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BTW, here's the letter...




Dear Mr. Lu,

I am writing this letter as a follow up to the previous correspondence I sent you on August 1st as well as a phone conversation you had with Eric Appleman from Freelance-Manga, another member of our Inuyasha community. You requested that we provide more specific examples of mistakes and areas Inuyasha fans feel that the manga and other Viz Inuyasha products can be improved. The purpose of this letter is to provide you with this information. Before writing this letter, Eric and I collected the opinions of numerous members of the community via an online forum. The opinions and suggestions in this letter are directly from the forum members; I am simply voicing their concerns to you in a cohesive manner. I hope you will be willing to consider our opinions and suggestions when publishing future Inuyasha products.
First and foremost, I would like to start by stating again that the English-speaking Inuyasha community is grateful to have a company such as Viz that produces Inuyasha products in the English language. We support Vizs efforts to create these products and are attempting to maximize the benefit to Viz as well as the fans. Many members of the community feel strongly that if Viz improves the quality of their publications, they would be much more willing to support Viz by purchasing the manga and other products as opposed to resorting to fan-translated versions. That said, I would like to present to you the biggest concerns the English-speaking Inuyasha manga community has in regards to Viz products.
When polled, a vast majority of individuals cited the practice of flipping pages to read left to right as the biggest turn-off to Viz manga. The flipping of pages changes the original art and does a disservice to both Rumiko Takahashis work and the fans. It affects character design, certain aspects of the story and dialogue. While many things are affected by the page flipping, the most heavily affected are Mirokus Wind Tunnel/Kazaana in his right, Sesshomarus missing left arm and distinctively unsymmetrical character design, Kaedes eye patch, Inuyashas broken right arm and Kikyos sealing arrow that pierced Inuyashas heart on the left side of his chest. There are many instances in the manga in which the dialogue contradicts what is seen in the picture due to the art being flipped. I realize that you work on many projects at Viz and because of this these examples hold little meaning with you; however, to the fans this is a big issue. In addition to these specific examples, it is the general consensus in the manga community that the original style of Japanese manga should be preserved when translated into English, including the practice of reading the panels from right to left.
Continuing with the theme of retaining the integrity of Japanese manga style, many people would like to see the use of more traditional Japanese speech instituted in the Inuyasha manga. As I am sure you are aware, the Japanese language utilizes honorifics when referring to individuals. The English language, of course, does not follow this custom and therefore much of the meaning and tone is lost when translating the manga into English. While we realize that not all readers will understand the Japanese system of honorifics, we believe that it is necessary to maintain the original tone of the characters speech. Whether this is done by using the honorifics provided in the original language or by some other method is highly debated; what is not debated is that it needs to be done to maintain the integrity of the manga. Later in this letter I will outline for you a possible solution for the issue of explaining Japanese language structure for readers who do not already understand it. In the mean time, I would like to address another point relating to translation and tone. In the original manga, the character Sango refers to Miroku as Houshi-sama which is a respectful reference to a monk, which Miroku is. By referencing him by this title, Sango is showing respect and distance in their relationship. Only once in the original manga has Sango called Miroku by his actual name, yet in the Viz translation, she always calls him by Miroku. By doing this, the nature of their relationship is drastically changed. Another character who is affected by differences in translation is Inuyasha himself. In the original manga, Inuyasha uses profane and uncomplimentary speech; this is something that defines his character and gives the reader an insight in to what he is like. While I understand that Viz has made a decision to remove profanity from the manga for the benefit of younger readers, the community believes that if the profanity is going to be removed then other efforts need to be made to ensure that Inuyashas speech still conveys his attitude and mannerisms found in the Japanese version.
The topic of translating attacks and weapons in the Inuyasha manga has long been discussed by members of the manga community. Many believe that the English translations of attacks and weapons are inaccurate at best and take away from the overall impact of the story. There is also inconsistency with the translations; for instance, Inuyashas basic attack, Sankontessou in the original Japanese, has been translated several ways in the Viz version of the manga. In Volume 20, page 169 it is translated as "Claws of steel!" In Volume 25, page 176 it is translated as "Exorcising claws of steel!" In Volume 28, page 114 it is "Iron-reaver! Soul-stealer!" In Volume 30, page 129 it reads simply Soul-stealer!" This inconsistency is not only confusing but also shows inaccurate and careless translating. This inconsistency of translation is also seen in regards to Sangos Hiraikotsu, which has been translated as Boomerang Bone as well as being left untranslated and Mirokus Kazaana, which has been translated several different ways, including Air Rip and Wind Tunnel. Some attacks Viz has done an excellent and consistent job translating, such as Shippos Fox Fire and Fox Magic, Inuyashas Blades of Blood, Sesshomarus Poison Claw, and Kaguras Dance of the Dragon, Dance of Blades and Dance of the Dead. Since Viz has done such a good job with these names, we feel that it is possible to do a better job with some of the abovementioned attacks and weapons. Probably the foremost complaint concerning the translation of weapons is the name of Inuyashas sword. Viz translates the sword name as Tetsusaiga, but the proper Romanization is Tessaiga. While this may seem very insignificant, it is important to fans for several reasons. First, the fact that it was mistranslated and never corrected is upsetting to readers. Secondly, the sword is one of the main focal points of the story and seeing it constantly spelled incorrectly is a constant reminder that Viz has made an error that, even after it has been established that the Romanization is incorrect, they are still unwilling to fix. It is things such as this that deter fans from supporting Viz.
As I mentioned earlier, the Inuyasha manga community has come up with a possible solution for readers who do not understand Japanese speech habits and patters. We feel that it would be highly beneficial to include a prologue addressing issues such as the use of honorifics and what they mean and reading pages from right to left instead of the traditional Western method of reading left to right. It would also be helpful to include a glossary of terms to explain the meaning of the names of weapons and attacks, as well as other Japanese terms that come up throughout the manga. Because it is Japanese, many people who read manga are interested in knowing more about the way manga was originally formatted, Japanese speech habits and Japanese terms. Adding an explanatory prologue and/or a glossary of terms would help these individuals immensely.
Finally, I would like to discuss an issue that has come up time and again on the forums concerning the Viz Inuyasha products: quality. When compared to the original Japanese work as well as other Viz products, the Inuyasha products fall severely behind in terms of overall quality. It would appear as though time and care is not being taken to produce quality products for the Inuyasha fans. Publications include glaring errors (a small portion of which are provided in the later portion of this correspondence), poor translations and Romanization, and unnecessary alteration of the art. Concerning this, it is common for English words to be added to the images in place of the Japanese sound effects. This may seem necessary; however these English translations are often not actually accurate translations of what was originally written. In addition, these words often cut into the pictures and detract from the artwork. In order to remedy this, fan scanlators have come up with a solution; translating the effect in the space below the panel. That way, the reader knows what the sound effect is, but are still able to view the art in its original form. This, combined with the numerous errors in grammar, translation, word placement and layout give the impression of a complete disregard for quality on the part of Viz Media. The Inuyasha manga community is aware that Viz is capable of creating wonderful, quality publications and is at a loss as to how their series has somehow landed outside of this circle of quality products. However, at the present such products are not available to fans, leading them to rely on fan-translated scanlations of the manga. It is also a sore point that the release rate of the manga volumes is so slow. It has been brought to our attention that at the current release rate it will take until the year 2012 to catch up to where the current manga is today. If fans have to wait that long for manga, they are much more prone to get it elsewhere; indeed, by the time it is released many fans will have moved on to another series and wont be willing to purchase volumes of Inuyasha. This unwillingness to buy would only be compounded by poor quality. One member of the Inuyasha manga community was quoted as saying, I really, really want this book (Inuyasha Manga Profiles), but I dont know if I should buy it because that would show VIZ that I support their (poor) work. The fans are calling for quality Inuyasha products; they do not resort to fan-translations in order to get free manga, they do it because they feel they can get a better quality product from other fans than they can from the professionals at Viz Media. I am not alone in seeing this as a horrible shame. The fans want quality products and are willing to pay money for them. If Viz is able to produce publications that meet the fans expectations, then I believe that they will eagerly support Viz by purchasing those quality products.
As a long time fan of anime and manga, I, and many others, want to see it continuing to be translated and brought to the English speaking community. We as fans want to see Viz prosper; however, in order for that to happen, Viz must provide quality products that meet the expectations of their customers. I am certain that this can be accomplished and am looking forward to seeing improvements in future Inuyasha publications from Viz Media.
Thank you for your time and consideration while reading this letter. I hope you will take the opinions and concerns of your customer base into account as you proceed with the publication of this series. I look forward to corresponding with you in the future on behalf of the English-speaking Inuyasha community.

Sincerely,

Jessica Wolf
Freelance-Manga


The following is a list of errors compiled by members of the Inuyasha manga community at Freelance-Manga:

Inuyasha Manga[/b][/size]

Vol. 1, page 6- Panel reads: Tokyo, 1997. It should read Tokyo, 1996

Vol. 9, page 106- Kagomes and Inuyashas speech bubbles are switched. Inuyashas bubble reads Inuyasha! while Kagomes bubble reads My arm its broken?!

Vol. 16, page 140- Goshinkis speech bubble has something (a small piece of paper, perhaps) covering part of the typed words, making it difficult to read.

Vol. 17, page 108- Koga is saying, Hey Koga, show some respect! This is actually one of Shippos lines from the previous page.

Vol. 18, page 11- Inuyashas and Kagomes speech bubbles are switched.

Vol. 18, page 120- Shippo refers to Koga as Kiga.

Vol. 19, page 6- In the character descriptions, there is a description of Totosai next to a picture of Kagura.

Vol. 24, page 5- The printing is cut off at the bottom of the page.

Vol. 25, page 29- Smudges appear on the artwork (not present on original art).

Vol. 25, page 39- A speech bubble contains the poorly translated phrase, So following Mukotsu follows Kyokotsu to the soil, eh?

Vol. 26, page 5- Naraku is incorrectly spelled Narraku.

Vol. 26, page 17- A speech bubble contains the poorly translated phrase, bother me either at all.

Vol. 26, page 51- Bankotsus and Jakotsus speech bubbles are switched. Bankotsu is saying to Jakotsu, Well, dont ask me, Bankotsu. Youre the one whos actually met him. This should be Jakotsus line.

Vol. 26, page 71- An extra word is added to the sentence, Are you that really that powerful?

Vol. 27, page 56- Sesshomaru is incorrectly spelled Sessomaru.


Inuyasha Character Profiles [/b][/size]

Page 138- The description of Kikyos costume is actually Narakus.

Page 140- Kikyo's technique list is actually Naraku's.

Page 145- The description of a picture of Kikyo and Urasue is incorrect. It's the same description used for Kikyo's original death, repeated from the previous page.

Pages 160, 161, 162, 165, 170- Flipped and unflipped images of Sesshomaru on same page

Pages 238 and 239- In the description of Battle #46- Kagome is listed as defeating Ryukotsusei when it should be Inuyasha. This is also accompanied by a picture and description. The picture is correct, but the description is of a battle with Koga. In the description of Battle #47, Inuyasha is listed as defeating Tsubaki when it should be Kagome. This is also accompanied by an incorrect picture from the Shippo and the Stone Flower arc. The incorrect description is of the battle with Goshinki. In the description of Battle #48, the battle between Shippo and the lizard demon, the points of interest section for this battle says "Inuyasha and Koga fought over Kagome". Koga was not present during this battle.

Page 240- A battle between Inuyasha and Ginkotsu is missing. In the description of Battle#59, Inuyasha is listed as defeating Ginkotsu and Renkotsu with Tokijin. Sesshomaru, who wields Tokijin wasn't even there. Inuyasha has never wielded Tokijin. In the description of Battle #66, no combatant is listed. The combatant should be Sesshomaru.

Page 256- Flipped and unflipped images of Kaede on same page.



Other[/b][/size]

There is confusion over Kiraras gender; in the art book, Kirara is referred to as a female (page 156), in the profile book she is gender neutral (referred to as it on pages 95 and 256), in the anime there are countless instances of Kirara being called female and in volume 26, page 179, Sango refers to Kirara as him.

There is inconsistency in the exclusion of profanity from the manga. Some characters have been censored while others have not. As an example, all profanity from the character Inuyasha has been removed, but the character Shippos speech there are still profane words to be found.