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A Certain Magical Index
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kingdomkey101's picture
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BECK Roadie
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Re: I know this is funi's choice but..

Getchman wrote:
I dont think its a good idea to start assuming what they are going to use in the dub just based on what is used in the subtitles. As for Kuroko, i direct your attention to Miharu, the resident psycho lesbian, from Baka and Test. her English voice actor used a whole variety of terms of endearment and i think that would work in this as well

that is what they do then that would be wonderful I think, the question is well they do it. also there are plenty of shows that I watched dubbed when I first see it, I doubt I am that unique, and if you watch it dubbed for the first time you will (99 times out of a hundred) not knowing what they actually said in the japanese version.

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Re: I know this is funi's choice but..

Getchman wrote:
I don't think its a good idea to start assuming what they are going to use in the dub just based on what is used in the subtitles. As for Kuroko, i direct your attention to Miharu, the resident psycho lesbian, from Baka and Test. her English voice actor used a whole variety of terms of endearment and i think that would work in this as well

Given the amount of times that Kuroko says "Onee-Sama", I doubt that they could find a Single suitable replacement for it. As it was for Miharu, I think that they should just go multiple terms instead of just "Sissy", As you suggested.

Edited by: sprchr7 on 04/16/2012 - 5:44pm. Reason:
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Re: I know this is funi's choice but..

Okay,

1) The subtitles for a show are not always completely indicative of how the dub translation will be. It's not smart to assume.

2) Just because one translation translated "biri biri" as "Sparky" does not mean all of them have to. I believe the reason they chose, at least for the subtitles, "bug zapper", is because they probably decided the best way to translate the sound effect word "biri biri" would be to translate it as an object or action that makes that sound. And a bug zapper indeed makes that kind of noise. If they were to translate it literally, they would have to call her "zap zap" or "bzz bzz", and that would make no sense in our language in which sound effect words are rarely used in a casual context. It's a cultural thing. So really, they seem to be translating it as faithfully as they can while having it still make sense in English, imo.

I will agree with the fact that "Sparky" sounds better as a nickname (though I personally think it sounds like what a cop would nickname his rookie partner), and it's more accurate in that Touma uses it as a nickname, but it's not accurate for what he actually calls her. "Sparky" does not indicate a sound effect or a thing that makes the noise of electricity - it's just a name that references electricity itself. Honestly, "Sparky" sounds like a name that a not-so-good translation would use because it's really not trying to translate the nickname faithfully; it's just using the ONLY American nickname that anyone would use for a creature/person/thing that has a connection to electricity. It'd be like if Magnus were given the nickname "Flamey". Again, it works as a nickname, but I don't think it's very inspired. I've heard the nickname "Sparky" in a ton of different mediums (albeit 100% outside of anime), but I've never heard of someone being called "Bug Zapper". That's unique, and I like that better.

Those are just my two cents on the choice. smile

Edited by: Pachi on 04/16/2012 - 5:59pm. Reason:
kingdomkey101's picture
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Re: I know this is funi's choice but..

okay but what about sissy, I can agree with what you said to a point however I think consistency is important.

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Re: I know this is funi's choice but..

kingdomkey101 wrote:
okay but what about sissy, I can agree with what you said to a point however I think consistency is important.

"Sissy", I don't really have a defense for that one. And I know from experience that FUNimation uses "sissy" in dubs sometimes, but usually not exclusively. Unfortunately because of the other meaning of that word in English, it doesn't sound quite right when you use it in place of "sister". "Sis" I'm fine with, but I personally don't like "sissy". Would it ruin the show for me or make me not buy it if the dub uses that word? No. It would be annoying, but one word is not going to make me skip out on the whole thing. That would be silly to pass on it because of ONE bad thing, especially if everything else turns out great.

As for consistency, I would agree with you, however the only licensed version of Index in the states right now is the manga. Actually, it's not even Index - it's the spinoff Railgun. Disregarding that, the manga and the anime are separate licenses and really have no obligation to keep their translations accurate with each other. I think it usually has to be a HUGE property with a lot of following for the anime/manga licenses of that property to influence each other. For example, when FUNimation licensed Tsubasa Chronicle, they used the title/logo from Del Rey's license of the manga (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle) because of how popular the manga was and how long it had been out in the States. But Index/Railgun has seen very limited release in the States that only just started with the Railgun manga last year, and I don't feel like there are a ton of diehard fans behind it either. So in this case, I seriously doubt we're going to see any kind of collaboration between FUNi and Seven Seas to make sure their translations are consistent. If some other company had licensed the Railgun anime and then FUNi had licensed the Index anime, but the other company released Railgun first, then yes, there would have to be a huge scramble to get consistency right. Actors, names, terminology, nicknames, logos, everything would have to be addressed (or rather, fans would hope they would be). But the mediums are different in this case.

Even if I full agreed for consistency, as I said before, I personally don't like her nickname being "Sparky", so I'm glad FUNi is using a different one. That's just where you and I differ, I suppose.

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Re: I know this is funi's choice but..

yea the sub version i watched she was the middle school shocker , but hey if they get the guy that did zagi for tales of vesperia to do accelorter, maybe the guy that did kenchice in kenchie the mighest deciple to do touma that'll work, or do ppl not think that

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Re: I know this is funi's choice but..

i got the chance to watch baka test with a friend of mine this weekend. i'm enjoying it and if they handle kuroko like they did miharu in the dub it'll be pretty awesome. cool

i can see how "bug zapper" works but seeing "sissy" in the subtitles still bugs me though. nervous

i'm really excited to see this series dubbed.

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Re: I know this is funi's choice but..

"Sissy" is just a horrendous choice of translation for "Oneesama". It makes Kuroko sound like she's talking down to her instead of admiring her.

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Re: I know this is funi's choice but..

According to the new episode, they seem to be going with Sissy, like in Baka To Test. the Episodes original title was "Onee-sama (Misaka Mikoto)", but FUNi's is episode name is "Mikoto Misaka (Sissy)".

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Re: I know this is funi's choice but..

I know I'm reviving a 2 month old thread but its not like this forum is very popular anyway so I wanted to toss in my two cents.

Misaka's nickname should be Sparky only because its what the English version of the manga used and Funimation should respect consistency issues for fans.

Next for Kuroko's Onee-sama It's quite hard to find a suitable equal but Sissy seems wrong since to me that sounds like something more equal to a -chan honorific. Though not perfect and probably closer to ojou-sama I would elect Lady Misaka or Miss Misaka.

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