・Streaming / Download on MEGA: Limits – Hiyashi-Chuuka (Cold Noodles)
・Streaming on VK: Limits – Hiyashi-Chuuka (Cold Noodles)

Genkai (Limits) series is one of my all time favorites Gaki no Tsukai series, mostly because even before actually knowing about it, I used to dare my friends to order things up in cafés and restaurants by saying something different but similar-sounding; pretty much the same deal. Good times. Maybe that’s why I enjoy this series so much. Anyway, this episode is pretty damn old. It’s the second episode ever from the series (right after Ice Coffee), and there’s still no Cocorico in the main cast. It’s also my second “Limits” series translation, first one being Limits – Cutlet Curry, which is also my very first translated episode since I’ve decided to open this website, back in September 2016 (though I already translated other stuff before).
While it’s a short episode, it’s never easy to translate / adapt play on words from japanese, I tried my best and decided to use a japanese technique for it (read more in the notes).
I’m not currently working on a new episode right now, but giving the circumstances I may start working on something new pretty soon, so stay tuned for more to come (I guess?)!

Notes:

– Mantaining what they’re saying in japanese adds nothing to my translation, and replacing it with its english translation makes the final product awkward and ambiguous. That’s why I’ve decided to use a sort of furigana system for this translation: I’ve kept japanese words but I also wrote above them how to “read” them in english. I hope it’s not incredibly confusing, that’s the best thing I could think of to keep both the original words and their translation.
– Of course, some of their translations are a bit off mainly due having them perfectly adapted would result in overly long sentences. Most of the terms end with “ka”, which in japanese is used to express a question (and that’s why most of them have a question mark), others were adapted in a simpler way. Here’s the full translation of each term:
・”Hiyashi-Chuuka”: Cold Noodles or Chilled Noodles, or even Hiyashi-Chuuka is fine, being the name of the dish itself. “Chuuka” means “chinese (dish / cuisine)”, so when it occurs for example with “Miyashi (name) Chuuka”, it’s actually “Chinese Miyashi”. I kept “Noodles” merely because it would make more sense (it doesn’t make much sense in japanese too, anyway).
・”Higashi Nichuu Ka”: this one is a question (ends with “ka”). It could mean lots of things, or nothing whatsoever: don’t forget their main goal is to have sentences that sound similar, not necessarily sentences that make sense (see “he get sea check car“). Higashi = east, ni = 2, chuu = center/middle. “Second-center on east”? “Is that eastern central no.2”? “Central-second, eastside”? Who knows.
・”Chuuka Hiyashi-Hiyashi”: similar to “buta indo karameshi” in Limits – Cutlet Curry. Order changed, words doubled.
・”Hikkoshi shiyou ka”: another question. “Should I move away?” or “How about we move away?”, implying “to move” as in “to change home”.
・”Oyaji chau ka”: that’s a tricky one. Can mean lots of things, like “A dad?! Me?!” or “A dad?! You?!” etc.
・”Nenjuu mukyuu ka”: another question. Nenjuu means “throughout the whole year”, while mukyuu means “no holidays”, “nonstop”. If a japanese shop says “nenjuu mukyuu”, it means they’re opened 24/7 every day. That’s why the waiter replies that way to Yamazaki.

That’s all for now; there’s really not much I can do right now under the circumstances, so I think I’ll start looking for a new to-be-subbed episode soon enough. Until then, please stay safe and stay home.

Info:

episode #337, aired 1996/09/08

・Streaming / Download on MEGA: Bananaman Shitara’s Shichi-Henge
・Streaming on VK: Bananaman Shitara’s Shichi-Henge

It’s been a whilen’t. Two episodes in a row; crazy, isn’t it?
Well, not as crazy as the situation the entire world is facing right now. Covid-19 is spreading fast and – I don’t know about you – but here in Italy we’re all pretty much locked up in our homes. Some of us are singing on their balcony, others are doing in-house flashmobs. I never cared much about this kind of stuff and I’ve decided to use this free time to bring some more subbed Gaki to you. A laugh may help you (us) forget for a while about the chaos outside our windows.
Anyway, today’s episode has been typesetted by GakiDave, who already helped me typesetting its prequel, Bananaman Himura’s Shichi-Henge (go watch it now if you haven’t yet)!
Shichi-Henge is a series I hold dear, is one of the first Gaki series I ever watched and I translated a significant number of those. As I said in other occasions, I also like Bananaman a lot, they always seem to have a lot of fun while performing, and I really like that.
Shitara’s Shichi-Henge is already pretty infamous in the Gaki community because of that fan meeting scene which you’re going to find inside this episode. Hope you’ll enjoy today’s episode, and I hope everything will be okay! Sit back, relax and, while you’re at it, check out my complete translations list: maybe there’s still some subbed Gaki episode you haven’t watched yet!

Notes:

– I didn’t place the usual notes about on-screen texts. Like “meeting session” right after the opening, or “Shichi-Henge starts” when Shitara gets up, or “penalty” each time they laugh, or the usual note about how all the earned money are going to be devolved. I think you can all understand those even without subs, after all the shichi-henge episodes I’ve subbed so far.
– The zombie episode Matsumoto is refering to is 絶妙なタイミングでゾンビ登場 (“Perfectly timed zombie entrance”), which aired some time before Shitara’s Shichi-Henge. in this article, it is actually revealed that because of that experience, Matsumoto developed claustrophobia.

Again, thanks to GakiDave for his typeset / QC.
Next week there will be a new episode, one from the good ol’ 90s.
Remember: you can support my translation by making small donations on my ko-fi page, so I can afford hand sanitizer and toilet paper and disappear in my bunker forever.
Stay tuned next week for a new episode!

Info:

episode #1004, aired 2010/05/09

・Streaming / Download on MEGA: Burning Hot Tennis Lesson
・Streaming on VK: Burning Hot Tennis Lesson

First off, let me say a huge THANK YOU to Riddell for typesetting this episode: without him it wouldn’t be online!
Secondly… it’s been a while, isn’t it? I know I can’t make promises anymore. I can’t promise new episodes, I can’t promise Isho, I can’t promise anything at all, really. Real life is happening and it’s getting complicated to keep promises when it comes to this subbing activity I’m doing. I do still enjoy it, so – to an extent – I’d like to keep it both as a private project and as a way to constantly practice my japanese (I finally got my N1 last December in Tokyo!). So expect more, but… just that.
Now, about today’s episode… it’s a weird one. But it’s not something you haven’t seen yet. Remember one of my first subbed episodes, The Anguish of Endo Shozo? You can say this is a sequel. I think there are even other episode about this gay-endo lore which I find both incredibly stupid and hilarious.
Today, our Gaki guys will learn how to play tennis, but one of them is going to learn so much more about himself and about the greatest mystery of the world: love.

Notes:

– Throughout the whole episode, when Endo is referring to himself or when the coach says his name during the daydream sequences, it says “Endo Shuuzo” and not “Endo Shozo”. This is most likely a reference to legendary japanese tennis player Shuzo Matsuoka, whose motivational videos are one of the biggest japanese internet memes.
– There are TONS of sexual innuendos and puns throughout the episodes, I tried my best to have them sound natural or at least decent in my translation. Few examples:
・Having the racket standing upright in japanese is “tataseru”, which is also the same verb you use to describe having an erection.
・When the coach is splashing water on his face, Endo says “bukkakeru”, which, contrary to popular belief, is a normal verb in japanese, and it simply means to splash (a liquid) all over yourself or something else. However, I choose to keep the infamously international word “bukkake” even on my translation, being an obvious sexual innuendo.
・”Toru” can both mean “to pick up” or “to take away” in japanese. That’s why when Yamazaki is telling the ball-boy to pick up the balls, Endo believes he’s talking about having his balls removed.
・”All-open” is the way japanese refers to the Australian Open, one of the biggest tennis tournament in the world. I kept “all” in my translation so it made more sense.
・Kei Nishikori is another famous japanese tennis player. “Mokkori” means “bulge”, that’s what Endo says right after (“Nishi Mokkori?”). I chose to adapt my pun in english instead.
– Just two notes about the costume talk section:
・Rin Ihara is Matsumoto’s wife.
・When he’s talking about Yamazaki’s six-month abstinence, it’s because he chose to become a rakugoka, and in order to do so you have to live with your master for some months and learn the arts as you do his chores (for real).
– And lastly, here’s the (semi-complete) list of songs you can hear throughout the episode (in order of appearance). Or you can check out this Youtube Playlist instead.

Once again, I’d like to say a huge thank you to Riddell, but also to every other fan who’s been sending me typesetted files / helping me uploading subbed content. I know I have my limits when it comes to written english (just look at this weird-ass sentence I just made), and I apprecciated his typeset just as much as I apprecciated his quality check, which helped me a lot.
I’m sure I can do a much better job by translating every upcoming episode in my mother tongue… but who’s going to be there to watch them? Thanks for bearing with my poor sentences and awkward lines. Really. Hope you can help me improve even more!
Thank you for watching, see you next episode(?)!

Info:

episode #1051, aired 2011/04/24