I briefly touched on this in my post about the second Omnibus release from almost a year ago, and have finally gotten my notes in order enough to write about it.
In the Tokyopop and 2019 Kodansha USA versions of the manga, Toru Suetsugu is called Tohru Matsushi.
Now Tohru is a correct spelling, it's simply another way of romanising the elongated vowel ō in his name (Tōru). There are many ways to romanise this (oh, ou, o) and the version used often depends on the translator. This is all fine, but Matsushi?
末次, like a lot of Japanese names, can be read multiple ways, with Suetsugu (Hiragana: すえつぎ) being one of them. Among the readings is also Matsuji (まつじ), which is likely the origin of this.
Atsuro Kawai is also faced with a similar mistake, being branded Junro Kawai. While Atsuro (あつろう) is the correct name in this case, Junro (じゅんろう) is an alternate reading.
On a translation level Tokyopop haven't made much of an error here at all, both Junro Kawai and Tohru Matsushi are correct readings of the Kanji presented, it's just that they are inconsistent with other media.
If the characters had Furigana with their names it's possible that this error wouldn't have been made. Similarly if Tokyopop had seen Fourth Stage (which released in Japan in 2004, the year before this volume released in English) they may have realised that they were using the wrong readings, though as Tokyopop never released Fourth Stage it's possible they never saw it.
This error is an odd but understandable one, though it is definitely confusing for anyone who doesn't understand Japanese (I had to ask a translator about this a few times). It is a shame that a similar error was made with Shingo's name in the newest release, especially considering he is a much more well documented character, but perhaps the translator was simply unaware (though the blurb gets the name right.
also like thinking about the fates drama and shit reminded me of somethign which is that. localisations changing things isn’t necessarily censorship even if it’s made less objectionable bc like, censorship is not just a term for things changing or becoming less objectionable it’s censorship if it’s being suppressed. like, yeah, the blood stuff in mortal kombat was censorship bc the devs were outright unable to add blood and get published bc nintendo were on a big moral purity image campaign in the early days. but if it was done by the devs porting it bc they personally didn’t like blood that’d be a wild choice but it’s like. not censorship. same with localisation things being changed around is normal and doesn’t indicate censorship unless it was specifically done to suppress transgressive parts bc they would not be allowed. censorship isn’t just things changed and I don’t like it it’s when speech is actively suppressed.
Recently saw one of your posts breaking down on how Gehrman became reviled as a creep by certain demographics, and afterwards saw this post (https://www.tumblr.com/allsadnshit/794972611030417408?source=share).
And it just baffles me how the people who revile Gehrman for "being a creep" cannot grasp that, even if he *is* a creep, that doesn't necessarily detract from the good parts.
Like, let's say that the *potential* implication of him being a creep added in by translators was fully intended on the og devs' part (it's not, but let's picture it). Sure, he is a creep, who dressed a Maria doll in feminine clothes and such and had a "curious mania" for her.
Now... why does that automatically erase all of his virtues?
The guy has many flaws, but he was clearly down to help people if he joined up with Laurence, and defended the unmutated people of Yharnam from Beasts. Plus, if that wasn't enough, he's carrying out a self-sacrifice scheme in the Dream so no one has to be trapped in it as he is. That takes guts and *compassion* for his fellow people. He doesn't want anyone to suffer as he has. And even if he is a creep, he explicitly doesn't like the Doll: that (supposedly) feminine image of Maria that he made out of grief. He *regrets* making the Doll.
And yet, just because of one seemingly creepy line, these people are willing to ignore all his good deeds, and even harass people over it. That just confirms what the linked post above says: that these people, incapable of discerning that a bad man can have good or a good man can have bad, are immature.
Sorry for taking a bat to the hornet's nest, but I had to say it. Thank you for your time
(For the context, just in case: the "even the Doll, should it please you" and "his curious mania" are localisation errors/liberties ( x ). No, not the same kind as international release changes of Dark Souls 1 and 3 that were done by a trusted friend of Miyazaki; Sony is clowning and you know it. :p )
Going to be honest here, same. I keep thinking about how pointless my whole quest to defend Gehrman from slander is, because it evades the real problem: the fact that Gehrman being a creep is not something conceptually wrong to BEGIN with! Like, if an old man being creepy and weird about beautiful young lady is where #thosepeople draw the line, then why the HELL they even got into fandom for Gothic horror game at all? :')
I keep saying that minimal gatekeeping is needed in the fandoms for darker media, because otherwise casual "fans" like this will straight up treat us, the TARGET audience, like rats that are festering the building that is rightfully their! People who do not understand that maybe some settings were not meant to cater to them come and act like content cops... Harassment of Gehrman fans and especially Gehrmaria shippers is real and deadly, but I hate the fact that it had lessened only because my discovery of translation errors caused absurd butterfly effect when the actual reason for it to lessen should have been the common sense! Yeah, disarming them out of a few crucial talking points was awesome, but how about people stopped being borderline antis instead? Gothic horror is not just an aesthetic, it is also very fucked up and uncomfortable tropes and topics! Heck, it is already very generous of Fromsoft that Gehrman and Maria were not blood-related!
...alright now that everyone who is seeing me in the tags for the first time has blocked me for my overly "passionate" wording because TikTok made them allergic to emotion, we should definitely get a bit more generous here. Yes, Gehrman is also a nuanced and tragic character, and him offering himself to win time for Laurence and the hunters is utterly commendable. I am pretty sure that he is well aware that Laurence will never come back for him, but despite decades suffering he still has the willpower to insist on not allowing us to take his place.
He sounds so relieved if we do defeat him. He craved this freedom through death, but still was willing to endure so no one else has to go through the same fate. Breaks my heart every time.
And he did care for Maria as not only the Doll is made out of grief, but he also cared for her Hair Ornament so tenderly it made the Doll cry a tear of joy. Under the lense of "being a creep", he falls for a strongly flaved yet sympathetic character! As in you understand he did not have bad intentions at all and you could tell how he ended up this way. You could hate how his love manifested, but you can't say he was some toxic incel that didn't see Maria as a human being. Just like the post you've linked - mixed feelings are good! Not everything is just bad or just good! He is supposed to be the character with whom everyone decides for themselves whether they want to "forgive" him or not yet forgiving is just as valid because he is written as an actual person and not a misogynist caricature!
In other words, he deserves actual analysis, even without dissolving disinformation that surrounds him.
Okay, because everyone was so confused about why Chip and Dale are squirrels in the new event. I did a little digging in found out it's most likely a result of sloppy translation/ localisation when the original Chip and Dale cartoons were brought to Japan. Chipmunks are native to North America and not really found anywhere else. Therefore, not familiar to audiences outside of North America. Often, chipmunks were changed to squirrels for a lot of european translations. I guess the same thing happened with the japanese dub.
It's like back in the day tanuki would change to raccoon for the english translation/localisation.
I have seen that twst localization team will change things when it's based on a translation error or japanese localization to something that makes more sense of the original english dub. So the squirrels will probably be changed back to chipmunks when it comes out in NA.
so we can all agree that fuse man having a pet bunny in the english text is a translation error, he's supposed to have an eel because he's the electricity guy, unagi vs usagi, it's a reasonable mistake, mega man english localisations change shit for no reason all the time and we all politely ignore it. HOWEVER. in defense of the bunny timeline.
Curious add-ons: The Continuity, et al., Episode 12 (Part 8)
Unrelated to RKDD, but these words from voice actor Yuichi Nakamura during the JJK Jump Festa last Saturday best describes why anime fills the void of continuity in the manga. There are movements and moments that one can be explored in the anime.
That’s why I do appreciate the animators for adding more details to the scenes to patch the continuity in the series up that are not self-evident in the manga.
Toto didn’t appreciate the flying axe come to his way that he just shrugged it all off. In the manga, Akira didn’t show his reaction, but the animators made sure that they showed him really shocked and angry. Ron took a notice of it that it added to his conclusion of the case. The villagers do that to deter outsiders coming to their place.
Ron touched Toto’s shoulder and signalled for him how to get away from the mob.
Though it is strange to see Toto as tall as Ron here.
Languages. So @eiko-hoshino (thanks so much!!) sent me images of the original Japanese version of the anime and so far, the English translation is not at all so far off, compared to, say, the German version. I talked about the slight changes Wataru Watari and co. had done that Ron is not talking only for himself, but he included Toto to his endeavour. It is interesting to me that they made some alterations that greatly contribute to RonToto.
Japanese version
Subtitles in English
Translation is tricky. Some manga purists refuse to buy translated versions because according to them, reading translations is like reading someone else’s filtered lens. Localising the language used in translation is mixing social and political environments. Which I agree in some aspects. There are puns and idioms in Japanese that the translators completely altered to English or other languages. This has become a hot topic too after the Magus Bride/AI controversy wherein the mangaka was also citing the problems with pirated versions/fan translated scans.
Anyway, the above mentioned screen caps with EN subtitles were translated according to the original Japanese anime version.
Now that the first season is coming to a close and the official RKDD site is taking its sweet time to give us a preview, a peep, of the upcoming episode, I heard from the grapevine that some people are not satisfied with Diomedéa’s works. Complaints of anatomical and voice synchronization errors surface. If you are watching JJK 2 and following its animators’ social media accounts, you might have an idea what kind of criticism the artists encounter regularly concerning their works. On the other hand. MAPPA is not the most ideal company one ever has.
All in all, the RKDD anime is quite decent. (I do hope they are paying their staff fairly though.) On Crunchyroll it earns 4.8 stars. Also, the animators have given their all creating those killer backgrounds imbued with colours and details. Remember the onsen arc with the autumn colours? Or the raindrops and the countryside landscape in the recent episode?
Akira Amano seems to be satisfied with it. Of course there must be some other options and I do understand where these unsatisfied viewers are coming from, but I am just glad that they are animating RKDD. And, hopefully, we are getting a second season sooner than later.
So there’s a new translation mod for FFVII – one that includes cut-content and is leaning on developer commentary for how to translate into English. That’s a thing. It also is using Compilation and Remake as guidance on the translation. That’s… that’s bad? Like, if you prefer Final Fantasy VII as it was released on the PSX and don’t like what Remake has been doing to the story, a lot of people are really quick and willing to tell you to not worry. The old game is right there. And it is… sort of.
There’s a whole bunch of issues with the original game in this sense. There is the game as released on the PSX which is harder to source now thanks to the nature of physical releases that old (they can be found but can be pricey). There’s the PC port which is ostensibly the version you can mostly easily get – though the PC port changed a few minor things, and the Steam/PS4/Switch release changed a few more things. That’s not even getting into how the Japanese release of the PSX game is missing a few bits and pieces the US/rest of the world PSX version has (namely Ruby and Emerald Weapon, the escape from Nibelheim) which lead to the Japanese re-release of the US version as Final Fantasy VII International. So, saying you can just have the original game is a bit flippant if we’re being strict about what that means. It feels additionally off that people are actively modding it to “fix” the translation but with an eye to keeping it consistent with the Remake and Compilation.
Which is just… if Remake is a sequel to Advent Children as people love to speculate, why should the original game be consistent with a modified universe in its future? If Remake is a drop-in replacement then why does it change so much stuff that you need to alter the original translation to fit with it?
What even is the necessity of a new translation?
(some might here point out Reminiscence of FFVII included on the AC DVD as a point that there is scope for a new translation. And sure, the Japanese text is done as subtitles and maybe its a little different to the PSX version. But its basically beside the point. Handful of examples and unlikely whoever got the job of subbing the documentary was unlikely to go boot up a PSX just to replicate the dialogue as originally displayed)
People are very eager to buy into the idea that FFVII was badly translated. While it is true there are spelling mistakes, grammar errors, some peculiar though minor terminology switches, a few misleading lines and the odd point where someone will say something utterly nonsensical… the US release of FFVII is great. Oh, its not got the same translation and localization quality as FFVI or Vagrant Story sure, but its not wrong in any meaningful way. Friends of mine have played through the Japanese FFVII and in their estimation the tone and characters and meaning of the experience tallies very close to the translated PSX version. No translation can be perfect – you don’t think we have this many translations of Don Quixote because this time we’ll get it righter than the previous versions, do you?
Translation – and localisation – is an art. The latter’s need to more blatantly alter cultural aspects that would be obscure in the West has eroded over time thanks to increasing familiarity with other cultures. It’s still essential as some cultural stuff just doesn’t come across (like, I know some would know the answers, but some of Persona 5’s test questions are completely outside common knowledge and necessitate looking up the answers. The test questions are pretty clearly completely non-localized) – and you can either replace if possible or going to have to stick a big asterisk beside the item. Translation, though, aims to capture the spirit of the original. This, incidentally, is a thing I remember from the introduction to the copy of Don Quixote I have – this translation was trying to capture Cervantes’s voice and how it would feel to read in the original language in another language.
And by – admittedly – anecdotal evidence, FFVII’s US version works absolutely fine. But I think there is a method to illustrate there’s nothing wrong with the original translation:
The desire for Compilation consistency I understand but don’t appreciate, but Remake consistency is baffling.
A more interesting question to me is this: you, as a FFVII fan from the PSX days, likely sought out Advent Children as soon as it leaked. Fan subs were rendered pretty quickly and a certain amount of US fans likely watched the film before it was officially out in Japan (given the choice was watch it immediately or wait 7 months for the official dubbed release). Did you – in all honesty – not understand something that happened in Advent Children because of how FFVII US portrayed the story?
Was any character radically out of step with the depiction (excepting Cloud whom the creatives have admitted is OOC and then there’s a whole book to try and justify this). Was any character outright unfamiliar (excepting the remnants, Denzel and Moogle Girl – all added to the film without precedents in FFVII)? Sure, Rufus surviving is something of a surprise, but no version of the PSX release ever implied he had. Tseng’s a more nebulous point but even then neither version says he’s alive or dead. If you did steer well clear of subtitles and bittorrent at the time, same questions when the dub was released.
Given reaction at the time, no one was lead into a state of confusion or voiced some op-ed about how the PSX version of FFVII let them down when they came to watch Advent Children. There are bits and pieces of corrections/clarifications certainly – some honestly thought Tifa wore shorts in the PSX game, the nature and sizing of materia had a consensus but you would find outliers and AC presented a consistent size. About the only excuse I will allow for is if you played FFVII PSX and never found Yuffie or Vincent and yet here they are as part of the case. Fairer, though given their presence in the manual they weren’t hugely secret (something older FF fans got annoyed about at the time. Also, also if you had the real early subs with “Shion” instead of Tseng and not knowing “Agito” meant hideout and thinking the Forgotten Capital had an actual name or “Sierra” instead of Shera. You know, faults with the fansubs which were done in absurd haste anyway).
There was a lot of valid criticism of what AC wound up as and what its legacy has been but no one familiar with FFVII could not get a handle on what AC showed. And any part that you were confused over (and there are some) is a fault with AC/the Compilation not FFVII.
AC, incidentally, originally came with an animated short – since replaced with One the Way to a Smile – Case of Denzel. This older animation was called Last Order and more closely tied itself to Before Crisis – the mobile phone-centric game no one really talks about and has a lot of very strange plot adjustments that largely never got picked up. Not least was the expanded Turks cast (more than Veld and Cissnei) and their presence in most major incidents of most of FFVII’s cast’s pre-game lives. The point of LO was an action thing of Zack on his way to Midgar with Cloud but also a brief recreation of the burning of Nibelheim. LO is fascinating in that when it altered the scenes inside the reactor, fandom as a whole objected. This is why its not on Advent Children Complete discs.
The objection is small but kinda pivotal even if you can introduce reasons why it shouldn’t derail anything (and yet, Genesis is still allowed in Crisis Core somehow) – Tifa is awake when Cloud reaches her and the two share a brief conversation. Its small but that’s an issue with how FFVII works isn’t it? Sure, she can assume it was a delusion/dream/blood loss but Cloud’s also meant to be afraid its already too late for her. Oh, also he has Mako-eyes already.
So hey, LO in direct conflict with FFVII. And FFVII won. LO was ejected and never comes up the same way as the rest of the Compilation.
BC I can’t talk to much as the experience of trying to watch the story on youtube is not fun. I can say it reasonably weirdly introduces Weiss and Nero as SOLDIER recruits (so that’s why these members of the DC cast just kind of show up in CC to connect into DC) as well as the afore-mentioned expanded Turks. And has Cloud also have Mako eyes pre-capture (as with LO) and be some weird other kind of infantry guy. But no discussion or fic relying on BC is in open conflict with how FFVII told its story. Any inconsistencies stem from BC meddling with the backstory.
Its also worth noting here that FFVII – like every FF up to X was conceived of as a single instance (sorry FFIII is not connected to FFVIII, the previously popular FFVI to FFVII connection amounts to nothing. The FFVII and FFVIII references in FFIX are meant to be there but like as… jokes? Nods? Reference humour? Its cute. Like putting FFVII references in Parasite Eve 2. And like how FFVII has Xenogears references. And the FFX-2 to FFVII connection is terrible). There’s the weird and undeveloped maybe FFVI-2 but that seems to have gotten no further than a battle mock-up. All this extra sequel and prequel stuff was never considered during FFVII’s writing (and why would you? Yes, allegedly CC was based on an idea at the time of FFVII’s writing, but that doesn’t magically convey it established canon status if it wasn’t reworked to an unclear degree and released as a game a decade later. Even it was fully-formed, that’s a fault with CC as released and not FFVII. Far more interesting is how Parasite Eve and Xenogears were both discarded or rejected ideas before anything like the released game was conceived. Like how Resident Evil 4 produced at least three other games during development).
Dirge of Cerberus used to vie for worst additional element. And maybe it still does depending on your attitude. But as the third Compilation release (ignoring the book), the western version still relied on the FFVII PSX version for context on what was going on and how it related back to familiar characters. Deepground are unfamiliar! Pretty sure the Japanese audience didn’t know about them prior to this game either. Here are Nero and Weiss and maybe you can feel better for knowing they came from BC, though that’s a slim victory – likewise Grimoire (yep. Another BC one. Squeenix clearly absolutely care about your understanding of the universe and that’s why this weirdly key game was never localised. It could have been at the cost of CC). All the Omega Weapon, Proto-materia and chaos ramblings are all new. The tsviets and the fact the Planet has internet is something of a new reveal is it not?
And last of the Compilation is Crisis Core. Now, admittedly, Zack seems OOC here! Or maybe because it’s a prequel you feel he’s OOC in FFVII PSX. Which… that’s not how writing works if you are being honest. If Zack seems OOC to someone when playing FFVII PSX this is a problem with at least CC and possibly BC as well. And sure, maybe you would struggle to get him to match to his presentation in FFVII PSX as a writer. Hard to have sympathy when this unnecessary story was greenlit. You played yourself Squeenix. You walked into this situation with open arms.
People tend to gloss over what happens to Aerith here, but any conflict between how CC relays its story and how FFVII PSX presented it does not stem from a translation issue otherwise the problems would be wider reaching (see also how Aerith acts in Remake which is far, far closer to FFVII PSX than CC). You can claim that Aerith is no different, but her actions in FFVII PSX feel unlikely for the version of her wandering in CC to ever do and vice-versa. Like, her physically rushing into events in FFVII PSX being a thing you don’t see her do in CC (aware of the justifications for this too and they are absolutely awful).
And maybe you can justify why she is like that to yourself, you can’t blame the translation for why this is happening. A better translation will not smooth that shift and the mod adhering to Remake or Compilation will still conflict with what her polygonal model does on screen versus what it might now say.
What even is the point of restoring cut content?
I have heard that a chunk of the difference between Remake and FFVII US can be found in the cut or dummied text on the PSX disc. So we should all be happy its back because it was always supposed to be thing way.
Things are cut for reasons and blind restoration is not good by default. The most coherent theory I’ve ever seen for the FFVII cuts are timing and flow at the start of the game. And given FFVII PSX goes very, very fast and Remake is noticeably slower and time-consuming, it makes sense as a reason for the cuts to be made. Midgar is an oppressive atmosphere to make reaching the world map expansive and awe-inspiring.
Cuts can also be for bad ideas. Sure they got to the point where the text was in the resource files, but a whole tone of stuff gets into these (seriously, if this is new to you what happens is they pack all the data into big resource files and these are shipped out as is with the game. Things don’t tend to get pulled out once integrated because it’s hard to be sure all the places something is referenced. Hence dummying the text rather than stripping it out. You can’t be certain you found all the locations and the file-size difference is negligible) and is unused because of changes in attitude. Putting this back in does not increase understanding or consistency. No version of the PSX game was released with all this cut content in place – not ahead of Advent Children and not ahead of Remake.
There’s no expectation a player should ever be aware of what was removed before release. Knowing it won’t increase your appreciation of the PSX game. In truth it will only serve to champion the authority of the now de facto writer of the series and every one of his decisions. I find it highly contentious that he should be considered nearly the sole arbiter – and adhering to his attitude feels like it has been done with a mind towards a case that Remake is the superior version because the PSX game was hopelessly compromised. Which I would hope is pretty clearly not the case. The text was dummied out in Japan as well, again, both versions of FFVII PSX share the same mood, atmosphere and tone.
Cuts can also be made because those with more authority don’t like what they now say about character or events or attitudes of the characters. Restoring this risks throwing even more out.
I do understand broadly what the hope for this kind of thing. Make the game default Aerith instead of Aerith (and I am fully aware the game internally calls her Aerith before the prompt which then defaults Aeris in. This is a trivial bug all things considered. Plus, you do know the game has a basic expectation of you renaming the cast on your own whims, right? This was a thing right up to FFX at the last. Dictated party names was purely if you wanted them/to refer to them in conversation with others. Now you get no choice to personalize the game). Dig up the old honeybee inn scenes. Dig up the old Highwind scene (maybe. Not sure that ever got anywhere). Get some insight into the future of Remake by finding a late on conversation which alters the perception of FFVII PSX (but, I mean, people have extracted this text ages ago. You can go read it now if you want). But more than a “better” translation, the cut content will skew the experience of playing the game.
FFVII did not have the “best” translation or localisation – this is true. It did however capture the spirit of the game as released on PSX and in truth the case for a new translation is a handful of mistakes and a prevailing notion that it was always bad (and just… people aren’t careful or really seem to get what they’re messing with. I tried Because once and got weirded out by Reno and Rude changed to Leno and Lude – no official material reflects that change so why?). And no one familiar with the game was lost with Compilation entries for any reason other than those entries failed to set things up properly or forced new details into an existing story (or relied on an unreleased phone-based video game or a book that wasn’t due to be translated. These are faults of Squeenix’s business operations not a video-game from 1997).
(for localisation examples. So FFVIII has a weird fixation with hot dogs which is kind of just funny on the face of it. You can make them part of battle prep if you want. But… are they hot dogs? Zell looks like he's eating one in the end credits but to me it looks more like Yakisoba Bread. As in, what is localised in English as Hot Dogs was either Yakisoba bread or potentially simply bread in the Japanese release. Not wholly more sensible even in Japanese but not quite the same absurd feel. But I reckon the translators were stuck on what to replace it with until they saw the ending and make a judgement call. In 1999 getting across the concept of bread was going to be tricky. A more recent game likely wouldn't sub the food stuff given your audience has a better bet at understanding what it is)
Sure, some stuff didn’t make it through translation. I know people like that Aeris has a nick-name for Cloud that is totally absent in English – a shame, but its not a fundamental loss; their interactions are clear enough and the shippers still latched on just fine to the romantic potential between them.
The distinction between Reeve and Cait Sith’s voices doesn’t come across very well, but that’s a factor you would struggle to do purely in English text in any case. Didn’t make the reveal any less of a surprise though did it?
There is nothing in FFVII PSX that prompted the inconsistencies of the Compilation – that’s on those (mostly) same writers not remembering, not caring, or desperate to include a plot that required massaging, breaking, or ignoring how the PSX game said things worked or happened (see: Genesis at Nibelheim). The fault lies with the Compilation however much you personally may like it. Inconsistencies with Remake are likewise Remake’s fault and while you can turn up some elements that were created and critically discarded for the 1997 release, their restoration in Remake doesn’t make them any better ideas now than then – and it certainly doesn’t cover the fate ghosts (or whatever they are) or Sephiroth’s intro being a million times less effective at threat than FFVII PSX.
Any similarity between the dummied text on the PSX disc and the additions to Remake’s dialogue means is that the person with the final say-so on what is included has absolutely changed since 1997 and with it the character of the series. Even he wasn’t right all the time or made the best decisions, but he remains an oft-excluded (and completely from the development of Remake) critical part of why this game has a remake at all. I will of course be accused of being a purist and nostalgic, but again I must reference a friend who noted that the only reason people were so excited by Remake was via nostalgia and perhaps curiosity about other people’s nostalgia. Their nostalgia and positivity is seemingly more valid to others than my nostalgia and negativity.
FFVII PSX means a lot to me. And maybe Remake means a lot to you. I can’t take that away from you, and my experience with FFVII can’t be taken away but it feels like it’s getting tarnished. It is hard going when FVII PSX seems to only merit mention in context with Remake, with Compilation. Not in context to itself – the context it was created for. A single story with a start and end. Characters given as much background and detail as they needed to work for their roles. A game so many embraced. People were not calling for a Remake for so long (originally) for any reason than wanting to see the same thing but prettier (forgetting its dismissal in some contexts on release for being style/graphics over any other quality. Somewhat ironic). Entirely possible the desire post Compilation was to “fix” FFVII for consistency with the Compilation (which is a pretty distressing notion!) but the whole game’s legacy and fandom and popularity is because of the PSX game not in spite of it as so many seem to treat it now.
Yeah, it’s not as pretty, yeah the controls are clunkier and battles are slower.
But.
Its story and how it used different styles of cut-scene depending on context were considered and effectively chosen. It built character and told story with words and battles and animation. The polygonal figures are not realistic (until they need to be. To make sure the scene will impact you as intended) but perfectly able to convey the emotions they need to. It has mistakes, it has jank. It has some terrible plot shifts in places. Yes, you can leave the end of the world hanging for months if you want to breed and race chocobos. But it was still the start – the foundation upon which everything else was built, it was still a success. And not one part of the Compilation or Remake would have been considered for a second if it had not been a success. It is not a first version for which a second version exists that lead to all the add-ons.
No new translation is ever going to change that situation or truly improve on the experience from 1997.
Hi Illusion! Hope your day isn't too bad, and if it is, I hope you're taking care of yourself to some extent. I was wondering, do you recommend the viz translations, or a fan translation, for coroika? Obviously reading in its intended language would be ideal but I don't really know Japanese. Thank you! -🖇️
hello!! I'm having an alright day, still stuck in college for now but!! other than that
I kinda reccomended both, I guess?
the fan translation is more accurate to the source and gets a little bit more of the nuance at times, but I find some parts of it are a little more clumsily worded compared to the viz translation, again most likely for accuracy. for example, in the fan translation gloves tends to say he'll 'do (whatever) in a cool way', whereas in the viz translation he just says he's gonna 'be cool', which is a bit smoother wording. the fan translation also features translation notes, which means it has more detail than the viz release. unfortunately, chapters 41-44 (I believe) have not been fan translated, and so if you want the end of the ranked arc, you'll have to read viz anyway
the viz translation has more errors and is a little more dumbed down, but it's more of a localisation than a direct translation, so it may be a bit more understandable at times, which makes sense considering its target audience. the viz translation (if you can get hold of it) has all the extra sketches, many of which are not present in the fan translation (at least, I struggle to find them online). occasionally, viz actually gets a line MORE accurate, but it's not as accurate on the whole and even has like straight up typos at times. still, it's nice to own the books if you like looking at the artwork, and I find it easier to use as a reference for when certain things happened in manga because it's easier to process in book form.
the viz translation is also... weird about some character's names sometimes, and likes to slap random 'z's into things. I don't care what people call their faves, but the fan translation names tend to be favoured online (prince over prinz, half rim over half rimz, afro over burns (altho I kinda like that one), etc) so you might want to know them anyway for online discussions.
the fan translation I'm referring to would be inkstrike reserve's up to chapter 40, and then hazard's on youtube from after the ranked arc (chap 44/45 I think)
personally, I use both, and I also use both as references for writing. some characters have certain phrase quirks changed (for example, skull has more of a 'hm' in the fan translation and a 'ha' in the viz) and I'll either use both or alternate or work with that. it's nice to know details about how certain characters are written both in Japanese, when translated into English, and when localised by viz, especially for referencing in fanworks. even though I trust viz's translation less, when translating something like Japanese into English I think having multiple options/opinions/references is useful because of how different Japanese is to English, structurally.
I own all 11 books, and have 12 preordered, but that's because I like being able to own these and use them as on hand references, as well as the fact that for ages I wasn't aware it was translated online. there's many fans who haven't read the books, or who haven't seen the online translation, and I think picking one or the other is a bit pointless if you have access to both.
if you DON'T want to buy all the books, then reading the fan translations and a scan of book 11 so you're not completely out of the loop (if we're lucky, someone at some point will translate it for us, and we won't even need that) is a perfectly fine option. if you want to, you can dm me and I can send you links to all these translations/scans
one LAST thing I'll note is that apparently, the French/German translations are pretty good? at least better than viz? if you can read French or German I'd consider it (as well as the English fan translation if you wanna stay in loop with the primarily English speaking fandom)
TL;DR: fan translation > viz nine times out of ten, but having both is nice. I've read both though.
