Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Final Fantasy VII Game Script (excerpt #1)

This script was said by Barret on the very first part of the game when he led the Avalanche to sabotage the Mako reactor #1. The English version given is the original's game translation.
この星は魔晄エネルギーに 満ちている。住民はその魔晄エネルギーを使って日々生活している。でも誰も魔晄の本質を知られねんだ。おまえ、知っているか?魔晄はこの星を流れる血だ。それを神羅って会社はガンガン吸い出していやがる。
"The planet is full of Mako energy. People here use it every day. But none of 'em knows what it really is. How 'bout you? It's the lifeblood of this planet. But Shinra keeps suckin' the blood out."

A couple of notes: 魔晄・まこう is a unit of energy used in this game's universe. Literally, it consists of 魔 "magic" and 晄 "light" so it's "magic light" or "light of magic." 神羅・しんら is a corporation name in this game's universe. Literally, it consists of 神 "god" and 羅 which could mean anything from "thin silk" to "arrange." Doesn't really matter as any veteran of this game would immediately recognise these words: "Mako" and "Shinra."

*この星は魔晄エネルギーに満ちている。
星・ほし "planet"
満ちる・みちる "to be full"
A very straightforward sentence, its meaning is also self explanatory. The topic, marked with は particle is この星 "this planet" and as a whole this sentence give a meaning of "This planet is full of Mako energy." A somewhat interesting is perhaps the ている form of 満ちる which turns its dictionary form "to be full" into its progressive form version. This is generally true for any verb in its ている form.

*住民はその魔晄エネルギーを使って日々生活している。
住民・じゅうみん "residents"
使う・つかう "to use"
日々・ひび "daily"
生活・せいかつ "living"
Another straightforward sentence.  The topic, marked with は particle is 住民 "residents." This topic is then explained to have something to do with その魔晄エネルギー "that Mako energy" that is marked with を particle to become a direct object of a verb, 使う "to use." Had we stopped here, the sentence would mean "Residents are using that Mako energy." But in this case, 使う is using its て form 使って which means that it is not over yet as there's an extra information after it. This extra information is given as 日々生活している "living daily" to give the whole sentence a final meaning of "Residents are using this Mako energy on a daily basis."

*でも誰も魔晄の本質を知らねんだ。おまえ、知っているか?
誰も・だれも "no one"
本質・ほんしつ "essence; true nature"
知る・しる "to know"
This sentence begins with でも "but" to give it a contrast with previous sentence. The rest is an another straightforward construct. 誰も "anyone," followed by 魔晄の本質 "Mako's essence" marked as a direct object with を particle of its final verb 知る "to know." However, in this sentence, this verb turns into 知らねんだ which perhaps a colloquial version of 知らない + の + だ that eventually means "do not know" added with a の to indicate that the speaker also asked for the listener's confirmation. All these, gives the first part of this sentence a meaning, "But no one knows about Mako's real essence, right?"

The second part of this sentence is a continuation on the topic, and simply asked おまえ "you," whether he, 知っているか? "knows about it?" This is another example of ている form as it changes 知る into 知っている.

*魔晄はこの星を流れる血だ。
流れる・ながれる "to stream; to flow"
血・ち "blood"
As usual, look for the topic marked with は particle. Here, it's 魔晄 "Mako" which then explained as この星 "this planet," 流れる血 "blood that is flowing" and a copula final marker. The "blood that is flowing" part was translated into "lifeblood." It is perhaps comes from the fact that inside your body, blood is flowing through the veins to indicate that your body is functioning, therefore alive, and thus the meaning "lifeblood" could be derived from.

*それを神羅って会社はガンガン吸い出していやがる。

The topic here is それを神羅って会社 which transliterated to "something (それ) that a company (会社) called (って) Shinra (神羅) do." What does it do? ガンガン吸い出す. ガンガン is perhaps an onomatopoeia meaning "(pounding) headache; intense; etc." In this case, however, it was more fitting to use ガンガン meaning from its rather slang expression use in ガンガン食べる "to pig out; to chow down." Using this meaning, ガンガン吸い出す then would mean "to suck greedily" which is more appropriate to the context.

いやがる at the end of this sentence is kinda puzzled me but I think because it means "to hate; to dislike," it probably marks the entire sentence as something that the speaker has a strong feeling (of hate) against.

Together, these all then becomes, "The company called Shinra, greedily sucking this, I hate." Not quite a proper English sentence, but the idea should be clearly conveyed through.

No comments:

Post a Comment