The 🤼 プロレス thread! Learning Japanese through pro wrestling

Behind on the translations still, but I saw that shupro finally announced the プロレスグランプリ2024結果 results! So I wanted to talk a bit about that since I actually voted this year. Here are the results (in English) for reference.

(Oops, this post got kind of long)

①プロレスグランプリ

My ballot: クリス・ブルックス

1: Zack Sabre Jr. (NJPW) - 4983 votes
2: Tam Nakano (Stardom) - 1726 votes
3: Chris Brookes (DDT) - 1002 votes

This was actually the one I had the hardest time filling out because I struggled to think of a real MVP in the men’s wrestling scene in Japan in 2024. Well, it turns out Tam got second place, so you’re telling me I could’ve voted for a woman?? Good to know for next year, I suppose…

The reason I went with Chris Brookes was because a fan voting campaign for him was how I found out in the first place that my shupro mobile subscription granted me a ballot. People were using the #みんなのクリス hashtag to campaign for Chris, and I ended up just going along with it because I didn’t really have any better ideas, haha.

The results for this award were really surprising because Zack Sabre Jr. is (I believe?) the first ever non-Japanese person to win the Grand Prix, and then Chris got third place, too. And second place went to a woman! I feel pretty sure that this is the first time I have ever seen not a single Japanese male wrestler among the top three.

Of course, part of that was NJPW losing Okada to AEW, and Naito and Tanahashi no longer being able to work at the level they once could, which sort of forced NJPW’s hand and got them to go all in on Zack, and then that combined with Stardom’s popularity and the fan campaign for Chris, it was sort of the perfect storm of factors.

That said, if I’d known that I could have voted for a woman, I would have put Miu Watanabe down.

②ベストマッチ

My ballot: 山下実優vs渡辺未詩(東京女子プロレス3・31両国国技館)

1: Tam Nakano vs. Natsuko Tora (Stardom, 8/31 Chofu) - 635 votes
2: Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Minoru Suzuki (TAKAYAMANIA, 9/3 Korakuen Hall) - 584 votes
3: Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & Kaisei Takechi vs. Tetsuya Endo, Hideki Okatani & Masahiro Takanashi (DDT, 2/25 Korakuen Hall) - 566 votes

I had a tough time picking a match of the year, which isn’t really unusual, but 2024 was a particularly rough year in wrestling for me. Of course, there were plenty of great matches, and it was tough narrowing them down, but unlike 2023, I didn’t feel like I had experienced any like world-shakingly amazing matches that rearranged my molecules as a human being.

So I ended up going with the match I chose for my TJPW best bout of the year, which was Miu vs Miyu for the Princess of Princess belt at Grand Princess.

As far as I could see, the popular consensus in the TJPW fandom was that the best match was Shoko vs Miu on May 6 (it was the clear winner in their best bout poll), with most fans rating it a cut above Miu vs Miyu. As my friend Akira put it in their personal list of TJPW best bouts: “チャンピオンになった3.31のタイトルマッチも素晴らしいですが、僅差でこの防衛戦をナンバーワンに選びたいです.”

However, as good as that match was on a technical level, it didn’t resonate emotionally with me as much as Miu vs Miyu did (I like both Shoko and Miu, and I didn’t NEED one of them to win like I did with Miu vs Miyu). Whereas with Miyu vs Miu, it felt like so much was riding on that one match, almost the whole fate of the company, or at least the immediate future of it.

That one truly felt like the beginning of a new era of the company to me, and it was the fulfillment of a part of Miu’s story that had been a long time coming, with her sort of starting to take on the mantle of ace that I had seen hints of in her way back when I first started watching in 2019.

So that’s why that one was my number one.

With the rest of my TJPW best bouts, I tried to pick a diversity of matches that were doing different things than Miyu vs Miu. Here were my second and third place matches:

2位 3.31 両国国技館
坂崎ユカ & 瑞希 vs さくらえみ & クリス・ブルックス

3位 9.22 幕張メッセ
ラム会長 vs らく

I picked Yuka & Mizuki vs Emi Sakura & Chris Brookes because that match gave me my sadly now very infrequent Magical Sugar Rabbits fix, and it also had some extremely fantastic exchanges between all of the wrestlers, including an amazing Whirling Candy from Mizuki, and it really showed how intergender matches can really be something special if the company allows them to be.

I picked Ram Kaichow vs Raku because I thought it was really entertaining and clever with how it subverted pro wrestling tropes and expectations, and also it’s literally the gayest pro wrestling match I’ve ever seen, I think. Considering how Ram and Raku are treating it as essentially their wedding night…

Besides TJPW stuff, there were loads of other matches I watched that year and loved, but I didn’t take nearly as detailed notes on them in 2024 as I did in 2023, so I honestly couldn’t think of other match of the year candidates from other Japanese companies besides TJPW.

③女子プロレスグランプリ

My ballot: 渡辺未詩

1: Tam Nakano (Stardom) - 2276 votes
2: Sareee (Freelance) - 2223 votes
3: Mayu Iwatani (Stardom) - 1639 votes

9: Miu Watanabe (TJPW) - 424 votes

I thought Miu had an incredible 2024 and did an amazing job carrying TJPW through the year. Every one of her title matches was a banger, and she made all of them marquee events.

④ベストユニット

My ballot: でいじーもんきー(東京女子プロレス)

1: Cosmic Angels (Stardom) - 1482 votes
2: Saito Brothers (AJPW) - 898 votes
3: TMDK (NJPW) - 877 votes

As I was filling this one out, I had to take a moment to be sad that not a single one of my top favorite tag teams were still in commission in Japan in 2024… :pensive:

None of my favorite factions were, either…

So my next goal was then “how could I use my vote to give TJPW the greatest chance of winning something?”, and I ended up going with Daisy Monkey because I thought maybe they had a small chance of doing decently (plus I thought they legitimately had a great 2024).

…And they did not crack the top 10, so I have no idea how many votes they got, but it apparently it was not very many. Ah well!

This is a tough category for TJPW, I think, because TJPW has a lot of great tag teams but isn’t really faction-based, so they don’t have factions with the same level of popularity as the groups that did well in this poll.

⑤最優秀外国人選手賞

My ballot: マックス・ジ・インペイラー

1: Zack Sabre Jr. (NJPW) - 2754 votes
2: Chris Brookes (DDT) - 1651 votes
3: Gabe Kidd (NJPW) - 1352 votes

10: Zara Zakher (TJPW) - 66 votes

I specifically did not vote for Chris for this one, because I don’t think it really makes sense to nominate a wrestler who lives and works full time in Japan (and has for several years now), and who can speak the language pretty fluently.

It’s kind of a complicated category (and having it at all is honestly a bit xenophobic), so I always have mixed feelings on it… I guess if you interpret it as being meant to honor a wrestler who visited Japan from outside the country and did great work while they were there, it’s not quite as bad, but I don’t like how it puts non-Japanese wrestlers basically forever in this box.

I think this is the first year that the Best Foreign Wrestler Award and the Grand Prix were won by the same person (Zack). Though, interestingly, it seems that a lot of people had similar thoughts to me and didn’t vote for him in both categories, because he got a lot fewer votes for this one than he did for the Grand Prix.

So yeah, for my choice, Max was the first wrestler that came to mind as always, so I put them down without thinking too hard about it, but I realized after I had already voted that I’d probably actually give my award to Zara Zakher this year (and she did actually make the top 10!).

⑥新人賞

My ballot: 武知海青

1: Kaisei Takechi (DDT) - 1377 votes
2: Ulka Sasaki (NOAH) - 1018 votes
3: Kouki Amarei (Marigold) - 774 votes

Could it even go to anyone else?

This was the only award that I seemed to agree with everyone else on. I’m sure some of the folks who voted were Kaisei fans who voted to support their fave, but I do think he genuinely deserves it. He had just about the best rookie debut I’ve ever seen, with a sold out Korakuen Hall main event match that somehow lived up to expectations and more. Then after that, his next few DDT matches showed that he had the ability to hang with them in terms of comedy, too.

I feel like I have a tendency to prioritize wrestlers being able to wrestle a diversity of styles more than other wrestling fans prioritize this. This is what puts Okada a cut below wrestlers like Kenny and Takeshita, in my estimation. Because Okada is very, very good at wrestling NJPW main event style matches, possibly the best in the world at that, but I wouldn’t call him among the best in the world at comedy wrestling (though I admire his recent attempts to lean more into comedy).

This is why Kenny Omega is the best wrestler in the world, in my opinion. Obviously his work connects with me on a personal level, which is what is most important, but he stands out from other wrestlers because he’s an incredible singles as well as tag wrestler, who can do an amazing NJPW main event style match as well as an amazing DDT comedy match, and he’s able to do great intergender matches, can hold his own in a deathmatch, can wrestle outdoors or wherever, and can adapt to basically whatever style his opponent wrestles, be it technical wrestling or lucha libre or American brawler or anything else.

I think that part of the reason for why he’s as well-rounded as he is is because of DDT. I think DDT’s system produces some of the best wrestlers in the world. There would be no Konosuke Takeshita without DDT, either, and no Kota Ibushi, no Tetsuya Endo. The current crop of DDT young guys, too, also stand out above their peers in other companies, in my opinion. Well, most companies have at least one top young guy, but DDT has a whole bounty of them.

Anyway, all of this is to say that I think Kaisei deserves this award because he really showed his incredible versatility as a performer. Pro wrestling takes athleticism, the ability to foster an emotional connection with the crowd, and good comedic timing, as well as the ability and willingness to make yourself vulnerable. He has managed to nail every element at every opportunity that has been given to him so far.

⑦好きなプロレスラー

My ballot:
瑞希
水波綾
クリス・ブルックス

1: Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW) - 2942 votes
2: Tam Nakano (Stardom) - 2159 votes
3: Chris Brookes (DDT) - 1503 votes
4: Kaisei Takechi (DDT) - 1486 votes

This one was also tough! I have so, so many favorite wrestlers.

I did put down Chris for this because I wanted to help him do well in the votes, haha. I do genuinely like him as a wrestler, but I’m not sure if I’d call him a top 3 favorite. But he can be a top 3 fave for the purposes of influencing shupro votes.

Mizuki was the easiest answer for me here. A lot of my top favorites either aren’t really active in Japan anymore, or they are active but haven’t been doing a whole lot that was really exciting to me, but Mizuki had a solid (albeit pretty understated) year, so I wanted to highlight her.

I struggled a lot trying to come up with an answer for my third choice. I ended up deciding to just go with Ryo Mizunami because I’ve been a fan ever since I first saw her wrestle at the very first wrestling show I ever watched in full (AEW Double or Nothing 2019), and my love for her has only grown over the years as I’ve seen her do more stuff in TJPW and in other companies, and I think in 2024 in particular, she really had a great body of work, so I was more than happy to highlight her here.

Also, I did laugh when I saw that Kaisei won fourth place in the favorites list despite having a single digit number of matches in his career thus far. It reminded me a whole lot of Yuki Arai’s first year as a wrestler, where she did similarly well and beat a whole bunch of ultra popular NJPW wrestlers because people just answered with their hearts and picked her for their favorite regardless of her level of wrestling experience or anything.

Come to think of it, Arai won the rookie award that year, too… Kaisei really is following in her footsteps, huh? I hope one of these days they get to tag at some point. My personal dark nefarious plan is to hope for Kaisei to make an appearance at a TJPW show someday so that he brings his huge female fanbase with him and gets a bunch of women into TJPW.

⑧好きなプロレス団体

My ballot: 東京女子プロレス

1: New Japan Pro Wrestling - 7962 votes
2: Stardom - 7294 votes
3: DDT Pro Wrestling - 4463 votes
4: All Japan Pro Wrestling - 2209 votes
5: Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2074 votes
6: Marigold - 1977 votes
7: Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling - 1283 votes

13: ChocoPro - 541 votes
14: BAKAGAIJIN - 466 votes
15: WWE - 354 votes
16: AEW - 347 votes

We actually could pick up to three promotions for this one, if I recall correctly, but I wanted to help TJPW do as well as possible, so I decided not to give anyone else my votes, haha. Plus, just about all other promotions had done at least something that had made me angry in 2024…

It’s extremely funny to me that Baka Gaijin did better than both WWE and AEW (then again, that might be because of Chris fans inflating the numbers a bit, haha). And ChocoPro beat both of the big American companies again, too.

I’m bitter about Marigold doing so well, though I suppose this is shupro, and the Marigold astroturfing in the magazine surely boosted their numbers. From what I’ve heard, they’ve been having trouble with attendance, so I was a bit surprised that they got so many votes since that doesn’t seem to reflect the actual reality. Well, I guess maybe that’s a lesson that all the results are kind of rigged, anyway.

I think that’s all I have to say on the awards this year.

1 Like

Very late, but I finally finished translating the first round of the Max Heart tag tournament on January 18. Some exciting happenings in this one, haha.

First tournament match was Haru & Toga vs Kira & Ivy. I don’t have much of a memory of this one at all, I confess. I was unsurprised to see Haru and Toga get the win.

Haru & Toga’s comments:

Haru: "We won the first round of the tournament!”

Toga: “It felt like we had to win this and advance, so I’m glad that we won, but we have Shino-san and HIMAWARI-san in the second round.”

The end of this long sentence was a bit tricky: “トーナメント表を見たときに同期が同じところにいたのが「マジか…」という感じだったんですけど、それでもやっぱり私はねくじぇね(トーナメント)の1回戦でHIMAWARIさんに勝っていたり、志乃さんには年末に負けたからリベンジしなきゃいけないという気持ちがあって、どちらからでも勝てるけど、どっちも油断ならない相手ではあるので.”

“When I looked at the tournament bracket, I saw that our genmates were in the same corner and I was like ‘Seriously?..’ But of course I’ve beaten HIMAWARI in the first round of the Next Generation (Tournament), and I lost to Shino-san at the end of the year, so I feel like I have to get revenge. Either side is capable of winning, and I can’t let my guard down among either of them. So I can’t say that we have a 100% chance of winning, but I have more confidence than before, and Haru is with me and I can rely on her. So right now I think we have an 80% chance of winning.”

Haru: “That’s right. But first of all, Kira and Ivy. This was our first time fighting Ivy-san for both of us, but she’s very powerful.”

Toga: “They’re both powerful and have amazing physiques.”

Haru: “I was scared because there were a lot of unknowns, and I didn’t know what they were going to do, so I was a bundle of anxiety, but we managed to win despite that, which gives me confidence for the next match. Shino-san and HIMAWARI-san. I didn’t get the chance to face HIMAWARI-san in the Next Generation tournament, and Shino-san was my opponent when I got my first ever win. I lost to HIMAWARI-san in the tournament the year before last, and I haven’t been able to get revenge yet. But since I haven’t been able to fight either of them during this recent period, I want them to experience the strength of Haru Kazashiro as I am now, and I am definitely stronger than I was the last time, so I don’t get the sense that I’m going to lose. Toga-san and I are absolutely going to move on to the next round.”

(Today you both borrowed part of each other’s gear)

Haru: “We exchanged gear. We thought the green (of Haru’s arm cover) looked strange (on Toga).”

Toga: “The shade of green didn’t suit me. So we thought we’d change things up a bit to make us look more like a tag team.”

Haru: “We’re like Precure.”

This was a bit tricky: “普段、首輪をつけてないときもあるんですけど、首(輪)もタッグトーナメントの時はつけようと思います.”

Toga: “I usually don’t wear a collar, but I thought I’d wear something on my neck for the tag tournament.”

Kira & Ivy’s comments were in English (I actually wasn’t sure what language I was going to get until I clicked play, lol):

Kira: “Well, that was our first and last match of the 2025 Max Heart Tournament. Of course I’m a little upset that we can’t move through to the next round, moreso because I want to fight more, but, what about you?”

Ivy: “It’s a little disappointing. I thought we had like a real shot. I’m proud of what we did out there. Toga and Haru were just… formidable.”

Kira: “Right? Like, even… I faced Toga-san in the Next Generation Tournament, and she’s gotten even stronger from there. It’s been a while since I’ve faced Haru, and she’s grown so much.”

Ivy: “Toga-san’s elbow is like a baseball bat. Next time, next time…”

Next up was Kyoraku Kyomei vs another rookie team of Mifu & Chika. I wasn’t really worried about Kyoraku Kyomei’s chances in this one, lol. Sure enough, they moved on to the next round (yay).

Kyoraku Kyomei’s comments:

Nakajima: “We got through the first round!”

Misao: “Yay! We made it through!”

Nakajima: “I had no intention of losing today.”

This was a bit tricky: “今日も明日もですけど、負ける気もないし、私はこのベルトに届かない闘いを終わらせるトーナメントにしたいと思っているので、生半可な気持ちでは享楽共鳴は敗れないと思っているし、たぶんお客さんも一番の優勝候補と思ってるんじゃないかと思っています.”

“Not today, and not tomorrow, either. I have no intention of losing, and I want the tournament to end our struggle of not being able to reach the belts, so I don’t think Kyoraku Kyomei can be defeated with half-hearted feelings, and I think the audience probably thinks we’re the favorite to win the tournament. We, too, believe that no one else besides us will be able to win.”

Misao: “We think of ourselves as the favorites, and we’re going to proceed with unwavering determination.”

I have a vague memory of this coming up before? So I think maybe I figured it out: “5年目の正直なので.”

Nakajima: “Fifth time’s the charm.”

Misao: “We absolutely won’t let down our guard, and we’re going to get those wins one by one.”

Nakajima: “We’re putting an end to it!”

Misao: “We’re ending it! No more of this trend!”

Nakajima: “No more!”

Mifu & Chika’s comments:

Ashida: “We lost…”

Chika: “I’m sorry.”

Ashida: “It’s frustrating. But I feel like I received my TJPW baptism.”

Chika: “You did, huh?”

Ashida: “I thought they were formidable opponents even before we fought.”

Chika: “They’ve always been in a strong position. This was my first time properly facing Nakajima-san and Misao-san, too. I already knew from watching them that they were strong, but when I actually faced them in the ring, I was utterly defeated…”

Ashida: “Well, I don’t think it was a total defeat, right? Compared to two veterans, we’re still rookies, but I feel like they didn’t outdo us in terms of having guts and a competitive spirit. The next time we fight, we can win, right?”

I wasn’t quite sure how to capture the specific flavor of this: “おおっ(苦笑)。次闘ったときは絶対勝てるように.”

Chika: “Ah…” (laughs) “We can definitely try to win the next time we fight.”

Ashida: “We just have to train harder.”

Chika: “Alright.”

Ashida: “We’re going to do our best.”

Chika: “Yes, we’ll do our best.”

After that, Pom and Max The Impaler faced Miu and Uta in a match that was just an utter delight. It delivered pretty much exactly what I wanted, haha. There was a pretty funny moment early on where someone in the Wrestle Universe chat said “Uta’s going goblin mode” and then a Japanese fan said “ゴブリンモードw”, which made me laugh. Important cultural exchange moment happening.

In any case, Uta got thrown around a whole lot and basically absolutely wrecked, which was a lot of fun. Solid win for Pompaler!

I had a bit of trouble finding the comments video for Pom and Max, because it didn’t seem to be on twitter. But I managed to find footage on youtube.

Impaler: (growls)

Pom: “Yay! We got past the first round, how about that?” (seeing Uta’s hair ornament in the Impaler’s hand) “Oh, you have this. You got it! That was amazing! Wasn’t it? We’re the best tag team, aren’t we?”

Impaler: (growls and stares at Pom)

Pom: “…Yes.” (watching the Impaler incorporate Uta’s hair ornament into their gear) “Cute!”

Impaler: (growls and directs a dubious expression in response to Pom’s high-pitched loud voice)

Pom: “…Let’s keep up the good work, and do our best to defeat all the other tag teams, alright?”

Impaler: (growls, driving Pom away)

Pom: (screams) “Hang on, wait just a sec!”

Miu & Uta’s comments:

Miu: “The first round of the tag tournament… We had bad luck in the random drawing!”

Uta: “Yes, we did.”

Localized the “難波ちゃんが悪いです!” a bit (maybe too much?):

Miu: “Namba-chan did us dirty! But even though Pompaler seemed so scary at first, before I even realized it, we were operating on the same wavelength. How was it? Was that your first time facing (the Impaler)?”

Uta: “Yes, it was. Ever since I saw the video of the bracket drawing, I’ve been trying to get used to looking at Max-san, but when they were actually here, I got too scared.”

This was a bit tricky to put into English: “それでもいくっていう気持ちだったんですけど、そんな気持ちはすぐ崩されて負けてしまったんですけど.”

“Even so, I was still determined to go for it, but that desire collapsed pretty much immediately, and I lost. But I think I did my best.”

Miu: “Oh, really? Are you satisfied with this?”

Uta: “I’m satisfied at the moment. I did all the things that I’m capable of doing right now.”

Miu: “But I think Uta can still do it. I’m sure that she can. Because one day Uta is going to become bigger than the Impaler, and she’ll generate a massively huge amount of power that’s even greater than the Impaler’s! Please do your best!”

Uta: “I will! Thank you very much!”

Miu: “Sayonara.”

After that was the main event! Kamiyu & Wakana vs Daisy Monkey. I thought “ah, easy victory for Daisy Monkey” when I saw that on the card, and assumed they’d paired up Kamiyu and Mahiro with different people so that they could hand them losses without Toyo Mates having to take another team loss, and then… Kamiyu and Wakana proceeded to get a gigantic upset, haha, beating the previous tag champs, and I realized that what we were in fact building up to was Kamiyu vs Mahiro drama in the second round of the tournament when their two teams faced off against each other.

Big moment for Wakana, though!

Here’s the post-match:

Kamifuku: “I thought you were a very driven person, but the woman from Ebina truly is as greedy and as strong as the rumors say! I’m glad, thank you. You helped me out today. I think I probably want to chatter the most at times like this, so… you can close.”

Uehara: (with tears streaming down her face) “We won the first round of the tournament! Ever since it was decided that I’d be teaming up with Kamifuku-san, I absolutely felt like I wanted to win the tournament. When I found out that our first round opponents were last year’s winners, Daisy Monkey… to be honest, I thought, ‘how unlucky!’” (cries)

Kamifuku: “You were anxious, weren’t you? We were texting on LINE.”

Uehara: “But I received lots of help from the amazing Kamifuku-san, and I’m so happy that we were able to win!”

Kamifuku: “Thank you. I’m glad!”

Uehara: “We just had the first round of the tournament, and so we’ll continue from tomorrow and so on.”

Kamifuku: “That’s right.”

Uehara: “I’d be so happy if everyone could come to the venue and cheer for me.”

Kamifuku: “Please come cheer for our Uehara.”

Uehara: “Thank you so much for all of your support today!”

Kamifuku: “Thank you very much!”

Wakana & Kamiyu’s comments:

Kamifuku: “Uehara won.”

Uehara: “I’m so happy that I got to fight alongside Kamifuku-san and get the win like this. But, well, (the tournament) only just started, and today we had Daisy Monkey for our opponents… They’re last year’s tournament winners and are formidable foes, so I was anxious, but Kamifuku-san was very reassuring, so we were able to win today. I want to keep our momentum going and ride it all the way to a tournament victory.”

Kamifuku: “Yes. Our opponents were the previous champions, after all, but what happened in the past is in the past. They lost, so they’re not the champions anymore.”

This part was very tricky… “なんか先輩が…とか元チャンピオンが…って、もうキリないじゃん。だから先輩だからって気持ちを持ちすぎるとあんまよくないから、そこはね。私は先輩のこと尊敬してるけど、上原はもっとガっていっていいと思う。いけると思う.”

“Your senpais, and all that… former champions… you’re not at the bottom anymore. So that’s why it’s not good to have too many feelings even if they’re senpais. I respect my senpais, but I think Uehara should be more aggressive. I think you can do it.”

Uehara: “Then, from the second round on, I’m gonna swallow them whole.”

Kamifuku: “Who’s next? Who are we facing next?”

Uehara: “They have a buy… Neko-san and Mahiro-san.”

Kamifuku: “Oh, nobodies. It’ll be fine. They’re not anyone worth worrying about. I know Neko, but the other one doesn’t really ring a bell… but she’s probably a nobody, so it’s fine. But we shouldn’t let our guard down, alright?”

Uehara: “Got it!”

(You only just started teaming up, but what sense do you have of yourselves as a tag team?)

Her answer was a bit tricky to translate: “私はそもそもキラキラ貪欲の子苦手なんですけど、まぁでもアメリカ遠征とかで一緒に話してみて。部屋が一緒だったんですよ。で、朝5時までね? お話して、この子の本音を聞いて、色々絆が…そもそもちょっとは深まっていたかなと。でもやっぱ新年で試合して、キラキラしすぎて苦手だなって思ったんですけど、今回を機にすげえいいとこあるじゃんっていうのがさらに見えたのでよかったなと。食べ物みたいに食われないように気を付けます、自分が(笑).”

Kamifuku: “I’m not good at dealing with the sparkling greedy girl, but, well, we talked together during our trip to America and such. We roomed together. We talked until 5 in the morning, was it? And after listening to her real thoughts, I thought the bond between us had maybe deepened a bit. But, well, after the New Year match, I thought she was too sparkly for me to deal with, though I’m glad that I was able to take another look at her and see her good points this time around. I’ll be careful not to get chowed down like food myself.” (laughs)

Uehara: “I’m going to eat our opponents!”

Kamifuku: “Right. Please do that.”

(There was quite a difference in level of enthusiasm between the two of you when you closed the show)

This was also tricky: “あー、きっとね、私なんか(押しのけて)ね、自分で喋りたいんだろうなって思ったんですけど…やっぱほら、印象悪くなっちゃうから横にいさせていただいて(笑)。でもすごく健気な涙も見れて、人間らしさをこうやって東京女子で出していく、あふれ出していく。さらに魅力が伝わる一戦になったんじゃないでしょうか.”

“I thought, ah, surely she’ll want to (brush me aside) and talk on her own… I thought it’d leave a bad impression, so I had to step aside.” (laughs) “But I could see her noble tears, and just like that, her humanity came out in TJPW, came pouring out. I think it was a match where her charms came across even more.”

Daisy Monkey’s comments:

Suzume: “Daisy Monkey achieved good results last year, and I really thought we’d do it again this year, too, so I’m really disappointed. There are still lots of tag teams that I really want us to fight as Daisy Monkey…”

This was a bit tricky to translate, and I wasn’t confident if by “タッグ”, she meant the tag belts or their tag team: “でもこの悔しさもタッグへの思いも誰にも渡したくないし、何一つ託したりする気はまったくないので、全部自分たちでもって、また2人でチャンスをつかみにいきたいと思います.”

“But I don’t want to surrender this frustration or my feelings toward the tag team to anyone, and I don’t want to give up anything to anyone, so I want the two of us to seize another chance again.”

Endo: “…”

Suzume: “We’re going to go on a rampage, so please look forward to that. Let’s go.” (she puts her arm around Endo and they head backstage)

And that’s it for that show! The next one is even longer, so I’ll have to step up my pace a bit if I want to get these last two translations done before Korakuen.

1 Like

Feels like it’s been a little streak of comments around the nuance of ではある, and here’s one more.
I would say that with どちらからでも勝てるけど、どっちも油断ならない相手ではあるので she’s saying “I can get a win off of / beat either of them, but it’s true both of them are opponents you can’t let your guard down around so,”.
One tip off is the けど and the ではあるので leading into the thing about her saying she can’t say they have a 100% chance of winning. The conjunctions make sense as “[confident thing] but it is true that [unconfident thing] so [I’m not 100% confident].” What the ではある is doing versus a more plain copula is I suppose just further emphasizing that contrast, the sense of acknowledging something that otherwise jars with what (in this case) she just said.
The other tipoff is I suppose just that I think “Either side is capable of winning” would be phrased differently than どちらからでも勝てる in a hard to describe way. I suppose the から being in there before the でも - making it lit. like “from either [I] can win” rather than “either can win.”
(I think anyway!)

I think with the context of the video, here they’re explaining why they chose the specific arm cover to swap. Like, they chose to have Toga wear Haru’s blue arm cover because her other one, which is green, wouldn’t have suited her.
So I think maybe technically it should be “We thought the green one (of Haru’s arm covers) would have looked strange”


I would say that the first part should be more like "There are normally some times when I don’t wear a collar but, "
Like I think technically she’s not saying she usually doesn’t wear a collar, just that sometimes she does sometimes she doesn’t, but she made sure to wear one for this special occasion of the tournament.

Yep, a handful of times all the way back since 2022! Good memory!

Unfortunately looking at them all in a row like that it wasn’t until my third comment on a section where it came up that I actually learned what it meant and successfully helped correct it… :pensive: I guess 3度目の indeed 正直.

I would say at the end of the sentence like this the ように is more like a hope. Like wouldn’t it be nice if / I hope that, etc. So I would change it to something like “Next time we fight, I hope we definitely can win.”

Here’s a supporting evidence I found which, oh ho, it looks like I linked previously in December 2024, so here’s some more convenient reinforcement!

Totally needless nitpick here, But I think ゲットしたね!could be localized more flavorfully than “You got it!” - I think I’d go with “Nice find!” or “Nice haul!” or something like that, since my impression is that ゲットする is used specifically in the context of like, picking up a cool or exclusive desirable good like some item of merchandise or a pokemon in a collector kind of way. Like nuance-wise I would say to put it in an overwordy way that ゲットしたね!is expressing like, “oh hey nice you found and acquired something pretty cool, way to go!” in this case attempting to bond with Max over their specific collector habits…

I would phrase this as roughly like “but things like their being senpais, or their being former champions, there’s no end to that kind of thinking.”
キリない appears to be 切りがない meaning like, it’s limitless, infinite, neverending.
I think she’s saying like - if you think in those terms you’re never going to stop coming up with excuses to worry, so that’s why it’s good not to think that way too much.

In this part I would say that だから先輩だからって気持ちを持ちすぎる isn’t so much “to have too many feelings even if they’re senpais” but rather it should be, as in, 「先輩だから」って気持ち, like “to have too many feelings along the lines of ‘because they’re my senpais, (so-and-so)’” or maybe it could be smoothed over fairly into something like “to dwell too much on the fact they’re your senpais”.

Also a nitpick and a matter of preference but here since she’s talking to Uehara I would change that “Uehara should be more aggressive” to “you should be more aggressive.”

… And less even a nitpick and more maybe just a slight tweak suggestion but I feel vaguely like “I think you could do well.” might be slightly better here for “I think you can do it” just because in the existing version the “it” feels like it’s maybe referring back to the previous sentence.

I would say this should be more like “I don’t generally like/get along with ostentatious greedy girls” - with the important part being the change to general “girls” rather than singular “girl.”
She’s not directly calling Wakana a キラキラ貪欲の子, she’s just strongly implying it by opening her discourse about how surprisingly they got along with this lead-in about how generally (with the そもそも) that kind of girl isn’t her cup of tea, making it a casually dropped but barely indirect Kamiyu-ish insult.

I would tweak this to “I thought that all sorts of bonds between us had at any rate maybe deepened a bit” just to get more of her phrasing which I think is funny. Sort of like both overexaggerated with the 色々絆 instead of just 絆 and underwhelming with how much she qualifies it at the same time. Again amusing in a very Kamiyu-ish kind of way.

Minor tweak just to try to get more of the flavor of すげえいいとこあるじゃん in there, but I’d suggest maybe something like “I’m glad that I was able to take another look at her this time around and see that dang she’s got some really good stuff going for her.”

My one quibble in this section is “I had to step aside” feeling too active for the させていただいて. “She allowed me to step aside” would be more literally accurate but it’s kind of difficult to phrase with this beginning… Maybe “I deferentially stepped aside.” Tricky.

Very suddenly hit my 限界 after sleeping very poorly last night :sweat_smile: The Daisy Monkey comments seem fine! Good night! (/ good morning as the case may be)

2 Likes

Had a busy weekend, but I did manage to finish translating the January 19 show, which was round two of the Max Heart tournament.

Lots happened in this!

The first major plot-relevant thing was Jada Stone pinning Suzume in a tag match and challenging her for the International belt! I like what I’ve seen of Jada so far, so I’m looking forward to that!

Jada’s comments were in English:

Jada: “Hey guys, it is ‘The Spark’ Jada Stone, and I’m just so like over the moon, like I literally… Guys, I’m living my dream; I’ve literally won three times in Japan! But let’s talk about that third time when I beat Suzume-san. And Suzume-san, I respect you; you’re one who I’ve watched and you’re one of the reasons why I decided to come to TJPW. But, I pinned you with my Spark Stunner. And so that means that I should be your first title defense, for the IP title. And so with that being said, February 8th, I think I should return back to Japan, and Jada in Japan sounds nice to me, so… Suzume-san, if you’re not chicken, then let’s go put on a banger of a match, BUT, you might be saying goodbye to that title. February 8th, back in Japan. And I can’t wait to show everybody what being The Spark really means, and I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who congratulated me, and thank you to TJPW fans for giving me your warm welcome, and I just can’t wait to be back. See you soon!”

Suzume’s comments:

Suzume: “Yesterday we lost our tag match and our tournament was over, but Daisy Monkey has no intention of giving up, and in singles competition, too, I want to defend this belt many more times. But even with that in mind today, I still lost to Jada. But I thought it was a really fun and exciting match. I don’t know what Jada was saying,” (laughs) “But she had to be telling me that she wanted my belt, so I want to defend it. But Jada is going back home today, so I don’t know when we’ll be able to do it. But I want to defend my title right away.”

(Jada will be coming back to Japan on February 8, and she said that she wants to win the belt then)

Suzume: “Then, at Korakuen Hall, let’s do it, Jada!”

(How was it actually facing Jada?)

Suzume: “I had seen a few of her matches, and I’d watched her fight (Shoko) Nakajima-san. I was really excited to watch a great wrestler, but it was even more exciting to actually fight her, and I have a feeling that I could evolve even more, so I’m absolutely going to defend my belt at Korakuen Hall, and I’m going to become an even stronger champion.”

Then the first tournament match of the day was Kamiyu & Wakana vs Mahiro & Neko! I really liked this one because of the Kamiyu/Mahiro drama… I feel like Mahiro’s matches with Kamiyu are where her emotions tend to really come through the most, so I’m always a fan of them. This one was interesting because of the context of their separate tag teams, too… And it ended with Kamiyu pinning Mahiro, which is perhaps the saddest outcome :pensive:.

Kamiyu & Wakana’s team:

Kamifuku: “We beat Neko and Mahiro’s team to get past the second round.”

This was a bit tricky: “真弥といままで散々タッグを組んでいたんだけど、一度も「タッグ名を決めましょう」とか「何々しましょう」とか何も言ったことがなかったのに、アイツ、猫と組んだ時だけ急に「猫人(ねこんちゅ)」(タッグチーム名)みたいに。オマエの要素ゼロじゃんみたいな.”

“Up until now, I’d been teaming with Mahiro all over the place, but she never said anything like, ‘let’s decide on a tag team name’ or ‘let’s do something’. But then when she teamed up with Neko, suddenly it’s like, ‘we’re Nekonchu’. It’s like, that has nothing to do with you. The only ‘cat person’ is Haruna Neko.”

I wasn’t sure if there was any particular pun or hidden meaning to ねこんちゅ? Nothing I was familiar with, at least. So I just romanized it. With this next part, too, I think Wakana was trying to say “(she’s the) ‘Nchu’ (part of Nekonchu)”, but it felt like I was adding too much extrapolation if I translated it like that…

Uehara: “Nchu.”

Kamifuku: “‘Nchu?’”

The last part of this was tricky: “なんかクソみたいな名前つけけて、イライラしていたし、ザコだなって思っていたんですけど、今日危ないところがあって、わかなが助けてくれたりして、まあ真弥は猫を連れて引っ張っていくのかなと思ったりして.”

“I was annoyed at her for giving them such a shitty name, and I thought she was a nobody, but today there were moments where I was in danger, and Wakana saved me, and I was thinking, well, Mahiro is going to take the lead and bring Neko along with her.’ And it’s not like I don’t have any feelings toward Mahiro, but right now I’m teaming up with Wakana, and we’re doing this as ‘Ayase Town Hills New Hills’. So I’m going to keep at it. How was it for you?”

I also wasn’t sure if there was anything I was missing with the 綾瀬タウンヒルズニューヒルズ name…

Uehara: “You and Mahiro-san were doing this as Toyo Mates, and now I’m the one teaming up with you. Today, part of me wanted to make you think ‘I’m glad we teamed up’…”

This was a bit tricky: “(遮って)よかった、よかった。そんなの最初からよかったに決まっているじゃん。普通の人とは華が違うから。大丈夫です.”

Kamifuku: (interrupting) “I’m glad, I’m glad. Right from the get-go, I was bound to be glad. Because you stand out compared to the ordinary person. Don’t worry.”

Also struggled with coming up with a snappy translation for the middle part of this: “今日は最後、バシッと決めていただいて、2回戦突破できたので.”

Uehara: “At the end of the match today, you nailed her with your move and we got through the second round.”

Kamifuku: “I’m glad. Let’s do our best again.”

Uehara: “Yes.”

(Can you talk about your opponents in the semifinals?)

Kamifuku: “Who’ll it be again?”

Uehara: “The semifinals are… Oh, Max and Pom-san…”

Kamifuku: “One of them isn’t human, right? I really don’t like that. I’m not good at eating strange foods, either. Or facing off against them. But I have to do it, because it’s my job.”

This was a bit tricky: “労働しないといけないの、私たちも。(上原は)やる気があるからね。いけるよね?”

“We’re going to have a hard day’s work ahead of us. (Uehara)'s got enthusiasm. You can do it, right? Can you eat strange things? Like axolotls and such.”

Uehara: “I’ve never eaten an axolotl, but I can do frogs.”

Kamifuku: “Then you can do it, you can do it! Uehara is going to eat them.”

Uehara: “I’ll swallow them whole!”

Mahiro & Neko’s comments:

Mahiro: “Sorry, Neko-san. I lost…”

Neko: “It’s alright. You did your best.”

Mahiro: “I was saying, ‘We’re gonna show everyone how strong Neko-san is with Nekonchu!’ But somehow we ended up facing a team of Kamiyu-san and Wakana.”

This was a bit tricky to translate: “そうなったら私がかみーゆさんのことを倒したいって思って、すごくワーッとなって.”

“As soon as that happened, I decided I wanted to beat Kamiyu-san, and I got really excited. I’m sad that I lost, but thank you, Neko-san.”

Neko: “You’re welcome. You were very cool.”

Mahiro: “Yuki Kamifuku is a woman that I must defeat, so I am going to do this with an even stronger spirit from here, and I want to tag with Neko-san again.”

Neko: “Let’s do it.”

Then Himawari and Shino faced Toga and Haru, and I thought Toga and Haru definitely had that one, but Himawari and Shino managed to pull the upset! TJPW booking often works like this, where someone will take someone else out of an earlier tournament or have some significant win over them, and then in a future tournament, the other person/team will get the upset, so in hindsight, it felt totally obvious that Shino/Himawari would get the win here, haha.

Himawari & Shino’s comments:

HIMAWARI: “We won! That was a fairly tough match.”

This next bit was a bit difficult to translate:

志乃 本当ですね。体も心もすごい全部リングに置いてきました。

Shino: “Truly. I really put it all out there in the ring, body and soul.”

HIMAWARI 置いてきちゃったの?

HIMAWARI: “You put it all out there?”

志乃 一回置いてくるぐらい思い入れも強い試合でした。

Shino: “It was a match that I felt so strongly about, I had to put it all out there once.”

HIMAWARI: "The fact that it was a same generation showdown was a big deal for us. And the fact that we had each lost to the two of them, too. They may have won the Next Generation Tournament, but this match in particular, we had to get our revenge. We were even more fired up than usual in that match. But next we have Kyoraku Kyomei. This was our first time teaming up. "

This was a bit unwieldy: “私たち組むのが初めてで、なんだかんだでデビューから「組みたい」って言ってて、ここで初めて組めたから.”

“We’ve been saying in some form or another since our debuts that we wanted to team up, and this was the first time we were able to make that happen.”

Shino: “I want to be together all the time.”

HIMAWARI: “I want us to fight together more, but the wall that we have ahead of us is huge. Let’s do our best, okay?”

Shino: “I want us to be together always, so I’ll do my best.”

(How did it feel to tag together for the first time?)

This was a bit tricky:

HIMAWARI お互いのことをわかっている分、やりやすさはあって。

HIMAWARI: “Since we both understand each other, it comes very easily for us.”

志乃 ありました。私って基本、あんまできるほうじゃないんですけど、「あなたは絶対できる子です。鈴木志乃はなんだかんだやれる子だから大丈夫」って言ってくれるのはHIMAWARIさんなので。それを言ってくれるから今日もできるって、いつも以上に思って試合ができたと思います。

Shino: “Yes. Fundamentally, I’m not the one who can really do much, but HIMAWARI-san tells me, ‘You can definitely do it. Shino Suzuki is someone who can do this or that, so don’t worry.’ I think the reason I could do it today, the reason why I could do that match that I had more invested in than usual, was because she told me that.”

HIMAWARI 志乃さんは1%の可能性をものにできる子ってSNSでも言ったんですけど、鈴木志乃のポテンシャルを一番信じているので。だから組めて楽しかったし、その姿を見ているから私も頑張れるっていうのが。

HIMAWARI: “I said it on social media, too, but Shino-san is a girl who can make the most of a 1% chance, and I believe in Shino Suzuki’s potential the most. That’s why it was fun teaming with her, and it’s because I’m watching her do it that I’m able to do my best myself.”

Shino: “It’s the same for me. But I want to do my best not to rely on her too much.”

Toga & Haru’s comments:

Toga: “Sorry, I lost. I’m really disappointed to have lost in the second round of the tag tournament in our same generation showdown, but I’ve been together with Haru ever since our tag title match at the start of December, and I think we were able to grow a lot as a team, and even though we lost here, because of how much we’ve grown, I don’t know if Haru & Toga will continue or end here, but personally I’d really like to do it again.”

Haru: “Of course I’m feeling frustrated, but we still have a long way to go ahead of us. I want to think about the future while still cherishing the present, and I want to get stronger and grow more, and then I want to face Shino-san and HIMAWARI-san again.”

This was a bit hard to translate: “この2ヵ月間、凍雅さんと何回か組んで結構チーム力とか芽生えてきている気がするので、ここで終わりじゃないといいなと思っています.”

“I feel like over these past two months, Toga-san and I have really nurtured our team power and such as we’ve been tagging together, so I hope this isn’t the end.”

Toga: “As a tag team, it’s the end for us here, but if we team up again, we’ll have gotten stronger individually, and when we team up, we’ll be stronger than we are now, and if we can team up here again next year…”

Haru: “That would be great!”

Toga: “We’ll aim for the victory next time!”

Then there was a 三角関係 showdown, with Raku and Yuki Aino facing Pom and Max The Impaler. I really liked this one just because of all the interpersonal stuff, not only with Pom and Raku/Yuki, but also between Max and Yuki. Really fun to have a wrestling story like this which features a character like Max.

Pom and Max managed to get the win, but Max went over afterward and patted Yuki on the cheek, which was very cute. And Raku and Yuki both checked on Pom at the end before handing her off to Max to carry out. Love is real…

Pompaler’s comments:

Pom: “Ow, ow!”

Impaler: (growls, then pats Pom gently on the back before setting her down)

Pom: “We won? Did we win? It feels like we won, but…”

Impaler: (growls and holds Pom’s hand up like they’re showing her she won)

Pom: “Just when I thought you were going to save me, you threw me!”

This was a bit tricky: “よく分かんないけど、勝ったからいっか。(インペイラーは先に退室)最後までこの調子で残れるように頑張りますけど、ぽむがその前に散り散りになってなくなっちゃうかもしれないけど、頑張ろうと思います!”

“I don’t really understand, but we won, so it’s OK?” (the Impaler leaves) “I’ll do my best to keep up this momentum until the end, even though I might end up in smithereens before that point, but I’m going to do my best!”

Raku & Yuki’s comments:

Raku: “Well… I lost.”

This was a bit tricky… “トーナメントに挑むにあたってユキさんとの愛を思い出したんだけど、私たちすごい長い間、愛を育んできたじゃないですか。そういうことを思い出したら、すごい泣きそうになって…ぽむとインペイラーさんはホントにちぐはぐで、組み合わさったら最強になる2人だと思うんですけど。私たちはこの積み重ねた愛を爆発させられたら強くなれるんじゃないかな~って思ってたけど負けちゃったし.”

“But I remembered the love I share with Yuki-san when we took on the challenge of this tournament. We’ve nurtured that love for a very long time. When I remembered that, I almost burst into tears… Pom and Impaler-san are really mismatched, and I think if you fit them together, they become the strongest pair. I thought that if we could just let all of the love we’ve built up burst out, we could become stronger, but we lost.”

This part was a bit tricky to translate, and also was tricky because I don’t follow what’s going on in SETUP enough, so I was a bit hazy on the timeline of these matches, and cagematch’s info seems incomplete… It was another time where “リベンジ” was used in a way where I felt like “revenge” wouldn’t work, so that was a bit tricky as well: “ぽむと闘ったのは、タイで敵だったんですよ。3WAYのタイトルマッチで。その時も私がマッチャから負けて、ぽむはリベンジしてベルトを取ってきて.”

“And I fought Pom—we were enemies in Thailand. We fought in a 3-way title match. I lost to Matcha then, and Pom got a second go at it and won the belt. She’s also advancing in the tournament, and I felt like there was nothing I could do on my own against her incredible momentum…”

Aino: “That’s not true! You were super cool today. I’m sorry that I couldn’t save you.”

This was tricky: “助けれないよ。マックスが振ってきたもん.”

Raku: “You can’t save me. Max would reject you.”

Struggled a bit with this, too: “マックスは前はなかなか私と闘おうとしてくれなかったんですけど、ユキって呼んでくれてかわいがってくれてるのかなんか分かんないけど。だけど今日は最初から闘う気を感じたから、だからやっぱりマックスがこのタッグトーナメントに懸ける思いが強いのかなってすごい感じた.”

Aino: “Max was fairly reluctant to fight me before, but whether or not they’re going to call me ‘My Yuki’ and show love for me, I don’t know. But today, I felt their willingness to fight from the very beginning, so I really felt that Max must have a strong attachment invested in this tag tournament. In the end, I feel that Pom is different when she’s teaming with Max compared to how she usually is, so since they beat us here, PomMax… Pompaler? I want you to win the tournament!”

Raku: “We want you to do it!”

Aino: “Do your best, PomMax!”

Raku: “Good luck!”

Aino: “We’ll do our best again!”

Raku: “We’re cheering you on with our love!”

Then Kyoraku Kyomei faced Yoppy and Kaya! Normally I’d cheer for the underdogs, but I’m all in on Kyoraku Kyomei this year :triumph:. And they did get the win! Yay!

This part from the post match was a bit difficult to translate: “自分たちのこと、圧倒的優勝候補だと思ってたんですけど…やっぱり今日みたいな試合になっちゃうんですよね.”

Nakajima: “I thought we were the overwhelming favorites to win the tournament, but… it still turned out to be a match like today’s. But we’ve been losing for five straight years.”

I also struggled with the first part of this: “害悪と呼ばれようが私たちは優勝するし、優勝だけが目標じゃないんです.”

“You can hurt us, but we’re going to win, and winning isn’t our only goal. Our goal is to crush One To Million. To be honest, that was tough… So, thank you, Misao.”

Misao: “Thank you for hitting the move that decided the match. I just have one thought in mind. These past five years, we’ve never won this tournament, and we haven’t been able to win any other chances for the belts. Things have been at a gentle simmer the whole time. But now it’s finally about to boil over big time. We’re definitely going to win the tournament, and we’re going to get our hands on One To Million’s belts. And rip them away from them!”

Nakajima: “Kyoraku Kyomei formed in the first place because we wanted to have fun tag matches. It’s no fun if we can’t win, right? So that’s why we’re going to keep on winning. I want you all to see a Kyoraku Kyomei that brings fun. …We are Kyoraku Kyomei!”

Kyoraku Kyomei’s comments:

Nakajima: “Yes, that was a lot of fun.”

Misao: “It was. And we made it past the second round!”

The last part of this was difficult to translate lol: “突破だけど、ホント試合自体も楽しめて勝てたから、すごい今日は収穫の日じゃない?”

“We got through, but I really enjoyed the match itself, and we were able to win, so today was a good haul for us, huh?”

Nakajima: “I think so!”

This was a bit tricky: “私たちってホントに楽しさが足りないっていう…コロナがはやって、とにかく楽しいことしようが元々だと思ってるんです、享楽共鳴の.”

“I think we’re really not having enough fun… Covid happened, and I think that the original idea with Kyoraku Kyomei in any case was to do fun things. For these past five years, we’ve just been continuously losing. I think now is the time where we’ll have the most fun. But from the moment this tournament started, everyone thinks that we’re the overwhelming favorite to win, and we’re also very aware of that.”

Misao: “We think so.”

Nakajima: “Yeah. But hey, maybe… I don’t know, but there might also be people out there who don’t support us. But the voices of the ones who do are very loud. That’s what really spurs me on.”

This was a bit tricky: “だから今度こそ勝つ一番楽しい私たちを見ててねって、そんな思いがあります.”

“And that’s why this time in particular, I want them to watch us win and have the most fun of all.”

I was also really confused by this first part of what Misao said: “そうさせないように。楽しい思いをみんなに届けたいね.”

Misao: “I hope we won’t let that happen. I want to bring happy thoughts to everyone.”

Nakajima: “That’s what I think!”

Misao: “By winning.”

(Your opponents in the semifinals are HIMAWARI and Shino)

For this and the following exchange, I couldn’t decide on the best way to translate “勝てて当然”: “HIMAWARI&志乃なんて、勝てて当然だ。言ったらまた嫌われちゃうんだけど、私はホントに勝てて当然の相手だと思っています.”

Nakajima: “HIMAWARI & Shino, we can beat them as a matter of course. I know I’m going to get hate for saying this, but I really think we deserve to win.”

Misao: “We deserve it!”

Nakajima: “Will people hate us…?”

Misao: “They can hate us. We’re the ones who make things fun!”

Kaya & Yoppy’s comments:

Toribami: “Well, I’m really frustrated!”

Hasegawa: “Torippi really did a great job, and I felt again how useless I am.”

Toribami: “You aren’t at all.”

This was a bit tricky: “でもすごい、勝手ながらなんですけど…とりっぴーとのタッグ可能性あるなって思って.”

Hasegawa: “But it’s amazing, if I can take the liberty… I think there’s a possibility that I can form a tag team with Torippi. I’m going to work harder and get to a point where I can catch up to her, and then I want us to aim for the top together. I really have my sights set on becoming the top tag team.”

Toribami: “If Yoppy-san hadn’t been there… If all I had was my own potential, I wouldn’t have been able to do very much in today’s match. I was able to do more than usual, and more than my own ability because Yoppy-san really helped me out.”

Hasegawa: “But we weren’t able to win…”

Toribami: “I’m really disappointed!”

Hasegawa: “I’m really glad that I got to be in a tag team with Torippi my first time participating.”

The first part of this was a bit tricky: “この隣を誰にも渡したくないなってすっごい思ったから、ホントに次機会があったら、ホントに頑張りましょう.”

“I really don’t want to give this person standing beside me up to anyone, so if there’s another opportunity, let’s really give it our best shot!”

Toribami: “We’ll do our best!”

And that’s it for that one! Just one show left to translate before Korakuen, and it’s a lot shorter.

1 Like

According to the niconico wiki, んちゅ as a reading for 人 as a suffix derives from Okinawan, that’s spread out into slang:

スラング俗語としては沖縄県出身でなくても使う人もおり、「好人すきんちゅ」「不眠人みんち」など琉球方言えて使われている。ただし、場面や使い方によっては話者・研究者の方に失礼になってしまう可性もあるので注意。

I would personally assume that Kiryu’s thinking behind the name is that, since based on her social media she clearly loves her cat, it works as a double meaning the same way “cat person”/“cat people” would in English.

And yeah I would say that Wakana was repeating and clarifying the unusual reading (and perhaps Kiryu’s role in it) and Kamifuku is only questioning it as in expressing disdain.

Based on this tweet, the name is because Kamiyu is from Fujisawa, Kanagawa, and Wakan is from Ebina, Kanagawa, and Ayase Town Hills is a shopping area that is located between those two cities.

So in pairing up they’re like a new Ayase Town Hills, since Ebina and Fujisawa are meeting in the middle.

Up to you, but tweaking the beginning to “Everyone’s gotta work, even us / we’re no exception.” would maybe be a bit more direct of a translation.

I would probably smooth this over to “who can do anything” just for English clarity.

It doesn’t really matter at all, but it seems like from the video she was going for a specific number but couldn’t remember how many it was and looked at Toga who offered 何回か so “Toga-san and I have tagged together some number / a handful of times and really nurtured our team power and such” might be a little closer than the “as we’ve been tagging together” strategy.

Nitpick, but I would say the 買ったみたい is more like “It seems like we won, but…” here.
Like, she’s inferring from Max’s response that they won, but it doesn’t feel like they did (because she’s in pain from being used as a weapon).

I would probably go with I think “There was no saving me. Max befell us.”
It seems like ought to be 降ってきた. And I would say she’s like, reassuring Yuki that she shouldn’t worry about not having been able to save her, because the inevitable consequence of Max.

I would say that this should be more like “You might look down on us / you might disregard us / You might want us out of the picture, but we’re going to win.” That kind of thing. 害悪と呼ばれようが would be like “whether you call us 害悪 or not, it doesn’t matter” and it seems like (boy that sure is a handy wiki huh) 害悪 mainly means like, a blight, although interestingly in particular game circles it has a slangy meaning of like - a particular card or character that’s like, busted or not fun to fight.

要するに「こいつがいなければもっと面白くなったのに」という侮蔑である。

I don’t really know if Shoko is using it in the game sense, but I guess connotation-wise it amounts to the same thing. For another example I found Konami heeling it up against God’s Eye calling them “団体の害悪” for stuff like the kuma-pose antics with Koguma, and I would take that to mean “a blight on this promotion” like saying GE isn’t contributing anything or is actively detracting.
So I would say that’s the kind of thing Shoko’s saying here - you might say (from their long losing record) that Kyoraku Kyomei is unnecessary or detrimental being in the picture, but they’re going to win.

Yeah I dunno! Maybe she said そらさせないように is my best guess. That would seem to fit with wanting the fans to watch them win. Or maybe the そう is the implied usual loss or something.

It doesn’t really matter, but I think I’d go with “of course we can beat them.” I would say that she’s saying that since it’s Shino and HIMAWARI, it’s 当然 that they 勝てる (can win). Like it wouldn’t at all be a shock if they do. I think as is it’s a little bit softer on that connotation.
Then I’d maybe go with “they’re an opponent we can obviously beat” “obviously!” for the latter part for the same reasons. (not that big a deal though)

1 Like

Alright, last show before Korakuen! Here’s the January 25 show, the semifinals of the Max Heart tournament.

First up was Yuki Arai commenting on the announcement that she’ll be participating in the LA show, which will be her first time wrestling overseas (kind of ironic this was announced not long after she dropped the International Princess belt…). She made a very funny attempt at speaking English at the start of the show when this was announced, haha.

Here’s what she said backstage:

Arai: “It was announced today that I’ll be participating in the Las Vegas show! Yay! It has always been my dream to do a match overseas, so I am really looking forward to being able to go with everyone else at TJPW this time! People have come to see me from overseas, but I still haven’t been able to go myself, so I’m really excited and am looking forward to getting to meet all of my overseas fans and spend time with them. I will do my best to mark my overseas and U.S. debut with a victory!”

(Can you express your enthusiasm again in English?)

“Huh? My enthusiasm? Um…” (in English) “Let’s go! Finally!” (laughs)

She went for the safer bets this time, haha. It makes total sense for her specifically, but it’s very funny that “finally” would be one of the few words she can confidently say in English.

The first tournament semifinal was Pompaler vs Ayase Town Hills New Hills. I was rooting for Pompaler all the way (and will until Korakuen, at which point they become my enemy), so it was fun seeing them get the win here and advance to the final.

Pompaler’s comments:

Pom: “Yay! Hey, we won! We won! …It seems!” (to the Impaler) “You’re amazing! Our teamwork was amazing and great, and we won! We’re going on to the final! That’s a lot! Do you think at this rate, we’ll be able to win the final?”

Impaler: (growling at Pom’s loud voice) “No!”

Pom: “No?? It’s YES! Yes!”

Impaler: (growls)

Pom: “Yes! Yes! Yes! We’re going to win the final at this rate, and win the whole thing! Yay! Bye bye!”

Impaler: (growls while covering their ears)

Ayase Town Hills New Hills’ comments:

Kamifuku: “The team with the monster got us.”

Uehara: “We lost in the semifinals…”

Kamifuku: “But it’s amazing. Getting all the way to the semifinals like this when it’s our first time teaming up, I’ve never been able to get this far before. You impressed me.”

Uehara: “I wanted to win this tournament while teaming up with Kamifuku-san, who I’ve always wanted to team with… But this time, it wasn’t to be, so I want to team up again someday and win the next one.”

Kamiyu’s whole response here was tricky… “優勝系だ、やりたいの。そっち系? 一番系? あ~そういうのももちろん大事ですし、プロレスはトーナメントとかあるけど、不意なタッグで何かいいと思えることがあるんじゃないかと思うし。勝つことももちろん大事だけど、その過程ももちろん大事だったりすると思うんで、ちょっと今後俺たちの良さを。まずは優勝うんぬんの前に海老名市か藤沢市かそこらへんの仕事を取ろう.”

Kamifuku: “‘I want to get the big win,’ are you that type? The ‘I want to be the best’ type? Ah, that kind of thing is important, of course, and there are tournaments and such in pro wrestling, but I think there’s good to be found in unexpected tag teams. Of course winning is important, but I think the journey is also important, so I think we’ll be good in the far off future. First of all, let’s take jobs in Ebina City or Fujisawa City or around those parts before we worry about winning tournaments and all that.”

Uehara: “That’s right. Today is still part of the journey.”

I was really confused by the 7:3 stuff here: “7(上福):3(上原)ね。7:3でちょっとやらせてもらって、ちょっとお仕事のオファー待ってますので、よろしくお願いします.”

Kamifuku: “7 (Kamifuku) : 3 (Uehara), alright? Let’s do this as 7:3. I’m waiting for job offers, so I’m looking forward to working with you.”

(Do you both want to continue as a tag team in the future?)

“Of course.”

Uehara: (smiling) “Yes!”

Kamifuku: “Right back at you, what do you think? You’ve been working (in pro wrestling) for a long time, haven’t you? What is your objective opinion?”

(I think it would be good for you to continue…)

Burst out laughing when Kamiyu started interviewing the interviewer (only in pro wrestling…).

Wanted to make sure I got this right: “じゃあ今までのタッグよりも今回のほうがいいってことでいいですか? 上福のパートナーは?”

“Then, can you say that this tag team is better than any tag teams I’ve had in the past? In terms of my partner?”

(…Yes.)

“Then we’ll do our best. I think if it comes from the mouth of a pro, there is no doubt, so I’m positively overflowing with motivation. I will do my best.”

Then the main event was Kyoraku Kyomei vs Shino & Himawari. A solid match for the rookies! But not enough to beat the best tag team in the company :triumph:. Kyoraku Kyomei is headed to the final!!

The post-match for this was pretty hilarious because Pompaler came in and gave them a beatdown, which is pretty rare in TJPW, and it coming from Pom is particularly unusual…

Loved this moment with Pom staring them down while arm in arm with Max:

Here’s the full dialogue for the post-match:

Misao: “We made it past the semifinals! I wasn’t going to let my guard down at all, and right from the start, I had planned on fighting them with my whole heart… but even so, they were really tenacious.”

This was a bit tricky: “ちょっとヒヤッとさせた?”

“Did I startle you a bit?”

Nakajima: “No, not at all!”

This was a bit tricky to wrangle into English: “そうだよね。私、中島さんの隣に、堂々と中島さんを引っ張っていくつもりでもっともっと強くなっていきたいから、私の口からもう一度言わせてください.”

Misao: “Alright. I, with Nakajima-san at my side, with the intention of leading her with dignity, want to get even stronger, so let me say it one more my time from my own lips: We are absolutely going to win the final, and we are going to strip away the tag belts from One To Million! And, our opponents in the final… who is it exactly?”

Nakajima: “Well, it’s probably Pom and…”

At this point, Pompaler enters. The Impaler goes on a rampage, hitting Misao in the corner, and then attacking Nakajima with a bodyslam.

I wanted to make sure I got the tone of this right: “よよよよよ~、うちらが優勝に決まってるでしょー!”

Pom: Hey, hey, hey, we’re going to win the whole thing, of course!"

Then the Impaler flattens Kyoraku Kyomei by throwing Pom at them, before making their exit after Pom.

Wanted to make sure I got the flavor right, here, too: “なんだアイツらー! こっちは試合後やぞー! ふざけんなよ。大暴れ先にされちまった.”

Misao: “What the hell are they doing?! The match is over! Don’t mess with us. They beat us to the punch with this rampage. I’m really frustrated. Korakuen? When we fight Pompaler, we’ll be sure to pay back what we owe after that beatdown. We’re definitely going on a rampage.”

Nakajima: “A hundredfold! Our weapons are infinite!”

Misao: “The winners at Korakuen are gonna be us, Kyoraku Kyomei. Because WE ARE KYORAKU KYOMEI!”

I was racking my brain trying to come up with a better way to translate 大暴れ in a pro wrestling context, and I think maybe “beatdown” is the word? At least, I’d consider what happened here a “post-match beatdown”. But I couldn’t commit, so I used “rampage” for some instances and “beatdown” for some other instances…

Kyoraku Kyomei’s comments:

Nakajima: “We won!”

Misao: “We’re past the semifinals! We’re headed for the final!”

Nakajima: “We’ve gotten this far before.”

Misao: “We’ve been here before, but… it’s a bit of an unpleasant memory, so I want to dispel it once and for all this year.”

Nakajima: “Two years ago, at Korakuen, we had a match that was full of regrets for me.”

Misao: “For me as well.”

Nakajima: “So much frustration…”

This was tricky to translate: “あそこが一番、享楽にとって取れたタイミングだなって思ってて。だからその忘れ物を取り返したいって気持ちですね.”

“I thought that place is, for us, the best occasion for us to take this. That’s why I want to take back what we left behind there.”

Misao: “I really remember the scene in the ring at Korakuen at that time.”

This was a bit tricky to translate because I’m not sure I exactly understand the nuance to the difference between these: “すごく後悔…というか心残り.”

“I have a lot of remorse… or rather, regret. It’s a match that has been lodged in my throat all this time, so I definitely want to make up for it and move on to what’s next. That’s why we absolutely must win the final.”

Nakajima: “Yes. If we win just one more, we can fight Yamashita and Itoh.”

Misao: “We’ll earn the right to fight them.”

Nakajima: “We’re going to do our best.”

(What about your opponents in the final?)

Misao: “They’re very insolent. They caught us by surprise.”

Nakajima: “But, y’know, I think they’re frustrating but also exciting opponents.”

Misao: “Aren’t they tailor-made opponents for a hero and a Big Kaiju?”

Nakajima: “I want to send them home remembering that I AM BIG KAIJU and SHE’S A SUPERHERO.”

Misao: “Today they got the first move on us and gave us a beatdown, but at Korakuen, we’re going to be the ones going on a rampage. Please watch us!”

Shino & Himawari’s comments:

Could not for the life of me get this to sound natural in English: “今回はここで負けてしまいました…”

Shino: “We lost here this time around…”

HIMAWARI: (with tears streaming down her face) “Well… the two of them, Kyoraku Kyomei, they’re a very high wall for us. This was my first time teaming with Shino-san, and it was our first time participating in the tournament together… I wanted the two of us to overcome that high wall together, but… it’s so disappointing. It’s pathetic that even though I had Shino-san at my side, I still lost…”

This was the best I could do for this: “なんか、しかもその、きっとみんな『まぁでも当然の結果だろうな』って思うような結果になっちゃったのも悔しいし.”

“It’s also frustrating that we ended up getting the result that everyone thought was a foregone conclusion. …I wanted us to be able to fight together more…”

Shino: “Of course I wanted to win here… I came here thinking that if I was with HIMAWARI-san, I could win, so it’s frustrating. But it’s not like this is the end of my pro wrestling career, so I want to work hard so that next time, people will think it’s natural for us to win.” (to HIMAWARI) “Thank you.”

HIMAWARI: “Thank you…”

And that’s it for that one! Korakuen is in two days, and we’re gonna finally see Kyoraku Kyomei win a tournament :triumph:.

2 Likes

Forgot the poster! (EDIT: posterS, because actually I just found a second one that’s even funnier, haha)

Here's for 2.8 Korakuen:

友情パワー!全開!

Friendship power! Full throttle!

(No text to translate on this one, but it’s amazing)

Also, here's for the 2.11 show, too, while I'm at it:

音がどこまでも飛んでゆく

Sound flies forth in all directions

(This was really tricky to translate in a way that preserves the poetry…)

2 Likes

I dunno if it’s super clear in the original to native speakers either (Wakana doesn’t seem quite like she gets it, or she’s playing into the confusion), but googling around I think probably she’s making a joke about like, Wakana being in the top 30% of employees who purportedly work hard and get most of the things done, and Kamiyu being in the bottom 70%, like in whatever job they might take, Kamiyu will sit back and let Wakana be the tryhard gogetter. It seems like googling around there’s various 7/3 split rules of thumb along those kinds of lines.

I would say that probably Hyper Misao here is asking if Nakajima had a pang of worry in the match that Misao was going to lose. “Startle” feels maybe a little more neutral. “Did I give you a little scare?” Maybe.

With the nuance from the above nitpick, I would say also that this could be tweaked probably. I would say the そうだよね。is conveying the mutual trust in their partnership - like “That’s right!” or “Of course not!” maybe. Like, そうだよね, of course Nakajima wouldn’t worry about Misao.

I would go with maybe “I have a lot of regret… or rather, it’s like we left something undone.”
I would say that 後悔 is closest to “regret” as in like, “I regret my mistakes,” while 心残り is closest to “regret” as in “I regret how that went down. I bet if I took another swing at it I could do a better job.”
That seems to be born out by the definitions.
後悔:

自分のしてしまったことを、あとになって失敗であったとくやむこと。「短い快楽に永い—」「今さら—しても始まらない」

心残り:

あとに思いが残ってすっきり思い切れないこと。また、そのさま。未練。「—なのは幼い子供を残していくことだ」

It also is pretty intuitive with the words themselves - 後悔 is simply pain after the fact, 心残り is the lingering feelings left behind from a situation.
both mean “regret” but Misao pivoted her phrasing to something that emphasizes more the unresolved feelings, rather than emphasizing the past mistake. Since she’s talking about how they’re going to resolve those feelings, not apologizing for how it went in the past.

I think a somewhat important nuance of what’s specifically frustrating is the reactions she’s describing being in the present. Like it’s not exactly that they lost and everyone thought it was a foregone conclusion, rather that they lost and everyone will dismiss it as a foregone conclusion.
Maybe “and what’s more, It’s also frustrating that it turned out so that everyone will surely dismiss the result as a foregone conclusion.” or something.

(all the “I wanted to make sure” spots seemed fine to me)

2 Likes