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Bandersnatch: I am the translator for Omanga/Hawks Gantz manga.
The Japanese Gantz employs some creative (read: incorrect) spelling, mirror-imaged letters (which is what I started off with) and overall orthographic mischievousness.
Originally I told the editors to simply mirror-image some of the letters, but I didn't like the way that turned out at all. Eventually I decided to switch to "leet-speak," for a variety of reasons. Number one, it shares the same qualities as listed above, bizarre spelling, use of incorrect characters to mimic the appearance of correct characters, and somewhat more annoying to read.
Now, there IS a type of Japanese net-speak that is used online that shares many features with English leet-speak, but it is different from what Gantz uses. If you were to be completely anal about it, the use of English leet-speak is not perfectly analogous to what Gantz uses. However, this brings me to my second point, which is more tied into the fundamental nature of the Gantz manga itself.
Over time, you should begin to notice, if you haven't already, that Gantz itself is one big game being played out by the author. Perhaps he actually has a plan or meaning behind the setting, but for now it is apparent that what he is doing is throwing around as many wacky and stupid ideas as he can come up with. As of yet, there's no message behind this manga, it's all fun and games. Therefore, in my opinion, it is not in the best interest of the reader to take it too seriously. The Gantz character, the "giant ball," is a very flaky guy. You'll see him changing rules around at a whim, later on. All of his statements have this kind of deadpan comedic value to them. By simply translating them to perfect, standard English, I think it takes away a lot of the weirdness and humor in his dialogue. Leet-speak can be annoying (as can Gantz), but in general its usage is intended to be funny. Therefore, I have no compunctions whatsoever about using leet-speak for Gantz's dialogue. In my opinion, anyone who can't accept the reasoning behind my choice just plain doesn't understand.
The fansub groups can translate it however they want, I don't care. I will continue using my M4d 1337 5K1LLz.
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