Here is Sato Amina’s confession, with English subtitles, from the video game AKB 1/49 Idol to Koi shitara.

This is a minor change from the usual 1/149 series, as we return to the first game in the series. Although she graduated in 2014, Sato Amina was (and is) well known for her very sweet and distinct voice.

One difficult facet of this confession is the usage of yoroshiku onegai shimasu (よろしくおねがいします). This is notoriously difficult to translate into English, as it varies in meaning from context to context, and is a relatively important (if not slightly generic) set phrase used in everyday Japanese.

Here’s smattering of meanings from an online dictionary:

As you can see, there are too many meanings! In the context of a confession, I’d like to think that it means something along the lines of, “Thank you (for accepting me)”, or, “Let’s have fun together” (in our ongoing relationship), or “Please treat me kindly”, and a number of other potential meanings.

In this particular confession, it’s a little bit more ambiguous, since she is playing around the metaphor of raising the flower together (as your “love-child”, ha!). It seems she is saying yoroshiku onegai shimasu both in regards to your relationship together, and in regard to raising the flower together. How to say this in English, I know not.

It might also be worth noting that it’s subject in the rejection scene is not very clear (such is the joy of the nuances Japanese, hah).  When she says, “kono ko dou shiyou?“, the literal meaning is, “What to do with this child?”  However the word, “ko“, could also meaning girl — which could mean she’s referring to herself in the third person (which is a thing that girls do to up their “cuteness” level; don’t ask me why!).

Anywhooo…. here is the full transcript with inline English translations.

Main scene

ね、ね。前にさ、あみなにお花の種くれたでしょう。
Hey. A while ago, you gave me a flower seeds, right?

ほら！芽が出たんだよ。可愛いよね。
Look! It started sprouting! It’s so cute, isn’t it?

あみなね、あれから毎日ちゃんと水あげて、毎日お日様にちゃんと照らしてあげて、そしたらなんだか自分の赤ちゃんみたいに思えてきて、どんなお花咲くのかな？
From that time, I watered it everyday, bathed it in sunlight everyday; then, for some reason, it started feeling like my baby. I wonder what kind of flowers will bloom…

ね、ね。この花の赤ちゃん一緒に育ってていきたいな。
Hey… I want to raise this baby together with you…

Acceptance

よかったですね！パパですよ！
This is great! Here’s your papa!

パパはちょっと早いか
I guess saying “Papa” is going too fast.

よろしくお願いします
Please treat us well!

Rejection

頑張ったのにな、毎日お水あげながら、あみなの思いを伝われますようにって。
I tried so hard, watering everyday, to be able to tell you my feelings.

この子、どうしよう。
What about this flower?

あみな、一人？
Me, by myself?