Viz Graphic Novels

Discussion regarding the entirety of the franchise in a general (meta) sense, including such aspects as: production, trends, merchandise, fan culture, and more.

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Mugenmidget
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Post by Mugenmidget » Thu Jan 20, 2005 8:59 pm

NeverRamza wrote:
Mugenmidget wrote:
Mattias wrote:I don't get it, what's so offensive about Mr. Popo's lips?
But with all due respect, it seems kind of weird that Mr. Popo has the appearance he does...does any Toriyama-head have any detailing on why he might have chosen that particular look?
No deep answer, it's for the sake of comedy. For obvious reasons. The Japanese just don't take the issue as seriously as many Americans.
The only problem with "the sake of comedy" is that while in old Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes/Merry Melodies cartoons you see a lot of stereotypical Japanese people portrayed, you don't see any of those same Japanese stereotypes put into their entertainment.

I'm not saying they should HAVE to make fun of theirselves, but to me it seems like they have the same superiority complex as almost any other country.

That said and done...I don't mind the "racial profiling." I just have to wonder sometimes if it's done with a lot more harm in mind.

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Post by Tanooki Kuribo » Thu Jan 20, 2005 11:36 pm

"The Ultra Hardcore Popo Lip Discussion"

Black people's lips usually are big, you can just see that. It dosnet mean they are slaves it dont mean there ignorant, its just a feature that comes with there race.

Asian people's eyes ARE somewhat longer then non Asian people. It dont mean they like to eat rice and do math, It just comes with there race.

Now Italians (Iam Italian) they are steriotypiclly mobsters, or gluttons or good cooks, now all those things are not regular features that you can see, those are steriotypes, but all those things are on TV today, you have Soprano's, Simpsons (the mob guys, and that pizza guy Luigi) The Gotti's and so on. I'am not saying I get mad at those things I think there funny, I dont mind it.

Basiclly my point is, Popo is not filling a steriotype, he has a feature that comes with a certain race. Furthermore, hes not black hes some kind of wired being that isnt from this Earth (or is to my understanding) He has some traits of certain races I suppose but he's not officially black.

Sorry if I offended anyone... :oops:

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Post by VegettoEX » Thu Jan 20, 2005 11:40 pm

Tanooki Kuribo wrote:it dont mean there ignorant
You have GOT to be kidding me...
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'lo Legends
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Post by 'lo Legends » Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:36 am

How many black people live in Japan?

Answer: Not many.

That means, Toriyama didn't really have to care about offending anyone, because there really wasn't anyone to offend. Toriyama never thought that the manga would be released in America, where it could be read by black people.

I have to say that I don't really mind Viz's One Piece and Dragonball changes. No manga translating company is perfect.
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Heritic
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Post by Heritic » Fri Jan 21, 2005 7:00 pm

Could it be possible that Toriyama just gave Mr. Popo some big lips so you could see his mouth? He is colored completely black so it's impossible to see any lines that could be his mouth.

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Post by *PINHEAD* » Fri Jan 21, 2005 9:58 pm

I guess it could be that since Popo was completely black, and had lighter, fat lips, Viz thought it could be offensive.
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Post by Caracal » Sat Jan 22, 2005 6:46 pm

Heritic wrote:Yeah probably, that must be why Viz doesn't answer any of the letters about it. Also probably in hopes that the dub will bring in new readers, then the new readers won't be confused. Too bad it shows no consideration to the ones who were already reading OP.
If that's the case, then why do the characters in Shaman King have their proper names rather than the anime ones?

Personaly I'm dissapointed to hear DBZ was censored. They didn't censor One Piece or Shaman King (to my knowledge), so why did they have to do it with DBZ? I supose it's so they can have younger readers read the manga and not have soccor mom's attack them, which is a shame.

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Post by Super Sonic » Sat Jan 22, 2005 7:09 pm

DBZ is only censored for language and flipping the bird. It isn't censored for violence.

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Post by Caracal » Sat Jan 22, 2005 7:34 pm

I bought the DBZ books expecting un-cut DBZ (the DVDs aren't released over here).

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Heritic
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Post by Heritic » Sat Jan 22, 2005 8:07 pm

If that's the case, then why do the characters in Shaman King have their proper names rather than the anime ones?
I would like to know the same thing. It seems like One Piece is the only series getting the change.

After checking back now #16's attack was changed from "Hell Flash" to "Inferno Blast". I suppose that's better than "HFIL Flash".

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Post by Caracal » Sat Jan 22, 2005 8:18 pm

Exactly. In Shaman King they specify that some characters have different names in the anime. Having watched the anime first I was a bit confused when I first picked up Shaman King. If they can do it with Shaman King, why not One Piece (unless they're actually worried about being sued by the people who made the character Zoro, even though OP's Zoro was made in Japan).

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Post by VegettoEX » Sat Jan 22, 2005 8:24 pm

When Shonen Jump first started, they were priding themselves on using the original Japanese names in all of the manga there-in, especially with Yu-Gi-Oh!, which probably had the most drastic anime/kiddie-change at the time. They had charts to show you what the original Japanese names were, and everything.

Even back when the "DBZ" (and DB) manga started, I remember certain letters to the editor talking about name changes, and nice little subtle jabs at FUNimation for needless name-changes, all coming from Viz, themselves.

And now it's "Yes, TV, what can we best do to serve you?!?"

All of their properties are taking on the respective domestic-anime-forms. "Hercule" started from the first cameo, One Piece gets a name-change after two full years of no problems...

It's just reverting back to the early days of needless FUNimation/Saban changes for no reason. AT ALL. It's very silly, it's pointless, it's unnecessary, and we can't really do a darn thing about it.
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Chibi Mystic Gohan
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Post by Chibi Mystic Gohan » Sat Jan 22, 2005 8:27 pm

They even stated that they would use the original names for the God Cards in Yugioh, and now look... Jesus...

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Post by SNS » Sat Jan 22, 2005 9:12 pm

Chibi Mystic Gohan wrote:They even stated that they would use the original names for the God Cards in Yugioh, and now look... Jesus...
I don't see "Obelisk the Tormentor" & "The Winged Dragon of Ra", only "Slifer the Sky Dragon" is the same as the dub.

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Post by 'lo Legends » Sun Jan 23, 2005 4:09 am

I still enjoy myself some english translated Dragonball manga.

The only thing that really makes me kinda angry is the whole "Hercule" thing...when I first read that, I was like, "WTF".
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Post by Deus ex Machina » Sun Jan 23, 2005 4:40 am

I was really mad at Viz for using the name "H ercule". I think especially because a lot of us saw it coming for months, were just seriously hoping Viz wouldn't sell out their real manga fans in favor of appeasing the gross market.

To their credit however, they atleast admit that his name really IS Mr. Satan whenever they write up a mini bio on him, so in a sense you can pretend it's just a case of dub vs. sub, instead of original vs. what the american market deems acceptable. Ugh.

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Post by SonGokuGT » Sun Jan 23, 2005 4:49 am

Yup, I just want to express my opinion on all this censorship. First, it's what EX said, Viz has totally changed their mission statement on Shonen Jump. What was once a safehouse for all the true fans of manga has become nothing more than advertisements/extensions of their TV counterparts. I also have a few questions for you:

1. What changes were done to One Piece? (besides Zoro's name)

2. Why keep two God Card names from the original and leave out "God of Osiris"?

3. Are they trying to just cater to 4Kids/FUNimation? or does it go beyond that? [parent/group complaints, etc.]

Also brings back the whole Tanuki/Manta scrotum-entrapment thing... u_u;;

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Post by laserkid » Sun Jan 23, 2005 1:49 pm

1. In so far as I can tell having been with Shonen Jump via subscription since the third volume (and owning the first 2 seperatly), other than Zoro's name being dubified I have not seen any changes.

2. Since they ended up skipping over two whole storyarchs it IS possible that they went with the dub name for familiarity purposes (although I hardly condone the skipping that is occuring in SJ mind you), either that or they're just insane.

3. From what I can tell its an obsession to keep familiarty among the majority of readers (the kiddies) who watch the dubs, so yes it is sort of sucking up to FUNimation/4KIDS, but its more along the lines of catering to the child audience.
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Heritic
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Post by Heritic » Sun Jan 23, 2005 3:43 pm

SonGokuGT wrote:1. What changes were done to One Piece? (besides Zoro's name)
I don't think there have been any other changes. I haven't read Viz's version of One Piece since they changed Zoro's name so I'm not sure how right I am on this. That's what really frustrates me, aside from "Zolo" the translation of One Piece has been decent. There was some pirate slang here or there and some bad puns. Overall though, it was a decent translation.

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Chibi Mystic Gohan
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Post by Chibi Mystic Gohan » Sun Jan 23, 2005 7:33 pm

SNS wrote:
Chibi Mystic Gohan wrote:They even stated that they would use the original names for the God Cards in Yugioh, and now look... Jesus...
I don't see "Obelisk the Tormentor" & "The Winged Dragon of Ra", only "Slifer the Sky Dragon" is the same as the dub.
You're indeed right about that. I just checked Shonen Jump and I see "The God of Obelisk" and "Sun Dragon Ra"
But that brings up a question: why change Osiris?
I also bought Yugioh! Duelist, and they changed Pegasus J. Crawford to Maximillon J. Pegasus <_<
At least, like "Hercule", they mention his original name in the character biography section.

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