Hows the american manga?

Angryitalian

I have a question about the quality and the translations on the American manga.
Since I'm from Italy I've been buying the Italian edition even though I've been in the US for a few year now; thing is that that translation on the italian one hasnt been all that good and seems to be getting worst: it has lots of typos, inconsistencies and most importantly it seems like there's little effort put in it. Granted I don't know a darn thing about Japanese, after reading a lot of scans and translations around the forum I find so many details that for some odd reason are completely forgotten in the Italian version.
Now my question: how's the translation in the American comics? I know about the whole Zoro/Zolo thing butt I'm willing to look past that if the rest of the translation is done well

By the way, does anyone here read the Italian edition?

Bounty1Berry

The American one is mostly known for its inconsistencies.

The "crudeness" level goes up and down from volume to volume. Art edits are rare but when they come they often hit hard (Loguetown, Smoker's jacket), and the language at times feels strained (like they want to be slightly more profane but can't quite do so).

Plus it's only up to book 12 or 13.

Angryitalian

that bad huh…
sounds almost like the Italian...

Zulen

What's wrong with Smoker's Jacket?

Kreed

Not to mention, they translate sound effects, which at times can ruin the look of the original artwork.

Bounty1Berry

@Private:

What's wrong with Smoker's Jacket?

Volume 11, p.159. Chapter 98, page 15.

That ain't the kanji we all love. It's letters crammed in where they could.

IMO, it drastically changes the look of his outfit and renders it far less appealing. The original kanji is much wider than a string of english text in that AWFUL font they insist on using.

Kaze

Okay, picture 4 kids eating the beautiful japanese manga oda has creatred. Now picture them shitting it out. and there you have the american manga.

and yes I think it's that bad.

*Meh*

And they started out so promisingly, too. I still remember when Viz had Zoro as Zoro, and I distinctly remember Luffy calling Higuma the Bear a bastard on two occasions.

J-Sack

They started out promising? All the heavy pirate slang was really annoying. Especially that time they put "Shiver me timbers" instead of "UWAAAAAH~~!"

*Meh*

Eh, I just treated it as silliness and moved on.

J-Sack

I treated it as sillyness and bought the japanese tanks.

KuwabaraTheMan

I'd say it's decent. Given that 'Zolo' is probably out of their hands(being a subsidary of Shueisa), the translation is decent, although not the best. Some lines are a little lame, but for the most part it's solid.

Hyper Dingo

The overuse of nautical terms kinda turned me off from it too. Neptunians? IN THE NAME OF POSIDEN I WILL DISPOSE OF YOU. Didn't kuro say that? Well for anyone that gave up on it they're doing a fairly decent job with The Barouge works arc so far…But still Boggles my mind that someone like stephen translates it FOR FREE, using his own time and for no money and its a extremly better translation than people who are actually paided to do it....okkkkkkkkay.

taboo

Do we have a scan of Eng Smoker's jacket?

sgamer82

Pirate lingo was overused some early on. But that seems to have tapered off since the Baratie arc.

Angryitalian

wow…
makes me wonder if theres a british edition...

CosmicDebris

It's not bad, but people and their preferences, you know. Some people think that not using bad language is a detriment, which I don't really agree with. Zolo was a forced issue. Damn 4kids for that. Overall I think the Viz manga is decent, though it could be better. Maybe now that 4kids is out of the picture they won't attempt to kowtow to them again. BTW, there is an ongoing thread about the Viz manga http://apforums.net/showthread.php?t=5853

Kiden4911

In my experience, any anime/manga "americanized" is horrible. HORRIBLE. Avoid it at all costs. Honestly Scanlators do a much better job. If you want the actual manga for collection purposes…then theres no choice i guess. But if like me u just wanna read it, get it from scanlators online. Theyre ahead of it anyways.

Zulen

@Bounty1Berry:

Volume 11, p.159. Chapter 98, page 15.

That ain't the kanji we all love. It's letters crammed in where they could.

IMO, it drastically changes the look of his outfit and renders it far less appealing. The original kanji is much wider than a string of english text in that AWFUL font they insist on using.

Where…? I don't see anything wrong with it.

FireFistAce 0

@Private:

Where…? I don't see anything wrong with it.

It says Justice in English rather than the kanji, which, quite frankly, is stupid. I mean, they teach kanji and Japanese to the readers daily, why would it matter if they kept a bloody kanji in? They keep the Kaigun Kanji on all the sails of the Marine Ships.

Honorifics are also removed, changing some names and make them awkward. For example, Gen-san becomes Genzo. I'm gonna Miss Vivi's "Tony-kun", too.

As for the Loguetown, Roguetown issue, I don't see a problem. I doubt Oda's command of the English language was good enough back then to get the double meaning of Logue (Prologue and Epilogue). Correct if I'm wrong Greg, but the words Prologue and Epilogue probably aren't even taught to most Japanese students. It could have just been an error on his part (Remember Prot Dance, anyone?)

As for the pirate lingo, it's annoying sometimes, but if they put swearing in a public comic book, Soccer Moms would rip the throat out of anyone who published it. It's that simple.

KuwabaraTheMan

Prologue and Epilogue makes sense with the name of the town. Far more than 'Roguetown' does. That's one case where Viz was definitely wrong.

@Kiden4911:

In my experience, any anime/manga "americanized" is horrible. HORRIBLE. Avoid it at all costs. Honestly Scanlators do a much better job. If you want the actual manga for collection purposes…then theres no choice i guess. But if like me u just wanna read it, get it from scanlators online. Theyre ahead of it anyways.

One Piece isn't americanized. It's not the exact same as the Japanese version, but it's a decent translation.

And reading scanlations without ever intending to buy the legitimate release makes you a thief. If you're that opposed to buying Viz's release, import the Japanese ones.

Crimson Rogue

I have to agree with Fire Fist Ace on the soccer mom's comment, though it's sad that they have to edit out swearing simply because a certain group of parents would raise hell about it.. If a comic has swearing in it and you don't want your kid to be exposed to that then don't buy the kid the damn thing, instead of scaring the people who publish the comic into editting the heck out of it. .__.;;
Personally I think the American version of One Piece is pretty decent, though it could have been a LOT better..

Ubiq

Pirates use too much pirate slang?

I've always found that complaint to be a bit ridiculous frankly. How are they supposed to talk? Beyond that, don't they use a Japanese equivalent of what we could consider pirate talk?

As far as the Smoker's coat business goes, that was apparently during a period where they decided to start translating kanji instead of leaving them alone as they had traditionally done. I don't know if this was simply a choice of a transitional translation team or a corporate edict that was quickly abandoned. As far as his coat goes, I probably wouldn't have even noticed that it was changed if somebody hadn't hadn't pointed it out first and I doubt that they would have noticed it either if they hadn't been examining the American version for things they consider flaws.

Zulen

It's true that they somewhat change the diaolouge. For instance, they'll say things like "Darn!" instead of "You monkey-fucking sonuvaBITCH!!" which is pretty frustrating, I'll admit.

Also, it's just not that great. The pirates do use too much Pirate Slang, which is completely ridiculous since most Pirate Slang was never actually used by Pirates, more so just made up by people.

I still remember the ads for One Piece.

"_**Luffy and the Crew Catch Black Cat Fever!

Yah-yoh! Come Aboard!**_" Or some shit like that.

Rixter

I've always loved how everyone bashes the Viz release and praises the scanlations to be on some Godly tier and how one doesn't mess with holy writ and all that shit, while the scanlations are actually nigh-unreadable.

Lobster Pot-Sticker

@Bounty1Berry:

Volume 11, p.159. Chapter 98, page 15.

That ain't the kanji we all love. It's letters crammed in where they could.

IMO, it drastically changes the look of his outfit and renders it far less appealing. The original kanji is much wider than a string of english text in that AWFUL font they insist on using.

Wow, I just looked at my volume and noticed that. Buy why did the leave the Kanji on the other Marine officer? (when Luffy's new East Blue bounty was announced)

I have to agree with Fire Fist Ace on the soccer mom's comment, though it's sad that they have to edit out swearing simply because a certain group of parents would raise hell about it.. If a comic has swearing in it and you don't want your kid to be exposed to that then don't buy the kid the damn thing, instead of scaring the people who publish the comic into editting the heck out of it. .__.;;

Not true. One Piece manga is raited TEEN in America and so is Samurai Champloo is raited TEEN in America.

I bought volume 2 of Samurai Champloo, and they said
Dmn!! 2x
Sh&t!! 1x
bitch! 1x
Ti*ts 1x
So obviously Tokyo Pop doesn't have a problem of translating 100% accuratley.

EDIT: and H*ll 2x

DesertSpada

The manga ver. is fine to me. Although they mad a HUGE miatake when Mr.5 is attacking Luffy on Little Garden. His partner says that Luffy is worth 300 million berries. Ouch…

Kaos

@Fire Fist:

Honorifics are also removed, changing some names and make them awkward. For example, Gen-san becomes Genzo.

His name IS Genzo.

Rai

Well, I regret wasting money on vols 1-8 instead of buying japanese vols. Not only they're cheaper, they're better.

The translation is not that good, there are lame sentences and alot of things that I won't want to have there.
You have tons of translations online anyways. If you feel better reading it in a book, buy it. But if you want it for collection, or just to have it so you can flip pages and enjoy/read with stephen you'd better buy the japanese ones.

Geg

@Fire Fist:

Honorifics are also removed, changing some names and make them awkward. For example, Gen-san becomes Genzo. I'm gonna Miss Vivi's "Tony-kun", too.

That's not really a big deal. I'd prefer it without honorifics, actually.

Zulen

Yeah, I don't like honorifics. They work perfectly in Japan-based Manga's like Naruto, Inuyasha and Tsubasa (Not Japan-based, but they still worked perfectly), but I suddenly feel like I'm watching a show about half-demons and Ninja's when I hear "Gen-san".

Angryitalian

well I like reading the manga online and all but there are times when u wanna read and you cant be on the computer.
lately the Italian edition seems like it has gotten worst with stuff either translated too literally and then not at all: my main example is during the cp9 part of the story and anyone reading the Italian would probably notice too:
when blueno uses tekkai for the first time against tilestone's hammer the Italian just had the dialogue bubble saying iron barrel (as tranlation for tekkai) and then leter on tekkai is left untranslated and none of the other rokushiki techniques are tranlated either and there are no translation notes at all.
this is just one example.
as long as the Viz edition isnt that bad i can live with it

Geg

@Private:

Yeah, I don't like honorifics. They work perfectly in Japan-based Manga's like Naruto, Inuyasha and Tsubasa (Not Japan-based, but they still worked perfectly), but I suddenly feel like I'm watching a show about half-demons and Ninja's when I hear "Gen-san".

Heh, my thoughts exactly. I don't see the sense in using Japanese words and phrases in a series that's not set in Japan or in a world resembling Japan.

Strange_One

I started out buying the manga in 2003, and I own 1-12 and read ASJ.

Personally I think it's a good translation. Yes, they say "Yes Ma'am!" to 'Zolo' and somehow Luffy is the 'most wanted man in the world' with a bounty of '300 million berries' in Little Garden, but damn, compare it to the 4Kids version (or how Angryitalian describes the Italian version) and it isn't half bad. Attack names are slightly changed and the dialogue is a bit kiddified, but people still die and want to kill, plot points are rarely messed with, and character names are VERY rarely changed. And I'm suprised they didn't edit the crap outta Vivi's outfit.

A while back I said I'd quit buying it if they changed Smoker to Chaser to conform to the dub. They didn't. I was happy.

Ronaldinho

When I came to the US, I saw the Anime where the crew was at Alabasta. I went into a book store in the ope that the American Manga was around volume 32. The seller told be that they have it only up to volume 9. I was kinda confused why the anime is ahead of the Manga and I'm actually still confused about it after a year. Do you know why the anime is ahead of the manga?

Aethos

@Rixter:

I've always loved how everyone bashes the Viz release and praises the scanlations to be on some Godly tier and how one doesn't mess with holy writ and all that shit, while the scanlations are actually nigh-unreadable.

Not to mention the scanlations for about half the manga suck.

Seriously I doubt anyone would ever be happy with the Viz release unless they started followed Stephen's scripts.

@Ronaldinho:

When I came to the US, I saw the Anime where the crew was at Alabasta. I went into a book store in the ope that the American Manga was around volume 32. The seller told be that they have it only up to volume 9. I was kinda confused why the anime is ahead of the Manga and I'm actually still confused about it after a year. Do you know why the anime is ahead of the manga?

Yeah because Shounen Jump is retarded when it comes to their releases. They only release 2 or 3 chapters a month so it's taking forever just to catch up.

kyaserine

@Kreed:

Not to mention, they translate sound effects, which at times can ruin the look of the original artwork.

I agree. One of the reasons why I'm not very fond of the Viz version. I miss Oda's "DON!" sound effects while reading the English One Piece. But other than that, I also think it's pretty decent compared to what 4Kids have done though it could have been better.

Greg

Correct if I'm wrong Greg, but the words Prologue and Epilogue probably aren't even taught to most Japanese students.

I love stalking myself. It turns up neat posts.

Actually, they probably are. Even if they can't speak a lick their reading compression is usually mind-numbingly advanced.

Not at my school of course.

"How much is it?" is asking for a lot in 50 minutes.

Caracal

Personally I think it's decent. It's hardly perfect, but then what is in the world? The few name changes aren't really that bad and frankly feel some people act over the top just because one interchangeable letter is different. For example I have no problem with Zolo and Zoro. Heck, if you ask me there is no problem. When I pronounce the two words one after the other they sound pretty much the same (I feel 4Kids put to much emphisis on the L than is needed). Additionally some of the other changes are valid to one degree or another. I once heard someone say "Gomu" can translate as "Gum" but Rubber is the more precice term (besides, Gomu and Gum sound the same to me) and that "Navy" is a valid or even closer translation of "Kaigun". And frankly when you count how many names are kept I think the few changes are a small sacrifise. Like I said, nothing is perfect.

I personally don't mind the lack of honorifics. As others have stated, I don't really feel they fit in a world which isn't based around Japan one way or another. And frankly I don't have any major issue with the sound effect changes. I view Oda's artwork as the characters and backgrounds, not the words that appear around them so to me they aren't ruining his artwork.

Yes I wish at times the translation was a bit better without mistakes like Luffy's "300 million" bounty, the over kiddy comments like "I know, I know I'm going to blazes" and the pirate lingo which they haven't used for about two years (and in my opinion you should blame the stereotypical view of pirates rather than Viz). Frankly, io me so long as the characters pretty much say the right thing and the story isn't changed then there isn't any problems with the translation. Plus I don't mind the "Japanese jokes" like "Little Servent" being taken out. They just won't work very well as they're a play of words which sound too different in English. Heck, YuYu Hakusho's translation is far worse with some of the messed up slang terms.

I don't mean to be offencive but I feel to many people brush it off because of some small things. Nothing in life is perfect and to me what they've done is acceptable. It could do with a bit of fine tuning.