Difference between Instant transmission and Instantaneous mo

[Captain Strawberry]

What is the difference linguistically between Instant transmission and Instantaneous movement.

[Sandubadear]

Linguistically as in "translation"? Instant Transmission is just a translation of Shunkan idō, its japanese name, while Instantaneous Movement is a made-up name (original is Kai Kai, which doesn't mean anything).

[Gaffer Tape]

Linguistically as in "translation"? Instant Transmission is just a translation of Shunkan idō, its japanese name, while Instantaneous Movement is a made-up name (original is Kai Kai, which doesn't mean anything).

What? No, that's not correct. Both Instant Transmission and Instantaneous Movement are used in reference to Shunkan idō, the former of which is used by FUNimation's dub, and the latter of which is used in FUNimation's subtitles of the Japanese version as written by Steve Simmons. If I'm not mistaken, Shunkan idō more literally means "instantaneous movement" but the term is used colloquially in Japanese to mean teleportation, which is how Viz and a lot of fans in the past referred to it.

That said, I've never watched the latter parts of the English dub, so I don't know how they handled the Kai Kai ability translation-wise, so for all I know they did dust off Instantaneous Movement for use there. I find myself skeptical over that, though.

Also... this is my 5,000th post! I've been "living here" too long. Now it's time to be born here!

[Herms]

If I'm not mistaken, Shunkan idō more literally means "instantaneous movement" but the term is used colloquially in Japanese to mean teleportation, which is how Viz and a lot of fans in the past referred to it.

Yeah, 移動/idou literally means "movement", and 瞬間移動/shunkan-idou is the standard Japanese term for "teleportation", though they do often use the actual English word "teleportation" as well. So it's a pre-existing word rather than something Toriyama came up with.

Kai-Kai in contrast is just something Toriyama made up, and is written in katakana (カイカイ) as if it were a foreign or imaginary word. However, another way to write kai of course is 界 meaning "world" (as in Kaio, Kaio-ken, Kaioshin, etc). So maybe I'm reading too much into it, but in this light the name "Kai-Kai" is suggestive of teleporting from world to world.

[Kamiccolo9]

Kai-Kai in contrast is just something Toriyama made up, and is written in katakana (カイカイ) as if it were a foreign or imaginary word. However, another way to write kai of course is 界 meaning "world" (as in Kaio, Kaio-ken, Kaioshin, etc). So maybe I'm reading too much into it, but in this light the name "Kai-Kai" is suggestive of teleporting from world to world.

That would make a lot of sense. Do we ever actually see Kibito, Kibitoshin, or Buu teleport over any non-planetary distances? I mean, if he could teleport wherever he wanted, that would have been pretty useful when Kibito was searching for Kaioshin.

[Gaffer Tape]

Well, when Kibito comes back to life, doesn't he first teleport to where Kaioshin is?

[Kamiccolo9]

Well, when Kibito comes back to life, doesn't he first teleport to where Kaioshin is?

No, he spends a bunch of time flying around looking for him.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

Well, when Kibito comes back to life, doesn't he first teleport to where Kaioshin is?

No, he spends a bunch of time flying around looking for him.

That battle with Buu is held in basically the same place where Kibito was killed. Once he's revived, he basically flies right to him in the manga. They spend more time looking for Gohan, having to actually stop and look around the woods to try and spot his body.

[Gaffer Tape]

Oh, yep, you're right. And they subsequently fly to collect Gohan, only teleporting when they leave the planet. So maybe you're right. Maybe it is only interplanetary.

[Saiga]

The idea that Kai Kai is only interplanetary is actually really cool. Of course, if it were intended that way I feel like it would have been mentioned somewhere, but I suppose it's a cool headcanon to have.

Although then again if someone really wanted to teleport to somewhere on the same planet they could just use some other planet as a pitstop in doing so.