Fan Division Over Macross Translation

Now that AnimEigo has begun shipping their limited edition Macross TV series DVD boxed set, it has come to light that the subtitled translation occasionally employs American “in-jokes” that have created a small controversy in the fan community.

For example, a line in the original dialogue that could have been translated as, “On a battleship in the furthest reaches of space,” was translated with a quote from the Star Wars parody Troops, “On a battleship on the ass-end of space.” The meaning of both lines is the same, but the tone between the original Japanese dialogue and the subtitled translation are quite different. Fan reaction has been mixed. On one hand some viewers find these translations amusing and have no problem with the added references because they do not change the meaning of the original script. On the other hand some viewers have apparently been deeply disappointed by AnimEigo’s decision to add references to the subtitled Macross script that were not in the original dialogue.

AnimEigo CEO Robert Woodhead has publicly responded to the debate via the AnimEigo mailing list, saying, “It has been a longstanding tradition in AnimEigo translations, right from day one, that when a famous movie line is a perfectly reasonable translation for a line, we tend to use it, in particular if it’s a humorous scene. We never bend the translation to fit the cute line, but when the opportunity presents itself, we take it.” “Most of them are very, very subtle and obscure.”

Source: Anime News Network

Article courtesy of Scott Green