Platform: PC, Switch
Publisher: PQube
Genre: Visual Novel
Text Language: English
Audio Language: Japanese
Localization Style: Liberal (Faithful)
Honorifics: No (Localized/Removed)
Stock Translations: One instance of “Even if you tell me that.”
You can tell at a glance that at least one person who worked on the English localization of BUSTAFELLOWS knew what they were doing. There really are some great translation choices here. いい気分に浸ってる was translated as “in my happy place,” for example, 青春ドラマ works great as “teen movies,” and one instance of 仕方ない became “Beggars can’t be choosers.” キャラが濃い makes total sense as “like a sitcom couple.” Shu’s dialogue in particular is well-characterized, with a more crass word choice. The localization doesn’t shy away from memes, either; すごくわかる became “big mood,” and 私は子供ですよ became “I’m baby.” Normally I’m not a fan, but because the game is set in the US, I’d argue it’s actually more faithful in spirit. They managed to get a pedantic grump like myself to enjoy inserted memes. That takes skill.
In light of these gems, then, you can imagine how painful it is to know with near-certainty that at least one other person on the team was woefully out of their depth. I do not say this lightly, or to be cruel. I say it because translators, especially freelancers, are seldom equipped with the support they need to hone their craft. And when someone at a lower skill level is hired to work on something with as much text as a visual novel, it’s not surprising that the result is riddled with errors.
There’s some inconsistency with certain terms: “Zola” vs. “Zora,” “Tayra” vs. “Tyra,” “Theo” vs. “Teo,” “New Face Award” vs. “Rookie of the Year Award,” and even Teuta’s catchphrase, “You only die once, but not today” vs. “I’ll die one day, but not today.” Discrepancies such as these are common when chunks of a script are farmed out to multiple translators and editors who may not all be communicating with each other. Conversely, there are times this script fixates on the same phrase over and over with no variation; “closing (out) the CLOSER” was clever the first time, but not the 10 times after that. Additionally, there are occasional quirks in the text that suggest non-native English: things like “get off” (out of) a car and “get down” (off of the subway train) at a specific station. An over-reliance on the literal meaning of 降りる would be my guess. And then there’s the copious mistranslations. How they got “White Ocean” out of ホワイト・ルシアン (White Russian, the cocktail) I’ll never know.
But this is not just about typos, tense switching, inconsistencies, and mistranslations; those things are par for the course where PQube is concerned. This is about the degree to which reading comprehension did not exist — where the capacity to go back and fix earlier mistakes was seemingly not present. To someone with experience in this industry, this indicates that the project was churned out at lightning speed by a company that either didn’t have the language skills to see the flaws, or simply didn’t care.
But while PQube may be apathetic to the state of their scripts, as a begrudging customer, I am not. This is by no means an exhaustive list, mind you, but I’d like to go over the most egregious errors I logged for educational purposes. We probably can’t bully a localization company into hiring bilingual proofreaders, but maybe someone reading this will learn something new, and that’s what matters. (Note: Character names have been omitted from potentially spoilery lines.)
Dialogue: な、なぁ。猫って人間の言葉わかるのか？そしたら、早く帰れって言ってくれよ！
Meaning: Y-You think the cat can understand human speech? Tell it to go home, now!
PQube: “Y-You think the cat can understand human speech? Maybe it’s telling us to put it back fast?”
Error: Misread of basic verb conjugation.
Dialogue: まあ、ルカを迎えに行ったことはあるけど。
Meaning: Unless you count the time I went there to pick up Luka.
PQube: “Well, I did have Luka come pick me up once.”
Error: Misread of basic verb conjugation. The を should indicate Luka as the object, not the subject.
Dialogue 1: 私は、私が正しいと思うようにやってみる。だから止めないで。
Meaning: I’m going to try to do what I think is right, so don’t try to stop me.
PQube: “I’ll do what I think is right. So I’m going to stop him.”
Dialogue 2: 時間を遡るなんて、止め方わかんねぇよ。でも、できるならそうしてくれ。
Meaning: Stop you from time-traveling? I wouldn’t know how. But if you can, please. Do it.
PQube: “Even if you go back in time, you don’t know how to stop him. But if you can, please. Do it.”
Error: Misread of basic verb conjugation and subject, leading to a complete failure to parse the second line.
Dialogue 1: ここは禁煙だってさっきから言ってるのにもう六本目ですよ。
Meaning: That’s your sixth cigarette. How many times do I have to tell you this is a non-smoking area?
PQube: “This is the sixth time I’ve told you that this is a strictly no smoking area.”
Dialogue 2: 分かった、七本目は我慢するよ。
Meaning: Okay, I’ll hold off on my seventh [cigarette].
PQube: “Okay, so then don’t tell me a seventh time.”
Error: 本 is a counter for cylindrical objects (cigarettes). The counter for “times” is 回.
Dialogue: あの後からなーんか腹に抱えてますって感じだったし。
Meaning: Ever since then, I could kinda tell you were bottling something up.
PQube: “You always seem to hold your stomach after that happened.”
Error: Translated the colloquialism too literally.
Dialogue: ローヒールの方が背伸びしなくていいというアダムの意見。
Meaning: Adam said low heels so I don’t look like I’m trying too hard.
PQube: “Adam said low heels so I don’t look taller.”
Error: Translated the colloquialism too literally.
Dialogue: 空気読んでくださいよ。本当にお酒を勧めるわけないでしょ。5分、いや、3分なら話に付き合いますって意味です。
Meaning: Please read between the lines. I’m not really suggesting you drink alcohol. I’m saying I’m willing to listen to you vent for five, no, three minutes.
PQube: “Please read between the lines. I’m not really suggesting you drink alcohol. I just want to talk for five, no, three minutes.”
Error: 付き合う in this case refers to the speaker joining the listener’s activity.
Dialogue: みんな、その事実を知ってるのに、解決はしない。でも、どうしていいかもわからない。
Meaning: Everyone knows that but does nothing to fix it. They don’t know what to do about it.
PQube: “Everyone knows that but does nothing to fix it. But I’m not sure what to do.”
Error: The も is an indicator that わからない refers to “everyone.”
Dialogue: ええ、あれから一回か二回かかってきましたけど、なんだかよくわからない内に切れてしまって。
Meaning: Well, they’ve called back once or twice since then, but they hung up before I could figure anything out.
PQube: “Well, I’ve had one or two more calls after that, but I hung up without figuring anything out.”
Error: Misread of verb conjugation and subject. If the character was referring to his own actions, he would have said 切ってしまって。
Dialogue: 幾つか[name]が昔居た場所の話をした。今は大分様変わりしているけど、もしかしたらその辺りに行っているのかもしれない。これがその場所だ。
Meaning: I’ve had multiple conversations with [name] about the place where he used to live. It’s changed a lot since those days, but maybe you’ll find him there. Here’s the location.
PQube: “I talked to [name] about several places where he used to go in the past. Things may change, but maybe he visited the area. Here’s the list.”
Error: 幾つか refers to 話 rather than 昔居た場所 and this should have been obvious from これがその場所 (singular). They also mistranslated 昔居た場所 as “places where he used to go,” which could explain it. This misunderstanding went on to impact 今は大分様変わりしている as well; I suspect the team changed its meaning to fit their incorrect understanding.
Dialogue: 夢なんかじゃない。確かにこの手で触れた。それに……また僕に会いに来るって言ってた。
Meaning: I didn’t dream it. I touched him with my own two hands. Not only that… he said he’d come find me again.
PQube: “I didn’t dream it. He touched me. And, he came to see me.”
Error: Misread of verb conjugation and subject. この手で should be an indication that the speaker was referring to his own hands doing the touching. Then there’s the third sentence; PQube’s script completely drops また (again) and って言ってた (he said) and translates 会いに来る into past tense.
Dialogue: 今日って、お父さんと会う前は私とデートしてくれるんじゃなかったっけ？なーんか楽しくなさそう。私は楽しみにしてたのになー。
Meaning: Weren’t you going to go on a date with me before you see your dad today? You seem like you’re bored. I was sooo looking forward to it, too…
PQube: “Weren’t you going to go on a date with me before you see your dad today? Sounds like a boring time to me. I was sooo looking forward to it, too.”
Error: Yet another failure to recognize the subject. The team should have caught this obvious error when it was immediately followed by the same character saying “I was looking forward to it.”
Dialogue: 一番最後のメールだと、今日の午後には戻るって言ってた。
Meaning: The last text I got from him said he’d be back this afternoon.
PQube: “His last text says he’d be back this morning.”
Error: Misread 午後 as 午前 – c’mon, man, this is N5 vocabulary.
Dialogue: ホテルホールジーにいるのね。ぺぺ、行くわよ！
Meaning: He’s at the Hotel Halsey. Let’s go, Pepe!
PQube: “He’s at the Hotel Halsey.
Error: Second sentence completely missing.
Dialogue: 情熱的なキスは貪るものじゃない。みんな恋愛ドラマを見すぎてるんですよ。
Meaning: A truly passionate kiss isn’t forceful. Everyone just watches too many soap operas.
PQube: “A passionate kiss isn’t something to covet. Everyone just watches too many soap operas.”
Error: Over-reliance on dictionary definition. 貪る is a common verb used to describe a “hungry” sort of kiss.
Dialogue: 人は愛を言葉にしたがるものでしょう。きっと見つけるのが難しいから、みんな言葉にしてその形を見つめようとするんじゃないでしょうか。
Meaning: Love is something we humans try to define with our words. Because so many of us struggle to find it for ourselves, I suspect we use words as a means to understand it.
PQube: “Is love something we wish to put to words? Everyone struggles to find true love, so I believe we must all find the shape of love for ourselves.”
Error: Misread of でしょう as でしょうか for the first line. For the second line, 見つめようとする is not the same thing as 見つめよう.
Dialogue: あの日、あたしはテウタを探しに行ったの。それで……[name]は様子がおかしかった。
Meaning: On that day, I went to look for you, and… [name] was acting strangely…
PQube: “On that day, I went to look for you. And [name] was being worried.”
Error: Not sure what happened here – Autocorrect changed “weird” to “worried,” maybe? PQube translated 様子がおかしい correctly in other parts of the game. “Was being worried” is unnatural English, though, so someone should have caught this.
Dialogue: クロちゃん、私のこと見すぎじゃない？私、全然その気ないからね。
Meaning: Crow, have you been staring at me lately? For the record, I’m not at all interested in you like that.
PQube: “Crow, have you been staring at me lately? I haven’t noticed that at all myself, you know?”
Error: その気 is a euphemism for romantic/sexual interest. Someone should have noticed something amiss when the subsequent “I’m just kidding” line makes no sense as a result.
Dialogue: 火つけるから。
Meaning: I’ll light [the cigarette] for you.
PQube: “It’s lit.”
Error: Misread of basic verb conjugation. The character then lights the cigarette a few lines later, at which point the loc team really should have noticed something amiss here.
Dialogue: でも、ちょっと気持ちわかりますよ。先生かっこいいですし。
Meaning: I understand how [the fangirls] feel, though. You’re very handsome.
PQube: “I understand how they feel, though. Being a teacher is cool.”
Error: Wrong definition of かっこいい. Understandable, except this should have been caught when the “handsome” character’s reaction was to blush!
Again, these are not the only mistakes in the game — but the degree of linguistic comprehension failure on display here should make anyone concerned. Even text length limits can’t explain these basic errors. This is a team who was reading at the speed of light, glossing over the text in front of them, making uneducated guesses, and never looking back.
My advice to this localization team: slow down and think critically about what you’re reading — both the Japanese source text and your own English output. If you encounter a grammar construction, colloquialism, katakana phrase, etc. that you don’t understand, try Googling for an answer; if that doesn’t work, seek help from fellow translators! To avoid breaking a non-disclosure agreement with your client, ask someone you trust in a private setting and leave out identifying details. Needing assistance doesn’t make you inferior — the real “bad translators/editors” are those who don’t do their due diligence as a paid professional to try to get every line right. Additionally, if you come across a later line that contradicts a previous line, that’s a sign that you should go back and review the section for errors.
And if you’re reading this and thinking “I never would’ve had time for any of that”? At your skill level, the deadline you were given was unfortunately not enough, and it’s up to you to know your own limits as a translator/editor and push back against unreasonable client expectations. If you can’t do that, every project you work on will suffer as a result, and your name will be associated with the mess. Negotiation is never easy, but in this capitalist hellscape, the responsibility is ours to ensure we get the accommodations we need to produce quality output.
Ultimately, however, the blame for this flawed script lies entirely with PQube, the company with the power to prioritize quality over speed. Did you know that in BUSTAFELLOWS, there are audio-only lines whose translations only appear in the backlog? That’s not something the average translator can control; the company would need to enlist a programmer, or possibly the original developers themselves, to solve that sort of problem. They chose not to do that. Worse still, they couldn’t even be assed to subtitle the video at the very end of the game – yet the devs were able to subtitle an English ending song in Japanese just fine! But even if those things were truly beyond hope for whatever reason, a bare minimum QA pass would have helped alleviate a lot of the typos. Are PQube games truly not worth even that?
The capacity was there; laziness won. So it goes with PQube.
VERDICT:
A generally good effort – really, a lot of the script is serviceable overall – dragged down to Mediocre by an unreasonable amount of typos and basic translation errors. Some wise words from Mushoku Tensei translator Paul Cuneo:
LOCALIZATION CREDITS:
(Localization Outsourced to Esper Eye Translations, LLC)
Translator: Anthony Israel
Translator: Roman Lempert
Editor: Christopher Foxx
Editor: Forrest Taylor
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