Anime & Manga News

Suzumiya Haruhi and Slayers Turn Into Kids' Novels

by dtshyk
Jan 21, 2009 7:22 PM | 35 Comments
Kadokawa announced in the press release that they will launch a new publishing label "Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko" on March 3rd. The new label targets at children between 9 - 13 years old. They re-edit the existing light novels into children's literature. The major titles to be released are as follows:

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Slayers
Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo *the original novel was published in 1967.

The cover illustration of the new edition of "Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo" was drawn by Ito Noizi.
New cover of "Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo"

Voice actress Asano Masumi will make a debut as a novel writer from this label. The title of her first novel is "Hajimete no Magical Cookie".

Source: Press Release (PDF file)

20 of 35 Comments Recent Comments

ShaolinRibiero said:
Weren't the first two shows targeted towards the 9-13 year old demographic to begin with? I'm confused.


Well, they obviously weren't if they're re-releasing them.

Feb 6, 2009 12:22 PM by Sohei

SunyiNyufi said:
StarSidereal said:
And it is another type of fun when comparing all the translation version to what you yourself personally read from the original ^_^

Done that before... I loled at how someone actually got payed for such bad translations.


Saw a few of those as well... some were so off the mark that you cannot even guess what the source work is XD But still, it was fun to read them XD

Feb 6, 2009 12:06 PM by StarSidereal

StarSidereal said:
And it is another type of fun when comparing all the translation version to what you yourself personally read from the original ^_^

Done that before... I loled at how someone actually got payed for such bad translations.

Jan 26, 2009 11:19 AM by SunyiNyufi

SunyiNyufi said:
Dozer said:
SunyiNyufi said:
StarSidereal said:
SunyiNyufi said:

No need to read it in Japanese, cos the nice people at Baka-Tsuki made a damn good English traslation of it.


This is where I just cannot help but insert that the phrase "lost in translation" is not just a title of a movie but in fact truth when it comes to translating something from one language to next.

If you do not know the original language that the work is written in, then of course your best option would be to find a darn good translated version, but if you later learned the source language, then of course you'd want to check out the work out in original language ^_^

I know it pretty well, cos I'm studying translation studies :) I'm quiet aware that a lot of things get lost in translation especially when translated form Japanese to basically any western language, cos the lexicology and the syntac is really different, but I assume most people don't learn Japanese, and even if they do, they don't necessarly learn kanji. I myself can talk, well not properly but they wouldn't be able to sell me to some yakuza guy without me knowing what's happening, but I didn't try to learn kanji, cos I just don't have the time for it.

So I do agree that original is most of the time better, but if everyone would read books in original language, I probably won't be able to get a job later on :D And well Baka-Tsuki's translation is darn good :)

Oh come on, if that was true, how could you enjoy anything that was not made in your country? Besides, these are fans we are talking about. I imagine they are doing as good a job as any professional, dedicated translator. Besides, sometimes translation can add to the quality of something.

Uhm... didn't I just say that I'm fine with translations, especially I'll become a traslator in the future myself? :) I can enjoy things even if the quality is lower by a tiny bit, cos it's actually pretty rare that a translator adds to the quality of a novel, cos the principle is not to add or take away to much :)


I agree with both points. I HAVE done translation as odd job before. It's fun but really it doesn't pay the bills for me with just that alone lol. However it really depends on what's your translation objective and your translation field. In any case I am also not saying translation is bad. It's fun to read the translation if anything. But translations are translations... are you sure you won't like to read the original sometimes if it is within your ability? That's my point XD And it is another type of fun when comparing all the translation version to what you yourself personally read from the original ^_^

Jan 25, 2009 3:16 AM by StarSidereal

Oh, this is getting very very interesting.

Jan 23, 2009 12:23 AM by underMebius

Dozer said:
SunyiNyufi said:
StarSidereal said:
SunyiNyufi said:

No need to read it in Japanese, cos the nice people at Baka-Tsuki made a damn good English traslation of it.


This is where I just cannot help but insert that the phrase "lost in translation" is not just a title of a movie but in fact truth when it comes to translating something from one language to next.

If you do not know the original language that the work is written in, then of course your best option would be to find a darn good translated version, but if you later learned the source language, then of course you'd want to check out the work out in original language ^_^

I know it pretty well, cos I'm studying translation studies :) I'm quiet aware that a lot of things get lost in translation especially when translated form Japanese to basically any western language, cos the lexicology and the syntac is really different, but I assume most people don't learn Japanese, and even if they do, they don't necessarly learn kanji. I myself can talk, well not properly but they wouldn't be able to sell me to some yakuza guy without me knowing what's happening, but I didn't try to learn kanji, cos I just don't have the time for it.

So I do agree that original is most of the time better, but if everyone would read books in original language, I probably won't be able to get a job later on :D And well Baka-Tsuki's translation is darn good :)

Oh come on, if that was true, how could you enjoy anything that was not made in your country? Besides, these are fans we are talking about. I imagine they are doing as good a job as any professional, dedicated translator. Besides, sometimes translation can add to the quality of something.

Uhm... didn't I just say that I'm fine with translations, especially I'll become a traslator in the future myself? :) I can enjoy things even if the quality is lower by a tiny bit, cos it's actually pretty rare that a translator adds to the quality of a novel, cos the principle is not to add or take away to much :)

Jan 22, 2009 11:12 PM by SunyiNyufi

iTom said:
I wonder what little kids will think of Haruhi....

12 year old boy : "Damn, she is hot!"
12 year old girl : "OMG! I want to be just like her!! <3"

The horror...

Asako said:

Uh, you do know Haruhi is a seinen title, right? It's "targeted" at 18-30yos (the common seinen demographic). It was published in a seinen magazine. The manga was dumbed down slightly for shounen audiences, but the novels are being discussed here, not the manga or anime.
If Haruhi is seinen, I worry for the genre.

Jan 22, 2009 2:36 PM by Dozer

Always happy to see more Slayers.

Jan 22, 2009 1:24 PM by eternal_blue

I wonder what little kids will think of Haruhi....

12 year old boy : "Damn, she is hot!"
12 year old girl : "OMG! I want to be just like her!! <3"

Jan 22, 2009 12:58 PM by iTom

SunyiNyufi said:
StarSidereal said:
SunyiNyufi said:

No need to read it in Japanese, cos the nice people at Baka-Tsuki made a damn good English traslation of it.


This is where I just cannot help but insert that the phrase "lost in translation" is not just a title of a movie but in fact truth when it comes to translating something from one language to next.

If you do not know the original language that the work is written in, then of course your best option would be to find a darn good translated version, but if you later learned the source language, then of course you'd want to check out the work out in original language ^_^

I know it pretty well, cos I'm studying translation studies :) I'm quiet aware that a lot of things get lost in translation especially when translated form Japanese to basically any western language, cos the lexicology and the syntac is really different, but I assume most people don't learn Japanese, and even if they do, they don't necessarly learn kanji. I myself can talk, well not properly but they wouldn't be able to sell me to some yakuza guy without me knowing what's happening, but I didn't try to learn kanji, cos I just don't have the time for it.

So I do agree that original is most of the time better, but if everyone would read books in original language, I probably won't be able to get a job later on :D And well Baka-Tsuki's translation is darn good :)

Oh come on, if that was true, how could you enjoy anything that was not made in your country? Besides, these are fans we are talking about. I imagine they are doing as good a job as any professional, dedicated translator. Besides, sometimes translation can add to the quality of something.

Jan 22, 2009 12:58 PM by Dozer

StarSidereal said:
SunyiNyufi said:

No need to read it in Japanese, cos the nice people at Baka-Tsuki made a damn good English traslation of it.


This is where I just cannot help but insert that the phrase "lost in translation" is not just a title of a movie but in fact truth when it comes to translating something from one language to next.

If you do not know the original language that the work is written in, then of course your best option would be to find a darn good translated version, but if you later learned the source language, then of course you'd want to check out the work out in original language ^_^

I know it pretty well, cos I'm studying translation studies :) I'm quiet aware that a lot of things get lost in translation especially when translated form Japanese to basically any western language, cos the lexicology and the syntac is really different, but I assume most people don't learn Japanese, and even if they do, they don't necessarly learn kanji. I myself can talk, well not properly but they wouldn't be able to sell me to some yakuza guy without me knowing what's happening, but I didn't try to learn kanji, cos I just don't have the time for it.

So I do agree that original is most of the time better, but if everyone would read books in original language, I probably won't be able to get a job later on :D And well Baka-Tsuki's translation is darn good :)

Jan 22, 2009 9:47 AM by SunyiNyufi

This is truly a great idea, I'd love to get these books.

Jan 22, 2009 9:19 AM by ladyxzeus

SunyiNyufi said:
No need to read it in Japanese, cos the nice people at Baka-Tsuki made a damn good English traslation of it.

No, I wanted to learn some more Kanji with reading it, but it was too hard for me to learn (20 unknown Kanji per page or even more doesn't really make sense to learn it while reading)

Jan 22, 2009 8:21 AM by removed-user

Slayers? A Kid's novel? That takes some of the fun out of it D:

Jan 22, 2009 6:43 AM by Icy-nee-san

ShaolinRibiero said:
And for Melancholy, the target demographic is precisely 9-13 year olds.


Uh, you do know Haruhi is a seinen title, right? It's "targeted" at 18-30yos (the common seinen demographic). It was published in a seinen magazine. The manga was dumbed down slightly for shounen audiences, but the novels are being discussed here, not the manga or anime.

Jan 22, 2009 6:25 AM by Asako

SunyiNyufi said:

No need to read it in Japanese, cos the nice people at Baka-Tsuki made a damn good English traslation of it.


This is where I just cannot help but insert that the phrase "lost in translation" is not just a title of a movie but in fact truth when it comes to translating something from one language to next.

If you do not know the original language that the work is written in, then of course your best option would be to find a darn good translated version, but if you later learned the source language, then of course you'd want to check out the work out in original language ^_^

Jan 22, 2009 6:22 AM by StarSidereal

As for TMoHS: Knowing that Haruhi is god, I already knew the origins of Mikuru, Nagato and Itsuki five episodes in. It's so hard to understand that story...


Oh yeah,
Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo *the original novel was published in 1967.

Oh boy, it shows... (And the new cover ruins it even more, Nozi Ito should have been kept away from this. Far away.)

Jan 22, 2009 6:00 AM by Dozer

HoaRy said:
I kinda failed at Haruhi with my Japanese, or let's say it consumes too much time to look up Kanji :/

No need to read it in Japanese, cos the nice people at Baka-Tsuki made a damn good English traslation of it.

Jan 22, 2009 5:52 AM by SunyiNyufi

"Mommy, why is Haruhi nibbling on Mikuru's ear?"

&etc.

Jan 22, 2009 4:31 AM by JadeMatrix

Ara ara.

This should be interesting. (Should try and find Tokikake novel)

Jan 22, 2009 3:36 AM by BasakaNZ

It’s time to ditch the text file.
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