Just a thought...

My NUMBER ONE pet peeve is the moment on board the casino ship, after Asami feared Akihito might have been killed by Yuri, Asami and Akihito are clutching onto each other and Asami says--

"Don't... toss my heart around any more than this."

That was sooo satisfying.

Reading the same scene in the English publication... picture it. The same BIG dramatic moment. Asami and Akihito are clutching onto each other and Asami says--

"Takaba... don't distress me like that again."

WTF?!!

But I agree, the fantastic artwork, and Yamane-sensei's Afterword makes it worth it. I'm also annoyed by the westernization of the order of their names. I think readers are perfectly capable of handling it the Japanese way.

This is such an interesting topic. I have thought about it a lot. For me, there are pluses and minuses in both translations. With a few exceptions, I prefer the official translation mainly because it's more coherent, and I think I remember reading somewhere that sensei was involved in the translation, so what you get there is her intent. But I think you get a fuller sense of the story by reading both.

There are a couple of things in the official version that really bug me, though. For one thing, they have bowdlerized the language in weird ways. Like profanity. It's been toned way down. No f-bombs. Example: the bottom frame on this page:

http://www.mangago.zone/read-manga/you_re_my_loveprize_in_viewfinder/mh/v02/c005/4/

This is perfect. You can hear the sharp intake of breath between "Don't you dare..." and "say another fucking word!" And it's Fei being pushed to his limit. But in the print translation, it is ludicrously changed to "Enough...say no more." Could it be any lamer?

Or at the end of the previous chapter where Yan Tsui grabs Fei's dick and says “With that fuckin’ girly face of yours, it’s hard to believe you really have a dick at all.” The official version has “Your face is like a woman’s. Are you sure you bear the sign of a male?”

It's kind of ridiculous to try to soften the language when you have explicit sex scenes and people getting their brains blown out and stuff. God forbid anyone should actually say "fuck."

But then there are scenes like the end of chapter ten when Asami has drugged Aki and is waiting for the drug to take effect. That whole conversation is gobbledygook here. In the print version, it's clear that Aki is taking one more shot at talking Asami around to helping his friends. And once he passes out, it's equally clear that Asami really doesn't give a rat's ass about Aki's friends (though the print version would never use so crass a phrase.)

There are also little tidbits that are missing here, like at the end of Body Chase, Akihito has a moment where he wonders if it was Asami and not the cop who put the bug on him and that Asami did it to trick him. He doesn't think anything like that here. Because of moments like this--in the early chapters anyway, Asami comes across a little harder and colder in the print version.

Oh! There's another moment that is better in the print version. Here:

http://www.mangago.zone/read-manga/you_re_my_loveprize_in_viewfinder/mh/v06/c032/19/

In the scanlation, that reads like it is Asami who will become addicted to Akihito if Akihito moves in with him. But in the print version, Asami says "There will be sweeter nectar for you if you stay close to me." Akihito says "But that nectar is poisoned, right?" And Asami replies "Even that will become habit forming in time." So that gives the scene and entirely different spin. Now it's about Akihito becoming addicted to Asami and Akihito's awareness of the risk and the darkness.

There are a lot more examples but I've rambled on too much already. And yeah, the reversed name thing bugs me, too. I wish they would have given the readers a little credit on that one. Odds are if you are reading manga at all, you get it.

All of those are very good points!!!! That is so true that otherwise key moments where we think in the scans the we're getting somewhere with Asami, that in the books we feel like it takes us right back to square one where his feelings are concerned.

I always thought whether the translators should pass it on to yet another Beta or something to naturalise the language a bit more after the first initial translations, as there are some weird choices; like Fei Long using the word 'Cad' in the books which hasn't really been in circulation since the 20's - why that word? Of all the insults that's a pretty wet fish.
It's certainly a shame to think about the meaning suffering a little because of Japanese being a language all about context, but the translators are probably not fans of Yaoi or know the story well so they may not be working within that context or with a good understanding of the characters, which is why it is coming across very cutting and sometimes unnatural. Hmmmm oh but! We've got our Olive Oil, our beautifully shaded love scene in escape and love amongst others! ; )

I wonder how many people in here are able to join this topic. It seems most of them are only complaining about lack of updates and demanding mores for free like cadges, I doubt they have their own copies. It sucks.

Oh, yes! Another excruciatingly cringe-worthy moment in the print version is when Akihito calls Fei "you girly Nancy boy!" Ha ha ha! Really? That's all you got, Aki? Again, it's a phrase not used since the twenties. I'm picturing some 90-year-old dear translating this because I really can't imagine anyone younger having that phrase at hand or even considering using it.

When June started working on a reprint of the first volume of Saezuru last year, they actually put out a call to fans to address complaints about the original translation. I wish they would have done this for the reprint of Finder but with so many volumes, that would have been a bigger undertaking.

Oh well. You have to take the bad with the good with the print version. I fell in love with Finder when the first five volumes were no longer available and some volumes were selling for over $1,000 on Amazon, so I'm thrilled that they were reprinted and thrilled to own copies, with all their flaws.

Heh, girly, nancy boy…Akihito you loser.

And yes I was one of *those* people…I brought a stupidly expensive copy of volume 4 on Amazon two years ago….I WAS DESPERATE OKAY?! (Not $1000 by any means but $60 seems a lot right?!!!)

One day, when I'm bored - I reckon I'll cut out speech bubbles to write Viewfinder my own way anyway (⌒▽⌒) we can make them say ANYTHING!!!!! Mwahahaha!! Asami will tell Akihito he loves him everyday :P

Ha ha! This opens up a whole realm of possibilities: Viewfinder Redubs.

And you give me courage to admit that I temporarily lost my mind last week and ordered the BeBoy Gold with the anniversary booklet. (I am a sucker for paper dolls.) What wasn't included in the scan here (I don't think) is that there's a page with a picture of Asami and a selection of blank speech bubbles so you can play along at home.

My goodness imagine the possibilities with the dress up dolls! I just got a horrible vision of Asami in some cutsie lolli costume with some sort of "Nya!" Speech bubble! Argh! Σ(っ°Д °;)っ The horror!

https://media.giphy.com/media/aHdE5YEgv9wMU/giphy.gif

They're doing a reprint of Saezuru Vol. 1? FOR REALS?! You have NO idea how happy you just made me! If you can verify this, then I'll go ahead and get Vol. 2 while they're in stock. This is my next favorite series after Finder.

I got lucky and bought the first 5 VF books just before they disappeared. I think Vol. 3 was the one that was going for $1000... so for a while I was insufferably smug, digging on the thought that I owned a "rare" volume, lol. One time I misplaced it and panicked, thinking someone found it and threw it out (I had been using it to look up a question on here and forgot I had hidden it under some folders in the desk drawer).

But Karma's truly a cruel bitch-- I pre-ordered the 8th and final book of Ai no Kusabi. Waited... waited... and then found out only one online seller had gotten them (I think it was Akadot). It was a limited run of 800 and they quickly sold out. The LAST book of that series! UGH. I heard later the translation was ridiculously horrible, but still... :(

Initially, the Saezuru reprint was sold as an add-on of a Kickstarter project but it closed a couple of weeks ago. Anything left over from that will go to akadot.com. It's probably too late to order through the Kickstarter thing. They did the Finder reprint via Kickstarter. I missed the deadline and they just told me to wait and keep watch at the akadot website. Estimated publish date for the Saezuru reprint is sometime in May.

Saezuru is my second favorite, too. I bought the ebook version of Volume 1 and that translation is even worse in parts than some of the Finder clinkers.

Thanks for the info! May? I'll keep an eye out. I haven't see anything yet. I don't mind regular books on Kindle, but I'd much rather have manga as a physical book.

Yeah, I watched the Kickstarter for Finder, but I already had all the volumes so it didn't make sense to put in for identical copies. At one point, I checked back and they had come across a few extra copies of Ai no Kusabi Vol. 8 which they made as a Finder add-on (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!)... but of course by the time I saw it, they were already gone.

The yaoi gods continue to mock me.