gommyommy

One of the challenges of writing characters who have names that are not commonly found in your culture is that you don’t usually have a clear idea what those names connote for people. For example, in the United States, certain names bring certain stereotypical images to mind, and when a mangaka uses one of those names for a character and it does not fit, the result can be rather disconcerting.
 

( Be amused by the pictures )

 

I only speak one language: English

I'm 42 years old. It is unlikely that I'd ever get good at a second language at this stage in my life, unless I lived in a country where I was forced to speak that second language all the time.

That said, all the manga I am following is in Japanese and all of the stories are ongoing. Each month, a new chapter comes out in Japan. I rely on providers of scans and translations to keep up with the story.

Mind you, I have bought all available volumes in English...but there aren't many.

• Nabari No Ou has 4 volumes out in English; compare that with 13 volumes in Japanese
• Pandora Hearts and Black Butler have 2 volumes out in English, and at least 10 volumes out in Japanese
• 07 Ghost has 3 volumes out in English, and their publisher went belly-up, so there is no hope of more English volumes any times soon

I understand that three of the four manga I am following are licensed, and therefore the publishers of the English language versions of these manga do not want scanlations to be shared around the web. But when the English language story is years behind the Japanese story, and a new volume in English only comes out once every 3-5 months, can they really blame us for wanting to see the scanlations? How else can we keep up with the story and share our thoughts on forums and whatnot? If we are not up to date, the forums are full of spoilers.

I have spent considerable time tracking down raws, translations and scanlations, and figuring out which Twitter, LJ and other forum sites I need to watch for news.

Last night my husband came in and saw me with a printed translation in my hand while perusing a Japanese raw scan on my laptop screen. 

"You're obsessed," he said.

You bet I am.