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In:A (Re)turn to the Source Text
Edited by Malin Carlström and Richard Pleijel
[Benjamins Translation Library 169] 2026
► pp. 65–87

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Complexities of source text networks in globally circulated multimodal texts

The case of a compilative anime music video translation

 | Tampere University
 | University of Turku
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 20 February 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.169.02haa
Abstract
As audiovisual texts circulate through multiple language areas and diverse markets, localized target texts (TT) derive from complex networks of source texts (ST) and distribution processes. In this study, we analyze the Finnish opening to the Japanese anime series Digimon as an example of a multimodal TT whose different modes indicate different and sometimes multiple STs. We propose that the concept of compilative translation can be of help in such cases where the ambiguity of the ST complicates the study of the TT. We conclude by suggesting that defining the ST is a matter of perspective, and that this perspective must be chosen wisely because the conceptualization of the ST affects how we understand the TT.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.What is a “source text” in the localization processes of multimodal texts?
    • 2.1“Source text” as a theoretical concept
    • 2.2Production and distribution processes of multimodal TTs
    • 2.3Indirect and compilative ST-to-TT relations in multimodal localization processes
  • 3.Analyzing different language versions of Digimon’s opening music video
    • 3.1Overview: Digimon as an example of a complex network of texts in a multi-national localization process
    • 3.2Digimon opening’s audiovisual contents in different language versions
    • 3.3Verbal contents of Digimon opening’s localized versions: Perspectives from song translation research
  • 4.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (44)
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