Samurai Shodown

Tachibana Ukyo

Translating him is worse than fighting him, and I hate fighting him.

This page would not exist if not for the hard work of dramata and ASmallDuck. My deepest thanks to them both.

Challenges

vs self

My translation	Official translation
....the same face...u-unforgivable....!	Hey! That's my face. You're meat, beanhead.

Ukyo's pretty quiet in Japanese. Obviously, the editor was not going to allow that.

It does have the basic connection of Ukyo getting angry about someone imitating him. Just...punched up and into another dimension.

"You're meat" is a very odd and tautological version of "you're dead meat". "Beanhead" is a brand-new SNK insult that pairs oddly with the previous "you're meat". Perhaps the head is a bean and the body is meat?

vs others

My translation	Official translation
.....	Clear your thoughts and maybe you will win. Not!
.....	Stop shaking! One slash and it's all over!

Like I said, Ukyo's pretty quiet in Japanese. As a result, both of these are pretty obviously made up.

"Clear your thoughts" is surprisingly accurate to the style Samurai Shodown is going for (it even shows up in the original over on Jubei's route), it's just made up here. And paired with "Not!" because SNK.

"One slash and it's all over!" also matches with Ukyo's fighting style, which suggests the editor knew what character he was working on. Then again, it's pretty obvious.

Win Quotes

vs self

My translation	Official translation
Bathed in the moon's light My bloodied crumpled body still looks beautiful -Ukyo	Even if you imitate me, you still can't get a date!

Translation by dramata, translation assistance from ASmallDuck. Thank you.

...aaaaaaaaaaaaaand this is why I needed two professional translators to help me out. Yes, all of Ukyo's win quotes are haiku. Poetry is legendarily difficult to translate, and Ukyo's is in old-fashioned Japanese to boot. It's basically nightmare mode.

This was an impossible situation for the official translators, which is why I really don't blame them for just making stuff up here. Even if someone wanted to do a real translation, there's no way it would fit in the character limits.

Now, you can blame them for the goofy, cartoony line they made up, but it's not any worse than anything else they've done so far.

Okay, so talking about the Japanese. I actually kind of understood this one, enough to do my own alternative:

Bathed in the moon's light

My dampened, discarded husk

Is still beautiful

-Ukyo

The word used for "body" can also mean "husk", which is a pretty common poetic interpretation, so that's kind of what I was going for. The Japanese specifies that the body is "wet", probably with blood, but it let us add some syllables to the first line about bathing in moonlight. The Japanese specifies "crescent moon", so an alternative to the first line might be "By the crescent moon" or something to that effect. I just wanted to preserve the wet imagery.

Translating poetry is hard.

Win with killing normal

My translation	Official translation
Weathered and falling Limply they fall to the ground A sorrowful sight -Ukyo	The moment I drew my sword, the fight was over. Ho-hum.

Translation by dramata, translation assistance from ASmallDuck. Thank you.

He's talking about leaves, without talking about leaves, and also about his opponents.

I didn't understand this one at all, so I really can't comment better than that.

The English drops the idea that Ukyo is sad about seeing how easily his opponents fall, but you probably expected that by now.

Win with special move

My translation	Official translation
Fine Shirane wine Is something to be savored Over bloodied steel -Ukyo	A perfect attack and deadly handsome. I am too much!

Translation by dramata, translation assistance from ASmallDuck. Thank you. ...though I rephrased the second line a bit.

Shirane is a place in Japan...actually a few places. I can't tell from JP Wikipedia which, if any, were known for liquor production back in the day. The name is in hiragana in the win quote, so it's extra impossible to tell.

I just added a bit of extra alliteration to the second line to link up all those S'es and because alliteration is how traditional English poetry works. (Really. We get rhyming from the French, after the Norman Conquest)

The last line, in Japanese, is "crimson steel", or steel covered in blood. Appropriate for a match won with a special move.

You could say that "A perfect attack" at least refers to a special move, which is pretty good for the English translation. The rest makes Ukyo sound like an egoist, but well...

Win otherwise

My translation	Official translation
Like bubbles in foam Perhaps leaving veins unpopped Is a sweeter sight -Ukyo	You almost scratched my perfect face. Oooh, to think of it!

Translation by dramata, translation assistance from ASmallDuck. Thank you.

Neither dramata nor I were entirely sure about "unpopped" there, but neither of us could think of something better that still retained the foam/bubbles imagery. The idea is that since this is the bloodless victory Ukyo has left his opponent's veins intact, and then draws a comparison between the blood in veins and bubbles in foam.

Anyway the English translation has nothing to do with that at all.

Clear

My translation	Official translation
While my heart still beats My sword shines everlasting And so it shall stay -Ukyo	Life is a stewed peach in a lot of syrup... Ukyo.

Translation by dramata, translation assistance from ASmallDuck. Thank you.

The closest the English translation gets to poetry. Notice that it's not a haiku and still takes up most of the space available. Accuracy was never possible.

That said, it's pretty clearly a parody of poetry instead of the actual stuff Japanese Ukyo does. It makes him seem a bit sillier. I suppose he's saying life is sweet?

In Japanese it's more of an expression of dedication to the path of the sword. The last line is just there to make the syllable count.

After this game Ukyo never has every win quote be haiku again. I guess even the devs got sick of trying to write good haiku. That said, it's not the last time he writes haiku at all, so...there awaits only more hell. (it's going to take me fifteen years to get to V anyway, maybe by then I'll be good enough to do this on my own)

Story

Stage 4

My translation	Official translation
Ukyo: ....	Ukyo: .....
Ukyo: !	Ukyo: !
Ukyo: .....	Ukyo: .....!
Amakusa: Kukuku... Behold, I am the vengeful spirit of Amakusa. Now, cry and plead unto the dark god!	Amakusa: Call me Amakusa, Amakusa!
Ukyo: ....	Ukyo: ....!
Amakusa: Can you see her? Can you? The one woman in your heart. Kukukuku...with my power, she can be yours!	Amakusa: She's there. The only woman suitable for you. She's yours for your soul.
Ukyo: ...I refuse. Your spirit is too dark.	Ukyo: Hmm. Tough choice. Not! Die, smelly!
Amakusa: Fool! To go against the dark god is to die!	Amakusa: Fool! Wrong answer!
Ukyo: .....	Ukyo: .....

Most of these are the same, for, um, obvious reasons. Then again, considering the clear influence of the editor on the lines that are here, that's kind of remarkable.

Amakusa's offer is actually pretty well translated. The basic idea is there, though chopped down to fit in the textbox.

Ukyo's reply...is not. The spirit of Wayne's World is strong on this route.

For whatever reason, Ukyo shares Amakusa's anger with Haohmaru and no one else.

Ending

My translation	Official translation
Ukyo: !	Ukyo: !
Fangirls: Ukyo-sama! Eeee!	Fangirls: Sir Ukyo! What a hunk!
Kei: Why should you do such a thing, Ukyo-sama?	Kei: Sir Ukyo. Why are you...
Ukyo: Simple.	Ukyo: Elementary.
Ukyo: To offer you these flowers.	Ukyo: To present you. With this.

The fangirls' line is also pretty well done, I think. Sure, "hunk" is a bit modern for feudal Japan, but so are a bunch of fangirls running around after a guy and shrieking.

The rest is about the same, mod translator differences and character limits. "Elementary" makes Ukyo sound a bit too like Sherlock Holmes for my taste, and the English doesn't specify that Ukyo is giving Kei some flowers...but you can see he is so that's pretty minor.

In terms of story scenes, Ukyo gets off pretty lightly!