Got mail today. A pretty, manga-sized (american manga, since mexican manga is smaller) cardboard envelope from Amazon, which is a nice change from the shoe box sized box I got the last time. I should take a picture of the two packages, with their contents.

It was Ecole du Ciel 2, which was supposed to arrive after the SEED novel, yet it came first. Go figure. The novel has probably been shipped frrom somewhere else.

Still, why does Amazon keep shipping from Germany? This country is closer to the States than to Germany, so it makes no sense whatsoever. And I really doubt International shipment originating from Germany has the same price for them as International shipments originating from the States. I wonder where will Lost War Chronicles 1 be shipped from. I also ordered a book for Jaguar Kitty, but it hasn't been shipped yet. At this rate, that book will arrive after Jaguar Kitty leaves...

Anyways, on to Ecole itself. Another nice volume, despite Tokyopop's blunders, like putting Cosmic Era instead of Universal Century; two different spellings for a name in the same paragraph (Emilu and Emilue); and their insistence of saying that GMs are called Jims. It's a mobile suit! This model has alway been and always be a GM! They have never been called Jims! And though I have enough military knowledge to understand the reasoning behind the "Jim" dubbing, there is really no reason to suddenly nickname a machine that already has an established denomination in a well rooted universe. I mean, it's just as silly as if the japanese suddenly took Star Trek and instead of using the NCC denomination of the starships, they used "En-Sisi" or something along those lines.

And that's just the ones I was able to find. People who have the knowledge to read the japanese originals or the chinese translations probably have a larger list of translations mistakes. I understand translation is not a science but an artform, since I do translations myself, and mistakes are bound to happen. But sometimes there are just one too many translation mistakes.

And would it kill Tokyopop to do a little research? It's not as if Gundam info is classified or available exclusively to a few hardcore elite fans. There's Bandai Entertainment's Gundam Official site, for starters, and plenty of  Gundam forums and resource sites with members that would be more than happy to help without asking for anything in return just to see more Gundam in this side of the world. So they can't say that research costs money as an excuse.

Negative rants aside, it was still an enjoyable volume. Yahagi's reactions to Asuna are memorable, and, either Yahagi likes Asuna (because he had once been in love with Asuna's mom) or he's fond of her because she looks like her mom or... Yahagi is Asuna's real father. I'm betting on the last one.

Have I ever mentioned Asuna is terribly adorable and Yahagi is hot? Not as hot as Astray's Elijah, but Yahagi has become my second favorite Gundam manga male character.

And now, to wait for the three other books.  

Feeling: Amused

Now playing: Destiny Awaits No One (Soul Calibur II OST)