Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon

If this was a typical action-fantasy work, someone would've taken that sword and take it out in a key moment.

It would amuse me if Tohru somehow sealed it inside Kobayashi...for whatever reason.

Making Koboyashi-san a true sword wielder?

That's neat, comedically returns.

The true identity of Kobayashi.

I consider whatever someone liked the joke or not to be immaterial to the bigger issue which is that translators job is to translate things accurately to the best of their ability and not to insert what they think should be there. It's not their place to make changes like that.

Translators have been reworking lines for centuries. There's always going to be an element of rewrites, especially in anime when there are so many puns that depend on the language or culture.

Take Yu Yu Hakusho, which did a lot of rewriting that actively improved the show and characters.

No that's not a translator's job. A translator's job is to localize a script for another audience while preserving the same effect, NOT copy literal words.

Yeah, there's a difference between doing things like substituting a culturally appropriate idiom and actively changing the meaning of a line.

That's more or less the gist of it, but the big problem is that people tend to have wildly differing opinions on where the boundary lies between "localize a script for another audience while preserving the same effect" and "copy literal words".

Some of the worst scripts I've read were too overly literal, TBH.

Some of the other worst ones I ever read were deciding it needed to be super edgy.

I've done some translating myself (English to Spanish, albeit not professionally) and read a lot of translated stuff, and I can confirm that slavish devotion to the original text is one of the biggest sins a translator can commit. I bought a Spanish translation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that ruined every single joke because it failed/refused to take into account that puns only work in one specific language.

The "Feels a lot like being drunk" / "That's not so bad" / "Say that to a glass of water" joke in particular made me bang my head against the wall because it could've been perfectly preserved if the dumbass translator had changed one single word ("ebrio" to "bebido").

edited 21st Feb '18 12:19:09 PM by ThriceCharming

Yeah, when you have a translation, you're always going to get a product filtered through the translator, to some extent or another.

That's true, but if you ask me, I'd choose erring on the side of "try to be faithful to the source, even if you risk sounding really weird to an English speaker/reader" over "ultra-localize the shit out of everything because Viewers Are Morons! What did you say? Translating onigiri as 'donut' or 'cookie' or 'sandwich' instead of 'rice ball' doesn't make sense at all? SCREW THAT NOISE, I'M THE ONE MAKING THE DECISIONS HERE! I DON'T PAY YOU TO THINK, PEON!" every time. (AKA "4Kids are full of shit.")

edited 21st Feb '18 5:35:02 PM by MarqFJA

Both options sound bad.

It's a spectrum, not a binary option. And of course some translators are going to be bad at it, but it's also not a case where there's one straight line that goes between 'good' translation and 'bad' translation; it's the same as any other writing, where there are some clear agreed-upon metrics (like proper punctuation and using words correctly, no offense to James Joyce on the former point), but other than that there are also hundreds of points like tone, color, readability, etc., most of which are subjective.

This is less applicable to the case of that one line from Kobayashi-san, but ideally you don't want to overweigh toward either literal, here's what the words say, deal with it translation (translating puns or figures of speech literally), or readability (assuming that anything foreign will confuse readers, even if that's concepts like rice balls). You need to strike a balance. It's an art form, not a science.

In this particular case, I'm sure the hubbub is less about translation practices than it is about nerds being mad their precious anime is being "taken over" by evil feminazi SJW Tumblrinas. Which is silly.

While I hesitate to go that far about anyone who's posted here, I think you're absolutely right - I've seen some posts on other sites that are in frothing hysterics over it.

Though, as interesting as this is, maybe we should consider if there's a more appropriate thread for it? There isn't a lot of material coming out for Kobayashi anymore, but even so.

I wasn't pointing fingers at anyone here. I meant in general.

What about Manga Dragon Maid...?

If you think the butthurt over the patriarchy line is bad, the assdevastation over Kobayashi's slut shaming line in episode 2 was even more stupid.

Chapters 58 and 59 are out translated.

So... Yer a Wizard, Kobayashi. Where do you think this heading?

Also, has Lucoa always been that massive in her real form? Because Tohru's Dragon form is smaller than one of her eyes.

edited 26th Mar '18 9:03:25 AM by ViperMagnum357

Man, I was quite a bit behind, like 6 chapters, so here's some quick impressions:

-Tooru is apparently great at everything.

-Lucoa can do some freaky stuff with her body. And she has much better understanding what's popular than Fafnir.

-Kana went to America and made a friend (she later shows up in Kana's spin-off)!

-Iruru loves dolls (and has boyfriend)!

-Tooru and Elma finally made up!

-Mahou Shojo Kobayashi-chan.

-Shouta won't let anyone talk shit about Lucoa. Also, he likes them big.

So yeah, those were some dope chapters.

America welcomes Kanna with open arms.

Chapter 67: The birth of Kanna Faction! >:)

Nice character development for Kanna here, and I liked how all the older dragons did their best to try and help her.

Shy Elma and Tooru were just precious.

Also chapter 68. Where we try not to get drunk. And surprise visit from a certain other father.