Portuguese Dragon Ball Tankoubon Edition *On Going* - Review

[rereboy]

So, I bought Volumes 10 and 11.



Thoughts on this Volume:

Pretty great. All of the title pages are there as well as all the unique art of the Volume (except for the art of Toriyama's comment like usual). Its still uncensored, and the paper, printing and covers continue to be of high quality.

In fact, everytime I buy one of these Volumes, I'm always surprised at how good their paper and printing is. The color pages, even though aren't printed in color, look amazing thanks to the quality printing and paper. There is only one flaw in the paper. Its a tiny bit transparent. Sometimes we can see the back of the page through the other page. I forgot to mention this earlier, but its like that in every Volume. Other than that, its pretty much perfect.

Regarding the translation, in this Volume its also great. We have Tsuru-Sen'nin receiving the same treatment as Kame-Sen'nin, sometimes he is called Tsuru-Sen'nin, other times Corvo Genial. And we also have the names Tenshinhan and Chaoz. I didn't notice any mistakes.



This Volume also keeps all of the title pages there as well as all the unique art of the Volume (except for the art of Toriyama's comment like usual). Its also uncensored, with great quality in the printing, paper and covers.

The translation is great, I didn't notice any mistakes and pretty much everything is as it should be, including the name of the attacks.

I did notice however that the Volume is actually a bit taller than the other Volumes. I don't know if its just my copy, but it seems to me that ASA is still struggling with keeping the Volume's size consistent. The biggest problem with this is the fact that its screws with the spine art's alignment. I don't really care about that since I want my manga to read it and to own it, not to display it and besides I already have all the spine art in perfect condition in my copy of Viz's Daizenshuu 1. But its still a flaw. Perhaps the biggest one in this release since overall its been awesome.

[dragonfist]

It's a similar problem like over in the NA released by Viz in vol.12 where its slightly a bit taller than the rest. Don't know about reprints but their first print that I own certainly does.

[omegalucas]

From ASA's Press Release, publshed in the Bongop blog:

DRAGON BALL 12 – PICCOLO, O GRANDE REI DO MAL
É o fim de mais um Torneio de Artes Marciais (o Tenka’ Ichi Budokai) mas a festa que assinalaria a final não vai ocorrer. Outrora vencido pelo Tartaruga Genial, Piccolo surge do passado.
Quando Krillin é morto por um monstro com forma de lagarto, Goku vai à procura do culpado e depara-se com o mais terrível inimigo que enfrentou até agora: o malvado Piccolo Daimaoh! Depois de se ter libertado de séculos de prisão, Piccolo envia grupos de monstros com a missão de encontrar as Bolas de Dragão e destruir quaisquer lutadores de artes marciais que possam opor-se-lhe. Com a sua nuvem voadora destruída, Goku encontra-se perdido no meio da selva onde conhece um improvável novo aliado. Entretanto, Kame-Sen’nin prepara um plano de último recurso para derrotar Piccolo... mas com que custo?

[Puto]

Well, damn :/

Better than Coraçãozinho de Satan, either way.

[omegalucas]

Well, damn :/

Better than Coraçãozinho de Satan, either way.

Why 'damn'? It's as closer to the Japanese as possible!

[Puto]

I don't like having unnecessary untranslated Japanese, which 'daimaoh' qualifies as.

[rereboy]

I don't like having unnecessary untranslated Japanese, which 'daimaoh' qualifies as.

You should know by now that they will probably use different versions of the name, like they did with Muten Roshi, using a translation but also the original.

So, they will probably say "Piccolo Daimao", and then "Piccolo, O Grande Rei do Mal" or something similar.

I assume that they will drop the Coraçãozinho de Satã business completely since its not a translation (unlike Tartaruga Genial which is a possible translation for Kame Senin) and doesn't make sense.

[Puto]

There actually is a slight inkling of the original in the name "Satan Petit-Cœur", in a really overly adapted way. "Satan" is from "Daimaō," "The Great Demon King." In Western mythology, we call the great king of demons "Satan" or "the Devil." And the "Petit" can come from a translation of the italian word "Piccolo" (even though the "piccolo" that Toriyama was referring to was the flute instrument, and not the italian adjective for small, but hey). Only the "Cœur" part was truly completely made up. So I can see HOW they came up with that name, but it's totally overadapted. And I personally see "Daimaō" as an adjective that applies to Piccolo and not as his actual name. He is "the Great King of Demons/Evil." In a way, if Daimaō was his real name, it'd be like naming a person "Great King of Evil." Feels more like an adjective or "honorific" that applies to him, the same way you tack on a -keiji at the end when talking about a Police Detective, or -keibu when talking to an Inspector (i.e. "Takagi-keiji" and "Megure-keibu" in Detective Conan, which no translator ever leaves untranslated), or the same way you use the word "Engenheiro" in Portuguese when talking about someone with a degree in Engineering (i.e. "O Engenheiro José Sócrates," something that you used to hear a lot in the media until it was discovered that his degree was fake).

[Herms]

"Satan" is from "Daimaō," "The Great Demon King." In Western mythology, we call the great king of demons "Satan" or "the Devil."

Yeah, Maou/Daimaou is used in Japanese as a translation for Satan/the Devil sometimes, as well as Satan's title. So sometimes you see "Maou Satan" and sometimes just "Maou" on its own as a term for Satan. Also, for some odd reason the Japanese Wikipedia page for Maou is linked with the English Wikipedia page for Archenemy.

Only the "Cœur" part was truly completely made up.

This is probably clutching at straws, but I wonder if that somehow comes from the "koro" in Pikkoro? Like for some reason they thought the name was combining kokoro with the Italian word for "small"? Don't know why they'd think that, but that's my only guess as to how "Cœur" got in there.

And I personally see "Daimaō" as an adjective that applies to Piccolo and not as his actual name. He is "the Great King of Demons/Evil." In a way, if Daimaō was his real name, it'd be like naming a person "Great King of Evil." Feels more like an adjective or "honorific" that applies to him, the same way you tack on a -keiji at the end when talking about a Police Detective, or -keibu when talking to an Inspector (i.e. "Takagi-keiji" and "Megure-keibu" in Detective Conan, which no translator ever leaves untranslated), or the same way you use the word "Engenheiro" in Portuguese when talking about someone with a degree in Engineering (i.e. "O Engenheiro José Sócrates," something that you used to hear a lot in the media until it was discovered that his degree was fake).

Maybe this talk of Satan has put me in a Biblical mood, but the two examples that jump out in my mind are Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot, both instances where the title after the person's name is commonly left untranslated in English. For that matter, "Satan" only exists as a word in English because Ye Olde Bible Translators didn't feel like translating the Hebrew word for "adversary" at certain points.

[rereboy]

Volume 13 cover:



Press release:

"Piccolo recupera a sua juventude, tornando-se mais poderoso que nunca! Depois de voar até ao palácio do Rei do Mundo, anuncia que é ele o novo Rei, e dá a conhecer o seu reinado de terror pela TV internacional! Só Tenshinhan e Goku têm hipóteses de parar Piccolo: Tenshinhan através de um golpe de artes marciais que pode matar aquele que o usar e Goku bebendo uma poção que o pode tornar mais forte - mas também o pode matar! Os dois heróis arriscam a vida para salvar o planeta - e entretanto, Yajirobe come demais e fica doente! "

[Mountain]

Unfortunately, I don't speak Portuguese, but those are really nice tankoubons. I love that they're using the original designs.

[Rukura]

Already read volume 12 this past week. Loved how they even used "Great Demon King" and mixed it up with Daimaoh (i'm sure they need their space for speach text so i approve.

Also, Goku calling Piccolo a slug made. my. day.

Can't wait for volume 13

[omegalucas]

Already read volume 12 this past week. Loved how they even used "Great Demon King" and mixed it up with Daimaoh (i'm sure they need their space for speach text so i approve.

Also, Goku calling Piccolo a slug made. my. day.

Can't wait for volume 13

I agree,

[Rukura]

Well, sure took me a few pages to find the thread!

Anyway, volumes 14 and 15 are out...and well...I'm slightly underwhelmed despite the overall solid good work on these.

Up until now, we've been getting some very minor dub-isms that were semi-accurate but also balanced out with the usage of its japanese name (see: "Tartaruga Genial" and Kame Sen'nin), which I thought was a fair trade-off, or name fixes (see: Piccolo Daimao at last in a portuguese release) which were very much needed and enjoyed.

In these 2 volumes, however...we get Kami-sama. I'm torn on this one. They don't just use Kami (a la the english translations) and they also reference him as both "a god" and "God" so I might be okay with Kami-sama, but...come on...you go out of your way to be faithful and you skip on the chance to be the most accurate ones by just naming him God...I'd be able to see where they're coming from, if his divine "identity" wasn't referenced so much. Nitpicking? Most likely, as it remains a pretty solid and consistent use of it, but seemed worth a mention. (They did use it in volume 2, which hinted at that)

BUT! They used "Kika" with an insert on her original name early on, right? Because even so, with such a good work done on everything else, keeping everything faithful....reading "Kika" three times across a page was kinda disheartening (enough to make me close the volume in disgust...until I had my coffee lol)

Oh, well. Not a big deal, I guess. Looking forward to Rereboy's thoughts on these last few volumes. Here's hoping they keep'em coming! And Mr. Satan!!! (given how short Astro Boy and Yu-Gi-Oh! lasted in comparison, I'm very much looking forward to a complete release)

EDIT: - "Zao-zô-ken" during Kuririn and Ma Junior (refered to as "Demon Junior", which I get). Little slip-up on them, but still a bit unfortunate.
- "chi", courtesy of Shen, despite having "Sô-KI-dan" the next page...Oh...kayyy...

[omegalucas]

Caro leitor,
Quero, antes de mais, agradecer o seu e-mail, pois é para mim muito importante receber feedback dos nossos leitores quanto ao trabalho que desenvolvemos.
Em relação à nossa edição de Dragon Ball, é nossa intenção publicá-la pelo menos até ao número 16, sendo que esse volume já se encontra em gráfica e planeado para comercialização no mês de Janeiro de 2012 (tradicionalmente, em Dezembro não colocamos livros nas livrarias).
A partir desse volume, é provável que façamos uma paragem no lançamento da colecção, tal como ocorreu com o Yu-Gi-Oh! (pelos motivos que aponta, penso que a fazermos alguma paragem no ritmo de edição, será nos tomos que menciona, embora a edição portuguesa siga a edição japonesa e esta apresente, face à edição de Viz EUA, algumas alterações que sugerem continuidade).
Este assunto terá de ser ponderado aquando da apresentação/aprovação do nosso programa editorial, o que até agora ainda não ocorreu.
Com os meus melhores cumprimentos,

MJP

Dragon Ball is likely to stop after volume 16, like Yu-Gi-Oh! did at volume 7, at least for a while.
Let's hope they'll continue to publish it in the future.

[Rukura]

That scares me. As far as Yu-Gi-Oh I didn't mind it much, since I was more interested in what wasn't entirely about the card game. And for only 7 volumes, I really enjoyed it.

16 volumes is a lot bigger of an investement on a collection with the prospect of remaining incomplete.....even more so when their about to get to the more popular part of it (no to mention leaving one of the best fights in the series in the middle)

[rereboy]

What really scares me is that they seem to intend to follow the Japanese version of Volume 16, which means that the Piccolo Jr arc (which ended in the original Volume 17) will be left without its conclusion until they decide to release more volumes. And if they don't...

[Rukura]

As far as that issue goes, I completely aprove. It should never have been Viz's call to change the volumes' structure, especially just to add a Z to that later portion.

Besides, I would rather ASA follow the japanese side more closely instead of Viz, specially if they do complete the collection.

[sangofe]

This is probably clutching at straws, but I wonder if that somehow comes from the "koro" in Pikkoro? Like for some reason they thought the name was combining kokoro with the Italian word for "small"? Don't know why they'd think that, but that's my only guess as to how "Cœur" got in there.

I speak french, and I've always thought of the name like this --
Satan (because he's evil like Satan himself), Petit Cœur -> small heart - he's got somehow of a heart, you know.

[dbboxkaifan]

Will the Portuguese Portugal Dragon Ball manga collection be made available to buy in packs, in future? Planned?

FNAC seems to have a good deal, first volume + Son Goku's image on a backpack/bag for €9.60, but it's not too tempting.



Though, I'd definitely love to own this bag above.