Review S23 EP12: Flash of the Titans!

[Pkmndub]

Cast:
Sarah Natochenny
Zeno Robinson
Rodger Parsons
Ray Chase
Casey Mongillo
Tara Jayne Sands
James Carter Cathcart
Michele Knotz

Wayne Grayson
Kyle Hebert
Melissa Hope
Laurie Hymes
Billy Kametz
Xander Mobus
Lisa Ortiz
Bill Rogers
Alejandro Saab
Erica Schroeder
Marc Thompson

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

Who is voicing the legend?

 

[BigDocFan]

Yes!!!

Wayne Grayson is back voicing Lance

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Pokémon World Championships has been translated as World Coronation Series.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Good seeing Wayne Grayson back as Lance, he’s easily one of my favourite actors in the NY pool. Wasn’t fond of how 4Kids portrayed his voice like just another COTD but I’m hoping they’ve tweaked up the voice so that it sounds more champion-like.

And on top of that we get Ryu (Kyle Hebert), Joker (Xander Mobus) and Yuri’s (Alejandro Saab) VA’s joining the fray and boy am I super excited to check this out one out.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

Heard Saab's voice and thought he could do a Champion's voice.

 

[Dogasu]

Pokémon World Championships has been translated as World Coronation Series.

But...why?!?

 

[KenzeyEevee]

But...why?!?

Idk, maybe its a bigger title?

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

But...why?!?

Idk, maybe its a bigger title?

Or maybe to differentiate it from the real-life PWC, I dunno...

 

[abcboy]

But...why?!?

They translated 王者 as the proper noun title of "Monarch," which does at least fit a "coronation"...

In real life, TPCi is fairly insistent that it's your performance in the Championships Series that qualifies you for the actual Pokémon World Championships event itself, so I'm not particularly surprised they're changing the terminology.

 

[WatcherMark]

But...why?!?

Because it's the dub, that's why. Nothing surprises me since they put the 'h' on the end of Go's name.

 

[dman_dustin]

They translated 王者 as the proper noun title of "Monarch," which does at least fit a "coronation"...

In real life, TPCi is fairly insistent that it's your performance in the Championships Series that qualifies you for the actual Pokémon World Championships event itself, so I'm not particularly surprised they're changing the terminology.

Even if that's the case, don't they literally say "championships" shouldn't they listed to the audio prior to caring about translations. I mean hell all you needed was any of them to look at people talking about it and they use championships.

Coronations is like the literal worst translation I've personally seen for this.

When I hear coronation I think the ceremony of crowning a sovereign or a sovereign's consort. And I'm American. I am NOW going to confuse that with championships: a series of competitions or contests to determine a champion. I mean I'm joking, but that's how frustrating it is.

Please tell me there's some really big legal reason why they couldn't use Championships over Coronations, I will literally never call it that outside of just to mock it or talk about how bad it is. I will never actually genuinely refer to Pokemon World Championships as Pokemon World Coronations.

 

[abcboy]

shouldn't they listed to the audio prior to caring about translations. I mean hell all you needed was any of them to look at people talking about it and they use championships.

While I don't necessarily agree with their decisions, I can see some of the rationale behind it. Looking at the explanatory spiel in this episode:

Japanese	Fansubs	English
（レンジ）これまでにも　各地方に さまざまなリーグや大会があって それぞれチャンピオンがいたけど…。 （キクナ）この ポケモン・ワールド・チャンピオンシップスで 世界最強の王者を 決めようってわけ。	(Renji) There have been plenty of Leagues and tournaments in other regions, and they all have their own Champions... (Kikuna) But the Pokémon World Championships are where they crown the World Champion.	[Ren] Up until now, each region has had its own league or championship, each with its own champion. [Chrysa] But at the World Coronation Series, they choose the top trainer from everyone around the world!
ポケモン・ワールド・チャンピオンシップス	Pokémon World Championships	World Coronation Series
王者 (ouja)	World Champion	Monarch (later in the episode)

In the past, they've translated the regional Pokémon League tournaments as "championships". The dub has translated 大会 taikai as "championship" as early as the fifth episode of the first season, where they translated ポケモンリーグ地区大会 Pokémon League Chiku Taikai as Pokémon League Regional Championships. Besides the Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh League Championships, the dub's even referred to the Alola League as the "Alola Pokémon League championship". In terms of terminology, what the dub is trying to do is draw a clear distinction between the "championships" we've seen before and this new "World Coronation Series", in the same way that the Japanese version distinguishes between the 大会 taikai (League Conferences) we've seen before and these new ポケモン・ワールド・チャンピオンシップス Pokémon World Championships.

Related to this would be in terms of register. I'm not a native speaker of Japanese, but I believe that the loanword of ポケモン・ワールド・チャンピオンシップス Pokémon World Championships probably sounds more impressive to them than ポケモン世界大会 Pokémon Sekai Taikai despite them literally meaning the same thing. In the same way, the word "coronation" in and of itself is in a higher register of English, and the resulting "World Coronation Series" at least sounds a lot more contrived than "World Championships". But hey, at least it isn't "Global Coronation Procession"...

 

[dman_dustin]

While I don't necessarily agree with their decisions, I can see some of the rationale behind it. Looking at the explanatory spiel in this episode:

In the past, they've translated the regional Pokémon League tournaments as "championships". The dub has translated 大会 taikai as "championship" as early as the fifth episode of the first season, where they translated ポケモンリーグ地区大会 Pokémon League Chiku Taikai as Pokémon League Regional Championships. Besides the Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh League Championships, the dub's even referred to the Alola League as the "Alola Pokémon League championship". In terms of terminology, what the dub is trying to do is draw a clear distinction between the "championships" we've seen before and this new "World Coronation Series", in the same way that the Japanese version distinguishes between the 大会 taikai (League Conferences) we've seen before and these new ポケモン・ワールド・チャンピオンシップス Pokémon World Championships.


Related to this would be in terms of register. I'm not a native speaker of Japanese, but I believe that the loanword of ポケモン・ワールド・チャンピオンシップス Pokémon World Championships probably sounds more impressive to them than ポケモン世界大会 Pokémon Sekai Taikai despite them literally meaning the same thing. In the same way, the word "coronation" in and of itself is in a higher register of English, and the resulting "World Coronation Series" at least sounds a lot more contrived than "World Championships". But hey, at least it isn't "Global Coronation Procession"...

I mean there is a clear distinct difference of Pokemon League Championships/Region League Championships vs Pokemon World Championships.

I don't think the intent should be to confuse children as to what coronation means and then get told in whatever words "ceremony of crowning a sovereign or a sovereign's consort" and then being confused as to what that has to do with Pokemon (battling). I think it teaches bad English, unless there some definition I'm not aware of that fits this then maybe, but since I'm pretty sure coronation implies even in the vaguest sense that someone has already been chosen and has to go through the ceremony, I don't think coronation means deciding who to be crowned as "sovereignty" over the "coronation/battling" I've never heard "coronation" being referred to something like that. Coronation would be analogous to a President being sworn in as President rather than comparable to Elections to decide who is President which is sort of what this sort of the "Pokemon World Championships" is more comparable to than the end result.

Whereas I'm pretty sure "Pokemon World" and "Championships" when put together mean something clearly different over any other form of Championships. I don't think there needs to be MORE confusion to clear up what should be little if any confusion. I mean "Pokemon World Championships" has an obvious and specific meaning that I'm having a hard time caring if whether they think its confusing or not.

I mean I wouldn't be against anyone who battles Leon, I wouldn't be opposed to that specific match being called specifically the "Coronation Match" but referring to the whole thing as "Coronation" is just weird in my opinion.

Maybe I'm missing some definition of coronation that means process of deciding sovereignty and I can just be ultimately wrong......I don't know.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

Saab is a big fan of Pokémon. He did a video about voicing Leon. The best Champion has a great English and Japanese voice.

 

[Dogasu]

"World Coronation Series" is just change for the sake of change. Someone at TPCI was like "hey, I thought up of some clever little name for this thing, can I use it?" and then someone else was like "sure, what do I care?" The end.

Literally nobody would have batted an eye if the dub had kept "Pokémon World Championships" as-is.

 

[Captain Save A Ho-Oh]

the naming stuff is minor to me. Wayne Grayson reprisal is great. Another OG rejoins the cast

 

[Nicolas721]

I was going to say the same thing as @dman_dustin, Coronation sounds weird because it's more associated with giving someone the title than with a tournament. They could have gone with "Victors Tournament" or "Top Tournament" if they were forced to change it.

But I personally dislike more the episode title, it's a very lame pun for a relatively serious and important episode.

 

[Poke Trey]

Wayne Grayson, Alejandro Saab and freaking Xander Mobus?! This DUB just has it all and then some! Now I really wouldn't be surprised if they have actors like Johnny Yong Bosch on board!

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Now I really wouldn't be surprised if they have actors like Johnny Yong Bosch on board!

Knowing how Bosch has been on something of a big renaissance with some of his big roles recently, I wouldn’t be surprised if he eventually shows up soon.