[META & TRANSLATION] "It's Hakushū." [TKG]
Oct. 1st, 2014 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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suwafoughtenfieldReposted from Tumblr, and polished a little bit in the process. Because boy, did it need it. Slightly image-heavy, but not as much as the Fire Emblem post from a while back.
One of the questions that has been plaguing Tokyo Ghoul fans about the last few chapters is, how did Arima know who Kaneki was? A number of theories have been presented, some more believable than others, but all within the English-speaking fandom use the English-language scanlations as their foundation. Though the scanlations are typically of decent quality, many fans before me have pointed out that errors can be found in them. Chapter 139 is no exception. One possible answer to the Arima question, then, and one that I suggest is the most plausible, lies in a scene from this chapter that was lost in a translation mistake.
One of the more interesting scenes in this chapter, and one of my favorite scenes in the final arc of the manga, is what happens immediately after Arima stabs Kaneki in the head. Kaneki briefly sends out his Kagune in the largest form we've ever seen it, trying blindly to make a counterattack. But he stops, realizing that he can't think clearly, and instead makes a desperate attempt to calm himself down.
He starts to recite poetry.
The translation of this section is graceful and well thought-out, considering the difficult language of the original, but the key to this scene is the next page, where Kaneki finishes reciting the excerpt. Arima compliments the poem, and in the scanlation created by /a/nonymous, Kaneki replies: "Autumn..." This is what Kaneki says in the original Japanese:
「……白秋です…」
"...It's Hakushū..."
Kitahara Hakushū (1885-1942) is often considered one of the greatest modern tanka poets. Though very little of his work has been translated into English, it's easily available in Japanese, and this particular poem is Oishi Ainu no uta (Ode to an Old Ainu), from Kaihyou to kumo (The Seal and the Cloud).* The mistranslation "Autumn" probably came from the fact that Hakushū is written with the characters for "white" and "autumn," as seen above.
What does this information tell us about this scene? First, it changes our perspective on Kaneki's mental state. In the scanlation, Kaneki's nonsense response indicates that he's still delirious, unable to recognize that Arima is talking to him; while in the Japanese, Kaneki seems to have succeeded in collecting his thoughts enough to tell Arima who he's reciting. And secondly, it may provide a clue as to how Arima figured out Kaneki's identity.
The CCG is known to have some information on Kaneki--namely, that he's a literature major who was involved in an accident with a ghoul and went missing some time later. Various CCG members start to pick up on connections regarding him. First Amon gets curious, then Shinohara does too.
Because of his rank, Arima presumably has access to just as much information about Kaneki and Kanou as Shinohara does, if not more. There's a good chance he also is concerned about what may have happened to the boy operated on by the ex-CCG autopsy doctor--or, to delve further into theorization, that he's connected to the creation of half-ghouls that Amon suspected the CCG was sponsoring. Either way, he has the resources necessary to put together the puzzle. And when he meets a young ghoul with one red eye who can recite poetry from memory, what is his reaction?
(Arima's lines here are translated literally from the Japanese.)
My intention in writing this post is not, of course, to slander the scanlation team. However, Kaneki's identification of the author he recites is a hugely important part of the scene in question, and without access to this information, it is impossible to fully understand Arima's thought process.
*I translated both of those titles on the fly, so I apologize if I failed to take something into account there.
One of the questions that has been plaguing Tokyo Ghoul fans about the last few chapters is, how did Arima know who Kaneki was? A number of theories have been presented, some more believable than others, but all within the English-speaking fandom use the English-language scanlations as their foundation. Though the scanlations are typically of decent quality, many fans before me have pointed out that errors can be found in them. Chapter 139 is no exception. One possible answer to the Arima question, then, and one that I suggest is the most plausible, lies in a scene from this chapter that was lost in a translation mistake.
One of the more interesting scenes in this chapter, and one of my favorite scenes in the final arc of the manga, is what happens immediately after Arima stabs Kaneki in the head. Kaneki briefly sends out his Kagune in the largest form we've ever seen it, trying blindly to make a counterattack. But he stops, realizing that he can't think clearly, and instead makes a desperate attempt to calm himself down.
He starts to recite poetry.
The translation of this section is graceful and well thought-out, considering the difficult language of the original, but the key to this scene is the next page, where Kaneki finishes reciting the excerpt. Arima compliments the poem, and in the scanlation created by /a/nonymous, Kaneki replies: "Autumn..." This is what Kaneki says in the original Japanese:
「……白秋です…」
"...It's Hakushū..."
Kitahara Hakushū (1885-1942) is often considered one of the greatest modern tanka poets. Though very little of his work has been translated into English, it's easily available in Japanese, and this particular poem is Oishi Ainu no uta (Ode to an Old Ainu), from Kaihyou to kumo (The Seal and the Cloud).* The mistranslation "Autumn" probably came from the fact that Hakushū is written with the characters for "white" and "autumn," as seen above.
What does this information tell us about this scene? First, it changes our perspective on Kaneki's mental state. In the scanlation, Kaneki's nonsense response indicates that he's still delirious, unable to recognize that Arima is talking to him; while in the Japanese, Kaneki seems to have succeeded in collecting his thoughts enough to tell Arima who he's reciting. And secondly, it may provide a clue as to how Arima figured out Kaneki's identity.
The CCG is known to have some information on Kaneki--namely, that he's a literature major who was involved in an accident with a ghoul and went missing some time later. Various CCG members start to pick up on connections regarding him. First Amon gets curious, then Shinohara does too.
Because of his rank, Arima presumably has access to just as much information about Kaneki and Kanou as Shinohara does, if not more. There's a good chance he also is concerned about what may have happened to the boy operated on by the ex-CCG autopsy doctor--or, to delve further into theorization, that he's connected to the creation of half-ghouls that Amon suspected the CCG was sponsoring. Either way, he has the resources necessary to put together the puzzle. And when he meets a young ghoul with one red eye who can recite poetry from memory, what is his reaction?
(Arima's lines here are translated literally from the Japanese.)
My intention in writing this post is not, of course, to slander the scanlation team. However, Kaneki's identification of the author he recites is a hugely important part of the scene in question, and without access to this information, it is impossible to fully understand Arima's thought process.
*I translated both of those titles on the fly, so I apologize if I failed to take something into account there.
