took a long time to start remembering there name in japanese, was boring to remember ash is satoshi. Talk about a way to castrate the names just to excite the children to feel more comfortable.
4kids has always been somewhat xenophobic. They get rid of anything that has any Japanese culture tied to them from the anime they dub. I guess it's so North American children can relate to it? I think that is the dumbest thing to do. Instead of making it easier for them to understand things, why not leave in the small things that revolve around another culture, so the children may take an interest in it, and maybe learn a thing or two about another country?
Well, I can understand changing some of the broader, more basic things, though if there's not really a clean equivalent, then they oughta just leave it as is, using whatever our closest terms are to describe it ("festival" or "ceremony" for events, and such). Makes me think of how Zell's favorite food was made into hot dogs (from bread in Japan). We aren't as hyped about bread here, so it fits well enough, and gets the point of him being hyped for a food that's always selling out.
AoCanada said: 4kids has always been somewhat xenophobic. They get rid of anything that has any Japanese culture tied to them from the anime they dub. I guess it's so North American children can relate to it? I think that is the dumbest thing to do. Instead of making it easier for them to understand things, why not leave in the small things that revolve around another culture, so the children may take an interest in it, and maybe learn a thing or two about another country?
Because retarded cartoons about cock fighting are the primary source of education regarding Japan, and because they changed her name to May in English first [/no need to say sarcasm but ok]
Punchme said: Because retarded cartoons about cock fighting are the primary source of education regarding Japan, and because they changed her name to May in English first [/no need to say sarcasm but ok]
Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of things that get changed into American-like objects. Such as onigiri. They translated onigiri as donuts and some other kinds of nonsense. In a lot of episodes the onigiri and other Japanese cultural foods were photoshopped completely into sandwiches. SANDWICHES. BIG FREAKING SUBMARINE SANDWICHES. They've also photoshopped a lot of the Japanese symbols from signs, doors, etc. They do this a lot. Not just in Pokemon. It goes way deeper than a name. Although, on the subject of names, what's wrong with calling her Haruka in the dub? OH NO FOREIGN NAMES. WE CAN'T SHOW THIS TO NORTH AMERICAN CHILDREN!!! This is why foreign children get teased at school.
And besides, it's not like the Pokémon world is Japan. There's some flexibility in how it's characterized. Besides, "Haruka" and "May" have similar name meanings, just localized; same for Misty/Kasumi and Dawn/Hikari.
Granola said: You people are digging way too much into this.
Kids don't give a shit about Japan or relate to it, that's why Japan is shopped out of the show.
Its not "xenophobia," its profit.
Profit? You really believe they're making more profit by cutting that stuff out? If anything, the children would be more interested in the things related to the Japanese BECAUSE they're being associated with something they love. There's no profit in cutting that stuff out completely. The children would love the show one way or another, so why not just leave in some culture? They either learn something or they don't; at least they would be given a choice.
AoCanada, check your calender. It's 2009, not 1999. Nobody gives a shit about this debate anymore. You're not saying anything that hasn't been said 10 years ago.
Also, for the record, it wasn't 4Kids that originally changed the names, it was Nintendo. They changed the characters' and all Pokemon names when translating the game, and 4Kids just used the already established English names when the anime came over. Then down the road when new or anime-only characters appeared, they had to stay consistent so they kept changing the names.
People obviously care enough to argue against me, including you. Yeah, I know, some of them were trolls.
You're right, it's 2009, and the dubbing companies don't seem to be ruining anime that drastically anymore, thank the gods. Well, 4kids totally ruined One Piece for North America, which was quite devastating. What should have been a big hit, ended up being nothing but trash. But that's just something we'll have to live with.
For everyone who keeps blaming 4kids for ruining the show, amazingly this is one of the few instances where they didn't. Nintendo decided to make all the changes. Of course, 4kids could have handled those changes better, but it was Nintendo who forced the show to only be released outside of Japan Dubbed. And as a result, all of the name changes and alterations from the localized games and mangas had to come with it.
Now this doesn't change the stigma from horrible American Distribution which altered names, scripts and even edited scenes of Anime for seemingly no reason. Who can forget 'meatballs and texas' or a certain cigarette being changed into a lollipop? But in all reality, most of these changes are made because the distributors think they will make the product more appealing to the American audience. IE, the niche demographic the particular distributor is trying to sell that title to.
Does that excuse their alteration? Not in any shape or form. And every single one of the companies who have ever altered one of these works should die in a fire. But at least you know why it happens. The sad part is, many Anime titles will have the potential to have a wide market appeal or go beyond just a focused market (even something like Pokemon). But its alterations like this that hold the titles back when released outside of Japan. And this is why the Anime market in America is collapsing.
Its called "Localization", it enhances familiarity and connectivity with the characters in a given location. Its not just changed in America, a lot of games translate names completely different than the US or Jap names. Take Zell for example. In America, he likes Hot Dogs. In Japan he likes Bread. No one in America thinks of bread as a "favorite food" but tons of people like hot dogs.
Axier said: In Japan he likes Bread. No one in America thinks of bread as a "favorite food"
Uh...what? Tons of people the world over love bread, including in America. The choice to change it to 'hot dogs' was because Americans wouldn't understand the cultural connection to the type of bread he was obsessing over (commonly found in Japanese schools). However even this doesn't make sense on our end and is just another one of the mistranslations that ends up making characters lose their effect (much with a lot of the translation in FFVIII).
It's not a mistranslation, it's a localization. Heck, make it "corndogs", since I damn well know anyone from our school district is familiar with that menu item.
Fine, call it an 'alteration' instead of a mistranslation, which it is. But its still a misrepresentation of the original meaning.
And part of a localization is translation. And while some things can't be accurately described when brought over to another country (in this case, America), the majority of things that get changed most of the time happen just because the localization teams do so on a whim or execs think it'll help the game sell better to a target demographic. This includes much of the script and name changes in Final Fantasy over the years. And keeping Pokemon dubbed in America.
secondary125 said: But its still a misrepresentation of the original meaning.
The original meaning is a cafeteria item that Zell get gutgasmic about. Bread ain't worth shit in American cafeterias, so a similar-looking item replaced it. No damn loss, esp. since FFVIII=/=Japan (would you prefer "Nihon"/"Nippon"?)
secondary125 said: This includes much of the script and name changes in Final Fantasy over the years.
Standing Name Changes: Firion, Leon, Ricard: space restriction; still similar Minwu, Leila: aesthetic; still similar Kain, Tellah, Fusoya, Harley: aesthetic (maybe censorship); still similar Edward, Golbez: space restriction; derived, similar Bartz: aesthetic; I carry personal grudge on this Terra, Sabin: aestheic; "retains vibe", WTF? Locke, Kefka, Gestahl: aesthetic; similar Cyan, Strago: space restriction; similar (I'd prefer "Cayen") Balthier: aesthetic
If you'll notice, most of the "aesthetic" changes were from IV and VI, two very ingrained titles over here. They did change the summon names to what they ought be, which polarized some VI/"III" fans, though "Rag", "Dag", and "Mag" are still Cindy, Sandy, and Mindy, which just rolls better for Englishers and still sounds similar within the set.
secondary125 said: And keeping Pokemon dubbed in America.
Right, 'cause kids can keep up with subtitles. I kid, but they're at an age when they're still leanring their own country's quirks and idioms, and you want them to bi-culture themselves via a cartoon? GTFO.
T5J8F8 said: Right, 'cause kids can keep up with subtitles. I kid, but they're at an age when they're still leanring their own country's quirks and idioms, and you want them to bi-culture themselves via a cartoon? GTFO.
Thanks for repeating information I already alluded to above and further proving that localizers and dubbers just target Anime/games to certain audiences (in this cause, Pokemon to kids) because people not only accept it, but defend it as if your ideals have been threatened.
I find it hilarious that this all started because some kid tagged the character with the localized version of her name. It was probably just a misinformed error, but given the nature of some of the weeaboos on this image board...
Gord-a-tron said: I find it hilarious that this all started because some kid tagged the character with the localized version of her name. It was probably just a misinformed error, but given the nature of some of the weeaboos on this image board...
Well ya know how it is...it only takes a spark to start a fire.
"flap"? What kinda equipment you got? ...any pics?
secondary125 said: Thanks for repeating information I already alluded to above
I apologize (moreso for my "leanring", but this too).
secondary125 said: but defend it as if your ideals have been threatened.
Wait, wut? I know the jokey hazing tone of my "GTFO" didn't come over, but do I really sound like I refuse culture tints in localized media? My jab was that you're vehement on introducing Japan to the target audience using cuddly cockfighting.
T5J8F8 said: "flap"? What kinda equipment you got?
Only a few Mokou related pics and a japanese chew toy. It vibrates whenever you bite it; a perfect item to give to your pets or for your girl. Only $29.99(plus shipping and handling). Plus you get this leash for an addition $4.99(plus shipping and handling) Order now! That's all I got on me; is that good enough?
.. Another pointless debate over equally pointless ideals, this is a hentai pic, it's suppose to stimulate (geezuz that sounds fucked up ) you sexually, and you debate over motherfucking name changes? Okaai, almost every country dubs, it's for the children and the ones who doesn't want any other language in their lifes, i pick up on languages quickly, a lot faster then other kids did, and i still find japanese the most fascinating one, but you can't blame people for wanting to make some of that profit their own. People work in the dub business, they get paid by the producers who want a version of it, with their native language, and so the circle continues. Remember now kids, profit, money is all people want nowadays, if you want to linger on to it, fine, i myself do the same thing, and LMFAO your commenting to a hentai pic, so STFU!! Make a fucking forum and discuss this bullshit, hmm.. Think ima wank off some more, been writing this for 2 min already! Ohh, and another thing while im on a roll here, you guys speak pretty advanced english, so im wondering, how motherfucking old are you guys?? And if your as old as i think you are, i pray it'll never happen to me!!
