The Name Game

The judge looked up from her file after reading it, and addressed the person standing in front of the court. "So, Mr...Demon Summon, is it? Why do you wish to change your name to Mr. Summoned Skull?

Demon Summon shrugged. "Work related," he replied.

The "Threat of the Demon World" set (305) represents one of those examples of how translating from one language to another can never be "an exact science." This isn't just limited to Japanese to English; any translation from language to language will lose some of the force, tone, and use of colloquialisms that pervade any language.

So, what does exactly is the problems? A number of the effects in the set refer to "A Monster with [Demon] in its name" or "A card with [Demon] in its name." While that is good and all in the Japanese language, it represents a rather difficult prospect when bridging over the English.

There are at least three different ways to write "Demon" in Japanese, and be understood. One is with Kanji, "akuma" (yes, like the Street Fighter character) which literally means "demon" or "devil." The second is writing "akuma" out in shorthand Hiragana instead of Kanji. The third is writing the English word "demon" in Japanese, which uses Katakana. I know that most of what I just said is Greek to you, but I just want to say that there is more than one way to write "demon," which sets up the actual problem.

See, all of those cards that refer to [Demon] in their name only refer to those that have been written in Katakana, NOT the cards that have Kanji in them. As an example, take the card "Demon of Questionable Loyalty." The "demon" in that card title is in Kanji; though it "means" demon, it's not the same for triggered the effects that exist in the 305 set. On the other hand, take a look at "Genocide King Demon." The Katakana for "demon" is in its name, so it will trigger the other stated effects.

I had a number of people state suggestions, but those ones referred to changing the actual way the names and such are written, or something different altogether. Personally, I don't think I can actually "change" the way the cards will be written, as those won't be a "translation" anymore; rather, it becomes an "adapation," and adaptions grate on my nerves.

So, how to solve the problem? Well, you're going to have to get a little cultured in this aspect. No, I don't mean that you're going to have to go out and learn Japanese; rather, keep a eye out for the following Japanese characters in a card name:

If those characters are in the card's name, then it will be triggered by those "[Demon] in its name" effects. This is the best solution to the problem at hand.

Aside from my own translation notes, I also thought about the actual English environment. 305 will be coming out in English not too far down the road, so what happens when the cards that specifically refer to a card name are "changed" when they are localized?

A big stink on the 'net grew when players found out that the Ouija Board and DEATH Messages would be changed to "FINAL". Though I personally was dismayed at this, many were truly infuriated at the change. Frankly, a card name could be changed to "Crap on a Stick," and as long as it has the same effect, it doesn't really matter.

Or does it? What happens when a card name is adapted to the point that it actually CONFLICTS with the rules of the game?

The biggest example that people were bringing up since the advent of the game in English was Summoned Skull. As the little "story" above told you, his name was actually "Demon Summon" in the Japanese version of the game (or "Summon of a Demon", your choice; NOT "Summoned Demon"). That particular card title had the Katakana of demon in its name, so it would trigger those other effects from 305.

So, what happens in the English environment now? There has been talk from Upper Deck that states that they only print what Konami tells them. I don't know if this is true or not, but I do know that the problem exists, and whoever is actually adapting these cards needs a little more foresight.

Let's take Demon Summon for example. If they changed it to Summoned Skull, then they might change the rest of the cards in 305 (when released in English) to "skull" as well (Genocide King Skull? Skull Soldier?). After all, they did that with "Black Skull Dragon" (j. Black Demon's Dragon), right? But if they decide to change it in that way, the English "Skull Guardian" (j. Law Guardian) would be counted, along with "Skull Knight" (j. Skull Bishop). But then it would leave out the Japanese Talwarl Demon (e. Beast of Talwarl [sic]), which has the Katana of "demon" in its name.

See the problem?

In addition, another version of this type of problem will arise. In the English Labyrinth of Nightmare, the card "Friendslayer Knightess" was changed to "The Unfriendly Amazon." This means it will trigger later effects in the Champion of Black Magicians set that refer to Amazons (j. Amazoness).

My head hurts...

Changing Text

One of the little items that I have in the English Expert Rules Section is cyan-colored text. This marks the official rulings that are currently different than the source that I translate from the Japanese Expert Rules Page.

At the current time, there were very few items that were truly "different" from the Japanese version (barring my own misconceptions, of course). The ones that are inherently different due to card text were Castle of Dark Illusions (j. Castle That Spreads the Darkness), Shield and Sword (j. Shield in the Right Hand, Sword in the Left Hand) and Flute of Summoning Dragon (j. Dragon-Calling Horn).

Take a look over at the new update of the English Expert Rules Page, concerning the cards I just mentioned. Don't mind me; I'll wait.

Now that you're back, we get down to what's going on.

With the release of Duelist Legacy 4 in Japan, the text of two of those cards physically CHANGED from their initial versions, rather than a rules change themselves. This makes both cards parallel to the English version.

So, does that invalidate all of the other items in the Expert Rules Page? Not really. The difference is that of the exact card text. If the card itself changes, there is nothing that can be done when reporting it. You could use that as an excuse to invalidate every other ruling that comes from Japan, but when the card text is the same, the rulings don't change.

You could also say that the Japanese cards that are different will also change to parallel the English version. Well, that statement could go either way, to tell you the truth. When the game first came out, I e-mailed Mark Irwin of Upper Deck (no, I am not picking on him nor UD in this essay) about the First Edition Lord of D. card, stating that it was incorrect because it changed the fundamentals of the card. Though he stated that the Japanese card would be changed to mimic the English version, the updated Lord of D. was released in the second half of the Unlimited Starter Decks to its current, correct text.

So, that brings up Flute of Summoning Dragon. Will the Japanese card change? Well, as I just stated, that's up in the air. The most recent printing of that card was in the Japanese Kaiba Structure Deck, which wasn't too far from the printing of Booster Chronicle, where the original text of the Castle was still used. So, if a World Format version of the Structure Decks is released, perhaps it will have text that is amended to the English version. However, Elegant Egotist, which has basically the same activation text of Flute of Summoning Dragon, is the same in both the Engish version and Japanese versions.

My stance, however, is that I will stand by the Japanese version of the text until it is changed.

Ghost In The Graveyard

I used to play that game when I was younger, though I'll be buggered if I remember how to actually play it.

This little section was brought up by a number of people that have written in, asking when the next set of episode summaries are going to be posted. After all, I said they would be coming toward the end of January, right? And the English series has caught up to the point in the summaries that I have written, right?

Well, mainly due to moving, other summaries weren't uploaded, since I didn't have the DVDs with me. And a little other event tended to make me want to slightly stop doing the episodes.

There's a little magazine that started publication a couple of months ago. I won't tell you the name, save for the "Ghost" is somewhere in the title. I thumbed through it over at a Wal-Mart that I went to.

Gee, those character bios look familar. Those episodes titles look awfully familiar. Hey, so do those card names from the Japanese Labyrinth of Nightmare list.

So, we have a magazine that plagiarizes information from my page. Regardless of what many may think, the work on my page is NOT public domain. And telling them so had no effect.

My advice? Don't buy the magazine. Actually, I would tell you to read through it at the store, but don't buy it. All of the information that you get in that magazine could be found at any number of Yugioh sites on the Internet, one of them being mine, for free.

And if you got a subscription, my condolences.

More "Originals"

Well, some liked those "original cards" I posted in the last essay. Here is a small handful of Black Magician Girl versions that were found on Japanese Yahoo! auctions.

Altered picture.	"Budweiser" Magician Girl?	In a Lilly outfit.	Black Magician Angel Girl.