Volume 6, Chapter 4

[Dan]

Just a nitpick, but the translation keeps switching between Guchie being in a "battalion" and then a "company". Which is it?


Going to spoil chapter six, huh?

Spoiler! :

Although Henrietta may think this war for herself to avenge Wales, it's necessary to protect the country since they will get invaded if they don't fight back. I haven't read that far yet so I can't and don't want to talk about that too much.

[Darknemo2000]

Spoiler! :

Nope, Henrietta herself admits it that it is just her personal revenger, and her ambition of the lover, and while watching the fleet sail off she feels like crap because she is announcing such things as patriotism yet herself knows that it is not about the good of the country but just her own ambitions and revenge. She sais that even herself in that chapter...

Don't mix anime with novels. In anime it is about country but in novels Henrietta acts mostly due to her own personal revenge rather than for the goodness of her country, If it helps her country, yes it is good, but the decisive factor is her own personal ambitions... Thats why she is most controversial character of znT.

[Juicifer]

yeah man, youre a total badass.

after i made that post, i found http://www.kanjistep.com/en/online/hira ... index.html
hmmm katakana, spicy.
thanks for the advice bro, i really appreciate it.

[serenade_beta]

Just a nitpick, but the translation keeps switching between Guchie being in a "battalion" and then a "company". Which is it?

Both. The text rotated between company and battalion at times, and I simply translated it directly (though I found it a bit odd too).
According to wikitionary, a battalion has companies in it or something, while a company is a military unit.

[Dan]

So it really is that confusing? I think I'll at least alter the text so that Guchie's one of the commanders of the three companies within the battalion, and use battalion to refer to the entire group. I'm guessing those other two nobles are the commanders of the other two companies?

[serenade_beta]

I'm guessing those other two nobles are the commanders of the other two companies?

Which two nobles are you referring to?

[Dan]

When Guchie first finds the Do Vinuiyu division, he talks to an old man with a younger fat man next to him. The old man says Guchie is the commander of the second company and tells him this:

"Ah, besides me, the staff officer, and you, there are no nobles in this battalion."

[DissmalScientist]

What do people think of 'sky navy' or 'sky marines' rather than 'sky sea army.' I'm not sure if a distinction is made in Japanese but in English, I can't imagine a member of the Army being called a 'sailor.' They would probably take it as an insult.

Also in regard's to the "Marquis Army." I'm not sure where it would work but I think we should include somehow that the 'greater nobles' are part of the feudal system. Maybe in this sentence- "The nobles that received land from the king would follow their pledge and organize an army. " Change it to "The feudal lords, who received land in return for their fealty, promised the monarch to organize their vassals in times of war." I understand that this might be getting kind of liberal with the translation, but this chapter, with its discussion of how armies and nobility are organized, screamed feudal system at me, and yet we have no explicit mention of it.

[Dan]

Well, I was thining more along the lines of "Aerial Navy" when I read "sky sea army".

There's no reason to say it's a feudal system, and it's not exactly anyway. After all, Louise's father has refused to organize an army, which makes me think these lands and titles were awarded for previous accomplishments rather than the stated promise to raise an army in times of war.

[DissmalScientist]

Yeah, Aerial Navy works just as well.

This chapter doesn't seem like the author is trying to describe (simplistic) feudal politics to you? I mean the whole 3 armies thing; one loyal to the king, one loyal to the nobles, one where even commoners could be officers, etc. just really seemed like typical feudal divided loyalties/duties/obligations to me.

And just because Louise's father refused to fight doesn't mean he's not a feudal lord. Many lords were of dubious loyalty in the best of times, a powerful noble like Louise's father would see a young monarch, and a war with a questionable motive, as perfectly good reasons to not fulfill their feudal obligation. The whole idea being: King leads wisely, feudal lords are loyal to him; Feudal lords take care of their vassals/knights/chevaliers (whatever you want to call them), vassals/knights are loyal to feudal lords; vassals defend peasants from bandits, peasants are loyal and fight under their knights.

I just think most people have a pretty clear mental image of what feudalism looks like, and if we could mention it in the article, it would help the reader understand more quickly why the armies were divided under different leadership, why Louise's father felt comfortable not joining in on the war, and why Guiche and Malicorne (similar backgrounds presumably) would have such different military experiences. It might also explain some of the class prejudices characters portray throughout the light novels. There is not much social mobility in a feudal system so someone like Saito who has no background and associates with all classes makes everybody uncomfortable.

[serenade_beta]

When Guchie first finds the Do Vinuiyu division, he talks to an old man with a younger fat man next to him. The old man says Guchie is the commander of the second company and tells him this:

"Ah, besides me, the staff officer, and you, there are no nobles in this battalion."

No, the old man is the leader/head/commander of the battalion (大隊長), while Guiche is of the company (中隊長). The fat guy is just a person/staff. Putting what he is described as "参謀" in wikipedia, I got this page:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%82%E8%AC%80
That says "staff". According to the description, their job is to aid the higher commanders.
I guess you can just edit "staff officer" to "aide" or something.
As for who the other company commanders are... not told.
--

As for the above, "aerial navy"/"sky navy"/etc. all sound better than what I came up with.

For the Marquis' army thing, the Japanese was "諸侯軍".
諸侯 on http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%AB%B8%E4%BE%AF becomes feudal lords
and the English page linked to it becomes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassal_state

[Darknemo2000]

Th eproblem is that it is a novel and not an article so you cannot mention it inside the story without disrupting flow so if you want to add such info you have to either add it to translators notes or make them invisible (only to be seen in edit mode).

[Dan]

Seesm like a feudal system was the author's intent, then. I suppose in a time of upheaval and getting a new monarch, disobeying a queen wouldn't be impossible. Darko is right though, giving a social stidies lesson does disrupt the flow.

[srstarry]

I guess we should not try to imply our prehistoric feudal system with theirs i guess. i mean, we dont really have flying ships dont we? and i think the writer already provided enough details. the chapter explaining the rankings was already long enough >.< we alll want more lousie and saito scenes dont we?

and i dont think saito makes everyone uncomfortable. most of the cast already regard him as a commoner ie: lousie's farmiliar.
the only person fighting with herself on this fact would be louise ^.^

btw, i wonder if saito is already hating the princess already? he seems to be the superniceguy in the novels instead of the mr.perv in as portrayed in the anime.

[DissmalScientist]

Yeah I agree the analogy isn't perfect.

Spoiler! :

I'm especially curious about the gun squad Henrietta has. Are guns widely available (or will soon be)? That would paint quite a different picture of Louise's society. Guns and nobility don't really mix-no reason to keep around trained warriors when any farmer can be trained to kill with a gun in matter of weeks, rather then the years it takes to become proficient with sword or bow. Even with the aristocracy being reinforced with their monopoly on magic, if commoners get guns, times will be a-changin.

And if the whole feudalism thing does more harm then good (distracts more then it makes things clear) no reason to add it. I just thought it brought some extra flavor/clarified some things about Louise's world.

Saito's definitely not seen as a noble, but I think most of the cast (especially the students) treat him differently then they treat most commoners...

Spoiler! :

except Louise's family lol.