Dark Horse Releases

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
BayJumper said:
What? Are you suggesting that Dark Horse's releases of Berserk is censored?

What do you call large boxes covering the artwork? Different reason, same result (if not worse, people actually usually take more care with professional censorship than this). So, if you were able or willing to think in the abstract, or just reasonably, you should be just as upset as any of us according to your supposed standards above. But, since you're being an egregious simpleton, and they aren't intentionally covering those crucial T&A shots, as long as they're called "FX Boxes" and not "Censorship Boxes", you won't know any different. Congratulations, you're evidently a stupid tool.

Anyway, I'm totally looking forward to you furrowing your cro-magnum brow, rolling your beady eyes, and completly failing to understand this concept.

BayJumper said:
P.S. The reason I keep changing my avatar back, is because I'm not part of this so-called "protest" against the SFX translations.

What protest? There's nothing wrong with it, it's simply peppering the illustration with more indepth information! I'd think you of all people would have to appreciate that given your position on the issue. Then again, admittedly, I knew you of all idiots would fail to, and thanks for proving my point, by the way.


P.S. Hey Saiya, it's funny he replied to you that way, because he won't even respond to me or Aaz via PM (and even on the board half the time). Looks like he doesn't have the stones to get nasty with us. Also, notice after Aaz and I logically tear apart his ramblings in this thread, he doesn't respond or defend himself, but instead takes it out immediatly on your 280 thread. =)

I always know the dog is mad at me when she pees on the carpet.
 

SaiyajinNoOuji

I'm still better than you
"Griffith No More!" said:
P.S. Hey Saiya, it's funny he replied to you that way, because he won't even respond to me or Aaz via PM (and even on the board half the time). Looks like he doesn't have the stones to get nasty with us. Also, notice after Aaz and I logically tear apart his ramblings in this thread, he doesn't respond or defend himself, but instead takes it out immediatly on your 280 thread. =)

I always know the dog is mad at me when she pees on the carpet.
Yes my good friend Mr. Griffith, that would be in what we like to call in the internet world, WTFPWNED. NOW GTFO!
 
Griffith no more, While I am more of a lurker than anything else. I have certainly been around these boards over the past few years and I have never seen you be so clever and witty. It's very good.

On topic. I will still buy volume's 13 and up but I really wish they would at least cover up the japanese sfx rather than take up the whole picture.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Jaze1618 said:
Griffith no more, While I am more of a lurker than anything else. I have certainly been around these boards over tha past few years and I have never seen you be so clever and witty. It's very good.

Haha, this is nothing compared to his good days really, you should read more of his posts. :serpico:

Anyway, I'd like that thread to retain some dignity, so I'm asking in advance to please keep personal disputes between members private. And BayJumper, everybody knows that you have trouble accepting the general consensus on this matter now, you've made it clear enough. I think we're all getting tired of hearing it. Being passive aggressive and starting petty quarrels isn't going to change people's opinion, nor will badmouthing the community itself. We're not having a debate here, it's just people giving feedback about what they like or not in DH's edition of Berserk. If you feel obligated to restate your allegiance to DH without actually commenting on the new developments in the future, be concise and straightforward, like Jaze1618 for example. If you do that you can be sure nobody will mind, otherwise you'll always get opposing reactions from other members and it'll never end. I've repeated this to you enough times, so now I'm expecting you to do it. You've been here for a while, it's time for you to ask yourself if you want to be part of this community or if you're just trying to antagonize everybody.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Just finished writing to Chris at Dark Horse, so I figured I'd show you all what I sent him.

Hi Chris,

After seeing a couple of panels taken from the Dark Horse edition of Berserk Vol. 13, I have decided to discontinue purchasing this manga as long as the sound effects boxes continue to be pasted over the artwork. I was against having the sound effects translated once I had read Vol. 12, mainly due to the inconsistency in which their translations were being handled (sometimes the sound effects would be a literal translation of the Japanese katakana, and at other times they would be converted to a more American-ized sound effect) and the fact that some of the boxes were on the actual artwork, instead of in the gutters between panels. The fact that the translation boxes were put over the artwork bothered me, but I felt I could live with it and continue buying the series, so long as the boxes didn't cover the more significant (if any part of the artwork can be called more significant than another by anyone but Miura himself) areas of the panels. This all changed once I saw Vol. 13's panels, some of which were covered by 3-4 translation boxes. The boxes weren't just in the corner or over an open area of the artwork, either, but were pasted over the characters and objects that were being highlighted in the panel.

Even if fans have been writing in, complaining about not being able to read the Japanese sound effects, I don't understand how Dark Horse could have felt that translating SFX were more important than keeping the artwork clean and unaltered, especially with a series like Berserk, where the author puts so much time and effort into the art (even taking month-long breaks between individual episodes in order to put even more detail into it). An easy solution to this problem would be to have an index at the back of the book with a list of translations (by page number) for the sound-effects. This is no more disrupting than having 3 or 4 boxes pasted over the artwork, interrupting the flow of reading. When this series was first going to be released, I was very pleased to hear that it would be left uncensored, with the Japanese sound-effects left in, un-translated. This meant to me that the artwork would be preserved and fans in America would be able to see Berserk as Kentarou Miura intended it to be seen. The other series released by Dark Horse that I collect (Trigun and Hellsing) are not being handled this way, so why does an equally great, if not better, series have to suffer this kind of mistreatment? To me, this shows a lack of respect on the part of Dark Horse for one of their products. This is extremely disappointing to me, as before this I have had almost no problem with the way Dark Horse has handled their manga releases. If this problem is addressed and the artwork is restored to the way it was intended to be seen by fans, then I will continue to purchase this series. Until then, however, I will not be buying any volumes of Berserk that are released with SFX translation boxes pasted all over the artwork.


I'll post his reply if/when I get it, so until then...
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
SaiyajinNoOuji said:
I doubt I will get a reply back, mine was also civil.

Yeah, I'm hoping they'll at least say something, as long as it's not one of those, "Dark Horse appreciates the opinions of all their fans and will take your thoughts into consideration..." bits that they send to everyone who writes in.
 
S

Some Guy

Guest
Yeesh, this really is overkill.  This edition makes the eclipse an even more hellish ordeal than it already was :miura:

I agree that the translated sound effects are nowhere near important enough to cover so much of the artwork.

Bad, Dark Horse, Bad!
 

BiQ_

" ... "
Jesus freaking god. (I'm an atheist, BTW)

What the hell is DH thinking? Now I am really thinking of stopping to purchase these volumes, as I am already buying them in Japanese too. Actually, since I live in Finland where all DH titles seem to come very late, I still haven't got around to get even DH's vol 12. From what I had heard, these sfx boxes weren't so catastrophic at vol 12, but now... I really am thinking of dropping this shit and sticking to collecting this in Japanese until they get it right.

BTW, today I ordered the Japanese volumes 31 and 12-14. As I already own DH volumes 1-11 and jp tankoubons 1-3 and 15-30, this means that soon I will have at least one version of each volume of Berserk! Whoopee! :) At some point in future I am surely getting all the Japanese volumes... whether or not I get these DH monstrosities (vols 12, 13, onward?) remains to be seen.

This is really shitty. You know, until these sfx boxes came, (and especially until seeing the panels posted by Lithrael) I actually was quite content with DH's work. I actually found even Wyald's dialog acceptable (after getting used to it). But this... No. Not this. No fucking way.

... but the truth is still that I don't know Japanese and I would like to read this masterpiece from paper and with translated speech. :/ What am I to do now?

Sorry for language mistakes. I am a bit drunk at this moment...
 
handsome rakshas said:
Sorry, this is usually my department but I was so disgusted I didn't have the energy.

"Created by Kentarou Miura, Berserk is a hurtling manga avalanche, a pit-dark epic of relentless action, repellent horror, and remorseless humor that has hordes of initiates sharpening their blades while sending the timid into full retreat. The bell tolls for thee, wimp!"  :schierke:

What's more, that vomit-inducing last line isn't even an original piece of crap; it's actually a rehash of the last line of volume 11's blurb:

"Created by Kentarou Miura, Berserk is a roaring manga dragster, a grand epic of red-line action, white-knuckle horror, and black-hearted humor that has spawned a fervent legion of acolytes driving a host of horrified nonbelievers in their wake. The bell tolls for thee, puny mortal!"

My. God. I can't decide which is worse.... I suppose it's a bit like comparing dog poo with cat poo: in the end, it's all just poo.

Going back to what one of the DH representatives was saying on here a while back, about the pieces of sh*t blurbs that defile the DH releases of Berserk, and how they are pulled out of someone's ass written with the "lowest common denominator" in mind.... Well, I was thinking about all of the thinking, intelligent people - like myself :carcus: - who might potentially be interested in reading Berserk.... What is being done to attract them to the series...? What of the people who might not be interested in the "mindless action" that Berserk contains, but who might enjoy the series for its philosophy, rich characterization, and psychological depth…? Why are these important elements of the series not touched on in the official descriptions?! I mean, isn't the function of a blurb to accurately describe the contents of the product on which it is printed (and to sell said product...of course)? Oftentimes, I cannot even recognize the series that is described on the back covers.... And that's sad.

For example, the blurb on the back cover of volume 8 reads:

"Created by Kentarou Miura, Berserk is medieval manga mania at its bloodstained best, a volatile concoction of raging action, abyssal horror, and graveyard humor that has the initiates lining up for more and the fainthearted heading for the hills. Thank you, sir, may I have another!"

...Not exactly an accurate description of the contents of volume 8, to say the least! Now, say I fitted into the so-called "lowest common denominator" of humanity, and had picked up volume 8 of Berserk just for the "raging action" that's advertised...I imagine I would be sorely disappointed upon opening my copy!! There's about 20 pages of "action" in vol. 8 - none of which I would call "raging". It's blatantly misleading!! In fact, I've seen some hardcore action-nuts (who seem to be the people that DH is primarily targeting) complaining that Berserk contains too much "emo stuff"! :schierke: *sigh*

I know it probably (and sadly) does little good to rant...but I hate having to stop my Mum (yes - she likes Berserk :serpico:) from looking at the back covers when I show her my manga, out of embarrassment - and it makes me fume when I think of all the potential Berserk fans who have been, and will be, turned away from the series, by DH's astronomical incompetence. ARGGHHH!!! >:(

Regarding the boxes of DOOM! SFX boxes: I'm in agreement with everyone else here (excepting BayJumper); they're a disaster. I mean, I assume that most readers of Berserk (who do not know Japanese) have an intuitive understanding of what the SFX mean. For the most part, their meanings are apparent; one should be able to link the SFX to the correlative action, and then imagine the appropriate sound - it's not rocket science. There are only a few instances where this is not possible, i.e., when the sound is "off-screen". Perhaps DH should limit their translations of the SFX to such instances, and make them a) NOT boxed, b) NOT on the artwork, and c) NOT transliterations - but actual comprehensible translations.

I'm done.
 

SMZKAH

I shall find the crystal of peace
Well, I gave DH the benefit of the doubt after volume 12, I decided to try out the next one to see if the sound effect boxes would be fixed or become less of a problem. But, from the look of things, those damn boxes are there to stay. So, I've pretty much decided that I'm done with the English releases. I thought we had a great thing goin here Dark Horse, but those little boxes ruined everything. They're just unnatural and they clearly do not fit anywhere on the page. Granted I'm only one person, but hey it's pissed me off that much. They won't be getting my $13 every 2 months anymore.
 
everytime this thread is updated I'm hoping it's a reply from Chris Warner.
Hélas! it's nothing so useful and intriguing. just the same message, different people, over and over again. :judo:
 
Rhombaad said:
Yeah, I'm hoping they'll at least say something, as long as it's not one of those, "Dark Horse appreciates the opinions of all their fans and will take your thoughts into consideration..." bits that they send to everyone who writes in.

i did get a reply right away back when i sent my email. maybe it was because i sent it the right time of the day (early morning). anyway, if nobody got a reply back after okt 2nd i'd take that as a good sign that maybe Chris is thinking the whole thing over.

oh, and my email was pretty short so i didn't get a long reply but it was pretty much the same answer that Scorpio got. he said there is no consensus in the matter and brought up the inconvinience of an appendix even though i never asked for one (i don't care about the FX period.) i can't believe there are that many people asking for translated FX.. or maybe the anti-FX people have been too lazy to email him.

Chris did say that they try to respond to what the readers want though so let them know what you want ;)
 
Wow this thread has gone off topic lol.

Well anyway first off i would like to address a past post from Aazealh

Aazealh said:
http://aazealh.net/Divers/Volume13-censored.jpg

LMAO! dude i actually was just reading all along and seen that and had a good laugh. it wasn't as funny as the berserk porn contest pictures, especially this one

Viral Harvest said:
http://madballxero.homestead.com/files/ultimaten00die.jpg

but it made me laugh...

OK anyway back to Dark Horse Releases.

Issue 14 is still set to drop on 11/29/06
Issue 15 is set to drop on 1/24/07
Issue 16 is set to drop on 3/28/07

enjoy :guts:
 
DarthVenom said:
Issue 15 is set to drop on 1/24/07

According to the official DH website, this is gonna be the "manga mosh-pit" for the upcoming release of the volume 15:

[quote author=The back of DH release of Berserk, vol 15]
Created by Kentarou Miura, Berserk is a streaking manga fireball, an epic riot of galvanic action, grotesque horror, and grim humor with an army of fanatic loyalists ready to convert unbelievers or drive them screaming into the wilderness. Speak, hands, for me!
[/quote]

Hope you like it. Enjoy :guts:

Here's the link, of course
http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=13-847
 

SaiyajinNoOuji

I'm still better than you
Created by Kentaro Miura, Berserk is a streaking manga fireball, an epic riot of galvanic action, grotesque horror, and grim humor with an army of fanatic loyalists ready to convert unbelievers or drive them screaming into the wilderness. Speak, hands, for me!

lawl
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Dark Horse Fucking Jackass] Speak said:
What does that even mean?
They've outdone themselves on obscurely unfunny references.

It's a line from the character Casca in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. The only people that would get that are those like me who searched the phrase on Google. Not amused.
 
Rhombaad said:
...I sincerely hope you're kidding. :griff:

Certainly not.

Walter said:
They've outdone themselves on obscurely unfunny references.

Sorry, but I think that Dark Horse still has plenty of material left for shit like that. So we'll all have to just bear with it. Just like with the FX boxes, everybody's gonna have to get used to the "manga mosh pits", if they haven't done so already.

Walter said:
Not amused.

But why? Dark Horse had spent well over two months coming up with such witty and charming catchphrase. Considering the fact that they're going all the way to actually quote a play by William Shakespeare, we all ought to consider this an honor.
 

SaiyajinNoOuji

I'm still better than you
BayJumper said:
But why? Dark Horse had spent well over two months coming up with such witty and charming catchphrase. Considering the fact that they're going all the way to actually quote a play by William Shakespeare, we all ought to consider this an honor.
Actually no we shouldn't. I think they are doing a fine job of discouraging the "Official" English volumes of the series to its more serious fans such as ourselves here. Keep up the good work! :casca:
 
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