Manga Thoughts: Twin Spica
Jan. 16th, 2013 08:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerI've been dwelling a good bit of late on the manga volumes I've bought faster than I can read them, but over the holidays I did find the resolve and the opportunity to go back and re-read one series from start to end. There hadn't been much question about what I would go back to, and it was a good experience, even if I discovered a certain shocking realisation along the way...
When Vertical had been publishing Kou Yaginuma's Twin Spica, I had waited with great expectation for every new volume, I got invested enough in the series to feel dismayed when hearing it wasn't selling well and would be moving to thicker volumes to get the release over with sooner, and when it was all over, as relieved as I was to have been able to reach the conclusion, I was left with that rare feeling of wondering what future series might impress me as much in its own way. I suppose I'd have been interested in just about any "space academy" series, but this one seemed to do something different, such that high schoolers training for the chance to ride the first Japanese rocket after a catastrophic crash marking some of them and a ghost in a lion-head mask and astronaut gloves fit together. In returning to the series, I had the steady feeling there was a sense of sadness to it, but it was always a cathartic sort of sadness.
The gaps between the releases of volumes of collected manga does give an odd sort of start-and-stop rhythm to taking in a story in progress. (Once upon a time anime series were released over here in about the same way, but they either arrive in bigger chunks at once or weekly now.) I was interested in taking in the story in a more steady way this time around, and it did help me to link together a flashback tale and a brief "plot arc" later on both featuring an old school friend of the tiny but resolute protagonist Asumi. On a less profound note, I was surprised in an amused sort of way to see that Kei, the "feisty outspoken girl" among the main characters (and the one of the five who isn't bearing the weight of the past), wore glasses in her first appearance. For the rest of the series, I was wondering if she'd put them back on in the final pages with things changed, but she didn't. Later on, I was also amused to see an "isolation room exercise" of "assembling an all-white jigsaw puzzle" mentioned, remembering that exact thing had shown up in the anime Space Brothers.
There was another sort of realisation partway through, though, when all of a sudden I told myself "by golly, no honorifics!" The "-chan" and "-kun" and "-san" and other tags attached to names (or at times replacing them altogether) in the Japanese language are pretty much omnipresent in translated manga these days, and for a while I wondered if this had been an actual factor in the poor sales, then worried that bringing it up might somehow break a careful conspiracy of silence and injure the fond memories of other people. At the same time, though, when thinking of the non-negotiable demands of certain fans that they'll only support anime subtitles that include honorifics (and just import untranslated releases from Japan otherwise) I do begin to sympathise a bit with the complaints of older translators such as Frederik Schodt and Matt Thorn that their inclusion just might be more a matter of playing to an exclusive club than anything else. It was obvious enough to me that the characters had grown to respect and care for each other without having to see it spelled out in the names they used.
When Vertical had been publishing Kou Yaginuma's Twin Spica, I had waited with great expectation for every new volume, I got invested enough in the series to feel dismayed when hearing it wasn't selling well and would be moving to thicker volumes to get the release over with sooner, and when it was all over, as relieved as I was to have been able to reach the conclusion, I was left with that rare feeling of wondering what future series might impress me as much in its own way. I suppose I'd have been interested in just about any "space academy" series, but this one seemed to do something different, such that high schoolers training for the chance to ride the first Japanese rocket after a catastrophic crash marking some of them and a ghost in a lion-head mask and astronaut gloves fit together. In returning to the series, I had the steady feeling there was a sense of sadness to it, but it was always a cathartic sort of sadness.
The gaps between the releases of volumes of collected manga does give an odd sort of start-and-stop rhythm to taking in a story in progress. (Once upon a time anime series were released over here in about the same way, but they either arrive in bigger chunks at once or weekly now.) I was interested in taking in the story in a more steady way this time around, and it did help me to link together a flashback tale and a brief "plot arc" later on both featuring an old school friend of the tiny but resolute protagonist Asumi. On a less profound note, I was surprised in an amused sort of way to see that Kei, the "feisty outspoken girl" among the main characters (and the one of the five who isn't bearing the weight of the past), wore glasses in her first appearance. For the rest of the series, I was wondering if she'd put them back on in the final pages with things changed, but she didn't. Later on, I was also amused to see an "isolation room exercise" of "assembling an all-white jigsaw puzzle" mentioned, remembering that exact thing had shown up in the anime Space Brothers.
There was another sort of realisation partway through, though, when all of a sudden I told myself "by golly, no honorifics!" The "-chan" and "-kun" and "-san" and other tags attached to names (or at times replacing them altogether) in the Japanese language are pretty much omnipresent in translated manga these days, and for a while I wondered if this had been an actual factor in the poor sales, then worried that bringing it up might somehow break a careful conspiracy of silence and injure the fond memories of other people. At the same time, though, when thinking of the non-negotiable demands of certain fans that they'll only support anime subtitles that include honorifics (and just import untranslated releases from Japan otherwise) I do begin to sympathise a bit with the complaints of older translators such as Frederik Schodt and Matt Thorn that their inclusion just might be more a matter of playing to an exclusive club than anything else. It was obvious enough to me that the characters had grown to respect and care for each other without having to see it spelled out in the names they used.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-18 02:36 am (UTC)Whenever I hear the debate on honourifics brought up it reminds me of similar debates I heard/read about Russian literature in translation back in my "serious literature" days. I know most of the ivory tower kids would shudder to hear themselves referred to in the same breath with manga and anime fans, but at least where this issue is concerned they behave in much the same ways. Which I find amusing. ^m^
For me, I can take it either way; the primary concern for me is that the translation be consistent and thoughtful.
(no subject)
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