FE Echoes: SoV Localization: “Big Hurty Lightning & Roast Marshmallows?” [JPN vs ENG]

A curious reader sent me a question over on twitter regarding Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia:

Can you take a look at Mae and Boey’s recruitment dialogue in the Japanese version of Echoes? Specifically, “big, hurty lightning” and “roast marshmallows” strike me as lines that weren’t in the original.

I finally got access to the text of both versions of the game, so can now easily compare dialogue. A big thank you for giving the exact words, it made it much easier to find.

If you have any dialogue you want compared for this or any other Fire Emblem game, please feel free to tweet me or send an email!

Now let’s get to it. There are little to no spoilers as this takes place near the start of the game.

When Celica speaks to Mae to take her along on her journey, the following dialogue exchange happens in the official localization:

Mae:  Celica! I heard the news! You’re going to the Temple of Mila, right? If so, then I’m going too. You can’t say no!

Celica: Heh. Thanks, Mae. To be honest, I’d welcome the help

Boey: Good, because I’m coming too. I’m not letting the two of you off on your own.

Mae: “Letting” us? Heh, you say that like you think you can keep us safe

Boey: I do! And I can! I’ll be more help than you, at least.

Mae:  Uh, rude? AND wrong! I can conjure lightning, Boey. Big, hurty lightning. What’ve you got, fire? Maybe I’ll call you if I want to roast marshmallows.

Celica: Let’s just say you’d both be a great help and leave it at that, shall we? I know I’ll be counting on you both. This isn’t going to be an easy journey. Still, I’m glad I’ll have such good company.

You can see the lines in question in Mae’s last line of dialogue. Let’s take a look at the scene in Japanese:

Mae: セリカさま！聞きましたよ。ミラの神殿へゆかれるんですよね。私もいきます、おともさせてください！

Celica:メイ……ありがとう、心強いわ。

Boey: セリカさま、俺もいきますよ。女の子ふたりだとなにかと物騒でしょう。

Mae: あら、なあに？自分が頼りになるみたいなこといっちゃって。

Boey: みたいな、じゃなくてなるんだよ。少なくともお前よりはな。

Mae: ちょっと、失礼ね！私は雷の魔法を使えるのよ？ボーイなんて、炎の魔法しか使えないじゃない。

Celica:ふたりとも、落ち着いて。私は、どちらも頼りにしてるわ。大変な旅になるかもしれないけど……よろしくね。メイ、ボーイ。

(My translation that stays closer to the literal meaning, but in a way that isn’t too awkward):

Mae: Lady Celica! I heard all about it! You’re going to the Temple of Mila, right? I’ll accompany you! Please, let me come!

Celica: Mae…thanks, it’s reassuring to hear that.

Boey: Lady Celica, I’m coming too. It may be too dangerous for just two girls to handle.

Mae: Wait, whaaat? Are you saying you’re more dependable than me?

Boey: I am. I’ll probably be a bigger help than you.

Mae: Now that’s just rude! I can use Lightning Magic, you know?! You use, what, nothing but Fire Magic?

Celica: Calm down, you two. I’ll be relying on you both. It’ll be a bit of an arduous journey ahead… so I’m counting on you two!

I posted the entire part just to give context, and to show other slight changes that lead up to it. Starting with the line in question, as you can see, in Japanese, she is simply highlighting how Lightning Magic is superior to Boey’s Fire Magic through emphasis.

To better carry that over (without italics), the localization opted to give more colorful descriptors which in turn would also emphasize her personality and probably make it stick out more to readers. The English line is notably longer as a result, as you can see.

This is about what I expected when asked the question. Localization can sometimes take the opportunity to use English and its many ways of portraying characters to help better emphasize characters and their various quirks which may be hard to differentiate in Japanese (the same way, anyway).

When you look at the original dialogue, you can see the conversation is set up in a slightly different way. In English Mae gets hung up over the “letting” part of Boey’s dialogue, directly responding with the line about Boey and keeping them safe. In Japanese, however, his concern for two girls going off being dangerous (and hence Mae being taken as undependable) is what bothers her. It’s very similar (that he will protect them, and hence be more “reliable” than her), but is a small nuanced change to the overall dialogue.

Celica too has a lot more to say in English, her first line as an example between Japanese and English. The sentiment is similar, but the localization certainly opted to add dialogue to bring the characters more to “life”, I suppose!

In short:

As expected, the line in question is unique to the English localization and does not have any equivalent in Japanese. It is likely to give characters more personality, not necessarily a bad thing.

Below is an isolated table with direct comparison for reference, and a shareable infographic is at the end of this post.

Japanese	Lit. Trans.	Official Localization
ちょっと、失礼ね！私は雷の魔法を使えるのよ？ボーイなんて、炎の魔法しか使えないじゃない	Now that’s just rude! I can use Lightning Magic, you know?! You use, what, nothing but Fire Magic?。	Uh, rude? AND wrong! I can conjure lightning, Boey. Big, hurty lightning. What’ve you got, fire? Maybe I’ll call you if I want to roast marshmallows.

---

I will continue to look into any other lines that people may be interested in!

What do you think about this slight change? It is rather minor, but I do like to hear thoughts anyway! Below is a summary infographic:

Advertisement