Why did FUNimation spell Freeza with an "i"?

[The Time Traveller]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the spelling, it doesn't really spoil the pun. But they spell Koola "Cooler" which REALLY bothers me. Vegeta may as well call Goku "Carrot" all the time.

Maybe it was because the Japanese spelling is Furīza/フリーザ. I'm seriously suggesting because the Japanese name has an "I" sound.

Maaaaaybe they were crazy enough to think "What do we use? Freeza or Friiza? Both?"

[ABED]

My guess is the closed caption people wrote what they heard.

Yes, that's been my whole point this entire time (I guess it wasn't clear...?). If you hear the name, there's absolutely nothing that would make you think, "Hey, I should stick the letter 'i' in there somewhere!"

Sorry, I haven't read everyone's posts in this thread. Maybe they thought to spell it like "Kiera".

[VegettoEX]

Maybe they thought to spell it like "Kiera".

But the pun/reference is obvious to anyone with a first-grade education level. There's simply no reason what-so-ever to toss the letter 'i' in there, which is where this whole conversation is stemming from ("Why did FUNimation do it?").

Every single other person who worked on the franchise here in North America - specifically Bandai and the people doing the closed captioning - went right on ahead and spelled it as "Freeza" up until FUNimation changed it because... well, what the heck else would you spell it as?

[TheBlackPaladin]

Every single other person who worked on the franchise here in North America - specifically Bandai and the people doing the closed captioning - went right on ahead and spelled it as "Freeza" up until FUNimation changed it because... well, what the heck else would you spell it as?

Well, "Freezer," conceivably. And a couple dubs--including the extremely faithfully-adapted Latino Spanish dub--did do just that. For a short while I wondered if perhaps that was the correct pronunciation, that "Freeza" was just "Freezer" with a Japanese accent, and that some dub script writers, in the process of adapting, mistook the accented pronunciation as the character's actual name. However, as it has been told to me by other people with more knowledge of Japanese, Freeza's name is spelled in Japanese in such a way to indicate that the correct pronunciation is indeed "Freeza," and not "Freezer." With that said, I could understand how some people might want to pronounce and spell his name as "Freezer."

"Frieza," though...not a clue where they got that one.

[ABED]

Is it possible that the translation they got wrote it as "Furiza"? I see some use that spelling, perhaps that's where they got they idea to use the "I".

[dbboxkaifan]

The original Japanese is something like "Furiiza" so I see why FUNimation gave him the name Friеza which is a fine replacement to it but sub-fans tend to dislike it a lot, when I first saw it I detested it too although now I'm okay with it.

I'd read/see "Friеza" than "Freezer" which the French/Spanish/Portuguese dubs made use of, which while it's not wrong I just don't really like it same goes for "Cooler".

[TheBlackPaladin]

Is it possible that the translation they got wrote it as "Furiza"? I see some use that spelling, perhaps that's where they got they idea to use the "I".

Mmmm....possible, sure, but I don't think so. The only time I've ever seen Freeza referred to as "Furiza" is from ripped clips of VHS fansubs that I've seen on YouTube, or by a small sub-set of fans whose credibility is damaged by also insisting that Vegeta is in fact Beijita, that Trunks is in fact Tohrahnksu, and that Dragon Ball Z is in fact Doragon Boru Zetto.

[thomas1up]

Is it possible that the translation they got wrote it as "Furiza"? I see some use that spelling, perhaps that's where they got they idea to use the "I".

Mmmm....possible, sure, but I don't think so. The only time I've ever seen Freeza referred to as "Furiza" is from ripped clips of VHS fansubs that I've seen on YouTube, or by a small sub-set of fans whose credibility is damaged by also insisting that Vegeta is in fact Beijita, that Trunks is in fact Tohrahnksu, and that Dragon Ball Z is in fact Doragon Boru Zetto.

I've heard of Bejita and Doragon Boru Zetto but Tohrahnksu?! That's a new one....

[dbboxkaifan]

Is it possible that the translation they got wrote it as "Furiza"? I see some use that spelling, perhaps that's where they got they idea to use the "I".

Mmmm....possible, sure, but I don't think so. The only time I've ever seen Freeza referred to as "Furiza" is from ripped clips of VHS fansubs that I've seen on YouTube, or by a small sub-set of fans whose credibility is damaged by also insisting that Vegeta is in fact Beijita, that Trunks is in fact Tohrahnksu, and that Dragon Ball Z is in fact Doragon Boru Zetto.

I've heard of Bejita and Doragon Boru Zetto but Tohrahnksu?! That's a new one....

Beijita? Whenever I hear it sounds ""Bééjiita" and yeah Trunks seems about right, although I'd go with Torankusu.

The Son in Son Goku is pronounced Sohn so there's no reason why anyone would ever get confused with Sohn and Son/Sun.

[Valerius Dover]

It is the second episode he appears in.

Yeah, but he had been mentioned by name for MANY episodes before that. "Season Two" begins with edited/dubbed episode 27, and you start hearing about him pretty early on. Thus my comment about the folks doing the closed captioning always writing it as "Freeza" up until the point FUNimation tossed a different spelling in the title card.

D'oh, I totally forgot about that. Actually, I was going by the uncut episode numbers. But even there, he is first mentioned by name in Episode 40, if I recall correctly. I'm definitely not trying to justify the spelling or anything. I definitely agree that they should've gone with Freeza. They probably thought it would look cool if they spelled it "exotically". Then again, they must've had different minds at work when they named Cooler. Seriously, why didn't they call him Coula instead?

[Puto]

Or maybe 'Kewla'.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

You can hear whatever you want in pronunciation. A lot of people arguing for Beerus as Bills say "they say it right in the movie" (Which... they do, if you hear it as "Bee-uuls"). Same with FUR-IE-ZA. Does not mean it's correct, but someone could derive it on sound alone.

[linkdude20002001]

I know you're trying to be consistent linguistically, but English is a weird language, with a million exceptions. If Freeza was written "Freeza" and still pronounced the same as Freeza, it would still be pronounced right because that's how we roll.

I don't see anything wrong with not translating Kami. It's a proper noun. Yeah, I know it's the word for god, but I don't think they did anything wrong.

I know that, and I mentioned that there are exceptions, however Frieza is not one of them. My point was that it's as logical a spelling to an English speaker as Freeza is (IF you don't know the pun, and we ALL know how much FUNi knew about the puns... :p).

My point on "Kami" is that Funimation might not've been aware that it was the Japanese word for god.

[Thouser]

I don't know a Freeza, only a Freezer, just as a Boo or a Saiyajin.

And his name is Freezer. The katakana could be translated to Freezer, Freeza or Freeza but in the end on and the same word is meant with one and the same Pronounciation.

In Japanese, the word "freezer" is spelled フリーザー (furiizaa). However, Toriyama spelled the name of his character differently, as フリーザ (furiiza). The extended vowel at the end is left out. English sounds like "er" and "ar" are transcribed into Japanese using extended "a" sounds (for example, rider is ライダー raidaa). Since this character's name lacks the extended vowel at the end, the English equivalent of his name should probably reflect that by being anglicized as Freeza rather than Freezer.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

All the above spellings, I think, have their individual merit, but, if you'll each recall from your advanced linguistics class, in Old English, the word "Freeze" was spelt "Freosan" (past tense "Freas", past part. "Froren"). Now, if you'll recall from your Anglo-Saxon literature class, in Beowulf, there was a hermit who lived in the icy glaciers of Norway called Freosar.


I don't mean to suggest that Toriyama stole anything, but we have a clear literary precedent here. On these grounds, the spelling "Freoza" seems most appropriate. Thoughts?

[GarrettCRW]

My point on "Kami" is that Funimation might not've been aware that it was the Japanese word for god.

Knowing the religious extremists in this country, it seems likelier that Funimation knew what Kami means, and left it untranslated on purpose.

[linkdude20002001]

You're assuming they knew anything about the Japanese language. Remember, this is back when the name Sasuke was pronounced suh-soo-kee in English dubs. It took Funimation quite a while to learn just the basic pronunciation, which is odd considering the president of the company was Japanese... But then again, a lot of the script was written by the voice actors in Vancouver, B.C

All the above spellings, I think, have their individual merit, but, if you'll each recall from your advanced linguistics class, in Old English, the word "Freeze" was spelt "Freosan" (past tense "Freas", past part. "Froren"). Now, if you'll recall from your Anglo-Saxon literature class, in Beowulf, there was a hermit who lived in the icy glaciers of Norway called Freosar.


I don't mean to suggest that Toriyama stole anything, but we have a clear literary precedent here. On these grounds, the spelling "Freoza" seems most appropriate. Thoughts?

Toriyama said the name came from the English word "freezer", right? He mixed it up with the word "refrigerator", and all the people under Freeza's command were named after things one puts inside a refrigerator.

[Smochi]

Maybe since the romaji is "furiza" the translator thought that the F rieza spelling was closer?

[dbzfan7]

Ayres/Nakao are definitely my prefferred Freeza voices. But between Young and Newstone, I agree. Newstone is more fitting that Young was.

I refuse to call what that thing Linda Young played as Freeza. Even as a child I could not stand her as the character. I constantly kept calling Freeza a girl because of her. I knew Freeza was a boy, but I still kept accidentally calling Freeza a girl because of Linda Youngs portrayal. Now I really love the character thanks to Nako/Ayres.

[Thouser]

You're assuming they knew anything about the Japanese language. Remember, this is back when the name Sasuke was pronounced suh-soo-kee in English dubs. It took Funimation quite a while to learn just the basic pronunciation, which is odd considering the president of the company was Japanese... But then again, a lot of the script was written by the voice actors in Vancouver, B.C

Let's never forget the time they had Popo refer to God as "Kami-san" in some bizarrely inaccurate attempt to "Japanese-it-up".

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXOWYAnv5Rs