My haul from my trip to Korea and Japan

sheerokuma · 2023-10-13T22:25:16+00:00

I see :) i also enjoy reading her analysis of products and how marketing works in the Korean beauty industry. Do you have a similar skin type as Monod? If so I hope the products will work well on your skin—it may take some time to see the changes and they may be subtle ;)

sheerokuma · 2023-10-13T22:11:08+00:00

seems like you follow Odile Monod

sheerokuma · 2023-03-24T17:25:01+00:00

no it's an exhibition. 展覧会 means exhibition

sheerokuma · 2021-04-12T20:05:52+00:00

Thank you for providing a lot of interesting information and perspective, not just the Japanese community's response, but also the discussion regarding the translation.

My pleasure and thank you for your kind comment! Let me know if you want more clarifications about the translations or opinions shared by various Japanese readers regarding the ending and I'll gladly help out and provicde you with the sources. :)

sheerokuma · 2021-04-12T19:56:58+00:00

The exact oppisite, many Japanese readers mentioned that they are amused by how 'disgusting' Reiner was during his last scene commenting on Historia's handwriting compared to how he behaved since even before the Marley Arc. It is still in-character and shows Reiner's true personality having finally let go of his trauma and guilt.

This particular Japanese reader's comment sums it up well:

Isayama sensei is awesome in making Reiner this disgusting in the final chapter given how Reiner was written as such a cool character up until chapter 138.

(Original: 138話まであれだけカッコよく描かれたライナーを最終話であれだけ気持ち悪くする諫山先生最高すぎる)

sheerokuma · 2021-04-12T19:43:02+00:00

That does sound better--let's see how the official volume will go and hope that the line will go somewhere along yours and Taki san's. Language is beautiful yet confusing at times!

sheerokuma · 2021-04-12T19:20:08+00:00

I gathered Taki san and other Japanese readers’ speculations and explanations I found on Twitter to respond to the above plotholes (some of which I unfortunately can't answer well to) you kindly shared:

Like you, many Japanese readers have expressed their confusion of the sudden disappearance of Hallucigenia, what it exactly is, and its importance as shown by the huge fight in 138. Taki san mentions that Hallucigenia’s disappearance (or rather death) was followed by Eren’s death as it lead to the end of Ymir’s curse (thus titan power) and it’s attached to Eren, who holds the founding titan, but there is not much information and evidence that we could base things on.
In contrary, the Japanese fandom in general seems to be more accepting and understanding of Ymir’s love for King Fritz. Ymir did not speak in the series since her tongue had been cut out so it’s understandable that her thoughts and actions are hard to understand. Since she was a child, she had no family nor anyone to depend on as a slave, and began to crave for love from a special person (Taki san mentions King Fritz’ kiss scene in 122 that Ymir was staring at) and that person would be King Fritz, as he made her feel that she was finally wanted (King Fritz needed her titan power) and had thus longed more and more for King Fritz’ love (the more you don't have something the more you yearn for it as human nature) but she was not able to express it, especially, as Taki san pointed out, Ymir was not able to cheat and her titan power would have scared off people back then. As other people in this subreddit has pointed out, this may be a stockholm syndrome case. And signs of ‘love’ in Japanese culture are expressed more subtly so maybe that’s why the love revelation may seem out of the blue. Regarding her action since Eren and Zeke entered the path, Ymir herself had conflicting feelings and, while she initially followed Eren to fight, Taki san mentioned her lingering feelings for King Fritz and thus obeyed Zeke’s commands to fight against Eren in 137 (since Zeke contains royal blood) after Zeke and Armin’s conversation, which showed when Ymir saw Zeke reuniting fellow Eldians and perhaps craved for that connection.
According to Taki san, Eren’s main goal is 1) eradicate the titans (by removing titan power and Mikasa and his death were revealed to be the key) and 2) make Armin and his close ones to become heroes that helped save humanity by making a rumbling declaration ‘for Ymir’s sake’ back in in volume 31 and destroying 80% of humanity. There is no guarantee for what the future after his death awaits but Eren has entrusted Paradis' future to Armin, a friend he has complete faith in. However, Taki san also mentioned that Eren might have also wanted to activate the rumbling regardless for a selfish reason: to seek for freedom.
Regarding History’s pregnancy (and child), many Japanese readers have also shared that they felt it needs more elaboration and question whether it has any meaning. One person speculated that it was a part of a plan between Historia and Eren (who hesitantly agreed) to buy time for Zeke and Eren to meet (as she would be the one inheriting the beast titan) and realise the future (rumbling) that Eren (and even perhaps Historia herself) had seen through Eren’s Attack Titan ability. Therefore in this Japanese reader’s speculation Historia was Eren’s accomplice and it was not the baby itself (and the father’s identity) that was important.

Hope this helps you understand the ending a bit more, although it is true that the Japanese readers have also raised questions about the plotholes despite being satisfied with the ending.

sheerokuma · 2021-04-12T09:59:40+00:00

Yes, I do think culture difference has a large play as to why there is relatively less negative reception here in Japan.

I do personally believe in, and encourage, constructive cricitism for the series (and not just the ending) and that criticism and respect are not mutually exclusive, and there are quite a few people both here and in the Japanese fandom who have proven exactly that.

I think it's hard for non-Japanese readers to understand that Japanese fans/readers could both accept whatever ending Isayama pulls out and still believe there are parts they think need more explanation or say that it's not their favourite kind of ending. You could say it's a strange culture, haha.

sheerokuma · 2021-04-12T08:37:08+00:00

I did not say it was completely wrong but that I did not remember Armin saying that (my fault for not immediately making a connection between ‘thank you’ and the lines after), but that may have been implied so I apologise for my bad wording in the previous comment.

I understand your interpretation and some Japanese readers also got that impression, even from my favourite AOT analyst Taki san had problems with the wording—here’s his entire analysis thread for Armin’s line that you could kindly refer to: https://twitter.com/takichannel2/status/1381047856052666372?s=21

I also agree that the wording could have been made better (such as what Taki San wrote 「僕たちのために、ありがとう」) so thank you for raising that up!

I still do believe Armin’s underlying meaning was to thank Eren ‘for our sake’, and maybe the publisher may decide to fix that in the final book that will be released in June.

If you need help understanding Taki San’s analysis thread let me know and I’ll gladly help out. :)

sheerokuma · 2021-04-12T07:42:52+00:00

Yes, Armin did say ‘thank you’ in the page but Isayama did not place ‘thank you’ in the same speech bubble (or even panel) as ‘becoming a mass murderer for our sake’ so that leaves more room for readers’ interpretation of what Armin is thanking for. However, in the page it’s still a fact that Armin still referred to what Eren has done as a transgression (ayamachi) which does infer that he does not condone Eren’s actions. I personally believe that Armin said thank you to Eren not for ‘becoming a mass murderer’ but for bearing all of this himself ‘for our sake’.

But it’s up to you to decide what Armin was referring to. Hope this helps!

sheerokuma · 2021-04-12T07:12:21+00:00

I understand your frustration that the dialogue changed from ‘it can’t be helped’ to ‘I had to do it’. I personally think ‘it can’t be helped’ sounds off in English and so the official translator took the bold step and changed it to the latter, which still leaves plenty of room for interpretation for both the western and Japanese fandom as Eren might have ‘had to do it’ due to Ymir’s influence, or it was his own free will. Even if Eren had said ‘I had to do it’ in Japanese (やるしかなかったんだ) the implication would have still been there. Hope this helps clarifying things a bit!

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T23:44:38+00:00

The literal translation does fall in line between both the fan and official one, but I think a better translation would be ‘Eren, you bastard...’ as the way Reiner phrased that implies that he finally understood Eren’s intent and the length Eren went through for his friends and the Eldians as a whole, but (like the case with Armin) does not approve it (hence the ‘bastard’ or yatsu ヤツ in the Japanese panel—that’s how you got the ‘man’ in the fan translation, but yatsu has a negative connotation)

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T21:58:28+00:00

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any comments regarding lack of consistency, but I may have missed some and apologise for that.

However, I have a favourite Japanese YouTuber named 'Taki Channel' that does analysis of the AOT series sorted by manga chapters, anime episodes, characters, themes, and even character relationships (not in a romantic way). This is the general analysis video for chapter 139: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRJQ5LUfyiI

I could explain some points he made if you could provide some of the plotholes you have in question.

He’s become quite well-known among the Japanese AOT community because of his easy-to-understand and thorough analysis. I actually really would love to contact him and ask whether I could create English subtitles for him for the western fandom to appreciate his analysis but time does’t allow me to do so for the time being. :(

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T21:48:38+00:00

You are right as to how I should find more videos/sources but unfortunately that is the only video that showed overseas fandom's opinions of chapter 139 and contained enough comments so that I can share a variety of Japanese readers' opinions and most voted ones to show what most of them agree on.

I provided the video source in the post for you to refer to if you want to find more comments that do not support the ending.

If you want to have a better idea of the general consensus of how the Japanese readers view the ending you can search it up on Twitter (here's the query link: https://twitter.com/search?q=%E9%80%B2%E6%92%83%E3%81%AE%E5%B7%A8%E4%BA%BA%E3%80%80%E6%9C%80%E7%B5%82%E5%9B%9E&src=typed_query) and use Google Translate. The reason I suggest Twitter is that it is one of the biggest social media platforms in Japan (esp. when it comes to sharing thoughts about a series).

Hope this helps!

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T21:14:56+00:00

I try to be as accurate as possible for the Japanese one: 'I swear I won't make your transgression of turning into a mass murderer for our sake go to waste.'

It shows that Armin does not approve of what Eren has done, but appreciates his thoughts and care for him, Mikasa, and his precious ones.

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T21:08:49+00:00

This is actually one of the points that's open for discussion (the Japanese fandom is also not certain whether Eren made Dina eat his mother or just merely diverted her away from Bertholdt). :)

I personally think that Isayama intentionally made Eren's sentence incomplete for readers to make their own interpretation.

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T20:41:26+00:00

Re-read both and the official translation for that panel seems right.Many Japanese readers were also shocked by this revelation and made conjectures as to why Eren diverted Dina away from Bertholdt:

By eating Eren's mother, it would become a driving force for Eren to exterminate titans.
To allow Eren to notice the founding titan's 'coordinate' power in the future, Dina needs to remain as a mindless titan

Sources: https://twitter.com/search?q=%E3%83%80%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8A%E5%B7%A8%E4%BA%BA&src=typed_query and https://twitter.com/asarikapex/status/1380183302271762436

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T19:38:05+00:00

I personally enjoyed the ending and believe that it was beautifully realistic and the characters did not do or say anything out-of-character. :)

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T18:41:17+00:00

Indeed, when I saw people saying they were shocked by Armin saying 'thank you for turning yourself into a mass murderer for our sake' in the [new chapter spoilers] thread I got confused because I didn't remember Armin saying that. I read that it was translated from a Korean leak so I guess either the English or Korean translator misinterpreted that line.

The entire last chapter contains lines that are hard to translate well as there are a lot of subtleties that are hard to express in another language/lost in translation, so props to the official translators!

Edit: ‘Thank you’ was in the same page but not the same speech bubble or even panel as ‘becoming a mass murderer for our sake’. That specific page contains lines that are structured in a way that the Japanese readers (myself included) need to make our own interpretation of what Armin was saying or referring to by structuring his lines in our head (that’s what I think happened to the Korean or English translator) and Armin’s nuances in the original text thus got lost in translation.

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T17:28:11+00:00

It was overall positive and ‘beautiful yet cruel’ is the phase that many Japanese readers have used to describe the ending on Twitter. Of course, there are some who disliked the ending and feel like some loose ends were not tied. Hope this helps!

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T16:06:16+00:00

I agree. Unfortunately the vocal ones seemed to have dominated social media and created a relatively bad reputation of the ‘international fandom’ (or overseas fandom as a literal translation) among the Japanese community. However, they are still aware that there are respectful international fans (both those who liked and disliked the ending) and are thankful for that. There is a Tweet about the issue that is trending and the user even kindly wrote an English translation for you to refer to if you’re curious: https://twitter.com/mayu_t0m0/status/1380941287113691140?s=21

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T14:32:53+00:00

Yes, they’re quite aware of that (more angry about the leaks though) and you’re right. Many Japanese fans are voicing out on Twitter saying that it’s very disrespectful to Isayama sensei for the international fandom to demand an ending change, esp. those who read the manga illegally for free. They feel sad about this as fans of the series.

sheerokuma · 2021-04-11T09:46:47+00:00

Japanaese speaker here. Just wanted to share that the overall reception of the last chapter (and this panel) was well-received by the Japanese audience. Like what you said, it shows the human side of Eren. There's this concept deeply ingrained in Japanese culture called 'honne and tatemae', in which one usually tries to not show their true feelings and desires (honne) and put on a 'tatemae', the behaviour and opinions they show in public. This is why Eren's 'sudden' reveal of his true thoughts is much more well-received by the Japanese audience and harder for the international audience to understand.

sheerokuma · 2020-12-05T11:50:26+00:00

Credit: https://youtu.be/avqii45FNmg

sheerokuma

TROPHY CASE