Apparently this release was machine translated. While machine translations can be handy when you want to buy something off an obscure foreign website, they’re not exactly reliable as a source for anime translations. They also suck to TL check (or review).

I just watched the first 20 minutes of the release and picked some of the more noticeable errors as well as a couple I personally felt like talking about.

Let’s start with an easy one.

JP: 皆さまの捜査方法などを勉強させていただきます。

Google: We will study your investigation methods.

She’s introducing herself to the team on her first day at the office, so she sounds very polite. This is effectively just a humble-sounding platitude that you can just translate to “I hope to learn a lot from you all.”

Does Google even distinguish between sasete itadakimasu and the plain shimasu?

JP: 皆さまの捜査方法などを勉強します。

Google: We will study your investigation methods.

And the answer is no. There’s not much Google can do without context, to be fair.

JP: シビュラシステムの強権発動に外務省内で不満でも?

Google: Even if you are dissatisfied within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to activate the Shibura system?

It’s easy to get the subject of the sentence wrong since it gets omitted the majority of the time in Japanese. It sometimes takes familiarity with idiomatic constructions to figure out the subject. This is an extremely common problem even in human-translated stuff.

In this case, fortunately, preceding lines establish that the Public Safety Bureau is the one that did the investigations that pissed off the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so knowing the context could save you even if Google couldn’t.

“Was Ministry of Foreign Affairs upset that the Sibyl System was activated?”

JP: 花城フレデリカさん… // 外務省では海外の情報調査を担当していたようです

Here we see another common error: splitting one sentence into two or more shorter “sentences” just because there is a pause. You can just treat it like there’s a wa between the lines.

“It seems Frederica Hanashiro was in charge of overseas intelligence at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

JP: 当然調べるよ　不自然だったから

Google: Of course I’ll check because it was unnatural

What happened here? I think Google did okay, actually. Tenses will need fixing because they work differently in Japanese, but that’s no biggie.

JP: 少しはリスクを避ける努力を…

Google: A little effort to avoid risk…

The editor tried to make up for the missing verb, but it turned out pretty unnatural, and the ellipsis is somehow still there… Please…

JP: 仕事のことなら自分より監視官に…

Google: If you ’re working, you ’re more a supervisor than yourself…

Another sentence with a missing verb that turned out strange. Errors like this are not as common in human translations, as long as the translator is paying attention.

“If it’s work-related, you should ask an Inspector.”

I stopped transcribing every line because it’s too much effort. Also, I can’t even tell what this sentence is supposed to mean.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has plans to form a new unit to conduct paramilitary activities.”

JP: 現在捉えている 対応を!

Google: What is your current response?

This time it’s the other way around. It’s one line, but it’s actually two very short sentences that you need to consider separately.

“I’ve got it in sight. Engage it!”

I too like to refer to the person I’m talking to in third person.

JP: ライフログの更新 マメですよね

Google: Life log update

What happened, Google? You just ignored the second half of the line! Do I need to separate it into two lines for you?

JP: ライフログの更新 // マメですよね

Google: Life log update // It ’s a bean.

Oh, right. That’s about the best it can do without context.

“You’re pretty dedicated to keeping your life log updated, aren’t you?”

It’s the other way around.

同期 does mean sync, but it has multiple meanings. Here it means classmate.

“You were classmates with Rin in your training school days, aren’t you?”

I can feel the editor giving up on trying to clean up after Google.

“As special forces, our hues are configured so they are not clouded even if we kill people.”

Wow. Any fansub editor will tell you off if a line like this made it to release.

“Even” is a tricky word that can obscure meaning. The way it is right now, it’s still difficult to see what this line is supposed to mean.

“We’ll be killing people, albeit (indirectly) via drones.”

It’s a straightforward line that tries to be deep… translated incorrectly.

“Should we be happy about our status as killers sanctioned by the Sibyl System?” “Well, just a thought.”

So close.

JP: それに外務省の参事官は // 本来 現場に出てくるような人間じゃない

This is an example of a translation that can sort of make sense, but only if you understand some Japanese. You’ll need to figure out the “field” here refers to this very meeting. And it looks like the word 参事官 translates to councilor, not counselor.

“And the councilor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not someone you’d expect to see out here either.”

The infodump is here, and these lines are sure to leave the viewer with a lot of questions.

  • Line 2: How does assistance from Japan “determine” a region?
  • Line 4: By “they” they must refer to the SEAUn. So they are a military base, not a region? What’s this current administration they’re talking about? As is, it suggests SEAUn is hostile to the Japanese government.
  • Line 5: Government forces of what? A large offensive to defeat them or to support them? Is Japan invading SEA?
  • Line 6: ???

It should read something like: “The target is the Southeast Asian Union, commonly known as SEAUn, to which the Japanese government committed official assistance. Their government forces will launch a massive offensive against the warlord stronghold posing the greatest threat to the regime, and we will be supporting their efforts.”

JP: やむをえん

Google: No way

Google is technically correct, but not really. It’s “no way” in the sense that “there is no way out of this situation” (aka “it can’t be helped”). When people say “No way.” it’s a statement of disbelief, which has more or less the opposite meaning.

They’re wrapping things up, not starting anything.

JP: あそこはもう少し揉めるね

Google: I’ll give up a little more over there

I have no idea what makes Google translate 揉める as “give up.” Please let me know if you figure it out.

“I don’t see an end to conflicts in SEAUn any time soon.”

JP: 流産したそうだ

心労やら過度のメンタルケアによる投薬やら…

大友先輩の行方をギリギリまで探し続けたのもよくなかったらしい

The context is that he’s explaining why the woman had a miscarriage after losing his husband, and the last line is clearly a part of it.

“Searching for Otomo’s whereabouts day and night didn’t do any good either.”

The “ギリギリまで” here is a bit of a tough one. My first intuition is that it refers to her searching for the husband even when the baby is near term, but in that case it would technically be called a stillbirth. Maybe they were trying to say she pushed her physical limits. Not that the distinction matters that much.

tl;dr: Google Translate is a good resource, but as of right now there’s only so much it can do when it doesn’t have enough context to go by, and it straight up gives you absurd translations sometimes. If you insist on using machine translations to understand anime, try to figure out where each sentence starts and ends and use context clues to mitigate damage.