‘Girl Meets Rock!(Futsū no Keion-bu, Ordinary Light Music Club)’: not so ordinary abroad. Should Japanese manga be developed overseas?
‘Girl Meets Rock!(Futsū no Keion-bu, Ordinary Light Music Club)’ uses actual J-POP lyrics, which are apparently blacked out in the official overseas distribution due to copyright issues. Perhaps this will be a major obstacle when publishing the book or broadcasting the anime abroad in the future.
‘Girl Meets Rock!(Futsū no Keion-bu, Ordinary Light Music Club)’ uses actual J-pop lyrics, which are apparently blacked out in overseas distribution due to copyright issues.
Copyright and rights issues are really difficult. However, there are games that have broken through difficult rights issues. Smash Bros. Many characters from outside of Nintendo have participated in Smash Bros. However, this was possible because the Super Smash Bros. series has been a popular series and has produced results. Manga is the starting point for media mixes, from which they spread to anime, films and dramas. Therefore, when it comes to film adaptations, the manga and anime that have been made may be highly regarded and permission may be obtained, but it is unlikely that permission will suddenly be obtained for a manga. However, the issue of rights is a difficult one, not an impossible one.
So, should we envisage media mixing and overseas development when we create a work? This is a difficult question, but if you have a clear vision of the media mix and overseas development, it is possible. The author has forgotten, but there was a manga that devised a speech balloon so that the characters could be written horizontally in anticipation of overseas development. The manga must have been well received overseas.
The author believes that while it is great to create things with media mixes and overseas development in mind, it is not good to overdo it. This is especially true of overseas development. This is because it is ordinary Japanese manga (with no awareness of overseas markets) that is popular overseas. If we make manga for the overseas market with a strong awareness of overseas development, the good qualities of Japanese manga will disappear. No one knows how it will spread through media mixes and overseas development. It would be good to think about it then.
マンガが英語版に翻訳される方法の変化に「日本のマンガそのものを楽しみたい」というアメリカのマンガファンの熱意が詰まっている – GIGAZINE
The change in the way manga is translated into English is filled with the enthusiasm of American manga fans who ‘want to enjoy the Japanese manga itself’. article
