New Additions to the Family: Japanese editions of Name of the Wind

Those of you who have been reading the blog for a long, long time might remember the early days. Back when everything was fresh and new, and I talked about all the new experiences I was having as an author. My first conventions. My first Guest of Honor gig. My first appearance on the New York Times Bestseller list. My first piece of Kvothe/Bast slashfic.

It was easy to write a lot of blogs back then. Partly because I didn’t have kids or a bunch of other projects taking up my time. But also because almost everything I was doing was new, and therefore everything was exciting.

These days, ten years later, I don’t have as many firsts as I used to. And I’m busy. And I’m a dad. And I’m older and more tired. It seems like I’m tired all the time these days.

One thing I still get excited to see is new versions of NOTW coming into print, especially if they have new covers. I used to show those off a *lot* back in the day, and I don’t know exactly when I fell out of the habit of sharing them.

Anyway. These showed up the other day:

(As always, guest starring my thumb.)

They are the new editions/translations of Japanese Name of the Wind. And I have to say, I think they look pretty badass….

(Click to Embiggen.)

The covers are *so* anime, and I love them.

Some of you who have been around for a long time might remember the first Japanese editions that came out a while back.

(Between you and me? These covers I didn’t love so much.)

These original Japanese editions have been near impossible to find for years, and if you could find them, they were crazy expensive because they’ve been out of print for a long, long while. Which is a shame. Covers aside, production quality of those books was beautiful. (Nice hardcovers with great bindings and *amazing* paper quality.)

Unfortunately, they didn’t sell very well, and the publisher canceled their contract with me abandoned the series rather than pour more funds into translating and publishing book two. This happens fairly often, but it was my first experience of this sort. It’s kinda like when someone breaks up with you, except you’ve never met them and they live in another country.

Anyway, there you go. The Japanese edition is back, new and improved.

Hope y’all are doing okay. I’ll see some of you in Texas this weekend, and others at Gencon soon….

pat

P.S. I tried for like, ten minutes to come up with a punny title for this blog along the lines of Anime of the Wind, but I couldn’t come up with a good one. (Ani-name of the Wind? Aname of the wind?) It feels like there should be something there, but I just can’t get it. If you have any better luck than I do, let me know in the comments below.

 

This entry was posted in book covers, foreign happenings. By Pat67 Responses

67 Comments

  1. Amstrad
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 3:18 AM | Permalink

    Huh, any idea why the publisher split the book into three parts?
    To take a stab at my own question: That looks more or less the same size format and page count that most manga is published in, I guess soft cover novels get the same treatment.

    • Espen
      Posted August 1, 2017 at 7:12 AM | Permalink

      They misinterpreted silence with books

    • aldel
      Posted August 1, 2017 at 8:36 AM | Permalink

      So they could have three awesome covers instead of one? (Except that doesn’t explain the first edition…)

      Another theory: They wanted to give us a moment of “Wait, does Japan get book 3 before we do??”.

    • Iveray
      Posted August 1, 2017 at 9:34 AM | Permalink

      Nearly all books in Japan are “manga” size because of the percentage of people who use trains/buses. It’s annoying to carry a full-size backpack on a crowded train (and there’s actually some loose etiquette on how to do so), so most people carry smaller bags. Even their text books are tiny compared to the ones we make American kids carry.

      • Posted August 2, 2017 at 12:11 PM | Permalink

        This.

        • Posted August 2, 2017 at 6:03 PM | Permalink

          Have a deep love of good hardbacks. The kind you can oil or show off on a shelf. Didn’t understand the paperback revolution until I moved to NYC and read the hardback of The Way of Kings while standing on the Subway.

          Never again.

          And I cannot fathom having tried that in Tokyo.

    • panxiihh
      Posted August 1, 2017 at 9:35 AM | Permalink

      Actually practically every book gets the same format in japan, and with hard cover books they choose the jacket when they buy it. Also, I think it’s easier to carry around a book that size instead of a 2kg book, and japanese people are practical like that. It’s interesting how this kind of things work there

    • Lukas
      Posted September 24, 2018 at 11:17 AM | Permalink

      There are five of them if I am not mistaken.

  2. Karim
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 4:30 AM | Permalink

    Pattt,

    1. I wanted to say: I was thinking about all my personal and the political problems currently around (Trump’s and otherwise) and I got pretty depressed. Then I thought of Doors of Stone and how it’d be out someday and I cheered-up quite a bit. At least, I thought, we have that.

    So I just wanted to say thank you. It was a lovely moment of peace, made all the better by the sudden (coincidental?) breeze that flew in a moment later. :) I don’t care how long it takes. I just wanted to say these books mean a lot to me.

    2. These Japanese covers are beautiful! Interesting that they gave Kvothe shorter hair (which, if I recall, is more true to the books) than other editions. You’d expect modern manga artists to embrace longer hair, considering.

    I’d have gone with “Namae of the Wind.” It means “Name,” apparently, but I’m unsure if that’s due to osmosis from English.

  3. Karim
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 4:33 AM | Permalink

    Also:

    1. “the publisher canceled their contract with me abandoned the series”: you reviser, you.

    2. I’m sorry you’re tired and I hope my message above gave you a moment’s peace the way the thought of the book gave me mine. It’ll get better. Take it from an Arab; I’m the first generation in my family to not be displaced or dispossessed due to war in, well, a century.

    • Karim
      Posted August 1, 2017 at 4:34 AM | Permalink

      Although maybe that last part was unnecessary and could be misinterpreted.

      Take it from an Arab. It gets better. Night is darkest before the dawn and all that. :)

  4. justajenjen
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 5:52 AM | Permalink

    Those are pretty. I think I need a set to sit on the shelf with my other imported manga that I can’t read because I never learned kanji and the ones I’ve bought since moving to France and read because the helped me improve my French.

  5. Simon Appeltans
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 5:56 AM | Permalink

    They look great! Is there any chance of an English version with these covers?

    • Posted August 2, 2017 at 11:41 AM | Permalink

      Nope. Sorry.

      • LadyImp
        Posted August 4, 2017 at 8:50 AM | Permalink

        How about an Name of the Wind Art Book? All the covers, maps and inner drawings! That I would pay for.

  6. HiuGregg
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 6:17 AM | Permalink

    Aw man, we’re doing a “Cover Olympics” thing right now on reddit to find the prettiest Name of the Wind cover, and only yesterday did I post the “qualifying” poll to whittle it down to one cover per country. Trust me to post it a day before these new covers are released.

    Guess Japan is getting two entries in the finals.

  7. daryakurlya
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 6:30 AM | Permalink

    YAY!!! I simply MUST get my hands on them! I went to at least 10 book stores when I was in Japan looking for the old versions with no luck at all!

    Will they be available in the Tinkers Packs anytime soon?

    :D (so happy, and they are indeed so much prettier)

  8. paulviz
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 6:41 AM | Permalink

    I like the comment about being tired all the time. I have 5 kids and when people ask how I’m doing, I say, “I’m tired but that okay, it’s a perpetual state.”

  9. david_j_cutler
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 10:29 AM | Permalink

    As for the blog post name… I’d go completely trans-literal

    The Kami of the Kaze

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kami

    https://www.google.com/search?q=Japanese+to+english&oq=Japanese+to+english&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i20k1j0j0i20k1j0.5205.10657.0.10857.23.21.2.0.0.0.217.1323.19j0j1.20.0….0…1.1.64.psy-ab..1.22.1322.6..35i39k1j0i131k1j0i67k1.X057U5y3rKs

    Cheers,
    dave

  10. Veelk
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 10:38 AM | Permalink

    Just go with the straight up Japanese

    Kaze no namae

  11. akemi
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 10:56 AM | Permalink

    Well, now I feel quite special, as my spouse bought me those original Japanese editions a year or two ago as a gift!

    And when I saw the new versions, I immediately thought “I HAVE to get those!” They are beautiful!

  12. Kashiraja2
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 11:34 AM | Permalink

    For an exciting moment, I thought there was a manga edition of the books.

    Then reality kicked in

    • filiz
      Posted August 2, 2017 at 1:14 PM | Permalink

      Yeah me too!

  13. Kashiraja2
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 11:35 AM | Permalink

    OK how about selling posters of these covers in the Tinker’s pack, or at the next Worldbuilder?

    • Posted August 2, 2017 at 10:58 AM | Permalink

      We’ve thought of doing a poster with *all* the foreign covers of the books together, but getting the rights for all those different pieces of art would be a bit of a nightmare…

  14. spinozajd
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 12:07 PM | Permalink

    Draccus Ball Z?

  15. Patsfanboy
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 12:29 PM | Permalink

    [Comment redacted due to inappropriate levels of rudeness.]

  16. mlandaburu
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 12:36 PM | Permalink

    kaze no naManga? (Kaze no namae: the name of the wind // Manga) bah I do not know. When are you selling these for Latin America, I am in Argentina and would love to be able to purchase these.

    I would also like to ask you if do you have any updates on the continuation of the books, I am not trying to rush you, I am just curious.

  17. Thosetimis
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 1:36 PM | Permalink

    does this mean we might possibly have Book Two translated into Japanese as well?

    • Thosetimis
      Posted August 1, 2017 at 1:40 PM | Permalink

      Also can we expect these to be available on the Tinkers Packs in the future?

      • Wallace
        Posted August 1, 2017 at 5:02 PM | Permalink

        I really hope so. I would love a copy of these for my collection.

      • Posted August 2, 2017 at 11:14 AM | Permalink

        Also eventually.

    • Posted August 2, 2017 at 11:09 AM | Permalink

      Eventually.

  18. Sebas.casta
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 7:29 PM | Permalink

    Pat, what do you think of Kvothe appearing in a manga and later be animated?

  19. decat13
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 8:01 PM | Permalink

    Magname is Wind
    Kubo’s Gaijen Older Brother
    Fire-headed Wind Whispers
    Sasuke in Library
    Much Adventure, little Nudity
    Wind Anime is Name?
    Breath of a Name
    The Winds Aniname
    Elodin’s illustrated Puppet Party
    Manga Cum Loud Wind Sounds

  20. gracemchu
    Posted August 1, 2017 at 8:08 PM | Permalink

    What about “The Anime of the Wind”?

    They did a great job with Denna!

  21. Pedro Cruz
    Posted August 2, 2017 at 4:05 AM | Permalink

    [Comment redacted due to inappropriate levels of ignorance and rudeness.]

  22. apramor
    Posted August 2, 2017 at 7:30 AM | Permalink

    What about: “The unnamed Blow” ;-)

  23. choubidoubinette
    Posted August 2, 2017 at 8:57 AM | Permalink

    Dear Pat,

    I just asked a friend of mine who’s visiting her family in Japan this summer if she could tr to find me these books. I don’t know how to read Japanese yet, and I do own The Name of the Wind already… but I need them… And the 10th anniversary edition of the book.

    My book addiction may have just gotten out of hand. Is three editions of the same book too many?

    Many hugs,
    Audrey

  24. anni05920
    Posted August 2, 2017 at 11:35 AM | Permalink

    Name of the Weeb ?

    Those covers are seriously amazing though! I’ll hunt and see if I can find them on Amazon Japan :)

  25. Crimsyn Seraph
    Posted August 2, 2017 at 12:54 PM | Permalink

    Name of the Anemoi? (Greek gods of tge wind)

  26. filiz
    Posted August 2, 2017 at 1:11 PM | Permalink

    Japanime of the Wind

  27. imango
    Posted August 2, 2017 at 1:30 PM | Permalink

    I only have an idea for book 2: Wise Manga’s Fear

  28. Posted August 2, 2017 at 6:00 PM | Permalink

    Naruto the Wind.

  29. B
    Posted August 2, 2017 at 6:03 PM | Permalink

    I think Anime of the Wind is perfect – love it – nothing better comes to mind here….

  30. DevelopmentHell
    Posted August 2, 2017 at 8:00 PM | Permalink

    A-name of the Wind

    • DevelopmentHell
      Posted August 2, 2017 at 8:00 PM | Permalink

      -10 points for not noticing Pat’s “Aname”

      • Posted August 2, 2017 at 11:58 PM | Permalink

        +5 points for enthusiasm tho.

  31. Punyhumans
    Posted August 4, 2017 at 6:28 AM | Permalink

    I created an account just to say:

    All these comments and not one person suggested “The Name of the Wind Rises”

  32. Occamslaser
    Posted August 4, 2017 at 9:20 AM | Permalink

    all this trying (and failing) to think of anime NOTW puns has really made me wonder how your names and laungauge translates in Japanese. Id be super curious to hear how the words I love in my own launguage would make the jump to one so fundamentally different.

  33. eprice17
    Posted August 4, 2017 at 5:32 PM | Permalink

    I can’t imagine translating your books. Getting the cultural nuances to convey in the same way would be terrifying. Kudos to your translators!

  34. Sohalia
    Posted August 4, 2017 at 9:58 PM | Permalink

    Those look awesome. It makes me think how cool a manga version would be.

  35. tanpopo7
    Posted August 6, 2017 at 1:22 PM | Permalink

    Love it!
    Gonna get copy of them for sure :) To be honest I loved even the previous ones.

  36. GreatDarkSpot
    Posted August 8, 2017 at 1:37 PM | Permalink

    John and Yoko in Tarbean.

    • GreatDarkSpot
      Posted August 8, 2017 at 1:38 PM | Permalink

      Gaaa…Temerant, not Tarbean.

  37. Edith
    Posted August 8, 2017 at 4:05 PM | Permalink

    Love them!

    Tittle is Kaze no Namae which does translate into Name of the Wind. Another interesting thing is that you now have a Japanese katakana name which is パトリック – ロスファス which basically is patorikku – rosufasu in romanji.

  38. skollipsism
    Posted August 12, 2017 at 3:00 AM | Permalink

    WHERE CAN WE GET THEM.

    I’m just starting to learn 日本語 now, and since I’ve devoured Name of the Wind so many times I’m like a walking search engine for passages…these would be amazing to have as an incentive.

  39. kingskiller
    Posted August 14, 2017 at 9:14 AM | Permalink

    I love the anime version I hope I can buy it, the second edition obviously, the first is so ugly (its normal that no one bought it) and I hope that they make an anime series I’m sure it will be perfect (if you have seen anime, you will wish it) because japaneses love make Manga and Anime and they make it perfectly and also because it would be better than a movie with real characters, because there is a lot of scenes or things that being a fantastic story, it’s better make it on anime than in movies, but both of them its better ajja!!

  40. farleykj
    Posted August 31, 2017 at 9:07 PM | Permalink

    For people looking to get these beauties, a mercantile trick I’ve used in the past is to look at Amazon in the country of interest. For example, Amazon.jp. I’ve gotten some Douglas Adams stuff that is impossible to find in the US by scrounging around on Amazon.uk. The shipping is usually a bit hurty, and the exchange rate and currency conversion charges also make it not cheap, but that’s the price for fulfilling your wishes.
    I don’t see the new books there yet, but maybe they aren’t available for a little while?

  41. Vivi
    Posted March 20, 2022 at 3:56 AM | Permalink

    Does anyone know the name of the artist who drew the manga covers??

  42. MagicalCatboy
    Posted March 30, 2023 at 10:00 PM | Permalink

    How about a callback to some classic Ghibli: Kvothe (of the Valley) of the Wind.

    Stumbled on this post trying to find a Japanese cover for my favorite book so I could have some context when I mention it to my students.

    Been in Japan for half a year so far, and I’m just getting to the point where I might want to attempt some easy novels…might be another year or so before I can read these.

    Definitely will keep my eye out for them at any BookOff I visit.

    I wonder if the translation is good? To that regard, is there a difference vs the poorly selling/out of print version?

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