Is there an acceptable translated version of the manga?

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 4:26 pm

Half a dozen? I remember the individual comics, the original graphic novels, the current graphic novels, and the VIZBIGs. The hardcovers don't count because they're only doing the first volume of Db and DBZ (a.k.a. Volumes 1 and 17). The boxsets don't count, either, because they're just the current graphic novels sold as a complete set.

Would the serialization of the Android/Cell arc in Jump count as a "release" or not?

Anywho, back on point... Out of everything that's complete or will be completed sometime soon-ish, that leaves you with the current graphic novels or the VIZBIGs when it comes to reading them in English. They're pretty much the same level of censorship and everything. It's up to you which version you wanna pick up out of the two.

If Mark's dub name makes you shudder and go into a nerd rage that much, if you can't go on without seeing people kill an old couple and a dog with realistic guns, if future #17 has to shoot a guy in the face with a pistol rather than punch through his skull to make you happy, if Mr. Popo needs Blackface for you to sleep well at night, and if you're really longing to see three or four panels of Toriyama-drawn Bulma boobs then I suggest that you just pick up the Japanese Tankoubon or Kanzenban for the specific volumes that you need to see uncensored.

Oh, and D'jinn Boo and Vegerot.

As most of the books don't need any sort of censorship, you'll be fine the large majority of the time. For those particular scenes in question, I'll go as far as to repeat myself and say that you should pick up the Japanese versions of those volumes. You can find volume comparisons over at Kanzentai so you know what has what in it since Tankoubon volumes 16 and 17 in Japan are split differently than DB 16 and DBZ 1 are in the US. Also, if you decide toi go for the Kanzenban you'll know exactly which volumes you'll want.

I also suggest some white-out if it doesn't bother you to mark in your graphic novels so you can replace that word that rhymes with "Fercule" with something more suitable like... Mark.

Onikage725 · Post by **Onikage725** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:43 pm

Y'know... I must be having a slow day... cuz I just realized that the word filter must be negating instances of Hercule. And Mark? I must have missed that.

I personally think that you can't go especially wrong with any particular Viz version. If anything, like someone suggested, pick up whichever edition you like and then maybe get the Kanzenban for the visuals. But there aren't an overwhelming amount of edits. And nudity fades out of most of the story anyway, so then you just have the gun thing- but how many characters use guns? I'm not a fan of censorship, but it isn't oppressive, omnipresent, or any sort of deal breaker (for me). Aside from those and some odd name choices here and there (ex. Hocus/Pui Pui, Cultivars/Saibaimen, Vegerott- though that one has a reason), it isn't bad. Even the big H at least throws a mention to "Mr. Satan" as a stage name, just insinuating that the other name is his real name. Oh, and sometimes it seems like the translators emphasis can add significance to a line that wasn't necessarily important. I don't really know how to describe that without an example, though.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:57 pm

The Mark thing comes from the new Super Exciting Guide. Mr. Satan's real name is Maaku; a pun on "akuma" (Japanese for "devil" or "demon") and the Japanese pronuncation of the name "Mark."

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:07 pm

*Reads through people still bashing the Vegerot name change causing head to explode.*

Post by **Herms** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:24 pm

NeptuneKai wrote:*Reads through people still bashing the Vegerot name change causing head to explode.*

I understand the reason for it, but it's still an incredibly awkward sounding name.

Onikage725 · Post by **Onikage725** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:31 pm

Kendamu wrote:The Mark thing comes from the new Super Exciting Guide. Mr. Satan's real name is Maaku; a pun on "akuma" (Japanese for "devil" or "demon") and the Japanese pronuncation of the name "Mark."

Oh. Thanks. That's cute. And now I know. So is Satan his real last name? Mister Maaku Satan?

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:38 pm

Herms wrote:
NeptuneKai wrote:*Reads through people still bashing the Vegerot name change causing head to explode.*
I understand the reason for it, but it's still an incredibly awkward sounding name.

More awkward then "Veget"? Personally I don't think so.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:52 pm

NeptuneKai wrote:*Reads through people still bashing the Vegerot name change causing head to explode.*

Ease off. I'm just poking fun at it. It's not like I ever raged over it.

Onikage725 wrote:
Kendamu wrote:The Mark thing comes from the new Super Exciting Guide. Mr. Satan's real name is Maaku; a pun on "akuma" (Japanese for "devil" or "demon") and the Japanese pronuncation of the name "Mark."
Oh. Thanks. That's cute. And now I know. So is Satan his real last name? Mister Maaku Satan?

No. Mr. Satan is his fighting persona. Where he comes from people don't have surnames. So, it's just Mark. You can find all of that and more in the Super Exciting Guide thread.

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:58 pm

Kendamu wrote:
Ease off.

I'm sorry after rereading that post I realize how angry in nature it was. It sounded a lot like a vicious attack, my bad.

Dayspring · Post by **Dayspring** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:52 pm

I'll rage over "Vegerot." I get the need to change it because of "Kakarott," but they could have just used "Vegett," meaning Vegetto without the O.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:46 pm

As Kendamu said, there aren't really that many to pick from in English. If we discount VizBig because they're not all out yet, there's the old, larger graphic novel releases with the white covers (I don't know how far they got before switching to the next type) and the smaller SJ ones with red covers for Dragon Ball and white for Dragon Ball Z. The current small/SJ ones can be split into two as well; the ones with the Viz cat logo on the spine, and the ones with the Viz box logo on the sign. Apparently the box ones are slightly more edited? But the box logo ones are all that's available for the last volumes. And honestly, they're only as censored as people here have already said -- I didn't even notice some of them until people here pointed them out.

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:37 pm

Dayspring wrote:I'll rage over "Vegerot." I get the need to change it because of "Kakarott," but they could have just used "Vegett," meaning Vegetto without the O.

I seriously can't believe people prefer "Vegett" over Vegerot. Pronounce Vegett out loud and tell me it doesn't sound really fucking stupid.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:09 pm

Bussani wrote:As Kendamu said, there aren't really that many to pick from in English. If we discount VizBig because they're not all out yet, there's the old, larger graphic novel releases with the white covers (I don't know how far they got before switching to the next type) and the smaller SJ ones with red covers for Dragon Ball and white for Dragon Ball Z. The current small/SJ ones can be split into two as well; the ones with the Viz cat logo on the spine, and the ones with the Viz box logo on the sign. Apparently the box ones are slightly more edited? But the box logo ones are all that's available for the last volumes. And honestly, they're only as censored as people here have already said -- I didn't even notice some of them until people here pointed them out.

The box ones are only more edited if there's more to edit. Nudity, middle fingers, Mark's ring name, realistic guns doing actual harm to normal people and animals, and randomly changing Vegetto and Majin Boo ti Vegerot and D'Jinn Boo are the only big changes I can think of.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:29 pm

Kendamu wrote:
Bussani wrote:As Kendamu said, there aren't really that many to pick from in English. If we discount VizBig because they're not all out yet, there's the old, larger graphic novel releases with the white covers (I don't know how far they got before switching to the next type) and the smaller SJ ones with red covers for Dragon Ball and white for Dragon Ball Z. The current small/SJ ones can be split into two as well; the ones with the Viz cat logo on the spine, and the ones with the Viz box logo on the sign. Apparently the box ones are slightly more edited? But the box logo ones are all that's available for the last volumes. And honestly, they're only as censored as people here have already said -- I didn't even notice some of them until people here pointed them out.
The box ones are only more edited if there's more to edit. Nudity, middle fingers, Mark's ring name, realistic guns doing actual harm to normal people and animals, and randomly changing Vegetto and Majin Boo ti Vegerot and D'Jinn Boo are the only big changes I can think of.

So there really isn't a difference between the box ones and the cat ones? Some of the earlier volumes are available in both cat and box form, so maybe someone who's seen both could tell us if one is more edited than the other.

Rocketman · Post by **Rocketman** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:30 pm

NeptuneKai wrote:
Dayspring wrote:I'll rage over "Vegerot." I get the need to change it because of "Kakarott," but they could have just used "Vegett," meaning Vegetto without the O.
I seriously can't believe people prefer "Vegett" over Vegerot. Pronounce Vegett out loud and tell me it doesn't sound really fucking stupid.

What about "Gogeta"?

Dayspring · Post by **Dayspring** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:34 pm

NeptuneKai wrote:
Dayspring wrote:I'll rage over "Vegerot." I get the need to change it because of "Kakarott," but they could have just used "Vegett," meaning Vegetto without the O.
I seriously can't believe people prefer "Vegett" over Vegerot. Pronounce Vegett out loud and tell me it doesn't sound really fucking stupid.

Whatever! I wrote it out because I thought Kakarot was spelled with two Ts. My point was that if they removed the last syllable off Kakarotto, then that's what they should do to Vegetto's name. Vegerot makes me think of rotting vegies. Hell, I'd even take "Vegeot" over "Vegerot."

Of course, I think it's stupid to edit Kakarotto into Kakarot in the first place, so I'll stop before I piss someone off.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:04 am

Bussani wrote:
Kendamu wrote:
Bussani wrote:As Kendamu said, there aren't really that many to pick from in English. If we discount VizBig because they're not all out yet, there's the old, larger graphic novel releases with the white covers (I don't know how far they got before switching to the next type) and the smaller SJ ones with red covers for Dragon Ball and white for Dragon Ball Z. The current small/SJ ones can be split into two as well; the ones with the Viz cat logo on the spine, and the ones with the Viz box logo on the sign. Apparently the box ones are slightly more edited? But the box logo ones are all that's available for the last volumes. And honestly, they're only as censored as people here have already said -- I didn't even notice some of them until people here pointed them out.
The box ones are only more edited if there's more to edit. Nudity, middle fingers, Mark's ring name, realistic guns doing actual harm to normal people and animals, and randomly changing Vegetto and Majin Boo ti Vegerot and D'Jinn Boo are the only big changes I can think of.
So there really isn't a difference between the box ones and the cat ones? Some of the earlier volumes are available in both cat and box form, so maybe someone who's seen both could tell us if one is more edited than the other.

There's probably some differences between the cat ones and the box ones if the volume had anything VIZ thought was worthy of censoring in the first place. I know that Piccolo let's out a "DAMN!" in the box version of Vol. 3.

Most of my manga volumes are the box version and, if there is censorship, it's pretty minor. In most cases there wasn't anything to censor in VIZ's eyes.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:10 am

Dayspring wrote:Of course, I think it's stupid to edit Kakarotto into Kakarot in the first place, so I'll stop before I piss someone off.

I think the O on the end is just part of the pronounciation, not the name itself. Keeping it was Kakarotto would be like spelling Trunks as Torankusu? So it makes sense, really. It just makes the fusion name awkward.

Vegeot I could live with. Or how about Vegot? Meh, it's all pretty awkward.

Kendamu wrote:Most of my manga volumes are the box version and, if there is censorship, it's pretty minor. In most cases there wasn't anything to censor in VIZ's eyes.

Yeah...a bunch of mine are the box ones and I never noticed any especially heavy editing. I don't have matching copies of the cat ones to compare them to, but if there's a difference it's probably nothing big. Good to know.

Post by **Herms** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 5:25 am

I don't see why they couldn't have just gone with "Vegetto". I mean, that is his actual name, and the name most fans already knew him as (whether spelled Vegetto or Vegito). Sure it's a bit confusing since they used to "Kakarrot" spelling, but they could just explain the name in a note or something.

Actually, that reminds me. They spell Goku's Saiyan name as "Kakarrot", with two "r"s (I guess to more closely match "carrot"), so shouldn't it be "Vegerrot" and not "Vegerot"?

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:00 am

Herms wrote:I don't see why they couldn't have just gone with "Vegetto". I mean, that is his actual name, and the name most fans already knew him as (whether spelled Vegetto or Vegito). Sure it's a bit confusing since they used to "Kakarrot" spelling, but they could just explain the name in a note or something.

Actually, that reminds me. They spell Goku's Saiyan name as "Kakarrot", with two "r"s (I guess to more closely match "carrot"), so shouldn't it be "Vegerrot" and not "Vegerot"?

In the VIZ manga it is officially spelled as "Vegerot" with a single "r" despite "Kakarrot" having two.