A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

General discussion of all things related to Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin
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I suggested Ginga in the SSE survey.
22
100%
I'm not that interested in an English Translation.
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 22

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Coconut-Tea
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A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Coconut-Tea »

Hello!

I stumbled across Seven Seas monthly reader survey where you can suggest a manga to be licenced in English.
Now, of course I suggested Ginga.
And I'm writing this topic, as I think many here would like the Ginga manga/s to be licenced in English. I was already thinking about buying the Japanese versions just to support Yoshihiro Takahashi...
But as I stumbled across the survey, I thought: "The fanbase is big enough and full with active and dedicated fans - why not ask through this survey for an English version?
I don't believe the company would have any loss, as the already existing fans would (and I'm very sure of it, like, the Ginga fanbase is one of the most dedicated fanbases I ever came across), buy the Ginga manga, and it would attract new fans. Ginga Nagareboshi Gin may be ages old, but I still see new people coming to watch or read it. I watched both anime so many times, and I still can't get enough of it and many others as well. To this day it is I'd say popular. (Now, this board has 3000+ members! And let's not forget the ones outside!)

So putting it all together - I'm suggesting that all Ginga fans suggest any Ginga they like (Ginga Densetsu Weed is preferred, as GNG has been licenced recently on MangaPlanet) in the monthly reader survey from Seven Seas Entertainment. Even if it fails, we still tried and showed true commitment.

Survey is on their official website: https://sevenseasentertainment.com/
Also, for more support you can suggest the anime on Netflix! https://help.netflix.com/en/titlerequest

Please spread this information! It'll make it possible for Official English translations!
Simple post on Twitter, etc. is already a lot! If you'd like to spread this information, you can copy my whole topic context and paste it, or simply copy the link to this board topic.
Big, big thanks to everyone who volunteers!

Ginga Nagareboshi Gin has been licenced on MangaPlanet!
https://read.mangaplanet.com/comic/5f22454553b78

23.05.///Edit: Thanks so far to everyone who suggested!
04.06.///Edit: The board hit 300 views!
13.06.///Edit: 550+ views!
05.07.///Edit: 1200+ !
08.08.///Edit: Ginga Nagareboshi Gin got licenced on MangaPlanet!
Last edited by Coconut-Tea on Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:40 pm, edited 11 times in total.
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Wolpard »

I'm always a little pessimistic just because it's so old (GNG at least), but it's always worth a shot. Personally I think our best bet is getting the anime to have at least official subs since anime tends to get manga more attention.

Where is the survey, though?
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by YamaDora »

Wolpard wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 1:31 am I'm always a little pessimistic just because it's so old (GNG at least), but it's always worth a shot.
Back in 2010 when they started publish GNG manga in Finnish, I remember reading an interview from the Finnish publisher who told the story behind getting the rights for Finnish translation. I don't have the interview at hand, but some things I remember from it:
-There were some questions at first who owned the rights for GNG (because the Finnish publisher needed to ask someone for them) as the series is indeed very old, and has been rereleased by different companies over the years.
-the Japanese were mostly surprised that someone wanted to publish an old series like this, and that it was known outside of Japan.
-The Japanese publisher did not have all the material (pages, covers etc.) to provide for the Finnish publisher because the series was so old. The Finnish release was possible because the Finnish publisher had someone with all the original GNG mangas that they could scan the material for themselves.
I probably need to dig up this entire interview again and check if there was some other information that would be interesting to know.

Also, I've seen some discussion in the Finnish fandom about getting Ginga released in other languages, and the Finnish publisher have said that they could help by providing the material such as pages and covers (as the Japanese who own the rights don't have all the material themselves).
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Wolpard »

YamaDora wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 6:14 am
Wolpard wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 1:31 am I'm always a little pessimistic just because it's so old (GNG at least), but it's always worth a shot.
Back in 2010 when they started publish GNG manga in Finnish, I remember reading an interview from the Finnish publisher who told the story behind getting the rights for Finnish translation. I don't have the interview at hand, but some things I remember from it:
-There were some questions at first who owned the rights for GNG (because the Finnish publisher needed to ask someone for them) as the series is indeed very old, and has been rereleased by different companies over the years.
-the Japanese were mostly surprised that someone wanted to publish an old series like this, and that it was known outside of Japan.
-The Japanese publisher did not have all the material (pages, covers etc.) to provide for the Finnish publisher because the series was so old. The Finnish release was possible because the Finnish publisher had someone with all the original GNG mangas that they could scan the material for themselves.
I probably need to dig up this entire interview again and check if there was some other information that would be interesting to know.

Also, I've seen some discussion in the Finnish fandom about getting Ginga released in other languages, and the Finnish publisher have said that they could help by providing the material such as pages and covers (as the Japanese who own the rights don't have all the material themselves).
Im also just wondering how much a publishing company would think its worth it though. I think translating an older series might seem pretty risky and too difficult for them to care enough about. At least in Finland there was already a significant enough following because the anime was released there.

Granted, the fact that the series has a pretty dedicated fandom could add some bonus points, but the fandom is still pretty small.
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Coconut-Tea »

The survey is on their official website https://sevenseasentertainment.com/

I think the GDW manga would make most sense, as the anime only focused on some parts of it, and it's not as old as GNG (GDW is still in print). But I've also seen 20 years or so old manga to be licenced this or previous year, so it's not impossible... eBay still sells lots of GNG volumes. And you can download the RAW files.
Still, even if just 1000-1500 copies would be sold - that's quite a sale number for a manga.
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by YamaDora »

Coconut-Tea wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 9:58 amBut I've also seen 20 years or so old manga to be licenced this or previous year, so it's not impossible...
GDW started in 1999, so it's 20 years old (it ended in 2009 though).

The Finnish version of GDW had to have the Finnish publisher scan the material for publishing, because Japan did not have (again) all the material themselves. So, if GDW were to be published in English or any other language, they would have to have the original 60 volumes themselves (or ask the Finnish publisher, who have said they could provide the material for other language releases).
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Raki »

I would love to see manga in english, there are a lot people who are reading manga in english. It is really popular. So Ginga can be popular again!
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Digsu »

Just out of curiosity: could the fact that there's already been one unsuccessful attempt at translating GDW into English make potential publishers wary of picking the series up?

Granted, we don't know for sure if ComicsOne only published three volumes of GDW in English because of poor sales or because they went bust before they could release any further volumes, but the fact that the last volume came out four years before the company went defunct seems to suggest the former.
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Coconut-Tea »

Digsu wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 1:06 pm Just out of curiosity: could the fact that there's already been one unsuccessful attempt at translating GDW into English make potential publishers wary of picking the series up?

Granted, we don't know for sure if ComicsOne only published three volumes of GDW in English because of poor sales or because they went bust before they could release any further volumes, but the fact that the last volume came out four years before the company went defunct seems to suggest the former.
Back then in 2003 Ginga wasn't popular yet. The you could say beginning of the fanbase started around 2009, 2010 - and it wasn't truly popular until 2016 or so. Since then more and more fans came, and I found out about Ginga too around 2016 when someone released an AMV on YouTube.
Releasing it in 2003 was doomed to fail, as YouTube or anything else that could "advertise" the franchise didn't even exist yet, so nobody could have known about Ginga outside of Japan really.

EDIT: Now, about the popularity...
https://myanimelist.net/anime/589/Ginga ... a%20nagare
https://myanimelist.net/manga/4945/Ging ... agareboshi
The fandom isn't that small. Plus the fact that it got released in other countries adds just more to the potential of an English release, as it was popular enough in other countries to get licenced.
But the fact that 1000+ users rated the manga is really a lot.
The main thing though is that enough people have to suggest it in the survey. Does anyone else know sites where you can post it or in the discord so it reaches more fans? The more suggest it, the more likely it'll be licenced.
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Coconut-Tea »

///
Poll is up! Just to keep track/see who voted. A motivation/hope-maker let's say!
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Bluey_Madison »

I voted for it! I don’t know any of the outs and ins of licensing and publishing books, and all of the points made above are good ones, but I like to keep up hope that maybe something like this can happen. Would they need to translate it themselves directly from the Japanese manga, or from another language closer to English like the Finnish version Meti and Dragon are using for the Hougen Arc now? This publisher is also focused mainly on light novels, which I believe are online mini-comics. GNG is 18 volumes (shortened to 10 on re-release) and GDW is 60. Not to mention all the sequels and spinoffs. If it’s only GNG, I’d say it’s a good hunk of work, but doable in the span of a year or two, depending on other workloads they might have.
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Digsu »

Bluey_Madison wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 4:12 pm Would they need to translate it themselves directly from the Japanese manga, or from another language closer to English like the Finnish version Meti and Dragon are using for the Hougen Arc now?
tbh I assume an American manga publisher would be more likely to have translators fluent in Japanese on hand than ones fluent in Finnish.

Personally, I think that if at all possible, it's always best to translate directly from the original source language rather than other translations. The biggest reason is that if the translation you're basing your own translation on has any errors, they'll automatically get carried over to your translation as well (the Finnish translations are generally really good but I know there are some errors in there, however minor). Another more minor reason is that, unless you're translating literally word-for-word (which simply isn't an option with most language pairs), there will always be tiny changes between the original and a translation; once translated, a text is basically a combination of the thoughts of the original author and the thoughts of a translator. So if you want to base your translation on a "pure" version of the text, you have to use the original source language.

And yes, I know that sometimes it simply isn't an option, but, again, I'm pretty sure that a publisher specializing in Japanese media has the resources to translate directly from Japanese.
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Coconut-Tea »

Bluey_Madison wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 4:12 pm This publisher is also focused mainly on light novels, which I believe are online mini-comics. GNG is 18 volumes (shortened to 10 on re-release) and GDW is 60. Not to mention all the sequels and spinoffs. If it’s only GNG, I’d say it’s a good hunk of work, but doable in the span of a year or two, depending on other workloads they might have.
The publisher is both Manga and Light Novel.
I believe they'd rather translate GNG first, as it is the first part of the franchise plus as you said only about 10 volumes.
My theory is: if it gets licenced, they'll translate GNG, and if GNG sells well enough then they'll translate GDW too. With GNG they take less risk, and translations cost money too, so I bet they rather start with that.
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Dragon »

I did it :'D
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by reenarules »

Survey sent~!
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Wolpard »

I voted!

Like Digsu said, I'm curious to know how ComicsOne's failed attempt at translating GDW might mean to another translation company. Granted, they started with the sequel and the translation wasn't great lol.
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Silver_Alchemist »

It's lovely that a lot of people want this to be translated including myself. But I am having trouble figuring out where I can send in a suggestion to the company, or where I can vote for the manga (or whatever you do. I have never done it before, so I'm just asking for help :) )
Have a nice day!
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Coconut-Tea »

Silver_Alchemist wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 8:12 am It's lovely that a lot of people want this to be translated including myself. But I am having trouble figuring out where I can send in a suggestion to the company, or where I can vote for the manga (or whatever you do. I have never done it before, so I'm just asking for help :) )
On their official website, the survey is right - where the Hamster is. You click on it, and you get a Google Sheet to fill out.
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Silver_Alchemist »

Coconut-Tea wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 10:09 am
Silver_Alchemist wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 8:12 am It's lovely that a lot of people want this to be translated including myself. But I am having trouble figuring out where I can send in a suggestion to the company, or where I can vote for the manga (or whatever you do. I have never done it before, so I'm just asking for help :) )
On their official website, the survey is right - where the Hamster is. You click on it, and you get a Google Sheet to fill out.
Alright. Thank you:)

EDIT: I sent in my license suggestion:)
Have a nice day!
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Re: A chance for english licence? (Asking the Community)

Post by Coconut-Tea »

JUNE SURVEY IS UP!

Please suggest "Ginga Nagareboshi Gin" again! :surprisegin:

https://sevenseasentertainment.com/
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