Linkblogging: Zone-00 and reader confusion
I'm still not in the habit of talking much about the titles I adapt, so I haven't commented on most of the various reviews of Zone-00 vol. 1 that I've seen floating around, but every time I've seen someone mention how confusing it is I've wanted to say, "Just so you know, it gets a lot less confusing in volume two. A lot less".
A week or so ago* Tokyopop went a step further and posted a quick article about it on their site (flamika first pointed it out to me), which cheerfully admits that they collectively find it confusing too. *g* This was my favorite staff comment that Cindy included:"'If you want to enjoy this manga, you should know...
Japanese history of Muromachi period.
Japanese Monsters: Oni (鬼), Mizuchi (蛟), Kama-Itachi (鎌鼬), Kin-Tarou (金太郎) , Yata-Karasu (八咫烏), Kyubi-No-Kitsune (九尾の狐), Neko-Mata (猫又).
Monsters: Hell-Hound, Fenrir.
Aya Sugimoto: Person (杉本彩)
Tomoya Nagabuchi: Person (長瀬智也)
Hiroshi Abe: Person (阿部寛)
Senichi Hoshino: Person (星野仙一)
Sora Aoi: Person (蒼井そら)
Monbu Ran: Person (紋舞らん)
TATu: Singer group
DA PUMP: Singer group
Doge Danpei: Anime (ドッヂ弾平)
Hanshin Tigers: Baseball team (阪神タイガース)
Odoru Daisousa-Sen: Movie (踊る大捜査線)
If you don't know, well, good luck!'
~Rui"
And that, in a not-so-small nutshell, explains why I spent the entire time I was working on volume 1 muttering to myself about cultural references that HAD TO BE EXPLAINED despite the very busy panels (^^;), and being grateful for translators who leave detailed notes for me to work with. The good news for readers is that most of the above people/terms aren't things anyone is expected to remember; you just need to know what it means long enough to know what a character is referring to. And that's what footnotes are for. Volume 1 has lots (and lots and lots) of footnotes.
...and for the record, volume 2 gets a lot less confusing.
*I'm sort of insanely swamped these days, between work, reviewing, getting ready to move, having house guests, and losing a couple of wisdom teeth, so don't mind the week-long delay in my posting this. >.>
[manually x-posted to DW]
A week or so ago* Tokyopop went a step further and posted a quick article about it on their site (flamika first pointed it out to me), which cheerfully admits that they collectively find it confusing too. *g* This was my favorite staff comment that Cindy included:"'If you want to enjoy this manga, you should know...
Japanese history of Muromachi period.
Japanese Monsters: Oni (鬼), Mizuchi (蛟), Kama-Itachi (鎌鼬), Kin-Tarou (金太郎) , Yata-Karasu (八咫烏), Kyubi-No-Kitsune (九尾の狐), Neko-Mata (猫又).
Monsters: Hell-Hound, Fenrir.
Aya Sugimoto: Person (杉本彩)
Tomoya Nagabuchi: Person (長瀬智也)
Hiroshi Abe: Person (阿部寛)
Senichi Hoshino: Person (星野仙一)
Sora Aoi: Person (蒼井そら)
Monbu Ran: Person (紋舞らん)
TATu: Singer group
DA PUMP: Singer group
Doge Danpei: Anime (ドッヂ弾平)
Hanshin Tigers: Baseball team (阪神タイガース)
Odoru Daisousa-Sen: Movie (踊る大捜査線)
If you don't know, well, good luck!'
~Rui"
And that, in a not-so-small nutshell, explains why I spent the entire time I was working on volume 1 muttering to myself about cultural references that HAD TO BE EXPLAINED despite the very busy panels (^^;), and being grateful for translators who leave detailed notes for me to work with. The good news for readers is that most of the above people/terms aren't things anyone is expected to remember; you just need to know what it means long enough to know what a character is referring to. And that's what footnotes are for. Volume 1 has lots (and lots and lots) of footnotes.
...and for the record, volume 2 gets a lot less confusing.
*I'm sort of insanely swamped these days, between work, reviewing, getting ready to move, having house guests, and losing a couple of wisdom teeth, so don't mind the week-long delay in my posting this. >.>
[manually x-posted to DW]