Talk:KOF: Maximum Impact 2/Novella

Sons of Fate

 * Ein, Zwei, Drei - one, two, three in German.
 * Ohitoyoshi (お人好し) - this is what Fate is constantly called throughout the story. It's a slang term used for adults that have an easy going air about them and don't think anything bad about others. They're nice and forgiving but they're also easy to fool since they act so trusting. It's a somewhat negative phrase, one that doesn't really praise the one it's referring to. There isn't really a good everyday English equivalent for it ("Fool" or "village idiot" is a little too harsh) and Ureshino explains it to readers who don't understand it with his exposition, so I kinda went all over the place with synonyms while translating it.
 * Yakubyougami (疫病神) - an evil spirit that was believed in ancient Japan to spread plagues. Before medical science, it was thought that illness was transferred due to an evil spirit. It was believed to have taken the shape of a hovering old woman, and they could make an entire village ill by visiting the houses. It was believed that it could be kept away by placing a bowl of rice congee made with red beans outside one's house for three days. In the story, Chance is compared to this spirit when he looks at Alba and Soiree during his introduction.
 * Grolsch - famous drink from a Dutch brewery. Ureshino had the classic emerald shaded bottle in mind when he mentioned it.
 * Oni (鬼) - literally means "ogre" or "devil", but it's also used as a label. In this case, it means the individual can willingly adopt a menacing and frightening appearance. Alba retorts that he couldn't ever picture Fate being like this.
 * Brother vs. Bro - young Soiree used to call Alba "Nii-chan" (にいちゃん), a really bubbly and affectionate way of saying "Older brother" in Japanese. When Alba insists to call him "Bro", he means to call him the slightly more formal and less childish "Aniki" (兄貴). It gives a note of detachment as well, and it's commonly used as gangster slang in fiction when referring to respected older mentors of a similar status. It's tougher too, probably what Alba was aiming for.

Casablanca

 * Morgen - "Morning" in German.
 * Casablanca - also called Casa Blanca. Like it's said in the story, it's a type of white lily with a strong, unique scent. They can sometimes grow to be pretty big.

Las Vegas

 * 'Lil vs. Mr. - Tony switches between the Japanese prefixes "-kun" and "-san" for Soiree. "-kun" is a chummy way of addressing someone younger than the speaker. "-san" is much more formal and detached. There isn't really a good way of accurately translating these connotations into English, so I tried to use these to keep the original spirit if nothing else.
 * Danke, Alba! - "Thanks" or "Thank you, Alba!" in German.
 * Überzeugungsverbrechen - German term which means something like "convicted crime" when literally translated. It is usually associated with organized crime such as theft or terrorism. It has a secondary meaning for someone who commits a crime whilst being unaware of it, often due to their own ignorance. Soiree's specifically referring to Alba's trap for Tony with the phrase. It's one of the many European concepts integrated into the Japanese language (確信犯). A close English equivalent would be "It's a set up!", but it losses the darker edge it carries in German. Since it's the brothers chatting amongst themselves, I left it in their native language.
 * Fröhliche Weihnachten - formal way of saying "Merry Christmas" in German.