Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Translation Corner #29 + 30

I've got some interesting keywords for you today. They cover Fine's dealings with the Americans and the backstory of Chris and her parent's deaths. Most of these details were revealed or inferred to in the series itself, but having things explained a little further never hurts.






Fine and the American Government

When working with the American government Fine had one goal in mind: obtain the things she needed that would be impossible to get if she was working alone. To this end she received assistance in securing the large amount of funding necessary for sacred relic research, in addition to obtaining the raw materials and relics she needed to conduct the actual research.

The compensation for this was supposed to be all the data from the relic research and any information about the Special Disaster Response Team Division 2 that she could pass on. However, Fine was able to take advantage of the circumstances between Japan and America and repeatedly provide excuses to brush-off the demands from the American government.

The American government eventually took this as a serious breach of trust on her part and decided that Fine needed to be restrained (or at worst, killed) and the data on the relics stolen from her.

Making use of Special Ops Forces all of their relations to Fine were supposed to be smoothly cut-off, but instead…


Chris’s parents

Her father, Yukine Masanori, was a violinist.
Her mother, Sonnet M. Yukine, was a vocalist.

As part of a non-government volunteer organization the two parents took a very young Chris with them to a republic that recently suffered from a coup and had suspended all diplomatic relations: the Val Verde Commonwealth. They entered Central America through Guatemala and put on public music performances in various places while traveling with the ultimate goal of lending aid to refugees.

At first, they traveled along with delegates from the United Nations but they eventually got trapped by the expanding front-lines of the ongoing war and became isolated from their organization. They were later declared missing.

Shortly after that, Masanori and Sonnet death’s were confirmed by outside sources, but they were continually unable to determine what exactly had become of Chris.  


These were interesting to read and they offer a fresh perspective on Fine's cooperation with the Americans, as well as the development of Chris's character. In my mind the series has always portrayed Fine as the "puppet-master" of the series, she had her hands in pretty much every major event and was pulling all the strings that led to every circumstance being in her favor. Her "alliance" with the Americans was no different, and it's nice to know that she was screwing with them for pretty much the entire series. Perhaps that's part of what led to the eventual American/Japanese cooperation in season 2 - they had both been suckered by Fine so they already share some common ground, haha. 

On the other hand, it's nice to flush out the backstory on Chris a little. They already did a bit in the manga, but not with such fine detail. Of course Sonnet is an interesting name for a vocalist, and the way her name is written in Japanese (first name then last name) shows that she is actually a foreigner, though it doesn't state what country she's originally from (perhaps Italy where "sonnet" originated from). Chris's father is definitely Japanese, so that makes Chris half-Japanese (something many people already deduced). Interestingly the kanji for her father's first name (Masanori) uses characters that mean "elegant"and "rhythm."  And the name Yukine uses the characters for "snow" and "sound." Anyway, I thought the use of the name "Val Verde" was interesting so I looked it up and turns out...it was a popular fictional country that was used often in Hollywood productions. Go figure! Funny enough I bet "Val Verde" probably shows up in some of the movies that Genjuurou is a fan of. 

Speaking of real places in Symphogear, remember in the story description for season 2 they mention an American military base in Iwakuni, Japan? Well turns out there actually is a Marine Corps Air Station there, though I don't know if that's exactly how they will portray it in season 2. We'll find out soon! 


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