Cultivator Against Hero Society
- Thread starter MangaDex
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MD@Home
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@rejin, @sedition
Thanks for the explanation, at least now I understand where the translators are coming from, even if the word still makes no sense. (Just because one can indeed use "cultivate" as a kinda-sorta synonym for "hone", doesn't mean you can just convert it to a noun. People who train in martial arts, for example are not "trainers".)
Thanks for the explanation, at least now I understand where the translators are coming from, even if the word still makes no sense. (Just because one can indeed use "cultivate" as a kinda-sorta synonym for "hone", doesn't mean you can just convert it to a noun. People who train in martial arts, for example are not "trainers".)
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@pip25 Yeah np, in wuxia and xianxia novels it's a super common term that gets repeated a billion times so I sometimes forget that not everyone knows the context.
They literally refer to themselves as "Cultivators" in the novels so it's become second nature that when i hear or see the term I immediately think of that, rather than gardening or anything else.
They literally refer to themselves as "Cultivators" in the novels so it's become second nature that when i hear or see the term I immediately think of that, rather than gardening or anything else.
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@sedition @pip25: I remember being utterly confused, as someone 0-percent familiar with the weird literally-translated-Chinese conventions of the genre, reading the description of the Cultivation Chat Group manhua on one of these sites, and well... just being slightly bemused. Like, it parsed as something like: "The protagonist is invited to a gardening [cultivation] chat-group, where silly folks talk about making herbal pharmaceuticals [pill-compounding], and sharing (gardening) techniques, while calling each other by a bunch of strange weeb titles. The protagonist thinks they're a bit crazy. But not all is as it seems!"
I've always assumed part of what's going on, is that a lot of Chinese stuff is translated by folks who speak Chinese as their first language and English as their second, rather than the other way 'round (because there are many more native Mandarin speakers than native English—which is unique to Mandarin; Spanish is the only other language with more native speakers than English and it's got roughly the same number, whereas Mandarin has more than twice as many). And that as a result a lot of peculiar literal translations have become canonized, that are really weird to English-speakers at first blush. >_>;
I've always assumed part of what's going on, is that a lot of Chinese stuff is translated by folks who speak Chinese as their first language and English as their second, rather than the other way 'round (because there are many more native Mandarin speakers than native English—which is unique to Mandarin; Spanish is the only other language with more native speakers than English and it's got roughly the same number, whereas Mandarin has more than twice as many). And that as a result a lot of peculiar literal translations have become canonized, that are really weird to English-speakers at first blush. >_>;
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I've been a little disappointed in this, it seems so far to be just "xianxia man smashes a bunch of casually evil 'superheros'", as if that were intrinsically satisfying (maybe for the target audience it is?).
These opening chapters, at least, are neither epic showndowns (because it's about as one-sided as One-Punch-Man), nor are they especially comedic (though this one might have been the intention? Some of the beat-downs are clearly intended to be at least funny in passing, I'm not sure), nor do they have much interesting to say about the interplay of the vastly different cultures at hand (though the recent chapters addressed this for a bit, just a bit! I have a bit of hope.)
Anyway, so far, it feels like another xianxia self-insert fantasy about beating down a bunch of folks, with superheros just sort of thrown in for flavour in that regard. But I'm holding out hope it just hasn't gotten going yet (the plot, if there is one, hasn't really started as such), so we'll see.
These opening chapters, at least, are neither epic showndowns (because it's about as one-sided as One-Punch-Man), nor are they especially comedic (though this one might have been the intention? Some of the beat-downs are clearly intended to be at least funny in passing, I'm not sure), nor do they have much interesting to say about the interplay of the vastly different cultures at hand (though the recent chapters addressed this for a bit, just a bit! I have a bit of hope.)
Anyway, so far, it feels like another xianxia self-insert fantasy about beating down a bunch of folks, with superheros just sort of thrown in for flavour in that regard. But I'm holding out hope it just hasn't gotten going yet (the plot, if there is one, hasn't really started as such), so we'll see.
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The manga, until the current latest chapter, seems to be an average wuxia style story. I have no complaints as I'm a sucker for these types of stories. I am excited to see the progress, while it is still being made and translated. The story is nothing out of the ordinary, but do give it a shot to see what becomes of it, in the future.
Much thanks to both the author and the translates for this piece of work.
Much thanks to both the author and the translates for this piece of work.
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Poor dude just wanted directions
@theldras and everyone else who find the MC too OP: The MC comes from a Xanxia universe, not a Wuxia universe. The difference is there: In Wuxia, even with cultivation, the characters stay mortals, so even if strong it's to the level of a super-hero.
But in Xanxia, the characters ascend to godhood litterally and it doesn't stop here.
An example of how OP they become: in nearly all of these stories, they must ascend to higher dimension (location) because their original ones are too weak to support their power (dimension collapse). And they don't do that 1 or twice, it's often between 3 or 5. When they ascent the second time, the lower realm (like the ones they originate from) are considered as being destroyed by a single strike as a minor collateral damage.
The fact that they ascend multiples times: Imagine God, then there are the God of Gods and then the God of Gods of Gods. It's that power level.
(In truth, this technique to ascend is often just a poor excuse to a lack of imagination. The main point of these stories are MC hard-working their way from the bottom to the top. But once they reach the top, what happen? There is no longer a need to struggle. Hence come the ascension: "I start to having problem to write my story. Better make the MC ascend so he goes to a completely unknown place, with new character. And since he just ascended, he is at the bottom of the ladder in the new place"
An other comparison: You know in Dragon Ball where they destroy entire planet with energy attack? At the start of the serie, Son Goku was strong but not to this level, he could at best destroy a house. As the story progress and he becomes more powerful, he come to the level of planet destroyer. But once he reached that level, even if he got stronger, his level of possible destruction stay more or less the same, he didn't become strong enough to destroy the solar system in one attack. But in Xanxia, the level of possible destruction continue to climb. After Planets, come solar system, then galaxy, cluster of galaxies, dimension, cluster of dimension, ...
Tl;Dr: In the Xanxia genre from which the MC comes, this level of OPNess is natural and even expected.
But in Xanxia, the characters ascend to godhood litterally and it doesn't stop here.
An example of how OP they become: in nearly all of these stories, they must ascend to higher dimension (location) because their original ones are too weak to support their power (dimension collapse). And they don't do that 1 or twice, it's often between 3 or 5. When they ascent the second time, the lower realm (like the ones they originate from) are considered as being destroyed by a single strike as a minor collateral damage.
The fact that they ascend multiples times: Imagine God, then there are the God of Gods and then the God of Gods of Gods. It's that power level.
(In truth, this technique to ascend is often just a poor excuse to a lack of imagination. The main point of these stories are MC hard-working their way from the bottom to the top. But once they reach the top, what happen? There is no longer a need to struggle. Hence come the ascension: "I start to having problem to write my story. Better make the MC ascend so he goes to a completely unknown place, with new character. And since he just ascended, he is at the bottom of the ladder in the new place"
An other comparison: You know in Dragon Ball where they destroy entire planet with energy attack? At the start of the serie, Son Goku was strong but not to this level, he could at best destroy a house. As the story progress and he becomes more powerful, he come to the level of planet destroyer. But once he reached that level, even if he got stronger, his level of possible destruction stay more or less the same, he didn't become strong enough to destroy the solar system in one attack. But in Xanxia, the level of possible destruction continue to climb. After Planets, come solar system, then galaxy, cluster of galaxies, dimension, cluster of dimension, ...
Tl;Dr: In the Xanxia genre from which the MC comes, this level of OPNess is natural and even expected.
