My Updated thoughts on Scanlation

I wrote a new blog power on Lovely Manga in response to a question about whether "Kanojo ni Naru Hi" and the spinoff are popular enough in scanlation to get licensed. The short answer is scanlation and manga licensing are unrelated. To read more of my perspective on the matter, here's a link to the blog post on Lovely Manga.

I do have an account on Ask.fm now, so if you wish to ask me a question, you can go here: http://ask.fm/KuronekoOO3 or use the Ask.fm widget on the right hand side of this blog.

Dear Fans, Before you Criticize a Scanlation Group...

I need to get this off my chest because I cannot believe the level of entitlement some fans exhibit. So if you are a "fan" and you are angry that your favorite series isn't being released at your beckon call, keep these three points in mind.

• You are getting translated manga for free.  For Omari's Sister, the average single chapter of a series or oneshot requires 40 man-hours of work. 40 HOURS! This is not something that gets done in an afternoon. And the people who do this work are highly skilled artists and translators that could be using these skills to get paid rather than spreading manga love.
• If you ARE NOT a volunteer in the scanlation group and actually helping to get the releases done, YOU ARE A LEECH.  You are getting something for nothing. There is no reason for any of us who actually do the work to listen to you. You aren't a paying customer, you aren't an investor, you aren't a patron, and you aren't a "shareholder." You have no stake in the work a scanlation group does. You have no right to say a thing to a scanlation group about what they aren't getting done. (If you have time and want releases to get out sooner, you no longer have the excuse that you don't have Photoshop. Photoshop CS2 is now free from Adobe. There are plenty of tutorials out there and I offer training. So if you really want releases sooner, go download Photoshop CS2 and start helping to complete your favorite series.)
• Your whining doesn't help. In fact it's discouraging and causes the translator to hate the series. And when the translator hates the series, it doesn't get translated.

That said, I want to say a few things about the shortcomings of the scanlation community in general.

• Fans and shoujo/josei scanlation groups need to stop getting angry about duplication. None of us are doing authorized translations, so the idea of "exclusivity" makes no sense.  As a fan, you can let duplications happen and choose your favorite group to read from. As for scanlation groups, do what you like. Your fans are your fans and they will read your work. Also, you should be working for yourself in the first place. Do a job you're proud of and don't worry about what other groups are doing. Of course, it would suck if multiple groups jumped on the same projects, but I think groups need to decide for themselves whether their duplicate effort is adding something new to the project. That is what Omari's Sister does. We try to avoid duplication, but if we feel we have something very different to offer in terms of translation and image editing, we will release our own version. I personally don't care if you don't read what we've because you've already read it from another group. Good on you. Go read something else. We've got plenty of other series and oneshots to offer.
• If a project has not been updated for six months to a year and it's not due to the series being on hiatus on the mangaka side or due to the tankoubon release schedule, by default that group has abandoned the project. To this end, if a group recognizes that they can't keep up with a series, they should try their best to broker a transfer. If there isn't a group to transfer the project to, then they should officially drop the project so it's clear to everyone that you no longer take responsibility for updating the series. Of course if you find time or more resources, you can pick the series back up.
• I know new shiny manga and oneshots are tempting.  I face new temptations everyday. But scanlation group leaders, should be good project managers and scope the work to the number of active volunteers they have available. Being behind schedule and having a bunch of unfinished series is very discouraging. It becomes a horrible burden that eventually sucks all the air out of the group as the work builds up and the angry comments and emails from fans come in.  This is something we at Omari's Sister are addressing now. It's tough, but groups owe it to themselves to finish what they've started and save themselves the stress of fan outrage.

We at Omari's Sister are not perfect. We acknowledge that we have series that we've effectively abandoned. We're trying to do something about it and I truly appreciate all the support the readers have given us so far as we clean up my mess. I ask that you similarly support other groups and I encourage other groups to clean up their messes before starting new projects.  To be honest, we were going to start a new project soon because there's a series I really want Omari's Sister to do. But after writing a diatribe like this, I should stick to my words and continue to lead my group to clean up the mess I created.  Yes, this is my mess since I'm the one who keeps adding new projects and making the schedule.

Commentary: My Views on the MangaStream vs. Viz News

There are a lot of things I want to say about this issue both as a manga fan and a scanlator.  As a fan, I say true fans show their support through rewarding creators with money.  I think if you are reading scanlations, whether you read Japanese or not, you have an obligation to buy at least one volume of the Japanese version of your favorite series.  You have the translation, so the "I don't know Japanese" excuse isn't valid.

As for the reading scanlations as a try before you buy option, reading 1 or 2 volumes of a multi-volume series in scanlation is understandable.  However, reading all 59+ volumes of something online is not "try before you buy".  There is no reason to have an entire series online in scanlation when the series is licensed and available for purchase.

Upcoming Translations Through February

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who participated in the survey and took the time to write very thoughtful suggestions to me.  It really helped.  Looking my "bandwidth," my interests, my library, and what you guys want, here's the plan for the next 3 - 4 months in no particular order:

• "Arakure" Chp 54, 55, and 56 Done
  
• "Yoroshiku Master" chp 9, 10, 11 & 12 (on hold) -- Completed by the Dragon Voice Scanlation Group!
  
• "Hachimitsu no Hana" chp 13 - 15
• "Small World"  Done
  
• A surprise favor for Sapphire Pyro (my proof reader) -- Akagami Chp 14 Done
  
• Ouran 77 Done
  
• Ouran 78 
• ZHD 14
  
• Trial first chapters of new series:  
• "I Can't be a Bride" (FAIL -- it's a "Kimi wa Petto" clone)
• "Folktale Reindeer" (one shot) Dropped because of uber-weak female lead character
  

After finishing these up and sharing some new series, I'll survey again to see what you all want. Hopefully, in this time some of the series that seem to be on hold by other scanlation groups will pick up, so I don't feel the need to do them.

Help Me Choose my Next Project

Update (11/08/2009):  With 2-days left, it looks like "Ultimate Venus" is pulling ahead. However, after taking a second look at the series, I think the content may not be appropriate for a general audience, so I've decided that I cannot go forward with scanlating this series on this blog.  This leaves me with a the selections that are tied for 2nd and some suggestions from other folks.  In light of this, I will do a second round of polling and apologize to those folks who voted for "Ultimate Venus."

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Update (11/05/2009):  It looks like there's a 3-way tie so far ... that's not very helpful.  I didn't expect any support for "Ultimate Venus."   I've taken a peek at Ultimate Venus up through Volume 8. Heheheh ... you won't be disappointed with that one ... but I was hoping something "sweeter" would emerge.  There are still 5 days to go, so hopefully a clear winning will reveal itself.

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"Arakure" is rapidly coming to end and I need to decide what my next project will be.  Please use the poll on the top right corner of this blog to express your opinion.  I have made it such that you can choose more than one manga.  If you have another suggestion not on the list, please write it as a comment to this blog entry.

Arakure chp 40 Translation

Here is Arakure Chp 40. This is an Azuma side story. At first I was bummed about the diversion, but it turned out to be a very cute story that greatly humanizes Azuma. Azuma really is a great guy and I hope as the story progresses he quits comparing himself to Rakuto and recognizes his own wonderfulness. Here a link to the chapter:

Link to Arakure Chp 40

It will take some time before I am able to get to chp 41. I want to translate ZHD chp 12 and when that gets done, Ouran 74 should be out. In between those two, I would like to squeeze in a wallpaper or two and work on my portfolio. So expect Arakure chp 41 sometime in September.

Some Thoughts on Translating Manga

I'd like to extend upon a blog entry I did on manga translation way back in Nov of 2007.

Link

What I'd like to expand upon is this:

What’s interesting about this is that I feel a very strong connection to the original text and to what I’ve written. I didn’t expect this. It feels sort of like I’m a part of the story creation process because much of how I feel about the story and the characters comes out in the words and the phrasing I choose to translate the words to and the way I describe the action in the pictures. I also feel that I have a greater understanding of the story because I’ve had to fully digest the Japanese words and the pictures in order to choose the proper words and phrasing.
Does it matter to me whether I accurately present the mangaka’s intent? That’s a tough question to answer. I really can’t say for certain what the author intended without talking to the author. Besides, when I read a manga, all that is present goes through my filter and that shapes how I perceive the story. Therefore, when translating and then scripting, what exits my filter is what goes on the screen. I think this is very powerful and double-edged. I endeavored to learn Japanese because I didn’t like the way the professional publishers localized manga for an American audience. I sought purity and from this pure base, I wanted to be able overlay my own interpretation. Being on the other side of it as a translator, I’m am not offering purity to those that read my blog. This leaves me to ask myself, who am I to offer up my interpretation of this manga to the world? Am I providing a service or satisfying myself? I think I am doing both. Besides I know not to take myself too seriously since anybody that reads what I’ve written, will apply their own filter on top of my filter.

I've had reason to think a lot about translation lately. And I think some people don't understand the difference between translation and interpretation. If I translate the Japanese in manga directly into English, I don't think it would make much sense. Japanese syntax is different and there are idioms, that if directly translated, make no sense. I also come back to the thought of a person's filter. I see through the lens of my own experiences and knowledge, so that is where I interpret from. Every person is different, so naturally, no two people would ever come up with the exact same translation for a very long piece of work. But this is where interpretation comes in. Sure I can understand the Japanese, but getting the Japanese into English is something entirely different. Compared to English, Japanese is a very compressed language that has subtleties linked to culture. In essence, one Japanses word or phrase may unravel into a very long concept in English. And when I say "concept," I mean the translation unravels into something that's not concrete in English -- in other words, there is no 1-to-1 translation in English. This is why I take issue with "100% translation," because there is no such thing.

Going back a little, I think I understand now why I took Japanese. It was to understand all that stuff that couldn't be expressed in English. For me, the actual Japanese of many manga is very beautiful and intensely descriptive in terms of the emotion and the relationship between characters. In many ways, I wish I could do a direct brain transfer so everyone could have the same joyful experience with the text as I do. As for a "truer translation," I can do a translation in which I go between a Japanese-to-English dictionary, plugging words in. This, though, doesn't get at the underlying meaning that is trying to be conveyed through the words because the context has not been taken into consideration. It is important how the sentence is constructed and what the relationship is between characters to understand the full meaning of what is said in Japanese. Context also comes from personal experience and knowledge of culture and life in general. This is what I strive for when I scanlate. I am not interested in a 100% perfect translation. Rather, what I'm interested in is conveying the story and the relationships between the characters as I've interpreted from the Japanese. Again, I can't say whether this is the author's intent. Nobody can say the author's intent other than the author -- hence, this is why we have discussions about texts.

Now, what to make of the different translations you may see of various anime and manga series? Well, I'll say this: go with the interpretation you like best. As for my work on Ouran and ZHD, well, I admit to a mistake or two on the small things, but for the most part, I am quite confident that I've properly conveyed the stories as I've interpreted from the Japanese. As for the differences you may see, well, I've done comparisons with the different version and the raws ... and I'm sticking with my translation and my interpretation. Like I said before, there's no such thing as a 100% perfect translation and I know, for sure, that's nobody's perfect, nor am I arrogant enough to proclaim my translation is anywhere near perfect or better than anyone else's. I do, though, want to say, in conclusion, I love the series I scanlate and love sharing my translations and interpretations with my blog readers.