Gravitation manga

[Kaze-kun]

Okay, so this technically doesn't have anything to do with S-C, but has anyone been reading Tokyopop's translation of Gravitation? On the one hand, I like that it's being released, and that they retained the original right to left order, but they Americanized it so much! Having seen the anime version fansubbed (and yes, I can legally have them, since I got them before it was licensed...I just can't distribute them), there are lines in the manga that make me think things like "No way! Yuki would never say that!"

At first, I thought maybe the personalities were just a bit different in the manga, but then Terra showed me a site with a direct translation (in just plain text), which was much more in-character and authentic. Yeah, the Americanization may have worked in Fake (which they did a good job on), but Fake takes place IN AMERICA, which is the only reason it works.

I sometimes wonder why they bother to keep it unflipped and call it "authentic" when they take most of the authenticity out of the dialogue.

[Risu-chan]

@_@ Yeah, don't even get me started on the Tokyopop translation. I have the Japanese version and bought the first book of the American version and am debating whether I'm going to bother buying any more.

On the one hand, I want to encourage Tokyopop to continue the trend of daring to establish that "dangerous"/"sensitive-topic"/(whatever word you want to use for dancing around coming out and saying "Americans don't think their kids should know gay people exist") manga can and will sell at least as well as your Generic Dude In Spandex Of The Week comic books.

On the other hand, I want to lay down the smack on their heads and say "wake up and smell the frippin' coffee. We're reading this stuff because it's NOT American, because we find most American stuff too watered-down and sanitized to stomach, and yes, Yuki Eiri IS the kind of person to say to someone's face 'You're not sensitive enough to commit suicide' rather than whatever Sylvia Plath copout they used to get around having to print the word suicide, under the assumption that their readers would be too ignorant to figure it out..."

oh wait, I said I wasn't going to get started... ^^;;

[Terra--kun]

no, you said "don't get me started" which is another matter entirely.but yeah, the "pure" translation site is a whole lot better, though at times I got lost while following the manga.

[Verykawaiineko]

AHH Gravitation...what first got me into the yaoi obsession..i only have the 1-9 epis on fansub and im kinda scared of the licensed version that is gonna come out *Pray to god they dont sell it in the hentai section..i would DIE* the tokyopop one uses too much ummm surfer talk...Yuki says *dude* about a million times..i also have all the scans up to Vol 7...ahhh happy gravi *goes off skipping*

[Terra--kun]

I'm going to buy Gravitation when it comes out anyway. Even if I don't like the dub, it'll still have the sub that I can watch over and over.

[LiL dEviL MiNeE]

i have the fansub version of gravitation.. the episode plus ovas.. i was going to buy them but the people who already did told me the subtitles were terrible. the timing and all that... so i just said forget it. although it took me forever to d/l some episodes cause i had to d/l them over and over again cause some stopped in the middle. but yeah... i have them! keke.. very happy

about the manga, i read the manga online for in the moonlight and i read the manga that was licensed but i didn't really like it. i think we as fans have a better chance to translate it then them.

[Tsubaki-chan]

Kaze-kun, where did you find translations? Id like to compare them to the translated Gravi I own.

*restrains self from going into hyper-purist mode*

Remember when Shuuichi goes on quiz de-pon and is asked the question "Inu is to the english word dog as neko is to what?" Well in vol 3 TokyoPop translated it so it reads "Dog is to dog as cat is to what?" Which makes Shuuichi sound twice as stupid when he answers "dog". Would it kill them to leave inu and neko untranslated and leave a footnote? O.o||

-Tsu-chan

[Risu-chan]

Originally posted by LiL dEviL MiNeE:
i have the fansub version of gravitation.. the episode plus ovas.. i was going to buy them but the people who already did told me the subtitles were terrible. the timing and all that...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Which country do you live in? If you live in the US, you can't buy the legal version because it hasn't been released yet (The Right Stuf has been sitting on it for years). I've seen Hong Kong bootleg DVDs of Gravitation (I accidentally bought a set after I heard Gravi had been picked up in the US but before I knew that it hadn't been released and "US Seller" was eBay speak for "someone in California with a Hong Kong cousin selling horribly translated HK bootlegs" - I was pretty cranky because I NEVER buy bootlegs... if I'd known I wouldn't have bid...).

I agree that the HK bootlegs are completely hideous - among other things, I think Yuki's name turns into "Ying" or something like that - but it might be worth hanging on to hope for the actual US pro release, since Right Stuf doesn't do much anime but what they DO do, they do well (Tylor, KareKano IIRC, etc)...

<font color="#660033" size="1">[ January 19, 2004 07:04 PM: Message edited by: Risu-chan ]</font>

[Verykawaiineko]

The only place ive found text only transations are at this site

Gravitation Translations

But you can get Scanlations at others sites...which uses these transalations...but sometimes the transaltions are a bit confusing, it still beats Tokyopop i think...i also thought my fansubs were quite good*bows to BakaMX*..they do very good jobs w/ unliscened anime...i just have to find a way to get the OVAs... <blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">spoiler (click to view):</font><hr size="1"><div class="spoiler" id="2CTUIX"> for the bondage scence ofcourse ^_~ </div><hr size="1"></blockquote>

[akuma_of_chaos]

I haven't really read the Tokyopop manga of Gravi so I wouldn't know but I have read other mangas translated by Tokyopop and I agree, they are pretty bad. I think it's because they expect the average non-manga knowledgable person to buy these books. They're almost trying too hard to make it understandable for the average reader. Sometimes I wonder if they have an editor to actually read through the stuff before they publish it.

And I do agree that fan translations are so much better. Probably because they love what they do and because they're doing it to please the manga community rather than the general public. It's really disappointing how Tokyopop played down so much emotions in anime and manga because they don't think people can deal with it. I wonder how the mangakas feel about it?