Comments on: MangaGamer Revisited — Oral Stage

By: /jp/edo

/jp/edo — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:17:49 +0000

Mainstream buyers of VNs? Hey, I like them as much as you do but let’s not kid ourselves, we’re not going to be seeing VNs sold at Wal-Mart any day soon. Companies like this know that they’re selling a niche product, so they cater to that niche as well as they can. It’s the same thing with a lot of niche anime, they have to cater to their audience, which is made up of people who for the most part don’t give a fuck about honorifics.

By: Jamie Spong

Jamie Spong — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:46:34 +0000

“You’re effectively rewriting the work (though on a small scale) just to make it sound nicer.”

Um, that’s what translation is. You’re making it sound like copy-editing is a bad thing.
I agree that visual novels won’t reach the mainstream until, say, the BBC commission a Doctor Who-themed novel game. But, as mentioned before, this practice isn’t limited to visual novels. MangaGamer is, unfortunately, just one example of the bad translation practices of modern Anglo-Japanese subculture.
I’m tempted to ask you if you’re kidding. Knowledge of honourifics does not equate to understanding.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:32:14 +0000

Are you serious? You keep referring to a potential mainstream audience for visual novels. Even in Japan there is no main stream audience for them. How the heck do you expect one to pop up in the west? Most people who read visual novels are the type of people who understand that it is a translated work, and they don’t mind that. They don’t need its origin to be desperately hidden. The translated script should be kept as close as possible to the original’s meaning. When you just randomly change from calling someone by their last name to first you’re losing meaning. You’re effectively rewriting the work (though on a small scale) just to make it sound nicer.

By: Anon

Anon — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:02:48 +0000

There are those who want honorifics in (possibly a vocal minority), those who want them completely out (a smaller vocal minority, including yourself), and the vast majority of the public who doesn’t care either way.

If there was a sizeable group who was angry about honorifics like yourself, then fansubs wouldn’t include them, anime and manga companies wouldn’t include them, and MangaGamer wouldn’t include them. However honestly, most of the public doesn’t really care one way or the other. If they did, more main stream companies like Funimation would not include them. MangaGamer is a small company, they are going along with the norm and basing their policies on what they think those buying the games want instead of experimenting. I am sure the much larger companies like Funimation and TokyoPop have done research on what makes the most sense business wise.

Personally, I would prefer honorifics in the event that the script is voiced in Japanese and the setting is a school like environment. However I am not a fan of hearing them in dubs, but I usually watch subs so that doesn’t mean much to me.

By: Jamie Spong

Jamie Spong — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 06:54:29 +0000

Honourific supporters are the vocal minority. To the general public, this is a major point of contention. I’ve yet to hear a convincing argument in favour of the practice. But consumers see this and assume that there’s no better way. By pandering to the vocal minority, potential mainstream users find themselves disillusioned. They’re shooting themselves in the feet, and, as this practice spreads, dooming the ‘community’, as you call it, into an even smaller niche.

I think that other companies getting in on the action is even worse, but that’s beyond the scope of this article. I do not watch, play or support any Japanese-to-English media that makes use of honourifics and neither should you. As there is nothing else that I can do, this means that I cannot be a fan anymore.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:48:56 +0000

When a significant majority of their audience wants something, it makes sense to include it, money talks. This isn’t isolated.

A significant percent of manga released in English by a variety of companies contains honorifics.

Nearly a majority of recent anime released in English has honorifics in their subbed track (and some ever have them in the dub).

The vast majority of unofficial fansubbed anime and manga include them, as do most fan translated visual novels

Some English released games (Persona comes to mind) has them in their game dub.

Even MangaGamer’s larger competitor, JastUSA, includes honorifics in the majority of their games, especially recently.

You can complain about one company, but the truth is, for better or worse, is that this community wants honorifics, and so it makes perfect sense to include them. You may not agree, but with them selling products, it is in their best interest to sell what their customers want.