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!

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!

FE7 Blazing Blade Localization: Comparing all of the Character Epilogues [JPN vs ENG]

Today’s post is a personal curiosity! After seeing the differences (or mistranslations) between the regions of the various epilogues of FE7, such as Guy and Priscilla, or Bartre and Karla, I decided to go through all the epilogues (paired and unpaired) to see if there were any other differences to find that may not have been noticed yet.

There were some differences indeed, but none as major as the ones this blog has already covered.

Please be wary of spoilers as we go through many character endings.

So let’s take a closer look at these!

FE7 Blazing Blade Localization: Did Guy elope with Priscilla in the JP version? [JPN vs ENG]

This post is part of a series on reader requested (and personal curiosity) comparisons between Fire Emblem games’ Japanese and English scripts.

Today’s post concerns a reader question via twitter regarding Guy and Priscilla’s A support ending in Blazing Blade:

https://twitter.com/MiloZ28997263/status/1269795838659686400

Short answer: Yes, it appears Guy did indeed elope with Priscilla in Japanese!

I had been unaware of this, but it was mentioned on Priscilla’s Fire Emblem wiki page under trivia, though with no source. So while this information may already be known to some, I write this mostly for posterity for those interested in taking a deeper look or wondering about its validity and wanting the original Japanese.

So let’s take a closer look!

FE9 Path of Radiance Localization: “I guess I’m a fish out of water myself…” [JPN vs ENG]

Today we look into what a reader brought up as part of a larger discussion of localization of the FE games:

Idioms tend to lack perfect equivalents in other languages, so what of Ranulf’s use of “fish out of water” in his Ike support in PoR?

They are referring to Ike and Ranulf’s C Support in Path of Radiance, where Ranulf says the following:

Then again, worrying about a beorc like this is definitely not normal laguz behavior. I guess I’m a fish out of water myself… Wait, did I just call myself a fish?

Short answer: Surprisingly, this idiom was rather well placed. He was still talking about being an oddball when it comes to laguz, and using imagery of floating on water like a fish in Japanese.

Let’s take a closer look!

FE10 Radiant Dawn Localization: “I swear you’d hit on a tree if I dressed it in a skirt.” [JPN vs ENG]

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today’s short post is by both popular request and personal curiosity (and sort of fits the theme of the day).

In Radiant Dawn Part 3 Chapter 1, there is a comedic scene between Shinon and Gatrie, which ends with Shinon saying the following:

You’re chasing after a laguz now? Gatrie, I swear you’d hit on a tree if I dressed it in a skirt. Tell me I’m wrong!

Let’s take a closer look at this line!

FE9 Path of Radiance Localization: Mia’s Fortune and Archrival [JPN vs ENG]

It’s been awhile! Happy New Year! Hopefully I’ll have time for more posts in 2020.

Today’s post is a personal curiosity involving Mia’s fortune in her support conversation with Rhys, as well as her “archrival” in general. The structure is a little wayward, as a forewarning.

The localization of her conversation is mostly very accurate, though the fortune itself actually differs slightly. Despite a lot of small detours from the Japanese here and there, the conversation ultimately reaches the same conclusion.

I also touch upon a few other instances of her mention of fortunes and archrivals.

Let’s take a look!

FE7 Localization: Was Hector and Eliwood’s A Support Mistranslated? Who cut their hand? [JPN vs ENG]

Today’s post comes from a thread on reddit which concerns Hector and Eliwood’s A support conversation. u/Dragoryu3000 posed a question:

Hold up, is Eliwood and Hector’s A-Support majorly mistranslated?

They pinged me in a thread and I looked into it. The issue revolves primarily around Erik Laus and vague wording in the translation being potentially misleading as to what occurred. You can read their thoughts and the rest of the thread in-depth on the thread before reading this post if you want to get a better idea of the issue, but I’ll try my best to explain it as we go along, too.

So let’s take a look!

FE9 Path of Radiance Localization: Marcia’s Colorful Language [JPN vs ENG]

This post is part of a series on reader requested (and personal curiosity) comparisons between various games’ Japanese and English scripts.

Today’s post concerns Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Specifically, Marcia’s dialogue! It’s partially a reader request, and partially personal curiosity.

A reader said the following:

Did Marcia call Makalov a “eunuch” in Japanese too?

Though the reader requested just this line, I looked into a few of her other colorful moments too –all with Makalov, of course.

So let’s take a look!

FE7 Blazing Blade Localization: Karel’s “Sword” – Physical Blade or a Technique? [JPN vs ENG]

This post is part of a series on reader requested (and personal curiosity) comparisons between Fire Emblem games’ Japanese and English scripts.

Today’s post concerns a reader from reddit’s curiosity regarding Karel. To quote:

Could you possibly take a look at Karel and Karla’s supports to see if they are strictly referring to the art of the sword or if there actually is a physical sword passed down in their family? I argued once that their English supports establish there is a physical sword (which is not named in game and in particular is not the Wo Dao).

They mention the quote (in the screen shot above) which is the line in question. One would likely assume it is indeed a physical blade as opposed to any sort of “way of the sword” as a result. It may be worth noting that Karel holds a bloodied sword in his official artwork too that some assume may be said sword.

Upon researching it, it’s an interesting case that leans toward mistranslation, and that the sword is actually meant to be a style and not a physical blade. But let’s take a thorough look at the matter.

Now let’s get to it!