Duwang

About

Duwang is the nickname given to an English-translated version of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable, the fourth part of the Japanese manga series, which has gained notoriety within the English-speaking JJBA fanbase for its exceptionally low quality scans and poorly translated Engrish quotes.

Origin

According to JJBA community forums^[1], the Duwang scanlation (scan-and-translation) of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable was done by a Chinese JJBA fan as a school project for his English class over a period of about a month. The name, Duwang, comes from the mistranslation of Morioh, the name of the fictional town where the story takes place, in Japanese kanji characters.

Spread

For the longest time, the Duwang translation was the only one available for the Part 4, and had gotten a sizable following within the fandom, enough for Duwang to be considered a "rite of passage" for those who read the manga^[2]. Duwang also refers to several joke subs of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 2012 TV Anime series^[3]. Throughout 2013 and 2014, a group named Invincible Trio, had been making a better quality re-translation of Diamond is Unbreakable. Despite the translation this time being of better quality, some of the most popular Duwang quotes were kept in as a homage^[4][5].

On June 21st, 2015, a YouTube video was uploaded, featuring a couple of pages from the Duwang translation dubbed over by Joel from Vinesauce. Over a period of ten months, the video got over 178,400 views^[12].

Various Phrases

"What A Beautiful Duwang"

"What A Beautiful Duwang" is a phrase spoken by Yoshikage Kira in chapter 342^[4], referring to the town the manga takes place in. It is one of the most well known examples of the Duwang translation, often used in parody and often to refer to the translation itself.

Get A Feeling So Complicated

"Get A Feeling So Complicated" is phrase spoken by Koichi Hirose at the end of chapter 302^[5]. It is used to refer to a feeling of some kind of strong emotion, usually as a reaction.

ABAJ / 啊

Among many traits in Duwang scans, sound effects and characters in speech bubbles weren't translated. One of these is “啊”, translated to “Ah”. Many western fans read the character as "ABAJ" and have associated it with the Duwang translation ever since.

Search Interest

External References