The Chainsaw Man Episode 11 Mistranslation That Had Fans Up In Arms
Throughout the years, there has been one question that has divided international fans of anime: is it better to watch an anime series with subtitles over the original Japanese or is it better to watch the series with a voiceover (or "dub") in the viewer's native language?
The subbed versus dubbed debate is one which has rattled the anime community for decades, with both sides arguing constantly about which method truly provides the best experience for international viewers. Indeed, some anime fans have gone so far as to say that iconic series like "Cowboy Bebop" wouldn't have survived without their English dubs. Regardless of which side is truly correct, it's fair to say that neither of these options work all too well if the translation itself is wrong — as oftentimes anime subs and dubs can wildly misinterpret the meaning of the original Japanese dialogue.
Such is the case with a particularly memorable line from Episode 11 of the extremely violent anime series "Chainsaw Man," in which the "Future Devil" (Hiroki) taunts a character named Aki Hayakawa (Shogo Sakata) about his upcoming death. This particular misstep had fans rolling with laughter because of how hilariously bad the translation turned out to be.
A pivotal moment in Chainsaw Man was ruined by a hilarious mistranslation
"Chainsaw Man" is an anime series that focuses primarily on the exploits of its titular protagonist, a Devil Hunter named Denji (Kikunosuke Toya) who merges himself with the Chainsaw Devil, Pochita, and sprouts chainsaws from his arms and face. In Episode 11, we see Denji's companion Aki Hakayawa discussing his ultimate fate with the Future Devil — and the translation of their conversation is undeniably hilarious.
The original subtitles for this scene read, "Well, the reason is: Your death in the future will f***ing rule," which is a strange and unnecessarily vulgar way to tell somebody about their death. According to @invaderalex on Twitter, the actual line from the manga can be translated to: "Because in the future, you're going to die in the worst possible way!" This makes it clear that this particular subtitle is an incredibly bad translation of the source material.
Fans online were quick to point out that this erroneous mistranslation completely altered the tone of the scene. "Yeah, glad I'm not watching through Crunchyroll," Tweeted @ThatABSensei. "The line he delivers here feels less impacting compare to the og." Meanwhile, Redditor u/TebbieX said, "It's interesting how in the manga they made the whole scene really scary and terrifying ... while in the anime it's more comedic to me because of the sus translation."
Hilariously, the anime streaming giant Crunchyroll appears to have actually gone back to change this particular line — but they did so in a way that still kept the line's new, humorous tone intact.
Crunchyroll attempted to fix the line, but left in the vulgarity
Over on Reddit, u/enginesofdemise noticed that this particular line appears to have been corrected. Crunchyroll altered the line to get the point across that Aki Hakayawa's death would not "rule," but instead would be extremely horrific –- though, absurdly, they left in the weirdly vulgar wording of this ill omen. Indeed, the new line reads: "Well the reason is: Your death in the future will be the f***ing worst," which still made plenty of users on Reddit laugh.
"Alright, I can go with this. It's funny as hell that they HAVE to keep in the 'f***ing' though. Someone's really proud of this," wrote u/mest0shai. "After so many years, they've been allowed to use swear words when translating and you can tell they are having a blast with it," wrote u/Lex4709. Other users pointed out how funny it was that this correction still included an unnecessary and italicized swear word, which paints the whole scene in a comedic light despite how dire this warning truly is.
Indeed, manga readers will know that this particular line also carries a little extra significance on top of being one of the funniest mistranslations in recent memory, as the Future Devil (at least in the manga) is actually only delivering half of this sentence, and promises to complete the rest of the line once Aki is actually dead. Should Aki actually perish in the anime, it will be hilarious to see the anime bring back this line at such a heartbreaking moment in the series, since the vulgar warning is still extremely funny.