%0 Journal Article %1 2016 %A de la Iglesia, Martin %D 2016 %I Open Library of Humanities %J The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship %K colouring comics flipping geography manga myown reception translation %N 1 %R 10.16995/cg.59 %T The Task of Manga Translation: Akira in the West %U http://dx.doi.org/10.16995/cg.59 %V 6 %X 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.

@article{2016, 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.}, added-at = {2016-01-21T17:17:16.000+0100}, author = {de la Iglesia, Martin}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2aa8406684b7122d82c52b584c6cd680a/iglesia}, doi = {10.16995/cg.59}, interhash = {4c32aab89c0d6ac9a52f9ffa5bb8b28c}, intrahash = {aa8406684b7122d82c52b584c6cd680a}, journal = {The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship}, keywords = {colouring comics flipping geography manga myown reception translation}, month = jan, number = 1, publisher = {Open Library of Humanities}, timestamp = {2016-01-21T18:46:49.000+0100}, title = {The Task of Manga Translation: Akira in the West}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.16995/cg.59}, volume = 6, year = 2016 }