History CulturalTranslation / AnimeAndManga

* ''Franchise/ComicParty'' had this happen in the English dub. Yen becomes Dollars, Kimonos become Prada dresses. Oddly, the yen is shown and it is still called dollars.

* ''ComicParty'' had this happen in the English dub. Yen becomes Dollars, Kimonos become Prada dresses. Oddly, the yen is shown and it is still called dollars.

** This must be in just a couple of cases. I've grown up watching ''CrayonShinChan'' and ''{{Kochikame}}'' and I never mistook the setting for anything which wasn't Japan. Heck, the Kochikame opening keeps a lot of references to Tokyo monuments! And so does their ''Doraemon'' dub.

** A similar scene occurred in the ''Manga/SailorMoon'' dub: Usagi/Serena's "funny squiggles" handwriting refers to the original RunningGag that Usagi never learns proper Kanji writing, even as an adult.

* In ''Manga/SailorMoon'' the famous "{{odango}} atama" insult, which translates as "dumpling head", was changed to "meatball head" in the dub because odango style round snack dumplings aren't common in the west, whereas the similar sized meatball is. Both objects are roughly the same shape as Usagi/Serena's famous hair "balls".

* This trope is referenced in the translation notes for Volume 3 of Del Ray's translation of xxxHOLiC, to note an aversion and to assure us that Watanuki did really mistake Yuuko's reference to {{Casshern}} for one to ''Franchise/StarWars'' in both languages.

* The Creator/BangZoomEntertainment dub of ''Manga/{{K-On}}'' has changed the currency from yen to dollars.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the title character uses remarkably impolite [[{{Honorifics}} forms of address]] toward most adults outside his [[TrueCompanions closest circle]]; except for Jiriaya (''Ero-sennin'', Pervy Sage) most cannot be translated directly. However, this is more than made up for by the somewhat affectionate ''Tsunade-baachan'' becoming much ruder when non-idiomatically put into English as "Grandma Tsunade".[[note]]"Auntie Tsunade" would be a much more accurate adaptation.[[/note]]

* This trope is referenced in the translation notes for Volume 3 of Del Ray's translation of xxxHOLiC, to note an aversion and to assure us that Watanuki did really mistake Yuuko's reference to {{Casshern}} for one to StarWars in both languages.

* Following in the footsteps of ''Anime/DemashitaPowerpuffGirlsZ'' is ''Anime/{{Stitch}}'', a Japanese version of ''LiloAndStitchTheSeries''. Most notably, the original's Hawaiian setting is transplanted over to Okinawa, and Lilo is replaced by a new girl named Yuna. (Interesting in that a significant portion of the people who live in Hawai'i are ethnically Japanese.) Extra points go to it for replacing ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' in its time slot.

* Creator/{{Geneon}}'s dub of the Anime/LupinIIIRedJacket TV series - originally created in the 1970s but dubbed in the 2000s - replaced dated Japanese pop-culture references with American equivalents, which was good, but also used ''modern'' references [[AnachronismStew in a show that was obviously not set in the modern day]], which was bad. [[RuleOfFunny It was still pretty funny though]].

* In one episode of Anime/ExcelSaga, Il Palazzo's [[OnceAnEpisode speech outlining the current strategy for world domination]] is peppered with random bits of what may or may not be real Italian and other bits which are English spoken with a heavy fake Italian accent; as the trivia tooltips point out, this is because in the original Japanese the speech was interspersed with random ''English'' and a bad American accent, and they needed to retain the same feel. By and large, though, the series averts the trope; jokes will be translated more or less as they are, and instead you can turn on the aforementioned tooltip feature which will explain why something which is just an insane non-sequiter in English is actually an elaborate joke in Japanese.

* Creator/{{Geneon}}'s dub of the ''Manga/LupinIII'' TV series - originally created in the 1970s but dubbed in the 2000s - replaced dated Japanese pop-culture references with American equivalents, which was good, but also used ''modern'' references [[AnachronismStew in a show that was obviously not set in the modern day]], which was bad. [[RuleOfFunny It was still pretty funny though]].
** Similarly, Creator/ADVFilms' 2005 dub of 1982's ''SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' uses the word "metrosexual" in episode 33. Since the show takes place in the years 2009-2012, though, that one is a bit more understandable.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the title character uses remarkably impolite [[{{Honorifics}} forms of address]] toward most adults outside his [[TrueCompanions closest circle]]; except for Jiriaya (''Ero-sennin'', Pervy Sage) most cannot be translated directly. However, this is more than made up for by the somewhat affectionate ''Tsunade-baachan'' becoming much ruder when non-idiomatically put into English as "Grandma Tsunade".

* In ''{{Domu}}: A Child's Dream'', one child sings the first SuperSentai theme song to himself. This is changed to "[[MightyMorphinPowerRangers Go, go Power Rangers]]!". The manga was written in the late seventies but not translated until the nineties, so at least the reference had a reasonable equivalent.

* Probably both the archetypal and ironically least obvious example: In the North American dub of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' produced by Viz Video, ''all'' of the classical Japanese poetry quoted by Tatewaki Kuno has been skillfully replaced with near-perfect equivalents from Creator/WilliamShakespeare. This has been done so meticulously that for many years {{fanon}} held Kuno to be a devotee of the Bard.

* Done slightly in the Anime/CowboyBebop dub. When tracking down a hacker, Faye remarks that their target is probably a smelly nerd, rather than using the term {{Otaku}}. This was changed back to its original comment in later runs.
* Probably both the archetypal and ironically least obvious example: In the North American dub of ''RanmaOneHalf'' produced by Viz Video, ''all'' of the classical Japanese poetry quoted by Tatewaki Kuno has been skillfully replaced with near-perfect equivalents from Creator/WilliamShakespeare. This has been done so meticulously that for many years {{fanon}} held Kuno to be a devotee of the Bard.

* The ''BangZoom'' dub of ''Manga/{{K-On}}'' has changed the currency from yen to dollars.

* Spanish dubbing studio Luk Internacional is heading into this territory with their ''CrayonShinChan'' and ''{{Kochikame}}'' dubs. No, the sexual stuff is intact. However, they sometimes seem to have a 4Kids-level dislike of Japanese culture and like to hide it whenever possible. Two {{egregious}} examples: In ''CrayonShinChan'', Masao's nickname of "Riceball Head" is changed to "Onion Head", which would normally count as a {{woolseyism}} except they even do it ''[[ViewersAreMorons when obvious visual references to riceballs are shown]]''. Even worse was an episode of ''{{Kochikame}}'' about the Hanami festival. Not only they kept referring to it as a "picnic" and nothing more, they also called the cherry blossom trees '''almond trees''', for no reason unless they absolutely needed to hide that little bit of Japanese culture. To be fair, this seems to be [[DependingOnTheWriter depending on the translator]], as they can go the opposite route at times too, but when they do this, they do it '''bad'''.
* The mystic aura of ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' depended heavily from Classical Mythology, but the Italian dub had to rely on higher epicness in all the dialogues and insert DivineComedy references because ''every single Italian is familiar with Classical Mythology since before grade school''.

* Mexican dubbing of anime and cartoons has been very guilty of this, inserting as many references to Mexican culture as they can have, which often results in borderline {{Gag Dub}}s; the more (in)famous examples are ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''TheSimpsons''. However, the public rarely protest, maybe because of the Mexican dominance in the Latin American pop culture since the 1930s until today, via films and soap operas. Some immortal examples of this: at one point during the Saiyans saga in ''Manga/DragonBall Z'', Yamcha says "We'll turn them into guacamole!"; in the ''Pokémon'' dub, James sometimes starts speaking in a heavy accent from either Veracruz, Nuevo León, or the Yucatán peninsula; and in one chapter of ''TheSimpsons'' a reference to Richard Simms was replaced for a more known (for Latin Americans) Lorenzo Lamas, without replacing the visual representation.
** DragonBall had an extreme example at some point. [[LaughablyEvil Emperor Pilaf]] has finally collected all the Dragon Balls, has summoned [[TheOmnipotent Shenron]], which will grant him any wish, and is stuck saying "I wish to conquer...", "I wish to conquer..." But then [[PettingZooPeople Oolong]] appears suddenly and makes a wish instead. What did he wish for? In the Mexican dub, he says "I wish to conquer [[TheChick Bulma]]!" This seems like a great plot twist, until the viewer is left clueless while a pair of panties falls off from the sky, and this is never explained...

** Similarly, Creator/ADVFilms' 2005 dub of 1982's ''SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' uses the word "metrosexual" in episode 33.
*** However, one must realize that the show takes place in the years 2009-2012.

* Spanish dubbing studio Luk Internacional is heading into this territory with their ''CrayonShinChan'' and ''{{Kochikame}}'' dubs. No, the sexual stuff is intact. However, they sometimes seem to have a 4Kids-level dislike of Japanese culture and like to hide it whenever possible. Two {{egregious}} examples: In ''CrayonShinChan'', Masao's nickname of "Riceball Head" is changed to "Onion Head", which would normally count as a {{woolseyism}} except they even do it ''[[ViewersAreMorons when obvious visual references to riceballs are shown]]''. Even worse was an episode of ''{{Kochikame}}'' about the Hanami festival. Not only they kept referring to it as a "picnic" and nothing more, they also called the cherry blossom trees '''almond trees''', for no reason unless they absolutely needed to hide that little bit of Japanese culture. To be fair, this seems to be [[DependingOnTheWriter depending on the translator]], as they can go the opposite route at times too, but when they do this, they do it '''bad'''.

** The dub's original title did surface as an episode title, though, for [[http://mmpu.smuncensored.com/ep10.html the one where Zakuro comes in]].

** Similarly, ADVFilms' 2005 dub of 1982's ''SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' uses the word "metrosexual" in episode 33.

* In Filipino dubs of anime the JapaneseSiblingTerminology for familial relations are quite easily translated, with all of the inherent context intact, since Filipino has direct equivalents. "Ate" for "Onee-san," "Kuya" for "Onii-chan," and so on. Also like the Japanese language, Filipino allows for the usage of said pronouns to [[HonoraryUncle refer to unrelated people]].

** Episode 7's daifuku was changed to "cupcakes" in the dub, and in the Italian version, it was changed to "ducles".

*** Either a case of deja vu, a ShoutOut to [=DoReMi=], or maybe the same dubbing company as [=DoReMi=]: In the Italian version of [[YesPrettyCure5GoGo Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo: Okashi No Kuni No Happy Birthday]]. Nutts' introduction speech had the word "mamedaifuku", changed to "dulces" in the Italian version. Who wonders what will happen when they dub SmilePrettyCure's song "Laugh Laugh Laugh", which has the line "Ichigo daifuku, takoyaki-san [[VerbalTic (Oishii-kuru!)]]

*** Either a case of deja vu, a ShoutOut to DoReMi or maybe the same dubbing company as DoReMi: In the Italian version of [[YesPrettyCure5GoGo Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo: Okashi No Kuni No Happy Birthday]]. Nutts' introduction speech had the word "mamedaifuku", changed to "dulces" in the Italian version. Who wonders what will happen when they dub SmilePrettyCure's song "Laugh Laugh Laugh", which has the line "Ichigo daifuku, takoyaki-san [[VerbalTic (Oishii-kuru!)]]