Oh interesting. Was this fixed for the omnibuses by any chance?
I dont know, I didnt compare them, but even in the new anime there was some changes like using mana instead of Furyoku like it was in the original.
And holy shit I cant save my edited post since the forum is shit at posting images, fix it josh. Fucking hell I will have to type it again.
Here is the thing: Shaman King gets lots of bland translations that hides every bit of other cultural aspects from other Shamans (and I mean Every Shaman), even the protagonists (japanese) where you have different names for ghosts and aparitions, some really specific ones, all you get is ghost. It is a manga where you have african shaman, american native shamans, chinese shamans and it is all the same shit for the localization.
You may say that was the norm back in the 00's, that they would censor and alter shit, but no, that is an american specific problem. In my country we got Shaman King in the early 00's, both anime and manga and it was the same as the original, all the terms, no censorship and all. This was so intense that I had to play the GBA game that was basically delocalized and used the original names and terms in my country's fan translation.
And why use slangs? It just dates the material, in anime/manga case, depending of the material, do they have slangs? How would you translate it into english so people from all backgrounds can understand? You create a divide in your own potential consumer base, since slang is so different even inside the US, now imagine in a global context, since english is kind like a lingua franca.
And even then, think about the longetivity of your own work: do you think someone reading 40 years in the future will get among us? Do you think he will know this? The same shit happen to us when looking at 1920's slang. It doesn't help anyone.
If it was like that in the original japanese, that is alright, but I doubt it was. Most cases arent like using normie for Riajuu. Japanese slang is different and mostly used as playwords, not shit like sus, bae, fire and so on.
And HOLY SHIT, IN CASE OF GAMES, FUCKING LET ME CHANGE THE AUDIO, I DONT WANT TO HEAR AMERICAN'S FOURTH CATEGORY SHITTY VOICE ACTING IF I CAN HEAR SOMEONE WHO HAD YEARS OF WORK AND TALENT.
And the thing is: this happens with any language. I had a personal example with the Homer Odissey of all books, and a translation that is 50 years old:
In the book, the translator used the world Oxalá, that means God wills it. But if you know that the word is originated from muslim interactions that were in the iberian peninsula before the Reconquista. And the alá is the same as Allah in Allahu Akbar. Yeah, the word is old as fuck, but it was used in a greek book in a scene with greek gods. It bothers me every time it appears since I am reading a greek work that has a word that is originated from the muslims. And you could have changed for something else and politheistic.
A single word can alter everyting, so translations must be very careful at it, the use of love and like can mean the same shit in different intensities. And when your localizer drops the ball with something just silly, even the shit that he got right, you as the consumer feels something off.
I for example really hate seeing my own language being translated and see the text missing all the context and flair that it has in the original to something simpler.
One example is how a japanese football youtuber is making some videos in my country and he has both subs for japanese and our language, I dont know japanese but our language are so different that I dont think the translation can get it right, even when the guy who does translate (live) is very good at both languages. Both languages cant be replicated and there will be lost in the translation, and that is just the text, now imagine the cultural aspects
I feel that if I was japanese, and to see these english translations being poorer versions of it, I would feel as bad.
Japanese has even more problems since their phrase structure is different (object earlier than subject).
