Fushigi Yugi's Nuriko: Blue Hair and Pronouns Twenty Years ago...
Fan challenges translator, translator answers.
I’ve been trying to track down a letter I read in Animerica Extra twenty years ago for the past three months. Yesterday I noticed, belatedly, that someone went to quite a deal of effort to find it for me. See, the only thing I knew for sure is that it was probably in volume six. It was Volume 6 Issue 4, as it turns out.
They contacted a comic reseller who looked for the letter column, and scanned it. I will edit both of their names with links once I make sure that both of them want it.
You might ask why I wanted a specific letter from a manga anthology from the turn of the millennium? But presumably you read the post’s title so I’ll cut to the chase.
This letter was a response to the death of the character Nuriko in Fushigi Yugi, and the translation choices that surrounded it. I recalled that the translator, Yuji Oniki’s, response was interesting, and something of a milestone in the history of trans representation in comics, and English translation of Japanese popular media. But you know I think the question itself was something of a milestone too. So let’s take a look at it:
SAID, “SHE!” SAID, “HE!”
I’ve been reading Extra for a while and have been mostly pleased with your translations. However, there is one thing that truly bothers me, and that is Nuriko (from FUSHIGI YÛGI) was always referred to as “She.” Now, I didn’t take notice at first, as it was always said in a humorous context at first, but, as a big Nuriko fan, I was quite insulted that they still referred to him as female during his death when it was quite obvious in those scenes that he was male. I was wondering if there was an actual good reason behind this, or if it was just a translator error.
Riona-chan
Cyberspace
Okay before I get to Oniki’s response, I want to address one thing: even if your reading of Nuriko is that she is a cisgender male, when she is presenting as female she should be referred to with she/her pronouns. That is the proper etiquette when talking to someone in drag. Of course Nuriko, as Riona points out, was not presenting as a woman at the time of her death so let’s get to the reply:
It isn’t an error in translation. The places where the pronoun was used in English were subjectless sentences in Japanese.English demands subjects for well-formed sentences, so one had to be inserted, and which to insert becomes a question of interpretation. Having some transgender friends myself, which pronoun I use comes from how I am introduced, and after I get into the habit of calling someone by a particular gender it’s difficult to switch. Remember, it was only the day prior when Nuriko permanently decided to go as a man, so Miaka had very little time to adjust her thinking before the worst happened to Nuriko.
Did I mention this was twenty years ago? Literally. The sixth volume of Animerica Extra ran in 2003, and it’s… yeah, it’s 2023 now.
Oniki’s reply was perfect, almost could have been written today. Respectful, rational, and reasonable. This was a translator who knew their craft, and knew the trans community. I think it was the first time I saw the word “transgender,” over “transsexual,” and the first time I heard someone speak positively about the trans community.
But you know… I think Rinoa’s comment also could have been written today. I’m not going to bother posting an example, you can find them easy enough by searching “Bridgett,” and “trans,” on twitter. Seems there’s been “big fans,” pushing back against “woke,” translators and assuming they know better than people who have trained for this job for at least twenty years.
Fushigi Yugi began serialization in Japan in December of 1991, when its creator Yuu Watase was only twenty-one years old. Watase-sensei was open in her fan columns about purposefully including queer content, and they publicly came out as x-gender themselves eighteen years on may 20, 2019 on twitter.
https://twitter.com/wataseyuu_/status/1130461270358908928
Fushigi Yugi is a messy, and melodramatic story written by a young adult who didn’t have a full understanding of their own gender, and sexuality. So here’s my take as a white Canadian trans woman twenty years after Fushigi Yugi was first translated into English:
Nuriko is a trans woman, and should be referred to with she/her pronouns. Those feeling got conflated with the death of her sister, and Nuriko mistakenly saw that trauma as the cause of something inherent to herself. She also has a heteronormative view of relationships, so when she started to realize she had romantic feelings towards Miaka she tried to move on from her trauma. Would Nuriko have continued to identify as a man, had she not died? It’s hard to say, and this is my subjective experience. There’s probably a fair bit of projection going on here, I mean my own name is partly a tribute to a lost loved one.
Since Nuriko was seemingly a conduit for Watase-sensei’s gender exploration you might want to read Nuriko as also x-gender, or gender fluid. Nuriko does look quite dashing with male presentation. I’m using the anime here, but there’s lots of good art from the creator themself.
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Hey if you made it to the end thank-you. There was another letter in this same issue which discussed Nuriko. I’ll be talking about Nuriko and more today at Anime North, so if you’re in Toronto drop by and say hi, my panel schedule will be down bellow, note there is a change since my first post.
I also plan to start updating this blog fairly regularly and eventually introduce paid content. Current plan is to publish at least one article every Friday.
If you liked this please consider tipping on Ko-Fi, I have had a really rough time of late and my financial situation is starting to get scary. Thanks.
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-Queer and Trans Representation in Anime Friday at 2130 (9:30 pm) in Plaza B (Delta)Anime has progressed to include explicitly QT characters. We'll discuss iconic QT characters in anime and the evolution of tropes & archetypes.
-Mahou Shoujo: The Mega Panel Saturday at 1430 (2:30 pm) in Plaza B (Delta)From Akko-chan to Sally, Cutie Honey to Creamy Mami, and Sailor Moon to Cardcaptor Sakura, magical girls span decades and often define an entire generation.
-AnimeDHD - ADHD and Anime Fandom Saturday at 2200 (10:00 pm) in Toronto (Delta)Let's explore ADHD in anime with a focus on female characters. We'll also examine Japanese psychiatrist Dr. Rieko Shiba's explanation of ADHD using Doraemon.
Sources Cited:
Fushigi Yugi. Created by Yuu Watase, Pieorrot. 1999. https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GRGG932PR/fushigi-yugi
Watase, Yuu. Fushigi Yugi Vol 9 “Friend”. Viz Entertainment. 2003. https://archive.org/details/fushigiyugimyste00wata_1/
Animerica Extra. Volume 6, Issue 4, Viz Entertainment. 2003. Scans supplied by contributor.