Tokyopop

[moose_and_squirrel]

Originally Posted by Dorfl

Oh tsuki, tsuki, FINALLY! FINALLY! Someone who agrees with me!!! It's not that Love Hina sucks, it's just that it got real old REAL fast. I, too, managed to make it to vol 4 before I gave up in boredom and something bordering on nausea. Oh, I thought I was all alone in the world! *weeps tears of relief*

heh, i got to about volume 5... although i liked the anime...

[Koshiba]

I'm not all that fond of Tokyo Pop.. They really like to Americanize translations and the editing is usually very bad. I still buy from them anyways since English is the only language I know. =/ Viz and ADV are better companies in my opinion..

[Mr. Bushido]

Originally Posted by Dorfl

Oh tsuki, tsuki, FINALLY! FINALLY! Someone who agrees with me!!! It's not that Love Hina sucks, it's just that it got real old REAL fast. I, too, managed to make it to vol 4 before I gave up in boredom and something bordering on nausea. Oh, I thought I was all alone in the world! *weeps tears of relief*

!?!?! WAT!! thou shalt be shot down!! really it gets better.
BUT we all have different opinions, if we didnt this would be such a boring world to live in.

I still think tokyopop is one of the best there. Maybe they americanize it a little, but most of them u can just read them in traditional japanese way and not change the translation too much.

i read krn... but i dont like to drive 18 miles to go to K-town and pick up a krn translated book especially since im a better english speaker.

[zalas]

Originally Posted by Maveric

Not really. Viz is notorious for publishing their manga flipped and translating all the sound effects to English. Plus the release schedual for most of the manga sucks (one voulme every 3 months? I CAN'T WAIT THAT LONG!). They have been better lately though, releasing all the new stuff unflipped (Ranma re-releases are still flipped though).

Despite all that, ADV is still the best publisher I've seen so far, and they only have 2 titles (Full Metal Panic! and Azumanga Diaoh). The manga is all unflipped, the sound effects are left alone (and they even have translations written in small print underneith them, something TP started to do in Love Hina, but quit by volume 8), and they even do the "last name first" bit correctly; a feat which I have not seen in any other manga.

I can see people's problems with the flipping, since I myself prefer unflipped (imagine the editor's chagrin when they couldn't flip one panel because the guy had a Buddhist symbol on it that would become a swastika if reversed ^^, but I think translating the sound effects is something to look for, instead of something detrimental. Who's gonna know that 'za-zan' means waves splashing on shore? As for last name first, that's more a stylistic issue and I think as long as they stick with one convention it would be fine. As far as I know, Viz uses (or used to use) really high quality masters for their manga, as opposed to Tokyopop.

I still can't get over the fact that ADV made Yukari-sensei a Spanish teacher, but didn't do so consistently... (I can see where they are coming from with the Spanish teacher though, but if it's not consistent, that's just shoddy work)

Furthermore, I'm sure Tokyopop has "creative tendencies" about manga covers, but the "XXX" ads they stuck into Chobits was just in poor taste, and the logo they made for it wasn't the feeling that I imagined Chobits would be. The Kodansha bilinguals are more preferable in my opinion.

I can probably dig up some problems with Tokyopop's KKNJ translations, but you get the idea...

[snoopy]

Originally Posted by LynnieS

I wouldn't know - at least, not yet. I'm slowly adding to my Japanese manga collection now, but my English one comes first since it's much easier to read.

Book 15? Hasn't #16 been out for awhile now, though? I thought that I had seen it on the shelves for the past few months...

Yeah, 16's out, I just haven't gotten the chance to purchase it yet

[tsuki_desu]

lol! no you're not!

[*aznplayboi*]

Originally Posted by tsuki_desu

Love hina is good but it gets annoying. I've read up to the 4th book.

Take my advice and finish it. Yes, it is kinda boring for the first few books but it gets hella better.

[snoopy]

Not really. It just gets hella repetitive. Suu makes new mecha turtles, Naru falls a little bit more for Keitaru then beats him down, they find something new in the inn, they go and discuss everything in the bath and start groping each other, they kill Keitaru for listening to said groping. It's all terribly repetitive. If you don't believe me, count the number of times Keitaro walks in on Naru taking a bath then gets punched across the water, then come back and say that you were shallow enough to enjoy it every single time.

The last 3 or so volumes were less repetitive, I'll give it that, but that's only in relation to the beginning, not in relation to the rest of the manga you'll find at the store.

[AnimeFangirl]

As always, snoopy, your brutal honesty is greatly appreciated.

[elian85]

although translations might be a bit crappy it does not make that much difference. u just ve to keep on readin and keep on lookin forward to ur next manga. u ll always find mistakes at translations cuz u cant alway xpress the same thing in 2 languages. try to relax and read ur manga and give a **** about tokyopops translators. i think text is less then 30%of the manga.

[zalas]

Originally Posted by elian85

although translations might be a bit crappy it does not make that much difference. u just ve to keep on readin and keep on lookin forward to ur next manga. u ll always find mistakes at translations cuz u cant alway xpress the same thing in 2 languages. try to relax and read ur manga and give a **** about tokyopops translators. i think text is less then 30%of the manga.

Just to point out, there IS a difference between a "mistake" in translation and a "different interpretation" in translation. Translations can always be mistake free if done properly and yet still have problems with interpretation. The interpretation part comes from the fact that the two languages are different and the two cultures are different. For example, I wouldn't consider ADV's Azumanga Daioh's changing Yukari-sensei into a Spanish a translation mistake. However, from what I've heard, her inconsistency as a Spanish teacher is an editing mistake, sigh.

[LBW]

I only read Rebirth from tp; volume 1 was just really dark, but volume 2 looked like they were using magazine scans. x.X

[maxthelostboy]

I love tokyo pop. They release so many good mangas and soon they will release get backers! anyhow without them i doubt viz and adv manga(both relaly good) would be publishing their mangas at 9.99 when they used to be like 18.99 in north america

[snoopy]

I'm going to assume the blatant mistranslations (I'm not refering to the interpretation things, I mean like blatant, 'this should not mean what it says' errors) are actually intentional on the part of the project supervisors for TokyoPop. There is no professional translator in the world capable of such stupidity and still getting hired, so I'm going to say that the translations they provide originally must be accurate, then those translations are gagged and raped, then force fed to the oblivious public, who in turn claims what they bought is correct. Why? Because they bought it. I love America.

And to elian85, manga relies 60+% on text. Without text, you'd never know what was going on. Have you ever read any of the gag releases some of the scanslators put out every once in a while with made up text changing the whole plot of the chapter? That proves beyond any doubt that the story is told by the narrative. And I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you read manga for the story... granted, the previous conversation was about Love Hina, so I could be wrong.

[Aurora]

Originally Posted by snoopy

Not really. It just gets hella repetitive. Suu makes new mecha turtles, Naru falls a little bit more for Keitaru then beats him down, they find something new in the inn, they go and discuss everything in the bath and start groping each other, they kill Keitaru for listening to said groping. It's all terribly repetitive. If you don't believe me, count the number of times Keitaro walks in on Naru taking a bath then gets punched across the water, then come back and say that you were shallow enough to enjoy it every single time.

The last 3 or so volumes were less repetitive, I'll give it that, but that's only in relation to the beginning, not in relation to the rest of the manga you'll find at the store.

I couldn't agree more. The only reason I finished Love Hina is because I was extremely bored at work and had borrowed the series from a friend who kept telling me the story would get better as it went along. If I had to buy this manga rather than borrowing it I wouldn't have read past the first volume. I was unimpressed with the series overall.

Back to Tokyopop...I completely loved Mars, Marmalade Boy and Kodocha, although I am a little irritated that no bookstore in my area has Kodocha 10 yet. It was supposedly released November 11th! I'm also looking forward to Fruits Basket's release this spring.

I don't know any Japanese and am just now getting into manga so I haven't read any fansubs, so I can't attest to their translation accuracy. I can say I also like Viz and ADV's manga, but I am easy to please. The only problems I have is when sound effects aren't translated and I have no way of telling from the panel what the sound effect is meant to represent.

[fenrihr]

well. if i could read japanese i wouldn't rely on companies like all the above, instead i can't so i do read their stuff.

while i know i've seen some bad edits, i've also seen some good edits from the same companies, i guess it's got alot to do with what kind of masters the company gets and the ability of the chosen editors (for instance tokyopop has either some really good editors or really good masters for Samurai Deeper Kyo, but some horrible ones for Initial D)

if they need editors that much, even i might be able to get a job there....

[zalas]

Originally Posted by fenrihr

well. if i could read japanese i wouldn't rely on companies like all the above, instead i can't so i do read their stuff.

while i know i've seen some bad edits, i've also seen some good edits from the same companies, i guess it's got alot to do with what kind of masters the company gets and the ability of the chosen editors (for instance tokyopop has either some really good editors or really good masters for Samurai Deeper Kyo, but some horrible ones for Initial D)

if they need editors that much, even i might be able to get a job there....

Well, you can also get the bilingual versions that Kodansha puts out in Japan. A bit pricey, but not terribly so.

[snoopy]

You do realize that scanslation groups have better masters than have the stuff in Initial D, right? If it sucks so bad, then scan it again, damnit. That's how we work, and we aren't paid for it. Same goes for the shitty editing. I wouldn't let half of TokyoPop's editors into my little group unless they got their acts together, and that's pretty damn sad.

Then again, some of them are good, but you know, a chain is only as strong as its most god-awful link.

[SirCanealot]

Hmm I've been reading a lot of English bought manga now me and my freind is buying quite a bit of it. I can't really comment on the translations, not speaking Japanese or having seen scalations of most of the titles I'm reading. But editing is really killing me...
Tokyo Pop go somewhat up and down, I've never had a problem with their GTO (apart from the typos.........), Love Hina or some of their other stuff. But I hate the americanisation and bad editing in Ragnarok, Rebirth and some other stuff. Viz don't seem to americanise as much, but their editing is lackluster. I point out to myself dozzens of times every volumes ways they could have worded sentances better or used better words. All companys right now are also inconsistant with Japanese signs. Cant you people do it right? Leave them the damn way they are, and put a note under the box. Not randomly replace/ignore them.

Companys I have been impressed with have been ADV and Darkhorse. I've read through FMP! Vol1 and Berserk vol1 and I was impressed with their editing. Especially in FMP!, I think ADVs editors got Saguras speech almost perfect. Dark Horse also seem pretty good, I don't remember having much of a problem with Berserk Vol1.

I still can't say I'm terribly crushed over any of the companys(except Art of the Dopplerganger, that's just disgusting, I seriously would have been okay with "Shadow Clone Technique, but Viz just had to take the piss didn't they). They're providing cheepish manga (£6/7 for a volume really isn't bad for something in England), some of the companies cases at a decent speed, with decent quality. I still stress, that is a company does a duff job on a series, anime or manga, theres LITTLE chance of it ever getting a better job. Also, considering we are paying out of our pocket for Viz/etc to pay other people to translate this stuff they should be doing a better job.

And on Love Hina, I really like the manga. I used to like the anime, but after the manga it kills me. I can see why people do dislike it, but power to ya. I like it, so there :P

[Alcy]

Okay...

First off, I prefer untrans manga in general as long as it has furigana (face it, no matter how good a translation job, something will always be lost to language.)

But, sometimes it can be easier to find the English versions, so I have several of those as well. Here's what I think of Tokyopop:

The good: Price is reasonable compared to other translation companies. Availability and selection are high. Sound effects are left untranslated (they make more sense that way to me/most who can read them.). Unflipped.

The bad: A few of their works have been censored (though increasingly fewer). The frequent typographical and printing errors are irritating (most commonly doubled words, or eyecatch pages from the wrong series, sometimes and more seriously missing chapters, Wild Act 1 is missing gloss on back cover). Some names are poorly romanized ( In Clover, "Suu" becoming "Sue", confusing to people who know basic Japanese pronunciation). Early works such as Magic Knight Rayearth (first-print) were downright clumsy.

The ugly: The company has recently started publishing American-made "manga", mostly based off U.S. childrens' shows and movies, which is rather demeaning to manga fans (and authors!). I hope that this trend does not continue.

Titles currently published that I'd recommend:

Paradise Kiss
Fake
Chobits
Marmalade Boy