Gentleman Demon's Omnibus

As in, all of it. Spoilers and much ranting about everything beneath the cut.

     Squall Leonhart’s super favourite word in the English version of Final Fantasy VIII!  It’s interesting to note that it’s not quite what he says in the Japanese version.  I’m sure that many, many, many people have already covered this but I wanted to do a post about it myself.

     Although it seems as though he uses it rather excessively, I only counted ~sixteen uses of it across the four discs.  Those uses were ones in which he used it as a response or on its own and not within a sentence, such as “We’ll do whatever it takes to get on that train.”

     Anyway, on to the differences (and to kind of a long post)…or whatever.

#1: Fire Cavern - Quistis

Japanese: …you’re a TEACHER.

     This is one of the more obvious and odd changes (considering the context) that was made in the English.  During this scene Quistis is a bit inappropriate (considering she’s his teacher).  She says that she supposes her charm makes the other boys (students, in the Japanese version) nervous because it’s at this point they end up failing.  Given the situation, Squall’s response in the Japanese is SO MUCH more appropriate.

#2: Return from Dollet - Headmaster Cid

Japanese: Nothing special/no big deal.

     Not a major change since, in this scene, the responses in both English and Japanese are along the same lines.

#3: SeeD Ball - Quistis

Japanese: …sorry.

     Ah, finally the entrance of what can be dubbed as Squall’s Japanese catchphrase.  This is the word he uses a lot (like, a lot-a lot) in the Japanese version (probably a lot more than the English catchphrase) and is most frequently found in place of “whatever” in the Japanese version.

     In this scene, Quistis is a bit sad that Squall would dance with a complete stranger rather than her.  The Japanese response gives him a bit more heart rather than just a brush off, as is the case with the English.

#4: First Laguna Dream Sequence - Laguna

Laguna: And…it’ll be just the two of us, too!  What should I do, what should I do… Squall: Do whatever you want!

     This scene is a lot more amusing in Japanese than in English.  Squall’s response of “do whatever you want” is not one that can be interpreted as a happy/cheering-you-on type of response — it’s more that he’s just exasperated with Laguna (and his annoying/noisy mind) and falls more along the lines of “omg, just do whatever the heck you want and stop annoying me…!”

#5: Before Second Laguna Dream Sequence - Rinoa

Japanese: …so annoying.

     This is when Rinoa is ranting at Squall about his lack of outward support for the others and that he should show a lot more concern and encouragement to his comrades.  The English translation made Squall a little nicer (well…less mean) in this scene in comparison to the Japanese, because his response can be taken as “…ugh, so annoying.”

#6: Meeting Irvine - Irvine

Japanese: I guess it’s okay.

     Another less obvious/appropriate change.  Squall’s response can also be interpreted as anything along the lines of “oh well,” “well, alright” and even “whatever.”

#7: Comforting Selphie - Selphie

Japanese: …sorry.

     In this scene, the player is given the option of either comforting Selphie or deciding to leave it up to Irvine.  If the player chooses to comfort her, Selphie starts joking that she must look really depressed, so depressed that even Squall has decided to forgo his standoff-ish-ness for once and is, instead, comforting her.  Squall starts to go back into his little shell and Selphie calls him out on being so closed off.  His response in Japanese versus his response in English paint FAR different pictures of Squall’s character, especially considering the context.

     It can be argued that his “warukatta” response is less of an apology and more of a “I’ll just say that so you’ll get off my back,” but I’d like to believe that Squall is at least a little apologetic for not being able to be more open.

#8: Concert in Fishermans Horizon - Selphie

Japanese: What do you want….

     The above is more of a literal translation, but I think that it can be interpreted differently.  Squall’s use of the ending “yo” (which is more masculine and can be rather brusque in certain contexts), makes it more “what the heck/hell…”  I think that is what he was going for in this scene because Selphie kind of embarrasses him (publically) by supporting Rinoa’s pursuit of him.

#9: Meeting Selphie’s Friend in Trabia - Selphie

Japanese Option 1: Leave me alone. Japanese Option 2: …sorry.

     In this scene, tha player is given the option of either agreeing with or denying having been a support structure/help to Selphie while she’s been away from Trabia.  In the English, it doesn’t matter which option you choose because, either way, Squall’s response is “whatever.”  The first option, which is to deny, has both Selphie and her friend joking that Squall is probably just harbouring a secret crush.  Option two, agreeing, has Selphie laugh at the out-of-character response from Squall.  Both of his answers make so much more sense in the Japanese version.

#10: Heading to Esthar Pt. I - Zell/Edea

Japanese: Whatever’s fine.

This is when the party is heading over to Esthar to meet Doc Odine.  The above is the more literal translation, but I think it’s more likely that the actual meaning is more along the lines of the English translation.

#11: Heading to Esthar Pt. II - Selphie

Japanese: n/a

In the Japanese version, Squall doesn’t even bother responding to Selphie’s little aside!  He just shakes his head and, instead, says “more importantly…” and continues with the issue/mission at hand.  I guess his response can be translated, in modern terms, as “smh…anyway.”

#12: Ragnarok - Rinoa

Japanese: …sorry.

     I think this pretty much cements what his catchphrase is in Japanese (since he uses a variety of responses) because Rinoa is imitating him.  She pretty much knew the response she was going to get (so she was totally prepared) since she was poking fun at him and saying he gives her a lot more than comfort and joy, he also gives her an abundance of “annoyance and disappointment, too!”  I think that either response, English or Japanese, makes sense in the situation.

#13: Post-Rinoa Rescue - Quistis

Japanese: …sorry.

     Aaaand, another one on the board for “sorry.”  I don’t really know what to make of this one since his response (to Quistis saying they should all picture a brighter future together) is weird either way.  I do like the English response a bit more than the Japanese, though.

#14: Meeting Laguna - Laguna

Japanese: Nevermind that.

     I like Squall’s Japanese response a lot more than his English and I’m not sure why that is, because they pretty much mean the same thing.

     There are two more occurrences (so it’ll make sixteen then) that I didn’t include above.  One occurs during Rinoa’s tour around the Garden and the other occurs after the BGH251F2 battle.  In both, Squall’s original Japanese equivalent was “sorry.”

Final Thoughts

     And, that’s that!  I do have a few additional thoughts and notes that I wanted to add.

     My interpretation (especially when I wrote my thoughts versus the literal) is what, I think, can be taken from text and within context.  Remember, this was a time of no voice acting in the games.  I mention context a lot because it’s what usually determines where and how certain things can be interpreted.  Any embellishment in the interpretation is my own because I had to add tonality where I thought it best. 

     His catchphrase in Japanese is most likely 「……悪かったな」 (sorry) because it was the most frequent word found in place of “whatever” in the original Japanese version.  The reason I say “most likely” is because of his frequent usage of “betsuni,” too (in the Japanese version).

     On an added interpretation note, I think that, when he says “warukatta,” he’s really not apologizing and it’s meant in a more colloquial sense.  We all know that Squall is rather…insolent.  He’s also quite aloof and tends to keep people at a distance.  Taking his personality, the preceding ellipses and the pairing with the ending “na,” it’s more likely that he’s responding with the colloquial English variant, “my bad.” I think that’s far more appropriate for Squall, considering that he is really just a seventeen-year-old kid.

     As mentioned above, his catchphrase is rather ubiquitous in the Japanese version.  He uses “whatever” in the English version less than 20 times (across four discs).  I decided to just stick with the English version’s “whatever” usage and its Japanese pair, rather than pulling out every single “warukatta” and “betsuni” usage.

“IT HAPPENING ONE NIGHT’”   designs (part 1)

How women prepare for first dates

Bonus: How men prepare for first dates:

David Bowie January 8, 1947 — January 10, 2016

One night a few weeks ago, a group of twenty-somethings came into the bar where I was working and headed for the jukebox. It’s digital, which means it’s not curated, which means I immediately felt the familiar knot of dread form in my stomach that’s always accompanied by seeing young people approach the jukebox. It usually means my ears are about to be violated by a string of cheesy Top 40 songs for the next hour or so. Sure enough, Taylor Swift’s voice invaded the room, and some members of the group started singing along. Proudly. Feeling no sense of shame for doing something that, fifteen or twenty years ago, would have gotten them laughed out of the bar. And this wasn’t the first time I’ve noticed this recently. While grocery shopping a few days ago, a shopper started singing aloud to Adam Levine’s latest tragedy that radio tells us is a song. Where’s the dignity!? How can these people, people who moved to a neighborhood because of its supposed “cool” factor, not know that singing along to whatever is saturating the airwaves is one of the uncoolest things they could do?

Patti Smith sporting an edgy personal sense of style - Cool

Grizzly Bear looking like their mothers still dress them - Not Cool

In all fairness, it’s not entirely their fault. They really just don’t know any better. Their lack of knowledge of anything other than that which is spoon fed them is the byproduct of a global media oligopoly. To quote Robert McChesney in his book “Rich Media, Poor Democracy, "it happened to the oil and automotive industries earlier in the 20th century, now it is happening to the entertainment industry.” Media has been completely overtaken by major corporations and unless people choose to think for themselves, they’re going to believe that what’s put in front of them is the only thing that exists. And the talent show hosting, product endorsing “musicians;” along with the latest string of tame bands major labels tell us are “rock,” are unfortunately the spokespeople for getting us to think the music we’re having shoved down our throats is all there is, and that it is somehow relevant.

Shows like “American Idol” and “The Voice” trick viewers into thinking that having a pitch perfect voice is the only skill necessary to be a musician. Content, a message, is not a priority. Imagine if Neil Young needed Simon Cowell’s approval in order to get the label backing necessary to become a known musician. And can you picture Kurt Cobain nervously standing in front of Adam Levine to find out what he thought of his cover of “Man Who Sold the World?” If relevant rock ‘n’ roll were more accessible, I wouldn’t care what goes on in the talent show circuit. But corporate media has made intelligent music scarce, and what does exist is nearly impossible for the masses to hear.

Kurt Cobain - Cool

Adam Levine making grunge-inspired clothing for K Mart - Not Cool

Every recent decade up to the 90s had a music revolution that inspired a counterculture. One that challenged the status quo. Political and psychedelic rock during the 60s encouraged young people to leave the safety of their parents’ homes, fight in the streets for civil rights, and protest war…while taking acid and smoking lots of dope. The 70s challenged youth to question the establishment with punk rock, which was still alive and well in the 80s; and along with it, bands like Devo sang about the devolution of the human race. The 90s had grunge, which was an outlet for the pain and frustration that accompanies feelings of isolation and disenfranchisement. It discouraged consumption and showed that opulence was uncool. Along with the music bands were playing, was a lifestyle that inspired it. Punk bands like Crass lived on a commune to prove humans can govern themselves. Nirvana rehearsed ten hours a day before recording “Nevermind” because their house was so freezing they tried to stay away from it as much as possible. My point being, popular musicians prior to the 21st century were actual artists, on a path of self discovery. They either never had comforts, or they gave them up to pursue their passions and find themselves, not allowing themselves to be told who they should be. The best art is usually born out of struggle, whether personal or sympathetic. And most of today’s popular musicians’ lifestyles are anything but difficult. Their music is not based on life experiences, hard knocks, or political and social themes. It is self-absorbed, mindless drivel that would make John Lennon blush with shame for the human race. Today’s popular “artists” are a constant stream of sell outs who can’t be content with the mansion that their music affords them. They need a fragrance line, a fashion line, a job hosting a talent show, and commercial endorsements so that they can buy even more stuff they don’t need. And too many of today’s millennials buy into it.  They believe that if they keep their noses to the ground, stay out of trouble, never challenge the system, and work to maintain the same sort of lifestyle as their role models, they’re doing the right thing. Oblivious to the fact that they’ve been turned into total nerds.

John Lennon - Cool

Mumford & Sons (we’re supposed to believe they’re a rock band) - Not Cool

So what happened after the 90s? Did musicians just stop caring? Has there been nothing going on in the world that needs to be changed, so therefore no music asking for it? Or could it possibly be the passing of The Telecommunications Act of 1996 that kept inspiring, rule-breaking, boundary-testing music from reaching our ears?  Again, from “Rich Media, Poor Democracy,“ "The core premise of the act was to eliminate restrictions on firms moving into other communication areas - for example, phone companies moving into cable television and vice versa, or long distance phone companies moving into local service and vice versa - and then to eliminate as many regulations as possible on these firms’ behavior…And the one media sector most thoroughly overturned by the Telecommunications Act has been radio broadcasting. The Act relaxed ownership restrictions so that a single firm can own up to eight stations in a single market. In the twenty months following enactment of the new law, there has been the equivalent of an Oklahoma land rush as small chains have been acquired by middle-sized chains, and middle-sized chains have been gobbled up by the few massive giants who have come to dominate the national industry. Since 1996, some one-half of the nation’s eleven thousand radio stations changed hands, and there were over one thousand radio firm mergers." 

So the 90s was the decade when radio stations got taken over by corporate giants (with corporate, not cultural, interests in mind), and, not coincidentally, when radio went to shit. Joy Elmer Morgan, founder of Future Teachers of America, predicted that "as a result of radio broadcasting, there will probably develop during the twentieth century either chaos or a world-order of civilization. Whether it shall be one or the other will depend largely upon whether broadcasting be used as a tool of education or an instrument of selfish greed. So far, our American radio interests have thrown their major influence on the side of greed….there has never been in the entire history of the United States an example of mismanagement and lack of vision so colossal and far-reaching in its consequences of our turning the radio channels almost exclusively into commercial hands…whoever controls the radio will in the end control the development of the human race.” Scary. Especially when noting that Morgan died in 1986, and in 1983, 50 corporations controlled the majority of news media. Now six corporations control it. One of them is Walt Disney, which would explain why Adam Levine is touted as a “rockstar.”

Grace Slick - Cool

Beyonce endorsing a drink that contributes to obesity and cancer - Not Cool

In 1948, jazz critic Sidney Finkelstein summed up commercialism in music superbly when he said it ultimately leads “to what is really destructive in culture: the taking over of an art by business.” It seems that with the advent of the internet, and the seeming freedom and ease it could provide to get relevant music out there, corporations have gotten even more aggressive to keep people’s thoughts on consumption, rather than cultural and social change. And millennials are the ones most vulnerable because they have no personal connection to a time when music actually mattered. When it was the most accessible medium for getting a message to the world. Now corporations have used the medium artists once used to spread a message of social change, to send the message that they need more and more useless shit instead. Don’t believe the Top 40 hype that pushes singing puppets on us and tries to make us believe that their silly antics and extravagant lifestyles are anything but pathetic. Supporting your local musicians by going out to hear live music is a great way to combat the control media has over us. Checking out music blogs is another way to find out about artists who aren’t corporately endorsed. If you can’t find anything on those, ask around to find out who people’s favorite bands are. Just make sure those you ask are over the age of 30. ;)

Rage Against the Machine - Cool

Arcade Fire - Don’t get me started.

Sources:

“Rich Media, Poor Democracy,” by Robert McChesney

Burning Girl by Ronald Restituyo

Before Edgar Wright and Wes Anderson, before Chuck Jones and Jackie Chan, there was Buster Keaton, one of the founding fathers of visual comedy. And nearly 100 years after he first appeared onscreen, we’re still learning from him.