Dogasu's Backpack Discussion

[Insanish Danish]

lol Brock's line about how he wishes Professor Ivy would train him is nowhere near as bad as what he actually says in the original

 

[Skalesgon]

lol Brock's line about how he wishes Professor Ivy would train him is nowhere near as bad as what he actually says in the original

What was it?

 

[Antiyonder]

What was it?

"Ah, I wish she'd pat me on the head and tell me I'm a good baby!"

Dub version is probably just as pervy if you think about it.

Still surprised Episode 9 in the dub got away incidentally with him saying "She can violate my rights anytime" in reference to Giselle. Besides her being much younger than him, I don’t think you can interpret that line any other way.

 

[MizuTaipu]

Yay! More screentime for the Rockets! It doesn't make up for how poorly they've been treated for the last 3 years or so though.

What was the age demographic breakdown at your screening if you can remember?

 

[Antiyonder]

Japanese Episode 084

I see an animation company going from making a really great piece of Japanese animation to a vanilla product that's constantly in a state of fear, always worrying that what they're doing at any moment is "too Japanese."

People absolutely hate it whenever I use the word "whitewash" to describe what happened to this show once it became an international success but it's honestly not a bad way to summarize what happened during the Orange Islands arc. The animators' native language is forbidden from appearing in the show, and the one person in the cast with "Asian-y eyes" gets replaced with a character that makes it easier for Americans to project their whiteness upon. Episodes about Japan-only holidays will no longer be produced, and Japanese food will all but disappear from the show altogether.

And considering how the world of Pokémon is different enough from our own, I don’t see how riceballs and Japanese are hard to accept if say the fictional aspects of the show are accepted.

 

[Johtoo]

I think creating a fake language was a great idea. The show is a global product, and the anime rarely focuses on any form of written language to expand its story. It's just background stuff, really. And Brock being removed backfired everywhere and I would like to think The Pokemon Company learned their lesson from that.

 

[Dogasu]

The show is a global product, and the anime rarely focuses on any form of written language to expand its story.

The anime rarely focuses on any form of written language to expand its story because it's not allowed to. That's literally the problem.

It's just background stuff, really.

So are the images in these mock-ups I made. Doesn't make the practice of removing some of the real-world text any less ridiculous.

 

[Morningstar]

Conceptually the conlang aspect does make sense as its a fictional world...but there is one issue. Coding. All the regions in the game are based on RL locations and as such are coded as said RL locations. Which means that not only are Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh are Japanese coded, so are most of their residents (despite the Mukokukesi and that the localization changed msot of the names). Likewise, Kalos, Unova and Galar are likewise coded as mostly white with some other minorities as a reuslt and Alola is likewise Polynesian.

All of this means that the removal of Japanese and onigiri does feel like cultural self censorship and now that I think about it I wonder if that was a factor for three of the last four regions not taking place in Japan. And its obviously censorship if the Japanese text is only present in the Japanese version (I'm assuming the conlangs pop up in the JP version from Orange Island onward)

 

[Dogasu]

The Japanese version of the Kanto episodes (1-80) had Japanese writing. The overwhelming majority of it got changed for the dub; some of it got translated but the overwhelming majority of it was just erased.

Scribbles and other random markings started showing up in the Orange Islands episodes and stayed with the show until the end of Diamond & Pearl. From Best Wishes! onwards, the show's animators created a cipher language that fans have actually been able to decode.

English writing, meanwhile, continued showing up in the show without any problem.

 

[MizuTaipu]

This comparison just reminded me how boring the designs for the Orange League Gym Leaders are. Ruriko/Luana is the only one that's any memorable.

 

[GalacticRonpa]

What is funny is that even the games are using this made-up language the anime created for BW (or something similar).

I really miss the days when using Japanese was allowed in the show.

 

[Momentum]

I would love to see the DVD section get updated since it's been left abandoned for years. It would be even be nice to see it feature screenshots so fans can gauge the quality, I could even help contribute since I own pretty much all of them.

 

[Johtoo]

What is funny is that even the games are using this made-up language the anime created for BW (or something similar).

I really miss the days when using Japanese was allowed in the show.

I think this is the perfect compromise, although I do understand the criticisms. What is the point of inventing a made up language if no one can read it? It seems pointless to me? I actually think they should animate episodes with Japanese writings and English writings (which i'm sure wouldn't take long at all) and use it for the domestic and international versions. The same goes for the video games. It seems like too much effort was put into something that made no sense.

 

[MizuTaipu]

Congratulations on 21 years!!! Your site help me get through 2020 for sure. I actually spend a lot of my time going through some of your older comparisons from AG and DP for old time's sake. I really loved the magazine and podcast translations you did and the Orange Islands comparisons you started in the last quarter of the year were fascinating since the international fandom has no idea about what the original version of that saga is like.

 

[SammyW27]

Now that the site's old enough, let's hit the bars to celebrate!

This series, more than any other before it, is just a string of random events with only the thinnest of plots holding everything together

Truer word have never been spoken

 

[Daren]

Happy anniversary, Dogasu! Your work in translation and comparisons has really been very helpful to the community all these years.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I still can't see Journeys lasting through multiple generations at this point. It isn't a stretch by any means, but it would make decisions like Ash getting fully evolved Pokemon initially and giving Goh a Cinderace within the first year even more questionable. I guess it could be chalked up to the series being way too fast paced for its own good, but it still seems kind of odd to me on paper. Goh catching Suicune does open the flood gates to say the least, but I don't know if I could see him catching any of the huge Legendary Pokemon. Goh getting something like Diagla or Groudoun would be even harder to pull off than something like Suicune.

I'd be kind of surprised if we get Team Yell. They existed as Marnie's cheerleaders and roadblocks, but I don't know if they'll have Marnie in the anime at this rate. They did have Team Skull in SM without connecting them to Aether Paradise, but Team Yell is all about cheering for Marnie. As much as I don't care for Team Yell, it would be worth getting them to appear if it leads to Ash meeting Piers and battling him. He's one of my favorite Galar Gym Leaders, so having him appear would be neat. Having arcs around the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra would be really cool.

I've been wondering about Movie 24 for awhile. There wasn't a teaser trailer for it at the end of Koko, or I assume that wasn't the case since I don't think it was mentioned on Serebii. Since the movie really only came out a month ago after having to be delayed, I could believe that the next movie won't be available this year. I'm sure that Koko being delayed affected its production, along with any work that they were doing on the following movie. I suppose it's possible that they'll still have Movie 24 ready for this year and just have it at a later date than the more traditional July release window, but that really depends on how its production is going, if they need to have something featuring a new Legendary Pokemon for this year and if there any other state of emergencies in Japan.

Happy anniversary, Dogasu. Checking out different articles and episode comparisons over the years on your site has been really interesting and fun.

 

[ii kanji]

I know I'm supposed to be reading your predictions and wishing you (CONGRATULATIONS!!) but this caught my eye from your most recent comparison:

What's this? Screenplay writer Yukiyoshi Ohashi writing Musashi and Nyarth as being heartless jerks? Quelle surprise!

 

[Johtoo]

I still can't see Journeys lasting through multiple generations at this point. It isn't a stretch by any means, but it would make decisions like Ash getting fully evolved Pokemon initially and giving Goh a Cinderace within the first year even more questionable. I guess it could be chalked up to the series being way too fast paced for its own good, but it still seems kind of odd to me on paper. Goh catching Suicune does open the flood gates to say the least, but I don't know if I could see him catching any of the huge Legendary Pokemon. Goh getting something like Diagla or Groudoun would be even harder to pull off than something like Suicune.

I'd be kind of surprised if we get Team Yell. They existed as Marnie's cheerleaders and roadblocks, but I don't know if they'll have Marnie in the anime at this rate. They did have Team Skull in SM without connecting them to Aether Paradise, but Team Yell is all about cheering for Marnie. As much as I don't care for Team Yell, it would be worth getting them to appear if it leads to Ash meeting Piers and battling him. He's one of my favorite Galar Gym Leaders, so having him appear would be neat. Having arcs around the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra would be really cool.

I've been wondering about Movie 24 for awhile. There wasn't a teaser trailer for it at the end of Koko, or I assume that wasn't the case since I don't think it was mentioned on Serebii. Since the movie really only came out a month ago after having to be delayed, I could believe that the next movie won't be available this year. I'm sure that Koko being delayed affected its production, along with any work that they were doing on the following movie. I suppose it's possible that they'll still have Movie 24 ready for this year and just have it at a later date than the more traditional July release window, but that really depends on how its production is going, if they need to have something featuring a new Legendary Pokemon for this year and if there any other state of emergencies in Japan.

Happy anniversary, Dogasu. Checking out different articles and episode comparisons over the years on your site has been really interesting and fun.

I think the box office decline of the AU movies coupled with the pandemic was the reason behind there being no movie 24 trailer. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't release a movie until Gen 9 released and tied it with the anime again. I think a break is needed for the franchise as I noticed how little hype there were for Koko. Even on the message boards, it seemed lackluster compared to previous entries. But i'm probably wrong.

 

[Dogasu]

Thank you for all the nice anniversary messages, everybody!

This comparison just reminded me how boring the designs for the Orange League Gym Leaders are. Ruriko/Luana is the only one that's any memorable.

I'd say even Ruriko is painfully generic. Meanwhile, random blink-and-you'll-miss-them background Trainer characters in any given episode of Pocket Monsters (2019) have more unique designs than any of the members of the Southern Cross LOL

I would love to see the DVD section get updated since it's been left abandoned for years.

That is actually on my (very long) To-Do List.

Now that the site's old enough, let's hit the bars to celebrate!

There is a pandemic going on so I think I'll pass

I'd be kind of surprised if we get Team Yell.

See, for me, I'd be surprised if we didn't get the regional evil (well, in Yell's case maybe "antagonistic" is a better word) group since, well, we've gotten every single main series group so far. It would just be too weird if the Yell-Dan got zero representation in the main series.

There wasn't a teaser trailer for it at the end of Koko, or I assume that wasn't the case since I don't think it was mentioned on Serebii.

I mean...I'm sitting right here y'know

I think the box office decline of the AU movies coupled with the pandemic was the reason behind there being no movie 24 trailer. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't release a movie until Gen 9 released and tied it with the anime again. I think a break is needed for the franchise as I noticed how little hype there were for Koko. Even on the message boards, it seemed lackluster compared to previous entries. But i'm probably wrong.

Toho wouldn't have known about the box office decline on Day One. The decision to not have a trailer at the end of Movie 23 is most likely a case of OLM / Toho just not being sure when they'll be able to release a new movie more than anything else. Everything's too unpredictable now. A July 2021 release, at this point, is highly unlikely, and we're now seeing from Movie 23's box office performance that December wouldn't really work out either.

I chalk up the lack of buzz online about the film to 1) the longer than usual promotion period (532 days!) and so people just got sick of hearing about it, and 2) the fact that Japan's borders being closed right now means that the only English speakers able to watch this movie (and therefore report on it) are those of us who were already in the country when COVID started.