kasi Lija

alright hellooo!!!! this is my first published translation in 2024 i guess!

of course i'm marketing this towards english speakers since i'm not sure if there actually is a part of the csm fandom that speaks toki pona... i hope you'll stick around to see something a little fun and different!

so if you don't know what toki pona is, allow me to explain! ☝️🤓 toki pona is a conlang created by Sonja Lang where the main draw of it is that it has less than 200 words! it sounds like it may be tricky to speak with so few words, but it's surprisingly easy and very fun! i always recommend it to anyone who has a bit of time on their hands and wants to try something new.

here i was mostly trying out gimp for comic translations, and so i translated the first 10 pages of chapter 120! i chose this because... it's silly! also fun fact, the start of this chapter was one of the things that pushed me to read chainsaw man!

ok that's enough preface rambling, let's get on with it!

i think typically the first page should be full sized if it has to, but nayuta peace sign is just so cute..!

alright, if you wanna feel like you're on a date with asa then keep reading to find an english translation and translator's notes! if not... feel free to leave, i hope you eat something nice today! (omekapo!)

semi-literal translation:

yoru: woof! woof! woof!!

nayuta: HAHAHAHAHAHA!! yoru: woof woof! wooof!! denji: Nayuta! what did you do?! nayuta: i turned her into an animal. denji: why?!?! nayuta: because she [kissed] my thing! (here she basically says that yoru interacted with nayuta's thing using her mouth. it's a very vague statement)

denji: i'm not your thing! turn her into a human now!! nayuta: want food! can't! (technically she says "food desire! no ability!") nuh uh! denji: ah?! i'll make food. when you eat turn her into a human!! nayuta: 'kay!

denji: eat and turn her into a human. i'm not joking. nayuta: hey! this is my food! bad! bad!! nayuta: hey... do you really want her humanity? (sounds very weird in english but i'm not sure a better way to put it) denji: what?

nayuta: Denji. every woman tries to kill you, right? why is this animal different? denji: why...? i have a feeling. nayuta: hmmmm.... good. (this is being used as an affirmation similar to "alright" or "very well then") you won't die. okay. i'll turn her into a human.

nayuta: but, two things. if they're not good to you, then she'll be an animal forever. denji: what are they?! nayuta: number one. i can eat ice cream (cold sweet) all the time. denji: i want (it) too. nayuta: number two.

nayuta: don't be nice to her. denji: are you joking?! nayuta: uh, i'm (being) real. this is the best. she's bad to my nose. denji: your nose?

denji: is she like a wet animal? nayuta: weirdo, wet animals are good! anyways, don't be nice to her! i'll change her knowledge... so that to her you didn't come (today)! denji: you'll what?! then she'll hate me!

nayuta: not important. you won't talk to her. denji: ahhh...

denji: you're number one, nayuta...

tadaaaa! there we have it! now time for some translator notes, of which there are actually not a ton.

toki pona is surprisingly difficult to adapt for different kinds of characters. due to having no register, it's hard to make characters seem more punky or polite than normal, and to distinguish between adult and child characters. here particularly we have the issue that, while Nayuta is a child, she's also super smart! so making grammatical mistakes doesn't really seem in line for her character. the main action i took was doubling up "la" with her. this isn't incorrect, but there are more optimal ways to say things to avoid ambiguity. i thought that perhaps a kid wouldn't think ahead with their words as much as an adult would, and may end up with this quirk in their speech.

related to the last note, one possible way of making a character seem younger or less proper is having them use nimisin ("unofficial" community made words). it's a fun idea, but it's kinda inaccessible and also... i don't really know nimisin! guess i'm not hip enough >_<

the name Nayuta luckily fits with toki pona phonetics (with the y changed to a j)! Denji doesn't quite, so i opted for Tensi. this is the most direct tokiponisation of his name. it sounds a bit like tenshi! (angel in japanese)

just a little something. i went with humans being "jan" and devils "monsuta" (hybrids and fiends may be jan monsuta and monsuta jan respectively, or they could have nimisin) so.. why are these two using jan? well for Denji that's an easier question, as he is basically human-first and also had the name before he became a hybrid. (also there's no need to be so descriptive with a headnoun) as for Nayuta, she uses jan because she's sort of undercover. depending on the circumstances, or when referring to her with her real name (like saying Control Devil in english) she would be monsuta. some devils who gave themself a name use jan, while others such as Power use monsuta (because why would she call herself a human when devils are clearly superior?!)

suwi lete or lete suwi? that is the question. here i decided to go with suwi lete because i think the most appealing aspect to Nayuta is likely the sweetness!

Phos (Literally- The Posu Squid) They cannot control their form "Ah! I don't want to be semi-solid (/swim form)!!" *don't be semi-solid!* (yeah sorry it sounds clunky. some words work better in toki pona) Because of this they cannot fight. But they really want to! "Dia!"

even though this au would actrually contain happiness i still wanted to keep some of phos main struggles bc i feel like thats just Them so i had the idea of them being a late bloomer who hasnt gained control over their form yet

also i gave dia that thing yoko(???) has where they have multiple ink colours. i do wonder if that affects their actual ink or just their appearance. maybe i should check the wiki (sorry im not a splatbands bitch)

Shinsha They want to talk to others, but they feel little (meant to come across as they feel shy) "Blahblahblahblahblah" (Literally - "thing thing thing thing thing thing thing thing ah")

Bort They work at a building for little jellyfish (jellyfish daycare)

yes i included bort just so i could make them work at jellyfish daycare

and here is adamant

so this is just an ace attorney version of jan Kekan San's comic which you can watch here, it is very musi with the voices i recommend

if you're unaware, toki pona is a conlang with less than 200 words. this comic specifically uses the writing system "sitelen pona" (but if you want to learn toki pona, its mostly written in latin characters so you don't need to learn the writing system)

the dialogue in toki pona is as follows:

trucy: toki apollo: toki. sina seme? trucy: mi lon e ma apollo: seme a?! sina lon ma anu seme? trucy: ni ala. mi lon e ma

now time to try and explain this... i'll be using jan Kekan San's explanation to help out.

this comic is based on a common grammatical mistake in toki pona. the word "lon" has meanings as a noun, verb, and preposition. as a preposition it is most commonly used to mean "at" or "in". when used as a transitive verb it means "to make exist"

so someone may say "mi lon e ma" to mean they are at a place, when really they are saying they make a place exist. what they mean to say is "mi lon ma"

with this i will now try to translate the dialogue into english, though it will be a little awkward

trucy: hello apollo: hello. what are you doing? trucy: i am making a planet exist apollo: what?! are you on a planet? trucy: not that. i am making a planet exist

ok i hope you enjoyed my toki pona lesson and maybe this comic is at least a tiny bit funny