Eagle's Eyrie

Just got the first two volumes of Seven Seas’ new PSOH Collector’s Edition. (Here’s my list of the series on bookshop.org, for anyone who wants to buy them in a way that gives a kickback to (a) local bookstores, (b) me, and (c) not Amazon.)

I already had the whole series in the original Tokyopop edition, but wow, the print quality on this new release is such an upgrade. The lineart, the toning, it has so many fine details and subtle gradations that didn’t get to shine nearly this much in the first version.

It’s also a brand-new translation of the text. I’m resisting the urge to do a whole line-by-line comparison — I want to just read and enjoy the stories, without looking back-and-forth between two books on every single page — but I keep getting curious and spot-checking individual lines/panels…

Guess I’m liveblogging this now, huh.

(Thread on Mastodon, duplicate thread on Bluesky, I made those by copying this post as I wrote it, bit-by-bit.)

1) Dream

I was expecting the SS translation to feel more fluid and natural overall. Because New and Improved, right? But no, the script goes back-and-forth with which version I think hits better.

Here’s a clear SS win, at least. Our first customer, Angelica, describing what she’s looking for in a pet:

TP: “Well, anyway, one that’s much more expensive and impressive than that bird that conceited Janet has…”
SS: “And it has to be way more valuable than stupid Janet’s stupid parakeet!”

—

…So here’s a fascinating detail. Right after Angelica signs her name on the contract, D explains that he’ll take his payment in fruit tarts:

TP: “The kind with the red and green filling, Angelica.”
SS: “With plenty of red and green candied angelica, please.”

Candied angelica is an actual dessert topping (though the only pictures I can find are green, not red). Was the original Japanese text making a pun on the character’s name, and the TP translators missed it? Or was there not a pun in the Japanese, and SS added it?

(Angelica has an assistant who addresses her as “Miss Angelica” in TP, but in SS he’s only called her “Miss” at this point, so D doesn’t find out her name until she writes it down.)

—

D introduces Q-chan as a “the winged rabbit” in the first run, and “a Wolpertinger” in the second. I’m guessing the Japanese wrote “wolpertinger” in katakana, and the TP translators had no idea what to make of it? Alternately, maybe the TP translators didn’t trust their readers to look it up.

I thought “winged rabbit” might have been a literal conversion of the German into English…but nope, apparently the German etymology is a total mystery.

—

Angelica reflecting on how far she trusts D:

TP: “A suspicious storekeeper of a suspicious pet shop in Chinatown…with a very suspicious smile!”
SS: “The young owner of a sketchy little pet shop, in a shady corner of Chinatown…there’s something about the knowing smile of an Asian person that’s just so suspicious!”

Uhhh. Dying to know whether this was TP smoothing over the character’s racism, or SS dialing it up.

(Is this a case of “one is a literal word-for-word translation, the other is a more accurate expression of how the character is supposed to come across”? And if so, which is which?)

I do like TP’s rhythm of “suspicious this, suspicious that, suspicious other thing” better than SS’ approach of using a different synonym every time.

—

2) Despair

The customer in this one is “Robin Hendrix” in the TP translation, and “Robin Hendricks” in SS.

According to a quick check on MyNameStats.com: the estimated number of people in the US with the surname HENDRICKS is 49,261. For HENDRIX, it’s 39,236. So, the SS transliteration is more popular…but not hugely so.

And I low-key assumed the name was supposed to invoke Jimi Hendrix, given that Robin’s famous alien-prince character always gave me the vibes of “what if a prog rock album was a sci-fi movie.”

—

Leon! Hi, Leon!!

An exchange in the TP version:

D: How rude! We are a business that deals in love and dreams…not toxic or dangerous creatures.
Leon (thinking): “Love”? The only thing this guy loves in his own voice!

And the SS version:

D: Dear me! Our humble shop only sells love and dreams. Nothing vicious or venomous!
Leon (thinking): Did he seriously say, “love and dreams” with a straight face?

Same annoyance level, but slightly different vibe! TP Leon thinks “this guy is so conceited,” SS Leon thinks “this guy is so corny.”

—

A general thing that’s come up a couple times: SS does a better job of translating sound effects, and other little asides. TP sometimes leaves them untranslated, sometimes just erases them and doesn’t replace them with anything. There’s an example here, where Leon has a little “grr, grr…” that’s only in the SS version.

Another one later in the chapter: Robin gets handed a film script, the SS version has an English title and some credits printed on the cover. TP just left it blank.

—

Another line that’s only explicitly racist in the SS version, this time Leon thinking about D:

TP: That arrogant–! Laughing at me like I’m a moron! Where does he get off–?
SS: Dammit! That smartass! Bet he was laughing at me inside the whole time. I can’t stand Asians!

Oof. I really hope SS is the version that’s being more literal, and TP is more accurate to the Author’s Intended Rudeness Level.

(Poor Leon, you have no idea how much you’re going to be thinking grumpy thoughts about D from this day forward…)

—

Robin reflecting on why his pet is better than his fangirls and/or his ex:

TP: And best of all, she can’t live without me.
SS: The biggest difference, though…is that your survival depends entirely on me.

So, hey, there’s a case where I think the TP translation clearly hits better.

—

3) Daughter

The SS version gives D a little farewell catchphrase: “Please cherish your new pet, for as long as you both may live.” With slight variations — in issue 3, where the customers are a pair of grieving parents, it’s “…as long as you all may live.”

TP just has him saying “Well then, please take good care of [him/her/it/them].”

I’m guessing this is whatever phrase shows up in a lot of anime/manga character introductions, usually translated as “I’ll be in your care” or “Please take care of me.” I figured that was a bit of a formal, ritualized thing to say — but only on the level that “it’s a pleasure to meet you” or “I appreciate your time” are formal. Not on the level that wedding vows are formal.

It adds some nice texture, and honestly, in this case I kinda don’t care if it’s more or less accurate — I really like the result. D, you fancy ominous weirdo.

(…This means he’s going to pull the pseudo-wedding-vow on Leon at some point, right? Looking forward to it.)

—

Another D-Leon conversation I’m rotating in my head:

TP translation:

D: Welcome–Oh, it’s you, officer. You have good timing. You always come around teatime.
Leon: Hey, you’re the weirdo drinking tea all the time. How’s business?
D: Hee hee! Brisk as usual, officer.

SS translation:

D: Welcome! Oh, it’s just you. You have a keen nose. You always seem to arrive right at teatime.
Leon: More like you decide it’s teatime when I show up. Do you ever do any work?
D: Oh, I do enough.

(Is this foreshadowing that D isn’t going to end up throwing around “my dear detective” in SS’ versions of the later chapters? That’ll be a loss.)

—

Another example where the original TP translation seems a little more natural…

TP: Parents raise their children by giving them a part of themselves. Children born from deep and unrestrained affections…are born from their own parents’ blood.
SS: The mother sacrifices her flesh so that they may live. But what seems like a mother’s deep love…burdens her children with the sin of matricide from the moment they’re born.

(This is D waxing philosophic about a species of murderous cannibal rabbits. Because that’s just how PSOH rolls.)

—

To Be Continued

This post is so long and I’m only halfway through the first book. Cutting it off here. More to come!