転校生●成瀬直人の登場で、
勢力争いは激化する！！
Vocab:
転校生 てんこうせい tenkousei
"Exchange Student"
Note: 転校 is "to change schools", while 生 can be used in compounds to refer to students.
登場 とうじょう toujyou
"Appearance"
Note: This is actually a fairly common word. 登 is usually used in words to mean "ascent", while 場 (a very important kanji) is used to mean "place" or "location", or even "stage" (as in a theater stage).
勢力 せいりょく seiryoku
"Influence"
Note: 勢 means "force" or "momentum". There are many attribute words that use 力, which means "power" or "strength". 能力 (ability) 、魅力 (charm/appeal) 、etc.
争い あらそい arasoi
"Competition"
Note: This word can actually be translated as "battle", though it is not exclusively a violent war, like 戦い (tatakai) suggests. There is an understanding that 争い can become a violent conflict.
激化 げきか gekika
"Escalate"
Note: Technically this means "aggravate", as in "aggravating a situation". In the case of an ongoing conflict, it can be used as "escalate".
Translation:
Literally: "Transfer Student Naruse Naoto's appearance aggravates the influence battle!"
And that is why you never translate something literally. At least now you have an understanding of what is being said, but how would you say that in English? I suggest:
"The battle for influence escalates with transfer student Naruse Naoto's arrival on the scene!"
This is still clunky, and falls back on the presumption that you know what a battle for influence is. As it stands, Japanese gamers always take for granted that where there are transfer students and rival schools, there is bound to be a battle for influence. For those who don't know that, I'd say:
"Things start to really heat up when Naruse Naoto bursts onto the scene!"
I suggest this, because the fact that Naoto is a transfer student really doesn't have any implications to most Western people. Nobody needs to know about the battle for influence; one thing we can take for granted is that people already know "things" are happening, otherwise there wouldn't be a game.
整備された港湾施設や華やかな街並み、そして庶民的な住宅地と、さまざまな景観の調和が印象的な阿弥浜沿線。
整備された せいびされた seibisareta
"Maintained"
Note: された is attached to certain words to show that they have been completed.
港湾施設 こうわんしせつ kouwan-shisetsu
"Harbor"
Note: 港湾 or 港 is "harbor". 湾 is the seaside. 施設 (very important word) means facility. "Harbor facility" is a little redundant.
華やかな はなやかな hanayakana
"Bright/Gorgeous"
Note: 華 is another word for "flower", but can be used to mean beauty, by extension of the notion that flowers are beautiful. な is just used to mark this word as an adjective.
街並み まちなみ machinami
"Town"
Note: 街 means "street", but can refer to towns or hamlets as well.
庶民的な しょみんてき shomintekina
"Folksy"
Note: 庶民 or 庶民的 are the "townsfolk". な makes this word an adjective which you might translate as "townsy", but for the fact that townsy isn't a word. Folksy is a decent interpretation.
住宅地 じゅたくち jyutakuchi
"Residential Area"
Note: 住宅 is a "residence", while 地 is "earth" or "land".
景観 けいかん keikan
"Scenery"
調和 ちょうわ chouwa
"Harmony"
Note: 和, in many compounds, means "peace".
印象的 いんしょうてき inshouteki
"Impressive"
Note: 印象 is "impression". 的, which you're probably noticed a lot of, turns a noun into a characteristic (adjective). Impression + 的 = impressive.
阿弥浜沿線
Note: This is the name of the place where the game takes place.
*I just call it Amihama-ensen, but the actual name could differ.
Translation:
This sentence does little more than describe a location. It goes out of its way to stress what a calm and wonderful place it is. I would shorten it to:
"Amihama-ensen is a quaint harbor city with beautiful scenery."
さまざま means "many", and in this sentence, "many" refers to "how much impressive scenery there is". You could also translate it as, "there are many impressive sights to see", but I'd have to actually play the game to know if that was an accurate assessment. From the screenshots I've seen, it looks fairly ordinary. "Quaint", might be the wrong word to use here, because in the west we think of "quaint" as a little row of cottages, while this game is actually about a fairly large city that just happens to have nice scenery. We could revise it as:
"Amihama-ensen is a quiet harbor city with beautiful scenery."
現在ここ阿弥浜沿線には、５つの高校、３つのチームが存在し、互いに牽制しあっている。
現在 げんざい genzai
"Now"
Note: As in, "right now". 現 means "current", while 在 means "here". You could translate 現在 as "the here and the now", but how often does anyone say that in real life?
高校 こうこう koukou
"High School"
Note: This word is really important, you'll see it everywhere.
存在 そんざい sonzai
"Reality"
Note: This is extremely important, whereas we use the word "reality" in English relatively often, it is used in Japanese all the time. It's another way to express the existence of something.
互いに たがいに tagai-ni
"Mutually"
Note: 互い means "mutual" or "mutually", referring to something that all those involved are doing.
牽制 けんせい kensei
"Check"
Note: This can mean "restrain" or "diversion" or "feint", but when combined with 互い, it refers more to supervision. As in, "all of these things are keeping each other in check".
Translation:
"Amihama-ensen currently has five schools, and three teams that keep each other in check."
Wait, what the hell is a "team"!? It's not a sports team, that's for sure. In this case, a "team" is like a gang. This will make more sense later, but for now:
"Amihama-ensen currently has five schools and three gangs vying for power."
"Keep each other in check" is still a literal translation, but if you remember the tagline at the top, there was a so-called, "battle of influence" going on. This is an easy way to slip that idea in, without losing the notion that none of the gangs have gained control yet.
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