OFFICIAL SPC and KNT Boxsets to be released by Discotek Media!

[Tigriss]

Well, that was unexpected. But even though "Legendary Ninja Cats" wasn't too bad, it's nice to see the original name restored, even if that hyphen in there is kinda random. And I always preferred using "Kyattou" Ninden Teyandee to "Cat" Ninden Teyandee, personally. You lose the pun if you change it that way.

Now if only they'd romanize Sukashii's name right...

And I'm with you, felineki, I hope that "Teyandee" remains in the subs and that they didn't try to translate it to some weird thing. Fingers crossed.

[ANE]

Discotek's site now has the KNT pre-order page up here. Lord Korn?

Also, Amazon have updated their LNC listing to KNT (and upped the price to $62.96, but I'll bet that price will change before the end of April).

[felineki]

"Lord" seems like a good translation of the "no kami" title, but "Korn" seems kind of weird. I would have gone with "Kohn",  or something.

[KageReneko]

Korn? Like the band? So he was a milk derivate and now he is a mispelled vegetable?

[felineki]

At least this will make one of the puns involving his name easier. There's a part in one episode where Karamaru orders a meal without corn (because in Japanese it's the same as "Koon"), then gets mad when it arrives with corn.

[spartacat]

At least this will make one of the puns involving his name easier. There's a part in one episode where Karamaru orders a meal without corn (because in Japanese it's the same as "Koon"), then gets mad when it arrives with corn.

Now now... how do you know you don't like it unless you try it? 

[Tigriss]

Skashee
Lord Korn (??)
Shogun Yetyet (?!)
Onmitsu

*curls up into a ball and whimpers*

Now now... how do you know you don't like it unless you try it? 

Take it away, or suffer the consequences.

[felineki]

I'm wondering if the "Onmitsu" thing is just a typo. Like how RightStuf's page features "Tattaro". "Yetyet" reminds me of how a deck of cards shown in one episode romanized it as "Yea-Yea".

[Methid Man]

All these weird name transliterations make it seem like a chinese bootleg sub.

[Tigriss]

I was still frustrated by the poor romanizations, so I e-mailed Discotek. I almost wasn't expecting to get a reply, but they wrote back very quickly, even if they were brief. They told me

The names are decided by the japanese company

and that they don't have any say. I tried to verify that the company was in fact Tatsunoko, but they didn't answer that part. I'm sure it is, though. So it looks like Discotek is blameless on this one, and it was very nice of them to communicate with me and let me know what was going on. I'm still annoyed about this, but hey, it's subtitled KNT. Project Dream fell apart and I had no idea when it could be put back together again, so this is the next best thing and I'd encourage you all to grab a copy anyway.

I'm wondering if the "Onmitsu" thing is just a typo. 

I'm hoping so.

"Yetyet" reminds me of how a deck of cards shown in one episode romanized it as "Yea-Yea".

I remember seeing that too, but not on a card.

[felineki]

Huh, interesting. Personally, I'm glad to hear that Tatsunoko is providing input, even if the names are a bit different from what we've been used to.

[Methid Man]

Well if it's Tatsunoko making their own romanizations, that explains it. Just another case of engrish, which leaves me surprised why the translators themselves couldn't correct them. A lot of Japanese don't know dick about English.

[PizzaCatFan]

I still plan on getting this, even if it does have these 'typos'.  I had a hunch Discotek isn't really to blame here.

I think of it this way too.  This gives us a great insight of what bigger players like FUNimation have to deal with.  Basically these distributors are just that....distributors.  They don't own one iota of the series they license.  They're only licensing the rights to 'distribute' a series.  To others who collect and watch anime as I do, check out your DVD/BluRay covers next time.  99% of the time, they carry another company's logo aside from the Stateside/NA/international distributor's own.  (Ex: my copy of Spice & Wolf is plastered all over not only with FUNimation's logo, but also that of Kadokawa Shoten USA.)

You're seeing this a lot more than in the past.....the Japanese companies establishing US divisions of their Japanese counterparts as they want 100% control of production 'and' distribution.  Sony's done it with ANIPLEX USA, Enoki Films USA (Slayers, Utena) has been around for a long time.  Bandai tried with Bandai Visual.....that flopped because they came into the game too soon and were putting out series that were too old and too overpriced to justify it.  ANIPLEX can get away with high prices and limited edition releases because they are on the up-and-up with current anime people want to own.  Enoki's stuff is being put out by various companies, and anything Shonen Jump is automatically with Viz, save a few exceptions (One Piece).

Maybe this is how things always have been done, I just never knew of it until recently.

Bottom line.  If Japanese companies want to establish their namesake distribution labels in the rest of the world rather than going through third-parties like FUNimation, something built into every computer called 'spell check' would be of great benefit.  A little QA (quality assurance) goes a long way in the business realm.  It is what it is though....Tatsunoko is new at this whole gig, and it's just nice they're finally allowing a US distributor (Discotek) access to their vaults and getting all this classic stuff out there that other players have ignored for years.  I'm not going to nitpick.  Not after having waited so long to have this series in my possession in a legit, official release.

Pre-order will be going in shortly.

[Methid Man]

I'm certainly not nitpicking myself. I hope my previous post didn't elicit a misunderstanding that I was criticizing the DVD release. I'm just saying Tatsunoko's romanizations suck, if it is indeed their romanizations.

It won't really matter to people like us who have been fans of the show for years since we already know their official names through our own years of research. What does bother me, though, is that it will mislead potential future fans into believing that those are the actual names.

It's just nice they're finally allowing a US distributor (Discotek) access to their vaults and getting all this classic stuff out there that other players have ignored for years.

I wouldn't exactly say 'ignored'. None of the players, at least not the American ones, were able to do anything about the series due to the 20-year contract that recently expired. If you ask me, it couldn't have happened at a better time. We're currently in a period where old 80's and 90's shows are making a comeback. No doubt to cater to the nostalgia crowd.

Even shows that faded into obscurity have been revived. Look at Filmation's Ghostbusters, a show that was only around on TV for one season in the mid-80's. Despite having been forgotten for two decades, it gained a new following of fans ever since it was released on DVD in 2007. Now it can even be seen on Qubo on late night schedules. If it can happen to Ghostbusters, it can happen to SPC/KNT.

...Which brings me back to what I mentioned earlier. While it would be heart-warming to have new fans coming in, I'd be a little disappointed if I found some of them saying things like "My favorite character is Lord Korn!"

[PizzaCatFan]

I wouldn't exactly say 'ignored'. None of the players, at least not the American ones, were able to do anything about the series due to the 20-year contract that recently expired.

This is news to me.  I guess broadcast licenses run for a good long time before expiring, even if the series isn't airing on any network or independent channel.

...Which brings me back to what I mentioned earlier. While it would be heart-warming to have new fans coming in, I'd be a little disappointed if I found some of them saying things like "My favorite character is Lord Korn!

I can understand this.  Having to correct people every time can get a bit distracting, and it's not even their fault.  It's an error by people we have no control over.

I had to pull up the original Japanese for a mental refresher.....yeah, Tatsunoko screwed up.  Japanese don't have some letters that we do (ex: no 'L's), and half the time, their 'n's and 'u's are not pronounced.  Thus the sloppy translations.

I sure hope the subtitle track isn't going to be this messed up.  >_<  *crossing fingers*

[Tigriss]

While it would be heart-warming to have new fans coming in, I'd be a little disappointed if I found some of them saying things like "My favorite character is Lord Korn!"

Ditto, but I guess we can always correct them. Something like a site or maybe just a post with a list of all the characters wouldn't hurt either. Their names from the foreign dubs could be listed too, which was something I attempted to do with the character profiles on my site back in the day.

[PizzaCatFan]

So Discotek has given word via their Facebook page that KNT pre-orders from their site are now out the door and on their way into the paws of those who dared feed their plastic numbers to them.

Being I just pre-ordered from Righstuf, I won't have mine for (in the least) a week.  I was considering waiting until Anime Central, but I have other anime and 'other' (artbooks, etc) -must haves- that take priority, so I figured may as well get it done now.

Crossing the fingers and hoping the subtitle job isn't something akin to the synopsis full of name misspellings.

[Violet]

I "pre-ordered" mine today, so we'll see what happens.  Wanted to wait until I had more money, but the price might go up later if this was a special pre-order incentive price.

[Kazzie]

SPC boxset release date to be July 30th.  $79.95 MSRP price.

[Violet]

I guess I know what I'm saving up for next.