kimchi24

eyy yo bleach is sick
but the jap versions say death god instead of soul reaper
which one is it??????
Kimchi24@hotmail.com

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Silverskater145

It's all the same thing. You'll also hear some fansubs say "shinigami," while others translate it to death god. And although shinigami is translated to death god, the dubbed version must have simply coined it as a soul reaper.

Maybe I'm not the smartest guy on this topic, but I think it's because shinigami is, for the most part, a Japanese term and is part of their ideology. In America, or other "Western" culture, we have what are called soul reapers as part of our ideology. So that is why they switch, from what I believe. Anyone is welcome to add to, or correct what I said.

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LenMiyata

Grumble Grumble Grumble

At least one of the Bleach fansub groups translated the term as 'Soul Reaper', so it depends on which fansub your comparing it to... Or you can wait until December when the first official 'Bleach' DVD is released, and see what they subtitle the Japanese sound track with...

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Blade X

mmm Skater you aint wrong that. Coz with the "Western" culture, Grim reapers or Soul Reapers are more associated with coz the pre dominant religion is Christanity and there is only one God. All other beings are servants of God or in some cases servant of the Devil. Thus the "West" use the term soul reaper as to not offend those are senstive about their religion.

Shinigami is indeed translated to Death God. Coz in mythology, there are several divine beings who also follow the rule of an Emperor of Gods. I might be wrong on this but it should be right. Thus in the japanese culture, Death God is more of a lesser divine being you could say. So the correct term you should use is Death God, one is the correct translation and two it sound so much cooler than saying Soul Reaper.

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heavery

I think Death God is a more proper term to use for Bleach because they collect souls and send them to their right destination and besides that’s what the author calls the character in the series.

LenMiyata

Grumble Grumble Grumble

I've picked up the Bleach DVD Vol 1 this evening, and I've confirmed that...
1. The subtitles ARE NOT dub-titles
2. VIZ/Shoupro is using the term 'Soul Reaper' for the English Dub, AND the Japanese soundtrack subtitles...

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fayt lingod

issn't this like a po-tay-toe/po-tah-toe thing? one means the same thing from different cultures and neither seems to indicate more than the other.

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Cyberboy

i think lunar subbed it as death god while dattebayo subbed it as shinigami.. but i think its completely the same with soul reaper

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kedar

What’s a Shinigami, eh? Let's examine the written text, Kanji [including hiragana], excluding all the minor details, here it is:

~ 死に神 [or just 死神]. To begin with, the character 死 [し -shi] means death. As an example, the verb “to die” is shinu [死ぬ]. Next, に represents the sound ''ni'' in hiragana, Lastly, the character, 神, means God [kami]. So, shinigami literally means: Death God or God of death. However, correctly speaking, "kami" aren't necessarily Gods. They can be just mere spirits or forces of nature. And as is considered, death is a force of nature. If you ask a Shinto priest, that's what they will tell you. In Shinto tradition, as in other such religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, there are figures known as the death-deities or -gods.. But, in actual shinto scriptures, there isn't much [..] if not at all references to as shinigami being the term chosen to represent the principal Gods of death such as Goddess [Megami] Izanami.

~!! Shinigami are basically those figures which represent death that collect and transport/conduct souls of the dead into the other world, whatever that maybe is where the actual Death God make judgements [..] A term that is an exact equivalent to shinigami, which is used in Hinduism and also in Buddhism is Kinkara. They essentially gather up all the dead souls in the physical world and bring them to Jigoku [Japanese for hell] or Naraka [Sanskrit for hell]. It is here, where the Death God(s) dwell such as Enma Dai-O; he is Lord Yama, whose sister is Yami [in Sanskrit]. I am pretty sure that my description is a bit confusing, but you know what, Jigoku Shoujo is a great anime to watch to get a better idea of all this. It depicts many of these concepts. [--'''''] But yes, indeed, learning about all this in an actual temple would give you a much better and an actual idea.

!! To conclude, shinigami aren’t real Gods themselves, but are quasi-corporeal representations of death. Take my little sister for example, if asked who shinigami were, she would replay saying that they are evil/bad things that wear dark clothes, which take you away through death or some thing like that. So I guess, they are thought of as grim reapers. Keep in mind though, many of the traditional beliefs do get altered through the filter of pop culture. So through that, all the underlying core details do get lost.

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hiei9957

in the american vertions i think that is its soul reaper.. why are u asking any way.

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Tanks zyta

kedar

If one has a question to which they were unable to obtain a clear answer, it's better to ask than remain as an ignoramus. So, that's why he/she asked that question.

EDIT:

~!! A kind reminder: If you have nothing useful to than add than what's already said, please don't just post reiterating the same thing. --"

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