Potential project - Asaki Yume Mishi (the Tale of Genji)

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 6:42 pm

I'm considering a project for MS once I finish some of the ones I'm working on now (so not for a few months) -- Yamato Waki's adaptation of the Tale of Genji (called "Asaki Yume Mishi").

The Tale of Genji is "the supreme classic of Japanese literature" (supposedly), and my favorite book, so this is a project I'm interested in. But I'd like to see if I can gauge the potential interest and response to the project before I commit to it (it would be a difficult and time-consuming project).

Genji was written 1000 years ago by a woman in the Heian court and is basically the story of a nobleman named Genji, primarily his relationships with various women over the course of his life. There are a number of manga adaptations of Genji, but Asaki Yume Mishi is the most popular and most widely respected of them. Out of the ones I've seen, it seems to be the only one that covers the entire story without any bizarre/post-modern interpretations, and I think that it really captures the pathos of the original story.

It is not the easiest thing to read, though -- the cultural setting is strange and unfamiliar, there are a large number of characters, and the story sometimes moves a bit slowly. In addition, this is a girls' comic (it might be shoujo, although if it is it's "late" shoujo -- I think the audience is theoretically teenage girls), so it occasionally makes use of the swirling flower petals and other techniques of that nature. (However, the way the "shoujo" devices seem to match so well with the original story makes me wonder if some of the techniques have their ultimate roots in the Genji and tales like it, but that's a different story...)

Anyway, I might do this sometime in the fall, or I might never do it at all. We'll see.

-Chris

Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2004 8:58 pm

Do it! We need some more class around here!

Fan Boy Joined: 12 Jun 2004 Posts: 1

Sounds intriguing and anything with that much Japanese culture should be a hit

Street Musician Joined: 23 Jul 2003 Posts: 302

Yeah, you guys need more manga with class. Maybe the girls can go to karaoke and sing some of the great songs by Janet Jackson (early works), and maybe afterwards kiss a little, but just as friends you know?

Street Musician Joined: 13 Oct 2002 Posts: 419

Sounds good. I'll be sure to leech if you release it.

Hm.. that sounds awfully shallow. Okay, I'll be sure to thank you for the effort in translating it and allowing me the opportunity to read a manga set in a period of Japan that is completely oblivious to me. Or something lame like that.

Fan Boy Joined: 28 May 2003 Posts: 30

Go for it. I'd love to see more literary works from Manga Screener.

Amateur Musician Joined: 08 Feb 2004 Posts: 197

I quite like to see this.

When I first started reading it in UJ I wasn't too keen on the art style, but it's grown on me a little.

One thing about it is that it's incredibly text heavy, well to be expected really.

-edit- Ahh, I'm thinking of a different version of Genji (Genji Monogatari - Tale of Genji) that runs in Ultra Jump.

Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:02 am

RexMundi wrote:

I quite like to see this.

When I first started reading it in UJ I wasn't too keen on the art style, but it's grown on me a little.

One thing about it is that it's incredibly text heavy, well to be expected really.

-edit- Ahh, I'm thinking of a different version of Genji (Genji Monogatari - Tale of Genji) that runs in Ultra Jump.

Although the Egawa Tatsuya version would be interesting, I don't think it's as good of an adaptation as Asaki Yume Mishi. Although Egawa's version is more "accurate" in a way because it covers the entire text of the tale, it doesn't seem to communicate the feeling of the original as well as AYM, and it also has way too much egregious sex. The sex in AYM is understated like it is in the original tale.

(I was really waiting to see how Egawa portrayed Suetsumuhana, which he finally did in last month's chapter -- she's supposed to be ugly, and all of Egawa's people look ugly. OMG he exceeded even his usual output -- Egawa's Suetsumuhana has got to be one of the most freakish and ugly characters ever in a manga.)

-Chris

Amateur Musician Joined: 08 Feb 2004 Posts: 197

kern wrote:

(OMG he exceeded even his usual output -- Egawa's Suetsumuhana has got to be one of the most freakish and ugly characters ever in a manga.)

-Chris

Yeah, with that nose, forehead and eyes it doesn't look human(!)

Really really freaky. Shocked

Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 5:05 am

RexMundi wrote:

Yeah, with that nose, forehead and eyes it doesn't look human(!)

Really really freaky. Shocked

Suetsumuhana is supposed to be ugly (her "name" derives from a red flower and a pun on "nose" and "flower") -- the purpose of that story is that Genji is looking to find one of those superb women hidden away in the lower ranks of society, but in this case it backfires on him -- she can't write poetry, doesn't know how to dress or speak well, and on top of that she's not attractive at all. Yamato Waki's depiction of her is a little more generous, though.

Maybe I will do this project (AYM, not the Egawa version).

Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2004 1:55 am

OK, it looks like we've got a source of scans, so hopefully this project can move forward. I wouldn't expect the first chapter for at least 2 months, though. (We also need an editor who's not scared of editing girls' manga).

Amateur Musician Joined: 08 Feb 2004 Posts: 197

I'm not scared, I'll help.

Fan Boy Joined: 23 Nov 2002 Posts: 10

kodansha have published a bilingual version of Asaki Yume Mishi but there is only 4 volumes. Does anyone know if it's a condensed version of Yamato Waki's 13 volumes or did kodansha just stop releasing the bilinguals?

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 2:39 am

lupii wrote:

kodansha have published a bilingual version of Asaki Yume Mishi but there is only 4 volumes. Does anyone know if it's a condensed version of Yamato Waki's 13 volumes or did kodansha just stop releasing the bilinguals?

Kodansha only released those first 4 volumes -- IIRC that only covers about 2 of the actual volumes of the manga. Those bilingual comics were normally not full releases.

(And for those of you wondering whether this violates scanlator ethics the answer is no -- since Kodansha was the one who published those the series has not been licensed by a NA company. In addition, the bilingual volumes are difficult to obtain outside of Japan and in most cases would have to be imported. Also, the intent of them is for Japanese people learning English so the translations aren't always the best.)