| I don't understand Japanese or Chinese. So, I am making an obvious guess that in this anime whenever the THORA release is showing 2 subs, the characters are speaking in Chinese. Now the movie started off well with the Japanese escorts talking in Chinese to the ming assassins/soldiers while the assassins in red themselves talked in Chinese. But after that intro, they really mix up the Japanese and Chinese dialogues. Rarou and Fugoo never talk in Chinese as does Byakuran and the other chinese warriors when they are alone!!! Consider the scene where Rarou first meets Nanashi. Rarou and Fuugo were talking about the elixir of immortality in Japanese even though there was a Japanese soldier with them. And when Rarou asks Nanashi why his sword is sealed he does that in Chinese? WTH. Am I missing something here? |
| You can usually assume that when a group of people are portrayed speaking a foreign language in one scene, and Japanese in another, that they are "talking amongst themselves". Maybe they were lazy to dub over the Chinese. The Chinese, on the other hand, was for the most part accurate. Except for Rarou's lines which he mostly mangled. |
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Raitora said: You can usually assume that when a group of people are portrayed speaking a foreign language in one scene, and Japanese in another, that they are "talking amongst themselves". Maybe they were lazy to dub over the Chinese. The Chinese, on the other hand, was for the most part accurate. Except for Rarou's lines which he mostly mangled. Not quite sure what you're trying to say here. |
Raitora said: You can usually assume that when a group of people are portrayed speaking a foreign language in one scene, and Japanese in another, that they are "talking amongst themselves". Maybe they were lazy to dub over the Chinese. The Chinese, on the other hand, was for the most part accurate. Except for Rarou's lines which he mostly mangled. In other words, when Chinese speaking with their comrades, they dub japanese instead of Chinese/w jap sub. Why? Maybe they're just lazy?or they don't want to bore or annoy audience(who like subs?). |
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mrthalo3 said: Raitora said: You can usually assume that when a group of people are portrayed speaking a foreign language in one scene, and Japanese in another, that they are "talking amongst themselves". Maybe they were lazy to dub over the Chinese. The Chinese, on the other hand, was for the most part accurate. Except for Rarou's lines which he mostly mangled. In other words, when Chinese speaking with their comrades, they dub japanese instead of Chinese/w jap sub. Why? Maybe they're just lazy?or they don't want to bore or annoy audience(who like subs?). I would have liked it if they were consistent with the depiction. After all, the chinese warriors also knew japanese somewhat. So, they should have kept things as they should be. IMO it's a big flaw in the movie. To think the director or whoever took the decision wants us to imagine that the chinese are talking in chinese together when they are speaking japanese is disappointing. |
| I think it's MOSTLY true that when the Japanese dub is used, they are largely speaking with themselves, but this rule is broken a couple of times. When Rarou is speaking to Kotarou, they speak chinese. When rarou is with the young guy and they meet nanashi, there's a japanese guard there, but they speak japanese. Also, in the opening sequence they're talking amongst themselves but speaking in Chinese. No matter how you slice it, it's pretty inconsistent. They never found a separate chinese VA for Kotarou and Rarou and their Chinese is truly, truly terrible. It's even more awkward when Rarou actually speaks Japanese, not as a dub but in reality. They use his plain VA, who's been speaking perfect Japanese the whole time, and try to make it sound butchered and bad for one line. That's just awkward. |
| They only use Chinese when the fact that they're speaking Chinese is significant. Obviously, when alone, this isn't the case. Also, a Japanese guard being there isn't really relevant. It's pretty standard convention for foreign languages in anime from what I've seen. Edit: It's not a big deal to us for them to speak in Chinese the whole time cause we're already reading subs (and used to it). For the average Japanese viewer who's perhaps going to see this in a movie theater, it's a big pain. I don't think they went into this expecting to watch something like a half-foreign film. |
| Those from Ming speak in strictly Mandarin in the beginning so that the audience will understand that they are wholly Chinese. It is part of the characters' introductions. Afterwards, they speak in the film's native language (Japanese) to make it easier on the audience (and possibly during production, too). The Ming revert back to Mandarin when they are addressing a native Japanese; this is to maintain that they cannot communicate on the same level - which makes sense. If two of the Ming warriors are communicating in Japanese with a Japanese person there (as in that scene that everyone brought up with Luo-lang and Feng-wu riding with their Japanese escort through the town) it only means they are not directly speaking to the authentic Japanese (in other words, ignoring him). "After all, the chinese warriors also knew japanese somewhat." I don't think this is true. Only Luo-lang seemed to pick up some of the country's language, and that's again to show his character (after all, he's considered a foreigner to the Ming, too). The other Ming warriors didn't care; they were more concerned with finding the boy and finally getting to go home to China. "...but this rule is broken a couple of times. When Rarou is speaking to Kotarou, they speak chinese." The rule wasn't really broken because Kotarou understands and speaks Mandarin. He lived in Ming most (if not all) of his childhood. I think they spoke Mandarin because they wanted to enunciate that fact, and I actually thought it was an interesting character interaction! "They never found a separate chinese VA for Kotarou and Rarou..." Most likely they never searched for ones. Kotarou and Luo-lang are pivotal main characters, and typically you don't dub them over otherwise the audience will notice. Plus Luo-lang's seiyuu, Kouichi Yamadera, is rather well-known. There were only a handful of Chinese VAs, and they were to support the minor characters. No doubt it would be a waste of time (and money) to wait for the seiyuu of the smaller characters to learn Mandarin comfortably, especially when their lines were unimportant. "It's even more awkward when Rarou actually speaks Japanese, not as a dub but in reality. They use his plain VA, who's been speaking perfect Japanese the whole time, and try to make it sound butchered and bad for one line. ." I actually thought that was pretty cool. Again goes back to my prior comments - this is to show character developement and interaction. It was a creative decision to intermingle languages, and for me, it worked. I was glad to see them try and add some intelligent flare to the movie, and it gave it a little more authenticity. As tarheel91 said, this is pretty standard to see done in certain films and even books when characters speak different languages. Just my two cents, for what it's worth. And by the bye, I'm basing my thoughts off the original Japanese version; I never watched it dubbed in English. |
ace52387 said: They never found a separate chinese VA for Kotarou and Rarou and their Chinese is truly, truly terrible. Raitora said: The Chinese, on the other hand, was for the most part accurate. Except for Rarou's lines which he mostly mangled. I was just thinking the other night, perhaps Luo-lang's Chinese is meant to be bad. After all, we're never given his back story, and obviously he isn't heritage Chinese. I would doubt he was born in China (only given a Chinese name since he became a warrior of the Emperor, much like Nanashi under his lords) and therefore it would be his second language - and we don't know how long he's had to learn it. A knack for picking up foreign languages would also play into his attempt at speaking Japanese to Nanashi. |
| I really liked the bits of Chinese in the movie. I watched the dub version, and it's not so hard to imagine that when the characters were speaking English, it was really Japanese. Chinese is a very interesting-sounding language, quite different from Japanese. |
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