Illusion of Gaia Translation Commentary Part 12: Drifting

Retranslating this game has been worth it just to find the joke Karen makes in this entry.

Disclaimers:

• I’m an amateur. My advantage over the original translation is that I have no deadline pressure, and I have the modern internet to help me. I’m assuredly wrong about some of my translations.

• Translation is hard. When I point out a mistranslation, it’s not a judgment of the original translator(s). They had a deadline and poor resources.

• Please no jokes in the comments about Karen being a Karen. I really hate that trend.

Notation reminder:
JP: Original Japanese
T: My translation
OE: Original English

When we last left off, a giant monster fish called a leviathan (or Riverson lol) had destroyed the ship we were on, and also swallowed Morris whole. So we only officially lost one of Tim’s best friends. That’s not too bad, right?

Tim wakes up adrift on a raft with Karen. Back when I disliked her character, I considered this the worst part of the game. It’s nonstop unskippable dialogue.

JP: カレン： やっと　気がついたのね。 みんなと　はぐれちゃった．．．
体の具合は　だいじょうぶ？
>うん　へっちゃらさ
>まだ　ふらふらするんだ
T: Karen: Finally awake, eh? We’ve been separated from everyone else.
How are you feeling?
>I’m ok
>I’m still shaky
OE: Kara: You’ve just come to??? I’ve lost everyone…
Are you OK?
>Yes, I’m OK.
>I’m still unsteady.

The next dialogue box differs depending on your choice. If you say you’re ok:

JP: カレン：　そう。 テムって　回復がはやいのね。 まるで　とかげのしっぽみたい。
T: Karen: That’s good. You recover quickly. Just like a lizard’s tail.
OE: Kara: Hmmm. You recover quickly. Like a lizard’s tail.

What a weird comparison. Lizard tails are notable for being able to regrow at all. I think humans find it so interesting because we’re jealous—if only we could regrow fingers or arms! But the tails are not known for growing back quickly. It takes weeks to months.

Option 2:

JP: カレン：　無理も　ないわよね。 半日以上　気をうしなって たんだもの。
T: Karen: That makes sense. You were out for over half a day.
OE: Kara: Of course, you were unconscious for more than half a day.

JP: ひょう流の話は　本で読んだこと あるけど　まさか　自分が　そうなる なんて　思ってもみなかった．．．
災難って　とつぜんに おとずれるものなのね。
T: I read stories about being adrift, but I never dreamed I would be living it.
Disaster can strike so suddenly.
OE: I’ve read about being adrift, but I never thought it would happen to me…
Disasters sometimes happen suddenly.

JP: カレン： くよくよしたって　しかたないわよ。
先のことは　考えないで ひょう流を　楽しんじゃおっ。
T: Karen: It doesn’t help anything to fret.
Instead of thinking about what’s next, let’s just enjoy drifting along.
OE: Kara: Don’t be upset.
Don’t think about the future. Let’s just enjoy drifting.

OE’s translation is spot on, but I do think it’s funny to change this particular instance of can’t be helped to don’t be upset. Uh, one of my best friends just died. Even if I weren’t worried about how the others are doing, it’d still be hard not to be upset.

JP: もう　おなか　ぺこぺこ。 お城の地下から　もってきた　お肉で お昼ごはんに　しましょ。
T: I’m getting really hungry. Let’s eat the meat that we brought from the castle basement.
OE: I’m starved. I’ll have the meat I brought from the castle.

I love how the pronoun choice in OE makes it sound like Karen’s going to eat it all without sharing. Or that she has her own meat, apart from Tim’s

Here’s the meat’s inventory description:

JP: ほねつきのにく
エドワードじょうの　ちかにあった ほねつきの　にく。
T: Meat on the bone
Meat on the bone taken from Edward Castle basement.
OE: Meat
Large Roast from Edward Castle.

You can actually nibble on this meat at any time before this and it will give an item-specific message:

JP:　骨つきの　くんせい肉を　ちょっぴり　かじってみた。
それは　今まで　たべたことの　ないような　不思議な味がした。　いったい　何の肉だろう．．．
T: He nibbled a tiny bit of smoked meat on the bone.
It had a strange taste, like nothing he’d eaten before. What the heck kind of meat is it?
OE: He bit off some of the smoked meat.
It had a flavor he’d never tasted before. What could it be?

When you pick up the meat, the OE says it’s yak, but the JP leaves it unspecified.

That causes a problem here, where Tim wonders what kind of meat it is. OE just says what could it be? wherein it presumably refers to the flavor, rather than the kind of meat.

Anyway, now Tim and Karen share it:

JP: ぼくらは　骨つきの肉に　 かぶりついた。
今まで　食べたどんな　食べ物より おいしく感じた。
T: We sank our teeth into the meat.
It tasted better than any food we’d had before.
OE: We bit off some of the meat.
It was better than any food we’d ever had.

JP: ひょう流　2日目
T + OE: Drifting, Day 2

On the second day, a bunch of fish are jumping by the raft. You can hit them with your flute, which makes Karen mad:

JP: カレン：　何てことするのよっ！ 魚が　かわいそうじゃないっ！！
T: Karen: Oh my gosh, what are you doing!? The poor fish!
OE: Kara: What are you doing!! The poor fish!!!

You can talk to her as well:

JP: カレン：　きれい．．． 一日中見てても　あきないな．．．
T: Karen: It’s beautiful. I could look at it all day long.
OE: Kara: Beautiful…. Even after seeing it all day, I still never get tired of it.

That’s good, Karen, because you’d gonna be doing that a lot. All we can do on this day is wait until Tim starts talking to himself. Now’s a good time for donations, as they say.

JP: テム： 何ごともなく　時間がだけが ゆっくりと　流れていった。
カレンは　一日中　のんびりと 魚を　ながめていたが　ボクは それじゃ　気がすまなかった。
T: Tim: Time passed on, slowly and uneventfully.
Karen gazed at fish all day, without a care in the world, but I felt anxious.

JP: イカダの中を　うろつきまわり カレンに　何度も　話しかけた。
一分が　何度間にも　感じらてた。 まるで　のんびりとした時間の足音が 聞こえてくるようだった。
T: I paced around the raft, talking to Karen over and over.
A minute felt like an hour. It felt like I could actually hear the march of time.
OE: He walked around on the raft and talked to Kara many times.
A minute seemed like forever. But he could hear the march of time.

Edit: I previously had the above as “Though I tried to relax, it felt like I could actually hear the march of time,” but I see now this was wrong. He’s really saying he can hear the march of relaxing/peaceful time. But the meaning isn’t transformed that much. He’s anxious and dreading the coming time with nothing to do.

JP: ひょう流　4日目
T + OE: Drifting, Day 4

4 days, huh? They’ve definitely died of dehydration at this point, right? And let’s not forget exposure.

JP: カレン： 何か　予感がするの．．． 助けが　くるのかもしれないわ．．．
あらっ？
T: Karen: For some reason, I have a hunch that help might come.
Huh?
OE: Kara: I have a premonition… Help is coming…
What?

JP: カレン： 何か　流れてくるみたいよっ！
T: Karen: Looks like something is floating this way!
OE: Kara: Something is drifting here!

A pot slowly floats over to the raft.

JP: つぼの中には 手紙が　入っていた．．． それは　こんな　内容だった。
T: The pot had a letter inside. The letter read:
OE: There was a letter in the jar… The contents read …

JP: ぼくらは　どれい船にのせられ 見知らぬ土地へ　売られていく ところです。
どなたか　この手紙を読んだら 助けてください．．． サムス
T: We’ve been captured on a slave ship and are headed to a foreign land to be sold.
If anyone gets this letter, please help us. -Samus
OE: We are on a ship on our way to be sold as forced labor in an unknown land.
If anyone reads this, please save us… Sam

Sam’s original name is Samus. Yes, the same name as Samus Aran (サムス・アラン). You could change to a western name, as the OE did. But I think Samus, Remus, and Imus are all supposed to have names that sound foreign to Tim. Anyway, we get to rescue this poor slave in the next dungeon.

JP: カレン： あーあ　予感がしたのにっ。
助けてくれって　言われたって．． こっちが　助けてほしいよねぇ。
T: Karen: Ahhh, if only my hunch had been true.
“Help us,” it said. WE need help.
OE: Kara: My premonition!
You said you wanted to be saved… but it’s me who needs to be saved.

Oof.

For the first sentence, Karen literally says: Ahhh, even though did hunch. In OE it seems like she’s saying that the letter confirmed her premonition. She’s lamenting that her hunch was nothing.

The second is: Said “come help”… [I or we] [particle indicating specificity] wishing for help, isn’t that right? You have to change a lot to make this grammatical English. With the OE’s decisions, the final result makes it sound like Karen is saying that only she needs to be saved, and Samus (or even Tim) are less worthy. In reality, she’s using specificity to emphasize the irony.

Moving on…

JP: あーあ　もう　お腹と　背中が くっつきそうよぉ。
テム：　だから　あのとき 魚を　とっておけばよかったんだ。 そうすりゃ　今ごろは．．．
T: Ahhh, it feels like I’m wasting away already.
Tim: Yeah, that’s why we should have kept some fish from earlier. Then we wouldn’t be in this situation.
OE: Oh! I am so starved.
Will: You should have caught that fish. If you had……..

An interesting expression, here. She says It looks like soon my stomach and back will be fused. I chose wasting away for translation.

JP: カレン： あんな　かわいい魚　殺せないわ！
テム： じゃ　何にも食べないで　ぼくらが 死んでもいいって　いうのかっ？！
T: Karen: We can’t kill the cute fish!
Tim: Well if we don’t eat anything, we die. Is that what you want!?
OE: Kara: I can’t hurt such a pretty fish!
Will: Are you saying it’s better to starve?!

JP: カレン： だいたい　生の魚なんて 気持ち悪くて　食べられないわよっ！
それに　魚だっていっしょうけんめい 生きてるのよっ！
T: Karen: Raw fish is gross, I can’t eat stuff like that.
Besides, that fish is struggling to survive just the same!
OE: Kara: Raw fish gives me the creeps! I can’t eat it!
Besides, the fish is fighting to stay alive!

JP: 魚だって　痛いって思うのよっ！ テムは　魚の気持ちを　考えたこと あるわけっ？！
そんなに　食べたきゃ　勝手に 食べればっ！ あたしは　食べないからねっ！！
T: Even fish feel pain! Haven’t you ever thought about how the fish feels?
If you want to eat so badly, go ahead! I’m not doing it!!
OE: Fish feel pain! Have you ever thought of how the fish feels?!
If you want to eat it, go ahead!! I’m not going to eat it!!!

Karen, I feel you, but you’re not even a vegetarian. I think before you get preachy you should maybe… start there? I’ve been vegan for ~13 years and even I’d eat the damn fish in this situation.

If you talk to Karen again, she’ll just give you the ………. treatment. Wait a while and Tim will say:

JP: テム： カレンは　その日　口をきいて くれなかった．．．
まったく　おじょう様には 困ったものだ。　やれやれ．．．
T: Tim: Not another word came out of Karen’s mouth that day.
Good grief, for a princess, she’s such a pain. Yeesh.
OE: Will: Kara didn’t say anything all day.
A typical princess… She’s such a bother…

JP: ひょう流　７日目
T + OE: Drifting, Day 7

So… they’ve died from dehydration at least twice over now, right?

JP: テム： ひょう流　一週間目。 再び　魚のむれに　出会った。
体力も　もう　げんかいだった。 ボクは　これ以上　食べなければ 死ぬと思った．．．
T: Tim: We’ve been adrift for a week. Once again, we came across a school of fish.
My stamina was giving out. I felt like I’d die if I went any longer without eating.
OE: Will: Drifting. First week. A school of fish….
He reached the end of his rope.
If he didn’t eat more, he thought he would starve…

I really don’t understand why OE changed so many of these to third person. By the way, Tim uses the first person pronoun ボク (boku), which is a pronoun associated with young boys.

JP: テム．．． 昨日は　あんな言いかたして ごめんなさい．．．
あたしも　お魚　食べてみるわ。 死んじゃったら　どうしようも ないもんね。
T: Tim… I’m sorry for what I said yesterday.
I’ll also try to eat some fish. There’s nothing I can do if I’m dead.
OE: Will… Sorry I talked to you that way yesterday….
I’ll try to eat the fish. I can’t do anything if I starve.

Karen apologizes for the argument yesterday. But this is drifting day 7, and the argument was on day 4. This goof is in the original JP, which says 昨日 (kinou - yesterday).

JP: きらいな食べ物を　食べないなんて いっていられるのは　平和なとき だけなのよね．．．
テム： よおし。　じゃ　魚をとってやる。 とびっきり　うまいやつをさ。
T: You can only refuse food you don’t like during times of peace.
Tim: Good. Well then, I’ll catch a fish. A really tasty one.
OE: Only in peace time can you refuse food you don’t like…
Will: Let’s catch a fish. A good one.

I wonder if being on the brink of starvation would make raw fish taste amazing, just because it’s any food at all? Hard to imagine.

JP: テム： カレンは　おいしそうに　魚を 食べた。
ボクの中で　カレンが ちょっぴり　気になる存在に なってきたようだ．．．
T: Tim: Karen ate a delicious looking fish.
She was starting to catch my eye a teensy bit.
OE: Will: Happily Kara ate some fish.
Will found that he was starting to develop feelings for Kara…

The OE gets the intent across, but it misses something minor: That the word Tim uses to describe his growing affection seems to minimize it. ちょっぴり (choppiri) - just a smidgin, a tiny amount.

JP: ひょう流　１２日目
T + OE: Drifting, Day 12

They’re definitely dead 4 times over, now, right? Because there’s no fresh water?

No?

JP: カレン： 星が　きれいね．．．
もう　ちょっと　背が高かったら 手が　とどきそうよね。
T: Karen: The stars are beautiful, aren’t they?
They look like you could touch them if you were taller.
OE: Kara: The stars are beautiful…
If I were taller I could reach them.

OE ignores the そう (sou - looks like) verb ending on とどきそう (todokisou), which means looks like reach/touch/get to. The end result makes Karen seem a bit sillier.

JP: きっと　リリィや　ロブたちも 同じ　星空を　見てるんだろうな。
星と　お話できれば みんなのいる場所も　きっと わかるのに．．．
T: Surely Lily and Rob are looking at the same starry sky.
If I could talk to the stars, I would know where everyone is.
OE: Surely Lilly and Lance are looking at the same star-studded sky…
If I could talk to the stars I could find out where everyone is…

JP: カレン：　あ　そうそう　最近 気がついたんだけど　白鳥座の近くに 星が一つ　ふえてるの。
ほら　あの　赤い星。
T: Karen: I just recently noticed a single star has appeared around the cygnus constellation.
Look, it’s that red star.
Kara: There seems to be one extra star near the constellation of Cygnus
Yes, that red star.

JP: ねぇ。 あの星に　お願いごとしない？ きっと　かなうような　気がするの。
テムも　ちゃんと　目を閉じて お願いしてね。
T: Hmm. Would you like to make a wish on that star? I have a feeling it’s sure to come true.
Tim, close your eyes and make a wish.
OE: Shall we make a wish upon that star? I have a feeling it’ll come true.
Will, you close your eyes, too.

Make a wish upon the game’s antagonist!

JP: テム：ボクは　みんなの無事と 父さんのことを　いっしょうけんめい いのってみた．．．
T: With all my might, I wished for everyone’s safety, and to find my father.
OE: Will: I hope for everyone’s safety, and for my father…

OE is literally correct. He doesn’t wish to find his father, he just wishes for his father’s こと (koto). It’s like wishing for stuff about his father, or his father’s circumstances, or something like that. I inferred a verb that makes sense. It could just as well be for everyone’s safety, including my father.

JP: ひょう流　18日目
T + OE: Drifting, Day 18

I’m losing count of how many times they’ve died from dehydration. Maybe we pretend that in their world, ocean water is potable?

JP: カレン： もう　ひょう流してから　3週間 近くたつのね。
テムってば　少し　カミの毛が のびたんじゃない？ そうね　２ドットくらい(笑)
T: Karen: We’ve been adrift for almost 3 weeks.
Your hair has grown a little, hasn’t it? Yeah, I think about 2 pixels. Hahaha.
OE: Kara: We’ve been adrift for almost three weeks now.
Hasn’t your hair gotten a little long? Just a little (Laughs).

WHAT

Oh my god, this joke is so good. Why did they take it out? Maybe they didn’t understand it? Did they think children wouldn’t understand it?

But this has gotta be the best line in the game, right? What a loss.

JP: テム：　そういう　カレンもさ、 おひめさまって　感じじゃなくなった よな。
どっかの島の　女の子って 言っても　わかんないと思うけど。
T: Tim: You don’t feel like such a princess anymore.
If I told people you were just some island girl, I don’t think they’d doubt it.
OE: Will: Kara doesn’t act like a spoiled princess now.
If you told someone she was one of the island girls, no one would doubt it.

Once again, problems with the fact that JP speakers frequently say people’s names instead of using second person pronouns. In English, if he were speaking in his head, he’d use 3rd person, but if he were speaking to her, he’d use 2nd.

But I’m sure Tim is saying this out loud to Karen because of the next line…

JP: カレン： ひっどーい！
な　なに．．．？ あの　海にいるの　なに．．．？
T: Karen: You’re terrible!
…What? What’s that in the water?
OE: Kara: It’s terrible!!
What is that…? There in the water…?

…In which Karen responds to Tim’s teasing. I used to think she was talking about the sharks being terrible, but she’s not even aware that the thing in the water is anything scary yet. The line is definitely directed at Tim.

So, some sharks come and scary dungeon music starts playing.

JP: カレン： イカダのまわりを　ぐるぐるまわる だけで　おそってこないわね．．．
テム： しばらく　様子を見てみよう。
T: Karen: They just go around and around the raft without attacking.
Tim: Let’s wait for a moment and see what happens.
OE: Kara: They’re circling our raft, but they’re not attacking…
Will: Let’s think about this…

Wait a while and Karen will speak on her own:

JP: カレン： もしかして　サメ．．．？
あたしたち　食べられちゃうの かしら．．． どうしよう．．　テム．．．
T: Karen: I think they’re sharks.
Do you think we’ll be eaten? What should we do, Tim?
OE: Kara: Maybe a shark…?
We could be eaten….
What should we do?…

JP: カレン： わかった！ この子たち　お腹がすいてないのよ！
むかし　じいやに　教わったの。 お腹がすいてないのに　生き物を おそうのは　人間だけだって。
T: Karen: I got it! These juveniles aren’t hungry!
Something a tutor taught me, long ago: Humans are the only creatures that attack living things when they aren’t hungry.
OE: Kara: I’ve got it! They’re not hungry!!
My grandpa told me that only humans attack living things when they’re not hungry.

Say, did you know that free-range domestic cats kill more than 4 billion animals per year? They’ve even helped contribute to the extinction of some species. One study put cameras on house cats, and found that they only brought 23 percent of their kills back to a residence. It found that another 28 percent were eaten and never brought home, and a full half were left at the capture site uneaten. So that’s more than 2 billion animals killed each year, just for funsies, by a single cat species. Unsurprisingly, other felines like lions and leopards have displayed similar behavior.

…Wait, what were we talking about? Why did I bring up cats? I can’t remember. Anyway, keep your damn cats indoors.

I don’t know why she specifies that the sharks are young, but she does. JP doesn’t really say tutor. It says じいや (jiiya - elderly manservant). The implication is probably more one of the castle servants than a tutor, but eh, I don’t think it matters that much.

じい on its own can mean grandpa, which is where the OE comes from. They either missed the や part or thought it meant something else.

Moving on…

JP: テム： それなら　ボクらのやっていることは 人間らしくないんだなあ。
死にそうになるまで 魚を　食べなかったもんね。
T: Tim: In that case, what we’re doing isn’t so much like other humans.
We didn’t eat fish until we were about to die.
OE: Will: Then what we’re doing is not usual human behavior.
We didn’t eat fish until we were starving.

Later, Tim would go on to kill many, many snakes in the Great Wall of China, because they give powerup jewels when they’re all defeated.

JP: カレン：　そうよね。 あ　いっちゃうみたい。 サメさん　さよーならぁー．．．
T: You’re right. Ah, looks like they’re leaving. Goodbye, Mr. Shark.
OE: Kara: That’s right. They’re going. Good-bye, sharks…

She’s adorable.

JP: ひょう流　21日目
T + OE: Drifting, Day 21

This is the final day drifting, thankfully.

JP: カレン： あたしね。　お城にいるときは 夕日をみるのが　好きだったの．．．
お城のわたりロウカから見る　夕日は すっごく　すっごく　きれいで．．．
T: Karen: When I lived in the castle, I used to love watching the sunset.
From the skybridge in the castle, it was incredibly beautiful.
OE: Kara: When I was in the castle I loved watching the sun set…
The sunset was so beautiful from the corridor of the castle…

JP: でもね。 今は　きらいになっちゃった。
夕日がしずむと　暗くて　こわい ヤミが　やってきて．．．
T: But now I’ve come to hate it.
When the sun sets, the dark and scary night comes.
OE: But now I’ve come to hate it.
After the sun has set, the darkness comes…

JP: そのまま　二度と　朝日を 見られないんじゃないかと思って．．
でも　テムが　そばにいてくれたから 毎日　きれいな　朝の光を　見られた のよね。
T: It’s made me think I’ll never see the sunrise again.
But because you’ve been by my side, every day I’ve been able to see the morning sun’s beautiful light.
OE: I thought I’d never see the sunrise again….
But since you’re with me, I see a beautiful sunrise every morning.

I feel like there’s a puzzle here I can’t crack. The second sentence seems like a non sequitur. If she were saying that being with Tim helped her see the dawn on the horizon, helped her imagine the sun would rise again, it would make sense. And it would fit with the next sentence. But no matter what, I couldn’t figure out a way the sentence could mean that. She really does seem to say that… Tim helps her survive the night? That’s not as romantic.

JP: テムが　近くに　いてくれると、 たわいない　こんな時間も　なんだか 楽しく感じるの。
T: Even when those silly thoughts take hold, I can still feel happy, as long as I’m near you, Tim.
OE: With you by my side, I can even enjoy times like these.

JP: テム：　ボクは　そんな　カレンに 話したいことが　あるはずなのに なぜか　言葉が　出てこなかった。
ボクは　だまって　うなづくだけ だった．．．
T: Tim: I wanted to say something similar, but for some reason the words wouldn’t come.
I just nodded my head silently.
OE: Will: I’ve wanted to say the same things to you, but somehow the words just wouldn’t come out.
I just nodded, saying nothing…

I really wish this game would indicate when Tim is speaking vs when he’s internal monologuing. The only indication that he’s not saying the first sentence out loud to Karen is the second sentence, which makes absolutely no sense in the OE’s interpretation. I always thought Tim had confessed his feelings to Karen at this point, but he hasn’t.

JP: テム：　とつぜん　ボクは ひざから　がくっと　くずれ落ち 意識が　遠のいていった．．．
T: Tim: Suddenly I lost strength in my legs and collapsed. My consciousness faded away.
OE: Will: Suddenly Will fell over, unconscious…

OE’s transformation of these first person internal monologues into 3rd person comes back to bite it, here, where it prefaces the third person narration with Will: as if Will is saying, internally or out loud, Suddenly Will fell over, unconscious.

JP: カレン： テムっ！　テムっ！！ どうしたのよっ！
しっかりしてよっ！ あたしを　一人にしないでよおっ！！
T: Karen: Tim! Tim! What’s wrong!?
Hold on! Don’t leave me alone!

And we’re done with drifting, huzzah! But this isn’t the natural stopping point for this entry. The game cuts to around the time Tim wakes up.

JP: 男の声： もう　そろそろ　起こしても だいじょうぶだろう。
ビタミンCも　じゅうぶんとらせたし 体のつかれも　回復しているはずだ。
T: Man’s voice: I think it’s ok to wake him up soon.
He’s gotten enough vitamin C that his body should have recovered from fatigue.
OE: Man’s voice: You can wake him up now.
He’ll be fine if he takes Vitamin C.

JP: これは　かい血病といってね 長期間　ビタミンCをとらないと かかる病気なんだよ。
カレン： ふうん．．．．
T: This is called scurvy, an illness you can contract if you go a long time without enough vitamin C.
Karen: Hmph.
OE: It’s scurvy, a disease caused by a long-term lack of vitamin C.
Kara: Hmmmm…

The cause of scurvy was contentious for a long time. It was basically proven in the mid 1700s that citrus fruits prevent scurvy, but experiments conducted later on cast doubt on that conclusion. It turns out they were carried out in ways that confounded the experiments—pasteurizing so much that the vitamin C was destroyed, assuming all citrus fruits equivalent when they were not, storing in copper which interacts with the vitamin C, etc. By the late 1800s through early 1900s some scientists still disputed that lemon juice could prevent scurvy. You can read this old but good blog post about unfortunate things that happened as a result, specifically to explorer Robert Falcon Scott.

Many scientists continued to accept the idea that scurvy was a… something deficiency. But they had trouble isolating what. Vitamin C, aka ascorbic acid, wasn’t actually isolated and proven to be the substance that prevented scurvy until ~1928-1933. Albert Szent-Györgyi won the 1937 Nobel prize in medicine for the discovery. It was first isolated from adrenal glands, but later was able to be isolated from plant material. If you want to read that isolation process from 1932, you can do so here. It’s not exactly simple!

Point is, I don’t think the game world of Illusion of Gaia has progressed enough technologically or scientifically to have isolated vitamin C. They could certainly know that citrus fruits cure scurvy, but I’m surprised they’d know exactly why. The most advanced technology we see in this game is an airplane… but there’s only one in the whole world. This is a pre Industrial Revolution world, right?

…

You might say I’m overthinking things, but that’s missing the point. The point is that I learned a lot about the history of vitamin C while overthinking this, and that’s the joy of having an overthinking brain.

JP: かの有名な　探険家　コロンブスの 一行だって　かかった病気だ。 気に　することはないさ。
この病気が　もっと　ひどくなると 血がダメになり　ヒフの色が どす黒くなってくる。
T: Even the famous Columbus expedition party suffered this illness. No need to worry about it.
If it’s allowed to get severe, your blood goes bad and your skin turns dark black.
OE: Columbus’s crew contracted it once. Nothing to worry about.
When it gets worse, the blood gets bad and the skin turns black.

Yellow, actually. Scurvy causes jaundice. But it also causes skin to bruise more easily, which can turn it black in areas.

I really like the description of the blood gets bad. Anemia was first named in 1807, and first described in 1761 (as far as I know), long before tools for counting red blood cells. Autopsies of severely anemic people revealed a lack of colored blood in the circulatory system. I can see that being described as blood going bad.

JP: 歯ぐきから　血が止まらなくなり やがて　体が　くさって．．．
カレン：　やめてよっ！！ そんな　こわい話　聞きたくないわっ
T: Your gums won’t stop bleeding and your body eventually festers…
Karen: Stop! I don’t want to hear such scary talk.
OE: The gums bleed, and the body starts decaying…
Kara: Stop! I don’t want to listen to such talk!!

Karen and Tim have been living off of raw fish for a couple weeks. (The first week, they didn’t eat.) Is 3 weeks without vitamin C long enough to cause someone to collapse from scurvy? Short answer: probably not. But it is long enough for symptoms to start.

I got curious how much vitamin C raw fish would actually have. Is it really so little? Many meats contain lots of vitamin C. The answer is… yeah, most raw fish contains very little vitamin C. But fish roe (eggs) actually has a fair amount. If Tim had eaten those gross little orange balls inside the fish, maybe he could’ve been spared this ordeal. Though he’d have to have eaten 2/3 cups a day to get even the minimum needed to prevent scurvy. Yum, yum.

JP: 男： はははは。 まあ　無事で　なによりだ。
カレン： でも　おじさんって　物知りなのね。 本当に　ありがとう。
T: Man: Hahahaha. In any case, I’m glad you’re safe.
Karen: But you’re extremely well informed. Really, thank you so much.
OE: Man: Ha ha ha. I’m glad you’re OK.
Kara: But you know best. Thank you.

“Oh, I know best? Glad you’re deferring to my judgment, now let me continue with the gory details about scurvy.”

JP: 礼なら　外にいる　犬に言ってくれ。 あいつが　君たちのイカダを発見して 私を　海につれだしたんだからな。
T: If you want to give anyone thanks, give it to the dog outside. He found your raft and brought me over to help.
OE: You should thank the dog outside, He found your raft and came to get me.

JP: カレン： テム！　テムっ！！ 目を覚ましてっ！！！
陸地に　陸地についたのよっ！！ あたしたち　助かったのよっ！！！
テム： う　ううん．．．
T: Karen: Tim! Tim, wake up!
We’re on land! We’ve been saved!
Tim: *groan*
OE: Kara: Will! Will!! Wake up!
We’ve reached land!! We’re saved!!!
Will: Uhhh…

JP: テム：　はっ　カレン．．．？ ここは　いったい．．．？
カレン： あたしたちを　助けてくれた 親切な　おじさんのおうち。
T: Tim: Karen? Where the heck are we?
Karen: We’re in the house of the kind man who helped us.
OE: Will: Kara…? Where am I…?
Kara: We’re at the home of the kind man who saved us.

JP: まったく　テムったら　ねぞうが 悪いんだからっ。
病人だっていうのに　おふとんを かけても　かけても　はいじゃうん だもの。
T: You were really tossing and turning while you slept.
Even though you were sick, every time I put a blanket on you, you kicked it off.
OE: You’ve been tossing in your sleep.
I kept putting the blankets on you, but you threw them off.

JP: 男： ここは　オークランドの南のはずれ。
ここから　半日くらい　北へ向かうと 花の都　フリージアがある。
T: Man: We’re at the southern edge of Oakland.
From here, if you travel north about a half day, you’ll reach the City of Flowers: Freesia.
OE: Man: This is the south outskirts of Oakton.
The city of Freejia is half a day to the north.

I’m guessing they changed Oakland to Oakton so it’s not confused with Oakland, CA?

Freesias are flowers native to southern Africa. They’re in the family Iridaceae, the same family that contains irises. They’re named after German physician Friedrich Freese.

Pic from Wikipedia of a freesia flower.

So yeah, Freejia is a mistranslation.

JP: はぐれた仲間を　さがすなら　まずは 大きな町へ　行ってみることだな。
T: If you’re looking for lost friends, a big city is a good place to start.
OE: If you’re looking for your friend, you should look in a big town.

If you talk to the man, he just repeats the line about how you should thank the dog outside. Speaking to Karen…

JP: カレン： とにかく　そのフリージアっていう 町へ　いってみましょ。
あたし　犬に　お礼いってくる。 じゅんびができたら　きてね。
T: Karen: Anyway, let’s head for the town called Freesia.
I’m going to thank that dog. Tim, come when you’re ready.
OE: Kara: At any rate, let’s go to Freejia.
I’m going to thank the dog. Come back when you’re ready.

JP: わん　わんっ！
カレン：　この犬 ターボっていう　名前なんですって。 かしこそうな犬よね。
T: Woof woof!
Karen: The dog’s name is Turbo. What a smart dog he is.
OE: Woof woof!
Kara: This dog’s name is Turbo. Isn’t he cute?

JP: さあ　行きましょう。 きっと　リリィや　ロブ、エリック たちと　会えるわよ。
こうして　二人は 花の都　フリージアへ向かう．．．
T: Ok, let’s go. Surely we’ll find Lily, Rob, and Erik.
Thus the two of them left for the City of Flowers, Freesia.
OE: Well, let’s go. Maybe we’ll see Lilly, Lance, and Erik.
So they went to Freejia….

We’re on the Diamond Coast, so we must be in southern Africa. Then we go north to…

Uh, Freajia. Freejia may be a mistranslation, but let’s be happy it wasn’t even worse.

That is the natural stopping point for this entry. Next time: Red jewels! Slavery! Being evil! Alcohol censorship! And more!