Which of FUNimation's Name Changes Bother You the Most?

[Cipher]

Apparently I answered this thread shortly after it was first posted and cited "Launch, "Tien" and "Korin."

I must have been tripping, because those don't have a candle to the Evil Dragons and their worming of completely made-up names well into the English-speaking fandom.

This was well after FUNimation should have known better too, but I guess Yi Xing Long has too much whiff of the foreign and One-Star Dragon doesn't cut it for SEO purposes.

[ABED]

Apparently I answered this thread shortly after it was first posted and cited "Launch, "Tien" and "Korin."

I must have been tripping, because those don't have a candle to the Evil Dragons and their worming of completely made-up names well into the English-speaking fandom.

This was well after FUNimation should have known better too, but I guess Yi Xing Long has too much whiff of the foreign and One-Star Dragon doesn't cut it for SEO purposes.

The FUNi names of the Evil Dragons is an acrostic of SHENRON. It may not be accurate and at times the names are a stretch, but it's kinda clever.

But I'm sure we can all agree that "Vegito" is absolutely terrible.

Vegerot is still WAY worse.

[Zephyr]

I think Vegerot gets way too bad of a rap. I have to wonder if it would be so thoroughly reviled if "Vegetto/Vegito" hadn't been in vogue for so long.

[Nokra]

None because they are all fine. Only sub elitist don't like them but no one cares about them they are the minority

[VegettoEX]

None because they are all fine. Only sub elitist don't like them but no one cares about them they are the minority

Multiple warnings and account strikes have been issued in short succession across various threads, resulting in an extended temporary ban.

There is no need to respond to members that will no longer be participating in the discussion. Carry on.

[ABED]

Every time I hear Launch, I think of "someone said lunch, but he heard launch" from Far Out Space Nuts.

[Super Sonic]

(Though on a semi-related note, part of me wonders if Scandanavian dub of Pokemon called Team Rocket Red and Eric to do a pun).

The Norwegian dub didn't, at least. Still "Jessie and James". I don't think they changed any names, at least not the names of any major characters, from what they were in the English dub.

Oh, ok. Was just wondering if they would do a Viking pun with their names like how the English version did a cowboy one that US folks would get rather than the samurai one the Japanese did. Also excuse my lack of knowledge on famous vikings, as that was the first one I thought of. (Only other one I knew was Leif Ericson, but thought Red would work more at the time of writing).

Unless you're less suggesting they copy Viz's translation and more suggesting they had come up with the name independently. Personally, while I understand Vegerot, I'm not a fan. But I'm sure we can all agree that "Vegito" is absolutely terrible.

Even some of Viz's own things aren't universal from manga translation to anime subtitle or dub. Some jokes with Ranma are different in all versions, and the Naruto manga has names in Japanese order while the anime dub and subtitles have them in Western order. I also prefer the anime having Naruto calling the Fourth Hokage "Dad" instead of "Pa" like he does in the manga. (No offense to anyone if you address your father this way, but outside Superman, when I hear "Pa" I think of country bumpkins).

Though speaking of Viz with DB, while it didn't bother me, due to reading the Viz manga first of the Red Ribbon Army saga before the anime dub got to that point, some of Viz's names I was more used to like Sargent-Major Purple and 8-Man instead of Ninja Murasaki and Eighter.

[Robo4900]

Why does the name pun have to be immediately apparent? I like Reacoom because it is actually clever.

Tenshinhan's name change bugs me. Chaozu's spelling doesn't irritate me, but I don't get why FUNi would make the spelling more difficult.

Name changes usually don't bug me as much as pronunciations.

Except Funi didn't call him Reacoom, they called him Recoome.

I agree about pronunciations. Those bother me a lot.

I just want to point out: to the people saying that FUNimation should have done what Viz did by changing Vegetto to Vegerot, it should be noted that FUNimation dubbed that part of the series about three years before Viz reached it in the manga. With everything having been released now for years, and with the common knowledge that the manga beget the anime, it's easy to forget (or just not know) that the English release of the manga was always significantly behind the English dub of the television series... well, at least in terms of Z. Thanks to FUNi skipping over most of Dragon Ball, and Viz splitting the series into two and releasing them simultaneously, they got quite a head start on that, although I'm pretty sure FUNimation still managed to catch up by the end. Anyway, the more you know and all that. Unless you're less suggesting they copy Viz's translation and more suggesting they had come up with the name independently. Personally, while I understand Vegerot, I'm not a fan. But I'm sure we can all agree that "Vegito" is absolutely terrible.

I doubt anyone's suggesting they just take notes on Viz's translation. At the very least, I wasn't. I was suggesting, as you guessed at the end there, they should have been smart like Viz were, and adapt the name rather than just romanise it. Though even going the route of romanising, they spelled it wrong for years.

Vegerot is not great, but it at least makes sense. And honestly, I have never got the hate for it. It sounds a bit goofy, but so does Boo, and Vegetto/Vegito, and of course, fusion itself is usually presented very deliberately as a very goofy phenomenon... I get why people prefer Vegetto -- for one thing, it doesn't sound like you're describing an undesirable gardening phenomenon -- but I think it's primarily a case of it being something most are just not used to.

[Kamiccolo9]

I mean, when I hear "Vegerot," I think "rotten vegetables." Buu, Piccolo, etc. may sound weird and all, but they don't have me thinking about the 2 year old onions in the bottom drawer of my fridge

[Gaffer Tape]

I mean, when I hear "Vegerot," I think "rotten vegetables." Buu, Piccolo, etc. may sound weird and all, but they don't have me thinking about the 2 year old onions in the bottom drawer of my fridge

I keep telling you, you really need to throw those out. Just knuckle under and buy some heavy duty gloves. Maybe invest in a respirator...

[ABED]

Except Funi didn't call him Reacoom, they called him Recoome.

That's a spelling issue and not one I find to be an issue.

Vegerot is not great, but it at least makes sense. And honestly, I have never got the hate for it. It sounds a bit goofy, but so does Boo, and Vegetto/Vegito, and of course, fusion itself is usually presented very deliberately as a very goofy phenomenon... I get why people prefer Vegetto -- for one thing, it doesn't sound like you're describing an undesirable gardening phenomenon -- but I think it's primarily a case of it being something most are just not used to.

Chris Jericho keeps using this sort of argument as to why Fozzy isn't a dumb name for a heavy metal band and I don't buy it. I may be used to Vegetto and Gogeta, but Vegerot is god awful.

[Kamiccolo9]

I mean, when I hear "Vegerot," I think "rotten vegetables." Buu, Piccolo, etc. may sound weird and all, but they don't have me thinking about the 2 year old onions in the bottom drawer of my fridge

I keep telling you, you really need to throw those out. Just knuckle under and buy some heavy duty gloves. Maybe invest in a respirator...

.......you're not my mom.

[Robo4900]

Except Funi didn't call him Reacoom, they called him Recoome.

That's a spelling issue and not one I find to be an issue.

Except, the way they pronounce is reflects this too. Between the spelling, and the "Ruh-koom" pronunciation, the pun on his name is totally obscured.

[linkdude20002001]

Also, would you really want to hear them pronounce the race like "Cyan"? Personally for me that would sound totally off and kinda silly. I think I prefer "Say-un" as long as Funimation is gonna use the "Saiyan" spelling.

The word 'cyan' is pronounced [sahy-AN], tho, where-as 'Saiyan' is pronounced [SAHY-ən]. The emphasis on a different syllable completely changes the word, just like how you mite "reCALL a memory of a product REcall".
If we can pronounce "King Kai", 'Kaio-ken', and the words 'aisle' and 'ay' with an AHY sound, then I don't see the problem with pronouncing 'Saiyan' correctly. I've even shown the spelling to random non-Dragon-Ball fans, and most assumed it was AHY, not EY. [SEY-ən] is just a result of FUNi's mistake becoming too prominent, and so when the time came to fix their mistake, that was a pronunciation they felt unable to change, unlike 'Kaio-ken'.

Tenshinhan's name change bugs me. Chaozu's spelling doesn't irritate me, but I don't get why FUNi would make the spelling more difficult.

Chiaotzu is correct since it's flat-out a Chinese word, just Japanese-ized. Chaozu would be an Englishization of a Japanese-zation of a Chinese word.

Except, the way they pronounce is reflects this too. Between the spelling, and the "Ruh-koom" pronunciation, the pun on his name is totally obscured.

[ruh-KOOM] is the correct pronunciation actually. The emphasis should be on the second syllabel. In Japanese it's written リクーム (Rikūmu).

[Robo4900]

Tenshinhan's name change bugs me. Chaozu's spelling doesn't irritate me, but I don't get why FUNi would make the spelling more difficult.

Chiaotzu is correct since it's flat-out a Chinese word, just Japanese-ized. Chaozu would be an Englishization of a Japanese-zation of a Chinese word.

Some would argue that is a valid way to render it. See also: Shenron vs Shen Long.

Except, the way they pronounce is reflects this too. Between the spelling, and the "Ruh-koom" pronunciation, the pun on his name is totally obscured.

[ruh-KOOM] is the correct pronunciation actually. The emphasis should be on the second syllabel. In Japanese it's written リクーム (Rikūmu).

Sure, if you're just working off of romanising the Japanese. But as any half-decent translator will tell you, you have to think things through a bit more and respect puns and such. リクーム may romanise as Rikūmu, or indeed Recoom/"Ruh-KOOM", but similarly, Trunks's name would romanise literally as Torunkusu. See also: Bra vs Bulla, or from Digimon, "Diaboromon"
Just as above, where you suggest it's more correct to romanise the Chinese route words, you have to pay attention to the English route words. In this case, "Cream" rearranged. I would argue that, to best represent the pun while keeping a name close to its Japanese counterpart, it should be Reacoom, pronounced "Ree-koom"

[linkdude20002001]

Some would argue that is a valid way to render it. See also: Shenron vs Shen Long.

It's just that 'Shenron' and 'Chaozu' are Chinese written in the Japanese alphabet, while a name like 'Tenshinhan' is just plain Japanese...kinda. I feel like it would take many paragraphs to explain. Do you perhaps already know what I'm talking about?

Actually, maybe it's not that hard to explain. Japanese kanjies have two pronunciations each: A Japanese one and a Chinese one. Tenshinhan is the Chinese one. BUT, 'Chaozu' and Shenron' are neither. The "Chinese" pronunciation isn't how the Chinese would actually say it, thus they're true Chinese, where-as Tenshinhan is Chinese-esque Japanese. More-or-less.

Sure, if you're just working off of romanising the Japanese. But as any half-decent translator will tell you, you have to think things through a bit more and respect puns and such. リクーム may romanise as Rikūmu, or indeed Recoom/"Ruh-KOOM", but similarly, Trunks's name would romanise literally as Torunkusu. See also: Bra vs Bulla, or from Digimon, "Diaboromon"

Just as above, where you suggest it's more correct to romanise the Chinese route words, you have to pay attention to the English route words. In this case, "Cream" rearranged. I would argue that, to best represent the pun while keeping a name close to its Japanese counterpart, it should be Reacoom, pronounced "Ree-koom"

But how would [REE-kəm] be any better? Unless you're expecting people to say [REE KOOM] as if the syllables were two separate words? It happens on rare occasions (ex: 'robot' in most American accents), but you can't expect that of people. It's like how Nintendo of America wrote out ポケモン as Pokémon, but people ignored the forced emphasis on the second syllable, resulting in a normal sounding [POH-kuh-MAHN] (or [POH-kuh-MON], depending on your accent) as apposed to [POH KEHY MAHN], or worse, they could have ended up with [puh-KEHY-mən] thanks to that stupid spelling. But speaking of spellings, I'm in favor of 'Reacoom'. I mean, it's kinda confusing, but it preserves the pun. As long as the actors pronounce it correctly.

Actually, I just realized some-thing I should have mentiond instead of all that...but I'm too tired to figure out how to word it... Some-thing about how Toriyama changed クリーム to get リクーム, and thus how 'cream' should become 'ruh-KOOM', otherwise you'd be trying to change 'Reacoom' back into 'cream'. Like, yeah, the Japanese say it funny, but that's on purpose to distance it from the origin word.

[Robo4900]

But how would [REE-kəm] be any better? Unless you're expecting people to say [REE KOOM] as if the syllables were two separate words? It happens on rare occasions (ex: 'robot' in most American accents), but you can't expect that of people. It's like how Nintendo of America wrote out ポケモン as Pokémon, but people ignored the forced emphasis on the second syllable, resulting in a normal sounding [POH-kuh-MAHN] (or [POH-kuh-MON], depending on your accent) as apposed to [POH KEHY MAHN], or worse, they could have ended up with [puh-KEHY-mən] thanks to that stupid spelling. But speaking of spellings, I'm in favor of 'Reacoom'. I mean, it's kinda confusing, but it preserves the pun. As long as the actors pronounce it correctly.

Actually, I just realized some-thing I should have mentiond instead of all that...but I'm too tired to figure out how to word it... Some-thing about how Toriyama changed クリーム to get リクーム, and thus how 'cream' should become 'ruh-KOOM', otherwise you'd be trying to change 'Reacoom' back into 'cream'. Like, yeah, the Japanese say it funny, but that's on purpose to distance it from the origin word.

I feel like you should probably step away and come back when you're less tired, and more able to phrase things more coherently, in terms of what you're trying to say in the second paragraph; I simply don't get what you mean as it stands.

In terms of what you say at the start, though, "Ree-koom" is better because it at least is somewhat close to the origin word. Rather than romanising the rearranged Japanese approximation of the root English word, we're looking at the original English word, cream, and basing our pronunciation off how that is pronounced. Move the C further over and add the extra syllable, and we get Reacoom. So... My point is, if you pronounce it more like "Ree-koom", with emphasis on the first syllable, we're actually paying attention to the root word, and pronouncing it in a way that somewhat suggests what the original was. It's still somewhat cryptic, but at least this way, there's a logic to it that actually respects the English root word.

Again, it's the logic of "Yes, Torunkusu is how it's said in Japanese, but Trunks makes more sense in English."

If it helps, try looking at it somewhat backwards: If we have Reacoom(Pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable, making "Ree-koom"), and someone is trying to figure out the pun in a vacuum, they might try shifting the syllables around, giving them "Koo-ream". That then very obviously sounds like "Cream", and thus it becomes a case of "Oh, it's like they stretched 'Cream' into two syllables, then swapped it around. That's kinda cool."
In this respect, it becomes an English equivalent of what happened in the Japanese version; they got KURIMU, swapped the first and second syllables around, and put that as his name, RIKUMU.
I dare you to try to find any logic that works on the name as-is in a vacuum with Funimation's Recoome/"Ruh-koom"... Koorum? Kuroom?... As with most other romanisations that don't pay attention to the root meaning, it just doesn't work in English.

[ABED]

It seems some are trying to standardize it. The pun is sometimes super apparent (Piccolo, Oolong), and other times it's not (Saiyan, Bulma).

[MyVisionity]

Personally for me that would sound totally off and kinda silly. I think I prefer "Say-un" as long as Funimation is gonna use the "Saiyan" spelling.

If we can pronounce "King Kai", 'Kaio-ken', and the words 'aisle' and 'ay' with an AHY sound, then I don't see the problem with pronouncing 'Saiyan' correctly. I've even shown the spelling to random non-Dragon-Ball fans, and most assumed it was AHY, not EY. [SEY-ən] is just a result of FUNi's mistake becoming too prominent, and so when the time came to fix their mistake, that was a pronunciation they felt unable to change, unlike 'Kaio-ken'.

My problem with pronouncing Saiyan that way is because of the -n added onto the word makes it sound too awkward. "Kai" and "Kaiou" don't have that problem.

It would be one thing if Funi called it "Saiya" like in the original, but calling them "Saiyan" and "Saiyans" just sounds ridiculous to me with the original pronunciation. Not to mention that the choice to use the -n spelling makes little sense to begin with. So to me if Funimation is going to spell it like that then they should pronounce it in a way that sounds more natural in English.

Plus as I said before I don't think FUNi's pronunciation ultimately sounds too different from the original Japanese sound anyway.

[Gaffer Tape]

Not to mention that the choice to use the -n spelling makes little sense to begin with.

What do you mean it doesn't make any sense? It makes ALL the sense! The full word isn't "Saiya" but "Saiya-jin" with "-jin" being a suffix indicating a person belonging to. Its equivalent in English is how a person from America is American. So "Saiya-jin" becoming "Saiyan" is completely valid, unless you'd prefer some other Anglicized suffix. How about Saiyaite? Saiyish? We are Saiyanese if you please?