Shattered Dreams

I believe I was a silly little kid in middle school when I first beheld this card. The very thought of nuking EVERYTHING and proceeding to wienie beat someone into oblivion was just too enthralling. It's a deck concept that has never quite worked out as well as I'd like, and I've actually revisited it several times since it's such a fond memory, but...


Sometimes it's best to know when to stop beating a dead horse.

They're Just Fan Translations, Guys.

Something has been irritating me lately, and surprise surprise, it's not limited to just Yu-Gi-Oh!!

Up front I should be clear that I sincerely appreciate the efforts of fan translators, especially since my understanding of other languages isn't even at a grade school level. What's getting to me are the people that take those fan translations as the "one and only absolute truth that couldn't possibly be wrong, and damn the professionals for fucking up the names/lines!"

Seriously? The professional translators are far more familiar with the involved languages. The professionals are far more experienced. The professionals actually know something of translation etiquette. It boggles the mind when people who know little to nothing about something start berating professionals for doing their job and doing it well.

Since Yu-Gi-Oh! is aimed at children in the United States, yes, there are times in localization, be it with card names or card art, where something is changed to make it more suitable for that audience. Censorship. However, let's keep any personal biases about that topic on the back burner for the moment, since there are certain aspects about translation and localization that need to be known.

Japanese and English are entirely different animals, being Eastern and Western languages respectively. English is more concrete, allowing one to convey exactly what they want to say in a relatively efficient manner, but it has a ridiculous learning curve due to inconsistent rules. Japanese is more abstract, though it sticks to its rules pretty well, and its simpler words and phrases are pretty flexible. Because of this, it's a language that's largely open to interpretation, and it's likely that there are multiple ways to do so (with each being perfectly valid).

When localizing something, it's best to not alienate the target audience. This is why most honorifics are dropped in English anime dubs (even subs), and it's also the reason that when something has a meaning, that meaning should be conveyed as accurately as possible in terms the audience would understand. There are times, however, where this isn't possible for whatever reason (lengthiness, for example), and transliteration is the way to go. In media, there are occasional run-ins with copyright, trademark, and other such laws, so something simply cannot be translated a certain way.

In Yu-Gi-Oh!, we run into another complication due to cards referencing other cards by name quite often. Advance planning helps here, and it's apparent that Konami has gotten better about it (been a long time since we ran into a "What's an Archfiend?" issue).

Such are the hurdles that need to be cleared on a regular basis.

Hype is Horrible

Man oh man. You know that feeling you get when you see a new card that does something potentially useful that no other card has really done, that excitement that goes hand in hand with new possibilities? Yeah, we all hype cards we like. You do it, I do it, and I'd say that's totally natural, but...

Sometimes, hype will cloud your better judgment of how good a card actually is when placed into actual game play scenarios. You'll think about all those amazing combos, but sooner or later, you'll come crashing into the wall that is the card's drawbacks. That is to say, not every card is perfect. Some of them are relatively low in power, but reliable in a wide variety of situations ("Raigeki Break"). Others happen to be more situational, but more rewarding when their respective cases arise ("Starlight Road"). It's possible for a card to be terrible by itself while being absolutely brutal in tandem with others ("Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow").

What I'm getting at is this: if you see a card you think has potential, you shouldn't be freaking out about how "amazing" or "broken" it is until after doing some testing to get an accurate measure on its true strength.

Of course, if you have experience, you get a lot better at judging cards at their face value without testing. It's still good to do so, however, if for no other reason to avoid being wrong. That's just embarrassing.