Herms' Huge Project (Viz translation review)--DB vol.5!

[Sprite Satan]

This is awesome. Big thanks, Herms. Although I'm wondering if it would be bothersome at all to also post some of the original Japanese for further context.

[Chuquita]

"Fluffy testicle pillow"??

Wow, Goku.

These translations are so interesting. X3

[Dr. Casey]

I don't care for some of the spiced up dialogue. I think the originals sound more natural and realistic ('Get away' as opposed to 'Thar she blows'), and in some cases the revised dialogue is even a bit out-of-character ('OK staff - do your stuff!' is way too snappy for someone as straightforward as Goku, especially at the beginning of the series).

This is very interesting stuff, though. Keep it up.

[B]

[lost]
Goku’s first line is a greeting, appropriately enough:

JPN: Ya, ossu
Tr: Yo, heya!
Viz: Hey, bro! Wuzzup?!

I lol'd like CRAZY.

Good read, looking forward to more.

[JulieYBM]

So it just occured: didn't you original say you were going to include the page numbers of the English/Japanese volume or am I haluscinating?

Either way, terrific work.

[Xell]

Did they change some of the dialogue in the Japanese version of the anime? I don't remember 'fluffy testicle pillow' in that.

[B]

Eh, doesn't really matter, IMO. He's labeling the chapters, and you can look up which volume has what on various sites.

[Acid_Reign]

Hey, awesome work!

Any chance you could list the page numbers—and, if it isn’t too much extra work: panel numbers? Not cumulatively, but just relative to their respective pages, e.g.:

Page 1
Panel 1: [Dialogue]
Panel 2: [Dialogue]

…

Page 2
Panel 1: [Dialogue]
Panel 2: [Dialogue], etc.

I ask because it would incorporate nicely into my own project. Thanks!

[Raki]

This is truly epic Herms. Good work and good luck!

[Kendamu]

You're gonna have some easy times later on in the more action-oriented chapters.

[*]
Translation: Haaaaaaaa!
Viz: Haaaaaaaaaa!

They were yelling.

[Herms]

1.) Will you be devoting a section of Kanzentai to this project? Such thorough work deserves to be archived in something better than a message board topic.

That's the plan, eventually anyway.

2.) I'm curious. How will you take into account the changes in recent Viz releases of the manga? I'm sure you know already from reading the various VizBig threads that dialogue is being revised. With that in mind, and with so many versions of the Viz manga (all with slightly different changes), how do you plan to list every alteration?

Well, I had a thread awhile back asking people of any dialogue changes between editions that they knew of, and I did some forum searching too. I may flip through the Viz bigs on Shonen Jump GNs at Barnes and Noble to see if I can spot anything.

3.) Will you be covering visual edits as well, like nudity edits?

Yep, I plan on it.

[SaiyaMel]

I don't care for some of the spiced up dialogue. I think the originals sound more natural and realistic ('Get away' as opposed to 'Thar she blows'), and in some cases the revised dialogue is even a bit out-of-character ('OK staff - do your stuff!' is way too snappy for someone as straightforward as Goku, especially at the beginning of the series).

This is very interesting stuff, though. Keep it up.

Why I don't even bother turning to my Viz Graphic novels for dialog references anymore.

This is simply awesome! I'm always seeking the truth in things like this..

[Saiyan-Professor]

I think many of the changes were done by Viz in order to be politically correct and not anger the parents of their target audience. While some most likely are angered over the changes from an economic perspective, it was a brilliant move. You can attract more bees with honey then vinegar.

[Hujio]

1.) Will you be devoting a section of Kanzentai to this project? Such thorough work deserves to be archived in something better than a message board topic.

That's the plan, eventually anyway.

I can confirm that. Most of the information will also be spread throughout the site, like the chapter pages in the Manga Guide.

[Herms]

And here's the rest of volume 1.

Chapter 3

[*]
Opening narration
Tr: After spending the night, Goku and Bulma were finishing up their preparation for setting off in search of the next dragonball. But what is the identity of the creepy shadow that appeared there?
Viz: Bulma and Son Goku prepare to begin the second day of their quest...while closer...ever closer...crawls an omnious shadow...!!

[**]
When Goku is complaining about how slow Bulma is, he says that she’ll “become a turtle”, but in Viz he just says she’s like a turtle. A minor difference, but then when Goku meets Sea Turtle he says how he told her she’d become a turtle, and Viz keeps this line, but because they changed the earlier line it seems slightly odd.

[***/lost]
Bulma, to Goku

Tr.
Bulma: And would you stop calling me “you”!? I’m two years your elder, so I want you to call me “Bulma-san”!
Goku: I don’t wanna, it’s hard to say.
Bulma: How is that hard to say?!!

Viz
Bulma: For one thing, what’s with the familiar tone!? For another, I’m older and much more sophisticated than you! You should call me “miss”!
Goku: But what do you “miss”?
Bulma: Nothing, stupid!!

In Japanese, it’s generally considered rude to use second-person pronouns to refer to people, or at least to people higher in status than yourself. So that’s what Bulma is complaining to Goku about. Viz handles this cultural difference pretty well, though adding in the “miss” joke seems unnecessary.

[*]
Bulma, when Goku’s talking with Sea Turtle
Tr: Who are you talking with?
Viz: What are you babbling about?

[lost]
Sea Turtle talks very politely in Japanese, and to represent that Viz has him talking sort of like a stereotypical English gentleman. In keeping with his politeness, Sea Turtle uses watakushi, a very polite form of “I”.

[*]
When Bulma’s mad at Goku for wanting to leave with Sea Turtle, she tells him to never show his face again; Viz renders this as her telling him to “never darken [her] Hoi-poi door again”. The “Hoi-Poi door” is a very Viz-like touch (and I mean that in a good way). Then in the next panel or so, they change Bulma’s dialogue a bit:

Tr: Idiot! Hick! Don’t come back
Viz: I mean it! Never show your face again!

So they basically move the “never show your face again” to this panel.

[**]
The bear bandit, on seeing Goku carrying Sea Turtle

Tr: Looks like they’ve brought something good…
Viz: Waiters on wheels, eh?

Tr: Haha---kid! Won’t you hand over that sea turtle? It’s my favorite!
Viz: And how did you know that sea turtle…is my favorite dish! Wa ha ha!

[**]
During the bear incident, Bulma calls Goku “Son-kun” again in Japanese, but Viz changes this to “pee-wee”. So far Bulma has never called Goku by name in Viz’s translation.

[*]
Tr: I won’t give nothing to you!
Viz: Nyah, nyah! Fooey on youey!

[*]
Bear bandit, to Goku
Tr: Well if that’s the case, I guess I’ll take the brat first…
Viz: Well, I do aim to please…

[**]
The Tori-bot on the tree by the sea (with a bee on his knee that’s for free)

Tr: This isn’t Penguin Village.
Viz: Is this Penguin Village…?

As the note Viz adds says, Penguin Village is the setting of Toriyama’s first long-running manga, Dr. Slump. Goku will later visit Penguin Village during the Red Ribbon Army arc. The fact that the Tori-bot is clinging to the palm tree is also a visual reference to Dr. Slump, where various odd things are always seen clinging to palm trees (triceratops, pigs, etc). This is also the first time Toriyama appears in DragonBall. While he showed up so much in Dr. Slump that he was almost a regular character, in DragonBall he hardly ever appears.

[***]
Bulma, wondering what the reward Sea Turtle mentions is

Tr: It’s not going to be a tamatebako, is it?
Viz: I can’t wait to see a turtle’s idea of a reward…

This is a reference to the story of Urashima Taro, a famous Japanese folk tale. In it, the boy Urashima Taro saves a sea turtle that is being harassed by some kids, and in gratitude it takes him to a dragon palace at the bottom of the sea, where a beautiful princess lives. He lives there with the princess for three hundred years, which to him seem like only three days, until he longs to go back and visit his family. The princess reluctantly agrees, and gives him the tamatebako, a magic box, as a gift, but says he must not open it. Urashima Taro goes back the surface, but finds that everyone he knows is long dead (it’s only here that he learns how long he’s been gone). Unable to return to the dragon palace and not sure what to do, he opens the tamatebako. However, the tamatebako turns out to contain his true age, and so he instantly becomes an old, old man, and dies. As my very first Japanese teacher said, “sometimes life is like this”.

This story is often referenced in anime. In Dr. Slump, Suppaman is inspired by this story (nonsensically believing it to show how justice is always rewarded) and tries to find a turtle to save, going so far as to force a kid at gunpoint to harass a turtle, so that he could “save” it.

[*]
For Kame-sennin’s first line, in the Japanese version he says the English greeting “Hello”. Viz has him say “Aloha”, presumably because for English speakers it’s a commonly known foreign greeting, just as “hello” is for the Japanese.

[*]
Bulma’s reaction to Kame-sennin
Tr:…A flashy old man
Viz: Just what we need…an old man…

[**]
Closing narration
Tr: The turtle they helped brought back a funky old man! Who could this old man be!?
Viz: Careful, Bulma…don’t be so quick to dismiss this old man…


Chapter 4

[*]
Opening narration
Tr: Son Goku helped out a turtle. Who on Earth is this old man at the turtle brought in gratitude?...
Viz: …Okay, so Son Goku helps a turtle. The turtle wants to give him a reward. Swell, except the “reward” is…

I'm probably going to not cover the narration too much from now on. You can see how Viz handles them: same basic idea, but with their own spin on it. Which is generally what they do with the dialogue, but it seems like they play faster and looser with the narration, and sometimes it's completely different. I might keep on noting the "completely different" times though.

[**]
In Japanese, Kame-sennin greats Goku and Bulma with the English “Good afternoon!”. Viz has him say “Howdy, young’uns!”. I’m kind of disappointed they didn’t give him another foreign greeting, like they did with “hello/aloha” last chapter.

[lost]
Kame-sennin talks like a stereotypical geezer in Japanese. He uses washi, a form of “I” used by old men, and he pronounces the Japanese copula verb “da” as “ja” (that is, he says “is” weird). He also sometimes finishes his sentences with wa, a particle usually used by women, but which old men use too.

[lost]
A sennin is a figure from Japanese mythology, the “immortal spirit of a saint living in the mountains”, who “can perform miracles, such as…flying on the back of a tortoise or on a cloud”. So Kame-sennin is the sennin of turtles (kame=turtle). Viz translates Kame-sennin as “turtle hermit”, which I guess is OK, since sennin are supposed to live alone and all, but it doesn’t imply the sort of mysticism that the original term does. Maybe “turtle sage” would be better?

[**]
Goku
Tr: Present?
Viz: Not again…

[**]
Bulma, when the immortal phoenix fails to show up

Tr: …Nothing’s coming…
Viz: Was that “immortal”…or “invisible”?

[lost/notes]
So Kinto-un’s name means “somersault cloud”. It’s one of the story elements derived from Journey to the West. In Journey to the West, Son Wukong and others have the ability to ride clouds. The name for this is written 觔斗雲, which the Japanese pronounce as kinto-un (anyone want to look up the Chinese pronunciation for me?). Because it’s a Chinese term, while it means “somersault cloud”, this meaning isn’t readily apparent to Japanese people, and it’s sometimes incorrectly written in Japanese as 金斗雲 (with the “kin” part incorrectly written with the kanji for gold). In DragonBall, Kinto-un is written 筋斗雲; this is because 觔, the starting kanji of the Chinese name, isn’t used in Japanese, and 筋 is its Japanese equivalent. Note that in Journey to the West, kinto-un is a special technique for riding clouds, not a specific kind of riding cloud like it is in DragonBall.


[*]
Two Kame-sennin lines
Tr: Ain’t it amazing!
Viz: That’s the ticket, boy!

Tr: That is, it’s no good unless you’re a good kid!
Viz: This cloud’s got standards!

[*]
Sea Turtle, after Kame-sennin falls through Kinto-un
Tr: Ar-are you alright?!
Viz: M-master, how can this be…?

And now, the Kame-sennin/Sea Turtle dialogues!

[**]
Tr:
Sea Turtle: Wh…what’s going on?...
Kame-sennin: Mumu~that’s odd…

Viz:
Sea Turtle: Surely it’s defective
Kame-sennin: Needs a little mystic tune-up, mebbe…

[**]
Tr:
Sea Turtle: He could ride it…
Kame-sennin: Well?...Wha-what’s going on?...

[**]
Viz:
Sea Turtle: It seems…fixed, sir…
Kame-sennin: Maybe just a power surge…

[*]
Sea Turtle
Tr: What kind of thing is that for a gentleman, let alone a sage, to say!!
Viz: I say, sir! Really now! I mean, you know, really!

[**]
Bulma, flashing Kame-sennin
Tr: Sure!!!
Viz: Look fast!!!

And afterward
Tr: Kyaah, how embarrassing!!
Viz: Tee-hee! O-kaaaaay?!

[***]
Bulma, calling Goku over
Tr: Ha-hang on a minute, Son-ku---n!!!
Viz:--Yo, Goku!!!

Not too important on its own, but this is the first time that Bulma calls Goku by name in Viz’s translation. While Bulma’s general way of addressing Goku in Japanese is “Son-kun”, Viz has her call him “Goku”, at least for now. This is presumably because there’s no real equivalent of kun in English, Viz wouldn’t want to leave the Japanese honorific as is, and having Bulma simply call Goku “Son” would be a bit confusing for English speakers.

[note]
In Viz Bulma now refers to the dragon radar as a radar, while at the very start in the Viz translation she called it a “detector” for some reason (for the record, the English word “radar” is used in Japanese for the device, so it’s not just translation-related inconsistency).

[lost]
In Japanese, the word that appears behind Bulma when she realized she wasn’t wearing anything underneath her pajamas is “no-pan” (ノーパン) a shortening of the English “no panties” that’s used in Japanese for, well, for that sort of thing. In Dr. Slump, there’s a chapter where Senbei goes to what he thinks is a no-pan café, a café where the waitresses don’t have any panties on. However, it turns out the place is instead called the “Lupan Café” (ルーパン), and part of the sign had simply fallen off. Viz renders the term as simply “naked”.

[*]
In Japanese Goku specifically tells Bulma that she doesn’t need a penis or balls to survive, but in Viz he simply says she doesn’t need “those parts”.

[**]
In Viz, Bulma refers to Kinto-un as “magic cloud”, while in the original she simply calls it by name. There’s several instances of this kind of thing in Viz; in the original Kinto-un is pretty much always referred to by name.

[**]
Closing narration
Tr: Son Goku and Bulma have entered an eerily quiet village. What is waiting in store for them…?!
Viz: A village seemingly deserted in the middle of the day…presences “sensed” but unseen…what the heck is going on here?!

Chapter 5

[edit]
The guy who axes Goku on the head has “Sherman Priest” written on his door, in English letters. Viz changes the image so that it says “Sherman the Shaman”, and they put it on a black name tag, instead of having it be written straight on the door (presumably this was to make their edit of the image look better). I’d assume this is simply a gag, as a shaman is essentially a type of priest, and “Sherman the Shaman” rhymes. Of course, “Priest” would presumably be the guy’s last name, not his profession (for the record, this guy is identified as the village mayor in Daizenshuu 3’s character model sheets library). At any rate, despite having what is presumably his name written on what is presumably his house, I don’t believe this guy is ever referred to as “Sherman Priest” anywhere in the Japanese manga, anime, or guidebooks (being variously called in the guidebooks “village mayor”, “axe-wielding old man”, “father of girl who Oolong had his eye on”, etc). However, Oolong does call him “Sherman Priest” that in the Funi dub. In the anime, his character design was reused for the elderly scientist who studies the Fire-Eating Bird.

[*]
Sherman the Nomenclaturely and Occupationaly Confuzzled Man, when Bulma says he would have killed her had she gone in first instead of Goku:

Tr: I’m so ashamed
Viz: L-lucky it wasn’t, eh? Heh heh

[lost]
Like Bulma earlier, Oolong is described as a youkai, a Japanese term for monsters/goblins/demons. Viz continues to translate the term as “demon”. Shape-shifting in an ability particularly associated with youkai.

[**/lost]
Sherman says that Oolong took the form of an oni when he came to select Sherman’s daughter as his next bride, but this gets left out in Viz. An oni is a demonic, ogre-like creature from Japanese mythology. They are sometimes portrayed as the assistants of Enma-Daio, which is how they later turn up in DragonBall.

[***]
After the old lady says she has a dragonball, Sherman replies:

Tr: Grandma Paozu?
Viz: You do…?

So the old lady’s name is Grandpa Paozu, but she remains nameless in Viz. “Paozu” is an especially interesting name for her to have, because in the anime Goku and family are said to live on Mt. Paozu. On the reason for this character’s name, in DragonBall Forever Toriyama said “I think that’s the Chinese name for manjuu”.

[*]
Bulma, after Goku impolitely pats Paozu.
Tr: Is this the time to be indiscriminatingly pat-pating?
Viz: …I said, no “pat-pat”!!!

[**]
Bulma, on Goku pretending to be Sherman’s daughter
Tr: Id-idiot! What an awful performance!!
Viz: Oh great, he’s role-playing!!

So in the original she criticizes Goku’s acting, but in Viz she bizarrely criticizes him for acting at all.

[**]
Wheneven Oolong transforms, in Japanese he calls out “transform!” (henge), while in Viz he says “presto”.

[lost]
In Japanese, when Oolong transforms into a young man, he uses the English phrase “young man”.

[lost]
Oolong refers to Goku, disguised as Sherman’s daughter, as ojou-chan, a less formal form of ojou-san, a polite way to refer to a young woman, generally one of higher social status than you. Sometimes it’s used sort of sarcastically, kind of like how you’d call someone “missy” to belittle them.

[*]
Bulma describes her bust as 85 in Japanese, and Viz has it as 34-C. I’d assume the two are equivalent.

[edit]
When Oolong is imaging the “puff-puff”, Viz edits out the nipples on the woman in the picture.

[*? Lost? Something]
When weighing the pros and cons of chosing Bulma or Sherman’s daughter (ie Goku), In Japanese Oolong describes Sherman’s daughter with the English phrase “pretty baby”.

[lost]
Oolong uses ore, a masculine, casual form of “I”.

[**]
Oolong, after seeing Goku peeing
Tr: [He’s] got what I despise!!!
Viz: I saw it!!! I saw it!!!

I can’t think of a really good translation of the original that doesn’t sound weird, which I guess is why Viz changed it a bit. But basically, Oolong describes penises as that which he despises. Later on, he also says he despises men. It’s an odd aspect of his personality that kind of drops out in Viz’s translation.

[sound]
TESE: Bakoom!

[*]
Sherman to Bulma
Tr: You’ve also got a troublesome personality
Viz: You know, if I had the time, I could really dislike you…

[*]
In the Japanese, when Sherman says Bulma will go with Oolong in his daughter’s place, Bulma says there’s no way she’d go with that “monster”, but in Viz she says “ox”.

[*]
Oolong stutters a bit during his threats to Goku, but this isn’t in Viz. It’s the first indication that Oolong isn’t all that he appears.

[lost]
In Japanese, Goku taunts Oolong by crying “dosukoi”, which is a cry sumo wrestlers make.

Chapter 6

[sound]
TELE: Bomb!

[*]
Goku to Oolong
Tr: Are you running away?!!
Viz: No time outs!!

[*]
Oolong thinks to himself that the villagers would make fun of him if they knew his true identity was a cute piglet, but in Viz he just wonders how they’d react if they knew. I think it’s interesting for Oolong to be afraid of being teased, especially since we later learn he teased Puar in school.

[*]
In Viz’s explanation for Oolong’s transformations, it says that his “magic” takes a minute to recharge, but the original doesn’t specifically mention him using any magic to transform.

[notes]
As Oolong runs off, you can see part of a sign that seems to say “Village”, in English letters. In the anime, this sign is shown to say “Aru Village”. When stuck before a noun, aru means “one~”, or “a certain~”, so it’s probably not a proper name. In Dr. Slump, Toriyama often would write out Japanese words in alphabet letters for signs and maps (for instance, labeling mountains on a map as “yama”, Japanese for mountain, but in alphabet letters rather than kanji or hiragana).

[lost]
In Japanese, Oolong wonders at how Goku wasn’t scared of his “Obake-ushi”, his obake ox transformation. In Viz the “obake” part gets left out.

[sound]
TESE: Bomb!

[*]
When Oolong comes back to fight Goku again, Viz adds in him says that he went away to destroy another village. In the original he just says he had some sudden bit of business.

[*]
Viz adds in Oolong saying that he’ll slurp up Goku like a ramen noodle; in the original he just says he’ll eat him.

[lost/notes]
The kanji on the chest of Oolong’s robot transformation (根性) is reas as konjou, and means guts or will-power.

[sound]
TESE: Bthoom!

[*]
When running away, Oolong says “Retreat!” in Japanese and “Farewell!” in Viz.

[lost/notes]
The two kanji on Oolong’s lair (龍鳥) mean “Dragon” and “bird”. They’re also on Oolong’s house wagon later on, but with “bird” first.

[*/edit]
Bulma, on Oolong’s spiffy liar
Tr: You certainly live in an audacious house~ It doesn’t suit you.
Viz: And here I was expecting a cave…

The most interesting thing here is that in the original, Bulma says this over two speech bubbles (“it doesn’t suit you” being in the left bubble), while Viz edits this into a single bubble. You can see how in Viz the cloud on the left simply cuts off into nothing, because in the original it was cut off by the left speech bubble, the one Viz removed.

[***]
In the original, the three girls kidnapped by Oolong are named Hedge, Hogg, and Lee (their names are only mentioned when their parents reunite with them). In Viz, instead of these names, their parents call them pet names: kitten, princess, and precious, so these are some more characters who go nameless in Viz. On naming these characters, Toriyama said “When I was trying to think of what to name these characters, my eyes fell on a Tamiya plastic tank model with the nickname “Hedgehog”. Sure enough, Lee is also the nickname of a tank”.

[**/lost/notes]
The fish that jumps out of the river says “Shuwatch” in the original. “Shuwatch” is Ultraman’s catchphrase, which he says when he jumps up to fly. Toriyama referenced Ultraman quite often in Dr. Slump. In Viz, the fish instead says “yee-haw!”.

[sound]
TESE: Boaaat!!

The boat going “boaaaat!!” is one of my favorite sound effects. Toriyama does this sort of thing every now and then. In his short comic Lady Red, Lady Red’s car goes “speeeeeed!!” when she takes off, and in Escape, a character trying to hide accidentally kicks an aluminum can, which goes “can!”.

Bulma

[*]
Bulma refers to her search for the dragonballs as a “trip” in Japanese, but Viz has her and Oolong call it a “quest”.

[**]
Oolong, after Goku pat-pats him
Tr: I love women, but despise men!! Don’t do that again!!
Viz: And I don’t want another guy touching me—ever, okay?!!

As I said earlier, Oolong seems to have something against men a bit above and beyond simply being heterosexual (after all, he flat-out says “I despise men”, not simply “I don’t like being touched by men”). This kind of drops out in Viz.

[*]
Goku, in response to the above
Tr: Oh!!
Viz: Why?

[**/notes]
The next chapter text at the bottom in Viz says “Dim Sum and Soochong”, a reference to Yamcha and Puar’s name puns. Technically Yamcha’s name comes from yum cha, which is only a part of dim sum. And while I’m no tea expert, it seems that puer tea, which Puar gets his name from, is different from soochong tea.

Chapter 7

[*]
The “little less eagerly” gag in the opening narration was added by Viz.

[note]
When introducing Gyuumao, Oolong calls him “Gyumao, AKA the Ox King”. This is the first example of a standard pattern Viz uses when dealing with Japanese titles and technique names, where they have characters first say the Japanese name, and then a translation. In the original the character just says the name once, the translation part of course being something added by Viz for English readers. I quite like this approach.

[*/note]
In the Viz, when Oolong transforms into a fish and runs away, he says “Include me out!!!”. This is a line attributed to movie producer Samuel Goldwyn, who was famous for such contradictory statements. In the original, Oolong just says he doesn’t want to go in a generic sort of way.

[**]
Oolong, when caught
Tr: Da-dammit!!
Viz: Waugh!!

[**]
Goku, when the boat runs out of fuel
Tr: Hey, the engine stopped
Viz: The boat stopped talking!

So Viz makes Goku look more ignorant than in the original.

[**]
Goku, when Bulma and Oolong are talking about getting more gas
Tr: What’s “gas”?
Viz: My food turns into gas…

[*]
Goku, when Bulma asks Oolong to become an oar
Tr: What’s an oam?
Viz: What good’s a boar?

Incidentally, Goku’s flubbed way of saying “oar” in Japanese is the same way Ohm is written in Japanese (like in Ohm’s Law, or the electric unit).

[sound]
TESE: Bom!!

[**]
Viz has Goku say “dyke” instead of “bike”, and then Bulma corrects him. In the original he just says “bike”.

[***]
Some stuff on the PP Candy: first, Viz calls them “swee-trot” (a pun on sweet tart). That’s because in Japanese the call that makes them work is Peee, peee, hence “PP Candy”, while in Viz it’s “sweee” (and then, as Viz-Bulma says, they give you the trots). Bulma says she made them, but this gets left out in Viz. In the original, Bulma asks Oolong if he’s got diarrhea yet, but in Viz she says “digestive distress”. Viz has the note on their time limit at the bottom begin “manufacturer’s warning” (in the original it just began “incidentally,”), but as already mentioned, Bulma is the one who made them.

[**]
Oolong, trying to get Bulma to wear him
Tr: I’ve got confidence in my panties!
Viz: You don’t want to catch a cold, do you?

I’d assume he means he has confidence in his ability to transform into panties, as opposed to a bike.

[*]
When Oolong tells Bulma there’s no way there’d be a hotel out in the desert, Viz adds in a gag about the “Sheraton Wasteland”.

[edit]
Viz changes the kanji on the side of Yamcha's liar to Kung Pao. In the original it reads 千錘百煉. This means (explanation courtesy of Sprite Satan) "thoroughly tempered" and as an idiom in Chinese can mean "finely honed" (like a weapon) or to be a finished product, due to multiple revisions. As an analogy it can mean to struggle and to test ones self.

[note]
One of the things about the kanzenban is that you can see some of the image on the sides of the page that were cut off in the tankoubon (it’s the way it was meant to be seen!). So for instance, in the kanzenban you can see that the scroll on Yamcha’s wall is covered in kanji (in simulation of Chinese, but I’m guessing it’s meaningless), while in the tankoubon it’s cut off so you can’t see what’s on it, just the frame.

[note]
The kanji on Yamcha’s chest is an alternate form of 楽, comfort/ease.

[*]
Yamcha’s hover bike is called the Jet Momonga; momonga being Japanese for flying squirrel. Viz calls it the Jet Squirrel, which is good, although it leaves out the “flying” part.

[sound]
TESE: Basyuu


Chapter 8

[sound]
TESE: Syuaaa..!!

[**]
Yamcha’s introduction
Tr: I’m a hyena who makes this wasteland his stronghold
Viz: Me? I’m the king hyena in a land of scavengers.

[lost]
Puar uses boku, a form of “I” used by young males. It’s one of the few clues to his gender.

[**]
The name for Oolong and Puar’s school is Southern Shape-Shifting Kindergarten; Viz calls it the Shapeshifter School. Viz also adds in Puar saying that he met Oolong his first year there, which makes it sound more like a college than a kindergarten.

[**]
Oolong, in response to Puar telling about how he got kicked out
Tr: You bastard…remembering worthless things like that
Viz: I wasn’t what it looked like!

[*]
Yamcha, in response to the above
Tr: Well, that doesn’t matter…hand over your money or capsules quickly.
Viz: Well, it’s not my place to judge others…only to steal their valuables.

[*]
Oolong to Yamcha
Tr: Yamcha, was it!?
Viz: Listen, Cha-Cha or whatever your name was!

[**]
Viz has Puar tell Yamcha to kill Goku and Oolong. The verb he uses in Japanese, yattsukeru, can mean to kill, but can also mean simply to beat up (it’s kind of equivalent to “take care of”, like saying “I’ll take care of him” as a threat). Oolong likewise urges Goku to “yattsukeru” Yamcha, but Viz doesn’t translate it as “kill” there.

[*]
Yamcha on Goku
Tr: …What a dumb guy…
Viz: Let me guess…you’re the smart one.

[name]
OK, I’m just going to split names off into their own category. Yamcha’s signature attack is called Rouga FuuFuu Ken, which is literally “Wolf Fang Wind-Wind Fist”, or “Fist of the Wolf Fang Gale”, you could say. Viz has it as Fist of the Wolf Fang, leaving out the wind part completely.

[sound]
TESE: Bako-bakoom!!

[**]
Oolong, on Goku’s defeat
Tr: Hi-hieeeeeee~h!!!
Viz: Ooooh…I don’t like the looks of that!!

[**]
In the original, Oolong tries to convince Yamcha to let him go by saying how strong and handsome he is, while in Viz he says he is on Yamcha’s side.

[notes]
As part of the above, Oolong says that Yamcha is "tenka-ichi", literally "#1 under heaven". This is the same phrase in the Tenkaichi Budoukai (which would then translate to "#1 Under Heaven Martial Arts Tournament). Viz translates it as "best in the world" here, and later "strongest under the heavens" in the context of the Tenkaichi Budoukai.

[**]
Oolong to Yamcha
Tr: Wah!! Wah!! Don’t come any closer!!
Viz: I’ll be good for you!! You’ll see!! I can transform!!

[*]
Puar originally says “transform into a fly swatter!” as he does just that, but in Viz he just says “fly swatter”.

[*]
Puar, when Oolong says they’re classmates, so he shouldn’t attack him
Tr: It’s payback for teasing me!!
Viz: Ooo, thanks for reminding me!!

[notes]
Goku knocks Yamcha straight into the top of the panel, causing it to break. This bit of fourth wall breaking is characteristic of Toriyama: going back to Wonder Island, one of his earliest comics, he’s constantly had characters break, shatter, grab onto, or otherwise molest the panels of his comics. This doesn’t happen much in DragonBall though (I think this is the only time), maybe because it’s comparatively serious.

[*]
Viz adds in Bulma asking if Oolong and Goku got Yamcha’s name and address.

[*]
Yamcha and Puar, on Yamcha’s weakness

Tr
Puar: It’s because Yamcha-sama is weak against women~
Yamcha: It’s no use…I get nervous around women…I don’t hate them, but I feel self-conscious

Viz
Puar: Lord Yamcha, I wish you’d get this problem looked into….
Yamcha: I-I-I just never know what to say to girls…the-th-they’re just so darned scary…!

[*]
The original closing narration says that Yamcha and Puar will come for Oolong’s capsules again, will Viz’s narration asks whether Yamcha’s weakness will save Goku or doom him.

[note]
The Viz next chapter text reads “Shifters in the night”, a reference to the Frank Sinatra song “Strangers in the Night”.

Chapter 9

[edit/note]
Viz has added “Oolong inc.” right above the kanji on Oolong’s house wagon. As noted earlier, the kanji on his wagon are “dragon” and “bird”, the same as on his liar.

[note]
When Oolong is talking to himself about how he won’t merely peep at Bulma, Viz writes out his speech in a weird, extra creepy font.

[*]
In the original, Oolong worries about Yamcha coming to attack again, while in Viz he worries about him lurking outside.

[**]
Oolong on the dragonballs
Tr: What? What this “dragonball”?
Viz: A what ball?! I didn’t even know dragons had…

For some reason I don’t find this change nearly as funny as the “you mean some poor dragon?...” line from chapter 1. Maybe just because it’s an old joke now?

[edit]
While the original Viz volumes had naked Bulma in all her glory (but note that even in the original her genitals are concealed), later editions edited it so that soap bubbles cover her breasts. The anime actually used this same technique to self-censor a filler scene where Bulma is taking a bath on Planet Namek.

[*]
In the original, Yamcha describes Bulma’s naked body as the “most amazing thing in the world”, while in Viz it is a sight beyond imagination.

[*]
In Japanese Goku says he likes searching for the dragonballs because it allows him to train, while in Viz he says he gets to fight people. Though I guess for Goku the two are the same, at least at this point.

[*]
In the original, Goku specifically tells Oolong that women don’t have balls or a penis, but in Viz he only says that they have “pieces missing”.

[*]
Bulma, in response to the above
Tr: What stupid things are you saying?
Viz: Do you have the slightest idea what you’re talking about?

[**]
Bulma specifically threatens to call “peee peee” and give Oolong diarrhea again if he does anything perverted with her in the original, while in Viz she instead says she’ll give him “such a case of the…”.

[*]
Yamcha, to sleeping Goku
Tr: Sleep like a slob, will you?...
Viz: The cocky fool…

[sound]
TESE: Bom!, and bomb!
I’m not going to note these ones anymore.

[*/lost]
Oolong transformed as Bulma calls Puar transformed as Goku “Goku-chan”, which Viz renders as “Goku, honey”, which I think is a pretty good English equivalent. When they’re outside walking, he asks Goku-Puar what business he has with “her”, but this is left out in Viz.

[**]
In Japanese, traumatized Yamcha says “One breast…two breasts”, while in Viz he stutters about the “mounds”. I’m wondering if “one breast…two breast” is some sort of nursery rhyme or something. In response, Puar says “Hang in there Yamcha! We’ll retreat for today”, which Viz changes to him advising Yamcha “Don’t think about them”.


Chapter 10

Viz's translation of the opening narration for this chapter is probably the most direct they've ever done.

[lost]
Goku’s greating to Oolong is “Ohayossu”, an informal form of “Ohayougozaimasu”, Japanese for “good morning”.

[**]
Goku, on being told of Yamcha’s attack
Tr: “Yamcha”…the guy from yesterday?
Viz: He attacked again last night?

[***]
This is weird. In response to the above, in the original Oolong says “yeah”, and says that’s why he couldn’t sleep. In Viz, he says “No!”, and explains that Yamcha simply scared him so much the first time that he couldn’t sleep. It’s a weird change, especially because Viz didn’t change any of the other lines about Yamcha’s attack, so Viz-Oolong’s denial that Yamcha attacked again simply gets ignored after this one panel. For instance, in both versions, Goku responds by saying how he didn’t notice, which comes off really odd in Viz, because what didn’t he notice? That Oolong didn’t sleep?

[*/notes]
In Viz, in this chapter Oolong refers to the sleeping medicine he gave Goku and Bulma a “mickey”. In the last chapter, Viz translated the same Japanese word as “sleeping potion”.

[*]
In the original, Goku says to Bulma how the “guys” (plural) from yesterday attacked again, but in Viz he only says “that guy”. Poor Puar…

[*]
Oolong, on Goku’s “I’m hungry”
Tr: You’ll always saying that
Viz: I think we can just assume that.

[**]
Bulma, on the bunny suit
Tr: I’d be a complete idiot to walk around outside in this!!!
Viz: Forgive me if I don’t feel like the heroine of a quest when I’m dressed like this!!!

[*]
In response to the above, Oolong notes that there’s nothing else for her to wear, but this gets left out in Viz.

[*]
Oolong, and having to drive
Tr: But I haven’t gotten any sleep…Ugh~~
Viz: And the fact hat I haven’t slept…means nothing…

[*]
Viz adds in Oolong saying that Yamcha will make “pork chops” out of them.

[lost]
When Bulma says that Yamcha has come, she uses irasshau, a polite form of “to come”.

[**]
Oolong, on Goku fighting Yamcha
Tr: Ah, i-idiot!!
Viz: Nooo!!

[*]
Viz has Puar refer to Yamcha’s lost tooth as his “noble tooth”, instead of simply “tooth” like in the original. This is presumably to be in keeping with how Puar always refers to Yamcha as Yamcha-sama/Lord Yamcha.

[**]
In the original, Oolong calls Goku “absurdly strong” after he defeats Yamcha, but Viz has him call Goku “a stud”. An…odd choice.

[lost]
In the Japanese, Oolong says the English phrase “Let’s go” as they head for Mt. Fry-Pan. “Let’s go” gets used a lot in Japanese. Bulma also uses it back in chapter 1.

[**]
In contrast to the opening narration, the closing narration for this chapter is completely different in Viz, although I don’t care enough at this point to explain how.

Chapter 11

[*]
The Japanese name for Mt. Fry-Pan’s original name translates as “the Mountain of Refreshing Scenery”, more or less; Viz calls it ”Pleasant Mountain”.

[*]
In the original, Oolong says that everyone who goes to Mt. Fry-Pan end up “like this”, and mimes having his head cut off. In Viz, he explicitly says they come to “horrible ends”, which makes his hand motion look kind of odd. This also makes Bulma look stupider for asking if Oolong means they’re all killed.

[**]
In Viz, Oolong says that “thousands” of people have tried to get Gyuuma’s treasure, but no specific figure is given in the original.

[*]
In Viz, Oolong says Goku and Bulma must be some of the “suicidal teens [he’s] heard about”, while in the original he just asks if they want to die. He also says in Viz that Goku fighting Gyuumao is like a monkey fighting an ox, while originally he just says that Gyuumao is on a whole different level.

[*]
Originally, after Yamcha says that the sixth dragonball must be in Gyuumao’s castle, he contemplates taking Gyuumao on as an opponent, but in Viz he just says “what a burden”.

[**/name]
So “Gyuumao” means “the Ox Demon King”, and Viz calls him simply “the Ox King” (since they use the word “demon” a lot, I’d assume this omission isn’t for religious concerns, but just because Ox King is shorter). However, seemingly to make up for it, they do sort of alternate between calling Gyuumao the Ox King and the “ox demon”, or simply “the demon”.


[*]
Viz has Puar refers to Gyuumao as the “so-called” Ox King, the “so-called” part being something they added, for some reason.

[name]
Muten Roshi is written武天老師 in Japanese. The last two characters, roushi, mean an elderly priest or teacher, but the first two don’t really mean anything together. The first one, 武/mu, is the kanji for martial things (war, fighting, weapons); it can also be read “bu” and is the “bu” in Tenkaichi Budoukai. The second one, 天/ten, means “heaven”, and is also used in Tenshinhan’s name. So altogether it could be translated roughly as Heavenly Martial Master; Viz renders it as “invincible old master”. On picking this name, Toriyama says: “There really isn’t any great reason; ‘Kame-sennin’ just didn’t seem like all that amazing a name for whatever reason, so I thought up a name that sounded suitably renowned and powerful”

[*]
Viz leaves out how Chi Chi calls for her father after being freaked out by the dinosaour’s decapitated body.

[lost]
Chi Chi and Gyuumao have accents. Heavy, hickish accents. And if they had appeared at the start of a volume rather than the end, maybe I’d have the energy to describe their accents a bit. Suffice is to say that they talk quite hickishly, and that Viz does a good job of rendering that in English. Well, a few specifics: they add the copula verb “da” (“is”, essentially) into places it isn’t normally used, and they add “be” onto the ends of sentences (so Chi Chi’s sentences tend to end in “da be”). Chi Chi calls her father ottou, a variant of otousan, one of the standard Japanese words for father. Both of them use ora as their personal pronouns, just like Goku; it’s a hickish form of ore, the masculine form of “I”.

[*]
Yamcha, on Chi Chi
Tr: What a fearsome brat…!
Viz: What a stupid delay…!

[**/lost]
In the original, Bulma calls Gyuumao “Gyuu-chan” and tries to sweet talk him when he confronts them, but in Viz she instead says that they were just passing through.

[*]
All the pleasant adjectives Bulma adds to Gyuumao’s name were added by Viz.

[*]
In the original, Goku says “hey, you’re Gyuumao” during his conversation with Gyuumao, but this gets left out in Viz.

[Thanos6]

Wow, another great sum-up. Amazing at all the subtle touches that get lost...

The two kanji on Oolong’s lair (龍鳥) mean “Dragon” and “bird”. They’re also on Oolong’s house wagon later on, but with “bird” first.

Heh, and even I know the significance of that one...

[Gozar]

Amazing job, very thorough, I look forward to seeing more.

[Chuquita]

WOW that was long. Very impressive work.

[Herms]

WOW that was long.

Hmmm...do you think it's too long to have so many chapters in one post? Would it be better for me to go back to doing one chapter a post?

[Chuquita]

WOW that was long.

Hmmm...do you think it's too long to have so many chapters in one post? Would it be better for me to go back to doing one chapter a post?

Oh no! I didn't mean it in a bad way. ^^;

I'm just impressed with the length is all.

Please do whatever you feel works best with it. :3