Here are some awesome translation notes from Kaialone for History of Hyrule, who did the translations for all 4 volumes of the Ran Maru manga; Hyrule Fantasy 1 and The Adventure of Link 1, 2, 3. They're really worth reading because some of them actually do offer a little bit of insight into what some of the terms mean in regards to the actual games... and then some are just really fun for the sake of fandom!
AoL Volume 1, Page 30
In Japanese, the palaces are called 神殿/shinden, which would more literally translate to "temple", and it is what the temples in later Zelda games are called, too.
However, the official English localization of AoL used "palace" for them, so that's what I went with here.
Generally, I decided to go with the official English localized terms and names for the most part, unless the translation is so far off that it doesn't make sense in context for the manga.
I thought that would be the best way to go about it for this particular translation.
Since this logic applies to most terms taken directly from the game, I won't mention every instance of it.
AoL Volume 1, Page 40
In Japanese, Watt more literally tells Cuscus that he's pretty gloomy "despite his name", which is in reference to the fact that "kusukusu" can be used to convey the sound of giggling and the like.
Since that only works if you were to adapt Cuscus' name accordingly, I instead rewrote the line slightly to work better with the name I went for.
AoL Volume 1, Page 64
The "Goddess Statue" was called "Trophy" in the English localization for the game.
However, this is one of the cases where I went with the Japanese name, because the context surrounding it just makes more sense with "Goddess Statue".
Notably, in Japanese, the term used for this Goddess Statue is メガミゾウ (in katakana, it's 女神像 in kanji), which is the same one that would be used years later for the Goddess Statues in Skyward Sword and onward.
I do believe it's a coincidence in this case, but it's funny, considering Ran Maru even went as far as to make the Goddess Statue look like Zelda, it seems.
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Also, I used "priestess" for Urabe here instead of "priest".
See, as far as I know, in branches of Christianity that allow women to be priests, a female priest is still called a priest - but, even with all the Christian imagery in early Zelda, it doesn't seem like they're supposed to be Christian, especially in Ran Maru's version.
So I didn't feel the need to comply with that terminology.
This is a pretty minor thing, but I still wanted to mention it, just in case.
AoL Volume 1, Page 71
My translation of "like you have in the past" is a bit loose, but I think Ibis is supposed to be referring to the kinds of magic tools Link could use in Hyrule Fantasy, like using the Fire Rod to cast fire, etc.
More closely translated it would just be "like in the past".
AoL Volume 1, Page 103
In the Japanese version of the game, the various types of magic Link learns actually have English names like "LIFE", etc., but Ran Maru actually doesn't use the game names for several of them, which is why my translation isn't literally taken from the English version of the game, either.
AoL Volume 1, Page 181
When Patt first speaks off-panel I labelled his dialogue as "Watt?" intentionally.
Because he (and the other parrots) all use the same katakana-heavy speaking style, his dialogue bubble alone would make one assume it was Watt talking (just as Link does initially), and I wanted that to be obvious somehow.
Having a character's dialogue be mostly written in katakana like that can have several different meanings, by the way.
In case of Watt and the other parrots, it's likely supposed to reflect the way you expect talking parrots to sound - with squawky voices, and possibly unusual cadence and pronunciation.
AoL Volume 1, Page 183
When Pott is talking, he mixes up his words in Japanese, saying "heiwa no hontou" instead of "hontou no heiwa" ("true peace").
For my translation, turning "true peace" into something like "peaceful truth" would be too awkward and wouldn't fit the feeling of a kid misspeaking, so I adapted it as "two peas" instead.
AoL Volume 2, Page 19
Not sure if this lizard-like fella who leads the monster fortress is supposed to be a Daira or a Geru, he has traits of either.
I wanted to go with Geru cause he lacks a mohawk and doesn't use an axe. Plus, the Geru usually are found by the fortresses in AoL. But, he doesn't look like how Ran Maru portrays the Geru later, plus Geru are usually found in Eastern Hyrule also.
Of course, he could be a regular beast person like Cuscus and Gump, but Ran Maru does seem to make a distinction between those and beast-like monsters - like Moblins, and of course Daira and Geru.
Since it's not immediately obvious which monster he is supposed to be, I decided to go for a non-specific name tag?
AoL Volume 2, Page 31
I translated the monster leader as saying "we finally got to have a bonus chapter", but the original Japanese line is closer to "we finally got to be in a special edition issue".
Looking at the releases, it seems possible this chapter actually WAS first featured in a special issue that was released by Wanpakku Comics back in August 1987, seperate from the regular monthly issue.
I can't say this for certain, but the timing would add up - I know the third chapter of AoL was featured in the May issue of that same year. So August would've been the sixth chapter, and the end of Volume 1.
And then this special chapter might've been released in the special issue from that same month, as a bit of an extra, hence its disconnect from the on-going plot.
In any case, this line wouldn't make much sense these days out of context, so I adapted it as "bonus chapter", which isn't technically wrong, as it is a bit of a side-story, and this would be more easily understood by a casual reader of the translation without much extra explanation.
AoL Volume 2, Page 45
In addition to the translation note I put in the actual chapter, I also had to adapt the pun Watt makes a little.
In the Japanese version, he ponders on the words "hurricane and snow" ("hurricane ni yuki") which leads into "Hurricane Miyuki".
I translated the monster leader as saying "we finally got to have a bonus chapter", but the original Japanese line is closer to "we finally got to be in a special edition issue".
Looking at the releases, it seems possible this chapter actually WAS first featured in a special issue that was released by Wanpakku Comics back in August 1987, seperate from the regular monthly issue.
I can't say this for certain, but the timing would add up - I know the third chapter of AoL was featured in the May issue of that same year. So August would've been the sixth chapter, and the end of Volume 1.
And then this special chapter might've been released in the special issue from that same month, as a bit of an extra, hence its disconnect from the on-going plot.
In any case, this line wouldn't make much sense these days out of context, so I adapted it as "bonus chapter", which isn't technically wrong, as it is a bit of a side-story, and this would be more easily understood by a casual reader of the translation without much extra explanation.
AoL Volume 2, Page 45
In addition to the translation note I put in the actual chapter, I also had to adapt the pun Watt makes a little.
In the Japanese version, he ponders on the words "hurricane and snow" ("hurricane ni yuki") which leads into "Hurricane Miyuki".
This is an in-joke:
The people here are labelled, from right to left: 小林/Kobayashi, 乱/Ran, 大野/Ohno, しごと命/"My Work is My Life" "Hurricane Miyuki" apparently was the nickname of the executive editor of Wanpakku Comics at the time, whose explosive temperament was feared by Ran Maru as his colleagues shown here- Kobayashi Susumu, Katsuhiko Ohno, and Shigoto DaisukeAoL Volume 2, Page 121
When Billy starts crying in this scene, this is one of the moments where he goes back to his more informal, rural speaking style he had in Hyrule Fantasy as a younger kid.
I don't know how well I got this across in English, but I tried.
It's definitely easier to convey in Japanese, because of how the language works.
AoL Volume 2, Page 147
The same thing happens with Billy again here, but this time he is genuinely crying, of course.
AoL Volume 2, Page 158
Just wanted to mention it here, in case you are wondering:
I don't think the two fairies Link meets here are supposed to be the same ones from Hyrule Fantasy, but it's not made entirely clear.
They do look different, and Ran Maru has portrayed other returning characters accurately so far, plus the Hyrule Fantasy fairy duo actually briefly was seen in a memory, so he clearly remembered their designs back then.
They also have different names, as one of the HF fairies was called Ponchi - though Ran Maru makes a potential name-related blunder later down the line, so that's less solid evidence.
AoL Volume 2, Page 173
The boy is literally called チック/Chikku in Japanese, which happens to be the same name as one of the fairies from earlier in this chapter. I'm assuming this was a mistake on Mr. Ran Maru's part, since there seems to be no narrative reason for them to share the same name? In any case, for reader convenience I chose to romanize their names differently in my version.
For the fairy I use "Tick", for the boy I use "Chic" - those are both valid romanizations of the Japanese name, too.
AoL Volume 2, Page 176
When Bente mentions the naughty kids who still try to go out sometimes, in Japanese she uses the adjective wanpaku/ワンパク, which Wanpakku Comics is named for.
I tried to include the pun in English by using the phrasing "one pack", but it's probably less obvious.
AoL Volume 2, Page 178
When Bente reveals the hidden crystal and Triforce fragments, she exclaims katsu/喝.
Looking up this term, it seems hard to translate directly- In Japanese it's apparently from Buddhism, where it can be used as an exclamation to scold students, but also as a term that describes the truth which cannot be expressed in words?
I'm far from an expert, but that's what I found regarding this, at least.
In any case, note that using something like this is nothing unusual in Japanese pop culture.
After some pondering, I thought that "Know it!" might be a good way to try and adapt this, as it can both come across as her reprimanding Link (for not noticing earlier) and as expressing the idea of truth without naming it directly.
AoL Volume 2, Page 191
Here's a tricky one.
In this little gag scenario, the Fortress gate has a ridiculously long name on it.
One part of it is "輪阿苦這巣", which seems to be spelling out the English word "work house", but using kanji characters for "loop", the exclamation of "ahh!", "bitter", "crawling", and "nest".
It's a bit hard to explain, but normally one would write a word like this in katakana or hiragana. Using kanji instead is something one might do for aesthetic purposes, because each kanji character has its own inherent meaning as well.
In this case for example, the kanji all have ominous or creepy meanings.
In order to invoke a similar over the top feeling, I adapted that part as "Domus Aeterna Laboris", which means "house of eternal labor" in Latin.
Can't guarantee the Latin grammar is correct, though.
AoL Volume 3, Chapter 7, Page 45
When the human Ganon describes his relationship to the monster Ganon, he call him his 分身/bunshin.
There's many different ways you can translate this depending on the context, but the basic concept is that it's usually some other self of you that has split off. But it doesn't always have to be literally that. (see also: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/分身#Japanese)
(A Link to the Past spoilers)
Interestingly, in the game A Link to the Past, this is actually the term used to refer to Agahnim, with him being a bunshin of Ganon. This was translated as "alter ego" in the English version.
It seems possible this manga storyline actually inspired that plot point in ALttP, even if the details are different. But, I still wasn't sure if I should use that same "alter ego" phrasing like that here.
(Phantom Hourglass spoilers)
Oshus from Phantom Hourglass is also a kind of bunshin, one of the Ocean King, though in his case he also holds the Ocean King's entire consciousness, leaving his original body as an empty shell. In his case, "bunshin" was adapted as "clone" in English.
But that didn't feel right for this case here, either.
I ultimately settled on the more simple "a part of me" for this context, since I felt it made it easy to understand.
AoL Volume 3, Chapter 7, Page 45
From that same page again, as human Ganon dies, he does not get to finish his final words.
Sentences are structured different in Japanese, so what we roughly end up with here, if we go more literal is:
"Princess Zelda, I... I... (missing part) you..."
We can only speculate what he was gonna say there, but given how everything is framed here, to me personally it almost feels like he was going to say "I loved you" or the like.
Going by that, it would also explain his motivation for sending the hurricane at the start of Volume 2, right as Link and Zelda seemed to be getting closer (though it was a different Zelda, of course.)
The Moblins even wondered about that move on his part back then.
Well, in any case, I translated the line in a way that sort of leans towards that, but also leaves room open for other interpretations.
Ultimately, we can't know for certain.
