its a very common thing in manga and anime where the relationship between the boy and the girl doesn't really go anywhere, i mean we all know there is love between them yet there is no solid development to embody it. such as saying "i love you" etc. i dont think this is true for Ah! My Goddess, but its certainly the case for a lot of other animes and can be cause for some frustration or a great way to keep the anime storyline going.

Sounds to me like they definitely need to work on their communication skills. :P As a veteran of a long-term long-distance relationship, take it from me: Communication is golden! Only good can come from it!

Heh... nothing good would come of me having a chat with President Bush, but I digress...

I found the torrents in question, and have now read up to Volume 30, so Fujishima-sama has mostly answered my question (I won't reveal spoilers). Thanks :)

good for u Larry! sadly i cant do what u did, im the type of fan that has to read the manga story from the actual manga book itself, if im going to enjoy my fav manga/anime i always make sure its from the best possible source.

However it is extremly tempting to ^-^ Just knowing the story is right there makes it hard to resist! I think I'll go ahead and poke around ^-^

Don't get me wrong... I will still be purchasing the dark horse editions the very day they go on sale. I agree that holding a book in your hands is much better than looking at it on the computer screen, but still... I hate being behind!

Larry

well, i dont mind being behind everyone else, because i know it'll be worth the wait! besides if i know the story already through a torrent before i get the actual release then the full enjoyment of it sorta spoiled, i try my best to avoid that.

Either way, you'll be reading a translation. Nothing against Dark Horse, I am grateful to them for bringing this wonderful anime over, and will do everything in my power to support them, both verbally and with my hard earned dollars, but their translation is a bit weak at times.

Companies often assume that American audiences are stupid. Like calling the first Harry Potter book "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" when it was originally "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." When I was the age of most of the people who read Harry Potter, I knew what a Philosopher's stone was. Besides, if they don't know, they can look it up.

Secondly, companies often assume that we need to be protected from anything risque (which Ah! My Goddess can be at times). Dark Horse tries their best to, um, purge that as much as they can, which is very frustrating.

Sadly, it is a bit necessary, because most parents see anime and assume it is a cartoon (with all the Disney-esque purity that entails). I have friends who are parents to kids between the ages of 5 and 15, and (thanks in part to me) they fully understand what anime is. Before their kids are allowed to purchase or view an anime or manga, their parents either read it first or get my opinion on it (since odds are, I own it).

I'd rather Dark Horse just translate correctly that clean things up. Therefore, although I do love reading the Dark Horse TPB's, when it comes to translation I prefer the online ones I have found.

Parents should be the responsible party here, not some company that assumes they know best. The translation should be as close to Fujishima-sama's original as possible.

Larry

true words have been spoken, we are going to see this more and more as Amines come to the US in a way it is sad because the product I enjoy will not be as I know it and creates confusion amongst fans. This most recently will be happening with Naruto but it is not the first or last ( need to get a shrugging smillie, Can a smillie shrug?)

oh well, but there's no other way, i mean i dont know Japanese so the translations from Darkhorse is the best i could get, the story is still excellent though even if u say some elements might have been lost or dropped during the translation.

I find Viz comics does a excellent job however Dark Horse is better quality ^-^ I think one of the most buchered anime series must have been Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z They were my childhood favorites but a few years ago when i was 14 i read some of the originals and their nothing alike. I don't know much about the original Ah my Goddess so im afraid i can't say much there ^-^' does anyone have any good examples of what may have been altered ^-^?

The reason why those two anime are butchered so much is because many American companies still insist on viewing anime as "Cartoons, and thus for kids." Both Drag-on Ball and Sailor Moon were directed at adults in Japan, so when they were brought over and aired on Saturday morning TV, they were hacked to death. Not that those two series were shining examples of good anime to begin with, but suprisingly enough, American companies found ways to make them even worse.

And then the real problem is that because of these hatchet jobs, parents still have no clue what their kids are watching. Then those same companies turn around and sell the uncensored versions without much warning on the package at all. I have a friend who runs a comic book store that sells anime.... I was in the store one day, and this lady came in with her 10 year old daughter and asked for the Tenchi Muyo OVA for her kid. My friend looked at me and I looked at him, and we pulled her aside and said "Look, Lady. Your daughter has seen this on Cartoon Network, right. You've got to understand that that was highly editted for TV, and that if you buy this DVD for your kid, she is going to be exposed to adults bathing nude together in a large pool, a lot of adult humor and situation, a scene where various collection methods of sperm samples are implied, and a lot of stuff they did not come close to airing on cartoon network. Wait until she's at least 16."

The woman thanked us and left with a copy of Hello Kitty. People just don't understand that anime, by and large, is not aimed at a child audience in the same way animated American films are. It is for adults (although I'm sure some of the young whippersnappers on this site are probably more than happy to take advantage of the ignorance of their parental units).

Larry

13 year old kid: "Ah, come on mom... LA Blue Girl really is about this depressed girl in Los Angeles!"
Mother: "Oh, in that case, dear, I'll buy it for you."
13 year old kid: (Chuckles evilly while rubbing hands together) "excellent..."

i really hate it when people think anime is just cartoons for kids! it is really aimed at a more mature audience. i really want to take these people who dont understand anime and bash their empty skulls together!

Yeah to tell you the truth i wish someone told me exactly what anime was before i started renting it, my first mystake was renting 'True Blue' it was so phyco and messed up it freaked me out so bad. ^-^' Then thats when i started realiseing anime was not just for kids. I think companies should at least put warning strips on their tapes and DVDs so that way parents and children even teens will know exactly what their getting. However today i know better and muvh prefer the romantic comedies over gore (unless done in a tasteful way and not a blood fest). ^-^

still, Kitori, no matter how a gory an anime can be it still doesnt compare to the level of violence and gore in western films. At least in anime the blood and gore is used appriopriately ie to make a point, but the violence in live films are just gratuitious violence.