Dark Horse Releases "Deluxe" Berserk Edition
- Thread starter Sareth
- Start date
Sareth said:
This is great , I own one of the anime promotional re prints of Guts fight with Zodd, it looks amazing in its original size. I also hope the early painted pages get reprinted in colour.
Sareth said:
That's excellent news. Prior to this, Dark Horse said they weren't interested in a deluxe edition.
10x7 is great, but I really wonder about the page quality, which is one of the worst offenders of DH's adaptation of the series. Also, the cover, I hope that's just a placeholder because it seems a real missed opportunity given the great art of the series.
Sareth said:
No mention of a new/revised translation, which is literally the most important thing Dark Horse needs to fix with their releases. Without that, this won't be a true deluxe edition, and god knows I've been hoping for one.
Walter said:
Yeah, had the same reaction. They really don't seem to be thinking these things through...
Walter said:
Agreed.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Wow, I have to admit just the idea of that got me pretty excited, especially if they're going to keep it looking classy like that and not try to hype it up like a wrestling promo, BUT...
That's the real question. For this to be a worthwhile, let alone worthy, edition they would at least need to revise what they have to fix the most blatant errors. Not to mention that in those early volumes I believe they fucked with some of the artwork to fit in stylized sounds/text in certain cases. Are they going to undo that and translate the sounds in a manner at least consistent with their current process? Are they going to make the content on the inside "deluxe" or stick by what they already have and make this a glorified large edition in hardback? Add all the hard covers and gilded edges you want, I care more that the inside is deluxe than the outside looks deluxe.
Aazealh said:
That's the real question. For this to be a worthwhile, let alone worthy, edition they would at least need to revise what they have to fix the most blatant errors. Not to mention that in those early volumes I believe they fucked with some of the artwork to fit in stylized sounds/text in certain cases. Are they going to undo that and translate the sounds in a manner at least consistent with their current process? Are they going to make the content on the inside "deluxe" or stick by what they already have and make this a glorified large edition in hardback? Add all the hard covers and gilded edges you want, I care more that the inside is deluxe than the outside looks deluxe.
Regarding a retranslation, or at the very least a re-edit ("Fuck you to you!"), There's a recent precedent. DH has gone back and revised their name for the Sovereign from the half-translated "King Hanafubuku" to "Flower Storm Monarch." So if they're going to do that, why not dig deeper and fix (some of) the older stuff too?
Kompozinaut
Sylph Sword
Walter said:
I know some omnibuses will include pages at the front or back of the book that show all the artwork for the covers that are contained therein. Hopefully something like that will happen here if this is the case.
Beyond just translation corrections, and sfx shenanigans, I wonder if we could be so bold as to hope for even better scanned pages. Dark Horse's editions are so much muddier than the source material. I never knew just how bad it was until I finally bought JP editions. It was as if I was finally looking at the art in focus; like putting glasses on for the first time.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
There's A LOT they could do to make these editions "deluxe" because their versions weren't the best to begin with, particularly the print quality of the early volumes, but also the translations, etc. I'm a little sad how low my expectations and standards have fallen since I'd have been pretty stoked if they'd just have someone take a day to go through the DH scripts to fix the worst fuck ups or make corrections ala the latest volumes like Walter said. I guess it comes down to how DH views the series and their treatment of it and how they view, and are invested in, this project, as a chance to put out the best English edition possible, or basically just a larger reprinting of their previous edition.
Gobolatula
praise be to grail!
I sent an email to Dark Horse telling them they should hire me for this project. I'm being kind of a big goofball about it but truthfully I think I'd do a pretty good job! I've been publishing my own comics for years! Of course if I was on the team I would bring our collective hopes and concerns with me.
Grail
Feel the funk blast
Gobolatula said:
You didn't tell me we were moving to Oregon!
Truth be told, I'm also pretty skeptical about the so-called "deluxe" release. We know that Dark Horse takes so many shortcuts with Berserk, this stinks of another easy cash grab to me. Do it like Viz, or don't bother. Peace out.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Gobolatula said:
Well, we have an in-house dream team that's already done a large percentage of the work! Make a bid for their services, DH!
But yeah, I think having anybody that really cared and wasn't just doing a job would be a big boon. Like if somebody here just had a weekend to go through the scripts and correct typos and bad translations, that alone would go a long way. I want so precious little and yet won't be shocked if nothing changes. Grail said:Truth be told, I'm also pretty skeptical about the so-called "deluxe" release. We know that Dark Horse takes so many shortcuts with Berserk, this stinks of another easy cash grab to me. Do it like Viz, or don't bother. Peace out.
Yeah, Viz could get away with recycling their editions because, for the most part, they do it right in the first place, at least in my experience.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Still with the wrestling promos, and that combined with the "adult fantasy" designation makes it sound like embossed hardcover pornography.
It's "the champion of adult fantasy!"
Okay, I'm being too cynical already, but what I was looking for in that copy was anything about the print quality, text, or translation being upgraded, and so far they've said nada. Not a good sign because you'd think that would be something they'd want to mention if they bothered to do it.
Griffith said:Still with the wrestling promos, and that combined with the "adult fantasy" designation makes it sound like embossed hardcover pornography.
https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356682408l/1807239.jpg
It's "the champion of adult fantasy!"
*groan*
Griffith said:
Yeah...
Some new info is available on Dark Horse's site: https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/3002-722/Berserk-Deluxe-Volume-1-HC
But it indicates that it won't have a re-translation, because the translator is listed as Jason DeAngelis, the original translator of Volume 1-3, who they haven't used ever since.
Also, it has a firm date ( ) of Feb 27.
But it indicates that it won't have a re-translation, because the translator is listed as Jason DeAngelis, the original translator of Volume 1-3, who they haven't used ever since.
Also, it has a firm date (
) of Feb 27.
jackson_hurley
even the horses are cut in half!
Walter said:Some new info is available on Dark Horse's site: https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/3002-722/Berserk-Deluxe-Volume-1-HC
But it indicates that it won't have a re-translation, because the translator is listed as Jason DeAngelis, the original translator of Volume 1-3, who they haven't used ever since.
Also, it has a firm date (
That's dumb. They should have done a clean up at least for these translation and it's not like they don't have the ressources to do it. Bummer.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
jackson_hurley said:
It doesn't mean they can't fix names, clean up typos or other egregious errors, or maybe the info on their site NOW is copy/pasted and wrong, or maybe they were going to hire a new translator, but...
https://youtu.be/JFvujknrBuE
Not by coincidence, I'm running out of excuses to buy this. They better clean up the fuckery with the artwork or I'm just out. I'll hold on to my original "deluxe" editions, the regular Japanese volumes.
It looks more and more like there's going to be virtually no reason to buy this edition except for collecting purposes. I'm relatively new to this community, so I ask you guys, has there ever been a case when Dark Horse listened to the community, particularly the people over here regarding changes to the official releases? I know Aazealh mentioned once that 2 DH editors had accounts on the site, and you seem to be pretty familiar with their procedures. Is there any chance a petition or a collective letter or something of the sort, asking for at least a few of these crucial changes to be made would manage to persuade them? I know, pretty naive and wishful question, but since they're showing such lack of professionalism, might as well consider the possibility.
Griffith
With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Bleac said:
Like Aaz said there's been a few of them registered on here, but nothing very satisfying ever came of it. It was a lot of telling us why they couldn't do better or please everybody at the time instead of just improving things, and I don't think our input or influence was going to change the bottom line, or they would have done it right in the first place and certainly after fans complained (and some things have improved with the series' increased success, to be fair). Too bad they didn't believe and invest in their "best seller" from the start, and I remember when they weren't even interested in a special edition, but here we are.
Walter said:
I would agree with that because, hey, I actually want to enjoy these too! Hard to be optimistic about it though given the track record (and it's not just us radicalized extremists complaining, unless we're also the commenters on the articles about it =), and because so far I'm not seeing any details indicating these aren't just larger collected versions of their original run. It reminds me of the Vagabond VIZBIG editions, minus the quality to begin with, which I guess is why some of us are poisoning the well with expectations and pinning all our hopes on it, not just to be the special re-release of DH's version, but, to fix all our gripes and be the ideal, definitive English version of Berserk (YMMV) we wanted in the first place. Once again, we could just be happy we got an English edition at all, let alone a "deluxe" release of it. But it's hard when you're this passionate about something and compare its treatment to the best out there, or even just the average or minimum, only to see it seemingly getting short shrift and a subpar result (and more bitterly it seems to happen to Berserk in every fucking medium; TV, games, movies, books, though at least DH has improved somewhat as you noted). Anyway, I hope DH suprises us with an edition that meets our expectations by at least incorporating the refinements you mentioned (are you reading, DH? =).
The make or break for me may be the modified artwork being restored (I believe there's at least one prominent example in volume 3, so we'll know with the first deluxe volume).
Oburi
All praise Grail
Bleac said:
To their credit they did upgrade the release schedule from a three month wait to a two month wait between volumes after pretty much every human buying them from Dark Horse complained about it. As Griff pointed out though the problem is all the weird decisions and bad choices made early on and throughout. I never quite understood why Berserk was chosen to be the experiment so many times while they released other, much less popular manga series with such higher quality.
Around the time I first started buying Dark Horse's Berserk volumes I also bought another favorite manga of mine that they had just started releasing called Eden. It was clear Eden got the better treatment. They were beautiful. So much care was put into it. The paper was of high quality, the outside was smooth and soft, translations were perfect, there was no corny designs to the logo or lame summaries on the back. It was clear which series was getting the better treatment. Yet, Berserk sold infinity better than Eden, to the point that they just gave up on releasing Eden at all. They just stopped in the middle of the series. I have half the series on my shelf. Too bad for me. Meanwhile Berserk was still getting shaft and worse still suddenly we had sound effect boxes on everything. Then we had one random book with different paper that stood out from the rest. The list goes on and on. If Dark Horse treated all their properties like that I would at least understand it, they just don't care enough, but there's an inconsistency that has nothing to do with sales so I just don't get it. Dark Horse has a chance now to really redeem themselves and do the series right. They are totally capable of it, and Berserk is a seller for them. It should be a win win.
But it won't of course because some suite wearing upper management douche hates Berserk and so they subtlety slight us every chance they get. At least that's what I believe.
Walter said:
It's so basic a thing that I wish they did this already. Heck, if they dangled a carrot of fixed translations like "Hey, buy all volumes again with these new cover designs and spines and by the way, translations are now fixed.", I'd buy them in a heartbeat. I'd be less willing to pay for a second set of new covers if nothing was improved.
That being said, the paper size and hard cover option sounds good. Will it be worth it? Sigh, I don't know to be honest. Part of me wants to buy it blindly. It's a bit of a conundrum because I buy YA (physical) issues with the episode, then the manga in Japanese (physical) and then the DH translation. I was and still am really really close to picking up the digital set when episodes are released but I'm hesitant because of the expense. At the same time, it's digital and the biggest merit is the quality vs what's printed in YA's paper stock and it doesn't take up space (!). How do you guys deal with deciding? Do you still support the episode the same way you used to? Every single time an episode drops (since the digital releases were available) gets me thinking the same question - is it time to switch or stick to my old ways; and how much is enough (?) ... how many versions. And now this version is announced!
By the way, fun little read from a couple of years ago ^_^ - http://www.skullknight.net/forum/index.php?topic=13907.0
IncantatioN said:
This was my hope when I re-bought volumes 1-3 after a dramatic re-printing of the series was announced 5 years ago. No changes, not even to the terrible initial quality of their page scans.
Still, if ever they were going to re-do things like these, a "deluxe" edition would be the time.
Scratch that, I did it:
Volume 1, Pg 4
Japanese (Digital)
Japanese (Print)
English (Digital)
English (Print)
Volume 1, Pg 24
Japanese (Digital)
Japanese (Print)
English (Digital)
English (Print)
Dark Horse's digital quality really isn't that bad, except for the obvious banding issues that happen when there's a detailed pattern or screen effect. Even still, the Japanese digital editions weren't great in the first few volumes, either. Volume 1 in particular looks quite washed out. I don't know why, but they improved over time (as did Dark Horse's coincidentally). Maybe they were still figuring out the best method for scanning the originals, and never bothered to do another pass once they optimized? Either way, my money is still on the Japanese print being the best, most consistent visual quality, except for the very limited color pages, in which case the Japanese digital pages obviously win, as they're just fucking pristine. Alright there goes my evening, somebody buy me a drink.