Afterschool Fantasy

[MangaDex]

 

[Leblos_hero]

Fix his fucking pronouns, he's a boy.
Gonna be charitable here and assume you just didn't know somehow, and not that you are a groomer.
Fix it

 

[Mysticexarch]

Someone please translate this, it looks amazing and there isn't a lot of good femboy representation!

 

[Playerbase]

Fix his fucking pronouns, he's a boy.
Gonna be charitable here and assume you just didn't know somehow, and not that you are a groomer.
Fix it

Even if the person who originally put the synopsis assumed it’s a trans girl, how does it make them a groomer?

Idiot.

 

[Lloyddesaloum7]

Someone please translate this, it looks amazing and there isn't a lot of good femboy representation!

Yes, he is a cis boy (A femboy), the translators are mentally disabled 🙄

 

[Lloyddesaloum7]

Pelo amo de Deus, respeitem os cisgeneros

 

[Lloyddesaloum7]

For the love of God!!! Respect cisgender people!!!

He is a cis boy (a femboy), is he* him* his * #cisphobic #femboyphobic

 

[donpom]

Regardless of anyone's personal feelings on the matter, the character Hibiki uses feminine pronouns to refer to herself. This is a decision the author made for the manga they published.

If you respect the author and the story they are trying to tell, there is no room for argument on this matter. If you do not respect the author or the story, then this is not the place to discuss it. I would recommend making a new forum thread or discussing it further in private.

 

[Driahalt]

View attachment 21231
Regardless of anyone's personal feelings on the matter, the character Hibiki uses feminine pronouns to refer to herself. This is a decision the author made for the manga they published.

If you respect the author and the story they are trying to tell, there is no room for argument on this matter. If you do not respect the author or the story, then this is not the place to discuss it. I would recommend making a new forum thread or discussing it further in private.

Aizen from Bleach uses watashi, is he female?

 

[SUPER7X]

View attachment 21231
Regardless of anyone's personal feelings on the matter, the character Hibiki uses feminine pronouns to refer to herself. This is a decision the author made for the manga they published.

If you respect the author and the story they are trying to tell, there is no room for argument on this matter. If you do not respect the author or the story, then this is not the place to discuss it. I would recommend making a new forum thread or discussing it further in private.

“Watashi” is not a feminine pronoun.

 

[Saleri]

View attachment 21231
Regardless of anyone's personal feelings on the matter, the character Hibiki uses feminine pronouns to refer to herself. This is a decision the author made for the manga they published.

If you respect the author and the story they are trying to tell, there is no room for argument on this matter. If you do not respect the author or the story, then this is not the place to discuss it. I would recommend making a new forum thread or discussing it further in private.

Saying that "atashi" translates to "she/her" shows a completely bad understanding of japanese.
Can someone edit the manga and upload a correct translation? Thanks in advance.

 

[MahouDylan]

View attachment 21231
Regardless of anyone's personal feelings on the matter, the character Hibiki uses feminine pronouns to refer to herself. This is a decision the author made for the manga they published.

If you respect the author and the story they are trying to tell, there is no room for argument on this matter. If you do not respect the author or the story, then this is not the place to discuss it. I would recommend making a new forum thread or discussing it further in private.

Literally made an account to talk about how tired I am of ignorant twats like you, bordering on homophobia by erasing femboys every chance you get. It's literally part of our identity to act effeminate and look as such, we are not the same as trans women and it is disrespectful to both communities to conflate the two. Plenty of femboys refer to themselves as girls without actually identifying as such.
Furthermore, Japanese pronouns don't work like English ones, you buffoon. They donate tone, formality, and respect but not specific gender. Pronouns in Japanese can be effeminate or masculine but can be used by men or women (i.e. "boku"). It's like how -chan is an effeminate honorific but can still be applied to boys under certain circumstances. If you don't understand this basic aspect of the language, then your two cents on how a work should be interpreted are completely worthless.

 

[prkr917]

the character Hibiki uses feminine pronouns to refer to herself

So you're flat-out admitting that you don't know even the most basic thing about Japanese 101, and yet you have the gall to call yourself a translator.

"Watashi" (and by extension, "atashi" - see Kisuke Urahara from Bleach) is not, and has never been, a feminine pronoun. It is a gender neutral, formal one. There are probably hundreds if not thousands of cis male characters who use "watashi", not because they are trans, but because they are too formal/polite to use "ore" or "boku".

L from Death Note. Sosuke Aizen from Bleach. Yoshikage Kira from JoJo.

 

[Driahalt]

Hey, @Playerbase, you went through all of my posts and put a strike reaction on them. Could you maybe make an actual argument on how "watashi" is somehow a female-only word, even though it isn't? Reminder that L, Aizen, Kira Yoshikage, and Potemkin all use "watashi" and all very much definitely male.

 

[donpom]

Hey, @Playerbase, you went through all of my posts and put a strike reaction on them. Could you maybe make an actual argument on how "watashi" is somehow a female-only word, even though it isn't? Reminder that L, Aizen, Kira Yoshikage, and Potemkin all use "watashi" and all very much definitely male.

Assuming you're asking this in good faith, the reason watashi is feminine in Hibiki's case, and not those cases, is because of context: in a formal situation, watashi is a gender neutral pronoun that conveys a sense of humility. In the modern day it is especially common for customer service workers (male or female), for instance, but anyone trying to present themselves as humble or unassuming like Yoshikage Kira or L would use it. It's especially cool for Potemkin to use watashi because his appearance is so intimidating; the contrast gives depth to his character.

In a casual setting, such as when kids are talking amongst themselves, watashi is taken as feminine. Any high schooler using watashi among peers would be understood by those peers as either very formal/stiff (which does not match Hibiki's personality), or feminine (which is in line with Hibiki's presentation). Therefore the translation of watashi which best matches the author's intent would be feminine personal pronouns like she and her.

 

[Driahalt]

Assuming you're asking this in good faith, the reason watashi is feminine in Hibiki's case, and not those cases, is because of context: in a formal situation, watashi is a gender neutral pronoun that conveys a sense of humility. In the modern day it is especially common for customer service workers (male or female), for instance, but anyone trying to present themselves as humble or unassuming like Yoshikage Kira or L would use it. It's especially cool for Potemkin to use watashi because his appearance is so intimidating; the contrast gives depth to his character.

In a casual setting, such as when kids are talking amongst themselves, watashi is taken as feminine. Any high schooler using watashi among peers would be understood by those peers as either very formal/stiff (which does not match Hibiki's personality), or feminine (which is in line with Hibiki's presentation). Therefore the translation of watashi which best matches the author's intent would be feminine personal pronouns like she and her.

That doesn't really prove anything. Anyone can use "watashi" in formal or informal settings and it doesn't make them see themselves as female. Tomboys also use boku, which is traditionally more male, but that doesn't make them trans as well. There's many possible reasons as to why he could want to use "watashi" over something like "boku". Maybe he just finds it cuter? Maybe he's uncomfortable? First person pronouns in Japanese aren't an "end all be all" to someone's gender identity. There's even female characters that use "ore" as well, which is very masculine. Mordred from Fate definitely uses "ore". Kukaku Shiba uses "ore". While not common, there's an entire subtype of female characters that use "ore" called the orekko. There's also the more common, but weaker form, the bokukko. First person pronouns don't really translate to how one sees themselves.

 

[Driahalt]

Assuming you're asking this in good faith, the reason watashi is feminine in Hibiki's case, and not those cases, is because of context: in a formal situation, watashi is a gender neutral pronoun that conveys a sense of humility. In the modern day it is especially common for customer service workers (male or female), for instance, but anyone trying to present themselves as humble or unassuming like Yoshikage Kira or L would use it. It's especially cool for Potemkin to use watashi because his appearance is so intimidating; the contrast gives depth to his character.

In a casual setting, such as when kids are talking amongst themselves, watashi is taken as feminine. Any high schooler using watashi among peers would be understood by those peers as either very formal/stiff (which does not match Hibiki's personality), or feminine (which is in line with Hibiki's presentation). Therefore the translation of watashi which best matches the author's intent would be feminine personal pronouns like she and her.

Since the my other post seems to be awaiting approval, I'll try this one. The girls are asking him if he's male, and he replies with yes.

 

[Jhonathan45]

Assuming you're asking this in good faith, the reason watashi is feminine in Hibiki's case, and not those cases, is because of context: in a formal situation, watashi is a gender neutral pronoun that conveys a sense of humility. In the modern day it is especially common for customer service workers (male or female), for instance, but anyone trying to present themselves as humble or unassuming like Yoshikage Kira or L would use it. It's especially cool for Potemkin to use watashi because his appearance is so intimidating; the contrast gives depth to his character.

In a casual setting, such as when kids are talking amongst themselves, watashi is taken as feminine. Any high schooler using watashi among peers would be understood by those peers as either very formal/stiff (which does not match Hibiki's personality), or feminine (which is in line with Hibiki's presentation). Therefore the translation of watashi which best matches the author's intent would be feminine personal pronouns like she and her.

WHen translating a work one should always be mindful of context.
Yes, Watashi is a formal and feminine pronoun in Japan, now, it's not equivalent to She/Her, once that the latter aren't feminine pronouns, they're female pronouns.
While in some cases it can make sense to translate Watashi as She/Her, here it doesn't, as it leads the audience to incorrect assumption that the character was intended as a girl by the author and story. Since the character is male, and identifies as such, it's more appropriate to use He/him, or not use any gendered pronoun and search for an alternative way of referring to the character, one that's feminine but doesn't lead to the idea that the speaker is female

 

[MahouDylan]

Since the my other post seems to be awaiting approval, I'll try this one. The girls are asking him if he's male, and he replies with yes.

these people always clam up when shown definitive proof they're wrong. Probably didn't even read the manga before asserting their bs. Character definitively says they're a boy and they either disappear or find some new way to move the goalpost.

 

[donpom]

WHen translating a work one should always be mindful of context.
Yes, Watashi is a formal and feminine pronoun in Japan, now, it's not equivalent to She/Her, once that the latter aren't feminine pronouns, they're female pronouns.
While in some cases it can make sense to translate Watashi as She/Her, here it doesn't, as it leads the audience to incorrect assumption that the character was intended as a girl by the author and story. Since the character is male, and identifies as such, it's more appropriate to use He/him, or not use any gendered pronoun and search for an alternative way of referring to the character, one that's feminine but doesn't lead to the idea that the speaker is female

I think that these are some good points to keep in mind. This manga will be tricky for whoever picks it up, and will require a lot of sensitivity to the source material to translate well.

As far as broader context goes, one of the reasons I support she/her for Hibiki is because the author, Muraoka Yuu, has been writing stories exclusively about high school girls for the past 7+ years, and I was under the impression they intended to continue that trend. While I was surprised by Hibiki's reveal, I still felt this was an extension of the themes that came before it.

Another piece of context in the story itself are that Hibiki's body language in the panels matches that of Muraoka Yuu's female characters; Since this author has been drawing martial arts manga for 20+ years, we can trust this is a choice meant to convey an idea, rather than a mistake. Additionally all of Hibiki's posters and room decor are of female idols, which indicates to me that this is Hibiki's interest and aspiration. Couple these with the personal pronoun watashi and decision to wear the skirt, and it's hard for me to imagine Hibiki wants to be a male(TM) voice actor.

I do think it's important to consider that the way japanese trans women and fem presenting men think and talk about themselves is going to be different than how their western counterparts think and talk. Thus, sensitivity and discretion will be required if we hope to produce a good quality translation. So in the meantime I'm sticking with my conclusion and keeping an eye on how this manga unfolds.

I'm expecting Muraoka Yuu to do an interview at some point (maybe around the release of the first volume in August) and we may have more definitive answers then.