Utena Fansub Ep 32 Translation Notes

Revolutionary Girl Utena Episode 32 The Romance Of The Dancing Girls.mkv

I thought I might do an entire post about just one exchange in this translation. It’s the most important part of the episode, and Anya and I made an effort to align timezones so we could talk about it. Much of the credit for this analysis goes to Anya. Getting their interpretation on what’s happening here narratively was so helpful and the translation wouldn’t have been possible without it. It’s this:

Utena: そんなことは重要なのか？形はどうあれ、思いがあれば。。。
Nanami: あんたは信じていればいいわ！その思いの結末を！

When translated literally, it seems to make little sense

Utena: Is that really important? Whatever shape it takes, if there is love/feelings…
Nanami: If you want to believe*, fine! *In that love’s conclusion!

There is a lot of vagueness in the phrasing here. Is Nanami talking about “that love’s conclusion” being incest? Or is she talking about it being an ego trap? How letting herself be consumed by love for Touga made her shed her own identity, which is what this duel is about: making a new identity for herself that isn’t tied to Touga.

But beyond those two simultaneously true interpretations of what Nanami is talking about, the vagueness has another function. Looking back at the egg episode, which highlights the importance of sexual education for kids and teens, we know that Nanami doesn’t even understand the concept of sex. Her lack of understanding of sex and her body is the point of the episode. Nanami is being vague here because she doesn’t have the words to describe what she saw. “I can’t even say it… It’s too horrible,” she tells Touga in the car.

The vagueness is incredibly important, so the translation needs to preserve that.

I’m using the asterisk above to show that the “in that love’s conclusion” bit is referring to what Nanami thinks Utena “should believe in”. When translated literally, all the meaning conveyed by word order and tone/delivery gets kind of lost, but she’s saying “oh sure, you go ahead and believe in that love’s natural conclusion, you naive idiot” or “Why don’t you try believing that and see where that love ends up!” She’s saying “you can afford to believe that. you haven’t seen what I’ve seen”.

Let’s take a look at another translation, from the dub of the internet archive files:

Utena: Does there have to be a bond? Whatever the form, as long as the feelings are there… Nanami: Believe it if you want! I know where those feelings lead!

As you can see, they translate 思い as “feelings”. But I really think “love” is a better translation in this context. Of course, 思い can mean “feelings” as in “what about my feelings?” (ep 24), but we’ve also seen it mean “love” in another key Utena line (ep 7):

奇跡を信じて。思いは届くと。

Believe in miracles, and your love will be returned.

Utena and Nanami are both obviously talking about her love for Touga, and to call it “feelings” doesn’t have the same punch to it. And Anya and I agreed that this line needs to PUNCH. It needs to be horrifying — this is the culimination of Nanami’s arc, and the height of her emotions and desperation. Her final line here needs to hit hard whether its interpreted as her horror at real incest, or her desire to be her own person.

This is also why I translated Nanami’s final line quite differently from how the above translation did. I looked at what she was really saying, and tried to find the most gut wrenching, emotional way to phrase it.

In the end, this was the final translation:

Utena: Does it really matter? Whatever you call it, as long as it’s love…
Nanami: Of course you’d believe that! You don’t know where that love leads!

Obviously a huge thanks has to go to @dontbe-lasanya for your editing, especially with this line!

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Haru Dipthong’s Utena Fansub - Google Drive

Rose divider taken from this post.