The English dub of Aggretsuko doesn’t get enough credit for it’s incredibly well thought out and clever translations.
You could make the argument it changes too much, but that isn’t due to laziness or lack of care. It’s adapting it to an American style of humor and life, while also creating new jokes and puns that wouldn’t translate well. It isn’t massively shifting the plot and narrative or tone, but it does change some of the meanings and dynamics occasionally. While I understand why this could be considered pure sacrilege, I think it’s for the best with the kind of show this is.
I’ll give an example of why the dub isn’t lazy or bad just because it changes things sometimes. I was rewatching parts of season 3 and I noticed something pretty clever the English dub did that the original didn’t, and arguably couldn’t with the language, do. When Haida asks Retsuko out to dinner in episode 2 and she is ignoring him because she has no cash, in the subtitles he says
Hey… it’s my treat, okay? It’s my treat…
However, in the English dub, he says
Hey, wait up! It was… gonna be on me. It’s on me…
This phrase means the exact same thing as the subtitles. Saying its “on me” is a phrase for paying for the bill. However, it could also mean something else because of the vagueness of it. Unlike “It’s my treat” which is explicitly about giving someone something as a gift, saying something is “on me” could also mean taking responsibility for something you did and/or making a promise to do something. So in the season finale, when Haida takes Retsuko to her Karaoke place, in subs he tells Retsuko that her friends told him
They said, “It’s up to you.”
Here is where the English dub gets cool. They actually do a CALLBACK to their own translation change without losing any of the meaning in either scenes! Because in English, Haida says
Like… there is a LOT to unpack with that, but basically Haida has always from the start been willing to listen and help Retsuko with her problems, no matter how bad or strange they are. It took Retsuko’s friends to finally push Haida to do just that and not be fearful and back down on it like he does at work. This translation is a callback to episode 2 where he wasn’t able to reach her, unable to connect, and now that they are in her space where she lets out her rage and not at work where she feels uncomfortable being herself, it really WAS up to him to finally reach her. He took the steps he couldn’t in that hallway in episode 2.
My point is that I hope people realize that the dub like… actually gives a shit. Like it REALLY cares and is considerate about the translation. Do I think it’s perfect? Hell no. I’ve watched every season twice with subtitles while the English audio plays and sometimes they do go a little too wonky and out there with it to where the initial meaning can sometimes be lost (in translation haha) but either way I think people should respect dubs in general more and they aren’t all inherently terrible JUST because it takes risks.
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