Megathread IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog - Megathread

[DryLagoon]

1 hour ago, PublicEnemy1 said:

I thought it was discussed here earlier, and that one of the previews showed English text, and the only Japanese part is said back cover and spine.

That was during the Sonic Station stream, they specifically said it was a prototype version and that the actual release would be all Japanese. It wouldn't make much sense to promote it a ton if it was still in English.

[PublicEnemy1]

Ahh, I see. Glad to see the Japanese finally get the comic and already being successful!

[VO.SUPER]

SEGA tweeted this. It looks like the comic has it's own Sonic Channel page. That's a nice change of pace when it comes to promoting.

 

[Starry Skydancer]

Ok kind of old news, but so many cute smiles on this cover, Shadow caught me a little off-gaurd how warm his expression looks. "When he smiles." no?

[Polkadi~☆]

11 hours ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

Those were bits of speculation from when the release was first revealed because they were seemingly using a prototype volume.

From the one page I've seen, it is translated. Though the font certainly doesn't look high quality if you ask me.

 

It’s still the same standard font that other comics/manga use. What I’m more surprised by is seeing the sound effects untranslated, even though those are digitally added in so they can be swapped around for any language.

 

Oh, and if you’re curious, the translation doesn’t differ much from English. The only notable thing is that Tangle uses a feminine form to refer to herself (あたし/Atashi is the feminine form of "I / Me"), as that’s expected of the language, but nothing different.

Tangle: Welcome to my town! Sorry about the mess. There’s a little robot trouble.

Sonic: Trouble? Where?

Tangle: Haha! Such a gentleman. Nice! You’re used to this! Do you do this often?

Sonic: Oh, sometimes. Sonic the Hedgehog.

Tangle: Oh! Not a celebrity(?) (Couldn’t translate) Tangle the Lemur.

Sonic: Honoured to meet you.

Tangle: Likewise!

[KoDaiko]

40 minutes ago, Polkadi~☆ said:

Tangle: Oh! Not a celebrity(?) (Couldn’t translate) Tangle the Lemur.

"Xじゃない" can mean "not X" but also "isn't that X" So Tangle is saying "Oh! Hey you're a celebrity! It's Tangle the Lemur."

40 minutes ago, Polkadi~☆ said:

The only notable thing is that Tangle uses a feminine form to refer to herself (あたし/Atashi is the feminine form of "I / Me"), as that’s expected of the language, but nothing different.

I was expecting her to either be あたし/atashi or あたい/atai, so I am pretty happy about this. I wasn't expecting her to use modern slangs (トラブる/toraburu instead of トラブルになる/toraburu ni naru) but that's a pretty fitting trait for her. One tiny personal complaint is I was imagining her speech to be always gender neutral (so no "-よ/yo" or "-わ/wa" at the end).

[Polkadi~☆]

5 minutes ago, KoDaiko said:

"Xじゃない" can mean "not X" but also "isn't that X" So Tangle is saying "Oh! Hey you're a celebrity! It's Tangle the Lemur."

The thing is that the first kanji looks too off to be "celebrity". But at the same time, the kanji that it looks like it could be instead, is a kanji that doesn't exist. I was thrown off by the line as a result. It probably is "有名人", as it fits the context (and it's probably a simplified writing of the kanji), and I was simply reading too much into it.

I'm also not well versed in slang, but I have a vague understanding, so thanks for the correction on "じゃない".

5 minutes ago, KoDaiko said:

I was expecting her to either be あたし/atashi or あたい/atai, so I am pretty happy about this. I wasn't expecting her to use modern slangs (トラブる/toraburu instead of トラブルになる/toraburu ni naru) but that's a pretty fitting trait for her. One tiny personal complaint is I was imagining her speech to be always gender neutral (so no "-よ/yo" or "-わ/wa" at the end).

For what it is, it works. She speaks in casual form, as most Sonic characters do, and has a very playful voice to her which stays faithful to her character.

I look forward to picking this up to use as study material (and just for funsies). Unfortunately, as previously stated, it's sold out everywhere right now. My bookstore is sold out of stock too, and it's also crazy expensive there ($60 AUD?! That's double the English price!)

[DryLagoon]

22 minutes ago, Polkadi~☆ said:

Unfortunately, as previously stated, it's sold out everywhere right now. My bookstore is sold out of stock too, and it's also crazy expensive there ($60 AUD?! That's double the English price!)

The Japan one seems to be doing volume collections instead of monthly so that's part of why. I'm not sure of the US price for collections, but the Japan one tends to be higher. Some stuff on the Japan Nintendo eshop goes for over $80.

[Polkadi~☆]

Just now, DryLagoon said:

The Japan one seems to be doing volume collections instead of monthly so that's part of why. I'm not sure of the US price for collections, but the Japan one tends to be higher. Some stuff on the Japan Nintendo eshop goes for over $80.

I know that. If monthly issues were $30, the comic would sink here. I was comparing to the price of the English volumes.

It's almost funny, in a way. For manga, it costs more to get an English translation than to get the original Japanese volume (not that much more, mind you, but it's cheaper). For this, it costs more to get the Japanese translation than it does to get it in the original English.

[VO.SUPER]

It's amazing how much they can say with just a few of those characters. I'd love to hear from a translator about what the difficulties of translating from English to Japanese are.

[KoDaiko]

52 minutes ago, Polkadi~☆ said:

The thing is that the first kanji looks too off to be "celebrity". But at the same time, the kanji that it looks like it could be instead, is a kanji that doesn't exist. I was thrown off by the line as a result. It probably is "有名人", as it fits the context (and it's probably a simplified writing of the kanji), and I was simply reading too much into it.

I'm also not well versed in slang, but I have a vague understanding, so thanks for the correction on "じゃない".

For what it is, it works. She speaks in casual form, as most Sonic characters do, and has a very playful voice to her which stays faithful to her character.

I look forward to picking this up to use as study material (and just for funsies). Unfortunately, as previously stated, it's sold out everywhere right now. My bookstore is sold out of stock too, and it's also crazy expensive there ($60 AUD?! That's double the English price!)

Correct, the kanji is def. 有名人. I can read it just fine, but the image/text gets a little pixelated/blurred on screen (you can see it with the other complex kanjis above it) so perhaps that's why it looks simplified? 

For the じゃない thing, it's not a slang but the way you say. Basically "You're a celebrity?" vs "You're a celebrity?" vs "You're a celebrity!" vs "You're a celebrity." and so on. Perhaps if she said "おっ、有名人じゃん。" it would've been much clear.

39 minutes ago, Polkadi~☆ said:

I know that. If monthly issues were $30, the comic would sink here. I was comparing to the price of the English volumes.

It's almost funny, in a way. For manga, it costs more to get an English translation than to get the original Japanese volume (not that much more, mind you, but it's cheaper). For this, it costs more to get the Japanese translation than it does to get it in the original English.

Oh yeah, iirc manga volumes were around $3-4 in Japan, but like $7-9 in the US?

[VO.SUPER]

1 hour ago, KoDaiko said:

Oh yeah, iirc manga volumes were around $3-4 in Japan, but like $7-9 in the US?

WHOA NELLY! First time I've heard they're that cheap over there. I guess that's why their volumes look so small compared to ours.

 

[Polkadi~☆]

19 minutes ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

WHOA NELLY! First time I've heard they're that cheap over there. I guess that's why their volumes look so small compared to ours.

It's hard to explain why they're that cheap, because the size of the books don't change anything. Any kid in Japan can buy a manga volume on a small allowance, but us English speakers have to turn it into a hobby to keep up.

I assume it's something to do with publishers factoring the licensing fees of the books into the cost, and probably works vice versa for IDW Sonic here.

...but that doesn't explain why French translations of a manga are nearly the same price as the original books >:U

[KoDaiko]

37 minutes ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

WHOA NELLY! First time I've heard they're that cheap over there. I guess that's why their volumes look so small compared to ours.

Wait after I posted this I was worried and went to my bookshelf to check. I was pretty off, sorry.  

I only checked those that caught my eye but of those that I own, the cheaper ones were the 5"x7"-ish ones with ~180 pages (estimate, not all have page numbers), cost varying between 390yen to 620yen/$3.50ish to $6ish. The most expensive was a 6"x8" one (reprint of a collection of volumes, include two colored pages) thats 300 pages and its 1500yen/$14ish. 

So the correct average should be like $4-5?

1 hour ago, Polkadi~☆ said:

It's hard to explain why they're that cheap, because the size of the books don't change anything. Any kid in Japan can buy a manga volume on a small allowance, but us English speakers have to turn it into a hobby to keep up.

I assume it's something to do with publishers factoring the licensing fees of the books into the cost, and probably works vice versa for IDW Sonic here.

...but that doesn't explain why French translations of a manga are nearly the same price as the original books >:U

Size, paper quality, ink limitation, and number of sales I guess? I heard kids magazine try to make the cost low so more kids can buy it. 

Maybe having one author (with assistants) instead of a bunch of different creators lower costs too. That or they're underpaid with terrible schedules. Seriously, publishing a chapter every week sounds like a nightmare.

[SBR2]

19 hours ago, Polkadi~☆ said:

It’s still the same standard font that other comics/manga use. What I’m more surprised by is seeing the sound effects untranslated, even though those are digitally added in so they can be swapped around for any language.

 

Oh, and if you’re curious, the translation doesn’t differ much from English. The only notable thing is that Tangle uses a feminine form to refer to herself (あたし/Atashi is the feminine form of "I / Me"), as that’s expected of the language, but nothing different.

Tangle: Welcome to my town! Sorry about the mess. There’s a little robot trouble.

Sonic: Trouble? Where?

Tangle: Haha! Such a gentleman. Nice! You’re used to this! Do you do this often?

Sonic: Oh, sometimes. Sonic the Hedgehog.

Tangle: Oh! Not a celebrity(?) (Couldn’t translate) Tangle the Lemur.

Sonic: Honoured to meet you.

Tangle: Likewise!

Can't say I'm too surprised. I think the only major changes would be English puns that don't translate to Japanese very well same as what happens here with translations. 

[VO.SUPER]

We have what are hopefully new dates for the upcoming issues.

We have ourselves a small update going on, though dates are subject to change. *sigh*

[Marco9966]

Flynn says he's happy to work with Evan Stanley and says she's cool and chill to work with, and that he gets to build off of somebody else when he writes again.

[PC the Hedgehog]

Can't say I'm not disappointed that IDW is going to be putting out the comics monthly after such a long delay. I was really hoping--and honestly kind of expecting--that they'd give us weekly releases to catch up to the normal schedule. Oh well. I'm sure there's behind-the-scenes crap I'm not privy to.

[Your Vest Friend]

I would have thought the fact literally everything was put on hold would make weekly releases a stretch, because that would apply to way more than just Sonic.

[VO.SUPER]

I imagine that the print shops will be very busy for the next few months, that switching to weekly is just unfeasible.

[Big Panda]

I reckon it’s more to do with the fact the comic is likely no further into production than it was when the lockdown started.

[Zulon Eredas]

Comic Shop's reopened where I live, finally was able to get issue 27. 

[Big Panda]

On 5/11/2020 at 7:41 PM, PC the Hedgehog said:

Can't say I'm not disappointed that IDW is going to be putting out the comics monthly after such a long delay. I was really hoping--and honestly kind of expecting--that they'd give us weekly releases to catch up to the normal schedule. Oh well. I'm sure there's behind-the-scenes crap I'm not privy to.

Having looked at the release dates more closely: issues 29 and 30 are coming out two weeks apart, for what that’s worth.

[DabigRG]

It occurs to me that the stronger and possibly intended parallel of Shadow with Mr. Tinker is not SA2, but rather his subsequent appearances.

It also just occurred to me that Metal jogging Eggman's memory is comparable to his gradual "recovery" after Uncle Chuck called him by his name.

[shdowhunt60]

You know, I'm curious with the release of the IDW comic in Japan, how the Japanese fanbase is receiving it. I always get the impression that that they seem to have different preferences as opposed to those of us in the West.