Reporter Wu Ruici / Comprehensive report
The movie “THE FIRST SLAM DUNK” was officially released in Taiwan on the 13th, evoking a large number of fans’ childhood memories, and they walked into the theater to support the basketball spirit of the year. Movies performed well at the box office in Taiwan and Japan, and even South Korea was caught in a boom, but what is special is that the names of the main characters in the comics are actually translated names in South Korea. When the comics were introduced to the country, the government rejected Japanese culture. , so all Japanese must be changed to authentic Korean names. Yingmu Huadao is called “Jiang Baihu”. Even the movie version also uses this name, and there is a special phenomenon of unique cultural differences.
▲The Korean translation of “Slam Dunk” is very special. (Picture / Taken from IG / Takehiko Inoue)
The “Slam Dunk” comics are popular all over Asia, and fans of South Korea in the 1990s also grew up watching the series. In particular, loyal readers are familiar with Sakuragi Hanamichi, Rukawa Kaede, Mitsui Hisashi, Miyagi Ryota, Akagi Takenori, etc. There are other translations in Korea.
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At that time, “Slam Dunk” asked Zhang Zhenshu, director of Haksan Publishing, a subsidiary of Daewon Media, to be responsible for naming the characters in the comics. Because the government cracked down on Japanese culture back then, the relevant ban was very strict, and all Japanese names had to be changed to Korean common names. She shared the process of naming, “Sakuragi Flower Road” was named “Jiang Baihu” (강백호), the main reason is “when I was a student, there was a classmate named Bai Huji.” Whenever she called that classmate, she felt very uncomfortable. Handsome, plus she likes the surnames “Ginger” and “Xu” very much, so the first protagonist “Sakuragi Flower Road” is named “Jiang Baihu”, and Rukawa Kaede is called “Xu Taexiong” (서태웅).
▲Sakuragi Flower Road is translated into the Korean name “Jiang Baihu”. (Photo/Recap from SMG HOLDINGS YouTube)
▲Rukawa Maple is translated into the Korean name “Seo Tae-xiong”. (Photo/Recap from SMG HOLDINGS YouTube)
She went on to give an example. There are many characters in the comics, so she opened the graduation album and referred to the names of the era, “Consider the character of each character one by one, and see which name is more suitable.” Finally, Cai Zhixiu (채치수), Song Tae-seop ( 송태섭), Zheng Dawan (정대만) and other names, the characters corresponding to these Korean names are Akagi Takenori, Miyagi Ryota, and Mitsui Shou.
▲ Akagi Takenori translated into Korean name “Cai Zhixiu”. (Photo/Recap from SMG HOLDINGS YouTube)
▲Mitsui Shou translated into Korean name “Zheng Dawan”. (Photo/Recap from SMG HOLDINGS YouTube)
▲Miyagi Liangtian is translated into the Korean name “Song Tae-seop”. (Photo/Recap from SMG HOLDINGS YouTube)
When Zhang Zhenshu was interviewed back then, she had a smile: “Actually, when I chose the name, I didn’t expect that “Slam Dunk” would become so popular. Those names have been used until now, and I personally think it’s amazing.” In fact, “Slam Dunk” The Korean name of “Slam Dunk” was praised by netizens as “a stroke of genius”, “very authentic”, and “the name is very distinctive and suitable”.
After 26 years, the theatrical version of “THE FIRST SLAM DUNK” was launched once more. The names of several protagonists have been used behind the big screen, and overseas fans have also called “so fresh” and “the Korean name is so interesting”. Some fans laughed and shouted “I want to see the Korean version”.