Heiji's character design from the relatively old episodes |
For the case you didn't read the 1st which was about the question to which extent it'd eventually collapse that Heiji doesn't speak with a dialect in the German dub unlike the Japanese dub and particular payoffs would get lost, you can go here:
Without further ado, let's to the 2nd part:
The way Bad Dürrheim (red) is located in the Landkreis Schwarzwald-Baar which is in the territory Baden |
When I was there, I recognized the way the local people talk and since then, I can recognize the Baden accent everytime I hear it. For instance, instead of "Donnerstag" (German for Thursday), they say "DonnerSHtag"; instead of "Ist das dein Ernst?" (literal meaning: Are you serious? but in the analogous sense, it means something like You must be kidding or You're not serious, are you?), they say "ISHt das dein ErnSHt" and instead of "investieren" (German for to invest), they say "inveSHtieren". But they should know they don't need to be embarrased by it.
And I know people from the territory Baden who cannot really surpress the Baden accent while talking Standard German.
Furthermore, the Baden people are kinda rumored that they're easy-going and open (contrary to the Swabians but that's another matter and I ain't that knowledgable about the differences between the Baden people and the Swabias in terms of openness). But anyways, it reminds me a bit on the Japanese people from the Kansai region as they're indeed much more open and obliging than the Japanese people from the Kantō-Region who're more likely reserved.
I've experienced it firsthand when I was in Japan for a two weeks-vacation (in the first week in Tokyo and in the second week in Osaka) and moreover, most of the Japanese I've met before and after said vacation are from the Kansai-region as well.
So, I thought that the Baden dialect would be a suitable equivalent to the Kansai dialect.
Concerning the Kansai dialect, a little excursus enclosed: This dialect differs from Standard Japanese, for instance, in terms of grammar (e.g. in the negation, the verbs inflects far different than in Standard Japanese) and by a different intonation as well. Different from many other languages, instead of the stress accent, there's the pitch accent, also known as intonation.
Furthermore, I can understand the Kansai dialect a bit and can partly utilize it as well. On the one hand, I've learned it by watching animes in Japanese dub (cuz of the different speech styles of certain characters) and on the other hand, as already mentioned, most of the Japanese people I know are from the Kansai region (or at least from the Kantō region). And during my two-weeks Japan vacation on September 2019, I've recognized it from some Japanese people in Osaka by the intonation even when they talked in Standard Japanese - even though there're many of them who're able to surpress the Kansai accent while talking.
Shin'ichi and Heiji, two friends being different like chalk and chesse, not only in terms of speech style |
But now, back to Heiji from Detective Conan: As already mentioned in part 1, Heiji cannot surpress the Kansai accent (let alone, the Kansai dialect) - even when the situation requires to do so. On this issue, many payoffs are based.
Thus, I thought cuz I crossed paths of some people being from Baden who cannot surpress the Baden accent while talking Standard German, it would've been a good idea if Heiji talked with the Baden dialect in the German dub - as equivalent to the Kansai dialect in the Japanese dub.
The movie Akira is one of the cases where an anime received a redub in German |
I suppose, you expected the answer "yes" from me but in fact, my answer is: Yes AND No.
The thing is: In Germany, it doesn't go the same way like in the USA where redubs from anime sereis had been produced in some cases (e.g. the English dub from One Piece from whom they're two dubs: the 4Kids dub and the Uncut Dub from Funimation. I recommend watching the latter as it's so much better than the German dub from One Piece) and here in Germany, if redubs are produced, then only in movies and not in series (e.g. from the anime movie Akira (1998) from whon there're two German dub, the dub from 1991 on the one side and the dub from 2005 being more based on the Japanese original on the other side).
And in terms of Detective Conan, a German redub would be worthwhile only in Movies wherein Heiji is featured and in the remake special Detective Conan Episode ONE - The Great Detective Turned Small (2016).
Conclusion: All in all, indeed, it would've been better if Heiji had talked with a dialect in the German dub. Most likely, the Baden dialect would've been suitable. Now, this begs the question of how to deal with the payoffs which are based on Heiji talking with the Kansai dialect. And as already mentioned, if anything, only in the movies and in the specials, a German redub would be worthwhile.
Additionally, you can also write in the comments if you prefer the old or new character designs in Detective Conan (without regarding them through the nostalgic glasses) |
Feel free to write it in the comments.
PS: About my Japan vacation in 2019, I've already published a two-parted article. For the case you didn't read it yet, you can do it here:
And here, you can go to my other articles about German dubs of certain animes in the form of "Reviews":
- Review: The German dub of the "Digimon Adventure"-series - a levelheaded analysis of a good dub without the nostalgic glasses
- Review: The German Dub of "One Piece" - a levelheaded analysis without the nostalgic glasses
- Review: "One Punch Man" in German Dub - really magnificent
- Review: "Attack on Titan" in German Dub - a very exciting masterpiece
- Review: "Boruto - Naruto the Movie" in German Dub - top or flop?
PPS: Here you can go to my other articles from the rubric "Statement":
- Statement: Why "Super Mario 64" needs a second remake so badly
- Statement: Why "Donkey Kong 64" has deserved a remake
- Statement: Is "Dragon Ball GT" canon or non-canon?
- Statement: Is Kakashi still overpowered? Or has he already past his best?
- Statement: A potential remake from "Dragon Ball Z - Budokai Tenkaichi 3" - a very revolutionary idea, huh?
- Statement: The Smash Bros.-Mod "Project M" as retail version for the Switch - good idea, huh?