【Announcement】Doting Boyfriend becomes Crazed, Loving Boyfriend -Makoto Sougami-

Hi everyone! I’m here to announce the translation I’ve done for A-chromatic color has been released! The files on DLSite have now been updated to include the English script and translation of the documents. The links to the download pages are below the cover image. There’s a two-part sequel to this volume and I hear they’re working on a new series. You can follow them on Ci-en for their latest news and to support them.

This sets out your relationship with him. It was originally a stand-alone so you can listen to this volume only but I’d recommend to follow-up with the sequel for his salvation arc. It had me in tears. Apparently Mitsuhashi cried when he recorded because he got too into character.

Warnings: Sexual content, R-18. Don’t listen until you’re legal!

Synopsis:

You work at a pharmaceutical company. One day a man known within the company as the ‘Mad Scientist’ confesses to you. You were frightened and chose to give your reply another time.

Makoto Sougami is your colleague, a senior employee. You complain about wanting to go for a drink. He recommends you take a mood stabiliser instead of drowning in alcohol.

However, the drug you actually took was ‘GIFT’, the poison the Mad Scientist developed.

Is this the beginning of misfortune…?

English: Doting Boyfriend becomes Crazed, Loving Boyfriend -Makoto Sougami-
Japanese: 溺愛彼氏が狂愛彼氏に変わるまで―贈守誠―

For those interested in my translator’s notes on this title, read on under the cut. Spoiler warning for the entire series, just in case.

Edit (2020/05/01): Makoto tweeted for a day on April Fool’s. You don’t have to know what happens in the sequel, but this was released after the series was complete. The English translations are under the cut.

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The title

I do realise that “crazed, loving boyfriend” doesn’t sound natural and the way the English DLSite translated it (obsessive boyfriend) sounds much better. But the nuance the Creators and I wanted just wasn’t there.

The main charm about this title is the difference of how his love for the Heroine is expressed when the situation they’re put in changes him. He is obsessive from the start, so it didn’t make sense for him to be doting then obsessive. His love evolves from something quite pure (as pure as you can call it considering his wrappings collection) to something possibly more soft, controlling once desperation to keep the Heroine with him kicks in. It’s this slight “craziness” the Creators wanted to focus on. Hence the almost literal translation of the title.

Makoto’s name

This wasn’t really a translator’s choice or anything. I just wanted to take the time to explain Makoto’s name.

Surname: Sougami (贈守)　　　First name: Makoto (誠)
贈 = gift or present
守 = protect
誠 = honest or sincere

In some sense, his name itself is an explanation of who he is and a clue to the reasons behind his actions and assumptions we can make about them.

Word choice and punctuation

You may notice I’ve used ellipses and words like “cute”, “happy” excessively and ended probably half the sentences in the script as a rhetorical question. I probably abused the comma too.

Yes I did all of this on purpose.

I struggled with this because I kept trying to use synonyms of over-used words only to realise Makoto wouldn’t say that. I usually deal with characters who are more poetic or at least eloquent which gives me quite a bit of leeway to play with their vocabulary but not here.

If you’ve read the character settings, Makoto is not a person who is strong in creativity and is lacking in communication skills. There’s more to that but I can’t say what hasn’t been released in English. Sure he could have ideas of how to speak, what to say but when it actually comes to expressing himself verbally he’s more than likely to stumble over what he says, or expresses in a different way he intended. You can see it in the hesitations and “oh wait, I mean…umm, err…”. In panic he’d blurt out the first think that comes to mind which probably are made of words he uses or thinks most often.

TL;DR Makoto may have a vast pool of vocabulary but his lack of communication skills impedes on his ability to express exactly what he wants so he uses words which are familiar to him. Hence the repetition and the absence of fancy words.

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2020 April Fool’s Tweets

【A-chromatic color】 2020 April Fool’s Tweet English Translation

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