Danmei and Chinese Novels :) discussion
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Monogitari
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I saw news on this and they are taking legal action against someone else (think a partner?) who was doing illegal things with their licensed content (something like that) and that’s why things have been pushed back. You’ll have to look it up for the exact reason. Sorry I cannot remember properly. I was more interested in if the books were gonna be published at all, which thy still are. Not what actually was going on. 😅 So I didn’t pay attention properly.
I don’t know all of the details, but I read that it was a dispute over the publishing rights. Apparently both Monogatari and Bloved claimed to have the rights for these and are currently involved in a legal battle over it. I don’t know much about either except that Bloved I believe is a TikTok user?It’s really unfortunate for the fans. I was excited about several of the things they were publishing. It sucks that it’s been delayed so much. I know that a lot of people complain about Seven Seas translations and stuff, but I have to agree that they are the best English danmei publisher. I really appreciate their consistency and the fact that their books are so easily obtainable. I’m always disappointed when another publisher picks up a danmei that I’m interested in reading because it feels like the fate of the translation is much more uncertain. Plus I know that I will have a much more difficult time getting my hands on it.
thedeadlyscimitar wrote: "’m always disappointed when another publisher picks up a danmei that I’m interested in reading because it feels like the fate of the translation is much more uncertain. "Some of the same translators work on danmei from different publishers including Seven Seas so it sounds oddly prejudiced to me. Like the same translator is working on Ballad of Sword and Wine, Nanchan, To Marry a Demon, and worked on Rose & Renaissance and Peach Blossom Debt - all 5 are from 5 different publishers. So I can't agree with you here. From experience, from what I've read of all the current and past publishers, each one has better and worse translations.
Can't say I had a bad exprience with other publishers I bought danmei from, and the 12 or so danmei volumes that I own from publishers other than Seven Seas are actually amazing quality-wise. That of course doesn't include Monogatari or Haitang that haven't released anything yet.
I'm actually all for there being many different danmei publishers around if only for sheer variety they bring in terms of the genres they license, their covers, and so on. We would never ever reach this variety and number of licenses with just one publisher out there. Some food for thought!
I didn’t mean that Seven Seas is superior in terms of their transitions. I’m sorry if it came across that way. I just meant that I’ve heard a lot of people take issue with Seven Seas translations. I haven’t personally had any problems with their translations, although I don’t speak Chinese, so I suppose I can’t really say how it compares to the original. The reason I prefer Seven Seas isn’t their translations, but the fact that their books are the most readily available and easily obtainable. For the most part, with some exceptions, their books are released when they say they will be and fans are able to get them quickly. I can simply go to my local bookstore and find them easily on the shelf. That’s not the case with some other publishers of danmei in English.
Rosmei for example can take a very long time. I ordered my first book from them back in August and I still haven’t received it yet. I’m sure that I will get it, and I have no problem with Rosmei. It’s just that I prefer the convenience of Seven Seas. That’s all that I meant.
That's an issue with the store or where you order your books from and not with the publisher. The release dates Rosmei provides are for Singaporean customers - and they never once released a book later than the release date provided. In fact, so far all of their books came out earlier than the estimated release date - some much earlier, I received all of mine before the ETAs. So again, I can't agree with you here. They are actually very dependable. They don't delay releases. Seven Seas provides release dates but doesn't always stick to them, I'm sure due to various unforeseeable reasons. I've been buying their danmei since 2021 so I witnessed all the times the release dates on their books were changed. Which I have no problems with, but just stating the fact. Example: Stars of Chaos volume 1 original announced release date: February 2023; Actual release date: July 2023.
Again, I have to apologize. Apparently I’m not doing a very good job of conveying what I’m trying to say. I didn’t mean to imply that Rosmei had ever been late with their releases. I reiterate that I have no problem with Rosmei as a publisher. I have only ordered one book from them, which I have yet to receive, therefore I can’t really comment on what I think of Rosmei yet. The book that I ordered wasn’t a preorder though. It was the first volume of How to Survive as a Villain, which has already been released. But because of the way Rosmei works, when I order a book from them it takes quite some time to get to me. That isn’t Rosmei’s fault, it just has to do with the publisher’s location relative to me. I ordered through yiggybean, by the way. The reason for my personal preference for Seven Seas is because, for me, their books are the most easily obtainable and readily available. If I wanted to buy one of their books that’s already been released, then I could simply go to the store right now and grab it off the shelf. I could have it in my hands today. But if I want to buy a book from Rosmei that’s already been released, it will most likely take months to get to me. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not making any negative commentary on Rosmei as a publisher or any others for that matter . All I’m saying is that I appreciate the accessibility of Seven Seas books in my location.
I understand your POV. I assume you're in the States? For me, none of the danmei books by any publisher, not even Seven Seas, are available in bookstores here, so I have to order them all the same way online, so from my perspective it's literally the same experience and the same waiting time for them. I can't walk into a bookstore and buy a newly released 7S book - it has to be imported and reach the country by air or water first, so whenever that shipment arrives, that's when the book can be shipped to me. I can imagine our perspectives are different because we live in different regions, so you speak from yours and I speak from mine, and our personal circumstances aren't the publishers' fault, so I'm just always a little sad when someone says "well, I prefer this one publisher who's most convenient for me to get because I live in the same region as them to license all danmei" - because it disregards every other fan who may live somewhere else and maybe it's not more convenient for them.
I don’t think that it disregards every other fan to state your own personal experience and preferences. I apologize if you felt that way, but I was only stating my personal opinion and which publisher I prefer for the sake of convenience in my area. I never said any of the others were bad, just that I prefer Seven Seas for accessibility in my country.
I just like that the novels are getting licensed as long as the publishers don't have any major issues, I don't have a preference, personally. I even think we're missing a publisher based in the UK, that would not be convenient for me or fans from other regions but it would be amazing for UK fans which I know are plenty. And I'd find a way to get the books anyway.I don't mind any publisher except this thread's Monogatari because this one really is unreliable. They've had issues since Day 1. Haven't released anything yet and their behavior online is very unprofessional - that includes their partner whom I don't trust either, it's the same story with them both. If you check socials, many customers can't get refunds for their orders.
That’s what I’ve heard too. It’s a really unfortunate situation for the fans. I’m also concerned what the quality will be like once Monogatari does actually release these books. As you said, it seems like they have been very unprofessional and inconsiderate of their customers. It doesn’t inspire much confidence. I will definitely wait to see how the situation progresses before I even consider purchasing anything from them. If they don’t make things right then I probably won’t buy from them. That’s why I like to wait and see if a publisher proves to be reliable and trustworthy before buying anything from them. Hopefully, Hai Tang will be a good one. I haven’t heard much about them since they’re so new and haven’t released anything yet.
One more worrying thing about Monogatari is that they hired MTLers to work on Legendary Master's Wife - the person hired to work on it admitted to being fluent in neither Chinese nor English and their editor for this novel doesn't know Chinese at all. It's really sad because this could've been another publisher with interesting titles, especially manhuas - we don't have many of those in print in English - but they're proving to be a flop.I agree with you wholeheartedly, I'm always hesitant about new publishers and wait for them to release something first, watch for reviews and such. I'm also wondering about Hai Tang but they're a branch of an overseas publisher Cherry Apple who publishes danmei in Chinese, so they're not a completely unknown entity.
... wrote: "One more worrying thing about Monogatari is that they hired MTLers to work on Legendary Master's Wife - the person hired to work on it admitted to being fluent in neither Chinese nor English and th..."Seriously? Why would they hire someone who isn't fluent in either language? That doesn't make any sense. It's very concerning to say the least.
Oh really? I hadn't heard that about Hai Tang. Does Cherry Apple have a good reputation? I really want to read The Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know.
My preference is for Danmei. I'm a danmei addict. I read everything I can get my hands on. I just want more, although, since 7 seas has stepped it up and started putting out 3 books a month, I can't keep up, so I'm gathering a backlog, which is great. I have bought from Via lactae, Peach Blossom Press (broken hearted over them out of the business. I loved their stuff) and I ordered from Rosmei back in August and still have nothing. So, there is other stuff out there and I like it, but by far, the most stuff I can read is 7 seas. The are consistent and they get me my danmei. I wish there were more publishers. I'll buy any story that's danmei. Rose and Renaissance needed some more editing, there were simple mistakes that didn't need to be there. The story was awesome though.
My whole point is, please, gods of danmei and Rabbit god, help us thirsty love starved danmei addicts and give us more stories that are done well and let's get all the Chinese danmei translated into English and into my hands. Amen.
Honestly, 7 Seas seems to be the only one that can really be consistent. Thank God for 7 seas!