Here's Hoping For Now
Feb. 7th, 2012 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerThe manga "Genshiken" became one of my favourites to such an extent that as it came to an end with the graduation of the fan characters who had been entering university at its beginning, I wondered "so now what?" I continued to poke along buying this manga or that (although even with all the titles I wasn't buying, of late I have managed to realise I have a stack of volumes I haven't managed to read yet), and the creator of Genshiken Kio Shimoku started a new title I heard only vague comments about... and then I happened to hear he was returning to Genshiken, building off the handful of younger fans who hadn't graduated at the end of the manga.
I suppose there were uncertain thoughts from some about the whole "returning to something thought complete", but as it turned out some people began "scanlating" the new chapters, and once I had happened on them I began to enjoy them, new characters and new emphases alike. One of the thing that might have helped me there, though, was that one person who drifted into the "scanlation" picture could write better translated dialogue than the awfully stiff stuff I seem to find too often in fan translations. With that said, of course, reading the online translations without paying for imported copies of the Japanese-language volumes did, or should have anyway, scratch at me a bit.
Then, all of a sudden, the news arrived that Kodansha Comics, in addition to printing omnibus volumes of the previous Del Rey Manga releases, also had a preliminary solicitation for the new series. However, there have been any number of mutterings about corners being cut and small infelicities in the proofreading of the Kodansha Comics releases, which, as much as I seem to dislike intimations of "fan translations" being better than "professional translations" just because, leaves me wondering about how things might compare (or even if, after a while, they'll be able to...) Still, even if some can't square their refined consciences with buying "domestic releases" but not "consuming" them, I'm at least willing to see what happens.
I suppose there were uncertain thoughts from some about the whole "returning to something thought complete", but as it turned out some people began "scanlating" the new chapters, and once I had happened on them I began to enjoy them, new characters and new emphases alike. One of the thing that might have helped me there, though, was that one person who drifted into the "scanlation" picture could write better translated dialogue than the awfully stiff stuff I seem to find too often in fan translations. With that said, of course, reading the online translations without paying for imported copies of the Japanese-language volumes did, or should have anyway, scratch at me a bit.
Then, all of a sudden, the news arrived that Kodansha Comics, in addition to printing omnibus volumes of the previous Del Rey Manga releases, also had a preliminary solicitation for the new series. However, there have been any number of mutterings about corners being cut and small infelicities in the proofreading of the Kodansha Comics releases, which, as much as I seem to dislike intimations of "fan translations" being better than "professional translations" just because, leaves me wondering about how things might compare (or even if, after a while, they'll be able to...) Still, even if some can't square their refined consciences with buying "domestic releases" but not "consuming" them, I'm at least willing to see what happens.