Ask John: Can You Explain Manga Being Reversed?

Question:
I noticed that when I read some of the manga series that have been turned into shows then watch the anime, stuff seems backwards. Pieces of armor will be on a different side, or an ornament or piece of jewelry on the left will then be on the right, also injuries or scars will be on the opposite side. I was wondering exactly why that is, and which way then, it is supposed to be.

Answer:
English language is designed to be read from left to right. Japanese language is typically read from right to left. In the original Japanese format, manga open from the right and progress to the left- exactly the opposite of English language books which begin by opening to the left and reading to the right. For the convenience of American readers that are used to starting a book on the left, most manga brought to America is “flipped,” meaning that the panels are flopped upside down to face the opposite direction that they originally did. This way, the original right-to-left format appears as left-to-right, the way English language readers comfortable with. However, this mirror-image reversal makes things originally on the left appear on the right, and vice-versa. Usually this isn’t significant or noticeable, however it does stand out particularly in the Gunsmith Cats manga translation, in which cars in America suddenly drive on the opposite side of the road because the art has been “flopped.”

There are exceptions to this policy, the most well known being Blade of the Immortal. Dark Horse Comics typically “mirror images” its manga translations to read left-to-right, however Hiroaki Samura, the creator of Blade of the Immortal, expressed a desire that his manga art not be altered for its English translation. In a compromise, whenever possible the English language translation of Blade of the Immortal literally copy and pastes the individual panels to retain the original Japanese look of the art in Western format.

Perhaps the first manga translation to not compromise its panel layout for the convenience of Western readers at all was the Toys Press publication of the Five Star Stories manga in America, which includes a warning alerting readers to not buy the comics if reading right to left is too foreign and uncomfortable. Viz Communications published the Evangelion manga both ways. The standard edition Evangelion comics and collected graphic novels have “flopped art” while the “Special Edition” volumes are published with their Japanese format intact. And now TOKYOPOP, in a move to present the most authentic possible American presentation of Japanese manga, has announced that all of its forthcoming manga translations will be printed exclusively in their original, unaltered Japanese right-to-left format.