So the hurr durr KA-REEPY GAMING phenomenon has latched on to one of our favorite-ever images: Now, no one really disputes the "Infinitely fun / Sega Enterprises" part of the translation. Rather straightforward. What I have an issue with is "Majin-e" bit. Cursory Googling says this is a pun on one of the animators, but nothing in the credits list suggests that. I've always just read it as commentary on the weird background image. Anyone able to shed light on this?
I find it really creepy they put that in. Probably it's an inside joke. Majin means 'Demon God' but I don't know what the -e means. So the first part is "Signed" but the rest ???
To start off, so there's no confusion. I am going to romanize ??? as "Madin" in this post because, even though it's pronounced almost identically to Majin (???), they are different, and that difference (and similarity) comes into play here. Second: I am not familiar with Shenmue (yes, it's relevant), so I might use some terminology that differs from the official English translation. Anyway. Some quick Googling led me to a post from 2002 on the sega.co.jp BBS with a link to an interview explaining the appearance of Madin in Shenmue. The actual link is dead, but fortunately an archived copy of the page exists here. The interview, by someone named NOZX, starts by introducing the question: two items, labeled "Madin Milk" (?????) and "Madin Magazine" (???????), can be found in the Tomato Mart in Shenmue. So what does Madin mean? Is it—as some people have assumed—a play on the word majin (??, demon god/devil)? Or perhaps "margin"? NOZX asks someone named Mami, who was apparently responsible for designing the objects, what the word means. She responds: "Mr. Nishimura told me to make them, so I did." So NOZX then goes to speak with Masato Nishimura to ask him: That's all the relevant information in the interview. There's nothing that mentions the use of Madin in Sonic CD, but the same Masato Nishimura was also on the staff for that game, so I think it's safe to assume it has the same origins. However, I have run into a (very, extremely) loose possible connection between Masato Nishimura and that image. This tweet from 2011 posted by someone named ??? (Madin, though his account name is Mazin__, another possible romanization of the word) mentions ???? (the text in the Sonic CD image) in response to a comment (presumably referencing the creepy face of the Sonic ice cream) that says, "Sega Japan does have that wallpaper..." Mazin__ is also (at least right now) using an icon with the Madin Milk graphic from Shenmue and his profile hints he works at Sega (specifically, it says, "I do not speak for Sega," which I've noticed is pretty common on staff Twitter accounts). So it's a lot of speculation, but it seems to me like Mazin__ is probably Masato Nishimura's personal Twitter account, and he at least acknowledges the existence of the Sonic CD image, though he doesn't say anything about having made it or having had anything to do with it.
This topic reminded one episode of Did you know gaming, what had that same topic inside, have a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei_Zn5lmweM&list=PL26D7E5A7D29CCAB3&index=2 Starts around 3:56
??means picture. ?????sounds ldentical to ???? or ????????????is how you write Mazinger. So it could be a pun? Either way it's pretty much just saying "this picture's by Madin."
