Help with a Japanese phrase

[Crescent Pulsar]

(I wasn't exactly sure where to present this, so I thought that this might be a safe bet.)

My understanding of the Japanese language is very limited, so I was wondering if I've got this right:

かわいい魅力の波。

Kawaii miryoku no nami.

Wave of lovely cuteness/Lovely cuteness wave.

Does anything need any corrections? That's about as good as I could manage with Babel fish. ;/

[Spokavriel]

Babblefish says you have "The wave of a pretty charm" Just the fact it was translatable tells me it has to be close.

[Ezvir]

It's not exactly wrong, but probably not quite what you were aiming for. Translating back it would come out as something like cute waves of attractiveness. And as far as associations go nami would foremost be the kind of waves you can drown in, though it can mean other sorts of waves too, like sound waves or even the wrinkles on someones forehead. But I'm not sure it fits for a magical girl attack name, if that's what you want. Miryoku feels a bit off, too. It's an abstract noun for the factor that causes attraction to something, "charm" or "attractiveness" is much closer than "loveliness". On the other hand all good words for lovely sound stupid in combination with kawaii. Does it actually have to be Japanese? I think a Japanese magical girl would be much more likely to shout "rabulii chaamingu weebu!" (lovely charming wave) than anything close to a direct translation in Japanese.

[Crescent Pulsar]

I wonder why I didn't see this post before... <_<

Well, since it's Ranma, and I prefer to refer to his attacks in Japanese, I figured I should be consistent with that.

"Wave" was the best one that I could think of, since the attack can either be exuded/emitted or projected.

I forgot exactly what English word I had used to get "miryoku" but, yeah, something like "charm" would do. The purpose of the attack is to attract someone to something girlishly cute, even if they may not normally have their attention taken by it. I'm trying to work on the same principles as the moko takabisha and the shishi hokodan. But "feeling cute" seemed a bit more abstract than depression and confidence, so I thought it'd work if his confidence was focused upon his cuteness, and end up a sort of charismatic charm.

So, you're probably right that it's probably not what I'm looking for. But, between Babel fish and my Jap-Eng/Eng-Jap dictionary, I can't really fathom a proper phrase myself.

[Makoto]

I'd say one of the most important criteria is whether Ranma invents the 'attack,' or is it 'given' from an outside source? If Ranma's the one inventing it, s/he's far more likely to give it some sort of title in full Japanese, rather than English words.

[Crescent Pulsar]

Yeah, Ranma devises it himself.

[Makoto]

Would 'cute(ness) distraction wave' work? (Though, I'm not sure what interpretation of 'distraction' in Japanese would work...)

Of course, since Ranma is creating the attack and its name, wouldn't he be far more likely to give it an ornate description, such as "Running Gazelle Distracted By Setting Sun?"
(I know he did that at one point... I want to say in one of his earliest fights against Happosai, but it's been some time since I read the manga.)

[Spokavriel]

Why did my mind just come up with a Baboons behind blush distraction wave?

[Makoto]

I forgot to mention it, because I in fact wound up having to reboot in the middle of that last post, but... what I was thinking, was that Ranma might be self-conscious enough about having to draw cuteness into an attack or call out a related name, that s/he might even prefer to invent such a ridiculous name for it, instead.

[Crescent Pulsar]

Perhaps. Although Ranma can be rather shameless, at times. And he has no problem complimenting his female self's appearance. I guess we'll see.

Oops. Did I intimate too much? I'm not up to anything. Really.

[Spokavriel]

You know you could always try to get Ranma seeing the Love and Beauty Shock attack in Sailor Moon and having that inspire a cuteness instead of beauty variant.

[Ezvir]

If it's a shishi houkoudan variant it won't be authentic to the Japanese manga anyway, because there the attacks are based on puns with the word ki, not emotions as such like in the English version (puns with ki often involve words for emotions, though). Not that there is anything at all wrong with writing fanfic based on the English version, but then you could just as well go ahead and give the attack an English name.
If you are determined to use a Japanese name anyway I'd suggest

愛嬌艶麗波
aikyou enreiha
~bedazzling wave of charm /charming wave of attractiveness (character for character: lov[e/ly], attractive/delicate, gloss/charm, beautiful, wave)

[Crescent Pulsar]

Works for me. Is there a pun? ;p Maybe doki-doki wave. XD;;

[Ezvir]

Works for me. Is there a pun?

No, because a) I'm horribly bad at puns and b) keeping with the theme the pun would be in the concept of the attack (like 'depressed' literally meaning heavy ki), not in the name. There is no good pun that would fir thematically with what you want, as far as I'm aware of (see a)).

[Crescent Pulsar]

Maybe I'll fall back on something silly, and in English, then. Perhaps something like "crouch of the wild tiger," where it sounds deceptively fierce. Like, hmmmm... Capture of the racing heart.

...

This could take some time. <_<;