maiji: The "Space and dreams" opening soliloquy in Star Ocean 2: comparison and commentary on cinematics, translation, voice acting
[screenshot from Star Ocean The Second Story R remake of the opening in Claude's story. It shows the battleship Calnus in the blackness of deep space with an intense blue glow in the distance. The subtitle reads: "the realm of infinite possibility."]“Only the vast reaches of outer space can hold the myriad dreams of ten billion people—and still show them its infinite possibilities.” -Claude C. Kenni, Star Ocean The Second Story opening, original PS1 translationThe opening of Claude's story is iconic for Star Ocean fans, and I remember the first line of the original PS1 translation by heart even today. Its first four words immediately fill me with nostalgia and send me to a feeling of “Ahhh, spaaace!” 🥺🤩 The structure of the intro narrated by Claude is conceptually broken up into four sections:
The opening poetic reflection, which I think of as the “space and dreams” lines.
A high level summary of the Pangalactic Federation’s version of Star Ocean 1’s events, focused on the accomplishments of decorated war hero Ronixis J. Kenni, Claude's father.
Claude’s complex feelings about his relationship with his father, establishing his personal story.
A statement regarding his present location, which can be interpreted metaphorically or literally. At this point, the game then shifts control to you, the player, on planet Milocinia (or Milokeenia, in the newest translation).
I started looking up videos of the opening soliloquy as I was making the 3 Japanese Claude voice actor song posts (see here: Ueda Yuuji, Yuuki Hiro, Namikawa Daisuke). I thought it’d be really interesting to compare them, and a fun reference to have a compilation of every version of the actual opening! Then this ended up taking forever, haha. But here is every version in Japanese, English, and equivalent scenes in the anime, with some comments from me on references and differences across cinematics, translation, and voice actor delivery choices.As always, many thanks to so many fans throughout the decades for their efforts in recording and sharing these.Original Japanese opening lines with English metaphraseThe original PS1 game did not show the text on-screen. The remakes Second Evolution and Second Story R have the exact same script, but the formatting is different. SO2R has actual punctuation to clearly break up parts of/different sentences, which is really helpful to figure out where you are and what’s referencing what as a contained thought. Some text that was kana in SE also appears in SO2R in their kanji forms instead, like さまざま samazama VS 様々.
I transcribed from SE (because the font is bigger/simpler and I can see the characters better…) following its line breaks which are paced with Namikawa Daisuke’s read (or maybe it was the other way around).
I then referenced SO2R to bring in punctuation. All ellipses and periods, and most commas, are SO2R only. There is one instance of a comma in SE that does not appear in SO2R.
My “translation” is a metaphrase not intended for normal reading. It’s basically the first step of processing the text to then render a more natural translation. The intent is to be as literal as possible to original meaning while following word order line-by-line so that when you read the two official English translations, you can see where they’re pulling their interpretations from, and get a sense of the challenges the translators went through.
I’ve included some [additional connotation notes] to try to convey some things I feel the translators may have considered or expanded upon, plus some of my own random comments as I attempted to wrangle this with my very limited skills. I’m far from fluent so there may be errors in my manual transcription and translation. (So much complex formal and military kanji…) It was a good exercise though!
Because it’s rather wordy, I’ll show only the space-and-dreams lines and put the rest below a cut. The four sections in the structure are numbered for clarity.
1) 広大な外宇宙は、Vast/immense [sense of grandness] universe/outer space,幾億もの人間のさまざまな夢を受け上め、however many billions [billions, some hundred billion] of people’s various [diverse] dreams are received [embraced, contained/captured/carried/held…],その上でさらに無限の可能生を見せつけていた。above that/on top of that furthermore [basically beyond what I have just said lol] infinite possibilities are presented [displayed, shown off].
そこには数え切れないほどの夢が広がっている。There are countless dreams that are spreading out/expanding [reaching out, filling a space].
むろん、その中には悪夢も存在する。Of course/naturally, within that centre/amongst them nightmares also exist.[READ-MORE]2) セクターγ (ガンマ) で確認された、Sector Gamma at/in which it was confirmed,
惑星レゾ二アの知的生命体たちがPlanet Rezonia’s intelligent lifeforms
地球連邦に宣戦布告し、Earth Federation towards which war declaration,
激しい戦乱の炎が巻き起こった。violent/intense/fierce [extreme, relentless] war’s flames were rolled out/took place [ignited].
宇宙歴342年Space Date 342 Year
惑星レゾニアとの会戦をPlanet Rezonia, with/against which the battle
戦艦力ルナスによって勝利に導き、Battleship Calnus by which/means of victory was led,
栄誉指揮賞を受賞する。honourable command/direction award was awarded. [lol literal. But basically he/it (however you choose to interpret the sentence, as either Ronixis or the crew of the Calnus, since it’s not explicit], was awarded a thingy for extremely commendable actions.]
宇宙歴346年Space Date 346 Year
辺境の未開惑星ロークで発生したRemote/frontier underdeveloped planet Roak at/in which an occurrence/incidence took place [broke out/outbreak]
[Note: at this point, in Second Evolution, a visual of Ilia and Ronixis appears. More on the potential significance of this for the translator’s decision in the translation commentary section.]
謎のウイルス事件を解決し、puzzling/enigmatic/mysterious virus case/incident was solved/resolved,
レゾ二アを背後で操っていたRezonia of which behind the back/scenes was being operated/manipulated by
惑星ファーゲットの指導者Planet Farget’s leader
『ジエ・リヴォース』の陰謀を阻止。Jie Revorse’s plot/scheme was/obstructed/prevented/thwarted.
その功績を称えられ、Those achievements of which were praised/lauded/honoured,
38歳という異例の若さで38 years of age called exceptionally/unusually/extraordinarily/unprecedented youthfulness
提督に昇格する。Admiral/Commodore as such promoted.
3) ぼくは...そんな父さんのことをI… such father’s things [literally, “such affairs/aspects of my father”, but essentially, “with regards to my father” but in more words lol]
誰よりも尊敬していた。no one/anyone else more than, was respected by. [again, trying to follow word order messes this up terribly in English, but it’s clearly, “no one respected him more (than I did).”]
銀河連邦の士官というのが、Galactic Federation’s officer with regards to/considered as,
立派な職業だっていうこともわカっている。splendid, prominent, praise-worthy profession/vocation/calling is true also I understand/know.
...でも[、]ぼくはぼくだ。 [*The comma does not exist in SO2R]…But, I am me.銀河連邦の英雄、Galactic Federation’s hero,
『ロニキ ス・J・ケニー』提督の息子というだはの人形じゃない。Ronixis (Ronyx) J. Kenni Admiral/Commodore’s son that is to say/however [it means/reason/definition] not a doll [puppet/marionette under someone else’s control] [ahhh lol word order. But essentially, “The son of the hero Admiral Ronixis J. Kenni is not some puppet.”]
4) ...だけど、ぼくは今ここにいる。…However, I am now here.[/READ-MORE]
Second Story original PS1 translation1) Only the vast reaches of outer space can hold the myriad dreams of ten billion people and still show them its infinite possibilities. Countless dreams expand through the vastness of space, but of course, some of them are nightmares. [READ-MORE]2) Soon after the first contact in the Gamma Sector, the intelligent lifeforms on the planet Rezonia began a confrontation with the Earth Federation. The flames of war erupted in a violent maelstrom.In the Space Year 342, aboard the battleship Carnas, he led our forces to victory in battle against Rezonia and received the Medal of Valor.In the Space Year 345*, he solved the mystery of the virus outbreak on the undeveloped frontier planet Roak. He then thwarted the treacherous plot hatched in the aftermath of Rezonia by Jie Revorse, leader of the planet Fargett. In recognition of his meritorious service, he was promoted to admiral at the unprecedented young age of 38.3) He was my father, and no one respected him more than me. I also knew that he held a fine position as an officer in the Earth Federation.Yet, I am my own person, I will not be merely the puppet son of Ronixis J. Kenni, hero of the Earth Federation.4) And now, I am here.* PS1 English Jimmy Freeman clearly says 345. I listened carefully to the original PS1 Japanese and Ueda Yuuji sounds like he also says 345 (“go” instead of “roku” at the end), so I assume this is a retcon instead of a script typo.[/READ-MORE]Second Evolution and Second Story R new translation (same for both)1) Space: the realm of infinite possibility. It has long inspired the dreams of billions. These dreams, countless in number, spread infinitely throughout the universe…though some of these dreams are nightmares. [READ-MORE]2) A race of sentient beings from Planet Lezonia, discovered in Sector Gamma, declared war on the Terran Alliance, igniting the flames of ferocious warfare across the galaxy.S.D.342. The Battleship Calnus received a commendation for excellence in command for its victory in the battle against Lezonia.S.D.346. The captain of the Calnus and his second-in-command* successfully contained a mysterious virus outbreak on the underdeveloped frontier planet Roak.They were also able to prevent the tyrannical Jie Revorse's diabolical plan to conquer Earth.Thanks to his achievements, my father was promoted to admiral at the unprecedented young age of 38.3) I respected him more than anybody else in my life.I know that being a Federation officer is among the greatest accomplishments anyone can hope to achieve in this universe.But I am my own man. I'm no puppet: I'm not just the son of Admiral Ronyx J. Kenny, hero of the Pangalactic Federation.4) So what am I doing here, of all places?[/READ-MORE]Star Ocean EX animeThe anime offers us a truncated version due to the way it's integrated into the medium; it needs to be faster-paced than the game or people watching are going to get bored. The space and dreams lines are much shorter, and Claude’s overview of Ronixis’ accomplishments gets split up and then leads into other interactions, dialogue and explanations, so I haven’t included them.Star Ocean EX fansub: (as an example of a more literal translation from Japanese)Space is infinite... it goes on forever. It contains hundreds of billions of stars… and within them lies hundreds of billions of people's hopes. And...evil* as well...* An obvious deviation from all other translations. I think the fansub translator may have misheard “akumu” (nightmare) as “akuma” (demons). Understandable because the latter term appears a lot elsewhere in the anime. Star Ocean EX official English dub translation: The immensity of space continues without end. Within this infinite vacuum, there are as many stars as there are dreams...and nightmares.And here are all the videos I have gathered!1998 / 199 Original PS1The voice track on the original PS1 suddenly drops in volume when music and SFX starts, which makes them challenging to hear. Japanese (Ueda Yuuji) - this video amusingly has frozen visuals in the beginning so that you hear Claude start talking over the game’s battle mode settings. His last line also doesn’t come up in the video and it’s just a black screen, not sure what happened with the recording lol. But it’s pretty hard finding recordings of the original PS1, and the audio here is very clear, so I will take it.English (Jimmy Freeman) - The recording is cut off at the beginning so we lose the first three words, but again it’s hard finding a clear recording of PS1.2008 / 2009 PSP remake Second EvolutionJapanese (Namikawa Daisuke)English (Spike Spencer)2023 remake Second Story RJapanese with English text (Ueda Yuuji again! Totally new recording!)It is also available with the same voice tracks from Second Evolution:
Japanese with Namikawa Daisuke / Japanese with English text with Namikawa Daisuke
English with Spike Spencer
2001 anime Star Ocean EXJapanese (Yuuki Hiro) English (Matt Hill)On cinematics [READ-MORE]It's interesting to see each version. Every cinematic divides the visuals up following the structure I outlined earlier: a visual approach for the space and dreams lines, shifting into a retrospective for the recounting of SO1/Ronixis' achievements, shifting for Claude's personal reflection, shifting into a transition for gameplay start.Original PS1 obviously has the most dated graphics today. But it set the stage with something I always found very bold and effective: giving us nothing but a black screen with no sound other than Claude giving the space-and-dreams lines. It uses a combination of CG and animation, and the closing shows the back of the Calnus approaching a red planet, presumably Milocinia, before the screen fades to black on the last line, moving into gameplay.Second Evolution uses what appears to be the same CG alongside more modern-looking anime cutscenes, but otherwise largely follows the approach set up by the original. Its biggest difference is probably that instead of showing the Calnus at the end of the cutscene, it shows the bridge, with Claude standing next to Ronixis. We now see the person who is reflecting, our main character.The newest version, Second Story R, opens with quite a different treatment from all of the others. Instead of a black screen, the cinematic actually connects directly with the ending of the Silent the Universe opening. At the end of Silent the Universe, we see the Calnus enter warp space. When Claude's story begins, the opening now shows the Calnus exiting warp with an impressive ripple, and we then slowly zoom in on the ship as Claude begins his narration with music. The flashbacks are then shown with cute little game sprites against the visual of the ship, almost like a museum exhibit. It closes with us zooming out and rotating around the Calnus as it heads towards red planet Milocinia, and then a more sudden fade to black on the last line compared to the original which makes it a little more dramatic. I do love the visuals of the Calnus they brought in for Second Story R, and I think it's a wonderful treat for the fans to update it in this way 20+ years later. I felt such an amped-up surge of nostalgia watching it. (Ahhh, spaaace!!) But I'm glad the original black screen exists.[/READ-MORE]On translation [READ-MORE]Going through the metraphrase exercise certainly made me appreciate the two official translations even more! Each has things that I like, as well as things I don’t necessarily agree with, but the effort that went into them is obvious. For me personally, it felt something like:
Section 1: A lot of these words have multiple expressive connotations. How do we effectively convey all the possible poetic nuances and keep it feeling poetic with the appropriate vibes in English?
Section 2: The words themselves are quite clear in meaning contextually, but we need to make sure the relationships of these ideas are correctly attached to each other in English… lol what a mess.
Section 3: Generally the same issue as 2, but if you know Claude’s circumstances/relationship with his father, this can be blasted through fairly easily because the relationships between the phrases/ideas becomes quite clear with that context.
Section 4: One relatively straightforward line. Oh thank goodness, we’re done.
The English voice actors for PS1 clearly had an earlier version of the translation when they started their work, as you can tell from things like Claude saying “Carnas” instead of Calnus (actual game text on release uses Calnus). You can also see, of course, all the changes in name translation decisions compared to the original, and some pretty big phrasing adjustment choices.The newer translation used in Second Evolution/Second Story R, with the shorter lines beginning each section, definitely evokes the Gene Roddenbery Star Trek vibes, riffing off “Space: the final frontier”. Star Ocean is very inspired by Star Trek, so it's a fun reference, and it also gives it an epic documentary feel. That said, while it feels cool, I don't personally find it better than the original, just different. Part of it is because the iconic Star Trek lines clearly emphasize bold, external exploration and adventure. Star Ocean 2, in contrast, uses this opening as space for internal reflection, and sets the tone that this is a personal journey of discovery, and its lines speak of ambivalence and caution as well. (Also, in Second Story R if you have the Japanese voices with English text, it looks really funny, because the word “Space:” appears on screen while the Japanese voice actor goes on and on and creates an visual/aural misalignment, as if it takes a lot of syllables to say “space” in Japanese.)Because Japanese relies a lot on context to imply things like subject and topic, this is where we can see even more deviations in the second section. Are we talking about the Calnus and its crew, are we talking about Ronixis, etc. All of these are potentially valid interpretations, though the gist generally remains the same.It's also because of this that the new English translation can do something really special that doesn’t exist in Japanese nor the original English translation. Second Evolution/Second Story R actually has Claude mention the second-in-command—which is his mom!! The original Japanese text does not explicitly say who/what contained the outbreak, but because the visual that accompanies this line in Second Evolution where this translation was first used shows a visual of Ronixis and Ilia, that context makes the callout make sense.While the new translation is overall more fluid and natural sounding, it sometimes loses some of the nuances of the original Japanese. Here are examples of two places where I definitely prefer the original PS1 translation.
“でも、ぼくはぼくだ / Demo, boku wa boku da”: “But I am me”. Original PS1 translation: “Yet, I am my own person”. New translation: “But I am my own man.” I prefer the original gender-neutral translation. I feel it conveys a higher-level sense of being—I am me, my own separate person.
“だけど、ぼくは今ここにいる / Dakedo, boku wa ima koko ni iru”: Original PS1 is ”And now, I am here.” which is pretty much how I'd approach this. New translation: “So what am I doing here, of all places?” I kinda see what the translator was going for. I assume the intent, with the previous lines about not being his father's puppet, is to create a sense of, “I just said I want to be my own person, so why am I here?”, and it also introduces a clearer link to the next sequence. But I do prefer the openness and potential ambiguity of the original. This version adds additional things that didn’t previously exist and forces you into a more particular reading of Claude’s feelings as he sets foot on Milocinia.
[/READ-MORE]On voice acting [READ-MORE]For the most part, this soliloquy is a calm "voice-of-god" disembodied floating-above-all type narration that turns into personal reflection only near the end. There are several key areas where the voice actor can inject something more, and I find it really interesting how each actor tackles it. Word choices in translation also affect the voice actor's delivery.The space-and-dreams lines give the opportunity to create a sense of wonder and apprehension, but obviously as the first words right out of the gate, you don't want it to be too jarring from the rest. It has to set the initial tone of the soliloquy, and ideally things should build up from the initial.The closing lines are where the voice actor has the most leeway to play up some emotion. The main part is the final set of lines overlapping end of Section 3 and Section 4, which are two very personal reflections from Claude and then the transition to “Here player, now you can do stuff”.1) “But I am me/my own person” / 2) “I’m not my father's puppet […]” / 3) “And now I am here.”
Ueda Yuuji: His original 1998 recording is a quietly reflective approach, and fairly straightforward and determined in the above closing lines.
Jimmy Freeman: His is a pretty straight narrative approach throughout with a lot of emphasis on pronouns, and sounds the most “reading out loud” to me, though I find he has some interesting conversational inflection when he reflects on Ronixis’ position in the Federation. Of all the Claude’s, he ends up sounding the angriest (mildly) particularly because the second line is translated as “I will not be merely the puppet son of Ronixis J. Kenni” [emphasis mine]. If no further direction or context is being provided to a voice actor, the automatic assumption would be to take a more impassioned or indignant approach to that line. His emphasis on the word “hero” in the puppet line also makes it sound somewhat sarcastic.
Namikawa Daisuke: He too carries a pretty consistent quietly reflective approach throughout, though his voice tone and delivery in general is louder and more confident than Ueda Yuuji’s. He makes the “but I am me” line a tad softer, and lowers the last line into a hush for the transition.
Spike Spencer: Again, overall quiet reflective. (In the recording it sounds like he had to match the split of text as it appears on the screen, or they spliced the recording to match, resulting in some very very slightly unnatural pauses in the delivery when you listen carefully. Whichever it was, it’s not the voice actor’s fault, and if it was actually a straight readthrough on his end he maintains tone and delivery very nicely.) For the personal lines, in the first, his actual tone is similar to Namikawa Daisuke’s approach, but because the English translation chose to render the last word as “man” instead of “person”, it automatically makes him sound more forceful due to social-cultural connotations we have in English. The second part, the way he delivers it carries an undertone of bitterness. And his last line, it’s harder to hush it because the translation forces him to raise it at the end as a question. He adds a sound of weary skepticism to his delivery, like “Why am I here?/what the heck am I doing here?”
Ueda Yuuji, take 2: Saving the best for last (IMO). We have a super interesting situation here because we get to hear the same voice actor doing the exact same lines—but this time with an additional 26 years of experience under his belt. Thus, he's by far the most experienced Claude voice on this list in terms of both tackling the role (though granted, the original role was mainly the opening and the battle lines haha) and voice acting history in general. I am blown away that he can still sound almost exactly the same as Claude, same quality of voice and everything. Compared to his 1998 performance, there’s a subtly amped-up delivery, and every aspect of inflection has a bit more oomph to it, like the space-and-dreams lines has a subtley enhanced feeling of hushed awe or trepidation, and so on. There are also other minor variations (e.g., he says some lines slightly faster or slower, obviously because he’s not a robot two decades apart). And when we get to this series of personal reflection lines, something really different happens. His delivery of the “I am me” line is the only one that now makes it sound clearly plaintive, giving it this emotional sense of "...but doesn't anyone see me?" Then he proceeds to quiet resolve in the next section, then grows hushed at the last line for the transition to player view similar to Namikawa Daisuke. He’s definitely the Claude that modulates the timbre of his voice the most (he has this amazing rasp, as his over 9000 screaming and Blanka powers demonstrate lol), and I find the depth of delivery on that one "boku wa boku da" line, combined with everything else, makes his performance really stand out.
I think line 1 in particular as it connects to line 2 has a huge amount of potential and latitude with voice actor delivery, you can play a lot with inflection and pauses/spacing of words. Though, none of the voice actors seem to play with the spacing much in the read that gets used. In my head I imagine something like: “But—I am… me.” …and then on the second line unfortunately English word order makes it nigh impossible to end it naturally on the most powerful idea, which is “not a puppet”. But anyways, I think Ueda Yuuji take 2 hits the idea I have in my head closest.I feel like I need to say something about Yuuki Hiro here. He’s fantastic and does a very efficient quiet reflective read for the space-and-dreams line in the anime, but sadly we don’t get to hear him deliver the full soliloquy to be able to compare. Another interesting thing: as mentioned, almost every single Claude voice actor, in Japanese and English, treats the space-and-dreams lines more formally/distantly. There’s one exception: Matt Hill, the Star Ocean EX English VA.
He’s the only one who treats this part as expressive internal thoughts. You can really tell because at the end of the word “vacuum” he does an in-character sigh, and then he raises his inflection at "stars" and "dreams".
Here everyone else just happens to be formal across the board so his take is an obvious discrepancy compared to all other Claudes, but I think his interpretation makes sense in the anime, since he’s reflecting during an actual scene that’s inserted after other scenes that have already taken place, as opposed to the dialogue being presented as an isolated soliloquy that opens the entire experience.
I will also say, I think Matt Hill got some of the trickiest Claude lines because the anime script in English periodically has these really stilted, overly formal translations. Lines where you hear the words and the impression is “...People do not talk like this when chatting casually.” So his approach is appreciated on that front. When I watched the dub I kept thinking, “kudos to you for tackling that unnatural sounding string of words and managing to make it sound somewhat conversational in context.”
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