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Translating the song "One more time, one more chance" by Masayoshi Yamazaki from the movie "5cm per Second" gave me two lines that seem unclear:

くいちがう時はいつも 僕が先に折れたね
わがままな性格が なおさら愛しくさせた

In the first line both combinations make somewhat sense:
くいちがう -> cross ways or differ
折れた -> turn or give in

In the second line it is not clear (for me) who is the exact subject. Is it "me" or "you"? On the one hand speaking of his love as わがまま seems unlikely, but on the other hand the second half is unlikely if he speaks for himself.

Simplified version of story: Boy loves girl, becoming adults both lose sight of each other. Boy doesn't get over it and losing sight of what's imported and gets depressed.

Interestingly, looking up existing translations different variants came up:

a)

Whenever we disagreed, I would always give in first
Your selfish nature made me love you even more

(source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJmvvZk4C1A)

b)

When our path cross each other, I am always the first to turn
Making me indulge more in my selfish way

(source: http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/bfivecm/bfivecmonemoretime.htm)

Can anyone clear this misunderstanding?

1 Answer 1

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It is always intriguing looking at how Japanese-learners read Japanese.

For either the first line or second line, there is only one possible interpretation, not two.

くいちがう[時]{とき}はいつも [僕]{ぼく}が[先]{さき}に[折]{お}れたね

くいちがう here means "to differ in opinions" and 折れる means "to give in to the other person".

折れる cannot mean "to turn" in the phrase 「先に折れる」 even if it wanted to.

わがままな[性格]{せいかく}が なおさら[愛]{いとお}しくさせた

The speaker is calling the other person わがまま, not himself. More difficulties, more love.

So, between the two versions of translation that you have found, the first one wins by a landslide. There is no comparison. Frankly, the guy who did the second does not know much Japanese, trust me. He has got every part wrong! But that is often the quality of fan translation.

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  • Would you mind posting it again. As the questioner I'd really like to see any answer. And I wasn't the one who downvoted! I found a way to see your answer. Nevertheless, please provide it again, because it really helped!
    – hoshizora
    Dec 30, 2014 at 16:36
  • It is now the accepted answer, but would be more appealing with the unedited version :-)
    – hoshizora
    Dec 30, 2014 at 16:42
  • Thanks @snailboat for recovering the answer! Is there some kind of war going on here, downvoting with no comment?
    – hoshizora
    Dec 30, 2014 at 16:54

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