Doki Doki Literature Club Japanese Localization Struggled With Just Monika

The latest issue of Famitsu has special coverage on Doki Doki Literature Club Plus, marking the release of the game’s official Japanese localization. It also includes an interview with the game’s translation team and the Japanese version publisher Playism. The translation team specifically mentioned the struggle to localize ‘Just Monika’ for Doki Doki Literature Club Plus in Japanese. [Thanks, Ryokutya!]

Here are some of the highlights from Famitsu‘s Doki Doki Literature Club Plus interview:

• DDLC translation team: “We struggled on the translation for ‘Just Monika.’ We debated for around a month, and we had ‘Monika dake’ as an unofficial translation.”
• “The Japanese physical version is based on the unofficial one. Playism, Riotloc, and Serenity Forge came for support and supervision.”
• “Please look forward to seeing how the term is translated into.”
• Playism staff: “We felt a great fixation towards ‘Just Monika.’ The opinions we received are being applied to the official Asian release.”

Playism will release the Japanese localization of Doki Doki Literature Club Plus for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch on October 7, 2021. This coincides with the Western physical releases for the same platforms on October 8, 2021. Serenity Forge delayed the physical releases twice due to logistical issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The title is immediately available digitally on the PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.