I just spotted another translation choice made differently in Dog Days by Hatsuyuki and by Hiryu. The word is 卿 kyou and it's used as a title.

In particular, in eps 8 and 9, Brioche is called D'Arquien-kyou and Yukki is called Pannetone-kyou. Hatsuyuki rather arbitrarily decided that Brioche should be called "Count D'Arquien". Hiryu, on the other hand, made it "Dame".

I think they both blew it. It maybe should have been "Lord D'Arquien", but I can make a pretty good case for it being "Sir D'Arquien". Yeah, historically  in the UK "sir" was for men and "dame" was for women, but there are other implications. Historically a Sir, a knight, was a high level fighting man who owned his own weapons and his own armor. Dames didn't fight.

Brioche fights like an angry buzz saw and Yukki is just as good. Calling them "Dame" just isn't appropriate. Calling them "Lord" (as opposed to "Lady") implies nobility, and implies that they hold positions of responsibility. Which, manifestly, they mostly don't. When they're not in battle and not on the road they mostly just sit around and enjoy the sunlight.

Biscotti is a lot different than Earth, especially feudal Japan. In particular it is sexually egalitarian, and a good portion of the warriors, both militia and regular army, are women. And in that battle the majority of the top commanders for Biscotti were women: Brioche, Yukki, Rico, and Eclair versus just Roland and Shinku. Making those women knights (because they are active fighters) makes complete sense to me. Brioche, Yukki, and Eclair really should have been "sir".

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Japanese at 11:31 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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