Love the videos Shesez! July?! We have to wait a full month?! UA-cam blows! Back in the day they would actually pay great creators, such as yourself, a decent amount of the AD revenue. So many great creators are now gone because of UA-cam changing their payment amounts and methods after the multiple ADpocalypse's. The Key of Awesome (Barely Political), Bart Baker, Nigahiga and more. And that's not even including the censorship and crazy rules. G4tV just came back and is dead again, with all the money they had they should have paid you to make videos for their channel and built up their portfolio with other great UA-camr gaming channels. Thanks for all the vids and please keep on going!
4:54 Small cultural note, but the villagers are wearing yukata here, not kimono. They're similar, but a yukata is a kimono made from a light cotton, very important since this is a summer festival! They're also much cheaper too, you wouldn't want to ruin your nice expensive kimono by getting it dirty walking around a festival!
@@fireaza Ohh i see then ^^... someday i will buy a Yukata and wear it like if it was a normal clothing... although i guess tightening it up a bit might be like jeans...
This might make me sound super dumb but since I did not know that Kapp'n's song was different between versions, but I did not realize that the KK Song "Marine Song 2001" was named because it was the alternate song from the Japanese version all this time. It also seems like other songs in the video from the Japanese version were made into KK Songs down the line too, super interesting. Blew my mind, fantastic video.
One thing that wasn't mentioned in the video was that K.k. Ballad is a different song in the original two games, and I'm actually kinda sad it never resurfaced as a new track like Marine Song 2001 and a few of the others did.
Some extended notes: The IwantU Japanese poster said "Police officer needed". The wanted poster's 110 is because in Japan 110 is the emergency number to call the police. It said "If you see this face please call 110". The sign in front of police station is saying "something something week" as in reinforced security week or something, because Japanese police sometimes do weekly sweeps for certain crime or event. The sign in mall not translated is saying "Part-timer wanted. Multiple needed. 900bells/h pay. 7:00-11:00 *smt. Call telephone to apply." It's not tofu in igloo, it's mochi. The gutted fish is actually funamori sashimi(sashimi served on a boat). High end sashimi in Japan will only make sashimi from the body of the fish and leave head and tail on a boat, and serve the entire fish with the body carefully replaced with different parts of the fish sashimi since different parts varies in price drastically. The second food item is new year's soba. Japanese eat soba at end of a year as a ceremony to transition into the new year. The third food item is osechi. Which is a set of dishes generally only made when celebrating new year, ususally contains very specific stuff but not reflected in sprites. The "sad construction worker" is "Sorry for your inconvenience" sign with a "Safty first" writing. Quite common in Japan. They also have safty cat and other construction related mascots. The cubby hole is part of Japanese school that they change shoes from out door shoes to in door shoes. The blue stuff is plastic stools for casual sitting. The black board has part of erased characters in the right. Because students are scheduled to clean the black board and class room every day, it's that day's schedule. In the bottom right corner there're two lines, implicates that it was an erased ai-ai kasa. Which is an umbrella with two people's name under to show they love each other. It's a popular cliche that two young lovers were scheduled to clean the class room so they have excused to stay later when no one is in the classroom, with some romantic banter and draw an ai-ai kasa on the black board. As a "yeah we're so in love but shy to let people know, yet we want people to know, but we don't" kind of back and forth.
Another one is that the sign on the second floor of the Nook store doesn't say "doumo arigatou" but "arigatou gozaimasu". Obiously all these things you can't know if you don't speak japanese or know about it's culture/traditions so it's totally understandable, not to haha.
On a side note, the hat that Tortimer wore in the original Japanese version is called a zucchetto. It's commonly worn by Christian leaders in churches. Since it's red, it's clear that it would be worn by cardinals.
to add to this, the "model of a japanese room" is a tokonoma, an alcove in traditional japanese reception rooms that you place artistic display items in
22:18 The sign says 「このかおみたら110！」. Meaning, "If (you) see this face, (dial) 110!". 110 of course being Japan's emergency telephone number, like 999 in the UK.
@@Awesomesufff why would it be bad for kids to know that bad people can't get away with doing bad things? Or to know which number to call if something bad happens to them or they see something bad happening?
The reason why the Japanese version has so much food items as gifts is because in Japan giving food, fruit or sweets as holiday gifts is basically the highest quality stuff you can give. I don't know how to explain it because I forgot the words, but over in Japan stuff like melons, sweets etc are super expensive and treated as luxury with businesses specifically made for that.
@@milliefleur Not sure but i think i watched a video on them and in the video they said that its easier to transport a square watermelon than a round one since you can fit more square watermelons (Sorry if my grammar got bad here)
So the Japanese version of Kapp'n's Song is where Marine Song 2001 came from! And same for Spring Blossoms and the Cherry Blossom festival in the Japanese version.
I figured that Animal Crossing would be a massive undertaking for localization but I didn't realize so much of this stuff was so different! That's really cool!
21:40 what's interesting is that those police stations are clearly modeled after a koban, a small "police box" that are more easily accessible and wider spread than the proper police stations, even down to the red light; but they didn't change the design of those at all for Animal Crossing despite something like that not existing at all in the US
They have similar things some places in the US, typically called a police substation. Usually they'll be in a downtown area of a city while the proper police station is in a more suburb-y area with more room.
@@Evilmon2 A Koban is usually literally just one or two rooms, and only usually less than 20 square meters. I've never seen something like that in America Like, I've walked past some Konbans in Tokyo that were literally just a single dude sitting in a booth about the size of what you see in Animal Crossing. He couldn't have extend both his arms at the same time while inside it
That's kind of wild that the beaver was changed because his japanese design would look like an american stereotype of japanese people. It's interesting that that stereotype isn't present in actual japanese culture, wow! It makes me wonder if anything in american cartoons could accidentally look like another country's stereotype of americans, and we'd never know!
My thought was "buck toothed hillbilly" but either way, makes sense they'd change it. American cartoons tend to purposefully be stereotypes of Americans. 🤪
@@krissydiggs That's pretty on point. In Terranigma there's a scene set in "China" where you're obviously supposed to be reading the text with a very racist accent, so it's very possible.
23:23 - I think I've cracked this one. In the original Japanese, it looks like that text is meant to be コンビニたぬき (Konbini Tanuki), the store's name, if squished into a 2x3 pixel space. For the American version, it's Nook 'n' Go, but it's BACKWARDS -- as if it were pasted on the inside of the door.
Just a couple notes: 25:55 that doesn't say "doumo arigatou" it says "arigatou gozaimasu" (ありがとうございます) 27:15 that's not bubbling tofu. That's actually mochi, or in this case yaki mochi!
Animal Crossing is such a novel concept. I'm really glad, with all the Japanese-specific cultural references in this game, that they decided to put in the effort to localize it in the West. They could have easily just not done that.
I think it would have even great to have left it in. AS a child i would have even curious why everything looks weird and still could learn about it. The most stupid examples are the "jelly filled dognuts" from pokemon
Localized a Japanese waste bin to a western-US waste bin, by making it look like a waste bin. The Japanese waste bin looks like any other waste bin. The stuff they decided was too Japanese-centric was always so bizarre.
But that bizarre way of thinking sure gave an entirely unique experience. And then an even broader experience when both versions were merged in future games
Honestly, I am happy that they got more comfortable with including in a lot of the Japanese stuff in the northern releases of the games. There are of course still some differences, but now it's not nearly as much.
I wish they kept “town” and “island” in the title when you name something in the American version. When I was a kid, I was given a GameCube and it came with Animal Crossing. I had no idea what this game was about and all the sudden I’m met with a cat on a train asking me where I was going. I wrote “town” and to this day my village is called “town village.” Or I guess you could say “town town.”
A few explanations I did not see covered yet: --The trash site in the Japanese version lists Monday and Thursday because if this was a real life neighborhood, those would be the only days you are supposed to put out trash. In Japan, there are different days you can put out certain types of trash or recycling. These days vary by city and neighborhood. --The bag on the school desk in the Japanese version shows the student's grade level 3 (which is either their 3rd year in ES, final year in junior high or final year in high school) and their homeroom number 6 (which is the 6th out of however many homerooms in that school). -- Some of the "English" is romanji, which is roman letters for Japanese words. --The construction sign guy is bowing in apology for the inconvenient of construction. --The rotary system for entering your name is similar to the texting keyboard for phones in Japan. --Also, we eat a lot of fish in Japan, so the fish prizes and items are fitting.
@@PikaJess123 short answer: not really, but it isn’t as highly scheduled as Japan. Long answer: trash days in the US depends on the state and whether you live in a neighborhood or apartment (which may have dumpsters you can access any day). While there are trash collection days to adhere to, in the states that do not have a recycle pickup program, everything goes on the same days. Also, trash is taken from your own trash can at the end of your own drive way. There is not a posted schedule but something you learn when you move in. In Japan, I have to separate my trash nearly every day into different categories (burnable, non burnable, PET plastics, other plastics, non burnable, etc.). I also need to carry my trash to my neighbor drop off spot for it to be collected on its specific day. There is a sign at that point to notify you of the schedule. I hope that makes sense!
That gutted out fish is a super fancy and expensive way to serve sashimi. First they take the fillets off of the whole fish and set them aside. Then they kind of twist the rest of the fish to put a curve in the spine, roast and/or clean it, then slice and serve the raw fillets on the exposed bone. In person it's actually really elegant looking
A couple little notes: - Chip's Japanese name is Uomasa, rather than Umasa - The wanted poster inside the police station in the Japanese version says "If you see these faces, 110!" as in call 110, which is the emergency hotline for police in Japan. - Impossible to verify of course, but it seems to me like the tiny illegible text on the convenience store's door is supposed to be a rendition of コンビニタヌキ (all katakana) in the Japanese version, and if you look at the American version's door with this in mind you might find that it kinda looks like it could've been intended to read Nook'n'Go but only if you were reading it from the inside (on that note, kinda interesting that each iteration of the shop uses the exact same Welcome-mat but it's only flipped on the final store, where the text on the door is actually legible. I'm not saying that these things are related but sure seems like a wild coincidence)
@@renakunisaki this is complete conjecture on my part, but I imagine something along the lines of: - the welcome-mat and door textures are stored in the same file/same portion of a file - for whatever reason, the texture for them is flipped for the in-game models - localizers working on the new textures aren't aware of this, and simply follow the directions given to them without anyone noticing the inconsistency for the first two stores' doors (I mean, they *are* just replacing unintelligibly tiny text in a foreign language to unintelligible text in another language) - the changes are checked by an entity/department separate from the people editing the textures, and they notice that the final store's door texture is inside-out - whatever the cause, it needs to be fixed, so they alter a texture, or code, so that the final store's door (and by extension, welcome-mat) texture is flipped. whether due to time constraints or extreme focus on the part that needs fixing specifically, the mat getting flipped together with the door goes unnoticed during the follow-up check
Tom Nook: a raccoon in America, a tanuki in Japan. This translation gets messed up in SO many places, because I guess they figure no one outside of Asia is gonna know what a tanuki is, unless you have a fur farm. IDC where you have seen tanuki translated as raccoon, it's just not the same thing; a tanuki (aka raccoon dog)is in the canine family and has paws and raccoon-like markings.
35:30 That rotary system makes a lot more sense for writing in Hiragana. Since Hiragana (and Katakana) is a writing style where each character is a complete syllable and not just a single letter like the Roman symbols we use, you can group them based on the consonant sound each character makes (e.g られりろる or "ra re ri ro ru", まめみもむ "ma me mi mo mu" etc.). This rotary system lets you pick your "group", and then from within that, you choose which syllable within that group you wanna type. My cellphone's japanese keyboard works very similar to that Though now looking closer at it, it seems to group characters by their vowel sound (for example at 36:12 the top five symbols are "A" "Ka" "Sa" "Ta" and "Na")
"Instead it was every Saturday in August" I haven't finished watching the video yet but that's how it was for the rest of the series (except later it would be Sundays instead of Saturdays). The GameCube game was the only one where localization made the fireworks into the Fourth of July instead of a weekly thing in August.
It makes sense, though. In the US there are several holidays that use fireworks, not just Independence Day. They've combined them all into one month, but at least they chose a neutral month, August. The four main fireworks holidays in the US are January 1st, Memorial Day, July 4th (of course), and Labor Day, and none of those are in August, so it's cool that they picked a neutral month for them all, especially since August is one of the few months without a major holiday. Labor Day is the #1 fireworks day in the part of the US where I'm from, so August is pretty close.
Fun fact: The Japanese versions of Kapp'n's song and the Cherry Blossom theme were actually repurposed to K.K. Slider Songs. They're called Marine Song 2001 and Spring Blossoms respectively.
4:46 quick little correction but they're actually wearing yukata not kimonos! yukata are worn in summer since they're cheaper and lighter and kimono are very formal, warm and expensive.
29:14 Fish is traditionally their main source of protein. They grow lots of rice, which means lots of water. Also they're a pretty small island surrounded by ocean. Fishing is just kinda a bigger deal there, or at least was at one point 34:33 it's meant to represent a bulging vein I'm not doing this to be a smartass, I just thought these random little trivia facts that he didn't / wasn't able to touch up on might be interesting to anyone who sees this. 😅
It's because food is a traditional gift. Things like sweets or fruit for example are almost exclusively bought for the intentions of being gifted, they are always super fancy. Japanese people also share food very often in small villages/small towns where everyone's on friendly terms or simply because it's a polite thing to do and to not waste food if you made too much.
27:16 餅 Mochi 28:32 魚のお造り Otsukuri (刺身Sashimi) 28:41 年越しそば Toshi-koshi-soba (Long soba you eat at the end of the year) 28:51 おせち Osechi (Japanese traditional New Year’s dish)
@@the-NightStar 411 isn't non-emergency police in the US; it's directory assistance. Most non-emergency police lines are normal phone numbers in the US. 911 is probably the closest US N11 number; if you dial 911 on a military base in Japan, apparently it reroutes to 110.
I think the "sad construction worker" looks more like he's doing a polite bow personally 🥺 also fun fact the reason why there's a picnic in the spring is because of hanami in japan,, aka cherry blossom viewings! it's very common for people to go picnic under cherry blossom trees in parks and such it's amazing how much work the localisation team put into not just translating japanese text but making entirely different models and animations
I can see why they swapped Tom Nook's outfits between the versions. In the US a gas station or convenience store clerk is known to wear a button up or polo shirt with the company logo and/or colors on it (think 7-11) and although a grocery store cashier may wear something similar, it's not uncommon to see workers at the bakery, butcher, and deli counters in aprons, since they handle food. So, "Nook and Go" Tom wearing a button up shirt and "Nookway" Tom wearing an Apron makes sense from a US point of view.
I don't think it's tofu being grilled in the igloo, I believe it is actually 切り餅 (Kirimochi), a hardened version of mochi that is known to bubble on the grill!
22:12 I think it might possibly be the equivalent of "call 911". I think 110 is one of the emergency numbers in Japan (it's simply a police number, not a full-on 911 emergency). Given that it's supposed to be a Wanted sign, this would make sense.
The Region Break video are probably my favorite videos of yours, so I'm glad you were able to find a very fitting sponsor that lets you to continue to make the series.
I have been living in Japan a bit over 3 years now and it is interesting how much I have just normalized all these things that were foreign to me years ago. Almost everything you mentioned as far as scenery and items go I see on a regular basis and totally forgot how different they would be
I wish in the future we'd be able to play other versions without needing the regional game system. I'd love to experience the different cultural holidays and celebrations!
I was always hoping we would see the characters from the wanted posters that are posted in the police station. Imagine wandering around your town at 3 a.m. and stumbling upon those shadow characters? 😳
The part I really loved was learning about how they made the voices/babble! I didn’t know any of that, and the reasoning behind the difference in the voices between US and Japan is really interesting.
Not sure if it's been noted yet, but the bubbling tofu blocks mentioned in the igloo camp comparisons might be kirimochi, which are blocks of rice cake (mochi). They are wonderful when grilled over a fire like that! They also puff up and bubble just like in the clip! I like adding soy sauce and sugar as a glaze.
Small correction, you said the sign of Nook N Go in Japanese says “Tanuki” but it says Convenience Store. Probably just misspoke. Great video :) getting into the channel, I’m glad you’ve stuck with it and overcome bad algorithms, love this sort of stuff
It doesnt say doumo arigato, which would translate to "thanks", as this would be super rude to customers. It says arigatou gozaimasu, the more polite version.
I live in Japan, so I can clear up a couple of things. The police booth with the 110 is saying 'if you see these people call 110'. 110 is the phone number for the police in Japan, and you often see those kinds of posters. Otherwise, I'm impressed you figured out that Rosetti was wearing a 'haramaki' because I wouldn't have realised that! The sign in Nook's shop says 'part timers wanted, and beneath probably says weekdays and weekends 900/hour 7am-11am don't hesitate to contact, but the pixels are so bad! I enjoyed this video, thank you for the time you put into making it!
Fantastic work, Shesez. This game holds a special place in my heart, and it's amazing to see all the weird little differences. And to find out why Marine Song 2001 is what it is! Had no idea that was Kapp'n's original song.
Another awesome video! I absolutely love the fact that Animal Crossing is so small that the entire game fits into the Gamecube's internal memory, so the disc doesn't need to be read after startup.
28:30 thats not a gutter out fish , its a sushi boat with rolls presented along with the carcass especially the head of the fish to showcase its freshness
I can completely understand why they changed so much, especially with the very casual audience of Animal Crossing in mind, but I always prefer it if the games I play change as little as possible in the translation/localization process.
That is honestly a very stupid and naive way of thinking. Sorry but you are very wrong. Japanese cultures and customs do not go well verbatim across regions. Langauge is also a completely different beast. What you think is utterly and completely unattainable. Localization is one of THE most mandatory and important aspects in all of translation, and is incredibly necessary in almost all cases. To not do so is not a mark of quality or care, it is a mark of laziness and ignorance. Literal translations without the localization aspect is always a bad thing and it never, never works.
@@the-NightStar When I'm playing a Japanese game I want it to keep all the references to Japanese culture; I want the dialogue to be as close to the original as possible while still being undertstandable and pleasent to read. If I didn't want any of these things why would I want to play a Japanese game in the first place?
@@PrincessMeganLeigh You're projecting your own issues here. I would have been a-okay deciphering an "alien" culture; that's the fun part. Learning about differing cultures. That's why the OP stated "casual audience" because as you just proved, most wouldn't have since most don't care about any culture except their own. That doesn't mean it wouldn't work, it just wouldn't work for the larger American audience. The weebs at the time would have been a-okay, especially if the game helped with the teaching, because we were used to that kind of stuff.
Yeah I'm glad there's enough weebs in the west nowadays who are kinda tired of japanese media back then being consistently censored and modified to make it palatable to western marketing.
The thing mr.Resetti is wearing is specifically called a haramaki. While they have been used as "belly warmers" for a long time, they are thought to also help with blood circulation.
I understand why localization is really important, especially for dialogue-based things, but I'm actually bummed how much Japanese culture they removed from the game. As an America, it's sad seeing everything so whitewashed.
30:50 To me it looks like the construction worker is bowing, which if I'm remembering right, is a Japanese sign of respect. It sort of looks like a way of politely asking you to be careful around the area the sign is put up.
Oh, THAT’S why it’s “Marine Song 2001”!! 🎉 It’s so cute to recognize a couple of the Japanese songs, really glad they reused them as KK Songs instead of letting them go unnoticed
Yup, Animal Crossing was still being localized when Melee released, and the spot where it tells you what game they're from just say "Future Release". K.K. Slider's trophy too still uses his Japanese name, Totakeke.
small note on two things "to [become] plus is plus in many things" is what it says, not sign? and at 20:40 they're throwing coins in the donation box, then they shake the rope to ring the bells, then they clap their paws twice and then join them to pray for the wish. omikuji, instead, is shaken till a random stick slips out through the hole opening you unwrap the paper and read the fortune. 25:55 actually says "arigatou gozaimasu" but the given translation is right. :3
35:17 That rotating keyboard thing was brilliantly designed and very efficient for inputting Japanese kana. It exploited the basic phonological structure of 10 consonants × 5 vowels (gojūon). You first choose a consonant, then five possible syllables pop up. You can get used to it to become a rather fast typer. Latin alphabet was an afterthought on it and was cumbersome to input. I wish we still had it for Japanese. Other notes: 8:13 A small error - 魚政 reads Uomasa, not Umasa. 21:21 This is because the Japanese police uses a star‐like symbol (mon). Police boxes (kōban) usually display it on the building. 21:32 Resolution too low, but maybe the white sign says “安全週間” (safety week)? 21:46 The Japanese one is also a wanted poster, but there are six people shown (and one of them is already caught). Posters in this style is common (like ones regarding the sarin attack or Japanese Red Army). 22:00 “ケーカン求ム”, it’s a police recruitment poster (so basically the same). 22:08 1‐1‐0 is the Japanese emergency phone number. “このかお みたら 110!” translates to “Call 110 if you see these faces!” 23:08 The 福 sign is probably a reference to the Marufuku Nintendō logo. 23:22 The English one looks like “Nook ’n’ Go” flipped horizontally. The Japanese one tries to say “コンビニタヌキ” (Konbini Tanuki). 23:48 “アルバイト募集 / 若干名。時給 900 / 7:00 - 11:00 [illegible] / Tell にて応相談!” 25:54 Not a big difference but it says “Arigatō gozaimasu”, not “Dōmo arigatō”. 26:53 They look like goza. What are they called in English - soft rush mats? 27:14 They are mochi (rice cakes), not tōfu. 28:25 舟盛り (funamori), an extravagant way of serving fish. 38:58 年越し蕎麦 (toshikoshi soba noodles) is eaten on New Year’s Eve. This bowl seems to have two shrimp tempura, two pieces of kamaboko and saya endō (snow peas) on it. 28:58 おせち (osechi) is a special meal for new year celebration.
Hey Shesez, great video! Just a quick tip for pronouncing Japanese in the future: In English, we tend to emphasize the penultimate syllable of words. For example, “baNAna”, “deCIded”, or “SHEsez” (since there are only two syllables.) In Japanese, you usually emphasize the first syllable of the word. So in the case of this game, the first word would be pronounced “DŌbutsu” instead of “dōBUtsu.” Just a nitpick, but I wanted you to know since you cover a lot of Japanese content. I really did love this video!
Really? I find Japanese just tends to be flat, although in sentences they tend to trail off a bit in real speech. どうぶつ emphasizes dō in English sensibilities because Japanese does not treat dō as a dipthong but as half the word, and regardless how the word actually sounds, that's how speakers percieve it. Us are also frequently devoiced so the Do sound would end up the most prominant, but its not actually being emphasised. In terms of pitch accent, words usually either start low or high and continue at the higher or lower pitch, with some longer words swapping to a lower pitch at the end if the word was middle high pitch.
@@fearedjames I totally agree, but as a narrator you need to strike a balance between natural tone and correct pronunciation. In English, every word has a clear emphasis, so switching to a flat tone in the middle of an English sentence-regardless of whether a word or two are not English words-can sound strange. To make the words sound natural in an English context, we would need to choose a syllable to add emphasis on. If we’re sacrificing technical accuracy for a more fluid sound, then at the very least we should pick the most common syllable of emphasis for Japanese words that are not flat, which more often than not is the first syllable. That’s really what I meant, but I could have clarified. Sorry for the miscommunication.
@@just-in-japan that's cool, same here, I'm around 11 Months in and passed n4 simulation recently, while I understood a good amount of it, Kanji words are often really hard. Also the Captains Song in japanese was kinda sus. Keep going your studying, I hope you'll stay successful and motivated :)
It’s crazy how many changes they made in the localization for this game, but when I was a kid playing this first one I still thought this game was super Japanese lol
the sign on the desk in the Japanese version is referring to the class you're in (in school) say you're in the 5th class in the second grade, it would be 2-5, most schools do this in Japan, I have worked at a school that was different, but it was because it was in a small town that didn't have multiple classes for each grade, the East Meiwa school's classes were 1-East, 2-East, etc.
I love region break and your work and attention to detail is appreciated! It’s really cool to be able to see all of the differences between the original version of animal crossing and the American localization and it’s always interesting to see the approaches they take when making changes!
During the new year they’re not throwing omikuji in the shrine you definitely wouldn’t do that, they’re tossing coins. Omikuji are fortunes you either take them home or you hang them up in the shrine either on a tree or designated spot by the shrine.
It may just be me, but I really love the Japanese clothes, designs, and environments better. Obviously the text being English is 100% fine, but the visual design and touches of Japanese culture being taken out wholesale will never fail to disappoint me a bit. It’s cool to see…well, a game reflect the country it was developed in.
Nice video, but a couple things: 25:50: This sign says “arigatou gozaimasu,” not “doumo arigatou.” 27:14: The Japanese version doesn’t depict tofu, it’s mochi. Thanks for always making awesome content!
the item next to the cubby hole is a stack of bath stools, you wash before you get in the bath in Japan, and while you're washing with the shower you sit on the bath stools. the cubby that was shown was a cubby for shoes that are in EVERY public school in Japan. you change into indoor shoes when you enter school and change back when going outside
30:04 The hanging white bag is usually for student caring their Sport Uniform. The number on the bag telling us which grade and which class that student belong too. The first one on the left is the Grade. Number 3 mean year 3. Depend on which type of school too. Elementary year 3 is Grade 3 Middle school year 3 is Grade 9 High school year 3 is Grade 12. The second number 5. Mean it the 5th class from that Grade)
28:22 The item in the Japanese version is called a funamori, which is sashimi served on a wooden boat. Considering your reaction it's understandable why they'd change it to a more easily recognizable trophy LOL
interesting. i didn't even notice their eyes are all black. it is good, what Nintendo US did was translating "a Heavily japanese localized game" ---> "a flexible globalized game". Because in japan, "Eyes = Black" ,it is an order of the universe. 1. 99% of ppl in japan are japanese, and our eyes are black. in the history, None had succeed to invade japanese mainland. (U.S. could, but soon, They returned it to japan/our emperor). 2. you can see, dogs in japan. Most common dog are shiba (Doge) , and their eyes are black, same as japanese ppl. if a man have 99% of black eyed Human/Dogs in his universe, How he can think he need to add other eye colors for animals ppl in a game.😆
25:55 The sign actually says "ありがとうごさいます" or "arigatou gosaimasu", I don't think it makes any significant difference since the meaning is still correct, but the domo is not there
27:17 (I have already pointed out ...) This is not "tofu", this is "mochi". It is a food made by processing glutinous rice. Bake and eat like a game In Japan, it is customary to eat during the New Year (January 1-3) and winter. It is rare to bake tofu like this on an open flame ...
I didn’t know that there were two versions of Kapp’n’s song! I find it really interesting that when deciding to remix Kapp’n’s Song in Smash Bros, they decided to go with the American version! Does anyone know if the Japanese version of Smash remixes the Japanese Kapp’n’s Song? Regardless, that makes this remix feel a little special for me. That remix was always one of my favorites!
In every game since, including Doubutsu no Mori e+, Kapp'n has sang the newer version (he also got a new one in New Leaf). But e+ also added a new K.K. song which has been present in games since that is just the old version of Kapp'n's song, Marine Song 2001. It's called that because the Japanese one came out in 2001, and if you play it in your house it's Kappn's voice!
37:04 The Nintendo logo is blue for authentic Animal Forest e+ copies. The English-translated versions of e+ turn the color to pink instead, likely to coincide with the cherry blossoms that appear on the first demonstration at the title screen.
the AM and PM in Japanese replace and are read as Gozen and Gogo respectively. Japanese read the time as (for example 7:30) Gozen shichi ji san ju pun 午前7時30分
Im so glad buyee decided to sponsor these region break videos, i love them and will alwsys continue to watch them. I love seeing the differences the developers make to cater for each region. Love the videos pal keep them coming ❤️
Fun Fact: The Japanese version of Kappn's Song was later added as a song K.K. Slider can sing in either ACNL or ACNH, and when you request the song, he'll give you the Aircheck version of the song and it is basically Kapn singing it in the Aircheck version. Edit: I forgot to mention the song is named "Marine Song 2001"
Users that create an account through the link will get a 2000 yen off coupon on their first order on Buyee. bit.ly/Buyee-Shesez
I have been hoping for this video ever since you started with these regional difference videos.
This is one of the better transitions to an ad I've seen.
still waiting to see an updated boundary break for the happy home paradise and current content for acnh~ day ??? cuz i've lost track .-.
Love the videos Shesez! July?! We have to wait a full month?! UA-cam blows! Back in the day they would actually pay great creators, such as yourself, a decent amount of the AD revenue. So many great creators are now gone because of UA-cam changing their payment amounts and methods after the multiple ADpocalypse's. The Key of Awesome (Barely Political), Bart Baker, Nigahiga and more. And that's not even including the censorship and crazy rules. G4tV just came back and is dead again, with all the money they had they should have paid you to make videos for their channel and built up their portfolio with other great UA-camr gaming channels. Thanks for all the vids and please keep on going!
@@Fifth313ment One month is better than the three between the other Region Breaks.
4:54 Small cultural note, but the villagers are wearing yukata here, not kimono. They're similar, but a yukata is a kimono made from a light cotton, very important since this is a summer festival! They're also much cheaper too, you wouldn't want to ruin your nice expensive kimono by getting it dirty walking around a festival!
Oh dammi- Also, how comfy can a yukata be? I would really love to wear one at some point qwq
@@oliverafton1444 Like a nice comfy set of pajamas! I've worn them as pajamas in the summer, since summers in Japan are horrible!
@@fireaza Ohh i see then ^^... someday i will buy a Yukata and wear it like if it was a normal clothing... although i guess tightening it up a bit might be like jeans...
Yukata is a type of kimono. So he's not wrong.
That’s so fascinating
This might make me sound super dumb but since I did not know that Kapp'n's song was different between versions, but I did not realize that the KK Song "Marine Song 2001" was named because it was the alternate song from the Japanese version all this time. It also seems like other songs in the video from the Japanese version were made into KK Songs down the line too, super interesting. Blew my mind, fantastic video.
Same!
I never knew that either! I've always liked Marine Song 2001 and wondered why it was called that. Now I know.
Yeah I thought the same thing
One thing that wasn't mentioned in the video was that K.k. Ballad is a different song in the original two games, and I'm actually kinda sad it never resurfaced as a new track like Marine Song 2001 and a few of the others did.
If it makes you feel better, neither did I until now
Some extended notes:
The IwantU Japanese poster said "Police officer needed".
The wanted poster's 110 is because in Japan 110 is the emergency number to call the police. It said "If you see this face please call 110".
The sign in front of police station is saying "something something week" as in reinforced security week or something, because Japanese police sometimes do weekly sweeps for certain crime or event.
The sign in mall not translated is saying "Part-timer wanted. Multiple needed. 900bells/h pay. 7:00-11:00 *smt. Call telephone to apply."
It's not tofu in igloo, it's mochi.
The gutted fish is actually funamori sashimi(sashimi served on a boat). High end sashimi in Japan will only make sashimi from the body of the fish and leave head and tail on a boat, and serve the entire fish with the body carefully replaced with different parts of the fish sashimi since different parts varies in price drastically.
The second food item is new year's soba. Japanese eat soba at end of a year as a ceremony to transition into the new year.
The third food item is osechi. Which is a set of dishes generally only made when celebrating new year, ususally contains very specific stuff but not reflected in sprites.
The "sad construction worker" is "Sorry for your inconvenience" sign with a "Safty first" writing. Quite common in Japan. They also have safty cat and other construction related mascots.
The cubby hole is part of Japanese school that they change shoes from out door shoes to in door shoes.
The blue stuff is plastic stools for casual sitting.
The black board has part of erased characters in the right. Because students are scheduled to clean the black board and class room every day, it's that day's schedule. In the bottom right corner there're two lines, implicates that it was an erased ai-ai kasa. Which is an umbrella with two people's name under to show they love each other. It's a popular cliche that two young lovers were scheduled to clean the class room so they have excused to stay later when no one is in the classroom, with some romantic banter and draw an ai-ai kasa on the black board. As a "yeah we're so in love but shy to let people know, yet we want people to know, but we don't" kind of back and forth.
Thanks for the write-up. This was really interesting.
Another one is that the sign on the second floor of the Nook store doesn't say "doumo arigatou" but "arigatou gozaimasu".
Obiously all these things you can't know if you don't speak japanese or know about it's culture/traditions so it's totally understandable, not to haha.
On a side note, the hat that Tortimer wore in the original Japanese version is called a zucchetto. It's commonly worn by Christian leaders in churches. Since it's red, it's clear that it would be worn by cardinals.
Ai-aigasa is more like "A
to add to this, the "model of a japanese room" is a tokonoma, an alcove in traditional japanese reception rooms that you place artistic display items in
22:18 The sign says 「このかおみたら110！」. Meaning, "If (you) see this face, (dial) 110!". 110 of course being Japan's emergency telephone number, like 999 in the UK.
Love this! Thank you for your insight. :)
Hope people upvote this to the top comments
That seems like a bad thing to have in a game for kids lol
@@Awesomesufff I have a feeling that it wasn't really meant for kids in the first place, but the animals just appealed to children
@@Awesomesufff why would it be bad for kids to know that bad people can't get away with doing bad things? Or to know which number to call if something bad happens to them or they see something bad happening?
@@abadgurl2010 because they will call it because they saw an animal that looked like the poster in game. Young kids are really dumb
The reason why the Japanese version has so much food items as gifts is because in Japan giving food, fruit or sweets as holiday gifts is basically the highest quality stuff you can give. I don't know how to explain it because I forgot the words, but over in Japan stuff like melons, sweets etc are super expensive and treated as luxury with businesses specifically made for that.
Like Omiyage?
Like the square watermelon?
お中元（ochugen）かな?
@@goomba-64I’m pretty sure the square watermelons are just for novelty or display, I’ve heard they’re inedible. You can correct me on that tho
@@milliefleur Not sure but i think i watched a video on them and in the video they said that its easier to transport a square watermelon than a round one since you can fit more square watermelons (Sorry if my grammar got bad here)
So the Japanese version of Kapp'n's Song is where Marine Song 2001 came from!
And same for Spring Blossoms and the Cherry Blossom festival in the Japanese version.
All I heard was Capp'n sing Totaka's Song.
@@GabePuratekuta That's an easter egg in City Folk and New Leaf.
Guliver floating in the water at 17:19 caught me so off guard I choked on my drink
okay so i wasn’t the only one 😀
Just casually floating face down lol
I related so hard to Gully haha
I laughed so hard 🤣
I'll admit it made me laugh. Just singing and casually rowing past Gulliver's corpse
I figured that Animal Crossing would be a massive undertaking for localization but I didn't realize so much of this stuff was so different! That's really cool!
Thanks for watching it man. Your odd world video was fantastic by the way
@@BoundaryBreak If you need help on Japanese translation, let me know
21:40 what's interesting is that those police stations are clearly modeled after a koban, a small "police box" that are more easily accessible and wider spread than the proper police stations, even down to the red light; but they didn't change the design of those at all for Animal Crossing despite something like that not existing at all in the US
They have similar things some places in the US, typically called a police substation. Usually they'll be in a downtown area of a city while the proper police station is in a more suburb-y area with more room.
@@Evilmon2 A Koban is usually literally just one or two rooms, and only usually less than 20 square meters. I've never seen something like that in America
Like, I've walked past some Konbans in Tokyo that were literally just a single dude sitting in a booth about the size of what you see in Animal Crossing. He couldn't have extend both his arms at the same time while inside it
I've lived all over the US. Those little one-room police stops are everywhere in the US.
That's kind of wild that the beaver was changed because his japanese design would look like an american stereotype of japanese people. It's interesting that that stereotype isn't present in actual japanese culture, wow! It makes me wonder if anything in american cartoons could accidentally look like another country's stereotype of americans, and we'd never know!
Woah, that's such a good point! I'm super curious about that now!
I think actually it’s more of a stereotype of Chinese people but yeah.
My thought was "buck toothed hillbilly" but either way, makes sense they'd change it.
American cartoons tend to purposefully be stereotypes of Americans. 🤪
Americans overthink shit to make themselves into the victims.
@@krissydiggs That's pretty on point. In Terranigma there's a scene set in "China" where you're obviously supposed to be reading the text with a very racist accent, so it's very possible.
23:23 - I think I've cracked this one. In the original Japanese, it looks like that text is meant to be コンビニたぬき (Konbini Tanuki), the store's name, if squished into a 2x3 pixel space. For the American version, it's Nook 'n' Go, but it's BACKWARDS -- as if it were pasted on the inside of the door.
Oh that makes sense because konbini is like a convenience store!! So clever!
Just a couple notes:
25:55 that doesn't say "doumo arigatou" it says "arigatou gozaimasu" (ありがとうございます)
27:15 that's not bubbling tofu. That's actually mochi, or in this case yaki mochi!
Animal Crossing is such a novel concept. I'm really glad, with all the Japanese-specific cultural references in this game, that they decided to put in the effort to localize it in the West. They could have easily just not done that.
I think it would have even great to have left it in.
AS a child i would have even curious why everything looks weird and still could learn about it.
The most stupid examples are the "jelly filled dognuts" from pokemon
毎回あなたの動画を見ています。ゲームから得られるアメリカと日本の文化の違いは非常に興味深いです。次の動画も楽しみにしてます。
8:13
魚政 "Umasa"→"Uomasa"
魚(Uo/Sakana) means fish.
27:17
Tofu → rice cake(餅 mochi)
fart
説明ありがとう！
Gulliver just floating face down in the ocean as Kapp’n sings a jaunty sailing tune
Localized a Japanese waste bin to a western-US waste bin, by making it look like a waste bin. The Japanese waste bin looks like any other waste bin. The stuff they decided was too Japanese-centric was always so bizarre.
But that bizarre way of thinking sure gave an entirely unique experience. And then an even broader experience when both versions were merged in future games
Honestly, I am happy that they got more comfortable with including in a lot of the Japanese stuff in the northern releases of the games. There are of course still some differences, but now it's not nearly as much.
I love how you can read about all sorts of cultural holidays in the Nook Stop terminal with the seasonal items. Not just Japan and America, either.
I think it's just that they got lazier, and that's a bad thing.
Hey, I know you
@@Vekstar
From what? Art?
@@SilvyReacts yes. I'm one of your patrons. Just didn't expect to randomly see you here is all.
I wish they kept “town” and “island” in the title when you name something in the American version. When I was a kid, I was given a GameCube and it came with Animal Crossing. I had no idea what this game was about and all the sudden I’m met with a cat on a train asking me where I was going. I wrote “town” and to this day my village is called “town village.” Or I guess you could say “town town.”
this is why my sister's first town was named "lunch" - it was where we were going when she started it
@@ilexdiapason Lunch Town! I love it! 🤣
@@ilexdiapason Good thing she wasn't on her way to the bathroom! 🤣🤣
lmao that's exactly why my sister named her village "home"
Lol same. I didn't understand it so I thought you could visit different countries. My town was called China.
A few explanations I did not see covered yet:
--The trash site in the Japanese version lists Monday and Thursday because if this was a real life neighborhood, those would be the only days you are supposed to put out trash. In Japan, there are different days you can put out certain types of trash or recycling. These days vary by city and neighborhood.
--The bag on the school desk in the Japanese version shows the student's grade level 3 (which is either their 3rd year in ES, final year in junior high or final year in high school) and their homeroom number 6 (which is the 6th out of however many homerooms in that school).
-- Some of the "English" is romanji, which is roman letters for Japanese words.
--The construction sign guy is bowing in apology for the inconvenient of construction.
--The rotary system for entering your name is similar to the texting keyboard for phones in Japan.
--Also, we eat a lot of fish in Japan, so the fish prizes and items are fitting.
Wait... can you just put your trash out any day in the US?
@@PikaJess123 short answer: not really, but it isn’t as highly scheduled as Japan.
Long answer: trash days in the US depends on the state and whether you live in a neighborhood or apartment (which may have dumpsters you can access any day). While there are trash collection days to adhere to, in the states that do not have a recycle pickup program, everything goes on the same days. Also, trash is taken from your own trash can at the end of your own drive way. There is not a posted schedule but something you learn when you move in.
In Japan, I have to separate my trash nearly every day into different categories (burnable, non burnable, PET plastics, other plastics, non burnable, etc.). I also need to carry my trash to my neighbor drop off spot for it to be collected on its specific day. There is a sign at that point to notify you of the schedule.
I hope that makes sense!
I do want to add that I love being able to recycle. My state did not have such a program.
That gutted out fish is a super fancy and expensive way to serve sashimi. First they take the fillets off of the whole fish and set them aside. Then they kind of twist the rest of the fish to put a curve in the spine, roast and/or clean it, then slice and serve the raw fillets on the exposed bone. In person it's actually really elegant looking
A couple little notes:
- Chip's Japanese name is Uomasa, rather than Umasa
- The wanted poster inside the police station in the Japanese version says "If you see these faces, 110!" as in call 110, which is the emergency hotline for police in Japan.
- Impossible to verify of course, but it seems to me like the tiny illegible text on the convenience store's door is supposed to be a rendition of コンビニタヌキ (all katakana) in the Japanese version, and if you look at the American version's door with this in mind you might find that it kinda looks like it could've been intended to read Nook'n'Go but only if you were reading it from the inside (on that note, kinda interesting that each iteration of the shop uses the exact same Welcome-mat but it's only flipped on the final store, where the text on the door is actually legible. I'm not saying that these things are related but sure seems like a wild coincidence)
Plus on Resetti's JPN model, his hard hat has a green line across it, which is normally seen on Japanese hard hat design.
I wonder if the door was accidentally flipped too.
@@renakunisaki this is complete conjecture on my part, but I imagine something along the lines of:
- the welcome-mat and door textures are stored in the same file/same portion of a file
- for whatever reason, the texture for them is flipped for the in-game models
- localizers working on the new textures aren't aware of this, and simply follow the directions given to them without anyone noticing the inconsistency for the first two stores' doors (I mean, they *are* just replacing unintelligibly tiny text in a foreign language to unintelligible text in another language)
- the changes are checked by an entity/department separate from the people editing the textures, and they notice that the final store's door texture is inside-out
- whatever the cause, it needs to be fixed, so they alter a texture, or code, so that the final store's door (and by extension, welcome-mat) texture is flipped. whether due to time constraints or extreme focus on the part that needs fixing specifically, the mat getting flipped together with the door goes unnoticed during the follow-up check
Tom Nook: a raccoon in America, a tanuki in Japan. This translation gets messed up in SO many places, because I guess they figure no one outside of Asia is gonna know what a tanuki is, unless you have a fur farm. IDC where you have seen tanuki translated as raccoon, it's just not the same thing; a tanuki (aka raccoon dog)is in the canine family and has paws and raccoon-like markings.
35:30 That rotary system makes a lot more sense for writing in Hiragana. Since Hiragana (and Katakana) is a writing style where each character is a complete syllable and not just a single letter like the Roman symbols we use, you can group them based on the consonant sound each character makes (e.g られりろる or "ra re ri ro ru", まめみもむ "ma me mi mo mu" etc.). This rotary system lets you pick your "group", and then from within that, you choose which syllable within that group you wanna type. My cellphone's japanese keyboard works very similar to that
Though now looking closer at it, it seems to group characters by their vowel sound (for example at 36:12 the top five symbols are "A" "Ka" "Sa" "Ta" and "Na")
"Instead it was every Saturday in August"
I haven't finished watching the video yet but that's how it was for the rest of the series (except later it would be Sundays instead of Saturdays). The GameCube game was the only one where localization made the fireworks into the Fourth of July instead of a weekly thing in August.
It makes sense, though. In the US there are several holidays that use fireworks, not just Independence Day. They've combined them all into one month, but at least they chose a neutral month, August. The four main fireworks holidays in the US are January 1st, Memorial Day, July 4th (of course), and Labor Day, and none of those are in August, so it's cool that they picked a neutral month for them all, especially since August is one of the few months without a major holiday. Labor Day is the #1 fireworks day in the part of the US where I'm from, so August is pretty close.
Animal Crossing is a really great fit for Region Break. It's super interesting to see the cultural differences between the two versions.
Fun fact: The Japanese versions of Kapp'n's song and the Cherry Blossom theme were actually repurposed to K.K. Slider Songs. They're called Marine Song 2001 and Spring Blossoms respectively.
4:46 quick little correction but they're actually wearing yukata not kimonos! yukata are worn in summer since they're cheaper and lighter and kimono are very formal, warm and expensive.
I hope this one stays up. It suck that the one you did a while back got taken down. I love the a.c. vids❤ please do more
29:14
Fish is traditionally their main source of protein. They grow lots of rice, which means lots of water. Also they're a pretty small island surrounded by ocean. Fishing is just kinda a bigger deal there, or at least was at one point
34:33 it's meant to represent a bulging vein
I'm not doing this to be a smartass, I just thought these random little trivia facts that he didn't / wasn't able to touch up on might be interesting to anyone who sees this. 😅
It's because food is a traditional gift. Things like sweets or fruit for example are almost exclusively bought for the intentions of being gifted, they are always super fancy. Japanese people also share food very often in small villages/small towns where everyone's on friendly terms or simply because it's a polite thing to do and to not waste food if you made too much.
I love that they kept the Japanese version's songs in the series by making them into KK songs
27:16 餅 Mochi
28:32 魚のお造り Otsukuri (刺身Sashimi)
28:41 年越しそば Toshi-koshi-soba (Long soba you eat at the end of the year)
28:51 おせち Osechi (Japanese traditional New Year’s dish)
22:05 - This sign actually reads "Dial 110 if you see these people," with 110 being the rough Japanese equivalent of 911.
Wouldn't that be 411 rather than 911? 911 is for emergency responding, 411 is for notifying police.
@@the-NightStar 411 isn't non-emergency police in the US; it's directory assistance. Most non-emergency police lines are normal phone numbers in the US. 911 is probably the closest US N11 number; if you dial 911 on a military base in Japan, apparently it reroutes to 110.
I think the "sad construction worker" looks more like he's doing a polite bow personally 🥺 also fun fact the reason why there's a picnic in the spring is because of hanami in japan,, aka cherry blossom viewings! it's very common for people to go picnic under cherry blossom trees in parks and such
it's amazing how much work the localisation team put into not just translating japanese text but making entirely different models and animations
I can see why they swapped Tom Nook's outfits between the versions. In the US a gas station or convenience store clerk is known to wear a button up or polo shirt with the company logo and/or colors on it (think 7-11) and although a grocery store cashier may wear something similar, it's not uncommon to see workers at the bakery, butcher, and deli counters in aprons, since they handle food. So, "Nook and Go" Tom wearing a button up shirt and "Nookway" Tom wearing an Apron makes sense from a US point of view.
I don't think it's tofu being grilled in the igloo, I believe it is actually 切り餅 (Kirimochi), a hardened version of mochi that is known to bubble on the grill!
Really grateful to hear that buyee is supporting you and your work, and I'm really glad region break is still going!
Yeah that beaver in the Japanese version would have gotten a big yikes in the USA.
can confirm, said "yikes"
I had Breakfast at Tiffany's flashbacks, lol. Def a good change.
I definitely said "yikes," at least an eyes-widened look
I don't think many people used the word "yikes" in 2001 lol.
@@Jason777123 Buggs Bunny was saying in in the 70s. ;x
im glad that region break was saved by this sponsor, it's so damn interesting to see these major differences in games
22:12 I think it might possibly be the equivalent of "call 911". I think 110 is one of the emergency numbers in Japan (it's simply a police number, not a full-on 911 emergency). Given that it's supposed to be a Wanted sign, this would make sense.
Sucks region break doesn't do so well. I love the series and would be sad to see it go!
It's Uomasa. Uo means Fish. Masa is just added to make it like a name, so it would translate to something like Tom-Fish.
30:50 I'm would say the construction worker is not sad, but bowing, to apologize for the inconvenience of the construction work ahead.
Why not both?
I like the little Japanese touches. It's a Japanese game after all. I wish they left more of them in
The Region Break video are probably my favorite videos of yours, so I'm glad you were able to find a very fitting sponsor that lets you to continue to make the series.
I have been living in Japan a bit over 3 years now and it is interesting how much I have just normalized all these things that were foreign to me years ago. Almost everything you mentioned as far as scenery and items go I see on a regular basis and totally forgot how different they would be
I only knew the languages were different but I'm ready to learn a lot more lol
What's crazy is how much stuff in the North American version stuck, like Chip's design or Resetti's outfit.
I wish in the future we'd be able to play other versions without needing the regional game system. I'd love to experience the different cultural holidays and celebrations!
I was always hoping we would see the characters from the wanted posters that are posted in the police station. Imagine wandering around your town at 3 a.m. and stumbling upon those shadow characters? 😳
I love how there is a dead body just floating in the ocean while Kap is singing
Yes, I know he is not dead, it just looks that way
In the game files Gulliver is called “dozaemon” or “drowned body” so it's not too far off lol
The part I really loved was learning about how they made the voices/babble! I didn’t know any of that, and the reasoning behind the difference in the voices between US and Japan is really interesting.
So THAT'S where that sea shanty music comes from!
Not sure if it's been noted yet, but the bubbling tofu blocks mentioned in the igloo camp comparisons might be kirimochi, which are blocks of rice cake (mochi). They are wonderful when grilled over a fire like that! They also puff up and bubble just like in the clip! I like adding soy sauce and sugar as a glaze.
Small correction, you said the sign of Nook N Go in Japanese says “Tanuki” but it says Convenience Store. Probably just misspoke.
Great video :) getting into the channel, I’m glad you’ve stuck with it and overcome bad algorithms, love this sort of stuff
It doesnt say doumo arigato, which would translate to "thanks", as this would be super rude to customers. It says arigatou gozaimasu, the more polite version.
there is a lot of insufficient / straight up machine translation here. the video is still interesting though
Because of this video I bought a Japanese copy of wild world to help me practice my Japanese in a fun way!
I live in Japan, so I can clear up a couple of things. The police booth with the 110 is saying 'if you see these people call 110'. 110 is the phone number for the police in Japan, and you often see those kinds of posters.
Otherwise, I'm impressed you figured out that Rosetti was wearing a 'haramaki' because I wouldn't have realised that!
The sign in Nook's shop says 'part timers wanted, and beneath probably says weekdays and weekends 900/hour 7am-11am don't hesitate to contact, but the pixels are so bad!
I enjoyed this video, thank you for the time you put into making it!
Wow, i learned so much watching this video. Loved this style of the video, keep making these! ^^
Fantastic work, Shesez. This game holds a special place in my heart, and it's amazing to see all the weird little differences. And to find out why Marine Song 2001 is what it is! Had no idea that was Kapp'n's original song.
I always love this series! Sometimes it's like a boundary break+ since you're digging through different versions
31:43 one book and shirt... and one more book and shirt. What a variety!
Another awesome video! I absolutely love the fact that Animal Crossing is so small that the entire game fits into the Gamecube's internal memory, so the disc doesn't need to be read after startup.
I never expected there to be such a difference, thank you for making this video
28:30 thats not a gutter out fish , its a sushi boat with rolls presented along with the carcass especially the head of the fish to showcase its freshness
I can completely understand why they changed so much, especially with the very casual audience of Animal Crossing in mind, but I always prefer it if the games I play change as little as possible in the translation/localization process.
That is honestly a very stupid and naive way of thinking. Sorry but you are very wrong. Japanese cultures and customs do not go well verbatim across regions. Langauge is also a completely different beast. What you think is utterly and completely unattainable. Localization is one of THE most mandatory and important aspects in all of translation, and is incredibly necessary in almost all cases. To not do so is not a mark of quality or care, it is a mark of laziness and ignorance. Literal translations without the localization aspect is always a bad thing and it never, never works.
@@the-NightStar When I'm playing a Japanese game I want it to keep all the references to Japanese culture; I want the dialogue to be as close to the original as possible while still being undertstandable and pleasent to read. If I didn't want any of these things why would I want to play a Japanese game in the first place?
@@the-NightStar Mmm, what a lovely strawman! Take care of it and good day!
@@PrincessMeganLeigh You're projecting your own issues here. I would have been a-okay deciphering an "alien" culture; that's the fun part. Learning about differing cultures. That's why the OP stated "casual audience" because as you just proved, most wouldn't have since most don't care about any culture except their own.
That doesn't mean it wouldn't work, it just wouldn't work for the larger American audience. The weebs at the time would have been a-okay, especially if the game helped with the teaching, because we were used to that kind of stuff.
Yeah I'm glad there's enough weebs in the west nowadays who are kinda tired of japanese media back then being consistently censored and modified to make it palatable to western marketing.
The thing mr.Resetti is wearing is specifically called a haramaki. While they have been used as "belly warmers" for a long time, they are thought to also help with blood circulation.
I understand why localization is really important, especially for dialogue-based things, but I'm actually bummed how much Japanese culture they removed from the game. As an America, it's sad seeing everything so whitewashed.
30:50 To me it looks like the construction worker is bowing, which if I'm remembering right, is a Japanese sign of respect. It sort of looks like a way of politely asking you to be careful around the area the sign is put up.
Oh, THAT’S why it’s “Marine Song 2001”!! 🎉
It’s so cute to recognize a couple of the Japanese songs, really glad they reused them as KK Songs instead of letting them go unnoticed
this was such an awesome thing to find out, it made me gasp!!
Would love to see an episode on Tomodachi Life. The NA/EU/J/Korean versions all have pretty notable differences about them
8:28 Hey, I remember him having the Japan outfit on his Melee trophy!!
Yup, Animal Crossing was still being localized when Melee released, and the spot where it tells you what game they're from just say "Future Release". K.K. Slider's trophy too still uses his Japanese name, Totakeke.
small note on two things
"to [become] plus is plus in many things" is what it says, not sign?
and at 20:40
they're throwing coins in the donation box, then they shake the rope to ring the bells, then they clap their paws twice and then join them to pray for the wish.
omikuji, instead, is shaken till a random stick slips out through the hole opening
you unwrap the paper and read the fortune.
25:55
actually says "arigatou gozaimasu"
but the given translation is right. :3
35:17 That rotating keyboard thing was brilliantly designed and very efficient for inputting Japanese kana. It exploited the basic phonological structure of 10 consonants × 5 vowels (gojūon). You first choose a consonant, then five possible syllables pop up. You can get used to it to become a rather fast typer. Latin alphabet was an afterthought on it and was cumbersome to input. I wish we still had it for Japanese.
Other notes:
8:13 A small error - 魚政 reads Uomasa, not Umasa.
21:21 This is because the Japanese police uses a star‐like symbol (mon). Police boxes (kōban) usually display it on the building.
21:32 Resolution too low, but maybe the white sign says “安全週間” (safety week)?
21:46 The Japanese one is also a wanted poster, but there are six people shown (and one of them is already caught). Posters in this style is common (like ones regarding the sarin attack or Japanese Red Army).
22:00 “ケーカン求ム”, it’s a police recruitment poster (so basically the same).
22:08 1‐1‐0 is the Japanese emergency phone number. “このかお みたら 110!” translates to “Call 110 if you see these faces!”
23:08 The 福 sign is probably a reference to the Marufuku Nintendō logo.
23:22 The English one looks like “Nook ’n’ Go” flipped horizontally. The Japanese one tries to say “コンビニタヌキ” (Konbini Tanuki).
23:48 “アルバイト募集 / 若干名。時給 900 / 7:00 - 11:00 [illegible] / Tell にて応相談!”
25:54 Not a big difference but it says “Arigatō gozaimasu”, not “Dōmo arigatō”.
26:53 They look like goza. What are they called in English - soft rush mats?
27:14 They are mochi (rice cakes), not tōfu.
28:25 舟盛り (funamori), an extravagant way of serving fish.
38:58 年越し蕎麦 (toshikoshi soba noodles) is eaten on New Year’s Eve. This bowl seems to have two shrimp tempura, two pieces of kamaboko and saya endō (snow peas) on it.
28:58 おせち (osechi) is a special meal for new year celebration.
25:54 it doesnt say "dōmo arigatō", it says "arigatō gozaimasu"
This!!! Almost the same meaning, but not really
I'm still a beginner in learning Japanese, but I'm a little proud of myself for catching that.
Hey Shesez, great video! Just a quick tip for pronouncing Japanese in the future:
In English, we tend to emphasize the penultimate syllable of words. For example, “baNAna”, “deCIded”, or “SHEsez” (since there are only two syllables.)
In Japanese, you usually emphasize the first syllable of the word. So in the case of this game, the first word would be pronounced “DŌbutsu” instead of “dōBUtsu.”
Just a nitpick, but I wanted you to know since you cover a lot of Japanese content. I really did love this video!
Really? I find Japanese just tends to be flat, although in sentences they tend to trail off a bit in real speech.
どうぶつ emphasizes dō in English sensibilities because Japanese does not treat dō as a dipthong but as half the word, and regardless how the word actually sounds, that's how speakers percieve it. Us are also frequently devoiced so the Do sound would end up the most prominant, but its not actually being emphasised.
In terms of pitch accent, words usually either start low or high and continue at the higher or lower pitch, with some longer words swapping to a lower pitch at the end if the word was middle high pitch.
@@fearedjames I totally agree, but as a narrator you need to strike a balance between natural tone and correct pronunciation. In English, every word has a clear emphasis, so switching to a flat tone in the middle of an English sentence-regardless of whether a word or two are not English words-can sound strange.
To make the words sound natural in an English context, we would need to choose a syllable to add emphasis on. If we’re sacrificing technical accuracy for a more fluid sound, then at the very least we should pick the most common syllable of emphasis for Japanese words that are not flat, which more often than not is the first syllable.
That’s really what I meant, but I could have clarified. Sorry for the miscommunication.
Currently teaching myself Japanese so this whole episode has been fun. Especially seeing how different all the names are lol
That's cool to hear, how long are studying now?
@@TheBrandy125 I've been studying seriously for about 8 months. I'm still not conversational, but I can read/understand a decent amount of it :)
@@just-in-japan that's cool, same here, I'm around 11 Months in and passed n4 simulation recently, while I understood a good amount of it, Kanji words are often really hard.
Also the Captains Song in japanese was kinda sus.
Keep going your studying, I hope you'll stay successful and motivated :)
@@TheBrandy125 Thanks and same to you. It's hard but definitely rewarding. And congrats on the N4! It's what I'm gonna be aiming for next haha
@@TheBrandy125 please please please say why it’s sus though. Is it the lyrics?
It’s crazy how many changes they made in the localization for this game, but when I was a kid playing this first one I still thought this game was super Japanese lol
the sign on the desk in the Japanese version is referring to the class you're in (in school) say you're in the 5th class in the second grade, it would be 2-5, most schools do this in Japan, I have worked at a school that was different, but it was because it was in a small town that didn't have multiple classes for each grade, the East Meiwa school's classes were 1-East, 2-East, etc.
I love region break and your work and attention to detail is appreciated! It’s really cool to be able to see all of the differences between the original version of animal crossing and the American localization and it’s always interesting to see the approaches they take when making changes!
During the new year they’re not throwing omikuji in the shrine you definitely wouldn’t do that, they’re tossing coins. Omikuji are fortunes you either take them home or you hang them up in the shrine either on a tree or designated spot by the shrine.
It may just be me, but I really love the Japanese clothes, designs, and environments better. Obviously the text being English is 100% fine, but the visual design and touches of Japanese culture being taken out wholesale will never fail to disappoint me a bit. It’s cool to see…well, a game reflect the country it was developed in.
I like the USA version more! But I did like the jp shanties
I think it’s cool that releases in different regions reflect the different cultures of that area
Region Break is my favorite series on this channel. You did a great job showing how much changed during localization!
Nice video, but a couple things:
25:50: This sign says “arigatou gozaimasu,” not “doumo arigatou.”
27:14: The Japanese version doesn’t depict tofu, it’s mochi.
Thanks for always making awesome content!
Thank you for mentioning these, I could have given the first one a pass but I zoomed right into the comments when I head the phrase "bubbling tofu".
the item next to the cubby hole is a stack of bath stools, you wash before you get in the bath in Japan, and while you're washing with the shower you sit on the bath stools. the cubby that was shown was a cubby for shoes that are in EVERY public school in Japan. you change into indoor shoes when you enter school and change back when going outside
Everytime I watch one of these I learn something new. These are some really thoughtful changes!
30:04
The hanging white bag is usually for student caring their Sport Uniform. The number on the bag telling us which grade and which class that student belong too.
The first one on the left is the Grade. Number 3 mean year 3. Depend on which type of school too.
Elementary year 3 is Grade 3
Middle school year 3 is Grade 9
High school year 3 is Grade 12.
The second number 5. Mean it the 5th class from that Grade)
Animal Crossing is one of my favorite games to dissect, especially the regional differences. I just love learning about cultural differences!
28:22 The item in the Japanese version is called a funamori, which is sashimi served on a wooden boat. Considering your reaction it's understandable why they'd change it to a more easily recognizable trophy LOL
interesting. i didn't even notice their eyes are all black.
it is good, what Nintendo US did was translating
"a Heavily japanese localized game" ---> "a flexible globalized game".
Because in japan, "Eyes = Black" ,it is an order of the universe.
1. 99% of ppl in japan are japanese, and our eyes are black.
in the history, None had succeed to invade japanese mainland.
(U.S. could, but soon, They returned it to japan/our emperor).
2. you can see, dogs in japan. Most common dog are shiba (Doge) ,
and their eyes are black, same as japanese ppl.
if a man have 99% of black eyed Human/Dogs in his universe,
How he can think he need to add other eye colors for animals ppl in a game.😆
25:55 The sign actually says "ありがとうごさいます" or "arigatou gosaimasu", I don't think it makes any significant difference since the meaning is still correct, but the domo is not there
27:24 that’s not tofu, it’s roasting mochi/rice cakes!
27:17 (I have already pointed out ...)
This is not "tofu", this is "mochi".
It is a food made by processing glutinous rice.
Bake and eat like a game
In Japan, it is customary to eat during the New Year (January 1-3) and winter.
It is rare to bake tofu like this on an open flame ...
I didn’t know that there were two versions of Kapp’n’s song!
I find it really interesting that when deciding to remix Kapp’n’s Song in Smash Bros, they decided to go with the American version!
Does anyone know if the Japanese version of Smash remixes the Japanese Kapp’n’s Song?
Regardless, that makes this remix feel a little special for me. That remix was always one of my favorites!
In every game since, including Doubutsu no Mori e+, Kapp'n has sang the newer version (he also got a new one in New Leaf). But e+ also added a new K.K. song which has been present in games since that is just the old version of Kapp'n's song, Marine Song 2001. It's called that because the Japanese one came out in 2001, and if you play it in your house it's Kappn's voice!
37:04 The Nintendo logo is blue for authentic Animal Forest e+ copies. The English-translated versions of e+ turn the color to pink instead, likely to coincide with the cherry blossoms that appear on the first demonstration at the title screen.
the AM and PM in Japanese replace and are read as Gozen and Gogo respectively.
Japanese read the time as (for example 7:30) Gozen shichi ji san ju pun 午前7時30分
I really respect you, Shesez, and I know youtube has been extremely rough recently. Thank you for being a consistently great guy
Finally, you've returned with another Region Break video 😁!
Thank you so much for the heart ❤️!
Im so glad buyee decided to sponsor these region break videos, i love them and will alwsys continue to watch them. I love seeing the differences the developers make to cater for each region. Love the videos pal keep them coming ❤️
Fun Fact: The Japanese version of Kappn's Song was later added as a song K.K. Slider can sing in either ACNL or ACNH, and when you request the song, he'll give you the Aircheck version of the song and it is basically Kapn singing it in the Aircheck version.
Edit: I forgot to mention the song is named "Marine Song 2001"