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Dogasu's Backpack Discussion

The more I think about it, the more I really doubt that translation. It just sounds more like what fans would describe SM Ash early on in the series than what Rica or someone involved with the show itself would say. It isn't really more believable around twenty episodes into SM since the headcanon itself doesn't make any sense either. It just comes off like it was designed to fit into the "SM is in its own continuity" debate or for the people being upset that SM took place right after XY.
 
I'd want to see the Japanese original because right now we have no way of verifying this independently.

@Jez , do you still have the screenshots you posted here?
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I think having the Japanese text side by side is a good idea. PocketMonsters.net does something similar with their episode Notes section too. I'd recommend making the table wider since the Japanese sentences seem kinda squished viewing it from a desktop.

I never understood why they chose airships as a mode of transport in the anime. Maybe since they're so outdated it gives the anime a sense of timelessness? Whatever the case, they stopped using airships around the end of Diamond and Pearl with the Johto Festa I think.
 
Thanks for the input!

The table width issue is something that's going to have to wait, unfortunately. I think it's no secret that my site is long overdue for a complete overhaul and so I don't really want to fudge with too much layout-wise until I get all that done. But I'll be sure to keep that in mind for when I do finally get around to bringing my site into the 21st century!
 
Just want to say thanks for being so active with maintaining your site over the years - I think I'm nearing a decade (or maybe a bit more now, possibly 11-12 years) of having your site bookmarked, which is pretty crazy. You're my main source for Japanese/English comparisons and I enjoy your views on dub edits/dialogue changes/etc. Looking forward to the eventual design update, but the current layout is more than easy on my eyes for now ❤️
 
I don't see the point of adding the actual Japanese text in the translation text box? I mean what exactly is the purpose? I wager that most of the people who read the episode comparisons don't understand Japanese to start with, so why would having the original untranslated dialogue make a difference?
 
I particularly like the Japanese text box because it helps me study. But let's say, in the case I didn't understand anything like it used to be when I first visited Dogasu's Backpack, I'd still find it useful as to give some input of what's exactly being said in the original language.
 
I don't see the point of adding the actual Japanese text in the translation text box? I mean what exactly is the purpose? I wager that most of the people who read the episode comparisons don't understand Japanese to start with, so why would having the original untranslated dialogue make a difference?

I work hard to make sure the translations on my site are accurate and trustworthy but, at the same time, I also welcome people to double check my work to make sure I'm not putting out any misinformation. Remember how, for years and years, everyone thought Satoshi's Butterfree died in the Japanese version? And then it turned out that whoever it was who reported that just misheard the original dialogue? Putting the original Japanese text in the translation text boxes is one safeguard I have to prevent something like that from happening with me.

To put it another way, if my Japanese is not at the level where I can accurately transcribe dialogue from a kids' cartoon then why should any of you trust my translations?

The Japanese text is purposefully kept to the left-most column so that those who don't have any use for it can just ignore it.
 
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I really liked that new episode comparison especially because it was so long and full of details that I didn't know about before. On the subject of the Japanese text in the dialogue translation boxes, I think it should remain since it's more thorough that way.
 
Ahhhhhhh that was so great, thanks Dogasu! I had no clue about this Rocket Konzern thing before (I'd never have picked up on it lol) OR the fact that this is a fan favourite lore!! I'm now adding it to my lore faves as well, such a shame the concept was not further explored.

It's also new info to me that the seiyuu TRio had that romanticism line as an in-joke for a long time before the song <3 Ajsadkjsdjadsjdolsaddj
 
[quoue]For the Gym Leaders you'd think it'd be super easy; just take their teams from the games and use those as-is. But the show likes to switch things up every now and then and so sometimes they swap one Pokémon out for another. Which, OK, fine. But in this episode's case, why go to the trouble of replacing Shijima's Okorizaru with an old Generation 1 Pokémon (Goriky) instead of something more current and exciting? I mean, he has a Kapoerer right freaking there! The Pocket Monsters Gold & Silver video games were pretty shit when it came to promoting its 100 new Pokémon (half the Gym Leaders don't have a single Generation 2 Pokémon on their teams, for crying out loud!) so this is an area the show could have improved upon. But it just...chooses not to.[/quote]

No kidding. Maybe the production team of both games and anime were already nostalgic for Gen 1 and said nostalgia influenced their decisions:).
 
The comparison clips you've been posting on Twitter are unintentionally pretty funny. It's amazing how much life 4Kids can suck out of a battle with bland voice acting and replacement music. It doesn't help that the battle itself has lackluster animation and storyboarding.

The names "I got a victory badge!" and "...Such sweet sorrow" for the OST links in the comparison are fan-made and not names Miyazaki gave to his pieces.
 
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Since I don't have to worry about double posting for something I forgot to include...

I also feel like the lack of Gen 2 Pokémon from Gym Leaders extends to Ash who while getting better in battles had to for his final Gym Match and League battles had to fall back on his Kanto Mons more.
 
Dogasu said:
I also wonder if the "string of accidents" line there is the TV show making a subtle nod to a similar string of airship accidents that more or less brought an end to the commercial airship flight industry in the real world. Do you think the crash of the British R38 in 1921, the US airship Roma in 1922, the French Dixmude in 1923, the British R101 in 1930, the USS Akron in 1933, and the LZ 129 Hindenburg in 1937 occurred in the Pocket Monsters world? Or am I reading too much into that line?
These "string of accidents" also would be a good in-universe explanation for why pokémon world gradually replaced them with planes.
 
(from Spoon.2Di interview of series producer Mr. Tomoya Negishi, when asked about difficulties Ash and Gou will face in the future)

"For Gou, it's how he's coming across more and more Pokémon whom he has to actually face off against in battle instead of just chucking Monster Balls at them and calling it a day. This is a challenge for us on the production side as well; since we set it up so that Gou wants to get all the Pokémon then that means we're eventually have to figure out what to do with the legendary and mythical Pokémon, you know?"

This is the most interesting part of the interview for me, because it implies that they haven't even decided what they plan to do with Gou. They hadn't even considered what to do with Legendaries at this point, I wonder if they even know if Gou will catch Mew or not. It really looks like they haphazardly came up with the "catch all the Pokemon" character and threw him into the series, thinking "we'll just figure out what to do with him later". Of course that doesn't mean that the character won't be well written eventually, but I think it certainly explains why Gou has kind of been all over the place, with minimal lasting development. They're just winging it.

Not to mention, if Gou encountering and battling more powerful Pokemon is meant to represent a "wall" in the same way that Bea was for Ash, than I think it's a complete failure. Instead of serving as a setback or a moment of character growth, these encounters have actually awakened his inner battle-prodigy, and he's come off as more competent than Ash in these episodes.
 
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Well, the show has always, always, ALWAYS been "we're just making this all up as we go along." Having a TV series centered around the release of new video games necessitates this. Sometimes they're good at hiding this, sometimes they're not.

But, I saw Mr. Negishi's comments to be less "we have no idea what the eff we're doing" and more of an acknowledgement that yes, we do realize that we'll have to deal with the legendary "problem" at some point down the road. Which is something I don't think we'd ever heard from the TV show staff up until that point. That's significant.
 
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