#licensed translation

[abybweisse]

What do you think about undertaker's thought on rciel telling tanaka to burn all the bitterbunny samples?

Burn the samples?

Is that a fan translation, or are you just misremembering? Here's the licensed English translation:

In ch151, Tanaka brings prototypes of new Funtom toys for real Ciel's inspection, and he says to "dispose of them as you see fit". I hope that Tanaka just uses his own judgment to make decisions on the products and tells the factories to keep going.

Undertaker's reaction? Good question. On the one hand, he might not fully understand how important the toy and confectionery company is to the prosperity of the Phantomhives at this point. But! Undertaker knows that toys like this are a joy to the people who buy/play with them. Since he's such a fan of laughter, I should think he would be saddened at the prospect of children not getting to play with these new products.

So, if Tanaka takes matters into his own hands and keeps production running, Undertaker might find out and secretly approve of it.

[abybweisse]

the anon from before, thank you for clearing my dumb doubt 🤦‍♀️ I don't know what I read but they just mentioned 'gramps' so I assumed it was been cedric they were referring to.

Sorry for bothering you, I'm still new to the fandom.

Ah! Well, that explains it. *nervously clears throat*

Welcome to the fandom! 😅

Don’t let my snide-ish reply from before keep you from asking other questions, either to me or other blogs.

This is a good reminder for me that the fandom does still get new members 😆, and they have a LOT of reading to do and so much information to process.

Just keep in mind that fan translations are generally not reliable, and if you only have easy access to fan translations, it’s a good idea to ask if the wording has the same meaning in the licensed version. You can even include that question in whatever ask you are sending.

It’s also good to include the fact (in the asks) that you are new here. It will usually get you a more gentle response. A lot of the bigger theory blogs get tired of the same questions and will ask that you check out their masterposts first, to see if they’ve already answered your question. I also have a link to one in my pinned post, and it’s always under construction/being updated.

Cheers 🍻

[abybweisse]

❓ Chapter 71 ends with Ciel winning the P4’s trust and we see Sebastian hanging upside down outside a window with the caption: With a bored face the demon looks at his lying master and flies south. What does that mean? Ciel lies all the time so it can’t come as a surprise. Why suddenly bored? And flying south? Back to hell for a break? Simply south as in "down to the ground"? This is probably really insignificant but I’m still dying to know if you have a theory, love your analyses so much! 🙏

❓ for a random kuro question

Ch71, Bored and flying south?

Ah, that’s some weird fan translation that didn’t work quite right. The chapters come out monthly in GFantasy, so each one ends with something to link the current chapter to the next month’s chapter. And I don’t know what the original wording was in Japanese. Perhaps someone with the Japanese raws for ch71 could help us out?

Anyway, the licensed English translations skip those little blurbs at the ends of chapters, since that is apparently just something included in the mags. So, we go from this fan translation online to this licensed translation, which doesn’t have text there at all. Just Sebastian’s “….”.

I’ve always found it odd that the individual ereader chapters also lack this, since they are also monthly releases. But ah well.

If you turn the image upside down, he doesn’t look bored (to me) so much as a bit bemused or even slightly concerned. And ch72 has Sebastian praising our earl for his performance, even going so far as to suggest he take up acting. (At least that’s the fan version. I’m at work now and don’t have the volume with me atm, but I will double check when I get back home this evening.) Of course, all this praise annoys our earl. 😆

Well, we know Sebastian doesn’t go flying off anywhere, because he and our earl have to figure out what to do next, which is get information about Derrick Arden from Gregory Violet, the prefect of the house that Arden was supposedly reassigned to. And Sebastian has to busy himself doing all of his young master’s duties as Clayton’s new fag, along with his own duties as a professor, etc.

So, yeah it’s just some odd fan translation that doesn’t make too much sense, and hopefully someone else can clear it up for us.

Thanks for the ask, and I’m glad you enjoy my blog! 🖤

[abybweisse]

Ch148 title page

[abybweisse]

Ch141, some clarifications

I’ve got the licensed translation now, and though I have to say the fan translations I’ve read are pretty good, there are a few striking differences. And we also find answers to a few questions.

Sebastian doesn’t accuse Undertaker of obsession but does say Undertaker must have a deep connection to the Phantomhive family. Undertaker doesn’t deny it, but he definitely hasn’t been amused enough to feel he owes an explanation. 😆

“What does it matter if he’s alive or dead?” This pretty much confirms that real Ciel is still soulless. It’s also an interesting thing to say, paralleling what Sebastian had once said when offering to essentially make our earl think his brother was still alive/with him.

Undertaker actually (somehow) made real Ciel grow to match our earl’s growth. This didn’t involve much growth, though, since our earl has barely grown at all in almost four years. Perhaps Undertaker is making a subtle joke? That old running joke?

We don’t know how he put him back together, exactly, but his body is intact now and functional way beyond the work done on any previous bizarre doll. It’s yet to be seen whether this includes any mechanical organ replacement. It might not.

This one just bugs me because I want to know if real Ciel saw anything during the other arcs. He should have, since he says he was there all along. Darn, if only there could have been more pages....

“Dear target” must mean Undertaker here, not about Grelle meeting up with Sebastian again. Both fan translations I read assumed Othello was talking about Grelle getting to interact with Sebas-chan... Sebastian Darling... again. I also like how the licensed translation re-uses the “spanking” line. Othello has quite the personality. 😉

[abybweisse]

Ch126: Agni “curries” favor?

A translation discrepancy is glaringly obvious on the title page....

Fan translation:

The licensed translation:

The translation difference is startling here! Fan translation on the cover page says something like "prayers to Kali", while the licensed version talks of the "fragrance of curry". Is this meant to be a pun because one can "curry favor", and that’s sort of what like prayers are (you praise the deity in hopes for your prayers to be answered)?

@akumadeenglish, I could really use your help with this. How would you translate the original Japanese into English?

[abybweisse]

Hello, hello. I'm kinda new to the BB fandom (omg I feel so soooooooo behind time...*cries*), I got hooked on the anime version weeks ago and now I want to delve deep into the manga. I'd love to know where I can read the best/more accurate translations from the manga (e.g, is Mangafox a recommended source)? Thank you in advance for any tip! ^.^/

As far as fan translations go, I’m not sure which one is the “best”. For comparison to the licensed translation, I also read it on kuroshitsuji.org (aka mangatip.com). Usually, the generally correct meaning is captured in the fan translations, but sometimes they get something completely wrong. I always recommend reading the licensed translation.

Now days (since about ch112), when a new chapter comes out through Yen Press, I buy an e-reader copy (usually ibooks, sometimes kindle) and load it on my main blog (this one). I also buy the printed volumes, so I essentially buy the chapters twice. LOL!

However, I highly recommend buying your own licensed copies… as you can afford it. It’s not like Yana-san is exactly strapped for cash, but there is a whole staff of people involved… actually, not just her staff but also the publishers and their staffs (and they done needs to gets paid!). Besides the legal issue of copyrights, these people all *deserve* to get the money they have worked so hard to earn.

An e-reader chapter is about $2. An e-reader volume more like $8. Printed volume copies might run anywhere from $5 to $14, depending on the volume number, volume condition, and seller. I suggest looking around used book shops, like Half Price Books….

Hope this helps :)

[abybweisse]

I thought chapter 145 was out today.

It should be, yes. It’s already out in Japan, because they are about 12 hrs ahead of me in the US. However, the Yen Press English edition should be available sometime today.