I've always wondered about this quote:

Dagger: How did you survive?
Zidane: I didn't have a choice. I had to come home to you. So... I sang your song.
Dagger: Our song.

because in the japanese version, it translates to this:

Dagger: Why did you help?
Zidane: There's no need for a reason to help... ...we've got to keep on living. That is why... ...I'm singing... ...that very song.

The first one expresses Zidane's dedication to Dagger, and is romantic. The second one is quite a bit less romantic and I can't figure out why it would end that way in the japanese version.

Any thoughts?

Wow..... this is interesting. :)

Well, here's a way I might be anle interpret the Japanese ending.

"There's no need for a reason to help." I can imagine Zidane saying that becasue Dagger might have been asking him for an explaination. Remember how he chose to stay at Iifa over going home with Dagger? He stayed to help Kuja, the one person who had just tried to kill them all. That seems to echo Zidane's philosopy in the English version, "You don't need a reason to help people."

"...we've got to keep living." In the Japanese version of Melodies of Life (the Layers of Harmony), there are words that translate to: "Though I may die, as long as you live, life goes on eternally, anywhere, as long as you're strong." Remember that the Gaia from that point on was different than what the'd started off with. Friends had died, people had to move on with their lives.

"That is why... I'm singing... that very song." I think what Zidane is trying to say is that they still needed to pass on whatever they had learned.

There were a lot of lines that were changed and might have been interpreted differently in Japanese, so maybe it's a classic case of meaning getting lost in the translation. :) Persoanlly, I agree with you. the first quote has always struck a chord with me. :)

Well, that >>is<< very interesting. I personally like the Japanese quote better; I just think it sums up the game a bit better and stays true to the messages. The focus of the game for me wasn't the gay love story between a couple of way-too-mature teens.:Whatever:

The Japanese have always been more discreet about themes in their stories and movies. Just because the words are different, does not mean that the whole theme is different. The love between Zidane and Dagger is implicit throught the whole ending cinematic: Dagger gives up her crown and the most powerful eidolon in existance for Zidane, and Zidane triumphs over the impossible to return to the one he loves.

Oh, and by the way, I forgot a seemingly *very* important part of the Japanese text! I can't believe I did that, because it seems to change the meaning of it quite a bit.

Dagger: Why did you help?
Zidane: There's no need for a reason to help... ...we've got to keep on living. For the sake of returning to that place someday. That is why... ...I'm singing... ...that very song.

For the sake of returning to what place someday? Maidan Sari? (I only say that because earlier Zidane promised Dagger they would return there).

I've tried to find a translation of any other parts of the script, but no luck. There is nothing that says what "that" is.

Zidane: There's no need for a reason to help... ...we've got to keep on living. That is why... ...I'm singing... ...that very song.

<font face="lucida calligraphy" size="2">Its been some time since I've played the game, but it seems to me "that song" would be a reference to the song Garnet always sung... I suppose it could be the same thing as "our song", just a different translation... romantic either way, I suppose.

Wow... well, you're right Armadillo. That does add quite a bit to the endign quote. :)

"For the sake of returning to that place someday..."

Well, one thing I've always thought Zidane had been searching for, ever since he was a child... was "home." A place to call home. Now one thing I don't know is how much it's changed from the Japanese script. But remember when he was talking to Garland in the English version?

"If only I had a place to call home."

Many of the characters in FF9 were always searching for something. Searching for a place they belonged. I think that might be one thing Zidane is talking about. For him, it was with Dagger; he'd finally found his place in life, and I think that's what he was saying.

It's powerful either way, I think. :)

Goodie, and never forget that this one song you can hear erh... when you start the game (the flutes..., you know) is called "The place I�ll return to someday".

Just wanted to add this.
Argh... the message of the game makes me both happy and sad at the same time whenever I come to think of it.

There's also a melody in FF9, which, in Japanese, is called "FU-RA-SA-TO." We hear it as a collections of songs, beginning with, as Misao mentioned "The Place I'll Return to Someday." It continues in "Ipsen's Castle," "The Four Mirrors," and "Terra."

"FU-RA-SA-TO," losely translated, is "the place you come from."

This theme is carried through a lot of the diague in FF9, so I think that's another reason why Zidane said what he did. :)

I'd never heard that translation, but it doesn't seem to be unromantic to me. I prefer that version, actually. Like Serrienne said, I see "that very song" as being equivelent to "our song".

The officially liscensed US FFIX OST CD (the single disc one released by TokoyoPop), which has FU-RU-SA-TO on it as a bonus track, translated it as 'Homeland' - which means pretty much the same as your translation Kuro. It's a simple harpsichord and drum version of 'The Place I'll Return To Someday', which is almost it's opposite in title. Quite ironic huh?

That theme, as Kuro correctly mentioned, appears throughout the game (it's technically FFIX's main theme) - hte best version in my opinion is 'A Transient Past' - the spooky chant that plays in the room with those faces telling the party about Terra's history. But I'm getting off topic here, so I agree with what Kuro said.

The music title pretty much sums up what Zidane was feeling. That they were all searching for a home that they could truely call their own, and Zidane found his with Garnet, so naturally, that's another thing which gave him the strength to survive and return to Garnet in that scene.