Ask John: What is America’s Best Manga Translation Company?

Question:
Understanding that your realm of presidence lies more with anime rather than manga, I’ll ask regardless. What, in your estimation, is the best publisher for localizing manga? That is to say, which in your opinion does the best that they can in remaining faithful to the original, in format, artwork, and translation?

Answer:
Considering that my familiarity with manga is very limited, I don’t think I’m knowledgeable enough about the domestic manga scene to definitely chose a singular best localization company. But based on my limited first hand experience and second hand reports, I think I can narrow the field.

TOKYOPOP has been heavily criticized for the poor quality of its translations since its inception as Mixx Entertainment and its publication of the Rayearth manga in Tokyopop Magazine. The TOKYOPOP translation of Ikkitousen (Battle Vixens), for example, has been publicly chastised for being so colloquialized that it’s arguably not a translation at all, but rather a totally America re-write. Numerous TOKYOPOP manga titles also suffer from inexcusably poor print quality. The TOKYOPOP release of the Brain Powered manga, for example, reproduced the glossy color pages of the Japanese edition as murky monochrome pages in the American edition that are so improperly ink saturated that they’re nearly indecipherable. TOKYOPOP’s “100% Authentic” policy was discarded almost as quickly as it was introduced in favor of bulk quantity translations over quality.

AD Vision’s manga line has fared little better with many books that have noticeably inferior reproduction quality compared to the original Japanese versions, probably due to ADV Manga having to scan and translate Japanese books exactly the same way amateur manga fans do. The Azumanga Daioh manga localization has been heavily criticized in the fan community for its uneven presentation of a culturally authentic translation. Several ADV Manga titles have been apparently dropped or delayed indefinitely, to the vexation of fans. And manga titles like Peacemaker Kurogane start in medias res because ADV Manga either could not or did not acquire translation rights to the beginning of the series.

Viz is the grand daddy of American manga localization, so their reputation for Americanized translations has been well known for years. From editing out sections of Maison Ikkoku that were deemed “too Japanese,” to making up a new name for the protagonist of Gunnm (to go along with the American title “Battle Angel”), to censoring the Xenon and Pokemon manga, to the well known Americanized translations of Detective Conan and Shonen Jump Magazine, Viz’s bastardization of Japanese manga is well established. Albeit, the censored sections of Maison Ikkoku were later restored, but one positive among numerous negatives doesn’t balance out.

Having not read any manga translated by Central Park Media, I can’t vouch for the quality of CPM’s translations, but the hideously bad print quality of many of their books is apparent to even the most casual inspection. Scanning Japanese manga then translating and re-printing them in English is sometimes, regretably a necessity, but even having clearly legible scans and quality printing is something that many of CPM’s manga titles have failed to accomplish.

Smaller publishers Comics One and Ironcat are a mixed bag. Comics One was one of the first domestic manga distributors to go the extra mile to present its adult manga in proper A5 size, and provide many of their books with with dust jackets, just like their Japanese counterparts. Their translations have varied from literal (in many of their books) to heavily Americanized (in Crayon Shin-chan). Ironcat translations have likewise varied from good to so heavily American colloquialized that they don’t even seem like Japanese manga any more. Both companies have, at times, altered artwork to include translated sound effects.

On the other hand, small publisher Broccoli Books, possibly because it’s a Japanese company, has shown an admirable respect for the integrity of the manga it’s translated. From print quality to leaving art unaltered to utilizing literal dialogue translations and including copious translation notes, I have nothing to complain about with the Broccoli Books manga I’ve read. The same applies to my reaction to manga localized by Digital Manga Publishing. So far, in DMP translated titles like Hellsing and Trigun I’ve seen nothing to complain about.

I’m not familiar with any of Media Blaster’s recently debuted line of translated manga, but already I respect the fact that they seem to be prioritizing the acquisition of titles that they actually appreciate and want to support, and the fact that Media Blasters is the first manga translating company in the American anime industry to have announced its plans to only acquire titles to which they can secure first generation quality print masters so that they don’t have to resort to scanning pages and degrading print quality as many other domestic translation companies do.

Comic book publishers are very well aware of how picky their customers are and how inclined their customers are to nitpick minute details. So it should come as no surprise that manga published by CMX and Dark Horse Comics maintain relatively high standards. In fact, Dark Horse published manga are among the only English translated manga in America to have been recognized for their localization quality with comic industry awards. But because CMX and Dark Horse are both mainstream American comic book companies that receive the majority of their support and business from mainstream American consumers and comic fans, their manga translations tend to balance between authenticity and appeal to mainstream readers, unlike the translations from Broccoli Books, which are targeted at anime and manga fans specifically interested in Japanese comics and culture. I also think it’s important to note that Dark Horse’s original English language publication of the Ghost in the Shell manga was censored, but the publisher has now released a fully uncut and uncensored version of the book for adult consumers.

Del Rey manga is big and powerful enough to enjoy the luxury of freedom. Their books are targeted to the mainstream, but don’t sacrifice any of their Japanese qualities for the sake of market appeal. Del Rey doesn’t need to survive off the sales of its manga, so it doesn’t have to try to maximize manga sales by Americanizing or dumbing down its manga presentations. Simply put, in my experience I don’t have any negative criticisms for Del Rey’s manga.

There are other domestic manga translators including, but not limited to Gutsoon, Cocoro Books, Infinity Studios, Vertical, and Japan’s Toys Press, but these companies are either defunct or too niche to be relevant to typical American manga consumers. And my criticisms of the major manga American distributors presented above are based only on my admittedly limited knowledge of them. I also made a point of not comparing the quality of the titles distributed by each company because no two readers’ tastes will be the same. Localization quality is not a reflection of the quality of the original manga itself. Localization isn’t manga; localization is something done to manga.