Daima History and DBS Future

A lot of things are happening regarding the lore recently, so let me go through my current thoughts.

Let's start with Planet Kaishin (界芯惑). I think it's very cool seeing lore from the Super Exciting Guide (2009) used in the actual series. In the guidebook it's seemingly rather placed somewhere in the "universe ball", but in Daima it's part of the second Demon World. Also having the world trees (界樹) from which the Shin-jin/Glinds are born. Was nice to see some images, let's hope to get more soon.

A look at the timeline

Alright, let me try to put the new information into the official timeline:
When did Rymes created the universes? Based on information we have at least several 100 million years ago. Several Glinds must have been appointed to their God positions throughout the universes back then. North Kaio's planet is confirmed to have existed 100 million years ago and Beerus claims to be several hundreds of million years old (except he exaggerated in DBS Episode 5). At least he has been alive 75 million years ago when he sealed away the Old Kaioshin from 15 generations ago. And that Old Kaioshin seemingly told Namekians then to only use the Dragon Balls for their own planet... So I guess he meant their original planet in the Second Demon Realm?

Then 10 million years ago the Daikaioshin and the South Kaioshin were fighting Moro. Actually Moro coming from the Demon Realm makes now even more sense, as they could move freely between the worlds back then. During the manga serialization I wondered about his backstory, but in hindsight probably a clever move to keep it for the possible anime return (if that ever happens). Fans who didn't read the DBS manga but watched Daima are already familiar with the Demon Realm and it could be nice having some flashback or extra dialogue for the anime version.

Then at some point the demon king Abura decided to put some stricter travelling rules in place, leading to the remaining Glinds leaving their planet in the Second Demon World (also because their trees were no longer good). Following these events Shin/Nahare arrived in U7 and got appointed as the East Kaioshin. We can say for certain that at least the South Kaioshin was already there with the Daikaioshin, maybe even as an apprentice? Possibly the other two joined together with Nahare and the Daikaioshin introduced a South/North/East/West system for the time being?

5 million years ago, Marba created Buu at Bibidi's request which led to big damage in the Demon Realm. Then Bibidi and Buu moved further to Universe 7 where also planets got destroyed. Following that Buu attacked the Kaioshins in their realm - killed two and absorbed two. Nahare survived and ultimately managed to kill Bibidi and hide the sealed away Buu on Earth. That entire Kaioshin story would be an interesting flashback Toyotaro could give us in manga form one day.

Then we have the Namekians who escaped seemingly a few ten thousand years ago. Suffering from slavery and no longer wanting to be rules over, they went to Universe 7 (and possibly Universe 6).

Piccolo's father Katatz was also among them, meaning he was also older than we expected Namekians to be (so far it was like 300 - 500 years). Maybe the Namekian Grand Elder was a similar generation and also experienced the transition to Universe 7 in younger years. 

I guess it makes sense so far, but I'm a bit worried that they may didn't consider Shin/Nahare's age of being at least 5 million years (based on the Buu events). Sometimes it sounds like the Namekians escaped the Demon Realm at a similar time as Shin, but that doesn't match with their lifespan. It's actually already longer. Let's see if we can some explanations later on, but yeah, things to keep an eye on.

Piccolo forgetting Namekian language

About languages you sometimes say "if you don't use it, you lose it". But Piccolo not knowing Namekian anymore does seem a bit strange. Especially since he used it at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai - same as his then-"other half" God, who even remembered after almost 500 years. He fused with Nail, who certainly spoke it as well. With Daima taking place about 10-15 years after these events, it's interesting that he suddenly forgot. Of course he spent more time on Earth in recent years... Or let's just say he is not confident enough getting a wish phrasing together or he purposely wants to bring Neva along. We'll find out I guess.

Where is the story heading?

Now with all three Demon Realm Dragon Balls collected a confrontation is inevitable. Dr. Arinsu with her own goals and Gomah probably having to intervene. We will probably head to the First Demon Realm soon and the parties will clash. And Hybis seemingly having the "Third Eye" could become a target for Gomah, who certainly has some hidden powers. The last few episodes had some quite quick progress, so I'm curious if even more characters could get involved. And a bug fusion will certainly happen, but I don't expect Vegetto, rather Goku with Shin possibly. The last trailer actually already told us: Neva will summon the dragon "Dorusie", but that doesn't mean anything, as nobody in the other parties speaks Namekian, so he may got even forced.

And what's up with the DBS manga?

I feel like there would have been a break after Chapter 103 last March anyway, but with Toriyama's death it may became a longer one than expected - or maybe also related to the rights situation (Iyoku vs Shueisha) in the background. Anyway, the DBS manga will be back in February with a story about Trunks and Clean God - basically a prequel of the Super Hero prequel. It is advertised as a one-shot, so it's not Chapter 104, but probably the quickest way to get Vol. 24 out for now. But why? Wanting to make a clear cut for Dragon Ball Super without Toriyama-involvement? If a new arc was coming soon, it would have made more sense getting one chapter from that into Vol. 24 instead.

Or is Toyotaro gonna start a Daima adaption from March/April which would ensure that Super won't continue this year. Personally I wouldn't mind getting Toyotaro's take on Daima, but after the reception of the Super Hero manga adapation it might not be a popular call - but it would keep Daima alive beyond its initial run (if it's actually ending in March with 20 episodes in total).

The DBS manga itself is at an interesting place right now. Certainly another arc can be added before connecting it with the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai. Especially with Frieza being alive, open questions about Zalama or even Yamoshi. Or more from other universes like Sadala in U6 for example -  the possibilities seem endless. 

And rumors about a final Toriyama movie are still there, it certainly plays a role when that one takes place. We should know more in the upcoming months, especially with Iyoku having teased stuff last week.

Thoughts about Daima Episode 1

Not sure if this now becomes a weekly blog but the first episode was quite impactful regarding new information and lore - so let me go through some of my thoughts.

The big thing first: Even though some people expected it, it was a big revelation to hear that the Namekians seemingly originate from the Demon Realm - with emphasis on the pointy ears.

Also Neva is quite a personality, there's probably more to him. The moment when he collected the petrified Dragon Balls and reverted them back was jaw-dropping. It seems that he is the last remaining Namekian left in the Demon Realm and the others must have escaped for some reason. Interestingly he mentioned to Dende that he hasn't seen other Namekians in tens of thousands of years (何万年). I saw subtitles just going with "thousands of years", I guess for simplicity and more natural wording. Anyway, in the Granolah arc Monaito was said to be more than 500 years old, Neva is certainly in another league here, but whether that's due to natural circumstances or some wish remains to be seen. Seems definitely different to Namekians we have seen in Universe 7. And where Zalama fits in all of this is also a curious topic. Maybe he was one of the "refugees" and brought the Super Dragon Balls to Universe 6 and 7. And then the other new sets of DBs got created based of them.

Speaking of the word "Namekian": In the first Daima episode the term "Namekkujin" is used much like in the Granolah arc which refers to the race in general. However, especially throughout Z and most of Super the term "Namekkuseijin" was more common, as this is about Namekians from Planet Namek specifically ("sei" = planet). That's something lost in translation and difficult to localize. Or is that the reason subs went with "Nameks" instead of "Namekians"?

Anyway, interesting that the Namekians are going full circle in a way with Demon King Piccolo. Hopefully we get to see a flashback of their past life throughout Daima. Especially the reason they left the Demon Realm - Neva must have been there at the time.

Let's get to the Makaioshin Degesu. I found it interesting that he refers to both Dr. Arinsu and Shin as older siblings. Well, since they all come from the same tree it makes sense. And Doctor Arinsu also being a sister kinda contradicts with "Super Exciting Guide" info where it's mentioned that Shinjins are meant to be genderless. In May 2009 Toyotaro (back then as Toyble) wrote about this very topic on his blog as he was making his AF story with the female Kaioshin Lila as one of the main antagonists. He admitted that it might be contradicting but there are also genderless Namekians which are rather treated as male. The same way some Kaioshins could be seen as female as well. At least that was his point of view at the time. Whether that applies to Dr. Arinsu is a different question and remains to be seen. We could ask a similar question about Chronoa and Aeos in the videogame universe.

Another big talking point became the way how Kaioshin and Kibito could revert their fusion - they let themselves absorb by Buu on purpose and split due to a special gas inside him. Much like Goku and Vegeta back then. Of course in Super it was explained that there is a 1 hour time limit for mortals. Surely both can be true, but with this explanation it seems that the gas was the actual reason in the Buu arc while the time limit was the factor against Zamasu (although the fight was shorter due to power drain). With Kibito being fused again about three years later in Battle of Gods (or one year in the 2008 special if we can count that) the events in Daima will lead to them being merged again. Could be just a gag at the end like Old Kaioshin being angry with them and removing one potara each ... Or a battle in the Demon Realm forces them to be merged. And maybe Buu is sleeping later leading them to go back to the Kaioshin realm as Kibitoshin.

Speaking of the Demon Realm. In promotion and also in dialogues the Demon Realm is referred to us "Daimakai" (大魔界), so the "Great Demon Realm". Previously we mostly saw "Ankoku Makai" (暗黒魔界, Dark Demon Realm) being used. It may refers to the three worlds of the realm as a combined term. Or does it have something to do with the Demon Realm being a separate realm from the other universes? When Gomah, Degesu and Neva left they were asked to which universe they wanna go. It gives the impression that the Demon Realm may not be directly connected with Universe 7 as seen in the guidebooks. Could there just be one realm in all multiverses? Did the "independent" Demon Realm wandered around "inter-universe" space and accidentally collided with the bottom of Universe 7 and got stuck there at some point in the past? Meaning even with being somewhat connected to Universe 7 they consider themselves a separate realm with access to the other universes as well. Meaning the murder from Jiren's master Gicchin comes from that very same Demon Realm?

Anyway, there might be more to discuss, but I leave it there. Lots of things are happening in the Dragon Ball World, let's see what's up with Glorio this week.

My pre-Daima thoughts

Dragon Ball Daima is just around the corner and I'd like to use the opportunity to write down some of my thoughts and expectations regarding the new upcoming Dragon Ball series.

When the first trailer came out in October last year I felt quite open about having a new DB show despite that would mean that the DBS anime could be delayed even further.

More worldbuilding, more lore, the Demon Realm, Makaioshins... Everything sounds very promising. The only "worry" I had was how it would all work with Super and the timeline in general in terms of continuity. As it seems, it might actually be placed before the start of DBS and therefore being properly connected with the Buu events from DBZ. I'd be happy with that... We have like a 4 year gap between the Buu arc and Battle of Gods, so it makes sense to use it. Ok, there's also the 2008 special with Tarble there right in the middle, but how that connects to DBS material is probably a topic on its own.

A big talking point regarding the timeline placement was also that we saw the Kaioshin and Kibito split. In the DBS manga their fusion split during the Battle of Gods events using the Namekian Dragon Balls. The anime only mentioned it at the Universe 6 tournament, so it might happened during or after the RoF events there. I assume the wish/curse/magic in Daima which makes everyone small also splits up Kibitoshin and later they probably all get turned back to normal. Maybe the Daima events give them the feeling that they actually preferred to live as two people and in DBS they got the chance again to do so with the Namekian Dragon Balls. And even if it's not explained within the series, I'm sure Toyotaro finds a way around it at some point.

Generally I like that we finally get to see the Demon Realm as a part of a main story. Also the Makaioshins, about which we first heard about back in 2009 in the Super Exciting Guide. And that actually gives me some hope that we may finally also get to see Planet Kaishin. So where the Core People from the afterlife are from. Seeing their daily life there would be something. I saw some speculations that the green planet seen in the promotional material might even be that very planet. I personally rather imagined it being located above or in the yellow clouds in the afterlife - kinda like King Kai's planet, but bigger of course. But that green planet also has something like another Kaio planet in the sky. What could that be about?

Or what about this theory: That green planet is actually the real homeworld of the Namekians which was referenced in DBS chapter 69. With Namekians being magic users in a way, a connection to the Demon Realm could make sense. But would that mean U6 also has Namekians which came from their respective Demon Realm? Maybe. And what about Zalama then? I'd still like to see something like a Dragon Realm outside of all the 12 universes, but maybe I read too much of Toyo's AF (ok, that realm was technically in U7 as it was drawn prior to the multiverse expansion).

Speaking of Namekians, it seems like there are actually Namekians and maybe a new set of Dragon Balls (with a dragon called "Dorusie"?) involved. The usual dragon summon in Namekian starts with "Takaraputo", but here it's "Porutaratto". Actually that wording has been used before: At the time when Dende became the God of Earth in DBZ episode 173 where he revived Shenlong. So does that mean an already existing dragon of the Demon Realm is getting revived? And what's the role of the Namekians here in general? Are they native to the Demon Realm or did they come from an outside world and some of them went to U6 Namek, some to U7 Namek, some to Cereal and some to the Demon Realm...

Also wondering about whether all the Heroes/DBO/Xenoverse lore regarding the Demon Realm still works with what we will see in Daima or whether things would get overwritten. But technically you could say that these videogame events might happen in a future timeline. Still curious to see whether certain characters like Mira (being Dabura's younger sister) at least get a cameo - much like Vomi in Super Hero.

But even if not, we will have some new characters from the Demon Realm. Glorio and Panzy (both based on flower names) seem quite interesting and let's see what's their deal is. I saw some confusion as they are referred to as being a "majin", much like "Majin Buu". Overall the term "majin" spelled as "魔人" just means "demonic person" and likely here just refers to demonic inhabitants of the Demon Realm. Generally it can be translated in many ways. Same wording with Majin Ozotto by the way. In Nagayama's SDBH manga that majin spelling is also used referring to Mechikabura's underlings at the early part of the story. But in SDBH you mostly see another "majin" spelling with a slightly different meaning: 魔神 (Demon God). This term mostly refers to the God forms of Towa, Poutine and so on. Anyway, I expect to see 魔人 being used more often in Daima.

With the Demon Realm itself being located at the bottom of Universe 7 and seemingly being quite isolated from the rest of it, it will be interesting to see how they get there. Maybe a special spaceship is needed to cross a certain barrier to enter - in a way (but different of course) like the cube Whis used to bring everyone to the U6 tournament. On the other hand the spaceship seen in the trailer gives me some Namekian vibes.

And we seemingly have at least two Makaioshins: Degesu and Dr. Arinsu. Much like Gowasu or Zamasu their names are based on some old forms from "to be". Actually "arinsu" is used by Urutei in One Piece (Wano Kuni arc) quite a lot, at least that's where I know it from. Will be interesting to see what they are up to and generally curious about the extended lore. Also, what's that "doctor" about?

Another thing I've been wondering if there will be a manga version or at least some promotional chapters. Technically Toyotaro would be free again after the Super Divers chapter this month, but Dragon Ball Super might also continue at some point. There will be some special chapter by Naho Ooishi in November, but not sure whether it's related to the anniversary, Daima or both. And there's also Nagayama who just finished the SDBH manga. But maybe he finally also gets some time off after drawing Heroes content for such a long time.

Overall, interesting times ahead. Has been a while since we had a weekly DB anime and let's see how long it will go - without knowing anything my feeling is like until some time around March.

Some people already got a first taste of Daima at the Daimatsuri event at Odaiba last Sunday. Even though me and a few friends tried to apply, we unfortunately didn't get selected in the ticket lottery. But for those who were there, so far lots of overwhelmingly positive impressions. That being said, can't wait for Friday night and thanks for reading.

Moro and his connection to Tochigi Prefecture

If you take a deeper look at possible name puns from the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc, you'll find some interesting connections to Toyotaro's local area in Japan...

I made a little thread about the name puns on Twitter like a few years ago as well as post on the Kanzenshuu forum, since it's not really known information (mostly unconfirmed, just putting things together which make sense). So, in the December 2013 VJUMP issue we learned not only about Toyotarou's birthday (May 17, 1978), but also that he is from Tochigi Prefecture (about 2 hours by train from Tokyo).



Why is that important? Well, many name puns of Moro and his henchmen seemingly have a connection Toyotaro's local area Tochigi, which is very interesting, since the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc was seemingly "Toyotaro's own arc" (with Toriyama rather in a more consulting position).

First, the most obvious:
Moro and Saganbo
Both "Moro" and "Saganbo" refer to shark meat in local Tochigi dialect. Maybe also worth to note that Tochigi has no connection to the sea, so they get the meat from the fishing in Miyagi Prefecture.

Miza, Iwaza and Kikaza (the three girls who later fuse)
Their names refer to the "three wise monkeys" (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil) - which originates from a carving in the famous Tosho-gu shrine in Nikko, which is a famous touristic place in Tochigi Prefecture.

OG-73i
I actually had no clue about this one, but Toyotaro revealed the meaning on Threads post in February 2024.The strawberry type "Tochi-Aika" from Tochigi Prefecture was previously known as "i37号" - and if you spell it backwards it becomes "OG73i". That's the only pun Toyotaro actually confirmed.
It also builds a connection Seven-Three's creator "Goichi", which appears to be a pun on "Ichigo" (strawberry).

Shimorekka (the one which looks a bit similar to Beelzebub from "Sandland"):
Probably based on "Shimotsukare" (しもつかれ), which is a dish in the Northern Kanto area and mainly served in Tochigi. It's made of salmon head, vegetables, soybeans, abura-age (or deep fried tofu skins) and sake kasu (酒粕, literally rice pulp from fermented sake).

Yunba (the bear-looking one)
The name is likely based on "Yuba", which is a food made from the tofu skin that forms of soy milk when it gets heated.
Which is again, famous in Tochigi and seemingly especially in Nikko.

Zauyogi (the guy who fought with Yamcha)
Of course, on the first look, his name is just based on Gyoza, which you get all around Japan. However, if you ask Japanese people for famous Gyoza regions you often hear the city "Utsunomiya" in Tochigi Prefecture. There's even an annual Gyoza festival and a Gyoza street.

For the other characters, some have a slight, but seemingly a way lower connection to Tochigi:

Yuzun is based on Yuzu (a citrus fruit), probably to fit the name puns of Zarbon's race. There was also a character called Yuzu in the game Geikishin Freeza with the same pun source. Yuzu is also harvested in Tochigi, much like in many other regions of Japan, so I wouldn't go as far as calling it a Tochigi-based pun, but the connection is still there though.

Bikkura Quoitur comes from びっくらこいた, which is "I'm surprised" in Hokkaido dialect, but seemingly also used elsewhere in North East Japan. Maybe a stretch to connect this one for Tochigi as well.

Quite an interesting move from Toyotaro to build a connection to his local prefecture in a Dragon Ball story (seemingly for the most part) created by him.

Did Android 18 become a human because of an invention from Bulma? - DB Mistranslations

As Dragon Ball was localized in western countries in the early 2000s, apart from anime and manga also other merchandise came along with it. At these times details were often invented rather than keeping the translation close to the original. One thing that came out of it was that Android 18 did become a human again - thanks to Bulma.

First off, I remembered this topic as Geekdom101 recently did a video about the fact that Shenlong couldn't fulfill the wish Krillin had after the Cell Games and that Android 18 is rather a cyborg, so a modified human, who still kept the reproductive organs which explains why she could have a daughter with Krillin.

However, in addition to that, there was a mistranslation which apparently only spread additional false information around Europe.

Information from a Panini sticker album...

It was in 2001/2002 during the first run of the DBZ TV anime in Germany when Panini released a DBZ sticker album covering the characters and events of DBZ and its movies. In the first album, you find the following quote:

German Quote: C-18 verliebt sich in Krilin, dank einer Erfindung Bulmas kann sie wieder in eine echte Frau verwandelt werden.

English translation:
Android 18 fell in love with Krillin and thanks to an invention from Bulma she could turn into a real woman again.

Means, Bulma could achieve where Shenlong failed? Anyway, what could be the origin here? The company Panini is from Italy, so it's likely that the this album was also released there and possible also in countries like France or Spain.

Therefore it's possibly not a mistranslation into German, maybe even before? But generally it seems like more made up by the creators of the album, anyway, I'm curious about the exact origin.

Another hint in the German dub

Interestingly, one line in the German dub suspiciously connects to the statement from the sticker album. In DBZ Episode 227 after losing against Mr. Satan in the 25. Tenkaichi Budokai Bulma questions why Android 18 purposely lost the final fight.

18 doesn't react to Bulma and ignorantly walks away with Marron. Following that Bulma said the following line:

German Dub:
"Eingebildete Ziege... Als ob sie sich was abbrechen würde ... Was ich für sie getan habe, hat sie also schon vergessen."

English translation:
"Cocky goat... As if it would be too much to ask for... So she already forgot what I did for her."

In this context, what could Bulma have done for her? Making her a human? To be fair, the German dialogues are often not following the original and are in some way improvised and exaggerated. Just one line before Bulma said "I cannot understand why Krillin married you" even though that was never mentioned in Japanese.

But back to the quote from above: In the Japanese the line rather seems about general worrying about the situation on why 18 lost on purpose.

Japanese Original:
な...なあに? あの態度。人がせっかく心配してあげてるっていうのに。

English translation:
W-What's with that attitude? People were worrying too much about it.

So as expected the Japanese mentions nothing about it. Anyway, the German line only makes sentence in connection with the quote from the sticker album. I thought it back then and still think the same.

On another note: The German anime adaptation was based on the French version, so possibly some dialogue changes even came from there.

Update from research via Twitter

After posting this article and asking about it on Twitter, I got some answers which will bring us closer to where it might happened. First a translation from that very anime dialogue by an Italian fan (@Kai_Loop):

ITA: Oh, non capisco. Io le ho fatto solamente una domanda. Pensavo che non si fosse sentita bene.

ENG: Oh, I don't understand. I only asked her one question. I thought she wasn't feeling well.

So that's not it, still fine I'd say. But thanks to @tomatotti86 I also got a translation of that line for French:

FR: Mais quel culot ! Elle pourrait me parler après tout ce que j’ai fait pour elle dans le passé. Elle pourrait quand même être aimable.

ENG: What nerve! She could talk to me after everything I've done for her in the past. She could still be kind.

So there we have it in the the French anime as well. As the German dub was based on the French one, it was therefore taken from there. So let's get back to the Panini sticker album, first the Italian version:

EN Translation (by @Kai_Loop): C-18 falls in love with Crili (Crilin) who decides to marry her. She will become a woman again thanks to his help.

So seemingly that was the 2002 version of the Italian sticker album was fine, but I heard something about a French version from 1994 where that error seemingly originates from.

Anyway, we got closer, but any further information is of course appreciated! Any French, Italian or Spanish speakers here? Can you check how this dialogue was translated in your language and if you have the Panini album somewhere, can you take a look if it's similar? Thanks in advance!

Super Dragon Ball Heroes Episode 13 - First Fansub Experience (JPN-GER)

Yesterday I subbed a Dragon Ball episode for the first time myself as a practice by my own direct translation from Japanese into German.

I had a day off and got the notification that the new Super Dragon Ball Heroes episode was just out. After watching it I got the spontaneous idea about subbing it. With expecting an English subbed version to be out soon I thought it would be an interesting task for me to translate the episode straight from Japanese into German.
Usually, subs for other languages (especially European) are made based out of given English translations from the original Japanese. It's convenient as the amount of people being able to translate from Japanese to other languages are rather limited. For me, with experience in the localization industry I'm aware that translations of translations often lose details from the original I thought trying it myself would be interesting.

Just for a note, I'm still far a away from being fluent in Japanese, let's say enough for daily conversations and reading mangas (even if it often takes some time, but that's a part of the game as a learner).

Anyway, as the eight minutes episode had not that many lines and was mostly about fighting I thought it would be a nice challenge as I enjoy following and translating Dragon Ball in its original.

Going through I found some lines where I really had to listen in 0.75 speed to understand exactly what was said. Despite that, with later comparisons after publishing on YouTube, I noticed that I got some translations wrong (even easy ones) and could have done better.

Mistranslations

Let's look at this line for example after Piccolo attacked Kamioren - that's what I heard:
すまんな。己技には貯めないるんだ。
Yet I'm not exactly sure whether it should be "己技", but he is clearly talking about his own attack. 
The point I wanted to go into is the verb "貯める", so "to save". But as I couldn't understand this verb form still exactly I seemingly made a contextual mistranslation like:
"Sorry. But I couldn't hold back my attack any longer." 

Like in "saving the attack for the right moment". However, since it's about the 魔貫光殺砲, the 貯める was rather about the charging process of necessary for the attack which is why Android 17 was protecting him while he charged. So it should rather be like: "Sorry. But this attack takes same time to charge."

While the dialogues between Hearts and Goku were quite good and quickly to understand, I also got a seemingly easy thing in the conversation between Zamasu and Trunks wrong:
答えると思うか?
Which simply means: "Do you think I will answer that?" What I heard was:
この耐えると思うか?
Meaning I understood: "Do you think I will endure with them?"

Just completely misheard the verb 答える here. Two little mistakes here, the rest seemed ok so far. Good listening practice.

Terminology concerns

Important for correct localization is getting the terminology of established terms right and consistent. As there wasn't much dialogue there were not too many things to look at. Maybe just one in particular: 

At the next episode screen, the 宇宙の種 is in English translated as the "Universe Seed", which would be "Universumssamen" or "Samen des Universums" as a literal translation. Sounds a bit odd in German, and I guess that's why also other translators rather used "Kern" (engl. "Core"). It's not exactly wrong, for example "apple seed" are translated as "Apfelkern" into German. Also as it's about the "Core Area" (コアエリア) which support to use "Kern" here. But this could be up for debate. Let's see how it will be officially translated in a few years when the Universe Mission manga gets a release in Germany.

Further thoughts

Anyway, it was a good practice and a nice experience working on episode 13 of Super Dragon Ball Heroes.

It was too tempting not to try by the time I had, and I showed me that I need to improve more and more to get better so I will keep going.

In case you are interested, you can watch the episode here. By the time I typed this there were around 1000 views. 

I guess I will do other episodes in the future if it fits with my schedule, so I don't feel obligated to. It's for personal fun with translations and Dragon Ball fandom.

So let's see and thanks for reading. If you find things I can do better, let me know in the comments or on Twitter.

気功砲 - Tri Beam - Kiku-Kanone - Inconsistent Dragon Ball translations in German

As the Dragon Ball franchise gets localized overseas for many years now, it's hard to keep character and attack names consistent over all media platforms like anime, manga and video games. Let's take a look at the "Kikouhou", also known as Tri Beam in English or "Kiku-Kanone" in German...

First, let's look at the actual meaning of the attack:
気 comes from "spirit", "soul", "energy" or "air".
功 means "cultivation", "control", "technique", "ability".
Combined we come to something like "Spirit Control", like the Chinese Qigong.

The last kanji 砲 means gun or cannon. So let's go with a "Spirit Control Cannon". However, the English dub and video games went with the unrelated term "Tri Beam" triggering mistranslations and inconsistency with the German attack name.

The German manga and anime went with term "Kiku-Kanone" during it's adaptation in the late 90s and early 2000s. The decision to partially keep the Japanese term is nothing new, as it keeps a part of the original taste and through keeping "Kanone" as "cannon" (砲) it's makes it a fancy and unique attack name. Why 功 (こう) was changed too く("ku") I don't know, but it's not too far off, since it's also an alternate reading for the kanji. Maybe a translator's choice as it sounds better in combination with the "Kanone" suffix.

Anyway, so the term "Kiku-Kanone" is THE term Germans fans relate to 気功砲. But the German translation in the video games failed to keep it consistent following the anime term. While the Budokai series used "Ki-Explosionskanone" seemingly another translation attempt from the Japanese original, the translation of 新気功砲 made the following translation even weirder.新気功砲 (しんきこうほう), so just the Kikoho with a "Shin" (新) meaning "new". The English dub uses "Neo" same as the German dub making it the "Neo Tri Beam" or "Neo-Kiku-Kanone".
However, the games went a different path in German: "Dreifacher Neostrahl". So literally "three times Neo beam". And seemingly the normal 気功砲 was changed to "Dreifacher Strahl" ('just' a "three times beam") is recent games like Xenoverse or Legends.

It all looks like a straight translation from the English without knowing the background of the attack. That's why I was still ok with the "Ki-Explosionskanone" in older games even though it was not consistent to the TV show.

Following that pattern 魂の気功砲 (Tamashi no Kikouhou) also received an interesting localization: "Dreifacher Geisterstrahl" ("three times ghost beam"). As this one-handed variation received its first official naming as late as in the "Raging Blast" game, there is seemingly no localized anime or manga term. A consistent localized German term would be like: "Geister-Kiku-Kanone", "Seelen-Kiku-Kanone" or keeping the Japanese with "Tamashi-Kiku-Kanone".

All these mistranslations are missing the fact the Kikouhou is the actually attack and terms like 魂 or 新 are just additions making it another variation of the attack.

Going through recent games you see a few more of this consistency problems, but the 気功砲 is a good example for what could went wrong and "get lost in translation".

Anyway, as Dragon Ball will remain for many, many years, there's still hope new games will keep their terms consistent at some point - sooner or later - with game companies and the local anime and manga translators working together...

Fanfiction story in Japanese #001: Cheelai and Jaco

 Jaco stops after another exhausting mission at his favorite space ramen place.  While enjoying his break time he wasn't aware that someone caught interest in his Galactic Patrol spaceship...

As I'm aiming to gradually to improve my Japanese I thought it could be a fun idea to write Dragon Ball short stories. This is the first one and join my ride to get better. Comments for improvement are always welcome.

「力の大会」のあとしばらく時間が流れた。地球の近くの太陽系に銀河パトロールのジャコは休憩を楽しんでいる。今は一番好きなスペースラーメンの店にいる。「最近はどうだった? ワタガシはもう監獄にいるんですか？」ジャコが聞いられた。「えー、そのことは…問題ではありませんですよ。」ジャコがおどおどで答えた。「そうですか。ではラーメンは美味しかったの？」宇宙人のクックが聞いた。「すごくおいしいけどちょっと辛いです。」「お前がこの辛味頼んだよ。」

ラーメンの宇宙船店の近くにジャコが自分の宇宙船駐車した。この寂しい星では他の人間がないはずです。でも近くの岩に女の宇宙人が待っている。彼女はスペースラーメン店を見える。「さすが、この野郎は本当にのんびりラーメン食べている。これはチャンスだ。」チライと言う女の宇宙人が自分と話した。

同時に地球の西の都にブルマとお姉さんのタイツが話している。「ブラは大きくなったね。子どもの時のブルマみたいだな。」「うん。ありがとう。でもこれは何？」ブルマが聞いた。「これがジャコからの贈り物です。自分の惑星のお菓子」「えー。そうですか。美味しいそう。でも、ジャコは今どこ？」「最後のメッセージは、えと、やっと週末だ。ラーメン時間です。」「今連絡しよう。」

スペースラーメン店でジャコの耳の中の電話が鳴いた。「今誰が？タイツ。何が今そんな重要ですか？」「ねー、ジャコ。贈り物をもらった。ありがとうね。」「ブルマだ？」ジャコがびっくりした。「いいよ。オレは銀河パトロールのエリートです。それはぜんぜん…なにが？」「外に見てください！」コックが言った。突然ジャコの宇宙船が打ち上げた。「なんだと？！誰よくも！」ジャコが怒る声で叫びた。「なにがあったの？シャコ？」ブルマが聞いた。「非常です。今切る。」「ちょっと…」

「これからなにをするつもりですか？」コックが空に見るながら聞いた。「早く、追う！スペースラーメンの宇宙船で。」「でも、今次のラーメンを作り始めたんですけど…」「しかたないです。早く、これは銀河パトロールのエリートの命令です！」「分かりました」ちょっとあとでスペースラーメンの宇宙船も打ち上げた。

「ちなみに、この宇宙船の速度はどう？」「本当に遅いです。おじいちゃんの最初の宇宙船でした。」「なに？意味は追いのチャンスはないです。とうして打ち上げたの？」「銀河パトロールのエリートの命令だったからな。」コックが答えた。シャコがちょっと考える。「たしかに、だから追う！」

同時にチライがシャコのぬ盗んだ宇宙船にいます。「やった。これはすごくカンタンだった。この銀河パトロールのバカ。じゃー、速度をチェックしましょう！」

「誰が宇宙船盗んだと思いますか？」コックが聞かれた。「しれねえ。オレが前にこのつまらない星に行ったし、悪い人捕まえたし。毎日の事だね。」「あなたの宇宙船は全然見えないから諦めようか？次の星に新しいラーメン作ってもいいのか？」「諦めないよ！でもラーメン食べたいよ。辛くないの！」ジャコが決めた。

同時にチライが他の宇宙船を見える。「これがフリーザ軍ですか？アタシに追わるの？やばい！でも、でも、アタシの宇宙船がこれより遅すぎだよ。」フリーザ軍の宇宙船が早く追った。銀河パトロールの宇宙船の中のチライが怖くなった。フリーザ軍が宇宙の最強の名声があります。「チャンスがない、終わりだ。」チライが思った。

少しあとでチライがフリーザ軍の宇宙船の中に捕まった。「あなたは銀河パトロールの戦士じゃない。どうしてこの宇宙船が一人で乗っていた？」フリーザ軍のベリブルが聞いた。チライはビビる感じで答える「休憩中に銀河パトロールの戦士から盗んだ。」「そう思った。実は最近私たちのフリーザ軍は去年の事件のせいで小さくなった。これからフリーザ様が新しいメンバーを探しています。あなたは完璧な戦士。入りませんか？」チライが渋くベリブルの顔に見て考えた「 入らなきゃ、他のチャンスはない。入らなければ、殺される。でもフリーザ軍面白いかも。」 だから決めた「はい、入ります。ありがとうございます。」「素晴らしい。では、この銀河パトロールの宇宙船はこれからフリーザ軍のです。盗むをありがとう、技師たちは調べています。銀河パトロールはくだらないけどすてきテクノロジーがあります。」チライは説明のおかげで興味があった。「面白い、銀河パトロールについて今は他の仕事がありますか？」「とりあえず大丈夫です。新しい服を着てください。この部屋に選んでください。」「ありがとうごさいます。」

同時にジャコがこの事件気づいた。「オレの宇宙船が今フリーザの宇宙船の中に。コックさん、このこと見なかった、わかったよ？本当にひみつです。」「わかりました、では前の星に帰ります。」「はい、あそこに食べよう、でも新しい宇宙船は必要です。あとでかんがえる。」

それがチライはフリーザ軍に入るの話。でももっと大きな事件が早来た。

Trivia:

• The space ramen place is the same one as in Dragon Ball Super Episode 73 & 74 (I really liked that idea （笑）)
• The story gives a connection to the beginning of Dragon Ball Super: Broly with focus on the character Cheelai (チライ) joining the Frieza army

The end of Dragon Ball Super - My thoughts

Dragon Ball Super will finish at the end of March with the conclusion of the Universe Survival arc and a possible continuation is not confirmed yet. Some thoughts on that and why the series had a huge influence in my Japanese learning quest.

Dragon Ball was THE anime of my childhood. Back then when I saw it in the early 2000s I was used to watch the localized dubbed version, but through certain censorship I got interested in watching the removed scenes and that's how got to see the Japanese original version. Same for Dragon Ball GT.

Also with the release of the movies I often liked to switch to the original dub, even if it was only for listening to other voices. I barely understood any word, but there were subs, so no problem.

Fast forward to 2015: Dragon Ball Super was announced and started in July. It was the first time I started watching an anime from the very beginning in Japanese and as I was already studying Japanese myself for around a year back then it was a great way to increase my knowledge.

Even though the Dragon Ball 'vocabulary' is not the most usual, but on the other hand often kinda easy I felt understanding more and more and even got to a point where I noticed that these inofficial 'speedsubs' were partially wrong. Things like that strengthen your self-confidence and as I found new vocabulary looked it up and added in my Anki deck.

Later on with new spoilers of the show coming up and the monthly manga chapters I found myself in the situation where I wanted to check first what I can understand before I went for a translation of some well-known Twitter users.

And sometimes I even feel frustrated if some leaks of the new manga chapters are in Korean and not in Japanese. For the anime I even go that way that I watch the live broadcast on Fuji TV sometimes when I have the time and try to understand as much as possible without subtitles.

In some battle-focused episodes it's not even too difficult with things like: これは終わりだ　(This is the end). Often I end up only rewatching certain scenes to get the exact meaning using subs.

From the first theme song (Chouzetsu Dynamic) I even know the lyrics by heart and can understand the song. For the new one I know most of it, but not everything (yet).

During my recent travels through Japan I acquired the new Dragon Ball Super manga volumes 1, 2 and 3 which I find really enjoyable to read. Thanks to Furigana I can collect more Kanji and vocabulary (even though sometimes not really helpful in daily conversations :D).

The upcoming end

Examples like these show clearly the influence of Dragon Ball Super in my Japanese studies. This era is going to end in March for now.

But as the shows seems to be quite popular right now - also in terms of sales with the new PS4 fighting games Dragon Ball FighterZ available since the end of last month - it seems weird to end the show on the high which it definitely has right now.

On the other hand we get a new movie in December - so let's see how that will turn out. Many expect Dragon Ball to return after the movie release. But in which form? Many ways are possible:
- Continuation as Dragon Ball Super with episode 132 
- A new show taking place after end of DBZ (continuing the event of Super)
- Dragon Ball Heroes anime

As Toyotarou continues drawing the Universal Survival arc of the manga throughout this year he could either finish Super or could extent the story beyond the anime.

So we definitely need to keep an eye on the manga. And for me even more at the Japanese version.

Dragon Ball is not going to end. We just need to be patient...

Frieza has a grandma!

Officially that was never confirmed or even mentioned. But in the German version of the manga and even in the anime a few additional lines were added to let the fans believe that a higher force in the Frieza family does exist.

For that we need to go to volume 28 and chapter 330: Right before Trunks shows up, Frieza usually states that with his increased power he should be able to defeat Goku himself, however in the German version the space emperor has the following lines:

"With daddy I can do this for sure!"

"Else he gets beaten up by my grandma."

This not only suggests that Frieza has a grandma, it also mentions that she even seems to be stronger than King Cold.

But there's more: After Trunks killed Frieza it's now just him and King Cold left. Before Cold asked to get Trunks' sword he suggested the future warrior to join his family to become 'his new son'. After Trunks declined, King Cold answered in the German version a bit more than: 'Such a shame!'

'A shame. And what am I going to tell his grandma now?'

Interestingly that line even made it to the German anime version since the script for the anime was often based on the manga dialogues. 

But this all caused more of confusion since in the original run there never was a grandma of Frieza and that's all just a joke made by the German translator.

But still, it makes the German version a bit of unique, since that 
wasn't mentioned in any other manga or dub as far as I'm aware of.

And I would bet nobody outside the German speaking Dragon Ball community knew about this. The Google search results speak for itself, so therefore I thought it could be time to spread this information of Dragon Ball history.

What is Friezas role in the Universe Survival arc?

Since it was clear that Frieza would return for 24 hours and participate at the Universe Survival arc the discussion was on: What is going to happen to the former ruler of Universe 7?

By now you could see a few hints that he is about to strive for more than just winning the tournament. Just shortly after his return to Earth he tricked Goku and tried to make a deal to join Universe 9 which failed because Beerus and Whis suddenly appeared. Around this time Frieza saw that the Gods are quite desperate to win and that he could take an advantage out of that.

As the warriors arrived at the tournament stage he met Frost and found out that he is quite similar to himself. They both agreed to work together at this tournament. We couldn´t see anything in that regard just yet, but it could be an interesting plot point in the upcoming episodes.

But is Frieza even aiming higher planning to rule over the two Zenos? To quote him: 'One day, I promise, I shall reign over you.'
Could this be the case if he plans to manipulate the Gods? But how? Triggering a disagreement between the Daishinkan and Zeno? Or even involving the angels?

Or what about this simple scenario: During the tournament Frieza learns about the Dragon Balls of the Namekians of Universe 6 and plans with Frost to go there once the tournament is over. Finally, Universe 6 is getting erased and Goku and Gohan are the last remaining warriors winning the Universe Survival tournament. They wish for all the universes restored and warriors of them being revived. Which also revives Frieza. He and Frost go to Universe 6, trying to get the Namekian Dragon Balls which causes another storyline along with the Universe 6 Saiyans to fight for the Dragon Balls on Universe 6 Namek...

Could happen. Since I think Universe 6 should be investigated further and we should see more of it. And Frieza going there even makes more sense since I cannot see him ruling over Universe 7 again. 

Or: Once all the universes are restored Frieza gets the offer to become a God of Destruction of another universe which even makes him a bigger threat. Maybe that could be one of his first steps striving for more with him being closer to the angels to manipulate them which are close to the Daishinkan... 

Anyway, the story is quite open right now and I don´t see Frieza just disappearing after this arc. There is now built-up which could go in another direction. Let´s be patient, enjoy this arc and we will see where it goes...

Super is reaching 100 episodes tomorrow!

It´s definitely a milestone reaching the mark of 100 episodes. At the beginning it wasn´t even clear if it would last that long and now cannot even tell when it ends... 

After two movie retellings, the Universe 6 arc, the Copy Vegeta filler, the Future Trunks arc and some interesting filler episodes we are currently in the Universe Survival arc and the tournament just started with episode 97. It´s completely unknown in which direction this arc is going since the fate of all the universes is at stake. One of them had already been erased.

But this arc has something for everyone: It gives Tien, Roshi and Kuririn some time to shine, the android #17 and #18 participate, we got more Saiyans from Universe 6 (even Super Saiyans), all the angels, Gods of Destruction and Supreme Kai from the other universes, many new characters and... not to forget: Frieza. 

He could also be an interesting factor about the time past the arc: Will he eventually win or getting revived? Having some collaboration with Frost in Universe 6 to create a new empire? Or go even further? Becoming a God of Destruction? 

The other universes are quite interesting on its own for several further subplots, just looking at the 6th and 11th universe. Could the next story finally send the Z fighters to other universes? Vegeta visiting Planet Sadal? And what about the Universe 6 Namekians?

So many open things which makes me believe that the story could easily go much further - even with staying in the current time-slot of Dragon Ball age.

The ending of the Future Trunks arc in both anime and manga doesn´t seem that this was the last we saw Vegetas son from another timeline. The fact that both him and Mai exist twice in there new-created timeline can lead to something in the future. Toriyama did not do that without having an idea behind... Although it´s Toriyama.. Quite likely he has no plan yet.

Anyway the return of Future Trunks with the enemy Goku Black brought many fans back and it truly helped the reputation of the new Dragon Ball anime TV series. 

Nozawa even wants to reach 700 episodes... sounds quite crazy looking at her age. But Dragon Ball Super is running well right now, was once even better than One Piece in terms of viewers, so let´s see what the future brings.

We are already way past GT with 64 episodes, the next benchmark would be going past the 153 episodes of the first original DB series which I see quite likely to happen...

Dragon Ball GT: Super Saiyan 4 Broly - 1: The Arrival

Around 10 years ago I wrote a fanfiction story which takes place after the martial arts tournament which followed by the defeat of Baby. It can be seen as an alternate story for the Super 17 saga or as something which could have been a movie during this point in time...

1: The Arrival

After a long unforgiving fight Goku managed it to finally defeat Baby, the last surviving Tuffle by pushing him with a 10-times Kamehameha into the sun which killed him. Shortly after that the population of the Earth were evacuated since the explosion of the planet could not be prevented as a side effect of the Black Star Dragon Balls. Thanks to Porunga the Earth could be recreated again and a new martial arts tournament was held shortly after that which was won by Mr. Satan

A few weeks has passed since the tournament and our friends got used to the well-earned time of peace again. Meanwhile Pan is having a sparring match with her grandfather Goku. 'You have really improved, Pan! But there is still a huge gap between us!' 'I know', replied Pan, 'you have way more experience than me, so that is no problem!" Gohan is getting out of the house saying to Pan and Goku: 'Enough for now, the food is ready!" Goku and Pan are joining the meal.

Meanwhile Vegeta left Capsule Corp. in West City to go to Goku in order to ask him for a fight, since they could not fight at the last tournament. While being on the way Vegeta is sensing three energies. 'This ki... Is that really...?' 

'That is a really high powerlevel... and there´s one a bit weaker and one really weak. But they are somehow quite familiar, that´s not good...', said Goku after standing up while he was eating. 'Who is that?' The others are shocked trying to sense what Goku means. 'And? Can you feel it now? I know these energies, but that´s actually impossible!'

Gohan: 'And what are you going to do now?' Goku: 'These energies are about to land near Karins tower. I need to look that nothing happens to Karin and Yajirobe. And also Upa and Bora in the forest down there. So I need to go!' Gohan follows Goku. 'Father, I help you!' 'Ok, but I think if I turn into a Super Saiyan 4 straightaway this opponent won´t be an issue!' Gohan agrees: 'Right, father. They will be quite surprised!' Goku: 'I can sense that Vegeta is going to arrive before us!'

The two space pods are landing, one of them hits Karins tower which fells to the ground. Upa and Bora can avoid the falling top of the tower. Upa: 'What was that?' Bora: 'Aliens?' Meanwhile Yajirobe and Karin are falling towards to ground. Yajirobe gets an idea: 'Ah, I know, this can save us!' He uses his capsule with a skycar, where both he and Karin jump in. They wonder what happened.

Behind a lot of smoke two big craters are getting more and more visible. In each crater is one space pod which open simultaneously. Bora and Upa are quite surprised seeing two persons climbing out of the pods. Vegeta arrives as first: 'I wasn´t wrong! Paragus and Broly! Impossible!' The two Saiyans notice Vegeta and fly up to him. Paragus greets the Saiyan prince: 'Hi Vegeta, and how is the life on Earth going?' 'Funny, shut up, better tell me how you both could make it getting here. I thought you both died a long time ago!'


Paragus confirms: 'Yes we did, but let´s get to the details later..' Vegeta: 'Ok, I understand. After a few punches you will tell me!' Paragus expains: 'We have a clear target for our visit here. We want to make Earth the new planet Vegeta, with me as a king!' Vegeta laughs: 'Keep dreaming, I´m way stronger than last time, you won´t have any chance against me.' Paragus: 'Vegeta, trust me, in a few hours nothing will be as it was before.' Broly screams: 'KAKAROTT!' and flies in Gokus direction. Vegeta´s getting livid: 'Damn, always Kakarott. This time I will be the one who defeats Broly!' 

How will the clash of Vegeta, Broly, Gohan and Goku end? Why are Broly and Paragus alive? Can Paragus realise his plans? And how is the third yet unknown energy?