Naki no Ryuu Chapter 14

It's been a while, hasn't it? I know it's been a long time because originally I was going to start off this post with "Happy Ryuu Year," but now we're 3 whole weeks into 2016. The delay was entirely my fault; I just didn't get around to translating the next chapter for a while.
Also, I noticed an error on one page in chapter 13 that I really wanted to correct, even though it had already been released. I have the updated file here, and I will also be uploading it to Batoto. If you read Ryuu on other aggregate sites, well that's what you get when your site only rips the first release.

Download Chapter 14
Download Chapter 13v2

The only thing I changed was the name of Kawachi's newly-formed "Kouyuu Group" to "The Auspicious Alliance." To put it simply, I lazily transliterated the name like every other syndicate and group that came before it, but then I realized that "Kouyuu" isn't a name, but a description. I'll explain a little more in-depth after the jump.


 I only realized my mistake after starting to translate chapter 14. In it, Ishikawa sees the name and comments on Kawachi making a play on words. Normally, the word "kai" (会) means group or association. Thus, the Oudou-kai (桜道会) means "Oudou Group" or "Oudou Association." Similarly, the other groups are referred to as "kumi" (組), which is often translated as "syndicate" when referring to Yakuza groups. So when I saw "Kouyuukai" (幸友会), I figured it was just "Kouyuu Group," even though "Kouyuu" isn't a name or even a common word. But after seeing Ishikawa mention a play on words, I suddenly realized my mistake.

There are actually a few ways that you can look at "Kouyuukai." First, the "Kou" and "Yuu" are the characters for "happiness" and "friendship" respectively. In literal terms, that would be "Group of Harmonious Friendship." That's where I got "The Auspicious Alliance" from.

However, the true play on words that Ishikawa mentions comes from a different view of the name. "Kai" means group, but "yuukai" also means group, only with more of a connotation of friendship and camaraderie. In this interpretation, the "Kou" actually stands for the Kou in Kawachi's first name, "Kouichi." Thus, Kouyuukai could also be interpreted as "Friends of Kou(ichi)." (incidentally, Ishikawa's right hand man Tamura is also named Kouichi, but his name is written with the character for light "光" rather than happiness)

So in the end, I decided to do a bit of localizing and make it the Auspicious Alliance, which gets the point across even if the cleverness is slightly reduced. Sorry! At least it's better than "Kouyuu Group," which conveys none of the wordplay at all.



Anyways, I'll get to the little tidbits about chapter 14.

Indra (Indara in Japanese) represents the horse. In Buddhism Indra is one of the 12 Heavenly Generals as well as another name for Sakra, leader of the Devas (who I talked about briefly in the Chapter 7 post).



Not much to say about this chapter, we're all just here for the ride. Penchan mentioned to me that this is the first time that someone was actually impressed with Ryuu's crazy mahjong instead of just getting pissed off.