[EXCLUSIVE MATERIAL] Pokemon Anime Translation Glossaries (with trivia/beta stuff)
[Veeeery long post, but believe me, it's worth it]
Alternatively, just scroll to the download links and see the thing for yourself.
So, you are probably used to the fact that this blog is strictly themed, sharing pictures of various (but always official) representations of human characters from Pokemon series, especially the lesser-known or forgotten characters from the games.
This update, however, will be a bit out-of-theme, but still strictly Pokemon-centered. Lately, we’ve had much stuff revealed about Pokemon beta versions. We learned more about Pikachu’s origins and the manga about Satoshi Tajiri revealed some previously-unknown early Pokemon designs... Because of this (added with the fact that my blog has recently hit 300 followers), I think it is good time to publish something that has been in my files for years and which you surely have never seen and which may feature some (usually minor and trivia) facts that are not widely known to Pokemon fans.
These are two Translation Glossaries that were provided to the official translators of the Pokemon anime. I got that years ago from my friend, who was among the people working on the Polish dub of Pokemon DP anime series (not really sure what year was that, but if the file metadata is right, then it must have been 2008). He asked me to be quiet about that, but years have passed, I have pretty much lost contact with that guy (I’m not even sure if he’s still into Pokemon but I believe he’s “beyond repair” like me). I also doubt that he’s still involved in making of Polish anime dubs (same goes for the studio that he cooperated with), so I think I’m not getting anyone in trouble for that anymore (but I’ll keep his identity secret, just to stay on the safe side).
As I said earlier, these glossaries were provided to the anime dubbers, but judging from their content, I believe they originally served the game localizers and then were forwarded to anime translators and amended with some anime content (which is rather incomplete, as opposed to game content).
The files may be downloaded from here: Glossary “A”: [Download Link] Glossary “B”: [Download Link]
I know that all this stuff may seem fishy to you - some random guy from Tumblr jumps off with some “insider info” all of sudden. But believe me, even I don’t have THAT much free time to fabricate such extensive and detailed files. Also, the info contained in those files is rather unspectacular compared to what you usually see in various “fake leaks”. But it’s up to you, whether you deem these real or fake. I know I’m not shitting anyone.
So, as you can see, those are two .xls files with the names of various characters and aspects of Pokemon series, divided into many sections and sheets.
The first glossary (which I named “A”, but the actual name is “Master TV Glossary”) lists all possible names from the first three generations (a couple of last sheets, likely added later, have some Gen IV stuff too) translated into the European languages that the games are available in (German, French, Spanish, Italian), as well as Dutch, Portuguese and Greek (transcribed to Latin alphabet). It generally doesn't use Japanese names, except in few cases. There is also another version of that glossary (an exact copy, just with all that multilingual stuff replaced by draft Polish translations) but since it doesn’t feature any additional interesting info, I didn’t upload that.
In this glossary, we can find a bunch of interesting things. I'll list the ones that are less-known or completely unknown to facts (the list may be incomplete, so I encourage you to seek through these files, maybe you'll find something interesting):
Not much interesting or new stuff in the "Places" section, but some of the anime-only locations (especially the Hoenn ones, listed on the very bottom) sound strange or unidentifiable.
"People" section is where it gets interesting. First of all, among the Red/Green in-game trade mons, there is a "Bob", which replaces Terry from the final game. I guess they realized their mistake that "Bob" isn't the best name for a Nidorina? Or maybe it has something to do with the Nidoran trade, where the Nidorans had switched genders compared to the Japanese version?
Just below the names of the Red/Green (English Red/Blue) trademons, we find names of what seem to be Japanese Blue in-game trade Pokemon (never available in English, as the trademons in English Red/Blue are based off Japanese Red/Green and not JP Blue) among the RGB characters. These names are as follows: Michelle, Wagster, Swanny, Fluffy, Mymo, Jimbo, Jenny, Shane and Valerie. I have been able to identify Wagster as Poliwag, Mymo as Mr. Mime and Michelle as Haunter (since the French localization of that name plays on the word cauchemar "nightmare"). The rest are up to debate. Maybe we can work them out?
Among the anime characters, we find some characters whose names were never told on-screen (such as Dick and Phillip, who had the same names in Japanese version, or Lacy, confirmed also by closed captions). Furthermore, Dr. Proctor is known as "Doc" (his Japanese name). Also, the order of listing of late-Kanto characters is unchronological (may it have something to do with the fact that some episodes were aired out of order after the Porygon incident in Japan)?
There are three Kanto anime characters, whom I can't identify - Billy, Barry and Bobby. Note that those could be Pokemon nicknames, but I have no freaking idea who are those.
Among the Gold/Silver game characters, we find two mysterious names - Kaz and Audrey. Who are those? I've no idea. I haven't found any references to them in the game data. Some cut beta characters?
Some of the GSC Trainer Classes have different names than in the final game, e.g. Guard (Officer), Thinker (Sage).
Some of the regular Trainers had their names changed to fit in the limitations of the Game Boy screen. Those changes are indicated in the file. Notable examples include Kimono Girls, whose names were shortened. Sayo was originally Sayoko, Kuni was Kunimi and Zuki was Hizuki (note that they're still different from their Japanese names).
Speaking of Kimono Girls, this file list an additional Kimono Girl named Kyoko. Could she be intended to be the Eevee user?
The RS character listing notes Mr. Stone twice - first as Mr. Stone (as he's usually called in-game) and secondly as Stanwick Stone. This is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, the name "Stanwick" was actually used in Polish dub (I remember it), although as his last name (consequently, Steven Stone was named as Steven Stanwick in Polish). Secondly, in ORAS he was known as Joseph Stone, so I guess "Stanwick" counts as scrapped material. His first name is localized to all four game languages.
The “B” glossary (PKMN DP TV Glossary) lists names from Generation IV (Diamond and Pearl), only game stuff. Unlike the first glossary, it does include Japanese names. However, it doesn't have all those international translation, just preliminary Polish translation (I believe that the other version of this glossary, with all that multilingual stuff like the first one does also exist, but my friend never sent me that [or he never had that]).
This glossary is much less extensive, but it also have some interesting trivia stuff.
Japanese name etymologies for human characters and some locations are listed, although the fields mentioning them are hidden.
In a commentary (probably left by original Japanese creators, as they're written in rather bad English), Byron is referred to as "Peter's father". I guess Peter is an English name suggested for Roark by the Japanese creators, but they didn't use it in the end.
The "Goods" sheet is when the fun begins. We have the names of the Secret Base decorations there, with the Japanese names of certain dolls seemingly revealing the beta Japanese names for those Pokemon!
Glameow Doll is リズミィドール (Rhythmie Doll)
Buneary Doll is ミミットドール (Mimitto Doll)
Magnezone Doll is デカコイルドール (Dekacoil Doll)
Drifloon Doll is フーセンドール (Fuusen Doll)
Happiny Doll is コラッキードール (Kolucky Doll)
Pachirisu Doll is パチリッスドール (Pachirissu [with a doubled "s"] Doll). Compare these Japanese names to their final versions and see that they’re different! In all other places of the glossary, all Pokemon names are just normal.
So yeah, that's all interesting stuff that I found in these two glossaries. Perhaps there's something more that I didn't notice. I hope that you enjoyed all those little trivia bits contained in them, even though they may not be that spectacular. I especially loved the fact that JP Blue trademons did get English nicknames. I can only assure you that I really got those from my friend and never edited or changed anything in them. But I'm not really sure how can I prove that, you basically have to believe my words. And I hope that you do.
Uh... that's a long entry. I hope you don't regret reading it. Please reblog and spread the word about these glossaries. They are really valuable material, especially to those who collect little-known Pokemon trivia facts, so I hope this entry gets popular. That's it for now. I don't plan more of such unusual updates (unless I find something worth it) and now we'll be back to our usual updates, with Pokemon character pictures.