Differences between manga editions

[gsteemso]

I've recently begun acquiring the Ranma ½ manga, and was surprised to note that (a) Viz has released at least two editions of several of the earlier volumes; and (b) Viz volume 33, which contains the introduction of Konatsu, reads rather differently than what I remember of the Volume 35 scanslation.
Some of that is surely due to the variation between translators' word choices, but how big ARE the differences between the various versions of the manga that exist? (original uncollected Japanese, Japanese tankōban (sp?), Viz uncollected comics, Viz original edition and "action" edition graphic novels, the Ranmascan Project [or whatever it was called] scanslations, etc...)
Unless my memory is playing tricks on me, the differences may be big enough to affect things like the characterization of Konatsu and his/her interaction with other characters, things where there is so little source material in canon that minor variations in word choice can make a big difference. I can't tell how important this might be, and it only really matters if you're trying to be very faithful to the source material (e.g. for the backstory in divergences and continuations), but I am a recovering obsessive-compulsive and it has been nagging at me quite severely.
What have those of you who can read Japanese noticed in this regard?
-- G.

[Togashi Gaijin]

The differences in the various Viz editions are minor if any exist at all. I gave away my 1st edition Viz books when I replaced them with 2nd edition versions so I can't check it now, but when I *did* have both sets I saw no differences between editions.
The main differences are between the "official" Viz English translations and the New Ranma Project fan-scans. There are differences there, and in the two important differences I've checked against the original Japanese tankoubans, the Viz editions have proved to be the more accurate each time.
Check #1
> Japanese & New Ranma Project Vol 22 Part 4 pages 60-64
> Viz English Vol 20 Part 4 pages 62-66
The scene is Nodoka's first Tendo-ke visit with "Ranko Tendo". She's at dinner and quizing the family about Ranma. The scene ends up with onnaRanma and Akane up in Nabiki's room - who kills the conversation with the comment "Just this once I'll settle for 5000 yen", after berating Ranma for being selfish because the Tendos could no longer see their mother even if they wanted to.
The NRP fanscans set Nabiki in a sympathetic light in this scene ("I'm not going to try to make a profit off of this ...). The Viz version, however, is the more accurate of the two. IIRC when I checked this, the main difference between the Viz translation and the original Japanese was in the amount of yen Nabiki asked for.
Check #2
> Japanese & New Ranma Project Vol 24 Part 3 page 51
> Viz English Vol 22 Part 3 page 53
The scene is in the start of the Herb / Mt. Horai story after Ranma is locked by the Chiisuiton. OnnaRanma is packing for the train trip in teh dojo, talking to Akane. Right after Akane expresses confidence in Ranma's chances on beating Herb, Soun pops up with the karaoke mike schtick and exclaims: "Ranma, if by chance you can't become a man again ... I'll be sure to arrange a fine marriage for you!!"
The New Ranma Project fanscans have Soun proclaiming that if she can't change back "I feel it will be my duty to make you my bride!"
Again, the Viz translations are much more accurate. The main difference is in the cultural wording, where the Japanese version has Soun stating that the Tendo Clan - as opposed to Soun personally - will arrange a fine marriage for onnaRanma.
I haven't bothered to check on other instances where the NRP varies from the Viz "official" English versions. Given the track record, along with various public statements by some of the New Ranma Project participants, I would trust the Viz translations over the NRP fanscans if any other major differences do occur.
-Togashi Gaijin-
P.S. While I do own both the Viz English Ranma as well as the entire Shounen Sunday Japanese-language tankouban set, I do not speak Japanese. I am not entirely ignorant of the Japanese language, however, and have numerous references, dictionaries, and whatnot ... along with a few native Japanese language speaking acquaintances ... to properly decode what I need to know with a little effort. Note that these resources do not rely on machine-decoding techniques such as Bablefish, which are notoriously inaccurate.

[Atlan]

!!!!!
I hadn't known that Viz translated the later manga.
I noticed there was a 2 book diference between the two. Which is missing two books, the offical one or the fan one?

[Togashi Gaijin]

!!!!!
I hadn't known that Viz translated the later manga.
I noticed there was a 2 book diference between the two. Which is missing two books, the offical one or the fan one?

Neither. Japanese tankoubans are usually from 8 to 12 chapters long. The New Ranma Project used the same scheme as the Shounen Sunday tankoubans when they did the first fantrans.
Viz, when it started publishing the "official" Ranma Graphic Novels, started out volume 1 by including 14 chapters instead of the Japanese 8, Viz vol 2 had 11 chapters instead of 9, and so on. By the time they had published vol 16, they had covered the same content as the first 18 volumes of the Shounen Sunday tankoubans. Starting with vol17 Viz had "synced up" with SS vol 19, and they've matched the Japanese volume format with each subsequent English volume.
Since the SS Ranma tankoubans end with volume 38, the Viz versions should stop at volume 36. Note that there is no "missing content" at all.

[antimatterenergy]

I don't know of all the differences between the English and the Japanese version but I remember seeing a website somewhere that had listed some (I can't find it anymore though).
I remember it mentioning these (not counting pages being flipped):
-Many puns which were lost in translation or changed for English readers. (for instance the Shi Shi Hokodan story line was filled with puns on ki so in the English version its dramatic in the Japanese version its all a big joke)
-Ranma was more witty and had better insults.
-speech patterns are changed Nabiki speaks slang, Ukyo speaks different because she's from a different part of japan, Happosai and Genma use a more archaic type of speak, etc..
-The Japanese version had more shading and watercolor effects (such as patterns that were erased during redoing or clouds in the background).
-The American version is significantly darker so some things that were shades of gray have become black.
-Since females and males in Japan speak using different words much of the time. The American version you don't get female Ranma's jarringly male speech. So Ranma in the US version comes off as being pretty much a normal girl where in the Japanese version his girl form is a super tomboy.
-Ranma is shown being very polite to the Tendo's at first and it doesn't really show that in translation.
-Shampoo speaks like a stereotypical Chinese person using an older style of Japanese and doesn't sound as dumb.
-The guide speaks very bad Japanese with Chinese words mixed in so it's much easier to not understand him.
- Some things were changed so as to better fit word bubbles or because it didn't translate well.
The above was mostly from memory so it might not be completely accurate.
Part of the differences in the Viz and the fan translated are because the fans couldn't always get the Japanese books and instead used the Chinese books.

[Drawde]

The creator of the Ranmascan project himself said that they didn't have the best translations for it. Learning that Viz was more accurate with Nabiki's comment when Nodoka was introduced dissapointed me, since I liked Nabiki in the early parts of the manga.
As for the Viz version, it's one of the older translations. Where companies try to be more accurate now, and describe stuff at the end of the books, older translations weren't. They had more localization (making jokes and references fit the country where it's being printed), and didn't put as much effort into accuracy. Look at how Viz's translation of Urusei Yatsura, which had Ataru throwing candy at the Oni leader in the first volume, while mentioning halloween, instead of throwing beans to chase him off.

[mondu_the_fat]

I have the first few 12 books of the first edition of Viz (the rather large and fairly expensive ones) as well as the new "action edition" versions (cheaper and smaller). Other than size, I can't see any differences in translations.