The claim that unbirth from the upcoming PSP version is a mistranslation is, I believe, rather false. Why? Because somebody out there likes Alice rather a lot.
To unpack things a bit, we suspect that the interview in which it was said that the アンバース (Anbāsu) should be read in English as the Japanese borrowing of the English "Unversed," instead of the English "Unbirthed" (phew!) may be a belated retroactive re-translation to deflect an awkward and unproductively controversial reference to the unborn and the abortion debate in America. The association betweehn Unbirths and abortion was made on morethanonefansite. It is unlikely that we would ever get an admission of this from the producers of the game; however, the reference to an "Unbirthday", as well as the game's name ("Birth by Sleep) makes it difficult to rule out.
After all, the original enemies of Kingdom Hearts were "heartless;" it wouldn't be surprising to see the "unbirthed" as the enemies in "Birth by Sleep." That "the explanation for the "Unversed" also seems to allude to a state of incomplete coming-into-being only makes this seem all the more like an act of transnational-marketing preemptive damage control (or damage-avoidance.)
The other issue being approached in this post is simply the various places in which transmediation exists. Essentially, I am simply pointing out that both the films and the parks themselves are being mined in the production of the Kingdom Hearts franchise.
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= Unbirth
To unpack things a bit, we suspect that the interview in which it was said that the アンバース (Anbāsu) should be read in English as the Japanese borrowing of the English "Unversed," instead of the English "Unbirthed" (phew!) may be a belated retroactive re-translation to deflect an awkward and unproductively controversial reference to the unborn and the abortion debate in America. The association betweehn Unbirths and abortion was made on more than one fan site. It is unlikely that we would ever get an admission of this from the producers of the game; however, the reference to an "Unbirthday", as well as the game's name ("Birth by Sleep) makes it difficult to rule out.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, the original enemies of Kingdom Hearts were "heartless;" it wouldn't be surprising to see the "unbirthed" as the enemies in "Birth by Sleep." That "the explanation for the "Unversed" also seems to allude to a state of incomplete coming-into-being only makes this seem all the more like an act of transnational-marketing preemptive damage control (or damage-avoidance.)
The other issue being approached in this post is simply the various places in which transmediation exists. Essentially, I am simply pointing out that both the films and the parks themselves are being mined in the production of the Kingdom Hearts franchise.
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