06/08/09: Morikawa as Naraku coming to Anime Expo
Anime Expo 2009 announced on May 29 to invite Toshiyuki Morikawa, a very popular Japanese voice actor, as a guest of honor. He played the role of Naraku in the InuYasha series.
Kyokai no Rinne (RIN-NE) chapter 6 - Kurabutō no Kai
クラブ棟の怪 (The Mystery of the Club Building)
Sakura comes back to this world with Rinne in safety. She asks him about whether he is a human or not. He says that his grandfather, died this spring, was a human though the grandmother isn't. But he doesn't respond to her question about his parents. They go back to home. This night, Miho phones and tells her that when she walked in front of the club building of the school, she found a fireball through its window despite the fact that no one must stay inside the building at that time. Next morning, Sakura visits the club building together with Miho and her friend. Then a very big cat appears…
クラブ棟の怪 (The Mystery of the Club Building)
Sakura comes back to this world with Rinne in safety. She asks him about whether he is a human or not. He says that his grandfather, died this spring, was a human though the grandmother isn't. But he doesn't respond to her question about his parents. They go back to home. This night, Miho phones and tells her that when she walked in front of the club building of the school, she found a fireball through its window despite the fact that no one must stay inside the building at that time. Next morning, Sakura visits the club building together with Miho and her friend. Then a very big cat appears…
05/02/09: Hidaka as Kikyo launches Blog
Noriko Hidaka, a voice actress known for the roles of Kikyo from InuYasha and Akane from Ranma 1/2, started a blog on April 8.
The URL is http://combination.jp/blog/.
Unfortunately, unlike blogs of Kappei Yamaguchi as InuYasha and Ranma and Satsuki Yukino as Kagome, the blog doesn't accept a comment.
According to the blog, at the request of an entrance examination support services company, she wrote another blog concering her son's entrance examination for a private junior high school during last November at http://pr.inter-edu.com/081110/index.php.
The URL is http://combination.jp/blog/.
Unfortunately, unlike blogs of Kappei Yamaguchi as InuYasha and Ranma and Satsuki Yukino as Kagome, the blog doesn't accept a comment.
According to the blog, at the request of an entrance examination support services company, she wrote another blog concering her son's entrance examination for a private junior high school during last November at http://pr.inter-edu.com/081110/index.php.
Kyokai no Rinne (RIN-NE) chapter 2 - Hyakuyōbako no Densetsu
百葉箱の伝説 (The Legend of the Stevenson Screen)
This chapter consists of 1 page in color and 24 ones in black and white. Rika, one of Sakura's friends, is recently frightened of her cellular phone used from last week. Every day, at after school, the phone rings even though she turns of the power. In a boy's voice the caller tells her to come to the rear of the gym at 4 pm. Hearing this, Rinne tells her a legend. He insists that it has passed down in the school…
The Webmaster's comment:
Please don't get the wrong idea that nowadays Japanese high school girls wear such shorts, called bloomer or buruma, in gym classes.
百葉箱の伝説 (The Legend of the Stevenson Screen)
This chapter consists of 1 page in color and 24 ones in black and white. Rika, one of Sakura's friends, is recently frightened of her cellular phone used from last week. Every day, at after school, the phone rings even though she turns of the power. In a boy's voice the caller tells her to come to the rear of the gym at 4 pm. Hearing this, Rinne tells her a legend. He insists that it has passed down in the school…
The Webmaster's comment:
Please don't get the wrong idea that nowadays Japanese high school girls wear such shorts, called bloomer or buruma, in gym classes.
04/24/09: RIN-NE Chapter 1 available in English
The Viz Media on April 22 (US time) started to post the English edition of Kyokai no Rinne to the manga senction of the Rumic World, the official website for Takahashi Rumiko's works, that opened formally on the same day. The manga is available to anyone for free expect for those who live in Japan (VIZ denies accesses from Japan to all the pages of the Rumic World). Chapter 2 is to appear on May 2, the same day as the Japanese release.
The official blog started on the site. The blog accepts comments and releases new information and announcement (the blog also denies accesses from Japan…). According to the blog, VIZ decided to publish newer InuYasha English Editions with the same style as the Japanese edition, namely, unflipped pages and the from-right-to-left style.
http://www.therumicworld.com/blog.php?id=4
Takahashi News: Inuyasha Unflipped - Posted Apr 22, 01:59 PM by Ho Lin
As we unveil Rumiko Takahashi's newest manga series RIN-NE on this site, we're also pleased to announce some exciting news about her classic manga series Inuyasha. Starting with volume 38 (which will be released in July), we're publishing the series the way it was originally drawn, from right to left, and releasing the graphic novels monthly.
VIZ Media also has VIZBIG 3-in-1 editions ($17.99) of the entire series on the way starting in November, also in the original unflipped format! For more Inuyasha-related products, visit the Inuyasha store.
On April 24 (Japan time) Shogakukan makes both the English and the Japanese editions available at the Club Sunday . The Club Sunday is the Japanese website administrated by Shogakukan and is updated Tuesday and Friday every week to post the first chapter of new series and one chapter of serialized manga in the Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine. Though unfortunately, the Club Sunday is to post only Chapter 1 of the Japanese edition, the further chapters of the English edition may be available.
The Webmaster read the both Editions and felt that the translation style was similar to scanlations since suffixes –kun and -san were attached to names - VIZ didn't uses these suffixes in InuYasha and Ranma 1/2 series. It means that VIZ thinks the suffixes are accepted widely. But the Webmaster can't judge from a localization standpoint whether or not the suffixes must be added.
The title logo of the English Edition differs from that of the Japanese edition because of the difference of the titles, RIN-NE and Kyokai no RINNE.
(English version)
(Japanese version)
The Webmaster feels like that the atmosphere of the Kyokai no RINNE (RIN-NE) series is similar to what Takahashi wanted to write but could not in the InuYasha series: the story where InuYasha and Kagome searched shards of the Shikon Jewel in the modern era. In early volumes of the InuYasha series, they act in modern and Sengoku eras because the shards are scattered in both eras. However, soon, the plot for the modern era was deleted from the whole storyline. It was probably because of the unpopularity. But since the Webmaster loves the modern era stories very much, the Webmaster is enjoying this new series.
VIZ Media announced on April 15 to launch an English-language official website for Takahashi's works, www.therumicworkd.com and to release the English-translated upcoming series, Kyōkai no RINNE, on the website every week simultaneously with the issues of the weekly Shonen Sunday magazine in Japan.
The Webmaster is very grad to hear the news. Indeed, scanlations make the English-translated manga available to readers all over the world easily and almost simultaneously with Japanese fans. Moreover considering the quality of Viz's translations of InuYasha and Ranma 1/2 is not high, the licensed English translation of the new series is probably not so good, either. But it is desirable that not a fan but VIZ does distribute the latest manga legally. When the Webmaster launched the website in 2001, it was difficult for the fans outside Japan to read the newest chapter in the Shonen Sunday magazine and to obtain information regarding even its title. The Webmaster named the title of the website with a wish to make is easier for all the fans to know latest information. Nowadays, thanks to many dedicated fans, raw and subbed manga and anime files as well as information and rumors are available very readily on the net in English. This movement is breaking the language barrier. But it has not disappeared yet. The announcement proves that VIZ also attempts to eliminate it. Their attitude surely leads to the availability of higher-quality manga and anime, and much more detailed information at a low price.
The announcement implies that VIZ decided to choose RIN-NE as the formal English title rather than the literal translation. The Webmaster supposes the insertion of the hyphen is because VIZ wants English-speaking readers to pronounce the title correctly. But the Webmaster prefers the use of camel case (RinNe) to the hyphenation.
The announcement reveals the more detailed plot, too.
As a child Sakura Mamiya mysteriously disappeared in the woods behind her grandma's home. She returned whole and healthy, but since then she has had the power to see ghosts. Now a teenager, she just wishes the ghosts would leave her alone! At school, the desk next to Sakura's has been empty since the start of the school year, then one day her always-absent classmate shows up, and he's far more than what he seems!
Though on the WebSunday, the official website for the weekly Shonen Sunday magazine, Sakura's illustration appears, no further information is added.
04/11/09: Title of Takahashi's new work leaked
Because pages of Shonen Sunday #20, issued on April 15, are photographed and uploaded to the Net, the title and the plot of Takahashi's new work are revealed.
The title is 境界のRINNE Kyōkai no RINNE
The title can be translated as "The Reincarnation of The Border." The Webmaster does not know why RINNE, its pronunciation (Rin-ne) means "Reincarnation" in Japanese, is written in alphabet, not in Kanji（輪廻）. Since the ghosts appear in the plot, RINNE probably stands for the reincarnation, though, The Webmaster suggests that RINNE contains other meaning(s) as well.
Strictly speaking, Rinne must be translated as "Samsara". But strong Buddhist atmosphere of this word is probably not suitable for the series. In addition, a title of a Japanese horror film Rinne was also translated as Reincarnation. Therefore, The Webmaster translates RINNE as "the Reincarnation."
The original test for the plot
Sakura is the right girl on the picture. And then, the left body is surely (or will be) her lover... Considering that Sakura appears first, she is the protagonist in the new series as the Kagome acts in the early part of the InuYasha series. It is very rare that a girl acts a protagonist in a Shonen manga (a manga for boys). In fact, the InuYasha manga series was initially unpopular among Japanese readers of the Shonen Sunday magazine. It is because the most of them, boys (and men in their twenties), could not empathize with the opposite gender protagonist. The Webmaster is worried whether Kyōkai no RINNE can achieve popularity among the boys.
Japanese fans have pointed out from the start of the Ranma 1/2 series that initial characters in titles of her main works are derived from her name Rumiko or a term standing for her all works: Rumic :
R: Ranma 1/2
U: Urusei Yatsura
M: Mezon Ikkoku (Mezon: Maison)
I: Inuyasha
K: ?
O: One-Pound Gosuperu (Gosuperu: Gospel)
or
R: Ranma 1/2
U: Urusei Yatsura
M: Mezon Ikkoku
I: Inuyasha
C: ?
Therefore, some fans have predicted from the start of InuYasha that the initial characters in the next title is K or C.
The new title can complete her name. It is very likely that the coincidence occurred by accident until the start of Ranma 1/2. But after the expectation grew rather than the rumor spread, Takahashi surely named the titles of InuYasha and Kyōkai no RINNE after the rule by design. The completion of the name may mean that Takahashi regards the new series as her last full-length manga.
(Addition: 2009/4/17)
The larger scans (1500 x 1083) of the advertisement for the new series is available: Download
The title is 境界のRINNE Kyōkai no RINNE
The title can be translated as "The Reincarnation of The Border." The Webmaster does not know why RINNE, its pronunciation (Rin-ne) means "Reincarnation" in Japanese, is written in alphabet, not in Kanji（輪廻）. Since the ghosts appear in the plot, RINNE probably stands for the reincarnation, though, The Webmaster suggests that RINNE contains other meaning(s) as well.
Strictly speaking, Rinne must be translated as "Samsara". But strong Buddhist atmosphere of this word is probably not suitable for the series. In addition, a title of a Japanese horror film Rinne was also translated as Reincarnation. Therefore, The Webmaster translates RINNE as "the Reincarnation."
The original test for the plot
小さな頃、ある出来事に遭遇し幽霊が見えるようになってしまった少女・真宮桜。そんな彼女に ある日訪れる不思議な出会い――!?The Translation
A girl named Sakura Mamiya(or Sakura Shingū)becamevisibleable to watch ghosts because of an incident in childhood. One day, a mysterious encounter happens to her - !?
Sakura is the right girl on the picture. And then, the left body is surely (or will be) her lover... Considering that Sakura appears first, she is the protagonist in the new series as the Kagome acts in the early part of the InuYasha series. It is very rare that a girl acts a protagonist in a Shonen manga (a manga for boys). In fact, the InuYasha manga series was initially unpopular among Japanese readers of the Shonen Sunday magazine. It is because the most of them, boys (and men in their twenties), could not empathize with the opposite gender protagonist. The Webmaster is worried whether Kyōkai no RINNE can achieve popularity among the boys.
Japanese fans have pointed out from the start of the Ranma 1/2 series that initial characters in titles of her main works are derived from her name Rumiko or a term standing for her all works: Rumic :
R: Ranma 1/2
U: Urusei Yatsura
M: Mezon Ikkoku (Mezon: Maison)
I: Inuyasha
K: ?
O: One-Pound Gosuperu (Gosuperu: Gospel)
or
R: Ranma 1/2
U: Urusei Yatsura
M: Mezon Ikkoku
I: Inuyasha
C: ?
Therefore, some fans have predicted from the start of InuYasha that the initial characters in the next title is K or C.
The new title can complete her name. It is very likely that the coincidence occurred by accident until the start of Ranma 1/2. But after the expectation grew rather than the rumor spread, Takahashi surely named the titles of InuYasha and Kyōkai no RINNE after the rule by design. The completion of the name may mean that Takahashi regards the new series as her last full-length manga.
(Addition: 2009/4/17)
The larger scans (1500 x 1083) of the advertisement for the new series is available: Download
Shogakukan published InuYasha Manga Volume 56 Japanese edition on February 18, 2009. It contains chapters 549 - 558 (Finale). The InuYasha series finally completes at this volume.
The English edition reaches only Volume 36. When is the last volume translated...
ISBN: 978-4-09-121580-2
Price: 400 yen (4.40 dollars)
03/19/09: Yukino as Kagome starts Blog
Satsuki Yukino, a voice actress for the role of Kagome, started a blog on March 14 at http://blog.goo.ne.jp/yukino-jo/.
Visitors can leave comments to the blog (the comments are displayed after her check). If possible, please write ones in Japanese, even a poor Japanese.
Visitors can leave comments to the blog (the comments are displayed after her check). If possible, please write ones in Japanese, even a poor Japanese.
