thanks for pointing it out bc i was planning on reading the novel and reading this but now im not cause thats triggering as a black person. it feels like we can never get away from terrible portrayal of black characters in asian media
I understand your choice but I wanted to let you know that the English translated novel never uses the n word nor does this fan translation.
I don’t think the author intended to make POC the butt if jokes but I get what you’re saying. I also understand the issue I mean there’s literally a Korean manhwa that just completely steps on ancient indigenous Australian culture by making them white and gay (indigenous aussies identify as being blak and poc). But for this story I don’t think it’s like that.
Because firstly (SPOILERS FOR RECENT CHAPTER AHEAD) aren’t most of the characters so far POC? I mean an zhe and lu feng are Chinese so they are POC. And idk where dousay is from but she’s also not white. And it may seem like Dousay, who is so far another darker skin character, had really short screen time but in the novel her existence is very important. The manhua is speeding through the novel but she was one of an zhe’s only friend and through her he realised for the first time that people also can love the arbiter. Her story is really tragic in the novel and important. It’s the first bit of despair that sets the tone for the rest of the the novel and her ordering the lu Feng doll also impacts the story. She’s one of my favourite characters. Other than that tho we have no idea who else is POC apart from the Chinese people because afaik only the doctor, a later character, Lu Feng and An zhe were referred to in terms of skin appearance. That would be up to the artist I presume because their names are vague origin like Dousay and Hubbard.
Well the translator said that they used the translation of the word from the novel which is “scum.” So the novel itself should be fine. The n word is not actually typed out in the story since the translator didn’t put it in, the translator just made a note saying that it says the n word there.
Other explanations of the Chinese word says it translates to “black ghost” and one person went into detail:
(Copy and pasted this)
I wouldn't go so far as to say it's means the n word exactly, but it's not very polite. It's like if a Westerners went around calling Asian ppl "those yellow skinned ppl" kind of bad vibes. It's also very common to call white/Western ppl "鬼佬，白鬼，洋鬼子” vaguely offensive but not outright racist, it's more of a not politically correct way to say"foreigner"
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Anyways it may not be the true translation that it’s the n word since if you see there’s some Asian words that make it look like that when using google translate (aka machine translations), but it’s meant to be offensive by the character using it in the context.
The author did not use that word in the novel so I'm curious who decided to change it up for the manhua. Hopefully it wasn't the author.
I haven't continued reading after making my comment, but I'm not deleting this from my reading list in case I ever decide to return.
Yeahhhh, I have no idea why the team who made the manhua adaption decided to "spice things up" like that, but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth (even after reading the break-down). And my reading list is already HUGE, so it's whatever, bc there's a lot of comics I need to catch up on. I may come back to this, might not... Beautiful art tho. They got that going for them.
I know that rapist is trash, but non-black authors don't have to make a character say the N-word just to solidify their character's fucked-up-ness.
GOOD on the translator for deciding to change it. That shit would've jumpscared me. Like... author puts a trigger warning for SA, but not racial slurs that could be very traumatizing and upsetting? I'ma keep reading, but they getting a side-eye from me.
It may not be this deep, but at this point in time, it makes me wonder why a dark skin character was designed. Was it solely to show the other char is racist, (used as props and character devices) or are they actual legit characters in this as well? Like "yeah we have black characters too..." then the black char is the first one killed off, or has shortest screentime. Like then don't even put them in there then if you gonna do foul. /// Anywho, that's my initial reaction to only reading up to CH 4. Honestly I rather just not see another POC, than see them existing only to be mistreated or the butt of jokes. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.