Atom: The Beginning (Manga Discussion)

[Kitty Lue]

I think if the Atom The Beginning anime gets popular enough, an official English version of the manga could happen. That's just my speculation though.

I was thinking something similar; if I'm remembering right, there was info about the anime showing outside Japan (from which I could infer that it'd be translated, and English seems the most likely) and, if so, it'd make sense to translate the manga at that time.
But I guess that, with no confirmation on an official translation, it might just be best to buy what we can find now and try to translate it. At least in this case all we'd (assuming my sister actually helps me translate it :lol have to do is figure out what the Japanese dialogue means in English, and not have to wonder if we even got the right Japanese words like with translating spoken dialogue.

[Shiyonasan]

To commemorate the announcement of the Atom: The Beginning anime debuting on April 15, the official Atom: The Beginning manga website has provided the entirety of the first three chapters free for everyone to view. Very generous of them!

A reminder that these chapters are in Japanese. There is no official English translation of the ATB manga available yet.

http://www.heros-web.com/works/viewer/atom_001_003/index.html

[Kitty Lue]

A reminder that these chapters are in Japanese. There is no official English translation of the ATB manga available yet.

Since the first 3 chapters are now legal to read for free, I could post an English version of the dialogue, if that's alright. Would that be better to make a separate thread for or to post it in a spoiler here?

[Shiyonasan]

[QUOTE=Shiyonasan;242694]
A reminder that these chapters are in Japanese. There is no official English translation of the ATB manga available yet.

Since the first 3 chapters are now legal to read for free, I could post an English version of the dialogue, if that's alright. Would that be better to make a separate thread for or to post it in a spoiler here?[/QUOTE]

That still technically falls under copyright laws, so unfortunately, I can't allow you to post that here.

Read this page to see what I mean:

http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/6471/what-are-the-legality-rules-in-terms-of-manga-translations

[Kitty Lue]

That still technically falls under copyright laws, so unfortunately, I can't allow you to post that here.

Read this page to see what I mean:

http://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/6471/what-are-the-legality-rules-in-terms-of-manga-translations

Correct me if I'm wrong but all I could see them talk about the legality of was scans with translations or "scanlations," as they called them. All I intended to post was literally text, which would still require the reader to have their own copy of the manga (or access it from the official website) for it to be much good. This would also be limited strictly to the 3 chapters that are freely available to view on the official website. Is this what you understood from my original post?
If posting the plain text translation of chapters that are legally free to view in Japanese is illegal, though, then I guess there's not much that can be done. The forum can't control laws, and I've never found copyright law to be all that flexible or current.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Question: Is it illegal to post the lyrics for a song WITHOUT posting the actual music (mp3 file)? IE: are the words to a song by themselves protected by copyright, or is only the PERFORMANCE of the lyrics (sung to music) protected? In other words, would the publishing of a translation (this would include files for subtitles of videos that are useless by themselves unless linked to the actual video for display) prohibited by copyright?

It would seem to me that the owner of the manga, or anime, wouldn't mind having his work translated, IF the way that the translation was distributed REQUIRED that the user have purchased the original work in order for the translation to be of any value. IE: the availability of the translation would increase the value of the work by making it accessible to a larger audience.

[Kitty Lue]

It would seem to me that the owner of the manga, or anime, wouldn't mind having his work translated, IF the way that the translation was distributed REQUIRED that the user have purchased the original work in order for the translation to be of any value. IE: the availability of the translation would increase the value of the work by making it accessible to a larger audience.

This was my thinking, but I wanted to be extra sure I'm not posting anything illegally since my logic hasn't always lined up with that of copyright law. Since the legality of what I was going to do was called into question (though that was before I clarified I don't intend to post scans) I think I'll still wait a bit longer for any objections before I start getting the English dialogue ready to post.

EDIT:
On a side note, I was reading a list of names and their meanings, and happened to come across "Hiroshi." I found it rather fitting.

HIROSHI m Japanese
From Japanese 寛 (hiroshi) meaning "tolerant, generous", 浩 (hiroshi) meaning "prosperous", or other kanji and kanji combinations which are read the same way.

https://www.behindthename.com/names/28

[jayrockin]

I'm a bit late to be joining with this contribution, but I only just read the the thread and joined the forum, so, well, here it is I guess,

I read what was available for the manga and actually really enjoyed the energy and light-hearted tone. Technically Ochanoimizu should be in college and Tenma should be a fetus, but hey... it's a fun concept, no big reason to get miffed.

Buuuuut I share the same concerns as most of you about the character designs, and since nickpicking is my favorite leisure activity I'd like to dig into that a bit... it seems to me there hasn't been a mainstream manga/anime artist since Naoki Urusawa in Pluto to effectively compromise between Tezuka's hyper-stylized characters and their own art. Young Black Jack had this issue too, looking like a bunch of sexy anime college kids with some visitors from toon town.

Not to say I like nothing about the designs from Atom the Beginning... I really enjoy Ochanomizu's frickin....hair wings and nose, though the latter doesn't seem to integrate well with his face. Him being dirty blond is a change from the original that I think works... it helps immediately identify him to an audience familiar with him having white hair. He definitely should be chubby though, the beanpole scientist look is cute but Tenma already has that one covered. They should also be different heights... why are anime boys so often the exact same height?? It makes it harder to tell them apart from silhouette... Speaking of Tenma, I'm less enthused about his design. Needs more nose, more poofy hair, more scraggly college goatee to keep him identifiable. If you showed me AtB and didn't tell me he was young Tenma, I never would have guessed.

All that in mind I took I shot at redesigning them! Let me know what you think of the art and about Tezuka redesigns in general. (though maybe i should take the latter to a different thread... not familiar with the social mechanics of forums)

[Kitty Lue]

I think your redesigns are very plausible looks for Tenma and Ochanomizu at that age.
Also I like that Ochanomizu has a shirt, and A106's "tiny angry eyebrows"

(though maybe i should take the latter to a different thread... not familiar with the social mechanics of forums)

I've been a member for less than half a year, so I wouldn't consider myself an authority on this, but that's probably a good idea. It'd help keep topics organized. Maybe you could link to the thread in your post here to connect that discussion to where you brought it up here, if you want. You should still be able to edit your post within 24 hours of posting it.

[YJ_Doodle]

Very neat designs! Definitely more accurate than AtB(Especially Ochanomizu's height, thank you very much!) and I can see them growing up to the scientists they'll be.

But besides the character design, I've grown so fond of AtB already. The personalities in my opinion are done quite well and I love this quirky duo despite their differences.

On another note... Do you guys think Atom is part of the A(like A106, A107...) series? I'm quite curious to see how far they'll go with that.