meow

Since I can't speak Japanese (I was using a translating app), I went to my friend who actually speaks the language--and not only did she confirm my suspicions, but was also nice enough to translate the entire conversation for me (thank you @hunterxhell!) I also want to just make a quick disclaimer that I don’t entirely blame the localizers for this mistranslation, and I’ll go into why at the end. For now, I’ll post the original Japanese screenshots with their translations in the captions. I won’t be posting the English screenshots.

Joshua: Thank you for your hard work. Neku: The one who forced me into Shinjuku… was it you? Joshua: Don’t say it like that. Joshua: I /evacuated/ you.

Joshua: On that day three years ago, I was worried about letting that Reaper who shot you do as she liked. Neku: Even if you’re telling the truth, that wasn’t your only motive, right? Joshua: Hehe. Did you enjoy solving the mystery?

Joshua: I also wanted you to bring back information for me. Neku: It was hard. Joshua: Sorry about that, but I knew I could entrust this to no one but you. Neku: Is that so…

Basically, what was translated in the English localization as “I sent you to Shinjuku because I didn’t trust you not to keep my secrets” is actually, “Because I trust you more than anyone else, I sent you to Shinjuku to do this task for me.”

I don’t blame the localizers for this mistranslation—Japanese is hard, and so much of translating the language comes from surrounding context due to sentences often lacking subjects. When looking at this conversation as an isolated scene, it makes sense that Joshua ambiguously talking about Neku handling information for Joshua’s sake could be interpreted as Neku keeping said information to himself.

Since there’s no other mention in game of Neku’s purpose in Shinjuku being to gather information, there’s no reason for the localizers to assume anything different. It’s not without knowing the larger context, that this is an old piece of lore/information that was much more important when the sequel for TWEWY was going to be a completely different game, that the conversation Joshua and Neku have here starts to make more sense.

The rest of the conversation plays out the same: Joshua says that he was worried Kubo might have been too much to handle, and that he had planned to step in if needed. Neku then expresses his wish to go back to the RG, and Joshua makes a comment about him instead staying as a Composer candidate. Neku dismisses him, and Joshua laughs it off before saying that he’ll take responsibility and make things right. The most notable change is Joshua saying in English, “Let’s not keep her waiting any longer” when in the original he says, “Is there someone you want to meet with?” But since the implied “someone” is Shiki, I don’t think it’s a wrong translation and still gets the same point across.

After those Pillowfights