99.9~Keijisenmon Bengoshi~ sII [Episode 6 Extra Notes]

And we are back with episode 6! Episode 7 is also on it's way and I am still in the process of translating episode 8, so, steady progress guys. Steady progress. I hope everyone is still enjoying the drama and I have a bunch of translation notes for this episode this time around so stick around if you found some of Miyama's jokes really confusing.



1. "The usual"

A cute little visual pun. Arai-san asks the tobacco store owner for two of "Itsumono" which translates to "the usual", but also happens to be the name of this particular tobacco brand.

2. Reel-y crazy
Excuse my lame pun, but in my defense Miyama's pun in Japanese wasn't much better? A direct translation of Miyama's pun in Japanese would have been "You're crazy for filming a video like this" and the pun would be on the words douga and douka shiteiruna (as I explained). Just to keep a pun in the sentence and make sure it was video-related, but still keep the same nuance of the sentence I played around with the words "really" and "reel" (as in a film reel). Seriously it took me like... a long time to think this up. Please be nice to me. /runs.

3. Ikkokudou

Ikkokudou is an actual person - the one in the photo. He is actually a famous ventriloquist or as his website describes him as "voice illusionist". It costs a whopping 10,000-20,000yen just to get a ticket to see one of his shows (for Canadians's that's like $120-240, that ain't cheap!) and also appears in TV. His website for anyone interested can be found [here].

4. The return of DASA

DASA makes a return as it seems Miyama has labelled Sada as that on his phone as a contact. Again "Dasa" or dasai means lame or stupid and also happens to be Sada-sensei spelled backwards. Poor guy, he just can't get a break from being teased by Miyama.
 

5. Itokonchi

This is just a really cute shirt collaboration with the official logos for NJPW and 99.9 and Itokonchi all wrapped up in there with an obvious sunglasses wearing afro figure.

They've thankfully started adding title cards to the ridiculous number of pro-wrestlers who appear on this show. As shown here, this guy is BUSHI and is part of the "Los Ingobernables des Japon" (The Ungovernables of Japan) - a wrestling stable that is part of NJPW. (From what I understand, a "stable" in wrestling is kind of like a little team unit that someone is a part of - NJPW is the entire organization).

This guy here is Tetsuya Naito whom we've seen and referenced many times before already. I decided to include him because this time Kanako happens to make a bunch of references based on his name.

1. Naito Chin - as I mentioned this guy is an author and columnist who is most well-known for his column "Yomazu ni Shineru ka". That's about all I know about him. 
2. Naito Daigo - this is DAIGO, lead vocalist to the band Breakerz and married to Kitagawa Keiko.
3. NaitoTakashi - An Japanese actor who Arashi fans might recognize from Detective Kenmochi from Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo s3 (with Jun) and I believe Marathon (with Nino) as a the dad.
4. Naito Youko - A Japanese actress from the 70s.

 Another CD from Kanako. This one is title "ルージュの天丼" (Rouge no Tendon) which is an homage to "ルージュの伝言" (Rouge no Dengen | Rouge Message), a song by Matsutoya Yumi, released under her maiden name at the time, Arai Yumi. 

6. I will never die!

Sources tell me this moment here when Hirata is like "I WON'T DIE" is a reference to an impression that Mimata Matazo (the actor for Hirata-san) does of Takeda Tatsuya, taken from one of his lines from 101st Marriage Proposals (a really famous Japanese drama from the 90s).


7. Pakuchi, Pakuchi, Pakuchi~

For those who are unfamiliar with Japanese and how to read it, the reason Miyama and co. were misreading the name of the foodtruck as "Mamire" instead of "Sumire" is due to the similiarities between the characters ス (su) and マ (ma). Now, on a computer they obviously look quite different, but if you have bad eyesight it might be easy to miss how the line on the top actually extends past the line on the bottom so form "su" instead of "ma" (where the line on top would not extend past).

Oh boy. Okay. All the name drops Miyama gives. So, the most important name to remember here is Edogawa Ranpo (Bungo Stray Dog watchers may recognize this name), a famous Japanese author from the 1900s who pretty much developed Japanese mystery novels. He was inspired by poets like Edgar Allen Poe, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Some of his works have been translated into English and one of his most well-known characters for you Persona 5 fans is Akechi Kogoro who first appears in the novel "The Case of the Murder on D. Hill" Persona 5fans, Akechi is actually named after this guy.

1. Akechi sounds a lot like Pakuchi - hence Miyama turning the name "Akechi Kogoro" into "Pakuchi Kogoro". 
2. The Fiend with Twenty Faces (Kaijin ni-jū Mensō or 怪人二十面相) is another book Miyama references, but this time he turns it into Kaijin ni-ju Bento or 怪人二重弁当). People comfortable with kanji may have noticed that the characters for "ni-ju" are actually different. 二十 = twenty while 二重 actually means double layered, although they both sound the same. I just stuck with the word twenty in English because it made things easier, but 二重弁当 actually refers to a double-layered bento box so the correct translation of Miyama's pun should be "The fiend with a double-layered bento".  

For this pun here, Miyama is continuing on his pun regarding Akechi (Pakuchi) Mitsuhide. As I mentioned, he is a samurai who is most well-known for betraying Oda Nobunaga and starting the rebellion at Honnoji Temple that ultimately led to Nobunaga's death. During this part where Miyama is holding the pen, I wrote "Who wrote off Honnoji" - a reference to the pen and to the fact that Mitsuhide used Honnoji as the place to kill Nobunaga. What Miyama actually says in Japanese though is "本能寺のペン" (Honnouji no Pen | Honnouji's pen) which sounds very similar to "本能寺の事件" or Hounnoji no Jiken/"The Honnouji Incident" which is how people refer to Mitsuhide's betrayal.

8. Being dramatic much?

For people who thought Arai-san may have been acting a bit too dramatic, or that 99.9 may have been indulging in more Ace Attorney wackiness (wait, what do you mean I'm just projecting?) - Arai-san smashing his head on the table here is actually a reference to the drama Keizoku 2: SPEC. This is an awesome drama starring Toda Erika, Kase Ryo, and the actor for Arai-san, Ryu Raita. 
 
9. Victory!

To end of this post with another cute little visual pun - the shirt Yuuta is wearing says "Victory". The actor for Yuuta, for those who don't know is Sato Shori (佐藤勝利) from Sexy Zone. Shori (勝利) in Japanese means Victory!

And that's all for this time folks. See you in episode 7. =)