I play video games in Japanese. Well, I play Japanese video games in Japanese. The only exceptions really are the Metal Gear Solid series, and the PSX – PS2 Final Fantasy games. That’s besides the point though.

I’m currently playing Octopath Traveller 2, which to a person who hasn’t heard of it, it probably sounds incredibly weird. Octopath. That’s silly.

It is silly, but putting aside the gameplay and game-centric aspects, the soundtrack has some very lovely piano doing some amazing melodies and it’s too an amazing pixelated wonderland which scratches itches you forgot existed.

Anyways, one of the stories in the game mentioned 紙芝居, which to me is something that’s not in the west where stories are read from the backs of pieces of paper, that have a picture on the front to show to the children. I also use it to mean a farce, but a quick google search isn’t backing me up there. (I don’t think the story is always on the back of the piece of paper, but it was in kindergartens in the Chiban countryside in 2007.)

When I see words like 紙芝居, I think “I wonder how this has been localized.” Can you imagine people demanding it be “paper play”? Picture story maybe would work nicely? Maybe there is something similar in the West and I’m just not cultured enough? 教養がないmaybe. A puppet show would make more sense maybe.

At times like this, I praise the translator, and am happy that I can just enjoy it as 紙芝居.

Now I’m at a place where people end things like だべ, which is how old friends in the depths of Chiba spoke. Almost felt like a cooler だっぺ to me for some reason. All out of my ass though. Anyways, what well known accent/mannerism does the localizer pick for だべ? Hopefully not Scottish. Scottish is overused I think. Like cockney for 関西弁.

I’m glad I’m not in the business of selling Japan to the English speaking world.

Anyways.