Thoughts on J-Novel Translation of Vezendi’s Shadow, Ch 3
-Once again, the TP translation includes a lot of exaggerations and extra paragraphs. Far too many to do an exhaustive listing.
-Something that strikes me now that I have my TP translation in front of me and am comparing it to J-Novel rather than relying on memory, but in TP Lina is a lot more self-critical about her inability to take on Zuuma (ie: why do I suck?) where in J-Novel Lina is more frustrated with Zuuma’s over the top skill level.
-And TP seems to have invented another whole paragraph or two after Zuuma flees when Gourry breaks down the door and fabricated a bit about Lina and Amelia checking themselves for injuries. Interestingly in J-Novel the scene ends with Gourry asking if Lina is okay, and J-Novel says he “shouted”, and Lina responds that she is and that Amelia’s fine, too. I will say this is definitely the start of Gourry being very concerned for Lina’s safety. That is one aspect of the TP translation that does not appear to be exaggerated.
-The scene with the gossiping maidservant is also greatly exaggerated in the TP version with whole paragraphs materializing from nowhere.
-The stuff Lina and Gourry tell Zel about Radok is very different as well. In TP they say that his father was reportedly very mean and disliked and that it wouldn’t have been a surprise if someone hired an assassin for him, while in J-Novel it says that family business has been in decline since Radok took over, with only a tiny bit about Radok’s dad being disliked. It seems to me that in J-Novel there may be more of a foreshadowing of Radok turning out to be Zuuma with this, like the reason the business was in decline was because Radock was more interested in being an assassin than giving the business the attention it needed type thing.
-Lina cautioning Zel and Amelia about Xellos comes off more strong in J-Novel, and to my mind hints about his Mazoku status; J-Novel: “Listen up you two. Don’t get the wrong idea. Xellos is just along for the ride here. He’s not one of us, and he isn’t on our side.”
In TP: “Look you two, Xellos is our traveling companion. He’s not our friend, and he’s not our ally.”
But a few paragraphs later in TP is once again exaggerated, with Lina saying that if it were up to her she wouldn’t keep him around while in J-Novel she just points out that they can’t rely on him.
I do think the point of interest here is how Lina just accepts that Xellos is not someone they can rely on him and calls out Zel and Amelia for bashing Xellos for being unreliable, basically because it means that they aren’t on guard around him like they need to be. I think this has interesting implications for when the rest of the group finds that Xellos is a Mazoku in the next novel. Lina was always guarded about Xellos and while she may not have outed him she was also always honest about the fact that they can’t trust him and that he wasn’t their ally, and I’d be willing to bet Gourry picked up on that and followed her lead. Meanwhile, despite Lina’s warning, Zel and Amelia seemed to continue to treat Xellos as someone who should be on their side but was slacking off (though, to be fair, Xellos was not slacking off), and thus felt deceived when the truth was revealed.
What this means? Despite Lina’s doubts, Gourry is the only one of the group who actually listens to her :-)
-That said, it’s rather obvious in the J-Novel translation when Lina figures out about Raltark and Xellos with the benefit of knowing about the reveals.
