Translator’s Notes

Hello fellow humans (or English speakers of any species), I’m Zihan, the translator for Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke! I’d like to share some weird trivia or background about some of the more obscure terms we had to localize, so here we go!

Prologue: A Sincere Declaration!

Kiraware (“scorned character”)

Slowe refers to himself as the kiraware Piggy Duke. Kiraware, which literally translates to “scorned character,” is a specific trope in Japanese fiction that refers to a story where the main character is disliked by everyone around them. In fanfiction, this trope is typically written with the main character disliked by the main cast of the original work. It’s relatively popular on Japanese websites and often used as a warning label on fanfiction. Its usage dates back to 2010, with some personal blogs using it even prior to that.

The most popular pattern of this trope usually goes something like this: a character is doted on in the protagonist’s stead, and they intentionally set the protagonist up to be hated in some way. The classic was using a box cutter to tear at their own clothes and scream, making it look like the protagonist was the assailant.

(No, seriously. This exact scenario has actually been used thousands of times.)

The misunderstanding drives the plot forward all the way to its resolution, whether that resolution is reconciliation or something else. The genre has changed quite a lot since then, though, and not a lot of stories (and fanfiction) follow that template much anymore.

Forums

Usually, when people refer to forums in Japan, they’re referring to 2chan in particular. A lot of modern Japanese internet slang originated from 2chan, such as the word riajuu (“normies,” or someone who has a significant other), for example.

Unlike most English forums, 2chan is completely anonymous and doesn’t require any registration to leave a comment. Comments show up as “Anonymous Message” and are numbered from one to 1000.

Once the thread hits 1000 comments, the original poster may choose to make a new thread and continue the discussion. Alternatively, someone else invested in the conversation might do it for them, leading with a summary of the original post in the first comment.

The latter is more common for topic discussions rather than those that focus on personal matters. Sometimes, when specificity is needed, the starter of the thread or those involved would nickname themselves temporarily and they can post under that name.

You’ll sometimes see a 2chan format used in online fiction (though this happens commonly in fanfiction). You might even see generators or template sites to create stories in this format!

So when Slowe mentions commenters talking about the Piggy Duke of the anime on forums in the prologue, it is this sort of forum that he’s referring to.

Chapter 1: The Problem Student of Kirsch Mage Institute

Osora kirei (“The sky is nice”)

Osora kirei (literally translated as “the sky is nice”) is a pretty common phrase used (mostly) by fictional characters when they’re in a state of extreme shock, though there have been exceptions where famous people in real life have used it. It dates back to the early 2000s, where it began its life as internet slang.

The phrase implies that the speaker is stunned speechless and unable to think coherently. In their stupor, they look up to the sky helplessly and say the first thing that comes to mind, which usually ends up being something mundane like, “the sky is pretty.” You’ll even sometimes see the trope going as far as describing someone “in a state of osora kirei.”

Loco Moco

Professor Loco Moco shares his name with a popular Hawaiian dish that has many variations. Traditionally, loco moco is white rice topped with a hamburger patty or Spam, fried egg (often with runny yolk), and brown gravy. It’s a very popular dish in Japan and can be found on the menu of many chain restaurants and in convenience stores.

Kakuretenai kyonyuu (“not-so-hidden buxom”)

One of Tina’s traits that—only a bit unfortunately—didn’t make the final cut was the description where she is called a kakuretenai kyonyuu (“not-so-hidden buxom”). This was mentioned briefly in the paragraph where Tina was introduced as the Demon Queen of Porn Mags.

In Japan, the hidden buxom trope is very widely known, referring to a person whose clothing disguises just how big their breasts really are. In Tina’s case, this trope is turned on its head in the sense that she didn’t bother to hide her goods at all.

This trope isn’t as widely known to Western audiences and would be clunky to explain in English, and so we made the decision to do away with the reference entirely in the localization. It’s not as if Slowe doesn’t take every other opportunity to remind us just how big Tina’s breasts are!

Tama no koshi (“Tama’s koshi,” short for marrying into riches)

Tama no koshi is the Japanese version of a Cinderella story. Firstly, the full phrase is “getting on Tama’s koshi.” A koshi is a palanquin, with the more ceremonial version, the mikoshi, used in Japanese festivals. In the past, a bride would be carried on a koshi from her family home to the groom’s house during their wedding.

As for Tama, the most popular version of this story refers to a woman named Keishōin, often called Tama, who was the daughter of a vegetable shop owner in Kyoto. After her father’s death, she worked her way up the social ladder and ended up as a maid serving under a nun. Shōgun Iemitsu Tokugawa fell in love with Tama’s master at first sight (in 1639) and made the nun his concubine. Later, when Tama became an adult, she became Iemitsu’s concubine too. She gave birth to a son, Tsunayoshi Tokugawa, who would later go on to become the fifth shōgun despite having two elder brothers.

So, putting it all together, “getting on Tama’s koshi” implies that one could ride their way into riches and status by getting on a koshi as lavish and extravagant as Tama’s. Tina mentions this phrase when saying that not all women are gold-diggers early on in her friendship with Slowe!

Takobeya (labor camps in Hokkaido in the late 19th and early 20th centuries)

Valjean refers to the commoner dormitory rooms as slums, but the original term was actually takobeya, referring to Japanese labor camps situated in Hokkaido. Japan started developing Hokkaido around 1887, shortly after the Meiji Restoration. Due to a lack of manpower for roadworks, railworks, and construction in general, the government made prisoners join the workforce, and they mined and worked in even the harshest of conditions. The government was criticized for abuse of human rights and, at least on paper, the practice of penal labor ended in 1894.

In truth, the takobeya system simply replaced the old system. Workers from the main island of Japan were gathered to work in the mountains or deep in rural areas. They lived in huts built for the workers onsite at these construction areas, and the huts became known as takobeya.

It was basically forced labor and the conditions were very harsh, with little light, scarce food, and bad ventilation in both the working and living quarters. This practice ran rampant from 1894 to 1946. In the aftermath of World War II, under the orders of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, the takobeya was outlawed and quickly fell out of practice after that.

Chapter 2: The Protagonist and The Heroine

Suzume no namida (“the tears of a sparrow”)

Slowe talks about how his family barely gave him anything for his allowance. The metaphor Slowe used here is suzume no namida (“the tears of a sparrow”). This is used to describe something that is very little or barely there, much like the size of the tears a sparrow could cry.

Chapter 4: The Creeping Shadows

Billy Blanks Tae Bo

Billy Blanks Tae Bo is a body fitness system developed by Billy Blanks in 1976 that incorporates martial arts techniques into exercise. It became popular in the 1990s in the West and later caught on in Japan as well. In 2007, Billy’s Bootcamp, another workout program developed by Blanks, sold over a million copies in just three months.

Surprisingly, the program sold very well in Japan despite the exorbitant price. In America, a set of three DVDs and a set of resistance bands sold for 30 USD, while in Japan, a set of four DVDs with subtitles and a set of resistance bands sold for around 15,000 yen, or 125 USD at the time.

Slowe refers to Billy’s Bootcamp in the story, but Tae Bo is the more popular of the two exercise programs in the West. It was for this reason we chose to localize it as Tae Bo rather than Billy’s Bootcamp, as readers are more likely to recognize the former.