misc. Yamaguchirow (Shinsei)
Jun. 4th, 2006 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat1138These are some older attempts at translating various Yamaguchirow material, from a few years back; afaik all of the places where they were originally archived have either removed them or vanished. They're probably a much choppier read than the more recent ones I've tried, what with a lack of consistent format and, well, stuff. I've also left in all of the original notes, some of which may now seem even more cryptic than they were to start with.
I think the copy of "Haran" (a Kenshin/Tomoe story) that was in this file is the same as the one that's already in this LJ, so I''ve deleted it to skip straight to Shinsei, whose centerpiece story is "Stray Sinner" (pp. 15-45).
Kaoru's dialogue is much more colloquial than Tomoe's. Drat the girl, because reference books like to concentrate on more formal grammar. On the other hand, now I get to have some fun with tailoring the translations more idiomatically.
...argh. I think this is about as far as I can get on my own. Some of the translations are still pretty clunky; whatever I end up sending to Prudence-chan for the nosebleeds mirror may've been tweaked to flow more smoothly (but probably less literally). As always, suggestions and comments are more than welcome.
p. 15--
Story title page with Kenshin sitting around looking mopey and leaning on his sword; lots of prologue text up top:
At night, the middle of the dark dream
[yoru] wa [kura]i [yume] no [naka]
Because/From the space inside hides the wholeness of a being
[ma] wa [sube]te no mono wo [kaka]su kara
(ma /aida , "between"; subete, "whole"; mono, "thing/person"; kakasu, "hide")
Which the true self causes to remain
[shinjitsu] no [jibun] ga yori [noko]sareru
(shinjitsu, "truth"; jibun, "oneself"; nokosareru, "cause to remain")
He starts to want to go insane inside the dream
[kuru]i nikunaru [yume] no [naka]
(kurui, "crazy"; -nikunaru: "start to want" as verb suffix, but with an adjective...?)
He continues his wandering journey
[houkou] [tsuzu]keru...
(houkou, "wandering journey"; tsuzukeru, "continue")
Inside the dream
[yume] no [naka]
("inside the dream" or "at the heart of the dream")
p. 16--
Kaoru: Kenshin...
p. 17--
Kaoru: "You're not oversleeping, are you?"
Anmari [nemu]tteinai n'jya nai no?
(amari: "too much"; nemuru, "sleep" -> slurred negative gerund)
Kenshin: "No, I..."
Iya, sessha wa...
Kaoru: "Or should I ask, aren't you sleeping at all?"
Sore tomo, [nemu]renai no?
(sore tomo: conjunction between related questions)
p. 18--
Kenshin: "Thank you, Kaoru-dono... I won't make you worry about my problems; I'm in good health."
Arigatou, [Kaoru-dono]... [sessha] no koto wa [kokorokuba]sezu tomo [daijobu] de gozaru yo.
(koto: "stuff"; kokorokubareru, "worry" -> informal negative causative?; tomo: "all of the above")
Kaoru: "C'mere a minute."
Chyotto kotchi [ki]te
(informal versions of "chotto" and "kochira")
Kenshin: (squiggly dialogue/sound effects and the exclamation "GIIII" while being dragged away)
p. 19--
Kenshin: "Kaoru-dono..."
Kaoru: "You aren't sleeping... is it that man's fault?"
[Nemu]renai no... ano [hito] no sei?
(I still don't know the context for this. She *might*
be referring to Enishi, since some of the surrounding
omake relate to Tomoe.)
p. 20--
Kaoru: "But that-- I want to hold you..."
Sore demo-- [watashi] wa anata wo [da]iteitai
(daku, "hold" -> slurred desiderative)
p. 21-- no dialogue; Kaoru sits Kenshin down at the base of a ladder and ties his hands above him with her hair scarf.
p. 22--
Kaoru: "Kenshin...this way? Would it be better if I...?"
[Kenshin]... sou? Motto yoku shite ageru ne...
(yoku: informal adverb for ii, "good"; suru, "do" -> gerund , + ageru -> to do a favor)
Kenshin: (gasp)
Kaoru: "How does that feel?"
[Kan]jiru?
Kenshin: (much louder gasp)
Kaoru: (slurpy sounds)
p. 23--
Kenshin: "Ka-o-ru... it's too much... p-please don't..."
Kaoru...amari...[tsuko]ku shinai...de...
(Kaoru's name is in kana this time, suggesting a breakup in pronunciation; similarly, the ellipsis in the middle of shinaide (polite negative request gerund = informal request/command)
p. 24--
Kaoru: "Suckle on me"
Sutte
She peels open the top of her kimono and offers him a nipple.
p. 25--
Kaoru: "Just like always..."
Itsu mo mitai ni...
(idiomatic)
Kaoru: "Suck harder....!"
Motto [tsuyo]ku [su]tteE...
(Or perhaps both lines combine into the single sentence "Itsu mo mitai ni motto tsuyoku sutteE" -> "Suck harder than usual...!")
Kenshin: "May I come in?"
NeE, [hai]retai...
(hairu, "enter" -> desiderative; not the most literal translation, but it seems to fit Kenshin's facial expression of "happy puppy looking at dog biscuit just out of reach")
Kaoru: "No, not yet."
Mo da, dame...
Kenshin: "But why...?" (betrayed anguish as Kaoru resumes ravishing him)
Doushite...?
Kaoru: "Um... I do already want you..."
A... mou [ho]shii yo...
(hoshii: like suki (na), technically an adjective for which the smoothest English translation for its compound with desu is an active verb, "want/desire", but unlike suki (na) which also grammatically acts like a noun, this belongs to the category that acts like verbs. If you ever see a book that's called something like "Japanese Adjectives Made Easy!", it's probably lying.
p. 26--
Kaoru: "But here... I need to get a little more wet? Wider open, you see... more than this, or it WON'T... Kenshin, I'm just making sure...."
Koko...mou [nu]reteru? Motto [hiro]gete, yoku [mi]sete... kore [ijou] wa DAME... [Kenshin] no de [tashi]kamete...
(hirogeru, "stretch something"; yoku miru, "see well" both idiomatically and literally, in this case; tashikameru, "to make certain")
Kenshin: Kaoru-dono...
Kaoru: I dunno about getting you in...
[Naka] ni [i]renakute [wa]karanu yo...
(ireru, "insert" -> gerund = informal request/command; wakaru, "understand, realize" -> informal negative]
p. 27--
Kaoru: Do you want me that way?
Sonna ni [ho]shii no?
Kenshin: I want you. Kaoru, put me in.
[Ho]shii... [Kaoru]... [hai]rete
(somewhat shakily, she settles into his lap, facing him; unattributed moaning)
Kaoru: THERE.
SO
Kenshin: Kaoru?
p. 28--
Kenshin: (realizes she's crying) "Kaoru... dono-- why are you..."
Doushite de gozaru...
Kaoru: "Look, it went straight in... see, I just, I just ... you've made me into a woman... "
Massugu, [watashi] no koto [mi]te... [watashi] dake, [watashi] dake [mi]te... anata ga, [watashi] wo [onna] ni shita no yo...
(massugu: straight ahead; dake: only/just; X wo Y ni suru: make X into Y)
p. 29--
Kenshin:" ...I'm sorry."
...Gomen
Kaoru: "I... I didn't want to talk about that kind of, of THING... I'm so sorry..."
Konna KOTO [i]u, [watashi]... [kira]i na no ni...[watashi]... gomen nasai...
(the verb is really in the nonpast tense, but seemed to flow better in translation when, um, pastified?)
Kenshin: "Kaoru-dono. Would you finally untie my hands?"
[Kaoru-dono]. Kono [ryoute] no [imashi]me wo [hodo]ite [mora]e nu ga?
(ryoute, "both hands"; imashime, "bindings"; hodoku, "untie" -> gerund; gerund + morau, "give" -> "do something for someone" -> plain imperative; -nu: sometimes a variant of the negative suffix -nai, but in this case I'm guessing it's being used as the classical Japanese suffix of completion.)
p. 30--
Kaoru: "It'll be just the same."
Kono mama jya.
(mama: "unchanged state")
Kenshin: "I can't hold you..."
[Kimi] wo [da]kenai...
(daku, "hold" -> neg. potential)
(She unties him. He holds her. Awwww.)
p. 31--
Kenshin: "...Forgive me, I-- if you'd told me this time, I really didn't know--"
...Sumanai, [sessha] ni wa-- konna [toki] wo [i]eba, ii no ka [waka]ranai
(iu, "say/tell" -> provisional; ii no ka: some really squirmy idiom I'm not sure of yet)
Kaoru: "That's how it is... Kenshin, if you could feel good about it..."
Kou shite... [Kenshin] ga [kan]jiraretara sore de ii...
(kanjiru, "feel" -> potential conditional)
Kenshin: "That's how it is... but Kaoru-dono..."
Sou de gozaru ga....shikashi, [Kaoru-dono]...
p. 32--
Kenshin: "How long would you need us to stay like this?"
Dono kurai no [aida] kou shite ireba yoi no de gozaru ka?
(dono kurai: "about how much"; iru, "need" -> provisional)
narrative arrow: still the same (i.e., they're stilll, um, docked, but not moving)
kou shite
Kaoru: (fluorescent blush) "Sorry, I... we're still in the middle of--"
Gomen, [watashi]... [tochuu] de
(tochuu: the interval between the beginning and end of a path/interval)
Kenshin: "That is... do you want to feel more from me?"
Ne... motto... [sessha] wo [kan]jitai?
(kanjiru -> desiderative)
Kaoru: "I-- I think I do..."
Motto-- [kan]jite mitai...
p. 33--
Kenshin: "You'll be sensing only me..."
[Sessha] dake wo, [kan]jite...
(He blindfolds her with her scarf)
Kaoru: "Turn this way?"
[mu]te?
(muku, "turn"?)
(He picks her up, and perches her on the ladder at a convenient height.)
p. 34-- no dialogue, but various sound effects.
p. 35-- (even more sound effects)
Kaoru: "Don't, nooo!"
DameEE...
Kenshin: "You'll've felt more than ever!"
Itsu mo yori [kan]jichyau!
(itsu mo yori: more than usual/ever; kanjiru -> slurred informal version of -te shimau "completion" form?)
p. 36--
Kaoru: "Let me out, don't--"
SOTO ni, dame-e-e--
Kenshin?: "Just a little more time-- it's OKAY for you to come--"
mou I-tsu chiyai sou-- ITTE ii yo--
(chiyai? iku: lit. "to be necessary", but idiomatically "to have an orgasm" -> gerund/command/request)
Kaoru: I'm COMINNGG-- (big giant moany sound effects)
IKUUU--
p. 37--
Kaoru: "Kenshin... you're stopping too... I... you only need a little more than that..."
[Kenshin], mo... [ya]mete... [watashi]... mou kore [ijou]...
(Kenshin scoops her off the ladder, drapes her onto the floor face-up with the blindfold removed, and gets her to compress her bosom from the sides.)
sound effect from her cleavage: slather-squish...
nururu...
p. 38--
more sound effects: SQUOOSH etc.
NURU(RU)
Kaoru: "Kenshin, your... it's so hot... and HARD... feeling even more... intense sensations?"
[Kenshin] no...sugoku...[atsu]kute KATAI... motto [kan]jite... [kimochi]ra ii?
(katai, "hard"-- according to my dictionary, an adjective that's only used to describe meat. Orororo....)
Kenshin: (gasp) "I'm... coming... too-- if I keep doing this-- is that okay?"
HAA... mo...IKU-- kono mama--[da]shite ii?
(dasu, "emit": a male-specific idiom for orgasm)
Kaoru: "It's fine! Go ahead!"
Ii wa yo-- dashite
p. 39-- (no dialogue, but an almighty sploosh across the panels (including Kaoru's face) and some heavy
breathing)
p. 40-- (sleepily cuddling, sitting upright against the side of the ladder)
Kaoru: "I, well... I told you that I don't look for faults in someone's past, I must have said so."
[watashi] ne... [watashi] ne... [hito] no [kako] ni wa kodawaranai 'tte, [i]tte ta de shi yo.
(New theory: in this case, 'tte is the contraction from 'to iu' that signals an indirect quote. Maybe. Still not entirely convinced that the last three kana can be interpreted as desho, because shouldn't that last vowel be long? and I still don't know the function of ta.)
Kaoru: "But (sigh) it's not FAIR." (she touches his scar) "Recently, I've started to feel so worried about you... "
Demo fu SOTO wa. Anata wo [chika]ku ni [kan]jiru [tabi] ni, [fuan] ni natta...
Kaoru: (still caressing his face) "This scar of yours... but you said that knowing about it would hurt me more, or you thought it would. Only, between how you became [?]... the way you are now, lost in that way because people feared you."
[Kenshin] no ko yo, motto nan demo, [shi]tte itai 'tte [omo]tta wa... Dake do [aida/ma] ke na katta... [ima] no anata wo, [ushina]i sou de [kowa]katta kara.
(I'm hesitant about glomming together the entire word nakatta because there's a linebreak after na, and I still don't know what the ke is up to.)
Kaoru: "My... I don't know your secrets of long ago; that's your own business...."
[watashi] no... [shi]ranai [jidai] no [mi-shi]ranu anata no koto...
(the kanji for "jidai" (age/past) have been given the furigana "yoki" (season?))
p. 41--
Kaoru: "But also, you-- you've been just a normal, ordinary man, and you can be that way a little while longer, because didn't I say I wouldn't pry into your past...?"
demo, anata mo-- tada no [futsu] no [otoko] datta, mou [hitotabi], [i]u kara ne, [watashi] wa [hito] no [kako] ni nan ka kodawaranai wa....
p. 42--
Kaoru: "You can depend on me for the importance of an ordinary life..."
anata wa, [watashi] ni yotte tada hiyori no [taisetsu] na hiyo....
(hiyo(ri): "price"? taisetsu na: "important")
(The translations for this entire long speech by Kaoru are rather shaky. Argh.)
p. 43--
*Kaoru: "Right, Kenshin? ....Kenshin?"
nee, [Kenshin]... {Kenshin]?
(he's fallen asleep cuddled against her bosom; she smiles and cuddles him back.)
p. 44--(no dialogue. Kenshin wakes up sometime later, still in cuddle stance; now she's the one who's fallen asleep. He smiles, wraps her kimono a little more tightly around her shoulders, and rearranges them both so now she's cuddled agains his chest. He touches his scar thoughtfully.)
p. 45--
Kenshin: "She's really amazing... that darn woman."
[fushigi] da na... onna 'tte.
(na: a more "male" version of ne; I'm still sticking to this 'tte as the "annoyance suffix".)
Endnotes: The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary has *much* faster lookups than Nelson, but you have to be able to spatially analyze each character to find things. Unlike Nelson, it shows the stroke order for writing each character, but in some cases, I just haven't been able to find things in Kodansha that I can
eventually locate in Nelson. Minor prancing-about for having eventually identified "houkou" (from the prologue); neither of that compound's two kanji is even *in* Kodansha or the compact Nelson, but it turns out that my public library has a copy of the original Nelson *and* I actually remembered what the kanji looked like. Whee!
Current stack of references, for anyone who's tempted to follow my path into this brand of insanity--
The Compact Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary
501 Japanese Verbs
and rather a lot of Kodansha publications, actually: the aforementioned Kanji Learner's Dictionary, A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns, Kodansha's Romanized Japanese-English Dictionary, Japanese Verbs at a Glance, The Handbook of Japanese Adjectives and Verbs, and All About Particles.
Also lots of individual Google searches on speculative words or short phrases, and a rather dog-eared cheat sheet of kana.
Also, some random omake from Shinsei.
Doujinshi by the Yamaguchirow circle usually have lil' sketches, author's notes,
etc. scattered before and after the main event. "Shinsei" is no exception. Near
the start, there're several two-page spreads (so to speak) of Kenshin getting it
on with various women; each of these pix has a long paragraph in small print
which I'm ignoring for now, and a VERY LARGE CAPTION. If I'm not mistaken, all
of these captions contain excruciating puns, unless they're just double-
entendres that leaped to mind during translation.
Exhibit #1: Kenshin half-lying against a tree while Misao sits on top of him,
ravishing him in a genki way.
"I-- now that I'm a woman, I'll be a real kunoichi of the Oniwabanshuu under the
power of Aoshi-sama!"
atashi wa atashi ga nara [oniwabanshuu] no [kunoichi] toshite [Aoshi-sama] no
chikara ni natte ita onna yo
Exhibit #2: Kenshin and Megumi on their knees in a bed or futon; I think this
caption is a narrative comment rather than a line of dialogue?
"Because surely some deep-rooted affection remains within..."
kitto [miren] ga [noko]rimasu kara...
Exhibit #3: Kenshin bracing Tomoe up against a wall.
"Is this an unwelcome intrusion?"
koko ni ite wa [meiwaku] desu ka
Exhibit #4: Kenshin looking amazingly smug while Kaoru flails about in
embarrassment.
"It's okay, this one little wound is already healing"
daijobu mou [kizu] wa [i]ete de gozaru
(This one really depends on several senses of mou: "already", "just a bit more",
and Kaoru's usual exclamation of stress.)
And finally (?), a one-page minicomic of Tomoe meeting up with Tatsumi and his
henchmen. Tatsumi demands, "What is Battousai's greatest weakness?"; Tomoe looks
surprised, then thoughtful, then mournfully resigned. "Battousai's greatest
weakness... is just before Ryuu Sen." (or "the Forward Dragon Flesh"?)
"Yes, I'm listening," says Tatsumi, and starts to ask, "How many times--" before
Tomoe holds up her hands. One of them has two fingers raised. The other one is
curled into a round fist. This causes a reaction of nosebleeds all around See,
as in English, the word for "before" can also mean "in front", and the kanji she
used aren't the usual ones for Hiten Mitsurugi techniques. Oh no. This "ryuu"
means "stand" or "penetrate", and this "sen" means "gland". She has thoughtfully
pointed them toward his testicles. If they can get to them.
There's a similar Tatsumi/Tomoe minicomic in back, but I haven't done anything
with it yet. In the sketch section, Battousai is having an explosive nosebleed
at a nude pinup magazine of Tomoe, while Misao gleefully reading Tomoe's diary
as Aoshi sweatdrops behind her.
I think the copy of "Haran" (a Kenshin/Tomoe story) that was in this file is the same as the one that's already in this LJ, so I''ve deleted it to skip straight to Shinsei, whose centerpiece story is "Stray Sinner" (pp. 15-45).
Kaoru's dialogue is much more colloquial than Tomoe's. Drat the girl, because reference books like to concentrate on more formal grammar. On the other hand, now I get to have some fun with tailoring the translations more idiomatically.
...argh. I think this is about as far as I can get on my own. Some of the translations are still pretty clunky; whatever I end up sending to Prudence-chan for the nosebleeds mirror may've been tweaked to flow more smoothly (but probably less literally). As always, suggestions and comments are more than welcome.
p. 15--
Story title page with Kenshin sitting around looking mopey and leaning on his sword; lots of prologue text up top:
At night, the middle of the dark dream
[yoru] wa [kura]i [yume] no [naka]
Because/From the space inside hides the wholeness of a being
[ma] wa [sube]te no mono wo [kaka]su kara
(ma /aida , "between"; subete, "whole"; mono, "thing/person"; kakasu, "hide")
Which the true self causes to remain
[shinjitsu] no [jibun] ga yori [noko]sareru
(shinjitsu, "truth"; jibun, "oneself"; nokosareru, "cause to remain")
He starts to want to go insane inside the dream
[kuru]i nikunaru [yume] no [naka]
(kurui, "crazy"; -nikunaru: "start to want" as verb suffix, but with an adjective...?)
He continues his wandering journey
[houkou] [tsuzu]keru...
(houkou, "wandering journey"; tsuzukeru, "continue")
Inside the dream
[yume] no [naka]
("inside the dream" or "at the heart of the dream")
p. 16--
Kaoru: Kenshin...
p. 17--
Kaoru: "You're not oversleeping, are you?"
Anmari [nemu]tteinai n'jya nai no?
(amari: "too much"; nemuru, "sleep" -> slurred negative gerund)
Kenshin: "No, I..."
Iya, sessha wa...
Kaoru: "Or should I ask, aren't you sleeping at all?"
Sore tomo, [nemu]renai no?
(sore tomo: conjunction between related questions)
p. 18--
Kenshin: "Thank you, Kaoru-dono... I won't make you worry about my problems; I'm in good health."
Arigatou, [Kaoru-dono]... [sessha] no koto wa [kokorokuba]sezu tomo [daijobu] de gozaru yo.
(koto: "stuff"; kokorokubareru, "worry" -> informal negative causative?; tomo: "all of the above")
Kaoru: "C'mere a minute."
Chyotto kotchi [ki]te
(informal versions of "chotto" and "kochira")
Kenshin: (squiggly dialogue/sound effects and the exclamation "GIIII" while being dragged away)
p. 19--
Kenshin: "Kaoru-dono..."
Kaoru: "You aren't sleeping... is it that man's fault?"
[Nemu]renai no... ano [hito] no sei?
(I still don't know the context for this. She *might*
be referring to Enishi, since some of the surrounding
omake relate to Tomoe.)
p. 20--
Kaoru: "But that-- I want to hold you..."
Sore demo-- [watashi] wa anata wo [da]iteitai
(daku, "hold" -> slurred desiderative)
p. 21-- no dialogue; Kaoru sits Kenshin down at the base of a ladder and ties his hands above him with her hair scarf.
p. 22--
Kaoru: "Kenshin...this way? Would it be better if I...?"
[Kenshin]... sou? Motto yoku shite ageru ne...
(yoku: informal adverb for ii, "good"; suru, "do" -> gerund , + ageru -> to do a favor)
Kenshin: (gasp)
Kaoru: "How does that feel?"
[Kan]jiru?
Kenshin: (much louder gasp)
Kaoru: (slurpy sounds)
p. 23--
Kenshin: "Ka-o-ru... it's too much... p-please don't..."
Kaoru...amari...[tsuko]ku shinai...de...
(Kaoru's name is in kana this time, suggesting a breakup in pronunciation; similarly, the ellipsis in the middle of shinaide (polite negative request gerund = informal request/command)
p. 24--
Kaoru: "Suckle on me"
Sutte
She peels open the top of her kimono and offers him a nipple.
p. 25--
Kaoru: "Just like always..."
Itsu mo mitai ni...
(idiomatic)
Kaoru: "Suck harder....!"
Motto [tsuyo]ku [su]tteE...
(Or perhaps both lines combine into the single sentence "Itsu mo mitai ni motto tsuyoku sutteE" -> "Suck harder than usual...!")
Kenshin: "May I come in?"
NeE, [hai]retai...
(hairu, "enter" -> desiderative; not the most literal translation, but it seems to fit Kenshin's facial expression of "happy puppy looking at dog biscuit just out of reach")
Kaoru: "No, not yet."
Mo da, dame...
Kenshin: "But why...?" (betrayed anguish as Kaoru resumes ravishing him)
Doushite...?
Kaoru: "Um... I do already want you..."
A... mou [ho]shii yo...
(hoshii: like suki (na), technically an adjective for which the smoothest English translation for its compound with desu is an active verb, "want/desire", but unlike suki (na) which also grammatically acts like a noun, this belongs to the category that acts like verbs. If you ever see a book that's called something like "Japanese Adjectives Made Easy!", it's probably lying.
p. 26--
Kaoru: "But here... I need to get a little more wet? Wider open, you see... more than this, or it WON'T... Kenshin, I'm just making sure...."
Koko...mou [nu]reteru? Motto [hiro]gete, yoku [mi]sete... kore [ijou] wa DAME... [Kenshin] no de [tashi]kamete...
(hirogeru, "stretch something"; yoku miru, "see well" both idiomatically and literally, in this case; tashikameru, "to make certain")
Kenshin: Kaoru-dono...
Kaoru: I dunno about getting you in...
[Naka] ni [i]renakute [wa]karanu yo...
(ireru, "insert" -> gerund = informal request/command; wakaru, "understand, realize" -> informal negative]
p. 27--
Kaoru: Do you want me that way?
Sonna ni [ho]shii no?
Kenshin: I want you. Kaoru, put me in.
[Ho]shii... [Kaoru]... [hai]rete
(somewhat shakily, she settles into his lap, facing him; unattributed moaning)
Kaoru: THERE.
SO
Kenshin: Kaoru?
p. 28--
Kenshin: (realizes she's crying) "Kaoru... dono-- why are you..."
Doushite de gozaru...
Kaoru: "Look, it went straight in... see, I just, I just ... you've made me into a woman... "
Massugu, [watashi] no koto [mi]te... [watashi] dake, [watashi] dake [mi]te... anata ga, [watashi] wo [onna] ni shita no yo...
(massugu: straight ahead; dake: only/just; X wo Y ni suru: make X into Y)
p. 29--
Kenshin:" ...I'm sorry."
...Gomen
Kaoru: "I... I didn't want to talk about that kind of, of THING... I'm so sorry..."
Konna KOTO [i]u, [watashi]... [kira]i na no ni...[watashi]... gomen nasai...
(the verb is really in the nonpast tense, but seemed to flow better in translation when, um, pastified?)
Kenshin: "Kaoru-dono. Would you finally untie my hands?"
[Kaoru-dono]. Kono [ryoute] no [imashi]me wo [hodo]ite [mora]e nu ga?
(ryoute, "both hands"; imashime, "bindings"; hodoku, "untie" -> gerund; gerund + morau, "give" -> "do something for someone" -> plain imperative; -nu: sometimes a variant of the negative suffix -nai, but in this case I'm guessing it's being used as the classical Japanese suffix of completion.)
p. 30--
Kaoru: "It'll be just the same."
Kono mama jya.
(mama: "unchanged state")
Kenshin: "I can't hold you..."
[Kimi] wo [da]kenai...
(daku, "hold" -> neg. potential)
(She unties him. He holds her. Awwww.)
p. 31--
Kenshin: "...Forgive me, I-- if you'd told me this time, I really didn't know--"
...Sumanai, [sessha] ni wa-- konna [toki] wo [i]eba, ii no ka [waka]ranai
(iu, "say/tell" -> provisional; ii no ka: some really squirmy idiom I'm not sure of yet)
Kaoru: "That's how it is... Kenshin, if you could feel good about it..."
Kou shite... [Kenshin] ga [kan]jiraretara sore de ii...
(kanjiru, "feel" -> potential conditional)
Kenshin: "That's how it is... but Kaoru-dono..."
Sou de gozaru ga....shikashi, [Kaoru-dono]...
p. 32--
Kenshin: "How long would you need us to stay like this?"
Dono kurai no [aida] kou shite ireba yoi no de gozaru ka?
(dono kurai: "about how much"; iru, "need" -> provisional)
narrative arrow: still the same (i.e., they're stilll, um, docked, but not moving)
kou shite
Kaoru: (fluorescent blush) "Sorry, I... we're still in the middle of--"
Gomen, [watashi]... [tochuu] de
(tochuu: the interval between the beginning and end of a path/interval)
Kenshin: "That is... do you want to feel more from me?"
Ne... motto... [sessha] wo [kan]jitai?
(kanjiru -> desiderative)
Kaoru: "I-- I think I do..."
Motto-- [kan]jite mitai...
p. 33--
Kenshin: "You'll be sensing only me..."
[Sessha] dake wo, [kan]jite...
(He blindfolds her with her scarf)
Kaoru: "Turn this way?"
[mu]te?
(muku, "turn"?)
(He picks her up, and perches her on the ladder at a convenient height.)
p. 34-- no dialogue, but various sound effects.
p. 35-- (even more sound effects)
Kaoru: "Don't, nooo!"
DameEE...
Kenshin: "You'll've felt more than ever!"
Itsu mo yori [kan]jichyau!
(itsu mo yori: more than usual/ever; kanjiru -> slurred informal version of -te shimau "completion" form?)
p. 36--
Kaoru: "Let me out, don't--"
SOTO ni, dame-e-e--
Kenshin?: "Just a little more time-- it's OKAY for you to come--"
mou I-tsu chiyai sou-- ITTE ii yo--
(chiyai? iku: lit. "to be necessary", but idiomatically "to have an orgasm" -> gerund/command/request)
Kaoru: I'm COMINNGG-- (big giant moany sound effects)
IKUUU--
p. 37--
Kaoru: "Kenshin... you're stopping too... I... you only need a little more than that..."
[Kenshin], mo... [ya]mete... [watashi]... mou kore [ijou]...
(Kenshin scoops her off the ladder, drapes her onto the floor face-up with the blindfold removed, and gets her to compress her bosom from the sides.)
sound effect from her cleavage: slather-squish...
nururu...
p. 38--
more sound effects: SQUOOSH etc.
NURU(RU)
Kaoru: "Kenshin, your... it's so hot... and HARD... feeling even more... intense sensations?"
[Kenshin] no...sugoku...[atsu]kute KATAI... motto [kan]jite... [kimochi]ra ii?
(katai, "hard"-- according to my dictionary, an adjective that's only used to describe meat. Orororo....)
Kenshin: (gasp) "I'm... coming... too-- if I keep doing this-- is that okay?"
HAA... mo...IKU-- kono mama--[da]shite ii?
(dasu, "emit": a male-specific idiom for orgasm)
Kaoru: "It's fine! Go ahead!"
Ii wa yo-- dashite
p. 39-- (no dialogue, but an almighty sploosh across the panels (including Kaoru's face) and some heavy
breathing)
p. 40-- (sleepily cuddling, sitting upright against the side of the ladder)
Kaoru: "I, well... I told you that I don't look for faults in someone's past, I must have said so."
[watashi] ne... [watashi] ne... [hito] no [kako] ni wa kodawaranai 'tte, [i]tte ta de shi yo.
(New theory: in this case, 'tte is the contraction from 'to iu' that signals an indirect quote. Maybe. Still not entirely convinced that the last three kana can be interpreted as desho, because shouldn't that last vowel be long? and I still don't know the function of ta.)
Kaoru: "But (sigh) it's not FAIR." (she touches his scar) "Recently, I've started to feel so worried about you... "
Demo fu SOTO wa. Anata wo [chika]ku ni [kan]jiru [tabi] ni, [fuan] ni natta...
Kaoru: (still caressing his face) "This scar of yours... but you said that knowing about it would hurt me more, or you thought it would. Only, between how you became [?]... the way you are now, lost in that way because people feared you."
[Kenshin] no ko yo, motto nan demo, [shi]tte itai 'tte [omo]tta wa... Dake do [aida/ma] ke na katta... [ima] no anata wo, [ushina]i sou de [kowa]katta kara.
(I'm hesitant about glomming together the entire word nakatta because there's a linebreak after na, and I still don't know what the ke is up to.)
Kaoru: "My... I don't know your secrets of long ago; that's your own business...."
[watashi] no... [shi]ranai [jidai] no [mi-shi]ranu anata no koto...
(the kanji for "jidai" (age/past) have been given the furigana "yoki" (season?))
p. 41--
Kaoru: "But also, you-- you've been just a normal, ordinary man, and you can be that way a little while longer, because didn't I say I wouldn't pry into your past...?"
demo, anata mo-- tada no [futsu] no [otoko] datta, mou [hitotabi], [i]u kara ne, [watashi] wa [hito] no [kako] ni nan ka kodawaranai wa....
p. 42--
Kaoru: "You can depend on me for the importance of an ordinary life..."
anata wa, [watashi] ni yotte tada hiyori no [taisetsu] na hiyo....
(hiyo(ri): "price"? taisetsu na: "important")
(The translations for this entire long speech by Kaoru are rather shaky. Argh.)
p. 43--
*Kaoru: "Right, Kenshin? ....Kenshin?"
nee, [Kenshin]... {Kenshin]?
(he's fallen asleep cuddled against her bosom; she smiles and cuddles him back.)
p. 44--(no dialogue. Kenshin wakes up sometime later, still in cuddle stance; now she's the one who's fallen asleep. He smiles, wraps her kimono a little more tightly around her shoulders, and rearranges them both so now she's cuddled agains his chest. He touches his scar thoughtfully.)
p. 45--
Kenshin: "She's really amazing... that darn woman."
[fushigi] da na... onna 'tte.
(na: a more "male" version of ne; I'm still sticking to this 'tte as the "annoyance suffix".)
Endnotes: The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary has *much* faster lookups than Nelson, but you have to be able to spatially analyze each character to find things. Unlike Nelson, it shows the stroke order for writing each character, but in some cases, I just haven't been able to find things in Kodansha that I can
eventually locate in Nelson. Minor prancing-about for having eventually identified "houkou" (from the prologue); neither of that compound's two kanji is even *in* Kodansha or the compact Nelson, but it turns out that my public library has a copy of the original Nelson *and* I actually remembered what the kanji looked like. Whee!
Current stack of references, for anyone who's tempted to follow my path into this brand of insanity--
The Compact Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary
501 Japanese Verbs
and rather a lot of Kodansha publications, actually: the aforementioned Kanji Learner's Dictionary, A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns, Kodansha's Romanized Japanese-English Dictionary, Japanese Verbs at a Glance, The Handbook of Japanese Adjectives and Verbs, and All About Particles.
Also lots of individual Google searches on speculative words or short phrases, and a rather dog-eared cheat sheet of kana.
Also, some random omake from Shinsei.
Doujinshi by the Yamaguchirow circle usually have lil' sketches, author's notes,
etc. scattered before and after the main event. "Shinsei" is no exception. Near
the start, there're several two-page spreads (so to speak) of Kenshin getting it
on with various women; each of these pix has a long paragraph in small print
which I'm ignoring for now, and a VERY LARGE CAPTION. If I'm not mistaken, all
of these captions contain excruciating puns, unless they're just double-
entendres that leaped to mind during translation.
Exhibit #1: Kenshin half-lying against a tree while Misao sits on top of him,
ravishing him in a genki way.
"I-- now that I'm a woman, I'll be a real kunoichi of the Oniwabanshuu under the
power of Aoshi-sama!"
atashi wa atashi ga nara [oniwabanshuu] no [kunoichi] toshite [Aoshi-sama] no
chikara ni natte ita onna yo
Exhibit #2: Kenshin and Megumi on their knees in a bed or futon; I think this
caption is a narrative comment rather than a line of dialogue?
"Because surely some deep-rooted affection remains within..."
kitto [miren] ga [noko]rimasu kara...
Exhibit #3: Kenshin bracing Tomoe up against a wall.
"Is this an unwelcome intrusion?"
koko ni ite wa [meiwaku] desu ka
Exhibit #4: Kenshin looking amazingly smug while Kaoru flails about in
embarrassment.
"It's okay, this one little wound is already healing"
daijobu mou [kizu] wa [i]ete de gozaru
(This one really depends on several senses of mou: "already", "just a bit more",
and Kaoru's usual exclamation of stress.)
And finally (?), a one-page minicomic of Tomoe meeting up with Tatsumi and his
henchmen. Tatsumi demands, "What is Battousai's greatest weakness?"; Tomoe looks
surprised, then thoughtful, then mournfully resigned. "Battousai's greatest
weakness... is just before Ryuu Sen." (or "the Forward Dragon Flesh"?)
"Yes, I'm listening," says Tatsumi, and starts to ask, "How many times--" before
Tomoe holds up her hands. One of them has two fingers raised. The other one is
curled into a round fist. This causes a reaction of nosebleeds all around See,
as in English, the word for "before" can also mean "in front", and the kanji she
used aren't the usual ones for Hiten Mitsurugi techniques. Oh no. This "ryuu"
means "stand" or "penetrate", and this "sen" means "gland". She has thoughtfully
pointed them toward his testicles. If they can get to them.
There's a similar Tatsumi/Tomoe minicomic in back, but I haven't done anything
with it yet. In the sketch section, Battousai is having an explosive nosebleed
at a nude pinup magazine of Tomoe, while Misao gleefully reading Tomoe's diary
as Aoshi sweatdrops behind her.