It seems like there’s more on the internet lately about manga that hasn’t been translated yet.
Robots Never Sleep is a new manga blog by a professional translator. The first few entries are promising, including the most recent one, about Kaiki Hanga Otoko, a manga done entirely in woodcuts.
Meanwhile, Manga Junkie reviews vol. 10 of Kisekae Yuka-chan and gives a synopsis of vol. 5 of Cat Street.
Also: Eastern Standard isn’t a blog, it’s a wiki run by Boogiepop translator Andrew Cunningham and “co-conspirator” Joe Iglesias that covers Japanese manga, novels, and videos. It’s a fun place to poke around and find something new. They have some nice year-end articles up at the moment and a special bonus, the top five myths about Japanese, which should be required reading for any manga snob.
Wow, those five myths are really… specifici. Only the very deep otaku would ask these questions. I do agree on Kansai dialect. It’s more akin to NYC accent to me; that’s why perhaps the Azumanga Daioh’s manga translator used Brooklyn accent to represent Osaka’s speech. But it didn’t work for her since her accent is cute and no NYC accent from anyone I’ve heard can be considered cute. Oh well. But there is this deep seeded stereotype against Kansai region from Kantou/Tokyo region: Kinki folks are considered rude, dumb, and sometimes naive. (Using my Western sensibility I thought naming your new classmate the name she was from simply because she has an accent was really meanspritred, but I guess that’s not true in Japan). This is of course none of that is true but it’s close to an Yankee stereotype of the South; so maybe that’s where the connotation’s from.
I really like this growing interest in untranslated manga. Some of them will never be translated, but it may offer greater insight into Japan and its many, many faces. I think helps everyone to be more open minded, plus finding some great entertainment the big firms denied you based on the lowest common denominator.