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August in a Glance: Yaoi by the Book

 Here’s a handy list of all the by-the-book Yaoi we put out this August! Manga by the Book Alone With You (暴愛フレンドシップ・Bouai Friendship) by Zundamochiko Link to Manga This was a surprisingly sensual release, and I love the way romance and lust weave their way through this high school setting. Both of the boys share…

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Episode 34: BL Manga, or Let Women Have Something ffs

 Originally posted on One Panel Later Podcast: Angela and Kelly finally take a dive into the possibly controversial category of BL (Boys’ Love) manga. Kelly tries to define BL manga without getting booed off the internet, and Angela tries to wrap her head around the concept of manga about all boys for an audience of all girls. How did the genre develop? (Hint: It’s time to talk about 70s shojo again). Why do fujoshi get such a bad rap? Plus, some recommendations for getting started with BL titles.  Episode 6: LGBT Comics, or when it’s okay to be GAY Book Reviews (53:33): Angela: Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows by Dan Slott (Marvel)…

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Interview with Owal-Sensei (Translation)

 To celebrate the release of “Our House Love Trouble” and the accompanying “drama CD”, Marine Entertainment has shared a special follow-up interview with Owal-Sensei. In it, Owal-Sensei discusses character names, her favorite type of characters to draw, and how they came up with some of the more shockingly sexy and fun moments in the bedroom scenes for “Our House Love Trouble” (Available now in English at Renta! Manga Store ❤ ) I took a moment this weekend to give it a quickie translation from Japanese to English. I hope you find it as interesting as I did! 

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Translation Challenges (Part 5): Onomatopoeia

 Onomatopoeia are words that phonetically imitate, resemble, or suggest the sound that it describes. In English, onomatopoeia are most commonly the sounds that animals (woof, meow, chirp) or things make (tick-tock, beep, bang). The use of the former can sound rather childish to English-speaking ears, especially since children tend to use them the most. The latter, however, are very familiar and natural to child and adult ears alike. Just like English, Japanese has onomatopoeia, but divides it into three types: giseigo (擬声語), giongo (擬音語) and gitaigo (擬態語). Let’s take a look at each type and discuss how they present challenges to both the Japanese-to-English translator and editor alike. Giseigo are…

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The Difference Between Good Enough and Good

 I feel like translation is quite subjective, with no “perfect” translation out there. Manga is unique because it’s a combination of written and spoken English, but almost always focuses on conversation above all other types of language. Localization in particular can make the difference between a translation that is, technically speaking, “correct”… and a translation…

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Preview: Shouganai Kara Aishite Ageru

 Yoko Ito, artist of the bestselling Allergic to Love, is back again with their latest work Shouganai Kara Aishite Ageru (しょうがないから愛してあげる). Its official release date and title on the English website is yet to be announced, but I guarantee you’ll love it. We follow two coworkers: Sako Miyamura and Eiji Miya. They have nothing in…

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Review: My Fickle Jaguar

 My Fickle Jaguar (気まぐれなジャガー Kimagure na Jaguar) is the latest addition of Unohana‘s works to Renta!’s English-language website. I have had the pleasure to edit its translations as they come out. Although I have been working in Renta! as an editor for only one year, let me tell you–this is nothing like the other BL/Yaoi…

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