Eiji Kisaragi
Fighter title
| My translation | Arcade translation | Home translation |
|---|---|---|
| The Mysterious Kyokugen Killer | The Mysterious Ninja Guy | The Mysterious Manipulator of Ninja Arts |
Arcade sourced from The Arcade Flyer Archive, maunal sourced from Rage Quitter 87. Thank you!
From "kyokugen killer" to "ninja guy". That's a step down no matter how you slice it. I'm not sure what brought this change on, I'm guessing "comedy". The home version promotes him back up to "manipulator of ninja arts", which does sound a bit better than "guy".
At least he's mysterious all over the world!
Interview
What do you treasure?
That which I believe in: this fist!
Who's your rival?
I have no rivals.
What's been on your mind recently?
I heard that there were many fighters that could surpass me in this land. I must destroy them...
Finally, give us a word about your participation in the current tournament.
I have come to this distant land after hearing about the existence of kyokugen karate, and now I will send those fools to hell with my own fist!
Intro vs Yuri
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I have no desire to harm women or children. Leave. Quickly. | I have no interest in injuring a lady. |
| Well, that's what he says, but I can tell. You're really just scared of losing to me! | Me too. Let's go home. |
Right out the gate we see that Eiji's route is handled differently from Jack's. Where Jack's boring lines would get punched into the stratosphere, Eiji's will often just get stripped down and cut to a fewer number of text boxes. Except then Yuri's line is still spread out across two so who knows what's going on.
So anyway, Eiji's line is straight. There's a minor bit of nuance lost in cutting the "or children" and he doesn't straight tell Yuri to leave in English, but eh. Then Yuri's line is made into an entirely new joke that doesn't reference the Japanese at all. Again.
It made me smile, though.
Intro vs Eiji
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I am amazed. So there exists another who walks down the same path as me... | At last, a guy I can relate to. |
| Indeed. Therefore, I humbly request a match. | You bet you can! Now let's go. |
Eiji speaks in an old-fashioned sort of way in Japanese, to go with his whole ninja thing. I tried to generally give him that sort of speaking style in English as well, so he's a bit more wordy in my translations. Needless to say, the official version did not even slightly try.
I can see a rough throughline from the Japanese to the English here, but yeah, character voice just completely fell by the wayside. I'm also not sure why either of these are two text boxes. SNK, I know you could cut boxes!
Intro vs Jack
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You do not look like a man who can read my movements. | Try to read my movements and know the skill of ninja. |
| Shaddup, punk! I'll close that smart mouth of yours for good! | Oh, shut up. I read your movements before! |
Eiji's line changes from casually looking down on Jack to just bragging about his own skills. There's still the idea of ninja moves being hard to read, but everything around it is changed.
Meanwhile, I have no idea what Jack's English line is supposed to mean. He read Eiji's movements before...when? I guess the idea is that he's already read all of Eiji's moves, but it's such a weird way to put it. It sounds like he and Eiji have already fought once, which isn't implied anywhere else. It's a departure from his (rather generic) Japanese line.
Intro vs Lee
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| So you're the kenpo master I've heard so much about. Can you keep up with me? | The legenary kempo master. Can you defeat me? |
| The number of victims my claws have claimed increases once again! Hee hee hee hee! | I'm gonna turn turn you into shark bait, buster! |
Kenpo, kempo, just differing romanizations. I'm not sure which was standard back then. Eiji's line slightly changes Lee from someone he's specifically heard of to a more general legendary, but honestly it's a pretty good way to shorten a long phrase. It's a nice, solid translation.
Lee's line is completely different, where in Japanese he's just talking about more victims for his claws, in English it's a much more directed threat. I can't say much is lost either way, though. It's not a very exciting line.
Intro vs Robert
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| It matters not who stands in my way; I will show them no mercy! | Those who have faced me never live to tell the tale. |
| What the heck is up with that outfit? Listen, wise guy. If you're gonna play ninja, how about taking it elsewhere? | It's probably your breath, whoo baby! |
Kishi and I let our powers combine for Robert's line.
There are some slight differences in Eiji's line, but there's still the general idea of "I will end you if you cross me" in there and the line doesn't sound too out of character.
Meanwhile, Robert's line is completely changed. It unfortunately loses the continuing thread of Robert making fun of Eiji's clothes. It's another one where the second line is just playing off the first. Yep.
Intro vs John
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| A soldier playing at being a martial artist is no worthy opponent for me. | Must I always meet up with these psycho military dudes? |
| How about I check the level of these "Japanese ninja skills" you're supposed to have? | Must I always meet up with these ninja wanna-bes? |
Well...it's changed, but there's a line connecting each one to the Japanese and they're both clearly working with each other. The overall effect is kind of cute.
Eiji in Japanese is looking down on John because soldiers aren't as good at punching dudes, I guess. That makes sense. "Psycho military dudes" is not really the same thing. It makes John sound like more of a threat, when Eiji is actually saying his skills aren't worth anything.
Meanwhile John's still making fun of Eiji by saying ninjas ain't shit. Which...actually comes across in English! Calling Eiji a "ninja wanna-be" is pretty close. Huh.
Intro vs King
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| You are not dressed for battle. No matter. Face me! | Yes. Finally, full contact with a fabulous babe! |
| Heh. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, ninja boy! | Watch your blood pressure, ninja boy! |
...well, "ninja boy" is the same. King also does it consistently.
So in Japanese Eiji is only concerned that King is too nicely dressed for a throw-down, in English he wants to grapple with a girl, I guess. The Japanese is pretty cute, really. Then King is warning Eiji not to get ahead of himself in both languages, but...well.
Yeah, I dunno.
Intro vs Takuma
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Not even a master of kyokugen karate is a sufficient opponent. Now, fall before me! | Come learn the meaning of excruciating pain! |
| So you're the ninja Ryo was talking about. All right, let's go all out. | So you think you know what excruciating means, huh! |
This would make a lot more sense if my order had Ryo before Takuma, wouldn't it?
Ah well, limitation of the format.
Anyway, the English conversation has nothing to do with the Japanese, though it does feature some bewildering...wordplay? I guess? I guess the idea behind Takuma's line is that he's going to show Eiji more excruciating pain than Eiji can inflict, but I dunno. It feels like a weird way of saying it.
It is sort of similar in that Eiji is bragging about being able to beat Takuma, but that's a hell of a stretch. I'm just going to say it's completely rewritten.
Intro vs Temjin
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| It's rare to meet a Mongolian wrestler. This is my first time fighting one, so please go easy on me. | A Mongolian sumo wrestler. I have heard it all! |
| This is the first time I've ever seen a ninja too. I'm really lookin' forward to this! | Everyone is a comedian. Come on ya pansy. |
Eiji and Temjin have nothing against each other, so in Japanese they're just looking forward to a fight with a style they've never faced before. It's actually kind of cute, considering what a dick Eiji normally is.
Then in English he's just laughing at the idea of a Mongolian sumo wrestler. "Mongolian sumo", as we have already seen is an understandable-but-regrettable reading of the kanji if you don't have a good background in various fighting styles. (also there are a ton of Mongolians in sumo wrestling now) Temjin's English reply is considerably more brusque than his Japanese line too. Too bad.
Intro vs Ryo
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| I've finally found you, Sakazaki. Now, let us begin! | At last I've found you, Sakazaki. |
| This is the first time we've ever met and you're dropping the 'mister'? Geez. Well, fine, I'll fight you. | That's my name. Don't wear it out. |
Yeah, you need to change this if you really want to get it across in English. What Ryo's complaining about here is that Eiji is dropping the honorific off his name the first time they've met, which is pretty rude in Japanese. It shows either a good amount of familiarity or contempt, and you can guess which Eiji is doing. If I was doing this for real, I'd probably make the joke about jumping instantly to first-name basis, which still doesn't quite get across the nuance since American society has made first names the default for the past couple of decades. Still, it's slightly closer.
The official translation drops that entire bit to have Ryo make a schoolyard joke. Near as I can tell the phrase dates back at least to the 1950s, possibly earlier. It's hard to track, considering how common it is. It doesn't seem to have any easy, agreed-upon origin in a TV show or whatever, though.
I don't think it's a particularly bad way of working around the problem, though it loses a bit of nuance. Like I said, though, American culture means the nuance is kind of lost no matter how you slice it. (Ryo's not of the age where he'd even want to be called 'mister', after all...)
Intro vs Mickey
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Can you really defeat me using only punches? | You have the technique of a mosquito on a cool day. |
| I'm the champ. Don't confuse me for some punk off the street. | What the heck does that mean, muzzle face?! |
Kishi corrected me here. Thanks!
I dunno Mickey, I think that insult is pretty clear. Especially compared to some of the other shit that's in this game.
So as the game pointed out for us, Eiji's line changes from generally questioning the use of boxing to insulting Mickey's technique directly with some strange phrasing. Mickey's line accordingly changes from bragging about his skill to asking Eiji what he's talking about. Note the return of "muzzle face", which we have previously seen out of Robert and Jack. Hm...wonder if Mickey got it off Jack.
Also, notice the additional text box in English. They did need it here! Probably would'be been better served by making that break more natural, but eh.
Intro vs Big
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Bojutsu, huh... Don't think you can defeat me by using weapons! | Oh great. A guy with a pole. Very Freudian. |
| Let's see what you say after I win, huh? | I'm a Jungian myself. Now to knock your super-ego off! |
Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis, and though much of his work is debated-to-disproven, still has a large influence on the pop cultural ideas of psychotherapy. Carl Jung was one of his students and another leading psychoanalyst, whose work most famously involved archetypes and the idea of humans having multiple personas they switched between according to context.
Look, I play Persona, so I'm way more familiar with Jung. Sorry.
As you can see, the rather generic Japanese exchange is completely changed to random psychoanalyst jokes in English. Though I have to admit, I like "Now to knock your super-ego off!" as a line. I sense they desperately wanted to make the Freud joke about Mr. Big and just went for it.
To the Police Commissioner
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Suit: Mr. Kisaragi Eiji. The commissioner has requested to meet with you. Would you please come with us? | Suit: Mr Eiji Kisaragi? The police commisioner would like a word with you. Could you walk this way? |
| Eiji: Oh, what a wonderful welcome. Very well, then I will gladly go with you. | Eiji: Whoooa! What a great welcome! I'm flattered. |
The goon's line was translated by Kishi.
Eiji's line is actually pretty straight, ignoring things like "character voice". Huh.
Intro vs Geese
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Geese: Welcome, Kisaragi Eiji. A pleasure to meet you. | Geese: Welcome, my little ninja boy. It is an honor to finally meet. |
| Eiji: It's rude to start talking to someone without introducing yourself. | Eiji: The honor is all yours, I am sure. Who may you be? |
| Geese: My apologies. My name is Geese...Geese Howard. I have an interest in your ninjutsu. Would you have a match with me? | Geese: Forgive my rudeness, Geese. Geese Howard. I brought you here to discuss... An alliance. An alliance between you and me. |
| Eiji: Heh. If you do not value your life...then come at me as you will. | Eiji: Heh! You and me? I don't associate with maggots! |
Suddenly! Extra text boxes! All the extra text boxes!
After a route where an unusual number of lines got cut down to just one box, this is pretty wild. Both these lines get extra boxes! Extravagant.
Let's start from the top. I kept Eiji's name in the Japanese order here and above because Geese is enough of a Japanophile to get the order right, and controlling enough to order his subordinates to do it too. (Eiji is one of the few names that does come in Japanese order in the script - Ryo, Takuma, and Yuri are all given name first) This is completely lost in English because Geese calls Eiji his "little ninja boy" for some reason. That's King's thing!
Eiji's line is a bit less directly calling Geese on being rude in English as it is a snide remark and a straight-forward question.
Then Geese's motivation for calling Eiji there completely changes. In Japanese he just wants to fight a real ninja, in English he's back to his usual desire to have the player join him. It's a weird change, though I can see how it might happen considering that the usual line. I doubt any English-speakers even noticed the change - it's impossible to know without doing a line-by-line comparison like this.
Accordingly, Eiji's last line also changes from just accepting Geese's challenge/bragging about his own skills to explicitly denying Geese's offer and insulting him. Pretty major changes in these last couple lines!
Win vs Geese
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Eiji: What's wrong? Where did all that energy from earlier go? | Eiji: What's up? Given up so soon? |
| Geese: Ggh, it seems I wasn't taking you seriously. | Geese: Heh, it's all over. |
| Eiji: Gh...what in the world?! | Eiji: Eh! What the heck...? |
| Suit: This way, Mr. Geese. | Suit: This way, Mr Geese. |
| Geese: Though I lost this time, have no doubt that I'll be back to even the score. Until then, farewell. | Geese: I have lost this time. But I will be back. For now, my farewell. |
| Eiji: You cowardly dog! Running away? | Eiji: Wow, no fair. Escaping? |
The bits that are the same as Ryo's route were translated by Kishi!
Eiji's middle line is also Jack's, John's, and Mickey's. Lotta reuse there.
So talking about the two unique lines...the first line is pretty similar in meaning, so good job there. "What's up" is pretty informal for Eiji, but you gotta take what you can get.
"Wow, no fair" is also bizarrely informal in context. He's insulting Geese for being a coward, not accusing him of cheating.
Geese Goes to Japan
Since Geese's migration is common to all characters, I put it under Misc.
Ending
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| Kyokugen karate... What a futile pursuit... My fist is the strongest in existence. And all who challenge that, I will eliminate. | Kyoku gen karate was not all it seemed to be. I remain the strongest. Yet I remain alone. Yes, alone. |
| My path is the path of a demon. And yet, all I can do is continue down the path I believe in. | I will train. I will fight. But, alas, I will not love. Good night, Mai Shiranui. Wherever you are! |
Kishi figured out the first line for me.
So yeah, everyone figured out there was something wrong with this translation. The part where Mai's like five during AoF2 was a hint. (hey, maybe she's named for an aunt or something?) As you can see, that's not in the Japanese at all.
Eiji in Japanese is pretty consistent about not being interested in romance at all, so the English ending is a big departure character-wise. He's just got a one-track mind, so I can see why the localization team would try to add in something else, and bringing in their most famous female ninja is as good an idea as any. It's not a great translation, though.
His Japanese ending is so damn boring...
Win Quotes
| My translation | Official translation |
|---|---|
| vs self | |
| If you wish to walk down the same path as I, then you must dedicate yourself even further. | You fought well, my friend. I admire your spunk. |
| vs others | |
| Your reach exceeds your grasp. Get your head out of the clouds and start practicing on the ground! | What a slimy guy. Wash your face off and enter like a gent. |
| Your attempts at intimidation are all well and good, but your skills leave much to be desired. Pathetic! | You got style, Bobbie-boy. But not much else. |
Man, these win quotes get weird.
Japanese Eiji doesn't particularly admire 2P Eiji, and in fact tells him to try even harder. (though at least he's not completely dismissive of someone trying to imitate him, which is interesting) "Spunk" is also a strange word choice here. Shades of Krauser?
The first generic win quote is another time when I had to do some real rephrasing. Look, sometimes the game throws you an idiom, all right? What Eiji's saying is hyper-literally: "What an impertinent fellow. Wash your face and come again." Unfortunately, that second bit is an idiom I had to look up. Here's a breakdown with English translations for each step. The summary is that it's saying the recipient is still half asleep and needs to go splash some water on their face, come back, and try again. I tried to hit the "half asleep/wake up" bit with "head in the clouds/feet on the ground", so that's where that came from. Meanwhile the official translation completely missed the idiom and translated it literally, then probably adjusted the first sentence to explain why Eiji was telling his opponent to wash up. It ends up sounding pretty strange.
So after all that, the second generic win quote is...pretty straight-forward, once you account for SNK being SNK. I can see how "attempts at intimidation" got turned into "you got style", though I have the feeling that's just because I've been staring into this particular abyss way too long.
I have no idea where "Bobbie-boy" came from. That one's a mystery.