“Kalhn”, actually. Which is… I mean, how do you even pronounce that? Maybe the “h” is meant to be acting as a schwa or something?
On a slightly related note, 樹血 is rendered “woodcruor” in the English version, which I’ll grant does a pretty good job of representing how unusual a word 樹血 is, but oof, “cruor” is such an obscure word in English that I had to turn to Google to work out what was going on. Means “coagulated blood”. Google’s usage graph shows it dropping off significantly around mid-to-late nineteenth century, but it does pick up again around the late twenty-teens… which just so happens to be right around when this manga started to be released in English. Can a single manga series really noticeably affect the usage of a word?
Aye, I noticed that. Thought it was a clever little thing to include.
Ahh I think I misunderstood 対岸 Of course it’s the other side of the lake and not the opposite shore of the landmass they’re on
Thank you two for the great answers!
(Also, who else thinks the grandson is in on it somehow? He seems suspicious.)
I think it’s more likely to be the other way around. (I’ve definitely seen that word before and most of the stuff I read are recent fanfics/webnovels.) My theory is that edgelord internet trash writing picked it up in the 2010s and the Witch Hat Atelier tranlators either picked it up there or coincidentally came up with it around the same time.
This is actually a common issue for me reading in foreign languages with relatively low proficiency: I immediately understood the word to mean “resin” based solely on the kanji and didn’t realize that it was meant as a very unusual, specific word in the manga’s lore.
In this case it didn’t matter much either way but similar instances in other books/games definitely confused me before.
Honestly I’d probably have translated it just as “wood ichor” in English, just because I think “ichor” is a cool word.
Finished! What a cliffhanger. I about fainted when I turned to page one and it was a whole infodump page (I was planning to read this while at work, which is not great practice), but it didn’t turn out so bad.
It does say it used to be ‘earth’ and ‘air’. I presume there was an academic schism (I wonder if the ATLA universe will have one one day if they ever get around to making higher education about elemental bending)
My random theorycrafting would be that they discovered the classic elements didn’t quite fit new understandings of the way the powers worked or something. Wizard society does seem to be a bunch of huge nerds who would be into academic jostling like that.
So far the worldbuilding/lore has mostly proven significant to the story so it’s indeed possible that it foreshadows something.
I hope they won’t go too deep with the magic system intricacies though. I know some people are into that but I usually find it boring and tiresome eventually. I think the system as currently outlined is pretty good: it’s simple enough to get a decent intuitive understanding of how it works in practical terms (something a series like Harry Potter for instance never really does IMO) while at the same time being versatile enough to give ample possibilities for creative and unexpected set pieces throughout the story.
Finished! The dragon page stopped me in my tracks, not for the dragon but just to admire the character design and the sense of movement they all have. The art is stunning, and I’m so excited to start volume 2 in a week and a half!
I knew it was coming, I knew when it was coming, but even then, the dragon stopped me in my tracks just for being an intimidating ginormous dragon. The art is very beautiful too, I agree. But really it was a shock when I flipped the page and *bam* a dragon!
イケてる means cool apparently, so I assumed it was a sort of portmanteau of that + 眼鏡 meaning “cool glasses” but I could be wrong and couldn’t find イケ alone used as a prefix in any dictionary. Well I suppose it’s used that way in イケメン…
This is helpful, since I couldn’t find イケ in a dictionary. Plus this specific character uses such casual speech, I wouldn’t put it past him to smush words together like that.
I love how the atelier girls now have their own familiar in Wormy-chan, like real Disney princesses.
I looked it up in the official translation and they translated it as “scholarly good looks”. Sounds like the translator also went with your first impression that it’s a pun on メガネ.
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