Best tag team ever: Monkey D. Luffy und Roronoa Zoro |
Of course, I already don't watch the German Dub of One Piece anymore but the Japanese dub and sometimes the English dub (and no, I ain't referring to the 4Kids-dub but to the Funimation-dub which is 100% uncut).
Here are some marginal background information: The German dub of One Piece had been produced by various production companies through the years:
During the first 400 episodes, the German dub's production was leaded by the PPA Film GmbH (literally meaning: PPA Film Association) - a dubbing production studio collective located in Munich - , until episode 314 by order of the TV-channel RTL2 and from episode 315 to 400 on behalf of the TV-Channel Tele 5. From episode 401 onwards, the German dub of One Piece have been produced by the Rescure Film GmbH (literally meaning: Rescure Film Association), on behalf of Tōei Animation Europe.
Anyways, in this article, I'm gonna tell why the German dub of One Piece isn't really that satisfying and why I've already quit watching it in the German dub. With that said, I'm gonna analyze the German dub without regarding it through the nostalgic glasses.
Disclaimer: I don't have any personal issues with the German voice actors being participated on the German dub of One Piece. Normally, they make a good job and I favorite some on them. Nevertheless, I legitimately ask me the question why the German dub of One Piece hadn't been produced with the same gusto like in the other works (no matter if anime or other shows). In the following, for the case they would read it, they're gonna hear experience either way what bothers me concerning the German dub of One Piece and why I ain't the only one who feels the same way.
With this in mind, let's go:
1. Alteration of the characters' name or other names
There's no need talking about false pronunciations of some characters' names. Thus, let's going over to the names' alteration in the German dub of One Piece.
Name alteration of characters, setting etc. in a dub is like... Do I really need a comparison in order to get this issue straight? Or can we figure out the absurdity of the name alteration by our own?
Of course, you might state something like "But it's easier", "So what?", "It is just how it is".
But I reply you as follows:
- The altered names shouldn't being regarded as exonyms (i.e. it's not like in Pokémon where, for instance, Charizard is called Lizardon in the Japanese version, Glurak in the German version, Dracaufeu in the French version and so on.). Neither concerning the characters or the settings, ships, islands etc.Weder bei den Charakteren noch bei den Orten, Schiffen, Inseln etc.
- Indeed, the original names are easy too. Certain names are unusual doesn't mean that they are
- Certain names were chosen due to the incorrect katakanization (particulars, see in the PS)
- Moreover, some names were literally translated despite being monikers which cannot be translated (Four of the characters affected by this, see in the right picture)
1.1. Complete or partial character names' alteration
- Ruffy* (instead of Luffy)
- Lysop (instead of Usopp)
- Puma D. Ace (instead of Portgas D. Ace). Is it supposed to be a camouflage advertising for the clothing brand Puma or something?
- Bruno* (instead of Blueno)
- Doc Bader (instead of Dr. Hiriluk)
- Ecki** (instead of Kaku). And if it wasn't enough, they created the family name Zugluft. Have they lost their mind of something?
- Octa (instead of Hatchan alias Hachi)
- Jaz Boner (instead of Daz Bones)
- Bon Curry* (instead of Bon Clay)
- Louie-Louice (instead of Peepley-Lui)
1.2. Name alteration of ships, islands, titles etc.
- Flying Lamb (instead of Going Merry)
- Unicon (instead of Raftel)
- Galeera (instead of Galley-La)
- Port (instead Pose, no matter if it is the Log Pose or Eternal Pose)
** Resulted by the literal translation of monikers
The Royal Seven Warlords of the Seas according to Yosaku's imagination in Episode 31 |
Despite being obvious, I emphasize why it's totally wrong:
The current Warlords of the Seas |
- Ōka Shichibukai (王下七武海) means literally Royal Seven Warlords of the Seas
- Furthermore, Samurai are sword fighters but not all of the Warlords are sword fighters. And not all sword fighters are samurai.
- So, why they hadn't chose a German term equal "Warlord" or choosing the term "Warlord" itself in the German dub?! Because in real life, the term "warlord" is used in the German language as anglicism.
2. Destruction of puns' payoff
Another thing which made me perplex was that scene where Luffy is captured in a metal cage by Saldeath. Unlike the English dub, the payoff of that scene where Saldeath introduces himself and Luffy doesn't really listen has unfortunately been ruined in the German dub.
Why could this payoff be handled in the English dub but not in the German dub? WHY?!
Anyways, here is that scene's comparison, in the Japanese dub, English dub and then in German dub. So, see it for yourself what I'm referring to:
Here the Japanese version (with English subtitles)
Here the English version
Here the German version
3. The voice actor cast
Despite the entire cast is good in great measures, I ask myself: What has gone wrong regarding the voices of those characters who are relevant for the plot in an entirely decisive way?
3.1. Every second character has the same voice
Blackbeard, Rayleigh, Dr. Hiriluk, Don Krieg, Hamburg and the World Government Agent Jerry have the same voice actor in the German dub and you can recognized directly. Unlike in the English dub where certain characters have the same voice in an anime but their voice actor is able to variate his voice in such a way that they don't sound like the same. Here's the thing: Their German voice actor Christoph Jablonka (who is also known as the German voice of Lugia in the 2nd Pokémon movie) is actually a magnificent voice actor but he is not among those being able to variate his voice in such amount.
So, it would have been the best when they at least hired a voice actor being able to variate his voice and making it sound like various characters. Or a voice actor for each of them.
3.2. Odd cast
These two characters are two of many characters whose respective German voices don't really match: Trafalgar Law and Hatchin.
Hatchin should have been shuffled by a male voice actor at least from the Sabaody Archipelago-Arc onwards in the German dub. But it's too late now, the horse has bolted. |
- Due to the fact that Hatchin has a female voice in the German dub (unlike the Japanese dub and English dub), you would think he is a woman. So, why they didn't hired a male voice actor in the German version? For myself, it was mind-blowing that Hatchin has a male voice in the Japanese as well as in the English dub but a female voice in the German dub. But Hatchin is a male fish-man, so why he doesn't have a male voice in the German dub either? In short, before I watched the Japanese dub, I thought Hatchin was a female fish-man.
- And what concerns Law, his German voice doesn't really represent his characteristic traits, unlike the Japanese as wells as the English dub.
All in all, I'd rate the German dub of One Piece with 2.5 of 5 stars. After all, it's important regarding it without the nostalgic glasses, as I just did. Moreover, I'd never recommend watching (not even re-watching) it unless for research or academic purposes.
Now, I'd be interested in whaddaya hink about the German dub of One Piece. And do you prefer the Japanese, English or German dub? And what would you make better concerning the German dub of it? Don't hesitate writing it in the comment section below
- As for Luffy, the l and the r are the same in the Japanese language and it's a sound which is pronounced like these both consonants in the same time. In the transcription by the Hepburn system, the letter r is used. So, it seems that the German translator hadn't realized back then it was supposed to be Luffy and not Ruffy.
- As for Bon Clay, he is called Bon Curry in the German dub. Apparently, due to the fact that they thought クレイ (kurei) was the katakanization of Curry but in fact, it's the katakanization of Clay. By the way, Curry is katakanized this way: カレー (karē)
- As for Blueno, the names Blueno and Bruno are written with the same Katakana in the Japanese language but despite being obvious it was supposed to be Blueno, the name Bruno was chosen in the German dub. How pathetic.
PPS: Here you can go to my other reviews: