I quite like CCAstro City! That and DigitalStrip are one of my favorites to use. : D

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♪MONSTARR~ will eat all your cookies and steal your bishies~♪ Φ_Φ

There isn't really a one-size-fits-all option when it comes to fonts. The best option is simply the one that a) looks nice, b) has a thickness that matches that of the balloon's border very well, and c) fits the style of the story. However, I find that it's usually trial and error. I don't think I've ever found a font that fits all three of those guidelines simultaneously. It usually boils down to whichever one simply looks less terrible than the rest on that particular story.

Seriously, who voted for comic san?

Scanlation lettering for the most part is god-awful, so to me, fonts don't matter simply because even if a scanlator picks a super-awesome font, the lettering will still look horrifying because of how bad they are at it. To this day, I've yet to see a single scanlation with lettering other than those of scorpian8867, that aren't just down right terrible.

Who can actually read webdings
...let alone be used as scanlation fonts??

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~Just Smile and There's Nothing You Can't Overcome~ 微笑Pasta

Nnnnnope.

I will, however, make a post that says 'lighten up'.

Admittedly, I AM guilty of unintentionally mincing my words when I said "I can deliver you a story with a series of grunts and photographs of human excrement in varying stages of decay, and so long as it's a riveting story, you'd be perfectly OK with it" when my intention was more along the lines of "I can deliver you a story with a series of grunts and photographs of human excrement in varying stages of decay, even if the series of grunts obscured what WAS a riveting story, and you'd be perfectly OK with it," so I'll forgive you.

Even given my somewhat misleading statement, I don't remember actually stating my opinion on the matter, so where you drew my stance from is an assumption you formed based on my poor use of font. Fascinating, wouldn't you say? And THAT, my cupcake eating cohort, is precisely my stance on using the wrong font.

Here's the non-riddle version said in more appropriate voice:

Imagine River's Edge.

Imagine River's Edge written in lickcurl pettite.

Imagine River's Edge written in acquaintance.

Those are exaggerations. Imagine River's Edge with a really "happy" looking font.

Imagine River's Edge in a more formal looking font, like Times New Roman.

There, I've just changed the feel or maybe just your expectations of the plot four separate times without changing the words... which is perfectly fine if it's to emulate the original text, but if it's a strange whim of the scanlator that totally misses the feel of the plot, then I almost see it as a translation error. So for me, yeah, the font matters, but maybe more on the level that I question the validity of a translation that has Yotsuba speaking in Times New Roman.

That's it.

As I said though, I did somewhat mince my words, so that's partly my error, but your... other assumptions on what I'm saying are rather strange... and humorous, I might add.

Like this:

Did I ever say this?? *re-reads my post*

I didn't!! I even went well out of my way to explain a completely contradictory standpoint! Whew, for a second there I thought somebody else was logged onto my account and editing my posts!

Or this:

W-Where did I imply this!? *re-reads my post*

I DIDN'T!! YOU LIED TO ME AGAIN!!

But especially this:


This is madness, sarah-eats-cupcakes! MADNESS!! YOU EVEN QUOTED ME! Look! Look!



LOOK!



So, you see, the dangers of choosing the wrong font are more damning that one would think, no? Hmmm....

Last edited by Badkarma at 12:02 am, Jan 20 2013

I am a super font snob. In my own scanlation work, on Hoshi no Furu Machi, WA!, and Mangaka-san there was always consideration of authorial intent.the original Japanese fonts used and application of a particular font (SFX, shouts, whispers, printed/displayed vs spoken, etc.)

I tend not to like American-comics-style monocase fonts for manga because they are harder to read than dual case fonts and take up more horizontal space in the tall, narrow Japanese vertical bubbles. Also, in the manga I have worked on, they don't look very much like the fonts in the original. Something like Anime Ace might be ok for shounen action manga, but I don't do those. Oh, and for the record - I don't hate comic sans. It could be narrower, but it has a proper lowercase and would make an OK manga font except that I don't want to be sued by Microsoft for using it. So I tend toward something like SF Cartoonist Hand for a plain conversation font for a talky seinen manga.

I think that most scanlators either don't know, or don't care how much meaning, symbolism, and nuance they are losing in translation by using Anime Ace or whatever their one font to rule them all is this week Instead of looking at the raw and letting the author have his say.

Because, ya know, the professional mangaka might just be better at being a mangaka than the scanlator is. But even if he isn't, it's still his story, not the scanlator's.

For the record, the most effort I ever put into a font choice was for Editor in Chief★Straight Ahead! when typesetting the Haruhi light novel vol 8. Tanigawa actually describes the fonts used by two of the characters in their short stories. But of course they're Japanese fonts, so i had to figure out what might be an English language equivalent to this particular Japanese font. It took some time...

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If some n00b actually took this as a sign that they should use Comic Sans MS, then there will be blood.

Wild Words FTW.

Hm.. I'll skip responding to what anyone else has said (mostly) and just simply reply with my opinion.

I feel that there are many manga (at least many being scanlated) where it doesn't matter at all as long as you can read it. Despite what people may say, the writing and story just isn't well thought out enough and the writer doesn't have the talent or hasn't considered the importance of their fonts and writing style for it to matter. Other times they choose a font only for looks and what the look may suggest, but they fail to consider the reader and pacing.. I recall at least one occasion where the scanlator actually hand wrote in some things because no font could closely match the original.. Unfortunately this didn't consider the story nor the reader, because it forced the reader to slow down which threw off the pacing.. It was an intense high stakes high drama scene that didn't require much thought but it slowed you down..

I feel fonts should only force a reader to slow down for a few reasons, such as adding to the suspense.. There is something to be said for someone with such talent that they can plan ahead and make a reader read at the pace you want to give the full effect of a manga... Call me a snob or what have you, but if you don't fully utilize the tools at your disposal (from the art to the font, the writing, everything) then it may as well be a picture book, with little captions under each image.

There are manga where the font and such are extremely important.. It helps set the tone, it controls you and helps you read and invokes such strong emotion within you that it's an experience, not just a story.

If you argue that the plot and dialog alone should do that, then go read a novel. I read those too, and that's when I would agree with you.

Of course this is just my opinion, and as I never remember any names, titles, locations, etc.. I cannot give any examples. I apologize.

Lastly, senile_seinen.. It seems I shall have to check out the things you do because I often long for the quality you say you put into your work (if I can find it).

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Ah my bad. I always get wild words and comic sans mixed up. I've been corrected numerous times already but I still forget lol. That said, I still don't get the hate on comic sans besides the fact that it looks unprofessional and is used in the wrong context too often. It may not be the best looking font in the world, but I doubt that many people, including me, actually think it's ugly (hence the popularity). So honestly, I think people hate it just because designers stated that they hate it (probably due to its popularity and gross misuse), thereby shepherding the masses to hate it as well since people think they know better or something. All this culminating into some kind of cultural phenomenon in which people hate something just to follow the crowd (also the reason why it's rarely used now).

I think if a font is the right choice, it should go unnoticed... meaning that if it fits then one should be too into the history to notice.
I always feel as if the characters where moving and talking in my head when reading, i can't seem to notice the font unless it really doesn't fit and take me out of trance or if i'm editing something my self.

I have to say of some scans, that they do an outstanding job, i read cape comics and others professionally done works and had found much manga, within the internet translated ones, that could be compared with a positive outcome with them

lol...just lol. did you not read what I wrote in the previous post?
river's edge was a great manga, Im pretty sure I wouldn't have dropped it even if the font was a bit unnerving(lickcurl or times new roman...doesn't matter)
so long as I can read the words [caps lock] I DONT MIND [/caps lock]...I should be buying most of these manga anyway if im going to be picky about the quality instead of reading scanlations

EDIT: @blackorion: Badkarma is a female...I think

Last edited by sarah-eats-cupcakes at 3:29 am, Jan 20 2013

and then he did...

sorry i have nothing to do with that, but i think it's funny.
.

Wish someone somehow had well... Perhaps written the names of the fonts in the font... If you know what I mean. It would have made this so much easier and the poll would have been... Available to so many more people.

I read a lot of scanlations but heck... I don't know the names of all the fonts .

EDIT: After having voted it became obvious to me that I am not the only on who does not recognize the names of the fonts...

I'm not picky about fonts at all, sometimes I'm a bit puzzled as to why people pick a certain font (once read a josei with this super curly script-like font O.o) but it never really bothers me. As long as it's readable I'm happy. I care far more about a manga having at least a semi-decent english translation and nice art than about fonts. I have to be able to read it, that's really my only criterium.

TL;DR I don't care as long as it's legible.