Thoughts on why the scripts are so messed-up

[GreatSaiyaman777]

You know, I've always said that Funimation had the "potential" to turn into another 4Kids. And sometimes it seems like 4Kids is still at where Funimation were during their worst period as a company. (Season 2 butcher-editing, Season 3 horrible voices, scripts and dialogue)


In truth, Funimation actually used mistranslted scripts for a FULL 61.5% of all the DBZ series.

dbzoa.net/features/johnb_int.php

Why? Well, because they had no translators and were too cheap, plus they didn't care too much. Funi didn't put a stop to this problem until after DBZ Season 4 (even though their translator Steven J. Simmons was hired BEFORE Season 4 began....), and only hired a translator because fans kept demanding subbed dvd's from them.

Personally, I really don't think the script writers are being given accurate material, and it wouldn't surprise me much if this was what 4Kids was doing. Plus with their shows so popular and generating so much profits, they probably think "it ain't broken so we don't need to fix it" so...

Guess that probably makes 4Kids the new Funimation on the block. Then again, it could just be that the script writers really are that bad.

[Lord Cyber]

From what I've read on Lovely's comparisons, the scripts aren't that far off.

There have been name changes, dialog changes, and some minor edits, but the overall story and plot is still retained. The story hasn't deviated so far out that I can't stand watching it (read my posts on Astro Boy in the TV anime section).

I'm still enjoying the show, and it's enough to get me to wake up on Saturday mornings which is a pretty powerful thing!

Shaman King has some pretty dark overtones...4Kids could've dropped or altered alot more than they did, especially since they're targeting a Saturday morning demographic on syndicated stations.

Look at a 2 hour window of animations around the time that Shaman King is on. You'll probably find that the storyline (although not perfectly intact with it's Japanese counterpart) is still a more mature story than anything else on the syndicated stations.

[GreatSaiyaman777]

Just out of curiosity, who are the guys who write the scripts for dubbed Shaman King? How many of them are there and are their names shown in the credits?

[Lovely]

Yeah, it's obvious that the dub re-writers had the actual translations to work with. They just decided to change it anyways. MOST of the basic plot is mostly in-tact, and every once in a while there will be a scene or two that is actually an acurate translation.

Most of the changes seem very intentional and are made just to give characters (sometimes wildly) different personalities, (or just to mention hamburgers randomly -- anybody notice that EVERY dub-episode contains a reference to hamburgers?). An example of changing character: making Yoh more serious and making him want "to save the world". Where-as in the original he was pretty laid back, nice, and just wanted to live a "lazy life".

It's annoying to me personally, because it was the CHARACTERS in this series that originally drew me into this show in the first place.

[GreatSaiyaman777]

Hmm... maybe you should try e-mailing/mailing/calling the writers. I remember e-mailing 2/3rds of the people at Funimation (as well as 2 out of 3 of their movie writers) after seeing Movie 7 and slamming them pretty hard there. I do know that attacking their ego's and giving them the risk of being humiliated online is a strong detterent towards them not screwing up scripts.

I don't know if you've ever heard of Neel Bligh but... well, he's such a bad writer someone from Funimation once e-mailed me complaining about him. DBGT's only 64 episodes but it only took one bad writer like him to ruin the story and scripts. (even though Funi did enough to ruin it on their own without his help)


Also,

editorial

Another possibility is just a lazy lack of research on 4Kids' part. Trust me, even up to near the end of DBZ's last 30 episodes the people there had STILL not seen it on fansub.

I remember a story where one guy called Jon Allen (dbz funi-suckup webmaster) to ask if a certain dumb line was in an episode. It wasn't. Know how director Chris Sabat responded?

"It's referenced later in the episode and Kyle Hebert has gone home for the day. Let's just not worry about it."

Personally, I think someone should burn the entire series origina/subtitled to DVD and mail it to the main directors/writers/voice actors at 4Kids because I can tell you, for a fact from experience with Funi and the 291-episode DBZ, that that is the ONLY way they'll probably ever consider being bothered to watch it.

[SammieSpitz]

Well, from what I've seen, at least a couple of characters already looks like they've had some part of them completely rewritten over one little thing....and these characters are relatively harmless, censor-wise.

[This is kind of a rant, more than anything else. Still related to scripts, sort of, I hope ^_^;;;]

For instance, the worst thing about Anna that I could see was a short dress and the occasional violent outburst (episode 9, anyone?). Her being angaged to Yoh isn't as big of a deal as 4Kids seems to think it is. They completely rewrote her background story...And, from what I can see, almost entriely because she and Yoh were fiances

And Horo Horo's already been kind of mauled. The worst he does is almost show off his, um, manhood a couple of times. All of which are convenietly censored by limbs being in the way. But, he goes from being proud of his Ainu heritage...to being almost completely obsessed with snowboarding....What 4Kids has against young viewers learning about another culture is beyond me.

....Alright, I'm done ranting now.

[Necromancer13]

i agree with u. as i see it, the reason the 4kids BASTARDS cut out tiny things such as Horo-Horo's and Anna's background is "so little kids wont be confused and ask 'what is a fiance' and such". pishposh.......they can go on the internet, ask their parents, or figure it out themselves for god's sake! i mean, here is what they think would happen:

(SCENE: little kid watching Shaman King)

Horo-Horo on the tv: my name is horo-horo, and im from the ainu tribe!
little kid: huh? what kind of stupide name is horo-horo, and what is da ainu tribe? im confwused!

and here is the present dialouge that they think had ACTUALLY work with kids.....

Horo-Horo on the tv again: my name is horo-horo (but i prefer to be called Trey Racer) and i luv snowboarding, dude! ^_^
same little kid: cool! Trey is such a wondaful name, and he is cwazy about snowboardin. *gasps* that is so cool!!!


...............uuuuuuuuuuuugghhhhhh! i have a tummy ache...i gotta go to the bathroom....i'llberightback! (goes to the bathroom, throw's up, and comes back)
whew...as u can see, 4kids and other evil dubbers out there think animation is only for kids....pfffffft, they obviously never hav seen adult swim. and so this concludes my ranting....if you read all of this, congrats, you've made it through my ranting!

[overallfangirl]

I apologize in advance for what may be construed as necroposting but I only recently found these forums and I feel I have something useful to say on this subject.

Script-wise, dubs are always going to involve some rewrites after the script has been translated. Why is that? It's because animation relies on proper lip synch to create the illusion. That's one of the things animation doesn't skimp on, regardless of budget. It's similiar to how no matter bad a Hollywood movie may or may not be, everything is framed and in focus. The dialogue usually has to be rewritten to fit mouth movements. And then to santize it for kids on top of that...

The most annyoing thing I find is when silent scenes are pumped full of dialogue. I remember some episode of Digimon where it was pretty apparent the dub company didn't look at the animation because 2 characters were going on about holding hands and they were nowhere near eachother onscreen.

EDIT: Saw Howl's Moving Castle a couple days ago, in its subbed version. And something occurred to me. Variations in conversation style. "Onii-chan" was subtitled as Sophie (the character's name). Meaning-wise, 'Sis' probably works better but when it's "onii-chan this and onii-chan that" it sounds stilted not to use the name.

[sephicloud]

Let's face it, almost EVERY dubbing on day-time television will suck, because if kids were exposed to any of the things on the actual anime, it would disturb them
.......
Ok, so maybe I'm overreacting, but that's how 4Kids think. They are the proverbial George Bush of anime. Wait, that's an understatement, they are much worse then him. They are..... Gilli bad! Yeah, Gilli bad (if anyone was exposed to that movie, I send you sorrow and hope you make/made a swift recovery) So, with the way they think, they grab there scissors, and cut up anything they can find! After that they fill most of it with lame puns, and/or not needed dialog. That is why they have lousy scripts for the episodes.
_{Ok, like I always do, I apologies if anyone likes Gilli or George Bush. I hope no one hates me for saying this stuff, ok?}

[Lovely]

NO POLITICAL COMMENTS PLEASE. Geez. It's right in the rules >_< .

overallfangirl said:

Script-wise, dubs are always going to involve some rewrites after the script has been translated. Why is that? It's because animation relies on proper lip synch to create the illusion..... The dialogue usually has to be rewritten to fit mouth movements.

I actually don't mind that. I expect it. The reason the UNCUT dub for the first episodes for Shaman King is bad is because the dialouge is TOO accurate. It comes off sounding stilted and akward.