#does anyone have Irenaeus's phone number

[thank-heaven-you-asked]

The sub versus the dub.

I never intended for this blog to be all about comparing Tristamp's sub and its dub -- I never even watched the dub all the way through until a week ago -- but this one line has haunted me since I first saw it screencapped ages ago. I don't know Japanese, and I, like, extra don't know Japanese when Wolfwood's the speaker, but 'he's not who hurt you' is almost definitely an addition to the dub and not from the original script. Like, don't quote me on that -- in fact, if you know Japanese and can understand Wolfwood specifically, please correct me! -- but it feels like a safe bet. This would be an important bit of characterization, and I don't think the sub would drop it. But let's play in this space for a moment, because what a hell of an implication.

Essentially, this line would have us assume that Wolfwood thinks that Livio thinks that Vash is Knives, and that's why he's trying to kill him. He certainly wouldn't be shooting down Knives under the EOM's orders. So... what has Knives done directly to hurt the test subjects (that is, in a way that they would have seen his face and known it was him)? It can't be specific to Livio, since Wolfwood only just realized it was Livio , and he possibly (probably?) didn't know that EOM still had him until now. How much exposure to Knives do test subjects who "graduate" to assassins or whatnot get, and under what circumstances? Is Legato trying using Vash's resemblance to Knives to spur Livio on? That would be some really good dramatic irony, given that Legato seems confused about his own motivations (he really wants to make this about Wolfwood's loyalties, which must be the last thing this is actually about. We see that he bullies Wolfwood and dislikes his resistance to the cult stuff, but this is extreme. We know that Wolfwood is wavering, but outwardly he's just been doing his job. Legato HAS to be going behind Knives' back for this attempted hit on his brother, right? Testing Wolfwood is an excuse, and a really weak one at that).

Mistaken identity is what gets the plot rolling, but after that there isn't much confusion about which twin is which. They don't actually look very much alike as adults. But seeing it pop up amongst the less stable villains would be interesting.