Thursday, April 23, 2009

Lesson 1: I send you straight to heaven!

To kick start this game, do allow me to share one of my favourites from Manga.

It is a dialogue by Sebastian to Grell, on the Page 9 in the Volume 03 Chapter 012 "That Batler : Retaliating". This one was also adopted by Anime as it is, and voiced by Mr Ono Daisuke. As a result, the dialogue sounded even sexier.

Sadistically stepping onto Grell's face, Sebastian says:

"なかなかいい声で啼くじゃないですか。 ご褒美に 貴方のお気に入りの玩具で イかせて差し上げます" .

This has been translated by a scanlator as:

"The sounds of you crying in pain is pretty good on the ears. As a reward, I shall send you on your way, using the toy you like so much!"

The scanlator has done a good job here, as I know how difficult it may be to translate such dialogue full of wits and sexual implications. But with this translation, most likely those who cannot read the original Japanese dialogue may not understand what's so funny or sexy about this dialogue.

If you allow me to re-translate this dialogue into English, it will be like:

"Well, well, you surely are a hell of a moaner, aren't you? As a reward, I shall send you straight to heaven with your favourite toy!"

In Japanese, the word "いかせる" has several meanings. Usually it means "make you go" or "send you on your way", just as the scanlator translated. However, it also means "send to heaven" or "kill", implying the actual death. And finally, it also means "make you come" or "make you reach orgasm". In this case, the word is specifically highlighted with the use of Katakana as in "イかせる". So it is strongly implying its sexual connotation.
Coupled with the phrase "with your favourite toy", this dialogue sounds so erotic, combining "Sex" and "Death" together in a rather sadistic tone.

Similar sexual implications, puns and wordplay are sprinkled all over the Kuroshitsuji manga in a diabolically stylish way, and I believe that's one of the main reasons why it became such a hit manga among ladies in Japan! ;-))

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