Persona 5: Second Calling Card (Madarame) – Japanese-English

I figured it would be fun to do some textual analysis for Japanese learners. Particularly because the game has the original calling cards in-game (just like a lot of other items throughout the game).

​

才能が枯渇した虚飾の大罪人,

斑目一流斎殿。

権威を傘に門下生から着想を盗み、

盗作すらいとわぬ芸術家,。

我々はすべての罪をお前の口から告白させることにした。

その歪んだ欲望を頂戴する。

**心の怪盗団より**

​

*English (my loose translation, not necessarily the original English version of the game):*

(To) the great criminal, who merely shows off as his true talent has run out,

Mister Madarame Ichiryusai

Stealing the ideas of those pupils under your authority,

you are an artist that does not even hold back from plagiarism/stoops as low as plagiarism.

We have decided to make you confess every one of your crimes from your own mouth.

We will take your distorted desires.

**From the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.**

​

*Romaji:*

Tensai ga kokatsu shita kyoshoku no daizainin

Madarame Ichiryusai-dono.

Ken’i wo kasa ni monkasei kara chakusou wo nuzumi,

tousaku sura itowanu geijutsuka.

Wareware ha subete no tsumi wo omae no kushi kara kokuhaku saseru koto ni shita.

sono yuganda yokubou wo choudai suru.

**kokoro no kaitoudan yori**

​

​

***Notes:***

斑目一流斎殿: Madarame Ichiryusai-dono. Welcome back to the wonderful rabbit hole of Japanese names. 斑 (Madara) means spotty, pimply, somehow not quite right. Mr. Spotty Eyes? It’s not a flattering name, whereas the second part 一流斎 sounds more like how he presents himself, a traditional stoic master. Two contradictions in one name.

More importantly is the final title “dono” which I translated with “Mister” (different from Mr.).”Dono” is different from what kanji, meaning “lord” implies. “dono” at the end of a name is very pejorative, like looking down on the person. Like a teacher looks down on a naughty student, or a superior looks down on an employee.

すら : a nice high level alternative of さえ, even

いとわぬ (itowanu) is almost literary. Elegant negative form of itou (Kanji 厭う) vs. simple negative of itowanai. itou: to shirk from, to shun, to shy away from, to not dare. Negative hear would mean, does not even shy away from, has no qualms doing x…

頂戴する: a nice formal way of saying to take, to gladly accept taking something.

歪んだ (yuganda) is the past form of 歪む (yugamu). 歪 is a Hyougai Kanji outside of the two official lists. Meaning to “be distorted”, (even the kanji itself is made of two parts, “not” at the top and “correct” at the bottom). It’s an important term throughout the game.

ことにした (Koto ni shita): part of the “koto ni suru” grammatical construction, i.e. to be decided, to decide on

怪盗団 (kaitoudan): The Phantom Thieves, or literally, “ghostly thief band”. all 1 word with 3 characters.

​

Another nice word to add not in the text is the Japanese word here for “calling card” which is 予告状 (Yokokujou). Oddly enough, in the soundtrack, the lyrics of the battle song “Take Over” make reference to a “prior notice card” which is a direct translation of the word.