Your thoughts on flipped manga and sound effect translations

R

Red XIII

Straw Hat Pirate
Obviously manga has to be translated for those of us who aren't able to read Japanese, but how far should the 'westernisation' process go? Should Japanese sound effects be replaced with English "kabooms", and further still, is it acceptable to 'flip' the whole story so we can read it in the 'comfortable' left-to-right direction. Even if you don't like that kind of edit, is it an 'evil' you can live with if the title is only available in that format, or do you just avoid flipped manga as a matter of principle?

Although I like to see as much of the original artwork preserved as possible, translating sound effects is something I can live with without too much fuss. I'm not so happy about flipped manga though (for one thing, I know I wouldn't want it done to my own artwork) so I try to avoid that (fortunately Viz for example are reprinting a lot of the series they originally flipped in an unflipped format which is also about half the price). For some older titles, though, picking up the flipped version is unavoidable, so there are times when I can live with it.
 
Hmm, I'd say manga should be presented in its original format as best as possible, so I like my manga in the Japanese style right to left. That said it wouldnt bother me that much if it was flipped round to a western style I can see myself enjoying it just as much, as well...its the same story. ( The one thing I wont tolerate in manga is actual edits , unless there is a valid reason that makes them absolutely nessecery).

As for soundeffects, again, I do quite like them to be written in the original Japanese for an "Authentic" feel, although I can't say it would devestate me if they were translated.
 
I dont really mind ither way i do like my Manga to be kept as the original right to left but if it has been flipped it dosent really stop me from reading it :3. i dont really like the story line or speech to be edited that drives me mad @_@ but all in all most edits wont stop me from reading it.
 
Authentic manga is the only way to go for me, if you've ever seen side by side comparisons of flipped and unflipped artwork you can see how much it compromises the artwork. I don't mind when sfx are translated but I prefer manga (such as Tokyo Babylon and Saiyuki) that retain all the original honorifics and sfx but include a glossary so they can be translated.

Saying that though I may be forced to pick up the 'flipped' edtions of Parasyte if Tokyopop don't use the publicity surrounding the film adaptation as an excuse for 'unflipped' reprints.
 
Samurai Matt said:
Flipped IMO is defentlly a no-no but I prefer my sound effects translated, just makes it seem better really
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agreed. i prefer to read it in the closest form to the original, while still being able to understand it. sometimes translations of the sound effects are listed at the end of the book, which seems a bit pointless to me. who would want to break the flow of a story to look up the sound effects? :?
 
Took a bit of getting used to for me, as I was so used to reading my manga books in the Western way (as all of them were like this years ago!).
The first ever manga book to be released in the Japanese style was Marmalade Boy! and all of Tokyopops earlier mangas had a special plastic wrap around tag over the front cover with the words "authentic manga" splashed all over it! Shows how much times have changed!

I prefer the sound effects to be in English, otherwise you're forever referring to the sound effects section at the back of the book! These days I prefer reading my manga the Japanese way, and I often get confused when I go back to reading an old one, as I end up reading the wrong panels!
To be honest, as long as they leave the names alone, I don't really care, as name changes are my only "hate" (Sailor Moon has all the English dub names and it's horrid!).
 
Definitely no flipping in my opinion, i love reading it right to left and back to front, i really enjoy reading it the japanese way. I think i was a little confused to begin with, but now i find it more difficult reading it the western way, as Miaka-chan said, i find myself reading the wrong panels.

As for sound effects i would prefer them changed, or else they make no sense
 
Again, i'm against flipping artwork; in the few flipped manga I've encountered, it seems to damage the artwork. Also, although it could be considered by some to be a novelty, I enjoy reading right to left, and after a couple of volumes of manga it's easy. Definatly unflipped.

Sound effects I'm not sure about. In Japanese they retain the original authentic panels but you have to refer to the glossary (although some common sound effects I've seen enough to recognize them) while the English is easy to read but can infringe the artwork.
 
i perfer readin a manga from right to left because its more original, but it has to be in english so i can understand. but i dont care about the dubbin of names coz thats alrite.
 
Being a total purist, I'm definately all for the original presentation of the work. Right to left reading is really important to me, although I'll put up with flipping if there's no other way to read the manga in English (such as Phoenix etc). Another problem with flipping lies when characters talk about 'left' and 'right', and the dialogue is not changed according to the flip, and ends up making no sense.

As for sound effects, I find the way they are translated in a majority of manga to be intrusive and ugly. When a manga-ka incorporates sfx, he/she usually draws them in a way that is complementary to the scene... the kanas become a part of the panel and part of the art. When domestic publishers blank these out and plaster the page with "roaaaaar"s and "whooooooosh"es, the effect is ruined. I agree that flicking to the back of the book for the sfx translations is annoying, but a simple tl note under the frame works fine (the way that many scanlators do it).

As always with translating, it is important to maintain the artistry, while making it accessible to the intended language audience. Domestic publishers do not realise that manga and anime is much more than just simple images, and continue to butcher their releases with 'corrected' orientation, random english sfx, 'more familiar sounding' names, cooler, more hip, accessible soundtracks etc.

Oops... excuse the rant ^_^;
 
No flips! I bought a volume of X/1999 and got completely thrown off by it all being the 'right' way round. You get used to reading back to front, and in the end its all the same. And leave the sound effects alone, too. The tiny subtitles on sound effects are great, and just come across better than a huge great 'THOOM' plastered all over the shop, manking up the whole artwork-appeal...thingy.
 
I can handle either format, I'm not that fussed.

I quite liked in older translations where they changed the sound effects into full English. I quite like seeing the Japanese sounds effects too, but he English makes the work more complete in my eyes.

Perhaps having untranslated sound effects could be considered as a form of censorship to those who can't read Japanese? (or maybe manga companies can't be bothered...)
 
Since I started reading the unflipped manga, (when I first started reading manga it was all flipped). I rather it be unflipped and I think flipping ruins the manga.

As for the sound effects althrough I can`t read japanese I rather there be a tranlsations somewhere rather than the be sprayed over and a english version put instead. Some of the sound effects are so extensively embedded in the images, removing them could spoil the original artwork.

So as little westernisation of the original manga the better I say.
 
Don't get me wrong - unflipped keeps the whole "original manga" thing going, and I understand that it might interfere with the artwork, but sometimes having it flipped just makes it easier...only a little! *dodges barrage of rotten tomatoes*

As for the sounds effects, sometimes having them translated turns the cheese factor up from a mild cheddar to a stinky stilton (I'm referring to giant "TA-DAs!" all over the place) and makes me cringe a little, but doors creaking open etc are more usefully translated.

I dunno...in my opinion just looking at all the kanji floating around the page gives more authenticity than which way you read it.

I'll give you all time to reload before my next post...
 
Melainy said:
Don't get me wrong - unflipped keeps the whole "original manga" thing going, and I understand that it might interfere with the artwork, but sometimes having it flipped just makes it easier...only a little! *dodges barrage of rotten tomatoes*

As for the sounds effects, sometimes having them translated turns the cheese factor up from a mild cheddar to a stinky stilton (I'm referring to giant "TA-DAs!" all over the place) and makes me cringe a little, but doors creaking open etc are more usefully translated.

I dunno...in my opinion just looking at all the kanji floating around the page gives more authenticity than which way you read it.

I'll give you all time to reload before my next post...
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:: pulls out rotten tomate cannon ::
 
I would like them to keep it the same, however my main gripe is that we dont have the colour artwork inside the manga or the nice loose covers which are available (i.e. you should check out the 3x3 Eyes mangas from France, they are both cheap and almost identical in every way to the original version).

Yes, English and American manga still has a looong way to go.
 
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