It’s been a while since I worked on this, but I’m back at it. Brad’s prologue is the last, and it’s easily the best-translated of the three prologues.

On the character select screen, Brad’s US description is quite different. This doesn’t seem like a mistranslation. More a deliberate choice. But I don’t like it. It kind of declares him as guilty, when (as far as I know) he’s only an accused criminal.

The game tells us his entire scenario takes place five years ago. While hiding, he overhears some people who are looking for him. They say they’ll send in some Barghests to smoke him out.

Before Brad is named, he’s referred to as 逃亡者 (toubousha). This means runaway or fugitive but they translated as escapee, presumably because 逃亡 means escape. But escapee has an implication that seems false here. An escapee is someone who was previously detained, but who got away. A fugitive is someone who’s running away from law enforcement (typically). They might have been detained before or not. I didn’t get the impression that Brad had previously been detained.

The scene cuts away to the commander of the group that’s pursuing Brad. They find Brad’s ID tag, which is when you get the opportunity to name him.

(By the way, Brad’s Japanese name, ブラッド (buraddo), is also how you’d render the English word “blood.” I’m pretty sure he’s not supposed to be called Blood Evans, but I’m calling it out in case the double meaning was intentional.)

The original English translation calls this guy Posse Leader. And if you try to leave the area to the left, Brad will say:

They translated 追跡部隊 (tsuisekibutai - tracking/pursuit + team/squad/corps) as posse. I understand why, and I won’t call it a mistranslation.

They’re working off of definitions 2 or 3 here. But I really don’t like this translation. First, it’s weird that they capitalized Posse, making it seem as if this is an official organization called The Posse rather than, y’know, a random posse. Second, it’s not clear at all who hired these people or what government they work for, if any. Third, nowadays “posse” is far more commonly used with the first definition. It usually just means a group. Overall, I think it’s weird. But the classic western film The Last Posse was translated into Japanese as 最後の追跡隊 (saigo no tsuisekitai), so there’s precedent for it.

As Brad moves on, eventually he’ll run into a dog. As he’s talking to it, some members of the pursuit squad overhear him. He runs behind a tree and says

Nammi???

In Japanese, Brad says 南無三 (namusan). This is short for 南無三宝 (namusanbou), which means something like, “I believe in the three treasures of Buddhism” or “hail to the three treasures of Buddhism.” Or, that’s what it means literally. In practice, it’s an appeal or prayer to the heavens when you’re in a dangerous situation. For localization, you could replace it with practically any prayer for safety. What you cannot replace it with is Nammi, which is gibberish. What the hell?

Anyway, the dog gets Brad out of that bad situation. Brad befriends the dog, who starts following him around.

As Brad proceeds, he’ll run into a couple of tracking squad members chatting. One says,

I chose the word target, but the original JP does say the guy who ran into the forest. The main problem with the original translation is that he says what just ran, as if it was something that had just run past him a moment ago. That’s not what the JP says at all. They’re talking about Brad. They don’t know what he’s accused of or why they’re hunting him.

The dialogue here isn’t especially bad, but it’s oddly stilted and uses weird tenses. Obviously it wouldn’t be a bad idea for them to catch him—that’s why they’re there. He’s just fantasizing about being able to do it. In the second screenshot, he’s talking about what he would do, not what he will do. I didn’t understand the second line about the horses until later—we’ll find out that all the horses are gone from Sebok.

Oh, by the way, the village’s name in Japanese is Sebok. I have no idea why they changed it to T’Bok.

He uses the word どやされる (doyasareru) which means either be beaten or be yelled at. It’s unclear which he means. I kept it ambiguous with punish. The original translation made it a harsh beating.

Eventually a monster appears. The soldiers whine because they’re in over their heads. Brad jumps out from hiding and says

世話のやける (sewanoyakeru) can mean troublesome or annoying. But it can also mean needing to be looked after, which I think is the intention. Brad is jumping to the rescue because these two chuckleheads won’t step up.

下がる (sagaru) usually means to get lower, to fall, to drop, or to descend. But it can also mean to step back or to withdraw. Brad is telling them to gtfo while he fights. Stay down works, I guess, but it’s not like ducking would help as much as backing away.

This is minor, but they spelled Grimalkin wrong. The alternative acceptable spelling is Greymalkin. This monster looks nothing like a cat so Idunno why they chose this name.

Brad beats the monster and leaves the forest. The pursuit commander decides Brad’s too dangerous to try to capture head on, and comes up with a plan regarding a nearby village.

As Brad exits the forest, he says to himself

That translation is fine. But then the camera pans over to a sign, and Brad says,

Brad literally says, as for over there… He’s noticing the sign and saying to himself, “What’s that?” But the original English makes it out as if the sign is a candidate for a hiding place.

The sign tells you that Sebok/T’Bok village is to the north. After this, a tutorial message will say

Most of this is fine, except that they translated マップシンボル (mappu shimboru - map symbol) literally. But that’s not a term I’ve ever seen in a game in English. They mean that you can’t go into towns until you find them by pressing Square while near them. The result is that the last line sounds quite weird, like map symbols are a thing you’re collecting.

Out in the field, there’s an enemy called Balloons. They can summon new Balloons, and when they do, the move is called

It says 分裂増殖 (bunretsu zoushoku) which means something like division increase. It’s basically analogizing to cell division, so there’s nothing wrong with Asexual Repro. I just found it funny.

Brad makes it to Sebok/T’Bok and collapses. A girl named Merrill finds him and brings him to a stable, where she explains to him that all the horses in the village are gone. She asks you about the dog. You have the option to say the dog is yours, or that he’s not. If you say he’s not, Merrill will name him. If you say he is, you get to name him, but the default name is the same one that Merrill chooses. Which is…

The dog’s name is ラッシュ (rasshu). There’s a Wikipedia disambiguation page for this word, showing that it could mean Lash, Lush, Rash, Rush, or Rasch. I think Rush is the obvious choice. (That’s even how the name of the famous band is rendered, and Mega Man/Rockman’s faithful robot dog.) Rassyu is definitely wrong. But I’m keeping all names the same as their default, for commentary purposes.

The tracking team shows up in the village. Merrill tells Brad to stay where he is, then says

The English translation is off, because Merrill leaves the stable immediately after saying this, hoping to protect Brad. She’s not going to stay with him at all.

Eventually Brad shows himself. The pursuit team commander will give him his ID tag back. Then he reveals the plan he devised in the woods: threatening the people of the village if Brad doesn’t surrender. So Brad does. Merrill asks if Brad was a bad man, and the commander responds that, no, he’s a “hero.” Then he laughs maniacally.

くくく (kukuku) in Japanese is evil laughter, equivalent to mwahahaha in English. But it doesn’t sound right to put that here. The original text is fine.

In the fadeout for his prologue, Brad accepts his fate, thinking that maybe it’s better for “heroes” like himself to be put away. After all, the world is peaceful, and all he knows is fighting and killing. The translation of all these lines is also fine.

Overall, not too bad. Except for Nammi!