Want to recommend a manga for us to do? Read this first!

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 5:19 am

Like every other manga group, we get requests and suggestions on manga to do next. After some discussion, we have decided to put together a little primer on how we work and how you should know whether or not to suggest something to us.

First of all, at the moment we are a very translator-driven group. Our translators are generally in a position to know a lot about manga in general and thus what manga we want to work on. It's generally the translator who initiates a project and makes a motion to get scans. This means our translators all have lots of stuff on their plates. Unless your suggestion is something we are already considering, it is unlikely that anyone will offer to translate it, which is the most important part.

Important point #2: If you yourself are willing to translate, there are more considerations. Are your scans/translations going to be from Japanese? If not, we're not really interested. Other factors include experience, skill and personal drive.

If you don't have any means of translating and still want to try your luck, here are some...
Questions to ask yourself

Is there a reason this manga has not been scanlated yet?
Is it not well known? Or has it been passed up for more obvious reasons?
Are you proposing this project just because you want to read it?
Or is this a manga you honestly want to share with the English-speaking world?
Does it fit among the current MS projects and/or the general direction in which we seem to be moving?

We have some very knowledgeable people around that really know their manga, especially regarding what is GOOD. If even they haven't heard of what you're suggesting, that's probably a bad sign. If you've asked yourself all the above questions and the answers you tell yourself sound like the answers we're looking for, go ahead and suggest it. You might get lucky and catch someone's attention, but your chances of doing so are slim.

Edit: Here's no-brainer. We're not interested in licensed or licensed-then-dropped mangas.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 5:29 am

Also note that the more detailed you are, the better chance you have of getting someone interested in it. If you can offer some Japanese scans of the first few chapters, the translators can at least read it over if they want to give it a chance. Otherwise you're asking them to go out and spend their money on a manga they don't know and may have never heard of -- most likely they have other things they want to spend their money on first.

-Chris

Fan Boy Joined: 11 Feb 2004 Posts: 3

what Kern said is true. there are so many types of manga. if you're japanese who want to suggest any manga, you should really think what interests american, not because you find it interesting...

Fan Boy Joined: 11 Feb 2004 Posts: 3

what Kern said is true. there are so many types of manga. if you're japanese who want to suggest any manga, you should really think what interests american, not because you find it interesting...

Scoundrel Joined: 17 Feb 2003 Posts: 403

renge you are confused

what we meant by that is... well there are people who suggest
projects purely because its a series they want to read, that they
think is the shizzy, though to other people, namely people who
generally work on this type of thing in our group, the series
is utter crap.

there is a difference between something you like, and something
that is popular/other people will like.

sadly enough there are some people that cannot recognize the
difference.

to be honest, we dont even require that the series you suggest
be popular... frankly as long as it is attractive to enough
staff, then the project will take off

hint: look at the series we do, get familiar with them, take
note to see who does what *especially in the case of
translators* and use that to gauge what people will like

anyways, thats what we meant by that... as if our attitude hasnt
clued you in yet... we dont select series by estimated popularity
we select them based on our own taste, if they turn out to be
popular, thats merely a side effect.

to sum it up and reiterate, we got a ton of stuff planned as is...
so essentially unless you are a translator, your chances of
getting a project started are very slim.

suggesting things to us is a thankless task and sadly thanks
to a$$holes like myself, you may not get anything sides
snide comments for your troubles

try not to let that discourage you, for the sake of the children
and the manga.

Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2004 5:02 am

Right, thinking about "what americans will like" doesn't make any sense since at least one of our translators is Japanese and not all of our readers are Americans (or like "american things", whatever that means).

In suggesting a project, your best hope is that you will name a project that some translator has considered doing before. It may be that if the translator learns that some people are interested in the project, his/her own desire to do the project will grow.

-Chris

Fan Boy Joined: 11 Feb 2004 Posts: 3

sorry for the confusion. what i wanted to say was like what hyah213
wrote <there is a difference between something you like, and something
that is popular/other people will like.>
i know it's not about what you're...