Forum - View topicWhat's your favorite manga publisher/distributor?
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Zauriel
 Posts: 22 Location: Philippines |
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What's the best manga publication? ADV? Tokyopop? Viz?
I enjoyed Viz, ADV and Tokyopop's English translations of the manga. I am pleased to find or at least assume they have been properly translated. I don't really think Tokyopop's translation of Chobits was accurate. It was deliberately distorted. For example, in Tokyopop's Chobits translation, Hiroyasu Ueda stated he is several years older than Yumi. But the truth is, as I had learned, Hiroyasu Ueda is 39 years old while Yumi Oomura is about 14-17 years old. So Ueda is at least 22-25 years Yumi Oomura's senior. 22-25-year gap is too wide to qualify as "several". On the other hand, I'm really glad the Tokyopop didn't change Shun and Yui's ages in Corrector Yui as well as Kaoru Hanabishi and Mayu Miyuki's ages in Ai Yori Aoshi. . In Tokyopop's translation of Corrector Yui, Shun is 20 and Yui is 14. In Tokyopop's translation of Ai Yori Aoshi, Mayu is still 16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viz_Communications [snip] [We can see what Viz has licensed via your link or by clicking on the company link in the encyclopedia, thanks. -L] |
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lianncoop
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 1705 Location: Indiana |
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animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3692
That thread may provide you with some insight from other forum readers. Granted it discusses Tokyopop vs. Viz, but ADV etc. could be included. Also, we have several threads going on discussing the individual manga companies so you may want to check those out. |
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Zauriel
Posts: 22 Location: Philippines |
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Thanks for letting me know.
I am sorry for not noticing the thread you provided me with. Please lock or delete this thread. |
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readingbycandlelight
Posts: 2 |
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darkhorse comics is pretty good too... but i cant speak more than 3 words in japanese so i dont know about the english translation thing...
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Arachne
 Posts: 35 Location: Charlotte |
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For me, hands down the best manga publisher is Tokyopop. They were the first with the 9.99 price and to published "unflipped" manga. They are the reason we now have manga with honorifics. And they have the best website.
But not only that, they seem to put more thought into their translations. Now, I'm not saying that all the translations are perfect, but read a volume of Tokyo Babylon and then read a volume of X/1999. Tokyo Babylon is just so much better written than X, when really X should have better writing since CLAMP wrote later when they were more experienced. |
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wanderer
 Posts: 77 |
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I don't think I really have a favorite. I tend to focus more on the titles themselves than on whose publishing /distributing them. I do think some companies do a better job in certain areas than others but they all have their redeeming qualities.
I love it when a company goes beyond what is expected and puts in a little extra effort. I like that DMP puts dust covers on their books and releases them in a larger format. I like Del Rey's attention to honorifics and cultural references. I really like what Viz does with the artwork on the covers of their titles. All of the Viz titles I have are attractive and have a distintive presentation. I prefer how the spines of Viz's books look on the shelf. All of the series look different and ( unlike Tokyopop or CMX) the first thing you see is the name of the book not the company's logo. I was disappointed when Tokyopop decided to change their logo to that huge hideous red thing, not only because it creates an unwanted uniformity of all the titles I own from them, but they made the change to titles that weren't completed yet so the full set of manga doesn't go with itself  . This is a very small gripe in the grand scheme of things but I found it rude and irritating nonetheless...
As far as who has the best translations and who edits the least, well I can't really say because I never had access to the Japanese originals and I can't read japanese even if I did. However, I tend to think that when honorifics and use of family names are included; sound effects are left untouched in the artwork and translated in a glossary; Cultural context and reference notes are translated and included; and freetalk and extras are translated and left in, that the american publisher really cares about releasing something faithful and respectful to the original japanese release. I don't think any company does all of those things all of the time, and people will argue about the necessity of such things, but I tend to 'trust' th translations of publishers who put the effort into things like that more than those that try to 'americanize' everything. I am enjoying the releases of Del rey and DMP, and I still buy a lot of Tokyopop even though it beginning to look like they're more concerned with quantity over quality. Of the larger manga publishers, I think Viz is making better choices as to what titles they translate and they have a better variety. But their release schedule is very inconsistent and surprisingly unpredictable, whereas Tokyopop is the total opposite. Sorry for the long post. Its hard to answer this sort of question and I didn't do a good job, but I wanted to give it a shot  ... Incidentally my top five favorite manga are all by different publishers and all of them have vastly differring presentations and approaches to their manga so...  ...its probably impossible for me to pick one favorite.
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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It a pretty difficult decision, as diffrent companys have diffrent qualities that I like.
In terms of writing and editing, it hands down goes to Darkhorse. Studio Proteus is simply the best in the buisness, and each manga is done perfectly. DH also has alot of great titles, from all time classics (Astro Boy, Akira, Lone Wolf and Cub) to some of todays most acclaimed manga (Berserk, Blade of the Immortal). It would be nice if they would licence some more stuff, but I have no problem over a "quality over quantity" stance. Viz used to be my favorite, but of late I don't like them as much. A couple of years ago they had such great diversity with their products, from shonen to shojo to seinen, with tons of cutting edge stuff that no other company would ever touch. Pulp was the best anthology around (in terms of both manga and articles), and they even published some great underground manga. Nowadays they mostly release shonen and shojo; not that those are bad (indeed, they have a ton of good stuff in those catigories), but they hardly release anything else besides those things. Also, the quality of their products has taken a nose dive as a whole (though Vagabond has the best format on the market period). I'm still not a huge fan of Tokyopop's marketing (quantity over quality). A year or so ago they had some of the worst translations/writing I've ever seen, but they have improved lately, as have the quality of their books. They don't have many titles that interest me, but those that do are quite good. The newer companys aren't that great from what I've seen. ADV has pretty poor translations and book matterials from what I have seen from them, and alot of their titles are mediocre. Del Rey uses pretty poor quality matterials and inks, but they do a fairly good job with the translating and editing. DMP is pretty good (with a great format), and their translations are decent. One company that no one really knows about is Vertical who publishes Buddha. They have done such a stellar job with this product. Presentation and the covers (designed by the famed Chip Kidd) look great. Translation could be better, but it doesn't hurt the story at hand (and it's about the same level as some other major publishers). Some people aren't going to like the high price, but considering most volumes of Buddha are around 400 pages (double the typical $10 manga) and are hardcovers, 25 bucks is worth it in my opinion. Last edited by Kagemusha on Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:26 am; edited 1 time in total |
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OTP
 Posts: 99 |
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Same here, but based on which company has the best titles, I would say Tokyopop because the have Getbackers, Lupin III, Initial D and other titles I like. Not to count out Viz, however, who have Evangelion and are getting Fullmetal Alchemist, but, yeah, Tokyopop has more of what I like. |
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cillyria
Posts: 4 Location: Switzerland |
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for mangas published in english, I only posess some from tokyopop. It costs too much, if you don't live in the US to buy it...so I mostly buy mangas in german or french. Tried in spanish, but it's even worse than in english, it tkes too much time to order it and then until it come, so I rest with english, german and french. For the french publishers mangakana is the best, has the best site, best translation and the mangas arrive punctual, something panini don't seem to take serious (paninifrance, panini german is a lot better, FMP arrived even earlyer then they said, while paninifrance... they seem top drink coffee or so...). Glenat it's also good, but mangakana has better reviews.
For the german bublishers EMA is the best, they have a lot of titles and everytime get the mangas punctual. CarlsonComics is not so good, they have good titles either, better translation but you naver can be sure, when they say, the manga's coming at then and then. Panini has not as many titles than EMA and Carlsen but has good translations and also have rare mangas. The design is also pretty different, but they don't make it too expensive, so there's a grand plus for them... 
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Taruto
 Posts: 37 Location: England |
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I really like ADV, they seem to release some really unusual series as well as some mainstream ones. But I really like Tokyopop's selection as well. *shrug* I'unno.
Only thing that bugs me is that ADV kinda messed up Chrono Crusade by saying that Chrono can heal Rosette, even though when it's literally translated, he can only heal himself. But that's really a minor thing.
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philg
 Posts: 193 |
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My favourite is Tokyopop, i can't remember about the other ones but I really like it how Tokyopop keeps the reading format Japanese (from back to front), and all the manga that I enjoyed or want to read even more have been from Tokyopop.
It's unfair to pick-up on such small errors like 'several years', as a student of japanese some words it is quite hard to translate directly especially with the word several. I haven't actually read Chobits or know anything about it but if you read the original japanese version of it and quoted him on saying how much older he was than her and try and translate it to make it translate perfectly it would be auwkard for the english reader and seem even more distorted. Some Japanese words don't make any sense if they have been translated exactly and put directly into context..... at the moment i can't actually think of an example but i know there's a fair amount 
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Haru to Ashura
 Posts: 617 Location: Termina |
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I'm slowly but surely falling in love with Del Ray. I love their publishing, they do a great job and pay close attention to details. The reason for this is simple, Del Ray is owned by Random House, so they got money behind their name. With cash like that, they can afford to be picky and make high-quality products, and they don't need to rush the production of their books.
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JackBassV
 Posts: 241 Location: Coventry, England |
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Del Ray certainly deserve a new comers award for the clamp duo of XXXHolic/Tsubasa. The translation seems to be quite natural, compared to others I've read (CPM's Nadesico springs to mind!)
ADV are quite good as well. I don't agree with the changes made in Azumanga Daioh, but at least they explain their reasoning at the back, I wish other companies would do the same. I thought TokyoPop were going downhill with the production values in Planetes, but that's improving, and The One I Love is one of my favourites, in terms of story and production values. So who's my favourite....? None. It's the manga I love, not the publisher. JBV^_^ |
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Mangaman23k2
Posts: 4 Location: in a cell watchin your every moves |
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T pop all teh way..they have BATLE ROYALE and from viz they have naruto...but you can just read that on msn groups..I belive it is Naruto manga Returns
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Samurai_Kenshin
 Posts: 24 |
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ADV started out as one of the worst publishers in the industry, but it's really turned itself around (especially after the "Gunslinger Girl" fiasco). Chrono Crusade is one of the best manga presentations I've seen in a long while. Of course, I agree with those who have stated Dark Horse as the highest quality publisher. Their translations are excellent, and the quality of the books themselves are amazing. I refer in particular to the production values on Ghost in the Shell and Blade of the Immortal. This brings me to the selection offered by the publishers. Dark Horse has the best selection, though it is small, of all the publishers. I like the quantity that Tokyopop offers, but the quality of their intial releases really put me off. ADV started off horribly, but has since turned itself around, with solid releases and a great lineup all around. That's about all my comments for now, but I'd like to know whether the translation and editing team for Tokyopop has changed much since it first started up. |
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