Ask John: Is “Lil’ Slugger” a Good or Bad Translation in Paranoia Agent?

Question:
Geneon has recently liscensed Paranoia Agent, a great series from the creator of Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers. Word got out that the criminal in this series would be renamed from “Shounen Bat” to “Little Slugger”. At first I could see this as a dumb translation move, but at Otakon 04, the topic was reached, and their response was not only did they understand the bad renaming, but they wanted it like that to sound less Japanese… That is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Why on earth would you want to make anime less Japanese? Fans get it; it’s from Japan. We expect a level of Japaneseness from anime, and that level should be high. I could understand a heartless business point of view that caused this, but please, a simple translator/editor/liner note either on the screen or in a paper insert quickly corrects any confusion.

Answer:
The American release of Mousou Dairinin uses the name “Lil’ Slugger” in both the sub and the dub, based on Geneon’s official 3 episode screener DVD.

In my personal, and admittedly highly subjective opinion, “Lil’ Slugger” is an atrocious corruption of the spirit of the original Japanese name. The name “Shonen Bat” consists of the word “shonen” and the word “bat.” “Shonen” is an anonymous male. “Bat” is a physical, threatening object. The name “Shonen Bat” conveys a sense of uncertain, amorphous fear; the fear that anyone could be Shonen Bat, and that Shonen Bat could strike from anywhere, at any time, then fade away again into the anonymity of society. In effect, “Shonen Bat” expresses the series’ theme of paranoia, suspicion and unease. The show itself even makes a point of subtly illustrating the way in which the name “Shonen Bat” becomes a catch phrase, a self-perpetuating term that represents society’s fear of itself.

On the other hand, the name “Lil’ Slugger” suggests something childish and playful. Rather than a mysterious, threatening male, we now have a little boy. And instead of someone that slugs or punches or hits or strikes, we have a slugger- a term of endearment fathers apply to their children. The name “Lil’ Slugger” has none of the anonymity and unsettling mystery of “Shonen Bat,” in Japanese or English. The name “Lil’ Slugger” may arguably be an accurate translation, but it expresses none of the thematic or dramatic impact (no pun intended) of the original Japanese name.