Concerning anime pages with well-known English dubs

Well, for One Piece, we obviously use the Funimation translation. No one wants to remember the crappiness that is the 4kids dub.

edited 29th Nov '14 5:03:53 PM by SatoshiBakura

We use it because it's the only adaption to not skip out parts of the arcs and is the most accurate storyline-wise.

It has nothing to do with quality. And as a person who vastly enjoyed the 4Kids dub, I do not appreciate the idea that my preferences could not exist. In other words, it's entirely irrelevant to this conversation, and flame baiting people is fruitless. Quality does not matter, the policy should be based on a strict and logical process here. It'll either be most recent, first name used, or the longest running adaption. If the 4Kids dub came before the English Manga, we should use Zolo. If most recent, Zoro. If longest running, Zoro.

It all depends upon the policy, the only real relevant point. The question is, what policy is the best way to do it. I think "first come" may be the best because it quickly delves into pointless arguing over which adaption is the best. I'd like to avoid any pointless arguing when going with this. The real question is this; Should we use the Manga or Anime? Obviously if we're referring to an adaption of one of these, that's what we use. But in the case that the Manga is translated to both, or an Anime is, which one should be used? That one I cannot say. That's a bit harder to determine. Maybe whichever one was also dubbed first? It again prevents any biases and just goes with a reasonable solution. Also, it does prevent constant editing whenever a new adaption comes out. We can easily say every name chosen in the Character Sheets too.

...It's weird having so many websites and no way to properly display now, lol.

As someone who doesn't actually watch or read any anime or manga, I feel like "first translation wins" is highly problematic, because it seems like there's always the potential that the whole reason more than one translation exists is because the original was flawed.

My personal assumption would be that using the longest-running version is the most objective way of determining which name would be most commonly recognized by fans.

I feel like probably "the name under which it is currently/was last being marketed in the English-speaking world" would work best if applicable for a work.

edited 29th Nov '14 10:26:36 PM by Odd1

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Sorry. What I should have said was that the 4kids version was less accurate to the original than Funimation, which is very accurate. But I just kind of expected people to agree (since most people do in fact hate the 4kids dub), not realizing that there may be somebody who does like it. For that, I apologize.

Here's my system for trope pages: If it talks about the manga, I use the manga translation. If it talks about and anime and there is only one dub, I use that one dub. If there is more than one dub, I use the dub that is more accurate to the original.

Now for on the work pages, that's where the problem comes in. Only one translation can be used, so that confuses me on which translation to use. And there are so many ways to determine which way to find which translation to use that it confuses me. At that point, I would refer to Wikipedia for help. Which translation they primarily use is the one I use.

The problem with using the most recent translation is that theoretically, the most recent translation could be barely accurate. Now, that's only in theory, but it's a possibility. That's why I think it's better to decide by consulting Wikipedia.

edited 30th Nov '14 5:11:58 AM by SatoshiBakura

That's why I think it's better to decide by consulting Wikipedia.

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Any arguments over there (and there are arguments) then get imported over here. Not a good solution. "More accurate" is also so subjective, it also causes arguments. (disclaimer: I cannot translate Japanese, but I do translate/transliterate on a daily basis. "accurate enough to convey the same information" is usually the standard)

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

I can agree the Funimation uses the most accurate translation Anime-wise. It did not cut key events, or any arcs for that matter. Not counting the lack of bowlderization too.

Apology accepted. To say the least, it's better to assume somebody may like it instead. I've seen many games/etc. on the So Bad It's Horrible that still has fans, it's just severely too few to keep it off the page.

Anyway, that is true about the Manga/Anime. There's actual tropes where using the name Zolo can even apply(Dub Name Change for instance). As for character pages, we should start by noting every proper name English name, much like how the Digimon series has done it. If only because it's a media item we still cover, and each one still counts.

What I have noticed is that Manga and Anime have different rulings for which name to mainly use, right, for dubs? If so, I find that inconsistent, and wouldn't mind to work around that. Assuming that the Meanga and Anime are virtually the same storywise. Otherwise, treating them as somewhat different is necessary. Generally, if they're about the same, we should treat it that way. If they're highly different, we can certainly default to one name, but if the Manga has a different one, we should use that specific character name for Manga-only events and the same for Anime-only events. That make sense?

...It's weird having so many websites and no way to properly display now, lol.

You mean like "different to the point where it's an Alternate Universe rather than an adaptation", then yeah. The ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' anime for example is more of an Alternate Universe to the manga for things like skipping the first three story arcs (Trial of the Mind, Death-T, and Monster World as well as the individual chapters in between), virtually rewriting entire Story Arcs (the Dungeon Dice Monsters arc in the manga: must get Millennium Puzzle back from Ryuji Otogi/Duke Devlin. Anime version: must save Joey from wearing a fur suit), and creating major plot wholes (Penalty Games without the Shadow Games first, Gramps gets sent the hospital from playing a card game, Kaiba climbs up a cliff with a brief case in one hand). In a situation like that, use the English names for which translation is being talked about. But if not the case, Wikipedia is used to help.

"First translation wins" is flawed for the reason stated above. "Most recent translation wins" is flawed because of the potential to have to rename everyone when a new translation comes out. So timing isn't everything.

Also, there's the issue of Japanese works other than anime/manga - such as the Goranger vs. Gorenger dispute for the first Super Sentai series, and various video games that have been retranslated. How are those handled?

I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.

There's also French novels and German dolls, Italian films and Mexican Soap Operas. They all need to use a consistent translation to English language. Yes, that does mean pages will have to be renamed, because the referenced work/characters are known under a different title.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.