2013-01-05, 05:41 | Link #441 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
|
It's funny you should say that, because I would say "Maou" is probably the most ambiguous term a translator in this field is likely to encounter, and everybody handles it differently. This comes from the fact that it's not a word that actually means anything beyond "Demon Boss guy who probably lives in a castle and has spooky horns, who probably has a lot of hit points." (Outside its use as a Buddhist theological term, which is a bit off topic.)
Just to list a few examples offhand:
So it's one of those things where really, it's not worth getting upset about it. There are probably a half dozen other ways to handle it that I can't think of at the moment. So really, it's one of those things where you can't really go wrong whatever you pick. In my experience "Demon King" is the most common, and so that's what we went with. |
2013-01-05, 05:50 | Link #442 | |
We're Back
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Redgrave City
Age: 35
|
Quote:
Calling them "Satan" or "Tyrant" seem to be flavor text though but whatever.
__________________
|
|
2013-01-05, 06:07 | Link #443 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
|
Quote:
Aah, yup. That's another one I just remembered. The HJ Bunko Light novel "魔王の学校に俺だけ勇者!" (I'm the only hero at a school for Demon Kings) uses the term "Magic Kings". It even has a character whose attack summons a Demon King, which is called "Magic Kings the Gathering", a thinly veiled rip-off of the card game "Magic the Gathering". Granted, that it's a horribly minor property (I wouldn't be surprised if less than 10 to 15 people on the entire North American continent have ever read it.) but its another example of just how ambiguous the word is. Interestingly enough, it has multiple female "Magic Kings", (An entire classful, in fact. It's a Z-grade Harem Comedy, as you could probably tell from the title.) and nobody in it seems to care. I guess my point is that given that the word has so many divergent meanings, calling her "Demon Queen" is perfectly fine, if that's how you want to go about it. It's not the decision I would make, and if I were checking a show where the translator did it I would probably have them change it. But people seem to like it, for whatever reason. So let 'em have it. The official's the way you like it, and it's going to stay that way, especially now that episode 1 has aired. That said, I can almost guarantee you I won't be translating Onna Kishi as "Paladin". |
|
2013-01-05, 06:10 | Link #444 | ||
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
||
2013-01-05, 06:42 | Link #445 | |
Bag Giver
Join Date: Jan 2012
|
Quote:
I can only recall one example where '魔王' referred to a class of titles rather than a specific person in the story. It is Disgaea, where Atlus translated the term as Overlord, where the term encompasses both male and female. Personally, I'd have preferred a term that is gender neutral or has no feminine form in use ("overlord" would be an example of the latter), but as the translator has chosen to use Demon King, it is still preferred to Demon Queen for in story justifications.
__________________
|
|
2013-01-05, 07:26 | Link #447 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
|
I see no problem if the translators leave the title as "Maou" - after all, you don't translate "Tsar" as "Emperor" or " Kniaz'" as a "Prince", and it really has no complete equivalent in human ranks of nobility or military...
As for the story - I really hope they do find something to fill all that big empty space that exists instead of the explanation of how Maou came up with all the necessary information for her civilization-building plans; its not like they have mass economic research facilities and programs out there in the fantasy lands! Hindsight is 200/200... |
2013-01-05, 07:38 | Link #448 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
|
Quote:
|
|
2013-01-05, 07:46 | Link #449 |
Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
|
Based on the first episode I wish it was a bit more serious and with less focus on fanservice. I'm still very interested in the show, though. I'm just a little disappointed because I was really looking forward to this show based on the premise and word of mouth.
|
2013-01-05, 08:48 | Link #453 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
|
on the side note 魔王 in vietnamese old language (somewhat similar to chinese and japanese) means "ma vương" or "lord of devil"
- "ma" (魔): "ghost" "undead" or "devil" - "vương"(王): "lord" while doesnt explicitly imply female or male Last edited by zero7090; 2013-01-05 at 11:02. |
2013-01-05, 09:09 | Link #454 | |
Logician and Romantic
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Within my mind
Age: 43
|
Quote:
Making the translated term gender neutral would made no sense. Not in the contest of the script. And there are many historical examples where "King" or its many different terms were once applied to female rulers. And that the term "Queen" was only in widespread use once women were able to rule in an official and regular capacity. It is well known that the term "Queen" in both European and Chinese languages were late additions to the vocabulary. In other words, "King" used to be gender neutral because there are only men in that job. Because "Queen" did not exist. And that's pretty much why in-story, Ruby Eyes call herself Demon King. There was no other word to use.
__________________
|
|
2013-01-05, 09:35 | Link #456 | |
Logician and Romantic
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Within my mind
Age: 43
|
Quote:
There are many terms describing women in Asian Royal Court positions. But 女王 wasn't one of them.
__________________
|
|
2013-01-05, 09:47 | Link #457 | |
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
|
Quote:
|
|
2013-01-05, 09:59 | Link #459 | |
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2006
|
Quote:
It's kind of a silly argument to have. Either go literal or keep it as is. Complaining about gender accuracy misses the point of why they are called that and why they don't have actual names. As an example, there is a character in Code:Breaker named Prince. She's a girl. It's a nickname/title and she has a real name, but everyone in the story calls her Prince even after they notice she's a girl. It makes no sense to change the translation to Princess just because of the reveal if none of the characters in the story actually call her that.
__________________
|
|
2013-01-05, 10:07 | Link #460 | |
However,
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Hong Kong
|
Quote:
In any case, I had a mixed reaction to this episode. I may be used to the manga version of the characters, but I generally liked the art design and the look of the characters. This episode took the entire time to set up the premise for the rest of the story, which I believe it needed as this is the most important part, but hopefully there won't be pacing problems with this anime. (I highly doubt it, considering it's 1 cour unless they make a second season.) The backgrounds and music were excellent, better than I expected. Really captured the feeling of the surroundings kind of like a middle age storybook. The OP particularly stuck out as good, though spoiling around a dozen later events. On the other hand, I thought they could have had a bit less fanservice. Maybe it's just a bit of a bias based on what I've read in this thread about the animation studio, but I felt that some of it was unneeded, such as that hug pillow scene. They may have wanted to show the fact that the Demon Queen had been waiting for Hero since he was small early on, but it felt extremely forced. Nevertheless, the premise for the story has been set up, and the animation studio may prove itself yet. The voicing was really good (I had a few 'Hey, it's that voice!' moments though, particularly from Female Knight after coming right of Kokoro Connect Michi Random) and fit the characters. I'll be watching this to the end, in any case, as I just really like the series.
__________________
|
|
Tags |
economics, fantasy, harem |
|
|