Written by Misty of Myu Corner

Long time no see! The following are errors that I found in the first printing of Volume 9 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). As of this volume, the series got a new translator, Mari Morimoto, a change which will hopefully help remedy the errors we’ve had previously.

I am not in any way affiliated with Kodansha USA, Del Rey, William Flanagan, Mari Morimoto, 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 them 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

• On pages 31-33, the Moon Kingdom is referred to by the Dead Moon as the “Kingdom of the White Moon.” It would be better here to say “White Moon Kingdom,” since this is more consistent with Sailor Moon canon overall. Miss Dream uses “White Moon Kingdom” throughout, as does Tokyopop (except for one use of “Moon Kingdom”).

Honorific Issues (Oddly Used, Not Needed)

None in this volume!

Inconsistencies/Continuity Errors

None in this volume!

Miscellaneous

• “Oak leaves! The emblem of thunder and lightning!”: This is said by Sailor Jupiter on page 138 when her Leaves of Oak (the item she uses in the manga to perform Jupiter Oak Evolution) appear. Tokyopop and Miss Dream word the phrase similarly, as “The emblem of thunder! An oak leaf!”. However, her identification of them as “the emblem of thunder and lightning” is incorrect. Oak leaves were actually the emblem of the Greek god Zeus, known as Jupiter to the Romans, for whom Sailor Jupiter’s guardian planet is named. The oak tree was the sacred plant of Zeus, and primarily associated with the Dodonean Zeus (Zeus Dôdônaios) worshipped at the famous Oracle of Dodona, in the Epeirus region of Greece (today the region of Epirus in northwestern Greece, near the Albanian border). Worship at Dodona goes back at least 5,000 years, and the Earth goddess Rhea and the Titan Dione (believed in some myths to be the mother of Aphrodite) were also worshipped there at different points. Divinations were made at Dodona by the priestesses there by listening to the wind rustling through the trees (similar to what Makoto does to figure out Ami’s location in Act 21 of PGSM). Later on, this method was “upgraded” to involve bronze cauldrons on tripods set up near the trees that would touch when the wind blew, making a noise referred to as the “Voice of Zeus.” Dodona can still be visited today, by flying in to the nearby town of Ioannina and venturing a bit off the beaten path. [Sources: Theoi Project, Dodona – The Unforgettable Forgotten Oracle]. This identification of the leaves representing “thunder and lightning” may be an error on the part of the translator, as Naoko-san has shown quite an impressive knowledge of Greco-Roman mythology throughout the manga (well, impressive in my opinion as a mythology buff) and therefore it is unlikely she would make such an error herself. Yet, since Tokyopop and Miss Dream both also use similar wording, maybe there is an error in the original, or it’s Naoko-san’s veiled way of referring to the Zeus/Jupiter connection.

• “The Second Coming”: Oy vey…the long-debated error of the Sailor Moon manga that has bugged me for years — the use of William Butler Yeats’s famous poem “The Second Coming” in the manga, the translation of which has been mangled through the years. As a long-time Moonie AND a literature buff, this issue really hits home for me.

• As proud as I am of Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna’s choices of reading material for young Hotaru (classic poetry! yay!), the fact that the poem, which is very well-known, has constantly been mistranslated annoys me. The translation woes started with Tokyopop’s version, where Tokyopop mistakenly decided to translate the Japanese translation of the poem from the original rather than going with the original text of the poem, which was in English in the first place. I initially assessed Miss Dream’s translation of the poem to be wrong too, but it seems to be fixed now.

• Now on to the Kodansha USA version, which is what this guide is about anyway. The poem is quoted by Hotaru in two places, page 200 and page 233. The lines on page 200 read:
  

  “…Surely some revelation is at hand;

  Surely, ‘the Second Coming’ is at hand.

  …’The Second Coming!’ Hardly are those words out

  When a vast image out of ‘Spiritus Mundi’

  Troubles my sight:…”

  “…Somewhere in sands of the desert

  A shape with lion body and the head of a man,

  A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun…

  …is moving its slow thighs, while all about it

  Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds…”

• The unnecessary single quotation marks around “Second Coming” and “Spiritus Mundi” and unnecessary ellipses aside, this part does pretty well. Two lines struck me as incorrectly quoted here: “somewhere in sands of the desert” and “reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.” However, Poem of the Week points out that multiple versions of the poem exist, and a search for the poem does bring up versions of the poem which contain those lines, rather than the lines “a waste of desert sand” and “wind shadows of the indignant desert birds,” which appear in the version of the poem with which I am most familiar.

• The lines on page 233 are:
  

  …”The darkness drops again; but now I know

  That twenty centuries of stony sleep

  Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle…”
  

• These lines are actually correctly quoted, both per the version of the poem I’m most familiar with and per the other versions of the poem that I found. The ellipses and quotation marks are also used more correctly here.

• Overall, I’m impressed with the use of the poem in this translation. It’s actually quoted correctly all the way through. I had believed there were errors, as stated above; but that was because I was not aware that multiple versions of this poem exist.

• Hotaru quotes Einstein: On page 234, Hotaru quotes the phrase “A person starts to live when he can live outside himself,” which she attributes on page 235 to Einstein. I searched for the quote, and it does appear that Einstein actually said those words (or at the very least they are commonly attributed to him) but I could not find out where they come from. Naoko-san being a chemist, however, she probably read the quote somewhere.

• Checking on herbs and stones: As Mari Morimoto had referred to Amazon Stones and to the different herbs Hawk’s Eye mentions to Makoto in her translation notes, I decided to verify her definitions.

• Morimoto’s definition of “Amazon Stone” is correct. It is another name for the green feldspar variety known as Amazonite, and shatters easily, which is why it broke easily when Mamoru applied pressure to it. [Source]

• As for the herbs, I chose to mainly focus on piripiri and ephedra, the two herbs Morimoto stated she could not track down info on. Piri piri is identified in the text as being from the Cyperaceae family (probably a note from Naoko-san) and noted as being used for menstrual pain. This plant appears to refer to the plant Cyperus articulatus, a plant of the Cyperaceae family also known by the name “piri piri.” It is a type of reed-like grass (as are most plants of the Cyperaceae family, including the well-known variety cyperus papyrus, the plant the Ancient Egyptians used to make papyrus parchment, and the Eleocharis dulcis or water chestnut). It does indeed grow in the Amazon, along marshy areas in the rivers and streams of the Amazon basin, where it functions well as an erosion preventer. Though primarily found in the Amazon, it also grows in many other places, including the southern United States. The tall stems and/or the rhizomes are the part used for medicine. It has various medicinal uses, which vary widely depending on the tribe. It is also used as a good luck charm or a love potion. Ironically, I could not find any reference to it being used for menstrual pain, as indicated in the text. It is primarily used to treat nausea, vomiting, digestive disorders and intestinal gas. More recently, it has been used in the treatment of epilepsy with some success, though research is still dubious on this count. In the United States, it has been used for menstrual irregularity (though this is not the same as menstrual pain). It is sometimes prescribed for morning sickness and has long been used as a contraceptive and to induce abortion. [Sources: Tropical Plant Database, Wikipedia – Cyperaceae]

• Ephedra is identified in the text as being from the family Ephedraceae and being used for bladder inflamation. Ephedra has a long history, having been used in Chinese medicine for 5,000 years under the name ma huang (麻黃). In China and India, it was traditionally used to treat colds, flus, fever, asthma, wheezing, and nasal congestion. It became popular in the 1980’s outside of Chinese medicine for weight loss and athletic enhancement. Its primary ingredients are ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, which increase heart and metabolic rates, body heat, and blood pressure, as well as dilating bronchial tubes, making it easier to breathe (which may be why synthetic ephedrine has been used for the treatment of asthma). It has also been used recreationally to create methamphetamine and as an alertness aid that is believed to help studying, thinking, or concentrating even more than caffeine. Studies of it were done, however, and it was discovered to have a high risk of side effects such as heart palpitations, symptoms of hyperactivity (especially when combined with other stimulants), and psychiatric and digestive effects. It is also believed to increase heat stroke risk due to its ability to increase one’s metabolism.

• Due to this, stimulants containing ephedra have been banned in the U.S. since 2006. In Canada, ephedra is authorized only as a nasal decongestant, and nutritional supplements containing ephedra cannot contain caffeine (which can heighten ephedra’s effects) or contain large doses of ephedra. Also, products containing it that also promote unproven claims of weight loss, appetite suppression, body-building benefits, or energy increase are not permitted for sale there. The use of it to improve athletic performance is also banned by many sports associations, including the International Olympic Committee, the NFL, the NBA and the NCAA. Despite this, many athletes still use it. Its chemical form, ephedrine, is also prescribed, together with promethazine, to combat seasickness; this combination was used for years by the Coast Guard for its sailors (because the promethazine prevented nausea and the ephedrine prevented drowsiness) and was referred to as the “Coast Guard cocktail.” [Sources: Ephedra – What You Need to Know, Wikipedia – Ephedra, Wikipedia – Ephedrine, NCCAM Ephedra Fact Sheet]

• Again, I could find no evidence of ephedra being used for the purpose described in the text. Hmm…

• The two herbs Morimoto did identify are guarana and ipecacuanha. Guarana, according to WebMD, is a plant named for the Guarani tribe in the Amazon. It is commonly used in supplement form for weight loss and in energy-boosting products, due to the fact that it contains caffeine and the caffeine-esque chemicals theophylline and theobromine. There is insufficient evidence that any of the health benefit claims made about guarana are actually true, however. It is generally safe for adults, but like regular caffeine, can be unsafe in large doses. It also can have dangerous interactions with amphetamines, ephedrines, and cocaine, and moderate interactions with a number of other substances, including antibiotics, estrogens, MAOI antidepressants, and nicotine. There is no standard recommended dose. Also, according to this WebMD supplement guide, guarana contains up to 3.6-5.8% caffeine by weight, one of the highest caffeine concentrations of any plant (coffee plants, by comparison, contain 2% caffeine by weight). It also does not appear to be a “cure-all” as the manga text indicates, although it is used for many uses; it is, however, as the text states, from the Sapindaceae family (the same family maples, horse chestnuts, and lychees come from). [Source]

• Ipecacuanha is stated in the text to be from the Rubicea family and used as an expectorant. It is a small shrub plant (indeed of the Rubicea family) found in most parts of Brazil. The root is the part used for medicinal purposes. The name of the plant comes from a Portuguese form of the plant’s native name, i-pe-kaa-guéne, which means “road side sick-making plant.” It was not employed in Europe until 1672, after which point it became commonly used as a treatment against dysentery. Its main constituents are the alkaloids Emetine, Cephaelin, and Psychotrine. Emetine is the most prevalent consitutent (at 72%) while Psychotrine is the least prevalent (at 2%). In smaller doses, it is useful as a diaphoretic (something which promotes sweating) and, just as the manga text states, as an expectorant (something which clears out mucus and other substances from the lungs, bronchi, and trachea). In the smallest doses, it stimulates the stomach, intestines, and liver, which excites appetite and helps promote digestion. In its largest doses, however, it serves as an emetic (something that induces vomiting). Its most common preparation is as a syrup, referred to as syrup of ipecac. This syrup was initially recommended by physicians to be used to induce vomiting in cases of accidental poisoning. [Sources: Botanical.com, Wikipedia – Syrup of Ipecac]

• However, as Morimoto points out, ipecac is no longer recommended by physicians. This is because recent research has shown that “even when ipecac is administered immediately after the ingestion of the substance, it does not completely remove it from the stomach” and that treating accidental poisoning with ipecac “is, in most situations, treating a nondisease with a noxious intervention that is, for the most part, safe but has annoying adverse effects.” Also, American poison control centers rarely recommend the use of ipecac anymore. [Source]

• Note: I realize I frequently use Wikipedia as a source, and that Wikipedia is not necessarily a reliable source (as my college teachers frequently pointed out). I searched for these things using the Yahoo search engine, and Wikipedia entries generally appear at the top of such searches. I tried to use alternative, more reliable sources where possible. Also, some Wikipedia articles are actually well-written and provide lots of well-sourced info, often explained in a much more easy-to-understand way than other sources.

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) © 2011-2012 Kodansha USA, Kodansha Comics and William Flanagan. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (Japanese) © 1992-1997, 2003-2004 Naoko Takeuchi.