GG4 - Part 1

Ganbare Goemon 4 (English) - Intro and Goemon




Here it is, the first video of my newest translation project. Ganbare Goemon 4, the Introduction and Desert Area (Goemon), released on April 1, 2008. I'm hoping I can divide the videos by character/area, meaning there'll be about 6 of them total, including the mysterious "Omitsu" scene (which, because of its length and complexity, was not included in this video and will instead get its own).

I had some difficulty making this video, not because of the actual translation, but because I was using iMovie HD instead of plain old iMovie. Apparently, the latter doesn't work with the new OS. (A word of advice to all Mac users out there: OS 10.5.1 is more trouble than it's worth.) It is a lot faster and gives me finer control over subtitle lengths, and that's nice, but I'm also more limited in that length and there's a delay as the subtitles fade into and out of view. That can make the video seem somewhat...disjointed, in my opinion. I don't know, maybe I'm not explaining myself well enough, let me know what you think.

Also...HALLELUJAH! It looks like, so far, GG4 doesn't have the framerate issues that GG3 had. I don't know whether that's because of the game itself, or because of the different program, but that is a huge relief for me. Even so, I'll continue putting the full scripts here, with whatever analysis I can offer of the scene itself. They're filled with all the awkward dialogue you've come to expect from me and the Ganbare Goemon series. Let's get started:

Scene 1: A Four-Part Planetary Investigation

Impact: That’s Planet Impact.
Goemon: Why does it look so foggy there, like the ruins of a fire?
Impact: According to my analysis, there is some sort of guard protecting the entire perimeter of the planet.
Ebisumaru: Just in midair like that...
Sasuke: We have to go investigate all those areas surrounding the planet.
Yae: Let’s divide the investigation work between all of us!
Impact: I need everybody’s support here.
Goemon: Okay! Sounds like a good plan! Hurry, let’s go, everybody!

Not much to this one, though it does explain why everybody's separated at the start of the game (in case it wasn't obvious already). Though it does make you wonder what Seppukumaru wants with Planet Impact, anyway...

Scene 2: The Chain Pipe

Hinarin: I just found this strange thing here in this room...
Goemon: Th-That’s a chain pipe!
Hinarin: Oh, this is yours? Well, I am very hungry now. If you give me a rice ball, I’ll return this to you.
Goemon: (D-Difficult girl!) No problem!
Narrator: Will you give the rice ball?
Goemon: Give./Don’t give.
Hinarin: Thank you! All right, I’ll return this to you!
Narrator: Goemon regained the chain pipe! Hook onto and swing from the Manji blocks!
Goemon: All right! With this, everything should be perfect!

"The Chain Pipe" was supposed to sound like "The Crane Wife" (which is based on a Japanese folk tale, by the way). Yeah. I don't think anybody would've gotten that.

How did Goemon's chain pipe end up here, anyway? That's very odd.

Everybody knows what a manji is, right? It was mentioned once or twice in GG3, and I may or may not have talked about it before. Yes, it looks like a swastika, but Goemon's not a Nazi. In the Buddhist religion, the manji represents Dharma (the underlying order in nature), universal harmony, and the balance of opposites. When the manji "faces left" (as it does on the title screen of GG3 and on the blocks in GG4), it represents love and mercy. When it "faces right", it represents strength and intelligence. The right-facing swastika is associated with Nazism, so almost all Buddhist manji nowadays faces left. So, once again, GOEMON IS NOT A NAZI! And I assure you, I'm not either, even if I did go to the "Swastika" Wikipedia page to find all this out...gulp...

Scene 3: Wait, What's That About a Wedding?

Yomezo: And now, Goemon and Omitsu’s wedding...ah! D-Did you defeat the Tanuki? Thank you, I’m in your debt. But how is your strength?
Goemon: Since coming to this star, I haven’t had my usual strength!
Yomezo: If you ask Kinzo in the Oasis Town, he can give you something so you’ll be strong again.
Goemon: Oh, that’s great news! I’ll go to the Oasis Town and talk to this Kinzo immediately! Thank you very much!

Before you "defeat the Tanuki," you can go into a church where the priest begins his speech with that first line. Imagine the shock of walking into a random church and finding out you're about to get married to the girl of your dreams. Heh, I'll probably have to rely on some dumb luck like that. It's pretty much hopeless for me, otherwise.

Umm...anyway, just for your information, they're holding a funeral (or a wake) for Ebisumaru in the house next door. As far as I can tell, the funeral is fairly accurate, though it seems the offering that the deceased's loved ones are supposed to make is somewhat lacking. I guess Ebisumaru doesn't have a lot of rich relatives. Japanese funerals are currently the most expensive in the world, by the way (about 4 million yen, on average). For more info, go here.

I wonder what Goemon means when he says he doesn't have his usual strength. Does it mean he's forgotten all his ninjutsu? Or that his "health" is somewhat low? I have no idea.

Scene 4: Kinzo

Kinzo: Oh! I heard about you from Yomezo! You’ll get your strength back right now. Yaaaaah!
Goemon: Whoa!
Kinzo: (Huff, puff...) Now you should be as good as new...phew...
Goemon: Wonderful! Now I can attack with Koban coins!
Narrator: Goemon received the charged koban! Now he feels like he has the strength of 100 people!
Goemon: Thank you! May you have a long life, sir!

It turns out that the "Flaming Ryo" might actually be a "Flaming Koban." Besides being the name of a ninja cat in the series, a koban is a coin, larger in size than a ryo. Also, Impact's Nasal Bullets aren't ryo. They're koban. The full length version of the song "Ore wa Impact" ("I am Impact") mentions "hana kara koban", or "koban from the nose." Makes sense considering the size difference between the two types of coins.

Bah. I always thought the Flaming Ryo, or Koban, or whatever it is, was somewhat overrated. Get up close and bash 'em, that's the real way to play!

Scene 5: Oedo, Town of the Bodybuilders

Tsujigiri: Ke ke ke! How did you manage to come all the way here? (Ke!) You must exercise constantly and be in great shape! (Ke!)
Goemon: What are you talking about?! Of course I’m in great shape, I’m from Oedo!
Tsujigiri: Ke ke! I don’t understand what you’re saying! (Ke!) But Lord Seppukumaru’s bomb...oops!
Goemon: Bomb?! What are you talking about?!
Tsujigiri: Ke ke ke...You’ll know soon enough (Ke!)...if you leave this place alive, that is! (Ke!)
Goemon: Damn it! I’m extremely worried about that bomb!
Tsujigiri: Ke ke! What? You don’t understand? (Ke!) Well, for the time being, my giant robot will slice you to pieces! (Ke!)
Goemon: Grr! I can’t worry and be defeated by this loser! I’ll call Impact!

Considering I come from a state that's run by "The Governator", I find this title kind of funny. You may or may not find my strange sense of humor agreeable.

Anyway, it seems that, having a boss that's obsessed with sports, the Tsujigiri are concerned with physical fitness, especially that of their opponents. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I THINK Rokudenashi (who Ebisumaru faces) also mentions something about exercise. Of course, look at Ebisumaru and you'll understand why.

In the Japanese version of the anime, all four Tsujigiri end most of their sentences with some word or phrase. The "ke" that Itakaro (I hope I got that right...) uses here is different from what he says in the anime (and I can't, for the life of me, remember what he says there...), but it seems to be more like a chuckle than anything else. If you watch the 2nd OVA, it's very distinctive, to the point of being annoying.

The bomb is a very important component of the story, so remember that. Not like you'll ever forget, right?

So, that about wraps it up for this one. Hope you enjoyed all the useless info I gave you here.

By the way, I'm having way too much fun with the popularity statistics that you can see for your videos now. I don't know how long they've been there, but I just noticed them, and now I can see where people are watching these videos from. States that show up the most? California, Wisconsin (those two aren't at all surprising), Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas (which, strangely enough, is completely absent from GG3 Part 9). I've also gotten quite a few views from people in France and Japan.

All right, now I'm seriously wrapping this post up. See ya next time!