MelodicEnigma

Research, Essays, Anime, Video Games, I love it all!

[themelodicenigma]

Welcome to my blog!

Concept Analysis/Research

1. Concept of Canon/Canonicity Subjects

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Google Doc Version for full viewing

2. Paratext for Fiction and Fandom

Part 1 | Part 2

Google Doc Version for full viewing

3. Original Work and Original Plan - Japanese Peritext

Google Doc Version for full viewing (especially for Paratext Examples)

Kingdom Hearts Essays

1. Insight on Aqua and Terra’s Relationship Type

Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

[enjoyerofstories]

Favourite character Tag!

Rules: Make a poll with seven of your all-time favorite characters from seven different fandoms, and then tag seven people to do the same. See which character is everyone’s favorite.

thank you for the tag @sapphicseymour! <3

Which of these seven fictional characters is your favourite?

eowyn (lord of the rings)

nasuada (the inheritance cycle)

nick davis (legendborn)

sir kay (arthuriana. does it count?)

will parry (his dark materials)

gwen (bbc merlin)

pope heyward (outer banks)

Voting ended onMay 17

@ismyteadoneyet @cesarescabinet @hazellevessque @hbhtasm @magnetas @neroviit @thejudeduarte @coherent-thoughts-needed

[themelodicenigma]

Tagged by @genesisarclite!

Rules: make a poll with seven of your all-time favorite characters from seven different fandoms, and then tag seven people to do the same. See which character is everyone's favorite.

Which is your favorite?

Lightning/Claire Farron (Final Fantasy XIII)

Zack Fair (Final Fantasy VII)

Sora (Kingdom Hearts Series)

Goku (Dragon Ball Series)

Rick Grimes (The Walking Dead TV Series)

Dean Winchester (Supernatural)

Gwen Stacy (Spider-Verse Movie Series)

Voting ended onMay 24

Tagging: @wandererssong @bluerosesburnblue @janeiteoftheslums @phoenix-downer @hollypolllyy @terra-fatalis @oveliagirlhaditright

[phoenix-downer]

Hi Phoenix! Long time no see. I know you're busy, but I wanted to ask you a question. In Chain of Memories, Riku "smells" Darkness which is kinda strange. Is "smell" really the correct translation? Sorry, if someone already asked this before.

Thank you for the ask and good to hear from you!

I do think it's a fairly accurate translation, if for no other reason than yes, the word can be translated that way, and also, Riku touches his nose when he says it, though some of the nuance of the term gets lost in translation:

JP 会って　感じたんだ　カイリと同じ匂いだな　って

EN I knew when I met you. You and Kairi smell the same.

TR I had the feeling when I met you. I thought, you and Kairi smell the same.

Notes: Riku uses ~nda to offer Naminé an explanation/answer her question. The tte at the very end of this bit of dialogue I figure he’s using to quote himself.

But for the heart of the issue… 匂い nioi can mean the following: odor, scent, smell. (The following screenshot is from the app imiwa?)

Now, nioi does have a secondary possible meaning of “aura” or “sense,” which sure, I think is implied here. But Riku putting his hand on his nose as he says the dialogue forces the translation more towards a “scent” or “smell” interpretation, which is why I think the English translators translated it like that.

However, this version of nioi CAN be used more metaphorically to invoke the sensory feelings associated with something or someone, and I get the sense this dialogue was meant to imply that Riku feels safe and secure around Naminé and knows he can trust her, much like he feels the same way with Kairi, and the Japanese writers used a more culturally-specific means of communicating that that sounds...awkward when translated directly into English lol.

If I were going for a more poetic translation, I'd probably say something like, “You and Kairi remind me of each other, (I feel safe with you/I feel like I’m home),” but then it would lose some accuracy and spell things out more than I would like instead of allowing for some ambiguity, and the gesture with Riku touching his nose is still there regardless lol so…I get why the English translators did what they did.

(I do find it really fascinating that this word for smell is associated with emotions and sensations in Japanese, given the research about how scent and memory are linked because of their close positions in the brain. I love it when these gut instinct observations about human nature are later proven right by scientific research, it's utterly fascinating).

(And hey, at least Riku used 匂い and didn’t use 臭い for Naminé lol, that would have made it even worse, because the latter is usually used for bad smells you want to keep away and has a negative connotation, whereas the former is associated with pleasant scents and favorable impressions. At least we can gather that he thinks Naminé smells good and likes being around her. Oh Riku, never change).

Japanese screenshot is from here. English cutscene I referenced from here.

[themelodicenigma]

I wonder who is going around saying it's a mistranslation and why—I addressed this recently too lol Albeit not as in depth, so this is appreciated.

Nioi is also used when he talks about the "smell" of Darkness on Vexen, too, which does happen before the Namine scene. The latter makes it clear it's going with the primary definition.

[derekscorner]

Translation Errors in Kingdom Hearts 2

Random fact. Several parts of Kingdom Hearts 2 were mistranslated by the localization team. These translation errors include a hilarious misspelling of Braig seen above ^

These mistranslations also include cutscenes as seen in probably the most well known error:

This scene threw many for a loop back in the day myself included. However after all the theories were thrown and discussions made it turned out this was an error in localization.

You see here in the original Japanese sub titles:

What Roxas is actually saying here isn’t described by a pronoun such as “he” or “she” or anything gender specific.

Rather what Roxas is asking is more akin to “Why did it pick you?” or most likely “Why were you chosen?”

Roxas of course saying this in relation to the keyblade itself as it was the mystery of why Roxas himself could wield that plauged him at times as we seen in Days or scenes from KH2 of Roxas leaving the Organization.

Roxas was Sora’s nobody and so if he could understand why Sora was chosen then perhaps he could understand why he himself had been.

Cultural Differences

One last thing to point out isn’t so much a translation error as a difference in culture. There weren’t many but some questioned what Ansem the Wise meant when he “wrote report 0″ as seen here.

There’s no real error here but just a difference in culture. You see in Japan they dont start their numerical count at 1 but 0.

SOOOOO ironically this was one thing that was translated accurately but shouldn’t have been since the Ansem reports themselves in Japan start at 0 whereas in our versions of the game they begin at 1.

Basically Ansem the Wise, aka DiZ, was saying he only ever wrote KH1 Ansem’s Report #1 while Xehanort wrote the rest.

Do you have any mistranslations or tidbits you’d like to add?

[derekscorner]

Reblogging because I was today years old when I learned that the whole “darkness has a scent” stuff of KH CoM was a mistranslation of sorts.

Apparently it was actually referring to something akin to aura.

[themelodicenigma]

Ah I didn't see this until now! haha @language15 got me looking at this oldie.

Anyway nah, that's definitely from the JPN too.

That 闇の匂いをプンプン (yami no nioi o punpun) is referring to darkness as a smell/stench. 匂い (Nioi - smell) is also used when he's talking about Namine and Kairi smelling the same, him gesturing with his nose for good measure. I'm sure it's the same wherever else it's used in the game.

[themelodicenigma]

Hello! Youve talked about fang and vanille, but wasn't it true that fang was originally a male and a romantic interest??

*To note to anyone else, this was in reference to my post about platonic relationships too probably, if you want to read my thoughts on that as well.

Anyway, only Fang being a male character is actually true, though I've often felt this is usually mentioned without the full context of what that was. Which, I guess is part of the misunderstanding of the second point you mentioned, too—remember what Watanabe and Toriyama talked about in the FFXIII Scenario Ultimania pg. 390 (my translation, but I'll provide the JPN text too for interest):

— I heard that Fang was initially planned to be a man.

Watanabe: In a very early idea, it [Fang] was a pair of men. However, both of them were like "Focus Machines" without any conflicts—just “doing what they had to do because it was their Focus”. So, in order to make them more human, I combined them into one person and changed him into a person who “wants to complete their Focus for the sake of saving Vanille”. The reason why I didn't change their brand was to concentrate on the motive of "acting not to prevent themselves from becoming a Cie'th, but to save Vanille". However, if the character [Fang] were male, there was concern that the story would be sidetracked by a romantic mood, and there was also an opinion that there needed to be three women as main characters—so we finally settled on the current form.

Toriyama: For the romantic story, we focused on Snow and Serah, a couple that had already been established.

—ファングは、当初は男性にする予定だったとうかがいました。

渡辺: かなり初期の案では、ふたり組の男性でしたね。ただ、両方とも「とにかく使命だから実行する」というだけで葛藤のない”使命マシン”みたいな人物だったので、より人間味を持たせるべく、ひとりに統合したうえで「ヴァニラを助けたいから使命を果たす」といった考えの持ち主に変えたんです。格印を変化させなくしたのも、「自分がシ骸にならないためではなく、ヴァニラを救いたくて行動する」という動機に一点集中させるためでした。そういうキャラクターが男性だと、恋愛ムードになって話が脇道にそれる恐れが出てくるのと、主要キャラクターに女性は3人必要だとの意見もあって、最終的にはいまの形に落ち着いたんです。

鳥山: 恋愛がらみの話は、スノウとセラという、すでにできあがったカップルのものにしぼりましたね。

The original plan wasn’t simply that Fang was a male, but that the single entities of Fang and Vanille didn’t even exist—there were two men instead. They would then combine into the one "Male Fang" and THEN Vanille was created to power Fang’s motives, hence why arguably Fang's character centers around Vanille in the series. But, in the conception of Fang being turned into a male with that of a female to “focus" (lol) on, they purposely steered away from placing it within the context of romance by turning him into a female. The representation of these two went from M/M, M/F, and then F/F.

The Fang and Vanille we know are definitely not written with romanticism, but it’s not even just that.

With “Fang being a Male” in relation to a female character being the premise of the issue they proposed—it doesn’t sound like they spent a large amount of time on the M/F combo and also lacked the intention of having them be romantic in the first place. There might be another interview that talks about it, but the Ragnarok concept could’ve came either at the beginning of the stage with two males, or by the end of it with two females, as opposed to ONLY the middle ground which already had a thought of potential issues by having a M/F duo. Neither would be strange considering we know how well borrowed concepts can be used for story/characters without being 1:1 to their sources—ultimately this worked for the F/F configuration.

The conflict of romanticism being tied to a Male Fang doesn't seem like it would be about their writing, either. It'd be a bit weird to suggest they couldn’t possibly help themselves from writing a "romantic mood/atmosphere" if Fang was a male. They treated it as an inherent issue that comes with M/F relationships as opposed to anything on their end of what they intended to do. So, it’s more than likely about what they believe about viewer perception of what gives a "romantic mood"—that of a male saving and caring about a female character, and that this additional (i.e. to the already intended Snow and Serah) romantic storytelling would sidetrack the storytelling. Which, knowing shipping culture, you give a M/F interaction PLUS they're important to each other? It's over. Though, they obviously didn't realize shipping culture has almost no limits, especially not for sex/gender. It'd be weird if it did. But, I do applaud the inspiration of wanting to have another female lead—thank you for whoever had suggested it.

In any case, it’s clear that changing Fang into a female was part of their approach in NOT having romanticism between Fang and Vanille—following along with their character construction is everything else we see contextually set for the friendship, familial [sister], and irreplaceable bond that they share in the series and has been described in a multitude of ways via games, novels, and other paratexts. It's been made pretty clear, it just doesn't take priority for some fan's understanding for straight up annoying reasons.

Which I'm going to say this: It doesn't HAVE to take priority ultimately. In the sense that, shipping works to where you do you for you, BUT there's no amount of shipping desires that should stop people from being able to, at the very least, understand and accept the actual character relationship in-context. To do that first before veering off into your own personal desires. Shipping shouldn't overtake the truth. You can ship and do that, it isn't hard, and this should be encouraged more in fandom, because it's not even just the shippers. Interpretations should be welcomed, but they can be damaging if they're just used as an excuse to purposefully deny what otherwise is the truth for selfish reasons, and then pushed as the truth instead. We've had irresponsible, incomplete misinformation and personal perceptions being treated like facts that become typical jargon for those who pick it up. For years it's created a pool of wrong representation for these characters, which in my stead I do care about enough to write this crap.

It also doesn't help my sanity when I read "BUT THEY SLEPT IN THE SAME BED", knowing someone is regurgitating something on a forum and didn't actually read -Zero- Promise. Or The Outsiders, or a ton of other sources I can give right now. Or just didn't have a home setup this way themselves. Real life context. Dudes.

What is going on.

Other fandoms know how it is, @bluerosesburnblue even opened my eyes to this for the KH community for even what was considered the true existence of the "Realm of Sleep". What people understood about it was wrong for YEARS, and even now some of that still carries on and just mucks up what should be understood about the lore of the game. And then other blatant things—I thought I was dreaming the first time someone seriously, I kid you not, approached me with "Riku is the light" and some "Sora and Kairi have no romantic context".

Say psych right now.

And FFVII....good lord, does it even need to be said?! 23+ years. What is Advent Children's plot? Double freaking jeopardy.

I'm tired ya'll.

I don't think it's good for the game or the fandom, but there's not much that can be done outside of making the choice to set aside personal things and understand the content more for its own value. It also just sucks when things are underappreciated and unrecognized in general.

We just got to do better within our fandom spaces for the sake of understanding these stories and characters.

[bold-lady-boss]

Alrighty. Here’s where I think the ball will irredeemably continue to be fumbled: 

“Let’s make Fang female to avoid romantic connotations.” 

It dismisses an entire audience of people who don’t view sex/gender as the prerequisite for what constitutes a romantic relationship. We look at F/F Fang and Vanille the same way we would look at M/F Fang and Vanille. Their gender-flipping did absolutely nothing to fix the writers’ perceived “issue” upon our initial play-through of the game. Most people don’t seek out supplementary material beforehand in fear of spoilers, and rightly so. 

For a lot of [newer and/or younger] Fanille fans, we saw a romantic relationship first and were told later on it was something a bit more complicated than that.

That “issue” the writers had, in the grander scheme of things, also  feels pretty silly to me. Why should Fang and Vanille’s romantic relationship detract from Serah and Snow’s? Why can’t we have both? Why is two sisterly relationships and one romantic the acceptable ratio and not vice-versa? 

I’m not gonna harp on whether or not Fanille is platonic or romantic. I understand why people think they’re sisterly. In the same breath I keep in mind that everyone in Oerba was considered family. Not trying to do backflips here, but you see what I’m getting at.

The more accepting the world is of the LGBTQ+ population, the more these two characters will continue to be brought up. We can respect the authors. We can understand what their intention was. And we can point out that their attempt at writing a platonic relationship imploded pretty spectacularly for some of us. How they were meant to be written and how they were actually perceived (by select members of the audience) are two different things.

The writers at minimum did succeed in getting us all to agree that Fang and Vanille are the center of each other’s world. The nuances of their relationship beyond that don’t really matter to me. I love that they love each other. While I may be on the other side of this debate I do totally agree how exhausting it can be lol  

Fang and Vanille are like family.  Want to consider them purely platonic? Go for it.  Can you still ship them? Absolutely. 

[themelodicenigma]

Haha Ah yeah this was a while ago, but I appreciate this response! Keeps things up to date. lol

Yeah, same in it being silly, even I was like "THAT was your reasoning? Not a single person in the room thought it wasn't a full proof idea?" lol Granted, there is a commentary on general interpretations of gender pairings in comparison, plus other cultural aspects to that in Japan, but still. A bit out of touch. And I think, maybe, they were going for a "well, Fang and Vanille won't be blood related, so they'll be slightly different than Lightning and Serah!". Still silly.

But yeah—I'm definitely a "let's find the truth and establish it" guy. That's why this eventually led to this other post as well after a few not so nice messages about Fang and Vanille. at the same time, I want that to coexist with freedom of interpretations. The good old "I know it's this, but I still ship it" idea. I'm just very strict for the sake of efficient conversation when needed. With that said, where I feel they dropped the ball is simply because the devs just weren't direct about it in the game—well, as far as I'm aware (at the least, not in the main cutscenes in either JPN or ENG). I have no idea why—maybe for the same "full proof" reason of the gender switch.

More than family (which is VERY largely emphasized outside of the cultural aspect for them), they are very direct about them being like sisters everywhere else, except for in the games. It's crazy. Of course, even if they did do this, some people would still ship them—shipping is so large because romanticizing is easy, even for taboo ships. BUT, this would've helped shape interpretations differently, if even the willingness to understand much more—which would make having conversations on perceptions/interpretations of scenes and reaching common ground much easier. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely things in the game that fuel the family/sister context, and even can be understood through it very well, but without the direct establishment IN THE GAME, it's much more up to interpretation than what was intended. People shouldn't have to read novels and guidebooks to get the direct context of the WHY Fang and Vanille are sisters. By the time people get to all the other information, they've already made up their mind on whatever it is they think or felt about the characters from the game. Which is fine for freedom of shipping, but it creates conflict easily when understanding clashes. This conflict doesn't have to be the case of course, and I understand the need to protect representation, even if for the perception of it—it just goes too far, at times. There are A LOT of commentaries going around that could serve as their own conversations, both about the devs and people's perceptions, but ultimately, I just wish it was different in how people went about it.

I wish I was in the writing room to see what exactly was going on with decisions being made because, oh boy. lol So avoidable with what would've been minimal effort, but such an older game, there's no saving it now.

[mobilesuitzetagundam]

4/5/1955 - 3/1/2024

Akira Toriyama Forever

[soulspark]

[hollypolllyy]

Zack and Aerith in their winter outfits from FF7EC

[derekscorner]

Translation Errors in Kingdom Hearts 2

Translation Errors in Kingdom Hearts 2

Translation Errors in Kingdom Hearts 2

Editor Notes: Yet another repost from an old side blog. Enjoy :3

Fun fact. Several parts of Kingdom Hearts 2 were mistranslated by the localization team. These translation errors include a hilarious misspelling of Braig seen above ^

These mistranslations also include cutscenes as seen in probably the most well known error:

This scene threw many for a loop back in the day myself included. However after all the theories were thrown and discussions made it turned out this was an error in localization.

You see here in the original Japanese sub titles:

What Roxas is actually saying here isn’t described by a pronoun such as “he” or “she” or anything gender specific.

Rather what Roxas is asking is more akin to “Why did it pick you?” or most likely “Why were you chosen?”

Roxas of course saying this in relation to the keyblade itself as it was the mystery of why Roxas himself could wield that plauged him at times as we seen in Days or scenes from KH2 of Roxas leaving the Organization.

Roxas was Sora’s nobody and so if he could understand why Sora was chosen then perhaps he could understand why he himself had been.

Cultural Differences

One last thing to point out isn’t so much a translation error as a difference in culture. There weren’t many but some questioned what Ansem the Wise meant when he “wrote report 0″ as seen here.

There’s no real error here but just a difference in culture. You see in Japan they dont start their numerical count at 1 but 0.

SOOOOO ironically this was one thing that was translated accurately but shouldn’t have been since the Ansem reports themselves in Japan start at 0 whereas in our versions of the game they begin at 1.

Basically Ansem the Wise, aka DiZ, was saying he only ever wrote KH1 Ansem’s Report #1 while Xehanort wrote the rest.

Do you have any mistranslations or tidbits you’d like to add? Whether it be KH2 or otherwise dont be shy. :D

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Adding to this, one sort of mistranslation was having Goofy say His majesty banished Pete to another dimension–when in the Japanese, version they used a gender neutral pronoun there–since in Birth by Sleep, we learn it was Minnie who banished Pete, not Mickey:

And going along with what you said in the cultural differences thing, here we have Merlin talking about the “Zero District,” which normally we would never hear in English (since we start counting with one, whereas in Japan they start with zero).

And speaking of this “Zero District,” I think I agree with Blackdrazon, who wrote in his Kingdom Hearts II retrospective that this line shows that in earlier drafts of Kingdom Hearts II, the Radiant Garden stuff was probably supposed to take place in Traverse Town… because there are no districts in Radiant Garden: but there sure are in Traverse Town (in fact, I’m almost certain that Traverse Town’s First District is called the Zero District in the Japanese version, which is probably what Merlin is talking about here). This was probably from an earlier version of the script and accidentally stayed in there… Unless Merlin is still just magically going to Traverse Town, even though he shouldn’t be able to anymore, lore-wise. Merlin is a powerful wizard, where certain rules of the series don’t affect him for that reason, but ehh.

[themelodicenigma]

Well, for that Pete one though, Goofy specifically mentions Mickey by referring to him as “King” (王様), so that’s correct as “His Majesty”. So if it was retconned to be Minnie specifically then that’s less of a translation issue:

For the Roxas one, the “Why were you chosen?” is definitely more accurate as opposed to an insert of “it”, so the ENG did indeed add the context of “he”. It brings about an interesting conversation though I’d say, because there’s the general “choosing” happening between them on the existential level in how Roxas understands it—but for Roxas, he also understands that this choice was also roughly orchestrated by Ansem the Wise/DiZ, which the narrative emphasizes too through his behavior against Nobodies. I don’t think Roxas himself ever made it about the Keyblade choosing Sora, but I definitely could be wrong there (I only remember this being a problem with Xion, but even then he didn’t blame her or anything). I think the ENG translator may have been thinking relative to the interaction of DiZ there for Roxas’ journey, but there is also the use of “わけ” (conclusion from reasoning, reason, cause) being used in Roxas’ sentence too, which makes it even more of “What’s the reason you were chosen?” feeling too, which I think in most examples of it’s uses, somewhat implies like a conclusion drawn from a person? Not 100% honestly, as I definitely see it really being an implicit “the reason” within whatever is being said, but I can see the insert of like a pronoun in some examples too.

Definitely added context by the ENG with “he”, but there’s several ways to understand it could be intentional in what was supposed to be underlying meaning.

The other stuff is funny, though. lol Especially the names. I’d be curious too what the JPN of the journal is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was still an error.

[derekscorner]

If it helps add to your conversation or pondering I will clarify that I got this info from a very old forum post.

I, sadly, didn’t take screenshots and I doubt the thread still exists but the post itself was after KH2FM but before Days was released into the world.

So the people of that forum were working on the idea that Roxas was asking about the keyblade because the consensus was that Roxas saw the source of his pain or fate as the keyblades fault.

There was also a interview that stated he left the Organization due to having dreams about Sora. Naturally, after Days such quotes are moot but that also played a role in the mindset.

You could argue it holds slight truth post-Days due to Xehanort’s speech about time travel and “etched” memories but that’s not concrete either. Just another way to look at it since you could see it as Xion motivating him subconsciously or Roxas having a subconscious desire to know “why you?” despite not remembering Xion at the time since both their fates were tied to Sora’s revival.

It’s not entirely implausible since Xehanort made it clear how potent even forgotten memories can be. To the point that he broke his own time travel rules just by stating it.

It’s also possible that Roxas is asking in a broad statement since the world itself seems to be vehemently against him existing which isn’t entirely wrong to believe.

After all, even if they develop hearts of their own a Nobody will eventually disappear. If they are destroyed prior they also become the original person.

For a nobody with such a strong sense of individualism it’s very much a big existential terror for Roxas to have and question.

[themelodicenigma]

Yeah I only saw this due to some recent reblogging, but it still holds up as an interesting topic!

I do lean a little more towards it as Roxas doing the existential, worldly questioning of it all as a reflection of the inevitable nature of his existence as a Nobody he has to accept. That shows in the other areas where puts this into question too, or rather where he affirms it solemnly like in DDD when talking to Sora.

The JPN scene in KH2 could very well have kept up that trend, but it's interesting that the ENG does allow for a flexibility in specification there within the writing room. It's nice to know at least the ENG translators (3 of em') were at the Tokyo office like usual (BBS is the only real exception in this case), so who knows, could be intended context or just a minor slip up of understanding context.

[derekscorner]

Translation Errors in Kingdom Hearts 2

Translation Errors in Kingdom Hearts 2

Translation Errors in Kingdom Hearts 2

Editor Notes: Yet another repost from an old side blog. Enjoy :3

Fun fact. Several parts of Kingdom Hearts 2 were mistranslated by the localization team. These translation errors include a hilarious misspelling of Braig seen above ^

These mistranslations also include cutscenes as seen in probably the most well known error:

This scene threw many for a loop back in the day myself included. However after all the theories were thrown and discussions made it turned out this was an error in localization.

You see here in the original Japanese sub titles:

What Roxas is actually saying here isn’t described by a pronoun such as “he” or “she” or anything gender specific.

Rather what Roxas is asking is more akin to “Why did it pick you?” or most likely “Why were you chosen?”

Roxas of course saying this in relation to the keyblade itself as it was the mystery of why Roxas himself could wield that plauged him at times as we seen in Days or scenes from KH2 of Roxas leaving the Organization.

Roxas was Sora’s nobody and so if he could understand why Sora was chosen then perhaps he could understand why he himself had been.

Cultural Differences

One last thing to point out isn’t so much a translation error as a difference in culture. There weren’t many but some questioned what Ansem the Wise meant when he “wrote report 0″ as seen here.

There’s no real error here but just a difference in culture. You see in Japan they dont start their numerical count at 1 but 0.

SOOOOO ironically this was one thing that was translated accurately but shouldn’t have been since the Ansem reports themselves in Japan start at 0 whereas in our versions of the game they begin at 1.

Basically Ansem the Wise, aka DiZ, was saying he only ever wrote KH1 Ansem’s Report #1 while Xehanort wrote the rest.

Do you have any mistranslations or tidbits you’d like to add? Whether it be KH2 or otherwise dont be shy. :D

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Adding to this, one sort of mistranslation was having Goofy say His majesty banished Pete to another dimension–when in the Japanese, version they used a gender neutral pronoun there–since in Birth by Sleep, we learn it was Minnie who banished Pete, not Mickey:

And going along with what you said in the cultural differences thing, here we have Merlin talking about the “Zero District,” which normally we would never hear in English (since we start counting with one, whereas in Japan they start with zero).

And speaking of this “Zero District,” I think I agree with Blackdrazon, who wrote in his Kingdom Hearts II retrospective that this line shows that in earlier drafts of Kingdom Hearts II, the Radiant Garden stuff was probably supposed to take place in Traverse Town… because there are no districts in Radiant Garden: but there sure are in Traverse Town (in fact, I’m almost certain that Traverse Town’s First District is called the Zero District in the Japanese version, which is probably what Merlin is talking about here). This was probably from an earlier version of the script and accidentally stayed in there… Unless Merlin is still just magically going to Traverse Town, even though he shouldn’t be able to anymore, lore-wise. Merlin is a powerful wizard, where certain rules of the series don’t affect him for that reason, but ehh.

[themelodicenigma]

Well, for that Pete one though, Goofy specifically mentions Mickey by referring to him as "King" (王様), so that's correct as "His Majesty". So if it was retconned to be Minnie specifically then that's less of a translation issue:

For the Roxas one, the "Why were you chosen?" is definitely more accurate as opposed to an insert of "it", so the ENG did indeed add the context of "he". It brings about an interesting conversation though I'd say, because there's the general "choosing" happening between them on the existential level in how Roxas understands it—but for Roxas, he also understands that this choice was also roughly orchestrated by Ansem the Wise/DiZ, which the narrative emphasizes too through his behavior against Nobodies. I don't think Roxas himself ever made it about the Keyblade choosing Sora, but I definitely could be wrong there (I only remember this being a problem with Xion, but even then he didn't blame her or anything).

[Correction: he does make the Keyblade doing the choosing a point in Days]

I think the ENG translator may have been thinking relative to the interaction of DiZ there for Roxas' journey, but there is also the use of "わけ" (conclusion from reasoning, reason, cause) being used in Roxas' sentence too, which makes it even more of "What's the reason you were chosen?" feeling too, which I think in most examples of it's uses, somewhat implies like a conclusion drawn from a person? Not 100% honestly, as I definitely see it really being an implicit "the reason" within whatever is being said, but I can see the insert of like a pronoun in some examples too.

Definitely added context by the ENG with "he", but there's several ways to understand it could be intentional in what was supposed to be underlying meaning.

The other stuff is funny, though. lol Especially the names. I'd be curious too what the JPN of the journal is, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was still an error.

[raedoodles]

“Those two are still side by side after all these years…”

[hollypolllyy]

This letter is where it starts. I know it.

[nina-a-pines]

Thinking about Sanji in relation to LuNami and I gotta say:

I don't think he'd seriously mind.

Not after Whole Cake Island, at least.

I can see how before that, especially if we're talking pre-timeskip, he'd have a real problem with it, considering Luffy unworthy of her and thinking that someone like Luffy would just end up hurting her (as unintentional as it could be).

But post-timeskip and after Whole Cake?

After Luffy took his kicks and hurtful words without lifting a finger because he knew Sanji didn't mean any of that?

After Luffy never gave up on him, waited for him, and included what he wanted to do about Big Mom and his "family" in consideration without a second thought?

After Luffy confusedly said that every characteristic of him that Judge despiced and considered a failure were all of his best qualities?

No, I don't think he'd mind if Nami "chose" Luffy.

Don't get me wrong, he'll still make a scene, crying and mourning the loss of one of his mellorimes to his idiotic captain, of all people.

But in the end, it all boils down to two things: Nami deserves only the best; and after Whole Cake Island, Sanji is sure that there's no best than Luffy.

[themelodicenigma]

I feel like that brings up an interesting question too: If they did have any thoughts, what do the other Strawhats think about Luffy and Nami's relationship? Not even necessarily as romantic potential, but just in general.

I'm sure most would compose of how Nami's secondary job is knocking sense into their captain. lol But beyond that, it'd be interesting. I feel like Robin, being the type of observant character she is, would say something pretty interesting. And of course Usopp, who witnessed Nami's loyalty to Luffy in Wano. If we were to throw in the movies too, they all observed their bond during Strong World too. Would be interesting to see any of the characters in the series give an opinion about their bond.

[themelodicenigma]

People sure like to use the phrase "forcing a view" a lot, but often, I've seen this misused.

Someone isn't forcing anything on you by stating what they believe to be true, with their own evidence, thorough research and reasoning, on their own post, on their own blog. How self-centered to think this. To make it all about you. This is like believing truth, or anything logically pushing towards it, is JUST some scary thing that is "forcing" you to think differently, binding you and "taking" away your ability to think, to compromise, to REFUTE it, or to accept it on your own terms. That....is something for you and another person to figure out. That's a deeper rooted issue that isn't my responsibility to get into.

Anyone can say something is true, whether it is or not, without having to coddle you and remind you of the fact that, yes, you can indeed think differently about it because you're an autonomous human being. That the existence of different thought doesn’t simply cease to exist. It's not my responsibility to remind you of your capability of thought when you're insecure about what someone is saying or for what information exists that you don't agree with—ESPECIALLY when in no way is it being said that someone can't believe something different. Of course you can. This is always going to be true, whether the merit or value of what the belief is. Someone can be an asshole about it, or say something is true nonsensically, but if you can't even tell them WHY and HOW, you're not any better.

There are truths. They exist. There is reasoning and logic, good or bad, rational or irrational. There are things that may not be explicitly truths, but can be supported by evidence and closer reading—this can even open a pathway for understanding of different conclusions if applicable. There are also things that are false, that are not supported, that are intentionally misleading. There are just, straight up personal feelings and thoughts that you don't CARE if it's true or not.

Figuring out what is what—that is what discussion and debate yearns to do. Having this goal or having an argument and evidence for anything—this isn't inherently also a campaign for forcing people to believe something.

Now, if someone was say, invading one or multiple people's blogs, fanart, appreciation posts, etc.—can't even get by with talking about something without another coming in and just essentially pining for attention like a child: "Oh yeah? Well it isn't canon, so."—that's closer to what "forcing" would look like.

And even then, that wouldn't be effective or productive for anyone. "Believe what I'm saying on Tumblr or ELSE!"

Or else what? You're going to go into someone's brain an alter their thoughts and memories?

Yeah, "forcing", and not at all closely resembling anything I've ever said.

If you believe someone is incorrect about something, but your way of "discussing" this is anything akin to "Yeah? Well well....you're stupid! You wrote too much for me to read! And you're wrong!", and that's ALL you have to say? That this is something you wrote out seriously thinking "yeah, this’ll show them"? That you somehow believe in your own importance so much that this passes as an intelligent response?

No.

Not how it works.

If you want to tell someone they're wrong, then you address what they're wrong about with what is then otherwise the supposed correct thing—even if you want to talk about how rude or irrational they were being. You need to still address what was actually said. "You're wrong, trust me bro" isn't going to cut it, nor will just attacking them with nonsensical, insulting comments. You don't show you know what you're talking about or that you CAN even refute what they say if you do this.

"Oh I COULD tell you why you're wrong as I hold ALL the answers, but I won't share because you're stupid!"—You just look desperate, confused, and just like the person described above who would be attempting to force their nonsense onto other people.

And you're just looking to be blocked and stew in your own idiotic bubble.

[killlerfang1]

Ok so we all know about the polaroid right?

Gwen keeps it in her drum set, risks seeing her dad to get it. Yada yada, you get the gist. HOWEVER, I was looking at ITSV clips and noticed that Gwen was looking at the same photo on her phone at the end of the movie.

In this photo the lighting and textures are completely different, and most importantly, it was taken on a digital camera. Now unless Gwen happened to have a Polaroid camera on her, she could not have possibly taken the physical photo in Miles' universe.

Which means Gwen went OUT OF HER WAY to convert the photo she took on her phone into a Polaroid just for the sole purpose of having another one with her

That girl is down BAD!

[themelodicenigma]

What's interesting too is the box the photo sits on (it can be quickly missed, it's right when she pulls off her costume from it at the very beginning)—I think it says "Happy Birthday <3 Mom" ?

Which would be so sweet and sad too, that she has this keepsake from her mother, and she keeps the picture of Miles along with to cherish him too, because in a way he's kind of "gone" too.

[themelodicenigma]

I almost sent you this ask a few days ago, but after seeing your latest anon, I'm definitely going to send it now: an actual thank you for outlining how Fang & Vanille were written as sisters. As someone that's been in this fandom for as long as the game has been out, I find myself both leery and weary of everyone that claims that F*nille is "basically canon," and the implication (or the explicit accusation, in your last anon's case) therein that everyone who doesn't agree has failed some arbitrary morality check.

This is the only qualm I have with F*nille shippers - a lot of them are pretty chill, but I sure wish the rest of them would stop spreading fanon interpretations like wildfire and then harassing people that don't conform!

Thanks for this! I appreciate it, a lot actually. ^^ It's nice to get one that is on the same page.

I'm right there with you—stuff like that has been around for a while, though in the early days more people were outspoken in how they felt they weren't romantic, even still after LR. I've met some good shippers as well, but in my experience, they are eclipsed by the ones that share the same commentary as the last anon.

All in all, it's "typical fandom" as some say, but I'll never condone it. It just isn't necessary. If what you ship or interpret isn't the truth or isn't based on the tangible evidence, it's fine. Like, it's fine. It's not about how people see things between Fang and Vanille as romantic, whether it's about personal experiences or feelings about their actions, but rather, it's about realizing how limiting those two things can be on the ability to understand and accept when it's something else. There has to be a settle point of what we're actually dealing with. And we can just, talk about it in a real discussion.

Although media can, at times, make it difficult to tell what's what (usually on purpose artistically), these points exist and can still be agreed upon—of what can be considered truth, personal interpretation, open-ended, whatever is the arguable stuff of "this is supported/not supported", etc. When it comes to media, I don't think people realize how easy it is for these lines to blur, especially when there's motivation to do the blurring ourselves—we make it hard, when it can already be hard enough to figure stuff out. Or worse, we make it hard when it's EASY to figure stuff out. So, when the media gives you what you need to understand it, I don't think that should be taken for granted or made irrelevant just because of personal desire to make it so. And sure, there are points outside of just personal that can be made—but recognition of the limitations of said points should still be recognized when discussing possibilities, and THEN weighing the possibility against direct information that supports it. Context and execution still matters.

Fang and Vanille just haven't been treated this way. They haven't been REALLY talked about.

FFXIII fandom has had years to do it, but the forefront of the characters isn't treated this way. There are things said, but never explained completely or logically, such as the points I made in my original post. Those things are regurgitated over and over, but never a real discussion of the actual context and logic surrounding them. "Fang and Vanille slept in the same bed"—you have people say this and spread it around, but not at all, formulate a real discussion about it. But, misinformation and misconceptions spread VERY easily in fandom, like no joke, and they can be treated as truth even though it factually or even logically is not quite right. Certain interpretations take the forefront, even if they're not completely in regard to it's origin. Every fandom probably has stuff like that, I know personally of points in the Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Ball Z fandoms.

Just keep it simple—if what has been described for them allows understanding of everything between them, why SHOULD it be wrong or less viable than something that, well, has not been described? If no conflict exists, why create it? Knowing this shouldn't be hard, it's just when we reach the road blocks based on limitations of knowledge, experience, just personal motivation, etc.

And, if you think there IS a conflict based either on the material itself or your own experience, okay let's actually talk about it. Sure, understanding can still meet it's road block from the above, but even a "agree to disagree" is still better than whatever that anon was. At least the right information is in the atmosphere, where THEN discussions of perspective and understanding can be had.

It just hasn't happened enough, if at all.

In general, the FF fandom suffers with these things a lot from my observance, it definitely isn't just for Fang and Vanille or XIII. It really shouldn't be such a fight to say "Fang and Vanille are like sisters" because all avenues of information and logic are available for this to be understood. It just sucks because, yeah, while I definitely don't want people to feel like they CAN'T ship them, at the same time, I wish the full information and understanding of the characters was at the forefront. Especially when it's actually something that can be appreciated and enjoyed too, and to a lot of people, platonic relationships are something that need to be recognized more often. Not in the casual "oh they're sisters, of course they love each other" way, but rather in what otherwise is a REAL depth that matches, if not, is even sometimes greater than some romantic depictions. And actually have a genuine appreciation of that depth, and not see it as "less" because it's not romantic.

I feel like we could get there for Fang and Vanille, but it just depends on how many more years will there be people willing to share and discuss what pertains to them.

[themelodicenigma]

Are you seriously trying to say that seeing fang and vanille as romantic is invalid? This is fandom, there are NO ships that are invalid and not being able to see Fanille as romantic specifically just means you're either homophobic or blind! The only reason you talk about Dion is just because you can't deny it, you have no choice

***This will be a long post, but I will say one thing to be considered outside of what otherwise is a long address to your behavior below, so this can be considered as I move forward for even other readers:

The heart of my main point is that Fang and Vanille have no material that doesn't fit within the context that has been abundantly given to them. Flat out. This has no bearing on how many boxes they can fit into for certain aspects of their actions/relationship (i.e. handholding can have a functionality in many contexts), but what is clear is that they're at least still at home in the one created specifically for them, with context that has no deviation from said meaning definitively or even lesser, convincingly.

Thing is—if someone has an interpretation that doesn't directly coincide with information at every single turn, as if it's all just wrong by the means of your thinking, that the information has no significance and is basically a lie in what it's pointing to, continuously, all the way to the end of the series, while it still has no other information to definitively or full proof, logically conclude it as false—maybe you should either change the configuration of your thinking, or just, include it, and just have both the understanding of "what is" AND your own personal desire and thoughts. And if you think you're correct, or just most likely correct with room for possibility of something else on a technical ground, then find better ways to actually convey that than the anon above.

Now, as for the ask:

I don't really know why you cut off there, but I'm not even going to link the 2nd part of the ask—this is all I need.

"Are you seriously trying to say that seeing fang and vanille as romantic is invalid? This is fandom, there are NO ships that are invalid"

Nope, not in the way you mean it anyway.

"Seeing them as romantic" is exactly what it is—it's not "invalid" in the way of human thought, to feel or interpret it as freely as you want to, as anyone ever has. Like, as a thing you can just do. That is part of what fandom is for. Nothing can stop someone from applying romanticism other than themselves, and it's application is FAR and WIDE, hence why it happens for even the most unconventional and taboo ships a lot. Like, a lot. Ships of which you hypocritically would most likely turn around and bash someone else for if you happened to disagree with it. I've seen it too often to not also notice how it's in the same wheel house as your behavior. Step into particular circles in the FF7 fandom and "double standard" would be the name of your game.

So, to be clear: not once have I ever indicated that people CAN'T/SHOULDN'T ship couples if they're not actually canonically romantic. In which case, I would define canonically romantic as any pairing of which has romanticism applied to them directly or through reliable subtext—endgame doesn't matter in that sense of the "true" of positive romantic tonality.

However, any actual stance I would ever take or conclusion I'd draw will mostly align with a critical, close understanding of the characters and story, with a complete recognition of what's more personal interpretation on my part vs. what I'd recognize is supported information and a better conclusion. The only reason I'd say a ship isn't "valid" in retrospect to the product in itself is if I'm arguing it isn't confirmed or reasonably conclusive of having the mentioned romantic tones applied—but that's validity in terms of the strict understanding of the characters and story functionality, that's NOT about one's ability to simply see the material in favor of romanticism. It's not the same thing or the same argument unless you're directly trying to debate that something IS romantic in functionality and meaning. The "I can see why people ship this" isn't really evidence in and of itself, now if it was part of a thought of how I'd argue there ARE romantic tones, directly or subtextly, then I'd be doing a lot more than what I've personally seen Fanille shippers do, or many shippers or those who romanticize them for that matter. And even within it, I'd still be exploring all options within all information and reasoning that would back up the claim.

This is the exact reason why, for instance, despite being a hardcore Aqua/Terra shipper who absolutely indulges in romantic interpretations of the characters, I'll still be the first person to also say there's not any actual solid romanticism written for them (yet), and what's there still easily fits within what HAS been described for them and exists as supported understanding of their relationship.

Some stories are straight forward and allow this to be easy, even if through reasonable Occam's Razor. Some are not, in which case I would even conclude that there's no definitive answer of where it falls. Within the confines of human thought, such as "people can think this is romantic" and I can see how, based on what I understand for how people can romanticize things (whether it's something I personally see too or not)—this isn't going to tilt the scale over the direct evidence that supports one conclusion over the other, though.

It's not that it's unreasonable to ship Fang and Vanille, but I do think it's unreasonable to not accept what the material has shown and spoken for when it also hasn't shown or spoken for it to be treated as inaccurate. Specifically, if what it's saying and what shows falls "deaf" on your ears or you're intentionally blocking it out because of your own personal history/perspective as opposed to a fair understanding, that's something for YOU to figure out, that isn't my problem, or the materials problem. But mostly, it's unreasonable be the kind of person you are—which is exactly the kind of people I've seen ever since the first game even came out.

I mean:

"not being able to see Fanille as romantic specifically just means you're either homophobic or blind"

Seriously?

Is there ever going to be a moment where people don't seriously see the hypocrisy? There's the idea of "letting people ship" (as if it could ever be stopped) or to "accept there are different perspectives", and yet, from my long experience in the FFXIII since it's creation, I've seen the complete opposite MORE from people who ship/see romanticism between Fang and Vanille. I see it within your words.

You COULD be the person I talked about: "I can see this happening between a couple but also know it can happen without it".

Instead, you're literally a hypocrite, and are more the "how can anyone POSSIBLY think differently than I do as it's the ONLY explanation that could exist"

People like you are only worried about the word "invalidation" when it preserves your own thoughts. I've seen it many times. If you REALLY wanted to talk about the material, you'd do that. If you REALLY wanted to challenge my reasoning and argue that it's flawed, you would do that.

But you don't. That's not what you did.

You really think Fang and Vanille sleeping next to each other due to the latter's trauma is a part of their "romantic code"? Then tell me how—tell me how the actual presentation of this information in the novel from both Fang and Vanille's perspectives, the scene with Sazh in the game, and the plethora of other information that paints a complete different picture of the tonality of this meaning for their relationship is wrong and/or less reasonable than "it means they're fucking".

You really think two people who've lived together the majority of their lives, are a close-knit family (that was even ostracized from their "old" family), and are thrown in a world unlike their own with people still unlike them—wouldn't still stick together and represent this common meaning in media? Okay, then present your through the logic then, go through the logic of how this possibly isn't normal in media that has fantastical settings, where the characters themselves already have unconventional lives to begin with, and how it's unlikely that it would be written without romanticism in mind.

YOU put in the work and actually talk about it, and realize the difference in what's your own indulgent interpretation vs. a more strict understanding of what everything is. You think it's fact? Prove it. You think it's the more reasonable conclusion? Prove it.

But you won't, no one has.

People like YOU are the ones who insist your personal interpretation IS the truth without even a conversation about the topic to create an environment where it can be logically and cohesively discussed to even be evaluated. Your literal conclusion about ME and the characters in this Ask is created solely on the different understanding alone and your own ugliness. Where's the conversation about the actual material?

Because things like the above, they're all the conclusions you've drawn on your own, and you have your own reasons, but you sure as hell didn't get there in a discussion with me, so don't act like I'm the one with the problem for not being convinced to take your opinion over my own understanding.

Your thoughts weren't made concrete to me by actually TALKING about the characters or the story, evidence, or the scene WITHOUT inserting your personal spin on what the characters are doing—it's just straight to an irrational notion and accusations that are child-like. YOU are the one who showed no attempt at being reasonable.

But no, it's YOUR interpretation that is valid without breathing room or understanding of other reasonable thought, it's YOURS that should be coddled and at the forefront within fandom, and everyone else that says different is WRONG because if they don't see it the way you do, then they're the worst possible things.

While there are definitely things that I believe are dumb, like your behavior, I have never said that the idea of shipping Fang and Vanille is dumb. It's never been the crux of my understanding. I actually have a lot of thoughts about the specific nature of that topic, of which I've actually barely touched upon in the things I've written, because I haven't said them. You have no idea and that's not my problem.

Why?

It's not what I wanted to concentrate on and don't have to, nor what I wanted people to address in discussion by creating the posts I did. Rather, I mostly want to talk within a more strict view of who the characters are and what the material has to say about them. I'm going to use evidence, and bounce that back to the material itself to gain an understanding that already COULD have been interpreted anyway. Doing this, I've even changed how I understand other character relationships because then I was able to understand what I MYSELF thought was actually counteractive to the evidence itself, even if I personally still felt a certain way.

When you just have a showcase of your ability to interpret character actions/motivations in a romantic/sexual light (which typically encompass describing it in a way that didn't ACTUALLY happen), which is super easy to do and is literally acting within the way of "not seeing a different perspective"—of course I'm not going to take what you're saying over what the material is saying and how it DOES fit with THAT understanding over yours. I'm also not going to respect you coming at me for having the ability to do this either.

So, when it's said that:

"you're homophobic if you don't see romance"

"there's no heterosexual explanation for them"

"you're just being heteronormative"

I mean, what? Do you think I'm going to say "you're correct" on any of these things without a second thought? Because you're not—and I'm not going to broadcast that as an opinion. You're just wrong. And you can find out why by having a conversation about myself, and we can have a conversation about the actual material, thought processes, what I perfectly find reasonable or not, etc. We CAN talk about just your personal opinion as well, but you're too busy being an offensive, childish hypocrite that needs to act like you got some damn sense.

And that's the thing, this isn't new. The game's been out for over a decade. I've seen all I've needed to see in how people talk about Fang and Vanille—I've done the research and found the information all myself, I did my part. I talk about Fang and Vanille also BECAUSE of fans like you, to take down misconceptions and provide full context on the characters in an otherwise hyper-aggressive environment where shipping and/or romanticism is considered above even the ability to have a decent conversation. Because strutting around just saying "they're lesbians" wouldn't be as bad if you weren't doing it WHILE you degrade anyone who sees differently, without any attempt at understanding the material itself without brushing it off without critical, fair thinking, and if you actually had a conversation with me, all these words of "not seeing a different perspective" would be proven to be untrue immediately.