Augh! Do you see this cover?? It's horrible!! I recently picked up the novel translation for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by Yen Press. A friend of mine at the comic book store told me that it was released, but I didn't realize it looked like this >_< I didn't realize that there is a hardcover WITH the official Noizi Ito cover, which cost a bit more than the CAN$9.99 pricetag of this one. BUT I'd rather pay more to have a better than cover than this piece of... dung. So right now it has been shipped from Amazon. I'm under the impression that the hardcover edition is only available through online... but I haven't proven this yet.
The inside back doesn't make it any better... I wasn't aware that neon is back in style. Ugh... It's like a rainbow taking a puke over my masterpiece that is the Haruhi Suzumiya novel. I personally don't mind if they redesign to make it look different than the Japanese version, but if only it's a good design! This is an atrocity!
The back is pretty simple and straightforward describing the inside of the book. Still if you see the original Japanese cover, this is prety much junk.
At least the colour pages are intact and they're translated it too. I loves my Noizi Ito art.
The novel translation itself is pretty good. I did read the Baka Tsuki translation last year and saw that this is pretty similar to that translation. I am a bit annoyed that the "Integrated Data Entity" has been simply translated as "Data Overmind", but that was nothing compared to the cover (yeah, sorry, I'm not letting that cover atrocity go). I'm pleased with Koizumi's "organization" translated into "agency" instead of Bandai's "syndicate" that they used for the anime.The following picture shows the last few pages of the last chapter, so it may be a spoiler if you plan to read it, but I'm assuming everyone has watched the anime at some point.
Not very pleased with their font usage though... This is the part where Yuki is typing in the computer. I would love to see it in some kind of computer font thing instead of Extra Bold Gill Sans. Yeah, I'm too damn familiar with fonts nowadays. Occupational hazard...Overall I'm happy to finally read it again in my hands. I read it within a week. I took these pictures before I lend it to a co-worker of mine. I personally wouldn't mind not getting it back since I have the hardcover on order anyway and I will read it again. It's one of my favourite books and heck probably one of the only novels I'll read ever since I finished the Shakugan no Shana novels. I hope Yen Press release the second volume soon and hope they rethink of the design for the paperback version, because to me it doesn't attract attention and these books DESERVE attention!
Aha... yea... although usually I go for paperback books to save money, but I shall never be cheap with Haruhi-sama! The second I saw that the hardcover had the original cover I knew I had to get it.
ReplyDeleteI still don't get why some people read the novel from an anime, then again, Im still reading Rouroni kenshin novels^^
ReplyDelete@Ayuu: Yeah it's funny I still don't see that Haruhi hardcover in stores. I'm gonna tell my friend at the shop to get me the hardcover if it's available next time.
ReplyDelete@GunStray: Heheh well technically the novel for Haruhi Suzumiya and a couple of other series came before the anime so it's like reading a manga of the anime you like. The novels are a bit different than the anime for Haruhi at least. At least it makes me read things other than comics/manga XD
Don't judge a book by its cover?
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. The cover is totally not what I imagined it to be. It's pretty... ugly.
And it's not like it would be that much harder to print an image on the cover.
I do have to admit, the cover looks corny considering it doesn't go with the title. >___>
ReplyDeleteThat cover looks too disturbingly teen-book-ish ish to be Haruhi. ^^; Still wondering if they were able to attract new audiences with it. Did they ever mention that the paperback was going to have a different cover? I know I would be ticked off if that happened to me.
ReplyDelete@Yi: Haha well that saying is still true, but it doesn't work when you're trying to market something. If they wanted to use Haruhi's outline then I think they could've made it bigger instead of a stupid cloud and lightning...
ReplyDelete@loli1983: The font for "The Melancholy" doesn't help it either. It's ugly!
@Coco: I only knew that the book was coming in April, but I should've researched about the cover thing... I am curious if they did manage to get new readers instead of just the Haruhi fans. I'm lending it to my co-worker who isn't into anime. I'm gonna get a reaction from him on Monday ^^
Ugh, that cover is eye feces >_<
ReplyDeleteAnd this might be an odd complaint, but I find the font to be too...big. I'm used to reading very much smaller font -_-
this could be something i might do, but really, the tone and theme for the storylines DO NOT match the cover. It might be nice on something else..but not this..
ReplyDeletemore like..
Captain Underpants..
but not Harry Potter
LOL, incentive for you to go learn Japanese?
ReplyDeleteIm not really into Haruhi but i can understand that you are happy that they srayed away from the original design with the paperback.I hate it when it happens to the stuff i like aswell
ReplyDeleteOh, this is nothing. The French publisher is actually considering renaming "The Melancholy..." as "Haruhi Throws a Tantrum". There are no words. NONE!!
ReplyDelete@Snark: Yeah some of the fonts do look big. It is a pretty short novel, so I guess they can get away with printing it bigger.
ReplyDelete@lyfeprojekt: Haha definitely NOT Harry Potter. Do "melancholy" really remind people of thunderclouds?
@aprilius20: LoL yeah, more incentives, but those kanji scare me!
@Blowfish: Well I didn't mind if they stray a little with the design, but this is WAY off.
@k.: Are you effing serious?? They're calling it that? WTF were they thinking >_<
maybe the cover with Haruhi on it is blocked by canadian customs :P manga=pr0n to them lol
ReplyDeleteHmm...how many pages are there in the novel, though I'm not really interested ^^;; But that cover looks really horrible, looks like some Joe scribbled it on a napkin during dinner. "hmm...looks good enough, I guess we'll use it since people will buy it anyways."
ReplyDelete@chun: NOoooh It's not even manga... ok well there is a picture of Haruhi groping Mikuru inside, but that's beside the point XD
ReplyDelete@Twu: I'd say about 200 pages. Sad thing is some Haruhiists WILL buy it no matter the cover. I didn't know the hardcover had a different cover, otherwise I would've bought that one first.
Ouch, I wouldn't buy that if I saw it in the store, from the cover it looks like a bootlegged book :x I heard the paperback wasn't as good as the hard cover but wow, I didn't realize it was that big of a difference until now.
ReplyDelete@ Chun: whats on bleeding hell came up with canadian censorment. I see tons of f*cking yaoi, books,yes yaoi books uncensored on the shelves of sakuramedia!!
ReplyDelete@Persocom: Yeah, I dunno... I'd think a bootlegged book would have a better cover than this >.>
ReplyDelete@GunStray: Hah take it easy. She's just joking, but customs was pretty bad at one point for this one person at the airport, so we're all under the impression that they're pretty tough. Anyway that's why I don't really stare at the yaoi section. Makes me curious why you know they're uncensored XD
My friend showed me that cover and I was speechless... ITS SO UGLY! I am ordering the hardback so this atrocity doesn't pollute my shelves.
ReplyDeleteNoizi Ito is amazing :)
That's some interesting title cover there...
ReplyDeleteIt's like they try to make it different but flamboyant at the same time. Seems like that they've failed on both aspects there. It's not having alternative cover is bad (like they did for, say, Harry Potter), and even having the SOS logo will be an even better cover than this lol.
@Jyuichi: Agreed on both accounts, especially about Noizi Ito! She is awesome!
ReplyDelete@Q: Yeah I guess they're trying to be cool by being uncool or something but it just fails completely... I'd say even just a big silhouette of Haruhi would've been enough...
Oh wow. That looks bad. The only think that looks good is the color pages.
ReplyDeleteI think that the world should leave translation of novels to Del-Ray or Viz Media.
@konadora: I was kinda sure Del Rey would've picked it up since they are originally a novel company, but perhaps if they do that they'll be picking up their partner's competition, Kodansha.
ReplyDeleteUgh it looks horrible! The cover anyway. Neon colors are not Haruhi-like.
ReplyDeleteI did hear the target market for the novel was for tweens, which is around pre-teen age. I got upset with that because I feared doing so would compromise the dialogue in the anime as well as censorship.
Somehow I find it a killjoy that they more or less spoiled the powers of Haruhi. I dunno. I felt that part would have been like the climax or something. Equal to the fact on who died in the last book of Harry Potter (WAIT HAVE NOT READ IT YET)
Ahhh saw this and hated the cover as well. The cover for the hard cover I think is the original and am still waiting for it to be in stock...^^;
ReplyDelete@blood on the mirror: From what I've read there's no censorship. The blackmail scene is intact and in fact I was kinda uncomfortable in reading it ^^; It's pretty similar to the ones I read on Baka Tsuki. But indeed neon is not Haruhi. She doesn't want ordinary colours like neon!
ReplyDeleteAnd I dunno if it's really a spoiler telling them she has those power, but yeah it is still a killjoy. I see a lot of spoilers just in normal summaries for some stories here in North America. Hate them. I think they could've described it as a girl who's looking for Espers, aliens and time travellers.
@Akari: Where are you waiting for it to be in stock? I don't go to book stores much but I did get the hardcover version from Amazon.
I just got my hardcover copy in and started reading it. Though I may go back and finish up Be With You" first, since I don't know the whole story behind it...
ReplyDelete@Ed: I'm actually almost done with the hardcover version. It's kinda crazy that I'm reading the paperback and the hardcover with only a week in between. Guess I'm a Haruhi nut XD
ReplyDeleteWhat is "Be With You"?
@LS: It's a novel by Takuji Ichikawa. I think it was eventually adapted to a manga, TV series, and movie.
ReplyDelete@Ed: I may have seen a figure based on that series. Is the series good? I may look it up if it's available in English.
ReplyDelete@LS: Not sure, saw the book in Borders one day and decided to pick it up. Haven't gotten very far yet.
ReplyDeleteto be honest, i like that paperback cover..different people different taste.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: I guess to each his/her own.
ReplyDelete