I am researching the light novel series Baccano! authored by 成田良悟 (Narita Ryōgo). I haven't been able to find out who the translator(s) is/are. Especially for Vol. 5 (light novel): 2001 The Children of Bottle.
1 Answer
Taylor Engel
The official translations of the series are done by Taylor Engel. Here are 1, 2, 3, 4 more supporting links, since I'm not sure what would count as proper/official evidence. Everyone I've found agrees on this. Engel is the only official translator for the series, which includes the fifth light novel.
However, note I did say official translations. There are fan translations of the series, of varying quality, different in some ways from the official ones. The linked Reddit post has a list of various pros/cons. I've quoted three here.
- The official translations are less liberal with profanity/curse words than the fan translations are--which is to say, the fan TLs are more sweary. This is just an observation on my part, not a 'for' or 'against'; the JP language doesn't really 'do' swearing, you see, so it's usually up to a translator's discretion when it comes to using them.
- I really appreciate Engel's efforts to incorporate period slang/vernacular; yes, it's something you'd expect at minimum for anything w/a period setting, but if people can praise the 2007 anime English dub for its use of slang than so can I this.
- There's only one thing so far for which I'll never accept the official translation version, and that's Ronny's catchphrase (maa, iie in Japanese). Engel translates it as "Well, never mind," but "Well, no matter" is forever superior and YP can pry it from my cold dead hands.
Not all the light novels are officially translated yet, as far as I can tell. They've at least translated 15, according to the link numbered "4" in my list at the top.