Hoping to make your life's design a bit more dynamic!

Heh, we'll air our dirty pantsus! (Open the window, Filler!) I'd be curious to learn (an)other interpretation(s) and see whether it/they fit(s) the visual scenery and suspenseful musical theme (heralding an impending showdown with Hans' postulated kidnapper).


.POINTER = $000800AC
; Offset = $000806AD

; はぁ？
; 私がさらわれた・・・
; いつ？
; 私はパンツのさんぽに
; いっていただけですよ
; くさりをはなしたら
; パンツのやつすっとんで
; かえってしまって
;
; ・・それより，はやく
; 犯人をさがして下さい
.TEXT
Huh...!?[pause-03] What kidnapper...?[key]
I was just out taking Pants on
his morning stroll when he
yanked the leash out of my
hand.
I see he wandered back home.[pause-03][newl]
Anyway, I hope you can locate
the map thief right away!
.ENDT

.POINTER = $000800AE
; Offset = $00080711

; パンツ？
; ああ，そこのバカいぬの事ね
;
; ・・・・まあ，これで
; さがす物はおたからだけね
.TEXT
Pants broke away from you and
ran off...?[pause-03] Oh, that stupid dog![key]
Well, I guess the only thing left
for us to do now is go look for
the treasure, right?
.ENDT

Lol. I didn't even get the pitch/strike out the first time I read it.

My interpretation is...oh wait, I translated it. Looks good to me.

If we want a second opinion we may want to make a post on RHDN's script help board as well.

I don't know how we would work the underwear in, except maybe the treasure map was in the underwear and Pants took off with the whole shebang! Then, the cloaked man went after the dog, and a pursuing Hans realized he had nothing on under his robe, so he took off for the bushes before the kid with the dirty pictures showed up and hid his grandfather's dentures in the neighbor's treasure chest again, who lets perfect strangers walk in his house and grab them! Meanwhile, the dog who escaped the leash needs three young girls to hold it's paws while it pees by the fountain, only to return to the curio shop and have the map in it's mouth just as Hans sneaks home through the alleys.

I'm not sure if I have solid thoughts on this one but Bill's interpretation is as wacky as Slayers can get
Read: completely possible considering the zanniness of the series.

First off, as was stated before, pantsu usually refer to underwear in Japanese not pants so there is a complete pun in this scene that is hard to pull off in English I take it. About the guys Underwear going missing/running away. Therefore calling the dog pants also seems not to be the proper English translation. It might not be as hard to pull off as one might think in English, All we need to do is consider all the possible names for underwear. And then make certain we refer to them in the more ambiguous way the Japanese do (without using he or she.) Now lets take Boxers for an example of how I would handle it. (Let me say quickly, I'm not saying to put it how I have it, of course. I'm just trying to get things moving in a direction they might not have went before.)

Wildbill's version

.POINTER = $000800AC
; Offset = $000806AD

; はぁ？
; 私がさらわれた・・・
; いつ？
; 私はパンツのさんぽに
; いっていただけですよ
; くさりをはなしたら
; パンツのやつすっとんで
; かえってしまって
;
; ・・それより，はやく
; 犯人をさがして下さい
.TEXT
Huh...!?[pause-03] What kidnapper...?[key]
I was just out taking Pants on
his morning stroll when he
yanked the leash out of my
hand.
I see he wandered back home.[pause-03][newl]
Anyway, I hope you can locate
the map thief right away!
.ENDT

.POINTER = $000800AE
; Offset = $00080711

; パンツ？
; ああ，そこのバカいぬの事ね
;
; ・・・・まあ，これで
; さがす物はおたからだけね
.TEXT
Pants broke away from you and
ran off...?[pause-03] Oh, that stupid dog![key]
Well, I guess the only thing left
for us to do now is go look for
the treasure, right?
.ENDT

My version

.POINTER = $000800AC
; Offset = $000806AD

; はぁ？
; 私がさらわれた・・・
; いつ？
; 私はパンツのさんぽに
; いっていただけですよ
; くさりをはなしたら
; パンツのやつすっとんで
; かえってしまって
;
; ・・それより，はやく
; 犯人をさがして下さい
.TEXT
Huh...!?[pause-03] What kidnapper...?[key]
I was just out taking my Boxers for
a morning stroll, but my Boxers
ran away from me.[pause-03][newl]
I see my Boxers wandered back
home safely.[pause-03][newl]
Anyway, I hope you can locate
the map thief right away!
.ENDT

.POINTER = $000800AE
; Offset = $00080711

; パンツ？
; ああ，そこのバカいぬの事ね
;
; ・・・・まあ，これで
; さがす物はおたからだけね
.TEXT
Your boxers broke away from you and
ran off...?[pause-03] Oh, the stupid dog![key]
I thought you meant...[pause-03] Well, never mind
what I thought![pause-03][newl]
Well, I guess the only thing left
for us to do now is go look for
the treasure, right?
.ENDT

Now of course, I didn't exactly go over this and polish it and work it to the boxes. Is referring to the dog every time as my Boxers proper. Probably not, but also wouldn't be quite unusual to hear occasionally by certain dog owners in conversational English. Therefore, it does work. Japanese puns will not always work in English. Probably be rare when they will, but we shouldn't just immediately write them off. Especially for games that have a Japanese flair or long standing traditions which lean towards the Japanese culture.

Just saw the update on the front page, way to go guys! You rock!

I knew we would drag you into this project eventually.

Anyway, the device you are describing may be a Japanese form of adianoeta, which is an expression that in addition to it's obvious definition, it carries a second meaning that may be somewhat vague and even opposed to the ostensible meaning. This literary gadget is also referred to as the double entendre.

What I need to do is slip you the whole scene so you can see how it all fits together. If you want, I can get you a save-state right in front of Hans' shop. Since you are intimately familiar with subtle Japanese cultural influences in the whole anime spectrum, maybe adianoeta is the way to go, because it's more subtle than a straight pun. Also, "boxer" may work better than underwear or underpants because it's also a pedigree of dog. Thus, between Hans' pantsu, a dog species, and the dog's possible name, especially the way you introduced selective capitalization, it could leave everyone on a different wavelength but still miraculously winding up in the same place - almost a triple ententre. (Metaphorically, think of Moe, Larry, and Curly running amok around the room, chasing a problem with reckless abandon, then suddenly darting back to the center simultaneously, bopping their heads!)

It's up to Filler - changing the dog's name from Pants to Boxer - but it works for me because the Western localization would not be diminished, and it doesn't alter the Japanese author's portrayal of main (series) character personalities.

This whole game is a madcap frolic like this for Filler and me. I hope you will jump into the rest of the fray as we polish it toward maybe a March release. I believe you will enjoy it for a reason I cannot disclose.

Sure, if you want to send along the scene and a savestate. I'd give it a once over to see if I could recommend something more natural. I'm getting pretty close to being done with that other thing I've been working on and should be sending it along in the next few days to you.

Anyway, yeah the Japanese language has many many words with multiple meanings. It is quite common to see this situation in anime. I don't think it happens so much in games, but games based on anime would be more likely to see it happen. Now, the reason for this may be that even though the words are the same, they may very well be written differently. I'm no expert on Japanese however, so I would concede to the translators discretion on it.

The same thing can be seen in English. Words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same. However in English, from my observations, it is much less frequent and doesn't lend itself to making stupid puns quite as well. As an example, we have words like whole and hole, steal and still, knight and night. You get the idea. Anyway, the Japanese love to use these words in anime to make dumb puns all the time. They rarely work well in English and even need to be explained with translation notes on most occasions. Sometimes, you get lucky though, and there is a way to work it.

Anyway, as I said. As long as I'm not stepping on any toes, I'd be glad to take a look. Certainly wouldn't take too much time to do that. Can't promise I'll give the full game a beta, I really should be getting back to working on Hourai. That being said however, who knows what I'll find time to do between now and then.

Late to my own party as usual. I know you are basically finished up with the re-write WB but for the record I like the Boxers thing. It reminds me of the whole Bulma/Trunks/Bra deal from Dragon Ball. Classic stuff. I think it works well in this case.

I take it, then, that you got my SRM a few days ago or otherwise played the re-written scene. Naga gets ample opportunities now to step into and out of her own messes! So, if the primary translator is happy, I'm happy! I think Bongo` played through it, too, and got a chuckle, so it does seem to work.

I've also got a final write on the Cookbook side quest resolution, and finally... Have you reviewed the strings of the four women sitting around the table in a house in Tells city? I have the dedication in there and would like your final green light on the four women. That's our self-flagellation - I mean congratulation - celebration!