Ike Ike! Baka Onna! (2020)

TL Notes follow.

Here we have a 2020 slice-of-life comedy film based on a manga of the same name. It's a light and easy watch about friendship between women. The film touches on topics of platonic, romantic, and sexual relationships and does feature some mild nudity here and there.

The subtitles are timed to the Netflix release of the film, but should be easy enough to adjust for any other platform.

You can find a link to the film's Drama-Otaku page, where the subtitles are hosted, here: https://drama-otaku.com/movie/ike-ike-bakaonna/

The subtitles can also be found on AvistaZ. The film is titled Go! Go! Stupid Woman! there.

Spoilers from here on.

Ike Ike! Baka Onna! happens to be my first ever attempt at fansubbing. It was easy enough to understand, and also fairly simple to translate. I came upon this film purely by chance while looking for underseeded torrents to pad out my seeding ratio (lol) and I was pleasantly surprised watching it—it's nothing special, but it's a refreshing slice-of-life film with a positive message about enduring friendships. I like that the primary dynamic of the film wasn't overshadowed by the romance in the latter half, but rather focused on how that romance helped ground the protagonist so she can be a better friend. Overall, this fansubbing project was primarily about dipping my toes into fansubbing over strong feelings towards the work, but I do like it.

TL Notes

Stupid Woman

Featuring regularly in the dialogue of this film, and appearing in its title, is the term "baka onna" which literally translates to "stupid woman". Frankly, I didn't find a literal translation of this term appropriate anywhere in the film. I hope that you can see that it carries a much more aggressive tone in English—I thought it jarring to translate it directly, and no alternative I could come up with was pleasant either. For the sake of the title drop, I did retain one usage of "stupid woman", but elected to translate its other appearances simply as adjectives (stupid, idiot, dumb, etc.) instead.

I'll be your friend for life!

This phrase recurs a few times in the film. A more direct translation would be "I'll be on your side forever" or "I'll always have your back". Yūko uses this as a corny proclamation of their lasting friendship, which Setsuko retorts to with an "I know that already". As such, I thought a little liberty here made for a much more natural-sounding translation.

Disclaimer: my subtitles are an unofficial, fan-made translation. I have no relation whatsoever to anyone involved with the media presented.

SZuzu TL