Osamu Tezuka was so prolific a mangaka, there are actually several hundred volumes of his work which have yet to come stateside with a proper English translation. The folks are Digital Manga Publishing are working to remedy that, though. After a successful Kickstarter for LUDVIG B last year, the company is now running a campaign to to give ALABASTER its due.
One of Tezuka's darkest and most harrowing creations, ALABASTER tells the story of a disgraced pro athlete who takes on a vendetta after a ghoulish accident rendershis skin invisible. It's an epic we'd kill to read, so we reached out to DMP's staff with some questions about its Kickstarter...
== TEASER ==
AV: Kickstarter mentions that this manga was created during a "dark period" in the creator's life. Could you give us a little more context about where ALABASTER fits into Tezuka's biography?
DMP: Oh, that's a loaded question. Time for a history lesson!
Tezuka created his own animation studio Mushi Productions after he left Toei Animation in 1961 so he could make animated cartoons based on his own creations. In the 60s, darker, more mature themes were popular due to the hippie movement in America as well as people's reactions to the Cold War and Vietnam War, so Tezuka's children's stories no longer held a the wider audience. He didn't want his artistic ability to stagnate, so he wrote mature manga like Swallowing the Earth and Ode to Kirihito to keep up with the times.
In the late 60s, Tezuka put all his efforts into creating the movie Cleopatra, but it was so different from any style people were used to it bombed in the box office and quickly dried up the funds Mushi Productions had. The employees of Mushi were also dissatisfied and could see the downfall of the production company, so there were no loyalties tied to the company, not to mention Tezuka lost some of his creative work due to copyright issues.
Because of all the stress and pressure he felt from these experiences, he created Alabaster.
AV: ASTRO BOY is famous in the states, with a Hollywood movie announced just recently, but why has it taken so long for James Block to reach American readers?
DMP: It has taken awhile for Tezuka titles like Alabaster to come here because Tezuka Productions was not really interested in international rights until about two years ago. They're a smallish company of about 100 people and only two people run the international division.
There hasn't really been much of Tezuka's presence in America until about ten years ago with Metropolis and other titles. Since not many Americans knew who Tezuka was, it is difficult to garner attention from Tezuka Productions to release the rights for his manga. With the emergence of his animated work and films out as well as other companies publishing his work, his name and brand is slowly making an emergence here in America, but still slow to reach.
Tezuka created over 500 volumes of work, but there are only about four publishers located in America that are interested in publishing his work, and even then only about 50 books have made it to American shores. Tezuka fans are very loyal as well and his work is considered dignified manga, so DMP had to tread carefully when discussing the contract for publishing rights.
After years of negotiation, DMP has finally received the rights to his books, so Americans can expect to see more Tezuka work in the future.
ANIME VICE: DMP is coming off a successful Kickstarter for LUDWIG B, another previously-untranslated title in Tezuka's bibliography. What can you tell us about that book, and its campaign?
DMP: Ludwig B is a bio-manga that was one of the last projects Tezuka worked on before he passed away. He felt like he could relate to the struggles Ludwig went through to create art with all the highs and lows involved. He understands Ludwig's restless spirit and the constant need to convey his passion, that's why he eventually wrote Ludwig B as his last manga.
Intended to be an extended series, Ludwig B was supposed to illustrate Beethoven's life, and in extension Tezuka's own life as his finishing opus, but it was tragically cut short from Tezuka's passing. We at DMP thought it was a series that showed the culmination of all of Tezuka's effort to portray his life as an artist and all the messages it involved.
So what better time to put up the Kickstarter than during Christmas when it is about peace and being kind to your neighbor and strangers? It would be a shame to not share to the world the last masterpiece Tezuka created.
AV: The rewards section describes a "digital companion" that will provide a reference for readers wishing to learn more about the Japanese cultural and historical references and idioms brought up throughout ALABASTER. Is this DMP's preferred approach to localizing manga?
DMP: Translation, and localization, is always a tricky subject, no matter the language or locale. We have to take a lot of things into consideration, and it's sometimes more art than science.
In the past, Digital Manga has considered changing dialogue so that Tezuka's sense of humor comes through more to American readers, but then we realized by doing that we'd be limiting our translations to American readers, not English speakers as a whole. Plus, we worried about taking too many liberties with the original work, even if it was to make it more understandable for a new audience.
In the end, we decided that we'd rather add 'footnotes, so to speak, to the translated manga to provide more and better context rather than potentially dilute the original. This way, nothing gets 'lost in translation'.
AV: Can you tell us about the formats fans will be able to read ALABASTER in if the funding goals are reached?
DMP: We'll be printing Alabaster as well as making it available digitally via emanga.com after the Kickstarter succeeds, including Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Sony Readers, and more. Basically, if there's a digital version, we do our best to provide the manga in that format!
from Anime Vice Site Mashup http://ift.tt/17pdmhG
No comments:
Post a Comment