Pokemon Emerald: Does Camper Lawrence switch pronouns before and after battle? [JPN vs ENG]

From Koh’s playthrough.

Today’s post is a small one from a reader request:

I was on Bulbapedia, and the Hoenn Route 113 page said this:

“In the Japanese version of Pokémon Emerald, Camper Lawrence uses feminine first person pronouns after battling him, even though he uses masculine first person pronouns before battling.”

Is that true? If so, was that a mistake on their part?

This was pretty interesting to hear, and would be an oddly specific quirk for a one-time trainer to have, so I took a quick look.

Short answer: This is false. Camper Lawrence does not switch pronouns. In fact, he only uses one masculine pronoun after the battle.

Let’s take a deeper look!

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Pokemon: “We hope to see you again!” [JPN vs ENG]

Across the Pokemon series, the nurse at the Pokemon Center helpfully heals up the player’s Pokemon. When handing them back, however, she says:

We hope to see you again!

The line has been referenced in a lot of silly ways based on how it is a relatively “terrible thing to say in a hospital.” After all, hoping to see the player again means that Pokemon get injured and need healing…again. This rather dark outlook that spawned several humorous memes and webcomics.

So that made me wonder, what is that line in Japanese anyway? Can it be read the same way?

Short answer: “We look forward to serving you again!” is what the Japanese comes out to be. Similarly polite business speak, but it’s all about the little context and nuance which explains why it became a running joke in the English-speaking fanbase but not so much in the Japanese one.

Let’s take a deeper look!

Pokemon Sword/Shield: Are Poke Kids Mia and Rhys’s names a nod to Fire Emblem?

While playing Pokemon Shield, I encountered two Poke Kids, a girl and a boy, on Route 4. They are in the same area in close proximity to each other in the northeast section of the route.

Their names? Mia and Rhys.

As an FE fan, that really stuck out, as we know these names as the pair of mercenaries from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. Fun!

So naturally I wondered if this was an intentional reference, or total coincidence?

Short answer: If not a coincidence, then it may be a very light localization-side reference out of opportunity. There is no JP reference however.

If interested in taking a closer look, then see below!

Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon: Evolution? Isn’t that like, maturing quickly? [JPN vs ENG]

Time for another entry in Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon comparisons. I have looked into some others before, which you can find listed under the comparisons page!

Today, I look at a quick reader request for Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon:

A friend of mine told me that, in the health class scene in Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, the partner in the Japanese version asks the teacher if evolution is similar to sex. In the English localization, they instead compare it to puberty. Could you confirm whether this is true?

They helpfully provided the links to the dialogue in question for both English and Japanese (a big thank you for that!)

So let’s take a look:

Smash Bros: “Ridley Hits the Big Time” in Japanese? (Also every 3DS/Wii U Line) [JPN vs ENG]

A follower on twitter asked the following:

That reminds me, I’m curious to know what Ridleys Japanese splash screen says. Whether the ‘too big’ in-joke is a thing there…

— Martyn (@martynstuff) 2018年6月25日

I took a quick look at it, and the results were as expected. It simply says 参戦 (san-sen), which means to “join” or “participate” in an event of sorts. It’s often used, but not limited to, fighting games. You see it used in Smash Bros a lot however!

I had recalled in response to the twitter user above is that the Japanese all across the board actually just had “Character Name 参戦,” leaving the localization to come up with colorful lines instead. But memory can be a fickle thing that can lead to misinformation, so those of you who know me also know I like to be very thorough, and so I went through all the trailers once again just to double check for all of you, and made this table:

Character	Localization	Japanese 日本語
Villager	Villager comes to town!	むらびと参戦！！
Mega Man	Mega Man joins the battle!	ロックマン参戦！！
Wii Fit Trainer	Wii Fit Trainer weighs in!	Wii Fit トレーナ参戦！！
Sonic	NA	NA
Rosalina & Luma	Rosalina & Luma launch into battle!	ロゼッタ＆チコ参戦！！
Little Mac	Little Mac punches in!	リトル・マック参戦！！
Charizard	Charizard fires it up!	リザードン参戦！！
Greninja	Greninja makes a splash!	ゲッコウガ参戦！！
Mii Fighters
Lincoln	Lincoln gets sworn in!	リンカーン参戦！！
Elijah Wood	Elijah Wood like to battle!	イライジャ・ウッド参戦！！
Ice-T*	Ice-T Pours it on!	NA
Arino Kachou*	NA	有野課長参戦！！
Palutena	Palutena alights!	パルテナ参戦！！
Dark Pit	NA	NA
Pac-Man	Pac-Man hungers for battle!	パックマン参戦！！
Lucina	Lucina wakes her blade?!	ルキナ参戦！？
Robin	Robin brings the thunder!	ルフレ参戦！！
Shulk	Shulk foresees a fight!	シュルク参戦！！
Bowser Jr.	Bowser Jr. clowns the competition!	クッパJr.参戦！！
Duck Hunt	Duck Hunt takes aim!	ダックハント参戦！！
Mewtwo	Mewtwo Strikes Back!	ミュウツー参戦！！
Lucas	Lucas comes out of Nowhere!	リュカ参戦！！
Roy	Roy seals the deal!	ロイ参戦！！
Ryu	Here comes a new challenger! Ryu!	リュウ参戦！！
Cloud	Cloud storms into battle!	クラウド参戦！！
Corrin	Corrin chooses to smash!	カムイ参戦！！
Bayonetta	Bayonetta gets wicked!	ベヨネッタ参戦！！
(Ultimate)
Ridley	Ridley hits the big time!	リドリ参戦！！

Some quick notes/pointers:

• Mega Man is the only character that actually had it translated to “joins the battle.” Perhaps they felt it worked just fine, or that particular translator did not decide to do anything colorful. Being one of the first trailers, perhaps there was reluctance, yet, Villager was shown before that with his own colorful tag.
• Sonic lacks a tag, perhaps due to being a returning character. Though the title of the video seems to be “Sonic Joins the Battle” which is also ソニック参戦 in Japanese. Straightforward enough!
• Ice-T was exclusive for the NoA version. In the NoJ one, it was Arino Kachou instead, a celebrity associated with video games. This was rightfully changed as he would likely be totally unknown to an NoA audience. I did not check, but I wonder if NoE had a third celebrity? Please let me know.
• Dark Pit lacks any tag for himself in both versions, and his trailer title is shared with Palutena’s so does not include him.
• Lucina is the only character where the Japanese is slightly different. She has a “?” added where the usual second “!” is in all the rest of the titles. This is reflected in the localization too.
• In Ryu’s trailer, where it says “I’m Looking / for a / Challenge”, the Japanese says, ” 俺より / 強いやつに / 会いに行く” (ore yori / tsuyoi yatsu ni / ai ni iku), which would mean “I’ve come to meet those stronger than me” (or, literally, “More than me / stronger guys / go to meet”).

So even if you do not speak Japanese, you can simply look at the characters 参戦 and how they appear straight down the Japanese column on the table above. You can even put it into Ctrl + F and highlight all instances.

As expected, the localization indeed spiced up many of the lines with either references to the characters and their source material or puns –which I’m sure is a touch that has been mostly well received. The Japanese side would have been “character joins the battle” all across the board, so perhaps they felt this would be a way to differentiate the characters with references/nods to their origins and fans.

In short:

Japanese is “CharacterName 参戦!! (joins the battle!!)” across the board. All the references and puns are solely creations of the localization. You can assume in the future that any title line in Japanese was likely 参戦.

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How would you have gone about writing these lines? What sort of alternate titles for characters would you have come up with? Feel free to share!

Ideally I’d have provided a picture of every single character add on with subtitle, but I just lacked the time to do so. Does anyone know if there is a gallery out there that already has all the (actual) characters and their lines? My search was bogged down by all the fan made ones, so…

Pokemon X/Y – “Owned, suckah!” [JPN vs ENG]

Not my screenshot. Source.

Today’s post is a small one, and covers a reader request:

“I saw a thread on reddit where someone linked a shot of this sassy old guy in the Battle Maison. What was the Japanese line? Just curious. Thanks!”

I don’t think I ever ran into him, that line is hilarious! So I’m curious what that was too.

Let’s take a look!

Pokemon: X/Y Battle Chateau – Is Arran a Hitman? [JPN vs ENG]

Today’s post is a small one, and covers a reader request:

“There’s a butler named Arran who refuses to reveal the name of the master who presumably set him up to harm you in some way! Was his Japanese dialogue more clear on his intention? Like is he a hitman or something? lol”

I remember that guy! I always thought he was out to assassinate the trainer too, which was a silly (and dark) thought at the time. Of course it’s quite possible he was also just there to beat you in a Pokemon battle…

Either way let’s take a look!

Pokemon: X/Y Battle Chateau – Julia the Robo-Maid [JPN vs ENG]

Not my screenshot.

Yesterday, I looked into a curious man in the Battle Chateau of Pokemon X/Y who keeps saying “Monsieur!” in English. It reminded me that I wanted to look into this other peculiar character, too: Julia, who seems to be a robotic maid of some kind.

Let’s take a look!

Pokemon: X/Y Battle Chateau – “Monsieur! Monsieur!” [JPN vs ENG]

Today’s post is a small one, and covers a reader request:

“There’s this guy in the Battle Chateau who keeps saying Monsieur monsieur over and over. I think his name is Lesotho. What does he say in Japanese? Thanks!”

I’ve been meaning to look at the Battle Chateau actually, especially for that one robo-maid and the other guy who seems to be out to assassinate you…either way, this is a good place to start!

So let’s take a look!

Pokémon Gold & Silver: Earl’s speech mannerisms & “winner is you” reference [JPN vs ENG]

Part of a series on game comparisons! Last time we looked at a scene between two girls in Sea Mauville.

Today’s post is not a reader one, but a personal curiosity. From playing through Pokemon Gold and Silver again (thanks to their recent re-release on the 3DS Virtual Console), I came across this character in Violet City I had forgotten about: Earl.

He has a funny way of talking which automatically raises flags regarding what the original language may have been, and even references the “winner is you” meme. So I figured it was worth looking into.

So let’s see what’s going on here!