Unfortunately Evoked Thoughts

A little while ago, I admitted that every so often I start to agree with the criticisms of "older translators" about the ostentatious inclusion of Japanese terms in anime and manga translations, and named Frederik Schodt and Matt Thorn as those translators. It was only on hearing a piece of unfortunate news that I thought I could have mentioned a third name, that of the just-deceased Toren Smith. I hadn't thought of him, perhaps, because he'd made his criticisms a while ago, drawing back from the manga industry. With a bit of thought, though, I was able to remember one of the very first manga paperbacks I bought had been worked on by his Studio Proteus, back when I thought of it as "poor man's anime"; it was the best way I could think of to get to better know the anime referenced in a significant MSTing I'd come across early on.

It is possible Smith's more far-ranging criticisms were easier to disagree with than a simple "isn't it better to appreciate stories and visuals than to dwell on their foreignness?", and there certainly seemed to be advantages to the new era Smith drew back from. Still, the thought "it was too soon" outweighs just about everything else.