I just watched…
Episode 38 of Sonic X.
English Title: Showdown in Space
Japanse Title: Maria no Negai, Minna no Negai (Maria’s Request, Everyone’s Request)
This is the plot summary (Brought to you by Wikipedia, via me! Spoilerz ahead)
As Space Colony Ark heads for the Earth, the combatants put aside their differences to stop the descent. Shadow however, begs to differ, and refuses to help since he believes there’s no point to it and the humans deserve to be destroyed because of what they’ve done. But after Chris reminds Shadow of the true promise he made to Maria, he changes his mind and decides to aid Sonic and co. He does so by fighting off the Bio-Lizard, a Project Shadow prototype, while Knuckles drains the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald. At first it appeared as if the Bio- Lizard was defeated by shadow. However the Bio-Lizard uses Chaos Control to attach itself to the colony to become the FinalHazard which is also hell-bent on pulling it toward Earth even faster. In order to stop it, Sonic and Shadow go into super-form to stop it. For a last second victory Shadow sees Maria and takes off his rings to gain all the power he needs. Both he and Sonic use Chaos Control to teleport the Space Colony out of the atmosphere and back into orbit. Shadow vanishes at the climax of their victory (presumed to be dead). Chris is given only one of Shadow’s rings, and with that the episode ends in a sad note.
My summary would be more like this…..
SHADOW DIES!!! WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!
Anyway, I watched the episode in three languages. French, English, and Japanese. Granted, I can’t speak French and there were no subtitles, but I watched it anyway.
There are some pretty big differences in The English and the Japanese version. This is the Japanese subbed Version…
==Open Scene==
Shadow: “I am Shadow! Shadow The Hedgehog!”
(The Restriction rings fall off Shadow’s wrists and ankles)
Shadow: “Can you hear me?”
Sonic: “Yeah, I can hear you.”
Sonic and Shadow [Together]: “CHAOS CONTROL!”
(Enter The Final Boss Battle Theme “Live and Learn” from The game Sonic Adventure 2)
Shadow: (to himself or thinking) “Maria… is this… enough?”
==End Scene==
This is the English dubbed version…
==Open Scene==
Shadow: “I am Shadow! Shadow The Hedgehog!”
(The Restriction rings fall off Shadow’s wrists and ankles)
Shadow: “You ready?”
Sonic: “You bet! Here we go!”
Sonic and Shadow [Together]: “CHAOS CONTROL!”
(Enter generic “Exciting!” music)
Shadow: (to himself or thinking) “Maria… I did it… for you.”
==End Scene==
Do you see the difference? It just be me and my interpretations, but I definitley like the subbed version better. Both dialogues say something about Sonic and Shadow, but what they say….
In the Japanese Version, Shadow knows he’s about to die, and wants to reaffirm his existence before he does. Sonic understands and obliges. Then the awesome theme music to heighten the mood. Shadow dedicates what he did to Maria, and that is the last we hear from him.
In the English version, Shadow becomes some crude, Macho-bantering hedgehog who can’t speak in complete sentences. The I-am-Shadow scream becomes out of place, and there is depth taken out of the scene when Sonic replies. Shadow asking if Sonic is ready probably offends Sonic, because, hello? How many times has Sonic saved the world? Anyway, the music used there is generic and very UNmemorable, and Shadow ‘telling’ Maria that he did it for her makes it sound like he’s blaming her for what he’d done.
See the difference?
Even the titles change the mood!
I’m not really Anti-dubbing (the dubbing for YYH is REALLY funny sometimes), but this is one case where there is definitely something lost in translation.
Anyway, ON TO EPISODE 39! Wiki says Espio will make an appearance! GO ESPIO!!!
No, it did NOT happen like this. There is a good reason why.
Epicurealis 