This sort of 'translation is basically a different product altogether' setup was still quite common in other media until rather recently. Just look how many vid

This sort of 'translation is basically a different product altogether' setup was still quite common in other media until rather recently. Just look how many video games were completely overhauled for other markets. Super Mario Bros 2 is the obvious and often wheeled out example, but stuff like Totally Rad and Decap Attack were absolutely nothing like the original works they were based on. It was pretty common in anime too at one point. See Robotech, which is infamous for actually being three separate series stuck together into one. But it's interesting to see an example where the original author was seemingly involved in modifying the story for local publication.