"Any card—so long as it exists—has a power that is needed."

So I’m getting ready to go over my subs for GX 65 and I’d like to try and translate this magazine cover–but I’m having some trouble making out the Japanese on the lower right with the bullet points:

Any chance someone would be able to make out the red Japanese there and transcribe it? I’m assuming it’s meant to be a “Contents” summary, and I can make out the first two bullets as あのデュエリストは今 and プロリーグ[対戦?]データ; for bullet #3, I can make out ベストデュエル and bullet #4 seems to be something about type and deck? I’ve already gotten the “特集　カイザー丸藤亮　サイバードラゴンデッキ徹底解剖” portion.  Bonus points if there’s something under the “07″ like an edition marker or something.

I tried to Google some of these to see if a fan had transcribed it already, but no luck.  And I hoped the recent raws encoded by “YES” that I found on Nyaa would be of higher quality as they were for 5D’s, but they’re not.  Any help would be appreciated!

(EDIT: Thanks to a kind anon, we’ve worked out 99% of bullet #3 to read, “読者が[?]ベストデュエル” (where [?] is a missing kanji, though it looks like there might be a ぶ or something next to it? 🤔), and bullet 4 to read, “タイプ用デッキ攻撃法”; just need the heading and the missing kanji in bullet #3, along with a confirmation that I’m correctly reading “ プロリーグ[対戦?]“ in bullet #2, and I should be good to go. Thanks again!)

I don’t suppose anyone can make out the second kanji on Fubuki’s fan here? I’ve been racking my brain the last two days (not entirely lol) trying to figure out the radicals to it, but even just searching 日 and assuming 9-22 stroke counts, it’s not coming up in the online dictionary I’m using D:

(EDIT: Solved!)

So, do I have any followers who are versed in Chinese and/or Japanese hanzi/kanji? I have a staff name from 5D’s that I’m trying to translate for REASONS, and the way it’s been transcribed by this staff-transcription blog matches how it appears in the credits, but looking it up not only doesn’t bring any matches on ANN, but I get minimal results through Google or DuckDuckGo and it’s frustrating me D:

(太田相𤨁)

The problem seems to be the 𤨁 “kanji” because when I type it in the search bar with the others, it comes up as an “x in a box” (ie, “not found” probably), and RikaiChan and the dictionary I use doesn’t bring up a match; I used a radicals site to dig up 瑨 as a possible Japanese equivalent, but searching it with the rest still doesn’t bring up a possible name.  I’m not sure if it’s just that kanji/hanzi that’s a Chinese name or if the rest translate it all into a full Chinese name.  Searching for the surname 太田 brings up “Ohta” as a likely last name, so there’s that?

So, would anyone who knows about the Chinese/Japanese hanzi/kanji overlap be able to help me decipher and romanize this name?

FWIW, this is a background artist affiliated with Studio Forest–who ANN conveniently doesn’t have a page listing their worked-on anime for, btw–in case anyone’s knowledgeable about them.

@ygoanimation I doubt you’d be aware of this depth of staff, but tagging you just in case lol

spurisani:

Okay, I fully understand everyone’s excitement over the ring-exchange and engagement, but please don’t mock or dismiss Yuuri calling it a “lucky charm”. 

Not only were those his honest and sincere feelings, but omamori are more than mere “lucky charms”, they’re a huge part of Japanese culture, and Japanese religion, with very profound meaning, so mocking that is actually incredibly rude, and highly culturally insensitive.

Traditionally, Japanese omamori look like this

and can be bought at most shrines and temples in Japan. I’d actually say they’re closer to “prayers” than “lucky charms”, really, in their intent, though that doesn’t quite fit, either. But when you know that the most common omamori are for things like safety in traffic, doing well in school, having romantic encounters, and fertility/safely born children (used both by couples who want kids, and expecting mothers hoping for no complications with their pregnancy), you probably see what I mean.

The word omamori translates roughly to protector/protection/protective charm, and are based on the animistic Shinto world view. The ones you get at shrines are part supplication that the enshrined deity will bless and protect you, and part a… hmm, almost a signal beacon? so said deity can find you, to know that you’re someone under their protection. And also part comfort for the carrier, that they’re not alone, that they’ve got someone on their side. 

But it’s not just “official” deities that are considered to have protective powers. Your ancestors are also seen sort of as guardian spirits protecting their family line (common theme in East Asian religions - Mulan, anyone? - at least, and I think also in all animistic religions, though that’s not my area of expertise), and even such ambiguous things as strong emotions are seen to have protective and blessing properties, especially love and affection.

For this reason, a lot of people will use mementos or objects of sentimental value as omamori. Either because it reminds them of a particular person or situation or emotion, or because they see some kind of link between that particular object and whatever they seek blessings for/protection against.

The important part for Yuuri, and why he bought that ring, is less that it’s a wedding ring, and more that it’s a gold ring. Yes, emphasis on both gold and ring.

The gold part is obvious, because the blessing he wants is help in getting a gold medal. It’s a resonance/like-brings-like thing.

The ring part is more obscure, but I’ll try to explain it.

One of the most basic and important parts of Japanese culture and society is the idea of 縁 (en). If you look it up in a Japanese-English dictionary, you get words like fate, destiny, chance, a relationship, a connection, a bond, an affinity, and while those are all ways to translate the word, depending on context, they don’t really explain the concept. En is the meeting of two or more things/beings that leaves a lasting connection or bond.

You might say you don’t have en with money to indicate that you can never seem to amass any wealth. It’s less you’ve got no luck with money, but more that you and money were never meant to be. You might earn it, but it still doesn’t stick around, somehow. An omamori for romance is called an enmusubi, or a “tier of en/bonds”, in this case referring to interpersonal relationships.

If you’re saying goodbye to someone you don’t know whether you’ll ever see again, you might express a wish that you’ll have en, and be able to meet again.

Now, I’ve mentioned in previous posts that the Japanese love homonyms and word associations. This is even more true for en, because it’s so important to them. Like in the example of a farewell, you might give someone a five yen coin, because five yen is go-en (五円), and when speaking of en with an honorific, that’s also go-en (ご縁). It’s a physical manifestation of your wish to have en with them. This is also why five yen coins are generally considered the best coins to give as offerings when you pray for something, despite their low value, because it indicates a hope for en with your wish.

Okay, getting to the point now: Another homonym (well, technically the same one, but different usage) for en is the word for circle or round. And because that’s basically what a ring is, rings are often used as a metaphor for, or an expression of a wish for en. So rings generally have a more profound level of meaning in Japanese.

It’s a gold ring because Yuuri wishes to have en with gold medals. He gives it to Victor because he wishes to have en with him.

He spent the whole day looking for something. He said he’d desperately wanted an omamori for a long time. He’s embarrassed, because yes, it’s a goddamn wedding ring, and he’s very aware of that, and giving rings to someone, period, is not something a Japanese person does lightly. It’s a very meaningful act, and this omamori is very important to Yuuri, so going “lol, lucky charm, yeah right” is incredibly disrespectful.

(via heleentje)

theabcsofjustice:

redeyesblackblog:

Someone who understands more Japanese than I do, why do Yami, Jaden and Yusei all refer to themselves as ‘ore’ but Paradox says ‘watashi-wa’? 

(Isn’t ore supposed to be kind of like the pompous rude version of ‘I’? I mean, idk if that is right, but I remember way back when the original series was still airing, Yami Bakura was like the only one in the Japanese version to refer to himself like that no matter who he was talking to and it was some big thing because it was like he had zero respect or something?)

Actually Yami Bakura refers to himself as ‘ore-sama’, which is pretty egotistical and basically him puffing himself up to be more important than he is. At least that’s what I understand of it anyway, I’m hardly an expert in Japanese. ^^;

‘Ore’ is pretty much the typical masculine way of referring to yourself, used a lot for tough guy characters in anime. Kaiba, Jounouchi, and Honda all use it as well. Someone more polite would use ‘boku’ and I think ‘watashi’ is the more formal way of saying it. So I guess Paradox probably uses it because he doesn’t talk as casually as the boys do.

That’s right, Judai, Yusei, and Dark Yugi have a more casual way of speaking (and thus “ore”), while Paradox speaks more formally (and thus “watashi”); “boku” would be a bit more polite than “ore” but not as formal/neutral as “watashi”.  Dark Bakura used “ore-sama,” which is basically like “It’s yours truly’s turn!”

(via theabcsofjustice)

I’ve spent about an hour  almost two hours trying to figure this name out (廣帛悠) and I’ve still gotten nowhere AEFHDSLFHDSFKHKJ I CAN’T EVEN

Keep reading

pampliemousse:

brumalbreeze:

amielleon:

yosukeseta:

tectuu:

yosukeseta:

im still pissed off about シ and ツ

I don’t シ whaツ bad about this?

im going to stab you in the face

ソン of a—

There’s really ノ need to get ソ worked up over something as miンor as this!

ワt the フck is going on

(via sftbby)