Viz "Censorship"

Chaos Saiyajin · Post by **Chaos Saiyajin** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 8:37 pm

Oh, I forgot to mention another Viz oddity. They mistranslated the Naruto technique "Byakugan" (White Eye) to "Evil Eye". There's really no excuse for that. Hinata isn't evil.

Viz's does some odd things to the Naruto manga. Sometimes they translate the techniques to english, sometimes they simply create their own term (Evil Eye). In Shaman King, they substitute the term 'mana' for 'furyoku' a term which is even used in the shitty 4kids dub. Why don't they simply use the Japanese term like they do in Dragonball and DBZ?

I've read manga from every company out there (Tokyopop, Dark Horse, and Del Ray are pretty much the only others besides VIZ), and I can quite honestly say that VIZ is leagues ahead of them. Del Ray is new to manga and needs a lot of work (Oh Negima ), and Tokyopop will always suck ass. Dark Horse is pretty good, though.

Edit-Can't forget CMX and poor Tenjo Tenge

I've only read from Viz and Tokyopop, and I'd have to say Tokyopop is way better than Viz. Tokyopop doesn't edit anything out, while Viz has gotten into the habit of editing recently. On the inside cover of Dr. Slump it reads: Some sexual humor, underage drinking scenes and underage smoking scenes have been modified from the original Japanese Edition.

Dumbasses. Viz doesn't seem to notice that people don't want shit that's been edited, they want the whole damn thing. Why can't Viz go back to the way it was in 1999?

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 8:55 pm

I have to say that Doc Slump is still hilarious though.

Chaos Saiyajin · Post by **Chaos Saiyajin** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 9:06 pm

I have to say that Doc Slump is still hilarious though.

Dr. Slump is still funny, but it probably could be funnier if some of the jokes weren't cut out. Even though I don't know how Dr. Slump can possibly get funnier...

Viz did do a great job on the english version of Sandland...What exactly has been edited out of the english DBZ? I know that from what I've read, none of Dragonball has been edited. (I own all of DB's first SJ printed volumes.) What makes me mad is the fact that I own an older printing of Vol. 1 of Naruto and a few weeks ago I went to Books-A-Million and noticed that Naruto cussing and the cussing by the townspeople had been edited out. That shit makes me mad.

I also hate the fact that all of my Bleach volumes are the new editions, so I may never know what I'm missing...

Post by **desirecampbell** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 9:40 pm

DBW wrote:
Duo wrote:I beg to differ. They are like...the only company that bothers to translate sound effects, which is the single most difficult task of Manga translation, by far.
Well, this is just where we differ in opinion. I hate how they erase the original sound effects and replace them with English ones. I honestly see it as ruining the art, since the sound effects are a part of the image, and not in an external bubble. They really should just put a little note somewhere between the panels or something (like Del Ray), not erase half the image and replace it with "SWOOOOOOOSH!!!". But that's just a matter of opinion, I know a lot of people prefer how VIZ does it.

I agree, I hate seeing "swoosh" in a manga - because I know it wasn't suppossed to be there. The original sound effects were part of the image, it really distracts from the sceen to see this 'bam!', it makes me think of Adam West's Batman.
I go even one step further. I can't remember where I saw it (pretty sure it was in a Shonen Jump) but they had erased the logo or sign of a building an replaced it with the english equivilant. It was suppossed to be an inticate design weaving the Japanese characters into the logo and into images - but it ended up being "HOSPITAL" or something. I was disgusted.

I don't see why they wouldn't just put an asterisk next to it and translate it at the bottom.

Chaos Saiyajin · Post by **Chaos Saiyajin** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 10:30 pm

I agree, I hate seeing "swoosh" in a manga - because I know it wasn't suppossed to be there. The original sound effects were part of the image, it really distracts from the sceen to see this 'bam!', it makes me think of Adam West's Batman.
I go even one step further. I can't remember where I saw it (pretty sure it was in a Shonen Jump) but they had erased the logo or sign of a building an replaced it with the english equivilant. It was suppossed to be an inticate design weaving the Japanese characters into the logo and into images - but it ended up being "HOSPITAL" or something. I was disgusted.

I don't see why they wouldn't just put an asterisk next to it and translate it at the bottom.

I hate it when they translate Japanese words into English on signs...I saw that on Naruto two weeks ago and cringed. The sound effects should be left unchanged. They could to something like Tokyopop does for Saiyuki and put an appendix of sound effects translations at the end of every volume.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:09 am

The reason they don't do things like that is it's less trouble. I'd rather read the sound effects than have to always look in the back of a book to know what sound is going on.

Duo · Post by **Duo** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:53 am

I agree with Super Sonic. I don't know the accuracy of the Sound effects, but I really like them. They aren't they stereotypical "BAM" seeming ones either. They are very realistic for each...use, and very suitable imo. I've also taken some time to compare how much they "mess" with the image and they really don't all that much. They integrate them very well and for me, add a lot of effect to the process. I get very, VERY absorbed into my Manga (becomes more real to me then watching Anime) so not having that there would...make me crumble.

And I own a volume of Saiyuki and that pretty much proves it, because the experience of reading it doesn't give me nearly as much fulfillment. I hate "looking things up" mid read.

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:48 am

Well for me personally anyway, I like indexes for things. And I never check them while I'm reading the manga. I always check them out after. That way I don't interrupt the flow and I still get the orignal stuff intact while learning about their meanings/origins afterwards. Also in many manga, a lot of the editor's notes about a term are just right at the bottom of the very same page, so it really isn't all that hard for a person to quickly glance down and read it. If it's something that they've chosen to give a long explanation about at the back of the book, then it's usually something that's not absolutely crucial to check up on that second. Everybody feels differently though, so to each his own with manga I guess. *shrugs*

Post by **desirecampbell** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 1:50 pm

Duo wrote:I agree with Super Sonic. I don't know the accuracy of the Sound effects, but I really like them. They aren't they stereotypical "BAM" seeming ones either. They are very realistic for each...use, and very suitable imo. I've also taken some time to compare how much they "mess" with the image and they really don't all that much. They integrate them very well and for me, add a lot of effect to the process. I get very, VERY absorbed into my Manga (becomes more real to me then watching Anime) so not having that there would...make me crumble.

And I own a volume of Saiyuki and that pretty much proves it, because the experience of reading it doesn't give me nearly as much fulfillment. I hate "looking things up" mid read.

I think a lot of the sound effects are necessary to set the tone. Like, when someone lands with a "tack' and just stares at the enemy - that "tack" sets the tone. Without it it wouldn't be clear that it was silent. These two impossibly strong fighters are sizing each other up - the tension between them is palatable. Who will attack first? Who makes the first move? The silence is broken only by their shifting clothes, and the wind.

Without those simple 'tack' and 'ruffle' sounds - the tension is all but lost.

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:18 pm

About Tokyopop, I don't know, maybe some of their stuff is good, but I know for a fact that .hack//LoT and .hack//AI Buster were butchered. VIZ may censor a bit, but at least they can, you know, TRANSLATE.

B-kun · Post by **B-kun** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:24 pm

I actually thought about .hack earlier. I know the first volume was.. subpar (they called Ouka "Orca"), but volumes 2 and 3 had a different translator were notably less Americanized.

Not entirely sure about AI Buster, but I didn't see anything to make me go WTF.

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:30 pm

Yeah, I got a second printing, where they fixed the Orca business. But the color picture at the start was turned to a plain black and white picture. Oh Rena-chan~~

And with AI Buster, there was this guy who knows Japanese over at the dothackers.net forums that took the English version apart

One significant error was calling Watarai's assistant a male, since that's Kamui

And to be on topic... go VIZ!

Chaos Saiyajin · Post by **Chaos Saiyajin** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 7:06 pm

About Tokyopop, I don't know, maybe some of their stuff is good, but I know for a fact that .hack//LoT and .hack//AI Buster were butchered. VIZ may censor a bit, but at least they can, you know, TRANSLATE.

Really? Wow! I never knew that at all about Twilight. What all did they mess up on?

I hate the sound-effect Viz uses in almost every volume of Naruto I own...':Lub-Dub'

B-kun · Post by **B-kun** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:17 pm

Chibi Mystic Gohan wrote:Yeah, I got a second printing, where they fixed the Orca business. But the color picture at the start was turned to a plain black and white picture. Oh Rena-chan~~

And with AI Buster, there was this guy who knows Japanese over at the dothackers.net forums that took the English version apart
One significant error was calling Watarai's assistant a male, since that's Kamui

Are you sure? I heard Kamui's going to appear in book two (Tokypop's site says so atleast), and the assistant didn't seem to play that big a role... I dunno, though. ^^;;

Back on topic...

Down with Viz! (It's only fair. >>)

Chaos Saiyajin · Post by **Chaos Saiyajin** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:21 pm

Down with Viz! (It's only fair. >>)

*grabs torch and pitchfork* Alright! After Viz is destroyed, 4kids is next!

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:07 pm

What Viz doesn't touch is Inuyasha and Kenshin. Which is fine by me, though I don't really read Inuyasha.

Chaos Saiyajin · Post by **Chaos Saiyajin** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:09 pm

What Viz doesn't touch is Inuyasha and Kenshin. Which is fine by me, though I don't really read Inuyasha.

That really pisses me off. If Kenshin and Inuyasha can get away edit free, why can't DBZ? I mean, isn't DBZ just as popular as Inuyasha and Kenshin? For me it seems that FUNi and Viz are switching places...Viz editing the DBZ manga, while FUNi is creating Ultimate Uncut Editions and letting cuss words slip out of the characters mouth, Viz is turning 'damn' into 'darn'. What's next, Naruto going uncut on CN? (Which I really wouldn't mind...PLEASE, oh PLEASE GOD!) The people at Viz are becoming more and more like Saban when they owned DBZ...

El_Diablo · Post by **El_Diablo** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 10:12 pm

Different titles have different co-ordinators, I believe.

DBW · Post by **DBW** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:49 pm

Super Sonic wrote:What Viz doesn't touch is Inuyasha and Kenshin. Which is fine by me, though I don't really read Inuyasha.

Isn't Inuyasha flipped (or am I thinking of Ranma 1/2)? If it is flipped, then I'd say that's the biggest form of manga destruction, IMO.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 12:16 am

DBW wrote:
Super Sonic wrote:What Viz doesn't touch is Inuyasha and Kenshin. Which is fine by me, though I don't really read Inuyasha.
Isn't Inuyasha flipped (or am I thinking of Ranma 1/2)? If it is flipped, then I'd say that's the biggest form of manga destruction, IMO.

I don't know how they did Maisson Ikoku (sp) or Lum, but Ms. Takahashi's works are flipped. Either way is ok for me.