Sword Art Online: Alicization - Spanish dub episode 1 review

 Sword Art Online: Alicization

Spanish dub episode 1 review

    ¡Bienvenido! Welcome to my blog, Learning Spanish With Anime! For the first entry in my weekly review series, I'm starting things off with my favorite show - Sword Art Online, specifically the Alicization and War of Underworld arcs. 

    When learning a new language, it helps to choose a show you're familiar with, something you would be able to follow along with from memory even if you don't catch every spoken word, and for me, that's SAO. I've watched this series so many times, I have my favorite scenes memorized.

    The episode opens with Kirito in a brand new fantasy style virtual world, this time as a child, and follows his adventure alongside Eugeo and Alice, highly advanced artificial intelligences called "fluctlights" who were born and raised there in the Underworld. This reveal doesn't come until halfway through the double-length premiere, which can be a bit jarring for some viewers (especially if you're watching this for the first time in your second language), but I've always loved this long opening scene with Kirito, Eugeo and Alice as children. It's absolutely adorable in every language I've watched it in - the original Japanese (with subs), the English dub, and now Spanish as well. 

    The Spanish dub portrays their playful nature really well, both in the dialogue translation and the voice actors' performances as three kids who grew up together and joke around with each other. After retelling the story of Bercouli and the dragon, I loved how Kirito excitedly said "Vamos a buscarlo la cueva del dragon" ("Let's go look for the Dragon's Cave"), revealing what he was really planning all along, before correcting himself and switching to "la cueva de hielo" ("the ice cave"). Later on, when Alice catches the boys whispering behind her back and Kirito insists "No, no hablamos de nada" ("No, we're not talking about anything"), the wording calls to mind how a child might try to proclaim his innocence with the popular phrase "I didn't say nothing." This VA totally nailed Kirito's mischievous side. 

    Eugeo and Alice have some great moments that highlight their personalities too. Little Alice frequently calls the boys out on their teasing, and her VA portrayed the attitude in her voice very well when she turned around and said "¿Qué? ¿Qué dijiste?" ("What? What did you say?") as if daring Kirito to repeat himself. And I laughed out loud when I caught this line from Eugeo (also directed at Kirito, of course) while the three of them were exploring the cave - "Vas a hacer que nos maten", which translates to "You're gonna get us killed."

"¿Será posible que sea?" ("Could it possibly be?") - Alice when they see a streak of light in the sky as Kirito recalls the tale of the Integrity Knights watching over the mountains from their dragons

After taking a wrong turn in the cave and stumbling upon the edge of the Dark Territory, the story takes on an entirely different tone during their return to the village. The playful banter is replaced with nervousness, and later desperation when Alice is singled out by the Integrity Knight. Kirito's proclamation during this scene, "Ninguna ley es más importante que la vida de una persona" ("No law is more important than a person's life"), is a philosophy which will certainly shake things up in the Underworld. That brings us to the end of the first half, and back to the real world.

 

Moving on to the next virtual world, Star Wars! I mean, Gun Gale Online.

    This anime-original GGO scene offers a glimpse at the dub voices for the rest of the SAO cast, and even though it was a short sample, everyone's performances seemed to fit their characters well. Silica's voice in particular sounded almost exactly the same as she does in English, which was a nice touch. We'll get to hear more from them in a few episodes, and again in War of Underworld.   

    I always appreciate scenes like this that just show the characters having fun in a videogame between all the life-and-death battles. The new designs for their GGO avatars are great, their battle strategies complement each other well, and the voice actors sounded like they were having a blast. 

     

"Oye, jefe, ¿puedo ir yo también?" 

("Hey, boss, can I go too?") 

    And while we're on the topic of getting a quick glimpse of characters who will play a larger role later, there's some heavy foreshadowing in play with these two - the leader of the PK squad and the Man in the Black Poncho standing next to him. (If you're familiar with the Aincrad arc or Progressive, then chances are you'll know exactly who I'm talking about.) 

    This extra scene hints at things to come in the next arc, War of Underworld. I would have loved to see a Star Wars style lightsaber battle between these three in GGO, but that probably would have made this premiere a triple-length feature. As the Man in the Black Poncho says when the scene ends, "Sera otro día entonces." ("It will be another day then.") 

    Something I really enjoyed about the following scene in Agil's Dicey Café was the casual dialogue between Kirito, Asuna and Sinon. Both their tone of voice and their words give the impression of people who have been friends for a really long time and are comfortable joking around with each other, so that was very well done. 

    When Kirito brought up Kyouji and said, "¿Cómo está tu amigo el loco?" I had to stop the video and replay this scene to make sure I heard him right. I couldn't believe he just straight up asked her, "How's your crazy friend?" The Spanish version certainly is more blunt in their phrasing here than the English translation, but it was a humorous addition. (Fun fact, this phrase is used much more casually in Latin America, and it's pretty clear by Kirito's tone of voice that the comment wasn't meant to be mean-spirited.) 

    Another standout moment was Asuna discussing the app for her phone that monitors Kirito's heart implant. Her voice actress perfectly captured the emotion of a lovestruck teen when she said, "¿Es algo muy romantico, verdad?" ("It's something very romantic, right?") And Sinon's mildly sarcastic response, "Muy romántico y nada tóxico" ("Very romantic and not toxic") was perfect as well. This whole scene is a great example of a dub script that reflects the culture it's being adapted for, and also feels natural for the characters. Even in the original, Kirito and Sinon, and sometimes Asuna as well, have been known to tease each other quite a bit. 

    I also found it very interesting that during the segment when they were discussing Alice in Wonderland, Asuna mentioned a Spanish translation among various versions of the title - "Alicia Bajo Tierra", or literally "Alice Below Ground". The translation of Alice's name as Alicia here is also an intriguing choice, considering a certain character's past and his connection (or obsession) with that name which will be revealed later on. 

    Kirito and Asuna's walk home after leaving Dicey Café was the most heartwarming scene of the premiere. One of my favorite things about watching SAO in Spanish is hearing the romantic dialogue between these two. Kirito's confession that he can't live without her ("No puedo vivir sin ti") had perfect delivery, and so did Asuna's sweet reply, "Por supuesto, iré adonde tu vayas." ("Of course, I'll go where you go.") It's official, Kirito and Asuna are a cute couple in every language.

This date night is interrupted by an old adversary from Aincrad, Johnny Black

    The final member of the Death Gun trio from season 2 shows himself at last - Johnny Black of the PK guild Laughing Coffin. Johnny's voice actor really went all out with that crazy laugh, matching the tone to his wild facial expressions as he taunts Kirito with the phrase, "No tienes tu espada." ("You don't have your sword.") This high pitched voice is probably the most exaggerated one in the Spanish dub so far, but it is completely in line with how Kirito described Johnny in the light novels during their SAO days. 
    And with that dramatic encounter, the first episode comes to an end. One of the great things about this double length premiere is that it offers a look at both sides of this story - the one taking place in the real world, and the other taking place in the virtual world - and also gives any viewers studying Spanish a good idea of the difficulty level going forward. 
    During my first viewing, I had an easier time with the scenes taking place in Underworld, especially when the conversations reflected day to day life, while some of the real world scenes which dealt with discussing technological or scientific concepts were harder to understand in a second language. 
    Check out my translation guide below for common and key phrases from this episode, and stay tuned for more weekly episode reviews of Sword Art Online: Alicization's Spanish dub. Next time, I'll be covering episodes 2-4, which focus on a return to the Underworld and the beginning of Kirito and Eugeo's journey in Rulid village. ¡Hasta luego! 

Voice Acting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Translated Script: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Recommended Proficiency: Moderate

Key Words & Phrases: 

• Jugador - Player
• Espada - Sword
• La espada rosa azul - the blue rose sword
• Llamada al sistema - System call
• Caballero dragon - Dragon knight
• Caballero obscuro - Dark knight
• Caballero de la integridad - Integrity Knight
• La iglesia axioma - the Axiom Church
• El reino obscuro - the Dark Kingdom, or as we know it, the Dark Territory

Common Words & Phrases:

• Espera / Esperame - Wait / Wait for me
• Escucha / Escuchame - Listen / Listen to me
• Vamos / Vámonos - Let's go
• Vamos a casa - Let's go home
• Cuidate - Take care
• No te preocupes - Don't worry
• Sí, es verdad - Yes, it's true
• Bien, está decidido - Well, it's decided
• Muchas gracias por todo - Thank you so much for everything
• No puede ser - It can't be (Remember this phrase! It will become very important later!)
• Todo menos eso - Anyting but that 
• ¡Toma esto! - Take that!
• ¿Qué es eso? - What is that?
• ¿Viste eso? - Did you see that?
• ¿Qué estás haciendo? - What are you doing?
• ¿Qué haces aquí? - What are you doing here?
• ¿Qué te pasa? - What's wrong?
• ¿Quién eres? - Who are you?
• Yo también ya me voy - I'm leaving too
• Puedes confiar en mi - You can trust me
• Asi es. Tienes toda la razon. - That's how it is. You're absolutely right. 
• ¡Tenemos que volver! ¡Vámonos! - We have to go back! Let's go! 
• Vamos a terminar nunca - We will never finish (Kirito's not too optimistic about their new calling)

Bonus - Numbers:

• Cincuenta - Fifty (the number of times Eugeo strikes the tree before switching with Kirito)
• Dos meces - two months (the length of time they've been trying to cut down the tree so far)
• Novecientos años - nine hundred years (the length of time they think it will be before anyone manages to cut down that tree)

*All images are from Sword Art Online: Alicization episode 1, screenshots taken by me