Fell a bit further behind because it’s tournament season, which means it’s crunch time for translating TJPW 
. But I got caught up just before the show today, which means I have a little bit more time again!
～ないで
Caught a ないで in the Wrestle Universe live chat while watching DDT Pro Wrestling Wrestle Peter Pan 2023, haha:
「大社長無理しないで」
Context: Sanshiro Takagi, the 大社長 (Mr. Haku always translated this as "Big Boss") of DDT, was doing quite a bit in his match despite coming back from a recent injury (and he'd injured his shoulder before and still struggles somewhat with it). That fan's sentiment above was basically exactly how I was feeling at this moment:
The Wrestle Universe has no identifying information attached to the comments (no names or profile pictures or anything), so you really don’t know anyone’s gender or any other details about them unless they volunteer that info in their comments.
～なければならない
This was probably the hardest thing in my beginner textbook for me. Lots of syllables to memorize when you’re still very new to the language! Now the main thing I struggle with is figuring out the different nuances between the different ways of expressing obligation that the related expression note talks about:
なくてはならない / いけない
ないといけない / ＊ならない
ならない / ＊いけない
I went looking for some examples in Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, and found 0 examples with the full なければならない phrase. There were also none for なくてはならない, but I found 7 instances of ないといけない!
Here's an example from the TJPW show on 2023.01.15 after Free Wi-Fi (Hikari Noa and Nao Kakuta) lost in the tag tournament:
Hard mode: here’s the video. I guess additional context is that in a previous show, they talked about wanting to win so that their faces would get used to represent the dot in the wifi signal, haha.
ヒカリ「結果は悔しいかんじで終わってしまったんですけど、私的には初めて１年以上続いたパートナーなので（苦笑）。去年１年はベルトにしろパートナーにしろ、時間が経てばたつほど大切なものになるので。やっぱり離れて欲しくないし、ちょっと手探りなところはずっとあって」
Hikari: “I’m disappointed at the result, but this is the first time I’ve had a partner who has lasted more than a year.” (laughs) “That whole last year, whether it’s my partner, or the belt, they’ve each become more and more important to me as time passes. I don’t want us to break up, and there’s always been a bit of fumbling.”
角田「そうだね」
Kakuta: “Yes, that’s true.”
ヒカリ「でもこうやって一緒にまた今年もトーナメントに出れて…負けちゃったんですけど、これからもっともっとふりーＷｉＦｉで楽しく試合していけたら結果もついてくるのかなって思うので。これからもよろしくお願いします…（涙）」
Hikari: “But we were able to do the tournament together again this year… Even though we lost, I think that if we can have more and more fun wrestling as Free WiFi, the results will follow. Please keep supporting us!” (cries)
角田「ずっとことあるごとに『辞めないですよね？』ってしょっちゅう言われてて。でもこうして、これを機に一緒にコスチュームを揃えたし、今日は気合を入れて臨んだんですけど…私もトーナメントはことごとく山下さんに負けてて。シングルも２年連続だし、今日も山下さんに負けて。ごめんねって思ったけど、でも負けてるいまはまだまだだったんだなって、すごい前向きな気持ちでしかないし。悔しいけど、これからの未来をふりーＷｉＦｉは考えて、どんどん成長していこうと思います。辞めません！」
Kakuta: “People have always said to me, ‘You’re not quitting, are you?’ But even though we got our matching gear together for this opportunity, and today we really put our fighting spirit into it… I’ve lost all three of my tournaments to Yamashita-san. Two years in a row with the singles tournament, and I lost to her again today. I felt sorry, but even though I’m still losing, all I can do is be optimistic about it. I’m frustrated, but I’m thinking about the future of Free WiFi, and we’re going to keep growing. I won’t quit!"
ヒカリ「イメージキャラクターにならないといけないから頑張りましょう」
Hikari: “We have to become the poster girls, so let’s do our best.”
角田「ふりーＷｉＦｉは前向きに折れずに頑張ります」
Kakuta: “Free WiFi is going to do our best to be positively unbreakable!”
ヒカリ「頑張っていこう！」
I found a few instances of ならない, but not really great ones to share, haha.
By far the most common in this setting seems to be the contracted version, なきゃ. 27 uses popped up in my document for the first half of this year.
Here are a few examples from the TJPW show on 2023.03.06, which was the last preview match before Mizuki faced Yuka Sakazaki at Grand Princess:
Hard mode: here’s the video.
遠藤「私は有明前、鈴芽さんとの前哨戦？ 久しぶりに闘って、楽しかったって思っちゃったんですよ。でもやっぱり楽しかったじゃなくて、有明では勝って、追い抜きたいと思いました」
Endo: “Before Ariake, I had a preview match with Suzume-san. I thought it was fun to fight for the first time in a long time. But it being fun is beside the point. I want to beat her at Ariake and surpass her.”
宮本「負けてしまってすごい悔しいし、たくさんやられてしまって…ユカさんの強さも同世代の荒井さんと鈴芽さんの強さもすごい感じたので。もっと強くならなきゃって思いました」
Miyamoto: “I’m really disappointed that I lost, and I took a lot of damage… I really felt Yuka-san’s strength, as well as that of Arai-san and Suzume-san, who are both from my generation. I have to get stronger.”
瑞希「うーん…もかちゃんを守れなかったのが悔しいところしか今はなくて。ユカッチがしっかりと向き合ってくれたのかは…ちょっと分からないけど。有栖ちゃんとかもかちゃんの闘いを見て、ああもっと私も頑張らなきゃって思えたし。もっと守れるくらいに強くなりたいって思ったし。追いつけ追い越せで私たちもきっとライバルで、頑張りたいと思ったので。いろんな気持ちはもう全部有明にぶつけようと思います」
Mizuki: “Well… right now, the only thing I can think about is that I regret not being able to protect Moka-chan. I don’t know if Yuka-chi was able to truly face me. But when I saw Arisu-chan and Moka-chan fighting, I felt like I had to work harder, too. I want to get strong enough to be able to protect them. We’re definitely rivals, catching up to and surpassing each other, and I want to do my best. I am going to put all of my feelings into Ariake.”
～なくなる
This one isn’t too tricky, though I appreciated the related expressions section detailing a bit of the nuance there. I’m starting to get more of a feel for that sort of thing gradually.
Here's a なくなる example from the TJPW show on 2023.04.15, where Maki Itoh lost her voice, haha.
Here’s the video. I don’t have a full transcript of this one, only the twitter caption, but here’s the line:
上福「（伊藤は）栄光を得た代わりに声が出なくなった」
Kamifuku: “(Itoh) lost her voice in exchange for glory.”
～なくて
I had some trouble with this one in the past, mostly getting it confused with なくても and なくてもいい and other expressions, though I don’t think I’ve had issues in a while, so maybe I got that ironed out, haha.
Here's a なくて example (with a じゃなくて in there, too) from the TJPW show on 2023.04.15 after Suzume challenged Rika Tatsumi for her International Princess Championship.
Hard mode: here’s the video.
鈴芽「いままでもあのベルトの挑戦権を懸けて何度も試合をしてきたんですけど、そのたびに届かなくて、そのたびに悔しくて。でもどこかで自分がベルトを持つなんてありえないって思ってる自分がいて。だけど今回は用意されたチャンスじゃなくて自分の意志でリカさんへの挑戦を決めました。ありえないって思ってた気持ちはあったけど、私、人生で一番ありえない…プロレスラーになるってことも実現しているので。本気でリカさんを倒して、ベルトを巻くっていうありえないことを果たしにいきたいと思います。（王者は次の後楽園を指定しました）そうですね。この気持ちのままいくだけです」
Suzume: “I’ve wrestled many times for the right to challenge for that belt, but each time, I couldn’t reach it, and each time, I felt frustrated. In some respects, I was thinking that it was impossible for me to hold that belt. But this time, my title challenge was set not through a pre-arranged opportunity, but through my own will. I felt that it was impossible, but the most impossible thing in my life, becoming a pro wrestler… I had managed to make that happen. I really want to defeat Rika-san and achieve the impossible, wrapping that belt around my waist.”
(The champion has designated the next Korakuen Hall show)
“Yes. I’m just going to go with this feeling.”
The related expressions note commented that the cause and effect relation indicated by なくて is much weaker and more indirectly presented than that of なかったから or なかったので, with なかったから being the most direct.
I went looking for some other examples, and found a funny instance of なかったから, haha. This is after the TJPW show on 2023.01.08 in Yuki Aino's hometown, which is also the hometown of her sister Nodoka Tenma, who retired from wrestling in 2022 to become a rice farmer in her hometown. Yuki Kamifuku and Rika Tatsumi were Yuki Aino and Shoko Nakajima's opponents, and their team lost.
Hard mode: here’s the video.
辰巳「やられちまったな」
上福「負けて草」
辰巳「敗因はユキのお姉ちゃんのおいしいお米を試合前に食べなかったからだ」
Tatsumi: “The reason we lost is because we didn’t eat Yuki’s sister’s delicious rice before the match.”
上福「そうだ」
Kamifuku: “That’s right.”
辰巳「これを食べなかったから…」
Tatsumi: “Because I didn’t eat this…”
上福「あー、悔しい。やられた。畑燃やしにいこ」
Kamifuku: “Ah, I’m pissed. She beat me. Let’s go burn down her fields.”
辰巳「うん。大会自体は大成功だったと思うから」
Tatsumi: “Mm-hmm. I think the show itself was a huge success.”
上福「ホントに岡山はほっこりしてるし、いいところだし」
Kamifuku: “Okayama is a really warm and pleasant place.”
辰巳「みなさん優しいところだから。また帰ってきます」
Tatsumi: “Everyone is so kind. We’ll come back again.”
上福「次は田んぼ燃やしてやる」
Kamifuku: “Next time, I’m burning down the rice fields.”
辰巳「燃やしてやる」
Tatsumi: “We’re burning them.”
上福「ガソリン持ってくるぞ」
Kamifuku: “I’ll bring gasoline.”
I found some examples of なかったので, too.
Here are two from the TJPW show on 2023.01.15 after Yuki Arai and Saki Akai advanced in the tag team tournament:
Hard mode: here’s the video.
赤井「（次の相手は白昼夢です）白昼夢はタッグのベルトを持ってるってイメージだったので。私たちもね、タッグのベルトをつい最近まで持ってたので、そこも負けられないし。昔から辰巳選手に関してはよく知ってるので。リカ選手、未詩選手の恐さを優希ちゃんも知ってるし」
(Daydream are your next opponents)
“My mental image of Daydream had them holding the tag belts. We also had the tag belts until very recently, so we can’t lose to them here either. I am well-acquainted with Tatsumi, since the olden days. Yuki-chan also knows how scary Rika and Miu are.”
荒井「荒井も去年のタッグトーナメントでもかさんと組んでたんですけど、白昼夢さんに負けて進めなかったので。今年は赤井さんとリベンジしたいなって思います」
Arai: “I also teamed up with Moka-san in the tournament last year, but we couldn’t advance because we lost to Daydream. This year, I want to take revenge with Akai-san.”
赤井「一歩一歩確実に階段を上がってるので、そういう意味で次白昼夢と当たることで大きい階段を上がっていきたいと思います。（ダブル新人賞を枕で防がれました）あのダブル新人賞、私たちオリジナルの、私たちだからできる技なのでけっこう大事にしてたので、あんなかわされ方があると思わなかったので…ちょっとレフェリーのチェックをもっと厳しくしてほしいと思いました」
Akai: “We are moving up the staircase step by step, so in that sense, I want to take a big step up by beating Daydream next.”
(They blocked the Double Rookie of the Year Award with a pillow)
“The Double Rookie of the Year Award is our original move, and it’s a move that only we can do, which means we treasure it greatly and didn’t think it could be evaded like that… I want the referee to be a little more strict with his checks.”
荒井「怒ってます」
赤井「この怒りを次の白昼夢戦でぶつけたいと思います」
Akai: “I’m going to take out my anger on Daydream in the next match.”
なら
I saw this and was like “oh a pretty straightforward one!” then turned the page and saw the very long section of notes, haha. I thought note 4 was really interesting, how S1 なら S2 cannot be used if it is nonsensical to suppose the truth of S1.
There are a billion uses of this in my translations, but here's one that I thought was particularly entertaining. This was from the press conference on 2023.04.18 before Pom Harajuku and Max The Impaler challenged Mizuki and Yuka Sakazaki for the tag titles. Pom signed the contract for the match, then got very worried when Max didn't show up to the contract signing, haha.
I’ve definitely posted pieces from this before, but I don’t know if I’ve shared this chunk specifically.
坂崎「マックスいなかったら、ぽむ弱小すぎて余裕でしょ（笑）。ほぼマックスみたいなところはあるので。（瑞希に）大阪観光楽しもうな」
Sakazaki: “If Max isn’t there, Pom is so small and weak, we can relax.” (laughs) “It doesn’t look like Max’ll be there, so." (to Mizuki) “Let’s have fun sightseeing in Osaka.”
瑞希「うん。まずこれはいなくて成り立つんかなっていうのはあるけど」
Mizuki: “Yes. First of all, though, if they don’t show up, is the match even going to happen?”
ぽむ「いなかったらやらない！」
Pom: “I won’t do it if they’re not there!”
瑞希「でも、ぽむちゃんがやりたいって言うなら2対1でもいいなって思ってるけど。マックスさえいなければこっちも怖いものなしなので」
Mizuki: “But if Pom-chan says she wants to do it, it’s alright if it’s 2 on 1. As long as Max isn’t there, we have nothing to be afraid of.”
坂崎「マジ余裕やな」
Sakazaki: “We really can relax, huh?”
瑞希「すごい都合いいよな」
Mizuki: “How nice for us!”
坂崎「ありがたい」
Sakazaki: “It’s our lucky day!”
I also looked for んなら and のなら, and funnily enough, even though this is all spoken Japanese, there wasn’t a んなら, but I did find a のなら!
This is from Shino Suzuki's debut match on 2023.03.06, where she debuted in a match with her fellow idols in the Up Up Girls:
Hard mode: here’s the video.
未詩「志乃ちゃんデビューおめでとう！」
Miu: “Congratulations on your debut, Shino-chan!”
ヒカリ＆らく「おめでと～！」
Hikari & Raku: “Congrats!”
志乃「（泣きながら）言葉が出ないんですけど…なんか自分の人生に起こってることじゃないみたいな感覚です」
Shino: (crying) “I’m at a loss for words… It doesn’t feel like something that’s really happening in my life.”
ヒカリ「新しいメンバーが増えて、デビュー戦にしては…」
Hikari: “We’re getting more members, and as far as debuting goes…”
未詩「頑張ってた！」
ヒカリ「私たちがデビュー戦の頃を思い出しながら（笑）。自分のデビュー戦は負けちゃったので、新メンバーのデビュー戦は勝ちたいなって気持ちがあって」
Hikari: “I’m remembering when we made our own debut.” (laughs) “I lost my own debut match, so I wanted to win in our new member’s debut."
志乃「…楽しかったです」
未詩「素晴らしい」
ヒカリ「楽しかったのなら問題ないです。立派になります」
Hikari: “If it was fun, then there’s no problem. You’re going to be fine.”
～なさい
Pro wrestling is a setting that often favors impolite imperatives, not polite ones, haha, so I wasn’t sure how many of these I’d find, and from a quick search, it looks like there aren’t many.
I found just one example in this year's document that wasn't in a ごめんなさい or other such phrases. This was from the TJPW show on 2023.03.22, which was Miyu Yamashita's last match before her U.S. excursion.
Hard mode: here’s the video.
山下「私はアメリカ行く前、最後の東京女子の試合でした」
Yamashita: “This was my last TJPW match before I go to the U.S.”
伊藤「あなたちょっと名残惜しそうなことしなさいよ。全然ドライだったじゃない」
Itoh: “You should show some reluctance to part. You’re totally unemotional.”
山下「ドライじゃないよ。全然…ちょっくら行ってくるってことよ。そんなもんよ。すぐ戻ってくるから」
Yamashita: “No I’m not! I mean… I’m just going to be away for a little bit. That’s all. I’ll be back soon.”
伊藤「いつ戻ってくるんだっけ」
Itoh: “When are you coming back?”
山下「予定は6月26日の福岡大会。ただ何が起こるか分かんないから。生きてるかも分かんない」
Yamashita: “I’m scheduled to return on June 26 for the Fukuoka show. But I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know if I’ll still be alive.”
伊藤「それは生きててほしいな」
Itoh: “I hope you’ll be alive.”
ね
There are approximately a billion examples of this in my translations, haha, so I don’t think I’ll hunt any specific ones down (I say that, but…). I think I already mentioned this at some point, but the intonation thing mentioned in note 2 is something I’ve been trying to work on when listening, but I’m not always great at catching it.
Note 3’s point about ね being used in non-sentence-final position to draw the hearer’s attention to something or confirm that the hearer has understood what has been said up to that point is something that I’ve absolutely seen many, many times, haha.
I did look for からね, and found a fun example after Hyper Misao and Shoko Nakajima defeated the team of Andreza Giant Panda and Haruna Neko at Grand Princess on 2023.03.18:
Hard mode: here’s the video.
中島「最強！」
Nakajima: “We’re the strongest!”
ミサヲ「最強だ！」
中島「最強だ。地球最大の決戦、その世界のビッグ怪獣が世界最強の巨大生物だということをきょう証明できたと私は思っている」
Nakajima: “We’re the strongest. In the biggest battle on earth, I think I proved that the Big Kaiju is the strongest giant creature in the world.”
ミサヲ「有明作戦、失敗したかと思いきや、最終的に勝ったんで、我々の作戦は成功と言えるでしょう」
Misao: “Operation Ariake, I thought for a bit there it was going to be a failure, but we won in the end, so I would say that the operation was a success.”
中島「これで地球の平和は守られたぞ」
Nakajima: “With this, we’ve protected peace on earth!”
ミサヲ「これで有明コロシアムの平和と、そして東京女子プロレス最大のビッグマッチの平和が守られた。我々のおかげだからね、全部」
Misao: “And so we’ve protected the peace at Ariake Coliseum, and at TJPW’s biggest show. It’s all thanks to us!”
中島「そうだ」
Nakajima: “That’s right!”
ミサヲ「享楽共鳴が最強だ！」
Misao: “Kyoraku Kyomei is the strongest!”
中島「最強だ！」
Nakajima: “We’re the strongest!”
There are loads of よね examples, but I found one post-match comments video with three separate uses of it, haha.
This is from the TJPW show on 2023.05.20 after Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta, and Wakana Uehara lost in the one-day trios tournament.
Hard mode: here’s the video. Some additional context is that they spent the lead-up to this show telling everyone else “if we win, treat us to a meal”.
角田「何食べたかったんだっけ？」
Kakuta: “What did you want to eat?”
上原「カルビ食べたかったです」
角田「焼き肉ね。（上原が）お腹いっぱいになるところを見たかったんですけど」
Kakuta: “Yakiniku, huh? I wanted to see you stuff yourself.”
ヒカリ「でも仲よかったよね」
Hikari: “Got along well, huh?”
角田「よかったと思う」
ヒカリ「むこうですよ？」
Hikari: “The other side?”
角田「え、むこうが？ こっちじゃなくて？ いやここ3人初めてだったけど、よかった。楽しかったよね。でも負けちゃって…」
Kakuta: “Huh, them? Not us? No, for us, even though it was our first time as a trio, it went well. It was fun, wasn’t it? Even though we lost…”
ヒカリ「でも今度勝ったら…」
Hikari: “But if we win next time…”
角田「そしたら乃蒼ヒカリの奢りで祝勝会、焼き肉食べ放題。カルビが食べたいんだよね？」
Kakuta: “Then it’ll be the victory celebration party, Hikari’s treat, at an all-you-can-eat yakiniku place. You want kalbi, right?”
上原「はい！ 特上カルビ！」
Uehara: “Yes! Top of the line kalbi!”
角田「よろしくお願いしまーす」
Kakuta: “I’m looking forward to it.”
ヒカリ「YU-Mエンターテインメント（の経費）でいきまーす」
Hikari: “I’ll go at YU-M Entertainment’s expense.”
I also went looking for かね, and found a few examples.
Here's one from 2023.06.04 after both Yuki Aino and Arisu Endo came forward to challenge for Rika Tatsumi's International Princess championship at the same time, and she suggested they have a number one contender's match to determine her next challenger:
Hard mode: here’s the video (the part quoted below starts around 1:41).
辰巳「（挑戦者決定戦という選択は冷静だなと感じました）いつでも冷静なチャンピオンですよ、私は」
(Your choice to have a number one contender’s match felt like it was made calmly)
Tatsumi: “I am a calm champion at all times.”
未詩「…そうでした」
辰巳「冷静な判断を下せます。（まさか2人からアピールされるとは思わなかった？）ね。モテモテですね。ありがたく2人の挑戦は受け入れたいんですけど、私の体があいにくひとつしかないので。まずはどっちが先にくるのか、2人でバチバチやって決めてもらえればなと。（どっちが先ということは、両方の挑戦を受けるつもり？）まぁ試合次第ですかね。見てみます」
Tatsumi: “I can make calm decisions.”
(Did you expect to suddenly have two people make an appeal?)
“Hey, I’m super popular, huh? I’d love to accept both of their title challenges, but unfortunately I just have one body. So the two of them can determine which of them will get to go first.”
(“Which one goes first,” does that mean you will accept both challenges?)
“Well, that depends on the match. We’ll see.”
Alright, I think I’m stopping there for now! I finally made it to the に’s!!
Home Thread
)
(though still trying to absorb the differences, to understand the nuances where it’s used)
