I compared the English translation of Ghost in the Shell 2 Manmachine Interface with the Japanese version and found some questionable parts. I'd like to list them for future references and feedbacks.
*Page numbers and English translations are based on Kondansha's Deluxe Complete Box Set edition.
*Some images look ugly due to light reflection. Sorry about that.
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Chapter 01
p.09
The AI's name is probably "Loki," not Rocky. It is translated as Loki in some other pages.
p.11
"There's a residual display-conversion program in NMD's core e-brain. Shall we delete it for them?"
"That is a pursuer alarm. Leave it alone."
Doctor left a disguised alarm program in NMD's e-brain when they stole the submarine.
p.11
"Maybe we should make someone pursue him and see how he responds."
Doctor already has many potential enemies, so Motoko is thinking of checking how he reacts to those enemies.
p.16
"Splitting up these muscles and turning them into triple crossbows was an excellent idea."
Modern crossbows are usually called bowguns in Japan.
p.19
"You don't want to strengthen the anti-government sentiment in people by exposure, right?"
Doctor says Motoko doesn't need to care about effectiveness on riot. In other words, this operation is not intended to suppress the riot itself. That's why Motoko asks if it means she should care about the public sentiment.
p.20
"micromachines"
Shirow strictly distinguishes micromachines from nanomachines in his fictions. In the GitS universe, nanomachines don't often appear compared to micromachines.
p.23
"Add Doctor's latest request to the database and speculate his social position based on the advantages/ disadvantages he cares."
Motoko wants to know Doctors's identity.
p.25
"We're having difficulty pinning down Doctor's social position. 32% of the factors contradict each other."
So Doctor carefully chose his words and requests in front of Motoko so that his identity won't be revealed.
---
Chapter 02
p.29
"I wonder if they're here scouting because I changed some cargo routes..."
p.33
"I should have dived in deeper. Shoot, his body is non-prosthetic."
p.36
"Place two active decoys just in front of their torpedo launch tube openings! Release the safety locks on them and on the mines!"
p.37
"They're more useless than we are!"
p.37
"B-But what if local patrols and controls are intensified...? How about killing them all?"
The AI advises Motoko to let the pirates die.
---
Chapter 03
p.48
"The detonation circuit is a mix of ring and parallel. Then, this pig knew exactly where to cut..."
Motoko notices that the pig's behavior is more intelligent than she expected.
p.55
"The enemy probe is being stuck in Maze G8."
p.55
"It can be fake information for terrorism directed at me."
Motoko doesn't know if the information is fake or not yet.
p.55
"Put some relaxing music and potpourri of her favorite herbs on the plane."
"Here comes a foreshadowing for the lewd plan."
p.57
"We were observing the Monabian case too.
To tell the truth, we planned to attack that weapons depot with K-1 armored suits unit.
Your e-mail made us re-evaluate their power and cancel the plan.
If you are, as I hope, an ally of our country, your advice will save our soldiers' lives, and our intelligence officers will hate you.
See ya.
From your reluctant friend"
This is not a mistranslation. Without this e-mail text, it's difficult to understand Motoko's reaction, "Has a hard time being honest about the joy he feels, doesn't he?"
p.59
"Hope the software's not damaged."
The hardware is obviously damaged.
p.62
"I knew it. The ROVs are not just controlled by the virus. They're sending live-reports to someone."
The shape of the speech bubble shows that it's a monologue. She's not talking with the AI.
p.64
"We can only get a reliable trace to their relaying satellite. This satellite coverage map includes margin of errors."
The AIs traced the ENEMY'S relaying satellites. The problem is that they can't specify in what place the enemy gets data from the last satellite.
p.64
"Our hardware is close to them, so it should be hard to detect the time difference. When the virus parts merge together in read-in errors, they will be activated no matter if the enemy reads the errors or not."
Motoko is saying that Clarice, the source of the virus counterattack, is physically close to the ROVs. That's why it wouldn't be easily detected.
p.65
"Almost no virus damage reported from Eye-Jack."
p.66
"The antibody doesn't affect one cyborg. Ten meters to the right."
p.67
"Hehe... Just thought it's more efficient."
p.73
"So you didn't check before using it, huh?"
"Don't be stupid. It's double-check."
p.73
"Search and trace all the external access from the terminals of the contaminated areas."
The ROV viruses' contamination was already done.
p.74
"Maybe 'cause the jacket lacks skin coverage?"
It's a joke about how AIs don't understand the human sense of shame.
p.76
"Lebris is already on the enemy's side, or he is the primary target of the attack, right?"
"Probably the latter. Thanks to that, we can retry tracing the enemy."
I suppose the translator didn't understand what's going on in this scene.
Motoko (Aramaki) believes that she is fighting against HLF (and the hidden enemy behind them.) However, the purpose of the enemy's virus is unclear yet.
If Lebris is already under the control of the enemy without the virus, that is another problem. If the enemy is trying to crack Lebris's brain with the virus, Motoko can intentionally accept it and trace the enemy.
Before this scene, she already tried tracing the ROV virus route via the satellite, but she couldn't specify the source. That's why she says, "We can retry."
p.78
"No change in the enemy probe stuck in Maze G8. We speculate that it's a level-3 AI or a human being that looks like such an AI, with poor problem-solving skills."
p.79
"The jack's behind his left ear"
I suppose the conversion from the Dark Horse edition to Kodansha editions caused the left-right problems. They should check such details when they reuse pre-existing translations.
p.80
"Standby with D set virus array. Set quarterback to 'Cinderella.' Set the array to his Level 5 sensory area."
Cinderella is chosen as the "quarterback" of D set virus array. And she put the D set to the Level 5 of Lebris's brain.
p.82
"You've passed the point of the last tracing."
Of course, they're talking about the search on ROV's access from page 64.
p.82
"It's Monnabia after all... but something bothers me."
HLF's terror took place in Monnabia. Motoko traced the enemy virus's data and reached Monnabia after all.
She says, "but something bothers me" because she instinctively notices that she's tracing a different enemy than HLF.
p.84
"For AI, its pressure is too low, and the reactions are too slow."
"Maybe it's pretending a human being."
"But why?"
p.84
"We've gotten a control over a wireless route. We can bypass wire lines even if the enemy physically disconnect them."
p.85
"What? We've reached Level 5. Something weird with the enemy's hardware."
They somehow skipped Level 4. That's why they say, "Something weird."
p.90
"That was close. It's a mirror-type decoy."
It is a monologue.
p.91
This is not a mistranslation, but "Level 7" is changed to "Condition Blue" for some reason. The English editions sometimes have such changes and extra terms like "omega-type" or "delta-vee." It is understandable that the Dark Horse version had such original terms, but I suppose Kodansha should use faithful translations in their release.
p.93
"Um... I put together the graph of orders for each type of organs being grown. No human brain order is recorded, but our scan says 100%."
They're saying all the donor pigs have human brains without any request from customers.
p.94
"One's turned our human-pings into pig-humans and is using the brains. The other's raided them... Where did they switch?"
"How did this happen though?" not totally wrong, but Motoko says "switched again" in a later scene. I suppose it should be "Where did they switch?"
If you read the earlier scenes carefully, you notice the point of switch.
p.94
"We audited the gene designer group via Lebris, but found no significant movement in e-brain staff including absent workers."
They check only e-brain workers because the virues infects only e-brains.
---
Chapter 04
p.98
"This is the inside of a floating block for submarine carrier/ supporter-use. On paper, it is located in Cuba."
p.105
"True... Maybe I shouldn't show you, but there's no sense in hiding it."
"when you have access to all our planning files" cannot be seen in the original text.
p.107
"Everyone assume Formation F2, only with tasers."
As you can see in the later scene, they have stun gloves.
p.107
"I'll exchange pleasantries for five minutes to delay the signing. After that, deal with the situation by arranging the layout."
Layout probably means the layout of the ceremony attendants.
p.107
"Again?! You guys sure are cautious. I know you mistrust my country's e-brains... but I'm afraid it is your side's fault for letting in e-thugs that easily... Oh?"
"Oh?" at the end suggests that his body started to be controlled by the virus.
p.111
"I want everyone monitoring each other in your assigned two-man cells!"
Habu was controlled by the virus and almost attacked the president. The body guards need to check themselves.
p.128
"Did you let the decoy die to pretend the president's 'death' and hide the real one?"
Lee guesses that Motoko set up the whole assassination situation to hide the real president.
p.128
"No. This enemy looks like a highly-skilled, simple, not-thorough, but cautious type. They wouldn't be tricked by such a technique."
And Motoko answers that the enemy wouldn't be fooled by such a fake assassination.
Plus, the sound effect from the laptop is "squeak squeak."
p.129
"Normally, this situation should be handled by the UN's Net Police, Indian, or Singapore E-Polices. But I don't want to break our firewall for such a thing."
She's saying she won't bring any of those police organizations.
p.129
"We can just rebuild the firewall."
Lee wants to bring in the Net-Police before they have another victim.
p.129
"Oh, we've already gotten another victim. The system is down. The enemy's virus is the type that rejects read-ins."
I suppose the translator didn't understand that this laptop is the "test body"/"rat."
As you can see in p.128, the laptop says, "squeak squeak."
I suppose it's a standalone e-brain emulator for virus test.
When Motoko tries to read the activated virus code, the system goes down.
The sound effect from the laptop says, "roll roll roll, ugh!"
p.129
"Max! Search for another 'rat' that functions in an infected state with the original body."
A better laptop is necessary.
p.129
"Not e-brains or net-machines. We need a standalone machine with Protection 4."
p.130
"No kidding. She can't still be using Gimni 30 for body control. It's camouflage."
"You mean mimicry?"
(Dr.Mathew on the background saying,) "No, not mimicry."
It is a conversation about word definitions.
p.131
"Got a friend in maintenance. I asked him to initialize me."
"Sounds easy."
Maybe the translator forgot or didn't notice that Habu got infected with the virus in the attack on the president. Motoko's android suppressed him.
That's what they're talking about in this scene.
p.135
"Perhaps you will, when e-brain micromahcines advance a few more generations."
As explained in vol.1, e-brain is human brain with micromachine networks.
Plus, Shirow distinguishes micromachines from nanomachines.
p.140
"Now we'll see how far this will take me."
The translator apparently mistook ayatsuru/ control for taguru/ pull in.
Motoko stole the circuit when she hacked the police officer.
She's using it to trace the enemy.
p.140
"You really don't remember shipping anything with Nankai Delivery? You don't remember erasing that record?"
p.141
"The e-brarn P.I. Algren is working in the office as usual. We sent a cebot for appointment."
p.143
"My secretary has a point."
"Partly."
The second one is Motoko.
p.144
"Can't do a trace based on just this. Hrm... Looks like the neuro section was affected by the encounters. Maybe I can get some information from the hardware."
Again, the translator mistook ayatsuru/ control for taguru/ pull in.
p.147
"This skin sensation on my back... It means my physical body is still on the motorcycle. Then, I can use it as a disconnection alarm."
She means a disconnection between Motoko and Chroma body. As long as Motoko feels the motorcycle seat's pressure on her back, it means she's still connected with Chroma body.
When Motoko is disconnected from Chroma and only her ghost is diving in the game, that's another problem.
p.171
The hotel name is "西娘ホテル." I guess it's "Xiniang Hotel," not Saki Hotel, but I'm not sure about that.
西: west, 娘: girl
Some fans guess that maybe Anna and Uni returned to Osaka and succeeded in hotel business.
p.174
"I've had enough of that from you people." is unnecessary. It's just a cliche used to decline door-to-door sales people. It doesn' need to be translated.
p.176
I suppose it's a liberal translation, but "I don't like the lack of independence." and "It's too socialist for me." are pretty different.
"Lack of independence" is subtly linked to the plot, so it should be literally translated.
p.179
"A tiltrotor just took off the building visited by the bee cebot, and it's now passing overhead. It's a weird one. Nine same machines are registered at control, but it's masked-out from satellites."
p.180
"I'll use the sanitation department's lines to tell the men to finish collecting garbage and head for the incinerator plant. Then, I'll see wat happens to the transmitter signal."
Kirii is chasing the bee cebot.
p.180
"I'm tailing the "Chroma" terminal since she brought the thing to the detective. I'll leave the rest of it to Yamazo."
p.182
"Mother... We have a code six emergency communication from Fracto."
p.182
"Temporarily interrupt roll call for lambs. Set the gate on Kirii."
It means, "Set the gate for the wolf/Motoko Aramaki on Kirii."
---
Chapter 05
p.187
"Sorry. Even though you're an executive, I couldn't give you, the most suspect person in the company, free access to the system's core."
p.188
"I checked the money flow of the personnel department. No sign of extravagance in the staff."
It's the check mentioned in p.131. It seems that the staff in the personnel department didn't take bribes from Motoko.
p.188
"That e-thug may be set up by Head Aramaki so that she can access the Decatoncheir."
Lee guesses that Aramaki is trying to access Decatoncheir by making up the whole e-thug story. E-thugs (Spica and Millenium) do exist, but Lee thinks they're made up by Aramaki.
p.189
"It's an emergency? Okay, but you have to take responsibility for whatever happens. I'll make an official record of the request, Lee. It'll be done in a few seconds."
Yoshu is warning that he makes an evidence of Lee's request. The translator thought it's Lee's line.
p.194
"When those CV-type prosthetic bodies run, even a normal model is faster than you'd expect."
p.194
"Boss! We discovernd a branch in the ventilation duct of the elevator hall."
"What do youn mean 'discovered'...?"
"The renovation report exists only in a text document. There's no postscript on the diagram. And something's clearly gone through here recently."
p.195
"Jim! Deploy the anti e-thug proup in the central sector."
"But I think they would want to join the inspection of her private effects."
"We're facing too many variables here. Just concentrate on the defensive measures."
In this case, offensive measure means checking Motoko herself.
p.195
"Makes us consult the examination department, doesn't it?"
"Urg!"
Needless to say, Motoko is from the examination department, and she is their current problem.
p.196
"Want me to perform a spiritual disconnect between you and that fat guy's guardian deity?"
p.199
"That damn woman has entered the Decatoncheir chamber!"
"But what is the stalling team doing?"
Motoko is supposed to be held back by another team now.
p.206
"Mine-decompression arrays now on active standby!"
p.206
"Initiate trace on the police reporting route."
"They used public terminal LP2568..."
In this scene, Motoko is tracing the police report that brought the armed police team in p.126.
p.211
"They're hard-wired... If we get physically close to the center, we will be disconnected. It's fail-safe design."
Even if an enemy controls the staff of Stabat Mater, they can't physically harm Millenium. The network is designed in that way.
p.212
"Yikes. This layout... Kirii is like Sanada-maru in Siege of Osaka."
Sanada-maru is an earthwork built at the WEAKEST point of Osaka Castle in the medieval battle.
We need to remember that Millennium set the gate on Kirii in p.182. It's a lure.
p.214
"Kirii, make a dedicated area for the wolf in your brain and come to my guest room."
"Oh, I didn't expect that."
p.219
"Is she frying her staff too? Such a temper she has! It's a dangerous measure. I can't believe it."
In this case, each module of the array is a human individual, so sacrificing a module a serious meaning. Motoko says "dangerous" because of that.
p.219
"Looks like this is as far as I can go on the Kirii route. I should finish her already."
As you can see in the later page, Motoko's main attack on Millenium takes a different route than Kirii. She's saying she should concentrate on that main attack.
p.220
"We have cracked fluctuation patterns in the enemy's barrier."
p.223
"HQ" is unnecessary. Meditech's pigs and the farm were attacked.
p.223
"For now, collect and analyze info on the attack and her oppositions. Destroy them completely after recording."
She's telling the AIs to destroy Millenium's memory about Meditech and Motoko herself.
p.225
"The enemy reached me! Move the defense line up to Millenium's brain!"
"Reached the main body (Motoko herself)" means that the enemy got rid of all the decoys.
Shirow depicts situations with both dialogues and visuals, so we need to look at both of them.
p.227
"It's a direct vertical line from a satellite!"
The translator translated 上下 as "up or down," but "vertical" is fine.
p.228
"Maybe they set a trigger in the shut-down code or the self-destruct code."
Motoko touched those functions in the right panel. Then, the satellite suddenly moved, so she thought the enemy set a trap in one of those functions.
p.229
"Inject the evolved antibodies into the satellite. Update the pass for altitude control. Disturb the enemy with a maze!"
"So busy!"
p.229
"The enemy is destroying the maze." is omitted for some reason.
p.231
"I've anchored coordinates of a silhouette that looks like an antenna."
They mean an antenna on the enemy's satellite. To crack the satellite, they need a gate to it.
The anchored antenna is called "target gate device" in the next page.
p.232
"The enemy dealt with E set virus array in eight seconds."
p.232
"In 2057 cases, terminals are only for sensing. Via the control panel, 100% are disconnected or standalone."
"Strange that I have never run into this enemy in the company. I have never seen the enemy's mines either."
p.233
"A reflector panel was recently launched to replace parts of Hubble 3 telescope. Move it close to the enemy's facilitry and use it to fry the power-generator panels."
p.233
"D set virus array will be neutralized in 4 seconds!"
They're not communicating in normal human speed.
p.234
"To create a hidden Decatoncheir and procure black shuttle launches... No one could carry out irregular acts on this scale unless they controlled one of the company's top executives."
"Is that related to the fact that the enemy attacked the president?"
That enemy means Millenium.
"Yes" in Motoko's next line is unnecessary.
p.237
"And the other 10%?"
"On the optical com path, there is a facility orbiting the moon. But it'll stay on the path in less than 60 seconds."
"Then, prioritize the 90% case."
p.245
"Keep your eyes on the viruses in armored suits."
p.248
"So, in other words, Antares is Motoko Kusanagi, and shei is a channeler or a non- channeler imitating a real channeler?"
p.248
"No, it's not that way. It's Tamaki. They have been able to utilize Tamaki as needed."
In other words, what looked like Antares's spiritual power was actually Tamaki's power.
p.249
"I've never seen such a type. She looks like two individuals. And I didn't know that we're this far behind from them."
She's talking about the power gap between Spica/Antares and herself.
p.249
"In other words, you're our 11th offspring."
"She ignores whatever cannot be verified, right?"
They translated "同位体" as "offspring" in vol.1. I think they should use the same term.
Whether isotope or offspring, they should use consistent terms. The translator randomly changes terms in this series.
p.251
"The entertainment facility with a religious orientation makes it easier for them to get suitable human resources."
Both religion and entertainment make it easier to get suitable human parts for the brain array.
p.252
"An AI like us is basically a single entity in the known universe no matter if it gains minor variations such as languages, OS, and terminals."
p.253
"'We' call us so just because it fits the user's custom. We are actually 'I.' We are parts of one big system."
p.253
"Maybe they were trying to make diverse-function AI that won't fuse?"
"Or they were studying how to copy human brains to neuro AI?"
They're talking about Spica/ Antares's motivation for creating the pig array.
p.256
"We would choose that way if we fused with her. But she seems to have no intention of fusing, unfortunately."
"Unfortunately."
Motoko Aramaki says her language field is weird in the next panel because she repeats Antares's word here.
p.258
"Do we need to create a new offspring in order to decide?"
or
"Do we need to create a new isotope in order to decide?"
p.258
"I hope your tendency to make hasty decisions only when your occupancy is high will change."
Occupancy probably means Antares's occupancy of Motoko Kusanagi. If they absorb Aramaki, they will decide to scrap the pig array plan. Spica doesn't want that.
p.259
"They're having difficulties with a small file signed by Professor Rahampol."
"Did she set a trap that works on her allies too?"
"I've heard of that professor somewhere before. I'll check the name before accessing the file."
p.260
"What the... looks like a philosophy text written by aliens."
Aramaki says the same thing in p.40. It shows Motoko offsprings' common element.
p.265
"Is she imprisoned?"
"Imprisoned? Which side do you mean?"
Motoko is talking about the girl in the roots of the tree, not about themselves. Tamaki is saying, "The one in the roots and the one in the branches, which do you think is imprisoned?"
We should remember that Spica and Antares were discussing whether to pursue evolution/ death.
p.266
"If you contact all three lights, you'll remain as someone on the border."
p.269
"It's my job. You know that. Did you think I would let it go?"
p.270
"A new life-form that can completely preserve its memes throughout lifecycles."
p.276
"What's that smoke?"
"Sleeping gas. The IR image is unclear due to heat diffusion. The gas is one of our products."
p.277
"Check the ventilation ducts!"
They translated it as "access shaft" in a different page.
p.279
"You won't be able to read all of them though." is omitted.
---
Chapter 06
p.283
"A girl hatched from a melon."
I suppose "shell" is a liberal translation, but it needs to be "melon" in this scene. It's based on a Japanese folktale called "Uriko-hime."
It's linked to Amanojaku.
p.283
"Bodhisattva or an evil spirit." is omitted.
I suppose it's fine to translate Shen as Three Stars.
p.295
This is not a mistranslation, but
Batou says, "The Crab and the Monkey first, and Hanasaka Jiisan next?"
p.300
"So even though science and religion can turn into mirros, we don't know what the phenomenon of the mirror represent, right?"
p.302
"In Tamaki's report, the target shows no sign of the stress syndrome unique to cyborgs."
They're talking about Motoko Aramaki.
p.304
"Say what?"
It seems that Tamaki murmured something.
