializing in male enhancement.

08:20  Japanese for “room” being “ma”, this makes a far better pun.

08:36  ×, perhaps, being Yuno?

09:14  Kamiya Hiroshi, who did in fact take those awards, but who landed outside the top ten of both “actors you’d marry” and “characters you’d marry”.  Why there are established polls for these questions is another matter.

09:29  The crying eyes, perhaps the symbol of “Friend” from 20th Century Boys?

09:35  Compare with this.  Kamiya plays them both.

09:51  I had to find a VCR and my old Eva dub tapes to get this righ.  I hope you’re happy. (ep19, about a minute before ED, when Eva-01 eats the S2 engine and sheds its skin)

10:00  Harumi drives past Sakuragi Hanamichi, wearing Renton from E7’s shoes.

10:14  Now she’s dressed as Echizen Ryoma.

10:20  And now copying Ichiro’s pose.

10:30  Yay SHAFT show incest.

10:32  Gachapin, a kids’ show mascot who has engaged in various sporting challenges, including skydiving.

10:34  Obviously she owns the Bible to better understand Eva.  Also, “Ghostory” and “Sea Story” = Bakemonogatari and Umi Monogatari.

10:36  Again with proper sponsor messages; Kodansha’s the publisher.

10:44  Not a Touhou character joke.  “x mo Eva” = “Eva even in x”, changed to “x moeba” = “if x is moed for”.   Read more properly it’s “Eva even in pachinko, Eva even in phones, even Kumeta paying attention to Eva, why not make a Mini 4wd too.”  Eva has been merchandised to a pachinko machine and a licenced phone; an RC car seems a bit of a stretch, though.

B-Part: “Russian Time Song”

Ref. Inoue Yasushi’s novel Russian Drinking Song.

10:51  A Saturn!  And mention of that old rumor about Sega merging with Bandai in 1997!  Also, “Moe” is homophonic with “burnable”.

10:59  Again with “Chapter 179″!

11:16  Demerol

One of the medications found in Michael Jackson’s home after his death, rumored to be the cause.  SHAFT is really pushing those deadlines.

11:20  My Favorite Teacher

Song by Imawano Kiyoshiro.  That’s a lot of recent dead musician gags.

11:35  An elementary school teacher was arrested for doing exactly this last month.

11:49  SZS’s schedule.  Thursday’s left out, because nothing can compete with Noitamina.

12:05  The business run by Akamatsu’s wife.

12:10  Sunshine Sketch runs in Kirara; however, “aoki ume”’s name is properly written with the kanji “blue tree” and phonetic “ume”, rather than “blue demon plum”.

12:11  One wonders at the despair a Japanese shopkeeper would face were they to meet those American nerds who prefer to -sit- and read.

12:13  110 = 911

12:15  Ref. “Yes, we can”, Obama’s slogan.

12:19  Ref.  Densha de Go, famous train operating game.

12:31  Of course, it’s the final line of End of Evangelion.

12:52  Top sign is an Im@s character’s name and introduction; bottom one, not even Kumetan gets

13:05  Ume gets her once-an-episode appearance.

13:56  Or “Tiger and Horse”.

14:11  2007 was the year of a major food poisoning scare over imported Chinese gyoza.

14:13  That’s a bellybutton.  I’m telling you, it’s a belly button.  A perfectly innocent outie.

14:28  lol pedobear hurr.  The 2ch character Pedobear was based off of was just lazy; this makes him a perfect mascot for analog TV, as he appears here.  As for the blackboard, the government has recently proposed a visual culture museum and education center at that price, while the average animator in his 30s makes just over ¥2 million a year, or about $20,000.

14:30  Again with Bakemonogatariand Umi Monogatari.  The fourth entry refers to Guin Saga, serialized to 128 volumes and with one and a half more written before the author’s death on 5/26.

14:34  A quote from Nami’s actress, Shintani Ryoko, during a radio show.

14:44  Kamiya Hiroshi, Nozomu’s actor, plays the lead character of Bakemonogatari, SHAFT’s other show this season.  This lead character is a student.

• Gasoline prices on the Turnpike

Japanese highway service stations set prices weekly.

• Gundam before magnet coating

Magnetic coating made the Gundam able to keep up with Amuro’s Newtype reflexes.

• Submarine patents

Patents taken out and held until someone else inadvertently uses them

• The Los Suspicion

A murder mystery involving a Japanese in LA in the ’80s, finally prosecuted in ‘07.  Refer to GSZS notes.

• So*y Timer

Sony products’ habit of dying shortly outside warranty.

• New words in the dictionary {Kojien}

The Kojien dictionary is considered the “standard” like the OED for British usage or Webster’s for American.

• Lately, the section chief’s been saying “oppappi!”

Comedian’s catchphrase in ‘07, selected as new word of the year.

• From 3/28 to 7/11

Delay in Dragon Quest 9’s release.

• There was a schedule, but not anymore

SHAFT self-loathing.  NO MORE FUJIYAMA.

• That day is soon

Again, the upcoming elections to the Diet.

• Fight! What! Life!!

Song title from one of Ohtsuki Kenji’s old bands

14:57  History of anime.  Did I have to use “World End” rather than “End of the World”?  Yes, yes I did.

15:12  This ep first aired the day DQ9 went on sale, promptly selling one copy for every forty Japanese within the first two days.

15:20  New line of Ayanami’s in Evangelion 2.0.  Literally just “You make me feel pokapoka” -> “warm”, but it sounds like a noise a fluttering heart would make, so this way it actually makes sense in English.

15:59  Misawa was a pro wrestler who recently died in an accident during a match.

16:06  You just had this dialog in dialog, setting it would be p. lol.

16:09  The pie chart shows relative popularity of KyoAni and literally the Japanese word for “shaft”, as opposed to the actual studio which uses the English word.

16:36  There was a recent insider trading scandal involving NHK employees buying before news was broadcast.  As for IX/hanafuda, DQ9 marks the return of the series to a Nintendo console, and Nintendo was originally a hanafuda card manufacturer.

16:54  No, it hadn’t, as of airtime.  Probably won’t given the unexpectedly strong DPJ showing in the Tokyo elections making dissolution the hot debate topic.

16:59  Yoko was walled up in 2001 in a chapter of Kumeta’s earlier comic Katte ni Kaizo.  Of course, since they’re staying loyal to the comics, this is “seven years ago” given that this chapter was published in ‘08.

C-part

19:29  This is Kumeta himself, voiced by himself, with the cover of Katte ni Kaizo vol. 1 in the background.

19:36  And, of course, Maeda playing himself.

20:33

• Self-published autobiography
• Confessing to a crime on TV

Notably Abiru Yuu, mentioned in A-part.

• Contestants in a hair-growth contest
• Marukawa Tamayo’s indifference to the election

A TV anchor turned LDP politician who took three years after her return from a posting to New York to bother to register to vote at her new address, even though she ran for office.

• Taking an obviously-biased TV interview in Akiba

TV stations tend to pick out the worst of the worst of nerds on the street when they’re looking for something shocking.

• A high-class person’s blog

Princess Tsuguko notably blogs.

• Sato Eri’s novel

Significant portions of one of her novels seem to be based on her romance with Ichikawa Ebizo.

• NHK’s syndication in 128 countries

Shameful exhibitionism indeed.

20:36  Yukorin’s PR staff once abruptly canceled an interview after the reporters wouldn’t shut up about her relationship with a member of Yoiko.

20:37  Michael Jackson, of course.

20:39

• Voice actress’s age

Inoue Kikuko has reached nearly two and a half times her “official” age, and large portions of the field are twice the age of the characters they play, especially due to the purely seniority-based payscale.

• Minister of Agriculture’s bandage

Akagi Norihiko, once the Minister of Agriculture, appeared bandaged at a press conference one e day, and refused to comment.

• That all of the staff went backstage to congratulate after the Regret Recording

Staff say they did, Kamiya and Shintani say they were invited but didn’t.  A joking dispute?  A missed message?

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