Maoyuu Maou Yuusha

Actually, the "original one" is a light novel series. "'Be Mine, Hero' 'I refuse!'" is the primary manga adaptation, though.

MasterAim - Its the 'Be Mine Hero, I Refuse!'. The first one in the 'related list' in the summary.

personally, I'd say the most important part of translation is being accurate. anyway, regarding those other names, linksys has always given the english tl-ed name for it as well, so I see nothing wrong with it. (If anything, it serves to add-on to the accuracy of his tls as it 'explains' what the original is. Similarly, I can damn well translate this twice as fast if I just tl-ed from the chinese raws, but because when it comes to translating languages, there are often multiple ways of reading something which leads to different translations or wordings, which further leads to incorrect interpretation especially for jp -> chi -> en tls.)

getting back to the point, personally, giving the jap name also helps explains the usage of the name in this situation where one may question the tl-er giving 'Holy Key Expedition Army' as a name, or 'Young Male Merchant' etc. because in typical manga, or even in english, one would generally not use names/terms in such a manner. Which makes me feel that it will be better understood why such a name is used. That's my stand on it, and overall we as a group are likely to continue releasing in a similar manner. Unless, of course, the tl-er that takes over this is adamant on it being otherwise.

Also, wait, I think my comment on the script was missed out. This Prince Marshal is a beard guy~! (I don't think he was one in any of the other serialization/adaptations.)

@soranokira
It is a very minor preference choice of which sounds better? Hero or Yuusha? The word Yuusha is a pretty common word, really easy word to read, and will be repeated continuously throughout the series. But the same can't be said for most other characters. I mean pop quiz who know what a meido chou is? How about daishukyou? outei gensui?
Holy Key Expedition isnt the nicest sounding name but I gonna guess that it's at least a hell of a lot easier to read and remember than it's romaji translation. The most important part of translation isn't showing off fancy terms but being easy to understand.

The anime would have been sweet if it had an art style like this.

Anyone know which one is the original one? I kind of feel it is this, but there are more chapters of Maoyuu Maou Yuusha - "Be mine, Hero" "I refuse!", which confuses me a bit

Anyone know which one is the original one? I kind of feel it is this, but there are more chapters of Maoyuu Maou Yuusha - "Be mine, Hero" "I refuse!", which confuses me a bit

rather than names being simple and obvious, my take is that the author didn't want to give specific names to each of the important characters, but similarly it can also be taken that their role is also their name. the key staff involved in this have no issue with the names staying romanized, simply because Yuusha sounds better than Hero as a name. Also, we've already avoided romanizing even the holy key expedition army part (which sounds stupid in english if you didn't realize)

The names should definitely be in English not romaji. The whole point of their names is that it's suppose to be simple and obvious. The names itselves literally describes who is who without the need of recalling previous chapters and romaji ruins that purpose for English readers.

the anime sadden me by cutting out the fights T_T like this version though thanks for the TL ^^

How damn slow of a reader do have to be to let the footnotes and reading both the translation and romanji interrupt the pacing? Anyways, good job on the translations, VIS, I really like your approach. It helps me learn more Japanese and also what the original intent was with words, names and terminology in their original text. There's been plenty of times reading manga where I've been thrown off by a translator's poor interpretation of a Japanese phrase or word.

Wow, reading it again, they really do have some issues with keeping things in Japanese. I had thought it'd be fine not to want to lose things in translation (and hence use a lot of TL notes), but what could possibly be lost by translating 「同盟」 as 'alliance', instead of "Doumei - alliance", or 「大主教」 as just 'archbishop' instead of "Daishukyou - Archbishop"?

This is probably the worst editing/translation I've ever seen.

@acolyte For me more 'feeling' is lost when I have to read the word, the tanslation and look at translation notes because the translator/editor is overzealous. It just doesn't fit a manga to look over a bubble two times and read side notes, that's just distracting. Either be a weeaboo and write only the romanji/japanese "translation" or translate it how it should be, well, you know, because it's a translation.

@Caithsith It's really a non-distinction. I only classified the other version as shonen because it was the first words that came to mind in describing the main difference between this one and the other. The point is that there is a decidedly obvious difference in feel between the two versions, and yet the backwards translations don't match that difference.

I am learning sooo much

@David Liu It baffles me when people judge the series as shounen/seinen based on artwork alone. Especially when they're based on the same LN.

Ugh, this translation is really terrible. It's sad when the shonen version of this manga reads better and feels more mature than the weeaboo translated seinen version.

Lol I didn't realize there's a flame war on the unique translations here.
I've been reading manga for a long time that it's quite fun to see a lot of phrases left in the romaji, given that the 'feeling' is lost when you do literal translations, especially the 'generic names' in this manga. I guess the people complaining haven't felt the 'lost in translation' woes. If I may draw a rude parallel - it's like people who worship their translation of the Bible and say that all other translations are inaccurate XD
It's kinda interesting how resistant are people to change and differences..
I personally quite like the unique translation - it's a bit hard to follow - but even Viz and Tokyopop has their own quirks.
A bunch of the translators here are not doing it for profit, unlike Viz/Tokyopop.
It's interesting though how demanding the leecher community has grown^^

Anyways - back to the manga - is it just me or ch7 don't really have a similar parallel in the other adaptations? I don't remember Shounin having a friendly discussion with the Yuusha o_O And this is the most evil side of him I've seen.

I don't really mind using the japanese term if they hold special meanings that don't translate well. But this translation reminds me of the "all according to keikaku" bullshit. There's a limit to weeaboo-ism

Well i will take what i can have. Thanks for the translation anyway.

@ku4

Nah, you should read the other one if you are interested. This one is just boring.

The cover looks really amazing... i should read this series...

stop bitching if u got problem just translate on ur own or put simply just dont read this

Reading around, it is seems like the intent was to present a reading experience as close to the Japanese reading experience. But the problem with that is that a literal translation doesn't create that. In the original Japanese, it would've been a smoother reading experience, but a literal translation turns that smooth experience into an awkward one. Thus, the reading experiences are very different despite the intent.

Languages, especially ones without a common root, have too many differences for a literal translation to create a good reading experience. The best you can hope for is to preserve the spirit of the meaning faithfully while creating translation that flows well and with clarity. Which's a difficult task. I understand that very well.

While I've no experience with translating from Japanese, I do have experience with translating from American Sign Language. A literal translation of that would create very awkward Engrish. I know from personal experience. I've seen the results of what happens when native ASL speakers write English with the same grammar as they would write ASL. And I've had to try to edit that into something understandable.

It isn't just the translation of the names that's the issue. The translation overall is rather stiff and doesn't flow very well. It has an excessively literal feeling which creates many awkward phrases like "But for this reason, if we're able to invite another conclusion, not just for me, but it'll be for the whole world of [Things yet to be seen], won't it?" That seems like it would've read far better in the original Japanese.