How is the official English translation?

Opftw said:
Honestly, it's bad, and nowhere near as funny as the online version. I bought all available volumes and found myself rather disappointed, especially since how it was translated detracted from the Yoshida/Satou relationship.

Examples: Every forth wall joke is removed. Satou tells Yoshida he loves him in the first volume (the unofficial translation uses the word 'like' until volume four, I think, which is much more believable). There are actual spelling errors; is supposed to be professional! It's heavily Americanized, with none of the helpful translation notes so you can actually learn about Japanese culture. Etc. Mostly it's the humor that's ruined.

I would recommend buying volumes 5 and 6, since they're not fully translated online, but not wasting money on the others.

Opftw said:
Honestly, it's bad, and nowhere near as funny as the online version. I bought all available volumes and found myself rather disappointed, especially since how it was translated detracted from the Yoshida/Satou relationship.

Examples: Every forth wall joke is removed. Satou tells Yoshida he loves him in the first volume (the unofficial translation uses the word 'like' until volume four, I think, which is much more believable). There are actual spelling errors; is supposed to be professional! It's heavily Americanized, with none of the helpful translation notes so you can actually learn about Japanese culture. Etc. Mostly it's the humor that's ruined.

Noiresse said:


Can you give an example of a "fourth wall joke" that was removed? Honestly, I think you're overreacting. I just read some 40 pages from the second volume book and compared them, page by page, to the online scanlation. First of all, the scanlation isn't any less Americanized than the official translation, aside from the fact that the official one removed the honorifics.

Secondly, the professional translation is exactly that - professional. I found no spelling errors there, but I did find some in the scanlation. It's true that some lines are translated quite differently, but unless you can read Japanese and have read the original text, you cannot possibly tell which of these two translations is more accurate.

Besides, the choice of wording is much better in the official translation. Unlike the scanlation which is often awkward and unclear. You have to understand that you cannot translate things literally due to various factors. Editors have to adapt the text to make it more understandable, especially with a language such as Japanese.

SleepyBear said:
So I ordered volumes 5-7 and they came in the mail today, read them all and I'm very happy with the English translation! Not that I can compare it to the original Japanese but I liked it a lot. I'll order volumes 1-4 when I have a bit more money to spare.