Reigen And Manga Translations: So What Is The Truth?

reigen and manga translations: so what is the truth?

so for a while now i’ve been thinking about dialogue in the mob psycho 100 manga vs the anime. obviously it’s disappointing when something significant is changed or cut out, but in two specific cases, i couldn’t help but wonder if it was an actual dialogue change or just a mistranslation on the manga’s part, considering there’s basically only one online translation. one of the most important things to remember when it comes to consuming non-romance-language media is that our languages are fundamentally different in terms of structure and word meaning. there is never a true one-to-one translation and trying to do a literal translation is rarely a good idea. that means that in a lot of cases, the exact meaning can be up to interpretation. considering this, having only one translation means it’s only one person’s take. i find looking at these differences to be really interesting, so i went to reddit (i KNOW i know) to ask for help because i couldn’t find manga raws for these particular lines or any alternate translations (also i don’t know japanese lol). here’s what i found out (a HUGE thank you to reddit user NostalgiaWitch for all the info!):

scene 1: chapter 65.1/s2e5 - reigen and trust here’s a comparison:

pretty different, right? there’s a post from a little while ago i liked analyzing these differences; you can read it here. here’s what i found out on reddit:

so in this case, it’s really up to interpretation. the anime seems to go with the former, portraying reigen as disinterested in the situation, while the manga seems to frame it more as the latter, especially considering that later on, in the separation arc, reigen says that he doesn’t trust anyone but himself. personally i prefer the latter because it seems more in-character, but like i said, it’s up to interpretation.

scene 2: chapter 73/s2e7 - reigen and curiosity a side-by-side comparison:

these two translations are literal opposites. here’s what i found out on reddit:

in this case it’s definitely an error on the manga translator’s part (no shade to them though; they’ve done so much). in my opinion it has a huge impact on reigen’s whole mindset before starting his business. it wasn’t just boredom that drove him to make the change, it was that inner desire to be someone important bursting through. 

- reigen arataka, 2008 over time, he fell into depression and lost that drive. however we still see moments of that curiosity coming through sometimes, like in the urban legends mini-arc, when he’s suddenly super excited about the dragger:

he also has an innate compulsion to find out the truth and often does extensive research to help his clients (learning about farming, running background checks, etc.), so we can see how even if it lay dormant, that desire to do well and follow through kept him going, even through his complacency and depression.

wow i got ranty. anyway like i said i just find this sort of thing really interesting because by hearing multiple opinions you get to form your own conclusions. i hope people see this and are also inspired to look into these differences! again, a huge thanks to reddit user NostalgiaWitch.