#We're back to the default that is Loving Digimon

[moongothic]

Howdy! My friend sent me some stuff from your Sir Crocodile tag, and I came ot check out ya blog! And I must say, indeed, Love is Stored in the Clown Digimon. Onto actual chatter though! I know it's not exactly Prime Sir Crocodile Hours here, but I was scrolling the tag and saw the talk about the Baroque Works flag, and wondered if you had any comment about the Cross Guild Flag? As, despite Crocodile being Openly related to this organization, it still uses the Wings & Crossed Rapiers look?

Fun Fact Adventure's Piemon was voiced Chikao Ootsuka, who was also the OG voice of Gold Roger- the former role has now been taken by his son, Akio Ootsuka, who voices Blackbeard. Also Crocodile's VA Ryuuzaburou Ootomo was the OG voice of Vamdemon

As far as I know the Cross Guild Flag was created for some merchandise first and foremost (I can't remember what it was for, the card game??), so I think there's at least a decent possibility the flag was slapped together by Bandai's merch artists and was just vaguely approved by Oda (the same way he "approves" stuff like Vivre Card books etc even if/when they have inaccurate information), it certainly doesn't have the feel of a unique, custom designed flag in my mind

As far as we know Oda himself hasn't made CG any kind flag or symbol and for all we know he may not even intend to. For one Cross Guild isn't a pirate crew, they're a criminal organization, so they don't necessarily need a pirate flag (though yes Baroque Works did have one too but shush), and like. Like at this point it's kind of A Thing for there to be a custom pirate flag for not just every crew but every named pirate-- but only either in fandom spaces or in merchandise. Like yeah Oda designed each of the Strawhats their own flags in the SBS, but they're not "canon" in the story. And yeah, the Cross Guild flag hasn't appeared in the manga yet either. So I honestly don't see it being any different from the other custom flags. Until it actually appears in the manga I don't really considder it canon and don't really care about it

[digi-tama-in-your-pocket]

First look at the new Tamagotchi Paradise device

I'm legitimately surprised it's a color screen device.

The fact that it's using designs inspired by the vintage era made me think it was going to be a new black and white device, a continuation of the vintage era, kind of like how Digital Monster X and Digimon Pendulum Z were continuations of the original Digital Monster and Digimon Pendulum.

But i'm happy we're going back to more classic styled Tamagotchi, I have to admit, I was not in love with more modern Tamagotchi designs because there were way too many Sanrio clones and similar body shapes, I know they did it so that you could play dress up and they needed similar body shapes for that to work, but I never really cared for playing dressup, I liked to keep their default look.

Gene mixing being back is another big surprise.

I can't seem to tell if there are creatures who are exclusive to certain shell colors. I kinda hope you can put a custom face plate on because man those shells are a little boring.

Also, not sure how much it will cost or if this is even coming to the USA at all, given the tariff situation. You would think given they released an english comic book, that it would be a lock, but who knows when that comic book was in production. I guess we shall see.

[otakween]

Digimon Frontier - Episode 7

This episode was just okay, felt kind of like padding, but we did get some character moments I suppose. We're back to Toy Land and that means it's time to focus on the youngest team member: Tomoki. Although really it was Koji and Takuya's relationship that got all the development. They acted like divorced parents in this lol

Notes:

Maybe it's because of Japanese politeness, but the bickering between Koji and Takuya seemed a lot more intense in the dub. Takuya actually says "no wonder no one likes you" to Koji and I was like oooooh dramaaaa

WaruMonzaemon's depression attack cracked me up lol. I like how his attack is the reverse of Monzaemon's with a black heart.

Why was Koji so emo about being an only child? It's probably something deeper because not having a sibling is not a big deal (I mean you might be jealous, but he overreacted for sure).

Pandamon was very random. Not only is that the laziest digimon design I've ever seen, but he wasn't very toy-like for Toy Land.

A lot of unnamed robots in this one? There was the flying red robot and then the ToyAgumon merged into a big mecha. Were those digimon or...?

The ToyAgumon wanted "revenge on the kids that didn't play with them"...what kids? How are kids supposed to play with you? Do they mean like...through a computer or something?

Loved Tomoki's retort to Koji in the OG version. Koji says "what a child" and Tomoki says "well yeah, I am a child." In the dub they changed it to "You're such a baby!" "No I'm not!" which isn't as impactful imo

Even MORE "fear of heights" moments with the Viking ship scene. Can we get some other kinda peril?

So defeating the ToyAgumon purified them and they changed from their black form to their default rainbow. I feel like the results of winning a battle keep changing because it's not like they've purified a digimon every time right? Sometimes it fixes part of the environment and sometimes nothing really happens at all. Mysterious.

[adventure-hearts]

What exactly caused you to hate any and all dubs? I have some doubts if this is really the case, expecially if we're talking about dubs that follow the original script instead of being like the Adventure English one, but I want to be sure about your thoughts.

Hate is a strong word, but the reason why I’m not a fan of dubs can be summed up by two reasons:

1. Cultural bias. 

Portugal is a subtitling culture, so from an early age I’ve been conditioned to watch foreign language products with subtitles instead of dubbing. This means that dubbing always comes across as weird, or at least unnatural, to my ears.

2. Professional opinion. 

I’m a translator by trade. So I’m aware that dubbing is not the preferable method for audiovisual translation, because you take all the constraints subbing already has, and you multiply it by 10. The result will always be more distant from the source language than a translation made by subtitling. 

Moreover, audio / voice acting is as integral part of any film/TV show; it’s as important a part of the finishing product as other visual or sound elements, like animation and music, and it carries meaning. And voice acting is especially important in a low-budget show like Digimon, where it’s the one element that is done with excellent quality. This is something that it’s very hard, if not impossible to replicate through dubbing.

For these reasons, I’m always a bit perplexed with people that are quick to dismiss the US dub as “bad” and mock it, yet immediately defend “their” dub. I mean those people who criticize English-speaking fans for watching the dub they grew up with and loved because “it’s just not the same”, yet haven’t watched the original either, purely based on the opinion that their own dub is “good” and “faithful to the original”.

The problem is, there is no such thing as a dub that “follows the original script”. Dubbing, by default, always necessitates A LOT of changes, omissions, adaptations, and other modifications to the script. Moreover, since we’re talking about a 90s dub of a show made for kids, there’s a huge likelihood that the dubbing quality will be terrible. I guarantee that even if the script is “similar enough”, the acting, the pronunciations, the translational choices and even the voice cast will have lots of issues, due simply to the lack of resources that are allotted to this kind of dub.

And, of course, no dub will be “equal” to the original in terms of delivery, casting choices, variety of the cast… Japanese voice acting truly is the pinnacle of talent worldwide and, more importantly than that, those voices are the ones that reflect the choices made by the people who made the original product (directors, producers, writers, etc). Casting is so, so important. So, watching a dub is never the same as watching the original, no matter how good and how “faithful” the dub may be.

I also think people often judge quality of “their dub” based on nostalgia and habit, rather than any objective measures. First, because I think many fans use the American dub as a point if comparison and unfairly see it as “The Bad Dub”, meaning that dubs that used a different strategy are automatically “better”. Second, because I think you can’t judge the quality of your own dub unless you’ve watch a) more than one dub or b) the original version. 

So I regret when people people refuse to give the original a chance only due to an erroneous belief that their dub is “equivalent” to the original. No, it isn’t. It can never be.

There is nothing wrong with dubs. It makes total sense that people love the dub they grew up with and prefer to watch that. In some aspects, it can even be superior. But watching a dub is not watching the original. The script is never the same. The quality of the voice acting is never the same. A dub doesn’t replace the original — it’s an interpretation, a localization, and will always deviate from the original text. There is not such thing as a “perfect dub” — dubs are, by default, very imperfect forms of translation.

So, Digimon fans who don’t watch the original because they think their national version is “exactly the same and there are no major differences” are, in my opinion, misguided. You are missing lots of stuff. It’s inevitable.

I think every Digimon fan owes it to themselves to watch the original version, at least one time.  Doesn’t mean they can’t go back to their dub or prefer it! I just mean that you deserve to watch the show with proper translation so you can enjoy the original voice acting and script at their best. 

(Frankly, everyone deserves to hear Augumon’s laughter in the original version, and witness the original “JOOOOOOOOOOOOO” scream, and understand that the Narrator has the same voice as Takeru’s dad and eventually Takeru as a grown up. No dub can give you that feeling. Ever.)