DragonBall Z: The Room 29 Productions Dub

[desirecampbell]

I've got a question about the script and what not.

I seriously hope you're not going to do this, but I need to ask, are you going to try and keep the dialouge "as Japanese as possible"? Like, are you going to include suffixes (Kaio-sama, Gohan-chan, etc, all kinds of weeaboo crap), 'Japanese' Names (Son Goku, Piccolo Daimao, Kuririn, Yamucha), and random thrown in 'fan favourite' japanese words (Baka, nani, all of that ridiculous crap)? Because if you are, seriously, please don't. I've worked on screenplays and ADR before so maybe if I could look at it, I could give a few hinters/pointers on making the script flow a bit better/freely.

I think honourifics are kind of important, and should probably be kept in. Random Japanese words, though? No, that's just stupid.

Honourifics convey meaning and have no anolague in English, 'baka' means stupid. If there's a term or word that can't easily be translated, keep it in. 'Banzai' is just 'cheers', 'baka' is just 'jerk', but 'Itadakimasu' isn't 'gra~~ce'.

I think the script should be kept "as accurate as possible". I prefer translation not localization.

[Eclipse]

I seriously hope you're not going to do this, but I need to ask, are you going to try and keep the dialouge "as Japanese as possible"? Like, are you going to include suffixes (Kaio-sama, Gohan-chan, etc, all kinds of weeaboo crap), 'Japanese' Names (Son Goku, Piccolo Daimao, Kuririn, Yamucha), and random thrown in 'fan favourite' japanese words (Baka, nani, all of that ridiculous crap)? Because if you are, seriously, please don't. I've worked on screenplays and ADR before so maybe if I could look at it, I could give a few hinters/pointers on making the script flow a bit better/freely.

Yeah, the names should be left there as far as I'm concerned, if I'm still working on the writing. The random Japanese words seems pretty stupid. This is just a fan-dub, this ain't an otaku documentary

I think honourifics are kind of important, and should probably be kept in. Random Japanese words, though? No, that's just stupid.

Honourifics convey meaning and have no anolague in English, 'baka' means stupid. If there's a term or word that can't easily be translated, keep it in. 'Banzai' is just 'cheers', 'baka' is just 'jerk', but 'Itadakimasu' isn't 'gra~~ce'.

I think the script should be kept "as accurate as possible". I prefer translation not localization.

Eh, it depends. I'm all for honorifics, but it does seem quite weird listening to an English dub and hearing someone go 'KURIRIN-SAN!'
Sorry, it's just a personal preference.

I will make lots just for you.

I feel so loved

[Kaboom]

Okay, lessee...

Audition limit? Um... no, there really isn't one... but honestly, let's not let things get overly swamped, okay, everyone? I guess a good strategy would be to pick out one or two major characters to audition for, and then on top of that, pick a minor character (like one of the supporting heroes or one of Tullece's lackeys). This is why I was giving people so much time to practice, so they could figure out which character they'd be best as. But, for the sake of setting a limit, let's say no more than four, okay?


"Japanese-ness" of the script. Hmm... this is apparently a kind of touchy subject.

Random, easily translatable Japanese words ("baka," etc...) are a definite no-no. If that's all we were looking for, then why translate the thing into english at all?

Honorifics are a different story, though. Desire made a really good point. But I personally think even the suffixes should only be used when necessary, if at all. (I PM'd Daimou asking if Shinseiju translated to anything, btw) For example, "Mr. Piccolo" is a perfect translation of "Piccolo-san," so why not use it? Then again, using "King Kai," though it's a decent translation and, if you ask me, a good represenation of his character, wouldn't be as accurate as "Kaio-Sama." In that case, using the honorifics would be better, but it would contradict other changes.

Eh, it depends. I'm all for honorifics, but it does seem quite weird listening to an English dub and hearing someone go 'KURIRIN-SAN!'

That's quite a good point there, as well. My sentiments exactly. This IS an english dub, after all.

So... I guess the only way to fairly decide this is to "vote" on it.

Okay, everyone. Japanese honorifics. "Yay" or "Nay?"

[Mr.Piccolo]

Everybody just relax... Take a break... enjoy the holiday break... no rush for this project just yet. How about 'yall take this time to watch Movie 3 again. Get familiar with this fun little project we're gonna do. Eclipse, you should feel loved. This is one big dancing, movie dubbing family. Ole!
-edit- I feel we should give a nod to the original version as well. I see this as a very customized dub and (seeing how it doesn't even exist yet) anything can happen. Sky is the limit.. then Kami's palace...
-Rick

[Mr. Announcer]

Yeah, personally I'm against using honorifics in an English dub. It just doesn't fit with our regular speech and there's not really many honorifics in dragonball that couldn't be translated to 'master' or 'mister' and sound just fine.

Also, as one of the people volunteering for writing, I was wondering where we were going to get our transcript for the original dialogue or if that has even been determined yet.

[Kaboom]

Also, as one of the people volunteering for writing, I was wondering where we were going to get our transcript for the original dialogue or if that has even been determined yet.

Since Mr. Simmons is not legally allowed to submit anything he might have, then it's up to our writers to watch the movie themselves, copy down the dialogue, and then adapt it to English.

I've just been PMing with Eclipse about it. Get in touch with him if you'd like to help.

[Eclipse]

Also, as one of the people volunteering for writing, I was wondering where we were going to get our transcript for the original dialogue or if that has even been determined yet.

I do remember Daimao said that any of the transcripts he used for the translation can't be used, as FUNimation owns them now. At the very least, for transcripts, we can just copy down the Japanese dialogue from the DVDs.
Best way I can figure around it =P

About the honorific issue...how about a limited use of them? We can try to avoid them if possible (Like the 'Mr. Piccolo' thing), but if it's not avoidable, we can try to use 'em (Like 'Kaio-sama')

[KinoFourpaws]

Also, as one of the people volunteering for writing, I was wondering where we were going to get our transcript for the original dialogue or if that has even been determined yet.

Since Mr. Simmons is not legally allowed to submit anything he might have, then it's up to our writers to watch the movie themselves, copy down the dialogue, and then adapt it to English.

I've just been PMing with Eclipse about it. Get in touch with him if you'd like to help.

Hmm... in that case, I'm gonna have to try to get a copy of the movie sometime this weekend once school lets out. Best Buy, you said? o.o

[Kaboom]

Hmm... in that case, I'm gonna have to try to get a copy of the movie sometime this weekend once school lets out. Best Buy, you said? o.o

That's right; Best Buy. New "First Strike" Box Set. Worth the $19.99.

[Conan the SSJ]

Hey guys, I just wanna make a quick and simple apology for posting that very premature auditions thread. I had just finished my audition clip so I was a little too excited, I guess the hype I was trying to keep suppressed at Jers' and Kaboom's advice caught up and overwhelmed my better patience. Anyway, I'm glad that's locked, and I'll repost the link to my audition once the real deal is started by our fearless Kaboom-sama.

[desirecampbell]

Honorifics are a different story, though. Desire made a really good point. But I personally think even the suffixes should only be used when necessary, if at all. (I PM'd Daimou asking if Shinseiju translated to anything, btw) For example, "Mr. Piccolo" is a perfect translation of "Piccolo-san," so why not use it? Then again, using "King Kai," though it's a decent translation and, if you ask me, a good represenation of his character, wouldn't be as accurate as "Kaio-Sama." In that case, using the honorifics would be better, but it would contradict other changes.

It's important to decide, then, whether this is an English dubbing of a Japanese story, or if this will be an Americanization of a Japanese story. If we're trying to Americanize a Japanese story, we might as well say they're firing 'lazers' and Goku turns 'Super Vegetable-man'. If we're simply trying to tell a Japanese story in English, then anything that can't be simply and directly translated into English should be kept as-is.

[Blitzen]

I think honourifics are kind of important, and should probably be kept in.

No other accurate dub in the world (save Ai Yori Aoshi, which is very japanese and sucks) does it though, basically because it sort of doesn't fit. DBZ is a fairly Japanese-based show but it doesn't overly use a lot of japanese specific puns or cultural quips that keep it from being translated, and at what point in movie 3 does it become nearly impossible to either leave a thing out or use a western equivilent?

Honourifics convey meaning and have no anolague in English,

Not really. Sensei can mean Teacher, Doctor, professor, san is just a person identifier (or can be used for Mr, Miss, or left out in general since its more of a formality, but still part of what they do when speaking), -sama can refer to King, Queens, lords, etc (Kai-oh sama, correct me if I am wrong, basically is just King Kai-sama, which always seemed redundant when put in english because it's already saying "King Kai", the -sama just ads a bit of Japanese-specific respect that would normally, in English, just be conveyed in the tone of voice), so it's not like they can't be adapted or translated correctly, it's just you need to understand the context before you run in, guns blazing.

I think the script should be kept "as accurate as possible". I prefer translation not localization.

yes, it's good to keep as accurate as possible, but the fact of the matter is, a dub is not the original source so it is already going to be an adaptation anyway, and therefore localized for the respective audience. Now sure if you want to fanwank a bit and keep it in there then fine, but it's going to sound really, really awkward when someone else watches it.

If we're simply trying to tell a Japanese story in English, then anything that can't be simply and directly translated into English should be kept as-is.

In which case keep the entire thing in Japanese because there will always be one or two ways of interpreting the source material. As I said though, Suffixes can be translated once you understand the context of what they are saying.

fearless Kaboom-sama.

VOMIT

[Kaboom]

Hey guys, I just wanna make a quick and simple apology for posting that very premature auditions thread. I had just finished my audition clip so I was a little too excited, I guess the hype I was trying to keep suppressed at Jers' and Kaboom's advice caught up and overwhelmed my better patience. Anyway, I'm glad that's locked, and I'll repost the link to my audition once the real deal is started by our fearless Kaboom-sama.

*Pats on head*

Don' worry 'bout it.

fearless Kaboom-sama.

VOMIT

[Taku128]

I think we should use san, chan, sama, ect and also keep jin, because Saiyan pronounced the Japanese way sound wierd if you've heard the dub pronunciation.

[Steven Perry]

If we're simply trying to tell a Japanese story in English, then anything that can't be simply and directly translated into English should be kept as-is.

In which case keep the entire thing in Japanese because there will always be one or two ways of interpreting the source material. As I said though, Suffixes can be translated once you understand the context of what they are saying.

Hmmm...

I think we should keep it as accurate to the original meaning as possible, but personalise it. If we want to add dramatic effect, comedy, or just add to the character in some places... it may be necessary to completely change/ remove some lines. But whatever you do, keep the name "Krillin", "Tien", and "Mr. Piccolo".

[desirecampbell]

But whatever you do, keep the name "Krillin", "Tien", and "Mr. Piccolo".

I can't say it anymore. Once you get used to "Kuririn', 'Krillin' just sounds so odd.

Just say 'kur rur rin' really fast three or four times. You'll never go back to 'Krillin'.

[Kaboom]

I think we should use san, chan, sama, ect and also keep jin, because Saiyan pronounced the Japanese way sound wierd if you've heard the dub pronunciation.

Honorifics are one thing, but "-jin" is really one of those unnecessary things. "Saiya-jin" is the only race mentioned, and even Mr. Simmons' subitles use "Saiyan." Pronunciation of "Saiyan" isn't a big deal, either. There's really no need to worry about it.

I think we should keep it as accurate to the original meaning as possible, but personalise it. If we want to add dramatic effect, comedy, or just add to the character in some places... it may be necessary to completely change/ remove some lines. But whatever you do, keep the name "Krillin", "Tien", and "Mr. Piccolo".

I agree on the "personalization." Slight changes in dialogue or music for humor, drama, or creativity's sake are likely. We'll probably go with "Mr. Piccolo," but why would we use "Krillin" and "Tien?" Those two just aren't accurate, especially the latter.

Well, from what I've seen, I guess the best way to do it would be to mostly English-ize it. In other words, we'd only use honorifics, and only when necessary, like with "Kaio-Sama." Unless we'd rather just go all out and use "King Kai," or Viz's "Lord of Worlds," or something like that.

Also, most of the attacks I've seen characters "announce"within the movie were ones unchanged in the English adaptations ("Masenko," "Kaio-Ken," etc...) However, there's two specific ones we need to adress. Are we going with "Soki-dan" or "Spirit Ball," and are we using "Genki Dama" or "Spirit Bomb?" I guess it all depends on what else we're translating.

[KinoFourpaws]

I think we should use san, chan, sama, ect and also keep jin, because Saiyan pronounced the Japanese way sound wierd if you've heard the dub pronunciation.

Honorifics are one thing, but "-jin" is really one of those unnecessary things. "Saiya-jin" is the only race mentioned, and even Mr. Simmons' subitles use "Saiyan." Pronunciation of "Saiyan" isn't a big deal, either. There's really no need to worry about it.

I think we should keep it as accurate to the original meaning as possible, but personalise it. If we want to add dramatic effect, comedy, or just add to the character in some places... it may be necessary to completely change/ remove some lines. But whatever you do, keep the name "Krillin", "Tien", and "Mr. Piccolo".

I agree on the "personalization." Slight changes in dialogue or music for humor, drama, or creativity's sake are likely. We'll probably go with "Mr. Piccolo," but why would we use "Krillin" and "Tien?" Those two just aren't accurate, especially the latter.

Well, from what I've seen, I guess the best way to do it would be to mostly English-ize it. In other words, we'd only use honorifics, and only when necessary, like with "Kaio-Sama." Unless we'd rather just go all out and use "King Kai," or Viz's "Lord of Worlds," or something like that.

Also, most of the attacks I've seen characters "announce"within the movie were ones unchanged in the English adaptations ("Masenko," "Kaio-Ken," etc...) However, there's two specific ones we need to adress. Are we going with "Soki-dan" or "Spirit Ball," and are we using "Genki Dama" or "Spirit Bomb?" I guess it all depends on what else we're translating.

I think, as far as those two attacks go, that we'd better stick with the Japanese versions of their names. FUNi kinda messed up the translations there anyway (isn't Yamcha's Soki-dan the actual "Spirit Bomb," I mean? o_O). Most of the other attacks' names were kept as-is, weren't they? So it wouldn't make sense to go with Spirit Ball/Spirit Bomb...

Of course, this is all affected by our ability to fit these names in so they match with the characters' mouth flaps, so...

[Kaboom]

Well, if we kept the japanese for attack names, which looks like the best option, then mouth flaps wouldn't matter. Otherwise, there's a reason FUNimation translated them as such.

... Actually, that's a common misconception. I just recently found out that according to the script, Yamcha's move was supposed to be called "Spirit Ball," or something of that sort. "Soki-Dan" actually translates to "Spinning Ki Bullet," according to the site. But if we do go with the japanese attack names, then it really wouldn't matter either way.

[Blitzen]

Japanese name attacks are a very large personal preference in that since they're basically 'nothing' words, you could have it one way or another. If you did keep them in Japanese that wouldn't be too bad, but you've got to make sure it actually sounds decent first, like if it's easily pronouncable or practical or whatever.

As for what sounds accurate with Krillin vs. Kuririn, in a conversation I guess it could be okay, but in acting it could be an entirely different thing. On top of that it's slapped on both Japanese and English merchandise, and since you're doing a piece of non-canon anyway, I don't see why using Krillin would be such a bad idea.

As with Kaio, considering his role in the movie (not a whole damn lot, just some exposition), the -sama doesn't bear any significance to it all. Considering ~o is basically King, King Kai isn't such a bad thing afterall. If you were to do a more literal translation, it could read out as something like "King King Kai", and the fact that he is still calling him King carries over the respect that '-sama' would entail, so basically, its your call, but the script does not gain nor lose anything from dropping-sama, if not most/all honorifics, in general.