BRONZE COMMENTARY AND TRANSLATION

by Serenade (wish4wings@yahoo.com)

Updated 23 September 1998

Latest version can be found at http://www.virtue.nu/mirageknight/bronze/

BOOK 1 CONTINUED

A lot of the events of Books 1 to 3 are covered in the BRONZE OVA. 
It's not my intention to describe those events at length  - what interests 
me more are all the bits they didn't include in the anime. Still, I'll be 
giving an outline where I can.

ACT 2

Koji is having visions of Izumi.

<Izumi...>

<Izumi?>

<Why are you crying?>

<Izumi, please don't cry! I'll be with you very soon!>

We see that Koji is lying in a pool of blood on the road, his fallen 
motorcycle nearby.

<I must go... I have to go to him! He's crying...>

<But why can't I move?>

Koji is rushed to hospital. Reporters are already converging there. 
Shibuya, Toshiyuki, and other company staff have to force their way 
through the crowd.

Meanwhile, Izumi is about to board the plane to Italy. He feels strangely 
uneasy about leaving Koji the way he did, but gets on the plane anyway.

Shibuya and Toshiyuki wait in the corridor while the doctors try to save 
Koji's life. Shibuya knows that Izumi was leaving for Italy today, and 
guesses that Koji was following him to the airport. He's pretty upset. 
("I hate hospitals!" he says, probably remembering the time his sister 
spent there before her death from haemophilia.)

Koji, still unconscious, is having a dream where he sees the young Izumi.

<Izumi...? Izumi...>
<Why is he so little?>
<I'm dreaming about the past.>
<The first time I saw him was when he was little.>
<Very adorable...>
<Are you crying?>
<Izumi, why are you crying?>
<I'll be with you soon.>
<If I'm here with you, you don't need to be afraid!>
<Are you always like this, secretly weeping to yourself? Izumi.>
<Don't cry! There's nothing to worry about.>
<If I'm by your side, you won't be alone anymore!>
<I'll be with you very soon...>
<My body... won't move...>
<Why?>
<Oh, I remember...>
<I think I was in an accident...>
<I was chasing after him on my motorcycle, because he left me all alone!>
<Am I... already dead?>

Then Koji sees a vision of Izumi's face, present and past images 
overlapping, but both angry, both with tears trailing from their eyes. 
The Izumis say, "Liar! You liar!"

The doctors emerge from the operating room, but although they've done 
their best, the news isn't good. They say something about the external 
injuries not being very serious, but there was trauma to the head. It's 
possible Koji could end up as a human vegetable.

Shibuya gets very upset. He starts yelling at Koji, while Toshiyuki tries 
to restrain him. "Koji, you bastard! Stop playing games! Wake up!"

And Koji stirs.

From his lips come a few murmured words: "Izumi... Don't tell him... car..."

Everyone is shocked that he has managed to speak. But he falls into 
silence once more. Koji can only complete the sentence in his head.

<Please don't tell Izumi I've been in a car accident!>

And he hears the echo of Izumi's voice again, whispering, <You liar...>

The news broadcasts are reporting Koji's accident. We see the reactions of 
various people as they hear about it: Izumi's sister Serika; Koji's fans; 
the megastar Minamimoto, with whom Koji has had several liaisons; Minako 
Sasaki, a girl who went out with Izumi for a short while in Zetsuai.

The hospital where Koji is being held is surrounded by news crews and 
hysterical fans. Serika goes there, and finds Shibuya. He explains the 
situation to her, and suggests that her brother may be the only one who 
can bring Koji out of his coma.

Meanwhile, Izumi is in Italy, touring the various soccer fields to get a 
taste of professional soccer. He gets frustrated with the way a lot of the 
players treat him so condescendingly.

As he lies in bed exhausted, he wonders why Koji doesn't answer his calls. 
<Is he mad at me?> He wonders whether Koji's taking care of himself - 
whether he's eating three meals a day, or whether he's just drinking all 
the time and forgetting to eat. (Aww!)

He falls asleep, dreaming he is little again. He feels someone patting him 
on the head, a warm and reassuring touch. He thinks it's his father, but 
then he realises it's actually Koji. Koji tells him, <I love you. Izumi, I 
love you!>

And then, <Goodbye!>

Izumi wakes with a start, his heart racing. He thinks, <Was that just a 
dream? Koji!>

When Izumi returns from Italy, Shibuya and Serika are waiting for him at 
the airport. Serika runs over to her brother, crying, "Takuto! You big 
idiot!"

Shibuya says, "Koji... He's dying, Izumi."

Izumi is stunned. "What? What did you say?"

<Dying?>

[Note: in the BRONZE OVA, Lupin Gang Anime translates this as 'dead' 
instead. I'm not too sure about what the manga actually says, since 
Chinese doesn't uses tenses like English does. I've used 'dying' because 
that makes more sense to me personally. Does anyone have any enlightening 
information?]

Shibuya continues, "When he was chasing after you that day, he wasn't 
wearing a safety helmet, and he was travelling at 100 kilometres an hour." 
He tells Izumi about the details of the accident. "It hurts to watch him 
die like this..."

He grabs Izumi by the collar. "Why? Why did you have to abandon him, Izumi?"

Izumi laughs softly.

Izumi:	No way. It can't be true. This joke has gone too far.
	Shibuya! I don't believe you! Tell me, it's not true, is it?
	Tell me! It's all just a joke, right?

His eyes are burning with angry tears.

Shi:	There's a car waiting outside. Come on!

At the hospital, Shibuya explains Koji's condition in detail. Izumi thinks 
back on the dream he had where Koji told him he loved him and then said 
goodbye. He suddenly lets out his turbulent feelings in a violent outburst.

Izumi:	Koji! You bastard! Wake up!
	Damn you! Did you think it would be that easy to leave?
Shi:	Izumi!
Ser:	Takuto! Don't be like this!
Izumi:	Didn't I tell you I'd be back soon? You idiot!
	Didn't you believe me?

Toshiyuki tries to restrain Izumi.

Izumi:	Why? Why won't you wake up? I'm calling you!
	Wake up! Koji!
	Let go of me! I'll hit him awake! Let... let me go!

Suddenly, a sharp pain flashes through him. He falls to the floor, 
clutching the place on his hip where his scar is. He passes out.

Izumi is having a vision of the day he received that scar. His younger 
self is lying on the floor, clutching his left side. Blood streams from 
the wound there, leaking into a puddle around him.

Izumi:	Ouch... It hurts... Mother! It hurts!

His mother is on the phone. "Please send an ambulance over! Hurry! My 
child has been injured! Please save Takuto!"

Izumi:	Father! Father, please wake up!

His mother sits by the body of his father, the bloody knife pointed at 
her own throat. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Takuto! Please forgive me! Forgive 
me, Takuto..."

Izumi:	No! Mother! Why are you doing this?

We learn that while it was too late for his father, the ambulance got 
there in time to save Izumi's life and his mother's. She was sentenced to 
12 years in prison for killing Izumi's father, leaving her three children 
alone.

Young Izumi is curled up, crying to himself. "Please help me! I'm hurting. 
Help me, please... anyone! There's no one at all..."

Then a voice calls out his name, and a hand reaches out to enfold him in 
an embrace. "Don't be afraid, I'm here. I'll never leave your side..." (No 
prizes for guessing who this is.)

Koji:	I promise I'll bring you happiness!
	But... is it already too late?
	Would you accept me now? Izumi...

Izumi snaps awake.

He's lying in a hospital bed. Shibuya's standing nearby, sipping a can of 
drink. Shibuya explains that Izumi had collapsed earlier, but everything 
seems okay now. He says that Koji will be moved into this room later, and 
asks Izumi to stay at the hospital for a while. Shibuya tells Izumi he'll 
help him arrange a leave of absence from school and soccer.

Just before Shibuya leaves, he says to Izumi, "I'd thought that hearing 
your voice would rouse Koji from his coma, but it didn't work." He adds, 
"Just now, it looked like you were having some sort of dream..."

Izumi thinks: <I wasn't having a dream! It wasn't a dream! It was... real!>

Izumi touches his scar lightly. "It hurts..."

Izumi stays by Koji's bedside, day after day, watching over him, waiting 
for him to stir, and turning over thoughts in his head. Sometimes he sits 
in silence, sometimes he can't help the tears sliding down his face, 
sometimes he yells at Koji's still form. He berates Koji for running after 
him, for continuing to chase women even after declaring his love, and for 
not trusting Izumi's word that he would return.

Izumi:	Damn you! You... you told me you would bring me happiness! Koji!

Izumi, weeping, kisses Koji on the lips, then slumps over his body.

Izumi:	If you die now, I'll never forgive you!

Many days have passed, with no change. One day, Izumi receives a visitor. 
It is Minako Sasaki, the girl who had a crush on him in Zetsuai 1989. 
Izumi had gone out with her for a while, in an attempt to deny Koji's 
attentions. They broke up after Koji assaulted her in jealous rage and 
accused Izumi of using her to hide from his feelings.

Sas:	It's been a while, Izumi-sempai.
Izumi:	Sasaki?
Sas:	I... really can't endure it any longer!
	Hasn't he regained consciousness yet?

She storms past a confused Izumi, to stand by Koji's bed and yell at him. 
(Seems like a lot of people do that: Shibuya, Izumi, now Minako...)

Sas:	How long are you planning to sleep for?
	You've already taken sempai away from me - 
	why are you doing this as well?
	If you're making sempai's life miserable, I won't forgive you!
	If you're making him cry, I'll never forgive you!
Izumi:	Sasaki...
Sas:	I'm done now. I've wanted to tell him this for a long time.
	I've said what I wanted to say. I won't be coming back again.
Izumi:	Wait...

As she turns to leave, Izumi catches hold of her arm.

Izumi:	Wait a moment, Sasaki!
Sas:	Izumi-sempai? Are you happy?

Izumi looks taken aback by the question. Minako turns and hugs the guy who 
came here with her, both of them flushing crimson.

Sas:	I'm very happy!
	This is my boyfriend!
	He carries only me in his heart! He loves me and me alone!
	This makes me very happy!

Izumi looks pained. He thinks of Koji telling him, "I love you, Izumi!"

Izumi:	Sasaki! Thank you. I'm very sorry!

She looks surprised, blushing, and then departs with a cheerful wave.

A new visitor arrives - a sophisticated-looking woman wearing sunglasses 
and carrying a huge bouquet of roses. She says, "There's quite a crowd 
here! Is the prince still resting?"

Shibuya looks nonplussed. "Miss Minamimoto! Long time no see. I didn't 
think I'd run into you here..."

Minamimoto sweeps past them. As she does so, Izumi thinks, <That 
perfume...!>

Minaminoto lays the flowers on Koji's bed, and leans across to kiss him on 
the lips. Izumi turns red, while Shibuya discreetly explains to him about 
Minamimoto and Koji's longstanding relationship. Izumi recognises the 
perfume as one he's smelled on Koji before.

Minamimoto is caressing Koji's face lightly. "How tragic... can't even a 
princess' kiss wake you up? Isn't even a kiss enough?"

Izumi is thinking: <What's happening? What's happening to me? Why does my 
heart... hurt so much?>

Izumi is staring at Minamimoto, a stricken look on his face. She turns to 
him and says, "You look just like an abandoned kitten."

As she leaves, she adds, "If this keeps dragging out, take care that the 
prince isn't snatched away by some demon woman! Princess."

Toshiyuki comes in, telling Izumi that his soccer coach and the head 
teacher are waiting to talk to him. When he sees Minamimoto, he comments 
on how many visitors they've had today.

Izumi is still thinking, <An abandoned kitten? Is she talking about me?>

<Am I abandoned?>

At the meeting, the head teacher and the coach try to convince Izumi to 
return to school and to soccer. They try to impress upon him the 
importance of continuing with his training. They tell him that even if 
he decides not to go to Italy, there are opportunities for him here. They 
express sympathy for his family circumstances and his friend's accident, 
but they emphasise that he has his own life to lead. "What do you want to 
do with your life?"

This thought strikes Izumi with some force. He realises, <Even if he 
should die, I'll still be alive.>

He suddenly grips his side. "It hurts... damn it! Why does it hurt so 
much? It's an old wound - why should it hurt so much now?"

[Now this becomes a nightmare to translate - Izumi's thoughts are mingled 
with recalled fragments of conversation, spread out all over the page in a 
non-linear fashion. I'll translate what bits I can, in the format that 
seems most comprehensible.]

<Ten years from now...>
<Twenty years from now...>
<Will I still carry this wound with me?>
<Like an abandoned kitten!>
<What do you want to do with your life?>
<Abandoned?>
<Left behind?>
<Have I been abandoned?>
<Do I have to return to the darkness of a solitary life?>

Izumi:	It's because you touched me... tore open my wounds again!
	Take responsibility for it! Say something!
	Look at me, like the way you used to!

<I love you...>
<I love you...>
<In my heart, there is only you!>
<Izumi-sempai, are you happy?>
<I'm very happy.>
<Because there is someone who is focusing on me with all his heart!>
<Loving me with all his heart!>
<Can't even a princess' kiss wake you up?>

Izumi is kneeling next to Koji's bed, his head bowed in anguish. "It 
hurts! Take responsibility!"

<I'm very happy!>
<Why don't you wake up?>

It's a new day. Izumi has changed into his school uniform. Shibuya spots 
him and questions him.

Shi:	Izumi? Where are you going, dressed like that?
Izumi:	Do you really need to ask?
Shi:	What's that supposed to mean?

Shibuya looks ticked off; Izumi is coldly purposeful.

Izumi:	Even if I stayed with him 24 hours a day, 
	it won't make him wake up if he's not going to wake up.
	If he is going to wake up,
	then it doesn't matter if I'm at school,
	and it doesn't matter if I'm out playing soccer.

Shibuya catches hold of Izumi's arm. "Wait a moment!"

Without turning, Izumi tells Shibuya he needs to concentrate on his 
studies for the sake of the scholarship. There's also a big soccer match 
coming up, and he can't afford to take a break.

Shi:	Is this how you really feel?
Izumi:	Let go!

Shibuya hits Izumi with a solid punch across the jaw.

Shi:	I used to have a younger sister...
	The doctors said she wouldn't survive for more than ten years,
	but she lived to be 13.
	Watching her die, there was nothing I could do.
	There was nothing anyone could do.
	I would have done anything for Madoka.
	I would have granted any wish she had.
	But no matter how much I strove or prayed,
	Madoka still died!	

	A miracle is something that almost never happens.
	That's why it's called a miracle.

	I don't believe Nanjo will really die!
	But he might never wake up either.
	He might stay in a coma forever!
	Izumi, you're the only one who could possibly wake him!

Izumi is walking towards the door. Shibuya yells after him desperately.

Shi:	You're the only one who can bring about a miracle!
	You're the only one who can achieve this!
	Don't you understand yet?
Izumi:	I understand.
	That's why I've decided I have to leave him behind.

Shibuya stares at the closing door in shock. "Izumi...?"

Back at school, Izumi meets with the officials again.

Izumi:	"I've decided to go to Italy!"

END OF ACT 2

END OF BOOK 1

I feel exhausted.

I didn't think this project would take so much out of me. My eyes are sore 
from staring at the screen for so long, and from squinting at the tiny 
print in my language dictionary. I don't know how many hours I've spent on 
this, but it's eaten up a fair chunk of my spare time these past two weeks.

I have enjoyed it, though. Translation has proved to be unexpectedly 
interesting and fun. Well, it can be frustrating to continually look up 
the meanings of words and phrases - Chinese dictionaries can be cumbersome 
and time-consuming to use. However, there is a certain satisfaction in 
setting down the words of the story, and watching its shape form before 
one's eyes. It's an intriguing challenge to find the most appropriate and 
natural phrasing for a sentence. This is made more interesting by the 
frequent lack of pronouns, plurals and tense in the Chinese language. In
particular, I've tried to preserve ambiguity where it exists in the text.

While I began this project with the intention of creating a commentary on 
BRONZE, by now it looks like it's trying to evolve into a straight out 
translation/synopsis. With my level of Chinese, however, this is a rather 
laborious process. I'm not sure yet what direction future efforts will 
take me. There are 8 published volumes of BRONZE left to go. Does anyone 
out there particularly want a (sort of) translation, or do you all know 
how to read it already? If you've read through this and have any 
suggestions about what you liked/disliked/want changed/want added, 
please tell me.

See you in Book 2!

- Serenade (5 September 1998)