I don't know if it's still ongoing - I bought the first 8 volumes or so a few years ago, but haven't picked up any since. (I do believe the manga is still going though - over 40 years now?)

I don't remember hearing anything about the translation, but I wasn't really deep into the fandom. Track down kadorienne, she's the expert that I know of.

As I recall, the first story arc is sort of meh, but again, once Klaus shows up (miway into vol 2 I think) it all really takes off.