Shinigami or Death-god?

[ichigopwns929]

i like shinigami because its more japanese which is cool

[WONDERMIKE]

[x] shinigami

i dont like all these "harsh" translations.. reiatsu is reiatsu, everyone knows what it is"." The same thing with kidou, zanpaktou, bankai, shikai,.. it would kill the nice japanese flair if you translate all those terms. Same goes for -san/kun/chan/senpai/sensei/sama/.. or would you like to read it as "Mister Kuchiki"? You would also have to revert all names,..

i really like that japanese stuff, thats why i dont watch the english dub(bleach and every other anime), call me a freak but i have a feeling that the majority of fansub-viewer would agree.. everyone else should watch the english dub

[Royal_Devil]

Originally Posted by Anko Plushy

also I find the SHonen Jump translation retarded... 'soul reaper' you've got to be kidding me!

So they should say no to Kubo?

[UnderscoreX]

The Shinigami/Death God thing never really bothered me BUT I really hate when people translate Zanpaktou as Soul Cutters as that just massively decreases the awesome.

Edit: Just noticed this topic is over a year old..

[Zu Ra]

Yeah Soul Cutters is funny .... Souls can be cut ..... I hate the words Soul Reapers and NOT Rapers ( Somone once said ) Soul Rapers ...

Shinigami for me ^o^

[KholdStare]

Soul Reaper, Death God, both of those terms don't have any significant meaning in many of non-Japanese audiences, so just like how we don't translate -chan/-kun-/san, I'll prefer that somethings are left untranslated, so Shinigami is fine.

[Zu Ra]

I canged my mind Soul Rapers for me

[KholdStare]

Okay me too. Soul Raper it is.

[Cherudim Arche]

As long as isn't soul cutter, any name you mention would be alright, even soul raper.

[Amirali]

Originally Posted by WONDERMIKE

[x] shinigami
i dont like all these "harsh" translations.. reiatsu is reiatsu, everyone knows what it is"." The same thing with kidou, zanpaktou, bankai, shikai,.. it would kill the nice japanese flair if you translate all those terms. Same goes for -san/kun/chan/senpai/sensei/sama/.. or would you like to read it as "Mister Kuchiki"? You would also have to revert all names,..
i really like that japanese stuff, thats why i dont watch the english dub(bleach and every other anime), call me a freak but i have a feeling that the majority of fansub-viewer would agree.. everyone else should watch the english dub

Even in English dubs, it would sound lame if people started calling Senobonzakura as "1 million cherry blossoms", or Zangetsu as....whatever it means. I'm not really a stickler for having "orignal" Japanese words. But its just that if you have concepts,attacks and techniques that are very specific to bleach (e.g, the "shinigami" , the "zanpakutou" ) then they should sound unique when translated , not generic terms that can mean almost anything. For example, the word "death-god" doesn't have the same detailed connotations as the word "shinigami" has accrued over the 147 bleach episodes. Similarly, "soul-cutter" doesn't indicate something specific to bleach.

If someone could come up with cool sounding English names for these same things (shinigami, zanpakutou) without making it too general and vague, then I'd be fine with it. A good example that comes to mind, is how they translated Inuyasha's moves and abilities into cool sounding terms : "the WindScar", "the Backlash Scar", "Iron reaver, Soul stealer". In most cases, rather than going for strict translations, the dubbers emphasized on keeping the cool factor in inuyasha. If one transliterates Bleach terms plainly to something stupid like "soul cutter" or death-god...that would suck.

[Ryuujin]

Originally Posted by Anko Plushy

also I find the SHonen Jump translation retarded... 'soul reaper' you've got to be kidding me!

iirc, the term "Soul Reaper" actually originated in Japan...

[Kyuusai]

Wow, necromancy was worked on this thread.
My two cents:

"Death god" is wholly inappropriate. The translation of "kami" as "god" is very rarely correct, since the word "god" tends to have different connotations in English. The word "shinigami", itself, though it's had slightly more varied use, was originated and continues to be used primarily to describe the figure known in English as "the Grim Reaper". "Soul reaper", therefor, is a far better term. However, since in Bleach "shinigami" is used to describe not just to describe their profession, but also to describe them as a class of people, "soul reaper" sounds awkward. For that reason, I prefer "shinigami".

Generally speaking, I still prefer to see terms untranslated in Bleach, for two reasons. The first being that even in Japanese their meaning is not immediately apparent when spoken. Phonetically, the actual meaning isn't properly communicated in the word, and the meaning must be read from the kanji used. Some one might be able to guess upon hearing the words "kidou" or "zanpakutou" what their meaning is (especially after seeing it in the show), but more often these Bleach-specific terms would need to be translated on some level, even in Japan.
The second reason goes back to the connotations a translation can have. Sure, "soul cutter" is an almost perfect translation of "zanpakutou" (if there were one term to translate into English, that would be it), but what bout "kidou"? Translating that as "demon arts" is awful. "Ki" in "kidou" is more commonly read "oni". Well, much as "kami" can be translated as "god" but often shouldn't be, "oni" can be translated as demon but generally means something quite different to the western idea of demons (which is more often "ma", "tenma", or "akuma").

[Arthas1011]

shinigami sounds good but death god sounds more tough

[Ziv]

Originally Posted by Ryuujin

iirc, the term "Soul Reaper" actually originated in Japan...

Wasn't the entire concept of the Shinigami invented in response to the western concept of the Grim Reaper?

[Spectacular_Insanity]

I prefer Shinigami translated as "Soul Reaper" (english dubbed version translation) instead of "Death God" in the literal Japanese translation. If it's not Shinigami (my first choice), it should at least be Soul Reaper. At least "Soul Reaper" sounds less stupid, imho.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Originally Posted by Ziv

Wasn't the entire concept of the Shinigami invented in response to the western concept of the Grim Reaper?

I believe so. Since when you break up the word Shinigami into a literal translation...

..."shini" = "death" and "gami" = "god" (actually god alone is kami, but the pronuciation changes when it is in the middle of a word. "Shinikami" would be awkward.)

Since "Soul Reaper" is not really a translation, but an idea that the Grim Reaper is a god of death, yadda yadda yadda. Close enough, I say.

[Geass]

I prefer Shinigami, as well as keeping the other important terms untranslated.

[Mon Cheri]

I like Shinigami, cause it's easier to say ^^
Or "Dødsgud"

[Seraphis]

Omg teh necromanceh

I prefer Shinigami, anything in another language sounds cooler as it's like a new word (For me, as I don't speak Japanese obviously).

[Agallion]

i prefer to read shimigami, but in conversation i would say death god.