Fitting very nicely into my Girls Only Week, part 2 of the Comics Should Be Good NANA Project featuring Danielle Leigh, Michelle Smith, and me is up this morning! In this installment, we discuss NANA volumes three and four, focusing on Nana and Hachi, Hachi and Shoji, and finally addressing some of the less fantastic aspects of the series’ English adaptation.
I mentioned recently on Twitter that I think a good English adaptation has a real sense of place so that the sensibility of the original language comes through for the reader. The early volumes of NANA really fall short in that area, and we talk a bit about why. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this round of conversation for me, however, is that I found myself actually defending Shoji, which is not something I’d have ever expected, especially considering my strong identification with Hachi.
So head on over and join us in comments! (Or click here for our discussion of volumes one and two if you missed it!) Can’t wait to see you there!
Travis says
August 5, 2009 at 9:41 pmI agree that the specific examples of slang used there sound really bad (more like an adult desperately trying to sound like a teen than anything natural), but I don’t think you can cut out slang altogether. It would sound really stilted and unnatural if everyone spoke formal English all the time.
Melinda Beasi says
August 5, 2009 at 9:55 pmPerhaps I should rephrase: it would have been better off without self-conscious slang. Normal, casual speech comes naturally and reads that way too. But deliberately inserting specific slang with the intent of making the characters sound hip and cool really, really, really did not work.