Manga Manga Magazines

[Xander Harris]

Is Shonen Jump available in English? Or can only Japanese people read it?

And in order to generate more discussion: let's talk about the origins of this and other manga periodicals in Japan, as well as which ones are currently the most popular and what they contain.

[Dagger]

Shonen Jump is available in English, but it's not identical to the Japanese version. Moreover, some series have been edited, presumably in order to keep the magazine's rating down. Thanks to the censorship (plus the fact that few of the American SJ manga hold any particular interest for me), I'm not a subscriber.

However, I'm really interested in Shojo Beat, Viz's upcoming shoujo magazine. Not only will it have a higher rating than Shonen Jump--and hopefully that will preclude any possible cuts--but they've also taken the trouble to license an absolutely fantastic selection of manga to be featured in the first few issues, including works by Kaori Yuki (!!) and Yuu Watase. So it looks as they though they know what they're doing this time around.

~Dagger~

[Xander Harris]

Hmm. Interesting. Does the American Shonen Jump have Naruto in it?

Shojo beat sounds somewhat interesting... at least as a way to sample a variety of stories in that genre... do you have any idea where one will be able to buy it and what the pricing will be like?

[Kei]

[color=darkblue]Yes, the American Shonen Jump does currently have Naruto as a main feature. However, I'm not exactly certain as to where they are in the series, as I've not had the chance to read one in quite some time.

Shoujo Beat will more than likely be available in bookstores and on newsstands as it's boy-oriented counterpart is, but I think it may cost a dollar more per issue than SJ (Shonen Jump is currently selling for $4.95 USD and $29.95 USD for a one-year subscription).

As far as popular manga magazines go, the ones in America are currently Shonen Jump and Animerica Extra, SJ mainly for Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duelist Kingdom and Naruto and AE for Fushigi Yuugi: The Mysterious Play. I haven't actually read an issue of Animerica Extra, but for a while, I kept up on Shonen Jump. I've lost touch with it recently though, just opting to buy the volumes of the series I prefer as they're released.

Shonen Sunday, Kodansha, and a few others whose names escape me at the moment are still among the top favorites in Japan, featuring the most popular shounen and shoujo manga (respectively, mind) today. I haven't asked any of my Japanese friends here on campus or when I talk to them online what's the current rage over there (besides Bleach and Death Note, obviously), but I'll ask soon. ^^[/color]

[Japan]

[quote name='Lady Katana][color=darkblue']Yes, the American Shonen Jump does currently have Naruto as a main feature. However, I'm not exactly certain as to where they are in the series, as I've not had the chance to read one in quite some time.[/color][/quote]

[COLOR=Navy]They are to the point where Gaara first comes into the story.

I like Shonen Jump mainly for Shamen King, Naruto, and Hikaru No Go.


I typically prefer manga to anime anyways...

Other than that, I don't ever read any other manga magazines, though there are some manga also in the NewType mag.[/COLOR]

[Guest keiichi-k]

[QUOTE=Lady Katana][color=darkblue]Yes, the American Shonen Jump does currently have Naruto as a main feature. However, I'm not exactly certain as to where they are in the series, as I've not had the chance to read one in quite some time.

As far as popular manga magazines go, the ones in America are currently Shonen Jump and Animerica Extra, SJ mainly for Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duelist Kingdom and Naruto and AE for Fushigi Yuugi: The Mysterious Play. I haven't actually read an issue of Animerica Extra, but for a while, I kept up on Shonen Jump. I've lost touch with it recently though, just opting to buy the volumes of the series I prefer as they're released.
^^[/color][/QUOTE]

FYI Animerica Extra finished publication as of Dec/04.
Sad :animecry: for it was a favorite of mine. Had to continue stories via the Manga

[DeathBug]

I haven't noticed much editing in the SJ manga, mostly because they've obviously selected manga that correspond to the teen age-group. Let's see...there's death, violence, profanity, drug/alcohol use and sexual scenes; where's the editing?

No, really, I'm curious.

Anyway, if you're interested in Naruto alone, just buy the graphic novels. I subscribe to SJ, and buy the novels of my favorite manga in there. (Hikaru No Go, Naruto, Shaman King, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Bleach).

[Kei]

[QUOTE=keiichi-k]FYI Animerica Extra finished publication as of Dec/04.
Sad :animecry: for it was a favorite of mine. Had to continue stories via the Manga[/QUOTE]

[color=darkblue]Well, I suppose that shows how up to date I am with manga magazine publications in the US, heh.

I actually have no idea about it, having not read the original Japanese versions of the manga that SJ features, but it does seem like they do keep in a lot of things that would normally be shredded to death by American censorship. As DeathBug said, plenty of all the things that keeps the FCC alive and well are floating around in there, but I suppose they can't take out too much, or it wouldn't make sense in some areas, heh.[/color]

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=DeathBug]I haven't noticed much editing in the SJ manga, mostly because they've obviously selected manga that correspond to the teen age-group. Let's see...there's death, violence, profanity, drug/alcohol use and sexual scenes; where's the editing?

No, really, I'm curious.

Anyway, if you're interested in Naruto alone, just buy the graphic novels. I subscribe to SJ, and buy the novels of my favorite manga in there. (Hikaru No Go, Naruto, Shaman King, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Bleach).[/QUOTE]
I can't provide you with a comprehensive list or anything, heh. But going just from memory, several card names were changed in Yu-Gi-Oh. Crawford's name was also changed to match the 4Kids dub. Similarly, more than a few of the attack names in Naruto were altered (often in bizarre and nonsensical ways). Some rather crude humor involving testicles and the like was cut out of Shaman King. In Hikaru no Go, cigarettes were changed to gum. If I recall correctly, there were some nudity edits in the early volumes of Dragon Ball. I've also heard talk about both blatantly and subtly changed dialogue, but I don't know which specific series this corresponds to.

~Dagger~

[DeathBug]

Well, I can't comment on everything, but:

Card names in Yu-Gi-Oh! aren't totally in Viz's control, because Konami/Upperdeck also have rights to them, and don't want their products "misrepresented", or whatever. Usually, what happens is that the card will be introduced by its trading card name, and then referred by its manga name for the rest of the book. It's not really Viz's fault.

Similarly, there is a "Maximillion Pegasus Starter Deck", so they probably couldn't change his name either.

And, from what I can tell, the humor in Shaman King is still there, or at least hasn't been blatently changed. ("They clanged Ryu's bells!)

Hikaru No Go did have Tetsuo smoking a cigarette, and putting it out on a Go board.

And I can't comment on the rest...

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=DeathBug]Well, I can't comment on everything, but:

Card names in Yu-Gi-Oh! aren't totally in Viz's control, because Konami/Upperdeck also have rights to them, and don't want their products "misrepresented", or whatever. Usually, what happens is that the card will be introduced by its trading card name, and then referred by its manga name for the rest of the book. It's not really Viz's fault.

Similarly, there is a "Maximillion Pegasus Starter Deck", so they probably couldn't change his name either.

And, from what I can tell, the humor in Shaman King is still there, or at least hasn't been blatently changed. ("They clanged Ryu's bells!)

Hikaru No Go did have Tetsuo smoking a cigarette, and putting it out on a Go board.

And I can't comment on the rest...[/QUOTE]
Name changes are name changes, regardless of the entity behind them, and it's not something I particularly want to support. Similarly, ADV can't be blamed for the horrible audio & video quality (plus next episode preview re-arrangements, plus changed attack names and other improper proper nouns, plus missing variant openings, plus an omitted episode) in their uncut Sailor Moon sets, but people who are really put off by that kind of stuff won't buy it regardless of the source of the problem(s).

Anyway, a very specific sequence was removed from Shaman King, not just that kind of comedy in general. It wasn't exactly priceless humor or anything, but if I recall correctly at least several entire pages ended up being cut (from Jump).

Oh, I see where I went wrong about HikaGo. After reading up on it a bit more, I realized my memory was a little faulty--the SJ version was more or less untouched, but that character's cigarette was removed from the graphic novels. I mixed up some things in my original post; in the end it's not so much the magazine's rating they're trying to keep down, but rather the ratings of the individual manga that are serialized within it.

Which doesn't have much of an effect on my original complaint--while one can keep manga magazines, they aren't exactly intended for archival purposes. Thus far more than a few SJ series have been edited either in the magazine (a la Shaman King & everything with attack/name changes) or in the graphic novels. If I liked a serialized manga enough, I'd naturally plan to go out and buy it in tankouban form. So edits in either version are bad.

~Dagger~