The great ace attorney experience
One Hell of A Missed Translation
In ch 180, Bard is convinced he’s dying of starvation and if Sebastian isn’t a hallucination, or an enemy soldier, he must be a reaper.
However, Sebastian corrects him explaining he isn’t a reaper but a butler.
In the official translation we get:
But the original Japanese says:
In the left panel, Sebastian says:
私はあくまで執事ですから
Watashi wa akumade shitsuji desukara
This statement means what the English translation says: “I’m simply a butler,” since “akumade” means “simply.”
However, Yana loves wordplay, and the statement is a pun, since akuma means demon, so the sentence can be read also as “I’m a demon and a butler.”
Hence the English catchphrase:
“I am simply one hell of a butler.”
As a result, and based on how he’s smirking, I think the pun was intended and the translation should have used his cheesy catchphrase instead of the more literal translation.
Especially as this was the 15th anniversary chapter, I think that’s a huge shame and I hope they change it for the volume release later.
In case you doubt me, the old blog @akumadeenglish broke down the pun from the original Japanese in this same way (and if you go through the notes you can see how other languages handled it too).
Don't talk to me if your polycule don't look like this/J
