Printing Doujinshi in West

...is complicated!

*Aww, not "past" but "paste"!! ...never mind!
The book was printed very nicely. but...

Post by Nao Yazawa.

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Print shops in Europe

Typesetting of Moon&Blood German edition.

Moon&Blood Limited German Edition

Free Manga

All the "free manga" I'm talking about are Japanese edition, so just for your information...

The Isolated Zone vol.7 Japanese edition has been released via KDP. So I put some other titles on Free Campaign. The Isolated Zone vol.1 vol.2 and vol.6.

In English version is available till vol.2, at eManga.com. Because it's(Japanese edition) is free, why don't you get both version and compare them? (the quality, such as resolutions, Japanese version is better I think) 

The latest volume is "7"

And Moon and Blood 1 &2 are free as well. (The link goes to Amazon.com)

真空地帯vol.1 & vol.２+ vol.６

　　

    

Typesetting of Moon&Blood German edition.

I thought it was easy work when I asked to my publisher DMP that if I could make and sell Moon and Blood print book (in German) at AniNite, a convention in Vienna.

Because German Edition had been released already. Yes, it was eBook format, but yet, if I got all the data from DMP, all I had to do was compiling them for print book edition. There would be not so much work, I thought.

The very expensive Kindle German edition @Amazon.de. 7.45EUR.

For some reason, it's very expensive at Amazon. It's 2.95$ at eManga.con (Online reading, and you got another format for your e-book reader by+1$) I don't know why...and the quality of Kindle manga in West is poor. At least, the quality of my titles are poor.  :( Amazon.JP is ok, so I don't know why Amazon.com doesn't offer the same quality kindle manga with Japan. )

The data can't be used for print because of the low resolution. I knew that. But they might have text layer - unrasterizeｄ. If they had, the low resolution doesn't disturb to make a data for print. That what I thought.

But I was wrong. The data I got was ping image, no text layers. Come to think about it, it's obvious because they order to productions the e-books, all the they dose are editing work.

So what I have to do ... copy&paste then break, copy&paste then BR, ... ... ...
(They gave me the translation script documents) 

I worked in the order (not particulate reason) vol.2, 3, 4, 1.

Yesterday, I got the proofreading documents from the translator. (She kindly gave it a QC). For some reason, vol.1 has many errors - it's the clear number one.

?? Because I was tired after 3 volumes' typing? Because the checker was fresh when she checked vol.1(it must be the first one). Because I got used to the work and started to do what I want at my choice (too much) ??

Anyway, there are some mistakes, especially the mistakes I did frequently were ...

BR at the wrong point.

I've done the same mistakes at my 4koma, like this....

It should be;
WAR ER

IMMER

But I did like this;

WAR ERI

MMER

I didn't type, just copy and paste, but I missed sometimes a space between words, because it's very narrow in the font I use. The alphabet tends to wide, it's not good for Japanese manga style balloons, so I prefer vertically long font like this. I knew it, and still, make the same error... ><; The one big reason is I don't speak German, yes. 

If it was ordinary sentence, I mean it has lowercase characters, my mistakes will be less. But in that case, the line s@ace looks bad - because of the height difference of English letters, like "f" "g". The line will be jaggy. Not suitable characters for manga Alphabet is, anyway. 

I didn't like the roundly font which is used manga commonly, but I've started to thinking it has the reason. At least, you can't miss a space when you use the font. I DL this font Anime Ace.

I also didn't like the dialogue without lowercase characters, but it might be the better way , it's jaggy free at least. I might never realized it if I didn't type by myself. There are things you never know without practices. 

I wish this font was thinner bit more, though. This one is too fatty. :(

I'm so grateful for E-chan's work, she took time out for the proofreading!

Moon&Blood Limited German Edition

The editing work has almost done.

I brought Moon&Blood books 1-4 (in English) to Animuc, a convention in Munich in this April and sold them. They were sold out soon - only 15 copies each, though. It's different from the last time, I sold some at MTAC (Nashville, USA /in  last year.) Definitely I'm well know in German speaking world than English speaking world, it seems. (I should learn German ... Mmmmm it's difficult...)

I wanted to do the same thing at AniNite (29-31 Aug, in Vienna), and asked my publisher DMP to send some copies. The answer was - there was no copies anymore at the office. Still some copies are left on distributions, but that's all.

It is unlikely they'll print the second edition, so I asked if I could edit them myself and print the book in person, something like Dojinshi. Of course I'll sell it on AniNite, it'll be based on German edition from Digital Manga Guild. 

If they don't have printed books, I can make them, can't I?

They said yes, and asked the folloings.

1) The result report.

2)　Be released on the DMG label.

3) 10 copies for DMP

4) The printing right belongs to DMP

5) It will be under 100 copies.

They agreed it as a kind of promotion/a gauge, for other their titles. OK, I shall go!

The cover.

So I can print them, but at where? I have a print shop I usually use in Japan, The cost is reasonable(if you use the early discount) and the quality is good. But the shipping cost to Austria is - 25,000JPY. (15,000 by ship, but it's too slow.) I can't bring these book by myself, it's beyond the limit.

I decided to use a local print-shop, my friends (AniNite staff) take charge of dealing with the print-shop. I know well about Japanese cojinshi print-shops, and they know very well about printing manga books. How about print-shops in Vienna? I don't know, just give it over my dear friends! :D Good luck!

It has No. because it is limited edition, like Shinku Chitai from EMA

Because it's labeled on DMG, I thought I use the material DMG made as much as I can. Such as typesetting, graphic subtitles so on. The drawing itself can't be good enough for actual print, but the letters could be - but actually, I was wrong, the dpi was too low.

It was not-paid work, so I didn't intended to spend so much time for the work. "Do the same the DMG letter did, just copy, without thinking, designing" But when I started, did copy&past the dialogue from the script, and chose the font for subtitle -  I couldn't stop modifying - changing some part, - rather many part. 

A kind of "the lettering the artist hope"? Not completely, tough.

I don't familiar with the alphabet, so I'm not sure the points of letters would look right when they were printed. 

This AR CHRISTY is handy. I used it a lot. An example I rasterized
letter-layer and change the shape. i hadn't meant to go so far the first... 

This part "AAAH!" is the same as the original. Drawn by hand. In West, 

I've not seen like this hand-designed letter in any translated editions. 

This project is purely personal one, I get no profit from it. But I want kill all the cost, included the shipping cost 10 copies to DMP. You now, I have the reason that I need to sell the book lots. Help me at the venue! :)

BTW, it was confusing when you past the dialogue what you don't understand... weird! *laough*

Because I know what it originally meant, and German is similar with English sometimes, and I know some German words, so I vaguely understood it - it's even more weird. XD

A Lazybones

Mmm... problem is, many things to do and none of them has a deadline ....

The switch hardly on

It's more than one month since I posted the last 4koma...long time no see! ^^;
Now, I've started again!


I'm leaving Japan at middle of August -to Toulouse and Vienna (Manga Class and AniNite). I'll post constantly till then... I try. ^^;

 2 girls came from Wanderlust.com for the coverage,
Manga School Nakano - Manga Instruction in English?!
Check the page! :D

Moon and Blood German edition

I've done the quality check of Moon and Blood vol.2 German edition. DMP said vol.1 will be released soon!

Because I don't understand German, there is not so much things I can, but I appreciate that they sand to me the PDF file. (Unfortunately, you can't check right and left of the page with the pdf file. I mean, in right to left reading style, even-numbered page should be placed in right, but they do it wrong sometimes. )

So I can't read it, but I can understand this one.

The hero Kai says "え E (uh) " again and again, then he thinks "俺　「え」しか言ってねー　All I said was 'uh' though". It's a kind of a punch line to this sequence.

German edition use "ÄH" instead of E, the same as Japanese. In English edition, the translator use "Wh..." and "What" for the first and second "E" because of the meaning. 

Maybe it's right in English-wise, makes sense. Still...2 times "Uh"  is not enough for the dialogue "All I said was 'uh' ". 

I saw the effort of translator, and it pleased me. 

Free Manga Campaign (KDP)

The Isolated Zone vol.3 Japanese edition (KDP) has just been released yesterday on 25 Jan and the free Campaign of vol.2 has also started. The Isolated Zone vol.2 (Japanese edition) is free from 26th to 30th Jan. Check the amazon store in your place! Yes, It is in Japanese, but free, anyway... You can get the English edition later. Unfortunately, vol.2 English edition (DMG) production has stopped at the moment... I hope it'll start again soon.

I found one copy of vol.3 on Amazon.com  was downloaded yesterday. It seems there is someone who BOUGHT all the copies in USA. Wow! 

English edition from DMP on Amazon

English edition from DMP on emanga.com

Moon and Blood 2 German edition

I received the file of Moon and Blood vol.2 German edition for QT. Because I don't speak German at all, so I can't say anything about the translation (but it would be OK I know the translator and she can compare the original and English translation, or ask me directly if she came across an unsure sentence) . I just ask if they can change a couple of things - the position of  "br" and the font size. The German sensibility should be the first, so it depends on them if they take my suggestion or not.

The file size is 1024 x 1365, if it would be the standard of their e-book, I'm pretty satisfied.(I don't think this one is not for the e-book, because it has moire and the line is not very sharp)  1365 means a high-resolution book, enough quality to be read by -Pad.

It is great that you can use the word "Yuri" without any note in Manga. XD

Kindle Free Book Campaign

As I wrote here, Shinku Chitai :The Isolated Zone 1 Japanese Edition (KDP) has been releaced at last. -.-  For the celebration, (lol) I set another Free Book Campaign (20-24 Nov.),

Moon and Blood vol.1 and vol.2 (Japanese edition, too)

Shinku Chitai:The Isolated Zone 1　　　　　 I think you may know about this work, because I posted some entries here,  now and then. What I wrote mainly were about translation/lettering of English edition. Unfortunately, vol.2 English edition has no progress so far. I hope it will start again soon.

For a meantime, The Japanese Edition is going on - the vol.2 will be released on Dec.

A Place to Eat

I'm reviewing the English translation Itadaki! Panther (My next DMG title) .

The series was made for little girls (around -10 yo), so the dialogues are easy. Still, there are some misunderstandings. it seems you can't avoid it.

This time, I added some drawings and notes for the blank pages between the chapters and blank part of the manga (they were for ads' space) Many of these notes were from the Doujinshi version, it means they are for Japanese fans, especially the people who buy my Dojinshi. We share many information which foreign fans don't know. It seems very difficult to understand the notes without the context.

I didn't think about it when I copied the notes on this edition. Seems the review is not easy work unlike I thought first....

The Translation of Moon&Blood

I've just found a staring fact. 

As I posted on FB before, my work Moon and Blood German version is in production right now. Italian version is as well (or pre-production, I'm not informed this kind of information). 

The fact is - the translation is not from original (Japanese) but from English! @o@
As I wrote, DMP doesn't tell me the detail of the process, I knew it by the translator's FB post.  She is my friend, I know her in person. Actually, I introduced her to DMP. 

Her post was like this...

Never ever translate from one language into another via a third one ... it NEVER works out right.
In my case I'm supposed to translate a text from English to German, the original being in Japanese. So now I was looking through the original script and I'm going all 'wtf did I translate?! That's not even close to the actually meaning!'.

Whaaaaaaat?

Example:

月… (Mond / Moon)
月の…王子様 (Mond ... prinz / Moon ... prince)
…なんてバカな言葉が頭の中に浮かぶほどに (... was für ein dämlicher Ausdruck, der mir da einfällt / ... what a stupid line to pop into my head)
彼は月に似合っていて… (Weil der Mond zu ihm passt / beacuse the moon suits him ...)

So the English translation I got was:

The moon ...
It's as if he were the prince of the moon ...
It's so stupid ... how he looks like a prince of the moon ...
... there's really no other way I could begin to describe it.

WHAT?!

That's ... IDEK!!! I can't find words right now ... it's just ... fucking my brain over so badly right now.

The German/English in the brackets is a pretty lose translation, but you get my point ...
The frame 2nd & 3rd of the first page and 1st of the second

I was so surprised and asked to DMP. The answer was, the right DMP had was only "English" version, so all the translation works would be from English to other language.

When they asked my agreement about German& Italy editions of my works, they didn't mention about this point. They had nothing against me, just they thought it is nothing - not so much important, at least.

This is a - sort of - issue, that they don't think I care about it. This is a moment you sometimes have when you work with non-Japanese publishers. You don't share the sense.

I agree with the translator, my friend E.

During the translation process, some information will be lost. You can't avoid it even if you are one of first rate translator. This one is not journal article but short dialogues with cultural background (high context one). It has many possibility of translation, it can be different by each person , or the culture of the translator.

The result -  German, in this case -  can make a sense, the readers can follow the story, see Five W's and One H (Who, What,  When, Where, Why and How). But the impression might be far from what I meant.

Even if you translate from original, it happens sometimes.  I know it can't be helped when you put one language into another, there are many elements you can't keep. It means if you did it in double, like Japanese - English - Germany, the result is ... (I don't want to think about it).

Still, there is the theory of nothing better -  you have to accept the triple-multiple-acrobat work, maybe.

Better than nothing.

Anyway, the bright side is, because the German translation is my friend E-chan, German edition will be translated from Japanese edition, at least. She knows Japanese well.

Manga Translation (Japanese -> English)

Japnese

I'm working on Shinku Chitai (The Isolated Zone) from DMG now. The first volume is coming out as e-book in this fall -winter.

It is my long Dojin series, about 1,500pages, which has been closed at the end of 2010. What I'm doing is the preparation of the drawings(digitization) and reviewing.

I review the translation of it - as well as i did my other title from DMP, Moon & Blood. But in this time, the subjects are more expanded than works I've done before, not only translation, but also the fonts & the layout.

There are some documents and emails I exchanged with the translator/editor. We talked about from the translation to the layouts. I think it could be interesting to read for people who loves Japanese manga, especially someone who wants to become an manga-translator or editor. It even could give you some idea how a manga artist compose the work.

Thank you, Kawaii neko who agreed that I post it in this blog and has been patient with me. :)



Part1 -Translation -

Blue= Kawaii Neko(DMG group name)

Manga dialogue is hard to get the accurate meaning because it doesn’t tell everything, to make it short. Shorter is better; space wise and natural conversation wise. And you should make the drawings talk, that is the manga.

Daily conversations are very broken. Especially this one, I sometimes cut off the last half of the sentence and leave it to readers’ imagination. Some get exactly what I mean, but some might not, even you were Japanese. I don’t think all the (Japanese) readers get things what all I planned.

(In fact, I’ve found new things by letters from readers. They read the dialogue/drawings I made very thoughtfully and find something I didn’t intend. But the aspects they found are right, sometimes– fit the character and the situation because they got the characters precisely - so nevertheless I didn’t mean it when I draw, it almost looks like it was planned from the first –which impresses me. This is just an aside…^^;)

In that case (I cut the last half of the sentence), “Joshi助詞” (particles) at the end of the sentence is the key what it means. Joshi is very difficult subject of Japanese, even you were a fluent Japanese speaker you can make mistakes and confuse sometimes. Very subtle, faint nuance it has.

And there is one more element makes it difficult – or the biggest problem – because my composing /drawing skill was very immature (at that time, I say! XD it is my very early work) ; so it happens sometimes that “the drawings didn’t talk”. This has been very valuable for me both in learning more about Japanese language and manga, but also as an editor, seeing different ways to better express ideas :) The ideas in this manga are much more complex than the BL I've done so far, and the little notes for the art book, so this has been a big learning curve for me.

I’ve learnt that I put how many “meanings” in one dialogue, and how many backgrounds they have, during the process (review the translation). You’ve never realised it if you didn’t something like this, and explain what you mean to someone. It is totally new for me. I’m so fussy I know, keep saying “I don’t mean it” so often. It’s not only this time, but many time – it happens. Or every time, I dare say. (I maybe fussier than usual, because you are my friend, it makes me free.) I'm glad you feel comfortable enough with me for this to be so :) I know because you are my friend, I am comfortable to let you know when I am unsure, or don't know..and as you are the creator, I prefer asking you rather than just Google or another person- you know what you mean, and so we can distill the idea!

It can’t be helped you lose something during the translation process, it is impossible you deliver everything in it. You need many explanations and notes or long dialogues for that, it’ll kill the story. Still, I think the translation will be different if you got everything and digested them once. You can cut some parts depends on the situation. Just tell me and explain that, so that I can ask “don’t”, if the part was essential. I will keep this in mind.

===============================

Example-1

2.2 It's the first time she's tried the food… 

If she hadn’t eaten in days…(This is the first day she tried “the food)

Sorry, I should make these part italics “This is the first day she tried ‘the food’” 

Reiko says literally “(if) she couldn’t eat many days…”  Subtext : She might not be able to eat many days, and she will be weak and die. Not OK at all. It could happen, so don’t you (Tetsu) think we’d better to give her special treatment?  

She is suggesting Tetsu to give Yumi special treatment and Tetsu answers to the subtext, “I don’t give her special treatment"

 I think maybe adding "so "to the end will put that across better.."It's the first time she's tried the food...so..." with the special treatment  as a treat/favor implied..what do you think? 

Ok, fine.-Nao
==============================

Example 2

Not for her. He means everything. They eat weed, sleep on the ground, and dying one by one. If he was strong enough, he could do something better, he wouldn’t let them die. He felt he doesn’t have enough power, skill, brain. 

 Mmm, remove “like you said”…? 

The background is 

She “said” (thinks) Tetsu does everything well, he has enough capability. The fact she thinks he is a good leader, it makes him upset.  

He knows his friends think he is a good leader, like a father who knows everything, but he thinks he isn’t. But he can’t show his own feeling, he have to pull himself together for others – with great efforts. It’s exactly same what he said to Yumi before. That the reason that Tatsu is cold to Yumi, he doesn’t like her.  

He is always on the edge, can start to lose anytime - more than others, because of the pressure and the sense of isolation.(just like right now) He desires to be strong desperately, so that he would been able to do something, protect them and get better life for them. Yumi touches the most sensitive issue of Tetsu naively. It gets on his nerves.  

"I would have been able to do something better…"  ?

Changed..think you've nailed that :) 

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part1 Manga Translation (Japanese → English)
Part2 The "Vertical" Layout of manga
Part3 Manga fonts



Japanese