Bleach

[Blight]

I just started reading the US manga and all through it they are reffered to as soul reapers so I don't see what the big deal is about switching it from shinigame (death god) to soul reaper. its just an effort to connect better with an american culture, which is fine by me. good work AS.

I agree. EVERYTHING in Japanese is so damned literal in regards to naming, but that is just part of their culture. It isn't so over here. Seriously, when was the last time we actual called something a simple and direct name. I mean, how many bleeding people get called techs or associates in their jobs when they run a cash register or handle a mop. Now, (with out being derogatory; i do run a cash register too btw lol) our culture is just a lot more specific when it comes to naming and classifying things. Translation is more than text, and Soul Reaper sounds cooler than Death God. The whole issue of there being Millions of death gods was a good point for that. It is just silly. But more on point, culture is part of translation. If you are going to supper impose the language of a people on an anime, you need to integrate culture too. It does create a difficult balancing act between what needs to remain pure about the show/manga/game and what can be altered to be evoking, but that would be trick to making a truly great dub and why we see so few of them.