Comments on: 2111: On Censorship, Bikinis and The Cheapening of Real Issues Through Stupid Arguments https://imnotdoctorwho.moegamer.net/2015/11/01/2111-on-censorship-bikinis-and-the-cheapening-of-real-issues-through-stupid-arguments/ Memoirs of a nobody Mon, 07 Apr 2025 08:35:01 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 By: RedSwirl https://imnotdoctorwho.moegamer.net/2015/11/01/2111-on-censorship-bikinis-and-the-cheapening-of-real-issues-through-stupid-arguments/#comment-83 Sun, 01 Nov 2015 02:08:18 +0000 https://angryjedi.wordpress.com/?p=8104#comment-83 You do have a point when you say the audience for these RPGs is pretty small and dedicated, both in Japan and abroad. I myself am not extremely concerned with Xenoblade Chronicles X (I'm still nowhere in the first game). I honestly prefer the localized costume, but I get that most of the people who care enough to buy this game are probably one step away from importing it, and I maintain that Nintendo probably isn't the best publisher to localize games like Xenoblade and Fatal Frame. Leave that up to an Xseed or whoever. With Dungeon Travelers 2, Atlus was at least completely transparent and upfront about what it removed and why — it literally couldn't get the game through ESRB certification with the unaltered images.

And I'm not even sure the unaltered game would have been legal in some western territories. The last I heard, actual loli/shota hentai is technically illegal in Canada and the UK, and at least warrants obscenity charges in some US states. It might actually be anything with characters below local age of consent, which I understand in Canada, the UK, and some US states is 16. As for Japan, I heard it was 13 under some weird circumstances in Tokyo, but effectively 18 throughout the country. There have been renewed discussions on this since the UN is making another attempt to convince Japan to outlaw loli and shota. As for that stuff not having any link to actual abuse, studies have been inconclusive so far, on account that the only subjects they have to observe are people who've already been incarcerated.

On Xenoblade in particular though, did you hear the western version won't have dual audio? Dub only. I think the reason is they just couldn't fit both tracks on the disc, which is actually the reason this happens for a lot of Japanese games. Another reason is sometimes they end up having to pay the Japanese actors again, which is often more expensive than the whole dub and more than the localization publisher can afford.

To be honest, when it comes to the dialogue and script, I prefer localization over strict translation, at least for dubs or text-only games. Strict translation is how you get the goofy dialogue of games like Metal Gear and Final Fantasy XIII. It technically makes perfect sense, but doesn't sound like colloquial English at all. Persona 3 and 4 are probably good examples of localized dubs (unless you don't like the inclusion of Japanese honorifics) — the characters talk the way normal English-speaking teenagers should talk. Final Fantasy XII is an exceptional example of the English dub being its own entire thing and amazing in its own right. However, I will say a strict translation is definitely better if you're dealing with subtitles over original Japanese voices.

Localization isn't just translation, it's an art.

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