Hi Chris, and thanks for taking time to come over here and address some of our members' concerns. First off I'd like to state that the post that offended you is merely the expression of an individual member's opinion and is in no way representative of our community's stance on this matter. I would also like to point out, with all due respect, that there are plenty of other posts from other members to reply to, that one was merely the most recent addition to the thread, and not the one most worthy of your attention. I suggest you to ignore such posts and focus on more constructive ones. If you have any qualms with messages you deem inappropriate in the future (e.g. containing personal attacks), I invite you to contact me or Walter about it. Now, about the real issue: (I'll try to summarize people's opinion)
Chris Warner said:
If authenticity is important, then I don't see how altering that kind of thing for a more (how do I put it?) comfortable Western reading experience serves that end. Now, of course, we get back into that area of an audience that does not have a single, specific esthetic. Some want this, some want that. Perhaps if we want to be even more authentic, we should run the English words vertically and array them in right-to-left layout. Now, that would be a helluvalot closer to the original japanese reading experiience, would far bettrer convey the vosual flow of the narrative, and the balloons would match up much better . . . but of course, it would read like shit. So, where to draw the line?
Alright, now let's not forget that everybody here is talking about finding a compromise. There's no way the English version of Berserk will ever be perfect in regard to the original. It's just not possible. We all understand this, and I don't think anybody here expects Dark Horse to realize the impossible. An appendix is a mere compromise, just like caption boxes are a compromise. Most of the fans I've heard on the subject, on this forum and in other places, seem to be distraught by what they perceive to be "fixing what wasn't broken." Having no translated SFX is also a compromise, and as it turns out it seems a lot of people were fine with it, because they understood that it wasn't technically possible to fully anglicize them without losing something in return. Like you said, a line has to be drawn at some point, and it was indeed done when Berserk was first published. That line was no translated SFX. I think a majority of readers were fine with it, and this sudden change isn't making sense to them. They don't understand what motivated it, and thus complain and don't know what course of action to take. I'm sure you can see how this leads to frustration on their part.
Chris Warner said:
I'm the first guy to agree that the handling of some of the FX translations in the more complex panels in Berserk hasn't worked well at times, and I'm really trying to fix these issues. Unfortunately, Miura's storytelling/layout style doesn't make it easy. I do the same thing in Crying Freeman and Old Boy, and nobody has complained, but that probably has a lot more to do with the more open layouts and traditional panel arrangements of those titles.
I think you're right. Indeed, Berserk's particular layout style doesn't fit the caption boxes system very well. In my humble opinion, this could be a valid reason to search for an alternative. Trying to apply an inadequate solution will only result in frustration for all parties, DH because they'll make more efforts and won't meet much gratitude, and the fans because no matter how much effort DH makes, they will not be satisfied, and by that I don't mean fully satisfied but even simply satisfied by that compromise. Also, while fans know and understand that DH is tributary of the volumes themselves and that sometimes like in volume 13 it's going to look real bad, they know enough about the later volumes too to be able to predict that it will be as bad again in the future. Long term thinking is important here.
Chris Warner said:
On the other hand, I recently got an email that didn't want FX translations in the panel gutters, because he considered the gutters part of the artwork. You guys are killing me!
Hahaha, while it's flattering of you, I don't think all the e-mails you receive concerning Berserk emanate from SK.net members. I would certainly like the site to be that big, but it would be presumptuous of us to assume it's the case.
Chris Warner said:
But the idea of an index is completely anathema to any kind of narrative flow from a reading standpoint. How is it "authentic" to interrupt the story and jump back to an index every fifteen seconds? And not to put too fine a point on it, but if unfettered artwork is what you're looking for, why aren't you demanding manga artists to put all the dialog and sound effects in indexes, too?
Once again, I believe it is a matter of compromises. Dark Horse's volumes 1 to 11 of Berserk featured untranslated SFX. It seems the customers were fine with it. At the same time, some SFX can have interesting meanings (other than "bam," "paf," "hmmm," "gpa," etc) and help understand the story better. People would like to be able to know their meaning, but at the same time they aren't willing for this to be done at the expense of the artwork. These SFX aren't necessarily to be read at the back of the volume while actually reading the volume, rather they're meant as an after-read, something one might want to peruse while re-reading the volume and appreciating its depth. It would only be that: a compromise meant to satisfy as many people as possible (those that don't want the artwork altered, those that want SFX translated but not necessarily inside the flow of the story). Having caption boxes satisfies some people, but it appears that quite a bit of others (as this thread shows) are extremely unhappy with it. These people are only trying to voice their opinions, and since some individuals have claimed that their personal harassment of DH since the first publication of Berserk is what brought about this change, all the other fans want to be heard so DH knows that this small group lobbying to have translated SFX in captions isn't representative of the majority. Some might also point out that a lot the SFX aren't actually really translated (e.g. Japanese sound "GOPA" changed to "gpa") and do not bring anything really beneficial to the book in their current form. This reinforces their belief that no SFX at all, or an appendix would be more proper. But that is yet another question.
On a side note in this SFX frenzy, I would like to point out a topic that people often bring up but that has seldom been addressed: the back cover blurbs. All, and I'm saying ALL the people I've heard about them simply despise them. Not just die-hard fans but casual readers as well, there seems to be a general feeling of execration about them. So I humbly suggest that you consider changing them, as they do not reflect what Berserk is and as everybody appears to abhor them. I think replacing them by the very proper summaries of the events happening in each volume that are on Dark Horse's official website would be judicious, and effortless. Thank you for your attention on that point.
Chris Warner said:
I'm going to do my best to make sure we handle this stuff better. I'm doing that every day I work on this book. I've heard what you guys have said, believe me, and I'm a reader, too. I agree with some (repeat SOME) of what you're saying. But lay off the horn, okay? I heard you the first fifteen times!
Once again, I'd like to thank you for taking time off your undoubtedly busy schedule to come here and discuss things with us, answer questions, etc. We're all very thankful for it, and rest assured that every fan of Berserk appreciates your dedication. But you can't just ask passionate people to stop being passionate, they can't help it. These people are die-hard fans, they're the ones that talk about a series to advertise it everywhere they go, and that will follow it to the very end no matter what, as long as they feel the object of their passion gets due respect.
Sorry for the giant reply, and have a nice evening.
