To flip... or not to flip...

[strobe_z]

I'm curious, do people prefer 'flipped' or 'un-flipped' manga in general?

For me personally, I find it a bit... "fanboyish" to demand manga remain 'pristine and untouched' in the panel order that god (and the author) intended it. Now I understand the argument, but the reality is that English flows naturally from left to right and I find unflipped manga slightly disruptive in English (and French! although strangely enough though, it doesn't bother me at all in Korean).

Is keeping translated manga unflipped just the result of a linguistic nferirority complex? An attempt to become more Japaneasy? Or just an easy out for lazy publishers?

Is flipping manga the work of the devil? a slap in the face to the author? Or just the latest in the long line of bastardizations inflicted upon all that is bright and pure about manga/anime?

Since I'm pretty sure he didn't even live long enough to actually think an opinion would be necessary - what would Tezuka have thought?

Tune in next week when we discuss the topic of Sound Effects... touch up artwork or not?

[cmoon]

You should add an indifferent choice. I read through all of Lone wolf and cub flipped and it didn't bother me. Same for Tezuka (although I 'read' Leo flipped.) I feel like it doesn't matter so much as others make it out to.

On the other hand, I've read plenty of flipped manga too, and while it is a little weird at first, it is also just fine.

[strobe_z]

Well, I didn't leave a middle of the road option because I wanted people to make a choice one way or the other. I'm not an extremist either way... I've just finished reading Maison Ikkoku (again!) unflipped.. and enjoy it as much as reading Ranma 1/2 flipped...

[cmoon]

OK. That said, I voted for flipped because I've found it doesn't really make a difference (I'm sure the artists who drew them strongly disagree.)

[mippa]

I should ask Kei-kun how flipping the manga for English readers effects the manga as a whole...from a Japanese perspective, Kei argues changing the text itself (from Japanese to any other non-ideogramic font) takes away an entire dimension of the story.

Personally, until starting to read Japanese, I see nothing wrong and prefer when manga distributors in America flip things. What do they accomplish by keeping it in right-to-left? I feel it is somewhat like the "lo-carb" hype. They offer it just as a marketing ploy to silly otaku that want to be "more authentic" when really, the only way to be "more authentic" is to read the original. This isn't a matter of sub vs. dub, even.

But I might be completely wrong. I am curious why certain mangaka don't like their artwork flipped.

[Path]

I will read either, but I prefer unflipped because:

It's cheaper for the publishers. I used to pay 15.99 and up for flipped things like Ranma, and still do for Phoenix. You can find many unflipped manga at the bookstore for 9.99 or less.

And, occasionally the artwork bothers me. Mostly talking about things like Blackjack's scar on the wrong side of his face. That's not that major of an issue, but it occasionally interrupts my reading.

[cmoon]

Do you think flipping it really makes it more expensive? I'm not trying to quibble here, just curious--Astroboy was flipped and still inexpensive. I think the correlation has more to do with the type of edition (phoenix is meant to be more than just a cheap paperback) rather than the cost of flipping.

[putrocca]

Flipping only increases production costs slightly, in the case of text and other non-symmetrical objects which have to be redrawn, but the actual reason for the price drop from $15 to $10 standard for a manga volume was an increase in the market and a decrease in paper quality, which between them lowered the unit cost per book, rather than the choice not to flip - there are some companies still putting out flipped manga for $10 a volume just like the rest.

I have a slight preference for unflipped manga, only because it doesn't require quite as much alteration to be done to the text. 19 out of 20 panels it doesn't matter which side is which, but sometimes you have an image of something like a human heart, or a book or sign with written words, or which side of the road you're driving on, and then they have to not flip that image while flipping the surrounding ones, which gets odd. The classic example of this problem is Blade of the Immortal, which they published flipped, but the protagonist has a Manji symbol on his back, and if you flip a Manji it becomes a swastika, so they insisted on not flipping any panel where the Manji was visible. This results in very unfortunately problems as consecutive panels are reversed relative to each other, so suddenly someone who had been stabbed in the right arm before has been stabbed in the left, etc. To avoid these sorts of problems it's sometiems better not to flip, but if a manga doesn't have many of these problems then I really don't care.

[mippa]

Actually putting a bit of thought into this, I can understand from a semiotic point of view why keeping things unflipped would make a difference. It is subtle things like the direction a character is facing in the picture--inwards towards the spine of the book or outwards towards the outer edge of the page--that can make a large difference in the feeling that is communicated.

[putrocca]

I remember talking to the crew who translated the 2nd Ghost in the Shell manga, who complained that flipping had never been a big deal until Tokyopop started putting the label "100% Authentic Manga" on their non-flipped titles, which generated a rapid stigma. Effectively it made people feel elitist if they only read non-flipped things. I still prefer non-flipped becuase it's less work and causes fewer complexities, but not because I feel it's somehow more authentic. As they pointed out, if you want really authentic manga then the words should be in little vertical columns running right-to-left...

[strobe_z]

You have to admit though, that's pretty good marketing from TokyoPop. They've effectively turned the lower quality (meaning less work to bring it to market) product into the more desirable.

Having said that though, you make the point I was trying to get across - people seem to have this idea that non-flipped is somehow 'purer'. Personally, I prefer flipped manga in English.... but only when it's done well. You really have to put a lot of time and energy into retouching it to make it look right. If you do though, the story flow is much smoother and easier to follow for an English-speaking audience.

[putrocca]

I agree that flipped manga is easier for people who aren't used to it, but after reading so much manga for years I'm now equally comfortable both ways, and often find myself picking up an English book and accidentally starting from the back, or forgetting which way I'm reading half-way through. Whatever you're used to, I guess...

[Hekima]

I'm afraid I prefer it flipped. I get thrown off way too easily reading the opposite direction. Then again, I've got some visual/spatial issues and I get thrown off doing simple tasks like filling out Scantron sheets so maybe I'm just a wimp. That doesn't keep me from reading and enjoying unflipped manga, but somewhere along the line, I'm bound to pick up a book like that and realize that I'm just rereading what I read before.

[cmoon]

[Huscheli]