Best English Release of the Manga?

[KentalSSJ6]

Is it possible that earlier released translations had more prevalent swears to make manga seem more "edgy" and "mature" compared to the domestic comic book market? I am not too familiar with Naruto or One Piece but knowing what dubbing companies did throughout the 1980's and 1990's anime, they either dumbed them down for children or made them seem more mature and edgy by adding curse words in places that didn't have them, or the dubbing changed sentences such as "X should respect me," to "X should kiss my ass (and then I'll rape her)!"

Seriously. That happened.

So, it is possible that some of the censors are not censors at all and are actually more faithful to the original... however, that isn't the case with Dragonball.

I think the issue is the fact VIZ is marketing DBZ to all ages instead of the T+ rating it really needs. So long as they intend to market to kids around 8-12, we are gonna keep getting the same crap translation and censored material.

Its sad I have to rely on fan translations to get a accurate product.

[AgitoZ]

Its sad I have to rely on fan translations to get a accurate product.

It's sad that you use this as an excuse to not support the series.

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

Its sad I have to rely on fan translations to get a accurate product.

It's sad that you use this as an excuse to not support the series.

It's sad that you have to post this. Who said he didn't support the series? He could have bought them and still use fan translation.

[KentalSSJ6]

Its sad I have to rely on fan translations to get a accurate product.

It's sad that you use this as an excuse to not support the series.

I owned the VIZBIGS at one point but I have since sold them in place for the Kanzenbans which I imported. Ill support a product shown in its entire original form, not some bastardized censored product dumbed down for younger viewers.

Uncensored, unaltered, and unedited, or nothing. Thats just how I am with these things.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

Its sad I have to rely on fan translations to get a accurate product.

It's sad that you use this as an excuse to not support the series.

I owned the VIZBIGS at one point but I have since sold them in place for the Kanzenbans which I imported. Ill support a product shown in its entire original form, not some bastardized censored product dumbed down for younger viewers.

Uncensored, unaltered, and unedited, or nothing. Thats just how I am with these things.

Now you just created another problem, reading Japanese.

The 3 in 1s would have been nice if it were a new translation, sucks even the new colored manga will still have the same translation as before><

[KentalSSJ6]

While I dont indeed know Japanese, I have seen DBZ so much I pretty much know the series inside and out. I may not understand the words but I know what they are saying.

Sad to say I wont be buying any version of the manga in english due to the treatment VIZ gives it. Which reminds me, gotta get the Japanese Full Colors.

[LordCrumb]

Thanks heaps for the suggestions and discussion folks!

[Mewzard]

While I dont indeed know Japanese, I have seen DBZ so much I pretty much know the series inside and out. I may not understand the words but I know what they are saying.

Sad to say I wont be buying any version of the manga in english due to the treatment VIZ gives it. Which reminds me, gotta get the Japanese Full Colors.

The Full Color version Viz is doing has been, minus Mr. Popo's lips (which is entirely understandable), uncensored visually.

You can argue the translation, but it's not a bad translation at all. There are a few questionable term choices, and at least one line choice made to poke fun at the old dub's stupid line choice, but it's a perfectly acceptable way to get through the series otherwise.

Combined with visuals that aren't removing nudity or violence, and you've got a decent release.

The English versions are also bigger, comparable to an actual issue of Shonen Jump from what has been described, so that's unique to Viz's version. Rare to get volumes of manga close to or at the "Original Size" (by that, I mean in magazine form).

[KentalSSJ6]

While I dont indeed know Japanese, I have seen DBZ so much I pretty much know the series inside and out. I may not understand the words but I know what they are saying.

Sad to say I wont be buying any version of the manga in english due to the treatment VIZ gives it. Which reminds me, gotta get the Japanese Full Colors.

The Full Color version Viz is doing has been, minus Mr. Popo's lips (which is entirely understandable), uncensored visually.

You can argue the translation, but it's not a bad translation at all. There are a few questionable term choices, and at least one line choice made to poke fun at the old dub's stupid line choice, but it's a perfectly acceptable way to get through the series otherwise.

Combined with visuals that aren't removing nudity or violence, and you've got a decent release.

The English versions are also bigger, comparable to an actual issue of Shonen Jump from what has been described, so that's unique to Viz's version. Rare to get volumes of manga close to or at the "Original Size" (by that, I mean in magazine form).

But they still include Piccolo's Shakespearean dialogue, Veggerot, Buu The Djinn, Chi, and ugh...the H Word. Right?

[Mewzard]

But they still include Piccolo's Shakespearean dialogue, Veggerot, Buu The Djinn, Chi, and ugh...the H Word. Right?

I'd say just say the word, but "Hercules" is still censored here...which is still the most childish use of forum-wide censorship I've ever seen (when you literally try and discuss the name change properly, you can't because of crap like this).

Piccolo's "Shakespearean Dialog" does not last long.

Vegerot, the choice of Djinn for Buu, and Mr. Satan's nomenclature are still too distant to say (though if it remains unchanged, that would be the likely course).

And what's wrong with Chi? Ki is just the Japanese way to say Chi. Just like it's Shenlong, not Shenron. It's linguistic limitations with the writer using terms more familiar to Japanese speakers (i.e. their own versions of Chinese terms). But, really, it should be Chi and Shenlong.

Mr. Satan at least gets a name drop, and is not entirely ignored.

Djinn, I don't have too much of a problem with, given that parts of Buu's attire give him the Djinni vibe, it sounds similar, and he, much like a Djinn, is a magical creature. It works.

I do dislike Vegerot, despite understanding where they came from with that (when you drop the "-to" from Kakarotto to make Kakarot...it does leave issues with Vegetto).

Some of those changes make sense (Chi, Djinn, etc), Piccolo's voice quirk isn't around for long (change in translators I believe), and the other stuff is just infrequently used (Vegetto's barely around before Toriyama drops the fusion...how often is the name even dropped? As for Mr. H, he's late game, and only in a few sections, so it's not that bad).

Can't you just replace the terms you don't like in your head? That's what I do with my copies of Saint Seiya from Viz (we went from Saints to Knights, the Pope to the Master, and 2-3 name changes, but it's no big deal, we wouldn't have gotten the manga at all if not for the dub at the time...thankfully its terrible was mostly avoided in manga form).

I mean, if you're just going to be getting the Japanese version, and if you are unable to read Japanese, it would be much easier to change a few words than go entirely from memory on a particularly long manga.

[KentalSSJ6]

Guess ill play the waiting game for now. Hopefully VIZ gains some sort of sense and realizes in the future that DBZ should not be a All Ages product and re-rate it to at least T.

If they are so worried about the "Mature" content they can put the sticker on it and shrinkwrap the volumes like Dark Horse does with Berserk (need to finish getting the volumes of that series....)

[Fizzer]

Guess ill play the waiting game for now. Hopefully VIZ gains some sort of sense and realizes in the future that DBZ should not be a All Ages product and re-rate it to at least T.

If they are so worried about the "Mature" content they can put the sticker on it and shrinkwrap the volumes like Dark Horse does with Berserk (need to finish getting the volumes of that series....)

That would drive away a big chunk of their audience, and lose them money. They won't do that.

[rereboy]

I owned the VIZBIGS at one point but I have since sold them in place for the Kanzenbans which I imported. Ill support a product shown in its entire original form, not some bastardized censored product dumbed down for younger viewers.

Uncensored, unaltered, and unedited, or nothing. Thats just how I am with these things.

I think you would be better off realizing that nothing is perfect, or will ever be perfect, and that a pretty good release in our native language of a foreign series with minor problems is awesome and more than satisfying.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

I think you would be better off realizing that nothing is perfect, or will ever be perfect, and that a pretty good release in our native language of a foreign series with minor problems is awesome and more than satisfying.

But it sucks when illegal English scanlations of the manga are better than legal official English versions of the manga.

[rereboy]

I think you would be better off realizing that nothing is perfect, or will ever be perfect, and that a pretty good release in our native language of a foreign series with minor problems is awesome and more than satisfying.

But it sucks when illegal English scanlations of the manga are better than legal official English versions of the manga.

They mostly aren't.

And you are probably considering some of them superior just because they are more literal sometimes. Well, translating a foreign series takes more than just translate literally what is being said, and Viz does a good job at adapting it, it just takes it a little too far sometimes.

Anyway, if you lived in a country with virtually no manga domestic releases and no complete DB release, like me, I think you would see the matter differently.

[Super Sonic]

But they still include Piccolo's Shakespearean dialogue, Veggerot, Buu The Djinn, Chi, and ugh...the H Word. Right?

Like the guy above said, Piccolo's early dialogue was an early thing that changed. Similar to how Spider-Man and Cyclops used to be whiny little bitches. As for Veggerot, and Buu, name changes for a bit of translation happen. Don't know if you've ever heard of the Belgian comic Tintin, but in it, there are two detectives named Thompson and Thomson in the English translations but are called Dupond and Dupont in its original French. No one has complained about that at all to my knowledge. Also a lot of Marvel and DC characters' names are different in France and Mexico, and possibly Japan.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

They mostly aren't.

And you are probably considering some of them superior just because they are more literal sometimes. Well, translating a foreign series takes more than just translate literally what is being said, and Viz does a good job at adapting it, it just takes it a little too far sometimes.

I'm not saying that Viz is doing a bad job, I'm saying that some scanlations do a better job. The translation is more literal, there is no censorship, and the Kanzenban is used.

Anyway, if you lived in a country with virtually no manga domestic releases and no complete DB release, like me, I think you would see the matter differently.

Well, the manga was never released in Greece.

[rereboy]

I'm not saying that Viz is doing a bad job, I'm saying that some scanlations do a better job. The translation is more literal, there is no censorship, and the Kanzenban is used.

Yeah, but you see, those are all minor problems. The things censored in the current releases are very few and of basically no consequence (breasts, Mr. Popo's lips, ...), and the number of altered panels are slim. The original being used instead of the Kanzenban is also hardly important because there's few differences between the original and the Kanzenban, and probably the most significant differences are the color pages and the bigger size, something that is mostly present in the Vizbigs even if not completely, and Viz's translation is almost always better than fan translations (more literal doesn't automatically mean better).

Hardly worth preferring a release in a language we don't understand just because of that, in my opinion.

I, for example, since I can more or less understand spanish and french, could have gotten either the Kanzenban release in spanish or french, which are close to perfect. But I didn't because I'm much more comfortable with english, so its much better for me to have the Vizbigs, even if they have more problems, because being in a more familiar language is much more worth it to me than having a few more panels uncensored, or a few more pages in color or a slightly more literal translation (in a language I have more difficulty in).

I could let the problems that exist bother me, or let the fact that a definite release in a language I'm very comfortable with doesn't exist bother me, but, honestly, I just reflect upon those problems and the conclusion I reach is that they hardly matter... They are minor problems, they hardly diminish the quality of the series/story, and a perfect release is impossible... So, why should I even be bothered by it?

Well, the manga was never released in Greece.

Well, then I guess we have different mindsets.

[AgitoZ]

Who said he didn't support the series? He could have bought them and still use fan translation.

Well, he himself said so in this very thread, "Exactly the reason I dont own the manga. The translation, much like Uchiyama's work, never ceases to make me cringe."

So you'll have to excuse me for assuming that he doesn't own the comics when he's also suggesting that scanlations are better. I certainly have my own problem with Viz's release of the series, but they are certainly better than some schmucks on the internet. Honestly, when you get down to it, the complaints sound more like nitpicks. I would much rather introduce someone to Dragon Ball using Viz's release of the comic than using FUNimation's dub.

[Herms]

And what's wrong with Chi? Ki is just the Japanese way to say Chi. Just like it's Shenlong, not Shenron. It's linguistic limitations with the writer using terms more familiar to Japanese speakers (i.e. their own versions of Chinese terms). But, really, it should be Chi and Shenlong.

Well, "Shenlong" is flat-out a Chinese name, specifically used in place of the Japanese equivalent, Shinyruu. But "ki" isn't like that at all; it's just a Japanese word used the same way it's typically used, in martial arts fantasies at least. Yes, "chi" is (one of the romanizations for) the equivalent Chinese word, but there's no particular reason to use it instead of "ki", or even just translating the word out as "energy" or "spirit". I guess Viz figured more people would be familiar with the Chinese word "chi" than the Japanese "ki", but that seems questionable, especially considering the sorts of people who'd be reading English manga translations in the first place.

All that said, I don't really have a problem with Viz's use of "chi", except that's it kind of an antiquated romanization. These days "qi" is preferred, just as Peking is now called Beijing.

Djinn, I don't have too much of a problem with, given that parts of Buu's attire give him the Djinni vibe, it sounds similar, and he, much like a Djinn, is a magical creature. It works.

"Djinn" is a perfectly standard way to translate "majin", since the word "majin" in Japanese is commonly used to refer to djinn/genie. For instance, towards the end of Dr. Slump there's a very typical genie who appears, who's called the "majin of the teapot"; his clothes are even similar to Boo's.

Maybe "djinn" wasn't the best way to translate "majin" in the context of DB, but you can't even call doing so a "change". It's just a translation of the original Japanese word.