Duhn, da-da-da duhn, duhn, duhn, da-duhn!

I've been watching a lot of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Amazingly fun movie, though Cloud does wander into melodrama and teen angst every so often. At least when Vincent broods he's not a douche about it.

I'm watching it in Japanese, no subtitles, and I get slightly less than most of it. I've been struggling over the last few days to find a good English substitute for two lines though that come at the end of the movie. They are

皆の所 minna no tokoro

and

皆で遊ぼう？ minna de asobou?

Most of the problems I think I'm having come from the word 皆 minna, which in English is sort of equivalent to "everyone" though it is used much more freely in Japanese. The first line literally translates as "everybody's place" but in the context of the movie it is used to refer to the Lifestream, this sort of Schopenhauerian mystic force for good composed of myriad souls that flows over the world protecting it. When you die your ego floats up to the Lifestream and merges with it joyously, and in this sense "everybody's place" is a euphemism for Heaven, or something like it. But I'm having trouble coming up with a euphemism in English that sounds half decent. "everybody's place" just feels so peurile.

The second bit, minna de asobou, is even more difficult to render into English, mostly because I don't entirely understand the usage of the particle de in the sentence. Also the verb form of asobou while easy to render into English sounds terribly unnatural, at best archaic. It's used all the time in Japanese though, so I'll have to come up with a standard translation at some point.

The verb literally means "let's have fun" or more awkwardly because it's a question "shall we have fun?" The left half, minna de, either means "with everyone", which is more natural, or "as everyone", which is maybe more accurate if less mellifluous. It makes sense in the context of grand metaphysical myths like the Lifestream, but not much else. If you put it all together in English you come out with something looking like "shall we have fun with everyone?" or "shall we have fun as everyone?", neither of which is very appealing.

Anyway, that's my problem of the week. At some point I should find a copy of the movie with subtitles, so that I can take a look at how the professionals forced the language into submission.

I'm back to Tokyo tonight on the Japanese-really-fast-train. I have a meeting with my thesis advisor in an hour and a half, and I need to be getting off to school. Also, need time to work out for the first time in three weeks. Busy busy busy.