Japanese fans call localized Demon Slayer title ‘egregious’

日本粉丝称本地化后标题《恶魔杀手》“令人震惊”

Hell hath no fury like an anime fan scorned — in this case, devotees of the popular Demon Slayer series.

地狱没有像动漫迷那样被鄙视的愤怒--在这里，是流行的《恶魔杀手》系列的奉献者。

Kotaku reports that Japanese Demon Slayer fans are both amused and baffled by the nonsensical English title for the show’s second season: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc. Chatting on the blog Hachima Kikou, the Japanese fans suggest that the localized title is “egregious” and “no good,” according to Kotaku.

据Kotaku报道，日本的《恶魔杀手》粉丝对该剧第二季意义模糊的英文标题：恶魔杀手：Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc，感到又有趣又困惑。据Kotaku报道，日本粉丝们在博客Hachima Kikou上聊天时称，这个本地化的名字“令人震惊”，“不好”。

That’s because the original Japanese title is a bit too adult for the English localization team’s comfort. The original title includes the word “yuukaku,” commonly understood as “red-light district” or “brothel.” As Kotaku points out, the show’s second season is set in Yoshiwara, Japan’s most famous prostitution center. Not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of an entertainment district.

那是因为原版的日文片名对于英文本地化团队来说，有点过于成人了。原标题中有“Yuukaku”一词，通常被理解为“红灯区”或“妓院”。Kotaku指出，该剧第二季的背景正是日本最著名的卖淫中心吉原。人们想到娱乐区时，首先想到的并不是该含义。

Demon Slayer, which follows a teenage protagonist seeking to avenge his family in a secret war against demonic forces, is wildly popular around the world. The anime is based on a manga with more than 150 million copies in circulation, and it spawned a film, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Mugen Train, which became the highest-grossing anime and Japanese film of all time. Like Squid Game, Demon Slayer is another piece of non-Western media finding enthusiastic success in the globalized entertainment marketplace. And also like Squid Game, it’s an example of the unusual problems that can arise in the localization process.

《恶魔杀手》讲述了一个十几岁的主人公在一场与恶魔势力的秘密战争中寻求为家人报仇的故事，这部影片在全球广受欢迎。它由一部发行量超过1.5亿册的漫画改编，衍生出电影《恶魔杀手：木根列车》，该电影成为有史以来票房最高的动画和日本电影。与《鱿鱼游戏》一样，《恶魔杀手》也是一部在全球娱乐市场上获得巨大成功的非西方作品。和《鱿鱼游戏》一样，它也是本地化过程中可能出现的存在特殊问题的例子。

If nothing else, the story highlights the cultural considerations that go into localizing any media for different cultural sensibilities. It’s no secret that American audiences are less concerned about violence — of which, Demon Slayer has aplenty — than sexual content in their entertainment. Evidently, the Demon Slayer localization team figured a loss in accuracy was preferable to ruffled moral sensibilities in the English-language market.

该故事突出考虑了文化，考虑到不同的文化敏感度，将全部内容本地化。众所周知，美国观众在娱乐节目中对暴力的关注少于对性内容的关注，《恶魔杀手》中就有大量的暴力内容。显然，该本地化团队认为，在英语市场上，可以损失准确性，但道德情感不能动摇。