The Japanese episode titles

Jermyn · Post by **Jermyn** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:53 am

Am I the only one who thought that the Japanese titles for every single episode of Dragonball Z were really stupid? I mean they were about a sentence long and gave away spoilers for the episode like "Ferocity of the Saiya-jin! Kami-sama and Piccolo Both Die!", "Freeza's Terrible Declaration! I Will Defeat You Without Using My Hands" and "Goku is the Strongest after all!!! Majin Buu is Destroyed..." Say what you will about the dub, but at the very least they made the episode titles less corny sounding and spoilerific.

SonGokuGT · Post by **SonGokuGT** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:02 am

Jermyn wrote:less corny sounding and spoilerific.

Yup, because the title "Spirit Bomb Triumphant" doesn't spoil the outcome of the episode...

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:05 am

As someone who has already seen the series a bunch of times, I really like the Japanese titles. When looking to reference a specific episode or if I'm wanting to watch a specific episode on DVD, seeing some sort of sentence-long mini-summary of an important event in the episode helps me find what I'm looking for rather quickly.

Looking at the specific example you gave, what if I wanted to see the scene where Piccolo died? If I look at the Japanese titles, I see this:

25. Tien Shin Han's Final Scream! His Last Energy Beam.
26. Waiting Patiently For 3 Hours. The Candy Cloud Flies.
27. Leave It To Me. Gohan's Explosion of Anger.
28. The Savagery Of The Saiyan! God And Piccolo Die.
29. Wow, Daddy! Lord Kaio's Killer Technique.
30. A Battle Beyond Imagination: Goku vs. Begeeta.

When I look at the American titles, I see this:

25. Sacrifice
26. Nappa's Rampage
27. Nimbus Speed
28. Goku's Arrival
29. Lesson Number One
30. Goku vs. Vegeta

While I'm not going to lie and say that the American titles give me absolutely no idea of what episode to look for, if I haven't seen the episodes in several months the Japanese titles will save me a few minutes of time.

Chuquita · Post by **Chuquita** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:25 am

I love the Japanese episode titles! The whole setup of "An exclaimation or question? A statement follows." just feels more fun to me.

Catterix2006 · Post by **Catterix2006** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:27 am

SonGokuGT wrote:
Jermyn wrote:less corny sounding and spoilerific.
Yup, because the title "Spirit Bomb Triumphant" doesn't spoil the outcome of the episode...

Exactly. Because the Spirit Bomb wasn't triumphant and so it was a red herring to get kids excited.

And the American titles did give "spoilers" for the big episodes, like if it was the beginning or an end of the fight, you can tell by the title. But at least they never really said out right with no originality that Piccolo died. I fully agree with the OP here, other than some odd occasions, where the dub did the same as the JP and had titles like "Goku's Alive!", the US titles felt more like... Titles. I'd never expect a chapter in a book to say; "Shocking conclusion! Snape kills Dumbledore!!"

xzero · Post by **xzero** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:29 am

I tend to agree with jermyn on this one. I always liked the dub titles better. I can understand the counterargument (more descriptive, more interesting), but I still tend to prefer single word or phrase titles. The other thing is that Funimation's titles don't always completely divorce themselves from the original titles. Let me give a few examples:

Japanese Titles
87. The Curtain Rises Over the Ultimate Battle!! I am Going to Defeat You
88. Two Superpowers Collide!! A Fistfight Where Both Turn Serious
89. Freeza's Terrible Declaration! I Will Defeat You Without Using My Hands!
90. (actually, I'll just concede this one)
91. Showdown!! The Embodiment of Flame in a 20x Kaio-Ken Kamehameha
92. A Super-Huge Genki Dama!! I'm Playing My Strongest Trump Card

Dub Titles
87. The Ultimate Battle
88. Clash of the Superpowers
89. Freeza's Boast
90. (already conceded)
91. Embodiment of Fire
92. Trump Card

I know it's not always the case, but at least there's an effort to include parts of the original title in the dub episode title. Spoilers are generally present in the titles in a series of this nature, so neither version comes out clean for that. Still, I prefer the dub titles for their simplicity. [/i]

Daburcor · Post by **Daburcor** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:40 am

Chuquita wrote:"An exclaimation or question? A statement follows."

That's the best episode of the whole series!

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 7:44 am

Meh, I don't mind either version really. Both are creative in their own way I think.

scottdahl · Post by **scottdahl** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:53 am

In Japan most of the people watching the show already had read the manga, so it was easier for watching specific parts. I'm america the names are retarded who nows what hapinds in an episode calles "the final battel" , " Goku powers up", or "the Z fighters arrive at the scene".

Catterix2006 · Post by **Catterix2006** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:55 am

scottdahl wrote:In Japan most of the people watching the show already had read the manga, so it was easier for watching specific parts. I'm america the names are retarded who nows what hapinds in an episode calles "the final battel" , " Goku powers up", or "the Z fighters arrive at the scene".

Why should you know what happens in the episode?

It seems more like a culture thing really. The Japanese have never seemed to have much against spoilers, whilst we as a culture, tend to have a high value for the sanctity of the story, and so usually titles of things are meant to be creative and be a little teaser.

Whereas often, in Japan, it's common to go into a film knowing the entire storyline, and what you want to see is how the film develops this plotline. You want to see the plot develop having full knowledge of it already.

And so, for that reason, I prefer the dub's titles, as they fit our culture and style, which is what a dub is supposed to do. A dub isn't supposed to be purist to the original, afterall.

SSj_Rambo · Post by **SSj_Rambo** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:16 am

Personally I like the Japanese titles better, but maybe it's just because I am a Fan Boy that tries as hard as possible to watch Dragonball with as much of a sense of Japanese authenticity as I can. The fact that the title gives away part of what happens in that episode has never really bothered me.

Hao_Kaiser · Post by **Hao_Kaiser** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:08 am

I can sorta see where the pro-dub title guys are coming from... But, at the same time, we all know how the series goes. There really aren't many surprises left. Since a lot of fans are probably coming/came into the series via the dub anyways, the whole thing is rather irrelevant. Maybe I'm just stereotyping, but... If you're watching the Japanese version, you probably know whats going to happen.

I kinda agree with Kendamu. Just for the sake of finding what you're wanting to watch, the Japanese titles have a bit of a heads up. They also tend to be a lot more fun to quote when you really want to irritate your friends.

Catterix2006 · Post by **Catterix2006** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:19 am

Circumstance shouldn't necessarily dictate style.

I mean, you wouldn't expect the final Harry Potter movie to begin with Harry's fight with Voldemort just because the director knows that "nearly everyone has read the book so it's kinda irrelevant".

These are reasons to like the Japanese titles, but not for choosing which is more suitable.

But then it will just become "people's opinions differ" which is the most annoying scapegoat argument

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:16 pm

Hao_Kaiser wrote:I can sorta see where the pro-dub title guys are coming from... But, at the same time, we all know how the series goes. There really aren't many surprises left. Since a lot of fans are probably coming/came into the series via the dub anyways, the whole thing is rather irrelevant. Maybe I'm just stereotyping, but... If you're watching the Japanese version, you probably know whats going to happen.

I kinda agree with Kendamu. Just for the sake of finding what you're wanting to watch, the Japanese titles have a bit of a heads up. They also tend to be a lot more fun to quote when you really want to irritate your friends.

"What episode will I watch?! Hao Kaiser makes a decision!!"

"Kendamu's hungry! The pizza is delicious."

"Why won't this camera work?! Kendamu repiars equipment!"

I think I'm going to start making episode titles for my life until I get bored with it.

caejones · Post by **caejones** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:38 pm

An effective AntiDepressant! Kendamu's Japanese Title Scheme!

I wonder if doing that all the time will help me get things done...

Toriyama Boss · Post by **Toriyama Boss** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:42 pm

DBZ japanese original episode titles is just better than the DUB's in every way shape and form.

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:45 pm

God my day should start with Japanese titles so I know what's coming up.

"NeptuneKai Passing Algebra Finals!? Failing is unavoidable!"

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:45 pm

caejones wrote:An effective AntiDepressant! Kendamu's Japanese Title Scheme!

I wonder if doing that all the time will help me get things done...

If that's the case, I might actually stay spirited enough to finish my math and science courses and finally go to Japan for the rest of my college career.

Artificial Human #887 · Post by **Artificial Human #887** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 1:46 pm

Kendamu wrote: "What episode will I watch?! Hao Kaiser makes a decision!!"

"Kendamu's hungry! The pizza is delicious."

"Why won't this camera work?! Kendamu repiars equipment!"

You have single-handedly proven why I love the Japanese titles. I mean, vague is cool, especially if you've never seen it before... but I could care less. I know what's going to happen anyway. I love the use of exclamation points for everything, too.

And now I want to find excuses to talk like this.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:17 pm

Artificial Human #887 wrote:
Kendamu wrote: "What episode will I watch?! Hao Kaiser makes a decision!!"

"Kendamu's hungry! The pizza is delicious."

"Why won't this camera work?! Kendamu repiars equipment!"

You have single-handedly proven why I love the Japanese titles. I mean, vague is cool, especially if you've never seen it before... but I could care less. I know what's going to happen anyway. I love the use of exclamation points for everything, too.

And now I want to find excuses to talk like this.

It's fun stuff. I think I'm actually going to restructure the page titles on my website to mimic the episode titles.

Kanzenshuu

The Japanese episode titles

The Japanese episode titles

Re: The Japanese episode titles

Re: The Japanese episode titles

Re: The Japanese episode titles

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