1 Haven't seen the show, but I dimly recall a story about two samurai in opposing armies trading haiku during a battle--the last composed by the losing general as he was pursued off the field, I think.

2 Because Rule of Cool, that's why... though Canthros' reason is probably correct, too.

3 I wondered if it was a historical reference of some kind.

4 I can tell you this:  they weren't in the original script, it was something added in at the last minute.  I had to get the final rushed to me from Japan to verify it, since random Japanese poems are not something you expect to see in the middle of a sci-fi battle. 

By the way, Jenny's reply to the Lightning-11 should now read "Nuts," which is the correct translation.  You were right to think of General McAuliffe, as that is what she's referencing.  (Though it's a bit more complicated than that, but whatever.)  The translation was changed at the last minute by a QC person who wasn't familiar with the reference.  I had him change it back. 

5 Haven't seen the show (yet) but perhaps it's like swordfighting in the Monkey Island series of games...?

6 The Wikipedia Japan page for Amanokaguyama has what appears to be the first of the Tanka poems in question (#2 on this page has a translation).

(and, yes, the Crunchyroll version now has "Nuts!" for Jenny's line)

-j

7

Tellu541, is there an official romanization for some of the proper names? I.e. were you forced to use "Barbalusa" instead of "Barbarossa"?

I was just looking at the EC version of the show, and they didn't rip off the Crunchroll translation. Among other things, the planet name was the Japanese Uminoake instead of "Sea of the Morning Star". Marika's mother was Lirika.

So I give them credit for doing their own translation. But it wasn't as good. Ah, well...

8 The end credits have it as "Barbaroosa", flashed on the screen very briefly. Also "Oddette II", and one of the schoolgirls ends up "Berinda", so we can pretend they're only mostly official.


Something interesting that I turned up while poking around for other sources: series author Yuuichi Sasamoto contributed to the screenwriting for the Dirty Pair OVA series back in the Eighties.

-j

9 We're not given an official name list, though we do tend to go with what's in the credits.  The katakana for the name of the pirate ship doesn't match "Barbaroosa" or "Barbarossa" (Barbarossa's famous enough in Japan that there's only one spelling of his name), so I needed something that sounded similar.  Barbalusa it was.