Starting a Moedan Transcription

[TBox]

I'm transcrbing and attempting to translate Moedan.
http://touhou.wikia.com/wiki/Moedan:_Translation

Some caveats:

I only have two semesters of Japanese but a LOT of online tools to help me out.  I'm only doing the dialog because the print on everything else is too small for me to see the Kanji.  My translation style has always focused more on conversational tone than exact translation, so if you do speak Japanese keep that in mind.  I promise you the lesson itself is intact.  Sorry, I'm not really editing them to make them look pretty.  If you want to help, please do!

Edit: Removed all crankiness.  Feeling much better about this project.

PS: If you've always wanted to try translating but get lost because of all the kanji, it's worth taking a week or so to learn to type in Cangjie.  So far the fastest way I've found to identify kanji I don't recognize.  Took me three days, but I learn fast.  It can be frustratingly quirky sometimes, but you can always fall back on other, slower kanji lookup methods if you can't figure out a character's Cangjie code.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cangjie_input_method
http://www.cocoanutstech.com/cang_jie/www.cjmember.com/the_cj_method.htm
http://www.cocoanutstech.com/publishing/pageWithName/CangJieTypingTutor/

[sumisumi]

I've tried doing crazy stuff like this too.  It's pretty hard to learn as you go cause you have to learn ten different things just for one sentence!

がんばってね！

[TBox]

11 cards up.  11 is very difficult compared to both 10 and 12, so I'm declaring it a "Boss card" and calling this the end of stage 1.  Meaning I'm passing it on.

I'm a lot happier with my translations now.  They're not perfect, but it's mostly style choice and how to word things now rather than just not knowing what's going on.  Still not putting any effort into formatting though.

Summary:  This first part is mostly obvious and stupid stuff, and occasionally insults your intelligence.
Card 1:  May as well be empty, I think this is just a playground to learn the controls.
Card 2:  If it's not going to hit you, don't move.
Card 3:  If it is going to hit you, move as little as possible... although sometimes that will mean moving a lot.
Card 4:  You WILL lose focus if we throw enough bullets at you.
Card 5: The first part's boring, but there's a tidbit about hopping through those circular patterns like Rumia's Demarcation: Wait for a gap to close completely then hop through as it opens up after.  Or better yet don't hop and let it pass around you.
Card 6: If a gap's too small, let it spread out a little and it'll be bigger. 
Card 7: Pay attention to closer bullets first.  PS I think silver on this one is harder to get than gold.  Still not hard though.
Card 8: Repeat of card 3, but the timing's different.  It's prep for...
Card 9: Cutbacks!  Creating a gap to hop through large bullet streams.
Card 10: More cutbacks.
Card 11:  Bomb early, bomb often.  Also, they actually call out the first 10 cards for being too easy.

Going to free play and combining cards 9 and 10, or doubling up 10, is excellent practice. 

Prolly more than you wanted to know.

[Romantique Tp]

Going to free play and combining cards 9 and 10, or doubling up 10, is excellent practice. 

So that's what the Double Spell option does... I thought it did something else.
You can make some hilarious patterns by just randomly combining cards.

Thank you for the translations, I'll try to help you with the formatting latter this week.

[TBox]

The neat one is they thought ahead and made it so if you double the same spell card the enemies show up intelligently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6-23lNKjEM

No, that's not actual game music, thank God.

[Ruminizer]

So someone's finally translating this?
Thank you! Thank you so much.

Actually, this is a great learning tool, especially for people with reflexes like mine.
I kind of just...watch the bullet soar towards me.  :V

Again, thanks a ton. I would help, but my kana is rudimentary at best, and I'm a "Human with a busy life",
as UFO puts it. Try your best.

[beaver1231]

If you have problems with danmaku jargon I could help you out...perhaps.  :/

Also, I approve of this translation project.

[TBox]

I will definitely start asking Jargon questions in this thread.  Neater that way.

This update is a lot sooner than I thought it would be, but the first line of Card 16 is "From this point on we'll be using patterns that would actually show up in a game" so it seems like a natural break point.  The next update is likely to be soon, too, because the last sky blue ("easy") card is coming up fast and that may be another break point.  Depends on what the next card after that is.

Summary:
Card 12:  Sometimes you have to wing it.
Card 13: More winging it. 
Card 14: Some spots are safer than others...
Card 15: ...and it's not always a spot far from the enemy.

Fun times:  Combine Card 14 (safest far from the enemy) and Card 15 (safest close to the enemy).  Infinite lives, no bombs, 300 seconds, shoot down enemies until it reaches the stage with three enemies instead of two, then hang out for the rest of the time.  Card 14 shows up further away than Card 15 so there's technically a sweet spot where you hit outside card 14's break but inside card 15's break.  Currently I'm playing "Count how many times you die."  I lost track.

[TBox]

Whoops, here's one already.  In Lunatic mode, when you kill an enemy it fires a bullet at you.  The Japanese just call that a "Return bullet."  ("revenge counter" would be a possible, but more dramatic translation.)  Simple, effective.  How about you guys?

[Erppo]

I guess most people call them suicide bullets. Revenge bullet is another term used.

[Romantique Tp]

Revenge bullet is the most used term for that, AFAIK.

[Erppo]

Revenge bullet is the most used term for that, AFAIK.

Not that it matters that much, but the Shmups Forum Glossary uses suicide bullet as the primary term. It's also a pretty good collection of shmup-jargon in general so it might be helpful for the translation effort.

[TBox]

SCORE!  Bookmarked.

Honestly if I'd put a moment's thought into it I probably could've found that on my own.

[TBox]

Sometimes a shot will give a small display as a warning of impending nastiness.  For example, a laser may send out a tiny, harmless beam at first then follow up with the real shot.  Or a bullet may shine rays of light before it explodes that tell you where the shrapnel is going to go.

The Japanese call this the 予告, yokoku, which is something like "advance notice."  I could use either "introduction" or "announcement" too.  But I think I'm going to go with "Warning shot" if someone doesn't prefer something else, even though the Japanese do have a word for shot and don't use it.  Probably because the warning can't hurt you.

[TBox]

Alright, last bump for a while.  Just finished Card 25, which is a good place to check in for several reasons.  A. It's the halfway point!  B.  The next card we fight Alice, and we do nothing but fight Alice until card 36.  C.  My vacation is almost over.  Tomorrow I go back to doing the things that keep me fed and updates are going to be a lot slower.

Summary!

Card 16:  It's called destroyable shots but it's more useful as suicide bullet practice.
Card 17:  A card whose difficulty is much reduced by following directions.  Move big.  Wait for them to turn red before moving.
Card 18:  They don't tell you this but if you try to graze the lasers you're going to get sandwiched.
Card 19: The last sky blue card.  Not hard really.
Card 20: Basically... take in everything.
Card 21: I cannot praise this card enough, but will try in a bit.
Card 22: A joy to translate.  Take that, Merupo!
Card 23: The opposite of 20 and 21: Focus on just near you.  Combining them scares me.  Yes, I overdid the translation of Zun's formality, but that's because...
Card 24: ... they comment on it in this card.  This is a cutback review, really, with the added bonus that you can shoot your way out if you need to.
Card 25: A real synthesis.  See if you can count how many previous lessons show up in this card.

OMG, Card 21.  Freeplay, 300 seconds, infinite lives, shoot down Merupo until the red bullets show up... dodge.  This will teach you more about reading bullets and kiai yoke (what I was calling kiai sake before... stupid kanji...) than 12 and 13 combined... and I did try that.  For reading, it's creepy how after a while the bullets that are going to hit you just stand out from the rest, like they're marked.  For kiai yoke, it's definitely a fragile state of mind.  Once you start dying it can be hard to stop.  You've lost your kiai.

My goal is to check in again after Card 36, which is the end of the first boss run.  When I actually have to work I average a card every 2 days or so, so see you in a month or something.

[Romantique Tp]

The dialogue from Spell Card 22 is priceless.

[TBox]

Next batch of cards up.  Cards 26-36, boss card practice.  You can get a gold medal just by not being hit, but do practice staying under the boss or you miss out on some of these.  The cards are getting hard to summarize so I'm just going to leave some translation comments here.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_26
Is there a common term for the madness that comes at the end of a card if you're trying to play pacifist?  The Japanese call it... madness!

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_27
"The strongest back fighter in the galaxy" is my attempt at what's in the Japanese promotional materials for Battle Garegga.  If you've played the game in English and know what the official translation for Blackheart's nickname is let me know.  Also, it's possible to trick the winder.  Let it nail you to the side of the screen, die or bomb, then fly to the opposite side of the screen.  The next time the winder moves, it'll spin off the top of the screen.  Then you can sit under the boss and bobble while the winder fires uselessly off the top of the screen.  For this card it's useless, cuz the winder resets itself every few passes, but I dunno, maybe there's a poorly coded spell card out there where that info would be useful.  If you're willing to give up the bomb/life.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_28
Not much to say.  Zun's great idea is retarded for this card, trying to stay on top of the bends is a great way to die, so they're clearly talking about other cards elsewhere.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_29
This card's dialog makes me laugh every time.  When Gil talks about dodging the rain I just have this image of him grinning like an idiot and wagging his eyebrows at Zun or something.  Also, it's nice to know the Japanese feel the same way about some danmaku as we do.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_30
I ran my translation of the dress comment by some native Japanese and they feel it's every bit as rude as I've translated it.  I'm absolutely stunned they made the joke, it seems so out of character for everyone involved.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_31
I had way too much fun translating the nursery rhyme Merupo sings here.  Also, it's entirely possible to avoid practicing what they want you to practice all the way until the last 10 seconds of the card or so, so this is definitely a card that is much improved by being translated.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_32
I have to say, this card really helped me with Sakuya's non-spell card shot (before Misdirection).

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_33
I like the dialog on this card.  Scene stealing moments for both Gil and Flandre here.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_34
My complete failure to translate two of Zun's lines really irks me, but when it's all kana like that and there's zero context I'm just.... argh!  Also, this is the card where it's most important to remember that you want to practice staying under the boss, not just not getting hit, silver/gold medals be damned.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_35
There needs to be a limit on how many relative clauses you can use and how deep you can nest them. >.< This card was a bit above my paygrade to translate, but I did my best.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Moedan_Spell_Card_36
And we face Flandre herself!  Which is why Zun is so solicitous in this card.

In other news, I have beaten EoSD.  With continues, but I'm still proud.  ( -.-)