Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki HIghschool translation (video)

[Protoman]

In case you wanted to know what went on in this game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0KjA3vhmcM

[adori_12]

Great video, so nice of you to take the extra effort and edit the game footage with the translated texts.
So you could call the phone numbers the game gives you and a voice recording of Miho Nakayama would play, right? Are there any recordings of those?

[P]

I finally looked at this video and it's a pretty good translation, at least compared to guides found online that seems to get almost every situation wrong. Although I didn't do a comparison with the original I'm sure that you got a few things wrong as well from what I can remember however. They are smaller details as the overall situation is perceived correctly as far as I can see. For example, if I remember correctly in Sadakichi's first line in the game he says that you are also an odd guy (admitting that he is an oddball himself) for transferring schools at that time of the year, and IIRC Takayama actually did get caught running in the corridor by the vice-principal just like you did (I might have been wrong though).

Also I have to advice you to try to translate all aspects of the original text as much as possible. It's very hard to do and also keep a good English language while trying to convey all social ques and stuff. For example you seem to skip that the mascot is a rabbit at first which the Japanese text clearly states (you do mention it later though).

But anyway this is a nice way to translate the story of the game without having to hack the game. It's just too bad you can't see all the alternate dialogue and failure scenes in a video like this (for example if you fail the cinema scene your present turns out to be takoyaki and the date is just a big failure )

I really like how you made the karaoke ending in romaji like anime funsubbers usually do!
This game contains some really good tunes by Nobuo Uematsu, and he didn't even need to use the FDS expansion sound (it's only used in sound effects I think). Some sound effects do steal away some notes from the music though.
I especially like the main theme (the title screen BGM) and the ending song.


There is a hilarious alternate version of the red ribbon ending which I only just got to see myself (and the instructions how to see it is also wrong in English online guides). To get this variant you have to give away the photo of Miho, that your brother shot, to Sadakichi before going home with Takayama Mizuho. It's just a very small change to the ending but it's pretty funny.

When waiting for Takayama to pick up her bag so you can walk home together, instead of waiting 4 times in the corridor you need to choose the move command and go into the homeroom. Sadakichi is there left all alone for cleaning duty and you can choose to help him or not. But you have to give him the photo before talking to him or it will be too late. You do this by picking the "watasu" (give) command and choosing "shashin" (photo), and you need to do it twice to actually give him it. Maybe you can pick "miseru" (show) twice as well, I'm not sure. After this you can talk to him and choose to help him with cleaning the classroom (he never mentions anything about cleaning any motorbikes like some online guides suggests). I'm not sure if you have to help him or not, but I did that when I got the alternate ending, so it's best to do it.

If you do help Sadakichi with the cleaning duty, you will loose track of the time and Mizuho will end up going around looking for you. She will be a bit upset that you didn't stay and wait for her, but she forgives you and she will eventually learn the truth which is actually to your advantage later in that scene where you ask her about her type (she will actually tell you her type this time around).

Great video, so nice of you to take the extra effort and edit the game footage with the translated texts.
So you could call the phone numbers the game gives you and a voice recording of Miho Nakayama would play, right? Are there any recordings of those?

Yeah the telephone messages are really part of the game's story and the game isn't complete without them, so we can be thankfull that they can be found on the internet. Some of the earlier messages feels like they are just simple hints and could be skipped, but the later messages contains crucial parts of the story.
It's too bad that we can't hear Miho's acting, but on the other hand we don't have to pay the telephone fees.
I'm not sure if Miho was talking all the time as some of the messages contains some narrative which is in the player's voice (just like in the game itself). Protoman didn't include these narratives but instead altered the dialogue to explain the situation. I've made my own translations of the phone messages which is much more literary and do contain the narrative. I can't promise everything is 100% correct though.
Needless to say, the telephone messages are serious spoilers for a game that heavily relies on a good plot. Here they are:

Spoiler

#1:
03-540-0000
Details:
After Sadakichi introduces himself he teaches you this number, telling you
that it's "Miporin's telephone service".
Transcription:
ハ～イ！！ミホは今、全国ツアーのまっ最中。ステージの前は少し緊張しちゃうけど、ミホにはツオ～イ味方が
いるのです。それは私が大切にしているウサギのマスコット人形なんです。いつも持っていますヨ。
Translation:
Haai! Miho is currently on a nationwide tour. Miho is a bit nervous before
going on stage, but I have a stroong ally on my side. It is my very important
plush bunny mascot. It's always protecting me from bad things!

#2:
045-952-0010
045-833-9000
044-271-3500
Details:
Given by your older brother after going home the first day.
Apparently Takayama Mizuho had called and left her number for you after the
day's happenings.
Transcription:
さっきは急いでいたから満足にお礼も言えなくて・・・。あのウサギのマスコット人形は本当に大切な物だったの。
だからウレシくって・・・またチャンスがあったら色々お話をしたいネ。
Translation:
I was in a hurry earlier today so I wasn't able to thank you properly... That
plush bunny mascot was a very important thing to me. Because of that I was
very happy to get it back... If we get another chance I would like to talk to
you again about all sorts of things.

#3:
06-700-2000
06-700-1000
Details:
After going home the second day your mama asks you to call your older brother
and gives you this number.
Transcription:
ミポリンの写真集の仕事をしている兄貴が電話ごしにミポリンのインタビューテープを聞かせてくれた。「最近ウレ
シかったコト・・・。なくしてしまったと思っていたウサギのマスコットが返ってきたコトかな！？」
Translation:
Big bro, who is currently working with Miporin's photo book, let me listen to
a Miporin interview tape over the phone: "Something good that has happened
to me lately... Maybe that I got back my bunny mascot that I thought I had
lost!?"

#4:
06-790-1313
06-790-1099
Details:
After finaly coming home from Erika's birthday party, your older brother
tells you that Mizuho called, and then you get this number to call her back...
Transcription:
私、知ってるんだから。キミが清水エリカさんとつき合ってるってこと！！あなたなんか大嫌い！！（まいったなぁ・
・・そりゃあ待ち合わせの場所に行けなかったのはボクが悪いけど・・・勝手に誤解しちゃってさ・・・）
Translation:
I, know what you are doing. You are going out with Shimizu Erika!! I hate
you!! (What misery... Sure enough I'm at fault that I couldn't go meet her at
the appointed place but... She went and misunderstood the situation all on her
own accord...)

#5:
045-784-5311
045-583-7000
0472-24-9999
Details:
After coming home from the first date at the café (with that mysterious person
snooping around), your older brother again tells you that Mizuho called and
you get this number to call her with.
Transcription:
最近なんだか不安なの・・・いつも誰かに見られているようで・・・。今日も変な人がいたでしょ。また転校してあ
なたに会えなくなるのが恐いの。アッそう、今度の金曜日、映画を見に行こうか・・・。
Translation:
I have felt uneasy lately... It is like someone is always watching me... Today
that strange man was there right? I am really scared that I have to transfer
to another school again and be unable to meet you. Ah! That's right, shall we
go and watch a movie next Friday...?

#6:
011-512-4000
011-611-9600
Details:
Miho calls from Sapporo some time after the cinema scene as promised. Your
mama took the call while you were in the bath, but forgot where she left the
note with the number to call her back with.
Transcription:
（電話をするとマネージャーが出てきてしまった。でもすぐにミホちゃんに変わって・・・）ゴメンね。プレゼント
ありがとう。私からもプレゼントがあるの・・・音楽室のピアノにロッカーの鍵を隠してあるから・・・。
Translation:
(Unfortunately her manager answers the phone call at first, but Miho-chan
soon switches over to her...) I'm sorry. Thank you for the present. I also
have a present for you... I hid the key to my locker in that piano found in
the music room...

#7:
011-222-6600
011-711-4000
Details:
A number left for you by Miho in her locker with the present.
Transcription:
ゴメンなさい。あなたに迷惑をかけて・・・。クリスマスイブの日、いつもの喫茶店で待ってて。必ず行くからネ。
（その後、マネージャーが出てきて色々いわれてしまったけど、めげない、めげない！！）
Translation:
I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble... Wait for me in the usual café on
Christmas Eve. I will make sure to come no matter what. (After this the
manager appears and speaks many harsh words, but no need to get discouraged!!)

Blue Ribbon ED:
092-781-9900
092-475-7878
Details:
After the Christmas date, and if you get the blue ribbon ending, you will want
to talk to Miho and you suddenly remember this number to call her with.
Transcription:
やっぱり私には歌をすてるコトができないの、小さい頃からの夢だったから・・・。やっぱりアイドルが普通の学園
生活をおくりたいっていうのはムリだったのかしら。でもあなたとは、いつまでも親友でいたい！！
Translation:
I have realized that I will not be able to give up singing after all, because
it has been my dream ever since I was little... As things are, maybe it is
impossible for an idol to lead a normal schoolgirl life. However, I want you
to always be my very precious friend!!

Red Ribbon ED:
092-585-3001
092-522-4900
Details:
In the red ribbon ending the same scene happens after the Christmas date but
the number you recall to call Miho with is this one instead, and this time
around Miho also has something different to say...
Transcription:
やっぱりあなたのコトが好き。でもみんなに迷惑をかけてしまうから、転校するコトにしたの。明日最後の授業に
出るから、放課後、屋上で会いましょうヨ。待ってるから絶対に来てネ。
Translation:
I have realized that love you after all. But since I'm causing trouble for
everyone I have decided to transfer to a different school. Tomorrow I will
attend my final class, so let's meet on the rooftop after school. I will be
waiting for you, so make sure you definitely come.

[close]

According to the manual for my copy of the game the message in the SERVICE DATA option (which is a message where Miho tells you to get started already and also the deadlines for the Disk Fax competition and the telephone service) on the title screen will change when you use the Disk Fax with a new message "from Miho", and it doesn't matter if you beat the game or not, just as long as you apply the data to the fax.
I wonder if the Disk Fax writes this data on the disk or if it's already on the disk and just unlocked. I can tell that my copy of the game haven't participated in the competition since it still contains the original message.

[Protoman]

Way too much text

Thanks for the feedback. I decided early on to not try to translate Sadakichi's kansai dialect into something like "what're you sayin'" instead of "what are you saying" etc, like I see many do, because I don't think I could have made it consistent.

On the rabbit thing, the first time it shows up "it's a rabbit plushie" I translated from usagi no masukotto(mascot) then afterward the text just says mascot so I used plushie. What's the problem?

I'm never going to work as an actual translator because I know I'm not good enough for that, but for a youtube video (that pretty few people watch hehe) I think it's okay.

[P]

In the example of the rabbit mascot I'm just saying that the first phone message includes that kind of information (rabbit mascot) while your translation just said cute plushie. It's a good idea as a general rule to try to convey all the information found in the original message in the translated message if possible, or problems will arise later.

It's just a translator's advice that I've learned and am passing on. You can do whatever you want with it. But I think it's a good advice no matter if you want to really do good translations or not, because it helps you in your study of the language as well. That's my own experience anyway.

[adori_12]

Yeah the telephone messages are really part of the game's story and the game isn't complete without them, so we can be thankfull that they can be found on the internet. Some of the earlier messages feels like they are just simple hints and could be skipped, but the later messages contains crucial parts of the story.
It's too bad that we can't hear Miho's acting, but on the other hand we don't have to pay the telephone fees.
I'm not sure if Miho was talking all the time as some of the messages contains some narrative which is in the player's voice (just like in the game itself). Protoman didn't include these narratives but instead altered the dialogue to explain the situation. I've made my own translations of the phone messages which is much more literary and do contain the narrative. I can't promise everything is 100% correct though.
Needless to say, the telephone messages are serious spoilers for a game that heavily relies on a good plot.

Well at least we have the call scripts, and let me tell you I'm baffled at how much effort you took to translate those calls, I particularly dig the details you provide for each, with those I can know what the scripts are talking about and not just out-of-context wordiness.

I'm never going to work as an actual translator because I know I'm not good enough for that, but for a youtube video (that pretty few people watch hehe) I think it's okay.

Overall I think you did a great job. Not everything has to be perfect, and as you said you did this mostly for fun and not  for dead serious purposes, not to mention translating something pretty much always means losing some ideas conveyed in the original language, whether they're very insignificant or important depends on how good the translator is. Obviously doing something for fun shouldn't be equal to doing it poorly, but luckily this isn't the case here. Without both P's translation and yours I'd have no clue what this game was about anyway, so yeah, thanks to you two.

[P]

I added the details to each message back when I played the game the first time just for my own sake as it was easier to keep track of them this way (then it turned out that they are totally linear and always happens in the same order AFAIK) and I also added the phone numbers I got which sometimes were different from the ones listed online (all known variants of the phone numbers are listed here).

I later decided that I wanted to translate the messages to English and the first draft really took only minutes to do as it's a really small amount of text.


BTW GameFAQs has a walkthrough for the game that says you would get different phone numbers if you don't peek into the classroom where the girls are changing in. I'm not sure if this is true though as I found no way to avoid peeking. You seem to be destined to peek! Mizuho is also thankfully much more forgiving of this deed than with many other things you can do (such as feeling up the waitress in the café or confessing that you are really a Miporin fan).