This is a book made by the developers for fans of Xenogears that tends to get cited a lot. It has art and illustrations in color and sketches of character designs for almost every character, along with cities, townspeople, and Gears. A lot of the book is devoted to in-depth information about the game's history, characters, science, world, and story. There are also comments left by the developers, and Soraya Saga made a story called Dark Summer which is featured in the book.
This study guide has no intention or plans to translate this book, but you can find other peoples translations if you search around on the net. What this page offers is a second opinion on some of those translations by providing new ones.
Translated by Gwendal, Jinx, trexalfa and others
[Last updated 2024.10.14]
[Page 3]Director Tetsuya Takahashi's comments The world of Xenogears can be divided into three episodes, broadly speaking. The first takes place roughly 5000 years into the future from our present real-life era, a story playing out in the vastness of outer space. The second is the content of the game itself, the story of the world inhabited by Fei and his friends. It follows that the third would be the story of what comes after that. Within that framework, the second episode can be further broken up into four smaller sub-episodes. We originally intended to release these sub-episodes taking place in the various time periods of the second episode in several completely different forms, such as a simulation game, a novelization and so on, but in the end we crammed all of it into a single game. That means the game Xenogears consists of Episodes IV and V mixed in with bits and pieces from Episodes II and III. The result of this, then, is that the unreleased Episodes I and VI become the main points of interest, or rather, they become what I'd very much like you all to focus on. What will happen regarding these Episodes depends on how circumstances unfold, I suppose. To help nudge these circumstances and possibilities in a more favorable direction, I'd like you all to please try wishing upon the Zohar. [Translation by Gwendal] |
[Page 7 - History / A.D. era]
Last part of column about the Zohar creating life, translated by trexalfa: Study Life was born from Zohar!? [...] Well then, pondering on the geological formation that Zohar was discovered in while having taken these theories into account, it becomes clear that the period for the birth of life on Earth and the period Zohar has existed on Earth's surface are roughly coincidental. Though you could posit reckless thinking like "Zohar created life" in a direct fashion, the conjecture that posits that it "promoted" the birth of life is, currently, the one that seems to make the most sense, however... However, the lore behind Zohar almost wasn't touched at all during the story, so we are unable to make allusion to lore details that could be assumed to be certain. However, surely you will be capable of theorizing about the existence that is the "core" of the worldview for "Xenogears" even from the details depicted above.
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[Page 9 - History / T.C. era]Column about the planet Deus aimed for, translated by trexalfa: The Main Planet which Deus aimed for was... During the Opening Movie, Deus, having taken over Raziel, activated Space Transfer Mode, planning a transfer alongside the Eldridge to the "Main Planet". This "Main Planet" is not this era's capital planet Neo Jerusalem, but Lost Jerusalem... that is, it actually refers to Earth. The details of Deus setting course towards Earth aren't clarified within the story. However, there's no mistake that Lost Jerusalem is acknowledged as the "Holy Planet" by this era's humanity. It can be said that the origin of this was Year 0016 T.C., when humanity sailed forth into outer space, when Earth, as the "Forbidden Land", was designated as an inviolable sector of space. Why Earth was designated an inviolable sector of space is unknown, however, at least it is thought that it was not a sudden change in planetary environment. Wouldn't it be that there's "some secret" hidden on Earth? [trexalfa's comment: "Main Star" is a context deaf translation, unless you are trying to be poetic (in that context, I've seen the word "star" in English used to refer to planets more than once). 星 is usually translated as "star", which is what it means when you lack any other contextual clues, but 星 can also be used to generically speak of heavenly bodies, planets included.] |
[Page 16 - History / 9500 - 9710]
Glossary, translated by trexalfa: Glossary The Lesser Key of Goetia": Since primeval times, humans have been subjected to genetic manipulation in order for them to be reborn as parts for Deus (M Plan). The people whose genes were tampered with, called the "race for construction" (Sephardi), are preordained to become Merkabah's main unit and terminal combat weapons. The Lesser Key of Goetia is an activation key to return the humans, manufactured as components for Deus, to their original form (parts). Its use has been established at the same time Deus resurrects. [trexalfa's comment: Merkabah's main unit refers to the Merkabah itself.] |
[Page 26 - Solaris Empire]Small column about "Production," translated by trexalfa: "1st and 2nd class citizens carry out high taste first stage industrial production and management of distribution. Through the use of the sword, they are also in charge of managing and making use of 3rd class citizens". [Comment: I requested a re-translation of this bit because UltimateGraphics (Ichiban Manten) translated it as "Governs the facility where 1st and 2nd Class citizens go to have high quality first recycling and rebirth. Also continuously manages the 3rd Class with military power." The underlined "recycling and rebirth" part stood out to me as strange so I wanted a second opinion. Indeed it was inacurrate as is often the case with UltimateGraphics' translation.] |
[Page 69 - Science]Small columns about Zohar and Kadomony, translated by trexalfa: Phenomena Modification Engine Zohar The part shaped like an "eye" that's in the main body's top portion is Zohar's true form. Though its form is clearly man-made, it's a mysterious engine that's considered to have existed since the time of the creation of the universe. Its existence holds the key to the story and the setting of the world. Living Cyberbrain Kadmoni Control computer that is embedded into Zohar's pupil (the part that resembles one). It is a product of Overtechnology, its material and the like being unknown. [trexalfa's comment: Keep in mind I chose to translate 本体 differently in two separate instances cause context. Saying that "the eye in Zohar's main body is Zohar's main body" sounds atrocious. Just a quick dictionary search revealed that 電脳's use as "cyberbrain" originated from Ghost in the Shell. Leaving it that way, given it wouldn't be out of place for it to be a reference.] |
[Page 77 - Science]
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[Page 91 - Gear/Original Weltall]Summary of the machine's frame A Gear Bara born as a result of the Gear Lacan was piloting uniting with the Vessel of Anima Naphtali, approximately 500 years ago. The output of a Gear Bara, which are close distance defense terminals for Deus, is incomparably immense to that of an ordinary Gear, and it's of such a degree that only with the mere release of its surplus energy, or its heat radiation, it will destroy the entire surrounding area. Additionally, the organic armor that covers the machine's frame boasts such strength that not even the Goliath's 1200 SEM cannon could even inflict a scratch on it. Through making Contact with Zohar, however, the abilities of this O.R.W were drawn out to their maximum, causing a metamorphosis equal to the Xenogears'. The bat-like wings that spread out from its back are vestiges from that time, and in the present, they function as control when soaring and as shielding when defending. When piloted by the masked man Grahf, several precedents of these actions have been confirmed. [Translation by trexalfa] Grahf's 'Power' Grahf frequently appears in front of Fei and talks about how "My fist is the divine breath! Blossom, o fallen seed, and draw upon thy hidden powers! Grant unto thee the glorious power of the 'Mother of Destruction'"! The "fallen seed" he speaks of is without a doubt a reference to the power cord, so to speak, that transports energy from the Zohar: the Slave Generator. This line is a reference to the fact that Grahf has the ability to increase energy output. And thus Deus is the "Mother of Destruction"; that Grahf sees Deus as [the weapon of weapons]. [Translation by Lugalbanda] [Lugalbanda's comment: I'm guessing one point of contention here is what I liberally translated as "power cord". I did this because the literal translation is energy "pin" which is referring to the little nobs that connect electrical cords to whatever they want to connect to. The whole thing is an electricity/energy analogy anyway, so I just repackage it in a way that is palatable to English. The final thing, [...] I have no idea. The literal translation is "Grahf sees Deus as the symbol of weapons." Which is just "huh?" So I did what I could to make sense of it.] |
[Page 137 - Gear/Opiomorph]Designer's Comment I drew a Gear that brought a female-like image to mind, taking into account its passenger's sex; at first, it had two chitinous legs, however, since I was striving for differentiating from the other female type Gears, I gave the lower half of its body the appearance of a snake, creating a Naga-like design. In terms of impression, the original design gave the feeling of being a Naga version of Sophia's Gear Bara. However, since it looked comparatively plain at a glance, and taking into account that it was a female type, I gave it a head decorated with the helmet of a Valkyrie, and sharpened the image of its full body and the like, which showed flashiness. [Translation by trexalfa] |
[Page 158 - Fei / The Contact]First half of column about Abel's contact, translated by trexalfa: The Contact--The one who will release the Wave Existence The point which became the origin of Fei's reincarnation was the Contact with the Wave Existence, which happened 10,000 years in the past. Abel, a young child, made contact with the Wave Existence, captured within the Phenomena Modification Engine Zohar, which was a part of the Deus System. A fragment of the power of both Zohar and the Wave Existence flowed inside Abel. And due to this, the reincarnation of Abel as the Contact would go on to be repeated. [...] [trexalfa's comment: the 及び conjunction that's in between Zohar and Wave Existence there means "as well as", which indicates that the power is something from both.] Entire column about Abel's contact, translated by Lugalbanda: The Contact: The one who frees the Wave Existence At the genesis of Fei's reincarnation is the contact that was made with the Wave Existence 10,000 years ago. A boy by the name of Abel comes into contact with the Wave Existence, which was absorbed into the Phenomenon Phase Shift Engine Zohar, part of the Deus System. A portion of the Zohar and the Wave Existence's energy flows into Abel. Because of this, Abel repeatedly reincarnates as the Contact. The Contact exists to destroy Deus so that the Wave Existence can return to the higher dimension. The Wave Existence, defined with the property of human and of motherly will by Abel and confined to this dimension, concludes to do the reverse of this in order to return to its former dimension. It wished to be freed by re-fusing with the person who had differentiated it as a consequence of defining it. |
[Page 159 - Fei / The Contact]First column, translated by trexalfa: Contact Fei, through the Wave Existence's influence, continues keeping memories of his previous existences even after reincarnating. Though these aren't well defined memories, taking the form of fragmentary flashback scenes, he's frequently made aware of them. The Contact's reincarnation begins with the original Abel, continuing towards Kim, from the time of the Zeboim Civilization; Lacan, from the period of the war against Solaris, and finally, Fei from the present day. Each of these eras became a large turning point/phase of transition for the humans of this world. Since Deus' resurrection won't be accomplished until reaching the present day, he won't carry out his basic duty as the Contact but, in spite of that, his existence held enormous meaning for the world of those days. |
[Page 160 - Lacan / The Contact]Column about Miang's calculations, translated by trexalfa: * Myyah's ulterior motives Myyah has judged, once again, the humans of this era to be inadequate as parts for Deus' resurrection. She schemes to reset mankind and their civilization. As a result of Contact Lacan, lacking Elehayym's existence, being made to contact Zohar, the rampaging power transformed Lacan into Grahf, who guided the world towards destruction. Also, included within this was the purpose of examining the difference in ability that existed between the "Diabolos" and humanity. The "Diabolos" were designed and manufactured more than 10,000 years ago, and their capability to defy the predicted hostile power (assuming the continuance of the Interstellar War) after Deus' resurrection was very much into question. Myyah, who had noticed that humans were endowed with special abilities as Deus' markers (Ether), intended to determine both parties' ability for combat via pitting them against each other. As a result, humans achieved victory, with only a few of them having survived. These were those who were particularly superior at using their special ability as markers. Myyah, in order to awaken Deus as an even more perfect "weapon", desired to "cull" humanity. As a result, the "Aeons" given birth through Deus' resurrection would be furnished with the marker special abilities of their components, humans. Wouldn't it be that her guidance of the broken hearted Lacan came about as a result of having foreseen everything, from the self torturing personality he had inherited as the Contact, to the creation of a destructive personality through an incomplete Contact, and so on? [trexalfa's comment: I don't know what "markers" are. It's written in katakana as マ一カ一 which, if you are any familiar with Japanese, is the typology used to spell loanwords, as well as to stress certain words that are typically written in other ways. The word, at any rate, refers to those humans with the ability to use Ether, refered to as a special ability that belongs to Deus' "markers". Given how it is written, it could be romanized in some other way, but my intuition isn't getting anything. As for the title of the paragraph, I chose to translate 思惑 as "ulterior motives", but it can also means "expectations" or "predictions". Anyway would fit the context: ulterior motive could be her reason to instigate the Days of Collapse, and her "predictions" could refer how she foresaw how Lacan would act if she nudged him in certain ways. Anyways, I think this is anyone's call.] |
[Page 165 - Elly / The Antitype]Beginning of first column, translated by trexalfa: Elly, since the very original Elehayym, always reincarnates in the same time period the Contact does, as Elehayym. This is because Elehayym is an existence that acts as the existence opposite to the Contact- the Anti Existence. If we were to trace her origin, she arises from the Wave Existence defining feminity, particularly maternity, through Abel's image. And since the Contact is always a man (paternity), the Existence that would become his opposite must be female (maternity). Elehayym, in each area, always reincarnates together with the Contact and experiences death so as to protect him. [...] Paragraph about Abel's Elly, translated by trexalfa: Contact Abel ------ Elehayym Anti existence The original Elehayym met Abel and, thereafter, took action together with him. Abel opposed Cain, who intended to administrate and control the ideas and actions of humanity. A plan to murder Abel, who has become a hindrance for Cain, is devised. In order to protect Abel, Elehayym persuades Cain (Elehayym is too, for Cain, an existence that fulfills the role of "Mother"), however, Cain shakes this off and executes the plan. At this time, Elehayym, in order to protect Abel, loses her life. [trexalfa's comment: I translated a part of the sentence as "ideas and actions", but ideas there can also mean thoughts or even ideology. I think "ideas" gets the point across better.] |
[Page 166 - Miang Hawwa]Final paragraph of the bottom column, translated by trexalfa: [...] The Factor for Myyah as Complement is intrinsic to every woman. If the current Myyah's body were damaged (death) for some reason, the next Myyah Factor will awaken. This awakening is a matter of probability determined through the Factor's strength, and which woman will awaken next is unclear. The awakened woman inherits all memories experienced by those in the role of Myyah up until the present, and the original woman's personality is completely sealed. Even the current Myyah (0998) used to be an ordinary young lady that spent her time in the 2nd Class Citizen Level of Solaris, before her awakening. |
[Page 170 - Original Elhaym]* Elehayym as the Anti Existence In contrast to the Contact, who constantly reincarnates as individuals whose names and positions are all too different, Elehayym exists as the Contact's lover, always under the name "Elehayym". Reading "Elehayym" in reverse, it becomes "Myyah ele", which means "Here exists Myyah". In short, the state before the awakening of the Myyah Factor is "Elehayym", therefore, during the story, the awakened Elly stated her name through the line "I am Myyah". Since the Myyah Factor is contained within all women, it could be said that every woman, before awakening, is "Elehayym", however, the Anti Existence... that is, as Persona's main body, only the "Last Myyah" in her unawakened state will receive the name "Elehayym". The reason the Anti Existence has always existed as the Contact's lover is that the Anti Existence, when being born as a "Mother" for Abel (the Contact), inherited Abel's wish to return to the womb, which he was fixated upon at the time of contact, and established an emotional connection with the Contact; however, among the two of them, reincarnated in a situation in which there was no age difference, it took the form of love, of passion in which they wish for one another, it being, perhaps, the most natural of outcomes. * Myyah as Deus Control Mode Main Element Persona, in case there's an emergency, metamorphoses its components through exon replacement, executing the Mode Shift to Deus Control Mode. When Deus, sealed within a partition of the Eldridge, began its rampage, this Mode Shift had been performed. This is synonymous with the phenomenon in which "Elehayym", in her unawakened state, awakens, becoming "Myyah". Original Elehayym activating System Hawwa, thus becoming Myyah, as well as taking in all intelligent lifeforms on the surface of the planet, are things accomplished through this Mode Shift. Hereafter, Myyah, awakened as the Complement, takes every single one of her actions as Deus Control Mode; in this case, the Deus which she ought to control is in the midst of executing its Self Restoration Program, Myyah being an administrator that acts in order to swiftly advance this program forward. When the situation in which Deus can be completely resurrected arrives, Myyah's role as the Complement is over. Thus, main body Elehayym awakens into Myyah, and through uniting with Deus (returning to Kadmoni as its main element), goes on to control the resurrected Deus. [Translation by trexalfa] [trexalfa's comment: I translated [Abel's wish as "return to the womb"] because it's what it literally says. The kanji 胎内 explicitly point towards the inside of a woman's womb. And yeah, that explanation by the Wave Existence uses different wording, such as 母親 (mother) instead of womb. The expression "to return to the womb" only appears in game, to my knowledge, when Shitan discusses the Great Mother. Perfect Works equates that with primordial unconsciousness, with the Collective Unconscious.] |
[Page 171 - Original Elhaym]* From Elehayym to myyah... The Final Awakening Elehayym (Elly), who had continued to protect the Contact as the Anti-Type, awakened as the "Final Myang" at the time of Deus's resurrection. In order to return to the Zohar as an offshoot of the main element Persona, it is absolutely necessary to be the primary body rather than a supplement. The Urobolus Ring is written into Elly's intron information. When this ring is connected, she is in a non-awakened state, but when the ring is severed, she awakens into Myang. The "Urobolus Ring" symbolizes the process of establishing an Ego, and another term that signifies nearly the same idea as this is the "Great Mother". As the Great Mother, Myang obstructs the formation of a person's Ego. A person who has been allowed to develop a conscious world (Ego) begins to act according to his own wishes. This is nothing but a hindrance to Myang's goal of leading people to a perfectly complete body. Therefore, Myang became the Great Mother, and eradicated any civilization too advanced (people with a sense of self). The fact that the Anti-Type Elehayym had not awakened until the time of Deus's resurrection may have been to watch over, as a "mother", the establishment of the consciousness of the Contact. Once Deus's resurrection had been achieved, it was necessary to leave what could and should be done up to the judgement of the Contact's own will. Conversely, Myang saw the Contact as the one who would destroy Deus. That's precisely why she could not allow the Contact's Ego to develop. The Contact was a vital piece of Deus, but being the "Destroyer of God" was unnecessary. So, Myang became the Great Mother, and manipulated and guided the Contact's Ego. ...And then, when the integration of everything is achieved, Elehayym herself would grow as well... Urobolus Ring The "Urobolus" refers to the snake that devours its own tail. That image, of something feeding itself, psychologically indicates the state devoid of conflict before an Ego is established-- the Collective Unconscious. It is a state in early childhood where a person cannot yet discern things himself, where there is no conflicting difference between reality and his sense of self. Once the Ego forms, it produces a necessity to sever this circle in order to break away from the unconscious. This is the establishment of one's own conscious world. The basis on which to discern things is born, and there begins to be conflict towards reality that goes beyond that basis of discernment. "Great Mother" is a name that symbolizes a mother who hinders her child's process of breaking away from this circle (from developing an Ego). [Translation by Jinx] |
[Page 173 - Krelian]Column about contact with Miang, translated by trexalfa: * Contact with Myyah Karellen acts while setting his sights as far as the return of the Wave Existence. He obtained his knowledge of the truth from Machanon's Tree of Raziel, perhaps guided towards it by Myyah. In all likelihood, wouldn't he have made contact with Myyah, perhaps, while she was kept prisoner in Shevat, before ascending to Solaris? Column about the land of God, translated by trexalfa: * To the Land of God Karellen's flesh too descends from the original forms of Animus, born 500 years ago as a mere "human" (ヒト) individual. Taking nanotechnology to its apex, he's also the sole human who knows "God's existence and will", bound by no special fate connected to the origin of it all, like Fei and Elly are, for example. Uniting with Deus (Elly), reaching the place of waves in the Higher Dimension, together with the Wave Existence, all was accomplished by Karellen by means of his own power. That was his desire to put the love Sophia preached about into practice under his own interpretation, thus perhaps it was his stubborn love for Sophia that had granted him his strong will. When departing to the Land of God, he uttered "I envy you two..." as his last words. This was Karellen's truth as a human, he who had seen in Fei and Elly the proper "love" he wished for. [trexalfa's comment: I was unsure on how to translate 真意 here so I left it as "truth". But basically, the word is trying to point at Karellen's true feelings, thoughts and intentions.] |
[Page 174 - Emperor Cain]Column about Cain's undying flesh, translated by trexalfa: * Undying flesh Cain, leader of the original forms of Animus, and who possessed absolute sovereign power towards humans, is fated to keep on living until the time of the resurrection of God. Not weakened by age, unable to be injured by anyone. Since that immortal flesh and desire for the salvation of humanity became an obstacle for Karellen and the Gazel Ministry, Ramsus, a counterbalancing existence to Cain's, was manufactured by Karellen, and he was murdered by Ramsus' hand. In order to reform the flesh of those humans who, as Sephardi, were fated to mutate, Cain offered his own undying flesh as a test subject, committing himself to research. Because of that, his physical appearance changed considerably, his flesh's exhaustion nearing its limit as well. Through Karellen's life extension treatment he could survive and last for a long time, however, even Cain, who should have been undying and the wielder of absolute power, had reached a point at which, before the imminence of the "Time of the Gospel", only the power to maintain his existence alone was left to him already. |
[Page 175 - Emperor Cain / Gazel Ministry]Column about the Time of the Gospel, translated by trexalfa: * The Time of the Gospel "The Time of the Gospel", which the Gazel Ministry craves for, signifies that the Deus Self Restoration Program has entered the interval of time that serves as its final stage. Control over the execution rights for the "Lesser Key of Goetia", the system to activate the bodily mutations programmed in humans, belongs to the Ministry, however, these have been sealed away by Emperor Cain. Through the activation of every Vessel of Anima and Cain being assassinated by Ramsus, the Ministry at last activated the "Lesser Key of Goetia". This is certainly because the "Time of the Gospel" has been reached, meaning that the materials for the resurrection of Deus have all been arranged. [trexalfa's comment: Though I must say in this part I'm pretty torn about how to translate 迎えた here. The verb indicates that a new phase or era has been entered, or that someone has reached a point in time, which I chose, but the second part of the sentence makes me think of its other meaning of "to call out", or "to summon". I think it's important because it determines the agency of the Ministry: whether they passively wait for the Time to arrive and activate the Key then, or they can just summon it whenever it is they are ready.] |
[Page 176 - Ramsus]First two columns, translated by trexalfa: One of the Guardian Angels, as well as Geburah's true supreme commander. While being a stern perfectionist, he's not a slave to the racial supremacy that is peculiar to Solaris, respects the special abilities of individuals, and he's not loath to appoint the capable to be under his command, lowly their position as it might be. It is for that reason that he's deeply trusted by those subordinates under his direct command, starting with the Elements. Even if he is exceedingly capable as commander, his combat prowess at the individual level too is transcendent. Nonetheless, his tendency to be distrustful of other was strong since his days at Jugend, which became even more intense due to the defections of Jessie and Sigurd. Ramsus is an artificial lifeform given birth to through the Homunculus (Creation of an artificial aligner) Plan, which was devised in the early days of the 5th Age M Plan. His true nature is a copy of the Emperor, created by Karellen for the purpose of eliminating Emperor Cain. Identification code "0808191 Ramses''. He was thrown away into a trash processing plant by Karen, who had awakened into Myyah, when he was at the first growth period stage (just before achieving human form), however, he murdered and fused with Carlin Becker, a young boy who wandered into the processing plant by chance. After that, he used young Becker's ID, and enrolled into Jugend. Ramsus' looks receive influence from both Emperor Cain and young Becker. * Birth--The assassin of Emperor Cain Emperor Cain's absolute sovereign power towards humans extends to the Ministry and Karellen as well. For that reason, eliminating Cain was not something they could do by themselves, through ordinary means. Karellen created the copy of Cain "0808191 Ramses", as a "counterbalancing existence", an individual who possesses power equal to Cain. However, when he was abandoned at the early stages, Ramsus himself was under the impression that he had been created as an artificial aligner that'd transform himself into the Contact. Therefore, so burned his tempestuous jealousy and hatred towards Fei, who had become the reason he was abandoned, however, everything regarding this was engineered through Karellen and Myyah's cunning emotional manipulation. [trexalfa's comment: I decided to change the "individual for alignment" part to simply "aligner" (original way of saying so in Japanese is 同調者). I didn't know the word existed in English, but it's referring to an individual who can align with the Vessels of Anima, or so I surmise from context and Ramsus' own in-game dialogue, since this here is talking about what he thinks he was supposed to be.] |
[Page 185 - Margie / Chuchu]Translated by Spherix: Anyway, the blurb about Chuchu's race in PW on page 185: "The Wookii race has its origin in the native creatures, but they came to posess advanced intelligence after the Zeboim era. From the genetic research facilities, on the surface destroyed by nuclear warfare, surviving experimental animals escaped. And so the creatures that would become mothers of human subspecies were born. That foundation included mutants of the native creatures, and the Wookii race is their evolved form. At the time, they had quite enormous bodies, and so Solaris's Limiter measures were established to miniaturize them." [Spherix's comment: Whew. That was rough. It's written in strange style, mixing abrupt, spoken sort of speech, and literary formalisms... Anyway, just compared my work against Ichiban Manten's, and while mine may still be a little clunky, I'm confident that it's an improvement. And "Wookii", written {} is really very similar, though not identical, to how Star Wars Wookies are written in Japanese: {}. Seems pretty deliberate.] |
[Page 187 - Shakhan / Big Joe]Comment by a Reddit user: The real origin of Big Joe's name--he is not the "Stone Joker" In Xenogears Perfect Works, the biography for Big Joe says his true name is ジョー力石. If translated literally, this is "Joe Rikiishi." (Well, the Perfect Works doesn't give a pronunciation, and the name 力石 can also be pronounced Chikaraishi or Rikishi, but Rikiishi is the most likely based on the origin of the name, as I'll go into later.) However, the fan translation of Perfect Works [by UltimateGraphics] translates this as "The Stone Joker." The translators must have looked at the name and mistook the kanji 力, meaning "power" and (probably) pronounced "riki" in this context, as the katakana カ, pronounced "ka". Looking at the two, you can see that the mistake is extremely understandable. As a result, they read ジョー力石 not as "Joe Rikiishi," but as "Joka Ishi," which they interpreted as "Joker Stone," and reversed it to "The Stone Joker" to flow a bit better in English. Despite the extreme similarity between the two characters, many Japanese fonts actually do have a very slight difference between the two. Generally, the katakana ka is just a little bit smaller than the power kanji, and if you compare it to the katakana ka used to write "car racer" later in Joe's bio, you can see that the sizes don't match, which confirms that what we're looking at is indeed the kanji for "power". So why is he called that? I believe it is in reference to a boxing manga from the 1970's, Ashita no Joe, or Joe of Tomorrow. The eponymous Joe is the main character of the manga, and Toru Rikiishi is another major character from the show. Both characters are boxers. Richard Honeywood must have understood this, as he translated Big Joe's real name as "Joey Balboa." Western audiences would be unlikely to catch a reference to Ashita no Joe, so he changed it to reference Rocky Balboa, a much more famous character in the west. So despite how messy Xenogears' localization was, this is actually one case where Richard Honeywood got it right and the fan translation got it wrong. EDIT: As this Twitter user unaware of the connection points out, Big Joe's face even resembles that of Toru Rikiishi, which strengthens the connection further. EDIT 2: A friend of mine dug up a screenshot of the Japanese version of the game, from when the party reads the newspaper clipping that gives the backstory on Big Joe and his real name, Joey Balboa. Not only is the size difference between the two characters much clearer in the in-game font, but it is even written as ジョー・力石, with an interpunct between Joe and Rikiishi, making it unambiguous where the two words are divided.] |
[Page 203 - Fate's Diagram]First column, numbered "13," translated by trexalfa: 13 The resurrection of memories from a far off distant day Fei, within Id's spiritual world, made contact with the Wave Existence once again. And thus resurrect the memories of the moment Abel, Fei's previous existence, first made Contact with the Zohar, upon which the Wave Existence had descended, inside a spaceship 10,000 years ago. The return of the Wave Existence to its dimension of origin and Fei's craving to take Elly back hardened the determination to destroy Zohar anew. |
[Page 226]
Myyah Hawwa [...] Contradiction - Calvin Klein This fragrance feels good and fresh with a modern flavor, while also living up to a somewhat classic standard. You could possibly say that it feels like [lit.: has the image of] being somehow familiar, but different from anything else you might think of... Miang leads a solitary existence, taking on the burden of a destiny flowing through an eternity of time without being able to turn to anyone else for support. This [fragrance] is a good match for her image. It takes its name from the English term for "contradiction", a fact that also echoes with deep meaning. |
[Page 237 - Fei]
FROM DIRECTOR When Xenogears was in the early stages, while it included all sorts of different situations, it was actually a work with a [rather] pastoral atmosphere to it. That goes for Fei too, and the design I ordered for him had the feel of a [rural] martial artist...living in a temple near the village. However, as I went ahead with the script work, I found myself more and more tempted to get rid of the pastoral elements, until I couldn't resist anymore, and several script revisions followed. (Honestly, I don't really care much for pastoral settings. That's because I'm mentally more of an "underground" type of person with a preference for the grotesque and muddled personally.) [Slightly unsure about the exact word "grotesque", but I think that's what he's getting at] As you might have noticed, Fei's design ended up being a bit out of place compared to the atmosphere of the game (especially the second half). But there wasn't any time to revise it, and in the end we decided to go with it as it was. To be honest, Fei is the character whose design I'd like to refine the most. Sorry, Tanaka. [Gwendal's comment: About [my translation]...first of all, just so that's clear: my interpretation isn't that Fei actually lived in a temple at any point, but rather that he should have the look and feel of a typical martial artist monk you'd find living in a temple outside a village. I should probably have worded that better. As for [UltimateGraphics' choice of] "doom and gloom", I guess that's a bit smoother than my version. And he did leave out a few bits, it seems, yeah. And "as the script was being written" (or "as script work proceeded" if you want to be literal) is technically more accurate, but since Japanese often omits the pronouns, I just assumed he was talking about himself writing the script. So unfortunately there's no way to tell for sure, at least as I'm reading the text. Maybe a native speaker or someone who's 100% fluent could, I don't know.] [Second opinion from Lugalbanda: Takahashi is clear that when he first filed an order for Fei's design, his backstory was that he was living in a temple out of the village. I think saying that his design was meant to look like someone who lived in a temple as opposed to actually being in a temple is reading too far into a simple sentence, and I think Occam's razor would say the early conceptualizations of Fei had him living in a temple. Now [about the word "grotesque" that Gwendal was unsure about]. The reason why the line is hard to translate is that he's kind of freestyling with Japanese and coming up with a word to explain himself. UltimateGraphic's translation [of "gloom and doom"] is pretty meh, and Gwendal's is better, but Gwendal actually crucially misses the full meaning of the line as well. So I'm just going to do a translation myself: "(I'm honestly not too fond of pastoral settings. I like the psychologically grotesque and messy; I identify more with underground and niche subcultures)." To explain why I came to this translation, a few things. The part in which Gwnedal translates as "mentally" is fine in terms of a literal translation, but what he's describing here is not his state of mind, but a state of mind you would see in works of fiction that portray the grotesque and messy. The "grotesque" comes from グロ 'guro', which is just the Japanese way of saying grotesque. He says グログロ 'guroguro', which is a made up word, to mirror phonetically what he's about to say next. In the next part he says ドロドロ 'dorodoro', which is literally something like "viscous" or "thick". The Japanese use this word to describe human relationships in soap operas a lot, or relationships that might as well be from a soap opera. Emotionally intense, kind of slimy maybe, and hard to get out of. Finally, the "underground" is just an identity Takahashi ascribes to. He's just saying he identifies more as a part of the darker, more niche parts of pop culture as opposed to whatever he considers mainstream.] |
[Page 288 - Main Staff of Xenogears]
Tetsuya Takahashi Director, Writer, Producer Beginning with the structure of the game's setting, he was the creative lead with a hand in almost every aspect of the game's direction. He was also responsible for ordering character designs from Mr. Tanaka, Gear designs from Mr. Ishigaki, and similar tasks. With this in mind, please do take a look at his comments regarding the creation of this collection of production materials, found in the concept art gallery on p.236 under FROM DIRECTOR. From the beginning, we spent just over two years working on Xenogears (there's been some rumors saying it's been in development for more than three years and the like, but that's just hearsay). Thinking about it, we've come a long way...I try to bask in that feeling, but when I regain my composure and try to consider it more soberly, I have to face up to the truth that we didn't include a third of the full story. When I think about the years' worth of work ahead of me, I suppose I'll look back on this time right now as the good old days when I could take it easy. (Laughs) It's already been a quick six months since the launch of Xenogears. Looking back on it now, it's been absolutely chaotic, and there are some things about the game and some things I've said I find almost unbearably embarrassing. [A little unsure about the this one] That being the case, I've taken the opportunity to include a few corrections for some of these in this book. Now, I'm sure there'll be some readers who'll be angry at this, saying what the...? That's different from the game!, but I'll just have to ask them to please forgive me this one indulgence. (Laughs) This includes the true meaning behind some events that wasn't fully explained in the game itself, as well some terminology used and the like. There will also be numerous pieces of unfortunate concept art [lit.: setting pictures, I assume that's what he means] that might technically have been published before, but only hidden away in the nooks and crannies of the pages or lurking behind the letters. I think I can safely say you'll have plenty of content to sink your teeth into here. And as a small favor to all of you users who were touched by and enjoyed our game Xenogears (since you had to suffer through various troublesome parts playing the game because of us), we'll also elaborate just a little more on the Episodes that don't take place during the time frame of the game's story. If you're very perceptive, I think you just might be able to understand the meaning behind these [details]. (Laughs) Still, we should probably let those stories lie until their time arrives, and for now, please do enjoy exploring the world of Xenogears through this book. Well then, this might be slightly trite to say, but please keep a close eye [on our work] for a good long while. --August 12 1998, at home, listening to Snakeman Show* *http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Info/SnakemanShow/ [Gwendal's comment: Well, the thing is that Takahashi is pretty hard to translate, since he tends to use very long, meticulous sentences, difficult words (for a non-native, non-super-fluent reader like me, at least) and also some idioms. On top of that, he likes being a bit coy and cryptic about things like the unfinished episodes, it seems. So I'm not surprised two different translators can get somewhat different results. That said, let me go over the finer points in more detail... "Person by person" could be an interpretation of that sentence, I suppose, but I'm not too convinced, and I prefer my version. The rest is pretty loose. He leaves out the "regained my composure" part, and he says that only one third of the "whole thing" is there. The "rushed" sentence was a bit hard to make sense so, so there's a possibility I misread that one. The expression used seems to imply "chaotic" rather than "rushed" to me, but again, it could be an idiom I didn't catch. Google didn't turn up anything of the sort that I could find, though. Going into painfully literal mode, the sentence seems to say something like "looking back from the present, [we] went into chaos, and there was content and numerous words that were slightly embarrassing to the degree they were painful to look at". I translated that as "unbearably embarrassing" because I got the impression looking up that expression that the "slightly" actually implied the opposite as a kind of Japanese humility. That word for "content" is also fairly vague, and one I'm often having trouble with. As for the final paragraph, it honestly seems to me like [UltimateGraphics in his translation] just didn't understand what was going on there, and it doesn't make much sense to me. For example, the expression he translated as "we took great pains" doesn't mean that at all, it's a common Japanese concept that refers to causing inconvenience for or being inconsiderate of others in various ways. It's a humble term you'd only use towards your own actions with an apologetic tone, at least as I've always understood it. The word before it could refer to the game or the book; both would probably be valid interpretations, but the game made more sense to me. The part about "what would the readers think" makes no sense to me in relation to the original text, and while I could be wrong, I'd feel fairly secure calling that an outright mistranslation personally.] [Second paragraph translated by Lugalbanda: "It's been two years and a little bit since Xenogears started being made (a certain place has a rumor that it took over 3 years to develop, but that's just what it is, a rumor). I do get sentimental about how far it's come, but when I snap back to reality and look back on it, the truth is we're not even a third of the way there overall. Thinking about the work I've cut out for myself these next few years, it makes me feel dizzy these days (laughs)." |
[Page 302 - After Word (first page)]
[Translation by Gwendal] "The Time of the Gospel" Perhaps you recall these words that were spoken by Cain? In the story, they provide an interpretation of how Man is endowed with eternal life through the resurrection of God. As I'm sure the more perceptive of you have noticed, no clear and specific explanation of the true meaning behind the words the Time of the Gospel or the three mysterious phenomena bound up with it -- 'why was it absolutely necessary for 'God', Deus, to restore itself within the long span of 10,000 years?', 'why was there a time limit to this process?', 'why would mankind be destroyed as a result of this?' -- was ever provided, to the very end. In addition, the interpretations themselves given by the characters who navigate these phenomena vary tremendously based on their individual perspectives. With this in mind, I'd like to begin by considering the true meaning of the Time of the Gospel as seen from the Gazel Ministry's point of view. Their main interpretation is as follows: if the resurrection of God does not come to pass, Man will also be brought to ruin. This conveys the true purpose for the existence of the Gazel Ministry itself, created as an instrument of the weapon Deus. In becoming part of Deus God - they will live forever. Further, to them this is life, while anything that prevents them from becoming one with God and returning to the restored system consequently takes on the meaning of death. Shackled to the system, the Ministry simply desired the resurrection of God, nothing more. They brought about the resurrection of God only for the purpose of being able to return to the restored system. They effectively met their end at the hands of Krelian, being erased by him. However, their Animus essence [continues on the next page] |
[Page 302 - After Word (second page)]
[Continues from the previous page] was propagated into the genetic code of mankind, the resurrection of God came to pass, and in truth, many humans became part of God, experiencing a return and reunification being endowed with life. Consequently, at this point in time they were able to escape the approach of the day of ruin they'd forseen. Still, if the same kind of phenomenon were to be seen from a different point of view, the resurrection of God would indeed be linked to the destruction of mankind. So let us take a look at Miang's (Elly's) point of view next. From the words of Elly after she became Miang, the following can be inferred: A being with the ability to create a 'God' will sooner or later become a hindrance. These words refer to the final course of the Deus restoration program, but as for becoming a hindrance...a hindrance for what, exactly? Taking these words at face value, this would seem to refer to the people of the civilization that created Deus. Since it was made to be a weapon, Deus becoming a hindrance to its creators would be sufficient to pose a dire threat to their entire civilization. So the creators of this weapon included a safety precaution the capabilities of this program can easily be surmised, and in actual fact Citan also states this in the story. There is one more think I'd like you to consider. At the time of Deus' birth, its proper creators from this ancient civilization would also have been in the same kind of situation. This is probably the reason Deus was analyzed, sealed away and being transported [on the Eldrige]. Was what happened just a simple case of the system going out of control? Who exactly were these creators [it refers to]? And were Fei and his friends the actual targets for elimination? Be that as it may, it is obvious that there exists two contradictory views surrounding the interpretation of the Time of the Gospel, namely without the resurrection of God, mankind will be brought to ruin, and through the resurrection of God, mankind will be brought to ruin. What could explain this contradiction? They could just as well be seen as a result of differences in subjective actors' individual points of view. In addition, it might not be unreasonable to limit the definition of mankind to simply those who are destined to become parts of Deus. Humans who become part of Deus and join with it this way attain life, while those who never hoped for that kind of unification, those who intended to break out from under God's protection, are given a divine punishment bearing the name of ruin. On this point there is no contradiction between the Gazel Ministry's interpretation and Miang's (Elly's) words. However, Cain was different. He took this as a contradiction. Cain was born as part of the Deus system, and stemming from his being shackled in this way, he fervently wished for Man's liberation from the bonds of God, in stark opposition to his colleagues in the Ministry. Thus, Cain was desperately looking for a solution. If ruin is taken to mean a return to God, without unification, then its opposite would naturally be life, attained through preventing such a unification. For Cain, thinking along these lines, the abilities demonstrated by humans such as Citan and his peers as representatives of a new seed were a source of hope. As the resurrection of God, Deus, drew closer, Cain knew there was a high probability their appearance was not due to chance. He entrusted them with everything. He decided that ruin would be a result of the curse of the system, a massacre committed by the weapon Deus, and he hoped for Man to become humanity by growing out of their collective childhood and ridding themselves of the shackles of God. At this time, Cain was freed from the curse of the system. In Cain's view, the entity who was supposed to cut the chains of God and to become a new seed at the heart of humanity would be Ahnenerbe, the coming god in the flesh. He believed that Man would find salvation through this Ahnenerbe. And then, God, Deus, was destroyed by Fei and his friends, deemed to be Ahnenerbe, coming god in the flesh by Cain. Through their victory in the battle to refuse a ruin of the flesh by massacre, or a ruin of the mind through unification, Man was freed from their predestined destruction and managed to become humanity. However, if one works with the hypothesis that this destiny is indeed unavoidable, it becomes clear that these events could not have been the phenomena expected to accompany the Time of the Gospel. The reason for this is that the phenomenon of God's destruction does not have a place here. In addition, does the concept of God here really refer to Deus? If we assume it does for the sake of argument, the question why would mankind be destroyed as a result of this? can be given a satisfactory answer, as per the interpretation in the text above. However, it does not give us a meaningful answer for the two other questions, why was it absolutely necessary for 'God', Deus, to restore itself within the long span of 10,000 years? and why was there a time limit to this process?. This being the case, it follows that we should probably see the true reason for the ruin of mankind and Ahnenerbe, the coming god in the flesh as being one and the same. The reason for Deus going out of control during the opening sequence is still unclear, though. The true meaning of the Time of the Gospel. This enormous mystery enveloping the world of Xenogears is still not resolved. [Translation by Gwendal] |
If you know any place containing the text form translation to Perfect Works by Zenosaga.com besides gamefaqs, let me know.
ReplyDeleteDo you discuss/research Xenogears anymore? I'd love to talk to you about it..
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