Close readers of the manga will also have noticed that The USSR is now Volgarena and the US is now the MAG Union. It seems all countries besides Japan have been replaced with fictitious ones (except North Korea, which I guess they aren’t worried about offending?)
The country name “Golantoru” might be hard to understand unless you know Japanese—it’s a made-up word combining “Golan Heights” with “Toru” (to seize). I’m sure you all know what MAGAlliance is without me having to say it.
Living in the U.S., which is imposing sanctions, you might not feel it firsthand, but for other countries, discussing the situation around Israel right now is extremely dangerous.
Considering what the U.S. president did to the Japanese head of the ICC, you could say SARU’s decision was far-sighted.
After all, you never know when the U.S. might impose sanctions.
In a show about political corruption, this is of course not a cool sign of the times, but also highly understandable to do by a corporation that still cares somewhat about the message of the thing they are making.
Anyone who can put 2 and 2 together will still get the message of the show and any who cannot, would not have been helped by real country names being used.
取る「とる」 (toru) is literally “to take” in Japanese. It actually functions very similarly to English and while different nuanced meanings have different kanji, in spoken Japanese it is the same; 取る「とる」(toru) to take something. 撮る「とる」(toru) to take a picture. Usually when Japanese shortens a loanword it takes the first part of each word and shortens it then combines it for example パーソナルコンピュータ (paasonaru conpyuuta)“Personal Computer” is shortened to パソコン (Pasocon) Instead of “Com” or “PC” like in English. This is because letters as English natives understand them are not utilized the same way in Japanese. this is likely what he means by “maybe non-Japanese speakers might not understand”. The name is literally “Taker of Golan Heights”
Although I’m not sure where the name Volgarena is from but I’m assuming its a reference to ヴォルガ川 and レナ川 or the Volga and Rena rivers in West and East within Russia. I don’t know any other country names in the show that are mentioned but if you have questions I speak Japanese and can probably find the answers.
My Translation
“If you didn’t speak Japanese the name “Golantoru” might be a bit hard to understand, it’s made by combining the words “Golan Heights” and [the Japanese word] “toru” (meaning to steal). MAGAlliance can be understood without even saying it*[.]* On the side of the Americans living there you might not experience the effects of sanctions, I’m not sure. But, for other countries, the discussion of the situation around Israel is seriously dangerous. If you consider what the president of America did to the Japanese head of the ICC [Tomoko Akane], you could say SARU’s decision is very forward thinking, because perhaps they were anticipating receiving sanctions from the U.S.”
Its rare that a Machine translate even get close to the meaning of a sentence let alone a paragraph so this was decent.
Close readers of the manga will also have noticed that The USSR is now Volgarena and the US is now the MAG Union. It seems all countries besides Japan have been replaced with fictitious ones (except North Korea, which I guess they aren’t worried about offending?)
Interesting comment from under this youtube video that gets into the censorship:
machine translation renders it as:
In a show about political corruption, this is of course not a cool sign of the times, but also highly understandable to do by a corporation that still cares somewhat about the message of the thing they are making.
Anyone who can put 2 and 2 together will still get the message of the show and any who cannot, would not have been helped by real country names being used.
hoping those are both (derogatory)
i see what you did there
(Hungarians have taken over)
取る「とる」 (toru) is literally “to take” in Japanese. It actually functions very similarly to English and while different nuanced meanings have different kanji, in spoken Japanese it is the same; 取る「とる」(toru) to take something. 撮る「とる」(toru) to take a picture. Usually when Japanese shortens a loanword it takes the first part of each word and shortens it then combines it for example パーソナルコンピュータ (paasonaru conpyuuta)“Personal Computer” is shortened to パソコン (Pasocon) Instead of “Com” or “PC” like in English. This is because letters as English natives understand them are not utilized the same way in Japanese. this is likely what he means by “maybe non-Japanese speakers might not understand”. The name is literally “Taker of Golan Heights”
Although I’m not sure where the name Volgarena is from but I’m assuming its a reference to ヴォルガ川 and レナ川 or the Volga and Rena rivers in West and East within Russia. I don’t know any other country names in the show that are mentioned but if you have questions I speak Japanese and can probably find the answers.
My Translation “If you didn’t speak Japanese the name “Golantoru” might be a bit hard to understand, it’s made by combining the words “Golan Heights” and [the Japanese word] “toru” (meaning to steal). MAGAlliance can be understood without even saying it*[.]* On the side of the Americans living there you might not experience the effects of sanctions, I’m not sure. But, for other countries, the discussion of the situation around Israel is seriously dangerous. If you consider what the president of America did to the Japanese head of the ICC [Tomoko Akane], you could say SARU’s decision is very forward thinking, because perhaps they were anticipating receiving sanctions from the U.S.”
Its rare that a Machine translate even get close to the meaning of a sentence let alone a paragraph so this was decent.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: