MXTX, Neil Gaiman and Word of Honor.

[rogueslayer452]

++ I'm so excited since it's has been announced that there's going to be official English translations of all of MXTX's novels (The Scum Villain's Self-Saving Service, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, and Heaven Official's Blessing) which you can pre-order right now. There's release schedules of the volumes for each, and according to the sources the translations will be uncensored, will be featuring the extra chapters, and the proceedings will go to the author. I know there's been skepticism and concerns about the latter especially, and while I don't know much information myself and I want to directly support the author, I want to trust the people involved with this that they're being honest in those statements. Either way though, I am excited for this because MXTX's work has become more known thanks to the success of The Untamed, and I know it's been hard for a lot of international fans to get any kind of official anything of these IPs, and hopefully this will not only get more people to become aware and interested in these works but also help other Chinese novels to get officially translated into English, as well.

I am still going to purchase the Chinese editions of the novels though, simply because I want to, since I'm that kind of person who will buy, if possible, a book in its original language alongside the translated version.

(As a sidenote, I know that the MXTX fandom is quite wanky in itself, most of which I only know via osmosis through third parties because I don't delve that deep into that side of the fandom and keep to my own carefully curated space, and already there's been a lot of concerns and skepticism and pessimism over the EN translations, what this means for the fan translations already available online, what it means for expanding the fandom, etc. I get some of the concerns, as I'm also kind of wary of how the expansion of these fandoms will include Westerners bringing in their own biases and expectations and not understanding the cultural significances and differences and such, which is a learning curve but requires a lot of patience and listening to Chinese fandom instead of talking over them, as is always the case. But still, I'd like to take a more optimistic approach.)

++ Also, in a kind of related note, Neil Gaiman might have also spiked more international interest with Word Of Honor because one of the main leads of the drama endorsed one of his anthology books, Smoke and Mirrors (and also The Graveyard Book as well), which ended up topping the Chinese book charts, which he acknowledged and commented on both on his Twitter and Facebook being pleasantly surprised, which he then responded to wanting to watch Word Of Honor after a fan commented about it being available on Netflix.

It's just a surreal thing, two different fandoms from two different cultural backgrounds colliding with one another in an unexpected, but amazing way. I truly hope that not only does Neil Gaiman watch and enjoy the show, but that others that are discovering it enjoy it as well.

Comments

[icecoldrain.livejournal.com]

I HAVE BEEN SO EXCITED SINCE I SAW THE NEWS. I AM READYYYYYY. idk about some of the others, but I know the fan translation of MDZS that I read will be left up until December. Not sure about the others though, like I know some of the fan translations of Heaven Official's Blessings have been taken down by the people who translated them already. The one I read is still up but idk how long that will be for.

I'm debating on pre-ordering or just getting everything as a boxset. THE STRUGGLE IS REAL. I'm likely going to preorder MDZS and Heaven Official's Blessing for my birthday instead of waiting for them to drop as sets after the final volumes are released. Whatever. I want to show my love stat lmao.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

There's been a lot of debate going around about the aspect of the already fan translated ones available online now being considered "illegal" and therefore will have to be taken down. I guess from a legal standpoint I can understand it, but it still sucks nonetheless, and there's also been some "shaming" for anyone who saved those translations and have them for their own personal use, which is ridiculous. Never mind the drama surrounding the official English translations being done by fan translators instead of professional translators.

Again, the MXTX fandom is quite wanky in general and this news has left a lot feeling conflicted and people have different opinions on the matter.

And yeah, the struggle is definitely real when it comes to deciding whether to pre-order individual volumes now or wait until they're all available. Regardless, I'll certainly be getting them. :)

[icecoldrain.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Though, sevenseasdanmei is actually working with people who have done some of the more popular fan translations as well as fans who do fanart for the official translations, so it's not as frowned upon. It's part of why a lot of the people who did fan translations (whether they are now working with sevenseasdanmei for the official translation or not) announced when they'll be taking down the ones they've had posted online for anyone to read. Which... also goes straight into the drama surrounding why fan translations are being worked with vs official translators, but from what I've seen from solid sources among the zillion posts I've seen about it, it looks like they're also having professional translators look over them as well. idk I personally don't see the problem but that's just me, since professional translators will be consulted to double check and work with the fan translators as needed.

But then again, I stay away from the drama so I'm just gonna step away from the fire that is the drama going down lmao.

OMG right. Ughhhhhh. I'm just gonna pre-order I know myself and I'm not gonna want to wait lmaoooooo. I might put in a request at my library too so the library also gets them!

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

But then again, I stay away from the drama so I'm just gonna step away from the fire that is the drama going down lmao.

That's pretty much how I am, lol. I don't pay attention to any kind of drama unless I accidentally come across it from people that I follow, and even with my morbid curiosity just needing to get context of whatever drama is happening I just get the main gist of it before noping out of it entirely. But it is rather interesting to see what catapulted the drama in the first place and why people are having certain strong reactions to it.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

Oh, it's really nice to see Western fandom and Eastern fandom meeting like that. :-)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

It really is, it's rather sweet. :)