Dontmindmejustafangirl - Tuturuuu~

ミオスレ

I've noticed that the Japanese Ace Attorney fandom (Particularly Narumitsu/Mitsunaru) uses "そのようなアレは、困る" in much the same way the Anglosphere fandom uses "Unnecessary feelings", but isn't that a line Edgeworth says about Oldbag being his bodyguard? The localization being something like, "Such an arrangement would be entirely too troublesome for me"? Could you explain what significance "そのようなアレは、困る" has? It's been driving me crazy. Thank you so much!

Thank you for asking the question that I didn’t realise I REALLY BADLY wanted to answer lmao.

 Okay, so first off let me explain about the phrase itself. the romanisation is: ‘Sono you na are wa komaru’, and, as you said, it is what Edgeworth says when Oldbag offers to be his bodyguard in 2-4. And, indeed, the translation used was as you said, “Such an arrangement would be entirely too troublesome for me” (or something like that).

 This is not a bad translation, but the phrase itself is very difficult to translate naturally, as is, into English. It literally means: That kind of (sono you na) something (are) is troublesome (komaru); “That kind of something is troublesome” or “that kind of thing is troublesome/troubles me.” Particularly the use of “are” is important and takes some explanation. Usually, you would say sono you na koto wa komaru”, “koto” just meaning thing. However, although “are” also means “thing”, “koto” 100% would refer to what the other person just said, whereas “are” has a bit more vagueness and “distance” about it. (in context, it’s clear what he means, but it just has that extra layer of indirectness, if you will, since “are” usually means “that ‘thing’ over there”, or something far away from the topic of conversation in terms of time, distance, etc. I could go on, but I don’t want this to get too complicated! Just know that he’s being very indirect!)

As you can see, in Japanese, the phrase comes out a lot more vaguely than it does in English, where he specifies that it’s the arrangement that troubles him. Trying to keep it that vague in English doesn’t sound right, hence the change.

 However, this phrase has become much like Edgeworth’s catchphrase in the Japanese fandom/version, and even appears on some merch (see the pic at the bottom of the post). The reason this is, is that even by Japanese standards, it’s an incredibly vague phrase and speaks to Edgeworth’s tsundere tendencies. Rather than just telling her to f off, he says that “that kind of thing is troublesome”, because he’s too embarrassed to acknowledge and confront the romantic intentions behind Oldbag’s suggestion. Basically that he avoids any kind of romance/sexual situations and finds them awkward/doesn’t like to talk about them, because he’s Edgeworth. Quite frankly, this is adorable, and unlike the English translation, it is a versatile phrase that can fit a variety of situations. Not to mention, in Japanese, Edgeworth is notorious for speaking vaguely whenever he is embarrassed or unwilling to admit something, in a way that doesn’t translate well or is so clear in English. In both the PVs for Apollo Justice and AAI, for example, the subject of him being a protagonist to the new game comes up, and he begins to ramble in vague sentences about how he doesn’t care about being a protagonist, although it’s clear through this that he very much wants to be. (For example, (paraphrasing here) he says: “Me? The protagonist? Usually I would say: sono you na are wa komaru… but, I suppose I have no choice… if I REALLY have to… but I’m not particular interested… but if I must…)

 So, although he doesn’t often say “sono you na are wa komaru”, it has become a kind of representative phrase relating to his habit of retracting into vague speech when he’s having a tsundere moment. By extension, a lot of the fandom have used this phrase to represent Edgeworth’s disinterest in women. For example, in fanfics, if there is a female character trying to come on to him, he may say it in response (like he did to Oldbag). I have also definitely seen it being used as titles for Narumitsu doujinshi, where it may be in a sexual situation that Phoenix is like trying to come on to him and Edgeworth is getting shy and embarrassed and telling him it’s troublesome (counter to his true feelings). But, as we can see, it can also be used in much more innocent situations, such as Edgeworth being embarrassed about wanting to be the main character.

 In short, although “unnecessary feelings” is often used as a Narumitsu thing, “sono you na are wa komaru” is used as an Edgeworth thing. It therefore trickles down into Narumitsu by extension, but is a more widely-used term and not just exclusive to Narumitsu (unlike unnecessary feelings).