Whats everyone reading?

[Professor Bear]

Only way to do it

No, it's the cheapest way to do it.
That's also why unflipped manga titles are also plagued by typos, incorrectly-placed text and lazily-translated dialogue, the inevitable result of a minimum of oversight and editorial input prompted by low production budgets, if any budget at all, as in some cases publishers were so cheap they simply reproduced volumes of material they grabbed from scanlation sites.
There are plenty of other ways to present manga, as evidenced by high-quality reproductions like Blade of the Immortal, Samurai Executioner, Lone Wolf and Cub or Akira (coincidentally all highly sought-after titles compared to the bargain bins full of unflipped stuff), but these methods require an investment of money, time and a care and respect for the source material that unflipped publishers have no interest in supplying.

[sheldipez]

Masamune Shirow was consulted when putting the english Ghost/Shell volumes together, sometimes Shirow opted to flip the image sometimes it was the text only, Man-Machine Interface has some sub-notes explaining reason behind some decisions. There is such a thing as having some care in translation.

[Professor Bear]

Indeed, but just translating the text and publishing it is the opposite of that.
Blade of the Immortal is probably the poster-child for care in the translation, as pages are rebuilt from the individual panels to make the English-language version.

[Hawkmumbler]

I'd rather have it all unflipped, as intended by the original publication and the creaters. Fell's more authentic and appealing some how.

[shaolin_monkey]

I read most of Death Note unflipped, which was my first experience of trying.  At first it was a right pain, but after about the third volume it seemed to click all of a sudden and became perfectly natural. 

The only problem was, when I tried to read a 2000AD right after a six volume binge, my eyes automatically started scanning panels right to left!!

[Hawkmumbler]

I read most of Death Note unflipped, which was my first experience of trying.  At first it was a right pain, but after about the third volume it seemed to click all of a sudden and became perfectly natural. 

The only problem was, when I tried to read a 2000AD right after a six volume binge, my eyes automatically started scanning panels right to left!!

It's a mind set I guess. Being part of the 'manga boom' generation and reading alot of the stuff, right to left just feel's RIGHT to me.

[Professor Bear]

I never had to take several volumes to get used to the format, it was second nature within a few pages because the art is made to lead the eye in a specific direction and as long as the volume was consistent to the intended format there wasn't any problem - what would take me out of the book, however, was when I got to panels with several speech balloons and the editor or translator had swapped the placement instinctively to the English format (first bit of text in the leftmost balloon, second bit of text in the balloon to the right of that, and so on).  That's why I've never had a problem with unflipped books, my problem was and remains with shoddily-produced books and the otherwise-sensible people who seem to buy into the outright lies that many publishers put about that their cost-cutting was actually "more authentic" and that "the author prefers it this way", which is kind of like Tesco selling you their own-brand baked beans while saying "baked beans only taste authentic when there's an aftertaste of soap and tin" and then people on the internet rubbish Cross and Blackwell baked beans because they aren't shitty enough and anyone who likes them clearly does not understand the cultural nuance and artistic integrity necessary to truly enjoy baked beans as their creator intended.

Marvel writer Kelly Sue DeConnick spent years as a manga translator and went on the record about anal manga fans, offering "once it's translated it isn't manga... it's not for Japan.  The fans... bless them, but they need to understand it can never be perfect... the only way it's going to be authentic is they need to get on a plane and fly to Japan, go to a store, and oh yeah, you need to be born in Japan and lived all your life in Japan and read Japanese, because that is the only place manga exists like that."

[Hawkmumbler]

Damned if i'm going to order manga in it's native laguage. Unless it's some rare Go Nagie title or the untranslated D.Gray-Man material...but there are many good companys out there who translate there titles properly, no switching on balloons or the such. Viz Media, Yen Press, Dark Horse et al.

[Professor Bear]

But it's not authentic unless it's in Japanese, HM.

[Hawkmumbler]

But it's not authentic unless it's in Japanese, HM.

Close enough for me, in term's of faithfullnes to the original print, having a western publication that is unflliped is the most faithful you can be without featuring Kanji SFX (which Yen Press actualy do) and native language, which obviesly wouldn't sell cos', this is aimed at English speeking fellows.

[Professor Bear]

English reads in the wrong direction for the original artwork.  I remember reading a Naruto volume where he kicked three dudes in the face for 200 pages, then turned into a bunch of naked girls and rubbed his/their boobs on someone for 30 more pages and then that guy got an erection and fell over when his pants came off and I thought "the artistic value of this book has been compromised by the act of translation."

[sheldipez]

English reads in the wrong direction for the original artwork.  I remember reading a Naruto volume where he kicked three dudes in the face for 200 pages, then turned into a bunch of naked girls and rubbed his/their boobs on someone for 30 more pages and then that guy got an erection and fell over when his pants came off and I thought "the artistic value of this book has been compromised by the act of translation."

Screw starting Samurai Executioner next, I think I'll read some Naruto instead.

[Hawkmumbler]

English reads in the wrong direction for the original artwork.  I remember reading a Naruto volume where he kicked three dudes in the face for 200 pages, then turned into a bunch of naked girls and rubbed his/their boobs on someone for 30 more pages and then that guy got an erection and fell over when his pants came off and I thought "the artistic value of this book has been compromised by the act of translation."

Well, thats fan comics for you! Naruto sucks anyway so that might have actualy made me like the series.

[shaolin_monkey]

English reads in the wrong direction for the original artwork.  I remember reading a Naruto volume where he kicked three dudes in the face for 200 pages, then turned into a bunch of naked girls and rubbed his/their boobs on someone for 30 more pages and then that guy got an erection and fell over when his pants came off and I thought "the artistic value of this book has been compromised by the act of translation."

That wasn't in the computer game!!!

[Hawkmumbler]

English reads in the wrong direction for the original artwork.  I remember reading a Naruto volume where he kicked three dudes in the face for 200 pages, then turned into a bunch of naked girls and rubbed his/their boobs on someone for 30 more pages and then that guy got an erection and fell over when his pants came off and I thought "the artistic value of this book has been compromised by the act of translation."

That wasn't in the computer game!!!

I think either A) TM was exagerating for comedic effect or B) he read a very different manga.