It's that time of month again! My copy of Volume 4 of Viz's localization of Classroom just came in, and I'll be writing my thoughts as I go.

...Okay, table of contents again. ...Wait, "Time for Another Transfer Student - 2nd Period?" Where'd the "another" come fro- ugh, I don't even care. I've lost hope in their chapter titles already. MOVING ON!

You'll use the anti-me knife which is harmless to humans

Yeah, nothing wrong with this sentence at all! Jesus, guys.

Character bio: "Irina Jelavic"

Huh. Coulda sworn they spelled it "Jelavich" in Volume 2. I'm too lazy to get up and check, though. Either way, this is the correct spelling, so I'll let it slide.

Okay, they sure are fond of saying Korosensei has them "wrapped around his tentacle." Are... are you trying to make that a thing, guys? Like you did with the whole "ve haff vays uff making him talk" in Volumes 2 and 3? Like... no. The only recurring lines in this series are the "school bell" lines and the "this is a [month] of [noun]." And, of course, the time limit lines.

Hmm, that's an awfully big bubble just for the word "here." What did you leave out, I wonder?

EDIT: I looked this up, and it turns out that they swapped the content of this bubble with the next one, which was cramped by comparison.

OKAY GOOD THEY STILL CALL HIM SHIRO. This being Viz, I was worried they might try to pull a fast one. Heck, it's a wonder they didn't mess with Ritsu in Volume 3.

Hey, good job with Itona's first sce- wait a minute. Geez, guys, get a better proofreader! Karma just said to Itona, "You just came in through the door - literally." No, he didn't. The fact that he Kool-Aid Manned through the wall was this big joke that lasted an entire page. Seriously, even new readers will notice this! This is just like those times in Volume 1 where you dropped the ball. Viz, step up yo game.

EDIT: Also, note that this is the second time this volume that they've broken up a slightly metaphorical statement with the word "literally." Lern to diverse, gaiz.

Aw, they ruined another joke! You know how Okajima passionately talks about how men are united in their love of big boobs? And how Nagisa reacts with "There's three of them now?!" Well, they changed that comeback to "And we're definitely not related." Errybody give them a slow clap. Sometimes jokes are funny enough as they are, ya goofballs. Leave 'em be.

Hrm. You know how Itona chops off Korosensei's tentacle right from the get-go, yet the students are looking at Itona instead? Viz didn't do a good job of translating that very well. They went [We all just stood there...] [staring at Korosensei's severed arm.] [No...!] Like... really? You had plenty of space to work with in those boxes, guys. Come on, be a little clearer.

Okay, they've been making a lot of weird translation choices. Not bad, per se, just... odd. Like, I can't quite explain it. It's like, yeah, they're covering the gist of what the lines are getting at, but it seems like they're making these choices just so that they don't have to be closer to the original Japanese. In my opinion, you should only translate loosely if, A, you just can't make it sound good when you translate literally, and B, it really works well, to the point that the line deserves to be translated in that way. Ideally, you should be able to make the line sound good while staying faithful to what the original Japanese line says. What Viz has been doing is like changing the work into something it's not, if that makes sense. I dunno, I'm just rambling by this point.

Okay, gotta hand it to them. They did that "bloodlust and tentacles" line at the baseball tournament pretty well. "Let's give them a taste of baseball hell.../ colored by malice and tentacles."

Aaaaaand they give away Takaoka's plot twist in the summary of Volume 5. Of course.

All in all, this volume is... another mediocre one, to be honest. Not bad enough for me to stop buying the series, but not good enough for me to get hyped for the next volume. Some things they did really well, and other things they did really badly. I think Viz has peaked in terms of translation quality for this series, guys. First there was Volume 1, which sucked. Then there was Volume 2, which was a little better. Then Volume 3 was average, and so was this one. If Volume 5 is the same quality, that'll probably be my last one of these posts, since three volumes in a row without improvement would most likely mean they're not going to improve anymore, giving me little to talk about here.