myriadleaves

Before ringing out the year 2022 and in with 2023, I thought I may make a quick post related to a classic Science Fiction franchise and its relation to the as classic tropes of naming characters: Enter Doctor Emmet Lathrop Brown: When we discuss

A friend of mine asked me recently as to the origins of the Japanese name for the voluminous giver of gifts, Santa Claus. A direct transcription of the name Santa Claus is サンタクロース (Santa Kurôsu), but he is typically referred to as サンタさん (Santa-san)

From the 11th volume of Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura.Lo, a micro translation-comparison sort of thing. In the 11th volume of Vinland Saga, a group of country nobles and loyal vassals to King Canute plead their case to His Majesty, in this quote

With the advent of the new God of War Ragnarok game, and the appearance of another fresh interpretation of the Aesir, Vanir, Jotun and other members of Norse mythology, it behoves me to make a comparison with previous incarnations of one particular Aesir, Thor

Word robot first appeared as early as in the 1920s science fiction play, R. U. R (Rustrom’s Universal Robots), by Czech playwright Karel Čapek (1890 – 1938), wherein the automatons featured within the story are not mechanical humans, but synthetic ones created from various

Computers are machines, governed by calculations, i.e. numbers, the language of “logic”, thus the majority of AIs in fiction are represented as superficially polite, but wholly uncaring and calculating. Humans are, conversely, beings of pure emotion – perceived as floundering and fragile – incapable of

When a person succumbs to the mortal coil and passes away, we have in all cultures words of varying degrees of formality and respect to refer to this posthumous state. Japanese being the focal point of this blog and seeing as Elizabeth II just

So, with the recent passing of Elizabeth II and the her period of regency dubbed the "second Elizabethan age", it isn't too far for some people in politics to proclaim the new era to be called the "Carolean" derived from Carolus the Latin version

In the recent animated adaptation of the events of the third Tekken game, taciturn Jin Kazama is featured as the main character. Jin himself is the son of Jun Kazama, a female karate master of composure and benevolent nature, and Kazuya Mishima, a pugnacious

According to the unofficial net-encyclopaedia of the games ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, the 16th colossus of the latter game, whose role is also that of the final boss, had two prototype names prior to the final design, those being Evis and Buddha.

The various ways of saying "thank you": There are in Japanese various ways of saying thanks, these cannot easily be translated nor equalled to a precise English expression and as such, a bit of explanation is in its place: サンキュー (sankyu, "thank you") Derives

Breathe Written 2018. Fresh air Fill my lungs Heal me Remove this corrosion within That festers like a black bale Let my being be anew Pure Clear Reborn For a new morn

During Son Gohan's pivotal fight against Boo - essentially an ancient jinn, whilst he has attained a more powerful form and Gohan himself has awoken his latent qi, he spouts an insult: ウスノロ… Usunoro... This has been infamously translated as "retard" by Stephen Simmons

Greetings! A long time has passed since the last time I posted anything on this blog, but IRL has been rather difficult as of late. Nevertheless, I have been working on various projects, an e-book version of the translation-comparison articles of the Emperors New

Quick blog post here, thought it would be worth mentioning No-Sword's excellent post on H. G. Wells' haunting and sonorous opening of War of the Worlds. Mimesis is essentially a case of where words or an expression's pronunciation matches the meaning, i.e. "vast"

In Elden Ring, one of the bosses that you can encounter is a ogreish warrior known as Margit the Fell Omen, which in Japanese corresponds to: 忌み鬼マルギット (Imi Oni Marugitto, "Shunned Oni Margit"). Oni here doesn't literally refer to the mythical creature itself, but

In Modern Japanese there are two 3rd person pronouns that correspond to the Western mode of masculine and feminine ones, namely: 彼 (kare, “he”) and 彼女 (kanojo, “she”). For “it” there is もの (者・物, mono), using two distinct kanji, the former for persons

SPOILERS ARE APLENTY We shall be looking into perhaps one of the most enigmatic characters of Elden Ring. Before proceeding know that this article delves into possibly one of the most impressive secrets of the game. Popular Youtuber and expert on Elden Ring information

Whilst preparing for an upcoming article about the Japanese version of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of he Ancient Marine, I encountered the Japanese name for the albatross within the text. 信天翁 Literally "believe heaven venerable-oldster", which frankly does sound like a respectable name for

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD! Yura in Elden Ring takes the role of a wizened veteran hunter of “bloody fingers”, i.e. people having gone deranged with bloodlust, thus he effeche ctively is a bounty-hunter of sorts – he is also along with a few other characters,

Heed the Spoiler Warning! Boc is the demi-human (read: goblin) seamer and manservant of the player, should they chose to save him during the game. He speaks like the greater half of the game’s cast in a Cornish English accent, and moreover he

HEED THE SPOILER WARNING! In Japanese fantasy oriented games and literature, we encounter from time to time anthropomorphic dragons. These are in part derived from much older Asian mythology, particularly that of the legendary dragon gods and kings of the ancient East, such as

SPOILERS ARE WITHIN THE POST In Elden Ring, during the last stages of Bernahl, a knight clad in ferocious armour and member of a secret order of assassins of the clandestine Volcano Manor, makes a solemn pledge against the omniscient presence known as the

~kudasai is no doubt a word that you have heard before if you have ever partaken of any Japanese media, where it is typically translated in dubs or subtitles as "please (would you this favour for me)", but Japanese has more expressions and words