Necessary Name Changes in Dub?

[linkdude20002001]

I remember someone here saying they should have changed it to "Mr Saturn", which I always thought was a good idea, since it sounds basically the same as the Japanese pronounciation.

Daimao was the one who thought of "Mr Saturn". He told someone his idea (I'm assuming it was whomever was in charge of deciding on the new name), but they went with "Hercule" instead.

Kuririn's name is written on his hat as "Kulilin" in one of Toriyama's illustrations and that eliminates the pun on the word "chestnut" so...

Chestnut is only half the pun. The other part of it is "shaolin", so writing his name with Ls isn't a problem. 'Though technically his name should be "Kurilin" to preserve both puns.

[Rocketman]

I support calling him "Mr Saturn" because it would justify a fanart-redesign of Saturn Devouring his Child.

[theoriginalbilis]

The Evil Dragons - Pronouncing Chinese words is very difficult for Japanese people, and perhaps moreso for English speakers. Perhaps they should have used something different, but a name change was in order. Perhaps 1 Star Dragon or Sheng Long(instead of Shenron), 2 Star Dragon, etc.

As I recall, the Blue Water dub of GT actually went ahead and pronounced the Evil Dragons' Chinese names, instead of outright changing them like FUNimation did. Of course, that dub was very accurate script-wise (though not necessarily acting-wise) ... FUNimation should have taken a page from their book perhaps.

[Super Ghost Kamikaze]

I support calling him "Mr Saturn" because it would justify a fanart-redesign of Saturn Devouring his Child.

Headless Videl? Sure, why not? Hell, Satan's hair looks it'd work too.

Hell, they sound close enough. Let's wrangle up some artists and get a "Satan Devouring His Daughter" going.

[Innagadadavida]

New Videl fanboy comment in 3... 2... 1...

[Herms]

I agree however it's just annoying when people use romanizations when it's rather clear what the word actually is, such as Pikkoro, Bejita, Gotenkusu, etc.

Whenever you write a DB character's name with alphabet letters, you're using a romanization, no matter how you spell it. It's just that there are different ways of romanizing names.

No, because the actual article of clothing “ブルマー” (burumā) is spelled differently from the DB character “ブルマ” (Buruma).

Actually, ブルマ is one of the ways bloomers can be spelled in Japanese, though ブルマー seems to be the dominant one. You can see in the Japanese wikipedia page on bloomers.

This brings up something I’ve always sort of wondered about Kanji translations: are they even necessary? Is it actually considered good practice to preserve meaning over phonetics when adapting foreign names? Like, for instance, we do not call Toriyama “Bird Mountain”, so why call Gyuumaou “Ox”-anything?

Well, with Gyuumao at least, I think it's translated out on the assumption that "Gyuumao" is just a title, and not his actual name. So you wouldn't call Toriyama "Bird Mountain" because that's a proper name and you generally don't translate those.

Chestnut is only half the pun. The other part of it is "shaolin", so writing his name with Ls isn't a problem. 'Though technically his name should be "Kurilin" to preserve both puns.

I don't think it's ever officially said anywhere that his name is a pun on shaolin in addition to the kuri part.

[Dayspring]

Here's a needless dub name: "Kibitokai." Was that adopted by FUNi as well?

[Herms]

Here's a needless dub name: "Kibitokai." Was that adopted by FUNi as well?

Yeah. I think he's called "Kibito-shin" in the Japanese version of GT.

[Dayspring]

Here's a needless dub name: "Kibitokai." Was that adopted by FUNi as well?

Yeah. I think he's called "Kibito-shin" in the Japanese version of GT.

Huh. Was it like that in the manga as well? In the French manga, he's still refered to as "Kaioshin."

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

@Herms: Was he? I thought I read that he was always called just "Kaioshin" in Japan until the games started calling him "Kibitoshin" (with "Kibito" written in katakana and "Shin" written in kanji). I'm sure Olivier knows a thing or two about the name...

[Saiyan-Professor]

Here's a needless dub name: "Kibitokai." Was that adopted by FUNi as well?

Yeah. I think he's called "Kibito-shin" in the Japanese version of GT.

Huh. Was it like that in the manga as well? In the French manga, he's still refered to as "Kaioshin."

The Transformation Guide on the front-page states:

Note that this fusion was never given an "official" new name in the original Japanese manga or anime; he is simply referred to as "Kaiôshin" when necessary. "Kibitoshin" is the name FUNimation has given him for reference's sake on their own official website for DBZ and in Budokai 2 (and thus the Japanese version follows suit in the Budokai games), despite using "Kibito-Kai" in the anime and on their official DBGT website. "Kaiou-bit" / "Kaiôbito" was the name given to him by Curtis Hoffmann for his manga summaries, pre-FUNimation, way back when in "ye olden days" of the internet.

[Dayspring]

Yeah. I think he's called "Kibito-shin" in the Japanese version of GT.

Huh. Was it like that in the manga as well? In the French manga, he's still refered to as "Kaioshin."

The Transformation Guide on the front-page states:

Note that this fusion was never given an "official" new name in the original Japanese manga or anime; he is simply referred to as "Kaiôshin" when necessary. "Kibitoshin" is the name FUNimation has given him for reference's sake on their own official website for DBZ and in Budokai 2 (and thus the Japanese version follows suit in the Budokai games), despite using "Kibito-Kai" in the anime and on their official DBGT website. "Kaiou-bit" / "Kaiôbito" was the name given to him by Curtis Hoffmann for his manga summaries, pre-FUNimation, way back when in "ye olden days" of the internet.

Thanks!

But... how could "Kaioshin" not be considered official if that's what he gets refered to as by the characters in the story (and doesn't correct them, a la Gotenks and Vegetto)?

[Bussani]

Huh. Was it like that in the manga as well? In the French manga, he's still refered to as "Kaioshin."

The Transformation Guide on the front-page states:

Note that this fusion was never given an "official" new name in the original Japanese manga or anime; he is simply referred to as "Kaiôshin" when necessary. "Kibitoshin" is the name FUNimation has given him for reference's sake on their own official website for DBZ and in Budokai 2 (and thus the Japanese version follows suit in the Budokai games), despite using "Kibito-Kai" in the anime and on their official DBGT website. "Kaiou-bit" / "Kaiôbito" was the name given to him by Curtis Hoffmann for his manga summaries, pre-FUNimation, way back when in "ye olden days" of the internet.

Thanks!

But... how could "Kaioshin" not be considered official if that's what he gets refered to as by the characters in the story (and doesn't correct them, a la Gotenks and Vegetto)?

Isn't Kaioshin like a title, like Kami? Even if he fuses with someone, he doesn't stop being the East Kaioshin, I guess.

[Saiyan-Professor]

Huh. Was it like that in the manga as well? In the French manga, he's still refered to as "Kaioshin."

The Transformation Guide on the front-page states:

Note that this fusion was never given an "official" new name in the original Japanese manga or anime; he is simply referred to as "Kaiôshin" when necessary. "Kibitoshin" is the name FUNimation has given him for reference's sake on their own official website for DBZ and in Budokai 2 (and thus the Japanese version follows suit in the Budokai games), despite using "Kibito-Kai" in the anime and on their official DBGT website. "Kaiou-bit" / "Kaiôbito" was the name given to him by Curtis Hoffmann for his manga summaries, pre-FUNimation, way back when in "ye olden days" of the internet.

Thanks!

But... how could "Kaioshin" not be considered official if that's what he gets refered to as by the characters in the story (and doesn't correct them, a la Gotenks and Vegetto)?

Perhaps Kaiôshin is a title and his Corian/Shin name is “Larry”.

[Dayspring]

The Transformation Guide on the front-page states:

Thanks!

But... how could "Kaioshin" not be considered official if that's what he gets refered to as by the characters in the story (and doesn't correct them, a la Gotenks and Vegetto)?

Isn't Kaioshin like a title, like Kami? Even if he fuses with someone, he doesn't stop being the East Kaioshin, I guess.

Fusing didn't change the Elder Kaioshin's name. And, like you mentioned, he'd be a fusion of the two Shin-jin's name, under the title of East Kaioshin.

[Saiyan-Professor]

...Fusing didn't change the Elder Kaioshin's name. And, like you mentioned, he'd be a fusion of the two Shin-jin's name, under the title of East Kaioshin.

Even though he looks like a Shin/Corian, the guide said that he is apart of Popo and Karin’s clique. The helper-servant guys. Maybe Kibito does not even factor into the equation because of his lowly status.

[Bussani]

Fusing didn't change the Elder Kaioshin's name.

Yeah, when I made my post I thought of saying something like 'Dai Kaioitch', but decided against it.

I like Kibitoshin if I'm trying to tell someone specifically which version of the character I mean, but it makes sense to keep calling him Kaioshin.

Edit: Much like Kamiccolo, really.

[Dayspring]

...Fusing didn't change the Elder Kaioshin's name. And, like you mentioned, he'd be a fusion of the two Shin-jin's name, under the title of East Kaioshin.

Even though he looks like a Shin/Corian, the guide said that he is apart of Popo and Karin’s clique. The helper-servant guys. Maybe Kibito does not even factor into the equation because of his lowly status.

I took it to mean he was the same only in terms of rank. I figure he's a Shin-jin but not as prestigious as a Kaio. Kind of like a "Dai Shin-jin" in the sense that he's more important than regular Shin-jin (Kibito being his actual name), but still a nobody in regards to Kaio/Kaioshin hierarchy.

EDIT: In other words, Kibito is the most important non-lottery winning Shin-jin.

[Herms]

@Herms: Was he? I thought I read that he was always called just "Kaioshin" in Japan until the games started calling him "Kibitoshin" (with "Kibito" written in katakana and "Shin" written in kanji). I'm sure Olivier knows a thing or two about the name...

Despite what the Daizex transformations guide says, I am positive that he really is called "Kibito-shin" during the Japanese version of GT. In the manga of course he's only ever called "Kaioshin" post-fusion, which makes sense since as Bussani points out, Kaioshin is just a title. So if his real name was, say, Jim, then a fusion of Jim the Kaioshin and Kibito would be called Jimbito the Kaioshin, not Kibito-shin.

[VegettoEX]

Despite what the Daizex transformations guide says, I am positive that he really is called "Kibito-shin" during the Japanese version of GT. In the manga of course he's only ever called "Kaioshin" post-fusion, which makes sense since as Bussani points out, Kaioshin is just a title. So if his real name was, say, Jim, then a fusion of Jim the Kaioshin and Kibito would be called Jimbito the Kaioshin, not Kibito-shin.

That may be entirely true since, besides Golden Oozaru and SSJ4, we didn't really delve into DBGT at all for the guide.