User blog:Turambar1/Volume 1 English Translation

The Volume 1 English release isn't really as bad as I thought it would be. I do have some issues with it though. The first problem I have is there is no removable cover. Instead, the cover of the actual volume looks like the removable cover of the Japanese version, and the original volume cover and the flaps of the removable cover are printed on the first two pages. The entire volume is a bit bigger, and, for some reason, a small portion of the material is cut off at the top, though I'm not sure whether this was intentional or a printing error. It also seems that the quality of the art has been somewhat diminished. It looks closer to how it would appear in the magazine than the Japanese volumes. The black and white colors have been strengthened and the gray is duller, so it doesn't look quite as good as the original.

That's all as far as aesthetic appeal goes, but there are also problems with the translation. The biggest problem is the changing of "Kohta" to "Kouta." I'm not exactly sure why this was done, but, since his name has been romanized in various places such as the Japanese volumes as "Kohta," that is what we will continue to use. Other than that, there aren't any name changes. I was actually impressed that they left all of the honorifics in and left the names characters call each other the same instead of having everyone use first names all the time. A lot of dialogue has been rearranged and reworded, but it's not too bad. However, there are a few places where they added an idiom or other phrase that doesn't really belong. This was mostly done with Takashi's dialogue, and it's uncharacteristic at times. A couple examples of this are, "I'm gonna catch some zzz's..." to Morita before going to the roof and, the one that made me laugh, "Less talking, more running!" as they leave the school. I don't know if anyone else thinks these are weird, but, to me, phrases like that just don't fit in manga.

I'm going to include a list of things that changed. On the left are the terms we use, and on the right are the new terms. The term that is in bold is the one we will use. I'll update the list as I find more differences.


 * Kohta Hirano - Kouta Hirano


 * Self-Defense Force - Special Defense Force


 * Sojutsu Club - Spear Club


 * Social Studies teacher (Wakisaka) - Grammar teacher


 * Saimon (Romaji) - Zaimon


 * senpai - sempai *(The use of "senpai" is only mandatory in articles. Otherwise, feel free to use sempai)
 * 110 Emergency Line - 9-1-1 *(I'm not sure if this is used on the wiki, but it's worth noting)
 * Koichi Shido - Shidou
 * "Them" - Them *("Them" is only in quotations the first couple times it used, then it is used without them for the remainder of the volume. In Japanese, it's usually in brackets (<>), so we will continue to use quotes)
 * Otaku - Nerd, Geek *(The most egregious of the changes)