Final Update! Via Rachel Thorn’s Twitter feed today, Viz has rectified the deadnaming of translators Rachel Thorn and Dana Lewis in the Nausicaä manga release. Thank you very much Viz, for addressing this.
With this, I consider this matter closed in the best possible way. Viz rose to the occasion and did all the right things the right way. I am very appreciative – and hope that if you wrote them to complain, you’ll write them with thanks for their handling of the the situations!
2nd Update! Viz is reaching out to Dana and Rachel and will be making the changes that are needed. I really appreciate Viz moving quickly on the larger issues as well. Misnaming and lack of credit will be fixed. Thank you Viz for handling this.
Update! Viz has promptly addressed the issue of the booklet mislabeling Haruka and Michiru’s relationship. Still waiting to hear back on whether Dana and Rachel receive an apology or correction.
Viz has released a formal statement and will update people on how to receive a replacement booklet.
The team here at VIZ was very excited to take on the honor of localizing Sailor Moon, especially acknowledging that Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus are not friends, but in fact, partners. pic.twitter.com/TNPpvEBIXU
— VIZ (@VIZMedia) June 24, 2019
We made a mistake in the Sailor Moon Sailor Stars booklet and we deeply apologize for the implications of our error. We have initiated a reprinting of the booklet with updated language.
— VIZ (@VIZMedia) June 24, 2019
More details to follow about how to receive a replacement booklet.
Full statement: https://t.co/kO9uVRQbUT
— VIZ (@VIZMedia) June 24, 2019
I appreciate Viz’s acknowledgement and hope that they’ll manage to do better going forward. I want to thank all of you, too, for being part of this campaign to right a wrong.
Let me introduce you to Friedman’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by organizational decentralization.” At no point in time did I assume malice. I strongly believe that these mistakes are because editorial and translation are jobbed out in pieces with little time or money given to overall consistency. A managing editor watching over the entire project ought to catch this kind of thing, but if no one has an eye on the project, then these kind of things are more likely to happen.
***
I’m sharing a letter I wrote today to Viz Media on the subject of several editorial decisions leading to LGBTQ erasure this week. I hope you will read it all the way through and then follow up at the end with your own actions.
Hello –
My name is Erica Friedman, I’ve been a loyal customer and reviewer of Viz media products for many years and I am writing today to express two specific concerns with recent editorial decisions that combine to become one troubling trend.
The first and most important is the exceedingly problematic and insulting use of both Rachel Thorn’s and Dana Lewis’ deadnames in the new Nausicaä manga release and in your Banana Fish release. This is not acceptable and I have not seen any apology to either person for this mistake. It cannot remain unacknowledged by Viz.
Also concerning is the recent description of Haruka’s and Michiru’s relationship in Sailor Moon Stars as “friendship.” This is patently absurd, as their dialogue is often intimate. As they were described as “partners” in Sailor Moon S, its quite inexplicable – especially in light of Viz’s earlier promise that their relationship would not be erased or hidden. As your promo for ‘S’ stated…”no cousins.” And here you are, bowdlerizing them.
Any of these decisions alone is concerning, but them all coming at the same time makes me very concerned for the current state of acceptance and tolerance of LGBTQ people at Viz.
Whether these were all mere lazy editorial decisions and not overtly meant to be insulting, we still respectfully request an apology – and these errors to be fixed immediately.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
***
If you have any opinions about this, I encourage you to write politely worded messages to Viz on Twitter, Facebook or use their customer service form on their website and add your voice to those who are requesting appropriate apologies and corrections.
Friendship? Um … what? I will not even say that Takeuchi herself confirmed their status as lovers in the 90s, wasn’t cousin’s case was criticized as homophobic censorship long ago? I usually try to ignore the politicization of the anime industry, but this situation seems so absurd that I want to support you, Erica.
It’s being fixed. The important part is that I addressed them directly, instead of just tweeting passive-aggressively.
Well, I am not familiar with the history of the conflict, someone has already managed to attack them because of this?
When Stars was released last week, several people noted the translation in the booklet and tweeted or Facebooked or otherwise passively complained. What no one did was write a letter *to* Viz and express disappointment, until I did.
The point I’m making is that tweeting something like “so we’re still erasing their relationship? Cool,cool” or something similar is not the same as a direct letter to the company addressing the problem in a polite, strongly worded manner.
And…look, it worked. I made the issues known and Viz is addressing them all. The translators will be correctly named and credited and the booklet is fixed. Viz did the right thing the right way and I will reward them by giving them my support – not unconditionally, but critically. ^_^
Well, it makes sense. I don’t know what were the causes of such errors, but I think that the promptness of correcting them is a good sign for the perception of Viz as a company. In any case, I can not no praise your ability to discuss and resolve issues without any conflicts.