The F-word

AquaSky · Post by **AquaSky** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:14 am

I remember hearing a while back that in the earlier days of anime here in the U.S., dubbers would actually add in profanity where there was none. This was to secure a more mature rating for the tape, therefore distinguishing it from cartoons in the eyes of the public. I think that kind of thing is pretty rare nowadays, though.

Trunksgirl07 · Post by **Trunksgirl07** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 11:00 am

HeavyMetal wrote:

While pioneer did a little less censorship in the language department and a little more in the violence department a lot of DBZ is still missing.

Totally agree. Pioneer had to "lower" the violence in DBZ. In the Japanese versions the fights were more brutal and bloodier.

HeartbreakerByZep · Post by **HeartbreakerByZep** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:01 pm

I find that dubs "beef up" vulgarity and stuff like that. It annoys me, especailly when they do it for comedic reasons.

ryuu_hime13 · Post by **ryuu_hime13** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:46 pm

IcyCloud wrote:I remember hearing a while back that in the earlier days of anime here in the U.S., dubbers would actually add in profanity where there was none. This was to secure a more mature rating for the tape, therefore distinguishing it from cartoons in the eyes of the public. I think that kind of thing is pretty rare nowadays, though.

They don't just do this in anime. When I rented a Cuban movie with my mother, I kept wondering why they were changing "Damn" to "Fuck" I guess some words are just difficult to translate because of the lack of counterparts, as mentioned above. The only anime I've heard fuck in are Hellsing and EoE, and I've seen neither in Japanese.

Harlock7876 · Post by **Harlock7876** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:13 pm

Also when you dub something you sometimes have to alter the dialogue slightly to fit in with mouth movements or, as others have said, there isn't a direct translation of a word or phrase so interpretation must take place. That ends up being the opinion of the translators and fitting the flow of the dialogue.
Here's an odd phrase I remember from French class back in the day to give an example of translation:
"C'est la barbe" is a saying that means "It's boring". Literally it means "It is the beard".
See what I'm saying?
A good example of dialgue being changed into profanities would be in Macross Plus. The part when Isamu takes the blonde on a bike ride and the word "bastard" is thrown in. There's also when Isamu meets the geek running his Valkyrie's project. In the sub he tells the kid to "Take a shit and go to bed.", but in the dub he tells the kid to "put on your zit cream and go to bed". Then again I'm using an example done by Manga Entertainment and they screw up everything. Why would you have an anti-drug trailer featuring members of the band KISS as bonus material? What the hell does that have to do witrh Macross Plus?!
They probably thought:
"Kids that watch anime must be ultra-violent and do drugs! Let's do our part to save America."

ryuu_hime13 · Post by **ryuu_hime13** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:37 pm

C'est la barbe... ::snickers:: I've heard that one. Good points, Harlock.