"It can't be... you... ?"

"It can't be... you... ?" These are the words from Shenmue's opening cut-scene gasped by Ryo's father, Iwao, after Lan Di levels an accusation of the murder of a man named Zhao Sun Ming (or "Sunming Zhao" in Shenmue II).

Just hold that thought while we perform an analysis.

A point of interest here is that the final word "you...?" suggests that Iwao may have a tentative idea of who Lan Di is. However is this really the case? It's a small point, but given that Ryo's entire journey kicks off from this crucial cut scene, it is worth a closer look.

In this post we'll examine the corresponding sentence in Japanese to try to get some clarification.


First, the interaction in context:

Lan Di: Do you remember Zhao Sun Ming?
Iwao: ... Zhao?
Lan Di: That's the name of the man you killed in Meng Cun.
Iwao: It can't be... you... ?

Comparing this with the original Japanese lines (with my translations):

Lan Di: 趙孫明を覚えているな… You remember Zhao Sun Ming...
Iwao: 趙…？ Zhao...?
Lan Di: 猛村で、お前が殺した男の名だ It's the name of the man you killed in Meng Cun.

So far, so good - the official English translations match closely. Now, to the line in question:

Iwao: まさか…おまえは？！ 

The first word in Japanese is "masaka", which is an exclamation of incredulity - something along the lines of "Surely not..." or "No way.." Again, the in-game translation, having "It can't be...", is fine to this point.

Use of the "wa" particle

It is at the very last part of the sentence where a small nuance is revealed compared to the official English translation. This is because the Japanese ends in a grammatical particle ("wa"), which signals that the sentence is incomplete. Note also the use of both a question mark and an exclamation mark, conveying Iwao's bewilderment.

To achieve a similar effect in the English, rather than the simple "you..." of the official translation, this could instead be expressed as a rhetorical question: "Are you...?!" Fitting this back into the overall sentence gives: "It can't be... Are you...?!"

Or, alternatively: "You... can't be...?!"  For example, his full thought that was left unspoken might be "You... can't be... his son?!".

Here, I've fixed it for you.

As I mentioned, it is more a subtle change in nuance rather than a new meaning, but I thought it deserved comment.

To me, the original English translation gives the impression that Iwao has been able to identify (or at least have a good guess at identifying) Lan Di as someone he specifically had in mind, although he did not recognize him directly.

On the other hand, from the Japanese we see that Iwao is slightly less certain, as if he does not really know who Lan Di could be, and he is making a speculative guess based off Lan Di's mention of Zhao Sun Ming.

Have you ever wondered about this particular line from Iwao? Has this changed your interpretation of it at all? Leave your thoughts below!

Shenmue opening cut-scene [the interaction in the post starts at 4:00]

Become a Patron!