![]() ![]() However, the transgender figure become a scapegoat, killed off by violence in ruthless societies: a capitalistic and wild-west space age in Bebop, and the madly wealthy but on-the-brink-of-collapse bubble era 90s Japan in Kitchen. ![]() Such a figure, Gren in Bebop, and Eriko in Kitchen respectively, is a universally desired Other of peerless beauty. ![]() A trope shared between Bebop and Kitchen! ![]() In the episode “Jupiter Jazz”, forty minutes of bloody noir montage, it introduced Americans to the trope of the dazzling transgender woman/man. Cowboy Bebop is legendary for its aesthetics but is a lot more than cool animation and slick jazz. The first: Many fans of anime television are familiar with Shinichiro Watanabe’s Cowboy Bebop, a show that has taken on impressive cult significance in America today, and even recently inspired a live action Netflix adaptation. In order to best introduce this beautiful work of fiction, I would like to point to two other items of Japanese popular culture, one known by some Americans, and one not. I do not presume to be a translation expert, but instead I hope to shed some light on a brilliant work of fiction and propose my own method to translation that can capture the essence of this essential work. Over the next three blog posts, I will be describing my approach to translating one of the great masterpieces (and one of my personal favorites) of 20th century Japanese literature: Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto. ![]()
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