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de la Iglesia, Martin. "The Task of Manga Translation: Akira in the West." The Comics Grid 6.1 2016. Accessed 23 Jan. 2016. <http://www.comicsgrid.com/articles/10.16995/cg.59/>. 
Added by: joachim (23/01/2016, 11:41)   Last edited by: joachim (23/01/2016, 14:20)
Resource type: Web Article
Language: en: English
DOI: 10.16995/cg.59
BibTeX citation key: delaIglesia2016
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Categories: General
Keywords: "Akira", Color, Japan, Manga, Materiality, Ōtomo. Katsuhiro, Reception, Translation
Creators: de la Iglesia
Collection: The Comics Grid
Views: 19/791
Attachments   URLs   http://www.comicsg ... es/10.16995/cg.59/
Abstract
Translated editions of Katsuhiro Ōtomo’s manga Akira played an important role in the popularisation of manga in the Western world. Published in Japan between 1982 and 1990, editions in European languages followed as soon as the late 1980s. In the first US edition (Epic 1988–1995) the originally black and white manga was printed in colour and published in 38 issues, which were designed not unlike typical American comic books. The first German edition (Carlsen 1991–1996) marked the beginning of Carlsen’s manga publishing efforts. It was based on the English-language edition and also printed in colour, and combined two American issues in one.
This article analyses the materiality of these two translated editions with a focus on three main issues – the mirroring (or ‘flipping’) which changes the reading direction from right-to-left into left-to-right, the colouring of the originally black and white artwork, and the translation of different kinds of script (sound effects, speech bubble text, and inscriptions or labels) – before concluding with a brief examination of their critical reception.
  
Notes
This article is based on a paper presented at the conference ‘Übersetzungen und Adaptionen von Comics / The Translation and Adaptation of Comics’, Hildesheim, 31 October – 2 November 2015. An earlier version was published in German as de la Iglesia, M 2015 ‘Akira im Westen’, N. Mälzer, ed. Comics. Übersetzungen und Adaptionen. Berlin: Frank & Timme. pp. 355–373.
  
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