Tag Archives: Manga

Anime/Manga, Digital Entertainment, self publishing

Some Thoughts on the Change in Publishing

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Publishing is changing and the folks in media are screaming bloody murder (not that I blame them for doing so).  Spurred on by the success of Amazon’s Kindle and the iPad, things are moving a lot faster than they ever dreamed I suppose.  Just last month it was reported that Kindle Books sales over took the sales of hardcover books.  It sounds amazing at first glance until you think about how bulky and brick-like hard cover books are compared to the sleekness of the Kindle or the iPad, both in form and bookshelf space (or lack there of…).  Other than the changing form in which we consume printed media, something else is afoot.  There is a challenge to the foundation of traditional publishing itself.  I think we’ve all seen it, but for the most part denied it.  As self publishing becomes easier, the lack of authority rises.  I’ve talked about this before, but I think now I see two stark mirroring realities that can be best summed up as, “Anyone can publish almost anything they want.”  At first I thought “wow” and then this quickly turned into “oh no…”

I guess I’ll focus my thoughts on a subject I’m familiar with: manga.  Leaving aside the current legal controversies of scanlation, I’d rather think about the issues of “authority.”  The truth of the matter is anybody can do scanlation with the right software (or in some cases without).  When I speak of authority in scanlation, I mainly think about the project choices a group makes and whether the translation offered is any good. Continue reading Some Thoughts on the Change in Publishing →

Anime/Manga, communication, Digital Entertainment, Web Design

Mobile Manga

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Google Analytics has now added separate segmentation for mobile users.  I’ve been looking at mine lately and I don’t have many mobile users visiting my blog.   But, then again, my anime and manga blog is not mobile friendly because the widgets and the large images make it slow to load over mobile.  Also, since I deliver my manga in zip files that are usually 5MB or larger, mobile viewers can’t view my work.  I’ve found on my iPhone that I can’t download the zip files, so there really is no reason to view my blog unless the reader wishes to actually read my prose.   I wonder, though, since most mobile screens are so small,  are they relevant manga viewers?   But then I consider the future.  The tablets are coming and, so, perhaps, I should be prepared?

Many of the manga aggregation sites I visit are in the early phases of experimenting with delivering manga images via mobile devices.  I’ve attempted to read manga on my iPhone and it’s no fun because my iPhone’s screen is too small.  I’ve also read manga using my mini-note.  The problem with the mini-note, though, isn’t the size, so much as the image needs to be rotated 90-degrees to see a full manga page at a reasonable size.  (By the way, I’m still waiting for that little application on my mini-note that rotates the screen and remaps the mouse pad and the arrow keys so I can use it as an e-reader…)  My guess, though, is that the manga aggregation sites are welcoming the tablet PC with open arms and making preparations for explosive growth.  I wonder how this effort compares to that of the actual the actual manga license holders and legitimate distributors?

So far, the mobile manga efforts appear to be rudimentary.  The sites are using simple “liquid layouts” and have stripped out most of the content. leaving the page image and basic navigation.  The images, too, are smaller and more compressed.   Here’s an example of the difference between the default site and the mobile site from the One Manga website:

Default Site

Mobile Site

One Manga gives the viewer 3 size options, but there’s nothing fancy like Google maps’s ability to zoom in on an illegible section.  Regardless, it’s a good start and they are thinking ahead to the coming technology.

I think it’s very interesting that the folks who are taking the first steps toward mobile manga delivery are not the big publishers.   Again, we have a situation where resistance to evolving technology or the inability to adapt quickly is leaving big businesses open to somebody else meeting the unfulfilled wants and needs for their products.  With respect to sites like One Manga, the product is being given out for free by fans who are doing the manga translations as labors of love.  But as a consequence, the expectation that manga is free online is being reinforced further.  This may also prevent mobile manga delivery from being one of the value adds that could have been monetized directly by the legitimate distributor.  Regardless, I applaud One Manga and sites like it for their foresight and a willingness to innovate.

There’s a lingering question, though.  If One Manga and sites like it aren’t doing this for money (perhaps they get enough money from advertising to cover the cost of servers), then why are they constantly moving forward and innovating?   I wonder has it ever occurred to big business that money isn’t the only thing to compete over?   But more on that at another time…

Gadgets

Santa Delivered — HP Mini 1000

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I guess I was nice this year because Santa delivered :). I didn’t get the Vivienne Tam Edition, but I did get the HP Mini 1000 Mini-notebook with the 60GB harddrive and bluetooth connectivity. So far I’m surprised by the power of this little notebook. I am able to play standard definition avi files on it.

We’ve place the little notebook in the kitchen next to the telephone. This turns out to be a perfect place for it. So far I set up e-mail, I used it today to look up recipes for Christmas dinner and I researched external laptop sound cards for our entertainment laptop. It was convenient to have the little notebook on the counter so I could browse while waiting on food to cook. The small footprint also it made it fit nicely on the little bit of corner space we have where our phone is.

A few things about the notebook that you may want to know before purchasing. It is strictly wireless. There is no Ethernet port for a wired connection. It comes with Windows XP installed so you don’t have to worry about the little laptop barfing on Vista. I went ahead and moved the windows bar to the left side and had it auto-hide. I found this to be a good use of the small screen. It also came installed with Microsoft Works, which has everything you need for home and student use — word processor, spreadsheets, presentations, e-mail, and a calendar. The keyboard takes a little getting used to. True the keyboard is about the same size of a standard keyboard, but some of the keys do double duty when combined with the function key.

I don’t recommend this little laptop as a main computer. I think you are far better getting a full-sized laptop if this is your first or only computer. It is a great secondary and travel laptop. It does basic computing and supports music and standard definition videos nicely. I also recommend getting the 10-in form factor. Web pages display nicely and are readable. It also passed the online manga test ;p. Now if only I could rotate the image on the screen like an iPod touch or the iPhone so I could get a full page of manga or a book on the screen. The screen is about the same size as a paperback book and the arrows keys are in the right place currently for page flipping ;). Hint, hint … it could be fudged with a software update … Though, the hinge doesn’t allow the device to open the full 180-degrees … maybe the next gen …???

Anime/Manga

Confessions of an Online Manga Translator

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I have moved a step closer to realizing my dream to be a fansubber.  Unfortunately the world of fansubbing is quickly becoming uncomfortable as Japanese media companies start to complain.  I guess the Japanese media companies don’t recognize that the fansubbers are serving willing consumers that they themselves don’t serve.  Curious that they don’t see the opportunity or have not latched onto the idea of crowdsourcing so they don’t actually have to hire translators and the other staff needed to localize anime, drama, books, and manga.

Anyhow, I’ve begun to translate one of my current favorite manga series and I have posted the chapters online in one of my blogs.  I don’t do “scanalation”; that is taking scans of the raw manga and filling in the dialog bubbles with English.  Rather, I write a script for the manga in English, wherein I translate the dialog and verbally describe what is going on in the drawings.  There is an “Inuyasha” translation blog that does the same thing and I found reading this to be more fullfilling than reading the actual manga because my imagination creates the images, rather than being led into the vision suggested by the managka.  This is why I decided to take this approach too.  What’s interesting about this is that I feel a very strong connection to the original text and to what I’ve written.  I didn’t expect this.  It feels sort of like I’m a part of the story creation process because much of how I feel about the story and the characters comes out in the words and the phrasing I choose to translate the words to and the way I describe the action in the pictures.  I also feel that I have a greater understanding of the story because I’ve had to fully digest the Japanese words and the pictures in order to choose the proper words and phrasing.

Does it matter to me whether I accurately present the mangaka’s intent?  That’s a tough question to answer.  I really can’t say for certain what the author intended without talking to the author.  Besides when I read a manga, all that is present goes through my filter and that shapes how I percieve the story.   Therefore when translating and then scripting, what exits my filter is what goes on the screen.  I think this is very powerful and double-edged.  I endeavored to learn Japanese because I didn’t like the way the professional publishers localized manga for an American audience.  I sought purity and from this pure base I wanted to be able overlay my own interpretation.  Being on the other side of it as a translator, I’m am not offering purity to those that read my blog.  This leaves me to ask myself, who am I to offer up my interpretation of this manga to the world?  Am I providing a service or satisfying myself?  I think I am doing both.  Besides I know not to take myself too seriously since anybody that reads what I’ve written, will apply their own filter on top of my filter.

This also has been a great learning tool for me because I can compare my translation to the professional translation when it comes out to see how well I’m progressing with the language.  Plus, my vocabulary, both words and kanji, is growing quickly.   The sad thing is, with a dictionary, I can translate pretty well (I’m still quite slow, but I’m getting better daily) but I have tremendous trouble producing Japanese, so it’s difficult for me to speak spontaneously.  I experienced the same thing when I was learning Spanish.  I understood what Spanish speakers were saying to me, but I could not get out anything intelligible in response out of my mouth.  Rather in both languages, I end up spitting out a bunch of words with no syntax.  Oh well, …