July 06, 2006
Manglish
The English edition of the Mainichi Daily News (which, by the way, translates as the "Daily Daily News"--love that) is publishing an online version of the manga "A Six Feet [sic] Girl" ("Manglish contents are run strictly in their original format, which occasionally includes incorrect use of English"), rendering the translations as mouse-over popups. The story, of course, is about a Japanese high school student who's six feet tall--and worse, has no interest in sports. A perfect sit-com setup. (Average female height is 62 inches in Japan and 65 inches in the U.S.; for males it's 67 and 70 inches respectively.)
Perhaps the only drawback to the presentation style is that at one page a day, the story proceeds at a measured pace (a good example of "decompression"). You might do better to read it once a week. But this is such a good idea that I'm surprised more American magazines haven't done the same. TokyoPop has struck a deal with United Press Syndicate to publish serial manga in the daily and/or Sunday editions of newspapers. Yet Japanese publishers have such huge backlists of manga titles that it would be easy to find audience-appropriate titles for publications such as Seventeen and Boy's Life.
("Decompression" in manga essentially applies the "show don't tell" rule to the comic format.)
Perhaps the only drawback to the presentation style is that at one page a day, the story proceeds at a measured pace (a good example of "decompression"). You might do better to read it once a week. But this is such a good idea that I'm surprised more American magazines haven't done the same. TokyoPop has struck a deal with United Press Syndicate to publish serial manga in the daily and/or Sunday editions of newspapers. Yet Japanese publishers have such huge backlists of manga titles that it would be easy to find audience-appropriate titles for publications such as Seventeen and Boy's Life.
("Decompression" in manga essentially applies the "show don't tell" rule to the comic format.)
Comments