Domesticate
To domesticate an anime title is to tame it down by editing and rewriting of the script. This is also sometimes refered to as "Americanization".Addional Information
All anime has to get domesticated to some degree as raw translations would often be confusing and hard to understand. This is due to the fact that Japanese sentence structures are different from English ones combined with the fact that Japanese words are often less-specific than English one. For example, the Japanese word for "cute" or "adorable" is "↗kawaii". However, that word is often used by itself. So it often get's an edit (after the translation script is completed) based on how the character(s) used the word. So "↗kawaii" can become something like "Oh, how adorable!", "You're so cute!", etc."Hai dozo." literally means "Yes, please". However, this is often used in situations to invite someone into your home or to give someone a food/beverage. In cases like this, a minor domestication to "Please come in" or "Here you go" makes more sense in English for those situations than "Yes, please."
When American distribution companies go beyond this type of minor domestication to both the dub and subtitle script to make it more acceptable to wider American audience, you have domestication in progress.
General Examples
1. (Original Translated Japanese) Teen Boy: "I'm going to the store to buy some cigarettes." (English Domestication) Teen Boy: "I'm going to buy some candy."
2. (Original Translated Japanese) Good Guy Fighter: "I'm going to kill Evil-san." (English Domestication) Good Guy Fighter: "I will teach Mr. Evil a lesson."
3. (from
Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki)
(Original Translated Japanese) Tenchi (to the anime on Sasami's shoulder): You're cute.
(Official English Domesticated Translation) Tenchi: That's a cute pet.I put in this last example because this actually happened in episode 2 of the OAV series. On the surface, it may seem like a harmless thing. However, Sasami blushes after Tenchi says "You're cute" and that makes sense. It plays into Sasami's school girl attaction to Tenchi and she blushes as if he told her that she was cute. Her blushing upon hearing "That's a cute pet" doesn't make much sense. It is a subtle change that seems harmless, but actually changes the nature of the moment.
by: AstroNerdBoy. Special thanks to Galen Musbach for the definition.
