Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Volume 2 Comparison (Kodansha vs Kodansha?)

Well, everyone, here we are again. First of all, I would like to apologize for how late this comparison ended up being, but while last time, it took me a couple of weeks to get my copy of the manga that ultimately ended being to my benefit as several interviews were released during that time giving tidbits of information that I was able to include in my look through. That and other purple dragon related distractions led to me choosing to wait for a couple of weeks, which unfortunately ballooned into a couple of months. Christmas, family gatherings and my own lethargic tendencies also played a part and for that, I'm sorry. I'm definitely going to try to be more prompt with volume three. Realizing it has the same release date as Kingdom Hearts 3 though, that may prove to be a struggle. Fingers crossed. 

Having said that, I must go off on a quick tangent first. Is anyone else excited for Kodansha's collector's edition for Cardcaptor Sakura that's due to be released in Summer 2019? I'd always originally planned to one day compare the Dark Horse Omnibus with Kodansha Japan's bilingual edition, but now the promise of another new translation has me bouncing off the walls in excitement and turning that look through into a trinity. To say nothing of the cherry on top, the news that this collectors edition will be hardcover like its Japanese counterpart carrying my hope that it also retains the smaller size and gold foil finish as well. Honestly, I fear my bookshelf will have to take on the properties of a Tardis at this rate, but I'm sure any book collector would agree: there's always room for twelve more.

From this point on, due to each of the eternal edition's volumes containing more chapters of the story than the previous release, I will be comparing each eternal edition to the two corresponding volumes of the 2011 translation that cover the same amount of story, which in this case, is volume two and half of volume three. Additionally, since Kodansha Japan has yet to release any more volumes of the bilingual edition, I will not be referencing that any further. Finally, if you're curious about how the 2011 release stacks up against the old Tokyopop release then I highly recommend checking SailorHell's blog on the subject. I will not be referencing the Tokyopop release in these comparisons.

Colour Pages

Much like volume one, the eternal edition allows those of us in the west to fully appreciate these stunning hand-drawn images, many of which are in full colour for the first time. A particular favourite of mine, in this volume, is one of Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion holding each other framed by a gorgeous archway under the light of the moon. It's absolutely dripping with atmosphere and a real treat for the eyes. The glossy paper makes all the colour pages really pop and with one exception, I believe this is the best way to own them. That one exception, as shown below, is the famous image of the inner guardians and kings. The very same one that sparked the shipping debate and Naoko Takeuchi's original intent for where these characters would end up and with who. Can't say I'm a fan of this idea, even less so after seeing how it was executed in Sailor Moon Crystal. Contrived romance aside, the binding of the book, unfortunately, sends part of both Jupiter and Nephrite into the margin, obscuring from view. A shame, it looks like Jupiter can't ever catch a break in love.

Fun fact. The Nibley Twins were getting ready to translate this volume when they were asked by their editor to put it on hold because Kodansha USA wanted every colour page translated ahead of time apparently due to approvals for colour pages taking longer with the printers. They still attempted a brief read through of volume two to ensure they had the proper context for the colour pages, but it sadly led to other projects they had lined up, "In/Spectre" volume four, being delayed and souring them slightly when it came time to translate volume two properly two months later.

Translation

With the release of volume two of the 2011 edition, Jennifer Skarupa took over as it's letterer with help from Steve Wood in volume three. As a result, the quality of the sound effects takes a giant leap forward as they are now attempting to mimic the original Japanese rather than use a standard font for all of them as they did in volume one. The eternal edition maintains it's previous letterer, Lys Blakeslee, and thus remains the more consistent of the two. It's interesting looking over the two artists different approaches to the sound effects and how they're drawn, at least it is to me. 

Sound Effects

This is just a quick note for any who may not have seen the comments section on my last comparison. You may remember, when I covered volume one, that I was confused by the lettering of the sound effects. Specifically the absence of the Japanese sound effects in various places throughout the manga. While the previous 2011 edition had consistently placed the translation next to the Japanese sound effects, the eternal edition would switch between doing likewise and erasing the sound effect entirely and putting the English equivalent in its place.

Well, now we may have an answer as Lys Blakeslee herself was kind enough to leave a comment offering an explanation of what happened. According to her, the text-free art files they were sent by Kodansha Japan were incomplete and arrived with those sound effects already erased suggesting perhaps they were added much later together with the dialogue. With those sound effects missing, she was left little choice, but to draw the English ones in their place. Hearing this, I wondered if perhaps either Kodansha or Naoko herself had wanted those particular sound effects erased so they could be redrawn for Japan's "kanzenban" release, but upon further inspection of said release, there doesn't appear to be any difference in appearance between the "kanzenban" and the previous 2003 "shinsoban" edition leaving us with a mystery.

Considering there are many more examples of inconsistent sound effects throughout volume two, it seems clear that this will the norm going forward. It doesn't bother me personally and I certainly don't blame anyone at Kodansha USA. They were simply working with what they had. I do realize that some might be put off by this, but maybe it's a blessing in disguise, considering how tightly packed some of the pictures and sound effects in several panels.

Terminology

Beryl's "black crystal" is now her "dark crystal", not that you couldn't tell that from the picture. A wise decision considering we'll be getting a black crystal in the next story arc, hopefully, a touch less malefic.

We know, thanks to Miss Dream's editorial, that the direct translation of the original Japanese is "Super Dimensional Space Emergence!", so in a literal sense, the eternal edition is more accurate. Interestingly, both translations opted to include the word "sphere" perhaps because most barriers or shields have been depicted as either spherical or semi-spherical thus far in the story.

Opinions may vary on whether this qualifies as terminology, but it's a phrase that's repeated enough times to make me want to include it in this section. Praise be to the moon either way!

Other Thoughts

Oh, Artemis! How I wish you weren't awkward again Artemis! I'd be very keen to find out whether Artemis was meant to sound this old fashioned in the original Japanese as two translations have him coming across in this scene as rather...frumpy though the eternal edition is still the smoother option.

The phrasing behind this line always seemed a bit off to me, but I could be alone in that regard. Usually, when a character has seen something, which I presume to mean a flashback, Naoko Takeuchi has provided the reader with a small thumbnail image to illustrate what they saw. Perhaps because it was only a brief flash of memory, she felt that was unnecessary this time or didn't wish to spoil anything. Still, considering Minako starts talking about remembering in the next panel then Mars saying "I thought I remembered something" might have flowed better. Nitpicker, I know.

An entire two books worth of plot ago, when Minako looked exactly as she does now. Insert "space is warped and time is bendable" joke here. Then again, this is a teenager we're talking about so for all we know a very long time ago is really last Tuesday. I don't think they ever put a time frame on how long Sailor V has been active. Long enough for her to become an urban legend.

I'm happy to identify this as a marked improvement, both when spoken by Minako and then later by Usagi. The phrasing of borrowed/true forms makes me think back to Cardcaptor Sakura. The 2011 translation wasn't incorrect to call it this, but "secret identity" is a lot more self-explanatory to a western audience and immediately identifiable to any who are familiar with heroes like Superman or Batman.

Let's just take a moment to appreciate these signs. Man, those are some nice signs. 

And look, the letterer has even taken the time to put the title of the book on the front cover. You know, the other place where you would expect the title to be. OK, moving on.

Just a quick note. I'm glad the Nibley twins are not opposed to switching the dialogue in the boxes for the sake of making the reading experience smoother. I firmly believe that the translator needs to do what will make the original material shine brightest.

The DIC dub once again rears it's nostalgic head here as the Nibley twins have confessed to being inspired by one of the songs produced for it, "My Only Love". A charming wonderfully nineties song that was only used for the reveal of the silver crystal making it a very fitting reference. Fan of the DIC dub that I am, I appreciate they're attention to detail and all the little references to a large part of my childhood. Given how much I love that song in particular, I probably would've just replaced the entire monologue from Princess Serenity at the beginning of chapter thirteen with its lyrics.

The silver crystal is "shining like the sun" in the 2011 translation whilst "shining like the full moon" in the eternal edition. A quick check of a few other translations seems to indicate the original Japanese is just saying that the silver crystal is just "shining brightly". Kodansha's two official translations just happened to both include similes that are direct opposites to one another yet still similar considering the moon is supposed to just be reflecting the suns light. As for my preference, I'm afraid I'm going to have to side with the latter. Don't get me wrong, in light of how many characters talk of being blinded by the crystal's radiance, I'd imagine it's shine was more comparable to the sun. However, given its association with the moon and at the same time, doubling as foreshadowing for what the satellite will do later in the volume, I have to reiterate that the eternal edition's choice makes more sense to me.

The Nibley twins have gone on record, both in ANNCast interview as well as their LiveJournal and said that this panel has given them the most trouble so far. I'll confess that when I read this panel, back in 2012, that I thought Jadeite and Zoisite were the ones speaking, believing they had briefly awoken and wondered where they were before becoming gems. Seven years of wisdom have granted me the understanding that neither their eyes or mouths are open and that it's obviously Kunzite remembering his past life and reason for his rebirth...isn't it?! Assuming that's the meaning of this statement, then I wonder if both variations of the line were a bit too literal and have included an alternative above...though the more I look at it, the more doubts I have.

This is where I'll briefly address another small pet-peeve I have with many modern manga translations. Namely, multiple characters use of the term "everyone/everybody", when addressing a group of people just like we all do in real life right? In all seriousness, I know it's just directly translating the Japanese word "minna" and not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things, but it's always irritated me so it's a welcome relief to see it changed to the more natural "girls" in the eternal edition.

Most of the time that is. Here I'll admit though, it comes across as more natural. I'll take what I can get.

There's a difference of opinion on who's talking in this panel. The 2011 translation thinks it must be Usagi whilst the eternal edition believes it to be Minako. Knowing very little Japanese myself and not having a copy of the Japanese edition to show to someone who does, this led to me to consult several scanlations, all of which agreed that Minako was the one speaking. This is further confirmed by the text slightly to the left of the word bubble, which both official translations agree is Minako.

A similar mistake would be made later with Luna and Artemis.

And then again, on the moon, where Luna gets mistaken for Usagi.

Many have already pointed out how awkward this was to read when this volume was released, in late 2011 so I won't spend too much time on it. Admittedly, I'm not too well versed on Japanese social conventions and how they may differ from the west (and Google has failed me on this one) so it probably isn't out of the ordinary for parents to refer to each other by the same titles as their children. Context is important, but that won't stop several readers from thinking Usagi's parents are into a specific fetish so I'm glad creative liberty was taken. 

Speaking of awkward or in this case, bad translations that miss the joke. Those long familiar with this series or Japanese culture know that the main heroine's name, Usagi Tsukino, literally means "rabbit of the moon" and in this volume, the character literally arrives on the moon and the dialogue takes advantage of it accordingly. Not so in the 2011 release. What was a once an author's cute jab at her own naming convention was reduced to face-palm worthy line that didn't make sense though thankfully restored in the eternal edition, though I have heard that later reprints of 2011 translation also fixed this error. Mr Flanagan seemed to think Makoto believed she found an actual bunny on the moon though perhaps he wouldn't have made that mistake had the bunny still been wearing the sailor uniform she was in the first edition of the story from back in 1992.

There seems to be a discrepancy of familial relationships here as Motoki asks Mamoru, sorry Endo, if he was sent by a different family member depending on which version you read. Judging by the fact that Motoki goes on to talk about his relationship to his dad, I think it fair to say that the eternal edition is the more correct one. Are the kanji for uncle and dad similar?

And what about queen and princess?

This mistake is arguably the biggest fix fans wanted in volume two of the 2011 translation, if not the entire series. It has been hotly debated by readers and even defended at times by William Flanagan himself. My attitude towards this point, in general, is "there, it's fixed. Let's move on". That being said, now I'm suddenly in the mood for a duel? It's constantly referred to later as an "empire of darkness" by various characters, which has a better ring to it then "shadow realm", amusing reference or not.

Believe it or not, this is where I'll actually give the 2011 translation some phrase. Since we've met her, Minako has been shown to be very hard on herself, constantly stating how they can't allow the past to repeat itself. Flanagan's 2011 translation has her phrasing the information as if they're to blame for Metalia's reemergence, which while overly harsh, falls more in line with her character in my humblest opinion. I also appreciate this version including the information about Usagi and Mamoru being engulfed due to the Silver Crystal's sudden growth though this is more of a nitpick than anything. The eternal edition doesn't diminish the story by phrasing it differently and for all I know, that might be how it was meant to come across.

I'm only really mentioning this line due to the amount of uproar it caused when the volume first came out in 2011 and how it probably continue to live on in infamy. While both Mr Flanagan and the Nibley twins looked at the picture of Usagi sticking her tongue and came away thinking she should be saying something immature, in my humblest opinion: one comes across as too childish, whilst the other feels too harsh. Princess Serenity is undoubtedly irritated with Venus evidenced by her use of her guardian's name along with the word "nanka" in the original Japanese, commonly used to emphasize a word in a negative or cynical tone (thanks SailorHell). That's not the same as outright insulting someone. Leaving Venus's name by itself might have gotten the point across, but I've included other options anyway.

The magnificent power of the Nibley twins! Oh, how it overflows filling the eternal edition with smooth English. Truth be told, almost every line has been edited to read better allowing the reader to immerse themselves more fully. Going over every change would mean scanning in every page and I want to leave at least a few surprises.

Now here's something I didn't know and major kudos to the Alethea and Athena Nibley for pointing this out. Serenity is based on Selene, goddess of the moon in Greek mythology whilst Luna is her counterpart from the Roman pantheon. With that in mind, the line about Serenity and Luna being one becomes even more significant. See what ya did there. I imagine my readers were smart enough to realize this years ago, but I'm still exuberant about discovering a fact I didn't know about this twenty-five-year-old franchise and I hope I will discover much more going forward. I hope you all will join me too.

But for now, That's it for this volume. I'll leave off by once again apologizing for taking so long with this comparison. One of the main reasons I took so long to write this was that I didn't want to be repeating a variation on the line "this is better in the new translation" and at times felt like there was nothing else I could say. Volume two of the 2011 translation was where a lot of people began to have serious doubts about subsequent volumes of this release after having largely given them the benefit of the doubt with volume one. A few word choices aside, there really is no contest, the eternal edition is the one you should be spending your money on despite the higher price point. Honorifics aside, this translation values readability above all else and is better for it. Nothing is giving you the runaround, mistranslated or trying to waste your time.

Join me next time, for new enemies. And I get to yell: "It's your kid, Usagi! Something's gotta be done about your kid!"