I think Viz has done so poorly on InuYasha because it's not just another one of those series whose storyline takes a back seat to the action. I don't know, I'm a bit torn to be honest. To make a profit Viz can't solely cater to the puritans. My friends and I love InuYasha, but I'm probably the only one who would notice that Sesshomaru's crescent is backwards. Yet, I also have almost the entire anime series on DVD and enjoy watching both the English and Japanese versions. It seems to me that everyone is too quick to write-off the English version. It seems kind of weeaboo to me. lol.

That's definitely not to say, though, that Viz needs a hefty kick where the sun doesn't shine. InuYasha has been going for years and they're so slow.

The English translation of both the manga and English-dubbed anime are horrible to the point of embarrassment. Is VIZ responsible for the anime as well?!

I would have purchased the VIZ manga had they not been ruined by bastardized translating and flipping. By "Americanizing" Inuyasha to include idiotic jokes that have nothing to do with the original translation, they demean the series and warp it into something it is not.  And what's with the flipping?? Why on earth would they do this?? Of all the manga on God's green earth, Inuyasha was singled out for this treatment?

As it is, I have the Shonen Sunday tankoubon volumes 1-40 and the first 10 anime seasons in Japanese.  While the English subtitles in the anime may not be precise, they are understandable and often amusing: the command "draw your sword" is translated as "pull your cutlery!" on one disc. 

 With $200+ invested in the Japanese version I am unlikely to switch to the English translation even if the folks at VIZ got it right. I know enough Japanese to get through the books, since I know what's going on thanks to online scanlations.

 
This site rocks, btw, thanks for the scanlations!
 

I very much agree with what Cyperian said, which is why my favorite manga production company is Del Rey. Not only do they leave the background sounds in tact, they also translate wonderfully and give excellent information at the end of each book, explaining what's what and the Japanese jokes/culture.

I have personally learned a number of tid bits about Japanese culture through reading scanlations.  The translator will tell us “This is a slang term derived from…,” rather than change it around to an American slang even when there is no equivalent.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d rather read a few translation notes than have the context of a scene changed.

If I have to look something up to see if it’s canon or what exactly happened in chapter ___, I *always* turn to a scanlation, even if I own the Viz text.  Although the chances of that are slim because I must admit that I don’t own many.  If they were translated more accurately, and if they weren’t riddled with errors, I might see them as a more sound investment.

But that might just be my preference.  Maybe the public at large doesn’t care about accuracy.  But I certainly appreciate the translators that take the time to be as consistent as possible.

But, I mean, come on.  It takes me, what, 45 minutes to script out a chapter?  And then the scanlators can edit that text into the bubbles in about an hour.  So even with the most liberal schedule, even people who do stuff like this in their spare time could have a whole 10-chapter volume ready to print in less than a week.  What gives?

I own several other Viz series, Claymore, Bleach, and Fullmetal Alchemist to name a few. All of those manga books are produced just about bimonthly, to the point where we're getting really close to the Japanese releases and have to slow down.

But why not the same treatment with InuYasha? It's not a dead series and there still are eager fans willing to get Viz's product. *sigh*