Forum - View topicDel Rey's Manga
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AstroNerdBoy
 Posts: 413 Location: Denver, CO |
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As most know, I think that manga & subtitled anime should respect Japanese culture and that includes honorifics. I hated how TokyoPop treated "Chobits". On the other hand, I love how TokyoPop treats "Fruits Basket" and that's why I'm buying it.
When Del Rey entered the manga market I was skeptical. As I mentioned, TokyoPop was a mixed bag when it came to honorifics and domestication issues. Viz seems to make it up as they go. ADV seemed to be more accurate, but would only allow the "-chan" honorific to show up for certain charaters. So "Azumanga Daioh" dropped off my manga list because reading some of the (high school) girls call each other "miss" grated on me. Obviously how they addressed each other in the Japanese was important enough to warent a translated honorific and while in English, that's not how we speak in English. But I digress... 
To me, Del Rey wasn't a manga company. I could imagine horrible domestication jobs done on any manga they licensed. After all, we can't have a Japanese title actually reflect Japanese culture because people with low IQ's would be confused and obviously can't be educated. This thought was further aided when I actually dropped into a bookstore (thanks to Amazon's decision to make finding "Fruits Basket" not an easy task). I saw Akamatsu Ken-sensei's "Negima!" title in shrinkwrap. "What the...?", I thought. "Surely this can't be any worse than 'Love Hina' was." So I figured Del Rey would never see a penny of my hard-earned cash. Boy was I ever wrong. Someone alerted me to the fact that while Del Rey was being over-cautious concerning the sale of "Negima!", they thought I would appreciate it. That's code for, "it has your precious honorifics in there, smeg head!"
So I picked up the three volumes of the title and cracked the first one (well, volume 2 since it was on the top). Immediately, I'm told why Del Rey thinks honorifics are important and what they all mean. I was giddy with joy. I thumbed thru the book and was even more happy to discover the extras from Ken-sensei. Then there were the spells in latin. Uh-oh. Latin? Why I might get confused! Ah, but Del Rey comes through again. The latin is explained at the end of the manga. Yay! Finally, there were the most-excellent translator notes. Here, the translator explains WHY they translated things they way they did or what certain Japanese cultural things meant. I was impressed. In fact, I was so impressed, I immediately went out and purchased the three released volumes of CLAMP's "Tsubasa", the massive alternate universe crossover series in which all CLAMP titles will play a part. As with "Negima!", "Tsubasa" got a similar treatment. So I've added two more titles to my collection and that means two more semi-regular purchases. However, I believe in supporting the good stuff. 
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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...so what you seem to be saying is that you buy manga based on honorifics. Why not base purchases off the writting quality, or the editing, or the presentation? I honestly can't see why honorifics are so controversal nowadays. They usually aren't important to the story, and if they are a skilled translator should be able to incorperate their meaning into the script.
In any case Del Rey doesn't have any titles that are amazing in my opinion. The extras are nice, but their matterials leave much to be desired, and sometimes the writing could be better. |
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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Wait until you get to volume of of Negima or if you already read it, you would know the error:
animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11124 |
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Shadowpoet
Posts: 3 Location: California |
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Ya. The only Del Rey manga I have is Tsubasa. But I've also got some of their books that aren't mangas/
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cboudreau
 Posts: 69 Location: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada |
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Now, this may have changed recently, but my biggest problem with Del Rey when they first arrived on the scene was the poor production values on their books. I thought the art reproduction and page stock was terrible.
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Slayer
 Posts: 273 |
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Good for you and me
I too have the negima series. I think that the covers on xxx holic or what ever its called were a bit fuzzy looking like if it was printed badly or is it just me 
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Catgirl Lover
 Posts: 2 |
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I have to say, I do think it's strange to buy a title based on use of honorifics, but hey, whatever floats your boat. I do think Del Rey has done a good job with their manga line. I need to get vol. 3 of Negima, but I only found it recently. I didn't think the quality of the books themselves was bad at all. I must say, though, with all the companies out there, it's nice to find that someone is going for more of a quality over quantity tactic. For a broke student like me, with all the titles flooding the market now, it's hard to keep up with the titles I want.
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Aromatic Grass
 Posts: 2424 Location: Raleigh, NC |
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I don't buy manga based off honorifics, but I think it's better when they leave the "-san", "-chan", "-kun", etc...
Del Rey does a good job and is of good quality. The extras may raise the price a bit, but it's seriously worth it. Other publishers like TOKYOPOP and VIZ have manga to be proud of, but there are some that dislike reading because of the weird translations. Some translations change through the volumes, like in .hack, and it makes it hard to read and understand. I'm also currently into Negima! (I've only gotten to Vol. 2) and xxxHOLiC, but I'm not really into Tsubasa. Doesn't Del Rey have more than those three and Gundam SEED? Those four are the only ones they seem to show off, but I've seen that Othello is published by Del Rey, or am I wrong? |
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 1325 Location: San Diego |
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I picked up XXXHolic Vol. 3 a coupla months ago and the art reproduction was a step up. They're using inks that actually go all the way to black now. 
The current paper quality is anyone's call. Doesn't seem all that much better or worse than what TP and Viz use these days. |
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darkhunter
Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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Then you probably want to skip volume 3 because they change translator, thus the major screwup happen. Something better be done in the next volume. |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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I actually found that they're worse than most of TP's stuff. Viz can produce some pretty crappy books too, though. Then again they sell Vagabond (exellent paper and inks, not to mention attractive size) for cheaper than Del Reys stuff... |
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KoujiTamino
 Posts: 163 Location: Tacoma, WA, USA |
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But volume 3 is important. I'm not skipping an entire volume because of some errors. I like Negima enough to buy a corrected reprint if one comes out, but I'm not about to skip an entire volume. |
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biolizard_alpha
Posts: 185 |
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From what I've heard from a friend, Negima 4 is just as bad. I haven't read it myself, but they kept Southern Master, Chizuru is now Chitsuru, and Rinshen/Lingshen is now Shen Rin. However, volume 5 won't have the same translator as 3 and 4, thankfully.
(I hope they do a reprint of 3 and 4 later after the guy leaves.) |
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Kagemusha
Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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I haven't read volume 3, but from the sound of it he's rather disliked. Perhapse he's the Chuck Austen of manga translation (joke only cboudreau will get).
I read Tsubasa the other day. Aside from being unimpressed by the content (honestly can't see what everyone is raving about), it was a fairly good translation. The print quality and paper still could use some work though. |
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darkhunter
Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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Nobody was refering to you. I was refering to him because he said the change in translation makes it hard for him to understand. Because the Southern master screwup is important to the later volume. Skip it as in wait for a reprint to correct the error. If you have no problem with translation error, then good for you...now be gone, Fanboy. |
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