#since s2 will come and then we’ll either all be annoyed that they kept it close enough to the book that i can do what i want

[potahun]

Some more Qin Shen Shen moments translations (Part 13/?)

2020 S2 Reunion Edition 4/?

Link to other translations so far.

a. S2E10 Extras: Qin Shen Shen rehearsals onstage. Li Keqin suddenly laughs by himself, making Zhou Shen look at him:

ZS: What is it?

LKQ: I just have to say, I saw you on Weibo in many sorts of different get-ups (likely referring to get-ups and outfits in variety shows)....

ZS: *sighs*

LKQ, touching his arm: Earning money isn’t easy. (ZS: Yes.) 

Both guffaw, and ZS grabs LKQ by the wrist, shaking it up and down:

ZS: YOU GET IT~~

LKQ: And I just thought...! (ZS, completing: “How pitiful, how laughable”) No, I didn’t think it was pitiful. I just thought “earning money isn’t easy”. (ZS: That it’s hard, huh) Yeah, that you had it hard. Now your way of thinking is very....very open.  

(...)

ZS, likely explaining to LKQ about whether he feels stressed on variety shows: No, doing other things is just a bit more relaxed. Because I don’t need to sing. Singing puts pressure on you. For other things, how I play doesn’t matter -- it’s not my profession anyway. I’ll just try to play well. Singing is really intense.

b. S2E10 Extras: Qin Shen Shen backstage interview cuts:

ZS: Three, two, one. 

Both he and LKQ clap to do the clapperboard, then ZS gives LKQ a look.

ZS: They asked me to do the clapperboard, not you. (LKQ: ......)

ZS: .................... ah? (LKQ laughs) No questions? OK, I’ll leave then! *pretends to leave before laughing and returning to his seat* 

Staff: The last time you collaborated must have been during New Year’s eve last year, no?

LKQ: Ah, yes. (ZS: That’s correct) New Year’s eve....My earphone even fell. (ZS: *snorts*) Why do my earphones always fall?

ZS: The problem comes from you, doesn’t it?

LKQ: It’s the earphone’s problem.

ZS: No it’s not, we were at the same time and place, wearing the same earphones, mine didn’t fall, yours did.

LKQ: But it’s not the same person who helped us put it on. (ZS, shocked: Oh!!) *cheekily sticks his tongue out* 

ZS: Okay, fine, then next time we’ll ask the same person to tie our earphones. 

LKQ, making motions: And I was more....more... *clicks tongue* (ZS: Engrossed in the performance.) Engrossed in it, and, and I used more energy, and... (ZS giggles)

ZS: Can you say “yi tiao long /a dragon” now? (one of the lyrics from the Ye Lang Disco they performed in s1)

LKQ: *does the dance movement instead of replying* I still remember that song! (ZS: Can you say it in Mandarin?) “Yi tiao long”. 

ZS, shocked: Oh!! *looks at camera* His Mandarin improved!! *claps* (LKQ: Yeah, my Mandarin improved) Because in s1, from the beginning of this song ‘til the end, he kept saying “yi tiu long”. *chuckles* 

LKQ: Mm. *nods* Yi tiu long. (ZS chuckles again)

ZS, singing the lyrics of Ye Lang Disco: “Zuo bian gen wo yi qi hua tiu long” / “On your left, draw a dragon with me” !

Staff: So it’s been approximately 11 months since everyone’s seen each other. (ZS: Just barely) 

LKQ: We’ve been in contact.

ZS: It’s the 21st century. 

LKQ: We’ve been in contact once. *bursts out laughing*  (ZS: !!!! *joins in the laughter*)

ZS (to LKQ): Don’t give it away. *laughs*

Staff: How does it feel to meet again?

ZS (to LKQ): Eh? It just feels like you haven’t left for a very long time. (LKQ: Nothing changed) I think it’s just...fight when you want to, horse around when you want to, joke around when you want...and when we sing, he still becomes very serious -- Teacher Keqin is always like that.

LKQ: Yeah, I guess it’s because it’s the same stage...so I think.... (ZS: *laughs* So sentimental all of a sudden...*holds his shoulder*) As soon as I step on that stage, all the feelings, all the images just come back. 

ZS: Right! Earlier, as soon as we started singing, I felt like “Eh? Who’s practicing next -- is it teacher Fei, or someone else? (LKQ laughs) You instantly return to the scenery of the 1st season (LKQ: Yes, yes, yes, there’s that kind of feeling) Like you instantly cross over to that time. 

LKQ: Yes, the only thing is this time, there’s not too much pressure, because... (ZS: Because we don’t have to compete) ...it’s not a competition this time~ (ZS claps impishly) You guys have it hard~~We can be relaxed~~(ZS: You can do it~!) You can do it~You can do it~ (ZS, about themselves: How annoying. Do we have to be this annoying?)

(...)

LKQ, about S2: I’ve actually watched a lot of it. At the end of the day, we came from the 1st season, so I watched a major part of it. And also because many guests are good friends. Even...that 25 years old...went to be a newcomer. *breathes in* How can I not watch? Right? (ZS makes a face next to him) So...I think that combination, compared to our season, makes it more...entertaining (ZS: Diversified) Yes. Diversified. 

ZS: You really have all sorts of styles, including the 3 groups in this episode we’re participating in -- they have completely different styles. So it’s really up to what style you like. 

LKQ (to ZS): Which group do you like? (ZS: Whoa!)

ZS: *thinks about it* It’s very hard. It’s really very hard. Because there are some good friends among them for me too. (LKQ: Yeah...) The younger artists, I am familiar with many of them. 

LKQ: Who?

ZS: Xilin -- we used to be in the same company. Tai Yi, we met at another music show--

LKQ: Tai Yi talks very little! (ZS: Yeah, he has very little words!) I saw a lot of him, he always stands to the side and doesn’t say anything. (ZS: Yeah, so today when I went with them for kart racing--) He’s kind of similar to me. 

ZS just lets out a breathless huff and stares in disbelief at LKQ. 

LKQ, guffawing instantly: Hey!! What’s that expression? *imitates ZS’s huff* (ZS keeps staring) 

ZS: In one section of an interview, you said everything he said in one season!! *laughs*

Staff: Shen Shen, you mentioned the kart racing...

ZS: Right. (to LKQ) Why didn’t you come to the kart racing?? (LKQ only stares ahead) Last season you didn’t drive either. (LKQ: B...) Should we do another round just for you?

LKQ: Once you get older, you can’t drive cars that go fast like those...

ZS: Alright, you’re the best at talking *claps in LKQ’s face* (LKQ: Ok, ok, ok) 

(...)

ZS: Oh yeah, for kart racing, I ended up 2nd this time! *cackles* (LKQ laughs) I can’t believe I forgot such an important point! Oh-

LKQ: Songs. This is a music show.

ZS, instantly serious: Alright. What were we talking about?

Staff: Let’s talk about the song you’re going to sing.

ZS:  I really, really like one of them. “Fu Shi Shan Xia | Under Mount Fuji.” (LKQ: Ok, why?) I don’t know why. Just, back then... 

LKQ (to the camera, about ZS): He’s the one who chose it.

ZS, explaining to the staff: I absolutely wanted it. I insisted on it. I just want it. Mm. How to describe it? In any case, I just want to sing the Cantonese version. Because I really like the lyrics of the Cantonese version.

LKQ: I contacted him, and he said ‘aiya it’s been’ how long since we came? -approximately 1 year? (ZS: Mm) ‘what should we sing?’ We exchanged a few songs, and he said ‘this one’. So I said, actually, I do like this one quite a bit as well. But ....many years ago, I sang it already. Do we want to do it again? And he said *imitates ZS* ‘hey, it’s not the same. the duet version we’ll be doing will be different’. *looks at ZS*

ZS: That’s for sure. And in any case, I just really like this one. 

Note: Zhou Shen interrupts Li Keqin while he’s explaining that he sang “Fu Shi Shan Xia” in the past, just to say that LKQ sang the song at a “time when he showed his mouth”, which I initially didn’t get, but I think he means it literally, because LKQ’s mask on “Masked Singer”, in which he sang “Fu Shi Shan Xia”, pretty much only showed his mouth.

(...)

ZS: Anyways, my Mandarin is very good.

LKQ: Mm. My Mandarin (ZS: ...has not improved) is also very ordinary.

#qin shen shen #wo men de ge #li keqin #zhou shen #hacken lee #qss trans #wmdg2 #I thought this would be the end of it but it seems we're still getting at least some material #the only question is whether #qss' s Tokyo love story will just be a pre-recorded performance that is filmed on 1 dec and broadcasted during #the finale #or whether they will make some kind of appearance in person during the finale as well #I REALLY laughed at the 'you said everything he said in one season in one section of an interview'

[jerepars]

Steady Extended Story Notes

1/1 Empanadas and Churrasco

Hyperlinks appear in blue (underlined on mobile). The story is posted here.

She’d come to after that, sitting up from the floor of El Santo’s sanctuary gasping, like all the oxygen in the room had been burned up. It had been terrifying and Güero had her in his embrace no more than a few seconds after. Her first words had been where’s James?

There’s a part in “Sinking Ship” by The Backseat Lovers that goes: Did I put the fire out? Did I walk away? Did I burn up all the oxygen and throw the rest away?

Because Teresa wakes up gasping, and because later they’re on a ship in international waters, it felt like an appropriate reference to make. I listened to the album When We Were Friends a bunch while writing and editing this.

She’d seen it when they were rushing to the airport. He’d taken his sunglasses off and tried to get her to throw up the bags of coke she’d swallowed for the job, saying I am not having that again, because Aveline wasn’t the first girl who died before delivery could be made. He’d said it like a threat or dare, as if dying would be an act of defiance that he wouldn’t tolerate. James hadn’t cared about Teresa then, but she saw it in his eyes—he’d been scared. Scared for her. Scared that trying to get the job done would mean killing someone else. She got it then, that despite how tough and guarded and cold James could be, despite working for Camila, he hadn’t lost his humanity. He buried it, deep down, because he always had to make decisions that went against it.

But it was still there.

In the very first scene of Teresa and James together that’s just them, in the car on the way to the airport, we see the first crack in James’ composure. The look in his eyes when he says “that wasn’t the first girl who died, okay, and I am not having that again” (2:03) is everything. Like it’s immediately clear that James has depth. He’s not ruthless and it’s not true that James doesn’t care--actually he cares way more than someone in his position is supposed to.

Also, when he says “you’re gonna die” (2:30), which he says several times over the series with different words, it’s like he wants to be wrong, because he wants her to survive, and each time Teresa stays alive to prove him wrong...which ultimately is his intention all along.

Teresa thought it was why he wore dark glasses all the time, and why he tended to gravitate to the poorly lit part of any room. It was why he had a different mindset than her, why he’d learned to live in the dark of a cave. Losing focus—letting in too much light—was a risk for a person like James. Situations where James wasn’t in control and cool were rare. But in the heat of a moment, if he let his guard down, his expressive eyes could give him away.

Somehow I managed to work a reference to “Sell My Old Clothes, I’m Off to Heaven” into this.

That had been made very clear to Teresa during their time in Bolivia. James tolerated Güero (barely) for the job, to secure business with El Santo, but mostly for her, because she loved Güero. And because Teresa knew how to read James, she knew how angry he’d been at the bar, when she could have died because of Leo but still begged James not to kill Güero and let him go. Güero didn’t help either. He kept goading James, kept trying to make things personal. When they were on El Camino de la Muerte, waiting for the locals to pick up the spilled fruit, Güero had brought up loyalty and asked if James would take out Teresa if Camila ordered it. The answer from James had been simple, his voice steady and without hesitation: you have no idea what loyalty is.

I can’t help but love how salty James is through the Bolivia episodes. Pissy James is the best James. I laugh every time I re-watch the clip from 2x05 when he tells Teresa that he’s there and that she’s going to be fine, because you can see the switch to how angry he gets when she tells him not to kill Güero (0:36) and he’s so fucking pissed in the interaction with Güero after that, and angry-concerned when he’s taking care of Teresa but she wants to go find Leo. His very-mad-and-very-concerned is so adorable. Peter Gadiot really made the most of that scene.

I named the story Steady, because James’ voice is steady when, annoyed, he says that Güero has no idea what loyalty is (0:54) and also, sticking with the boat theme, after the Hey Ocean! song, “Steady”. It seemed fitting not because the lyrics are a perfect match for the situation, but because throughout S2 Teresa keeps asking everyone around her not to kill Güero since, in principle, she loves Güero. But the whole time she’s doing that, she’s changing, she’s not the same person who Güero left in Mexico, and it’s James that she’s really going through things with.

“Seriously?” James rolled his eyes. “You think if I was planning on killing your boyfriend here, tonight, I would call you over to witness it?”

I really just wanted to write this line of dialogue because of the venom in James’ voice when he says “your boyfriend screwed us” (0:17) on the death road. The tension that Güero’s presence creates is so, so good.

James knew all too well that the way to hurt someone the most was by hurting the people they loved. It was common practice in the cartel world, and pretty much a declaration of war. James was smart and he knew it wasn’t smart to burn every bridge that way, especially when people who weren’t foes were involved. Teresa made working for Camila more difficult, but she wasn’t a foe, and they weren’t just business colleagues either. They could have entire conversations without words, just by looking at each other. Sometimes, it seemed, they preferred communicating that way, because admitting that they cared about each other and what that meant was a much more difficult conversation to have. James had found loopholes to get around Camila’s orders when it came to Teresa. This time would be no different. We’re in this together, he’d told her before, and now apparently ‘together’ extended to Güero.

There are issues with the end of S2 (like how we’ll never know or understand why James put the tracker in Tony’s Gameboy) but personally I don’t think James deciding not to side with Teresa at that point is one of them. I understand why Teresa and Pote insist that James “betrayed” them at the beginning of season 3, when he shows up in Malta. But I also think it’s shortsighted. Sure, Camila betrayed Teresa (like, obviously, that was bound to happen...that’s kind of the whole point) and Teresa offered James to work with them for “a better way” to do things. But being in James shoes...why the hell would he burn his bridge with Camila when he didn’t have to? The notion that he should have joined forces with them as a slap in her face would not have been smart for him. Camila isn’t a foe to James.

Back to this part of season 2 though. James doesn’t make an enemy out of Teresa because he doesn’t kill Güero. If he had done that in canon, there wouldn’t be any chance for the Jeresa we got in S3. There’s no way Teresa could have moved on and moved forward with the non-relationship they have in S3 if the reason Güero died was because of James. Forget the non-relationship, they would have been done as soon as James killed Güero.

#je repars notes

[thejpfdude-blog]

The Week in Anime is Back! (Week of 1/16/17)

Yes’m, it’s back! After last season, I realized that I actually like writing these a lot more than I thought I did, so with the new season coming up and my schedule hopefully not being too busy, I decided to revive this thing. Not to mention these are really nice in helping me keep up with shows, as I found out last season that if I keep a show on hold I’ll more than likely never pick it up again...

I’m doing this in a new format: I’m only going to cover the seasonal shows I watched. I’ll start with my rankings of shows for the week, just to show a picture of how I’m liking and not liking stuff. Then instead of writing something for each show every week (which got a bit tiring when there wasn’t much to say), I’ll do joke-ish mini-awards for notable stuff that was noticeable notably. Things like “Best You Done Did Wrong Award” and “Worst Example of Eating Food”, stuff like that. That way I can cover stuff I found interesting in shows while not being forced to write stuff for every show I watched. So yeah, let’s get started:

Rankings:

1. Demi-chan wa Kataritai (great/10) [1-2/?]

2. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2 (great/10) [1/10]

3. Gabriel DropOut (good/10) [1/12]

4. Kuzu no Honkai (good/10) [1/?]

5. Nobunaga no Shinobi (7/10) [15/?]

6. Masamune-kun no Revenge (decent/10) [1-2/?]

7. Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon (decent/10) [1/?]

8. Little Witch Academia (TV) (decent/10) [1/25]

9. Rewrite: Moon and Terra (meh/10) [1/?]

10. Sengoku Choujuu Giga: Otsu (meh/10) [1/13]

11. Nyanbo (4/10) [15/26]

12. Fuuka (4/10) [1-3/12]

Awards:

The “I Don’t Know How To Feel About This Show“ Award: Fuuka

Hahaha, I hate myself. Even knowing this gets “interesting”, I’m still here for the wild ride. But on a serious note, this show has it’s moments, and Fuuka post-tsundere mode is actually a pretty decent character (so far). It’s just that the MC is so basic that it doesn’t register on the pH scale, some parts were unbearable to watch (the whole first half of the first episode was something), and that plot twist that’ll possibly happen later. Each episode so far has redeemed itself for me to continue watching, but as an overall experience I don’t know how to feel. Negatively maybe, but it’s doesn’t feel deserving of the worst spot.

Also now that I spoiled myself with what the twist is, let me just say that I really hope they adapt it because peoples’ reactions will be golden. With the number of shows I’m watching this season (not many), I’ll probably keep watching until I really hate it.

The “Most Stupidest First Episode” Award: Sengoku Choujuu Giga: Otsu

Seriously? A song episode? You already did this in the first season, and it was stupid then. Why would the first episode of the second season be literally just a song? I’m hoping that there isn’t more of this, because I’m not watching this show for the music.

The “Why Am I Still Watching This” Award: Nyanbo

Yes, it’s a kids show. And yes, I’m committed to completing this. I’m in too deep: my rule for shows is that if I’m halfway to completing it (or more), that I finish the show. It’s why I finished Stella no Mahou last season, and it’s why I’m finishing this off. This show does have its moments, but then most of the episodes are like this week’s with a dance-off that is definitely not catered for people of my age. It’s not the show’s fault, more mine for thinking a short aiming for kids could be decent. Well, it is what it is.

The “Why Am I Still Watching This - New Show Edition” Award: Rewrite (Moon and Terra)

I mean I know the reason why I’m watching it, but bear with me. Maybe it was because I watched it after coming back to university (read: tired and still recovering from jet lag), maybe it was because it wasn’t that good, but I didn’t enjoy watching this first episode. I understood the whole convoluted plot, but it just kept going on and on, and eventually I was counting the time left until the episode ended. By the end I was just cleaning my room... good stuff 8-bit.

Having said that, there is a reason I’m watching it, and it’s because of that small small hope that the people making this can pull off at least a linear routed VN. If they can’t even do that, then I have no hope for future 8-bit creations. The Moon and Terra routes of Rewrite were what made the VN so great, and if they at least do a decent job of adapting it, then it’ll be loads better then the first season. Here’s hoping.

The “Glad It’s Getting Another Cour” Award: Nobunaga no Shinobi

Let’s get some positivity into these awards: how about the fact that this show is still airing? That’s something I didn’t really expect, but it’s a good thing. I love the comedy and the cute twist to historical characters makes me feel like I’m learning Japanese history, an added bonus to a hobby that at times makes me feel like I’m losing IQ points (yes I know I’m not learning jack. It’s joke!). This show actually still hasn’t confirmed if it’s only two-cour, although I really doubt it’ll go any longer. Then again, a certain aggressive short is currently on its fourth cour, so maybe...

The “Surprisingly Good” Award: Kuzu no Honkai

I wasn’t expecting this to be good, but the first episode was actually really fun to watch. It’s something different, with a more serious take on romance that isn’t a shoujo. I feel kinda bad in my “What I’m Watching” post that I wrote that stuff about this show, because I was very misinformed about what the show is about. It still covers somewhat hard topics to talk about, but it’s nothing like the NTR stuff I thought it would be, at least so far. We’ll see how far it escalates, but it’s started off well.

The ���Derp Face” Award: KonoSuba S2

Oh man, am I glad this show is back. I lost track of the number of times I laughed out loud, and I think I messed up my throat from laughing too much. I have one concern though, and that’s the increased number of derp faces that this episode had. Last season definitely had its share of derp, but not as much as this episode. From what I heard, it’s on purpose, which I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Either way, I am a bit worried about that because if it continues on at this rate it’ll start distracting from the show. But if the show continues bringing the laughs, then it’s not a huge issue: guess we’ll see if it improves.

The “Doga Kobo CGDCT” Award: Gabriel DropOut

This season looks to have some pretty good CGDCTs, and this is the most CDGCT-y of them all, complete with the fact that it’s made my Doga Kobo. I liked this show overall: the dynamic between the angel-ish devils and the devil-ish angels is fun to watch, though there was some questionable shots with the bathroom scene and the panty shot. I love the fact that Gabriel isn’t like Umaru: I figured out that the reason I hated Umaru was because she put up a perfect facade when she’s in public, so her outbursts at home were just annoying. With this show, Gabriel is the same outside as she is inside, so I’m perfectly fine with it. Hopefully this show continues to be solid, because I always love a good CDGCT.

The “Red Flags” Dropped Show of the Week Award: Urara Meirochou

This might end up being a weekly award, seeing as how some shows I’m watching might be dropped in the next few weeks. So for the first winner of this award, let’s start with a show I was expecting to keep, but just had to drop. Even with me not liking stuff like Fuuka and Rewrite: Moon and Terra, at least I have some hope that it gets better or at least not worse. This show, however, just hit all of the wrong notes for me and I couldn’t continue watching.

Before I continue, I want to discuss fanservice: I used to hate fanservice. But then I realized it’s not fanservice in general I hate, it’s unnecessary fanservice, which I know is sort of arbitrary. The way I define unnecessary fanservice is if it doesn’t make sense within the context of the scene or the plot/story in general. For example, New Game’s bath episode had plenty of fanservice scenes, but I was fine with it because it made sense in the context of the setting. An ecchi show like Shokugeki I expect to have fanservice with it (although how much of it and to what degree that’s acceptable is a whole ‘nother topic itself).

Now back to this show. I’m about that CGDCT, so of course I was going to give this a shot. I was hopeful this could be one of the many good ones that this season looked to offer. But I just can’t stand this show: and the main reason is the whole running joke with showing the belly. It pissed me off the first time, and expanding that to other characters was even worse. It’s a prime example to me of unnecessary fanservice, and I just couldn’t finish watching it. If there was an explanation for it in the first episode, then great, but I couldn’t sit through more of it to find out if it ever goes into it. At least there’s still Gabriel DropOut and Demi-chan (kinda) for my CGDCT needs.

Best Episode of the Week Award: Demi-chan wa Kataritai (This’ll probably the other weekly award, given to the episode that I loved the most)

Watching this was the first time since ReLIFE that the ED came up and I was really itching for more. If I had to put one reason why I loved these two episodes so much, I think “heartwarming” would be close-ish. Probably not the best word, but it’s the first word that comes to mind. This show is the best parts of Monster Musume for me: the whole monsters integrating into society thing was a concept that if done well, could be super interesting to watch. MonMusu kinda goes into that with the first episode (I think I still have my thoughts on it somewhere in this blog...) but starts to slowly evolve into the ecchi harem that it’s famous for. The whole integrating to human society thing really reminds me of how disabled people are seen in society in a way. The scene with the dullahan and her talking with her classmates was a great example of this: we see that when she starts talking about how it’s hard to travel in crowded places because of her detached head, the others start getting uncomfortable and switch topics instantly. Then when the vampire comes in, they start bonding over the troubles from their demi mutations, and the others who were hesitant at first join in. It’s a nice twist to an issue that I don’t know the answer to: how to talk about the elephant in the room without offending the person.

It’s also fun to learn about the different ways they adapt to live: Hikari with her avoidance of direct sunlight and Machi with her whole separate head thing. The interviews help with that, but with the second episode we see more of a shift towards real life activities, which is a good thing to mix it up.

And on top of that, Hikari is too precious. Her cheerful personality is something I always welcome, and it’s done well without being too overbearing like a certain other Hikari from two seasons past. Overall this show’s just... nice to watch. It’s good to have a show that you can just relax with for 24-ish minutes and forget about your daily life. There wasn’t really have anything like that last season: Haikyuu was the best show, but it was more hype than anything. Nothing else that was really a fun time (maybe the reason why I didn’t like last season very much). I’m not trying to be too hyped for this show right off the bat, because there have been countless shows with great first episodes that fell off later (Kuma Miko, Rewrite, 91 Days). However, if this show continues to be this good, it could be an early contender for AOTY, let alone AOTS. But that’s way too early to tell, and so many other factors could play in. But until then, I’m just going to enjoy the ride.

And that’s all for this week! We’ll see how long this continues, but hopefully I’ll be able to continue writing these posts, because it’s nice to organize my thoughts into little blurbs. Anyhoos, I’ll see you in the next post!