Volume 5 of Sailor Moon, Eternal Edition is….not what I’d hoped it would be.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful book, with the “holographic cover” and color images that grace this definitive edition…but it’s that this is the definitive edition that sort of bugs me.
One of my big complaints about the 20th anniversary edition was the choice for transliteration of Haruka’s, Michiru’s and Setsuna’s family names. I argued with the translator who rightfully insisted that the transliteration she chose was correct. I equally insisted that it may have been correct, but it is fugly. Sadly, this 25th anniversary edition has continued using them.
Ten’ô, Kai’ô, Mei’ô
Tenoh, Tenou, Tennoh, Tennou, Ten’ou, Ten’oh but… … Ten’ô? Vile. It is an abomination. I do not care that it is “technically correct.” I care that it jangles my nerves and ruins my ability to read the story smoothly because it just looks so awful.
Let’s just stop here and take a look how names are transliterated in the real world. You may know the name Ichiro. He’s kind of a famous major league baseball player. His name is 鈴木 一朗, which is transliterated as Suzuki Ichirou or Suzuki Ichirō and is commonly just written Ichiro in English.
The second jersey belongs to 佐藤 友亮 Satō Tomoaki, transliterated as Satoh Tomoaki, a Japanese baseball player with the Saitama Seibu Lions. I only picked baseball players, because they typically have their names on the jerseys, but this applies for most Japanese athletes. Haruka is an athlete.
When we see Haruka in her racing gear in the original anime her name is very sensibly transliterated Tenoh, as it is on this collectible card.
Ten’ô. There is no sane reason for this choice. 天王 =てんのう Tenou. Frankly for scan, I would have chosen Tenoh, Kaioh and Meioh,, but Tenou, Kaiou and Meiou would have been *fine*. I hate Ten’ô so much, it’s an insult to my eyes every time I see it. It may be correct, but it is terrible.
In every other way, this volume is just fine, but this was – and will continue to be – such an affront that I actually am considering not getting the rest of this series in this edition and just sticking with the Japanese, which will not irritate me. I was so looking forward to a sensible correction to this hideous choice in what is meant to be a magnificent definitive edition in English. It really scarred what is otherwise a momentous edition, as we meet genderfluid Haruka, her partner Michiru, and Setsuna miraculously comes back to life with no explanation whatsoever, bringing Sailors Uranus, Neptune and Pluto together, with their three talismans.
It’s a great volume about which we could talk for hours. To make me feel better about the name issue, I’ve written a short scene for the the “25 years have passed and *we* understand gender and sexuality differently” version I conjectured yesterday in my discussion of Queerness in Sailor Moon. In this version,after the Outer Senshi are introduced, we get an better answer to a question Usagi asked Haruka days ago:
“I never wanted to upset you,” Uranus’s face took on that look of endless sadness that make Usagi ache for her.
“Your Highness,” Neptune’s eyes were wet, “Uranus is both a man and a woman. She is a Guardian of both, with her attributes and strengths limited to neither.”
“I don’t understand,” Sailor Moon looked back and forth at the two women she wanted so much to fight with, not against.
“I’m genderfluid,” Haruka said gently. “I can present as a man or a woman as I want. When I dress as a man, I am seen as a man, and when I dress as a woman, I am seen as a woman.” She smiled tightly, “When I am dressed as a Senshi, I am seen as a Senshi.”
“Oh!” Sailor Moon nodded, “I understand.”
Michiru continued, “Each of us has…”
THERE. Fixed that scene. I feel better. I was >this< far from setting off yesterday in a complete 21st century rewrite of this entire season to fix all the many, many problems. But instead I wrote about queerness.
Ratings:
Art – 8 Visibly stronger than earlier volumes
Story – 7 Kind of a mess by our standards now, but amazing for the time
Characters – 7 Same. Hotaru becomes incredibly interesting from this point on.
Yuri – 5 Haruka trying to seduce Usagi off her case is something; still needs a real love scene between her and Michiru
Service – Same as above
Overall – 7 with a point off for the name issue. 6
Ten’ô, Kai’ô, Mei’ô must die. It’s just so awful.
I’ll die on that hill with you. That is a terrible choice – nobody, and I mean nobody (professionally translated media, Japanese language textbooks, fansubbers, Japanese people writing their names, etc. etc. etc.) romanizes Japanese that way. Nobody. To make that choice is to make a pedantic linguistic stand that only other nitpicking linguists would appreciate. It doesn’t even *look* like the names are Japanese anymore because, again, nobody uses that structure to write Japanese.
Yes, thank you. It may be the kind of thing used by academics, but for a work of entertainment, bad choice.
““I’m genderfluid,” Haruka said gently. “I can present as a man or a woman as I want. When I dress as a man, I am seen as a man, and when I dress as a woman, I am seen as a woman.” She smiled tightly, “When I am dressed as a Senshi, I am seen as a Senshi.””
So, if I understand correctly, in this version Haruka identifies herself as a trans person? Well, I don’t remember the original lines, but I know how Takeuchi-sensei relates to the transfer of the original material, so I hope she approved of such a translation.
No. She identifies as genderfluid. And then she explains what that means.
“I can present as a man or a woman as I want. When I dress as a man, I am seen as a man, and when I dress as a woman, I am seen as a woman.” She smiled tightly, “When I am dressed as a Senshi, I am seen as a Senshi.”
That is not transgender.
I remember these scenes, but I don’t remember Haruka using words like genderfluid for self-identification in this context. Therefore, I wonder if Takeuchi-sensei approved it.
She didn’t. That was – as I said – *my* rewrite of the scene,
“I’ve written a short scene for the the “25 years have passed and *we* understand gender and sexuality differently” version.”
I rewrote the scene to make more sense in our world 25 years later.
Ahh, I get it, I apologize for my carelessness. Interpreting the gender identity of androgynous characters has always been my weakness for certain reasons.
I know this is an old post, and no need for a reply. This has just been driving me crazy that long. I think when translating there is something to be said for ease of the reader. I know fans like translations note but there’s something to be said for a manga I could hand to my non-anime fan friends knowing they could read and understand most of it without the need to know bits of Japanese culture and could just enjoy the work for what it was. Ten’ô is just a terrible choice. Ô is not something that exists in English and when I see something like that I tend to panic. It’s not accessible to the average reader. I had a similar reaction to the CCS rerelease where they romanize shoran’s name the Chinese way, while no inaccurate, most people wouldn’t know what Xho actually meant (who would have thought I’d be praising an old translation from early 2000’s pioneer? There are a lot of issues I had w the new translation )
It’s as you said this is supposed to be the definitive version, one I really wanted but this makes me think twice about getting it. What on earth was their argument? The average manga reader is not a linguist!
Also it’s not Yuri, but River City Girls video game is manga/16 styled fun
Thanks for weighing in. Readability is certainly something to be considered among many factors in translation.
We’ve been hearing a lot about River City Girls. Perhaps we’ll add it to a YNN report. Thanks!