#localization discourse

[imustbenuts]

Seadall, localization, food, EABS culture, and discussion of Eating Disorder. Trigger Warning.

tl;dr: Seadall is pandering to an East Asian Beauty Standard, technically does not have eating disorder, but is bordering on Disordered Eating, and both the writers and localizers know it.

Our first official male dancer of FE has a bit of a obsession over controlling his diet to a concerning degree. But is it actually an Eating Disorder? No, I don't think so. From my pov, this has everything to do with his job, a Dancer and the dreaded East Asian Beauty Standard (EABS).

EABS idealizes the fair skinned (asian colorism rAAAAGH), the lean and thin. Any level of fats or flaps are no good and is considered undesirable, or worse, a sign of one's gluttonous and even slothful character. IRL, that sentiment has become less pervasive, less judgemental and less awful than 10 years ago, but it's still around. Hell, it's in our Fire Emblems! Average out the body shapes of all dancers or even characters in FE and you'll see what I mean.

(are you in hell yet.)

This EABS is especially prevalent in 1 genre of media that comes pouring out of Japan and Korea... The Pop Idol scene. In Japan, the idol industry can be traced back to the 1960s, and though it has propped up the EABS, this standard's roots goes FURTHER back to even pre-colonialism era, to China and the Tang Dynasty where willowy female bodies were ideal. (That's 618-907AD.)

And when I say EABS, I will include the surrounding countries outside of Japan too. Similarities in culture and all that. Hence East Asian. (Don't be mistaken though. South East and South Asia also has to deal with this shit.)

But hey. I'm still talking about female EABS, right? Where does Seadall fall into this?

Uhhhh. Jumpscare. Surprise K-pop.

(ps i dont know k-pop as well so idk who these ppl are im sorry waaaaug)

Dancers and the Idol Industry

It's easier to see on the female side, but uh, that specific body shape is often achieved through extreme dieting. The body fat % is so low that the dancer's lower ribcage can be seen. Before shooting the dance or a performance, these idol's agencies will notify them to slim down to a certain goal, like say drop 2kg (4.4 lbs) or 4kg (8.8 lbs) in x time, and this is typical. Guys here are no exception.

Weight is manufactured. Looks to some extent (plastic... surgery....). The clothes too, are intentionally picked. Exposing the belly is common since it's the quickest indicator of skinniness.

But hey, I actually lied about the dieting part. It's not really dieting as it's actually straight up starvation, tbh. To lose that weight, the dancers/idols will often eat as little as some protein shake, a few fruits and maybe potato for fiber. Yes, it's as hellish as it sounds, and no, these people are unable to fully function with a calorie intake like this. Source for this claim will be in a video at the bottom of the post by youtuber chaebin n out, titled "How K-POP Destroys Your Body". So.

W̵͓͍̏͝e̴͉̾ḽ̷͈͐ĉ̶̠̝͋ö̶̤́m̷̲̒ê̶̬ ̶̧̅ṭ̷̘͑͑ö̵͇́ ̸̛͖̑h̵̳̿͝ė̶͕͉l̵̜͖̇͗ḻ̶̑!̴̪͊̉

Ok, but that's K-pop. What about J-pop?

Japan, where FE rolls out from, have J-pop, which is slightly different. J-pop idols also suffer from EABS but afaik it's not as extreme. Many contemporary J-pop idol groups like Atarashii Gakko!(left) and Babymetal(right) also Do Not make thinness a major selling point with their costuming. This is usually done through hiding the midriff, where belly fat most easily forms. (EABS is still in effect though, don't be mistaken! There could be just as extreme cases out there I'm not aware of ;_;)

So it seems like people kind of agree that obsessing about weight and developing body image issue is messed up.

Hopefully now I've established what is going on irl for Seadall's influences, and what is considered normal or extreme. Relatively anyway. (I hate EABS so much hhggr)

Let's detour to...

Food! Staples! What's normal?

An average meal in Japan consists of a variety of veggies, tofu and a serving of protein, which results in lower fat intake. Also, RICE is a major staple in these meals, so assuming the writers are approaching it with the best intentions, and how Engage's normal might appear to native Japanese audiences, JP Seadall's worry only seems to be on oily food intake and is not overly concerning to me.

In fact, here is an example of a staple set meal (teishoku) I ate over there last December. Yum yum:

Overall a very lean meal. So it's likely Seadall eats something similar-ish and not just greens.

Another important point is that in (East) Asia/Japan, oily food is seen as unhealthy and contributes greatly to cholesterol. This aversion to oily food is driven somewhat by EABS and... Health. I also promise most people are actually chill about this. ...Most people! Meat is yummy! Gyukaku and Ikinari Steak is popular and popping! That's why Seadall likes it after all.

So this is where Seadall's writing starts to contrast. For the most part in the EN version, he only worries about meat. In JP, it's technically oily food, which meat falls under, and he's worried about putting on weight.

Why the extreme worry tho...?

The logic for why all these matters so much to him is this: if a dancer is surrounded by other dancers who are reinforcing this EABS (mirroring the standards of the real world), then their only choice to stay relevant and keep their job is to commit to the same dietary choice and uphold the same EABS, or even have a EABS outperforming the standard.

Because a Dancer's job, or rather, Seadall's job is to pander to people's ideals of beauty. Hence his supports where hair and skin and food becomes a topic.

If he fails the standard, according to the J-pop and K-pop industry, he kind of fails at his job. Is it fair? Fuck no, but no matter what opinion we may think of the standard as outsiders, it remains that there is a LOT of social conditioning and manufacturing going on leading to... all of that. I scream too. I scream a lot, internally.

So what does Seadall look like to someone in this East Asian sphere...?

To the writers credit, they do push for Seadall to indulge more food that makes him happy for at least his mental well-being through the other characters.

This also happens to fall in line with Engage's low key theme of cherishing the moment.

With all I've explained, Seadall might come across as warning to those who over-worry about oily food consumption and trying to pander to an EABS to... chill the fuck out. That it's ok to just go eat some delicious yakiniku if you want to! Go off! If a female character who is concerned with this comes across as too vain, then let's have a guy do it and hope the point lands for the (potentially female) players.

And with all these missing context, it's very easy for one who isn't clued into this sphere assume that Seadall has some eating disorder or that the writers are advocating it. I don't think that's happening here at all. The localizers likely are aware of this missing context and have toned it down several levels for EN release. Wise move, tbh.

(progressiveness can be relative btw. something to keep in mind @_@)

So, is Seadall coming close to some kind of Disordered Eating? Possible. From what I see I think the writers are trying to push Seadall away from it, and trying to stop it from becoming a full blown Eating Disorder. Personally, again, I don't think he has an Eating Disorder.

However! Your Mileage May Vary. I only hope for my opinion and understanding to help inform others, not override it. What's normal for me isn't for everyone, and vice versa, but it's important to remember where Fire Emblem originates from.

And here's the last thing I promised: the video essay if you really want to dive into it:

And that's about it.

Hope this was interesting! Thanks for reading. 😄

EDIT: the Chinese net sphere is the exception to all of this, EABS is especially bad there

[konfizry]

Nefarious, anti-Zelink localization choices in TotK

I would argue that they are not a thing.

So what I’ve been seeing, is mostly discourse around The House. 

Mainly, that one line in Zelda’s diary, where Zelda refers to the house as “my house” in the English text as seen below: 

The argument seems to be that she does not say “my house” in the original Japanese. I’ve even seen people go as far as to claim she wrote “our house”. Aight, let’s take a peek then:

So indeed, there is no trace of  私の家 (my house), but neither is there 私たちの家 (our house). It’s just 家 (”house” / “the house”). 

As you know.  Pronouns aren’t nearly as pervasive in japanese as they are in English. I do think it’d be strange for her to use a possessive here, like, you know. Given that we know that it’s this here house she’s referring to, y’know. And she’s writing in her own diary, there’s no need to specify. Like, It’s the house. This house. What other house is there that she had an extra room built at? None, of course, right. Right. 

So anyway, what’s the correct translation then? ~I don’t know.~ If you wanna stick close to the original jp’s lack of possessive here, you’d say “the house”, i guess, but listen: “my house” is a perfectly reasonable option, as well. I know some of y’all hate that it makes it sound like she’s excluding Link here, and sure you’re allowed to feel that way but. I. don’t think it’s wrong tbh honest??? 

And “our house” would have worked, too, probably, but then it would have leaned a littttttle too heavily on the Zelink and I can sort of understand that they want to keep it at least a little nebulous. (because 1. that is what they do and 2. it’s more fun that way)

And unfortunately “our house” would have also contradicted another little piece of info found in the Japanese version regarding... the well, again. more specifically what the game calls the well. 

In English it is referred to as Zelda’s Secret Well. And that is what it is. It is very much the well that was built for her own purposes, and it is a secret chamber. No complaints here.

The well is labeled a little differently in Japanese, tho. The game calls it ゼルダの家の井戸, which could translate to "Zelda's house's water well" or "the water well by Zelda's house" (or whatever else you can think of that has “Zelda’s house” and “well” in it, probably, im just giving examples so u get the idea).

(click here if you’re on desktop and can’t zoom in but want to)

So, in fact, you could say that in Japanese, the house is clearly stated to be Zelda’s house. Woops, back to square one it is, then. 

But do you see? Are you seeing? While Zelda does call it “my house” in the English text seemingly leaving no room for Link, you could also argue that the localization team went out of their way to not call it “Zelda’s house” when they absolutely could have. By calling the well “Zelda’s secret well” instead of going for a closer-to-the-original “well outside Zelda’s house”, they recreated a little bit of room for speculation. Wow!!!! Cool!! 

And this is just like. One little tidbit I decided to focus on, but my point is:

There is no secret anti-Zelink agenda in the localization team. Translating means making choices, you might disagree with some of them, but that does not make them wrong or vile, I don’t think. 

And the siege mentality I’ve seen some people adopt regarding Zelink strikes me as very misplaced. We are eating good. There is food aplenty. Why are you digging for extra scraps that may not even exist? 

Granted, comparing the original text with its translations can be super fun (heck I enjoy it, to an extent!), but try to think about your own attitude as you do so. Try to go into with curiosity and humility in your heart instead of righteous vindicativeness. You might find that more satisfying. 

Now of course, sometimes translation errors do occur, and criticism is warranted, but try to take a step back and ask yourself if this really means the localization team are a bunch of buffoons who either have no idea what they’re doing or are actively trying to ruin your Zelda experice, or if, perhaps, instead, sometimes people fuck up. For various reasons that you may not be aware of.

(Rereading this i now realize that i am tone-policing and. Yeah. I am. deal with it)

One more thing, you don’t have to believe randos who claim “X is canon in Japanese and they censored it in English”, especially if they’re not elaborating or providing evidence. (You can choose to believe them if you want to, at the end of the day, but just be aware that you believed without seeing. So think before you spread the word around, right?)

One final, final thing, you can always set your nintendo switch to Japanese and experience the game in its original language, for yourself. Isn’t that the coolest? I wish this was possible for all games. Thanks, Nintendo!

[teagosworld]

I’m saying this with love and the experience of being there myself, if you find yourself spending hours researching and documenting the every moment of a person you don’t know, that is a sign that you’ve got to log off.

Keeping track of a strangers every online interaction. Using that information to speculate about their personal lives and relationships. Writing “Call out” posts with extremely serious accusations with little to no evidence. Log off. I promise you that doing literally anything else would be better for your mental health and overall well being.

[jakeperalta]

honestly I really just think the only bad guys in the fight for eras tickets are the scalpers reselling tickets and the scammers tricking money out of people. that is it. not the fans going to more than one show, not the "locals" just wanting to go have a good night at a fun show. like if you're gonna be mad at anyone during all this at least make it the people profiting at others' expense!

[leahthedreamer]

The ISU needs to re-ban backflips for the Olympic season because not only is it ugly but the locals and four year fans are going to start insufferable discourse over it.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

a lot of people say that perfuma is like one of those fake hippie influencers who preach love and kindness but doesn't actually practice these morals, and i agree. it would have been interesting if this was done on purpose as social commentary, but that would be asking too much of spop.

[un-pearable]

people in the archaeology subreddit digging up the corpse of indiana jones again for the annual discourse. somehow seem to have forget the most important scene in the film if you’re critiquing his status as an academic

[winternimbus]

OK. i saw @juney-blues's post on the weird transmisogynistic fencesitting the homestuck fandom at large in regards to june egbert's canonicity (which you can read here), and i wanted to pitch in my two cents on it as a Grouchy Transfem Nonbinary GNC Lesbian Girlthing that's had homestuck as a piece of media which had fundamentally changed it as a person since early 2016 starting off, interacting with the homestuck community as an isolated teen in the world's worst living situation in the mid-late 2010's introduced me to other queer people, and through that interaction w/ other queer people, led me to put two and two together, and realize that i'm not cis, alongside genuinely saving my life at times. there's a reason why i chose "lalonde" as a last name, and it's because i saw alot of myself in roxy lalonde. so did countless other transfems in the fandom. i do always think the homestuck fandom at large has always had a consistent issue with transmisogny (glaring HARD at how march eridan and how long that "joke" was able to persist), but regardless of your opinions on them--the epilogues and later hs^2 really exacerbated the fandom's transmisogyny issue. something that is still clear as day was back in 2019, and being in disbelief over meatroxy--while i'm ambivalent about meatroxy in the present day, and ultimately meatroxy was a situation where both sides lose (but that's for another post), i still vividly remember seeing how vicious people got about meatroxy, to the point of outright chasing trans women out of the fandom wholesale. fun times! there's also the present matter of how kate was directly targeted for harassment by the fandom and was forcibly kicked out of the fandom. while i personally don't agree with kate's opinions--nobody deserves to go through that shit. and the fact that she was targeted for being a vocal trans woman in the community ultimately details a much more malignant pattern with this fandom and there we get to the meat of my point of what i'm talking about, you can tell that june being canonized has made a solid chunk of the homestuck fandom show their whole ass--for lack of a better word. between the transmisogynistic fencesitting of "both egberts can coexist!" (which translates to "i understand june BUT i like her pre-transition self better actually") that still is persisting to this day like it or not, june egbert is a trans woman. she isn't "j egbert" or just "egbert"--any trans person would most likely clock you across the face if you insisted on referring to them by a nickname or their last name instead of their chosen name. the fact that most of this fandom just can't swallow the pill and accept that their fave is a trans woman without outright ignoring them or going "well they're genderfucked actually teehee" is just.. needlessly frustrating

[kiwinatorwaffles]

hmm. i'm usually not one to post about these topics but i think i've gathered enough thoughts on wilbur's abysmal apology towards shelby to form a cohesive message.

WARNING: the rest of the post will discuss abuse and also a lot of my personal experiences as someone who has hurt other people in the past. obviously not to the extent that wilbur has, but please move on it you don’t want to see it. thank you and stay safe.

being stuck in a hard place, whether it be living conditions, mental conditions, or any other factor, will naturally hurt the person going through those tough times. and hurt people hurt people. but i think there's a pretty Big Fucking Difference between doing bad things in the past and actually owning up to your actions after regretting it VS doing bad things in the past and turning a blind eye against those you've hurt to wallow in your own ego and misery.

i’ve experienced my fair share of abusive friendships, but when i was fifteen, i WAS the toxic friend. (yes, i’m aroace. friendships aren’t the same as a romantic relationship but they can be just as strong. i value my platonic bonds as much as allos value their marriages or date partners.) i was going through a huge depressive episode. it was tough for me, but during that time, i made fun of my friends' interests to their faces because i couldn't personally understand it, and i also vagueposted about the little things they did that ticked me off right where they could see it. it got to the point where they had to make a separate group chat to talk about their interests where i wouldn’t see it. i hurt all of them, and it ended in them confronting me about my actions. they put me in my place and called me out for my horrible attitude.

after seeing my friends' perspectives, i realized just how awful i was to them and sincerely apologized to each of them. i recognized their feelings towards my actions and didn't make excuses. even though i was going through a hard time myself, my abuse towards them was absolutely NOT justified. as i recovered, i made sure not to hurt them any more, and years later, our friendships are still going strong.

my experiences aren't nearly as extreme as what wilbur has done to shelby, but i think it's pretty fucking clear that his apology was flaming dog shit served on a trash dump. like, i was a fifteen year old. he's a Grown Ass Man with a big platform. he dug his own grave by talking about himself first instead of actually addressing his mistreatment of shelby first and foremost. he didn't even MENTION shelby by name. talking about his "strides to betterment" without even directing his apology towards the person he actually hurt is just pathetic. that whole spiel about how he "thought" the whole exchange was consensual is fucking wild. he didn't even apologize for that; he moved on right afterwards.

we can infer that wilbur has been struggling with being a person who has done bad things through his songs and lovejoy's music. he might have been going through a hard time and maybe even regretted it (though his apology really makes it seem like he's just doing it for damage control), that STILL doesn't validate any hurt he might have caused. the least he could’ve done is to sincerely apologize to shelby, even if she didn’t accept it. but he couldn’t even do that.

it's just disappointing that, as someone who has a platform of millions of followers, he displayed an act of shallowness. in the end, his attempt at sincerity fell flat and benefited no one, especially not the people he abused. if he had properly apologized, even if his apology wasn't accepted, it would've shown people in a similar situation how to apologize to the people they hurt in the past in a mature and sincere way.

so, yeah. FUCK wilbur soot. focus not on the fact that he has done bad, but that the one he abused didn’t get a proper apology. support shelby and other victims of abuse. listen to their experiences and spread awareness of these cautions. uplift their voices, not his.

for those who have connected to his and lovejoy's music that have gone through a similar dark time in their lives, i also extend my heart out to you. it must also be hard to see someone who reflected your struggles of betterment reveal himself to be someone who really hasn't gotten better at all.

but you don’t have to be like him. you don’t need to follow in his steps as long as you own up to your mistakes, even if you can’t talk to those you hurt anymore. in the end, what matters most is that you apologize in a sincere way and make sure you don’t repeat those mistakes going forward.

you CAN get better. if anything just so spite that british boy’s ass

thank you. kiwi out ✌️

[nethermite]

the college bar discourse always makes me cry. like who do u think is going to college bars? babies????? high school students???? do u think a college bar is a bar thats literally on a campus that only college students are allowed to go to????

[sapphicdib]

is pronouns like...all that makes your nsh a lesbian? you're she/hering him so he's a girl now?

Im gonna take this anon in good faith and assume it came from a place of curiosity. i headcanon sig is genderfluid. he uses she/he/it pronouns and is a boy, a girl, and everything in between, and outside of that, and identifies as a lesbian because that's the label that makes it most comfortable!

Have a doodle of my wonderful boygirlthing

[the-voice-of-night-vale]

now im not saying anything about whether or not you ~should~ vote for the immigrant-hating palestinian-killer who happens to be a "democrat" but i swear if i see one more post about how "if everyone had just voted! trump never would have gotten in office and we don't want that to happen again!!" i'm gonna go chimp mode

trump didn't even win the popular vote, you idiots. am i the only one who remembers the weeks of protests because of it?

[th3-c0ll3ct3r]

Preaching to all people who think some content creator are messaging minor for no reason

aka Twitter/tumblr cross over users.

AhEm... YOUR INTERNET PROVIDER(S) CAN SEE THE THINGS YOU DO WITH YOUR INTERNET AND THAT INCLUDES MESSAGING

(and discord... because you're using the internet to get on there... As hotspots too)

This means if a content creator is messaging a minor in an inappropriate or bullying way (in the UK at least) they would come knocking at you door asking for all your personal information, identification, means of contact and be asking questions.

Has that content creator been arrest yet? Nope.

Is cyber bullying/harassment a crime in the UK?

Yes! Under the laws:

Protection from Harassment Act 1997

Malicious Communications Act 1988

Defamation Act 2017

And can even prevent you from getting jobs in the future of your employment wants to look at your social media! Which is legal! (as in they want to make sure you're not a weirdo or anything! They can't deny you a job based on political stuff or opinions on other companies!)

Is messaging a minor inappropriately a crime?

FUCK YES‼️‼️

Sooooooo keep this in mind when you post things online, that the government CAN BE INFORMED OF YOUR ACTIONS ON THE INTERNET BY YOUR INTERNET PROVIDER IF YOU DO SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS OR THAT BREAKS THE LAW

[bubblesandpages]

Youtube stop recommending me far right content no matter how many times I've request it challenge.

[act-more-like-a-dog-sirius]

HP Rants: Things Fandom Gets WRONG

Remus Lupin’s Scars

Or more accurately, his lack of them

Alright kiddos I got a salty HP take and y’all are not gonna like it.

It is basically universal in any fandom depiction of Remus Lupin, whether in fic or art, that he has extensive facial scarring. this is another one of the movies-making-people-think-things-are-canon-that-really-aren’t-canon. the movies are shit. the movies lie. also.

it’s not physically possible.

y’all really never seen the anatomy of a wolf or even a dog?? they? can’t? physically? scratch? their? faces? unless? they? sit? down? on? their? bums? and? twist? around? all? awkwardly? to? use? their? hind? leg? but? even if that was what a rabid werewolf would do… that position/angle would in no way generate enough force to create actual cuts.

and like. most importantly, if Remus was covered in scars, don’t you think harry would have, i don’t know, mentioned/noticed/referred to it at least once??? kid’s visually observant (look I’m not talking emotionally, my man can be fucking clueless, but he paid attention to visual details) he always noticed people’s physical features and appearances. and the only visual/physical attributes ever associated with Lupin were ‘prematurely lined/aged face,’ and ‘[prematurely] graying hair’ ‘shabby’ [‘had an air of shabbiness about him’] he was often ‘worn’/‘wan’ ‘drawn’ [‘thin face’] and ‘tired’ or ‘pale’ and ‘ill-looking’ but never, not. one. singe. time. was he ever noted as having any scars.

NOT A SINGLE FUCKING TIME.

and harry notices those kinds of things. read any book 7 description of Bill. read any description ever of Moody. if remus had scars that could be seen, harry would have said so.

also, if he was so extensively scarred as fanon just looves to make him be, by the time we meet him in canon, he would have been through over 28 years worth of transformations (a very minimum of 336, with the 144 most recent being without the marauders to keep him from hurting himself as a wolf). and most likely he didn’t have ready access to the Wolf’s Bane potion as he was not actually able to brew it for himself—which he fucking said flat out. so. yeah. he would have been even more scarred than mad-eye moody if the whole transformations ==> facial scars thing was true.

This is the actual canon description of Remus John Lupin.

“The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of Wizard’s robes that had been darned in several places. He looked I’ll and exhausted.Though quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with grey.” “Professor Lupin’s pallid profile” “illuminated his tired grey face but his eyes looked alert and wary”

also. let’s be real here. werewolf bites are cursed wounds (which is why the scarring from them does not heal). you know what’s not cursed wounds? werewolf scratches. so it is not physically fucking possible for Remus to have cursed werewolf bite wounds on his face. because you cannot bite your own fucking face. and magic easily and seamlessly heals normal cuts and scratches and non cursed wounds. without scarring. so sure, even if he scratched his face with his werewolfy claws, they’re not cursed wounds, so they would have been magically healed as such. same goes for any other injuries he got as a wolf. any broken bones, or scratches not from his claws. they all would have been magically healed and wouldn’t leave any scars.

and i just honestly don’t think that a werewolfs cursed bite mark wounds would be cursed on itself. like. it’s already a werewolf. it’s not gonna become any more werewolf. i don’t know. i just don’t think that any wounds from a werewolf biting itself would scar. it just doesn’t really make sense. plus again, we return to canon.

remus has no visible scars.

sure maybe. maybe. he is absolutely covered in scars on the parts of his body that aren’t covered by clothing or robes. but definitely not his hands or forearms. because canonically there is no mention of him having scars, and harry has seen his hands and forearms (when he just casually rolled up his sleeves so he could murder his former best friend, as one does nbd).

actually you know what. scratch all that. there is canonical evidence. WEREWOLVES ARE ONLY DANGEROUS TO HUMANS. once he became a werewolf, remus was no longer a human. so. any bites or wounds he gave himself while he was transformed were just normal non-cursed wounds. that could be fixed by magic and wouldn’t leave scars. so yeah. there’s my proof.

TLDR: my take is that remus has bad scars from his initial bite from greyback, but doesn’t have any scars from his own werewolf ass biting himself

[specterthief]

The "just not the dub" in your tags, thanks 🙏. (I do think the dub has its place and it's got some stuff but it's not necessarily the same show. And the original is just superior when it comes to the emotional beats. The dub I think tried too hard to be "funny" and it kinda took away some of the characters' good qualities (esp Reki imo).)

tbh ironically reki is the one character who i think suffers least from the dub because when the script is good his performance is generally really good on a technical level and pretty fitting to the character's original tone, and he seems to have suffered from the least like... active material changes to his characterization, i guess because no one really had any problems with reki lol

but saying "when the script is good" is kind of fraught in the first place, because untangling the absolute mess of the general scriptwriting from the intentional character changes from the actors improvising with no oversight is such an overwhelming task i've tried to break it down and given up multiple times already, so even generally feeling like reki was the character who had the best transition to dub he's still held down by being in this dub

i do think it can have some entertainment value just to watch a bit here and there to hear the characters speaking english but the fact that they self-admittedly completely rewrote characters and altered the script to the point of changing the actual plot and themes of the show just kind of supersedes the few praiseworthy things it's got, because it's treated as an equal and equivalent way of enjoying the story and it's just... really functionally not the same story. and now the fandom is full of people going solely off the dub and thinking it's the same story and projecting that back on the original text or gleefully praising the dub's (again, admitted) efforts to "improve" the source material and "make it gayer" by adding fanservice while censoring the actual text. it doesn't even hold up for a theoretical accessibility use case, before you even get to the story changes, because important information in the visuals that's conveyed in characters' dialog and tone in japanese gets completely cut or lost in english.

i can't stop people from enjoying it obviously but i wish there could at least be an understanding that it's not the same show and shouldn't be discussed as if they're interchangeable, and i'm always going to put disclaimers like that on any kind of recommendation because the original story is what i'm recommending and the dub isn't that. i love the original show and i want people to experience that as nearly as they possibly can, not someone's smug fanfiction pasted over the original animation.