EyeOnAnime Forum

EOA Unit 1 · Novice Joined: 23 Aug 2006 Posts: 31 Location: Herts

Always the purest and intent on keeping manga as close to the original material as possible. I came upon this idea. What if publisher X is due to license manga Z. They want to know of any story parts that feature strong scenes etc, so they can act accordingly, before sparks fly.

Publisher X then pays fan Y (in manga or money) to proof read manga Z. The result is a better prepared publisher for any questionable content fallout. Then situations like what happened with Dark Horse and Narutaru, or DC and Ten Ten could surely be avoided or handled better (publishers clearly didn't have anyone sample the product carefully enough, most likely due to man power and its still continuing). This could be done on or offline (where they'd then surely be handled better once out to buy.

What do you think of this idea? Would it work effectively? And have publishers actually thought of this before?

Your two pence worth please
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Toraman · Shinigami Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 2122 Location: London

With stuff like Ten Ten, it's not as though the edits happen by accident so I doubt they'd feel a need to consult anyone as they already tailored it to a specific audience - which obviously isn't the hardcore fanbase. From what I've seen, fans do nothing but complain if a company would dare to even touch anything at all. (sound effect are a good example. Fine leave them as they are whatever, but I'd still like to be able to read it as I go and don't like it when publishers leave them totally untranslated - also bunging a glossary at the back of the book is stupidly impractical and a waste of time and effort for both readers and those who compile them. This is all my personal opinion of course...)

I don't know if it would work in respect of making accurate translations and if often seems like companies are forced to adhere to the fansub market as fans are already used to the translations made there. (like the names of fighting moves in Naruto comes to mind)

I don't know really. I trust the companies in doing a good job and if I think they've fouled up and don't like their product, I don't buy it.

Gawyn · Elite Poster Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 576

I don't personally think it would work that well. Too many fans already seem to think that they and fansubbers/scanlators understand the work better than a paid translator, which often is not the case. Publishers will always go into such things with their eyes open and consider the potential across multiple demographics based upon all of the material available to them. Factored into this is the potential to widen that appeal by application of edits to make it more palatable for the extended audience.

Dark Horse seemed to wholly mismanage Narutaru. It is a fairly niche title as it is and would largely have little appeal outside of the hardcore fanbase so when they begin editing it they have neither managed to win over more potential fans (which is the sole reason for some of the edits) whilst alienating those who otherwise may have bought it.

It is a shame that they feel the need to edit certain things in their manga releases but manga publishing is a business and they will always do what they feel they must. I certainly don't think that giving any control over to fans would accomplish anything except potentially lower sales figures, which would ultimately lead to titles being dropped.

botmaster2005 · Ninja In Training Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 875