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So what's the big deal about which direction manga is printed?

Orange Soda

Orange Soda

New Member
I've been thinking about it for a while, and I don't get it.

Yeah, I know it's right to left in Japan. What I don't get is why they're printing it right to left here. I know they say something or other about authenticity, but to me it comes off as saying "We're too lazy to mirror the image."

Then again, I suppose the only reason it irks me is because Tokyopop uses this stamp that says "100% Authentic Manga", which is a misnomer, because if it were as authentic as it claims to be, you'd be reading it in Japanese.
 
well, when they don't flip the pictures, it'll tend to look better.. cause you can't see where the artists messed up.. (i.e. "one eye slightly bigger than the other syndrome")
personally, i like to read it from right to left.. i think it's cool
 
The only reason I can think of is because they are trying to keep the traditional look of manga "around the world"

On the other hand, it is kind of funny when you see people read it left to right. They get all confused and then they realize what they did wrong :lol:
 
I really like reading it right-to-left. It's fun, and it looks better, IMO. It's annoying to see someone in a 'flipped' manga having something on one side or in one direction when you know it's supposed to be the other way(the Inuyasha manga comes to mind - stuff like Miroku's wind tunnel and the moon on Sesshomaru's forehead). Sometimes I find that after reading right-to-left manga for a long time, when I go to open a left-to-right book, I try to turn the pages the wrong way. That's fun too. :D :lol:
 
I really don't mind if the book is written right to left or left to right. Either way I'm reading the same manga. There is no transition. If it's written one way I don't accidentally read it the other. It's just manga.
 
Sometimes they flip the images and it makes things look wrong, like a kimono. Usually kimonos are folded one way for funerals, and folded the other way for every day life, like in the comics, so when the image gets flipped, it's like everyone is a zombie!!!!!!!!!
 
I never notice there's a difference b/w right-to-left and left-to-right books until someone told me. I grew up in a place where some books are right-to left and some are left-to-right, so I didn't realize that there are books with different reading direction. I feel equally comfortable reading in either way.
 
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It's just totally wrong and respectless to mirror the pictures, it's an artist's work. And do you know how silly it looks for anyone who knows a bit Japanese to see mirrored Japanese characters on t-shirts, signs etc in manga?

It has also happened that manga artists have seen American mirror version of their work after release and got shocked of how some pictures just looked totally wrong when mirrored. That the new angle made the character look so different from what they intended.
 
The main reason I found on the inside of the Yu-Gi-oh volume(at the back cover, which would be our front cover);

"In keeping with the original Japanese format, Yu-gi-oh is meant to be read from right to left, starting in the upper right-hand corner. Unlike English, which is read from left to right, Japanese is read from right to left, meaning that action, sound effects, and word-balloon order are completely reversed...something which can make readers unfamiliar with Japanese feel pretty backwards themselves. For this reason, manga or Japanese comics published in the U.S. in English have sometimes been published 'flopped'--hat is, printed in exact reverse order, as though seen from the other side of a mirror. By flopping pages, U.S. publishers can avoid confusing readers, but the compromise is not without its downside. For one thing, a character in a flopped manga series who once wore in the original Japanese version a T-shirt emblazoned with 'M A Y'(as in "the merry month of") now wears one which reads 'Y A M'! Additionally, many manga creators in Japan are themselves unhappy with the process, as some feel the mirror-imaging of their art reveals otherwise unnotieable flaws or skews in perspective."

So there's my two cents. Makes sense to me that people want to keep it in the original format.
 
I perfur the Manga sytle(right-to-left) but have no problems with left-to-right. I just get disapoited when they change them:(
 
Don't forget the editing of all the sound effect words and such, redrawing all those is a pain which artists here have to do, and or replacing with english ones (which I can't stand but anyhow). I noticed some english friends also have problems due to the vertical reading aspect of flipped or non-flipped manga, like boxes that are tiled so you read down then right is further confusing when flipped and such, eh, the whole area is messed up. I take it artists here lack initiative to draw their own good pkmn stuff so RIP I suppose...
 
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