sryibrokedit: (this is gonna be the best EVER)
Uru Takamura ☼ 高村 潤 ([personal profile] sryibrokedit) wrote2010-01-09 09:07 pm

EEEEEEEEEE

HAPPY CAFE IS OUT IN ENGLISH and you can already preorder the second volume. Looks like they're going to be releasing them every three months, so assuming Tokyopop sticks with it, we'll get all 15 volumes in about three years, give or take.

Having read it myself, I can safely say that it is ... readable! To my surprise, but then I haven't read Tokyopop releases in a while. 8D; But while I think some of their phrasing is a bit outdated, their translation is pretty much spot on and maintains the essence of the original - in fact, it's so close to the original that I think some people might have trouble understanding some of the references. They're a bit inconsistent with translating sound effects (I have no idea why), but I don't know how much that would bother someone who doesn't read Japanese. In terms of quality, I still prefer the Aerandria/Intercross scanlations (which have stopped now due to licensing) but I can't deny that Tokyopop didn't do a good job this time. Plus they're waaaaay better than the casual scanlators who have picked it up, as grateful as I am for their efforts.

But my FAVOURITE THING about it,



DO YOU SEE THAT LOGO

THE COFFEE STAIN SMILEY FACE

It was not something that was in the original and Tokyopop made it up and OH MY GOD IT'S SO PERFECT AND I LOVE IT SO SO MUCH ♥♥♥♥♥!!!!!

(and they made the blurb on the back look like a receipt and it's just. so cute.)

TL;DR I'm so very happy with the English version and will now insist that people read it. READ IT. I won't say it's not generic shoujo because it pretty much is but it's really cute. ;~; If it helps: the art gets better, I swear. And although it's under "romance comedy" and ignoring the words "find true love" in the English blurb, the goal of the story is not about Getting The Guy.

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