#Viz Select

[mendelpalace]

Covers for Pixy Junket #1-6 by PURE

An original manga created by a former assistant to Masamune Shirow. They put out a few short manga in the early-to-mid 90s, but this marks their only English language release. These six issues were later compiled into a trade paperback.

[engshoujosei]

Trinity Blood

12 volumes (incomplete/dropped)

Licensed by Tokyopop, then by Viz, but both stopped at 12 out of 21 volumes.

The background is in the distant future, a post-apocalyptic world after the destruction brought about by Armageddon. The war between humans (Terran) and vampires (Methuselah) continues, as a struggle between two factions: the Vatican and the New Human Empire.

Yet, amidst the bloodshed and violence, many desire a peaceful co-existence between the two species. However, standing between them and this goal is the Rosenkreuz Orden, a group of vampire extremists who manipulate the two sides and pit them against each other. To combat them, the Vatican special operations group "AX," led by Cardinal Caterina, must use everything they have - even a vampire who preys on the blood of other vampires. Note: Volume 21 concludes the manga in a similar way to the final novel and anime, leaving the plot unresolved due to the author´s death.

Related Series 

Trinity Blood - Reborn on the Mars (Novel) (Adapted From, was licensed by Tokyopop, but they only got 3 volumes out before losing the license)

Status in Country of Origin 

21 Volumes (Incomplete due to the author´s death)

Tags:

Adapted to Anime

Alternative Future

Android/s

Angel/s

Aristocrat/s

Based on a Novel

Betrayal

Biblical References

Changed Man

Character Deaths

Character Transformation/s

Conspiracy/ies

Cyborg/s

Dark Ambience

Deceptively Weak-Looking Protagonist

Demigod/s

Dense Male Lead

Doppelganger/s

Empire/s

European Ambience

Female Fighter/s

Godly Powers

Gothic Style

Hidden Past

Human Experiment/s

Important Non-Romantic Relationship/s

Lost Family

Nobility

Non-Democratic Nation

Nun/s

Past Plays a Big Role

Politics Involving Royalty

Post-Apocalyptic

Priest/s

Racism

Roman Catholic Church

Romantic Subplot

Science

Secret Organization/s

Sudden Death/s

Terrorist/s

Transformation/s

Tsundere Character/s

Twin/s

Vampire/s

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THE REFINED LADIES OF SHOJO-STYLE MANGA -- "WHERE WACKY HIJINKS CAN'T STOP A GREAT ROMANCE!"

PIC(S) INFO: Mega spotlight on a "Maison Ikkoku" piece by Rumiko Takahasi, one of the world’s most famed cartoonists, artwork from the 2008 "It’s a Rumic World Exhibit," celebrating 30 years of making manga in Tokyo.

PIC #2: Cover art for "Maison Ikkoku" Part 1 #3, published by Viz Select Comics in August, 1992. Story & art by Rumiko Takahashi.

Resolution at 1814x2560 & 1058x1600.

Sources: www.comicsbeat.com/kibbles-n-bits-4-27-21-books-sales-surge-led-by-manga (and eBay).

[malehypnofantasy]

My husband moved us together from our beautiful Moroccan countryside life to this inhospitable and lonely American metropolis to pursue his lifelong dream. The accumulating wealth left me with lonelier times and less moment with him as his job drowned him while he decided to boarded the twins to this private boarding school where most of his friends placed their kids into. The isolation he confined me into when we started here caused me to be practically friendless and it's not like my English is that fluent. I also hated how people perceived me due to my look and background, so I eventually "resigned" from the peering public eye and never really went out unless it's very necessary. So, can you blame me when I tapped into my ancestral roots and decided to forge my own happiness?

Hany here is just the latest addition of my growing collection, and I love how his cockiness is just so infectious everytime I phased my consciousness into him, I simply felt like I have no more worries in the world

It's always a delight for me to just be out there, no shirt on and having the ability to move my muscles the way men can do all of the amazing tricks that their bodies can pull off.

Hany, my cocky bachelor neighbor, is quite a tricky one to capture as he's mostly alert for most of the time. But when he knocked on my door one night with my husband nowhere in sight, clearly drunk from the way he slurred his words and the intense smell of alcohol mixed with his musk, I took that opportunity. Instead of taking him back to his unit, I phased out from my body and went straight to met his soul. The weakened and half-conscious state of the soul allowed me to simply moved him aside and planted my control over his physique. Then, from there, I use Hany's body to give my frozen body a kiss as a way to build a "connecting bridge" as my soul transferred back to my body but at the same time, our body is connected. Ever since that moment, I can simply drowse off or focused myself a bit to be able to feel what Hany is feeling or even better, controlling his body right away to do what I want him to do

It wasn't this powerful and complex at first. My earliest subject was this drained construction worker that I saw everyday working on the site a couple building from mine. I've tried to phase out a couple times before but none of it worked because I realized that the soul and/or the body managed to resist me. So, looking at the hard-working men in hard hat and hi-viz, I decided to took a leap of faith and phased out from my body. Why I selected the body in particular? For starter, I saw him smoking weed before, and not just once, so I deduced that he probably smoked his fair share of weed for the day and the cigarette in his mouth meant that he's in a sort of relaxed state.

Other reason? Well, I heard him once in the bodega talking about his "fucked sleeping schedule" and the lack of "sex from the noisy demanding bitch" of a girlfriend who worked the same graveyard shift with him as of now, so I knew he must be stressed and mentally drained. Sounds like an easy target, and he was that easy, I slipped in and out of him for 1 month straight with no resistant

So many firsts happened when I was inside Dezz. My first (I lost count on how many times after just 2 weeks) orgasm as a man, my first sex with a girl, my first deadlift, my first fight, just endless adventure. I also learned about building the connection during my time inside Dezz. It's simply out of pure instinct and in a the spirit of experimentation, but I tried to transfer back in a more discreet and less exhaustive manner so I booked this motel and left the door unlocked, phased into Dezz and then drove his truck to the said motel as I basically made out with myself. When our lips connected and even before Dezz cock slipped into me, I found myself staring at Dezz scruffy face right before he passed out. I ran away from that motel room, sensing something is different from that kiss, but I brushed it off and let Dezz sorted himself out back to whatever routine he's having. Later that evening, around an hour or so before the time Dezz started his shift and as I tried to get some sleep, somehow I felt this pulsating sensation from my clitoris and that's when my vision started to get glitchy for the first time. One second I saw my room and then the following second, a slender statuesque figure sat on top of a scruffy happy trail I knew belonged to Dezz. As he nutted inside his girl, I was leaking from the "ghostly" experience, but that led me to the groundbreaking "connection" that I always utilized ever since

Dezz is my first. Hany is my latest. But those two just cannot compete with Chris the Beast.....

Oh that one is the craziest, and maybe I'll share more about my time inside of Steve and the others when I have more time. My husband is arriving soon and I need to phase out from Hany now if I wanna be safe and look more presentable to welcome my husband.

[badgalsasuke]

Is Sarada a clone?

When Sarada asks Sasuke if Sakura is really his mom (ch. 5) everybody is dumbfounded and Sasuke is frowning looking stressed? annoyed?

He stays quiet before asking if something had happened which is weird?

Compare Sasuke's reaction to being questioned on whether Sakura is Sarada's mom or not to Choji's reaction to Chouchou asking him if he is her dad.

For Choji that type of question is silly. But Sasuke refused to answer that same question about Sakura. He saw Sarada go on a rant and then told her what he had going on was none of her concern.

When Sakura arrives at the scene (ch. 6), she apologizes to Sarada for not explaining things. Sasuke interrupts her and attempts to start to explain things to Sarada before he is cut off by an explosion. Sakura looks strangely stressed throughout all of Naruto Gaiden and this moment is no exception. Neither Sasuke nor Sakura can tell Sarada she's being silly with these stupid questions.

As the story continues Kishimoto fixates on clones and genes and how parent-child relationships are not based on passing down the DNA but rather the connection they form.

Something that I find peculiar is how when the father Shin starts talking about the conception of a child via selecting the best genes of both parents, Sakura gets incredibly offended, almost like she took it personally.

Also, Sakura sweats A LOT during Gaiden, in almost every panel she's sweating. But here Kishimoto gave her two sweat drops instead of the usual one.

Sasuke suspects and it's later confirmed that the Shins come from Danzo's arm. So basically, Orochimaru has Uchiha genes at his disposal to make whatever experiments he wishes, including the Shins.

Rather than creating an exact clone that's just a copy of whatever Uchiha whose genes Orochimaru has in his possession, he was able to create more defective Uchihas with their own will and personality. Also the imagery Kishimoto creates by placing Sarada right next to Shin dad and Shin son is so interesting.

However, when Orochimaru is talking about the time lag in their maturation I'm not 100% sure what he means. The ViZ translation and the Mangapanda translation are slightly different. From my interpretation it seems like the maturation refers to their skills, perhaps? and by skills I mean the Uchiha kekkei genkai, the Sharingan. The clones' genes are cultivated so it takes longer to mature/regrow as both translations suggest. Remember that it took Sarada way longer to awaken the Sharingan (12 years) than it would the usual Uchiha.

Then, when Sarada asks about non-clones Sasuke remains suspiciously quiet. He could at any moment tell Sarada she's being silly with all these questions and yet he refuses to explain to her what's going on. It's a stark contrast to Choji's reaction. Sasuke could simply go "What are you talking about Sarada? Of course Sakura is your mother".

Orochimaru responds to Sarada they can test her if she wants to but then Sasuke interrupts and says there's no time for that so Sarada asks Suigetsu to test her to see who her real mom is. And once again, Kishimoto usage of visual language and text is very interesting to me

When Suigetsu is looking for something that could hold Karin's DNA we get this flashback of her saying that her desk is a part of her body and then we see the umbilical cord that ended up belonging to Sakura and Sarada. Now, I might be reading to much into it here but I find that choice of words fascinating (I checked three different translations ViZ, Mangapanda & Mangastream and they all translated the same way that panel). The umbilical cord was in Karin's desk, the umbilical cord was in a part of Karin's body. I think Kishimoto is telling us here how involved Karin was in Sarada's conception.

After being told that Karin was her mom and Sarada believes Sakura is just a stranger, Naruto gets upset that she acts like in order to be a family people need to be blood-related and tells her that what actually makes a family is love bonds.

Naruto asks her to see inside her if she feels any love for Sakura and that's when Sarada realizes that she does indeed love Sakura, the woman who has raised her and taken care of her her entire life.

When Sarada cries after remembering her childhood, calls Sakura her mom and tells Naruto that she does care about Sakura and wants to save her, Naruto responds that it doesn't matter whether they're related or not, as long as she cares for her, that's their real bond (Naruto is so lovely in Gaiden)

And it's only after Naruto's TED talk, Sakura's rescue and their final fight against the Shins that Sakura finally tells Sarada that she is indeed her child. Sarada responds that, yes, she is her child because they love each other which is how they are connected, no longer caring if they're biologically related which is interesting to say the least...

Sarada then asks Sasuke if his feelings are connected to Sakura and after hesitating a bit, Sasuke says that he is indeed connected to Sakura simply because they have Sarada. Sarada is touched by this and cries but her parents look miserable. Also, no one seems to ever clarify to Sarada that the umbilical cord was Sakura's, so there's that.

Anyway, when we get to the final chapter of Naruto Gaiden we see Karin clarify that it was Sakura who carried Sarada and then she says something pretty curious.

Number one it's very funny how Karin thinks of Sakura as a friend because that feeling is not mutual LMFAO

But moving on, Karin talks about how the most important thing for her is Sasuke's happiness. However, how is Sasuke having a child with someone he dislikes and abandons, helping him with his happiness? It certainly feels like Sakura was desperate to have something from Sasuke considering she chased after him and has the Uchiha crest plastered all over her house and clothes. Maybe both Sakura and Karin remembered Sasuke mentioning he wanted to restore his clan and thought giving Sasuke a child would make him happy, but it backfired on them when Sasuke showed zero interest in that child, probably because Sasuke wouldn't appreciate them using genes from his deceased family members for that shit.

Additionally, Kishimoto continues with the whole bonds-are-formed-through-more-than-just-blood-theme. Karin is also bonded to Sarada hence why we're shown the umbilical cord in her desk. These incessant reminders of the theme of Naruto Gaiden regarding a child that doesn't really know who her bio mom is, feel like Kishimoto is trying to tell the audience Sarada is not the product of a regular pregnancy.

If you've read Naruto Gaiden you know that Sasuke has never kissed Sakura but also that he doesn't allow her to touch him [LINK]. There's basically zero intimacy or romantic moments between the two of them in Gaiden, quite the opposite, Sasuke is either hostile or apathetic towards Sakura [LINK] so I think we can assume Sasuke didn't have sex with Sakura and get her pregnant. Instead, Sarada could very possibly a product of a similar experiment like the Shins hence Karin's odd involvement in Sakura's pregnancy [LINK]. Plus, Sarada not being born in Konoha and there being zero records of her birth, additional to Sasuke not being able to explain to Sarada what's going on, keep in mind he never answers Sarada who her mom is and is always dodging her questions. On top of that, consider Kishimoto spending so much time of Naruto Gaiden writing about clones that aren't traditional clones but new individuals with their own personhood.

Add to that how Naruto had no idea about anything that was going on with Sarada's parentage and it pisses him off but he's not gonna put Sasuke on blast in front of an already dismayed Sarada

What's up to debate then, is whether Sakura went through gestational surrogacy or traditional surrogacy. If it the pregnancy was a gestational surrogacy, then the egg is not Sakura's and someone else is the biological mother, possibly Karin hence the "my desk is my body" and "bonds come in all sort of shapes" comments and the umbilical cord being in her desk. If the pregnancy was a traditional surrogacy then the egg is Sakura and she is the bio mother.

The placenta and umbilical cord belonging to Sakura, which is confirmed in Gaiden, is not proof that the egg was hers so we really don't know for sure that she is Sarada's bio mom. I find it bizarre that Kishimoto didn't give a contundent confirmation that Sakura was the biological mom and instead kept it open to interpretation.

[tanadrin]

selected doctrines of Tanadrinism

working on the sabbath is forbidden. the Sages explain that by "work," the scripture means "anything you're just not feeling at the moment," and that "the sabbath" extends from 3:30 Friday afternoon to 11:00 AM on Monday

the Light of God is not present in Indiana, and the faithful are forbidden from setting foot in that accursed place

the world was created August 12, 1973, at 8:36 PM. all human memory, history, artifacts, and so forth were created in place, producing the illusion of an ancient cosmos. all major world religions were actually developed in the 70s as a way to try to explain the stuff people found lying around. except us. tanadrinism is an authentic tradition from the beginning of time (51 years ago)

smoking weed and jerking off are among the sacraments. you can combine them if you want.

the light of LSR J1835+3259 is bleak and sinful; do not let your gaze linger upon it or images thereof

salvation is achieved by mailing a filled out Standard Salvation Request Form along with a recent utility bill and a photo ID to a PO Box in Panama City. the exact address can be found in the holy scriptures. also, you can substitute a Polaroid with your name scrawled on the back, endorsed by two witnesses

all falling down old buildings, abandoned rail yards, weird blocks of concrete you found in the middle of the forest, and empty subway platforms are the abode of God on earth, or the fane of one of God's nameless saints. it is considered virtuous to leave offerings to God or the saints in such places, viz., cigarettes that are only half-smoked, or not-quite-empty bottles of booze.

there are 15,346 true commandments, but only three and a half have been revealed to the faithful. the prophets say not to worry about it, it's probably fine.

the physical, metaphysical, and ontological center of the universe, the seat of the axis mundi, the place to which all sacred forces in the cosmos converge or from which they radiate, is located in the stockroom of the porn store next to the döner shop near the Beusselstraße train station in Moabit, Berlin. if you are very quiet, you can sometimes hear the choirs of angels singing from the sidewalk outside.

the holy scriptures state that God apologizes for the inconvenience of creating the universe, that They did so by accident, and They are not sure how to fix it. but They weep with our sorrows and laugh with our joys, and swear that one day, howevermuch labor on Their part it might require, we shall be free of all the former, while the latter will increase without limit. in the meantime, They implore you to seek more joy than sorrow, and to do what you can to ease the suffering of others.

blessed are they who are kind to others, even when they're in a really shitty mood, saith the Lord; they shall get a free large soft-serve ice cream at the celestial ice cream bar, next to the eternal laser tag arena.

[comikadraws]

I was working on a different analysis, only to find the Chunin Exams even more unreasonably barbaric than usual. Because, honestly, why?

Yes, yes, I know. Tobirama designed the modern Shinobi system and the Chunin Exams were introduced as a replacement to war. However, before the preliminaries in Part 1 of Naruto, Hiruzen gives us a brief lesson in history, and it made me curious.

"[...] our alliance is, in fact... a temporary and mutually beneficial agreement between a group of geographically contiguous lands... whose previous existence was one of continual strife... constantly jockeying aganst one another [...] until a better way was devised... the way of the Chunin Selection Examination...!"

To summarize, the Chunin Exams were introduced as a replacement, or rather, a preventative measure for war, hoping to sate the villages' need to show off.

Thing is, Tobirama died in the First Great Shinobi War, meaning that, between the introduction of the Chunin Selection Exams into the world and Part 1 of Naruto, three world wars have taken place. Then add a bunch of minor conflicts, such as the attempted kidnapping of Hinata by Kumogakure, and we soon realize that the Chunin Selection Exams have actually done nothing to prevent conflict in the past four decades or so. So why continue holding them in this, frankly, self-destructive way?

I see two possible explanations for this:

In spite of bearing witness to the previous uselessness of the Chunin Exams, he never thought to re-adjust them into non-killing games.

The current style and purpose of the Chunin Exams are actually a fairly recent development.

And I know that the wording here already further supports the second reading due to Hiruzen's focus on "recent history" - But, personally, I wouldn't pay too much mind to such details as Viz is not exactly known for its accurate translations. This leaves us with no definitive proof for either of these two hypotheses.

What we do know, however, is that, in the past, the Chunin Exams were held under far less lethal conditions. Thanks to Obito's flashbacks in Chapter #599, we can make a direct comparison. As it turns out, the second stage is unnecessarily barbaric.

During Team Minato's era, the second stage of the Chunin Exams once consisted of simple team battles. Since the exams likely took place during wartime, the teams probably consisted of Konoha shinobi only. Hence, none of the examinees should have had any particular desire to eliminate their opponent, rather than just beating them in combat and winning the round. On top of that, proctors were put into place to supervise the battles, and it is entirely possible that the teams were allowed to take breaks between rounds.

Meanwhile, Team 7's Chunin Exams were exactly that but with no proctors and no breaks, in the form of a 120-hour-survival test, stuck between enemy teams and wild animals. Examinees originated from all across the continent, including rival nations, potentially with a desire or incentive to kill and maim their opponents.

And, of course, during Team Minato's era, the third stage of the Chunin Exams consisted of one-on-one battles in a secluded, private arena, whereas participants during Team 7's exam were made to fight in a grand stadium with foreign guests for the "prestige of the village". But that's just a minor nitpick, honestly.

And even if we were to argue that due to an ongoing war, Konoha simply couldn't afford to open its gates to foreign guests and risk exposing their Genin's abilities to the enemy... the same case can be made in the present day.

If tensions are already on the rise to the point of requiring a glorified child-killing event to keep enemy forces happy, those foreign relationships are probably beyond saving already. Truly, Konoha never was at peace, only ever maintaining a begrudging armistice. Therefore, opening your door to a potential enemy is always a weakness to exploit. If not to invade you today (like Orochimaru did), it can be used to collect intel on your shinobi for tomorrow's invasion.

So yeah, the point still stands.

They were capable of holding the Chunin Exams under relatively safe conditions previously. They were not, however, capable of "promoting friendship" via the Chunin Exams. Realistically, letting down your defenses and allowing foreign shinobi to kill your young sure has to have backfired in the past already. So why? Why bear the risk?

I wouldn't be surprised if the current style of the Chunin Exams were a recent development in hopes of preserving peace after the passing of three wars. Or if they had been temporarily changed back when Hiruzen was still too optimistic about peace in the Ninja world.

[rwby-sk]

Okay this might be odd and only for a select group of my followers

But

Burnie buying RT and everyone getting excited is kind of pissing me off? Specifically hating on VIZ or hoping for a RWBY remake/retcon

It feels like "What Monty truly intended" arguments all over again. You do not know better than the show's creators!

People are pissy that VIZ is taking its time to handle RWBY properly. So they want fast results right now. And are happy throwing VIZ under the bus so they can pretend their version would be better

Chill out

They animated and produced Naruto. VIZ can handle this. CRWBY are on board with VIZ too

So relax. Chill out. Listen to some Vol. 9 soundtrack, and just be quiet

[pancakeke]

The comic store had a sidewalk sale with $1 bins today. I found a couple single issue Viz manga releases from 2003ish. This was back when they were mirroring manga so it would read left to right. Some fun examples of how this caused problems under the cut.

These first two sets of comparisons are from Ceres Celestial Legend. Original Japanese manga caps are on the left, my pics of the Viz English release are on the right.

A big problem with mirroring manga was that any text within artwork got reversed. Above you can see a character's shirt in panel 2 containing the letter "E" above the word "ELLE".

The English release edited this panel to cover the original artwork with a nearly identical design that faced the correct direction once mirrored, though the new text is inside a rectangle. I'm guessing the rectangle was a quick and dirty way to cover up the old text and avoid shading folds for the new text.

If you look on to panel 4 you can see that the English version did not bother to edit the same character's shirt. The top half of a backwards E is visible. Both the edited and unedited shirts make additional appearances later.

Sometimes certain panels were not mirrored, but I don't fully understand why. Choosing NOT to mirror select panels can easily lead to continuity errors or other issues.

Above you can see that the English release kept panel 1 facing it's original orientation. Note how the blonde character and the character in the portrait are wearing kimonos with the left side wrapped over the right. This is the traditionally correct method to wear a kimono (unless you're dead and it's your funeral).

Panel 4 of the English version is mirrored which makes it appear as though the character in the center is wearing a kimono incorrectly. All kimonos in following pages appear to be worn incorrectly as well, since they're mirrored too.

I also saw a few instances of weird choices made when translating Japanese text within artwork. It's unrelated to mirroring, so I'm skipping that stuff.

This next series is Silent Mobius, or as Viz called its issues Silent Mobius Blood and Silent Mobius Hell.

This series has the same problem with select non mirrored panels creating inconsistencies. Here you can see panel 1 of the English release maintained its original orientation while the remainder of the page was mirrored.

The same building appears again a few pages later here in panel 1. The English version is mirrored, so the positions of its towers in relation to each other don't match the other page.

Bonus weird translation direction here btw. I noticed a lot of signs in the Japanese version that originally contained both English and Japanese, but the English release replaced them with awkwardly stretched text in English only. There wasn't even anything on this page to justify mirroring it in the first place. You'd think they could have left it and kept the original signs.

I hit the image limit so I'm going to see if I can reblog this from myself and add another cut. There are two more side-by-sides I want to share.

[yuurei20]

Hi hi! I have a weird question/thought after seeing the talk about Idia's use of language. There are a lot of things that are just unable to translate from Japanese to English, and some things that get changed as short hand. The whole nerdy implications of Idia using "-Shi" are basically absent from EN, instead he seems to use "Mr." (If I recall correctly) which really doesn't give the same impression? In your personal opinion - is there anyway you'd personally localize it? Stick with the same? Remove it completely? Use "M'lady/M'lord" instead? (haha)

Hello hello!! I love your "M'lady/M'lord" solution more than I can say ♡ It is associated with the past while still being used by some people in present-day just for fun, which is just like how Idia speaks! That would have been so great for the English-language adaptation!

As you say, Idia's honorific for others has (kind of) been translated as "Mr." on EN, but only in a select few places.

For the most part it has just been removed, but the curious continuity makes it seem like he thinks that only Malleus, Azul, Grim and Riddle are (sometimes) worthy of "Mr." (the Riddle screenshots below are even both from the same vignette).

And then there is the Harveston sub-plot between Sebek and Marja, where Sebek refuses to refer to Marja with an honorific until she proves herself worthy of respect (by fixing his plushie).

At that point he awards her with an extremely respectful honorific (equivalent to "-sama," and the same word Silver uses with Lilia).

Marja, however, immediately gives him permission to refer to her in the same way he has been throughout the entire trip.

Idia is a psuedo-narrator for this sub-plot, commenting on Sebek's disrespectful way of speaking in both languages.

But on EN he then proceeds to refer to Marja in the same way as Sebek (and everyone else) does.

This has the unfortunate result of making Idia look odd for mentioning it in the first place, when the odd person is actually Sebek, as everyone else is using a respectful honorific with Marja.

Idia using "M'lady" and everyone else (except Sebek) using "Ms." probably would have been a lot more successful in getting the situation across to people who may not be familiar with such Japanese-language nuances!

As for what I personally would go with...this conundrum reminded me of this amazing joke by @anottercoffee on Twitter:

And I would be very tempted to go for the "fansubber" solution of translating everything literally, but just having the words doesn't mean that the players are going to understand the nuances, and might cause even more confusion.

If "-san" and "-senpai" are just mouth-sounds to someone, they're not going to understand the significance behind Riddle and Azul dropping it from Leona and Riddle's names in important moments, for example.

But maybe that's okay! Because at the moment, the alternative that we have is everything getting removed from everywhere, and no one has the chance to understand anything at all.

The best comparison I have come across is Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, where authors incorporated languages that are completely invented, giving no one any chance of understanding them.

Japanese is a language that already exists, so it seems like it would actually be less of a challenge to introduce world-specific terms like "-sama" and "-chan" for people to either glaze over as a world-building aspect that doesn't interest them, or to gradually adapt to through sheer repetition, so by the end of Book 6 they might have a greater-than-zero understanding of the nuances of a foreign language (much like another magic-school series did with Latin).

The manga is actually approaching the honorifics in a different way than the game and giving “Mr.” to everybody, so Azul’s “Riddle-san," Crowley’s “Trappola-kun” and Deuce’s “Diamond-senpai” are all now Mr. Rosehearts, Mr. Trappola and Mr. Diamond (more here).

So it seems that VIZ Media did not agree with Aniplex USA's localization?

What is going to be the most interesting is the novel! Slated for an August, 2024 official English-language release, the novel is also being overseen by VIZ Media.

This means that we might see "Mr." being used everywhere (to uphold continuity with the manga), but the novel goes much deeper into character relationships than the game, and relationships are what honorifics are all about.

Cater, for example, uses them with everyone:

“Usually, Cater does not ever yobisute anyone. When he calls to Trey, he always adds ‘kun’ to his name...When Cater uses Trey’s name like this, it is only when he is really serious. Only when it is important.” -Twisted Wonderland the first novel

Is Cater going to be calling Trey "Mr. Clover"? And how are they even going to localize these sections describing a feature of a language that is not being spoken? It gives us a lot to look forward to!

In the end, writing out Japanese-specific honorifics into English might actually cause more confusion than it's worth, which is why Twst (and so many other foreign-language-adapting-to-an-English-speaking-audience properties) has gone in the direction that it has.

I like to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they know more than we do about what is going on, and that there are important reasons behind the choices they have made.

But I also think that the sheer popularity of the "fansubber" approach to this situation is a good sign that maybe people are sometimes okay with not understanding things, as properties like Lord of the Rings and Star Trek have shown us!

While too late for Twst, it will be interesting to see how this situation continues to evolve in the years to come. Maybe, one day, we will even get an official localization that introduces honorifics directly!

If such an experiment fails it will be most expensive for the localizer, and money is likely a large factor behind why companies might be reluctant to take such a gamble and would rather play it safe and just have everyone say "Mr."

[battleangel]

The End of Weird Anime

What happens to 80s & 90s anime that arent streaming right now when VHS & DVD completely go away?

The obsession with micro everything, everythings a sound bite, everything is 5 to 7 seconds, even songs, the chorus IS the song now, noone else ever hears anything else.

Only sports, reality TV and competition games can be watched week to week in real time.

All TV series now have to be immediately binged and consumed.

Its essentially bulimia.

Binge Loki in a weekend. Binge Ahsoka in a weekend. Its already done.

Whats next.

What else can I feed the machine with.

No waiting week to week. No such thing as a cliffhanger. No anticipation. No guessing whats next. No watching together as an audience.

Everything segmented, everything bifurcated, nothing in real time, nothing communal.

No season finale, no season premiere.

Same with anime.

Its not VHS or DVD anymore.

Youre not waiting for a release.

Its crunchyroll and Netflix and Funimation and Hulu and streaming.

Its the entire season of Psycho Pass all at once whenever I want to binge and gorge myself.

No asking to be taken to the mall.

No driving to Suncoast Video.

No deciding which $30 VHS or DVD to ask to be bought.

Martian Successor Nadesico or Ayashi no Ceres?

Everything is accessible.

Its less for 3 months of streaming anime than 1 anime used to cost on VHS or DVD.

No downside, if it sucks, move on.

Its not even the old school illegal Crunchyroll which was essentially Limewire for anime where you could illegally download different series.

I didnt waste time downloading for hours on my brothers computer for a shitty anime.

I didnt risk getting a virus on my brothers computer.

I dont have to clear up space.

I dont have to waste time.

I dont have to spend money.

I dont have to risk anything.

I dont have to exert any effort.

Its just, on to the next.

What does the algorithm say a Demon Slayer fan should watch next?

What should I watch now that Attack on Titan is over per the almighty algorithm?

No Viz anime catalogue to pore through.

No RightStuf catalog to highlight and fold the corners of the pages of.

No Animerica to read through every month once it arrives in the mail.

No going through AOL message boards and anime ezboards and geocities and angelfire websites to try to determine what to watch next.

No asking to be taken to your local Blockbuster to check the newest anime rentals in the "Independent/Foreign" section.

Just scroll, select, click and move on.

No need to even download and delete.

Its all streamable, instantly consumed, immediately binged then thats it.

On to the next algorithmic recommendation.

The algorithm never ends.

It always has another suggestion for you.

No meticulously going through myanimelist.com, putting up the hundreds of anime youve watched so far then scouring everyone elses lists to get ideas for new anime to watch.

Whats next after Vision of Escaflowne?

What should I watch after Yuu Yuu Hakusho?

If I can get a ride to the flea market on 18, I wonder what else they'll have similar to Dangaioh & Orguss 02?

To Macross Plus?

I wonder if Sci-Fi Channels Anime Week Festival will show something similr to Iria Zeiram or Armitage III this year.

Ninja Scroll was amazing, I wish I could see Wicked City since its by the same director, Yoshiaki Kawajiri. But I know I wont be allowed to. I had to sneak watch Ninja Scroll at my friends house and her older brother had bought it and thats the only way I even got to see Ninja Scroll at 13.

Everyone talks about Sailor Moon but noone talks about Bubblegum Crisis 2032.

Why not? The Knight Sabers are cooler than the Sailor Scouts and Ill take a cool motorcyle riding ass kicking punk rock singer like Priscilla Asagiri over a whiny, annoying, immature Serena any day. I dont care that shes 14 like me. Shes freaking annoying and a crybaby.

I wonder what other anime are like 8 Man After. It was so hard-boiled and dystopian and futuristic.

What happens to 80s & 90s anime that arent streaming right now when VHS & DVD completely go away?

When laptops and videogame systems are discless?

Then what?

What happens when Crunchyroll, Netflix and Hulu dont want to pay to license some amazing anime that are hidden gems?

In 25 years, when very few VCRS and DVD players and video game systems and laptops that can play VHS tapes and discs are still in circulation and functioning, then what happens?

What their plan has been this whole time: we will only have access to watch what the streaming companies CHOOSE to pay the license for to stream.

We will lose everything else.

We'll lose Cybernetics Guardian, Genocyber, Twilight of the Dark Master, Robot Carnival, Vision of Escaflowne, Iria Zeiram, Armitage III, Saber Marionette J, Martian Successor Nadesico, 8 Man After, Lensman, Demon City Shinjuku, Fancy Lala, Tekknoman, Full Metal Panic...

Only the biggest hits, the most iconic series, the most controversial OVAs and movies will survive in the brand new streaming world devoid of any physical VHSs and DVDs.

Only the Akiras, Neon Genesis Evangelions, Urotsuki Dojis, Berserks, Gantzs, Sailor Moons, Dragon Ball Zs, Pokemons, Gundams, Bleaches, Narutos and Spirited Aways will survive to be streamed.

What about the Serial Experiments Lain?

What about the Nausicaa of the Valley Winds?

What about the Angel Sanctuarys?

What about the Please Save My Earths?

What about the Here is Greenwoods?

Will they be lost forever?

[octuscle]

Truck Stop

Christian had never had to go to the bathroom so urgently in his entire life. His bladder almost burst. He chased his Porsche at more than 220 Km/h over the highway. Finally the sign for the exit to the service area. That's when he saw the restroom, right across the street was a parking lot. Okay, it was a truck parking lot, but he couldn't take that into consideration anymore. Running to the restroom, he was already unbuckling the belt and zipper of his suit pants. There were already three men standing at the urinals. Quite hulking, as far as he could tell out of the corner of his eye. Fortunately, one stall was free. He dropped his pants and pissed like a bull. Then he heard a loud fart. Followed by a booming deep laugh. Immediately followed by another fart. My God, what a stench that was. Christian had to get out of here. He pulled up his pants and fastened his belt while turning around. And collided with one of the behemoths standing right behind him in the toilet stall. "Could it be you took my parking spot, fella?" the guy asked. Dirty jeans, dirty wife beater, hairy chest and arms. To see the face, Christian had to crane his head back. A man in his mid-40s with a bald head and unkempt beard. Christian felt uncomfortable. Also because he had pulled up his pants too quickly, a last stream of piss ran down his pant leg. "Payback's a must, lad," the colossus grunted and turned around. Christian was about to push past him when the man let out a huge fart. Christian almost felt sick. The man stepped aside. Christian noticed that the room was filled with six or seven men. Boots, dirty jeans or hi-viz pants, their impressive upper bodies in T-shirts or undershirts. One of the truckers dropped his pants and someone pushed Christian's face into the hairy crack. He held his breath, but just as he came up for air, another fart blew in his face. Christian's eyes went black. When he regained consciousness, he was lying alone on the floor of the toilet. He stood up and realized that he had been lying in a puddle of urine. The whole floor was dirty and stank. He could throw away his suit. But now he had to get out.

In the fresh air, he took a deep breath. Boy, why did he have such a tremendous hunger. Even if he was ashamed of his dirty and smelly clothes, he had to eat something. Urgently. He walked toward the rest area. In the entrance area, he noticed that it was actually a store with clothing. Okay, more like work clothes, of course, but he couldn't go around people like that. He grabbed some work boots, a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. There was no changing room, so he paid and undressed behind the clothing rack. He didn't wonder about the dirty white socks. And about the urine-stained grayed jockstrap. He put on his pants and boots. And then the undershirt. He had foolishly not been able to see that this was not a T-shirt in the package. But anything was better than his filthy clothes, which he simply stuffed into a trash can.

It was late and the selection in the self-service restaurant was slim. Since there was nothing else, he went for the chili con carne. At least the portion was huge. Christian set his tray down on an empty table. He was the only guest for the most part. The chili wasn't bad at all and Christian gobbled it down small. There one of the guys from the restroom sat down to him. And asked if he could have taken a joke. Sure, point of honor, said Chris and stretched out his hand. The two of them slapped hands. A second fella joined them and put three bottles of beer on the table. They toasted. Little by little, the round increased. After the second beer, Chris had to burp like he had never done before in his life. The round laughed bawling. And one after the other did the same. And then Chris farted so loudly that the few other guests and the employees turned around. Again the round laughed up.

"Lads, I've got to take a shit, then I'm off to my bunk," Chris said goodbye to his buddies. When he was out of the restroom, he wiped his paws on his dirty jeans and lit one last cigarette. He still had a few miles to go in his truck tomorrow, so it was time to hit the sack.

[engshoujosei]

Clamp School Detectives

3 volumes.

Originally licensed by Tokyopop, who lost the license, it’s now owned by Viz Media digitally.

Meet the CLAMP school detectives: Nokoru Imonoyama, the world's smartest kid, who can detect a woman in distress from two kilometers away; Suoh Takamura, a martial arts master who's cool as ice; Akira Ijyuin, detective by day, master thief by night. Wherever there's a young lady in distress, they'll be there. After all, when you're as smart as they are, you don't have to study.

Related Series

Man of 20 Faces (Prequel, licensed by Tokyopop, then Viz Media digitally) Tsubasa - Reservoir Chronicle (Alternate Story, licensed by Del Rey, which is now defunct, and then Viz Media)

Status in Country of Origin 

3 Volumes (Complete) 2 Volumes - CLAMP Classic Collection (Complete)

Tags:

Age Gap

Bodyguard/s

Bromance

Childhood Love

Cooking

Cool Male Lead

Detective/s

Elementary School

Episodic

Genius/es

Rich Kid/s

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

VIZ MEDIA MAKES A FORAY INTO THE WESTERN COMIC BOOK MARKET WITH A STUDIO GHIBLI CLASSIC.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a 1988 Viz Select Comics house ad for Hayao Miyazaki's "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" comic book adaptation, from the 1984 post-apocalyptic fantasy animated feature film of the same name by Studio Ghibli.

PIC #2: Promotional "Nausicaä..." artwork for the North American/Viz Select Comics Monthly market, c. late 1980s. Story & art by Hayao Miyazaki.

Sources: https://readallcomics.com/amazing-heroes-151 & The Arts Mechanical (Wordpress).

[itsmelloww]

Theory/HC on GuraGura being Shin's dog 🦴 [Long]

(every meta/a post i make is always long as shit so just fyi)

Its a theory with a bit of HC mixed in so dont take it too seriously ig but i believe that GuraGura didnt just randomly decide to become Shin's dog specifically, but rather it could be because GuraGura had a similar past to Shin.

--- Quick Index tab to all sections below: 🗂⬇️

Name

Past Life / Hobbies

(2.5) Design

GuraGura's characterisation in the series

The Theory

Theory ++ / Devils , Gathering Intel and En

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1. Name

For starter's, before GG became a Devil, his name as a sorcerer was actually 'Shin'. Which imo is definitely Hayashida connecting the two.

GuraGura(sorc): 震 (Shin), Quake Shin: 心 (Shin) , Heart

[Side mini rant on this: This is something that I annoyingly missed for the longest time cause I read physical and VIZ likes to do a literal translation of the names to english , so i just knew GG's sorcerer name as 'Quake' for the longest time --- which literally pisses me off so much cause like WHY would I be referring to characters via the english translation of their names? Cause also if thats what were doing why do it selectively and why not also refer to Chidaruma as 'Covered in Blood' or Chota as 'Fat Bird' ?? But you see how dumb this is right, so wtf Viz??? pmo]

I find this such a cool detail - When i read the scans some months ago for the first time and saw GG's name as 'Shin' , my eyes literally goggled

--------------------

2. Past Life / Hobbies

Secondly, in the bonus curse of volume 21, GuraGura has his own 'Hobby' Channel which is literally him building stuff.

He's building stuff.

I mean cmon!!!

Like please, surely you all remember that Shin basically grew up with his father as a CARPENTER ! He built stuff !

At some point in the series Asu explained how Devils are generally beings of passion, and we've also seen how obsessively and intensely Nikaido was cooking/making gyoza as she was transitioning into a Devil. In her full devil design Hayashida showed in an au chapter, she also had a mini gyoza between her horns which supports my understanding that generally, Devils must retain some of the hobbies/passions they had as sorcerers into Devilhood.

This would then help contextualise GuraGura - I believe for him to be having a whole channel to himself based around building stuff and furniture for a hobby would support the theory that as a sorcerer, he must have been a sort of carpenter or builder.

--------------------

2.5 Design

This is a bit of a reach tbh im adding to just build on the theory, but I'd just like to make a point on GG's devil design- it kiiiinda resembles a carpenter's fit; especially with his vest with the pockets that look to me like a carpenter's vest, and even his skirt kinda gives me traditional japanese carpenter attire.

But like i said this is kind of a reach - its a cool design at the end of the day so doesnt have to mean that much.

--------------------

GuraGura's characterisation in the series:

I think also what drives this home for me is also when I look at it in relation to how GG is portrayed in the series - he is a very aloof, even more so than you standard Devil.

He spends years pretending to be a dog and genuinely lives as one, he can be very thoughtless and random, he'd be so in his head he wouldnt notice Chidaruma calling to him, and even when in Devil form he'd act like a dog, such as barking, accepting pets and whatnot. His profile also in the all stars showed that he literally had no thoughts (iconic btw/ also cant find the page for the life of me to link but its out there).

So hes a very aloof, happy go lucky character (def not stupid tho, which I thought it was so interesting when I saw how he was driving lots of the conversation with Kaiman when he was reverted to a sorcerer, but thats a completely diff point).

--------------------

The Theory:

In my eyes its couple strong points that come together -

They have the same names

Possibly the same past around building/carpentry

Just the name on its own would make me think is Hayashida just being cute, but when you add the hobby channel in conjuction with his characterisation in the show to me it just felt like Hayashida was trying to really hint at something more

Shin is generally a very interesting person, hes just gravitating really (no pun intended) ; hes also very strong, has grit, and he's also one of En's cleaners -- Add to all that that he has the same name as him and (potentially) the same past, and I can imagine why GuraGura would potentially see himself kinda and decide to play around with him.

GuraGura is also OLD ok, he's 358 years old -- imagine how endearing it'd be to find a little snot that reminds you of your old life (thats just me being sappy tho)

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Theory ++ / Devils , Intel Gathering and En

Cute stuff aside btw, i'd also like to add that from Chidaruma's/Devils' perspective, how convenient is to have a Devil literally be with one of EN'S cleaners day in and out?

Like what a brilliant way to get intel on En and whatever he's up to at all times.

And if anyone thinks wtf do Devils care for all that, they absolutely do care. En's mentioned before while talking with Chidaruma how Chidaruma has informants and has also implied that its through informant networks that the Devils know everything that's going at all times. Think it was Haru that also mentioned that they'd also been spying on the cross eyes and Kai for the longest time.

Devils and in particular Chidaruma 100% just keep tabs on everyone and everything that's going on in the Magic World. They rule the realm anyways so It's part of having power at the end of the day. And who else would you be more interested in than En himself? (ok maybe whatever Kai was on as well but u get my point) Chidaruma and En are buddies, but En is 100% ass kissing and im sure theres so much that he doesn't let Chidaruma in on. Chidaruma also 100% is wary and very observant of En.

I do really believe (or like to at least) that GG just chose to be Shin's dog for the fuck of it but i would be in no way surprised if it was also partially to get intel.

Noi and Shin are in on everything En is on anyways since they kill for him, and they're always talking about him so can imagine the stuff GG's found out by just chilling and listening.

And all that info would go back to Chidaruma/Devils in the end.

---------------------

So yeah, there's that.

Bit long (as per usual) but i like to get everything off my chest - been thinking about these for ages but i never got around to making the post. At the end of the day its all up to interpretation, but this is what i think.

[straightfacedstrangeness]

"Managing editor Satori Fujii tells an interesting tale about the difficulties Viz had translating the chapter titles of the LUM * URUSEI YATSURA PERFECT COLLECTION. All of the chapters were named for Japanese pop songs. While many Japanese bands are starting to find success in the States, the names of these songs would probably sound incredibly odd to most of us who don't frequent karaoke clubs. Therefore, Viz Comics and Mr. Jones decided to rename the chapters after American pop songs, changing the context but preserving the tone and intent of the original by selecting songs which were quite similar in meaning to their Japanese counterparts."

— fun trivia from Manga Vizion volume 1 #8 (1995)!