Sempai/Seniors

I wanted to talk about the translation of Kira Kira Curtain Call.

Early on in the game, Souta interacts with several people who are older than him which he calls “sempai”. While translating the game I felt it was appropriate to call one of them “Sempai” and the others “Seniors”. In Japanese “sempai” can be a sign of respect towards someone older than you whom you admire, or it can simply refer to those who are older than you.

The character whom I decided to call “Sempai” is the one Souta holds in some respect (or at least used to). He uses sempai as an honorific with the man’s name at times, and in place of his name at other times. This man also seems to be a few years older than Souta, more so than the other people which he refers to when using the term.

On the other hand, the characters whom I decided to call “Seniors” are held in almost no respect. Souta has a fair dislike for them in fact, perhaps even to the extent of contempt. They are however, one year older than him. This makes them his seniors or ‘sempai’, but they are also Seniors at the academy.

So since they are Senior students, and he does not show respect for them, I decided to distinguish them from his other Sempai by using these two different terms.

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17 Comments

  1. how much more does Curtain Call add to kira kira like how many hours and extra heroine does it add

    • Unlike Edelweiss Eiden Fantasia, this does more than just add two heroines. Kira Kira Curtain Call is far closer to a true sequel. The First part is an all new story line which revolves around Souta and his attempt to start a band. In his arc, the only familiar face who plays a main role is Maejima Yuko (the last game’s main character’s younger sister). So in a sense, the first chapter tells the story of the generation who comes after the characters in the first game.

      The second part, is the story of Murakami and his band. In the second part, there are a lot of familiar faces who were all side characters in the original game. Lastly, the end Finale sort of ties in Kira Kira and brings both games to another close.

      In terms of Heroines, there’s only one: Yui. Souta is quite the straight arrow when it comes to romance, so he barely even looks at other girls. Yet in terms of story, Kira Kira Curtain Call adds a lot more depth and should take you all a fair amount of time to enjoy.

  2. Hmmm… if all of those characters are called “sempai” in Japanese, i think I’d prefer sticking to the term “sempai”. But it’s the decision of the translator and maybe it will work fine this way.

  3. I feel that this decision should be based merely on the presence or absence of such discrimination in the original japanese script.

    If the original does distinguish between the two, the translation obviously should do so as well. However, if the original does not, it could only serve damage the translation if you still do so regardless.

    tl;dr: do whatever the original does. changing stuff like this changes the entire personality of the character.

    • Again, I think the distinction is merited because he does have such a clearly different way in which he uses “sempai” when referring to the one person and when referring to the seniors he is forced to interact with.

      So in that sense, I feel the original does distinguish between the two, which is why I wanted to make the distinction in my translation.

      • If the original distinguish in that sense, as you say, there isnt a need for the different words anyway. Since the point will come across even if they’re all just called senpai, it just wouldnt add anything to use seniors as well, IMHO.

        besides that, i dont feel that translating senpai really does justice to the way the word is used. its more of a title than a word anyway.

        i dont claim to be an expert on the matter, but thats just what i’d prefer as a player.

  4. Mangagamer’s translation are perfect,keep going ^^

  5. Sounds reasonable to me.

  6. Sounds like it works. So long as there’s a reason for it and it’s clearly presented to the reader why, I don’t think anyone will have a problem with it.

  7. Seems like a fairly good distinction to me. Thanks for clarifying here.

  8. Seems pretty reasonable. There certainly is a range of ways that the word “sempai” can be used in Japanese. While I think it’d have been fine to use it of all the characters you mention, or none of them, this in-between option also sounds reasonable, since there’s good reason for it.

  9. X_X I know this might have/have not been answered but whats the progress so far with Kira kira curtain calls? As in translating/coding/scripting and so on and whats the “Estimate” release date for this? Q1-Q2 of this year?

    • Also well this i believe would be a better idea then just considering calling all higher ups sempai its actually would help for some of those who actually can tell from who he respect and dont respect.

    • Yeah, It should be out Q1-Q2. The editing is progressing about as fast as I can send the scripts out, and I’m already finished the first part (which is longer than the second)

  10. Also another thing Kouryuu i gotta say the next few games thats coming out for mangagamer will be great. I already tried Edelweiss and Kira Kira both was a good storyline and some part was very emotional for me XD. With the fandisk and sequal for both im just glad and might be try to buy later once i have enough same for the best out of the 3 Koihime Musou it was great storyline the battle is so and so but still a great addition to game. I wonder if Shin Koihime Musou would be licensed later by Mangagamer… I mean the 1st was great but the sequal/Twist in storyline was more interesting and better battle system.Plus if the sequal/fandisk for kirakira and edelweiss is gonna be release if they can mind aswell get koihime musou sequal later too o.o.

  11. I’m somewhat anti changes for “clarities” sake, it should be clear from the context as to how a relationship works, there have been people I don’t like dealing with that I have needed to call dr xyz and mrs abc, whilst there have been people I enjoyed talking to with the same title, it’s a touch annoying when you hear something that makes sense in the audio but isn’t represented in the text.

    Context should do the setting not changing the titles, but what’s done is done and it doesn’t matter that much.

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