Xenophobia: How does it impact the DragonBall fanbase?

[Olivier Hague]

in the dub of Gash Bell they change Tio's name to Tia. I understand the reason for changing Gash (hopefully I don't have to explain it to anyone else), but Tio/Tia seems so unnecessary. Still, fans of the English version get pissy if you call her Tio, which makes me facepalm.

Obviously, all cultures agree that names ending in "-o" are male, and those ending in "-a" are female.

That also explains "Akumo".
No. Wait.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

Oh, I don't disagree. Replacing one Japanese name waith 'Akuma' of all things does strike me as extremely pointless. And kind of amusing.

I don't mean to go off track, but in the dub of Gash Bell they change Tio's name to Tia. I understand the reason for changing Gash (hopefully I don't have to explain it to anyone else), but Tio/Tia seems so unnecessary. Still, fans of the English version get pissy if you call her Tio, which makes me facepalm.

I've had the opposite problem from the exact same show. I was talking about it with a friend and personally I thought it was a stupid anime so I was telling my friend my opinion and he goes off on me because I used Zatch instead of Gash. I didn't know any better because its all I've seen.


I saw the subs after to see if anything else was different....still didn't like it but that besides the point.

The point is, its not just dubbers who get mad but subbers as well. Though I think Name Changing is stupid a pointless.

[Wojak]

I'm with Adamant here. In our region in the world, we sub things mostly.
I mean, it's great.
I learned 50% of my English by watching American movies. Nowadays, I don't need to read the subs anymore, so I can pretty much get along with all the story in a movie without the distraction of any subs.

Well, my point is, that I've found out that there are only a few dubs that are faithful to the original.
Especially when I have looked the original version up.
Dubs tend to screw up facts and in ways censor them. At least in Sweden.
'Cause they are made for kids.

And I also agree with the view dubbers get. About illiteracy and such.

But I can't really say anything about Dragonball's original Japanese version, as I don't know Japanese, and franky don't watch that much anime.
But I can put in my two cents about dubs anyways, now that the topic has steered in that direction.

[Super Sonic]

The point is, its not just dubbers who get mad but subbers as well. Though I think Name Changing is stupid a pointless.

Sometimes Name changing is necessary due to cultural differences or to avoid riots and anarchy. Sailor Moon R and TF Galaxy Force are two such examples.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

The point is, its not just dubbers who get mad but subbers as well. Though I think Name Changing is stupid a pointless.

Sometimes Name changing is necessary due to cultural differences or to avoid riots and anarchy. Sailor Moon R and TF Galaxy Force are two such examples.

this is true however, I'm talking about when they do it for no reason(Street fighter 2 is the perfect example)

[Olivier Hague]

I'm talking about when they do it for no reason(Street fighter 2 is the perfect example)

Well, they did give some reasons...

"Wait, how did they call the boxer? "M. Bison"? Shit, tell Japan that it's our ass Tyson is going to kick once he finds out!"

""Vega"? That's a girl's name."

"This spanish dude sure looks girly. Oh, wait."

[Super Sonic]

I'm talking about when they do it for no reason(Street fighter 2 is the perfect example)

Well, they did give some reasons...

"Wait, how did they call the boxer? "M. Bison"? Shit, tell Japan that it's our ass Tyson is going to kick once he finds out!"

"Vega? That's a girl's name."

"This spanish dude sure looks girly. Oh, wait."

Actually, I just thought the name Vega fit the Spaniard more as it sounds semi-sorta Spanish.

[Freeza Heika]

I'm talking about when they do it for no reason(Street fighter 2 is the perfect example)

Well, they did give some reasons...

"Wait, how did they call the boxer? "M. Bison"? Shit, tell Japan that it's our ass Tyson is going to kick once he finds out!"

"Vega? That's a girl's name."

"This spanish dude sure looks girly. Oh, wait."

Actually, I just thought the name Vega fit the Spaniard more as it sounds semi-sorta Spanish.

I've heard that Vega means meadow from several people, but I have never been able to verify, because it is never in any dictionary.

[B]

*stuff about dubs being for kids*

No. A show is for whatever demographic it's beign aimed at. Dragon Ball is shounen. Regardless of what language you are watching it in, it's for children. Hellsing is seinen. Whatever language you are watching it in, it's for older audiences.

[Olivier Hague]

*stuff about dubs being for kids*

No.

Where he lives, yes.

[B]

*stuff about dubs being for kids*

No.

Where he lives, yes.

I don't give a fuck where anyone lives. Whatever the orginal creators established for it is what it is.

[MajinVejitaXV]

I've heard that Vega means meadow from several people, but I have never been able to verify, because it is never in any dictionary.

*quick post*

The name Wega (later Vega) comes from a loose transliteration of the Arabic word wāqi meaning "falling" or "landing." At least, that's what Wikipedia would have me believe

Wow, I'm amazed this topic grew like it did. It seemed like an interesting idea when I posted, and some people have definitely given some noteworthy contributions (and the topic hasn't dissolved into crap, even after 7 pages...is it wrong that I'm proud?). Let me get fully caught up and I'll give my thoughts on the topic, being more coherent now than I was when I first posted about the subject.

-Corey

[Adamant]

*stuff about dubs being for kids*

No. A show is for whatever demographic it's beign aimed at. Dragon Ball is shounen. Regardless of what language you are watching it in, it's for children. Hellsing is seinen. Whatever language you are watching it in, it's for older audiences.

This isn't about originally intended audiences, but the targetted audience of a particular release. Let's take Wall-E as an example. In English-speaking countries, it was aimed at all ages. Here, however, there were two releases of the movie - a dub aimed at the kids who can't read, and a sub aimed at the older audience who COULD read. As mentioned earlier, the Ninja Turtles movie was solely aimed at children here, and a lot of older Turtle fans were angry at that, since they wanted to watch it too.
Likewise, the Freakazoid dub was aimed at a younger audience than the Animaniacs sub, most likely because the Animaniacs sub got complaints from parents of younger children who liked Animaniacs, but couldn't understand it due to their illiteracy. This doesn't change the fact that both shows were originally aimed at the exact same age group.

[Olivier Hague]

I don't give a fuck where anyone lives.

Maybe you should start. That's pretty relevant to the discussion at hand.

Whatever the orginal creators established for it is what it is.

This, however, isn't.
Adamant said that dubs were for kids (as far as he and his fellow vikings were concerned). That's all. Which series are meant for / targeted at kids and which ones aren't would be another discussion.

[B]

*stuff about dubs being for kids*

No. A show is for whatever demographic it's beign aimed at. Dragon Ball is shounen. Regardless of what language you are watching it in, it's for children. Hellsing is seinen. Whatever language you are watching it in, it's for older audiences.

This isn't about originally intended audiences, but the targetted audience of a particular release. Let's take Wall-E as an example. In English-speaking countries, it was aimed at all ages. Here, however, there were two releases of the movie - a dub aimed at the kids who can't read, and a sub aimed at the older audience who COULD read. As mentioned earlier, the Ninja Turtles movie was solely aimed at children here, and a lot of older Turtle fans were angry at that, since they wanted to watch it too.
Likewise, the Freakazoid dub was aimed at a younger audience than the Animaniacs sub, most likely because the Animaniacs sub got complaints from parents of younger children who liked Animaniacs, but couldn't understand it due to their illiteracy. This doesn't change the fact that both shows were originally aimed at the exact same age group.

Okay, I can understand that. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Supa Saiya-Jin Tullece]

*stuff about dubs being for kids*

No. A show is for whatever demographic it's beign aimed at. Dragon Ball is shounen. Regardless of what language you are watching it in, it's for children. Hellsing is seinen. Whatever language you are watching it in, it's for older audiences.

This isn't about originally intended audiences, but the targetted audience of a particular release. Let's take Wall-E as an example. In English-speaking countries, it was aimed at all ages. Here, however, there were two releases of the movie - a dub aimed at the kids who can't read, and a sub aimed at the older audience who COULD read. As mentioned earlier, the Ninja Turtles movie was solely aimed at children here, and a lot of older Turtle fans were angry at that, since they wanted to watch it too.
Likewise, the Freakazoid dub was aimed at a younger audience than the Animaniacs sub, most likely because the Animaniacs sub got complaints from parents of younger children who liked Animaniacs, but couldn't understand it due to their illiteracy. This doesn't change the fact that both shows were originally aimed at the exact same age group.

That's sorta weird, but interesting none the less.

I never knew any of that.

Guess where you live plays a huge role.

[Wojak]

*stuff about dubs being for kids*

No. A show is for whatever demographic it's beign aimed at. Dragon Ball is shounen. Regardless of what language you are watching it in, it's for children. Hellsing is seinen. Whatever language you are watching it in, it's for older audiences.

This isn't about originally intended audiences, but the targetted audience of a particular release. Let's take Wall-E as an example. In English-speaking countries, it was aimed at all ages. Here, however, there were two releases of the movie - a dub aimed at the kids who can't read, and a sub aimed at the older audience who COULD read. As mentioned earlier, the Ninja Turtles movie was solely aimed at children here, and a lot of older Turtle fans were angry at that, since they wanted to watch it too.
Likewise, the Freakazoid dub was aimed at a younger audience than the Animaniacs sub, most likely because the Animaniacs sub got complaints from parents of younger children who liked Animaniacs, but couldn't understand it due to their illiteracy. This doesn't change the fact that both shows were originally aimed at the exact same age group.

The same happened in Sweden. Except that the TMNT movie was subbed, so I guess that they had a different view of who was going to be the audience.
TMNT was huge in Sweden, and the new series after the 80's cartoon weren't shown, so I guess that they realized that the main audience would be the guys that were grown up by now.

I'm talking about when they do it for no reason(Street fighter 2 is the perfect example)

Well, they did give some reasons...

"Wait, how did they call the boxer? "M. Bison"? Shit, tell Japan that it's our ass Tyson is going to kick once he finds out!"

""Vega"? That's a girl's name."

"This spanish dude sure looks girly. Oh, wait."

The funny thing is that the Streetfighter games, that like all Nintendo games in Sweden are distributed by Bergsala AB, didn't have any name changes as far as I know.
M. Bison and Vega have the same names. I guess that it's the same for all the European versions, since they usually make a collective European release.

And again, as far as I know, it's mostly the dubs that change the names.
A popular example is the Gummi Bears where every name were changed into more "Swedified" ones. They even renamed them into the "Bumbi Bears", eliminating the pun of them jumping around like being made of gummy. Even though using the Swedish word "Gummi", which means the same, would be the best choice.

[Olivier Hague]

The funny thing is that the Streetfighter games, that like all Nintendo games in Sweden are distributed by Bergsala AB, didn't have any name changes as far as I know.
M. Bison and Vega have the same names. I guess that it's the same for all the European versions, since they usually make a collective European release.

I'm pretty sure we had the "rotated" names, in France...

[Herms]

I don't mean to go off track, but in the dub of Gash Bell they change Tio's name to Tia. I understand the reason for changing Gash (hopefully I don't have to explain it to anyone else), but Tio/Tia seems so unnecessary. Still, fans of the English version get pissy if you call her Tio, which makes me facepalm.

Isn't Gash Bell the series where the English dub changed mamono (magical/demonic beings) to "Mamodo", rather then translate it or anything? Now that I don't understand at all.

[Victator Supreme]

Did you just compare Alessando Juliana to Kappei Yamaguchi? My Yamaguchi-kun?!

By the way, I thought it was funny/nice how all three Wammy's kids were dubbed by veteran voice actors.

(no, I didn't include you, Matt... sorry, dude)



And newsflash, by the way: yes, you can dub live action movies without it looking like shit. It's been done. Again, and again and again.

Prove it.

As for Power Rangers. If dubbing live action did not look so shitty. Someone would of brought that over here before Haim Saban got a chance to.

Also, a dub script simply CAN'T be 100% faithful, because no matter what, each line needs to fill as much time as the original line did. Subtitles don't have to do that, and can thus translate the original line properly, instead of going with the best translation they're able to fit into the alotted time.

Oh you are one of those word for word types. Missing the forrest for the trees. It does not matter if its word for word. As long as it gets the exact same meaning across. Certainly closer to creator intent than sub titles.

When you add sub titles you are focusing more on reading the dialogue than experiencing it. Its significantly changing the viewing experience. Ideally the movie/show was created to be watched by a Japanese audience. But a dub is a better subsitute than sub titles since they still on the same page.

One last thing on live action dubbing. Even if its perfect. It is still going to look alien. Alien enough to take away from the viewing experience. In this case sub title are preferable.