pararai | Masterpost

How To Get Into Paradox Live: A Quick-Start Guide

NOTES
-Translations are done by the OP of the post (carpfish or g0df0x), but we beta each other's stuff so just assume that most things are at least loosely collaborative.
-None of our translations may be used for quote bots or other automated social media accounts, nor may they be fed into large language models (ex: to seed an "AI" character chatbot).
-Drama track translations and novel/short story translations may be reproduced in part (screencaps, etc), but not in whole without explicitly granted permission. Credit directed to this blog (pararai.dreamwidth.org) is not strictly required (I can't make you do anything), but I do strongly encourage it.
-Ask to reproduce song translations. We'll give permission, we just want to know where they're used.
-Other translations (comics, social media, etc) may not be reproduced at all.
-All translations necessarily involve a degree of interpretation; these translations are not to be treated as unimpeachable canon, nor as tantamount to official text.
-In any case where it is possible, I implore you to support the franchise via official streaming platforms, buying copies of print media, blu-rays, et al.

Follow SnakebrainTL @ twitter for translation updates.
Translations mirrored at phanto.moe. No other copy of these translations is authorized.

The framing stories of Hidden Track: MEMORY happen ~here; see "Other Stuff" for translations of the chapters.

*Songs marked with an asterisk have official translations (subtitles on the official video), and so while we'll maybe get to them eventually, they're pretty low priority and will only be done if we get attacked by brainworms. But this might happen.

Some assorted notes that apply to multiple translations:
(referring specifically to the drama track translations done by g0df0x)

This entire translation is Choose Not to Warn (CNTW).
The assumed audience is fluent English speakers with at least a degree of familiarity with Japanese culture and media. As such:
- This translation contains slang, colloquial (American, because I am American) English, and other myriad localization choices that sometimes stray from the 100% literal words being spoken in order to better communicate the effect.
- Certain forms of address (Iori calling Yohei "Danna", Zen calling Iori "Waka", the Akan Yatsura kids calling Iori "Aniki", Chungsung's use of "bocchama", and most honorifics) are left as-is rather than adapted under the assumption that the audience is at least passingly familiar with the connotations.
Sometimes our translations (especially song translations) will be different than the official translations offered. We stand by our translations.
Any time that a pun or joke has been localized rather than directly translated, I try to include a footnote denoting this. I'm very funny and you should appreciate the work I put into translating lame jokes.
The cat that appears in a lot of The Cat's Whiskers content, Kurobuchi Maou DX (called "Kuro" by everyone but Ryu) is translated as Black-Spotted Demon King DX (called "Spot" by everyone but Ryu). This is mostly because I think this is funny.
Anne is written as nonbinary and using they/them pronouns, and the handful of early references to them "actually being a man" are not excluded, but are nudged slightly to parse better with the current depiction of the character (mostly, this just means instances of reference to them being a man have been changed to the phrasing "not a girl").
- If you want to argue with me about "changing things": note that the canon has been changing their tune about how they are depicted and written (please read Memory); exchanges about them being a man have been excised from the stageplay version of Pride; official Japanese-facing English text (e.g. the SWANK ad copy) uses neutral pronouns; and as of 2023, wholly-Japanese text has been removing reference to them being a man from e.g. their profile. My translations changes are extremely minimal and help to align the character with the way they are being handled at present.
- In instances where Satsuki is speaking under the impression they are a girl, he and anyone playing along with him will use she/her pronouns for them.
In equal turn: I will be using he/him pronouns for Aoi, under the assumption that even if he turns out to be explicitly nonbinary, his gender is not at present a matter of public knowledge (or even, it seems, a matter of knowledge throughout VISTY), and therefore his public-facing identity is for all intents and purposes binary male. I will revise this stance later if necessary. (This said, I also personally believe he's a trans man.)
Sometimes there are things that are unclear, that happen offscreen, or that are stated and later retconned. I try to make note of places where this happen.
I often have to make my best guess at things. None of these translations should be treated as tantamount to canon, as irrefutable, or immune to human error. As a result of the above, these should not be treated as canonical text, which means you should please not re-translate into any language other than English using these translations as a source or point of reference.