Dogasu's Backpack Discussion

[prog rocker]

Yeah, I guess 99% of Takeshi Shudo's writing is non-canon now.

Which is a good thing in my opinion.

 

[Antiyonder]

Even though I still ship the (Well alternatively Ash and Goh), the non shipping outcome I can respect.

I question the whole Pokémon no longer wanting to be trained as:
A. The anime itself showed that Pokémon can refuse to obey a trainer for varying reasons. And that trainers like say Damien (Charmander The Stray Pokémon) aren't seen as the respected norm.

Dig Those Digletts even if the Pokémon say refusing to help against the title creatures aren't reprimanded for it and the guy in charge of wanting to make the dam does come around.

I guess if that angle was played up for say 90 percent of the anime up to and during Johto, sure. But as it stands? Well...

2. It comes off as being apologetic by someone who had to make a living off a merch driven show. I find the Pokémon Adventures manga getting praise for it's darker tone to be iffy as dark stories aren't always going to be good quality.

But I think a thing I find appealing it that it can get dark without feeling like a dislike towards the franchise.

 

[Dogasu]

The reason I removed that list of episodes from my Episode 38 comparison is because I noticed there were a few inaccuracies in there but didn't have time to readjust everything at the time. A more accurate list (with proper sourcing this time around!) will be posted in April.

 

[darksteel6]

The reason I removed that list of episodes from my Episode 38 comparison is because I noticed there were a few inaccuracies in there but didn't have time to readjust everything at the time. A more accurate list (with proper sourcing this time around!) will be posted in April.

Looking forward to the updated list.
Also some trivia you might want to add to the comparison of Double-Trouble Header, the trainer's dub name being Casey is definitely a reference to the famous poem "Casey at the Bat"(which was later turned into a feature film) https://poets.org/poem/casey-bat

 

[MizuTaipu]

Happy anniversary Dogasu. I appreciate all the work you put Into the site this year, especially all the translation work for Porygon Shock week. That release rotation for comparisons sounds like a good idea to me.

 

[darksteel6]

Happy anniversary Dogasu. I appreciate all the work you put Into the site this year, especially all the translation work for Porygon Shock week. That release rotation for comparisons sounds like a good idea to me.

Yeah I like it.

 

[SammyW27]

Always look forward to predictions and seeing how they turn out!

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Dogasu, do Okido-hakase supposed to have an accent? His japanese sounds kinda different from others, and his original seiyuu's voice acting for him was noticeably different from the voice acting he had done for the narrator.

 

[PaperSplash]

original seiyuu's voice acting for him was noticeably different from the voice acting he had done for the narrator

I think that was first and foremost to make it clear that the narrator is his own entity and not just Okido narrating.

 

[BigDocFan]

Comparison out for EP098 A Way Off Day Off, great work as always from Dogasu

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Kasumi's line here is famous in japan. Also, it's 100th episode according to japanese commentators, which explains Satoshi's sudden nostalgia here.

 

[Dogasu]

Dogasu, do Okido-hakase supposed to have an accent? His japanese sounds kinda different from others, and his original seiyuu's voice acting for him was noticeably different from the voice acting he had done for the narrator.

Mr. Unshou's Dr. Ookido voice is more or less his actor's natural speaking voice. He's from Fukui prefecture, a region of the country I'm not super familiar with, so it's entirely possible the way he speaks is just a reflection of that.

As for the 100th episode thing, "It's the Southern Islands! Everyone Gather Around!!" is the 100th episode if you count the Rougela and Iwark winter episodes. Those two episodes aren't officially a part of the episode count, however, and since that's what I'm using for the site that means the episode I just looked at is Episode 098.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Mr. Unshou's Dr. Ookido voice is more or less his actor's natural speaking voice. He's from Fukui prefecture, a region of the country I'm not super familiar with, so it's entirely possible the way he speaks is just a reflection of that.

It's either a type of Kansai dialect or something close then.

 

[Antiyonder]

1.

Who wrote the script for "A Way Off Day Off," an episode that is actually, by 4Kids standards, quite faithful to the Japanese original? And who wrote the script for the following episode "The Mandarin Island Miss-Match," where almost every single line of dialogue is a complete rewrite?

Or the following episode for starting off with with a recap for The Mandarin Island Miss Match" which flat out lies and now might confuse anyone who can't catch the episode.

2. Now I just imagine Ash saying "Would it destroy you to be polite for once?".

3. I mean asking someone on the Japanese staff to do a Porygon voice would likely be like playing with fire.

 

[snowmint]

I think the shaman king dub may have said "I'm destroying time" but I need to double check that.

 

[Ricbolog]

As for the 100th episode thing, "It's the Southern Islands! Everyone Gather Around!!" is the 100th episode if you count the Rougela and Iwark winter episodes. Those two episodes aren't officially a part of the episode count, however, and since that's what I'm using for the site that means the episode I just looked at is Episode 098.

This is something I have been wondering for a while. Can we be completely sure that, as you said, those two episodes aren't included in the official episode count? Because, looking for example here, The Valley of Lizardon! Until We Meet Again!! is counted by the official Japanese Youtube Channel as Episode 136, while Bulbapedia (and Dogasu's Backpack) lists it as Episode 134, so I'm a bit confused. I also recall that EP052 and EP053 were considered special episodes on the same level as those mentioned before, so would it be possible to get a clarification on these as well?

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

They also counted SM049 as the 1000th episode, by adding them and other specials.

 

[darksteel6]

Good new comparison and looking forward to Mandarin Island Miss Match, Ash sure is a brat in that one for sure. You are right that Orange Islands does have the feel of a vacation series, it reminds me of the original TMNT cartoons Vacation in Europe side-season.
I agree this episode was kinda dull.

 

[PaperSplash]

I know I'm late but great comparison as always, Dogasu. Here are some of personal my thoughts on things you discussed:

• Yeah, the way 4Kids credits people in these earlier seasons is definitely not ideal, whether it's script writers, voice actors or otherwise. To their credit, though (heh) they do gradually start to get better about this in later seasons. As early as mid-season 3 you'll start seeing people get added and removed, and occasionally someone will only be listed in the credits for a single episode, which needless to say makes things a lot easier. Although it isn't until season 7 (their second-to-last) that they start getting really good about that. And I will note that the "adaptation(s) by" credit almost always includes more than one person in the 4Kids era even when they do start changing the credits by episode, which makes me wonder if there was actually some collaborative effort involved. In his podcast Michael Haigney briefly talks about how he supervised the other dub script writers during his tenure and rewrote some of their work. That might explain how a mostly faithful dub script like this one can suddenly go off the rails in certain scenes.
• Knowing the types of jokes 4Kids usually likes to throw in their dub scripts, I feel like "Pokémonster rally" is supposed to be some sort of pun on "Pokémon" and "monster rally" (whatever that is, but Google tells me it's an actual thing). If that's the case, the similarity to "Pocket Monsters" is probably coincidental, if still worth pointing out.
• Serious answer to the bologna question: probably just another instance of 4Kids not thinking things through or being stuck in early Kanto mode when the existence of real-life animals was still casually mentioned or implied from time to time even in the Japanese version. Of course neither would have happened here if 4Kids didn't feel the need to change entire conversations to inject their personal sense of humor, but I digress.
• If I had to guess, the Porygon thing in Who's That Pokémon was probably just "hey, we haven't covered this Pokémon before, but it's never been in an episode [that we aired] so we don't have an established voice for it; let's just make up something random".
• From my own experiences with Japanese media, it seems like "southern island" or "southern country" is often used moreso to call to mind a tropical climate rather than denote a literal geographic location. Of course, this connotation is somewhat present when referring to southern places in almost all northern hemisphere countries (the equator being a thing and all) but I don't think it's quite as strong. So that might explain why 4Kids omitted it, although considering that meant they had to change other stuff like the Southern Cross' (or "Orange Crew"'s) name to match, I do think they should have just left this specific usage as-is.
• Who knows why exactly they rewrote all of that last bit with Team Rocket. Although considering they're the characters the dub takes the most liberties with dialogue-wise to this day, it's not really surprising either.

 

[Poke Trey]

Adding on to TR, yeah even now the dub mainly changes their dialog and no one else's. Though not as frequent. Also, the Dub only uses 1 scriptwriter to this day, unlike back then where they had to use a lot of them and even then, not too consistent. At times 4kids's scripts were accurate, other times you swear they're making a parody of it.