Subtalia vs Dubtalia: The World Conference
It is an undeniable fact that the Funimation dub of Hetalia...well shall we say... takes a few liberties with the source material. Some people believe the changes make the series funnier. Others insist that the dub massacres the characterisation, and is offensive and damaging to the show’s reputation. I have read so many arguments.
But yesterday whilst introducing a friend to Fullmetal Alchemist, I discovered that Funimation DVDs have an interesting feature - the option to listen to the dub at the same time as having the subtitled translation for the Japanese audio track on screen. So I had what, to me, seemed an interesting idea. To use this feature to directly, line by line compare the two versions. To pick out all the notable differences. To see what kind of changes Funimation TRULY made!
Or maybe this only seemed fun because I am a student on study break who only works weekends, and today is a rainy, cold Monday. Idk. It doesn’t matter.
So I started with the very first episode. We begin, of course, with America introducing the World Conference. Lets see what each version has him say.
ORIGINAL JAPANESE: “Alrighty, then! Let’s start the World Conference! Let’s resolve problems all over the world one by one! Even if it’s a tough problem, if we work together, I’m sure things will turn out okay! Please express your candid opinions here!”
ENGLISH DUB: “Dudes, I think the World Conference can convene! Solving all the world’s problems by talking excessively! No matter how hard it seems, we can solve anything with enough meetings and photo ops! Feel free to speak honestly, whilst protecting your chances for re-election!”
What interested me, is that the dub actually does largely convey the same message as the original - but the tone is completely different. Where the original was an optimistic statement of international co-operation, in the dub things are much more satirical. Already we can see how their take on the show is going to be. Oh, and their habit of having America say ‘dude’ in every sentence has started. I mean, its literally the first word of the series.
ORIGINAL JAPANESE: “Well then, I’ll go first! About that global warming thing everyone is talking about, I think we’ll be okay if we create a huge hero and have him protect the Earth. By the way, no one’s allowed to disagree, okay?
ENGLISH DUB: “I’ll go first, about that whole using global warming to enslave humanity thing, I’ll think we’ll be ok if we genetically engineer a huge hero to protect the Earth. I give you the super hero Globoman!”
With this one, for me, the Japanese version does a good job of introducing America’s personality; his immaturity in believing a giant superhero is a solution to global warming, and his stubborn insistence that he is right in all situations. The dub however...well suddenly the conference is about their attempts to enslave humanity. And this isn’t a throw away line, its a point that remains consistent for the rest of the scene. Yes, this was never a serious scene to start with, but some would probably fairly consider this a huge break from the spirit of the show.
ORIGINAL JAPANESE: “Again? Tell us what you think, Japan!”
ENGLISH DUB: “Man up, or I’ll beat you with my peace prize!”
In both versions, Japan passively says he will happily agree with anything America says, and Switzerland calls him out on it. But again, the WAY it is handled is... very different. In honesty, it is with this scene that I first come to agree with the dub fans. I LOVE this line. It genuinely is a brilliant one liner. But again, its another example of Funimations loose approach to adaptation.
ORIGINAL JAPANESE: “I’m against it. I can’t agree with such an unrealistic suggestion. And don’t say ‘learned’. What is this ‘learned’?! It’s ‘learnt’, you idiot!”
ENGLISH DUB: “There’s no way some hero will help global warming or humanity’s enslavement. And standing by France is like being in a shower of spit!”
Ok, I’ll be honest straight up - I’m not entirely sure if the ‘shower of spit’ line is exactly right, because at this point the dialogue begins overlapping and its hard to hear. But that was the gist of what England said. Nothing much new to point out here, its all much the same as before - but notice that the enslaving humanity change is still with us.
ORIGINAL JAPANESE: (France) “Then I shall have to disagree with both England AND America.”
(England) “Which is it?!
ENGLISH DUB: (France) “If Britain and America don’t agree, how can I be superior by dissing them both?!”
(England) “AGINCOURT!”
What I noticed here, is that Funimation has decided we need it directly spelt out for us something that was just an implicit part of the joke in the original - that France thinks he is superior to the others. We also see the first instance of England’s name being changed to Britain; but this is something we can’t blame Funimation for, as the Japanese producers actually asked them to call him that. This is more the fault of the vagueness as to whether he actually represents the entire United Kingdom, or only England; which frankly is a debate for another day.
ORIGINAL JAPANESE: (America) Geez, is disagreeing with me your hobby or something? You should find some other hobby that’s more fun.
(France) Agreeing with you guys is distasteful. Unlike you, I’m more of a gentleman.
(England) Don’t make an important decision based on taste, you wine-loving bastard!
ENGLISH DUB: (America) “You Frenchies love to hate America. Why not go back to making hot green chick statues like you used to?”
(France) Ever since we lost our status as a world superpower condescending superiority and wine is all we have left.
(England) Don’t be so hard on yourself. What about mimes and body odour?
Again, not much to say here. You can get the gist of the way they have changed things by now.
After this scene though, we get the scenes where China tries to get these three to calm down by giving them food, and where Spain tries to get Russia to intervene but he declines saying he’s only there in hopes Lithuania and Latvia will re-unify with him. And in both cases, the sub and dub were actually very consistent with each other. There were minor changes to phrasing of course, but you should expect that with any translation and it is nothing worth pointing out. Things only really get altered again when Estonia is introduced.
ORIGINAL JAPANESE: “You shouldn’t pick on the weak, Mr Russia.”
ENGLISH DUB: “You’re so tough, next you’ll try to pick a fight with Haiti!”
This frankly is a complete change of context from scolding Russia (and implying that Latvia and Lithuania are weak, what an asshole) to more teasing him; and randomly picking on Haiti as the ‘weak’ country. Bearing in mind Haiti is not only irrelevant to this scene but it doesn’t even have a canon character yet. It seems... really random. But fine.
After this, in all honesty, both versions begin to merge into background arguments that are really freaking difficult to pick out. There are a few changes I noticed - Poland changes from threatinging to invoke the ‘Poland Rule’ on Russia to, well, actually speaking Polish I am pretty sure, which means I have no hope in hell of ever being able to transrcibe him. But then the big guns come in. We get Germany’s speech.
ORIGINAL JAPANESE: “This conference is to resolve problems, so why are we creating more? As it stands, we’re repeating the Dancing Congress! We should calm down and discuss these matters. If you want to say something, first show clear and accurate data! And then talk! You’ll have 8 minutes to talk. That’s a strict rule! There will be no exceeding that time and no chit-chatting! Now if you want to go first, make sure you’re prepared and raise your hand.
ENGLISH DUB: “We called this conference to solve the world’s problems, not to fight about the problems of our past. And since I’m the only country who seems to know how to run a meeting, we’ll follow my rules from here on out. Eight minutes each for speeches, no chit-chatting on side deals, and absolutely no going over the time limit! Now if you want to go, make sure you’re prepared, raise your hand, and make sure you do so in a way that does not mock any salute of my country’s past!”
Again, a lot of the key points of the speech have actually been carried over from the original to the dub. But there are still changes. Most notably, we actually lose the first reference in the series to the historical trivia Hetalia is supposedly about, when Funimation cut the reference to the Dancing Congress. Even though the written info about it is still up there on the screen. Also... we get our first Nazi reference. Not an especially offensive one by any means, don’t get me wrong. But it is the first instance of one of the things I don’t like about the dub - that they do kind of reduce Germany’s character to a massive Nazi joke, when there is one heck of a lot more in German culture and history to talk about. So whilst it is a relatively accurate translation... I’m not entirely comfortable with this line.
All in all, I think this first scene shows the best of both sides of the dub. Yeah, there are some wonderful jokes and one liners (’beat you with my peace prize’, I will NEVER get over it)... but there are a lot of pointless changes as well. I do feel it does rather lose the spirit of the original. I don’t think its beyond redemption. But it is certainly not a perfect adaptation.
(I may do some more comparisons of lines soon (I imagine with less analysis, I’ll probably just present them as they are unless I have something specific to say) if anyone is intrested! I feel like it could do a lot to dispell some of the myths about the show, if we can see what aspects of it are things Funimation introduced rather than canon fact.)
