Gnosia: A guide to gender and translation
With the anime coming Very soon I've wanted to make this post for ages. So everyone can be on the same page no matter how translation is handled in the anime and whether or not it differs from the game
In the unvoiced game, a translator's only limit is fitting the new text in the right textbox but now translators will consider things like subtitle length, actor performance and being able to hear the Japanese rather than just having the English in isolation
I firmly believe that different approaches to translation are valid and I love the game's English script, I am only pointing out differences for lore purposes, not as a criticism or accusation.
(PS. I'm stuck on my phone rn I'd like to ask anyone with a reddit account to share this post over there on be half of u/hashtagkay)
I'll start with the good news. Some people on reddit have expressed fear over queer erasure but I'm very confident there's almost no chance of Raqio and Setsu being cis
Because in Japanese, what was called "nonbinary" in English, was an in universe concept called 汎性 han sei
Han meaning "pan/all" such as all-purpose 汎用 or pantheism 汎神論
And sei meaning both sex and gender
Gnosia veterans will remember this term as the original, much messier Gnosia translation attempted to use the term "pan" but due to audience confusion switched to the term "nonbinary" in the subsequent clean up patch
For the rest of this post I'll be using the phrase Pangender as I feel it sounds more natural in English and "Pansexual" refers to the orientation
Gnosia is a transhumanist text, exploring many kinds of transformation including:
Much like the English -ation suffix the Japanese words end on 化 -ka meaning transformation
And pangender has its own version of this
This continued theme of transformation means that Setsu and Raqio can't be anyone but themselves or else Otome might as well be a regular talking beluga whale or Chipie a human man who likes cats a normal amount
But, if we call Setsu and Raqio pangender instead of nonbinary...
What does that mean? And what is panification?
Part 2: What is pan? (Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more)
Well maybe it's easier if I start by defining "nonbinary"
In my opinion, nonbinary refers to an umbrella of gender identities in the LGBTQ community that embody anyone who isn't 100% male or female all the time
Gender roles are highly cultural so how people view it is going to depend on where and when they grow up. Which is to say what gender means to me in the 21st century is going to differ to people from Elizabethan England, Meiji era Japan or people of the far future 3020 when Gnosia is set
It's hard to put into words but I think sometimes we can recognise historical figures (for example the Public Universal Friend) as Queer even if not strictly speaking LGBT
OK OK, how does the game explain "pangender"
The first place to look is the starting menu
* 汎性 (hansei) is a sex that is chosen after birth, also known as asexual[1]. Often involves the removal of male and female physical traits.
[1] not to be confused with アセクシャル the jp term for the ace spectrum, this musei 無性 is like, Absence of a Sex and may be a play on chuusei 中性 a contempary Japanese nonbinary identity meaning middle sex/androgyne
The part about it being an identity from after birth/後天的に選べる性 clarifies we are talking about gender identity and not something like an intersex condition, which are conditions that affect a person's sex (though obviously can influence one's identity)
The often/場合が多い is also important as it establishes an in universe expectation for what a pangender person is Meant to look like but that not every pan person will look like that or is required to in order to be called Pan.
This brings us to the first key difference:
In our time, most nonbinary people are assumed to not medically transition (even though many do get hrt and surgery)
But in gnosia's universe, the expectation is that pangender people all get a specific medical procedure to remove whatever is socially deemed a "male or female physical characteristic"
I assume this means genitals, gonads, breasts, and maybe nipples, possibly other seemingly random stuff as sex is often as influenced by social perception as gender and is by no means objective or static (it is bimodal At Best and only useful as a form of categorisation in specific situations)
But to find out what this means in practice, let's look at three key events:
To better fit the contemporary understanding of nonbinary, the translation changed some details so I'll describe it in English then go line by line for the Japanese to point out the changes
In English, the player triggers the event by attempting to peek on someone getting out the shower, SQ is already clothed but notes that the person in the other shower stall has been in there since before she arrived and suggests opening the stall door to see who it is
Raqio overhears this and steps out the shower before they can be spied on, annoyed that their relaxation time has been distrupted
However SQ instead becomes confused. She thought Raqio was nonbinary but they appear to have "a... you know"
Raqio then explains that being nonbinary has nothing to do with one's physical features and genitals =/= gender identity until they get so frustrated they walk off butt naked
This event earns the player a Raqio note saying "Assigned male gender at birth; identifies as nonbinary" (which imo is half info we already knew and half we didn't need to know)
From this, most players get a very innocent impression of SQ as someone who is simply ignorant of nonbinary people and the fact that, of course they have genitals (which does line up with her backstory, Setsu and Raqio are likely the first nonbinary people she's ever met)
The overall story beats are the same in Japanese but the dialogue goes:
SQ: あ、ラキオだコレ (Oh, it's Raqio)
Raqio: そうだけど？(Is that right?)
ラキオって汎でしょ？ソレ…… (Huh, That Thing? wait but. Raqio you're Pan, right? then....)
Raqio: ああ、僕は汎だけど？(yeah, I'm Pan?)
SQ: いわやるその、アレがあるんDEATHケド！(yeah but, you have That Thing there!) [note, ignore the DEATH, its a weird thing SQ does bc desu is both a word at the end of a lot of Japanese sentences and how 'death' is pronounced in Japanese, its not relavent just a writing quirk. アレ/Are also just means "that" but seemingly is only used to euphemise penis, with あそこ/asoko "Down There" being used for vulvas/ any kind of genitals]
それに、いずれは汎化処置を受けることになるしね (Ha- so, what of it? I am Pan. Who even cares about physical features. Besides I'll undergo medical panification eventually anyway.)
SQ: えー、モッタイナイなぁ…… (huh? what a waste...)
君達程度の人間にだって他に考えるべき事があるだろう？
全く付き合っていられないな。僕は失礼するよ。(What are you even looking at? Anyhow, the issue of sexual distinction is an utter waste of time. Surely there are better things you two should be thinking about? Now if you'll excuse me [leaves])
SQ: ラキオ、裸で出てったんだけど…… (Raqio- just left naked.......)
Overall the event is pretty much the same in Japanese with a few key differences:
Firstly, since we have the context that pangender people are expected to by default have had their "male and female parts removed" SQ comes off a lot less innocent
Less "OMG nonbinary people have genitals??" More "Are you really a True Pansexual if you've not had The Surgery?"
Secondly this is the event where we learn the term Panification
Specifically in the middle of their talk about how obsessing about other ppl's bodies and gender is a waste of time, Raqio says that "[They're] going to undergo the Panification surgery eventually anyway"
A line that's completely skipped in English bc most contemporary nonbinary don't have The Nonbinary Surgery (though I did learn through a friend that nullectomy is a thing that exists but I kind of doubt the writers knew about it)
This then returns to SQ proclaiming "What a waste" which is what caused Raqio to get frustrated enough to leave
The event note is also a bit different, in Japanese it reads
肉体的には汎性ではないが、魂の間違いらしい They are not physically pangender but their soul doesn't match
[Basically "they were born in the wrong body"]
I feel like this cements the idea that even if pangender is not 1:1 with our current understanding of being nonbinary it is absolutely intended to be read as a form of genderqueer/transness in universe
I will also add that at least in my playthrough iirc SQ turned out to be gnosia. I have no idea if this is always the case but if it is then it would explain her meanness
2) The Retaliate skill event
Where Setsu covers up their relationship with the player (which could be seen as two gnosia plotting together) from SQ by claiming that we're "just lovers" (ただの恋人)
Both versions are pretty much identical except that in English SQ is surprised to hear Setsu is in a romantic relationship with the player because she thought they "weren't into sex and stuff"
"What- Really? Aren't you pan?"
"We're connected by our souls" (it's a spiritual connection)
(SQ is way more supportive this time calling Setsu and the player adorable/ニクい maybe because you and Setsu are gnosia while she is human?)
This also links to a minor change in Sha-Ming's introduction scene.
Sha-Ming: Alright Setsu how about instead of all the formalities, you just gimme one hot kiss right here, huh babe?
Setsu: How many times do I have to tell you? I'm nonbinary. Stop treating me like that, and stop with the babe stuff"
In Japanese Sha-Ming says almost the exact same thing
Sha-Ming: んじゃセツ、あいさつ 代わりだ。
(Hey, Setsu, instead of an introduction. Give me one hot (french) kiss right here.)
Setsu: 沙明、何度も言ったが汎 性別を持たない。そういう扱いは止めろ
(Sha-Ming, how many times do I have to tell you I'm pan I don't have a sex. Stop treating me like that)
Both make it clear that Sha-Ming's behaviour is unwelcome but the English makes it explicit that he's misgendering Setsu in addition to harassing them. Whereas the Japanese suggests that the act of flirting with a pangender person is itself a kind of misgendering
But we know that pangender people in gnosia can be in relationships because a pan player can see SQ and Comet's romance events (but not Sha-Ming, Remnan, Stella or Gina’s)
And the player and Setsu are always implied to have feelings for each other regardless of Setsu being pan or the player's gender
So perhaps this is an in universe stereotype
Possibly linked to our contemporary allonormativity which pushes the idea that sex is required for a true romantic relationship and that only sex involving genital penetration is "real sex"
3) The last event I want to talk about is one that doesn't directly mention pangender and its not even in the game
However it can still be found in the game files so it was probably only cut late in development and can still tell us something about gender and transition in the world of gnosia
In the event the player and Sha-Ming have survived as humans
If the player is female, Sha-Ming begs to have sex with you
But if the player is male, he begs you to get a sex change (so you can then have hetero sex with him)
This is where it becomes relavent because if the player agrees we get to see a complete mtf gender transition in the world of gnosia involves
2. Informing LeVi of your decision
3. Getting in a med pod for like 30 seconds
4. Getting out and apparently being immediately able to have sex with Sha-Ming (Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure current day vaginoplasty has a slightly longer recovery time) and with your in game sex now permanently set to female even in future time loops
This suggests that binary gender transition is both easy and accessible (especially because the DQO is Not state of the art hardware)
(I like to imagine gnosia has similar transition statistics to Dirty Pair where 1 in 10 people are said to have changed their gender at some point)
I speculate this could lead to a normalising of trans people but not necessarily nonbinary people until the popularisation of Panification. Effecting how people view gender identities that aren't discretely male or female.
We also don't know if panification is this accessible, since Raqio says they're going to get it "eventually" ( いずれ) and its unclear if they're just procrastinating, if there's some kind of wait list for a specialist surgeon or if it's restricted on Gliese in some way
Pangender is basically just nonbinary but in a sightly different in universe context
Setsu and Raqio are absolutely meant to be seen as analogous to current day trans and nonbinary people despite using different language to describe themselves
I hope the anime expands on certain parts but just know that if the translation is slightly different in the anime subs that doesn't mean it or the game are wrong
Just remember the words of the silver key!
Doubt not, Fear not, just Know
