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[TRANSLATION] NewType 50 Questions: Lelouch
What they are: apparently a semi-regular NewType Romance feature? Questions asked of Lelouch and answered in-character, from a February 2007 issue.
You can find Suzaku's version here.
50 Questions for Lelouch
1. Birthday
December 5th.
2. Bloodtype
Type A.
3. Your height is?
178cm.1
4. Favorite color?
Violet. Because it's said to be a refined color, and it has the greatest mysterious appeal.
5. Hobbies?
I like making things by hand, do-it-yourself projects, that sort of thing.2
6. Liberal arts? Sciences? Or are you more the athletic type?
What a meaningless question.
7. What's your best subject?
Mathematics.
8. What are your marks like?3
I think they're on the higher end, but it doesn't matter.4
9. Your dream for the future?
To overthrow5 Britannia.
10. Please describe your personality in no fewer than two characters and no more than six.
"Rock". That's only one character, but it's read as "iwa"! In other words, I don't let small things get to me. —Yes I do? Don't be absurd.
11. Please tell us what your strong and weak points are.
I've never even thought about it.
12. Favorite foods?
Foods that are tender or creamy6. Like shrimp7 — or pudding.
13. Your least favorite foods?
Gooey foods. Things like natto, or grated yam.
14. After you wake up, what's the first thing you taste?8
Coffee.
15. Morning person? Night person?
Night person. I'm just like the owl of Minerva.9
16. Which do you prefer, baths or showers?
I tried using a narrow bathtub for the first time after arriving Japan. As long as it's just once in a while, it's nice enough.
17. When did you first fall in love? (And with whom?)
I'd rather keep that to myself.
18. Your greatest failure?
When I couldn't protect my mother and sister.
19. How do you vent your frustrations?
I determine the root cause of my frustrations and address it. Then there's nothing to vent.
20. Who would you say is your personal hero?
My mother.
21. Indoor type? Outdoor type?
I won't bother thinking about that, as I can't imagine what point there would be to such a categorization.
22. What's in your wallet?
I don't carry cash. I'm a credit card-user10.
23. Special skill?
I suppose you could say I'm clever with my hands.
24. How do you commute to school?
I live on campus.
25. When have you been glad to be a man?
I've never imagined what it would be like to be a woman.
26. What do you most want to eat right now?
Curry udon. It's a food that surpasses cultural barriers.
27. Describe your ideal family situation.
In traditional Japanese architecture, there's this concept of a central pillar. A single pillar that supports the entire house. I think the head of a household should be like that.
28. Favorite season?
Winter. Because it helps me focus. Much better than summer, which brings back unpleasant memories.11
29. Do you get up easily in the morning, or is it a struggle?
Something of a struggle. I have low blood pressure, after all.
30. How many hours of sleep do you get on average?
Approximately three? But, including naps throughout the day, I might sleep more like six hours.
31. Your last dream?
I dreamt a meteorite landed on and crushed me. I blame C.C.'s awful sleeping posture.
32. How much time does it take you to get ready in the morning?
I've never paid attention.
33. Do you have anyone you admire?
Arthur.
34. Please tell us how you spend your holidays.
Holiday? That word isn't in my dictionary.
35. Western food or Japanese food?9
What's 'western food'? —Oh, it's a generic term? Then, western, I suppose; I like Italian.
36. If you could be born again, what would you like to be?
Arthur.
37. What have you been really into lately?
Forming an organization, I suppose.
38. Your favorite animal?
Cats. They're lithe and beautiful. Like the waltz. Though Arthur is... more like a pop song.
39. Of the necessities for life (clothing, food, shelter), which is the most important?
Shelter. It's a person's base of operations, as well as their place of refuge — fundamental to any country.
40. Sorry to spring this on you, but what is love?
Something given unconditionally.
41. Please take a guess at what you'll be like 30 years from now.
I'd like you to pray for me that my hair won't become anything like that man's...12
42. If you could travel through time, when would you return to?
I suppose, if I would still remember what I know now, I'd be able to prevent all of it from happening...
43. Favorite book? (Or what magazines do you read frequently?)
Lord of the Rings, Il Principe, Hamlet...13
44. Your preferred type of woman?
A soft person. Do you understand what I mean?
45. Are you someone who takes care of other people, or someone who gets taken care of?14
I derive greater satisfaction from being considerate of others than the reverse.
46. Did you receive any Valentine's Day chocolate? How much?
I won't answer that. ..."Probably didn't get anything", you say? I did get some! Not as many as Nunnally, though, for whatever reason.
47. What would you do with a million yen?15 (Like if you won the lottery?)
I'd invest it and make ten times as much.
48. What type of person is Suzaku?
Softhearted to the point of being a fool...
49. We've already reached the forty-ninth question. Are you getting tired?
I've been tired of this since the fifth question.
50. What do you want for Christmas?
A sewing machine. I'm going to update my cape and mask.
Notes
1 ~5'10".↩
2 'Weekend carpenter' and 'handicrafts'.↩
3 Grades, test scores, etc.↩
4 Sometimes the usage of 知らない (as opposed to 分からない) carries with it an implication of '...and I don't care to find out'.↩
5 This is not the same phrase Lelouch uses at the start of the show, where he says ブリタニアを打っ壊す — 'crush, wreck, destroy'.↩
6 Lit. 'Tender (to chew)' and 'yielding, soft, elastic'. Lelouch's descriptors both here and below are all about texture, rather than flavor.↩
7 えび, without kanji, which in Japanese is something of a general term. Per WikiPedia, it covers the former reptant decapod "macrura" (long-tailed) classification, which has been abolished these days for having no scientific basis. Shrimp, lobster, that sort of thing... but explicitly not crab. (Leaving it as 'shrimp' in the actual answer, because by itself えび is more likely to evoke 'shrimp' than 'lobster', but do note Lelouch's like; he's definitely also a fan of other similar foods.)↩
8 Lit. 'Put in your mouth', but it's an expression that means eat or drink. (Translating it this way so as to make Suzaku's answer more comprehensible.)↩
9 A reference to 19th-century idealist philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who famously said, "The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk."↩
10 Lit. "Faction' or 'clique'.↩
11 Lit. 'As for summer, it reminds me of unpleasant things, so I dislike it.'↩
12 Lit. "rolls", but almost certainly a reference to Charles's hair. In one of the directorial commentaries, Taniguchi joked that maybe that's Charles's natural hair, rather than a wig — and in the Miraculous Anniversary Picture Drama, C.C. briefly imagines an older Lelouch with spectacular curls.↩
13 That's the original Japanese translation of Tolkein's work (lit. 'Legend of the Ring'), and Machiavelli's 'The Prince' (lit. 'Essay on Ruling'). As a reminder, Machiavelli was being satirical, and Lelouch really should know that.↩
14 尽くすほう？尽くされるほう？ Could be translated in a few different ways, but I think this is the intention here.↩
15 Approx. 7700GBP or 9900USD as of 2016.↩
original Japanese
1. １２月五日。
2. A型だ。
3. １７８㎝
4. 紫。高貴な色だと言われているし、何より妖しい魅力がある。
5. 日曜大工とか手芸とかも好きだ。
6. 無意味な質問だな。
7. 数学。
8. 上のほうだとは思うが知らない。
9. 打倒ブリタニア。
10. 岩。１文字になっているが、読みは「いわ」だ！多少のことではどうじないという意味で。違う？そんな事はないぞ。
11. 考えたこともない。
12. ぷりぷりぷるぷるしたものだ。えびとかぷりんとか。
13. ねばねばするものだ。納豆とか、とろろとか。
14. コーヒー。
15. 夜型。ミネルヴァの梟と同じだ
16. 日本に来て初めて狭いバスタブに入った。たまになら良いものだな。
17. 初恋は、自分の中だけにしまっておきたい。
18. 母と妹を守ることができなかった。
19. なぜイライラするか原因を追求し解消する。そうすれば苛立つこともないだろう。
20. 母親。
21. 考えたことはないし、分類することに意味があるとも思えない。
22. 小銭は持たない。カード派だ。
23. 手先が器用なところかな。
24. 学園内に住んでいる。
25. 女になったことを想像したことがない。
26. カレーうどん。あれは文化の壁を超えた食べ物だ。
27. 日本の古い建築に大黒柱というものがある。１本の柱が、その家全体を支える。一家の主はtそうあるべきだと思う。
28. 冬。気分が引き締まるから。夏は嫌なことを思い出すから嫌いだ。
29. 悪いらしい。低血圧なんだ。
30. ３時間程度か。だが、昼寝を含めると６時間は寝ているかもしれない。
31. 隕石が落っこちてきて圧迫される夢を見た。C.Cの寝相の悪さが原因だ。
32. 時間は気にしたことがない。
33. アーサー。
34. 休日？ そういう発想はない。
35. 洋食とは何だ？ああ、総称か？ なら洋食かな、イタリアンが好きだ。
36. アーサー。
37. 組織づくりかな。
38. 猫。彼らはしなやかで美しい。ワルツのように。アーサーは・・・民謡だが・・と。
39. 住だ。人々の根拠地でもあり避難所でもある、それこそが国の基本だ。
40. 限りなく与えるもの。
41. 髪がロール状にならないように祈って欲しい・・・・・・。
42. 今の記憶を持っていけば、不幸は事前に防げるのだろうな。
43. 「指輪伝説」「君主論」「ハムレット」
44. ふわふわな人。この意味、分かるか？
45. 想われるよりも想うことに充実を感じる。
46. 教えない。(貰えなかったんだろうって？) 貰えたさいくつかは！ なぜかナナリーの方が数多かったけどな。
47. それを元手に１０倍に増やす。
48. バカがつくほどのお人好しだ・・・・・・。
49. 最初の５問目から疲れている。
50. ミシン。最新の仮面とマントを作る。
You can find Suzaku's version here.
50 Questions for Lelouch
1. Birthday
December 5th.
2. Bloodtype
Type A.
3. Your height is?
178cm.1
4. Favorite color?
Violet. Because it's said to be a refined color, and it has the greatest mysterious appeal.
5. Hobbies?
I like making things by hand, do-it-yourself projects, that sort of thing.2
6. Liberal arts? Sciences? Or are you more the athletic type?
What a meaningless question.
7. What's your best subject?
Mathematics.
8. What are your marks like?3
I think they're on the higher end, but it doesn't matter.4
9. Your dream for the future?
To overthrow5 Britannia.
10. Please describe your personality in no fewer than two characters and no more than six.
"Rock". That's only one character, but it's read as "iwa"! In other words, I don't let small things get to me. —Yes I do? Don't be absurd.
11. Please tell us what your strong and weak points are.
I've never even thought about it.
12. Favorite foods?
Foods that are tender or creamy6. Like shrimp7 — or pudding.
13. Your least favorite foods?
Gooey foods. Things like natto, or grated yam.
14. After you wake up, what's the first thing you taste?8
Coffee.
15. Morning person? Night person?
Night person. I'm just like the owl of Minerva.9
16. Which do you prefer, baths or showers?
I tried using a narrow bathtub for the first time after arriving Japan. As long as it's just once in a while, it's nice enough.
17. When did you first fall in love? (And with whom?)
I'd rather keep that to myself.
18. Your greatest failure?
When I couldn't protect my mother and sister.
19. How do you vent your frustrations?
I determine the root cause of my frustrations and address it. Then there's nothing to vent.
20. Who would you say is your personal hero?
My mother.
21. Indoor type? Outdoor type?
I won't bother thinking about that, as I can't imagine what point there would be to such a categorization.
22. What's in your wallet?
I don't carry cash. I'm a credit card-user10.
23. Special skill?
I suppose you could say I'm clever with my hands.
24. How do you commute to school?
I live on campus.
25. When have you been glad to be a man?
I've never imagined what it would be like to be a woman.
26. What do you most want to eat right now?
Curry udon. It's a food that surpasses cultural barriers.
27. Describe your ideal family situation.
In traditional Japanese architecture, there's this concept of a central pillar. A single pillar that supports the entire house. I think the head of a household should be like that.
28. Favorite season?
Winter. Because it helps me focus. Much better than summer, which brings back unpleasant memories.11
29. Do you get up easily in the morning, or is it a struggle?
Something of a struggle. I have low blood pressure, after all.
30. How many hours of sleep do you get on average?
Approximately three? But, including naps throughout the day, I might sleep more like six hours.
31. Your last dream?
I dreamt a meteorite landed on and crushed me. I blame C.C.'s awful sleeping posture.
32. How much time does it take you to get ready in the morning?
I've never paid attention.
33. Do you have anyone you admire?
Arthur.
34. Please tell us how you spend your holidays.
Holiday? That word isn't in my dictionary.
35. Western food or Japanese food?9
What's 'western food'? —Oh, it's a generic term? Then, western, I suppose; I like Italian.
36. If you could be born again, what would you like to be?
Arthur.
37. What have you been really into lately?
Forming an organization, I suppose.
38. Your favorite animal?
Cats. They're lithe and beautiful. Like the waltz. Though Arthur is... more like a pop song.
39. Of the necessities for life (clothing, food, shelter), which is the most important?
Shelter. It's a person's base of operations, as well as their place of refuge — fundamental to any country.
40. Sorry to spring this on you, but what is love?
Something given unconditionally.
41. Please take a guess at what you'll be like 30 years from now.
I'd like you to pray for me that my hair won't become anything like that man's...12
42. If you could travel through time, when would you return to?
I suppose, if I would still remember what I know now, I'd be able to prevent all of it from happening...
43. Favorite book? (Or what magazines do you read frequently?)
Lord of the Rings, Il Principe, Hamlet...13
44. Your preferred type of woman?
A soft person. Do you understand what I mean?
45. Are you someone who takes care of other people, or someone who gets taken care of?14
I derive greater satisfaction from being considerate of others than the reverse.
46. Did you receive any Valentine's Day chocolate? How much?
I won't answer that. ..."Probably didn't get anything", you say? I did get some! Not as many as Nunnally, though, for whatever reason.
47. What would you do with a million yen?15 (Like if you won the lottery?)
I'd invest it and make ten times as much.
48. What type of person is Suzaku?
Softhearted to the point of being a fool...
49. We've already reached the forty-ninth question. Are you getting tired?
I've been tired of this since the fifth question.
50. What do you want for Christmas?
A sewing machine. I'm going to update my cape and mask.
Notes
1 ~5'10".↩
2 'Weekend carpenter' and 'handicrafts'.↩
3 Grades, test scores, etc.↩
4 Sometimes the usage of 知らない (as opposed to 分からない) carries with it an implication of '...and I don't care to find out'.↩
5 This is not the same phrase Lelouch uses at the start of the show, where he says ブリタニアを打っ壊す — 'crush, wreck, destroy'.↩
6 Lit. 'Tender (to chew)' and 'yielding, soft, elastic'. Lelouch's descriptors both here and below are all about texture, rather than flavor.↩
7 えび, without kanji, which in Japanese is something of a general term. Per WikiPedia, it covers the former reptant decapod "macrura" (long-tailed) classification, which has been abolished these days for having no scientific basis. Shrimp, lobster, that sort of thing... but explicitly not crab. (Leaving it as 'shrimp' in the actual answer, because by itself えび is more likely to evoke 'shrimp' than 'lobster', but do note Lelouch's like; he's definitely also a fan of other similar foods.)↩
8 Lit. 'Put in your mouth', but it's an expression that means eat or drink. (Translating it this way so as to make Suzaku's answer more comprehensible.)↩
9 A reference to 19th-century idealist philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who famously said, "The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk."↩
10 Lit. "Faction' or 'clique'.↩
11 Lit. 'As for summer, it reminds me of unpleasant things, so I dislike it.'↩
12 Lit. "rolls", but almost certainly a reference to Charles's hair. In one of the directorial commentaries, Taniguchi joked that maybe that's Charles's natural hair, rather than a wig — and in the Miraculous Anniversary Picture Drama, C.C. briefly imagines an older Lelouch with spectacular curls.↩
13 That's the original Japanese translation of Tolkein's work (lit. 'Legend of the Ring'), and Machiavelli's 'The Prince' (lit. 'Essay on Ruling'). As a reminder, Machiavelli was being satirical, and Lelouch really should know that.↩
14 尽くすほう？尽くされるほう？ Could be translated in a few different ways, but I think this is the intention here.↩
15 Approx. 7700GBP or 9900USD as of 2016.↩
original Japanese
1. １２月五日。
2. A型だ。
3. １７８㎝
4. 紫。高貴な色だと言われているし、何より妖しい魅力がある。
5. 日曜大工とか手芸とかも好きだ。
6. 無意味な質問だな。
7. 数学。
8. 上のほうだとは思うが知らない。
9. 打倒ブリタニア。
10. 岩。１文字になっているが、読みは「いわ」だ！多少のことではどうじないという意味で。違う？そんな事はないぞ。
11. 考えたこともない。
12. ぷりぷりぷるぷるしたものだ。えびとかぷりんとか。
13. ねばねばするものだ。納豆とか、とろろとか。
14. コーヒー。
15. 夜型。ミネルヴァの梟と同じだ
16. 日本に来て初めて狭いバスタブに入った。たまになら良いものだな。
17. 初恋は、自分の中だけにしまっておきたい。
18. 母と妹を守ることができなかった。
19. なぜイライラするか原因を追求し解消する。そうすれば苛立つこともないだろう。
20. 母親。
21. 考えたことはないし、分類することに意味があるとも思えない。
22. 小銭は持たない。カード派だ。
23. 手先が器用なところかな。
24. 学園内に住んでいる。
25. 女になったことを想像したことがない。
26. カレーうどん。あれは文化の壁を超えた食べ物だ。
27. 日本の古い建築に大黒柱というものがある。１本の柱が、その家全体を支える。一家の主はtそうあるべきだと思う。
28. 冬。気分が引き締まるから。夏は嫌なことを思い出すから嫌いだ。
29. 悪いらしい。低血圧なんだ。
30. ３時間程度か。だが、昼寝を含めると６時間は寝ているかもしれない。
31. 隕石が落っこちてきて圧迫される夢を見た。C.Cの寝相の悪さが原因だ。
32. 時間は気にしたことがない。
33. アーサー。
34. 休日？ そういう発想はない。
35. 洋食とは何だ？ああ、総称か？ なら洋食かな、イタリアンが好きだ。
36. アーサー。
37. 組織づくりかな。
38. 猫。彼らはしなやかで美しい。ワルツのように。アーサーは・・・民謡だが・・と。
39. 住だ。人々の根拠地でもあり避難所でもある、それこそが国の基本だ。
40. 限りなく与えるもの。
41. 髪がロール状にならないように祈って欲しい・・・・・・。
42. 今の記憶を持っていけば、不幸は事前に防げるのだろうな。
43. 「指輪伝説」「君主論」「ハムレット」
44. ふわふわな人。この意味、分かるか？
45. 想われるよりも想うことに充実を感じる。
46. 教えない。(貰えなかったんだろうって？) 貰えたさいくつかは！ なぜかナナリーの方が数多かったけどな。
47. それを元手に１０倍に増やす。
48. バカがつくほどのお人好しだ・・・・・・。
49. 最初の５問目から疲れている。
50. ミシン。最新の仮面とマントを作る。
17. When did you first fall in love? (And with whom?)
(Anonymous) 2023-12-04 10:12 am (UTC)(link)