Nitpicking the Mixx Manga
This is the page where I post my list of mistakes and changes in the Mixx/Tokyopop editions of the Stars manga. Reader beware, on this page I make more opinionated (and mean-spirited) commentary than usual. I was never one of Tokyopop's detractors until the publication of Stars #1, when I finally gave up trying to defend the company. For a list of the reasons why I had a sudden change of heart, just read through the sections below.
Use these links to navigate this page:
Stars #1 | Stars #2 | Stars #3 | Other Notes
Sailor Moon Stars #1
The Mixx names of the Three Lights are "Seiya Lights," "Taiki Lights," and "Yaten Lights."
In the original, the Starlights, their Princess, and all people from Kinmoku were characterized by the scent of olive blossoms. In the Mixx translation, the scent is changed to "the scent of lilacs."
On page 40 of the original, Yaten complimented Michiru for her work, said that she was a big fan, and admitted to owning all of Michiru's CDs. Basically, she gushed like a starstruck fangirl. In the Mixx translation, Yaten only says, "I'm a big fan."
On page 40 of the Mixx translation, when Seiya is complimenting Haruka's piano playing, Seiya says, "You play like the wind. I really dig it."
On page 61, Ikuko is looking at a mug clearly labeled "ChibiUsa." "Rini..." she sighs longingly.
On page 81 of the Mixx translation, Bunny opens an envelope that is clearly labeled "Tsukino Usagi."
Maker's attack is renamed "Star Gentle Creator."
The Starlights' introduction in the original: "From the place where stars drift, holding three infinite lights..." The Starlights' introduction in Mixxland: "There are three invincible lights where the stars drift to..." Granted, both versions make very little sense. However, one can only hope that the infinite/invincible mixup was a typo.
On page 112 of the Mixx edition, poor Asanuma is named "Osamu."
Confusing Pronoun Usage:
In the original, after Seiya kisses Usagi, Taiki and Yaten ask
Seiya, "What is it about that girl?" That girl clearly
implies Usagi. Seiya's reply: "She reminds me of her," with
her implying Princess Kakyuu.
The exchange in the Mixx translation goes like this. Taiki and
Yaten: "What is it about her?" Seiya: "She reminds me of her."
Okay, I'm not an English major, but I know that one shouldn't use
"her" twice in a row while referring to different subjects.
On page 125 of the Mixx edition, Mina produces her Super Secret Three Lights Journal (translation: stalking journal). The info in the journal is translated into English. Except that a note about Seiya, "Loves to eat," is also accidentally copied underneath Taiki's entry.
Minako's speech on page 128 of the original: "That's right, boys! In junior high, too, we couldn't get along by ourselves! We didn't have time for that! So this time, we'll get hot sweethearts like the Three Lights! We'll work as hard as we can to get dates to go on, like ordinary high school girls! That's our ultimate dream! Nothing but that!" Minako's speech in the Mixx version: "Life's all about boys. Gotta have 'em! And lots of romantic dates! This time, I'm gonna have a H O T Three Lights look-alike! I wanna do the high school girlie thing! Totally!"
Sailor Lead Crow is renamed "Sailor Red Crow."
On a similar note, the home planet of Phobos and Deimos, Coronis, is renamed "Kronos" in the Mixx version.
Suzu Nyanko is renamed "Kitty Bell", and the constant "mew" is eliminated from her speech.
The final extra illustration of Seiya by Tamegai-san is not included. For a scan, click here.
And here are some changes and mistakes noticed by others:
Submitted by Mari:
On page 39, Seiya's name is misspelled as S-a-i-y-a.Submitted by Megami:
When Mina is looking at the Three Lights' journal thing, the Three Lights are referred to as women ("she", "her"-in ENGLISH no less!). I know that in the manga they are women, but I didn't think that anyone knew about it.Lita-chan also commented:
I'm not sure if this is an English translation issue or what, but I noticed upon re-reading my manga that the girls are convinced--for a while--that the Three Lights are guys. Yet there are clues EVERYWHERE that they're girls--even in Minako's secret Three Lights diary, their bios refer to them as women. Except when Tin Nyanko tells Usagi that they are women who pose as men, Usagi seems surprised by this news. So, did they already figure it out? Was it always clear that they were women? Mixx kind of bungles the translation, so it's not really clear in the English version.Submitted by Bun-chan:
On page 157 in Stars #1 at the very bottom, Usagi/Bunny thinks "Venus and Mercury...." Call me crazy, but since when did Mercury have long hair? It looks like Mars to me, the editors should have caught that.
Yes, it is Mars.
Sailor Moon Stars #2
As with Stars #1, the print quality in this volume is horrible. Even on the front cover, Sailor Moon is all purple and smudged. Ugh. The black and white art in the rest of the volume fares little better. The book looks like it was photocopied from the original manga, and poorly at that.
Sailor Tin Nyanko is renamed as "Sailor Tein."
Kakyuu is spelled "Kakyu."
Ian Miller explained the spelling changes:
This really isn't a change or a mistake. (If somebody wrote "Poupelin" rather than "Pupuran," or "Pettsu" rather than "Petz," I wouldn't really call it a change.) As long as they stick to the spelling, there's nothing wrong with the "Kakyu." Why? Well, in Japanese, there are two kinds of vowels -- long and short. Most anime fans, when they come across long vowels in the Japanese script, simply double the vowel. So "uu" is a long "u" while "oo" is a long "o." Sometimes they write "ou" to indicate the long "o." So, some would write "Kakyuu" because the "u" is a long vowel. Other people, especially many English-speaking translators, keep only one vowel and put a circumflex (^) or a macron (-) over the vowel. So, they may spell the character's name as Kakyû or Kakyu (with a - over the "u"). It looks like Mixx followed this pattern, and just got rid of the diacritical mark. So, "Kakyuu" really wasn't changed. (Personally, I don't see any reason to keep the additional "u." Its inclusion may, I think, even encourage mispronunciation. Her name isn't pronounced "kah-kyoo-oo.")
Kakyuu's introduction in the original: "I am the first order imperial Princess Kakyuu of the Tankei kingdom of the planet Kinmoku." Kakyuu's introduction in the Mixx version: "I am Kakyu the first princess of the planet Kinmoku." Yes, with a missing comma. Thus, Mixx eliminates the (admittedly confusing) point that there might be more than one kingdom on the planet Kinmoku. For an in-depth look at the actual translations and implications of Kakyuu's line, click here.
Page 31: Kakyuu originally mourned her dead lover, thinking to herself, "And he was [killed] too... Right in front of me..." In the Mixx version, there is no mention of the dead lover in this scene. Kakyuu crumples in grief but instead thinks, "To see your home destroyed..."
But don't worry, the dead lover is brought back on page 39. Seiya explains to Bunny, "Princess Kakyu also lost her love to Galaxia." But this just makes changing the original line on page 31 an arbitrary and strange decision.
Page 36: Messed up. Here's Yaten's speech in the original, naming the original planets of Galaxia's soldiers: "The first who attacked you, Iron Mouse, her planet Chuu was defended by Sailor Chuu. Aluminum Seiren's planet Mermaid, by Sailor Mermaid. The planet Coronis by Sailor Coronis. The planet Mau by Sailor Mau." Now, here's the Mixx translation of the speech: "The first enemy that came from planet Chew is protected by Sailor Chew. Planet Mermaid is protected by Sailor Mermaid. Planet Colenis by Sailor Colenis. Planet Mau by Sailor Mau." Okay, "Chew" is just stupid. But "Colenis" is also inconsistent with the (again incorrect) translation used in Stars Number 1, in which the planet was translated as "Kronos." FOR THE RECORD, it should be CORONIS. Both "Kronos" and "Colenis" are wrong.
Page 41: Congrats for cutting out Seiya's best line in the entire series, Mixx. In the original, Seiya watched a departing Usagi and thought, "We are of different stations in the universe. It might be unrequited love, Seiya." In the Mixx version, Seiya thinks, "She has a lot on her shoulders. She's very brave." Okay, there is NO WAY that one translation could be mistaken for another. The Mixx edition completely eliminates any hint that Seiya is in love with Usagi. Mixx is editorializing Seiya's character. Grrr.
Page 67: Phi or Chi (I can't tell which) introduces Tin Nyanko by saying, "Lord Galaxia, Animal-meiz Tein Nynako is here." There's so many things wrong with that, just starting with "Lord" Galaxia. (*snickers*) In the following panel, Nyanko again addresses Galaxia as "Lord Galaxia."
Page 69: The Galaxy Cauldron is labeled as the "Galaxy Cordon."
Okay, this is rarely mentioned, but it does come up a couple times, including on page 104. The Sailor Starlights are collectively called the "Sailor Star Lights." That's an acceptable translation, granted. But I just prefer "Starlights" as one word, because, like, you know, in normal English, "starlight" is one word.
Sailor Quartet: Messed up. Congratulations, Chibi-Moon. You now have the pleasure of working with "Sailor Celis, Sailor Palis, Sailor Juno, and Sailor Vesta." Excuse me, but shouldn't that be Sailor Ceres and Sailor Pallas? As in, you know, the ancient Greek goddesses and the asteroids of the same name?! Gee, it's not like there's an obvious THEME to this Sailor "Scout" phenomenon or anything.
Here are some additional changes and mistakes noticed by others:
Submitted by Mari:
"In the last volume of the SuperS manga when the Amazoness Quartet return as the Asteroid Senshi (but they say 'We are Sailor Senshi under the protection of the Four Solar Asteroids'), they introduce themselves as Sailor Ceres, Sailor Pallas, Sailor Juno, and Sailor Vesta . . . Then in vol. 2 of Stars they introduce themselves as the Sailor Quartet-- Sailor Celis, Palis, Juno, and Vesta. Gosh, the editors don't really seem to care, do they?"
Reprint Corrections!
Submitted by Leia:
"After reading your page on Mixx mistakes, I've realized some of them have been corrected [in subsequent reprints].
a) the printing doesn't seem to be really bad. I compared the black and white pages to the original print. As for the cover, I don't think it's smudged and purple.
b) it's not 'Lord Galaxia, Animal-meiz Tein Nynako is here.' anymore (but they still use 'Lord Galaxia').
c) the Galaxy Cauldron has been flipped back from 'Galaxy Cordon'.
d) Sailor Pallas and Ceres are no longer Sailor Palis and Celis.
That's about it. Despite the changes, they still cut out and changed a lot of important lines (such as Seiya's arrrr...) and made grammar errors."
Sailor Moon Stars #3
I don't have my hands on a copy of this particular volume yet, and I don't actually feel like spending money on it. But Lita-chan and Ian Miller already nitpicked the thing to shreds with their posts to the the old Kinmoku Koibito forums, so I got their permission to post their commentary here. The original numbered comments are Lita-chan's, and the rest alternate according to poster.
1. Scouts/Soldiers/Senshi. One thing that infuriates me when reading Mixx manga is their complete lack of consistency. Are they Sailor Scouts? Sailor Soldiers? Sailor Senshi? Or, as Endymion puts it on the second-to-last page, Sailor Senshis? I wish they would make up their damn minds . . . I just about choked when I saw that. Awful. They use the terms "Scouts," "Soldiers," "Senshi," and now, "Senshis." Jeez.
2. Phi and Chi apologize for letting Sailor Moon escape, and not for the failures of Lethe and Mnemosyne, as in the original. They also use the term "Crystal Garden" instead of "Garden Crystal."
3. Galaxia calls Sailor Moon's crystal her "life crystal." That's a new one. *cough*more inconsistency*cough*
4. Animate(s). 'Nuff said.
5. This is great. The Sailor Quartetto attacks: "Amazonus!!
Jungle Arrow!!" At least they left off the extra "s." But the "u"
is odd. And what's with all those exclamation marks?
Ian: The original actually says, "Amazones!! Jungle
Arrow!!"
6. This time around, they got three out of four names of the "Sailor Quartet" right. Ceres, Palus, Juno, Vesta. Oops.
7. Starlights: One word, or two? Another inconsistency problem by Mixx.
8. Sailor Kakyu(u): "guardian soldier of the planet Kinmoku,"
or "Kinmoku's star guardian"? I don't think this one is too big of
a deal...but there it is.
Ian: Mixx probably saw the kanji for "star" and decided to
write "Kinmoku's star guardian." Up until that point of the manga,
the kanji has been used as a suffix to mean "planet." Glover's
version is more accurate.
9. One of Kakyuu's dying lines is replaced by "I am honored to have fought with you..." But most of her speech is otherwise intact, in one way or another.
10. Sailor Pluto: "Yes, it is us. Newly reborn Sailor Scout!" Does that make no sense to anyone else? (I believe it's supposed to be "We have been newly reborn!")
11. Sailor Neptune: "Galactica Violent Tide!" Oh, man. That
makes me sad. I mean, come on Mixx, she's holding a violin. Get a
clue.
Ian: Sailor Neptune performs her Submarine Violon Tide early
in the Stars series. What did Mixx call it then?
Lita-chan: They call it "Submarine Violin Tide," so they got
the violin reference then, from the katakana violon. Why didn't
they get it this time?
12. Okay, now Mixx's consistency problems are starting to annoy me. Sailor Galaxia (Mixx): "Welcome to the castle of the universe's most powerful Sailor Scout." Even though she has said herself, before, that Sailor Moon is the most powerful. In Glover's translations, she says, "I am the galaxy's ultimate soldier of destruction. Welcome to the castle of Sailor Galaxia, Sailor Moon." Big difference.
13. Galaxia (original) again: "Massing in groups is evidence of being trash." Mixx version: "To hang out and roam together is a sign of weakness." HANG OUT?!
14. Hey, they're not calling it the Cordon anymore! It's the Galaxy Cauldron! Whooo!
15. Mixx calls Nehallenia "Nephernia."
16. What is it with Mixx and the word "invincible"? Mixx Endymion: "Sailor Moon, you will always be invincible. The most beautiful shining star." Original: "Sailor Moon, you will forever be immortal. For all eternity, you will be the most beautiful, brilliant light."
17. ARGH!!!! They put grammatical errors in Naoko's final notes! "To me, this past five years was like a dream." Isn't that terrible? I couldn't believe that. Her final outpouring of emotion to her fans, and they do that.
In addition to Lita-chan's comments, a few others have pointed out errors.
Mari commented:
I noticed in the 3rd vol. that on the Sailor Moon Instant Replay in 'the people close to Bunny', the same picture of the Starlights is used, BUT now it's a picture from the Japanese version, but flipped around so the writing is backward o_O You know how Japanese is normally read from right to left so the translators for most manga flip the pictures so the order will remain the same when read from left to right.
Sailor Virgo commented:
I've noticed an actual image mistake in the final StarS manga. On page 49 of Sailor Moon #18 (StarS #3), the order of the Sol Senshi is, from left to right: Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Pluto. On pages 52-53 of the next act, the two-page spread of the senshi, the order has changed (from left to right again): Pluto, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus. Plus the fact that the stairs that they're standing on top of have suddenly changed perspective, first slanting from top left to bottom right, the second image slanting from bottom left to top right. Apparently, since the second image has no words that 'must' be read from left ro right, they never flipped over the image. (It takes me about 2 seconds to flip an image in MS Paint. Why is Mixx/Tokyopop so lazy all of a sudden? Instead of having everyone complain about their mistakes, they shouldn't have made so many in the first place.)
Other Notes
One more interesting thing to note: Krystal pointed out that on Encarta.com, "lilac" is listed as the "common name applied to any of a genus of hardy deciduous shrubs of the olive family." Interesting, but does that really mean that Mixx used that as a reason for their change in the manga translation? "Lilac" more commonly conjurs up images of traditional lilac (purple-colored) flowers, not specifically olive blossoms. As Ian pointed out, other names for "osmanthus fragrans" could include "devilwood," "privet," and "tanglebush." But then again, although lilac may not make much sense, it is pretty easy to see why those other particular translations weren't chosen. ^^;;
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