An in-depth analysis of Viz's volume 9 translation

[chey_wolfe]

Hello everyone! A while back, after I received my copy of English Loveless Volume 9, translated by Viz, I did an analysis of some of the things I found strange or mistranslated. In my opinion, it's worth a read. I'm not trying to speak badly about Viz, but rather, to make people aware that translators may not always be the most reliable.

The

Comments

[fencer_x]

Another example of why fans should be the ones translating manga; not companies. The only company that's ever going to be a reliable translation company is one that allows fans to translate the manga themselves, let others comment on the quality, and grow that way.

[fencer_x]

Also, I'd be interested in seeing the original Japanese for some of the mistranslations--it's impossible to tell which is the more accurate one without seeing what it's coming from. To be honest the 'you just get stalked by a pervert' sounds like the more accurate translation, and the fan one doesn't even make much sense to me personally. (I've never found an official translation I thought did a series justice, but that doesn't mean it isn't at least more accurate at many points than fan ones)

[wondervalley]

I actually legit laughed out loud at the stupidity of the car joke.

Thanks so much for your honest review. Quite appalling translating :| I hope Kamibana keeps scanlating...

[chibi_pengu]

I hope VIZ's wonky translations won't prevent people from buying the new releases. :(

Sadly, There are not any better in print English releases and if people don't buy 9/10 VIZ could just not bother with the rest of them.

[nochick_fics]

The hell did I miss this?

People did warn me about Viz (and I've seen some of their more interesting choices firsthand) but to see your side-by-side comparisons really brings it home. I will continue buying the translations because I do want the series in both languages, but I will lean towards the Japanese versions and Kamibana translations. (This also makes me want to go back and compare the Tokyopop volumes to the Omnibus releases...)

Thank you for taking the time to do this. It was very insightful!