View Full Version : Del Rey's Manga Launch
I recently received my preordered copies of 3 of Del Rey's manga launch titles (XXXholic, Tsubasa, and Negima...I could only afford 3 and Gundam SEED didn't draw me in as much as the other 3)
i've gotta say, i'm impressed
for the most part, honorifics are all left in (especially in Negima) and the now-obligatory translator's notes are included (Tsubasa and XXXholic even have a section pointing out the links to other CLAMP works) and, ala ADV, the first couple pages are in color
the only complaints i have are the price and release rate
while the place i ordered from had them at 9.95 each, they normally retail at 10.95 each. that extra dollar doesn't REALLY bother me (since they're better than Tokyopop's) but it's kind of annoying.
The release dates, in a word, SUCK
vol. 2 of XXXholic is released in July, Negima in August, and Tsubasa in september (i have no idea about SEED)
Another thing the company doesn't have going for them is they have only FOUR titles at this time, period. All the other companys have almost/more than 10x that each (ADV has about 20 licenses or so actually)
But, they do have a deal going with kodansha so you never know...
Village Idiot
2004-05-02, 03:36
You can't blame them for Tsubasa and Negima's 3-4 month release date since both titles takes around 3-5 months per volume to be released in Japan and they currently doesn't have many volumes released (I think Negima vol 4 was just released a couple of weeks ago).
So if they release two per month, they'd run out of volumes to release and there'll be a long wait until the next volume comes out.
I mean look at .hack//LotT. Volume 2 was released here in November/December, and volume 3 was just released in Japan last week (a 600 page mega volume btw). It hasn't even been announced yet in their website, so we probably won't get it until September or so.
9+ month wait :(
I heard the Japanese release of Negima 1 had color pages, while the del ray version does not. And the price point does suck. Hopefully enough people will complain that Del Ray gets the point and lowers the price.
The release schedule in Japan is actually - and so far - closer to 1 to 1.5 months, and of the five available, only the first has colored pages.
actually, the first vol. of Negima in the states has NO color pages o_o
guess i was looking at XXXholic and Tsubasa (since i basically devoured Negima the second i got it...i'll admit it...i'm a huge Akamatsu fan) too closely (they both have a couple color pages, even if both of them are the first pages of the actual manga (and they have black and white versions of the pages 3 pages later....oh well)
the think that bothers me most about the long release date is they're releasing them 1 per month...i'd rather buy all 3 (of the ones i'm following) at one time, so i could wait til August....
00Scotty
2004-05-02, 23:10
So what are they about? And the age group that would appreciate it most?
Negima is Harry Potter meets Love Hina meets Happy Lesson: 10-year-old magi in training Negi is "forced" to become a teacher for 31 girls (who all think he's cute, except for the main female character whom resembles young Naru (look at some of the flashback pictures of her Junior High days) from Love Hina (by the same author) in looks and personality. It seems good so far (as can be expected by Akamatsu) but the designs (since there are THIRTY-ONE individual characters, each with their own personalities) begin to resemble each other in some areas
These two actually cross over:
XXXholic: basically about a guy who gets ensnared to work for a witch in a shop that deals in wishes (it's like Pet Shop Of Horrors without the pets and if count D were female)
Tsubasa: Retelling of the Cardcaptor Sakura story, except this time Syaoran is the main character, they're both older, their personalities are a bit different, and they (Syaoran, Kurogane, and some other guy, something happens to Sakura pretty early that i won't mention) have to gather feathers instead of clow cards (interestingly enough, Sakura is a princess in the Kingdom of Clow, her brother is king, and Yukito is the royal sage or whatever)
Tsubasa and XXXholic tie in with each other (and MANY more CLAMP series)
the mage guy in Tsubasa's "creation" looks, acts, sounds, and is even NAMED Chi.
the guide for Syaoran and Kurogane is...MOKONA!
in XXXholic, the main character finds a staff that looks exactly like Sakura's from CCS, not to mention Yuuko mentions knowing Clow Reed
towards the end of vol. 1 of Tsubasa, Syaoran gets a...spirit thingy...that looks almost exactly like Rayearth (non robot)
the best age group would be teenage boys for SEED and Negima, and CLAMP fans for XXXholic and Tsubasa (both seems kind of gender-neutral in terms of audience, though i know the "kamui girls" at my school would like them ^_^)
Village Idiot
2004-05-04, 00:39
Tsubasa uses designs/characters from all of Clamp's work.
I've only read the first 2-3 volumes, and I've seen Chii, Modoka(that rabbit thingy from MKR), several X characters, etc.
KristopherZ
2004-05-04, 11:32
It still bothers me that Ken Akamatsu complained about it getting edited for america. We all know that manga shouldn't be edited not matter how violent or how suggestive the content is.
I wonder what where the edits in negima?
Although Del Rey [rather smartly] decided not to edit Negima, they were going to have towels drawn over the girls bare breasts and such (nevermind that Akamatsu-sensei doesn't draw much detail on said naked body parts).
Then everyone cried holy hell and here it is now in the States, in all its unedited glory (although I was a bit disappointed that the color pages weren't kept for a release in which the original did have color pages *pout*).
It still bothers me that Ken Akamatsu complained about it getting edited for america. We all know that manga shouldn't be edited not matter how violent or how suggestive the content is.
Umm, no, we don't all know that. :) Don't get me wrong; I like "Negima" and all, but a lot of the fan service in the chapters could easily be stripped out without doing harm to the main storyline. They're just fluff.
Del Rey, I would imagaine, also have to worry about minimizing their liability from a parent or teacher seeing one of their kids reading a take-off on Harry Potter spending time in a harem with suggestive images every few pages.
Edit - Fixed tag problem.
Raven_Zero
2004-05-04, 23:37
XXXholic sounds pretty good think it's gunna be the next manga i buy. Amazon has it for 8.76 the amazon sellers have it for 7.20$
Ookla The Mok
2004-05-04, 23:55
Umm, no, we don't all know that. :) Don't get me wrong; I like "Negima" and all, but a lot of the fan service in the chapters could easily be stripped out without doing harm to the main storyline. They're just fluff.
That ignores the point that for many people, the fanservice is the primary reason to read Akamatsu. I'm not one of those people, but there are quite a few.
also it's the principle of the matter, art is art
people cried holy hell when they covered up the nudity in the Sistine Chapel...
plus it's a truly wasted effort to cover up nudity...wrapping it in plastic was a decently intelligent idea tho
Ookla The Mok - I'm not disagreeing with you in that people do read Akamatsu-sensei's work for the fan service that he puts into his manga. It wasn't a comment on preserving the artistic integrity of an author's ideas.
People do have their opinions on what is decent and tend to voice their opinions loudly, and IMHO, Del Rey has to keep sales up and still protect itself.
Originally posted by Kyuven
people cried holy hell when they covered up the nudity in the Sistine Chapel...
And people cried holy hell when the Brooklyn Museum displayed "The Holy Virgin Mary" awhile back too. Agreed on the covering, though. It's a good way to shift any outcry to the stores rather to the publisher. Let them worry about people ripping off the plastic to read the manga instead. ;)
Sydney2K
2004-05-05, 05:06
LynnieS,
I tend to agree with you; I think the whole matter was a storm in a tea cup. I was annoyed to see that people thought Del Rey was 'censoring' Akamatsu; I prefer to use the word 'editing'.
I personally wouldn't have minded if Negima was edited; the story doesn't need the fan service. It's exciting and engrossing on its own terms (wait until the series hits volumes three and four- this is where the real plot hits its stride.) By its nature, fan service is disposable. I squirm when I see a lot of the fan service in the stories; not because I don't like it but because it's not needed.
The real shame is that Negima is eminently suitable as a story for young teenagers- if it wasn't for the fan service.
y'know i just thought of something...
doesn't it sound ironic when a FAN comlains about FAN service? :)
y'know i just thought of something...
doesn't it sound ironic when a FAN comlains about FAN service? :)
Not really, different TYPES of fan service cater to different TYPES of fans :)
Not really, different TYPES of fan service cater to different TYPES of fans :)
yeah...in reality you know what it means, but if you didn't know what "fan service" was, wouldn't you think:
"Many fans complained about the absurd level of fanservice present in Mr. Smith's work."
would sound a LITTLE strange? :)
comecomeparadise
2004-05-10, 02:29
LynnieS,
I tend to agree with you; I think the whole matter was a storm in a tea cup. I was annoyed to see that people thought Del Rey was 'censoring' Akamatsu; I prefer to use the word 'editing'.
I personally wouldn't have minded if Negima was edited; the story doesn't need the fan service. It's exciting and engrossing on its own terms (wait until the series hits volumes three and four- this is where the real plot hits its stride.) By its nature, fan service is disposable. I squirm when I see a lot of the fan service in the stories; not because I don't like it but because it's not needed.
The real shame is that Negima is eminently suitable as a story for young teenagers- if it wasn't for the fan service.
I'm sorry, but it definitely seems like Del Rey did edit Negima. In comparison with one of the released scanslations, it seems as the translator and/or editor took some liberties with the manga. While I can't verify the veracity of the translations without the raws, the Del Rey version includes references to the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers and Harry Potter (with the word Quidditch). I can't claim that all scanslators don't take liberties when it comes to translation, but it's never been in their best interests to.
Between the Del Rey version and the scanslated version, it feels as if some effort has been put into injecting sarcasm and sometimes jabbing remarks on the part of some characters. For example. in the Del Rey version, Takahata-sensei tells Asuna, "Asuna-kun, should've known... being a pain in the ass for Negi, are you?". The other version chooses this line as "Oh, as expected, it's Asuna. Don't give Negi too much trouble, Asuna." Now being that Del Rey claims to "strive to keep the translations as true to the original as possible," it's hard to imagine that they would think of a Japanese teacher, or any teacher nonetheless, would speak to a student that way. (It can happen, but it doesn't feel right in Negima.)
In terms of fan service, while I don't disagree that there is fan service in Akamatsu mangas, I need to point out that between the scanslation and Del Rey, Del Rey actually has MORE sexual innuendo than the scanslation. On one of the very first pages, a schoolgirl asks Negi, "Have you ever gotten off?", and in the second chapter a student jokes, "good move, Asuna-san... with your grades, a career as a stripper is your best bet."
I apologize if I'm coming off as bashing the Del Rey translation of Negima. Perhaps it's their way of Americanizing the manga, but with the way it's written the personalities don't seem in sync with the original and I can't imagine this translation to be the way Akamatsu-sensei intended. Needless to say, even if the plot is Akamatsu, the style feels completely different, which is what disappoints me. Plus, I'm extremely pissed at the quidditch reference. :frustrated: <- hates Harry Potter and its spawn with a vengeance.
Anyway, that's just my two cents on the matter. I definitely would like manga to come to the US, but please, there's no need to try to "enhance" the original version with more jokes and innuendo. That's even more insulting to the original author than to the fans, as it's saying "hmm, it would be more interesting if we worded it like this, and added this, and..."
Sydney2K
2004-05-10, 07:44
I'm sorry, but it definitely seems like Del Rey did edit Negima. In comparison with one of the released scanslations, it seems as the translator and/or editor took some liberties with the manga.
Well, to be fair, the editing I was referring to was the proposed editing of the artwork that Del Rey were planning to do to make Negima more accessable to a younger audience.
Regarding Peter David's treatment of the translation, well, I haven't read it yet (hasn't arrived on my shores yet). The moderator of the MSN Yahoo group has noted that Peter David does tend to be pretty self-referential to his other works (he has written Marvel's The Incredible Hulk). He's also written Dark Horse's Spyboy, which references anime and manga terms (one of the characters is a rip of Sailor Moon, except with pink hair; another character is "Annie May").
Not that it exonerates him from whatever excesses he has written into the script, but I'll wait to read it before I make any comments.
Plus, I'm extremely pissed at the quidditch reference. :frustrated: <- hates Harry Potter and its spawn with a vengeance.
it's called localization
for some reason american manga translators all assume their readers don't know jack about anime or manga or ANYTHING about japanese culture (which pisses me off to no ends) so they change some jokes to match
comecomeparadise
2004-05-10, 12:45
it's called localization
for some reason american manga translators all assume their readers don't know jack about anime or manga or ANYTHING about japanese culture (which pisses me off to no ends) so they change some jokes to match
Honestly, if that were the case, I wouldn't be as upset. I've somewhat accepted that from now on American Naruto fans who haven't read the scanlations will know the "Art of Doppleganger" and "Ninja Centerfold" :rolleyes: But in Negima's case jokes weren't necessarily changed, but were added in. I've managed to find the raws of volume 1 as a basis of comparison; here are two examples from non-critical plot points...
Upon meeting big breasted Shizuna-sensei, Negi ends up pressed against her chest. In the raw the conversation goes:
Shizuna-sensei: Yoroshiku ne. (Nice to meet you/you can count on me to assist you)
Negi: A... hai. (M, yes, thank you) or (Nice to meet you too)
Wherein the Del Rey comic, it goes:
Shizuna-sensei: So... any questions?
Negi: Can I... have a cookie?
Now, from my limited understanding of Japanese, there is no cookie within 10 miles of the original script, and Negi merely acknowledges Shizuna-sensei's greeting and offer of assistance. My problem with this edit is how Negi comes off with a fairly ecchi personality, while in the original he's actually very innocent. (Besides, he's only 10!)
:hmm:
Now here's the infamous quidditch conversation... when Asuna exclaims surprise that Negi can float on his staff:
Original version:
Negi: Ee, haitatsu tetsudaimasu yo! Hayain desu yo- KORE. (Yes, I'm here to help with your deliveries. This thing is pretty fast.)
Asuna: Uwaa uwaa. Sugoi jan!! ANTA hontou ni mahoutsukai na no ne... Eiga mitai... (Wow... amazing! You really are a magician... it's just like in the movies.)
Del Rey:
Negi: You'll finish your route in no time Just... no quidditch jokes, okay?
Asuna: Wow!! After all the stupid tricks, here's real, useful, amazing magic!
Now while the Del Rey version make sense with reference to the Harry Potter movie, I don't see what the need was to actually add in the reference when the original version would've worked. If Western localization is to make parts of the story work in a Western environment, then this isn't a localization. In addition, although Asuna does tend to have a low opinion of Negi, she actually shows honest amazement--without sarcasm--that he can fly, in the original.
It is my personal feeling that these changes are put in to "spice up" the original version, which in my opinion, didn't need any changes to make it more interesting. I don't need characters making wiseass comments left and right or gratuitous sexual innuendo, at least not if they weren't already in the original version. If I wanted all those things, I could just watch late night television. I was looking forward to read Akamatsu, not some lame sitcom wannabe version of Akamatsu's work. :mad:
In fairness, yes the story is still the same. And yes, manga fans will probably like this manga if they enjoyed Love Hina. None of the things I mentioned may be noticeable provided the audience has no access to or knowledge of how to read the original version. A person might sight a hint of Americanization in the dialogue, which may be good for the general audience, but may be awful for translation purists like me.
Oh well, I'm just going to have work harder at learning Japanese... I guess the only way to read true Akamatsu is in its original Japanese form. How silly of me to think otherwise. :(
PS. I'd love to point out the encounter between Nodoka and Negi in the library as a major translation discrepancy between the original, but that will probably be too much of a spoiler to post it in here. However, in the original it definitely sounds like classic Akamatsu (obviously), while Del Rey's version feels rewritten and changes the mood of the scene completely. I'll leave it to everyone to look it up if they're curious. It's in chapter 2.
Post edited for smiley goodness... cuz well... I feel guilty for venting out a little too much over this. Hopefully at least 2 people understand how I feel. (Sits back in his recliner of rage, hoping someone recognizes at least this last reference.) ;)
y'know now that i think about it, i honestly don't think Akamatsu cares about the added jokes and such
they did the same thing to Love Hina
A.I. Love You was left almost entirely intact since the jokes and such were so archaic anyway...
vBulletin® v3.8.4, Copyright ©2000-2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.