>>74624
Itadakimasu could be interpreted either way depending on context. Saying "bless this meal" makes it explicitly, instead of implicitly, religious, and I think removing that possibility for conextual interpretation is wrong.
>>74626
>What you are saying here is exactly the sort of religious american crap we have to deal with in every bad English translation.
Every bad English translation? I don't know what bad translations you're looking at, but most bad translations I see related to religion are about
erasing Christianity from Japanese works, not forcing it in. Usually for one of two reasons, sometimes both as strange as that is. Firstly, just an atheistic anti-Christianity bent that's pretty common in the kind of left leaning spheres most "professional" anime and videogame translations come from. Secondly, a decree from marketing, because they don't want to alienate English speaking Christians with Japan's not necessarily favorable or biblically correct usage of Christian religious figures, symbols, and ideas. Most common in the early days of videogame translation was the erasure of the Christian cross from hundreds of games due to marketing alone. But as recently as 2017, a major AAA JRPG, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, had absolutely all of its core Christian themes stripped out for fear of upsetting the Christians, in addition to stripping it of many Japanese and other East Asian historical and religious references, and of course censoring a few loli related things. The overhaul was so severe, and involved so many egregious changes that don't even benefit a marketing angle, that it's most assuredly on the
translators localizers for fucking it up, down, and sideways. Now, a whole 8-9 years later, someone is finally nearing completion of a retranslation to restore it all.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/xenoblade-2-delocalization-retranslation-patch.667076/
>I humbly accept this meal
I think this is better than a simple "thank you for the meal". It adds greater weight to it without explicitly making it religious.
>>74684
>How is that NOT a prayer?
A prayer needs a deity or other religious figure. Itadukimasu can be thanking the universe for the blessing of food in a Bhuddist way, but could also just be thankful for all the people, plants, and animals involved in the process.
>>74728
Maybe Reddit's more your speed, friend?