Chapter 2 荒狂 Rampage

Corresponding ExR chapter: Reincarnation This chapter starts on FW page 14, and continues until about ¾ of the way through page 21

Despite the meticulous glossary in the first few pages, I've noticed this novel is chock full of inline notes (as opposed to foot notes. I am unsure if footnotes are technically even viable when the text itself is printed vertically. you don't really have a footer to work with!) So let's take a quick look at those inline notes.

家僕 kaboku Based on what I found in the Tsukuba Web Corpus, it appears to be a very uncommon word for “manservant”. Going out on a limb, I’ll assume it’s being used stylistically.

献舎 kensha is explained as part of the main body text. It’s the opposite of 奪舎 dassha. This is likely just Chinese as far as I’m concerned; I didn’t do any secondary research.

断袖 danshuu is also Chinese. It’s defined as 男色の事, “male homosexuality” as per Denshi Jisho. Some reference material, as a treat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dong_Xian https://daily.jstor.org/in-han-dynasty-china-bisexuality-was-the-norm/

家荘 kesou I had a hard time with. I didn’t find anything useful in this particular configuration. All my Google results were just tourism related, and read kashou, not kesou. If I reverse it I get a result under 荘家 shouke in the Digital Denjisen (via Kotobank):

  1. 荘園を管理するために荘園内に置かれた建物。The building put within the manor for the purpose of managing the demesne.
  2. 荘園領主のこと。The manorial lord.

I’m getting the feeling that the character 荘 has prioritized different meanings in Japanese vs Chinese. Here’s what Denshi Jisho and Mandarin Bridge respectively have to say about the same character.

ExR calls the location of our first act the “Mo village” (pg. 5). I’m more inclined toward “Mo manor”. Tiny, hair-splitting difference between Japanese and Chinese, but I thought it might be worth mentioning.

Alright back to the main body of the text with a few more things I thought were worth looking at. Example 1

When did I do something as immoral as stealing another’s body? (ExR pg. 3)　 （－－俺はいつ奪舎なんてやったんだ？）(FW pg. 15) Since when did I do something like steal a body?

No implications of morality here.

Example 2

“Watch carefully. Don’t let him outside anytime this month, or he’ll make a fool of himself again!” (ibid.) 「また外に出て恥をさらせないように、しっかり見張っとけ！」 (ibid.) “Stand guard so he doesn’t get out and make a fool of himself again.

No implication of time limit here either.

Example 3

Supreme Leader (ExR. pg. 4) 無上邪尊 (FW pg. 16) Greatest revered evil

Another example of WWX’s reputation. If I recall correctly, this is the sole instance of this title being used in the entire text. I could be wrong.

Example 4

Why would he be put in the category of “extremely villainous ghouls”? (ibid.) （なんで俺が「残忍な悪鬼邪神」に分類されたわけ？）(ibid.) Why would I be classified as a “brutal evil spirit*”?

The same word 悪鬼邪神 akki jashin is used to refer to an “evil spirit” in the paragraph above, where the narration explains how 献舎 kensha works. I’m using “spirit” in scare quotes again. “Malevolent deity” doesn’t seem appropriate. Looking at those kanji all lined up so neatly–just how merciless, ruthless, callous, and cold-blooded was he supposedly?

Example 5

…and the second lady of Mo was not able to withstand the blow, shortly choking to death because of the trauma. (ExR pg. 6) 母親は度重なる誹謗中傷に耐えれず、悔しい思いを胸に抱いて憤死したのだった。(FW pg. 19) [Mo Xuanyu’s] Mother couldn’t stand the frequent slander, and holding her frustrations close to her chest, died in a fit of indignation.

While both of these are quite tragic, there is a marked lack of resentment in the ExR version. It’s depressing but it’s not enraged. FW is much more righteously angry.

Example 6

“How fucked up is this person’s life?” (ExR pg. 6) （ったく、クソみたいな話だな。）(FW pg 21) “dang, what a shitty story.”

It’s always interesting to see what situations constitute inserting a swear word, especially knowing someone had to write a book on how to use expletives in English.