Written by Misty of Myu Corner

The following are errors that I found in the first printing of Volume 4 of Kodansha USA’s English release of the Sailor Moon manga. They are divided into sections for writing errors (presented in a table), possible issues on multiple pages, honorific issues, inconsistencies/continuity errors, and miscellaneous errors (presented as bulleted lists).

I am not in any way affiliated with Kodansha USA, Del Rey, William Flanagan, or any other person or entity involved in the translation, production, or publication of the volume critiqued here. I also do not mean these critiques as libel in any way, shape, or form, and hope that the persons and entities involved in the translation, production, or publication of the volume critiqued here will not take it as such.

*Due to the ongoing investigation of Megaupload by the FBI, I was unable to download the file of the Mixx version I usually use from Neo Nobility. So, for this and possibly several future reports, I will be using the raw scans of the Tokyopop version from Miss Dream rather than Neo Nobility’s Mixx scans.

Possible Issues on Several Pages

• Throughout this volume (and maybe volume 3 too, but I didn’t catch it there), the Prince of the Black Moon Clan is called “Demande.” However, I have seen this character’s name romanized elsewhere as “Dimande” or “Demando,” and his name is written as プリンス・デマンド (Purinsu Demando) in Japanese. Given the jewel theme with villain names in Sailor Moon, I assume the name was supposed to approximate the English word “diamond” (usually written daiyamondo in Japanese), and DiC did name him “Prince Diamond” when they dubbed the R anime. Not sure which is the correct romanization here. Technically, “Demando” is the correct one per the katakana, but it’s tough to say.
• The translator continues to put ellipses at the beginning of sentences, as several fans have noticed. Ellipses are generally meant for the end of sentences.
• As noted by Brad of Moonkitty.net in regards to volume 3, Chibiusa’s name is consistently written “Chibi-usa.” The hyphen is not necessary.
• I’ve noticed that throughout the Black Moon arc, and particularly in this volume, the enemies are referred to as “the Black Moon.” I would think it should be “Black Moon Clan” or “Black Moon family,” as other parts of the canon have called them (their Japanese name, ブラックムーン一族, means “Black Moon Family”). It’s unclear.
• On page 20 and also in flashbacks on pages 233 and 234, the spell Sailor Pluto taught Chibiusa is written as “Abra-cadabra Ta-daa.” The main issue here is that “Abra-cadabra” shouldn’t have a hyphen. It should be “abra cadabra,” or as in the Japanese, “abracadabra.” The Japanese name for this spell is Abracadabra Pon (アブラカダブラ・ポン). “Abracadabra” is a word initially used as a charm against sickness or evil and later frequently invoked by magicians. The origin of the word is disputed, but can be traced at least to the Latin word abracadabra from the end of the 4th century A.D. with certainty. [Source]. One popular theory is that it originates in Hebrew and Aramaic and means “I create as I speak” (or something along those lines); author J.K. Rowling defined it as “let the thing be destroyed” when explaining the origin of her spell Avada Kedavra (a.k.a. “the Killing Curse”). “Pon” is Japanese onomatopœia (sound word) and means, among other things, the sound of something appearing magically, often with a puff of smoke. [Source]
• “It’s a spell that will help you raise your spirits again, Small Lady!” – This line from Sailor Pluto occurs three times in the text, originally on page 21 and then in flashback on pages 233 and 234. A better way to write this would be: “It’s a spell that will help raise your spirits, Small Lady!”
• Tuxedo Kamen’s Attack: Man, these poor characters and their attacks. Last volume, Jupiter’s attack got mangled, this time poor Tuxedo Kamen gets that distinction. His signature attack Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber is written as “Tuxedo La Smoking!! Bomber!!” on page 91 and “Tuxedo!! La Smoking Bomber” on pages 137 and 185. The excessive exclamation points are not needed (one or maybe two after “bomber” would have been sufficient). (One funny thing about this attack: “la smoking” actually means “tuxedo” in French. “Bomber” means “to bulge out” – assuming that Naoko-san is using the French word here. So the attack literally means “Tuxedo The Tuxedo To Bulge Out.” *chuckle*)
• Multiple times in Act 20 (and I think Act 21 also), the Inner Senshi of the future are referred to as the “Four Guardian Goddesses.” My best guess is that this was a misinterpretation of their official name in the manga, the “Senshi of the Four Guardian Deities” (surprisingly, “Inner Senshi” is a fanmade term and is not actually canon). It probably should be “Four Sailor Guardians” to stay consistent with the translation conventions followed in the other volumes.
• After Moon, Chibiusa, Venus, Tuxedo Kamen, and the cats arrive in Crystal Tokyo, there are multiple references to the Black Crystal (or “Malefic Black Crystal” rather) planted there, calling it a “megalith.” I did not think that was a word, but it is, and means “a stone of great size, especially in ancient construction work, as the Cyclopean masonry, or in prehistoric Neolithic remains, as dolmens or menhirs.” [Source] I thought they meant “monolith,” which is an obelisk, column, or statue formed from a single piece of stone. [Source] Either could work, I guess.

Honorific Issues (Oddly Used, Not Needed)

In three different places (page 37, page 38, and page 77), Asanuma calls Makoto “Makoto-san.” Elsewhere in the manga he calls her “Makoto-sempai.” While -san would also be an appropriate honorific to use in this case, it’s an inconsistency here because he typically uses -sempai with her. (Because it’s a honorific issue and not a plot continuity error, I’m listing it here instead of under inconsistencies).

Inconsistencies/Continuity Errors

Once again, no continuity errors. Maybe things ARE looking up.

Miscellaneous

• Some errors addressed in the volume 3 guidecrop up again in Volume 4:
  • The error I noted from volume 3’s “Volume 4 preview” is still there in volume 4.
  • The Ayakashi Sisters are still the “Spectre Sisters.”
  • The Black Crystal is still the “Malefic Black Crystal”
  • The “Wise-man” error (should be “Wiseman”) crops up again on pages 24 and 64 of volume 4.
• On the bright side, Sailor Jupiter’s attack “Sparkling Wide Pressure” is correct in Volume 4; in Volume 3 it was mistakenly written as “Spark ring! Wide Pressure!”.
• Chibiusa’s Spell (p. 112): When Chibiusa recites the spell to activate the Space-Time Key, her whole spell is in quotes. I don’t think it’s really necessary for it to have quotes.
• The translation notes have a very different font this time. It’s kind of similar to the font they’ve used before but with a much lighter stroke, making them hard to read.
• Though it didn’t happen to my volume, at least one fan (and maybe others) had a volume with a printing error where the last 25% of the book was reprints of previous pages stuck in out of sequence. Oops. (Note: I had previously said in a tweet that the reprinted pages were from volume 3, but I see now I was wrong. The reprinted pages were actually from volume 4. I mistinterpreted what the issue that particular fan had had was about. Sorry!)
• Research Fail: In the last translation note of the volume, Mr. Flanagan writes:
  

  Page 135, Chemical Terms
  

  This sequence uses a lot of chemical terms such as enantiomer, electrochemical side chain, isomer, and chiralty center. Unfortunately, while Takeuchi-sensei is trained as a chemist, this translator is not. You are welcome to look up the meanings yourself. If you can make sense of them, I would congratulate you on being a more chemistry-inclined person than myself. Although the chemical terms bear a relationship to the events in the manga, it is not necessary to know exactly what the terms mean to make sense of the story.

  Now, besides the fact that his page number is off (the sequence starts on page 132…but then there are so few page numbers given in the last couple volumes that page numbers are really hard to determine, so I might be wrong), this note struck me as sounding like a lazy cop-out. If he’s going to go to the trouble to write these translation notes so we understand the Japanese cultural concepts in this volume, he could at least have taken the time to research the chemical terms in this sequence to find out what they meant. He could’ve used a library, the Internet, or even asked Naoko-san personally (since Mr. Flanagan lives in Japan). So I don’t buy his explanation here. His explanation is made all the more lazy by the fact that on the page right before this he takes the time to define Chiral and Achiral’s names as well as the term “boule” (used in the name “Boule Brothers”), which are all chemical terms. I mean…really?!

  So, since Mr. Translator neglected to define these terms, let’s see what they mean. (But I warn you – like Mr. Flanagan, I am no chemistry expert). The definitions below are from this site unless otherwise indicated.

  • Chiral/Achiral: A chiral is something with mirror images that can’t be superimposed on top of one another. (This is how Mr. Flanagan defines it in the translation notes too. He also notes that the mirror images aren’t identical to one another in a chiral molecule and that’s why they can’t be superimposed). An achiral (not defined at the site given above) would be, as Flanagan notes, the opposite of chiral (as implied by the use of the Greek prefix a-, which means “not”).
  • Boule: As Flanagan points out, a boule is a synthetic single-crystal ingot (an ingot being something cast into a shape that can be further processed). It is often used in the semiconductor industry, and most microchips used today start as a boule of silicon. The same process used to create boules is also used to synthetically create sapphires for use as substrates for LEDs, optical windows for certain special purposes, and protective watch covers. [Source]
  • Enantiomer: Similar to a chiral in that it is two mirror-image molecules that can’t be superimposed, but with the added effect of the light from the molecules rotating polarized light to the left and right respectively.
  • Isomer: Molecules that share the same molecular formula (a notation like H₂O) but not the same structural formula (the formula that shows how atoms bond to one another).
  • Electrochemical side chain: Electrochemistry is the “study of chemical changes produced by electrical current and the production of electricity by chemical reactions.” [Source] A side chain, in biochemistry and organic chemistry, is a group of molecules that branches off from a core part of a molecule or polymer. [Source]
  • Chiralty Center: The atom in a molecule that causes a chiralty, usually one that is bound chemically to four different atomic groups. A molecule can be become a chiral without such a center however, or have multiple chiralty centers.

Credits: The lines from the Tokyopop English translation come from scans I obtained at Miss Dream. The examples given from Miss Dream’s translation belong, naturally, to Miss Dream. Tokyopop English manga (Sailor Moon) © 1996-1998 TokyoPop. Kodansha English manga (Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon) © 2011 Kodansha USA, Kodansha Comics and William Flanagan. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (Japanese) © 1992-1997, 2003-2004 Naoko Takeuchi.