A complete transcript and full English translation of the Japan-exclusive prologue to Diabolical/Pandora’s Box, ‘Professor Layton and the Lo
Hey everyone! Just thought I'd make a quick post to let you know that...
The complete, definite, will-not-be-edited-again-in-the-future, FINAL translation of London Holiday, is finally here for your enjoyment!
AND it comes this time with an in-character fan-translation that DOESN'T read like Google Translate!
For those who didn't know, Professor Layton and the London Holiday is an official prologue to Diabolical Box; it's a short slice-of-life story in which Luke and Layton are just having some good time solving puzzles, and at the end, they receive the letter from Schrader which starts the events of DB. This game is not really lost content per se, but it's still part of the more obscure Layton media, since we non-Japanese fans have no legal way of playing it ourselves unless we buy the Japanese version of DB.
This isn't really some breaking news or anything, but I still thought it was worth warning you that this is it -- if you wanted a fancy in-character translation, you finally have it!
I will make a small shoutout to @call-me-rucy who helped every now and then with the more accurate translation when I had doubts on how a few idioms here and there were meant to be interpreted. Thanks again for your help, and sorry for using you like this xD I do wish I could send you DMs for reasons other than just asking for your Japanese knowledge hahaha
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When I say that this won't be edited again, I mean that the only way this web page will ever be further edited in the future is if someone else shows up at some point and asks me to change something. Perhaps I took too many liberties in the fancy fan-translation compared to the original text in one or two specific occurrences, or perhaps someone will want to translate this transcript into another language that isn't English, in which case I would absolutely accept to add it! (and you would be credited for that additional translation, obviously)
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I heavily suggest you take a look at it if you haven't already, because it provides quite a bit of lore and funny/wholesome moments! We notably get the full story of how Schrader heard about, and then tried to acquire the Elysian box (...story which contradicts the fact that he would already own it in Eternal Diva, by the way), but it's not the only fun lore crumbs this prologue to DB gives us :)
Also, for the fans of the puzzle theory -- I suggest you take a look in particular at what Luke says when he solved puzzle 09. It sure is intriguing that he would mention walking from island to island on foot as if he were... Physically doing it?? Or at least had the impression that he could experience it somehow???
Heh, puzzles and hint coins have mind powers anyway, for all we know perhaps some of them can trap you inside your own mind for a bit while you're solving them. Deliciously horrifying, so much potential for fanfics/comics and lore analysis. So shameful that nobody would have thought of taking advantage of this by throwing puzzles at someone with the specific intent of slowing them down by trapping them in a trance for a bit. smh, Level 5. smh.
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Did someone ask for more scans? No? Too bad, have more scans.
Emmy's letter to Professor Layton, post-Curious Village. The fabled letter, which can only be accessed properly if you rip open your copy of the Japan-exclusive Azran Legacy Guidebook (more or less).
Years ago, there were photos and a fan-translation floating around on tumblr. Now, I give you the new and high quality version, as well as a full transcript. You're welcome :>
It's been literally eight years since your post, but since your tags say that you wanted to be warned if a better scan were to be made, well... Here you go @puzzilitis x) I'm also tagging @the-azran-legacies, but I'm pretty sure your blog is completely dead since this translation post seems to be its latest sign of activity, and that was ten years ago.
Seriously though, just in case you get to see this -- thank you both so much for what you did all these years ago. Without your posts, I might never even have heard that this letter existed in the first place! Or, well, I likely would have heard of it by now given the fact that I've been documenting every single Layton media I can find -- but I would have lived through an entire decade of ignorance by that point.
The translation below has been done exclusively with DeepL because my free time is limited, sorry for that ^^' If you want another one in order to compare, you have the one linked above, and I will likely make another one later (much later).
みんなのエピソード２１｜レミからの手紙
Everybody's Episode 21: A Letter from Emmy
親愛なるレイトン教授へ
Dear Professor Layton,
あれから数か月になりますが、教授、お元気ですか？
It's been a few months since then. Professor, how are you?
一緒に仕事をしている仲間からレイトン教授が遺産相続騒動を解決したという話を耳にして思わず手紙を書いてしまいました。
When I heard from a colleague I work with that you had solved an inheritance dispute, I couldn't resist writing to you.
タージェントから世界を救ったあのレイトン教授が単なる遺産相続のナゾトキの依頼を引き受けるなんて。まさか…と思いましたが、ナゾには目がない教授ですし、きっと知的好奇心を刺激される不思議な出来事だったんでしょうね。
How could the very same Professor Layton who had saved the world from Targent, now accept a mere inheritance puzzle request? I could not believe it… But you always had a penchant for puzzles, so I am certain that it had to be a mysterious event which truly stimulated your intellectual curiosity.
ルークはしっかりと役目を果たせたでしょうか？
Has Luke fulfilled his role well?
実は…私はいま、ワールドタイムズでカメラマンをしています。教授の活躍を教えてくれた仕事仲間って、ボストニアス号で世界を旅したときに出会ったドリスさんなんですよ。
By the way... I am now a photographer for the World Times. The colleague who told me about your activities is Doris. We met her when we were travelling around the world on the Bostonius.
教授のもとを去ってから私がワールドタイムズで働き始めたきっかけは、教授との旅がとても楽しかったから。
I started working for the World Times after I quit my job as your assistant, since I enjoyed the journey with you so much.
世界各地でのいろんな人との出会い、見る者を虜にする美しい景色…。それを世界中の人々に伝えたい、いっしかそんな気持ちになって、自然とワールドタイムズ編集部に足を運んでいました。
Meeting all kinds of people in different parts of the world, finding beautiful and captivating landscapes… I wanted to tell people all over the world about these experiences, and this is how I naturally came to visit the World Times editorial office.
今の仕事は、本当に楽しいです！
I really enjoy my current job!
ムスロッホでリボの滝と鍾乳洞の取材をしていたら、長老のシメジイさんから気になるうわさ話を聞いたんです。
While I was reporting for the Ribo Waterfalls and the limestone caves of Musloch, I heard interesting rumours from the elder, Mr Simejii.
そんな話を聞いたら、調査をするしかありませんよね！
After hearing such a story, I simply could not resist investigating!
村人たちの情報を頼りに鍾乳洞の奥を突き進んでいったら…幻の｢神秘の密林｣を発見しました！
After going deeper into the limestone caves, by relying on the information the villagers gave me… The fabled "Mystical Jungle" has been discovered!
ワールドタイムズの大スクープとして一面に大きく取り上げられたので教授もご存知かもしれませんが、これは私の初スクープなんですよ。
You may have already known of it since it was featured as huge news on the front page of the World Times, but this was my first scoop.
記事には書きませんでしたが、密林の奥には古代遺跡が隠されていました。
We did not mention it in the article, but there were ancient ruins hidden deep in the jungle.
ここにもたくさんのナゾが隠されているはずなので、いつか教授にナゾを解いてもらいたいなぁ。
There must be a lot of puzzles hidden there. I hope you will solve them one day.
もしかして、アスラント文明とは別の考古学史上に残る大発見がある…かも？
Maybe there is another major discovery in the history of archaeology that is unrelated to the Azran civilisation… maybe?
そんなスクープを追いかけて世界中を飛び回る毎日ですが、いま追いかけているのは、スラム街に現れた｢ナゾのマスク男｣です。この話、知的好奇心をくすぐられませんか？
I spend my days travelling around the world, chasing this kind of scoop. What I am chasing now is a "Puzzling Masked Man" who has appeared in the slum quarters. Doesn't this story tickle your intellectual curiosity?
お金持ちから金品を盗み、スラム街の子供たちにお金を与える現代の義賊｢マスク男｣。
The Masked Man is a modern-day righteous bandit who steals money and goods from the rich and gives it to the children in the slums.
最初は、この｢マスク男の正体｣をスクープするためカメラ片手に追いかけていましたが、スラム街の子供たちを見ているうちに、１人の記者としてそこに暮らす人々の現状もじっくりと取材したい、と思うようになりました。
At first, I followed this "Masked Man," camera in hand, in order to get a scoop on his identity. But as I watched the children in the slums, I began to think that, as a reporter, I should rather take the time to cover the current situation of the people living there.
スラム街にはたくさんの孤児がいます。私たちを無垢な笑顔で迎えてくれる子、まったく目を合わせてくれない子など、いろんな表情を見せてくれます。
There are many orphans in the slums. We see many different faces, from those who greet us with innocent smiles to those who don't make eye contact at all.
そんな彼らの姿を見ているうちに、昔のことを、ふと思い出してしまいました。
As I watched them, I suddenly remembered something from the past.
私も子供のころ父を失い、孤児になってしまうところでした。しかし、それを救ってくれたのは、おじさまだったんです。
I lost my father as a child and almost became an orphan. But Uncle Leon saved me from that.
あの頃、父を失った私をおじさまはまるで娘のように育ててくれました。
Back then, I had lost my father, and Uncle Leon brought me up as if I were his daughter.
だから、あの場所でおじさまを裏切るわけにはいかなかった。優しかったおじさまを裏切れなかった…。教授に嘘をついていたことは、申し訳ないと思っています。
So this is why I couldn't betray him in that place. I couldn't betray my kind Uncle Leon... I truly am sorry that I lied to you, Professor.
でも、こういうことがあったからこそ、教授に出会えた。人の運命って不思議ですね。
Still, it was because of these things that I met you. The destiny of people is a curious thing, isnt' it?
あ…、今の私を伝えたいと思ってこの手紙を書いたのに、過去の話になっちゃいましたね。私の話は、また教授に会ったときにお話ししますね。
Ah... I wrote this letter in order to tell you how I am now, but all this is about the past. I will tell you my story when we meet again.
というわけで…今は楽しく仕事をしています！
So, all that to say... I really am enjoying my work now!
そうそう、長かった髪を思い切ってばっさり切りました！
Yes, I also cut off my long hair in a very drastic way!
これまでタージェントの一員として生きてきましたが、いま、ワールドタイムズでカメラマンとして働く普通の女性として歩み出すことができた、そんな気がしています。
I have lived my entire life as a member of Targent. But now, I feel that I have been able to step forward as an ordinary woman, who is now working as a photographer for the World Times.
きっといつか、あなたにまた会える、その日まで。
I am sure that one day, we will meet again. Until that day.
ＰＳ．取材中の写真をドリスさんに撮ってもらいました！あっ、後ろにマスク男が…！
P.S. Doris took photos during the interview! Ah, the Masked Man is in the background...!
Emmy Altava
Important translation note: Emmy calls Bronev "oji-sama," all in hiragana, which makes it unclear whether she is related to him by blood or not (おじ means "uncle," but can also just mean "man who is older than the speaker" (at least from what I know)).
The Eternal Diva novel introduces Emmy as "a beautiful woman of Asian lineage" (and yes, I know, Asia is huge with a lot of different lineages, and I don't know either which corner of Asia is being talked about here), so make of that info what you like. In order to leave it as ambiguous as I could, I replaced all instances of "oji-sama" with "Uncle Leon."
There might be a few other translation changes I made, but I think this was the most important one to take note of.
By the way, I actually scanned the whole guidebook, and I will share it when I can (though don't hold your breath, as you probably know I am currently juggling between way too many projects). The scans aren't ready to be shared yet because they were basically done with me not really caring whether the pages would be perfectly straight, upside down, etc, and as such they need some editing.
(I checked and the resolution of the scans is high enough to make it so that editing doesn't hurt the quality in the slightest. I swear that when the scans are finished editing, you won't even realise it and they'll look just as good as what you're seeing above with Emmy's letter).
The editing also includes linking the pages together for aesthetics purposes. Some pages have artworks that spread over both pages, so I'm doing my best to make it look seamless! Here, have an example for the first double page in the book that really does it:
As you can guess, editing each of the 128 pages in order to get this result is time-consuming, and translating that is going to be a doozy. But let's just appreciate how awesome it will be once it's done, eh? :D
Anyway, next up on the blog is going to be the Eternal Diva novel translation. I'm still working on getting some buffer done, but hopefully the first "chapter" will get out soon! I'd like to post on Saturdays. Let's cross our fingers for tomorrow. Or next week, if today's translation is enough to satiate you all for now!
Inspector Chelmey’s Casebook: Special Recipe is now finally accessible outside of Japan!
Just like the (somewhat) more widely known Professor Layton and the Mansion of the Deathly Mirror, Chelmey’s Casebook is a Japan-exclusive DoCoMo game. Because of this, it is a game that not only never left Japan at all, but was also considered lost media up until very recently, when someone kindly recorded and published a full playthrough of it.
This two-part cosy little game is a mini story in which the protagonists are Chelmey and Barton, who investigate in St. Mystere in hopes of solving a certain case involving a lost recipe…
Thanks to this playthrough and the help of a few other people, we finally were able to archive the full story and dialogue with text and images! The github website I host now gives a full transcript of what this playthrough showed us, in both its original Japanese text and its (Google Translate) English translation.
» Go read it here! «
All this being said, please please please reblog this to any Layton fan, and ESPECIALLY to Chelmey/Barton fans! This game’s story was adorable and gave us some actual lore and backstory for Chelmey, so do take a look and let the others know that this game exists!
PS: I don’t actually speak Japanese. If you do, Google Translate and I gummed up most of the work for you. The Japanese text is available as is, so you can rely solely on the website for translation work. So please, if you have the time and motivation, it would be a great help to provide me with a more reliable translation!
Random update on the transcription of the Eternal Diva novel, aka probably the one that most people don't even care about that much to begin with
(though you should, I haven't translated it yet but I spotted a few words here and there that caught my attention such as Luke mentioning Misthallery multiple times. Also there is in the introduction a novel-exclusive scene with Janice in it, just fyi.)
To those who didn't know, most of my free time as of lately has been put into the transcription/translation website I have dedicated to the Japan-exclusive Layton content that we never got to see, and more specifically I have been transcribing the Eternal Diva novel. Because yes, now you know, Eternal Diva was adapted into a novel and none of us non-Japanese fans got to read it. And boy this novel is going to drive me insane because I have been working on it for literal weeks by now.
In terms of progress, I have reached the part of the story in which Puzzle 004 is about to start, aka right after the end of the "Layton McGuffinned a helicopter that thinks it's a grasshopper" part. I have transcribed up to page 119 (+ the ending is already transcribed and translated because past me felt like it), and there are now 74 blank pages left for me to fill. And then the translation will come, too. I am totally looking forward to it. Can you feel the enthusiasm in my exciting punctuation.
This is the shortest novel of the list (200 pages if I count the blank ones), and this is the only novel that has furigana everywhere (aka the only one of the four I can actually read somewhat properly). Yippeeeee
Anyway if you want to take a look even though only the beginning and the end are translated for the time being:
You can take a looksie right here!
The reason why I'm going through the entire transcription first and that the full translation will only come afterwards is because, at least in my opinion if I were to view this as a reader instead of as the person uploading the content, this means that you guys get to know the story faster than if I progressed through both the transcription and translation at the same time.
After all, let's see it like this: sure, you can't read Japanese, and for the most part, neither can I. But since it's been transcribed, it means that you can easily copy-paste the Japanese text into DeepL, or Google Translate, or any translator of your choice. Sure, it's more work for you and if you are of the lazy kind you will still have to wait the same amount of time regardless (not saying it in a derogatory way), but at least it gives the choice for the ones who want the whole story to get it somewhat faster.
I don't speak Japanese, and I am not translating things as I go, so I have only a vague understanding of what is going on in the novel (and obviously, the fact that I know the plot of the movie is a huge help). But I can already tell you this much:
We get the lyrics for the ending's song, obviously. This is part of what has been translated so far.
The whole novel is not divided into chapters, but rather into smaller scenes/sections (however you want to call it). Some are narrated by Luke, some others are narrated by Janice (and/or Melina, I guess it depends on the context). Just like the three main novels you may be slightly more familiar with, the narration is in first person.
Since the only narrators who showed up so far are Luke and Janice/Melina, I don't think the scenes from Emmy's POV will be included (aka the one in which she questions Nina's parents, the one in which she is with Schrader, and the one in which she finds and rescues Grosky in the middle of the ocean). Perhaps they are going to appear later in the novel, but I highly doubt it for a number of reasons (number of pages in each section, and titles of said sections).
The novel starts with an exclusive scene under the POV of Janice. It takes place three years after the case, and she is just finished singing for the last rehearsal before the opera she will play in the day after — it is The Eternal Kingdom, which she has not sung in three years, and the next day will be the second time ever this opera will be sung in a theatre with a public. Of course, no eternal life game planned this time. Janice also gets a letter of encouragement from Whistler, which is pretty sweet.
Unless I missed it and it somehow happens in the part I did not yet translate, the intro of the movie in which Luke and Layton solve the case where Don Paolo decided to mess with the bells of Big Ben is not at all mentioned in the novel. Luke in the novel doesn't give the introduction-narration speech that he does in the movie, we jump straight into the scene in which he is shown in Layton's office pretending to be pointing at culprits (and we get a fun little scene showing what led up to him doing it). Go read it, it is translated, and I do not want to spoil for you the opportunity to read Luke being a dork all over again.
We switch to the flashback telling the actual events, and this is the part that has no translation yet. I won't give many details as a result since I don't know the things for sure myself, but as I said earlier, I saw a few words that I recognised here and there: notably, Luke mentions Misthallery on at least two occasions. If memory serves, one of them is when Grosky shows up to "arrest" the puppet, and I think Luke went on a small tangent to give a small summary of the events of Last Specter (aka how he met Grosky), and also mentions Descole (though he does not give his name, since I'm pretty sure that he didn't hear the words "My name is Jean Descole" at the time, and only learned that precisely upon meeting him again in ED). On another time he mentions it, from what I vaguely understood he may be making a reference to Naiya, Janice/Melina's friend who can be found in Misthallery and who is also a singer (she's the NPC who is meant to represent the singer of Paxmaveiti, just like Yuming is meant to represent the singer of Mysterious Flower in Miracle Mask). Pretty inconsequential, but it's always fun to have continuity nods and references to the actual plot of other stories.
Finally, back to three years later, we get an epilogue narrated by Luke which is the exact same scene as the movie: Layton and Luke are listening to Janice's opera, and at some point Janice shows up to say hi. Luke also mentions what happened to the rest of the participants after the case throughout those three years; most are just what we see from the credits, but the novel still gives a few more details in some cases:
By the time of the original trilogy, Amelia is studying abroad at a foreign university, and she recently sent a letter to Layton and Luke, saying that she is grateful even after three years.
Luke is friends with Nina, who comes by at Gressenheller every now and then, and he even considers her a rival of sorts due to Nina having a good memory and studying well. (also what the heck Luke why are you talking about getting to college and how you're worried that she may be admitted to college before you do, you're THIRTEEN)
Celia Raidley and Pierre Starbuck got married "just the other day" (yes, the ship is now officially confirmed beyond just the one image from the movie credits) and the tabloids are going wild over it.
Luke is reading Annie Dretche's latest mystery novel, and he can't put it down. Annie apparently told him that she has been writing faster so that Bargland (the guy who said he did not have much time left due to an illness) can read them at the hospital. Seems like "six months" turned into three years after all, good for him!
Anyway, that's all I have to say for now, I hope you enjoyed the rambling. I hope this will reach some fans of the movie who would be excited to get a few more details!
I spent the past few weeks transcribing and translating London Holiday.
» Go read it here! «
Hi! Have you ever heard of Professor Layton and the London Holiday? No? Well, this is a prologue of sorts to Diabolical Box, which was released on the Japanese versions of PL2… but was never translated into any other language. Any translation of PL2 completely removed it.
London Holiday is pretty much like a mini-PL adventure, though a purely slice-of-life one. This mini-adventure has 12 puzzles, of which I'm sure that most, if not all, are already present in the main game. Some will definitely look familiar to you (I didn't provide screenshots yet, but I might someday. In the meantime, just know that the images are identical as well to the puzzles you've already solved in the regular PL2 game).
London Holiday isn't part of these ‘lost media’ like would be Deathly Mirror, but it still was quite a mysterious, vastly unknown piece of the PL legacy. Up until now, the only thing we non-Japanese people had to access it was a blog that gave a few non-translated screenshots, and which now leads to a broken link, and two speedruns—speedruns, not playthroughs.
Anyway. Ever since I was able to find a Japanese rom of PL2 which had LH on it, I made it my mission to mend this mistake, and make the knowledge accessible to anyone. And at last, everyone can finally know what this mini adventure is about, in the details.
This isn't a let's play, but it has every single piece of dialogue I could find, and pretty much everything that is relevant. Like, the only things I didn't show are the tutorials such as the one that teaches you how to walk or open your menu in the original games. I might add them one day, but I think you'll agree that this hardly counts as primordial knowledge.
All this being said, please please please reblog this to any Layton fan! I don't care much about being recognised or anything, it's just that I don't want this mini-game to remain in the dark any longer, now that FINALLY it has been (somewhat) translated.
PS: I don't actually speak a single word of Japanese. If you do, Google Translate and I gummed up most of the work for you. The Japanese text is available as is, directly copy/pasted from the game's files (thank you Tinke), so it is 100% reliable. Google Translate, however, is not, as you can imagine. Therefore, if you have the time and motivation, please do help me make the translation more accurate!
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Here’s the timestamp for the in-game scene if you don’t believe me (which you shouldn’t)
I am going to scream
I am back to transcribing and translating what was left of Chelmey’s Casebook (for now, I just finished Part 1, so more or less the first half of the whole game), and for once the reality-bending soft magic system BS is blatantly visible in there.
As you can see, I am taking the reveal quite well, because it's not like I had been theorising about precisely this sort of thing being canon in-universe for the past few months or anything.
What is Inspector Chelmey’s Casebook: Special Recipe?
Just like the (somewhat) more widely known Professor Layton and the Mansion of the Deathly Mirror, Chelmey’s Casebook is a Japan-exclusive DoCoMo game. Basically, it’s a PL game that not only never left Japan, but was also considered lost media up until very recently, when someone kindly recorded and published a full playthrough of it. And BOY was I not prepared for this moment in the story when I saw it.
That aside though, it’s great to have a mini story where the protagonists are Chelmey and Barton, for once! This game’s story is about the two investigating in St. Mystere and trying to solve a certain case…
As I said, I still have quite some work to do before being done with the full transcription of the game, but you can read what has already been done right here!
hello, is the site where you posted the London Holiday translation down? i can't get to it anymore
Oh no I'm so sorry for that 😭 The website isn't down but it is entirely my fault if your link no longer works.
Here, this is a link that will ALWAYS work. It is not a link to London Holiday directly, but it is a link to EVERY transcription/translation I have so far (which includes for now London Holiday, Chelmey's Casebook, the beginning of Mansion of the Deathly Mirror, and a WIP for the Japan-exclusive Shogakukan novelisation of Eternal Diva). It also gives links to the Google Doc fan-translations of the three novels that were made years ago, but as a heads up, I have started making my own because 1) the current versions do not provide the original Japanese text, and 2) the translation... sort of sucks at times. There are times when it says "the thief tried to steal the professor's shoes" instead of aiming for his bag, and there are times when it straight up made stuff up (like the time when Raymond says that they used to play near a specific forest from the West of the UK when Des was a child, while the Japanese version doesn't say anything about that at all).
---
Quick explanation as to why the link you had no longer works: hosting a website is a bit like sharing a folder from your computer, except unlike on places like Google Drive, visitors don't get to actually see the folders and how they are organised (not directly that is), they're only given the absolute location of each file (aka links). And the issue is that if I move/rename a file in order to be more organised, it creates a dead link.
I will likely change again the link for an individual media in the future, but the link to the index that holds them all is extremely unlikely to ever change, given how its link really can't get more straightforward than it already is. I mean, good luck finding a file location more sensical than "/layton/index.html" Chances of this name changing are really abysmal.
For the individual pages themselves though (one per "lost" media), I will likely rename them as more and more show up. In my local computer (not online yet), I have renamed London Holiday's file to "lt1-5_lh" instead of just "lh", for example. This is not just in case I come to work on something Layton-related which also happens to have "LH" as an acronym, but also so I can use the "lt1-5" part of the name as a way to find the file more easily, as "lt1-5" would put it between Curious Village (lt1 if you datamine it) and Diabolical Box (lt2 when datamining). Novels will have a "nv(#)" prefix, DoCoMo games a "dcm" prefix, etc.
TL;DR Just hold on to the index page and have faith that it has everything you need, and I'm sorry for being a mess qjgjzkdkv
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Hello everybody! This playthrough is finally starting, and with it goes my sanity. I am playing on DS (French version but you will probably never see photos of it), mobile (UK version, I might sometimes give screenshots), and emulator for the Japanese “Friendly” version, of which I will provide the most footage.
The “Friendly” version is a re-release of the first DS games which added the furigana to the text, made all weekly puzzles available from the start instead of locking them out as downloadable content, and perhaps had a few other features I am not aware of. I only realised once I reached the title screen that this was not technically the original, but oh well. When I compared the DS, non-“Friendly” version of London Holiday with its mobile re-release version, the differences were completely anecdotic (the kanji 言 replaced with its hiragana spelling twice, and hint coins being renamed from ヒントメダル to ひらめきコイン, their current name); so I hope that the differences will be just as minor, because I unfortunately do not have the means currently to check them.
Major disclaimer:
I DO NOT SPEAK JAPANESE. KEEP THAT IN MIND. All my conclusions are based on what little stuff I know here and there about the language, but I am not at all a reliable reference in the subject. If you can speak Japanese, then please do feel free to correct me anytime, add details I forgot, etc. Thank you!
Important Note:
In the Japanese version, puzzles are consistently referred to as 「ナゾ」 (pronounced “nazo”), while 「ナゾトキ」 (pronounced “nazotoki”) will usually refer to the act of solving such a puzzle. Both expressions are written in katakana, which is in Japanese a way to emphasise words (kind of like italics, if you will). Normally, you would expect to find both expressions written as 「謎」 and 「謎解き」, but the fact that they are written in katakana instead will be interpreted here as “the characters are talking about something similar, but distinct from the original meaning of these expressions.” In other words, not all puzzles are the same, and a distinction must be made between simple riddles or mysteries, and 𝓹𝓾𝔃𝔃𝓵𝓮𝓼™.
I will try to consistently translate 「ナゾ」 as “puzzle” all throughout, and will use any other word if the Japanese version did not use this specific magic word (e.g. if the Japanese version uses the regular spelling 「謎」 instead of the katakana spelling). Therefore, when characters use the word 「ナゾ」, I will consider that they are talking about something far more specific than simply a “mystery.”
Why do I emphasise on such a nitpick? Because a big part of this lore analysis… is to try to define what a “puzzle” even is to begin with.
In this post and the future ones, if you find screenshots which have coloured text, the rule is basically this: red if it’s a “puzzle”, blue if it has a similar meaning but is not the same type of “puzzle” as the one we are most interested in.
Anyway. Digression aside, let’s get started!
HD Version only: The Extra Cutscene
I don’t have all that many things to say about it, since you can watch it on Youtube just fine and the Japanese version doesn’t have much to say that the English translations don’t say as well. Still, just a few things:
Layton has packed a very small suitcase, while Luke has filled the trunk of the Laytonmobile to the brim. Could it be that after Last Specter, Miracle Mask and especially Azran Legacy, Luke is expecting to have yet another long journey? After all, it is just around the very beginning of August, so he’s probably on summer vacations (and that is assuming he isn’t homeschooled anyway during the rest of the time; he definitely was during the time they were travelling around the world in the Bostonius).
Layton, on the other hand, does not seem to expect to stay in St. Mystere for long; but then again, we are talking about the man who, about three years earlier, went off to Misthallery without even packing anything and ended up having to stay there for a few days.
(Speaking of… neither did Emmy, for that matter.)
Also, I could analyse the fact that in order to reach St. Mystere, they crossed the Thames, and that thanks to Diabolical Box, we know the approximate location of Gressenheller within London (~9 Earlham St., Westminster); however, I will not do that, because DearestHershel already made a video entirely dedicated to locating St. Mystere using these exact points and others, and I do not disagree with his conclusions.
Letter from Luke to the Player
🇯🇵 親愛なる友人｛プレーヤー｝ へ
🗺️ To my dear friend, {Player},
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 To my dear friend, {Player},
🇯🇵 ボクたちが、あの日、あの町で体験したことは、誰にもいえない秘密になってしまったんだ。なぜなら、これは…
🗺️ What we experienced that day in that town has become a secret that we can’t tell anyone. This is because…
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 The things we saw that day in the village became a secret we would have to keep from everyone for the rest of our lives. Because, you see…
Nerd talk aside, I would personally consider this letter to not be canon in-universe, notably because Luke specifically states that he will never divulge the secret of St. Mystere… only to proceed to do exactly that in his letter. Also because of the fact that this letter being canon would imply that someone sharing the Player’s name exists in the Laytonverse and that Luke knows them well enough to want to share details of his cases to them, including this one.
Whether you decide to make your personal self-insert character canon or not, this still raises the question of just how many people are aware of what transpired in St. Mystere. Layton and Luke seemingly decided to not tell anything to anyone at all in order to protect Flora; Bruno and the inhabitants of St. Mystere have been aware of pretty much everything for years (perhaps less so in the case of the robots) and will keep doing their thing; and Don Paolo is quite unlikely to tell anyone either due to the fact that pretty much every plan he had for the town, its treasure, and its robots, ended in failure (and also, depending on how we interpret his character, he would also keep the secret for Flora’s sake).
And yet, there is something that has been bothering me for many years…
It’s already been months since then, hasn’t it? I hope you’re well.
When I heard from my colleagues that Professor Layton had resolved an inheritance dispute, I couldn’t help but write a letter.
I couldn’t believe that the same Professor Layton who saved the world from Targent accepted the simple request of solving an inheritance puzzle!
But since you always have a penchant for puzzles, it must have been a curious case and quite the intellectual workout.
This letter was written by Emmy Altava and was revealed in the Japan-exclusive Azran Legacy art book (For the translation, I borrowed the one made by @the-azran-legacies for the general style, but took the liberty of altering a few words when I felt like their translation was deviating a bit too much from the original text). Needless to say… If only at first glance, this is an issue. Not only did Emmy hear of the case, but she also heard of it from her journalist coworkers? Well, then again: perhaps what should be said here was that Layton did indeed talk about the case to the media (reluctantly so), but left it at “We solved an inheritance dispute in a remote village, it was boring, nothing to see here.” And perhaps the reason Emmy heard of it from her coworkers was either because Layton had not solved a single case between AL and CV, or because this case was simply a “really, there is nothing to see here, I promise” and some journalists are not buying it.
PS: Wild ass theory. In the original trilogy, Luke isn’t writing his letters to “the player.” He’s writing them to Emmy. And in the case of Curious Village, Emmy received Luke’s letter some time after she sent Layton her own.
After all, did you know that while CV, DB and UF all start with Luke writing a letter to someone, there is not a single letter to the player in the prequel trilogy games?
In fact, perhaps we could even theorise that Luke only got Emmy’s address thanks precisely to the letter she sent to Layton? And he decided to write her a letter explaining her the whole story after he finally got news from her?
Cutscene #01
There is not much to say about the cutscene itself, apart from the fact that the country road they are taking leads to absolutely nowhere else (which is precisely what Puzzle #001 is about), and that aside from said narrow country road, there is not a single human-made element around them for miles. My 2018 past self had already emphasised on that, but St. Mystere is consistently described as being particularly isolated and secluded (due to the fact that it has only one exit, and that the crank being stolen later will close that only exit).
The Car Scene
Phew! We finally made it past the, um… first two lines of dialogue in the game after the mobile cutscene. Wow. This is going to be a long ride, isn’t it.
I will not give the entirety of the dialogue, but I will show the parts that caught my attention:
🇯🇵 …２ヶ月前、資産家、アレン・ラインフォード氏が亡くなった。
🗺️ …Two months ago, the wealthy Allen Rhineford passed away.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 Two months ago, Baron Augustus Reinhold passed away.
🇯🇵 その後、彼の遺言状が開示されたが、そこには、実に興味深い内容が記されていた。
🗺️ Later, his will was disclosed, and it contained some really interesting details.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 Shortly after his death, his will was disclosed. The contents of it were fascinating, to say the least.
Baron Augustus Reinhold is actually named Allen Rhineford in the Japanese version, according to the romanised version of アレン・ラインフォード. Also, it is to be noted that the Japanese version does not seem to refer to him as a baron, at least not yet.
(EDIT: I mistakenly wrote it as Lineford, thinking that there was no official romanised version; however, there actually is one, and it is indeed Rhineford, not Lineford. The source is this Japanese wikipedia page, which gives the romanised names of the characters according to the Japanese version. My bad!)
He died two months earlier; or rather, his death was publicly announced two months earlier, as we will learn much later. Either case, the event Layton refers to took place more or less two months before the day they arrive in St. Mystere, which means that this would have happened around the end of May/beginning of June 1963.
🇯🇵 …我が一族の家宝、「黄金の果実」をこの町のどこかに隠してある。
🗺️ …My family's heirloom, the "Golden Fruit," is hidden somewhere in this town.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 "The Reinhold family treasure, the Golden Apple, is hidden somewhere within this village.
🇯🇵 「黄金の果実」を探しあてた者に、私が所有するすべての遺産を相続させる…
🗺️ Whoever finds the "Golden Fruit" will inherit all of my property…
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 To whomever successfully locates this treasure, I offer the whole of my estate."
Fun fact: the original Japanese version refers to the Golden Apple as 「黄金の果実」, meaning Golden Fruit, rather than specifically an apple.
🇯🇵 遺言の内容を知った一族の者たちは、その「黄金の果実」を、先を争うように探した。
🗺️ The members of the family, who knew the contents of the will, scrambled to find the "golden fruit".
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 Naturally, those who attended the reading of the will immediately set out in search of the Golden Apple.
🇯🇵 しかし、結局、誰も見つけることはできなかった。
🗺️ However, in the end, no one was able to find it.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 But in the end, everybody came back empty handed.
🇯🇵 そもそも、そんな家宝があったなんてことを誰ひとり聞いたことがなかったという。
🗺️ In the first place, no one had ever heard of such a family heirloom.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 It turns out that no one had even heard of such a treasure existing until its mention in the will.
The Japanese version specifies “family members,” while the English translation is more general—which could have implied that other unrelated people might have been present during the reading of the will (or at least, that is how I have interpreted it for years). It is a nitpick, since we are probably few to imagine that people from outside St. Mystere would have actually been present during the reading, if you think about it hard enough. But it is interesting to note that Layton is thus more or less saying here that the only people who bothered searching for the Golden Apple were the family members themselves, and that there is no clear mention of other outsiders coming to look for it.
If no outsider aside from Layton was warned, then this raises the question of just how Don Paolo came to hear about it in the first place… Current hypothesis is that he is stalking Layton and perhaps even reading his mail, simply put. There are dubious ways to read letters without opening them.
Did you notice that the scenery changes after Layton is finished explaining the basics of the case? It seems like the country road led them to go through a forest dense enough to block some of the sunlight. After Luke solves the puzzle, the background goes back to the brighter scenery.
🇯🇵 ああ。彼は莫大な財産をかけて、生涯最後のナゾを仕掛けたというわけだ。一体、何が目的なのかもわからない。
🗺️ Yes. He set up the last puzzle of his life with his vast fortune. I don't even know what the purpose is.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 Quite. Augustus Reinhold staked his entire fortune just to create one more puzzle before his death.
Hey, would you look at that! ナゾ has been said in a dubious context, you know what this means. Take a shot everybody (I’m joking. Please don’t. Tea is amazing but there are health issues related to drinking too much of it).
Joke aside, there is something else to note: depending on how the sentence is read (I do hope someone who can speak Japanese could help clarify), Layton might be either saying that the baron staked his fortune on that “last puzzle,” or that he used said fortune to set up the puzzle in question—or, most likely, both, given the fact that we have another case of “ok perhaps this isn’t magic but you literally have to be the richest person on Earth to pull this off” on our hands.
Additionally, in the Japanese version exclusively, Layton has this additional line: “I don’t even know what the purpose [behind the treasure hunt] is.” This line was most likely removed from the translations due to the lack of space.
In fact, there was another instance in which the translations had no choice but to add another dialogue box and split Luke’s dialogue in two! This happened in this case:
🇯🇵 確かに先生とは気が合いそうですね。ところで、「黄金の果実」っていったい何なのでしょうか？
🗺️ I’m sure he would have gotten along with you. By the way, what exactly is the “golden fruit”?
[1|2] 🇺🇸/🇬🇧 It certainly sounds like you two would’ve gotten along, Professor!
[2|2] 🇺🇸/🇬🇧 By the way, just what is this Golden Apple anyhow?
To be honest, I believe that splitting this dialogue into two different dialogue boxes makes more sense, since they are two vastly different sentences and lack a clear transition.
🇯🇵 宝石なのか、骨董品なのか、それもまたナゾだよ。実に興味深い。
🗺️ Is it a jewel or an antique, that is also a puzzle. Really interesting.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 Some speculate it's a rare antique, while others say it could be a gem, yet its identity remains elusive.
🇯🇵 だけど、ルーク、私はこの一件に、他にも何かとてつもない秘密が隠されているような気がしてならないんだ。
🗺️ But, Luke, I can't help but feel that there are some other great secrets hidden in this case.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 But, Luke, I can't shake the feeling that this matter is linked to some larger mystery. Something huge.
So, have you noticed? The English translations have failed to account for the fact that Layton used the magic word in order to describe the nature of the Golden Apple. Just thought I would let you know, it would be a shame to forget to take a shot :p
Oh, and speaking of removing an important “puzzle” magic word through the translation, we have another one just a bit ahead:
🇯🇵 このナゾトキをラインフォード夫人に依頼されただけさ。
🗺️ I was commissionned by Mrs. Rhineford to do this puzzle solving.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 Augustus Reinhold's wife, Lady Dahlia, has asked me to investigate the situation.
Anyway. Layton “can’t shake the feeling” that there is a lot more to the Golden Apple puzzle than a simple treasure hunt. But what could possibly lead him to this feeling? Well… the fact that St. Mystere is so isolated, that the Golden Apple would be an heirloom whose existence is unknown to the members of the family which is supposed to own it, even the fact that Lady Dahlia Reinhold would contact him specifically, perhaps… are some ever so slightly peculiar details, I suppose. Not to mention, perhaps, one thing related to the map puzzle, depending on how the puzzle lore goes. All this is not necessarily enough to truly raise the red flags just yet, but enough to spark some curiosity and suspicion.
🇯🇵 先生、なんだかはりきってますね。考古学者でありながら、どんなナゾでも解決する名探偵、
🗺️ Professor, I'm kind of excited. The great detective who can solve any puzzle while being an archaeologist,
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 This is all so exciting!
🇯🇵 エルシャール・レイトン、さっそく現場へ急行ってわけですね！
🗺️ Hershel Layton, rushed to the scene immediately!
🇺🇸 I hope St. Mystere is ready for the famous archeologist and puzzle-solving detective, Hershel Layton!
🇬🇧 I hope St Mystere is ready for the famous archaeologist and puzzle-solving detective, Hershel Layton!
Come on, Luke, you have seen much harder puzzles than this. Though, if I were to open a map and see this blatantly not-to-scale drawing instead, I too would have at least a little moment of surprise.
So… This is when the crazy talk really starts getting in. What are your thoughts? Luke is evidently shocked just at the mere sight of it, so I fear that the Doylist explanation “Luke actually is holding a regular map, it’s just that the players are shown the puzzle instead” seems out of the table. Somehow, Luke is able to take this paper, solve the puzzle on it, and deduce from this drawing real life directions for what is for him, currently, the middle of nowhere.
Strange, really strange… It is almost as if the drawing itself were less the key to figuring out the real life directions to take, and rather a gatekeep preventing whoever looks at it from accessing the true map until the puzzle is solved.
Hm? Ah, don’t mind me, I was just rambling. I have not seen enough evidence in this particular instance yet, so the hypothesis that Luke would be surprised less by the fact of seeing a puzzle, and more by the fact that he would find a puzzle that would do Lady Dahlia’s bidding, is at this stage baseless conjecture. I will just keep this little bit of speculation in the back of my mind and see if more evidence to confirm it shows up later, under similar but different circumstances. (Spoiler alert: it does happen regarding the puzzle lore, and it is even crazier than I expected.)
🇯🇵 その地図を解読しないと町には着けないらしい。
🗺️ It seems that you can't get to the town without deciphering this map.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 Lady Dahlia seems to have given us a test. We'll need to decipher this map in order to find the village.
🇯🇵 どうやら夫人は、私を試すつもりのようだ。
🗺️ It seems that she is going to test me.
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 She wants to see if we're capable of cracking the mystery surrounding the Reinhold fortune.
🇯🇵 私が遺産の謎を解ける人物かどうか…君はどう思う？ ルーク。
🗺️ I wonder if I'm the one who can solve the mystery of the inheritance... What do you think, Luke?
🇺🇸/🇬🇧 Care to give it a go, Luke?
Um. Ahem. Excuse me? That last sentence is quite intriguing, all the more so since it could have used the puzzle magic word, but decided to go with the regular kanji spelling instead. Funny how it was not translated at all in the English versions… I can imagine why, but that is still surprising. This sort of reminds me of the cryptic sentences Layton will sometimes say in the prequel trilogy for no reason other than to sound cool and cryptic.
Anyway. We FINALLY reached the first puzzle! Yayyyyy… oh, dear.
So, uh… You know what? I think I will leave the actual puzzle for another time. This post has already been WAY longer than I anticipated and I am exhausted x’D I would rather go back to it with a clearer mind rather than rush it.
And that is all! Just getting to the first puzzle has been quite the adventure, and trying to keep track of so many languages at once made things even worse. To be honest, in the future I will probably drop all languages other than Japanese and US + UK, including dropping French despite the fact that it is my mother language, because searching through the files is not a short task… and because I did not even get to show them here at all anyway, so this was pretty much extra work for nothing.
I guess I will go back to them one day if I ever make my archiving work public, but that will be the question for another time. For now, the website I made for CV is for local use only, because uploading it and its assets would be quite the hassle (not to mention “arguably illegal…?” I have no idea here).
In either case, the Italian, Spanish and German versions are certain to be dropped when I will move to other games. The European version of Curious Village contains the data for all languages at once, but starting from Diabolical Box onwards, this will no longer be the case; so unless I were to get the roms for all EU languages each time, I wouldn’t be able to do the datamining if I wanted to.
Still, speaking of languages! There is one last thing I would like to share, and that is a thorough comparison between the US and UK versions. Here goes!
The differences are either nonexistent or subtle most of the time, but as we can see, there are a few differences still. So… Should I refer to the US and UK versions as two different languages? One language and a half? Eh. Who knows. I have been treating them as two entirely separate languages so far, just to be thorough.
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