Sig's Secret - Translation Notes

All the puns, wordplay, general nonsensical-in-straight-English things that slip by, and side things are explained here. If you’ve read the previous two 20th Anni.-era Light Novels, you pretty much know the drill. :P

Chapter 1

The Chapter Title - Literally translates to “Deciding on a Stand!”. I couldn’t help but be punny with it when trying to come up with something catchier. :P

...boyish at times, with how she talks... - Amitie was originally referring to how “she uses ‘boku’ to refer herself” here. Gendered pronouns get lost in translation a lot, and this is no exception. Arle is a Bokukko, or ‘a girl that uses masculine pronouns’, which is often a sign that the girl in question is a tomboy. It only ever happens in media, and is considered strange in real-life.

Chapter 2

"Why, this is corchorus olitorius!" - The dictionary gave me Jew's mallow, Nalta jute, and Tossa jute for the word モロヘイヤ. When I looked it up on Google, it led me to its Latin(?) name of corchorus olitorius. Knowing Ringo, she’d use that name instead of the common names. It’s apparently some kind of herb.

Chapter 3

The Lemres Greeting (Why he-ll-o there!) - He likes to draw out his greetings, as if it’s one letter at a time. Like 「こ・ん・に・ち・は」 and stuff. Most translations I’ve seen throw it out, but I think it’s just part of his weirdness.

Feli: Mr. Lemres... - Feli refers to Lemres as “Lemres-senpai”...but I just didn’t feel right keeping -senpai for some reason. Sure the senpai-kohai thing is in play, but...yeah. Some translations replace it with ‘Mr.’ so I went with that. Plus, since I dropped honorifics in the last two books, it’d be even more out of place.

"Now...come and show me...come forth and answer me..." - I’m sorry but how do translate さあさあさあ and きたきたきたきた without making it sound awkward? That’s what I had to deal with.

"Karamitie? Huh, is this Karamitie person some big-name person coming to the cafe?" - Amitie being a derp like usual. This time, she corrupted a word into a name. Went and tried to make something remotely similar and name-y.

Chapter 4

...makes you all 'posh' through and through! - Witch says the potion changes your speech pattern and makes you say “zamasu”. In other words, it’s making you use a high-class dialect. Notably, it’s keigo (formal, honorific speech) from Yamanote-ben. Don’t quote me on where it originated though, I just researched that it’s a really high-class thing. I am not a native speaker.

Chapter 5

Moonsunflower - The word in question is ツキマワリ, which is based off of ひまわり, meaning “sunflower”. Though, calling it a “moonflower” might mistakenly refer to the real-life Moonflower, when it’s supposed to be a species of sunflower.

Chapter 7

"Yo!” - So our Witch greeting is 「おいっス！」 a casual-sounding greeting. The GBA translation runs with “Yo!” while some fan translations run with “Howdy!” I went with the former, personally, as the latter sounds...southern?

Chapter 8

“Sealed Ruins” - Trust me on this, this is a straight translation. I don’t want to mislead people and name it “Arca Ruins” when it’s not the author’s intention, despite the description ticking all of the checks of Arca Ruins from Fever 2. It bothered me so much I pulled a Woolsey and added “I feel like it was called something else though.” to allude to it.

“Puzzles in here♪...” - Ringo breaks out into song, folks! So the subject here is “nazo,” or rather, the subject of “Nazo Puyo.” Nazo Puyo is a sister Puyo series that puts an emphasis on clearing some objective with a specific set of Puyo the game gives you. I personally cleared both Arle and Rulue’s Story Mode in “Super Nazo Puyo: Rulue no Roux” and believe me, they’re pretty challenging. So I translated “nazo” to “puzzle” as the test is based on the concept of Nazo Puyo. Not to be confused with the Mission Mode of 15th and 20th, where the Puyo they give you is randomly generated like a typical round of Puyo.

Chapter 9

“He still has a bit of a frowny face.” - How would you translate “「う」と眉を寄せる” without making it sound any more nonsensical?

Chapter 10

Puyolicious✰Gorgeous-but-Cool 'n Mysterious Bug Lover's Special Parfait - So the title in question was 「ぷよっと ✰ゴージャス・クール・ミステリアス。ムシだいすきスペシャルパフェ」. Yes, star included. Literally, it’s “Puyo-ish*Gorgeous-Cool-Mysterious-Bug Love Special Parfait.” I thought it could use a bit more flair.