Jiangshi X: Research Notes
Added 2025-01-01 16:01:01 +0000 UTCTucker
Viz accidentally published the Mandarin translation
Tucker Recommends Instead: Mister Vampire III (awesome Hong Kong jiangshi action comedy movie)
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Title: Kyonshi–X キョンシーX
Japanese: Kyone-shee X
Kyonshi is the Japanese term for our hopping vampire friends. It’s also the term for them with which I’m most familiar since I grew up with the NES game Phantom Fighter that used the Japanese term for them.
Chinese: Chyahng-shee X
The sound often written as the letter J in pinyin (romanized Chinese) sounds nothing like the sound associated with the symbol in English (or Japanese, for that matter). In standard Mandarin dialects, it stands for /t͡ɕ/, which is pretty similar to the sound we make with the letters “ch,” but with the tongue making contact with the top of the mouth a little further back. If you can’t do it, a normal “ch” sound is an okay substitute. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_affricate)
I’m not familiar enough with tonal languages to write intelligently about what tones each syllable should get.
Author: Kurazono Norihiko 倉薗 紀彦
Kɯ-rah-zo-no, No-ree-hee-ko
Note about the official English translation:
The way character names, place names, attack names, and all other manner of proper nouns appearing in the manga are presented is significantly different in the original Japanese text versus the official Viz English translation. In Japanese, names and terms are presented in kanji, the character set adapted by Japanese from China in ancient times. Japanese readers of Jiangshi X (or as it’s known in Japanese, Kyonshi X) read these names using modern Japanese readings for the kanji.
However, in the English version, these kanji characters are instead interpreted as their native Chinese (most likely standard Mandarin/Han) equivalent written out in pinyin (romanized Chinese pronunciation). These different interpretations of the same symbols make pretty much everything sound very, very different depending on which version you’re reading and also means that there is no single correct answer for how one should refer to just about anything in this series. Wouldn’t want to make our jobs easy, huh?
Characters
Xiaohu 小虎 (JP: Kotora)
Chinese: Shyao-hoo
Written as “little tiger”
Heihu 黒虎 (JP: Kurotora)
Chinese: Hay-hoo
Written as “black tiger”
Jiuli 九里 (JP: Kyūri)
Chinese: Chyoo-lee
See note in title explanation about “J” in pinyin
Written as “nine reasons”
Chaoyun 超雲 (JP: Chou’un)
Chinese: Chow-yoon
“Ch” in pinyin stands for the consonant sound written as /ʈ͡ʂʰ/ in IPA….you know what? Just pronounce this like English “ch.”
Written as “ultra cloud”
Longhu Xuanshui 龍弧玄水 (JP: Ryūko Gensui)
Lonhg-hoo Shwan-shwee
Written as “dragon arc illusion water”
Konglun
Kong-loon
Zhang Sheng
Zhahng-sheyng
The “zh” is like the s in “lesion” or the g in “montage”
Jiutian Xuannu
Chyoo-t’yawn Shwan-noo
Zhen
The “zh” is like the s in “lesion” or the g in “montage”
Feng Ling
Fang-ling
Other
Daoshi
Dow-shee
Shenxian Village
Shen-shyahn
Dadaoshi
Dah-dao-shee
Bagua-daoshi
Bah-gwah Dao-shee
Wu Dou Jiu Dao
Woo Doe Chyuu Dao
Xian Dan
Shyawn Dawn
Shi Lei
Shee-lay
MaxyBee
Norihiko Kurazono
Notable people they were an assistant for
Hiroyuki Kikuta on HORIZON (rugby series)
Katsutoshi Kawai on Monkey Turn (hydroplane racing series)
Kei Kawano on Yuuto (speed skating series written by Yumi Hotta, of Hikaru no Go fame)
Mizuki Kawashita on Hatsukoi Limited (romance series that is somehow a flop despite having an anime)
Kosuke Iijima on Obo Samba!! (gag series about monks)
Notable people they had as assistants
Yoichiro Tanabe (of Oshiete! Furedou Wanda-san fame)
Tanabe assisted on Magic Peddler Roma.
Other works
Magic Peddler Roma (2009-2011, 5 vols, Sunday Super)
Roma is a peddler of mysterious magical objects, which when used selfishly by her customers generate a greed energy that she is then able to collect. It’s kind of twilight zoney as a result.
Hocus Pocus (2011-2012, 2 vols, Comic Flapper)
Boy goes to entertainment school, befriends magician girl. Chaos ensues.
Rin Mishima Doesn’t Believe It! (2011-2013, 3 vols, Comic Dengeki Daioh)
Rin Mishima cannot stand strange things, and so starts an “occult eradication study group” to debunk and destroy such things.
Voyage au Centre de la Terre (2015-2017, 4 vols, Monthly Comic Beam) based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name
That’s right, Journey to the Centre of the Earth in this adaptation of the popular classic. As with most Beam novel adaptations it’s about being faithful and making it look cool, and does these two things.
Automaton (2018-2020, 5 vols, Morning Two)
It’s a super hero series set in an increasingly violent world.
Liber -Heterogeneous Criminal Investigation Unit- (2019-2020, 3 vols, LINE manga)
A full-colour and very violent crime manga wherein a special crime investigator tries to catch a deranged serial killer who livestreamed the torture and dismemberment of one of his victims.
Across the Moon River (2024-present, 1+ vols, Manga One/Ura Sunday)
Kurazono’s newest series, following a bunch of teens as they get caught up in a science fiction adventure involving government conspiracy and also the moon
Publishing
Run Dates:
January 23, 2023 to February 19, 2024
Series it replaced
Not how Jump Plus works
Series that replaced it
Not how Jump Plus works
Series that started at the same time as it
None.
Chapters/Volumes:
35 chapters/4 volumes
Manga Itself / Misc thoughts
I don’t have much for this one, the manga is just a Naruto clone in a lot of ways, but I do want to note that the author has been in the industry over 20 years between assistant work and their own series, with no real hits to their name, despite working for several publishers and under some hit-making authors in his time. That’s just… pretty sad.
His Jules Verne manga is pretty good though.
