First, the official QB page has a teaser of the Witch OVA, yay~!
And, you might have noticed we just got a poll now? Precisely on the subject of these backstories, my partner Final Agent wanted to gauge how you guys would feel about changing the usual last sentence in these, so do vote away please~! (or feel free to comment too?)
So, here's the backstory of the newest Grimoire, plus a certain Crimson Ninja as a bonus!
Enjoy!
Gretel
A female warrior visited Gretel's
confectionery studio. What brought her there should be obvious- a desire to do
battle with the famed beautiful fighter.
“I refuse. These spontaneous
challenges are nothing short of barbaric, official battles or not.”
She answered as she used cream to
decorate a freshly baked soft sponge cake with a masterpiece design.
“Plus, I have to deliver these
sweets to the children. I'll treat you when I'm done, so have a cup of tea and
wait a moment.”
Overcome by Gretel's gentle smile,
the female warrior decided to wait and sit on the bench, her mouth watering as
she imagined the cake's taste.
Dongaragasha-n! Hyu---n, gooo---n!!
A great clamor echoed throughout the
kitchen. Despite being a highly-skilled confectionery craftswoman, it seemed
the rumor that she was a bit of a klutz held true as well. Judging from the
sound, a large pan or something similar had likely fallen directly on her head.
Should she go and check? As the
female warrior hesitated, someone suddenly sat next to her with a 'thud’, and
blew air into her ear!
“Yo, you're quite the looker,
aren't ya? If you want someone to fool around with, then I’m your guy.”
A gorgeous woman. Though she had
Gretel's face, her eyes now had a lascivious look to them, and her alluring
lips only seemed to speak for a different person. Without wasting a moment, her
arms coiled like snakes around the female warrior's chest and waist.
“You won't be able to live without
me by the time I'm done though, so no regrets later.”
The female warrior closed her eyes,
and surrendered herself to chance.
One hour later, Gretel stood there
with a puzzled look on her face and the female warrior collapsed on her floor
with a dazed expression.
“Well, what to do now? Did that
person come out again? How bothersome, everyone's waiting too...”
And then, the next challenger
appeared.
“Oh my, seems I won't be able to
avoid this one, I suppose...? Then there's no helping it. The children will
have to wait a little longer.”
Sure enough, can Gretel really win
this battle?
They won’t know that unless they
fight.
Mai Shiranui
I'm Mai Shiranui! Successor of the Shiranui-style ninjutsu. I may not
look like it, but I'm a full-fledged ninja.
I've participated lots of times in the world-famous “The King Of
Fighters” fighting tournament too, my skills are nothing less than Japan's
finest, no wait, even calling them the world’s finest wouldn't be an
exaggeration!
So why am I here? Because I received yet another invitation letter to
“The King Of Fighters”, that's why. *giggle* If I win this tournament, Andy's
heart will be mine for sure this time.
Though, this tournament only has women in it, women dressed in some kind
of cosplay armor. Something's off about this...
Well, whatever! Doesn't matter who
my opponent is, I'll never lose! Keep your eyes on me! Andy!
Sure enough, will Mai be able to
defeat these unknown opponents and shine furthermore as the number one female
warrior?
And, will she be able to conquer
Andy's heart?!
They won’t know that unless they
fight.
Do you know when Gretel will be out in Queen's Blade Battle? I'm really looking forward to her.
ReplyDeleteOh, she should be ready in a couple days.
DeleteI'm not sure that I understand the impetus behind this poll. I haven't seen the original Japanese for that iconic phrase, but is there any compelling reason to change the English translation?
ReplyDeleteThe original says, "それは戦ってみなければわからない". To quote myself from a while back:
DeleteAs far as I know, it's also been translated as "You'll have to fight to find out", "This is something that won't be determined until they fight" (anime, ch. 3) and "the outcome won’t be known without a fight" (Illustrated stories ch 10).
And well, I'm trying to be fair here, but we were discussing the best sounding translation the other day and we thought it'd be nice to hear what you guys thought about it, is all. Plus, I fancied myself one of 'em polls :p
In that case, I'd opt to leave it the way it is.
ReplyDeleteThe last word ("wakaranai") is the negative form of the verb for "to understand." Given that it's using the negative, I'm in favor of the translation also being in the negative ("they won't know that").
Given that that's also used as the ending to the obligated form of "to fight" ("tatakatteminakereba"), I'd say the existing translation is pretty accurate; certainly moreso than the alternative given in the poll.
Well, my reasoning for going for the second option is that the line itself may be a very accurate translation but it lacks on thing the japanese version has. It lacks the impact.
DeleteThe line itself has that impact in japanese but that feel doesn't translate well to english if you keep the same words due to the differences in phrasing or wording things in japanese and english.
The line was used that way in the translated Perfect Visual Book and I myself though it had a better impact than the japanese version. Since neither of us could see eye to eye on it though, we decided to have things ruled fairly by a poll.
After all, it's not like we can go out and swordfight each other like they do in Queen's Blade to decide things!
I like the original version, the phrasing sounds better to me.
ReplyDelete