Dabura...the Devil?

[Kirbopher]

Hey there, Kirbopher here. Creator of the popular growing flash series TTA. Glad to join the forum, dunno why I didn't 'til now. Gotta question for ya.

Now, a LONG time ago, back when I knew next to nothing about the Majin Buu saga in general, I heard of a villain character on another DBZ site called "Double". Eventually I saw Dabura, king of the demon world, when the Buu saga came out in english. Then, after that, I got one of the U.S. Bruce Falconer CDs "Buu: The Majin Saga", and the first two tracks were called "Gohan vs. Doubler"...aaaaand then on Daizenshuu EX, and several other sites, he's reffered to as 'Dabra'.

Now, my theory was that the character's name actually meant "Devil". Reason being, Supreme Kai (Yes, I'm calling him that, please don't kill me x_x;; ) was very worried when he saw that Babidi managed to get him under his control. I thought that maybe he might've been Akira Toriyama's representation of the Christianity Devil, being such an evil being, and since he had been mostly been using references to other religions and mythology. Obviously, they didn't say he was from the Hell that had already been introduced, but rather that he was the king of the Demon World. Still, with Surpreme Kai being so worried, and if Dabura WAS like the representation of our devil, it would've made a bit of sense.

Now, I'm NOT fluent in Japanese, but I DO know about romanizations with katakana. Obviously, if Dabura's name were to actually be 'devil' then his name would be "Debiru". However, I wasn't sure if "Double", "Doubla" or "Doubler" would really be related to his character's allusion at all. So, yeah I'm probably overanalyzing, but just WHAT is his name alluding to? Is there some other reference or bit of information I didn't see, or wasn't really touched on anywhere?

Side Note to VegettoEX and Juian - Oh and thank you guys for reading my e-mail on Episode 3. The podcast advice will come in handy. Also, from what I've learned, Kent Williams (Dr. Gero, Supreme Kai) is going to be playing Janemba in Movie #12's dub. I'm not 100% sure of this, since the players guide of Tenakichi Budoukai said so on his character profile, but he was not in the credits of the game's actual instruction manual, or in the game credits. So, that's unsubstantial, but it IS something I discovered....not sure I believe it, since I've never heard Kent Williams scream like a psycho before so...yeah.

[VegettoEX]

Hey there! I'm removing your signature, since we don't allow images in them. Please re-read the forum rules.

To answer your question, though...! You're actually... er... way off ^^;;. This is something I've typed up for the next "Ask VegettoEX" that we just haven't gotten around to finishing and posting. For a year, now.

This name has been a constant source of confusion among fans, and rightfully so. It doesn't follow the traditional "food" series of puns, so that's out the window. If you were to try and say the English word "doubler" in Japanese, yes, you'd end up with something along the lines of "daabura", which is exactly as the character's name is written in katakana.

But what does the word "doubler" have to do with the character? Is he two of something? Not particularly. So let's think of something else.

Many people commonly think that the character's name may also come from the same Cinderella song which Bibidi & Babidi & Buu come from ("Bippity, Boppity, Boo!"). Unfortunately, this is not true (the only nonsense phrase goes "Salicadoola, Mencicaboola, Bippity, Boppity, Boo!")

Let's take a look at the actual name in katakana.

daabura --> ダーブラ

Believe it or not, while the word doesn't directly come from Cinderella, it does find its roots in the same idea... magic. Have you figured it out yet? If not, think of a very magical word. You would cast a spell with it. How about now? Got it?

Abracadabra --> aburakadaabura --> アブラカダーブラ

So, while "Dabura" is technically fine and well (so long as you're saying "dah - buh - ra" and not "duh - BOO - rah" as FUNimation does), we choose to spell it "Dabra" to bring out the pun a little more. It's not entirely obvious, though, so it's a great question!

[Chaos Saiyajin]

Ugh...I remember when Beckett called him 'Doubler' in their magazine. ><

Dabura really looks like the devil if you compare him to Lucifer from Sandland. Seeing as how they're basically the same character, Lucifer just having horns and all. ^_^

[Duo]

English speaking wise - I must prefer Dabra because it is the actual pun. Dabura may sound cooler to speak, but I am a man of the pun.

[Mike D]

"Doubler" comes from the whole "l" and "r" deal. Fansubs made the name popular and that is why fans believed that was his real name.

[Kirbopher]

XD Whoops, sorry about the big image.

Ah NOW I see. I probably would've reffered to him as Dabra as well more often if I had noticed that. I was surprised they didn't have another character known as 'Aburaka' or something to that extent for one of Babidi's other henchmen. Though, even if it is incorrect, the reference to the devil does at least make a little bit of sense o.o

[Sun_Wukong]

I've also heard Doubler, but this was when Funi was still in their infancy. I think this was when fansubs were still being scripted by only listening to the audio track.

[Tapion]

Ugh...I remember when Beckett called him 'Doubler' in their magazine. ><

I've also heard Doubler, but this was when Funi was still in their infancy. I think this was when fansubs were still being scripted by only listening to the audio track.

Perfect examples of why people who don't know Japanese, should not attempt to write or translate Japanese.

[Kirbopher]

Yeah. The "Double" or "Doubler" titles were back when we were still on the Saiyan and Namek sagas, I believe.

[Bejiita]

I never really tried to work out Dabura's name meaning, like all the characters names on DBZ are puns of something.

I can see the Aburakadabura resemblence, but I think it's just a name that Toriyama made up, or possibly he's assistant.

Chances are slim, but maybe they wanted to call him something along the lines of 'Devil', but figured that people may change he's name when dubbing or even further be offended by the name, so gave him a different name, Dabura. Plus with Mr. Satan in the mix, people might thing DBZ is some evil cartoon. Well, not the Japanese...


Talking about Funi pronouncing it as Da-BOO-ra, I thing Ocean's episode had it pronounced better, while not exactly like the Japanese say it, even Videl's name is kept faithfull to the original, Funi calls her 'Vi-del' and Ocean call her 'Vee-del' as in 'Bii-deru'.

Even Goku is pronounced how the Japanese say it in Ocean's dub sometimes. I'll hear a 'go-KUU' instead of a 'GO-ku'. They even go all out there and say the 'han' part of Gohan proper like the Japansese say it, Funi has more of a 'Go-harn', Oceans is 'Go-haan'.

[VegettoEX]

I can see the Aburakadabura resemblence, but I think it's just a name that Toriyama made up, or possibly he's assistant.

Umm... no, that's what the pun is.

All of those Buu-arc characters are all named with puns based on magical items.

• Bibidi, Babidi, Buu = (should be more than fairly obvious at this point)
• Yakon = "tekumakumayakon", a magical phrase in Himitsu no Akko-chan
• Pui-Pui = My file says it's from "Chichin Puipui"; don't know what it is, though

I'm sure Julian can pop in and explain them further, since I believe they're all explained in detail in one of the recent Japanese guide books (Dragonball FOREVER, I think).

[Bejiita]

I can see the Aburakadabura resemblence, but I think it's just a name that Toriyama made up, or possibly he's assistant.

Umm... no, that's what the pun is.

All of those Buu-arc characters are all named with puns based on magical items.

• Bibidi, Babidi, Buu = (should be more than fairly obvious at this point)
• Yakon = "tekumakumayakon", a magical phrase in Himitsu no Akko-chan
• Pui-Pui = My file says it's from "Chichin Puipui"; don't know what it is, though

I'm sure Julian can pop in and explain them further, since I believe they're all explained in detail in one of the recent Japanese guide books (Dragonball FOREVER, I think).

Oh, ok then, I thought you were suggesting your opinion on the subject, I see they are actually the facts.

That's my theory straight out the window.

[Kirbopher]

Chances are slim, but maybe they wanted to call him something along the lines of 'Devil', but figured that people may change he's name when dubbing or even further be offended by the name, so gave him a different name, Dabura.

If that WERE the case, then a lot of things in anime and manga would be vastly different. Considering the Dragonball series is a kids show with...things over here obviously haven't been deemed appropriate on the afternoon cartoon hour, I don't really think the Japanese authors themselves are affected really by what goes on over here. I'm sure some may be upset by some of their series being VASTLY changed from their original feeling when it comes to anime edited versions, or sometimes flopped versions of their mangas, but I DOUBT they give a crap about what WE would think if we were actually there IN Japan reading their stuff.

Plus with Mr. Satan in the mix, people might thing DBZ is some evil cartoon.

My point. Obviously no one seemed to be extremely anal about that character's name over there, thus why there was no debate for a name change in Japan. Here, that's a different story as everyone knows.

Talking about Funi pronouncing it as Da-BOO-ra, I thing Ocean's episode had it pronounced better, while not exactly like the Japanese say it, even Videl's name is kept faithfull to the original, Funi calls her 'Vi-del' and Ocean call her 'Vee-del' as in 'Bii-deru'.

Even Goku is pronounced how the Japanese say it in Ocean's dub sometimes. I'll hear a 'go-KUU' instead of a 'GO-ku'. They even go all out there and say the 'han' part of Gohan proper like the Japansese say it, Funi has more of a 'Go-harn', Oceans is 'Go-haan'.

Well, that's surprising, considering I hear a lot of people whine about how the Ocean Group actors mispronounce the character names from Inuyasha. In both cases, things like that never really matter much, to me at least. If they've actually kept the original name of a character, then pronunciations don't matter to me really ifat least somewhat close to it. I even still say "Saiyan" as "Say-in" like in the FUNimation dub, but that's more of a case of me hearing the word first and thus being more used to it.

Though, as much as I like FUNimation (I'm evil, oh no.) I actually HAVE been interested in seeing the Ocean Group version of the rest of DBZ in UK and Canada...but I'm goin' off topic now, so I'll end it there.

[Super Sonic]

Although I've only seen 3 eps and the third movie in Japanese, are the Inuyasha character names you speak of actually mispronounced, or simply pronounced a way a person who speaks another language would? Ie. like how a native English speaker will say the name "Maria" differently than a native Spanish speaker would.

[Bejiita]

Chances are slim, but maybe they wanted to call him something along the lines of 'Devil', but figured that people may change he's name when dubbing or even further be offended by the name, so gave him a different name, Dabura.

If that WERE the case, then a lot of things in anime and manga would be vastly different. Considering the Dragonball series is a kids show with...things over here obviously haven't been deemed appropriate on the afternoon cartoon hour, I don't really think the Japanese authors themselves are affected really by what goes on over here. I'm sure some may be upset by some of their series being VASTLY changed from their original feeling when it comes to anime edited versions, or sometimes flopped versions of their mangas, but I DOUBT they give a crap about what WE would think if we were actually there IN Japan reading their stuff.

Plus with Mr. Satan in the mix, people might thing DBZ is some evil cartoon.

My point. Obviously no one seemed to be extremely anal about that character's name over there, thus why there was no debate for a name change in Japan. Here, that's a different story as everyone knows.

Talking about Funi pronouncing it as Da-BOO-ra, I thing Ocean's episode had it pronounced better, while not exactly like the Japanese say it, even Videl's name is kept faithfull to the original, Funi calls her 'Vi-del' and Ocean call her 'Vee-del' as in 'Bii-deru'.

Even Goku is pronounced how the Japanese say it in Ocean's dub sometimes. I'll hear a 'go-KUU' instead of a 'GO-ku'. They even go all out there and say the 'han' part of Gohan proper like the Japansese say it, Funi has more of a 'Go-harn', Oceans is 'Go-haan'.

Well, that's surprising, considering I hear a lot of people whine about how the Ocean Group actors mispronounce the character names from Inuyasha. In both cases, things like that never really matter much, to me at least. If they've actually kept the original name of a character, then pronunciations don't matter to me really ifat least somewhat close to it. I even still say "Saiyan" as "Say-in" like in the FUNimation dub, but that's more of a case of me hearing the word first and thus being more used to it.

Though, as much as I like FUNimation (I'm evil, oh no.) I actually HAVE been interested in seeing the Ocean Group version of the rest of DBZ in UK and Canada...but I'm goin' off topic now, so I'll end it there.

I think they actually think ahead about things like dubbing. The Japanese are smart. It was a possiblilty that eventually an American team would dub DBZ. And things like names do get thought about, especially in the later episodes. Why do you think all attacks vary and have names? It's literally screaming 'make a video game', which they have done. Now I'm going off topic...


If anything I'm not praising Ocean for staying partially faithfull to the name pronounciations. Mostly it sounds dumb. Since I don't watch the dub anymore it doesn't matter anymore.

[VegettoEX]

Although I've only seen 3 eps and the third movie in Japanese, are the Inuyasha character names you speak of actually mispronounced, or simply pronounced a way a person who speaks another language would? Ie. like how a native English speaker will say the name "Maria" differently than a native Spanish speaker would.

Viz simply has a habit of directing their voice actors to say things wrong. IE, Kagome (kah - go - meh) turns into "kuh - GO - mei". Back in the day in Ranma, a character named Sasuke was "suh - SUU - kei". They always place their weird, typical-American-accent on the second syllable in a name, and tend to shorten "ah" sounds to "uh" sounds.

[Super Sonic]

Although I've only seen 3 eps and the third movie in Japanese, are the Inuyasha character names you speak of actually mispronounced, or simply pronounced a way a person who speaks another language would? Ie. like how a native English speaker will say the name "Maria" differently than a native Spanish speaker would.

Viz simply has a habit of directing their voice actors to say things wrong. IE, Kagome (kah - go - meh) turns into "kuh - GO - mei". Back in the day in Ranma, a character named Sasuke was "suh - SUU - kei". They always place their weird, typical-American-accent on the second syllable in a name, and tend to shorten "ah" sounds to "uh" sounds.

Whoa. Even though Viz didn't use Ocean Group, with the name Sasuke I find it kind of funny how they were able to get it right about 10 years later.

[Jerseymilk]

Although I've only seen 3 eps and the third movie in Japanese, are the Inuyasha character names you speak of actually mispronounced, or simply pronounced a way a person who speaks another language would? Ie. like how a native English speaker will say the name "Maria" differently than a native Spanish speaker would.

Viz simply has a habit of directing their voice actors to say things wrong. IE, Kagome (kah - go - meh) turns into "kuh - GO - mei". Back in the day in Ranma, a character named Sasuke was "suh - SUU - kei". They always place their weird, typical-American-accent on the second syllable in a name, and tend to shorten "ah" sounds to "uh" sounds.

Tell me about it! You don't know how annoying it is to be at a con, doing an anime related performance and be improperly corrected on the pronunciation of Shippo by dub IY fangirls in the audience.

[Kantico]

Dabura = Devilu = Devil

It is very probable that it has to see with phonetics. Imagine that of animation arose anime = animeshion

[desirecampbell]

Dabura = Devilu = Devil

It is very probable that it has to see with phonetics. Imagine that of animation arose anime = animeshion

First, Darura doesn't mean Devil - Mike slammed that one.

And I have no idea what "Imagine that of animation arose anime" or "animeshion" means. Did you mean animation?