Kore Yamazaki’s The Ancient Magus’ Bride is now available for simultaneous release in English, translated with the help of AI technology provided by Mantra Inc. The manga returned from hiatus on Thursday with its 96th chapter and a new publisher – Bushiroad Works’ Comic Growl. It was originally serialized under Mag Garden. first in Monthly Comic Blade magazine and then in Monthly Comic Garden magazine.
In addition to The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Yamazaki’s Ghost & Witch will also be released simultaneously using Manga Engine, a “cloud translation engine” that uses AI technology and promises to streamline and cut down on costs. half the work required for translation. Mantra said the tool is currently “used by domestic and international publishers, translation and distribution companies to translate approximately 50,000 manga/comic pages per month (equivalent to 250 to 300 books per month) .”
The announcement caught the attention of many fans and industry experts, who criticized the decision to use an AI tool instead of hiring professional translators. A statement released on the official Twitter/X account for The Ancient Magus’ Bride confirmed that the translation is still being checked and edited by professional translators. According to the statement, the decision to use Mantra’s tools was made because unofficial (pirated) translations appeared online before official ones and “severely damaged manga culture and the industry.” both domestically and internationally”. Read the full statement below:
To clarify the false information that has been spread, I would like to provide some additional information. First, regarding “AI-assisted translation”, we have implemented a system from Mantra Corporation (https://mantra.co.jp/index_en.html).
This system combines their unique machine translation technology with editing and proofreading by professional translators. Next, about the purpose of simulcast distribution. Unofficial translations are sometimes released for free and circulated as “pirated versions”. Illegal manga piracy websites that publish these severely damage the manga culture and industry both domestically and internationally.
“The Ancient Magus Bride” also continuously suffered such losses. Initiatives such as the one we are implementing today have proven effective in reducing damages from copyright infringement, as demonstrated by previous cases with copyright infringement. Shueisha’s product. Finally, there are books produced and officially licensed by foreign publishers. If there are any offers from different companies, they will continue to be considered and if the conditions are met, publication will proceed as before. This situation remains unchanged. Thank.
Kore Yamazaki posted on her Twitter/X personal page, saying that she feels uncomfortable when people read her work being pirated. She asked fans to try looking at this situation as a new way of doing things.
So far, only the 96th chapter is available in English on the Comic Growl website ((formerly Comic Bushiroad Web), along with all the chapters in Japanese. The same situation happened with Ghost & Witch – all all chapters are available in Japanese and only the most recent (7th) is available in English. Both titles have been on hiatus since May. Anime News Network previously reported that Bushiroad Works would paid Mag Garden’s IG Port 200 million yen (~1.4 million USD) to dissolve the contract with Yamazaki. Also according to this source, Kyohei Shinpuku, who had worked as an editor in charge of Mag Garden for many years, had moved to Bushiroad Works in July this year – a decision that may have influenced Yamazaki to do the same. .
Seven Seas Entertainment is publishing The Ancient Magus’ Bride manga series in English. The 19th volume was released earlier this month (both English and Japanese). The manga has been serialized since 2013 and was adapted into an anime by WIT Studio (first season, the studio’s parent company is IG Port) and Studio Kafka (a subsidiary of Twin Engine), which handled the OVA series second and second season.
Source: PR Times, Twitter/X of The Ancient Mage’s Bride Featured image: Cover of The Ancient Mage’s Bride Volume 19