Final Fantasy VII Remake Script Comparison: Chapter 5
Cloud and company board the train on the way to their next mission. According to dialogue cut from the original game, Avalanche didn’t actually issue a bomb threat, such that Barret is confused when the Shinra manager mentions there being one, hinting at the fact that the entire thing is a setup. But in Remake Avalanche is going all in, apparently.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake |
|---|---|
| アナウンス 神羅カンパニーより 乗客の皆様にお伝えします | Announcement This is an announcement from the Shinra Electric Power Company. |
| アナウンス 本日 アバランチと名乗る 反神羅組織による | Announcement The terrorist group “Avalanche” has issued another bomb threat. |
Once again, Remake has the train schedule thrown off because of the disturbances caused by Avalanche, but the text in the original makes no reference to this. Just a nice realistic detail they included this time around.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| アナウンス 魔晄炉爆破予告声明に関わる 特別警戒態勢の影響により | Announcement In response, we have raised the threat level and entered a state of heightened alert. | ||
| アナウンス ダイヤが大幅に乱れての 運行となっております | Announcement All lines are currently experiencing delays. | ||
| アナウンス 四番街駅には 定刻より遅れての 到着予定となります | Announcement We anticipate that our arrival in Sector 4 will be later than scheduled. | 本日もご乗車ありがとうございます ４番街ステーション到着予定時刻は ミッドガル時１１時４５分～ | Good Morning, and welcome to Midgar lines. Arrival time at Sector 4 Station is 11:45. |
Barret repeats the target for their mission. Japanese changes the original’s 標的 (hyouteki; “target”) to the katakana English ターゲット (ta-getto; “target”), but is otherwise the same. While English changes “Sector 5 Reactor” to “Mako Reactor 5,” but is more or less the same besides that.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| バレット ターゲットは 伍番魔晄炉だ | Barret The target’s Mako Reactor 5. | バレット 「標的は【五番魔晄炉】だ。 まず、駅へ行く」 | Barret “Our target’s the Sector 5 Reactor. Head for the station first.” |
When talking about blowing up the reactor, he uses the onomatopoeia ドカン (dokan; “bang”), which is used later in the original when he’s taunting President Shinra. It’s a pretty common way to describe a bomb blowing up, so probably not an intentional reference, but still a fun detail.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| バレット 魔晄炉に入っちまえば あとは 壱番と同じ—— | Barret Once we’re inside the facility, it’s the same deal as last time. | ||
| クラウド 魔晄だまりを目指す | Cloud Head for mako storage. | ||
| バレット 派手にドカンと かましてやるぜ | Barret And then blow it all to hell. | バレット 「んなこたぁ、どうでもいい！ もうすぐここはドッカン！！ だぜ！ さまあみやがれ！」 | Barret “Don’t give a damn ’bout none of that! This place’s goin’ up with a big BANG soon! Serves y’all right!” |
Tifa notices how empty the train car is instead of Barret. As an aside, it’s likely that word spread quickly because Shinra paid people to pass it on and cause a panic, as hinted at in some Remake NPC dialogue in Sector 7.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| ティファ お客さん 少ないね | Tifa I didn’t think word would spread this fast. | バレット 「おいっ！！ ずいぶんすいてやがるな」 | Barret “Now look at that!! It got empty alluva sudden.” |
| ティファ 爆破予告のこと ビッグスの予想より 早く広まってる | Tifa There’s barely anyone on this train. And none of them look happy to be here. | 「ニュ、ニュースぐらい見てる だろ？ アバランチの爆弾テロ予告が あったんだ」 | “You…you’ve seen the news, right? AVALANCHE says there’ll be more bombings.” |
Barret’s “Might stand out as a group” is vaguely reminiscent of one of his first lines in the original game, where he scolds the Avalanche members for grouping up during the initial bombing mission. In both cases, the Japanese uses the word 固まる (katamaru), which in this context means “to gather/huddle together.” He does also tell the group to split up on the train in the original, but there he uses 散れ散れ (chire chire; “scatter, scatter!”).
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| バレット 固まってると 目立つか？ | Barret Might stand out as a group. | 「なにやってんだオマエたち！ かたまって行動するなって 言ってんだろ！」 | “The hell you all doin’!? I thought I told you never to move in a group!” |
Tifa then beckons Cloud over as she did in the original, but this time she doesn’t ask to look at the railway map and instead encourages Cloud to go check on Barret. She says Barret’s always on edge before missions, a reference to a line in the original game. Both the Japanese and English line up fairly well with the original line here, just switching out some words. Japanese uses ピリピリ (piripiri; “on edge/nervous”) in Remake versus 気が立つ (ki ga tatsu; “on edge/irritated/excited”) in the original. English uses “on edge” instead of “edgy,” and “missions” instead of “an operation.”
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| ティファ バレット 作戦の前は ピリピリしてるから お客さんたち怖がってるかも | Tifa Barret’s always on edge before missions, but you know he’s a good guy underneath it all. The people on this train don’t. | 「（ダメ……聞こえちゃうよ。 バレット、作戦前は気が 立ってるから）」 | “( keep it down, they’ll hear you. Barret’s always edgy before an operation. )” |
Barret argues with the Shinra middle manager as in the original, though the argument is a bit different this time since they’ve already had one encounter. The middle manager declaring that Shinra employees will persist is sort of reminiscent of his line in the original where he says that only devoted employees would still go in to work amidst a bomb threat.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| 神羅課長 爆破予告で どこの営業所も大混乱で 現場では悲鳴があがってる | Shinra Middle Manager Their bomb threat has thrown our offices into chaos, let alone the reactor itself. It’s total insanity! | ||
| 神羅課長 だけど あたしは いや 神羅社員は戦うよ | Shinra Middle Manager But we won’t lose heart! No! Everyone at Shinra agrees. | 「こんな日にミッドガルに 出かけるのは 仕事熱心な私たち サラリーマン神羅ぐらいさ」 | “Only devoted employees like me would go to Midgar on a day like today.” |
| 神羅社員 魔晄炉を 止めたりするもんか | Shinra Middle Manager The reactor will stay online! | ||
| バレット へぇ…… | Barret Heh. Is that right? | ||
| 神羅社員 なんだ 文句あるか | Shinra Middle Manager What? You got a problem with that? | ||
| バレット 文句だと？ んなもん—— | Barret Do I have a problem with that? Oh, you can bet— |
This time Cloud steps in to deescalate the situation, instead of Tifa.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| クラウド 特にない | Cloud He doesn’t. | ティファ 「バレット！！」 | Tifa “Barret!!” |
| バレット 小者が | Barret Hmph. Asshole… | バレット 「チッ！！ あんた、ついてるぜ」 | Barret “&$#%!! You lucky ^$#^$.!” |
Afterwards, if you talk to the middle manager, he’ll ask you to leave him alone, sort of like he does in the original. Also, while he never says that he’ll brag about this encounter in Remake, on the night of the bombing he does actually brag to his wife and daughter about his first encounter with Barret (you can listen in on their conversation in the plaza by the station).
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| 神羅課長 文句は ないんだろ | Shinra Middle Manager I have nothing more to say to you and your friend. | ||
| 神羅課長 四番街営業所の混乱が いちばん 激しいんだよ | Shinra Middle Manager The Sector 4 offices got the worst of it. Everyone’s panicking over there. | ||
| 神羅課長 もう 放っておいてくれ | Shinra Middle Manager Just leave me alone. | 「わ、私にはかまわないで くれたまえ。 （ヒッヒッ…… 会社のみんなにじまん しちゃおう…）」 | “Don’t…don’t worry about me. ( oh man, oh man, oh man…!! I’m gonna brag to everyone at work about this… )” |
The ID scan goes wrong, as it does in the original.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| ティファ どうして…… | Tifa No way! | ティファ 「おかしいわね。 ID検知エリアはもっと先なのに」 | Tifa “That’s odd. The ID Check Point was supposed to be further down.” |
The first line of the announcement is almost the same in Japanese (minus the A式 (A-shiki; “type A”) part). This seems to be rendered as “Threat Level: Critical” in English this time around, with the order of the announcements changed slightly. In any case, the English sounds nice and technical here.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| アナウンス 非常警戒態勢を発動 | Announcement Unauthorized IDs detected. | A式非常警戒体制を発動 列車内に未確認のIDを検知 各車両緊急チェックに入ります | Type A Security Alert!! |
| Unidentified passengers confirmed… A search of all cars will be conducted! | |||
| アナウンス 手配IDの疑いあり | Announcement Threat level: critical. | ||
| アナウンス 語部車両より 車両チェック ならびに 隔離準備を開始します | Announcement Inspection and containment sweep initiated, commencing at the rear of the train. |
Because Jessie isn’t on the mission this time, Barret is the one who tells them to hurry into the next car instead.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| ティファ たいへん！ | Tifa Not good! | ティファ 「どういうこと？」 | Tifa “What’s happening?” |
| バレット おまえら 早くこい！ | Barret Get over here! Now! | 「説明はあと。 はやく！ こっちの車両に！」 | “I’ll explain later. Hurry! Get to the next car!” |
And Cloud is the one to suggest jumping off the train, rather than that being the plan all along. Also notice E Remake’s creative translation of 仕方ない (shikata nai), avoiding the all-too-common translation of “It can’t be helped.” It just goes to show that this sentiment can be expressed in any number of ways.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| クラウド 仕方ない | Cloud Screw this. | ティファ 「しかたないね」 | Tifa “Oh well…” |
| クラウド 駅は包囲されているはずだ 飛び降りよう | Cloud The station will be crawling with security. We gotta jump. | バレット 「こっから飛び降りるぞ！！ オレに続け！！」 | Barret “We’re gonna jump off here!! Follow me!!” |
| バレット マジか！ | Barret Screw that! |
The “Biggs plan E” part is vaguely reminiscent of Jessie saying they’re switching to plan 2 in the original. In both cases, they clearly had multiple plans in case things went awry. Also, while Barret doesn’t have any qualms about jumping of the train in the original game, in Remake he’s clearly putting on a brave face. Though his use of 行くぜ (iku ze ; “(Let’s) go!” or “(I’m gonna) go!”) in Japanese is the same.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| バレット そりゃビッグスの 『プランE』だな！ | Barret Sounds like a Biggs plan E. | 「作戦２にチェンジよ！」 | “Changing to Plan 2!” |
| バレット じゃあ 先に…… 行くぜ 行くぜ 行くぜ～！ | Barret Okay, y’all watch and learn. I’m gonna jump. Gonna do it. Gonna show you how it’s done! | バレット 「いくぜ！！ こっからダイブだ！！」 | Barret “Let’s go!! We’re gonna dive outta here!!” |
At least this time around Barret admits that there was a hitch in their initial plan. And no, he isn’t using 計画 (keikaku ; “plan”) here, but rather 予定 (yotei ; “plan/arrangement/expectation”). The kanji literally break down to mean “previous” (予) and “decision/determination” (定).
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| バレット こっからは 『プランE』だ | Barret Looks like it’s gonna be plan E. | ||
| クラウド 聞こう | Cloud Go on. | ||
| バレット 予定どおり行ってりゃ プランA | Barret Plan A was if everything went off without a hitch. | バレット 「よし、ここまでは予定通りだ」 | Barret “Good, so far everything’s going as planned.” |
They end up following the train tracks to get to the reactor.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| バレット まずは 線路沿いに 魔晄炉方面に進むぞ | Barret That’s right. So for now we follow the tracks. | バレット 「さぁて、五番魔晄炉は このトンネルの奥だ！」 | Barret “The reactor’s just down this tunnel!” |
On the way, we get some extra banter. One conversation references how bugs and other creatures get twisted by mako and turn into monsters. This was first hinted at in one of the books in Shinra’s library in the original. You may not be able to tell from the English title of that book, but the Japanese title is roughly “mako and the sudden and drastic evolution of organisms.” The concept is also explored further in Kalm, where a lady wonders if it’s true that Shinra produces monsters, and is confirmed in Cloud’s flashback.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| バレット ああ プレートん中 のモンスターは魔晄の影響で やばいことになってる | Barret All kinds of creepy-crawlies make themselves at home in the plate, then get messed up even more by the mako. | ４ 生物の爆発的進化と 魔晄エネルギー | Mako energy and the rise in life forms |
| ティファ 魔晄のせい？ | Tifa Mako did this? | ||
| バレット ああ 神羅のせいだ | Barret No. Not mako. Shinra. | 「モンスターってのは神羅が つくったってウワサが あるがホントかねえ？」 そのとおり たんなるウワサ | “Is it true that Shinra makes a monsters?” It’s true Just a rumor |
Later on, Barret reveals that he doesn’t hate the character Stamp itself, but rather that Shinra is taking advantage of that image for their own purposes. In retrospect, this may be a subtle reference to Barret’s backstory.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake |
|---|---|
| ティファ バレットは本当に スタンプが嫌いだよね | Tifa You really don’t like Stamp, do you, Barret? |
| バレット スタンプは 悪くねえよ | Barret It’s not that I hate him. |
| バレット あれを忠犬だ 犬の鑑だと持ち上げんのが 気持ち悪くてしょうがねえ | Barret I hate the fact Shinra took a loyal animal like that and co-opted it for their own self-serving agenda. |
| ティファ スタンプ かわいそう | Tifa Poor old Stamp. |
English has a nice quip with “Shoulda called it ‘plan excellent’!” The Japanese is roughly just, “The hidden passage (is coming up) soon. Plan E is going pretty well, huh.”
| Japanese Remake | English Remake |
|---|---|
| バレット もうすぐ隠し通路が プランE なかなかいい感じじゃねえの | Barret We should be reaching that secret passage real soon. I knew plan E wouldn’t fail us. Shoulda called it “plan excellent”! |
After beating the new boss, Barret says ざまあみろ (zamaa miro), an idiomatic expression meaning something like “serves you right / you had it coming.” He uses this in one line in the original, too, which may be where they’re getting it from. Or more likely it’s just a phrase that suits Barret well.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| バレット ざまあみろだ！ | Barret And stay down! | バレット 「んなこたぁ、どうでもいい！ もうすぐここはドッカン！！だぜ！ ざまあみやがれ！」 | Barret “Don’t give a damn ’bout none of that! This place’s goin’ up with a big BANG soon! Serves y’all right!” |
They squeeze between some shipping containers to proceed and Barret complains, sort of reminiscent of his reluctance to enter the chute in the original, though that line will be referenced more directly later.
| Japanese Remake | English Remake | Japanese Original | English Original |
|---|---|---|---|
| バレット せめえ…… | Barret Talk about a tight squeeze… | バレット 「か～っ、せまっちい穴だな。 ここからプレートの下にもぐれってのか？ たまんねぇぜ」 | Barret “That’s one damn tiny hole. You tellin’ me to squeeze into that to get under the Plate? No way!” |
More good banter as the chapter closes. I particularly love Cloud’s “Looks dead now” line. The Japanese is roughly just “(You) don’t have to compare it (to anything).”
| Japanese Remake | English Remake |
|---|---|
| ティファ 壱番魔晄炉でも さっきみたいな大きな機械と戦った？ | Tifa So, you bump into any giant robots like that in Reactor 1? |
| バレット おう サソリみてえなやつとかな | Barret Yeah, except the bastard looked like a scorpion! |
| バレット さっきのは…… さっきの たとえるならなんだ | Barret Speaking of which…what would you say that last one looked like? |
| ティファ えっと—— | Tifa Huh? Uh… Well… |
| クラウド たとえなくて いい | Cloud Looks dead now. |
