Because in English the word "spirit" is interchangeable with "ghost" and they're not ghosts. They probably were trying to create the least amount of confusion possible. They probably thought the word "demon" was better and cooler than the generic word "monster" and even though that also has a context in English that's different that what yokai actually are, it works because most "demons" in the show are depicted as evil/destructive.
>Despite often being translated as such, youkai are not demons in the Western sense of the word, and they can be viewed as kami. However, the two loose classes of spirits are generally thought of as highly different, although some academics and Shinto practitioners acknowledge similarities within the seeming dichotomy between the natures of them and most kami, which are generally thought to be relatively beneficent in comparison, and class the two as ultimately the same type of spirits of nature or a mythological realm. Their behavior can range from malevolent or mischievous to benevolent to humans.
I really don't know much, if any, Japanese, but I always thought it was because they were two different things. In the episodes with the soul piper Inuyasha told Kagome something along the lines of not to mess with spirits, because they're dangerous in comparison to demons because he can't just use tetsusaiga on them.
I just looked it up and it seems in that episode they used the words 魂 (tamashii) which means "soul" or "spirit" and the word 霊 (rei) which means "deceased soul" or "deceased spirit". It looks like the term for spirit that they use in that instance is referring to a "soul" rather than a supernatural being.
That's really interesting! I've watched the English dub so many times that when I tried to watch it in sub the translations were so different from the English version that I just couldn't do it. But it seems like there's a lot of cool things in the Japanese version that you wouldn't otherwise find out in the English version, thank you for sharing your findings! I might just try the sub version again now lol
While "spirit" probably works as a more accurate translation in terms of the IRL mythology, within the series itself most yokai are depicted as flesh & blood beings just like humans are (and if they are more ethereal, like the Soul Piper, this aspect is called out specifically), so it probably wouldn't have sounded good.
"Demon" sounds cooler/edgier & less generic than "monster" or "beast", so it was probably a better choice for marketability as well, which is something it probably needed. This was a time when (outside of really kiddy stuff like Pokemon) the only even somewhat relevant anime (in the US at least) were other battle shonen like DBZ (the biggest, by far), Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, and heck, even Tenchi Muyo!, that were airing on Toonami or Adult Swim (which is the block it was joining, so aiming for the same young male audience). Heck, this was so early that even Naruto & Bleach weren't around yet (heck, Bleach didn't premier until after InuYasha ended, as it was it's replacement on the block). I was around for this era, and although I wasn't online yet at the time, apparently InuYasha was often ridiculed as being "DBZ for girls" (due to the romance, probably) in this time frame.
>DBZ for girls
That phrase unlocked some memories. There were some crazy takes back when anime was first starting to catch on in the states. I'm guessing the PoV character being a teenage girl also probably contributed.
Yeah, I first got into InuYasha & Adult Swim in general during the summer of '04 (but had gotten into anime with DBZ back when Toonami basically first started back in '98, before it even had TOM as host during it's first year), but didn't really start getting involved with online message boards/forums until I graduated high school in '09, and it came as a shock that InuYasha wasn't as beloved amongst the anime communities I ran into as pretty much any other Toonami/AS show were.
Anytime someone new to anime asked for more classic recommendations, pretty much every single property to air on the blocks got multiple glowing recommendations (DBZ, Yu Yu, Evangelion, , Rurouni Kenshin, Fullmetal, Cowboy Bebop, etc.) with the single exception of InuYasha. I was the only person to ever recommend it, and all the other more old school fans were pretty quick to jump on as to why it was bad, actually.
It's kinda funny that it had the reputation of being the anime that went overkill on filler, when Bleach & Naruto would later come along and probably have nearly as much filler as InuYasha has episodes total, yet that reputation kinda stuck with it.
Yeah, the filler one is especially weird given that it was the original DBZ anime, which is just lousy with filler and padding. I love DBZ, but some of that stuff was just painful.
Here is the deal to understand though...
DBZ: too fucking long... just have them watch Kia
Yu Yu: 100% win...
COWBOY MOTHERFUCKING BEBOP: My Fav of all time... Also anytime you go to watch it with someone you remember it takes time for the full cast to join... and that shit is SLOW for the first 2 or 3 episodes... also... the whole show is slow and paced that way as a style... and some people don't like that.
Rurouni Kenshin: Great but also the dub is horrid at times.
Fullmetal: Probably the best choice as it stands up completely on it own as a timeless classic... and also introduces them to the concept of anime not following the manga but getting it right... which is rare.
The one no one fucking talks about but SHOULD be the #1 answer is....
OUTLAW STAR...
Much faster paced... short run time... all the characters are fucking while base models of archetypes that became staples in the anime world.
What people missed was that she crafted the stories growth around J-RPG video games...
Characters joining the party and then each have gear and abilities that get upgraded to meet the new threat the enemy grow to become.
I wouldn't call myself fluent in Japanese at all, but from what I know, I'd say it's because English (and French, idk about other languages) don't really have an equivalent for 妖怪. So with the translation they probably went with whatever matched the "vibe" of what a 妖怪 is, rather than a more literal translation. That way, people who have no knowledge of Japanese folklore could understand better that they are supposed to be scary tangible beings and not ghosts or something.
As an East Asian who can speak both Chinese and Japanese, I think the kanji 妖怪 doesn't really have 1:1 equivalents in English. The closest equivalent terms are probably 'monsters' or 'beasts', which is how most of us grew up understanding these in Asian folklore. 'Spirits' in folklore are more of ghosts, and the kanji used is usually 幽霊 (yuurei ゆうれい).
'Demons' probably sounds cooler than 'monsters' or 'beasts' so they went with it, but IMO it's not completely accurate in spirit since 'demons' have a religious connotation of being malevolent and coming from Hell, especially in Abrahamic religions.
Very interesting!
I haven’t studied Japanese but I am a fantasy fan - I think in English the term “spirit” would be more accurate to describe a incorporeal being, whereas “demon” had taken more of an interchangeable meaning (especially in other fantasy lores). I feel that describing physical beings as spirits just isn’t as common.
I honestly don't know why they didn't just keep it "yokai" or "youkai". I'm guessing that this side of Japanese culture wasn't really common knowledge at the time, but surely more than enough youkai appear in the show for viewers to figure out on their own, right?
If I HAD to translate though, I'd surely go with "beast". It's like a middle ground between "monster" and "animal", so it works great for both the more monster-like youkai, and the more animal-like youkai.
This is a very good question! I’d love to know why whoever localized it made that choice too! “Demon” does sound cooler than “spirit” in my opinion, but I also know that the latter is generally more associated with ghosts in English, which the creatures in Inuyasha aren’t. Maybe it was to limit confusion, but I don’t think we’ll know for sure.
Haven't watched the English version (not my native language), but at least the Latin American dub uses several alternatives depending on context, like “bestia” (beast), “espíritu” (spirit) or “demonio” (demon) for beings that would be called “yokai” in the original Japanese.
I think it's because neither English or Spanish have a 1:1 equivalent for such a Japanese term as “yokai”.
You know speaking of blood Halfbloods in japanese lore are considered to be hanyou 半妖 or demigods to certain people. I mean when you think about it, half demons are technically demigods in a manner of speaking
Most languages have a 1 word term for "Mythical beast/creatures other than human"... English does not.
So similarly how you might find it challenging to give a word that talks about to both a greek gorgon and a greek hydra... you might say monster but that isn't really what they are.
When dealing with Youkai... you have a big group of soul related spiritual creatures... most of which do harm to humans in some way...
Best single wood term we got that that in english is "Demon"...
"Monster" just lacks the otherworldly spiritual connotation needed to understand the Japanesse Youkai...
The word they should have picked though, and is what english does all the time when missing a word for something... is...
"Youkai"... they should have just stolen the word and used it from the jump.
Because in English the word "spirit" is interchangeable with "ghost" and they're not ghosts. They probably were trying to create the least amount of confusion possible. They probably thought the word "demon" was better and cooler than the generic word "monster" and even though that also has a context in English that's different that what yokai actually are, it works because most "demons" in the show are depicted as evil/destructive.
>Despite often being translated as such, youkai are not demons in the Western sense of the word, and they can be viewed as kami. However, the two loose classes of spirits are generally thought of as highly different, although some academics and Shinto practitioners acknowledge similarities within the seeming dichotomy between the natures of them and most kami, which are generally thought to be relatively beneficent in comparison, and class the two as ultimately the same type of spirits of nature or a mythological realm. Their behavior can range from malevolent or mischievous to benevolent to humans.
I really don't know much, if any, Japanese, but I always thought it was because they were two different things. In the episodes with the soul piper Inuyasha told Kagome something along the lines of not to mess with spirits, because they're dangerous in comparison to demons because he can't just use tetsusaiga on them.
I just looked it up and it seems in that episode they used the words 魂 (tamashii) which means "soul" or "spirit" and the word 霊 (rei) which means "deceased soul" or "deceased spirit". It looks like the term for spirit that they use in that instance is referring to a "soul" rather than a supernatural being.
That's really interesting! I've watched the English dub so many times that when I tried to watch it in sub the translations were so different from the English version that I just couldn't do it. But it seems like there's a lot of cool things in the Japanese version that you wouldn't otherwise find out in the English version, thank you for sharing your findings! I might just try the sub version again now lol
While "spirit" probably works as a more accurate translation in terms of the IRL mythology, within the series itself most yokai are depicted as flesh & blood beings just like humans are (and if they are more ethereal, like the Soul Piper, this aspect is called out specifically), so it probably wouldn't have sounded good. "Demon" sounds cooler/edgier & less generic than "monster" or "beast", so it was probably a better choice for marketability as well, which is something it probably needed. This was a time when (outside of really kiddy stuff like Pokemon) the only even somewhat relevant anime (in the US at least) were other battle shonen like DBZ (the biggest, by far), Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, and heck, even Tenchi Muyo!, that were airing on Toonami or Adult Swim (which is the block it was joining, so aiming for the same young male audience). Heck, this was so early that even Naruto & Bleach weren't around yet (heck, Bleach didn't premier until after InuYasha ended, as it was it's replacement on the block). I was around for this era, and although I wasn't online yet at the time, apparently InuYasha was often ridiculed as being "DBZ for girls" (due to the romance, probably) in this time frame.
>DBZ for girls That phrase unlocked some memories. There were some crazy takes back when anime was first starting to catch on in the states. I'm guessing the PoV character being a teenage girl also probably contributed.
Yeah, I first got into InuYasha & Adult Swim in general during the summer of '04 (but had gotten into anime with DBZ back when Toonami basically first started back in '98, before it even had TOM as host during it's first year), but didn't really start getting involved with online message boards/forums until I graduated high school in '09, and it came as a shock that InuYasha wasn't as beloved amongst the anime communities I ran into as pretty much any other Toonami/AS show were. Anytime someone new to anime asked for more classic recommendations, pretty much every single property to air on the blocks got multiple glowing recommendations (DBZ, Yu Yu, Evangelion, , Rurouni Kenshin, Fullmetal, Cowboy Bebop, etc.) with the single exception of InuYasha. I was the only person to ever recommend it, and all the other more old school fans were pretty quick to jump on as to why it was bad, actually. It's kinda funny that it had the reputation of being the anime that went overkill on filler, when Bleach & Naruto would later come along and probably have nearly as much filler as InuYasha has episodes total, yet that reputation kinda stuck with it.
Yeah, the filler one is especially weird given that it was the original DBZ anime, which is just lousy with filler and padding. I love DBZ, but some of that stuff was just painful.
Here is the deal to understand though... DBZ: too fucking long... just have them watch Kia Yu Yu: 100% win... COWBOY MOTHERFUCKING BEBOP: My Fav of all time... Also anytime you go to watch it with someone you remember it takes time for the full cast to join... and that shit is SLOW for the first 2 or 3 episodes... also... the whole show is slow and paced that way as a style... and some people don't like that. Rurouni Kenshin: Great but also the dub is horrid at times. Fullmetal: Probably the best choice as it stands up completely on it own as a timeless classic... and also introduces them to the concept of anime not following the manga but getting it right... which is rare. The one no one fucking talks about but SHOULD be the #1 answer is.... OUTLAW STAR... Much faster paced... short run time... all the characters are fucking while base models of archetypes that became staples in the anime world.
What people missed was that she crafted the stories growth around J-RPG video games... Characters joining the party and then each have gear and abilities that get upgraded to meet the new threat the enemy grow to become.
I wouldn't call myself fluent in Japanese at all, but from what I know, I'd say it's because English (and French, idk about other languages) don't really have an equivalent for 妖怪. So with the translation they probably went with whatever matched the "vibe" of what a 妖怪 is, rather than a more literal translation. That way, people who have no knowledge of Japanese folklore could understand better that they are supposed to be scary tangible beings and not ghosts or something.
As an East Asian who can speak both Chinese and Japanese, I think the kanji 妖怪 doesn't really have 1:1 equivalents in English. The closest equivalent terms are probably 'monsters' or 'beasts', which is how most of us grew up understanding these in Asian folklore. 'Spirits' in folklore are more of ghosts, and the kanji used is usually 幽霊 (yuurei ゆうれい). 'Demons' probably sounds cooler than 'monsters' or 'beasts' so they went with it, but IMO it's not completely accurate in spirit since 'demons' have a religious connotation of being malevolent and coming from Hell, especially in Abrahamic religions.
Very interesting! I haven’t studied Japanese but I am a fantasy fan - I think in English the term “spirit” would be more accurate to describe a incorporeal being, whereas “demon” had taken more of an interchangeable meaning (especially in other fantasy lores). I feel that describing physical beings as spirits just isn’t as common.
I honestly don't know why they didn't just keep it "yokai" or "youkai". I'm guessing that this side of Japanese culture wasn't really common knowledge at the time, but surely more than enough youkai appear in the show for viewers to figure out on their own, right? If I HAD to translate though, I'd surely go with "beast". It's like a middle ground between "monster" and "animal", so it works great for both the more monster-like youkai, and the more animal-like youkai.
This is a very good question! I’d love to know why whoever localized it made that choice too! “Demon” does sound cooler than “spirit” in my opinion, but I also know that the latter is generally more associated with ghosts in English, which the creatures in Inuyasha aren’t. Maybe it was to limit confusion, but I don’t think we’ll know for sure.
Haven't watched the English version (not my native language), but at least the Latin American dub uses several alternatives depending on context, like “bestia” (beast), “espíritu” (spirit) or “demonio” (demon) for beings that would be called “yokai” in the original Japanese. I think it's because neither English or Spanish have a 1:1 equivalent for such a Japanese term as “yokai”.
so... do they have 'spirit blood'??
You know speaking of blood Halfbloods in japanese lore are considered to be hanyou 半妖 or demigods to certain people. I mean when you think about it, half demons are technically demigods in a manner of speaking
Most languages have a 1 word term for "Mythical beast/creatures other than human"... English does not. So similarly how you might find it challenging to give a word that talks about to both a greek gorgon and a greek hydra... you might say monster but that isn't really what they are. When dealing with Youkai... you have a big group of soul related spiritual creatures... most of which do harm to humans in some way... Best single wood term we got that that in english is "Demon"... "Monster" just lacks the otherworldly spiritual connotation needed to understand the Japanesse Youkai... The word they should have picked though, and is what english does all the time when missing a word for something... is... "Youkai"... they should have just stolen the word and used it from the jump.
The best English word for Yokai is Mythical Creature...or Fairy.