The Man of Tango by Okadaya Tetuzoh

Rating: 7
Sublime 2013 - Ohzora Shuppan 2013 (this edition)
Magazine serialisation 2008
1 volume
Translation: Ivana Bloom

"Che Tango Che
You drugged me
Confused me
Led me
Jerked me around
Excited me
Played me
You threw me away
You hurt me
And yet you were the only thing that truly loved me."

The story begins with a friend telling Angel "Angie" Almodóvar that he is a man very much like tango itself; he loves with passion, without deceit, and even if the affair is fleeting, his lovers are grateful for the memory of it. However, he gives so much of himself that there is nothing left at the end of the affair; the friend worries for his future. Flash forward many years, Angie is older, jaded, and simply feels nothing by the end of a relationship. He is a dance instructor in Tokyo and teaches his students that tango is like a conversation through dance; in private, he tells his dance partner, Bene, that his seemingly passionate dancing is just an act, much like his relationships, that it isn't the real him. Then he meets Hiro, a half-Japanese, half-Latin office worker, who ignites the true passion in both Angie's dance and heart.

The Man of Tango is a sexy seductive story, befitting of its tango theme. It's a pretty straightforward romance at its core but the dancing adds an extra dimension to the story. "Che Tango Che", the title of the prologue chapter, is the title of an actual song. In the mangaka's commentary, she recounts her discovery of the CD that sparked her interest in Argentine tango, and along with Che Tango Che she uses lyrics from another of the album's songs (Años De Soledad) in the manga. Although the story is split something like 80% romance/20% tango, Okadaya's love of the dance and its music colours the story and the characters, adding vigour to the basic romantic plot.

There aren't many characters that can pull off being seductive without sounding corny, but Angie is one of them. He's a smooth talker but sincerity rings through all his words so that you believe he means every word and there really is no resisting the guy. Hats off to Okadaya for making this character work and thanks to Sublime for the sympathetic translation. Apart from a few confusing passages, on the whole I thought this was a fluid lyrical translation which really benefited the character of Angie.

Beyond his buff muscular exterior, Hiro (the crew-cut guy on the cover) is actually a cute clueless uke. He's normally aloof and detached but he loses all his cool before Angie's advances and turns into a flustered comical character; most of the laughs in the manga come from his reactions to Angie's smooth moves. I'm usually not a fan of flashbacks or memory montages but there's a really good brief montage of Hiro's sad past which I think is actually the best sequence in the book. The prose throughout the volume treads the line between passionate and cheesy, no more so than the very beginning when the reader is thrown straight in at the deep end and is expected to embrace the ardent language, something I found hard to do initially; Hiro's montage was the first step in pulling me into the story emotionally, and from then on it became easier to accept the mood and rhythms of the story.

There's a lot I like about this manga (one of which is a rare likeable female character, Bene) but its biggest problem is that it feels incomplete. We're not told anything of Angie's past. The friend who appeared in the prologue chapter seemed to foreshadow tragic events but he never appears again in the remainder of the book. There's a huge gap in time between the prologue and first chapter that's not referred to at all. More importantly, though I can understand Angie's attraction to Hiro, we don't see how their relationship progresses beyond the initial hookup so there's nothing much to convince the reader that this might not be another of Angie's fleeting affairs; it doesn't feel like the long-lasting love that the story set out to achieve for Angie. It's not that the story feels rushed, I think the pacing is nice and steady, it's more a case of there being a lot of story left untold. This was probably not the fault of the mangaka, in her commentary she has profiles and back stories for many of the side characters that appear in the book (and a couple that don't), which leads me to wonder if there are other stories that weren't compiled in this volume? Or did she not have the opportunity to publish those stories? Whatever the case, the volume as it stands needs a lot more story to beef up the plot and background.

A few words about the art. Well, you either like the style or don't. It's not to my personal liking but I always put way more onus on the story than the art so I tend not to be fazed by much. I'd say that even if you find the style off-putting, the story is good enough to overshadow any aesthetic aversions. Having said that, there are some drawings where the anatomical proportions are a bit off, something I find more distracting than the style of the art itself.

Milva and Astor Piazzolla - Años De Soledad (Live at the "Bouffes du Nord" / En vivo en Paris, 1984)

Though Okadaya doesn't mention the name of the album nor artist of the CD that first got her into Argentine tango, I think, from what she does say, that this is the album referred to. Something to get you into the mood for the story!

Blue Morning Sublime Translation Issues

I've bought many Sublime books since they started up and have been mostly happy with their translations so far, that is until Blue Morning. When I read volume one of Hidaka Shoko's Blue Morning (translation by Jocelyne Allen), there were a couple of passages that I found somewhat confusing; I put it down to the cryptic nature of the plot and didn't think too much of it. However, in the very first chapter of the second volume there is a passage confusing enough to distract me and call into question the accuracy of the translation.

I've compared it to the Japanese text and really think it could've done better. My Japanese is pretty mediocre, my translations are done with the help of a dictionary and I'm totally not sure if they're correct, but even so, they still seem to make more sense than the Sublime version.

This is the passage beginning on page 23 of the print edition, where Akihito finds an odd book in the library.

Sublime text:
"Was this book always here?
Wasn't there a poetry collection here?
It's totally different from the other books."

It's implied that there isn't currently a poetry collection there and that the book in question is not a book of poems. However, Katsuragi goes on to explain that the book was placed there by a former student who was fond of poetry and the like; this implies that the book actually is a volume of poems, which contradicts the above text.

Japanese text:
"こんな本あったか?
この辺り詩集の原本 じゃないか
他の書物とは全く毛色が違うな"

Romaji:
"Konna hon attaka?
Kono atari shishuu no genpon janaika
Hoka no shomotsu to wa mattaku keiro ga chigauna"

My translation:
"Was there always a book like this here?
Aren't all these books here original editions of poetry collections?
This one is a completely different type from the other books."

So what I think Akihito is saying is that it is a poetry book but of a different kind to the other poetry books around it.

~~~

Here's a comparison of another passage from chapter 1 where the Sublime translation just seems incorrect, page 6 of the print edition.

Sublime text:
"The houseboy Amamiya informed me that you're quite strong in Math and languages, but poor in theory, reading and the like.
He intimated that your head is somehow too thick and that finances can't make it through."

Again, there's a slight contradiction here, Katsuragi's good at maths but bad at finance? Sure, there's more to finance than maths but the remark doesn't quite follow on from the previous criticism of his theory/reading.

Japanese text:
"書生の雨宮から聞いたが, お前は数学や語学には強いが論読などは苦手なようだな
どうにも頭が固すぎるというか, 融通がきかないという口振りだったが"

Romaji:
"Shosei no Amamiya kara kiita ga, omae wa suugaku ya gogaku ni wa tsuyoi ga rondoku nado wa nigatena you dana
Dounimo atama ga katasugiru to iu ka, yuuzu ga kikanai to iu kuchiburi datta ga"

My translation:
"I heard from the live-in student, Amamiya, that you are strong in Math and languages but weak in discourse and the like;
that somehow you are too obstinate, that you are not adaptable in your opinions."

The two translations of the second line differ significantly due to the phrase 融通がきかない . 融通 on its own can mean finance, but 融通がきく taken as a phrase means to be flexible (きかない is the negative conjugation of きく). Also, I've used a different meaning of 論読, translating it as 'discourse' instead of 'theory/reading'. I can't find a dictionary entry for 論読 but 論 can mean theory or discussion so the word 'discourse', meaning written or spoken discussion of a subject, sounds appropriate to the context.

~~~

Another line that I immediately knew was wrong from the context, chapter 8 page 97, when Amamiya visits the Kuze house.

Sublime text:
"My! All that aside, it really is only the maids I don't know!
No matter how many years have passed."

This line indicates that Amamiya knows everyone in the household except for the maids, yet he goes on to say that it's only Kiku who recognises him and that he was nearly chased out, which is clearly a contradiction. Even without checking the original text, it's easy to guess that he's actually saying he sees only unfamiliar faces.

Japanese text:
"いや, それにしても知らない女中ばっかりだねえ!
いくら十年ぶりとはいえ"

Romaji:
"Iya, sorenishitemo shiranai jochuu bakkari danee!
Ikura juunenburi to wa ie!"

My translation:
"My, even so, I really don't know any of the maids!
Even if you say it's been ten years."

~~~

These examples are the few that I remember off the top of my head, I'm afraid I can't be bothered to check both volumes line by line but it's likely that these are not the only questionable lines dotted around. Some readers might have read or heard of the infamously bad DMP translation of Yoneda Kou's Doushitemo Furetakunai and won't be surprised to learn that the translator of that manga is the one and same now working on Blue Morning.

Again, I must stress that my Japanese is shaky at best (I learn from playing BL/otome games lol) so please do feel free to slap me down and correct me where I'm wrong. However, even if my translations are way off the mark, the above examples still serve to illustrate the inconsistencies in the text which should have been spotted by the editor. The majority of the translation reads fine so it's not like there are mistakes on every other page, it's just unfortunate that even a few blips can be enough to cast doubt on the entire translation.


Update: Another translation comparison added.

This is a passage from volume 1 that I found confusing and, sure enough, it doesn't bear up well under comparison. Selected lines from chapter 4 pages 149-150.

Sublime text:
"I asked the Dean and he said he'd attend.
...
As long as he brings in money, he can hide his origins.
...
I doubt he takes after his mother to that extent."

Japanese:
"学園長に聞いたが首席だそうだな
...
金さえ積めば出自など隠せるものだよ
...
あそこまで母親に似るとは思わなっかたからな "

"Gakuenchou ni kiita ga shuseki da sou dana
...
Kane sae tsumeba shuuji nado kakuseru mono dayo
...
Asoko made hahaoya ni niru to wa omowanakkata karana"

My translation:
" I asked the school Dean and it seems that he's the top student.
...
As long as you have money, even something like his origins can be covered up.
...
I didn't think he'd come to resemble his mother so strongly."