Here is another article on translation posted a few days ago to HN that I think contrasts this one nicely:
Stephen Snyder, "The Murakami Effect" @ LitHub (https://lithub.com/the-murakami-effect/)
HN Discussion (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20389112)
I don't know how you're getting this from the article - everything he says about his efforts boils down to trying to change language that sounds flat and lifeless in translation into something that lives and breathes, and I think he's absolutely right to have made that attempt. (even if he misses the mark sometimes, like with the castlevania "what is a man?" bit...)
Living in JP I wind up seeing a lot of movies and TV with one language in the audio and the other in subtitles, and personally, "faithful" translations drive me bonkers with how flat and boring and explanatory they sound.
My pet theory is that it ultimately stems from the source languages being so linguistically different. I once read a book where the translator said in his notes (about Voltaire) "But mostly I've just tried to stay out of his way, for I find that he speaks very good English already", and I've often thought how hard it is to imagine a JP>EN translator feeling the same way.
Example from The GIA's review[0]:
"Lines as bland in the original Japanese as
"It is because you acknowledge things like freedom of belief. There can be only one God. This sort of incident occurs because you let heretics like them out of your control. That, and our parliament is impotent..."
become:
"All because of this religious freedom! Too much freedom, too many gods. Let those cultist cur-dogs run loose, and they will bite you. Gods! While our Parliament cowers...""
But if a bad writer tries this then you get Working Designs' localization style, where they "improved" the originals with unfunny 4th-wall-breaking jokes and references.
[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20010608201912/http://www.thegia...
I would say Ghost Stories is a successful example of "satisfying the market" via something like an "official parody" of the original work, but it definitely doesn't remain faithful to the original. I'm glad it exists, and it has creative value, but it definitely fails as a "translation".
[1]: https://dubbing.fandom.com/wiki/Ghost_Stories (not sure
I think I mainly take issue with "cultural translations" that intentionally alters a story (even slightly) in order to make the characters/plot/context more appealing to western audiences. When I consume translated media, I appreciate it when the translator makes an attempt to preserve the aspects which made the work appealing to the original audience.
But I think there's a second-order thing going on, where audiences who consume a lot of anime/JRPGs/etc are used to a certain kind of translation, and dialog that's too colorful or expressive winds up not sounding "proper" because one isn't used to anime characters talking that way. E.g. when an anime character makes a cultural reference that will be incomprehensible to non-Japanese audiences, I think a lot of anime fans will expect that to be translated "faithfully" (i.e. incomprehensibly), rather than be replaced with a reference they're familiar with (even if the replacement conveys the same meaning to them that the original conveyed to JP audiences).