Makai Senki Disgaea: Returned
Translation Notes
Another big thanks to the creators of Jim Breen's WWWJDIC and 漢字そのままDS楽引辞典. With more practice, I am relying a bit less on dictionaries, but these have still been a tremendous help.
Many of the notes regarding the previous volume still hold, particularly in regards to the characters' speech patterns, so I won't repeat those here. I've still tried to remain fairly literal in my translation, but I think I've achieved a slightly more natural sound in this volume.
Romanization
More new characters have been introduced in this volume, and for some of them I haven't seen a consensus on how their names should be romanized. I've decided on the following:
Telle (テール teeru)
I've seen this both as Terl and Terre, but the first doesn't strike me as very angelic, and while I like the second I really wanted to maintain the rhyming between his and his wife's name, and Erre doesn't seem quite right.
Elle (エール eeru)
Again, I've seen this as Erl, but I don't think that captures the same airy sound.
Vijan (ヴィジャン vijan)
Originally I was going to translate this as "Vision" because I wasn't certain what they were in their first appearance. This is a valid way to write the English word "vision" in romaji, and it may be what the author was going for, but I decided to go with a straight transliteration. I think it has a more alien feel to it.
Dialogue
Kira
Kira's manner of speech has changed completely since becoming a prinny. That being said, he doesn't speak 100% like the other prinnies. Though he typically does add the "dood" or っす ssu ending, his word choice otherwise can be slightly more aggressive and masculine.
Lamington
Lamington refers to himself as the standard watashi and speaks to Laharl with polite desu forms. He uses casual, slightly masculine forms with his subordinates. He doesn't use contractions like dewa into ja.
Telle
Telle uses polite forms with Laharl, but speaks casually with his family. He uses more masculine endings than you would expect, though I imagine his voice having a jovial quality to it.
Elle
Elle speaks very similarly to Flonne, using polite standard Japanese with feminine endings. In fact, the two of them are difficult to distinguish when taking part in the same conversation. However she does tend to sound a little older.
Ozonne
Ozonne refers to herself as boku and speaks using casual, masculine forms. The syntax is still far from macho and is similar to how Alphonse Elric speaks to his brother. Coming from a girl, though, it presents a very tomboy attitude.
Celestian Prinnies
Their manner of speech is different from the Netherworld prinnies. It is slightly more polite and feminine (they actually do say です desu sometimes instead of the abbreviated っす ssu), and they refer to themselves as the standard watashi. They usually end their sentences with ねぇ nee, or otherwise extend the last syllable a beat, giving their speech a somewhat lazy quality.
Carter
He refers to himself as watashi and uses casual, masculine forms. He tends a bit towards more formal and literary turns of phrase, and can be brusque. He repeatedly refers to Laharl and the others as kisama(ra), one of the more derogatory forms of "you."
Genesis
I don't actually recognize the way he speaks, but some of the phrases I had to look up were marked as "obsolete" in my dictionary.
Vijan
The Vijan talk to each other using casual, slightly masculine forms, but use standard polite forms with others and refer to themselves as ware. With their Creator, they use keigo, honorific language.
Vyers
Vyers refers to himself using watakushi, which is probably the most formal version of "I" and I associate it with nobility. (Laharl actually uses it in the game when writing his letter of challenge.) In general he has a very flowery way of speaking and does borrow several words from French. "Moi," however, was the way watakushi was rendered in the game translation, and he doesn't actually use it.