Hmm...That's a pretty big missed opportunity, right there. How frustrating, because that would have made the line even sweeter.

But...actually, the thing I was complaining about was a bit more of a localization thing than a translation thing: I know that "like" is technically accurate... But to an American audience, for a lot of the scenes -- Maria's especially, because it just has such a strong feeling to it -- it reads contextually wrong (to me at least; am I alone in this?), and I think "love" would have been a better word-choice. It's a difference in cultural expression that I think ended up a little neglected by the localization team.

Popuri could well keep "Like," though, and I think Ann can, too. My internal jury is still out about Karen and Elli, but is inclined for yes for the former and no for the latter.

Of course, that's rather a lot to expect from Natsume Natume.

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Well, part of it is also the conventions of Japanese romantic drama and not necessarily the language as a whole. These are labelled as　告白（kokuhaku or Love confessions) in JP scripts, and every one of those I've seen always uses 好き (suki: like) instead of other alternatives that would translate to "love" Of course it's a bit strange because such scenes usually occur way earlier in a relationship than they do in Fox's case; in the archetypal example, there's not much interaction between the two to make the confession more dramatic and unexpected for the receiver. I think your proposed modification would make for a much improved English version. Oh, Natume, you continue to astound with your capacity to disappoint. When we get to other special scenes Ill see if I can find them on Youtube or somewhere as they come up to find any other oddities.