UPDATE: Fixed subtitle files added to OP. The Broli movie will use dub names in its subtitles, at Toei's request.

[Gligarman]

As far as I know, there is no “I’m a primary fan of the Japanese version, but I wish they used the English dub names in the subs” demographic.

As much as I'm not defending this and absolutely hate this decision...you'd be surprised. I personally know several people who, after 131 episodes of Super in Japanese, have grown to prefer the Japanese cast, but still dislike "Kuririn", "Kamesenin", "Freeza", etc.

That's really unfortunate. It's like they think this will make it more consistent but ironically it's doing the exact opposite. We've been reading the proper names for two decades in both the anime and the manga so there's no reason to change it now. But sadly dub-fans tend to be favored in the eyes of the distributor. I'm just not going to use the subs at this point.

[MajinMan]

As far as I know, there is no “I’m a primary fan of the Japanese version, but I wish they used the English dub names in the subs” demographic.

As much as I'm not defending this and absolutely hate this decision...you'd be surprised. I personally know several people who, after 131 episodes of Super in Japanese, have grown to prefer the Japanese cast, but still dislike "Kuririn", "Kamesenin", "Freeza", etc.

I haven’t seen a single person complain about Japanese names while liking the Japanese version more. Those people you talk about were primarily dub fans until they were FORCED to watch Super subbed, so they’re going to be biased for the dub names.

[Kataphrut]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't the first time this happened has it? Wasn't there a meme going around of a bit in Super where they have a drawing of the word 'Freeza' but the subtitles say 'Frieza'. Also the same subs used 'Bulla' which briefly led to people thinking her name had been censored in Japanese as well.

Yes but that was only on streamed versions. Home releases had the proper names, so it was somewhat forgiven.

Hardcore fans will balk at it, but nobody cares what they think. From Toei/Shueisha/Funimation's perspective (I don't know who has the final say on these decisions) it makes sense from a business perspective to nail everything down in consistent terms for each language, or at least as close to consistency as you can get with Dragon Ball. Pokemon's done it for years: even the most casual observer knows Charizard, but I'd wager there are fans who've followed every game in that franchise who've never heard of 'Lizardon'.

Besides, every bit of official material calls the new movie 'Dragon Ball Super: Broly' instead of 'Broli.' That's just the direction they've gone in.

I'll ignore the "nobody cares what they think" remark. Anyway, this is different than Pokemon. A consistent, near 20 year precedent hadn't been set where people expected to see accurate Pokemon names, and then suddenly the rug was pulled from under them. That's exactly what has happened with this latest subtitle change in Dragon Ball. 20 years (at least) of the proper names being in the subtitles and suddenly they're gone. It's frustrating for long time viewers, and confusing for new viewers as they see things like Beerus calling Roshi "Master Roshi" and think Beerus is giving him some kind of respect. It's incorrect and should not happen.

Oh, and "Broly" is not definitively incorrect like "Frieza" or "Bulla" is, so that didn't really indicate anything about this happening.

Who does the subtitles for the streaming versions? It's Toei, isn't it? Sounds like precedent-setting to me.

And the "nobody cares" remark is the core of the matter. They. Don't. Care. Why would they? They've got this big international audience they're aiming at for whom those dub names are a 20 year precedent. Of course that's who they're marketing these international releases toward. The idea of there being a seperate audience within the "Western demographic" that prefers the Japanese names and spellings probably doesn't even compute.

It's all business decisions. The reason Pokemon never had this problem is because the international licensors came out strong and everything was kept clear and consistent from day one of it's massive explosion of popularity in the West. Dragon Ball took forever to get off the ground here and even when it did, there was still so much inconsistency and mishandling, the effects of which have lingered to this day (there are still games and merch that call Mr Satan "Hercule" for example). I can't blame them for wanting to finally lay down some consistent ground rules on this, it's just too late and aimed in the wrong direction.

Also for the record, I can get behind every dub name change and pronunciation that has become official in this series, or at least understand why they did it EXCEPT "Frieza". That's just a dumb spelling mistake.

[Forte224]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't the first time this happened has it? Wasn't there a meme going around of a bit in Super where they have a drawing of the word 'Freeza' but the subtitles say 'Frieza'. Also the same subs used 'Bulla' which briefly led to people thinking her name had been censored in Japanese as well.

Yes but that was only on streamed versions. Home releases had the proper names, so it was somewhat forgiven.

Hardcore fans will balk at it, but nobody cares what they think. From Toei/Shueisha/Funimation's perspective (I don't know who has the final say on these decisions) it makes sense from a business perspective to nail everything down in consistent terms for each language, or at least as close to consistency as you can get with Dragon Ball. Pokemon's done it for years: even the most casual observer knows Charizard, but I'd wager there are fans who've followed every game in that franchise who've never heard of 'Lizardon'.

Besides, every bit of official material calls the new movie 'Dragon Ball Super: Broly' instead of 'Broli.' That's just the direction they've gone in.

I'll ignore the "nobody cares what they think" remark. Anyway, this is different than Pokemon. A consistent, near 20 year precedent hadn't been set where people expected to see accurate Pokemon names, and then suddenly the rug was pulled from under them. That's exactly what has happened with this latest subtitle change in Dragon Ball. 20 years (at least) of the proper names being in the subtitles and suddenly they're gone. It's frustrating for long time viewers, and confusing for new viewers as they see things like Beerus calling Roshi "Master Roshi" and think Beerus is giving him some kind of respect. It's incorrect and should not happen.

Oh, and "Broly" is not definitively incorrect like "Frieza" or "Bulla" is, so that didn't really indicate anything about this happening.

Who does the subtitles for the streaming versions? It's Toei, isn't it? Sounds like precedent-setting to me.

Except the subtitles on the Blu-rays for Super were left alone. So there was already a precedent set for at least 8 Blu-ray releases of Super and now they are yanking the rug out from under our feet.

And the "nobody cares" remark is the core of the matter. They. Don't. Care. Why would they? They've got this big international audience they're aiming at for whom those dub names are a 20 year precedent. Of course that's who they're marketing these international releases toward. The idea of there being a seperate audience within the "Western demographic" that prefers the Japanese names and spellings probably doesn't even compute.

It's all business decisions. The reason Pokemon never had this problem is because the international licensors came out strong and everything was kept clear and consistent from day one of it's massive explosion of popularity in the West. Dragon Ball took forever to get off the ground here and even when it did, there was still so much inconsistency and mishandling, the effects of which have lingered to this day (there are still games and merch that call Mr Satan "Hercule" for example). I can't blame them for wanting to finally lay down some consistent ground rules on this, it's just too late and aimed in the wrong direction.

Also for the record, I can get behind every dub name change and pronunciation that has become official in this series, or at least understand why they did it EXCEPT "Frieza". That's just a dumb spelling mistake.

Well I...can't? I'm not sure what else to tell you. And they should have a clue that there are western fans that prefer the proper names/spellings, because they are clearly keeping an eye on the fanbase over here. They're just normalizing it all for the sake of people that will most likely never use the Japanese option or turn subtitles on. For some reason.

[Forte224]

Well, I watched the Broli movie through. I found it interesting that they kept the proper spelling for "Vegetto" instead of using "Vegito" (despite the movie having Gogeta in it, they reference Vegetto by saying they can't use that name again and need a new one), but otherwise the subtitles were what you would expect with dub names. "Frieza-sama" is just the most backwards thing I've ever seen.

I did not notice the green tint, but I suppose it could be my TV settings? Even without the comparison picture, the green tint is obvious to me in the screenshot I posted earlier. But on my TV it is not. I really need to get a Blu-ray player adapter for my PC so I can take some proper screenshots. The PS4 won't let me take screenshots of Blu-rays I guess.

[simtek34]

Well, I watched the Broli movie through. I found it interesting that they kept the proper spelling for "Vegetto" instead of using "Vegito" (despite the movie having Gogeta in it, they reference Vegetto by saying they can't use that name again and need a new one), but otherwise the subtitles were what you would expect with dub names. "Frieza-sama" is just the most backwards thing I've ever seen.

I did not notice the green tint, but I suppose it could be my TV settings? Even without the comparison picture, the green tint is obvious to me in the screenshot I posted earlier. But on my TV it is not. I really need to get a Blu-ray player adapter for my PC so I can take some proper screenshots. The PS4 won't let me take screenshots of Blu-rays I guess.

Well, FUNimation fixed Vegetto’s Name in Kai, so I guess that is going to be the new standard.

[Footlong Shoe]

I watched the whole thing through today so for anyone curious, I can list all the names used that might be of interest, that haven’t been acknowledged already.

Goku is called Son Goku in the subtitles whenever necessary
Shen Long is called Shenron
Kakarot (instead of Simmons’ usual Kakarrot)
And I believe everyone else is either pointed out above or spelled the same either way.

Important note: “Instantaneous Movement” and “Gyallic Ho” are used in these subtitles, so if this affects future releases, we shouldn’t have to worry about seeing “King Kai Fist” on Blu-ray

[JohnnyCashKami]

The Vietnamese dub of Dragon Ball Kai used "Frieza" dub spelling too but that may be due to using the FUNimation scripts as their source.

Anyway, a commentator on YouTube thinks that the criticism against the use of "Frieza" on the subs is unnecessary and that we're all "weebs." Totally. God forbid fans demand that the appropriate spelling is used.

Spoiler:

[MajinMan]

Don’t let some random on youtube trigger you. That place is full of people who say dumb shit to piss others off.

[Forte224]

Don’t let some random on youtube trigger you. That place is full of people who say dumb shit to piss others off.

Yeah, I hate to name drop specific communities, but YouTube (and GameFAQs) don't normally add much value to any conversation. They're either purposefully antagonistic or highly defensive and don't want to hear any smidgen of criticism.

Oh, and "weeb" is used so often in an attempt to quickly stifle any meaningful conversation.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Don’t let some random on youtube trigger you. That place is full of people who say dumb shit to piss others off.

Yeah, I hate to name drop specific communities, but YouTube (and GameFAQs) don't normally add much value to any conversation. They're either purposefully antagonistic or highly defensive and don't want to hear any smidgen of criticism.

Oh, and "weeb" is used so often in an attempt to quickly stifle any meaningful conversation.

Yeah, i believe words like weeaboo really are stupid when referring to a fan who prefers watching something in it's original version. Heck, i recall MistareFusion bringing up that very point on one of his Dragon Box videos

[Jackalope89]

Honestly? It doesn't bug me. At all. And that seems to be in the minority from what I've read.

[TheOverlyMadHatter]

Not really about the subtitles, but still somewhat relevant; like on the BoG and RoF US releases, they use the English version of Blizzard for the credits, even on the Japanese audio track.

[Forte224]

Not really about the subtitles, but still somewhat relevant; like on the BoG and RoF US releases, they use the English version of Blizzard for the credits, even on the Japanese audio track.

Yeah, not exactly surprising, but disappointing (as usual).

Also, yesterday I posted that I watched the US release of DBS Broly and said I didn't notice the green tint. Turns out my TV must not be set properly, because I played it on my PC monitor now and it is totally there.

[Gligarman]

Green tint, bad subs, English theme song only? Yeah, I'm done. I'm sending my copy back. Give me a call when Toei learns how to spell "4K."

[JohnnyCashKami]

Not really about the subtitles, but still somewhat relevant; like on the BoG and RoF US releases, they use the English version of Blizzard for the credits, even on the Japanese audio track.

Yeah, not exactly surprising, but disappointing (as usual).

Also, yesterday I posted that I watched the US release of DBS Broly and said I didn't notice the green tint. Turns out my TV must not be set properly, because I played it on my PC monitor now and it is totally there.

That looks awful. Thanks, TOEI.

Can't wait for more green tinted Dragon Ball stuff.

[KBABZ]

Glad that Madman is actually using the lack of tint in its own social media advertising! Pretty clever of them.

[Forte224]

Glad that Madman is actually using the lack of tint in its own social media advertising! Pretty clever of them.

They said there is a little more Broly news coming tomorrow on their Twitter. I really hope it is that they are making the disc region free, since so many have been asking. So far they keep saying it is locked to Region B. It might be a stretch, but hey, a man can dream.

[KBABZ]

Glad that Madman is actually using the lack of tint in its own social media advertising! Pretty clever of them.

They said there is a little more Broly news coming tomorrow on their Twitter. I really hope it is that they are making the disc region free, since so many have been asking. So far they keep saying it is locked to Region B. It might be a stretch, but hey, a man can dream.

Yeah that'd be great. I live in NZ so for me the regioning isn't an issue at all, but making it available worldwide would be a HUGE get for MangaUK on this.

[JohnnyCashKami]

Glad that Madman is actually using the lack of tint in its own social media advertising! Pretty clever of them.

They said there is a little more Broly news coming tomorrow on their Twitter. I really hope it is that they are making the disc region free, since so many have been asking. So far they keep saying it is locked to Region B. It might be a stretch, but hey, a man can dream.

Australian TV/Movie home releases have that ugly Australian Rating System on them but the good thing is that Madman at least offers reversible covers.

I want to buy Super Broly subbed in English on Blu-ray but don't want green tint on it. And I dunno if the Spanish release is affected by the tint too.

I'd not be surprised if a fan decided to make an Excel list of Dragon Ball home releases with green tint.

By the way, there's still the issue of using "Frieza" on the subs but between green tint and dubisms.. I'll take subs with dubisms but no green tint on the video. God dammit, pirates get better releases than genuine customers do.