SF Saiyuki Starzinger – Episode 56

Fierce Duel! Kugo vs. Gaima

The Space Shark is disabled. The soldiers who lost the will to fight were executed in rage, leaving only Prince Gaima on board. He escapes in his mecha-robot Hydra and approaches the Cosmos. Kugo and his men send the Princess to the Great Planet while they stay behind to confront Hydra. There is no way to defeat the mighty Hydra even if they fight separately, and the only way to win is for all three of them to jump into its bosom simultaneously. Can they successfully defeat Hydra and Prince Gaima’s ambitions?

You can download the torrent file from Anidex or Anirena, or get direct links from AnimeTosho.

Translation Thoughts

This is the final episode of the Prince Gaima arc and the last arc of the series. From now on, we’re back to the episodic style of Starzinger until our friends reach the Great Planet in the last episode. Remember, Starzinger has only 64 episodes. The last nine episodes are Starzinger II, a different series.

The following line is supposed to make you cry, and if it didn’t, then I failed as a translator:

あなたたち3人がついてくれるんですもの
Anata-tachi san-nin ga tsuite kureru ndesu mono
The three of you will follow me

Princess Aurora says that no matter what happens to her, the three cyborgs will come to rescue her. I thought that a better translation would be “The three of you will be there for me”, since it would better express Aurora’s feelings. Another one that’s good is “The three of you are always there for me”.

Also, remember this line:

ギャラクシーエネルギーは愛です
GYARAKUSHII ENERUGII wa ai desu
The Galaxy Energy is love

If I remember correctly, this line is going to be repeated many times from now on until the end of the show. Remember that Galaxy Energy is the fuel used to restore the galaxy’s energy. I’ve explained this before in episode 40.

At 20:05 I believe Kugo says:

しようがねえよ。主人公後から登場するか
Shiyouga nee yo. Shujinkou ato kara toujou suru ka
It can’t be helped. Maybe the main character appears later?

I’m not 100% sure of that line. If that’s what he’s saying, he’s referring to himself and will participate in the fight later. He does, indeed.

SF Saiyuki Starzinger – Episode 55

The Battle of the Gilara Star System

Princess Aurora is trapped in a cave by Prince Gaima. The ceiling and walls could collapse at any moment. After discovering the Princess’ whereabouts, Kugo and the others go to rescue her, but the entrance is buried, so Hakka has to dig through the ground to get to her. Prince Gaima is furious when he learns that Princess Aurora is still alive, and attacks again with the Space Shark. Kugo rushes forward with the Starcrow to settle the matter!

You can download the torrent file from Anidex or Anirena, or get direct links from AnimeTosho.

Translation Thoughts

Hakka says his funniest “Starbood, launch!” in this episode. Actually, this episode is full of Hakka’s goofiness.

Also, it seems that Starbood wanted to take the Princess with it and leave Hakka behind. This was very funny. But it’s interesting that Starbood decided to take a different route at some point.

Gaima is really intimidating. At 7:37 he says:

できないようだったら貴様の首は飛んでいるところだ
Dekinai youdattara kisama no kubi wa tonde iru tokoroda
If they can’t, your head will be flying

If the triple cannon can’t be repaired, Prince Gaima will just cut off the captain’s head and send it flying. How charming!

SF Saiyuki Starzinger – Episode 54

Desperate Situation! Princess Aurora

Kugo and his friends have fallen into Prince Gaima’s trap and have been separated from Princess Aurora. He rushes to go after her, but he cannot use the Crow Belt because it may cause an explosion of the hydrogen spectrum. Princess Aurora, who had escaped to an asteroid, is approached by the Space Shark. She takes advantage of the fact that she has only one-tenth the weight to deceive her enemies, but Prince Gaima finds her. Princess Aurora escapes into a cave, but there is nowhere to run. What is Kugo going to do?

You can download the torrent file from Anidex or Anirena, or get direct links from AnimeTosho.

Translation Thoughts

Every time the Princess is in danger, she always asks Kugo for help. She clearly has a favorite, doesn’t she? This makes me feel bad for the other two cyborgs, who are also supposed to be in love with the Princess. They have no chance; when she’s in a pinch, she only thinks about Kugo being the prince who is going to rescue her. And he always does.

I think this is the episode where Aurora has the most dialogue.

At 6:34 Princess Aurora says:

月の表面の重力加速度は16.6%だから月の表面より軽くなれるはずだわ
Tsuki no hyoumen no juuryoku kasokudo wa 16. 6% dakara tsuki no hyoumen yori karuku nareru hazu da wa
The gravitational acceleration on the surface of the Moon is 16.6%, so I should be lighter than if I were on the surface of the Moon.

The word Moon is capitalized here because Princess Aurora is talking about the Earth’s moon, which is named Moon. The acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the Moon is in fact 16.6%, so Princess Aurora made her homework. She was born there anyway, so this must be general knowledge that is taught in Moon’s schools.

We’re good so far, right? Then she says:

もし重力加速度が地球の10%以下なら私の体重は1キロにも満たないことになる
Moshi juuyoku kasokudo ga chikyuu no 10% ikanara watashi no taijuu wa 1-KIRO ni mo mitanai koto ni naru
If the gravitational acceleration is less than 10% of Earth’s, then I’d weigh less than 1 Kg.

Even though the writers tried their best to be accurate about gravity in space, Princess Aurora can’t weigh less than 1 kilogram on an asteroid that has 10% of Earth’s gravity. Let’s say Princess Aurora weighs 50 kilograms because she looks like she would weigh just 50 kilograms. Her weight on the surface of the Moon would be 8.25 kilograms, and her weight on the asteroid would be 5 kilograms.

If Princess Aurora weighs less than one kilogram on an asteroid where its acceleration due to gravity is 10% of Earth’s, that means she weighs less than 10 kilograms on Earth!

I knew she was a little on the thin side! I once had a German Shepherd that weighed four times more than her! And he was lean! Not to mention that if she weighs less than one kilogram on the surface of that asteroid, she couldn’t be running like that.

And it’s simply amazing how Princess Aurora can breathe everywhere in space! She’s only human.

I understand this is a show for kids and some flexibility is allowed, but this episode was insane.

I believe the Bi-Tank is called like that because it’s able to fly and drive at the same time.

SF Saiyuki Starzinger – Episode 53

Suprise Attack! Black Sun

Bellamis realized that her mission was to bury the evil army and took on Prince Gyuma’s army by herself. However, she was bombarded by Prince Gaima and fell on an asteroid. Prince Gaima suddenly appeared before Kugo, who was on a reconnaissance mission. He mistakenly believes that Kugo is his enemy and attacks him without listening to his excuses. Kugo, feeling that there is no way out of this situation, takes advantage of the impending eclipse of the Gilara Sun and launches a surprise attack on the Space Shark!

You can download the torrent file from Anidex or Anirena, or get direct links from AnimeTosho.

Translation Thoughts

This episode has a lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo from Jogo that doesn’t necessarily make a lot of sense. So be prepared to read a lot of random scientific stuff. I translated most of them directly, but even in Japanese, it sounds confusing.

At 8:43 Kugo introduces himself to Prince Gaima like this:

俺は宇宙一の暴れん坊ジャンクーゴ様だ
Ore wa uchuu ichi no abarenbou JAN KUUGO-sama da
I’m the most violent kid in the universe, Jan Kugo-sama.

Honestly, this might sound cool in Japanese, but in English, it sounds terrible. Since this is a show for kids, I changed it a little bit to what kids would want to hear about who Jan Kugo is.

At 11:36 Prince Gaima says:

まず貴様から血祭りにあげてやる
Mazu kisama kara chimatsuri ni agete yaru
First of all, I am going to give you a blood festival

The word 血祭り chimatsuri means “blood festival” or “bloodbath”. Now that I think about it, maybe “blood fest” or “bloodbath” would have been better choices for this translation. At the time, all I could come up with was “blood festival”.

SF Saiyuki Starzinger – Episode 52

The Man Who Came Back From Hell

After the destruction of the planets Gyuma and Lassetz, the remnants of Gyuma’s army continued their activities, despite Princess Aurora’s prayers for peace. Prince Gaima, son of King Gyuma, was surprised to hear the news of the destruction of his planet. It seems that a man named Kugo defeated his father and destroyed his homeland. Prince Gaima, proud to be the strongest cyborg warrior in the Gilara system, vows to take revenge on the Cosmos, Kugo and his friends!

You can download the torrent file from Anidex or Anirena, or get direct links from AnimeTosho.

Translation Thoughts

This is the first episode of the Prince Gaima arc, which goes up to episode 56. This is also the last arc of the series; after this it’s just episodic stories (or fillers if you will) until they reach the Great Planet on episode 64, the last episode of Starzinger I.

Prince Gaima is King Gyuma’s son who was in the Zeta star system, but he returned to this home planet after the whole Zeta star system exploded because of the weakening of the galaxy’s energy. He didn’t know that both his father and his planet were gone.

At 1:57 Kugo says:

うるさいんだよなもう人がせっかくいい気持ちで眠ってるってのに
Urusai nda yo na mou hito ga sekkaku ii kimochi de nemutteru tte no ni
It’s noisy even though there are people sleeping peacefully

The direct translation shows a little more of Kugo’s sarcasm than the line I used. I just felt it didn’t sound right, so I changed it a little bit. It’s funny to me how, after this line, Hakka asks the same question to Jogo, but quieter this time.

I struggled a little bit with the line at 2:14:

ボスは死んだんだよそんな生き残りたいしたことはないよ
Bosu wa shinda nda yo sonna ikinokori taishita koto wa nai yo
The boss is dead, they are not a big deal, surviving like that

What Kugo is trying to say here is that since the boss is dead, what kind of life could they have? How can they survive like that? It’s not much of a survival.

Hakka says at 5:34:

あれが本当の一人相撲だぜ
Are ga hontou no hitori sumou da ze
That’s real one-man sumo wrestling

I’m pretty sure you’ve heard about sumo, the national Japanese sport. The joke here is that the army destroyed itself, and it looked like a one-man fight.

SF Saiyuki Starzinger – Episode 51

Fight! Warriors of Love

The end was approaching for the planet Lassetz as it was affected by the planet Gyuma explosion. Bellamis stayed on the planet to mourn Queen Lassetz. She saw in the Queen the image of her late mother. Soon after, the planet Lassetz explodes, and Bellamis is lost in the explosion. In the end, Kugo and the others were unable to save the people of Lassetz. As they make their way to the Great Planet, overcome with sorrow, they discover a spaceship that has been completely destroyed by a monster attack. It seems to be the work of an invisible monster.

You can download the torrent file from Anidex or Anirena, or get direct links from AnimeTosho.

Translation Thoughts

This is the last episode of the Gyuma – Lassetz arc. Or maybe the last episode was the previous one, and this is a filler? I’m not sure, but all I know is that a new arc starts with the next episode.

Even though both Gyuma and Lassetz were bad people, Lassetz was way worse. But even so, she had a better burial than Gyuma’s. At 7:15 Bellamis says:

安らかに眠ってください
Yasuraka ni nemutte kudasai
Rest in peace

If you didn’t know how to say rest in peace in Japanese, well, now you do!

When Hakka is looking at the destroyed ships, he says at 12:09:

みんなぶっ壊されてるじゃねーか
Minna bukkowasareteru ja nee ka
They have all been destroyed, haven’t they?

The verb ぶっ壊すbukkowasu means “to destroy; to crush; to wreck”. After that, he says:

こいつはすごい奴にやられたようだぜ
Koitsu wa sugoi yatsu ni yarareta youda ze
These guys seem to have been hit by an amazing guy

I changed this to “whoever did this has some serious chops” to fit Hakka’s way of talking. I have mentioned before that Princess Aurora talks like royalty (she is royalty), Jogo talks like an academic, and both Kugo and Hakka talk more in a colloquial, less educated way, with Hakka being a little worse than Kugo. But make no mistake, all of them have good hearts!

I admit I don’t do this very often, but I try to. It’s not that I don’t want to; it’s that I don’t know how to say the same thing in many different ways to categorize people’s statuses. A professional translator has the experience to come up with different colloquial or polite ways to give accurate personalities to different characters.

The conversation at 19:00 was the part that took me the longest to translate from this episode. It starts with Jogo saying:

操縦して戦うことはできないがぺリスコープなら操作できる
Soujuu shite tatakau koto wa dekinai ga PERISUKOUPU nara sousa dekiru
I can’t control it to fight, but I can control the periscope.

He doesn’t say exactly what he can’t control, but it’s obvious he’s talking about the Starcopper. Since Jogo hurt his hand, he cannot pilot it, much less fight. But he can be static somewhere using the periscope, and that’s what they do.

A little bit further, Kugo says:

その指示を受けて攻撃すればいいんだな
Sono shiji o ukete kougeki sureba ii nda na
So all I have to do is follow those instructions and attack?

And Hakka says:

どうしてクーゴは追わないんだ、2人で行けばいいじゃないかよ
Doushite KUUGO wa owanai nda, futari de ikeba ii janai ka yo
Why should only Kugo be followed (by Jogo)? Shouldn’t we go together?

In this context, “we” means Kugo and Hakka. The problem here is that somebody has to stay with Aurora, and since Jogo hurt his hand, he’s supposed to stay while his hand is being automatically repaired by the automatic tissue repair mechanism all cyborgs have. Their skin auto-heals. Just the skin, though. You should remember when Kugo hurt his arm really bad and Aurora had to fix it.

Jogo answers:

ぺリースコープでにきは追えない。 出撃するのは一機だ
PERISUKOUPU de ni ki wa oenai. Shutsugeki suru no wa ikkida
I can’t follow two (persons) with the periscope. Only one (of you) will go out.

It’s clear he can only follow one of them and tell them when a monster is near and where it is coming from. Also, somebody should stay with Aurora.

SF Saiyuki Starzinger – Episode 50

The Last Day of the Demon King Army

Queen Lassetz, who finally has Princess Aurora in her possession, sets her body as part of a supercomputer in an attempt to monopolize the Galaxy Energy. At that moment, Gyuma’s army, having learned of Lassetz’s betrayal, attacked. The battle between the two armies ensues, and the space wall collapses. Kugo takes advantage of the opportunity and manages to rescue Princess Aurora, but an enraged Lassetz sends his Neo-Robot after her. How will Kugo fight against such a powerful enemy that even the Astro Pole can’t hurt it?

You can download the torrent file from Anidex or Anirena, or get direct links from AnimeTosho.

Translations Thoughts

Just one more episode for the King Gyuma – Queen Lassetz arc to end, but this is the episode that defines it all!

At 3:20 Hakka says:

クーゴ、 何もたもたしてるんだよ
Kuugo, nani motamota shiterunda yo
Kugo, why are you being so slow?

We already discussed もたもた motamota in episode 44! It means slow or inefficient.

At 15:23 Queen Lassetz is already desperate and says her most famous quote ever:

形ある者はすべて破壊しろ
Katachi aru mono wa subete hakai shiro
Destroy everything that has a form!

性ある者はすべて殺すのだ
Sei aru mono wa subete korosu no da
Kill anything that has a life!

In the final moments of Queen Lassetz, she mistakes Bellamis for King Gyuma, and asks him if he ever realized she was betraying him. At the end she lost her mind. That’s why Princess Aurora says:

キティ博士がおっしゃってました心をなくしてしまった人たちは結局誤った道を歩むしかないと
KITI-hakase ga osshattemashita kokoro o nakushite shimatta hito-tachi wa kekkyoku ayamatta michi o ayumu shika naito
Professor Kitty said that those who have lost their minds will eventually have to go down the wrong path.

I guess she started to lose her mind when she became obsessed with capturing Aurora and taking all the Galaxy Energy for herself. It’s a sad end for both Gyuma and Lassetz.

At 22:34 Kugo says:

ベラミスよ、今こそ目覚めてくれ
Bellamis, ima koso mezamete kure
Bellamis, now is the time to wake up

目覚めて mezamete from the verb 目覚める mezameru can mean either wake up literally or wake up in the sense of becoming aware of something, just like in English. Another translation would be “now is the time to open your eyes”, with the same meaning.

SF Saiyuki Starzinger – Episode 49

The Conspiracy of Queen Lassetz

At last, King Gyuma led his entire fleet in an all-out attack on the Cosmos. In order to protect Princess Aurora, Kugo and the cyborgs unite their hearts to fight back, but they are gradually pushed into a difficult situation by the overwhelming numbers. If nothing is done, the lives of Kugo and the others will be in danger. Princess Aurora demands King Gyuma to stop the attack in exchange for her own life. Kugo, who knows this, hides the Princess on planet Right-Left to hide her from the enemies, but Bellamis is waiting there for her. The Princess is taken to the planet Lassetz by Bellamis!

You can download the torrent file from Anidex or Anirena, or get direct links from AnimeTosho.

Translation Thoughts

Even though I knew King Gyuma was a bad person, his love for Queen Lassetz was true, and I couldn’t help feeling bad for him when I watched this episode. Unrequited love, nonetheless.

Following Starzinger’s tradition, the planet that is divided in two and has a right side and a left side is called the ライトーレフト RAITO-REFUTO (Right-Left) planet.

At 2:33 King Gyuma says:

奴ら抜け抜けとこのギュマ星に近づいてきよって
Yatsura nukenuke to kono GYUMA-sei ni chikadzuite ki yotte
They are getting closer to this planet Gyuma however they want

The onomatopoeia 抜け抜けnukenuke means “however one wishes”, “freely”, “impudently”. What King Gyuma means here is that they are getting through the Gilara system impudently. How dare they!

At 5:15 Jogo says:

だがその言葉私の熱き胸の中に大切にしまっておきますよ
Daga sono kotoba watashi no atsuki mune no naka ni taisetsu ni shimatte okimasu yo
But I’ll keep those words close to my passionate heart

He says 熱き atsuki that comes from 熱い atsui which is an adjective that means “hot”, but when it’s used for feelings instead of things, it means passionate or ardent.

At 10:13 King Gyuma says:

逃がしてやろうそれでお前が命を絶たぬというならその条件飲んでもよい
Nigashite yarou sore de omae ga inochi wa tatanu to iu nara sono jouken nonde mo yoi
I’ll let them escape, and if you don’t take your own life, I’ll accept your terms.

You can see if you watch the episode that I changed that line a little bit because I thought it was redundant since the terms are, in fact, that King Gyuma let the cyborgs escape.

This is the most famous quote from this episode, and it’s always mentioned on any website that discusses this episode in particular:

無茶っていうのはクーゴさんから教えられたことのひとつです
Mucha tte iu no wa kuugo-san kara oshierareta koto no hitotsu desu
Recklessness is one of the things Kugo-san taught me.

You can also translate 無茶 mucha as “being unreasonable” and the line would say “Being unreasonable is one of the things I learned from Kugo-san”. It’s fine either way.

SF Saiyuki Starzinger – Episode 48

The Attack of King Gyuma

The Cosmos is pinned down by King Gyuma and warps to escape, but it bounces back against the space wall, and now it’s stuck. When King Gyuma confronts Kugo and the others, he demands that they surrender the Princess. When Kugo and the others refuse, Gyuma’s forces fire a Sonic Blaster at them. Lassetz lets the Cosmo escapes in the nick of time, fearing that King Gyuma will take the Princess away from her. But then Queen Lassetz has an evil plan for the Cosmos, as it tries to flee desperately!

You can download the torrent file from Anidex or Anirena, or get direct links from AnimeTosho.

Translation Thoughts

We’re getting close to the end of the King Gyuma/Queen Lassetz arc.

This episode took me a long time to translate. After each version, I watched it, and I felt that there were still some lines that didn’t really express what the characters were trying to say. So I changed them over and over. I watched this episode so many times during QA that I think I now know the dialogue by heart. But I’m happy with the final product.

Murdoch is not really a lieutenant. King Gyuma calls him 副官 fukkan at 3:55, which is more like an adjutant to some officer. I believe it’s like a “deputy captain” in this context, and would act as captain in the absence of the actual captain. I thought the real rank was kind of boring, so I chose the rank just below captain, which is lieutenant.

Jogo says to King Gyuma at 8:18:

男の価値はその死に様よ
Otoko no kachi wa sono shinizama yo
A man’s worth is in the way he dies

Hakka tells Jogo that was a cool thing to say. Really? It makes no sense to me. At the very least, I do not agree with it. I changed the translation a little bit to try to make it “cooler”, but it’s still weird. But that’s exactly what Jogo says, so I pretty much left that line like that.

Here’s an interesting Japanese expression. Murdoch says at 14:39:

ベラミスめの鼻をあかしてやるんだ
Beramisu-me no hana o akashite yaru nda
I’m going to flatten Bellamis’ nose

Even though that is the literal translation, this is actually an expression that means “I’m going to triumph over that person”. Murdoch doesn’t really mean to punch Bellamis in the nose.

When Murdoch gives the order to fight the laser cannon, he says at 15:54

全開発射
Senkai hassha
Whirling fire

I was between “whirling fire”, “turning fire”, “circling fire”, and “rotation fire”, but I couldn’t come up with a translation that I thought sounded good. Some of you might think those translations are actually better than the one I used (“fire to all directions”). Sometimes I waste so much time on a line like that one, which isn’t really very important. I don’t know why I do it.

At 17:34 Murdoch says:

戦わぬ時は打て
Tatakawanu toki wa ute

Without context, that line can be translated as “When you don’t fight, shoot” which is honestly total nonsense. But he’s actually quoting King Gyuma since he says “These are King Gyuma’s orders” immediately after. Now, with this context, the translation changes to “When she’s not fighting (anymore), shoot her”.

King Gyuma’s intentions are clear: if Bellamis stops obeying, Murdoch has to kill her.

I didn’t translate it as a quote, but as real Murdoch words: “If you won’t fight, I’ll shoot you”. I could’ve used something like “If she disobeys, shoot her” with quotes, since immediately Murdoch says that those were the orders from King Gyuma. That would’ve been fine too.

In true Starzinger style, the mechanical horse that resembles the Trojan Horse that the Greeks used during the Trojan War is called none other than “Trojan”. Who would’ve thought?

SF Saiyuki Starzinger – Episode 47

Confrontation! Cyborg Warriors

The Cosmos is approaching the planets Gyuma and Lassetz. King Gyuma, seeing that he can no longer leave the situation to his subordinates, decides to launch an attack himself. Kugo and the others take the initiative, discovering and destroying Gyuma’s outpost. Bellamis sets off an anti-matter bomb to lure out the Cosmos that has fled to an asteroid. However, a spaceship of refugees crash-lands on the asteroid. Kugo and Bellamis suspend the battle and try to rescue the spaceship, which is buried in rubble by the explosion.

You can download the torrent file from Anidex or Anirena, or get direct links from AnimeTosho.

Translation Thoughts

I believe this is the episode where Kugo starts falling for Bellamis, and that’s bad news for him.

At 5:48 Queen Lassetz says:

オーロラ姫のお土産をお待ち申しております
Ourora-hime no omiyage o omachi moushite orimasu
We’ll be waiting for the gift of the Princess Aurora

She literally says that Princess Aurora is a gift, and she’s looking forward to that gift. The direct translation sounds like Aurora will return to Lassetz bearing gifts. Since it might be kind of ambiguous in English, I changed it to “We await the return of Princess Aurora” since Aurora has been captured and brought there several times before (and always rescued). Another good line might’ve been “We await King Gyuma’s return with Aurora” or something along those lines.

I think this is one of the episodes where Hakka has a lot of dialogue. As I’ve said before, I struggle a lot translating him, especially when he’s being funny or telling jokes.

Princess Aurora says one of the funniest lines she has ever said when she tells Hakka at 15:54:

私どこまでもなって言いましたかしら
Watashi dokomademo natte iimashita kashira
I don’t think I said I’d follow you anywhere.

Also, in this episode, Hakka teaches us some Japanese insults that maybe you have never heard before:

のろま
Noroma
Slowpoke

あほんだら
Ahondara
Airhead

すっとこどっこい
Suttokodokkoi
Idiot

And Princess Aurora react to those at 8:46 like this:

ハッカさんはずいぶんお口が悪いですね
Hakka-san wa zuibun o kuchi ga warui desu ne
Hakka-san, you have a very foul mouth, don’t you?