Having bought this originally Japanese-only track upon its initial release in July, I was pleasantly surprised to see it receive an English translation. I immediately bought it to see how the translation fares and am happy to report that the subtitles are generally excellent. I hope having an English translation will make this, and any subsequent releases by Yuzusoft, more accessible to English speaking fans. With almost 2 and a half hours of content, if you’re a fan of Riddle Joker (especially of Nanami), then this a great purchase. Even if you’re not familiar with the game or the character, there is plenty of value here.
There are 9 audio tracks, and excluding the introduction, they all run for over 10 minutes. The tracks themselves are fantastic and basically function as an audio-only after story of Nanami’s route. The ear cleaning and co-sleeping tracks in particular are very relaxing and incredibly soothing. The other tracks are pretty self-explanatory and enjoyable. There are multiple references and allusions to the game and Nanami’s route but understanding them is not necessary to enjoying this work.
The English translation is presented in individual mp4 files, with the subtitles laid over a static image of the cover. There are also mp3 and wav versions of each track if you just want to listen to the audio.
The translation is, for the most part, pretty good. From what I could tell with my rudimentary Japanese skills, the subtitles were usually accurate and conveyed the meaning of each sentence pretty well. The only real issues I had were stylistic. Some of the dialogue sounds pretty stilted, there is the occasional awkward turn of phrase, and an odd omission of honorifics (“Onii-chan” is sometimes translated as “Brother”, but most of the time the word is completely left out of sentences for no real reason). Generally, however, the translation is fine, though I am admittedly not completely fluent in Japanese and cannot be comprehensive in my critique.
All in all, this is a really enjoyable and appealing piece. If you’re a fan of Riddle Joker, then you’ll certainly enjoy this. Even if you know nothing about the game, if you like ASMR or if any of the other tracks sound enticing, then you’ll still probably enjoy it. I will gladly support any more audio works from Yuzusoft like this in the future, even if I have to buy them twice.
