In volume 1 of Kanojo to Camera to Kanojo no Kisetsu, (彼女とカメラと彼女の季節) we met typical high school student Akari, atypical highschool student Yuki, who is a photographer and asocial outlier in class and sports hero student Fukuyama, Yuki’s childhood friend, who is interested in Akari.
Volume 2 begins with Akari experiencing an epiphany about her feelings for Yuki, followed up by a almost complete rebuff by the object of her interest. In the meantime, Fukuyama is there to support her emotionally…something that makes Akari as uncomfortable as her feelings about Yuki does. She’s really trying hard to not give Fukuyama the wrong impression about her feelings. On his part, he seems sincerely to not be under the wrong impression at all – he can see that Akari is interested in Yuki, but he really likes her and wants to be there for her.
Akari wants to see Yuki, Fukuyama wants to be closer to Akari.
And what about pale, ethereal Yuki, the photographer? When she returns to school, she seems to be driving Akari into Fukuyama’s arms. And yet, in quiet moments, it’s Akari she’s thinking of. She leaves provocative photos of herself in her dark room – for Akari to find? Akari thinks so.
As volume 2 comes to an end, it’s Yuki’s turn to play her cards. What hand she’s holding, we just don’t know.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Yuri – 5
Service – 5
Overall – 8
This volume made me laugh a little, frown a little and left me really hoping hard for an ending I know I won’t get. ^_^; Will I?
The cover art is just so pretty. Is the art inside living up to it?
Again you make me wish I’d read japanese so I could enjoy all those books you review!
French official traductions of japanaese Yuri manga are awful. Awful in that they purposely change the meaning when it’s too awkward for them to deal with… >_<
@Judy J – I think the inside art is very good. Not so portrait-y except every once in a while. The expressions are quite good, because so much is made of capturing them on camera.
The situation in America was like that in the first wave of manga – “localization” often meant renaming and rewriting. But now that is much less true – although fans frequently judge a translation by the scanlation they are most familiar with, even if it is inaccurate or just different.
Don’t assume the French translation is awful – translation is not a science and quite often the Japanese is ambiguous. Every scanlator translates through their own bias, so if it’s a Yuri group such as Lili, they may emphasize things where in the original it was left more ambiguous on purpose.^_^
That is very interesting; the light you shed on the translator bias.
What irritates me is when traduction issues happen on purpose for not so noble reasons.
First, you can’t miss it.
Second, you suddenly can’t follow the story anymore. It just doesn’t make any sense anymore.
And that happens a lot in french translations.
Since I was a child it happened in animes that where dubbed for the tv. I’ve learned the trick over the years. ^_-
Just one example:
In kisses sighs and cherry-blossom pink, recently translated, Hitomi has a conversation with a classmate about same sex love. The classmate says those relationships are just pretend. Hitomi replies according to the argument and everything in the story makes sense.
In the french version, the classmate says it is “against nature” and suddenly, Hitomi’s response feels off.
“Love pretend” between schoolgirls fits just very well with japanese culture.
The issue is very different in france where the “against the natural laws” is the homophobe stock in trade (do I use that right?).
There are seriously tons of examples. I think it makes me angry. I feel robbed.
Are there another french people around here who feel abused too?
Anyway, I’ll get a copy of Girlfriend in english to compare the two.
There are some serious issues in the french version of this book as well.
Thank you Erica for your everyday work. I don’t post often but I’ve never ceased to read you.
Thank you and sorry for my rant; I had to let it out.
=^.^=
@Judy J – That’s exactly what I mean. You’re basing your understanding of what is “correct” on a scanlation. I can’t find the actual part at the moment, but if I recall correctly Abe-san was being purposefully obscure. She might have something like “dame” meaning anything from “not real” to “no good” to “wrong.”
My point is, you are making an assumption based on your bias and the bias of the scanlators. The translator is making a choice based on their bias and their understanding of the meaning.
Neither choice is *wrong*.
You may not like the choice they went with. That doesn’t mean it was wrong.
Translation is an art, not a science. It’s easy to stand to the side and be critical. ^_^
For all I know, Judy J. here is a bilingual native speaker of both Japanese and French, and is comparing the official French translation to the Japanese original instead of comparing it to a scanlation.
Judy J., is that true? To what *are* you comparing the official French translation?
Great post.Just a quick note it is important that French translation being accurate and efficient can indeed not be overstated. Especially in the ever faster moving world of globalized business, successful information and technology transfer within multinational businesses can make the difference between win or lose.