Lia d Eon
Bokusenou
Lia d Eon
Bokusenou
Yay! That cosplay's of Lia from Le Chevalier d'Eon, isn't it?
I'm on volume 2 of the Japanese version now, I haven't read the English version, but I wonder if they'll ever release it in English again...Light novels aren't as popular in Western countries as in Japan (and Taiwan, Thailand, and maybe other Asian countries).
It's too bad really...
Yes it is! You're the first person to notice.
razz
Apparently they messed up the order of the chapters in the first book in english or something. I think they also changed the cover art.
crying But I still hope that they do continue to release it. It's not looking too good though...
Really? It's a good series. I have the opening and ending song on most of my playlists.
xd
I see why they did it though... In the Japanese version, since you don't need gender specific pronouns (he, she, etc) in Japanese, it isn't revealed what Kino's gender is until Country of Adults (chapter 5), while in English, we need them, so they pushed the Country of Adults chapter to chapter 1 instead of trying to hide Kino's gender until chapter 5.
I don't have the English version, but I read
this review by a Japanese KnT fan (scroll to the bottom, Japanese site), which shows all the extra paragraphs the translator added, and the other changes which were made in the English version.
The main thing that bothered me while reading that, is apparently, that the English version had something like "This edition is presented as a linear narrative", and the translator then preceded to make up scenes which referenced "earlier" chapters to make it more linear.
sweatdrop
I'm not sure why they changed the cover art, maybe to make it less in "anime style" then the original. The excerpts I saw of the English version made it seem like they dumbed down the reading level a few grades...
It totally is! Definitely one of my faves!
OHH! I forgot about the gender specific stuff. That makes much more sense then.
I can't believe they'd make up scenes though. Wow. >_<
Yeah, I'll post some of the major ones, and the Japanese KnT fan's comments.
There are more but some of them would be hard to explain without going into Japanese grammar. Most of them are other referances and Kino being more casual than (the Japanese Kino) usually is with strangers. The Japanese comments were also summarized in some parts because I didn't want to type all of it.
Here it is:
The Country of Adults chapter:
In the Japanese version, whenever the younger Kino's original name was mentioned, the book wrote it as "×××××", in the English version, it's written as "Little Flower".
The Country of Shared Pain chapter
"You mean, they're all in the residential area?"
"Probably"
"Then let's go there!"
Kino shook her head. "No. Not today. We wouldn't get back until after dark.We may be in a walled city--an empty walled city -- but I don't want to drive in the dark."
"Ah! So, you think there might be someone or something that comes out at night, after all."
"I do not!"
This basically replaces a line of Kino's in "The Land of Visible Pain" chapter which goes like this:
"There's a chance that this is like the last country, where there wasn't anyone left, isn't there?"
Which refers to "The Land of Majority Rule" chapter, which comes after "The Land of Visible Pain" in the Japanese version but chronologically speaking, before it.
There is no point to this paragraph except that it ups Kino's moe level 150%.
She had named the semiautomatic that nestled against her back the "Woodsman" because she'd used it to take down a highwayman by shooting and severing a tree limb just above his unprotected head.
There is no sentence like this in the Japanese version.
While it's true that one of Kino's guns is named "Mori no Hito/Person of the Forest" no backstory of this was ever given.
The Country of Majority Rule chapter:
"Something that looked like a lump of clay but was labeled "Protein Energy Bar."
The naming sounds like the kind of gaudy health food names Americans like.
I really can't believe this got added.
In the original version, Kino and Hermes enter the country (The English version uses "town"
wink and upon not meeting anyone they decide to make camp. It then says that Kino falls asleep quickly and Hermes stays awake grumbling. In the English version we have this:
"Sleeping already?"
"Nothing else to do. Keep watch for me. Good night, Hermes."
Kino had almost dropped off when Hermes murmured, "I hate keeping watch."
"Sorry," she muttered.
"I really hate it."
"Hermes..."
"It's boring."
He was silent just long enough to allow Kino to drift toward sleep once more.
"Boring...boring...bo--"
"HERMES!"
Silence.
It's mischievous, or to put it another way, Hermes is frankly meddling.
In the original, the man they meet is never named, but in the English version, he's given the name "Kanaye".
Three men on the Rails chapter:
In the English version, these two lines were added.While traveling through the forest, Kino says:
"And the forest perfume―tree and earth―it's like incense in a shrine. You fall into a state of...prayer."
"Hello," said Hermes. "Places to go. People to meet."
The Peaceful Country chapter:
This part is from the first day Kino visits the museum.
The curator says something and Kino's thoughts were added:
"We stopped fighting each other. We ended the old war." There was a definite hint of pride in her voice.
Rightfully proud, Kino thought,
if it is true.
That really sounds bitter.
Kino nodded, unable to speak - afraid of what might come out of her mouth. The smell of blood drifted up, and for a moment she saw a long knife blade gleaming in the sun as it protruded from a twisted body that lay at her feet. But the hovercraft moved away and the moment was gone.
Added in the English version.
"I can't do anything about it," she told herself and remembered the words of a village elder who had once spoken to the other Kino: "Traveler, in every village, in every home, there are different customs. You know this. In this village too, we have our customs. These customs are not to be altered by any actions you take. I'm certain you see that."
"I do see it," Kino murmured.
Added in the English version.
I guess it was added because it focuses more on Kino's trauma of seeing the original Kino murdered, and her trauma-related obsession to go on a journey (Americans love this stuff) .
It also makes Kino more moe.
They found a young soldier sleeping in the entrance, a bottle wrapped in his arms like a baby. Kino thought of the Tatana mothers who had died cradling their children in jast that way.
Reference to the Tatana (Original version: Tatata) people was added.
"Curator, I don't understand your reasoning. Perhaps in the new version of war the combatants don't die but innocents do. At least with the old way, those who died were those who fought. And their deaths were, in a way, of their own choosing. The Tatana people have not chosen to fight or to die."
It may explain too much, or rather, I don't think the original's Kino was ever this critical.
She had meant only to break the staff, but the bullet had deflected. She started to say something, to deny that she'd intended to kill, but she could only watch silently as the thirsty earth swallowed up his blood.
It the English version, Kino hadn't meant to kill him!
What did they make this change?
"What's that?" he asked.
"A gift...for the spirit of the dead."
Kino knelt by the dead man and placed her silver cup on his breast.
Added in the English version.
She gives away the sliver cup which was mentioned many times before.
Coliseum chapter:
"Kino!" he shrieked. "Cut it out!"
Kino released the accelerator, still laughing. "What―You've never wanted to fly?"
"Fly?" fumed Hermes. "Fly? I'm a motorcycle, for goodness' sake! I belong on the ground. Fly, my tailpipe. I thought my frame was going to bend!"
Added in the English version.
"Know what the other Kino said about a motorcycle's top speed?"
She paused a beat, then asked, "No, what did he say?"
"He said that a motorcycle's top speed is the speed at which it comes apart."
Added in the English version.
Now, remember Kino probably still has complex feelings about the original Kino's death.
She likely wouldn't want to bring up the subject, at least not so casually.
That was a bit distasteful , "Top speed" and everything.
"Will this do?" asked Kino, returning the Cannon to the holster on her right thigh.
"You little―！" The young gate guard leapt at her, hands going for her throat. He froze when he felt the muzzle of a semiautomatic pressed into his forehead.
"Say 'hello' to the Woodsman. D'you think it qualifies as a weapon―boy?"
In the original Kino stayed talking calmly and politely, like she always does when talking to the people of a country.
"Say 'hello' to the Woodsman" sounds like the translator is trying to Americanize it, and make it more like a Hollywood movie.
"I don't know when this place was built or by whom," Kino said, covering his unease with sarcasm, "but they did a terrible job. The designer had as little talent as the builder had skill. Shoddy, shoddy worksmanship."
Originally Hermes' line. Maybe "Kino" is a misprint since it says "his unease".
The following lines show that the Kino in the English version really is Americanized:
"So-o-o," said Kino, exhaling slowly, "that's the king."
If they awarded points for style, Kino reflected, I might be in trouble."
Ooo, thought Kino. Scary.
It sounds like a Hollywood movie.
On the second day, Kino fights a woman, and they change the reason she's fighting for citizenship.
"When I came through the woods just outside of town, I met a beautiful little boy playing in a brook. A darling child. A precious child, but he told me he had no mother or father. If I gain citizenship, they'll let me adopt him."
I don't know why they added this, but as the (added) scene continues I'm starting to understand why.
"You don't understand, do you, little girl? It's just a woman's nature, I suppose."
A woman's nature. Perhaps she should understand. Perhaps she merely wanted to understand. She thought of her own mother and shrugged.
It's a reference to the mother's insane love in "The Peaceful Country" and how Kino's mother tried to murder her in The Country of Adults.
For the purpose of Kino's internal conflict, the woman's motive was changed.
After Kino defeats her, she says this:
"You know, you're pretty cute. I could adopt you, too."
"Sorry," said Kino, "one mother was more than enough for me."
It's a pretty deep line, but it'll probably lower it's worth for strict fans of the Japanese version.
In the chapter, after Kino killed the king of the country and before Shizu makes his appearance,
Kino relaxes while throwing rocks at the lake and watching the ripples.
This line was added:
Is that the way of the beautiful world? Does serenity always return even after the most devastating of shockwaves?
It flows well with Kino no Tabi's main them of the "beautiful world", so I think it was a good addition.
Epilogue
In the English version, this scene was added in which Hermes makes a mistake with the word "Syllogism".
Hermes said professiorially, "Kino, you ever heard of a syllogog?"
"Is that like a goblin or something?" She sat up. "You're not afraid that there's something lurking in the forest that eats motorcycles?"
"No! You know, a syllo-something. It's a sort of argument. You know: all penguins are birds; birds fly; therefore penguins can fly."
"Penguins can't fly," Kino observed.
"Okay. So, it doesn't work so well for penguins, but you get the idea. What's that called a ―Syllo―"
"A Syllogism?
"Yeah, that," said Hermes, and fell silent.
Kino waited a moment for him to continue. He didn't. Good grief.
And later, this:
She never knew when she might encounter something in the dark of night, especially in the great, leafy, whispering woods. Maybe even a motorcycle-eating syllogog.
It disrupts the peaceful atmosphere of the original, but it's not bad.
In the English version, since it's in "chronological order", the "Prologue" (Japanese version:"In the Forest ・b" ) is only listed as a prologue, and the epilogue (Japanese version:"In the Forest ・a" ) is the same.
Misc:
Name changes:
Original: English version:
Motorad Motorcycle
Persuader Gun / Rifle
Hovie (Hovey?) Hovercraft
