I'm wondering something: since the beginning of this story, I don't remember if Shirotani ever mentioned his father's existence. Is he still alive or dead? I wouldn't be able to say it. We also never so Shirotani go to his father's home.
So, I'm wondering if it's possible that the girl who is responsible of Shirotani's trauma is still with his father. Probably not because the relationship between her and the father started a long time ago but she was so jealous and exclusive that I can't put aside the idea that she may be Shirotani's stepmother.
Then, I'm wondering if the number 1 on Shirotani's list, the hardest thing he has to do is meeting her again.
... or meeting his own father again.
If it's that, that girl has really destroyed not only a man but a family.
Shortly after meeting kurose for the first time shirotani gets a phone call from "home" so I guess his father is still alive. I totally agree:number 10 might be holding his father's hand...
You're right, thank you :) I didn't remember this.
I can't wait to see more about this story, especially the moment when Shirotani tells Kurose about the causes of his trauma and what Kurose is going to do. With the feelings he has for Shirotani, he can't be neutral.
I’ve just read an interesting conversation here, which happened 2 days ago about the timeline in Viewfinder so I checked each book to try collecting informations. And here are my conclusions:
Book 1: Spring. The characters are wearing lighter clothes but still keep light jackets.
Book 2: Still spring for the same reason.
Book 3: Summer. The characters are wearing t-shirts (Akihito’s wearing a sleeveless one) and it’s said it’s hot outside. At the end of this book, Akihito is kidnapped by Feilong and it is said that he stayed in Hong Kong several months.
Book 4: At the beginning of the book, it’s still early summer. But, at the end of the book, it’s a little bit colder at night because Asami is wearing a jacket again over is suit when he thinks about Akihito, wondering if he was damaged, and he’s stunned because of his own impatience.
Book 5: Late summer. The characters are still wearing light clothes but with long sleeves (except for Akihito who’s often showing his torso but I think it’s a gift from the mangaka for her readers ^^). Yuri and Mikhail are wearing jackets.
Book 6: Still late summer. At the beginning of the book, Akihito and his friends are wearing t-shirts with short sleeves, but at night, Akihito is sometimes wearing a jacket.
Book 7: Autumn. At the beginning of the book, when Akihito meets Kuroda, they’re both wearing warmer jackets and we can see tree leaves falling.
Book 8: Still autumn because of the clothes they’re wearing and it’s said it’s cold outside. So I pity poor Akihito who is only wearing a t-shirt and a underwear on the roof of the building, the last scene which was posted (another gift for us, the readers^^).
So, I think Akihito and Asami have known each other for nearly a year now. Asami is 36 and Akihito 24.
Of course, I may be wrong because it’s always hard to be adamant about subjects like timelines because there’re still too many things left unsaid and sometimes years seems to be only months or weeks.
According to Yamane, Akihito is currently 25 years old. Which means that Asami is 37, so it's been two years. Personally, I always thought the manga starts with them meeting sometime in late fall, but I guess that's a matter of each reader's perspective. :)
Thank you for the information :)
Can you tell me where you read it? If it's in an interview, I'd like to read it, hoping there're plenty of questions and answers^^.
No....Sensei never told that...25YO Takaba is only on extra chapter which is in alternate universe where Takaba is a buchou..
@Anonnnnn: You people are so obtuse, do you honestly think that after 8 freakin' volumes the action takes place in the same time frame? That somehow, Akihito is still 23 years old?! That him meeting Asami, getting kidnapped by Feilong, going to the tropical island in Bali, coming back to Tokyo, moving in with Asami, living with Asami all happened in what, a month? I'd sure like to know how much time do numbskulls like you think has elapsed since this manga's first volume. Junjou Romantica's Misaki was 18 in the first volume, he's now 22. In mangas, certain informations that appear in extras are just as true in canon. Just...go watch paint dry, since putting two and two together by deducing certain aspects is too much for the likes of you, as long as it's not a big neon sign flashing in front of your eyes, you just don't get it. Pathetic, the level of intelligence some people on this page have.
First of all, the extra in question was a fantasy Akihito was having so no, it's not cannon. Second of all, time does not pass in exactly the same increments in every manga. So one series could take eight volumes to cover ten months where another series could cover twenty years in fewer volumes. Third, it is entirely possible that the events in these eight volumes have taken place within a year. He wasn't in Hong Kong that long. You know how I know? By paying attention to what's happening in the story like us numbskulls like to do. See, let me lay it out for you.
Volume 2 takes place mostly in the past, so that one doesn't count in the timeline. The events of volume three take place within a two-day period. At the end of volume 3, Asami is shot by Feilong. By volume five, when he comes to rescue Akihito, his wounds are still not healed to the point where they open and bleed from physical exertion. So it isn't likely Akihito was in Hong Kong for more than a few weeks. And they only stay on the tropical island long enough for the laser burns on Aki's wrist to heal, so that wouldn't have been months and months, either. Then the events of volumes 6, 7 and 8 happen very quickly and one after the other, with no lapsed time in between.
Example: Starting with chapter 40, where Aki is beaten up by Sudou's thugs, gets in the fight in the park, spends a few hours in jail, is returned to Asami's apartment, has sex with Asami, overhears Kuroda's conversation with Asami, offers to find the source of the article for Asami, goes to club with Kuroda, is drugged, wakes up in warehouse with Sudou, witnesses shoutout, taken home by Asami, assassins enter the penthouse, Asami and Aki flee to the roof.
That's twelve chapters right there and it covers about two-maybe three days time, no more.
Just because the volumes themselves take years to come out gives the illusion that more time has passed but in the actual storyline, you can see--if you actually pay attention--that unless two years passed between volume one and volume three, all of the events could fit very easily within a twelve-month period. And so yes, Akihito could very well still be twenty-three.
I don't suppose some kind-hearted person with a Twitter account could hit up Yamane-sensei and ask her how old Akihito is currently?
I just wonder why she would go out of her way to mention this age at all in an extra (especially in a dream where it has no bearing at all), unless it was her way of telling us that he is indeed now 25.
I'm not looking to argue, but this is one of many reasons why I tend to think that it may be his current age.
Also the current argument of timelines seems to discount ALL the extras as AU, which (again, my opinion) I don't think is true. Leaving out the notorious 3-way, which is already a hot topic in itself, I thought the extras were "slices of life" that took place between the arc stories. If you follow that belief, then at least one New Year's Day and two seasons of summer have passed.
But again, if you disregard all the extras, then at least a full year has passed which would still put Akihito one year older.
Or they could be non-aging, like Peanuts, or Calvin and Hobbs (if you know that comic).
Anyway, you can see why there are good arguments on all sides, so it would be nice to see everyone "respectfully disagree".
Yes, you're right about the respect and also about the extras. I forgot to take them into account but I don't know how to place them in the story. In my books, the extras aren't in the proper order (and some haven't been published yet).
For example, the one happening the New Year's day is in book 3, which takes place, in my opinion, in the summer (And in my proposition of timeline, there is no winter yet). And the one with the summer festival and the fireworks is in book 7, which takes place, again in my opinion, in autumn.
And some (all of them?) extras were made for fan service like the one in the onsen with Akihito, Asami and Feilong, according to several comments I read. Or the extras were made because the mangaka wanted to show us several different scenes and was having fun drawing them. I don't know. It's only suggestions. But with the extras, it's even harder to try to find the correct timeline.
I agree with you: it would be easier to ask directly to the mangaka using her Twitter account.
I have a twitter, but sadly I don't know Japanese...
Have you ever read a shounen manga? Literally dozens of volumes with barely any time passing sometimes. Or the characters are suspended in time. And while some extras may be canon, others that are clearly meant as AUs (such as the one that stated their older ages) are just meant for crack fun.
Personnally I place them between Escape and Love and Pray in Abyss. It's kind of things happened after Akihito went to live with Asami. Then Pray in Abyss happens, who knows, maybe a year after Escape and Love for all we know. Lots of things can happen there, their relationship grows... And now it's challenged.
Naturally, the first extras happened sometime before Naked Truth.
If you try to put a year between Escape and Love and Pray in Abyss, then you screw up Akihito's emotional arc. Akihito working out his feelings for Asami flows from E&L into PiA. I don't think that went on for a solid year.
Be it a week or a few months aha. Only throwing my two cents here.
Though Akihito did say that "Steady work has been coming my way these days". One would imagine time have passed since his last screw ups in Escape and Love. Then "it's been so long since I've seen his face". They barely have seen each other, work has gone way better... They can have had a few sweet moments there and there. Also if we assume that 2 years passed accordingly to Ayano since the beggining of the manga, that'd be a good place to put a time skip.
It does flow rather well to me anyway. I'm not sure anymore about the average person aha, but to me, being a freelancer artist like him (and Ayano) working ALL the time, a year passes by without me noticing it. It's just insane. He just can't have been bothering that much about Asami every single day of his life, steady work just wouldn't happen, Asami seems to be that much more busy himself that Akihito felt it has been "so long", but that's the only thing we see since it's a yaoi manga :P. If they barely have been seeing each others, of course feelings have stalled, until the day Sudou just barged in there and freaked Akihito out.
Rumours have had the time to circulate about the two of them living together, so mmh...
Again, just a perspective, nothing proven here xD
First of all, don't live only on Junjou Romantica arc. It's too pathetic.
Read shounen manga too. If you read Jigoku Sensei Nube, you would die because of the complicated time there : 30 volumes but only one year passed there. lol
SO, If sensei haven't told us Officially on manga, it's still within a year....
Everyone is arguing time lines - and comparing to other manga - I'll put my two cents in - almost 700 issues of Bleach, with a major 2year time skip and the main characters are still in high school. And so many things unresolved there - just an alternate example.
Some people just need a lot of time to resolve their feelings and I think with both of them in a bit of denial one to two years - whatever it may be - is not that unreasonable - I think many of us are just used to shorter stories where they figure out their emotions quickly have spoiled us...but that is just an opinion. Hehehe
It's unlikely there's that big a skip in time between volume six and seven. When Kuroda approaches Akihito in the park in volume seven, he talks to him as though the incident with Momohara Ai was fairly recent, that people still think they're a couple. Also, during that conversation, he thinks of how no one knows he's living with Asami, that he hasn't told Kou and Takato. It would have been tough to keep that secret for a year. And then Kuroda references the "incident in Hong Kong" and how he had to clean up after that mess, so he knows Asami went to Hong Kong for Aki. But then he refers to Asami's interest in Aki as an infatuation and a "passing fancy." He wouldn't refer to a relationship that had already lasted more than a year as a passing fancy. That's a very slowly passing fancy.
And when Akihito comes home after seeing Sudou cry on Asami's sleeve and finds Asami sleeping, he thinks about how he has moved in here and how he's "not going to be here forever." If he's already been there a year, he wouldn't be thinking something like that.
So really, if you want to stick an extra year into this storyline, the only place to do it is between the end of volume one and the beginning of volume three. It's not going to fit in between six and seven.
Hm, still, a "full year" is quite short. I'm not sure how that's a very slow passing fancy, honestly, looks like only a beggining :/
All your arguments are based on the feeling that things should happen at rocket speed, so I'm not sure what I could add aha ^^'
In any case, extras fit there or they fit nowhere. Except of course after PIA, but eeeh. I said "it could be a year for all we know". It could be like two months too, I really don't care how much time passed, a year just happened to be a number here, I just suggested that we basically don't really know how much have passed in the end.
The full year time period came up because the argument in this thread is that Akihito is now twenty five. I am pointing out that while you can roughly chart the passage of one year by the events of the manga, you can't chart two unless you find a gap of a full year between any of these volumes. It was put forward that there could be a year between six and seven but it doesn't seem possible. A few months there wouldn't be enough to advance Akihito's age unless--again--there was a larger gap between volume one and volume three, which is more likely.
Also, many of the volumes DO happen at rocket speed. I already laid out how quickly time passes is chapters 40 through 52. In our time, that's been actual years but in Finder time, it's only been a few days. So that's not just a feeling. It's fact.
Here's another piece of the timeline puzzle, the short "Takaba Akihito's Asami Ryuichi Report" that appears in the character book. I'm not sure when the character book was published, but there are entries in it that talk as though the Hong Kong arc is ongoing and hasn't been resolved.
The short is a little story where Aki spies on Asami and reports everything he does during his day. At the beginning, Aki says "Every time I get caught and screwed, get kidnapped and screwed, get drunk and screwed. Lately, I've even spent New Years abroad."
That seems to cover the initial rapes in volume one by both Asami and Fei Long (caught and screwed, kidnapped and screwed) and then the incident in Takaba's Wonderful Day short (drunk and screwed) and the infamous New Years short (even spent new Years abroad.)
To me that sounds like those things happened before Akihito was taken to Hong Kong, which makes it seem like there was a lot of time between the first and third volumes, so maybe that's where the extra year comes in.
Why so serious （￣へ￣）?
I have my own reasons to think what I think could be possible, you have yours, it's pointless to try to convince me by saying "but it doesn't seem possible because I personally have X viewpoint" :P
By the way, I've been reading it for about a year lol, it's not been that long of that time that I would think the events didn't happen quickly xD. But it doesn't necessarily mean nothing happens between events. I think we can at least doubt that.
Keichi's acceptation is too fast but I really like this story. I saw the raw of chapters 2 and 3 and it's very hot.
I'd really like to see an update but I fear that the translators have given up this story... I hope I'm wrong about that.
hi could you please give me the link with ch. 2 and 3? I searched so hard but I didn't find anything not even in raw （￣へ￣）
Hi! You can read chapter 2 here, on this website (here, it's untitled "chapter 1" and the first one is "chapter 0") but the chapter 3 cannot be find here yet and I saw it on this website: http://forum.nihonomaru.com/yuri-and-yaoi-manga.48/thread/futari-no-musuko-ni-nerawarete-imasu-kamon-saeko.287752/
But you have to be registered and post a message on the manga's topic to be able to see the chapters.
Unfortunately, I don't think the other chapters can be found on internet. I really hope to see the rest of this story because it's interesting, the drawings are gorgeous and it's really hot.
thank you very much, I too really want to see the rest of this manga I love Kamon Saeko!!!!
You're welcome ;)
Enjoy this hot chapter 3 :)
The raw looked so funny! I hope it gets translated, but it's also a raw you can understand without a translation
You're right :) Fortunately, we can have raw chapters sometimes but I'd really like to read more about this story. I wonder what exactly Takuya and Ren are saying to each others in different scenes of chapter 2 and 3. For example, the scene of the chapter 2 in the bath, just before Keiichi comes in the bathroom, or when Takuya and Ren are in the library in chapter 3.
I'd like to know how Keiichi is coping with this relationship in the next chapters, and if one day, Ren and Takuya will go in the gay bar where Keeichi is working, making him realise that they know that he works here. There're two much things I want to know in this story. It's so frustrating to have to wait for an update, knowing we maybe will never have another one as it seems this story has been dropped by the team which was translating it :(
I hope it's just an impression and it is still going on.
Lol, the rabbit ears hoodie.
It was a great and funny chapter. I like Yukina, he's really sweet. I like their couple even if Kisa thinks of too many pointless things.
Now, I hope to see soon Ritsu and Takano.
Thank you for the update.
In the next chapter, I'd like to see Akihito managing to reach the helicopter, unharmed, then protecting Asami as Asami protected him.
I wonder what Asami's thoughts are. He must be touched that Akihito didn't want to leave him behind. He can guess Akihito is very loyal and has strong feelings for him.
After that scene where they are escaping, I'd like to see a scene full of emotions between them, with tender gestures/words/glances.
I like that in this story: neither Asami nor Akihito said "I love you" to the other but no one can deny they deeply love each other.
Grimmjow! Finally!
We've waited to see him for so long now! It's a huge joy to be able to see him again and I can't wait for the next chapter.
I wonder what is going to happen between Ichigo and Grimmjow, who was kind of obsessed with Ichigo. And I hope we'll know what was the deal between Urahara and Grimmjow - the deal mentioned in chapter 518.
Too bad now, we'll have to wait two weeks again for the next chapter as next week is the golden week in Japan. Really, I can't wait.
what deal are you talking about? please remind me `cause i don`t remenber.
When Urahara met Grimmjow in the Hueco Mundo, at first Grimmjow threatened Urahara with his zanpakuto. Later, in chapter 518, Urahara told Ichigo to not be afraid of the presence of Grimmjow in the tent with them (Urahara, Sado and Inoue) because he - Urahara - "was able to make a nice contract with him".
Here is the scene: http://www.mangago.zone/read-manga/bleach/mr/bleach/518/9/
I wonder what this "contract" is but I think this deal involves Ichigo.
Thank you for this chapter and the work of the team. I like Saeko Kamon's mangas so I'm happy with each release :)
I'm so glad the chapter was released today because it is my birthday. It's like a nice present and, indeed, this chapter was great. And also sadistic (for Shirotani but for us, the readers too).^^
I like Kurose's jealousy and I think it's good to see him being less patient sometimes. And I think it can be good too for Shirotani who needs comprehension and time, of course, but also he sometimes needs to be pushed to heal.
OMEDETO ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶
Happy Birthday! Also I totally agree, sometimes we need to be pushed out of our comfort zone if we want to move forward.
But I've always been a little sadistic.(๑•ㅂ•)و✧
Happy Birthday! (⌒▽⌒)
Happy birthday!!! :)
Arigato :D
Thank you :)
Me too, I'm a little bit sadistic so I understand Kurose... and the author.^^
Shirotani is cute and we can see he really wants to be helped otherwise he wouldn't have gone to the clinic the first time but Kurose is right to keep going. I hope Shirotani will understand that the sexual play with the toy wasn't disgusting. Anyway, he has to accept things step by step if he wants to be able to truly live (and have a sexual life too).
Thank you very much :)
Thanks a lot :)
Agreed!(づ￣ ³￣)づ
Thank you for the translation and cleaning of those chapters. Your work is really appreciated :)
I started to follow Viewfinder only a few months ago so there’re things I’m not familiar. Can someone explain to me how the release of the extra chapters works, please?
I noticed some extras are in the magazine Be Boy Gold (like the chapter 35.4) and, with some others, it is mentioned Pink Gold (like the chapter 43.1). Is it the same magazine with a different rating, two different magazines or something else? And is the date of release of the extras different than the usual chapters date? I mean, is it possible to have a chapter published for example the 27th of june and have an extra the next month, then have another regular chapter the 28th of august?
I’ve been wondering about the extras for some time now because there are bonus chapters, no? Furthermore, at the end of each tankoubon, we have at least an extra chapter of VF or another little story. Since I’ve been following Viewfinder here, we never had an extra. So, is it possible that Yamane Ayano doesn’t release the regular chapter at the end of next august but releases an extra (because she’ll probably add one in her 8th tankoubon)? Or are my hopes only in my dreams?^^
Pink Gold is a magazine that you can't buy normal Amazon site. Only Japan or proxy ways. Usually these Pink G release are included the tankoubon.
But then what really bothers me, is when she release two different extra. Only Japan release and Amazon release. These extra stories aren't including the English tankoubon. Sadly we can only read them here. I hear that France version they get these extra stories. But English, you don't get them. Only with Kindle bad version. Even here is better.
French version gets only one. They chose to stick with the amazon one (44.2), the animate extra was never translated here (44.1). It's only understandable though it's a shame.
Besides, just like in Japan, they're only included in the limited editions. It's actually a separate booklet, it's not in the tankoubon itself.
Thank you for the informations.
I'm surprised by what you say about the English tankoubon. You have no extra at all in the seven books?
I have all the published book in French but I'm very frustrated because when I bought the 7th volume, I didn't see that two versions had been published and I bought the book without the bonus (the limited edition). I don't know what extras are in the limited edition but I think I'll have to buy it again to have the bonus.
In book 1, the French version I have contains the first two chapter of Viewfinder (Loveprize and Fixer), then several others stories (Love lesson, Koi wo Suru DNA, Risky Society) and at the end, there's another chapter of Viewfinder: Embrace in the heat of the night.
In book 2, there're Bodychase, Flower of Skyscraper for Viewfinder, then another part of Koi wo Suru DNA.
In book 3, there're several chapters of Naked truth, Love surprise (the New Year extra) for VF, then another story: Baked sweet glasses . Then, it contains "the interviews" donc by Yamane Ayano to introduce the characters (Asami, Aki and Fei Long), then another chapter of Koi wo Suru DNA (Baby leaf).
In book 4, there're the chapters 6 to 12 included of Naked truth, then an extra: Takaba's wonderful day.
In book 5, we start the book by "Naked truth zero" (a bonus) with a few pages which show the meeting of Fei Long and Yoh in prison. Then, it contains the chapters 13 to 18 included of Naked truth, then the extra where Asami and Aki are in Bali (Temporary paradise).
In book 6, there're the second part of Temporary paradise, when Akihito explains to his friends that he doesn't want to see tomatoes anymore (because of the massage he had done to Asami, etc). Then, we have the chapters 1 to 5 included of Escape and love. Then, there're the crossover between Koi wo Suru DNA and Viewfinder (2 chapters) when Akihito uses Asami's card to get several rooms for himself and the students. Then, there's the extra with Kirishima and his duty as a secretary.
Finally, in book 7 (the one I have which is not the limited edition with the bonus), there're the chapters 1 to 9 included of Pray in abyss. Then, 3 extras: Takaba Akihito's graceful summer holiday, then the extra with the fireworks (Midsummer special), then when Akihito is dreaming he's the director of a company and has to whip Asami. Then, he wakes up to see is under Asami and had fainted during sex.
I don't know what are the other extra of the French limited edition. By the way, if someone who has this version knows the answer, I'd like to know it too.
The publishers around the world should release exactly the same things. I think it's unfair to add or remove some extras, according to the countries. Everyone wants to read every chapters and extras of a story.
The June volumes have extras too.
They do have the extras. Just not the ones that came in a separate booklet. It's not like the Japanese publishers decided to remove it from some countries, they couldn't care less, it's just that the English editors that bought the rights decided not to included them. Probably for economical reasons.
From what I remember, the French edition has had the threesome in volume 6 (I don't have that one) as well as 44.2 in volume 7. The limited edition though is, uh, limited. I bought the last copy from amazon.ca a year ago (beginning of summer 2014). In amazon.fr they were long gone by then, and they weren't reprinted obviously. Maybe you could find it at ridiculous prices...
44.2 is underwhelming though, I wouldn't feel so bad to not have it if I were you ^^'.
Ok, I understand better how it works now. Fortunately, we can read here the little extras which are in the separate booklets.
I wasn't necessarily talking about the Japanese publishers but publishers in general, in every countries. Because, sometimes, we can read that a tankoubon will contain some extras published only for a specific country (it's what happened recently here, in France, because there is a famous convention which takes place in Paris, every year in early july, the "Japan Expo" and I read on a publisher's website that we - the French readers - would have more extras in a book than the other readers, in foreign countries. I'm French so I can have this book with those extras but I still don't think it's fair for the others who also want to read everything about a story in their own tankoubon. But, at the same time, I can also understand the choice publishers have to make because of the economical reasons. It must sometimes be very expensive for only a few pages.
Thank you for having indicated me the missing extra in the french version of the 7th volume, the one which is not limited. You're right, I won't be too upset to not have the 44.2.^^ ;)
For the extra with the threesome, it's not in my sixth book (neither in the others). I don't think there were others limited editions but I'm not sure. I've only been interested in the story Viewfinder since a few months and I bought the seven books together not so long ago.
Here, in France, we still can buy the limited edition of book 7, directly from the publisher website. Generally, I buy my books like this because Amazon (or a French company like Amazon: Fnac) is bigger and doesn't need as much money as the smaller companies, like those publishers, to survive. And, when you buy directly from the publishers, you can sometimes have cheaper books or some goodies, but it's very rare though.
Oh is that so xD.
I figured they wouldn't since here it was sold at the same price as the regular one, aha. But I'm guessing it still won't be there eternally, just like the limited edition of volume 6 I believe. I guess they just won't bother to reprint it.
I can't buy from the publishers though, they won't ship all the way here :P. Anyway, the shipping would be too much, and the cad dropped way too much in the latest years...
I do buy and import the Japanese editions though. It's actually really cheap from CDJapan. At least here. They're 571 yen, meaning about 6$, so with the shipping it's still affordable. Cheaper than if I bought the French ones, shipping or not! If I buy 6, it's like 10$ each (7 euros!).
English mangas are just sad. They don't have the cover dusts D:
The American market opted for a model where "cheaper is better", while the French one is "the more the better". I prefer the later :P.
As for the limited edition of volume 6, it does seem to exist:
http://www.manga-news.com/index.php/actus/2011/09/05/Precision-sur-Viewfinder-Tome-6
Oh, I like you Lightasus!! I didn't know the CDJapan website and I precisely wanted to find a website which could deliver in France Yaoi books in Japanese and other products. I don't understand Japanese though^^ but I started to read some mangas here and I know we probably will never have the next chapters and it's killing me.^^ I already checked on Amazon for one book in particular but it's only available on Amazon.jp and I don't think we could have it here (and I didn't understand anything on this website).
I understand you for your importations: it can be really expensive sometimes, especially with the shipping. I think French mangas are rather expensive but I know the publishers have to pay the Japanese, then here the translator and other people + the product itself (paper, ink, etc). It's cheaper in Japan, and if you understand Japanese, it's normal for you to read in that language.
You're right about the English mangas. A few years ago, I bought the US version of the first books of Junjou romantica on Amazon because the tankoubon hadn't been released yet in France at that time. Later, this series was released very quickly in the French version so I bought the other books in French. I can see some of the differences, then.
I think there still aren't a lot of Yaoi books translated in English. In French too. When I see all the books which are released in Japan every year, all the mangakas we still don't know, all the good stories we will probably never see published, the thought makes me sad. I know we can't have everything but it's a huge frustration for me, especially because I usually read a lot. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm not going to start learning Japanese just to be able to read all the mangas that we cannot find in bookstores or on Internet.^^
just to clarify not saying Mangago has scan grp.s don't misunderstand.
Aha, it's nothing ^^
There's an option to put amazon.jp in English. Not sure if you noticed it. That's where I buy the Beboy Gold magazines by the way - I just bought the latest - they do ship books worldwide. That is if it's Amazon itself that sells it, second parties not always.
Yeah, I know how it works xD. It wouldn't be so bad if shops here didn't slap 2$ more because they had to order from France. Really, I order One Piece for half the price in Japanese with the shipping O.o
As for Japanese Japanese, if you manage to get courses, are patient and grow to love the language for its particularities, it should be a blast. I'm aiming to read novels one day, about none of them are translated aha. But mangas are manageable early. There's a trick to find the kanjis in dictionaries if needed, they're not just mindless strokes aha.
I think there's nothing like reading something in its original language. I feel there's something missing if not, but maybe I just love languages too much :P
Yes, I saw the possibility to put amazon.jp in English but, when you click on this option, it still remains mostly in Japanese so I didn't understand a lot of things.^^ And I also tried to use Google to translate but the translation is also mostly incoherent.
I'd like to buy a book in particular because I'm sure at 99% that it'll never be translated in France (or maybe in English too) and I really want to know what happens in this story. It's very frustrating. And I'm not used to depend on the others for reading something. It's one of the reasons I've learnt the English language (I wanted to be able to read without waiting for the translation (the Harry Potter books actually) and I think like you on that matter: we lose something when a story is translated).
I like foreign languages so it's a good point for me to start learning, and I think you must know that the level of English in the French schools is not really high. We start to learn too late in primary school and there aren't enough courses. And nearly everything on the TV is translated in French so if you don't also learn on your own, it'll be hard to be fluent in English. I'm still not fluent in English but I continue to learn.
I know it's really hard to learn a foreign language. I've already wondered several times if I started to learn Japanese or not but I'm often discouraged. It's not the same alphabet and there're three sort of language (the Kanjis which are many and I think, difficult to learn, the Hiraganas and the Katakanas). The time I have currently is also a problem because I have my job and I prepare a contest in the same time. If I have my contest next year, I'll be a student again for my last year in University. And, maybe, I'll do a part of the year in Canada (Québec), so there're some obstacles for me now to learn Japanese.
But, I think I'll do it one day because I like the challenges, I like learning, I like the Japanese language and it's difficult for me to bear not being able to read something I really want to read, knowing there'll probably never exist any translation. I've already done it for English so why not for Japanese?
And what you're saying to me (the fact that the mangas are manageable early) is a good motivation. Did you start learning Japanese a long time ago? And did you take courses or did you learn mostly on your own? It'd like to read novels too but I'll start more modestly, slowly, with mangas. At first, if I'd manage to read a manga, I'd be happy.^^
In English here we have both extremes, so courses are not very useful until after high school because the teachers just repeat the same things over and over to those who just really suck at it x). And we started at about 7-8 years old (now it's younger than that). I literally slept in English classes in high school.
But yeah, those who are really good at it have the same thing in common: they consume English media. Personally it started with video games, as we only had the English ones sold in stores at the time, aha. Then I also had some american and english canadian channels available, one still aired Pokémon while our French channel stopped XD.
That's basically what worked for me, all online up until now:
I literally learned hiraganas and katakanas in two days. Thanks Drmoku XD.
Seriously, it's veeery easy with that one, well worth my 10$.
Then there's Asahi Kanji on android. Super useful to learn at least the radicals that kanjis are made out of (that's available in the trial version I believe, personally I bought it anyway, it's 3$, also there's a full version in French) : and learning them makes learning kanjis extra fun, at least to me, because you can finally understand the logic of how they were made x). They really are pictograms. Though it's useless without learning hiraganas and katakanas beforehand when it comes to pronunciation, as it's written in those characters in the app. And psst, Asahi kanji can scan kanjis, though I found it only works well on computers when you zoom on the character xD. That's where learning radicals and having a Japanese online dictionary is great.
Also, ici-japon is great for grammar and is totally free (and lucky you, you speak French :P). But really I found that it was hard without first learning from the first two, as it gives no cue on how to memorize the characters.
And that's the story of how I spent 13$ to learn Japanese xD. I'll take courses when I'll get the time, because speaking and writing is still bad, but for reading it's doing the job at the moment. Especially since I had already learned bits from anime, I get the feeling of how some things are said (if that makes any sense).
But yeah, mangas usually even have the hiragana reading on the side of kanjis (I believe that's for kids aha). So if you know how it's pronounced, you may don't even have to look for the kanji. I know that some seinen don't have them though. But basically, they just have less text than novels aha.
Ah, as for Amazon, are you trying to read the description? Because if it's just for buying when you already know what you want, it's all in English.
Yes, on Amazon.jp in English, I wanted to see the description of the books for those which cannot be found on Internet or translated in French or in English by the publishers.
In France, the pupils start to learn English when they're 7 now (with 54 hours of lessons/year). When I was in primary school, there were no English lessons. We just sang some songs in English sometimes. So, I started to learn this language when I was 11 (with 3 hours of lessons per week). At first, I wasn't interested in foreign languages and I had bad grades in English. It lasted 2 years then, I started to feel an interest and my grades improved. But I really improved my level when I started to read books in English. I couldn't wait for the translation of the fifth book of Harry Potter so I bought it in English when it was released. At first, it was hard and I had the dictionary beside me, checking the vocabulary all the time. Then, you see that the words are often the same and you start to learn them. I think, it'll be the same with Japanese.
I'm impressed by you because you learnt the Hiraganas and Katakanas in only 2 days! Wow! I'm not sure I could do the same.^^ And 13$ to learn Japanese... I'm sure you nearly had to stop eating to be able to pay that huge amount of money. Lol. Great for you because learning a language can truly be expensive in some cases. For my part, my aim n°1 is to be able to read a manga in Japanese. I'd like to write in Japanese later because I think the pictograms are really beautiful but I'm not sure that writing in Japanese will be really useful in my life one day (but who knows?).
I also watch anime. I started to watch Bleach again, and I also have some yaoi on DVD. There's Internet too and I sometimes watch Japanese movies or anime on Youtube or elsewhere. I agree with you: by watching anime, you can grasp a few words or the pronunciation of some words.
Thank you for your advices, recommendations and the things you said about this language because it encourages me a lot. Since especially a few months, I've been very hesitant. I was not sure if the benefit to learn Japanese would worth the cost, if I can say that, because I won't need it in my career, I don't plan to move and live in Japan (but traveling there, yes) and I don't have any friends who are Japanese so I wondered if all the efforts would not be a waste, just to be able to read in this language. But you succeeded in finishing to convince me. I know it'll be hard but I don't want to feel huge regrets if I don't learn it... and I think I'll regret it if I don't learn Japanese... and I'd be very frustrated with the books I wouldn't be able to read in their original language so... thank you :)