New academic year and a
new job. Well, same job, better pay, different route.
The funny thing is that
due to the current internet situation without a smartphone or
portable wifi modem, I am essentially stranded in a an internet free
zone. The world of my everyday has been blocked, filtered and
sanitised into something which is , quite frankly, quaint and very
retro. It is not exactly 56K days again but due to imposed limits on
access, it sure feels like it.
The upside is that it
means less distraction and more time for concentrating on things that
matter - such as my current study. Unfortunately it also means the
premature end of a project I had hoped to sink my teeth into:
contributing to a definitive, high quality (unofficial, fan)
translation of Part 6 of Jojo's Bizarre
Adventure.
For those unfamiliar with
this title, let me explain. Jojo's
is a Japanese manga, Part 1 of which was originally published in the
late 1980s. At present, Jojo's is
in its eighth part. However, the only part of the story that has
received an official translation and publication in English is the
now out of print Part 3: Stardust Crusaders
by Viz in the US. Why is this the case? Apparently, author Hirohiko
Araki (first name, family name) although approached by publishers in
the past, has refused to compromise or change certain aspects of his
manga which currently prevent its release in the West.
While this might sound
potentially scandalous, it is not. Its relevance here, however,
requires some exposition.
Jojo's is
originally the story of two young Englishmen thrown together as a
result of tragic circumstances. Over the years they become fierce
rivals and eventually enemies. Over time they learn to utilise
"ripple" energy, a kind of force not unlike that found in
kung fu legend which allows users to perform feats normally humanly
impossible. From Stardust Crusaders,
Araki abandons the "ripple" concept and replaces it with
"stands". A stand is an external manifestation of a
person's psyche and can take human as well as other forms. In fact,
the conceptual looseness around what constitutes a stand is one of
the key elements that makes Jojo's plots
so exciting and unpredictable.
Where as characters in the
first to parts were named after Western music artists (Cars, ACDC,
Wham) in the third part stands, their owners and frequently their
"powers" as well are also named according to this
convention (from Terence Trent D'arby to Purple Haze, Red Hot Chilli
Peppers and Boyz2Men).
The use of such names is
antagonistic to US copyright law which forbids other parties
profiting from the names of existing artists. What's interesting to
me though is that there has been no prosecution of this issue even
though it has been occurring for over thirty years. Is this just a
demonstration of the inability of US law to police copyright outside
of its sovereign borders? Or is it the result of linguistic
ignorance? Given the state of knowledge availability in the world
today, I would say it is the former.
Why does this matter? It
does to the extent that it explains despite its ongoing popularity
why Jojo's remains
largely unknown outside of Japan.
While this might appear
cut and dry, closer inspection reveals a number of interesting
issues. First, is linguistic - if we are to transcribe the names of
certain characters into English as they are
then AC/DC becomes Eishidishi, Wham is Wamu and Cars is Kaazu.
Clearly while phonetically similar in appearance, as written words
they appear significantly different to the brand/band names they are
supposed to signify.
Second, it appears that
the use of these names often only ever bears a superficial
resemblance to the original. Stardust
Crusaders' Boyz2Men is a disturbing
monsterlike creature who grants twisted versions of its enemies'
wishes. Purple Haze from Diamonds are
Unbreakable is a golden spitfire shot from
a guitar of a golden haired guitar god. It seems then that Araki is
more interested in the evocative power of names and he frequently
uses them in ways which are so oblique as to suggest that any
connection to the original is either entirely random or else
otherwise known only to the author himself.
Third and critically are
the intertwined issues of masculinity and sexuality. While not
particularly overt or explicit, the style of the artwork is
frequently, implicitly homo-erotic in ways that would likely disturb
or otherwise unsettle a casual Western reader unfamiliar with Araki's
work.
In Jojo, bodies contort,
attack, defend, are destroyed and healed in quite graphic fashion,
however, regardless of what is done to them, faces and bodies remain
beautiful. Readers
familiar with Western style comic bodies are likely accustomed to
depictions of strength, rigidity and implied (yet almost always
neutered) potency. Jaws are square, brows prominent, eyes angry.
Costumes, even when skin tight and revealing are frequently adorned
with technology, weaponry and implied strength.
Yet in Jojo,
particularly post-Stardust,
not only are costumes adorned with fabulous
belts, boots, butterflies, hearts, ladybugs – the very bodies that
inhabit these costumes come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Scrawny
boys, athletic heroes, boneheads, an overweight special needs kid,
old men, dapper dandies... then there are the lovingly drawn faces
with curves, eyelashes, land lips that do more than just scowl and
sneer (though they do that too!). Araki is not afraid to draw on a
wide range of masculine identities from the manga canon to the
fashion world in which he was once involved.
So, after reading all
this, you want to read Jojo then? What to do, where to start?
Unfortunately for the most part you simply won't be able to read the
series legally. A good
start for resources is The JBA Community. Check out your favourite torrent site
for packages of single issues and whole series. But, a warning –
fan translations vary wildly in terms of quality. Some of the more
recent high-resolution scanlations are stupendous, done by folk with
good equipment, proper language skills, access to high quality source
material and an eye for detail. Some of the older translations are so
bad as to be unreadable – full of stilted dialog, incorrect
translations, Times New Roman cut and paste using Microsoft Paint and
squares... translated into English from Chinese (not sure what
dialect) translations of the original Japanese...
Work is still ongoing and
we will see a point sometime in the next year or so where the good
translations have not only caught up with the Japanese release
schedule but will have finally eclipsed the older, bad translations
in terms of availability. Obviously, the most favourable situation
would be one in which the comic receives and official translation and
Araki can be proper compensated for his work and Jojo receives a
level of popularity corresponding to its quality.
Don't hold your breath.
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