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periodicreviews · 5 years

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Some key differences between Netflix’s and ADV’s release of Neon Genesis Evangelion

Last night I watched 5 episodes (1,2,8,23,24) of Evangelion on Netflix with the new English dub. As someone who has seen the entire series at least 10 times with the original ADV dub, the small incremental changes build up enough to discourage me from watching the rest of the episodes.

I realize that currently everyone is hating on the new dub but I felt like I needed to write something as a way to organize my thoughts and pin down exactly what bothers me about it. I don’t blame the voice actors, who do just fine with what they’re given in the script. I dealt with the cast changes before between TV to End of Evangleion to the new Rebuild movies. Some worked for me and some didn’t.

But at the same time, I’m very attached to that original cast and the emotional response I had to their performances. So I’ve tried to focus on things besides line delivery or how well I think a new voice matches my idea of a character.

I understand as well the difficulty in not just translating Japanese, but adapting a show as difficult as Evangelion. But in some cases, the changes to the script affect how a joke plays or break the viewer’s (or at least my) immersion.

“Big boy”

In episode 1 and 8, the word “big boy” is used and it seems like a strange word choice. In episode 1, after Shinji breathes in LCL for the first time, here are the lines:

Netflix English subtitles:

Shinji: This is so gross

Misato: Deal with it! You’re a big boy!

Netflix English audio:

Shinji: This is so gross

Misato: Just deal with it! Come on, be a big boy!

ADV Platinum DVD audio:

Shinji: “I’m gonna be sick”

Misato: “Stop complaining! You’re a boy you know?!”

Just for reference, the Japanese word used here according to the Netflix Japanese subtitles is 男の子 (Otoko no ko). jisho.org defines this as boy; male child; baby boy.

To be honest, until I looked it up, I remembered this line being “You’re a man, aren’t you?” in the original dub. They may say that at some other point in the show. But I think there’s still room for criticism even if the difference is just “boy” vs “big boy”.

When I hear “big boy”, it seems like something that would be directed at someone much younger than Shinji at 14 years old. It’s the kind of phrase you typically hear, contrasted with the word “baby”. Like if a 6 year old boy was crying and their mother is trying to get them to stop, saying “You’re not a baby anymore, you’re a big boy, so you need to stop.” The word “big” implies there is a “little” version of boy that you don’t want to be associated with and in my mind that “little boy” is a baby. “Big boy pants” can also be used to imply a male who has recently moved beyond diapers to regular underwear.

“Boy” just by itself lets you focus more on that Misato is implying he’s whining like a girl.

Personally, I find the dilemma between behavior that is associated with boy vs girls a lot more interesting than just Shinji being scolded because he’s acting too young. Of course, as I say that, I hear Gendo’s line from the Rebuild movies “Shinji, you need to grow up.” So the two aren’t mutually exclusive. But there’s still a lot in Evangelion that focuses on gender roles and characters that don’t necessarily fit into one spot easily.

Even if “big boy” is a more accurate translation, I think it would’ve made more sense to English speakers or at least Americans if they had just used “boy” in that particular situation.

Kaji and Shinji

After watching episode 1 and 2, I skipped to episode 8 Asuka Strikes. A little into the episode, there’s a scene with Misato, Kaji, Shinji, and everyone else at a table. Kaji tries to play footsie under the table with Misato but is rebuffed. Kaji then turns to Shinji and asks how Shinji likes living with Misato.

Netflix English subtitles:

Kaji: She used to flop around in her sleep. She still do that?

Netflix English audio:

Kaji: Does she still make a fool of herself, when she’s sleeping?

ADV Platinum DVD audio:

Kaji: “Tell me something, is she still so, wild in bed?”

ADV Platinum Subtitle:

Kaji: So, does she still toss and turn in bed?

Given that the subtitles from Netflix and ADV match up, it appears that this would be the more “accurate” way of saying this line. The way those are written, the joke is still implied that Shinji and Misato are sleeping together and having sex, but it’s somewhat subtle.

The Netflix English audio comes out not as clear and leads to everyone’s dramatic “WHATTTT??!!” after Kaji’s line becoming slightly confusing. This first time I heard it, I didn’t really get what Kaji was saying. There’s just something about the delivery or that pause where the comma is throws it off just enough. The phrase “make a fool of herself” also isn’t something I hear often or ever when referring to sleeping.

I can definitely understand Netflix not wanting to change this line as much as ADV did.

However, I think this deadpan line followed by the huge reaction from the others in the room works best when you take it to the extreme like the ADV audio. The shock from the others is driven not just from Kaji’s implication, but how overt he is with it.

Other little things

On Screen Text

One of the first things I noticed is that the English subtitles do not translate all text that appears on screen. In 2019, it’s unfortunately rare that you get everything translated like you did with the ADV release of Evangelion. Misato’s letter to Shinji, the bottle of toothpicks hiding Shinji’s penis, and even the Japanese episode titles go untranslated. There are a few that appear like Shinji’s transfer application and Gendo’s “COME” on the letter to Shinji. So it’s hard to tell if this was a stylistic choice or just coming down to lines per dollar it would cost.

Fly Me To The Moon

I know everyone else has already complained about this, but I haven’t seen a lot of why it’s important. Obviously there’s the connection between Rei and the moon and because it’s part of the original work of art. But more than that, it’s that extra unique twist to differentiate it from other anime. You watch the cliffhanger in Episode 1 and it just ends with a song most people associate with Frank Sinatra.

I don’t remember how I felt when I first heard it, but I do remember how I felt when I heard “Roundabout” by Yes in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. The contrast really caught my attention and got my mind thinking, “Wow they are really using this song right now. I’m more curious about where this show is going to lead.” In part, that reaction was probably driven by my mind first connecting it to Evangelion’s ending.

This time around, maybe people would’ve associated it with Jojo and it might’ve kept a few more people watching. In the end, those few extra viewers clearly weren’t worth it to Netflix especially when the next episode is triggered right as the credits role.

Lines that cut off

I don’t remember exactly where in the episodes these lines are. But there were several times where a line someone was saying would abruptly end. I think one time was when Shinji said “K”, as in like “Okay”, but it sounded like the audio had been cut too closely and didn’t fade out like it naturally would as someone was saying it.

Pronunciations

The way characters pronounce things has changed dramatically in some cases. It’s hard to tell if this is directing or actors saying it this way. Given its consistency, it seems more like how they were directed. SEELE, usually say-lay in ADV is now Zee-la for Netflix. Fuyutsuki’s name is weirdly broken up as Fu-Yu-Tsuki, with more of a pause between fu, yu, and tsuki, which makes it feel less like one word that flows. I can live with all that, but I really can’t stand Lance of Longinus.

In ADV, it was typically, lon-juh-nus. In Netflix, it’s lon-jai-nus. If I’m reading the pronunciation correctly from Wikipedia, Netflix is saying the word correctly in English, while the ADV pronunciation is closer to the Japanese pronunciation. The problem is I couldn’t stop thinking about how much it sounded like vagina, which sounds like more of a personal problem.

Longinus /ˌlɒnˈdʒaɪnəs/

Vagina /vəˈdʒaɪnə/

At the end of the day, I think it’s great that more people have access to Evangelion. I hope that people enjoy it as much as I have and can get something out of it. But at the same time, I feel like Netflix aiming for more of a middle ground approach, in terms of script and emotional intensity, might cause the show to stick out less than it could’ve.

Sure the content is all the same, but it doesn’t feel like it flows as well. People get mad when you don’t match the Japanese exactly. But if you try to match it exactly, it can become unintelligible to English speakers. So maybe this was always a no win scenario.

I hate to come off as one of those butt-hurt fans who hates anything new and only wants more of the same. Personally, I enjoy the new path that the Rebuild movies are taking. I don’t think the original show needs to be remade like Sailor Moon Crystal. It’s only because of that deep connection with the original dub that I’m worried people watching the new dub won’t connect as deeply with the show.

From now on there will always be that question when I ask someone if they’ve seen Evangelion. They will more than likely say “Yes I saw it on Netflix.” Then if they say “it was okay,” I’ll always be thinking, “Would they have liked it more with the ADV dub?”

#evangelion

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10jasmyn01-blog · 5 years

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Third Term Japanese: Week Two (10.06.19 - 16.06.19)

MONDAY

Today we practiced telling the time more and learnt how to say from (kara) and till (made). From 9 to 5 -> kuji kara goji made desu -> くじからごじあでですか We then learnt the demonstratives: これ kore - this それ sore - that あれ are - over there That evening I practiced more hirigana and was confident with all except from: なにぬねの (Na, Ni, Nu, Ne, No) まみむめも (Ma, Mi, Mu, Me, Mo) らりるれろ (Ra, Ri, Ru, Re, Ro)

I did realise that during this class I kept forgetting to add か on the end of です when asking a question, so I must be careful of this in future and make sure I am writing desuka and not desu otherwise the question is just a statement.

TUESDAY

Today, we did some group work. Maya brought out some blocks with the hirigana on them (Like my small flashcards, but bigger!) We took it in turns to sort and name each symbol. We did a group activity asking questions such as “When is dinner” and answering them with the correct times using “kara” and “made”. Just as I thought I was understanding hirigana, we were told that adding a small ゃゅょ or っ changes the sound. the small tsu elongates the consonant after it and acts as a break in the word when you speak it. Whilst the small , ya yu, yo changes a letter into for example: kya (きゃ) kyu(きゅ) kyo (きょ) if it is next to it. Thankfully after that evening I found that easy to understand and read! We then learnt larger numbers from 100 to 90,000 and because I wasn’t confident with the simple 1-100, this confused me a bit. It is a shame that missing a class made me feel confused in regards to numbers, but I was determined to catch up!

After Tuesday I was still unsure about the numbers, but that evening I practiced them a lot.

I then understood that I should use Hyaku for 100, so gohyaku (500), roppyaku (600) etc.. For 1000 it was Sen, so gosen, rokusen etc... and for 10,000 it was Man so goman, rokuman etc... After this, what still confused me was that the word would change on some of the numbers so roppyaku instead of rokuhyaku. It is like this because it is easier to say roppyaku than rokuhyaku. With practice though I will get better with this. Also at this point I had so many sheets of paper that it was getting unorganised and difficult to manage and find certain sheets. So to solve this I used paper clips to separate the sheets into “notes”, “worksheets”, “numbers” and “guides”. This was so much easier to manage and in class the rest of the week I found locating certain sheets was much much faster.

WEDNESDAY

We practiced using the demonstratives we touched upon in Monday’s lesson, I learnt that kore, sore and are, change when you are referring to an item. We the formed questions such as “How much is this T-shirt”. (Kono Tishatsu wa ikura desuka -> このチシャツはいくらですか )

We also learnt how to reply with yes or no. For example: Kono Tishatsu was nisen en desuka (Is this T-shirt 2000 yen?) We would then answer either with either hai, soo desu (Yes, it is) or Iie, chigaimasu (no, it is different).

Knowing that there was a reading/writing test on Thursday that evening, I tried to learn the last 15 hirigana. Unfortunately I still got 4 confused with each other (Mu む, Re れ, Nu ぬ, Ne ね). However, I had been using the texbook and amazed myself when I was in fact able to read and write in hirigana relatively confidently, I didn’t even need to translate the hirigana into romaji. (Again, sorry for the awful photo)

THURSDAY

On Thursday, we went over what we had learnt so far to make sure we were confident in it and then we had a class test. We had 10 minutes to complete it and I did it in 5. I knew immediately that I had gotten the time in the third task wrong as ni honji put together (nihonji) means Japanese. I found this amusing and knew I had to practice times more! The answer should have been Niji-han desu which was close but not quite. I also forgot to add the particle no after Sumisan in the last question. Despite these slight errors, I still passed! ^_^

FRIDAY

Again, we went over things we had learnt so far and I learnt that Kyuu (9), when using it for time uses the old Japanese “ku” so Kuji. This was the same for nana (7), we have to use shichiji). We then spent the lesson writing the script for our final assessment of the week, which involved us asking prices of particular items placed in the areas to refer to them as kono, sono and ano and then we had to decide on which one we wanted. Me and my partner Promise had both decided we wanted the mobile phone. :’). I also Passed this assessment! ^_^ That is now 2 out of 4 smiley faces that I need! :D After this we did more practice where we asked each other for the opening and closing times of certain shops and filled in the answers. We recorded this and it was uploaded onto Promise’s tumblr blog.

To end the second week, Maya informed us that next week we would have a LOT of vocabulary to remember. She also showed us this:

Maya explained that when counting there are different suffix’s used based on the item we are counting. So for flat items we add +mai E.G: a postcard. For cylindrical items such as a water bottle we add +pon or +bon or +hon. Finally, for general things we add +tsu. The numbers and different suffix’s for different meanings has already been the thing I have found most difficult so far, so I am expecting next week to be harder than everything we have done so far.

WEEK TWO CONCLUSIONS

At the end of week two I have become confident in reading and writing in hirigana (apart from the 4 previously mentioned), I am comfortable with asking and answering questions. I am able to count from 1-90,000 and I am getting better with telling the time. I am good with pronunciation and speaking. I know I need to improve on my listening skills and just becoming overall more confident with the vocabulary we have learnt so far. I did plan on getting some more practice done over the weekend in preparation for next week, but unfortunately I have been too busy so far to do much more than practice my hirigana work and numbers.

Hopefully not knowing the vocabulary for next week yet won’t affect me too much and I can continue to improve my skills. Surprisingly after only 2 weeks, I am still very motivated to learn the language and I am impressed with how I have found the course so far, I think I expected it to be a LOT harder so I am surprising myself with the amount I am able to learn and memorise. I am also very happy that I managed to fix my sleep patterns and actually sleep each night, that no doubt made it easier for me to memorise a lot of what I needed to.

I look forward to week three! :D

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