Tag: text bubbles

I want to see the german reapers on anime, I find it easier to gain personality through visual and speech instead of a few images and text. Also I want to hear their voices. I am a bit confused – does wolfram speak only german, the text is english but he says he can’t speak english.

It’s always helpful to hear the characters talk, particularly if they get good va’s in the dubbed version. It’s sad they have an American va doing a British voice for Bard when he’s clearly an American….

The great thing about how this manga’s speech bubbles and fonts are set up is they are full of info regarding not just tone but also language. The fan translations generally lose whatever meaning was meant to be conveyed by fonts and other textual clues (italics, bold, etc.).

German is in rounded-off rectangular bubbles, even if the tone changes from regular tone (formal or casual) to nervous to angry or agitated. Here, Sieglinde and Wolfram are talking to each other rather formally, so the font is a bit fancier:

Here, Sebastian is talking somewhat casually in German… but then there are also ovoid bubbles and typical font, denoting English. Sieglinde is nervous with the “Now then!….” bubble, but it’s definitely in German. The “Huh!?” bubble is German but shows shock or anger. Our earl is only speaking English here, but some bubbles denote normal tone, while the jagged ones with bolder text suggest yelling out of anger/frustration.

The research facility where Finny was found was most-likely located in Germany. The researchers are yelling in German. The test subjects are speaking in German, too, but their vocabularies are minimal. This suggests that either German isn’t their first language, or they are German but were never taught much of anything besides how to fight.

When the party returns to England with Sieglinde and Wolfram, they are told to speak English, and that’s easy enough for Sieglinde, but Wolfram says he can barely speak a word of it. Later, Sebastian tells Wolfram he’s not allowed to complain, etc. unless it’s in English. Otherwise, Sebastian will ignore him.

The German reapers speak German to each other but switch to English easily enough when William and Grelle show up:

Notice that even though William is speaking English, he obviously understands German, since he comments on what Ludger had just said in German.

There was one other page I wanted to show, but I accidentally left vol18 at home. (I brought vol19-22 with me to work to answer this during lunch.) The other page I wanted was of the cart-driver the party meets when they are trying to get to the witch’s village. His speech bubbles are typical of German, but— oh I think I can use a fan version, since it cannot be translated anyway. Hold up— Ok, judging by the other fonts, this might actually be the licensed translation anyway:

It’s really funny that Sebastian translates it not just into English for our earl but into a lower-class English way of speaking… to retain the feel of the way the guy talks… and our earl tells him off for doing that! 😂 Then the parentheses explain to the readers that the rest of what he says is still in German but being translated into English for us, so we don’t have to rely on Sebastian to translate for us anymore. Our earl still cannot understand this East Franconian dialect. From then-on, all translated German is treated this way, regardless of dialect. Recall that our earl notes to Sebastian that Sieglinde is a bit easier to understand.

There’s one scene in which Wolfram says “Ja” untranslated, so it appears in angle brackets in the usual German bubble. The same angle bracket thing is done when Agni says “Jo ajna” and when Nina says “Ça va”, but they are not in German bubbles. Note: French translated into English has horizontal ovoid bubbles and the font is very stylized… almost cursive.

@briarwynthemorphling I didn’t touch on the “word bubbles and other people” thing in my previous reply, so I’ll do that here.

This is a technique she has used a lot in regards to the fact that there had always been twins, and she also uses that rather effectively to make us pull our hair out regarding previous watchdogs, in general… as well as for the details for Cedric on the family tree chart. Heck, that family tree chart uses word bubbles to not only cover up Cedric’s last name, birth year, and death year… but also the already blurred info for Claudia/Cloudia’s father.

Other ways to hide people, parts of them, or information about them… that she’s used includes (but is not limited to):

In shadow of some sort (usually hats or cloak hoods, sometimes shadows in the setting):

  • young Mr. Phipps’s face (until he’s introduced),
  • Undertaker’s eyes (until they are shown),
  • Baron Kelvin’s changed appearance until that is shown,
  • Lord Sirius in shadow at Sphere Music Hall,
  • and the face/eyes of the doctor who tells Madam Red about the death of her husband and removal of her unborn child and womb. That’s actually a combination of shadow and reflection.
  • We can also add “Knife Dude” to this list, since his eyes are also shadowed.
  • Though they might be the same person, I’ll add the mystery person from ch137, too. You might also say their face is directly covered by their hooded cloak.

*Directly* covered by or inside *objects*:

  • Undertaker’s hair is also used to cover his eyes.
  • John Brown’s eyes covered by those mirrored shades,
  • Real Ciel being covered up by Agares’ robes at the cricket match,
  • A lady in Vincent’s circle using a fan,
  • And our earl being concealed by Sebastian’s robes in the school library, though that is revealed to readers almost immediately afterwards.
  • Same goes with our earl and Sebastian hiding in Beast’s costume trunk; we see the truth as soon as she leaves.
  • Snake concealed in a crate until Sebastian opens it.

Turned around or shown only in profile:

  • Some as yet unidentified members of Vincent’s circle, like a guy with a facial scar
  • and that same lady from Vincent’s circle. She’s in profile and holds up a fan.
  • Cloudia/Claudia has only been shown turned away from us. Even when standing in profile, she’s turned slightly away (or her face is covered by a word bubble).
  • Oh, and Madam Red’s husband is shown turned away.

Just plain cut off, left off, or out of view:

  • Madam Red’s husband also gets his face cut off at the edge of another panel.
  • Lord Sirius when Violet is brought to him.
  • Our earl’s place on the family tree is cut off at the edge of the panel
  • and others are left off the family tree chart because they are not in the direct line to “Ciel”.
  • The fourth Phantomhive gravestone is cut off from view when the others are close enough to read.
  • Our earl is inside, at the window, while the rest of the family is out on the lawn.

Blurred or otherwise illegible:

  • Information for Cloudia/Claudia’s parents on the family tree chart. What isn’t covered up by word bubbles for them is blurred.
  • Information written down in reaper notes. Some of it can be read, while other parts are intentionally illegible.
  • Same with Cloudia/Claudia’s death certificate.
  • Names on the Phantomhive gravestones when all four are shown.

Etc, etc.

I didn’t notice anything quite like that in ch144, though this happens:

I feel as though someone just got tired of drawing his face this month? 🤨🤣 I see no tactical reason, plotwise, to cover up his face here….

However, she could use any and all of these techniques again for useful purposes in the future… and she’s likely to use at least some of them moving forward.