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November 17, 2004
Subway Reading: Planetes
Planetes Vol. 1 - Last Wednesday was a monumental day in my comic-book buying history. For the first time, I bought a manga. (Is that the right way to say that? Bought some manga? Bought a manga book? See, it's all very new to me). I had seen a lot of positive buzz around Planetes, and I love a good science-fiction story. Besides, all the kids have been talking about this manga stuff, so I figured it was time for my curmudgeonly ass to see what all the hub-bub was about.
I was not disappointed by this book. It is set in the near-future, where space travel is much more common and man has established permanent outposts on the moon. The story follows the exploits of a small band of debris collectors, whose job is to collect the various defunct satellites, empty fuel canisters, and other bits of junk that man has cast off into space. I found myself very involved with the believable characters, each of whom gets a chance to show their flaws and to be heroic. My only quibble might be that the storytelling sometimes tends towards the dragged-out and repetitive, but that's a minor stylistic nit-pick. Overall this was one of the better-written tales I have come across in a while.
Art-wise, this book was equally impressive. The tech aspects of it - ships, spacesuits, etc - are well-researched, and meticulously rendered. Even if I hadn't read a word, I would recognize the near-future setting of the book from the art. The characters show great range of subtle and complex emotions, and the action sequences are handled expertly. The only visual aspect with which I took issue was the opening pages of some of the chapters - they seemed to be painted instead of line drawings, and the black and white reproduction was not kind to them. They had a washed-out quality; the range of values (lights and darks) was limited to light grays. I don't know if this was originally printed in color or not, or even if the original art was in color. If it has always been black and white then I would shift the blame from the production to the artist. But this is another minor complaint about an otherwise beautiful job.
My major complaint with this book has nothing to do with the story or art. It is with the format. I am a newcomer to the world of manga, so maybe there is something I am missing. But I can't come up with a good reason for these books to be printed in their original back-to-front, right-to-left format. The book has been translated and therefore re-lettered. Would it be too much to ask for them to also flop the art so that us western readers can read it in our customary format? It's one of the first rules of graphic design, typography, narrative art, etc, that you want to make the reader comfortable so that he or she can focus on the content rather than the medium. As it is, I find myself getting thrust out of the story by the unusual format. Yes, there are sound effects that are drawn onto the art rather than in word balloons, so these could not be flopped. But these effects are in Japanese characters anyway, so would it really matter to English readers if they appeared backwards?
The only explanation that I can imagine is that these books are printed right-to-left in a misguided attempt at authenticity. This effort is admirable, but ultimately it works against the enjoyment of the book. It seems that translating and re-lettering the book does more damage to the authenticity than flopping the art would. Maybe manga fans enjoy reading them right-to-left because it enhances the experience of reading it. In other words, it gives the books an exotic flavor. I would argue that this ultimately works against the enjoyment of the books, however. This reader is not judging the books on their merits, but on their ability to deliver the thrill of reading something that is alien and different. There is plenty of that to be found in the distinctive visual language that manga artists employ. An artificial adherence to format only distances the Western reader from the material.
So, right... Planetes Volume 1. Great human drama, taking place in a fully realized science-fiction setting. I will definitely be buying Volume 2. 4 stars.
Posted by jdonelson_nyc at November 17, 2004 09:53 AM
Comments
I think 'Manga' just translates to 'comics'. So you could just say "I bought manga today", or "I bought SOME manga today", and either would be right. I don't think you could say "I bought A manga today", though. Pretty sure it's plural. But then, the Japanese have weird rules about plurals. Sometimes they just use the same word and change the context or inflection, so maybe you could.
Anyway, the majority of Japanese comics reproduced in the U.S. DO, in fact, reverse the art to adhere to the common left-to-right U.S. format. You wind up having right-handed peopel look left-handed, and the Japanese characters are backwards, but that's seldom a big deal.
More and more, though, books are being reproduced in the Japanese format. While this does save a fair amount of production time (especially if they translate in advance, then to print both on the same press run with empty dialogue balloons, then run them through again with plates just for language, or some other press trick like that), I think the main reason for it is kitsch (sp?).
Backwards comics seem exotic and fun, and people are more likely to pick them up on impulse than regular format ones.
It IS annoying, though. By the time you get used to reading backwards, you fininsh the book and switch to a U.S. one and have to make the switch all over again.
Posted by: Peat at November 17, 2004 11:33 AM
They could be doing it to save money, I hadn't considered that.
"SOME" manga. Gotcha. So there is no comfortable singular version of the word? It's like, say... "butter?" You wouldn't say, "I bought a butter today." You would have to put in another noun, as in, "I bought a STICK of butter today." So would I say, "This book of manga was printed in the annoying right-to-left format?"
Posted by: jdonelson_nyc at November 17, 2004 11:49 AM
"Manga" is actually a combination of two Japanese characters, "man" and "ga", which roughly translates to "irresponsible pictures" (as the invaluable Pata -- http://irresponsible.patachu.com/ -- would probably tell you). It's come into common parlance as "comics."
On the back to front thing, I actually rather like the novelty of it, but I don't think it leads me to inflate my evaluation of the actual stories. Having read both flipped and unflipped manga (two great flipped ones are UZUMAKI and NAUSICAA), it's the range of subject matter and the creativity of the storytelling that appeal to me. I could be wrong, though. That happens a lot.
Posted by: DavidPW at November 17, 2004 02:12 PM
Learn something new every day. "Irrespponsible pictures". I like that.
Other good Manga includes Vagabond (unflipped, Japanese-style) a samurai book that's slow moving, but has great art and storytelling, and Sanctuary (flipped, US-style book illustrated by the Master, Ryoichi Ikegami). This one is about alliances between politicians and Yakuza in Japan. Fantastic book.
Posted by: Peat at November 19, 2004 02:06 PM
The Japanese language has no singular or plural forms. You can buy an individual manga, or you can buy stacks and stacks of manga.
Also, Tokyopop has this weird thing where they only print color pages in the first printing. I got the first volume of Planetes when it first came out, and it did have the pages in color. But if it was printed afterwards, you're out of luck.
Another reason manga is reprinted right-to-left is, I understand, because some artists don't like the way it makes their art look. That's why Hiroaki Samura has his art cut and rearranged for the US edition of Blade of the Immortal (though I wonder if he's aware how popular unflipped manga is?).
However, I've never had any trouble following a manga story because it was unflipped. I've been reading it that way--in both English and Japanese editions--for so long, it just seems natural to me. I guess when you're younger, it's simply easier to adjust to it. In fact, I think that's exactly it.
Authenticity is kind of a middling issue, but there is another aspect to it: in many cases, the readers have already seen the books as they were in Japanese, and simply want English versions of those same books. For example, both Rurouni Kenshin and Love Hina were incredibly popular as scanslations long before being licensed. In that case, most of Tokyopop's target audience is already intimately familiar with the right-to-left format, and is already comfortable with it, so there's no real reason to change it to make it more "convenient" for them. Then you have non-otaku readers, who skew much younger, and who probably haven't had any prior exposure to comics; therefore, there's less you need to "unlearn" about it--all you really need to know is that it's backwards, and you're in.
So really, I think most people just think flipping is unnecessary for the enjoyment of a book.
Posted by: Alex Scott at November 21, 2004 02:47 PM