Kusuriya no Hitorigoto - Maomao no Koukyuu Nazotoki Techou

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh. I'm just not feeling it.

@Duchess The other version manages to strike an excellent balance between drama, romance, and comedy. It really helps give me a sense of everyday life, with all its ups and downs. If you take comedy out from that equation... dunno. I'll keep reading for now, but I doubt it'll keep my interest.
 
I think I'll miss chibi Maomao in this series, but if there's more big brain stuff, I'm in
 
I read up to volume 9. This version is definitely better. More true to the novel than the other version.
 
I went and checked around some Japanese reviews on why there are two mangas and what are the difference.

The gist of it is:

Nobody knows why there are two. The Authors and Publishers are keeping mum about it.

If you have read the LN before and just want to see quality art and expressions, go read the other one.

If you haven't read the LN before and wants to see an authentic recreation of the story, then go read this one. The raws for this one is actually more accurate and is further into the story than the other one.

That's about it.

Personally, even if you say that this one is more accurate and is further into the story, the fact that there is only 1 chapter translated means I'm probably putting this one on hold until it catches up with the other one or something.
 
How is it a translation if I need to study the rules for romanization before I can even figure out how these names are pronounced? Why are the rules for romanization so unintuitive? Hepburn and other linguists should have learned English before they tried to convey the phonetics of another language. What English speaker would begin a name with an 'X' unless you're trying to convince the reader this eunuch is actually a Lovecraftian abomination from beyond the stars.
 
@ironclad this is a translation using the pinyin of the traditional Chinese names? Since the story is set in ancient China-inspired place, the translators decided on it.
 
@culturedalchemist According to wikipedia: "In the x, j, q series, the pinyin use of x is similar to its use in Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Basque and Maltese and the pinyin q is akin to its value in Albanian; both pinyin and Albanian pronunciations may sound similar to the ch to the untrained ear."

So that's why it's so unintuitive for a romance language speaker. This conflicts with the purpose of translation, to convey the authors meaning and intent as seemlessly as possible without reader conscious of the fact that this is not the original language. While I normally scoff at the idea of localization, there is a clear reason why most English readers would struggle with names written in pinyin. It follows completely different rules that you can't expect them to know. Reading up on pinyin, while it's clearly better than Wade-Gilles romanization, it was never intended for English speakers.
 
Oh finally! Ty for translating this version! I have read some of the raw for this one a long time ago and... renshin and maomao interaction just hit differently in this one, (cause the other version maomao is kind of like a loli /imo it's kinda hard picturing them together www)
 
@ironclad hi sorry I only got to see this now! That's an interesting take, would you have preferred strictly adhering to the general mixed approach of the light novel pronunciation of names? In my country, when childhood anime were dubbed, the names were randomly changed into English names. So for example, the Yu Yu Hakusho main characters became Eugene, Denise (not a typo, they messed up and pulled an accidental genderbend), Vincent and Alfred. I still think about that time and am thankful they do that much less often now.

Since the setting is a general and unspecific Ancient China, I think I personally prefer this approach over, say, a literal name translation or a strange localization choice.
 
Both versions of this story are great--this one, in particular, has more exposition. The art style also really changes the characterization of the story--I don't feel like I'm reading the same thing. Like the only similarity is the premise.
 
This one art is a step below. Though, it might be because the other one is just exceptional. One thing I noticed immediately is character's face is not as distinct as the other one. The framing of the other one is also more creative. This one felt a little generic girl's comic in term of style. Having said that, this one is much easier to follow. The dialogues are straight forward and there's no where as much visual communication than the other one. That could be a compliment or a criticism depending on your perspective. Still, I like that the series have another version. I hope this one provide more perspective, such as following Jinshi more closely.
 
Okay this bugs the hey out of me... Cacao is native to South America and only South America where it originated from. So that means before 1492 there was no Chocolate outside of the new world. On top of that it was some years before Chocolate came to be in any consumable form outside of the new world... So when is this Manga supposed to be? Which dynasty? It would have taken time for Asia to get Chocolate in such quantities that even really great traders could have it available to make into any form of medicine. I get what the author was going for, but this seriously bugs me! UHG!
 
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