Differences between English and Japanese MSQ Dialogue (bit of a rant)

[Enla]

Well..... There IS a big difference between Dragonball and Dragonball Z if i am allowed to interfere here While the original Dragonball was all about fun and being intentended as "Gag-Anime", Dragonball Z took a sudden change to way more sirious topics. Suddenly there where hole citys or even the planet distroyed and a lot of people die.

Still ran in Shonen Jump, which back in 2009 surveyed that most of it's readership was under 14 and specifically targets young boys. Though it also boasts high appeal for elementary and middle school girls as well. (These are a bit older in terms of surveys but the core demographics haven't really shifted from what I can tell.) Dragon Ball Z has always been Shonen. If it was truly meant for older teen/adults it'd be listed as Seinen. I honestly scratch my head at the 'it's not for kids' argument. It's okay to like something that's targeted to people lower than your age, and in different culture at that that has different values and ideas for what is acceptable consumption of media by minors. Stuff like Dragon Ball in particular ave universal appeal that can be enjoyed by all ages. There's no shame in liking it whether you're 5 or 50.

Moving on stuff like what 4kids did is pretty out of the norm and frowned upon these days in the dubbing industry and in fandoms at large. Just look at the flak Netfix got for taking Precure and turning it into Glitter Force. These days as the world turns more towards global awareness most companies strive to bring authentic representations of the media they're adapting to their audiences. Adapt, but don't change beyond the recognizable seems to be the motto.

Edit: I also recommend checking out Mary Cagle's comic about her experiences teaching English in Japan. In one she pretty clearly notes that her elementary students were pretty addicted to watching Attack on Titan.
https://www.marycagle.com/

[Exitos]

Yeah i know its still shonen and for teens around 14 (nevertheless i still like DB and DBZ very much and have the DVD collection at home). Still i feel like there was a strange shift between DB and DBZ where the original was way more childish and based on fun attacks like gokus Rock-Paper-Sissor and stuff while DBZ got a way darker tone to most of the story.

[Enla]

Yeah i know its still shonen and for teens around 14 (nevertheless i still like DB and DBZ very much and have the DVD collection at home). Still i feel like there was a strange shift between DB and DBZ where the original was way more childish and based on fun attacks like gokus Rock-Paper-Sissor and stuff while DBZ got a way darker tone to most of the story.

It started out pretty Dragonball-esque, the stuff with Snake Way in particular, but the moment it hit the Seiyan reveal I will agree it did feel like someone was behind Toriyama's back and telling him to dial it to 9000.

[Reap00]

To those who play in English with Japanese voice and can understand Japanese, has anyone else noticed the major differences between the English and Japanese dialogues in Shadowbringers? There has always been some differences but this time around, as I'm playing through the MSQ, it just feels very strange as what the Japanese voice is saying and the English dialogue is completely different.

While there are many instances of this throughout the MSQ, one is when the Exarch meets Vauthry; In the Japanese version, the Exarch says something along the lines of, you've gotten really big since I last saw you. Where as the English version is something like your as "enormous as ever". Differences like this are all over the MSQ this time, especially during CS of past events or when a character is explaining something deep, it feels like they are saying/implying two completely different things.

This doesn't really matter unless you are someone who plays the English Version with Japanese voice and can understand Japanese but just think for a game where the story is so deep and hints in dialogues play a important role in foreshadowing, they should make the dialogues more similar.

End of Rant.

You are nitpicking.

[Krotoan]

Yeah i know its still shonen and for teens around 14 (nevertheless i still like DB and DBZ very much and have the DVD collection at home). Still i feel like there was a strange shift between DB and DBZ where the original was way more childish and based on fun attacks like gokus Rock-Paper-Sissor and stuff while DBZ got a way darker tone to most of the story.

... Like when Kaiosama made goku chase a monkey around the planet to train? Or when Goku's son decided to dress as a Sentai hero to fight crime?

I don't think it ever really changed.

Let me clarify that as an older person I still enjoy it, but I'm not going to pretend dragonball is "serious". I liked Avatar too and felt it had good writing and animation, but it was still very much a kids cartoon. It's still about a guy who shows he "powers up" by changing hair and then proceeding to yell for half a book only to use his "final gambit technique" or have people "believe in him" to win.

[Rongway]

[Big/Little] [Brother/Sister] is one of the most visible cases of Japanese not correlating well to English, for reasons:

• The term is not meant literally, and the relationship is one that would not be viewed as fraternal/sororal by an English speaker.
• The term is not meant literally, and while the relationship might be viewed as fraternal/sororal by an English speaker, one would be more likely to say someone is "like a [brother/sister]" than to address them directly as such.
• The term is meant literally, but English speakers generally don't care to differentiate between "big" or "little" [brother/sister] except when the distinction is relevant (or perhaps unclear).

The Japanese language (and the culture it expresses) is just far more liberal with the terms "brother" and "sister" than English is; and the language requires when a sibling term is used, it specifies the direction of seniority, a feature that is required for other words in this class of words--far more than English speakers are used to. To translate these words literally would be, in most cases, awkward.

This is just one example of why we have a localization team instead of a translation team.

[Exitos]

... Like when Kaiosama made goku chase a monkey around the planet to train? Or when Goku's son decided to dress as a Sentai hero to fight crime?

I don't think it ever really changed.

Let me clarify that as an older person I still enjoy it, but I'm not going to pretend dragonball is "serious". I liked Avatar too and felt it had good writing and animation, but it was still very much a kids cartoon. It's still about a guy who shows he "powers up" by changing hair and then proceeding to yell for half a book only to use his "final gambit technique" or have people "believe in him" to win.

Yes thats true in a way. The difference i mean isnt really about DBZ being for a older audience, its just more like it feels different from DB. It may be the artstyle or the hole "going to the universe and fight ever stronger getting enemys" but DBZ lacked the easygoing and childish atmosphere from the original DB. So for me it felt just like a complet different show (still for teens/wouldnt really say kids) but just different in apearence.

[DumdogsWorld]

So you are figuring you know that the authors HAD to have that be a riceball and they weren't just using it...

That's the whole point - we don't know. That's not up to you, me, or the localization team to decide. That's the author's job.

Anyway, I'm going to bed. Good night. We're done here.

I don't consider the moral weight of changing a cartoon to cater to local audiences on the same level as having porn cater to underage people. no.

It was a hyperbole. Hyperbole means to stretch the truth for purposes of demonstrating a point.

Yes, it was a stretch. However, that is the direction your logic is heading. We shouldn't be changing the target audience.

[Alleo]

I am fine that each language has to adapt the text a bit different. But I am also not a fan of the english translation. Yoshida himself was even quite surprised when people told him how much they have changed Haurchefants character in the english version, since in the japanese one he truly showed how much he wanted to be in our pants. Heck they even changed some of his movements in the scenes with him too. They also changed quite a bit with Middy, so much that some people believed that he was an enemy, while it was quite clear in the japanese version that he simply tests us.

I just dont like how this opens up too many wrong interpretations of certain characters or story parts and I wished they would stay more similiar to each other.

[Nestama]

I am fine that each language has to adapt the text a bit different. But I am also not a fan of the english translation. Yoshida himself was even quite surprised when people told him how much they have changed Haurchefants character in the english version, since in the japanese one he truly showed how much he wanted to be in our pants. Heck they even changed some of his movements in the scenes with him too. They also changed quite a bit with Middy, so much that some people believed that he was an enemy, while it was quite clear in the japanese version that he simply tests us.

I just dont like how this opens up too many wrong interpretations of certain characters or story parts and I wished they would stay more similiar to each other.

The Horsefart and Middy examples you've mentioned are why the localisation teams now work closely with the author now. They localise, show it to the author and if they get the okay, it's what we get. I think there was an official dev post about this back when this was an issue.