Anime swearing pollution

Oo Suguri

Developing anime soul.
Trusted Member
Jun 19, 2014
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Today, I rewatched the anime Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu. It was unsettling, translators did trample a great anime with their own expletives.

I counted 69 instances of English curse words that offended me in 13 episodes. All over the place.

Rather than having fun watching anime, I saw littered expletives in every episode.
I'm okay with seeing these light curse words, such as:
"damn", "dammit", "crap", "freaking way", "hell", "damn it all", "bastard", "darn", "damn it", "darn it"

Anime is good. Characters are good. The root of all problems lies in translators, their inconsiderate, rampant, out-of-control cursing fills my mind with negativity I'm not supposed to take and takes away the fun of watching.
Unpopular opinion? Honestly, you want to tell me swearing is part and parcel on the Internet and in everywhere else? Sorry, I don't accept this.

Translators, it's your fault. I can only say that, for now.

And I have lost my faith in the English language. Anime should deserve better than this.
The swearing pollution has to be made to completely stop and until then, my life will be nothing but an ocean of heavy regrets.

P.S.: Translators will make a better world if they limit themselves to light curse words only. If anything, a better world without the swearing pollution is what I desire.
 
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A few things to consider before condemning all translations.

The Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu anime, seasons 1 and 2, came out over 10 years ago. Different world back then. Most modern anime I've watched is fairly clean, regardless of content. Not fair to fault all anime for one example.

Were the translations accurate? Were the Japanese anime, light novels, and manga for the story also full of bad language? If not, definitely blame the translators of that show. But if the story was full of bad language, blame the original writers.

One thing that worries me, is that unrestricted censorship can seriously change the nature of an anime. An excellent example is Sailor Moon, from a couple of decades ago.

The original, Japanese Sailor Moon, was full of adult themes, from age and gender "forbidden" loves, to violence, to partial nudity, to transgender characters, and more. But when it was brought to the West, the entire. nature of the show was heavily censored. Full episodes; even the fifth season, were removed completely. The Western Sailor Moon was turned into a vanilla children's show.

Yes, the treatment of a particular show may rub us the wrong way, but we should not condemn all animes and translations for it. There's a lot of good stuff out there. :)
 
I respect most of your points. Particularly, "the treatment of a particular show may rub us the wrong way".
Since English swear words in anime are my concern, I have been observing this matter.

For comparison:
+ ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ 2nd Season: 8 instances of English curse words
+ Circlet Princess: 2 instances
+ Girly Air Force: 5 instances, all in the last episode
+ 痛いのは嫌なので防御力に極振りしたいと思います。: 5 instances
+ Sword Art Online Alicization꞉ War of Underworld: 2 instances
+ Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei suru: 6 instances, the last episode had the most
+ Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (Season 1): 69 instances

Anime games:
Chrono Ark (About at least 10 instances in translation data)
Halluci-Sabbat of Koishi (One instance and possibly more, why giving a kawaii Touhou game such treatment?)

Tokyo Xanadu eX+ (At least above about 10 instances if I could remember)
+ Replaying the anime game is a great deal unpleasant, I saw several English swear words in first chapters.
+ Translators will not get away with this. At least, I confirmed it with my own eyes.

 
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You have some good points there.

I look a lot to context. Is the language a necessary part of the story line, or is it just gratuitous, thrown in for the shock value?

In a perfect world, I'd like to watch the shows in Japanese, to grasp the writer's intent.

Unfortunately, the only Japanese I know, is "arigato, baka, and pizza." So unless I'm thanking some idiot for dinner, I need English subtitles. :laughpanda:
 
For the shock value (or anything else), use light curse words in English subtitles only, that's sufficient.

Your idea of the perfect world is nice.
 

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