Dragon Ball Super Translation Makes Big Change to Bardock

10/19/2021 11:05 am EDT

Dragon Ball Super is busy with its latest arc in the manga, so all eyes are on Goku to see what's going on. For those caught up with the series, they know Goku's dad is about to pop up in a big way considering his ties with Granolah's homeworld. And now, the Dragon Ball fandom is buzzing after Viz Media made a translation change to Bardock.

The whole thing went live this week when Viz Media made a change to Dragon Ball Super's latest chapter. It was there fans watched as Granolah and Vegeta duked it out before Goku stepped in. The whole thing ended when Monaito appeared to rock his ward's world with information about the Saiyan attack on Planet Cereal, and that is where Bardock's shift came into play.

If you read the new chapter back in September, you will have seen Monaito refer to Goku's father as Burdock in the text. However, as of this weekend, the name was changed to Bardock. It did not take long for fans to notice, and of course, the discourse about the change is going wild.

Now, this is not the first time this debate has taken over the Dragon Ball fandom. In the past, fans have warred over this update since Viz Media has mostly used Burdock. This translation is closer to the original way Akira Toriyama penned Bardock's name ages ago. Places like Funimation have used Bardock more often to help make the Saiyan's name a pun rather than a reference. In the same way Vegeta and vegetable are related, Bardock and burdock work the same. And as of a few years back, Dragon Ball began using Bardock uniformly when Noho Oishi's "Episode of Bardock" went live.

Viz Media hasn't needed to deal with Bardock much if any since the 2011 story went live, so Dragon Ball Super tested it this month. After some debate, it seems Bardock has won over Burdock, and the choice has standardized the Saiyan's name stateside. But of course, plenty of netizens will stick with the old spelling and keep Burdock alive for fans to come.

Did you notice this translation change...? Are you keeping up to date with Dragon Ball Super's latest arc? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.

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