I think everyone in this thread needs to take a breather. No one is trying to gang up on anybody, but I do think that the language is getting inflammatory even when its not intended. I'd hope that we can at least all be civil with each other, even when we disagree. =\
So let's suppose there was a translation where there was no Japanese used and every piece of writing was replaced with proper English analogues. The translation sounded both natural but very accurate in spirit (instead of to-the-letter) and even the names remained the same...but the panels themselves were reversed. Would you accept that as a happy middle ground.
My area of expertise is not graphical design, but after actually working with a number of graphical designers (many of whom had professional certifications) through MD's manga project, my opinion echoes the sentiments of Yen-sama: if you flip the pages, the artwork becomes somewhat distorted. Personally, I would rather see the graphics become slightly altered to include English-language sound effects if it meant having a faithful translation. I care more about the story-telling being right than about having every single pixel in place for background panels. So far we've had Tokyopop butcher BOTH the images and the translation, and Kodansha just leave the Japanese sound effects in and do an overall lazy job graphically. Since I haven't read their translation in full I can't comment on it yet, but I've made my distaste for the inclusion of suffixes clear already.
I can't understand why you want the kana to stay in the anime, but you want the writing translated (requiring editing the images) in the manga. Both changes would be editing. It's "censorship" in the anime, which at least has the benefit of an audio track to provide context, but replacing kana sound effects to English ones is something you'd want them to do. I would think it would be "worse" to do that in print because that's the author's very work right there. If you acknowledge that the sound effects are not universal and merely foreign symbols that should be replaced with an English equivalent, why is it that when I say the equivalent for the anime, my attitude is considered insensitive.
Not sure what you're talking about here, I haven't brought up the translations for the anime at all in this thread. Perhaps you have me confused for someone else.
At least from these scans they didn't water it down. They provided it raw.
I would argue that the American releases of the Japanese re-prints is watered down. We aren't going to get dust jackets, or stickers like the first prints in Japan had -- despite the fact that we'll be paying double the price (hasn't anyone else noticed that?). The translation quality is questionable at this stage. The graphical design work is also arguably shoddy work.
Here's my problem. If you want me to pay double the price for the same damned thing as I can order online, then it should include extras -- not be missing material like dust jackets or stickers or whatever. I'm paying double the price for the sake of having a translation. I don't see the point of paying for a shoddy work, with typos and graphical design mistakes throughout the first volume.
Let me make it clear that despite my concerns I will still be purchasing the Kodansha volumes SIMPLY to support the franchise. It's not because I think that Kodansha Comics USA did a bang up job or that I want to see the American manga industry flourish. It's just my hobby to collect Sailor Moon books at this point, and since this is an official release I'll be buying. As a consumer, I think I'm well within my rights to be able to voice my criticisms and concerns with the product I'm paying for.