Huan Zhu Ge Ge II Episode 28 English sub

Very exciting episode! We’re almost at the turning point of the show!

Notes:

Huan Zhu Ge Ge II Episode 27 English sub (Princess Returning Pearl II)

Mostly just moving the plot forward in this episode. Er Kang’s mom talks like she’s in a soap opera as always.

Episode 27 – Get it here!

The only thing they sort of mention in passing again from series 1 is their prison break.  Last time, they were locked in a different prison (it was the Imperial Court’s prison, this time it’s the main internal prison), where they were tortured by a corrupt official they briefly had a run-in with previously. The corrupt official, Minister Liang, spared no efforts to torture them under the Empress’s orders (and to exact his own revenge).

That other prison must have not been in the Palace, because somehow Liu Qing and Liu Hong were also there to help break them out. But who knows. This is obviously not the world’s most historically accurate show.

Feel free to read previous show notes for other references/tidbits that may also be relevant.

Huan Zhu Ge Ge II Episode 26 English sub

Significantly more interesting and exciting episode!

Notes:

• “Death is like feathers and mountains” – Er Kang is trying to say that some death is as meaningless as the feather of some bird, and some death is as significant as Mount Tai. In Chinese, “light/heavy” is synonymous with “insignificant/meaningful” in a way that’s more direct than in English.
• “Amithaba” is the name of a Buddha, but it also serves as a general catch-all expression in Buddhism. Supposedly started in more ancient times, a master monk chanted Amithaba’s name (in Chinese, Amituofo) 100,000 a day in his head. He had to do it continuously to hit that goal, so when people spoke to him, he simply vocalized what he’s thinking in his head in response, no matter what the question is.
• The old tigress tale has a lot of different versions online, basically all talking about a tiger who transforms into human form through/in order to eat children. But I had never heard of it before this, because it’s more of a Taiwanese folk tale and the writer of the show is Taiwanese. It might have originated in the Qing dynasty in Southern China so it’s not super anachronistic, but who knows if it’s a classic folk tale in Beijing at the time.

Episode 26 – Get it here!

Huan Zhu Ge Ge II Episode 25 English sub

This is probably the worst episode in the whole series. So hard to watch. But good news is, it’s all uphill from here!

This episode was missing a pretty crucial scene, that has some good story telling, not something I could do justice with a short note. So I had to stitch together an alternative source. Apologies for the crude production value.

Episode 25 – Get it here!

The rest are being timed this week, but there’s lots to do for my upcoming move, so I might not release as fast as I had been.

Huan Zhu Ge Ge II Episode 24 English sub (Princess Return Pearl II)

I am really proud of this one. The “raw” had 2 very long speaking passages (1-2 minutes) of silence, and I had to fix it. It took me hours to figure out each step in the process, but I don’t think anyone will be able to tell the difference! Yay! However, I don’t think I’ll do this if the episodes have their few seconds of silence in non-speaking parts, because the process I learned compromises video and audio quality a little bit, so it’s not entirely worth it when the quality is already pretty low. But maybe I’ll fix that annoying audio sync issue in episode 3 after I finish all 48 episodes.

In this episode, Meng Dan is very selfish. Xiao Jian recites a parody of a poem. I never knew what that poem was, but in doing research for translating, I was surprised to find that it was a parody of another poem. Wang Zhao Jun is the pen name of one of China’s four great beauties, who herself was “taken into captivity” to be an Emperor’s consort, and felt stifled and caged. In the show, they take certain pieces of the poem, and some lines are changed (but still rhyme!) with the original, it’s pretty clever.

Episode 24 – Get it here!

Ok, give me another week for episode 25. Thanks!

Huan Zhu Ge Ge II Episode 23 English sub

I recommend the crying parts at 1.5x on VLC.

Otherwise, great episode, pretty straightforward, not much to report!

Episode 23 – Get it here!

Enjoy!

24 will be out tomorrow, and then after that, I’ll probably take another week to finish translating 25-36. I’m also in the process of moving in real life, so maybe it won’t go as quickly as it has been. But we’re already halfway through! 🙂

Huan Zhu Ge Ge Episode 22 English sub (Princess Return Pearl II)

Not much to report in this episode, some light comedy, some plot advancement, a good mix of both.

Episode 22 – Get it here!

Enjoy!

 

Huan Zhu Ge Ge II Episode 21 English sub

A mostly plot-driven episode, lots of plot points are resolved and introduced.

Additional notes:

• The first poem is a modification of a famous poem from the Qing dynasty, saying how the elegant things of life before are no longer, and now all the necessities are just the most basic things. But he changed it to almost say that even though life is not as lavish as the old days, he still has the world as his home (and his flute and sword), rather than just the bare survival necessities (basic food and shelter).
• The second poem appears to be his own creation, about his own life I guess.
• “The Utterances of the Returned Pearl” is something the Emperor jokingly suggested on their excursion last series, to capture all of Xiao Yan Zi’s catchphrases – like “I take sole responsibility for my actions, only a head and a life to lose” or “turn strength to goo/bees.”
• This series, she also recently added “A gentleman’s word, can’t be chased by eight horses, plus nine incense burners!” first uttered in the previous episode. It’s a mix of 2 incorrect idioms, both meaning that one’s word is bond. The second part with incense burners is from episode 9’s idioms, where a “ding” is a very heavy cauldron, but XYZ was like, “oh! the incense burner is a ding.”

Episode 21 – Get it here!

We’re almost halfway! I’ve begun translating 25-36. Honestly 25-29 are my least favorite episodes in the whole show, but 30-45 are my favorite.

Huan Zhu Ge Ge II – Episode 20 English sub (Princess Return Pearl II)

Some good revenge, and the jumpstart of the next arc. And a clip of Alec Su singing in his real, non-dubbed voice!!!!

In this episode, Qing Er flexes her poetry knowledge once again to swoop in and save our main character’s asses. In this watch through Qing Er is definitely my favorite character. I always love XYZ but she is definitely bratty at times. Qing Er is really the only levelheaded and mature person in this entire show.

At some point, Qing Er also says the Palace is missing some “human touch,” as in it’s a bit sterile and rigid. In Chinese, she’s saying “people feelings flavor,” like “the air of people’s emotions,” which she then breaks down into the three individual parts – people, feelings, and flavor. Later on, our main characters riff on that by saying that “life is deliciously flavorful and colorful.” It didn’t really work in English speech, so I sort of summarized more than direct translation. It definitely sounds more clever in Chinese though.

Episode 20 – Get it here!

When our team tackled HZGG I ten years ago, we really went for the approach of “capturing the language” as closely as possible. But I came across clips of our subs on YT a couple of years ago, and I found them hard to read. So this time, my approach is for the translated script to read well on its own, for the lines to be easily readable. Even if I have to paraphrase or eliminate some words, as long as it doesn’t ruin the meaning. The script is kind of an odd combination of colloquialisms and more formal sounding speech anyway, so I sort of give myself the same liberties in the translation (esp if XYZ is speaking).

I just want to be proud of these subs in ten years too ;( I’m super super proud of the other ones, but I’d definitely make some revisions if I still had the files…

Huan Zhu Ge Ge II Episode 19 English sub (Princess Return Pearl II)

Sorry again for a missing scene of about a minute. The cut is pretty jarring, so I added a note.

Episode 19 – Get it here!

Not much to note. Marriage by abduction / bride kidnapping is a real thing all over the world. Apparently it wasn’t immediately obvious that the parade was a wedding to my proofreader. That, and how we all wish we could cry into a pile of roast duck.

This arc’s satisfying conclusion in the next episode, coming soon!