Viz Media, a popular manga publisher, announced today on Twitter that they will be publishing “Transformers: The Manga Volume 1” in the winter this year. This book is a collection of comic strips that originally appeared in Japanese Magazines, and it was previously available only in Japan through Hero X Comics by Million Publishing. This will be the first time this collection of manga is made available outside of Japan, a golden opportunity to checkout additional Generation 1 lore. Details on translation, price, and exact release date have not been announced yet, but we will bring you updates as it becomes available. Will you be adding this to your comic books collections? Let us know on the boards after jump.
Jalaguy
Three volumes is it, yes – they cover all the manga released during the original run of G1 in Japan.
There's other, later Transformers manga, of course, but this series was specifically translating a recent Japanese book that reprinted just these manga (it was split into three for Viz's Western release). Maybe if Japan gets its own new collections of later manga, Viz will translate those too, but this is it for now.
batfan007
Anyone know if the three volumes are it for this magazine reprint/translation?
As in there is nothing more?
Digger
Eh, sure. Just putting out my thoughts.
batfan007
If it helps, BOTH versions of the name are silly and equally meaningless in english.
Digger
Still though, they’re preserving by having the characters names pronounced as they would be in Japanese. That’s what’s weirder to me. They’re not even localising it fully. That was also extremely in the moment lol. I’ve put that long past me by now, that is the changing of Cybertrons to Autobots and etc. But Raster staying as Raster and not Laster? That’s pretty lazy, and goes directly against localising the text.
HolyCulture
Yeah localization is actually quite important. The absolute very best localization I’ve ever encountered was the Steins: Gate series for PS Vita. That was the first time I had considered just how important it is to ‘localize’ the work for a difference audience.
BlackHawkOmega
It's called "localization". Just doing a 1:1 translation doesn't always work; sometimes they have to change stuff for it to make sense for a western audience.
The argument of "preservation" or that it's "not respecting the work" is such B.S.
batfan007
That bonus gallery is really my main reason for getting these volumes. So lovely to have those promotional images in a tidy volume on good thick paper stock.
Man, I can't stand any of those old flipped Manga's. Really ruins the art the story sequence doesn't flow right. I'm glad that modern manga read properly.
Omegax80
Delivery scheduled for my birthday from Amazon… Hope it sticks.
Digger
We could’ve memed that at least haha.
DaveWire
Could’ve been worse. They could’ve named him “Rasta”. All hail the Pot Bot.
Q Prime
And they called him Deszaras!
O.Supreme
No Operation Combination?
blastoff2334
I loved both books. Really made all the loose connections for me in g1 make sense. Like where the whole scramble corps came from and stuff. Hoping I will find this at Barnes and noble idk, really excited
Digger
They really did did Laster as Raster and still thought to change the faction names to their western variants?
That’s a pretty petty thing don’t get me wrong but man, I care about preservation of the craft in that sorta way. Idk, just something I needed to get off my chest.
GAUGE
Perspective is all kinds of messed up on Megatron on the cover. eeeesh! As an artist myself, makes me cringe a little that that wasn't caught by the editor before finalizing the art and publishing. oh well…
Grand Slam
For those that have a Kobo eReader or app, code ZJ55VV takes 25% off the already reduced price of these, bringing each volume to $9.82.
betsuni
Didn't know Viz had their own digital side as well. So I looked it up in their FAQ and found this:
Where can my digital purchases be viewed?
Any purchases made through your VIZ account will be available to view in your VIZ.com library, as well as on the VIZ app for Android and iOS. Any purchases made on Google Play, Kindle, and iBooks are able to be viewed on their respective devices. Mature content can be bought and viewed only through Kindle, Google Play, and iBooks.
Grand Slam
Has anyone bought the digital version directly from Viz: VIZ: Read a Free Preview of Transformers: The Manga, Vol. 1? If so, what format is it in?
Related, the Nook versions of Volumes 1 and 2 are 35% off: Transformers: The Manga, Vol. 1|NOOK Book.
Fc203
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