#DiC Dub vs Sub Commentary Watch

[whereyoursoulresides]

DiCdub vs Sub Ep 15/18 “Dangerous Dollies”/”Shingo’s Love, the Grieving Doll”

Omg okay so because I’ve just been reading whatever novelizations I could find of the 90s DiC Dub, it cranked my nostalgia on full power so I decided to rewatch some of my favourite episodes. Which means to say...the Zoisite-related episodes ;).

I know there is a lot of ick factor when it comes to the DiC dub, so I understand if anyone wishes to skip or scroll through. I however, find the side-by-side comparisons fascinating - because more often than not, I catch little oddities in my assumptions and understanding of the characters, which may have been subconsciously influenced from my exposure to the Dub as a child. It is yet another area of exploration in my never-ending research of KunZoi. 

That and the ridiculousness of the DiC is freaking entertaining

So without further ado, my running commentary on DiCDub vs Sub, Episode 15/18 - “Dangerous Dollies” / “Shingo’s Love, the Grieving Doll”!

Opening up with Queen Beryl railing on Neflyte / Nephrite. Sounds okay so far.

I do want to point out that Neflyte overall seems like a more nicer guy than Nephrite. My impression is that DiC knew how he was going to end up and tried their best to make him less of an ass to give his ultimate redemption a little more heft. I’m a bit ambivalent about its success, but, that’s another post.

Enter Zoycite and Zoisite, both giggling like villainous masterminds we’re meant to see them as, trying to be cute. Zoycite’s having a harder time making it believable. 

Zoycite’s much less subtle. Zoisite tries to be a gentleman and team player.

OMFG. DiC, trying to hammer in the cenorship in case we missed it.  (Where is my FU emoticon?) Meanwhile, Zoisite stays professionally on-point.

LOL YOU WORK THAT SISTERHOOD ANGLE ZOYCITE. Kissups, the both of you.

Ok I know there’s no audio, so I want to stress this: While DiC Beryl seems to wholeheartedly buy Zoycite’s sorority angle, Sub Beryl actually does an inhale-sigh. This is not a woman falling for Zoisite’s cuteness, but is the mother-figure who is reluctantly agreeing the younger of her two petulant children is right. 

HAHAHAHA I love watching Nephrites refuse direct orders with the grace of semitruck. Zoycite is syrupy-sweet, Zoisite practically does that not-so-innocent-innocent oOo face with the hand to his mouth. 

Class act Nephrite! Another little change to tone down Nephrite’s immense ego - Neflyte reminds Zoycite of the facts and thus shifts the implication back to her interfering. Nephrite, instead, shoots himself in the foot - he actually isn’t annoyed with Zosite’s interfering - he’s actually annoyed with Beryl’s helicopter parenting and Zoisite’s just fanning that fire.

I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like Neph’s already hung himself with that line. 

Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to help. But I don’t think that was Nephrite’s intention...while Neflyte sounds like he’s trying to at least exit somewhat courteously, Nephrite’s practically throwing up as an ironic FU. “I’ve had enough of this, LATERZ.”

(Also, check out the Zoisite’s TOTALLY INNOCENT HEAD-TILT):

(”Oh gee golly whiz, I can’t believe he just did that!” Coy-Zoi at his best.)

You bet he is, DiC-Beryl. Though the anger Sub-Beryl’s going through seems much more venemous...

Now this is interesting (and this is why I love doing comparison-posts like this). THIS is different. It’s a small, hardly noticeable difference, but today when I was watching it, I totally had an A-HA moment. 

Notice how in the DiC dub, Zoycite explicitly says this is her plan. This is where the notion of Zoy/i’s rivalry with Nef/ph comes from. We are meant to believe Zoycite put this plan through, with no outside help (I think we can all assume whose outside help that would be). It’s Zoycite who hates Neflyte.

BUT. This is NOT what is said in the Sub. Zoisite actually says, word for word, “Everything went to plan”. But not necessarily his plan. Just A Plan. The Plan. And you know what? Isn’t there anything else about this set up - the Setting Nephrite Up to Fail By His Own Self and With Minimal Effort From You Plan, that just reeks of someone else’s strategy style?

If you’re thinking I’m referring to Kunzite, I am TOTALLY referring to Kunzite.

After watching this scene, this makes FAR more sense why in the episode where Zoisite’s crying on his knees, Kunzite explicitly says that Nephrite can be ousted as they please. While DiC makes it sound like it was all Zoycite’s doing to fuck Neflyte up (they really do, Malachite’s constantly advising her as an outsider in later episodes), the Sub actually uses this episode as a seriously subtle setup for Kunzite. It was never just Zoisite’s beef with Nephrite - it was their beef, and they were in cahoots together way before we saw Kunzite appear. Thus why Nephrite never forcefully ejects Zoisite from his creeper house or confronts him - it’s not a rivalry between him and Zoi, it’s a rivalry between him and Kunzite, and Zoisite’s just the annoying middle-man for which Nephrite’s egotism takes dismissively. I will touch back on this again when we get to the penultimate episodes leading up to Nephrite’s death.

Anyways, that being said, I leave with one final shot-by-shot comparison:

Ok, this may not seem like a big deal, but I find a HUGE deal. In this last fade-to-black, Zoisite ends his internal monologue (where he still speaks in the feminine way, ending his sentence with わ) with just a little smile. I’m probably reading too much into this, but I’m taking this to imply that Zoisite’s the feminine partner of a duo, and satisfied that he’s done his job, he’ll be heading back to report to the boss man. Cue the little smile. 

Zoycite, on the other hand, gets an evil laugh added into her script. It isn’t just enough to show that she may be satisfied in the success of her plan like in the original sub, but they have to show that she relishes in it. She’s having fun. She delights in it. It’s little things like this that set up Zoycite the way we’ve seen in subsequent fanfictions and headcanons - catty, sadistic, bitchy. Loving being evil. I think the DiC dub added these things to her character to set her up to foil Neflyte’s death (his redemption of goodness and her, well, evilness) - but I do think there’s also more to that. Scriptwriters usually don’t change, add or greenlight things unless it’s for a reason, especially if it adds to runtime. 

And there we go! This week’s DiC Dub vs. Sub Commentary Watch. If anyone needs me, I’ll be back in my dark KZ hole watching another ep.

[whereyoursoulresides]

DiC Dub vs Sub Ep 17/21 “An Animated Mess”/”Protect Children’s Dreams! Friendship Linked by Anime”

Aaand I’m back! Heads up, this is a super long post because there’s also a Zoisite-Syntax essay in here too!

So to recap (because I’m not necessarily doing these in order, some are just more meatier and funner to get to than others): In the last episode, the Zoy/Zois have tried to get Nef/Neph in some serious trouble, and it backfired. +1 for Nef/ph.

So in this episode, it seems like their rivalry has stepped back in intensity a bit. Zoy/Zoi appear to be more chilled and less heckly, and Nef/ph seems to be either riding on the confidence of showing Zoy/i up in the face from the last episode, or otherwise doesn’t care. It sets up a really nice scene, actually, because it’s refreshing to see these two villains in a civil-ish behind-the-scenes interaction once in a while.

Zoy/i enter. I know there’s no audio, but I love Zoisite’s “Ara!” when he says “My!” Like, I can’t get over how like, very high-society-gossip his voice is. “My!”

Interesting how once again, they changed the script so Neflyte appears more sympathetic. By saying “Yes actually,” it makes Zoycite appear more like the heckler. In the original Sub, Nephrite responds with “kisamaka” - a disdainful, dismissive “hmph, you again?” sort of meaning. Like, I can’t iterate how much I get the impression Nephrite finds Zoisite more annoying than Neflyte finds Zoycite, even though Zoisite is honestly not even as intrusive as Zoycite is.

Okay, what’s interesting in the Sub here, there actually is no sarcasm or sniping back-and-forth (unlike the Dub).  This legitimately seems like a civil conversation. Like there’s no background music, no evil theme song. It can almost be seen as two colleagues checking in on each other. Almost. My take is that Zoisite’s temporarily laying down arms a bit to recalibrate how he’s going to approach the rest of their dynamic in the future. And Nephrite’s letting him because he’s still riding on the confidence from one-upping Zoisite from the last episode...and also because he really doesn’t think Zoisite’s much of a threat.

Ahh, infamous dub words. 

That aside, I feel like the subtitles don’t really capture the softness and coyness in which Zoisite’s saying these words. Like, when we read them in English, they seem really straightforward and almost...ballsy? Whereas the impression I got when I was listening was more like “Oh? Well, don’t you seem extremely confident.”

Which would make more sense when you consider his next line:

Ok, this is one screenshot in which I definitely would have translated differently. 

As usual, Zoycite comes off as more domineering and over-lordy. She’s practically trying to assert herself as Neflyte’s supervisor on behalf of Queen Beryl. When you read Zoisite’s subtitles, you might assume the same thing, because his statement seems super pretentious in English. “I shall see how well you do”? Who the fuck is he to assume such power? If we were take the English subtitle as is, we’d probably assume he is acting on behalf of some other power (Beryl or Kunzite, your pick).

Except, I don’t agree with how this line was translated. It’s very likely I’m misunderstanding some social context with this line (since I’m translating nearly word-by-word) or how it’s used, but, the way I interpret it is very different.

So in this scene, what Zoisite actually says is:

お手並み拝見させていただくわ

otenami haiken sasete itadakuwa.

So otenami haiken means “Let’s see what you got” or “Let’s see your skill in this match” kind of thing. You’d say it to your opponent in a game, or in a drinking match. It’s kind of sarcastic, like how you would expect in English. By using this term, Zoisite is actually referring a match - a literal match, their rivalry. He isn’t checking in on behalf of Beryl, or supervising Nephrite. He is literally saying We’re both playing this game and now it’s your turn:  why don’t we let’s see what you’ve got.

The second thing I’m picking up on (that the subtitles can’t) is how Zoisite conjugates the rest of his sentence. Most importantly, his use of the words sasete itadaku, which is an example of keigo speech: super polite speech that you would use for business, colleagues, clients or anyone on higher on the hierarchal ladder than you. It’s also like, super ...humble? Like it basically would read like this:

(Please allow me to) see what you’ve got. 

Except Zoisite’s not...actually meaning it? He’s not really asking for Nephrite’s permission. The type of language he’s using is more like he’s ostensibly asking permission Nephrite to let him watch. It’s like, Zoisite being super polite and passive-aggressive all at once.

The irony, is, though, that Zoisite isn’t entirely outright being sarcastic. At least, I don’t think he is. Why? I mean, he’s in private, he’s not in front of Beryl, and we all know he doesn’t like Nephrite - so really,  he doesn’t have to be polite to Nephrite. And of all the Shitennou, does anyone think Nephrite would give a fuck about the proper way one should be speaking to someone on the hierarchal ladder? Fuck no! This is the guy who can hardly keep it together professionally even with Beryl seething at him from the opposite side of the crystal ball. So why does Zoisite do this?

I think, the poor boy can’t help it. 

I think Zoistie’s mannerisms - his feminine speech, his polite airs, his professionalism and his by-the-book manners - I think all of this is just him. It’s intrinsic in him, and his best strength: It’s his only way of playing the game: appearing to keep by the rules, keeping his nose clean, looking like a team player and just overall an impeccable fellow, while hiding his true capabilities and ruthlessness inside. This is how he’s even described in official merchandise books: “deceptively gentle, like a fanged beast ready to strike.”

And yet, ironically, this is probably what drives Nephrite bonkers. Since Nephrite is the kind of guy who speaks exactly what he thinks and puts no air or fake graces, Zoisite’s behaviour is exactly the kind he would detest. He can see how fake Zoisite is behind his “civilized” manners (see how Zoisite, in later episodes, likes to differentiate himself from other “barbarian” youmas), and probably finds him weak and spineless by doing so (not to mention pairing with Kunzite). Essentially, this is where I often get my Neph/Zoi Older-Brother-Younger-Brother headcanon from: Zoisite is that pesky younger brother trying to compete with the rest of them, and Nephrite is up to here with babysitting. He’d probably have more respect for Zoisite if he just grew up. But, Nephrite’s ego also thinks Zoisite is nothing more than that: just a silly little brother, trying to pretend he’s big enough to play with the big boys...and thus, he lets him in to watch how it’s done, without really considering the consequences.

OMG that was super long. Let’s continue on with the rest of the episode. I swear I’ll be fast.

(Please excuse my error in screencapping) But look! Zoisite is practically “learning”. 

Note how Zoycite is still approaching this as if she expects Neflyte to fail, and is waiting for it. She might as well be eating popcorn. Zoisite, on the other hand, remains coyishly neutral. I think he’s using this time to really get a sense of what Nephrite is made of.

I think I’m beginning to understand what Naoko meant when she said that Nephrite had the biggest “elder brother” type of ego. He seems very sure of himself like all the damn time, even when his track record isn’t the best.

And when it blows up in his face...

Zoycite, classy as always. (<--That’s me being sarcastic)

Zoisite, definitely classier, but HOHO. Like, the subtitles are totally correct, but I feel like in English, a combination of his polite+sarcasm would sound more like “Thanks for the show :)”.

So tldr, while Zoycite is nailing human sarcasm, can we talk about the aristocratic-level of sarcasm we’re getting from Zoisite here? God I want to see this boy sass over a cup of tea.