It's been awhile since I posted on the blahg, huh? Things have been a little slow perhaps, but they'll keep on chugging along.
FRHS sends me down some weird rabbit holes sometimes. Part of the problem is that, because the manga is from the early '90s, I suspect the references tend to predate the Internet. Compared to Ueshiba's references, which were actually fairly easy to google up, Ito's are darned obscure. Maybe self-referential too, which I'm not _that_ interested in digging into. Anyway, enjoy this kooky theory about Japanese being related to American Indians and the lost tribes of Israel.
It feels like I've been working on this chapter of Natsunokumo for-evah. It's kind of a nightmare to typeset without sacrificing either legibility or aesthetics; too many little bubbles stuffed with text. But whatever, it's done.
HoneyComb: this should be the easiest so I dunno why I'm slowpoking it the worst. It's much more relaxing to re-read and enjoy Katsura's work, instead of scanlating it. I just got Lady HoneyComb, which is some kind of side-story where the crew is now working at a hotel. She just can't quit this format, can she? And I can't stop reading it.
Showing posts with label releases. Show all posts
Showing posts with label releases. Show all posts
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Monday, July 20, 2015
FRHS chapter 7
Here's the final part of the first volume. Just seven more to go...
There were a couple references I didn't get this chapter. Tosaka no Hito? Mirias? Shrug.
There were a couple references I didn't get this chapter. Tosaka no Hito? Mirias? Shrug.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Natsunokumo ch 21
Uh, it's been awhile for this series, huh? I had this translated last year but I guess real life caught up to somebodyelse, may he rest in peace.
Anyway, I can't be arsed to redraw this public raw so you're going to have to put up with eyecancer; the story's the important part anyway. This series is words words words though so it's going to be a low priority compared to FRHS.
Anyway, I can't be arsed to redraw this public raw so you're going to have to put up with eyecancer; the story's the important part anyway. This series is words words words though so it's going to be a low priority compared to FRHS.
Monday, June 15, 2015
FRHS chapter 5
It sure took me long enough, but finally here's some new FRHS. I'm hoping to get more procedures in place to make this a more efficient process; otherwise it'll take forever to get through this series, and that's something neither you nor I desire.
A brief word about chapters 1-4. Back in the day, I thought the Jinmen-Juushin dudes were pretty good. They had decent scans and good flow. But then I learned a bit of Japanese — more than what's required to be dangerous but still far from perfect — and read though the J-J releases again while I was prepping for this project. And let me tell you, there are some real stinkers in there, you can compare if you're really curious. (I used the J-J release as a base, and corrected as necessary. I do love some of J-J's localizations, such as "damn kids are always putting graffiti out there!")
Anyway, I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him, so to speak. J-J did the best they could, and they worked on some great series. Average scanlation accuracy has presumably gotten better over the years, but the lesson is to take it all with a grain of salt. If it doesn't make sense while you're reading it, it's not "zany" or "deep", it could well be completely wrong. I know that sometimes I'll be doing a QC pass, think to myself that a bubble doesn't make sense, do a bit more research, and find that I was completely off base. A bubble here and there usually doesn't affect plot comprehension, of course, which is why scanlators get away with cutting corners. That's no way to live, though.
A brief word about chapters 1-4. Back in the day, I thought the Jinmen-Juushin dudes were pretty good. They had decent scans and good flow. But then I learned a bit of Japanese — more than what's required to be dangerous but still far from perfect — and read though the J-J releases again while I was prepping for this project. And let me tell you, there are some real stinkers in there, you can compare if you're really curious. (I used the J-J release as a base, and corrected as necessary. I do love some of J-J's localizations, such as "damn kids are always putting graffiti out there!")
Anyway, I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him, so to speak. J-J did the best they could, and they worked on some great series. Average scanlation accuracy has presumably gotten better over the years, but the lesson is to take it all with a grain of salt. If it doesn't make sense while you're reading it, it's not "zany" or "deep", it could well be completely wrong. I know that sometimes I'll be doing a QC pass, think to myself that a bubble doesn't make sense, do a bit more research, and find that I was completely off base. A bubble here and there usually doesn't affect plot comprehension, of course, which is why scanlators get away with cutting corners. That's no way to live, though.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
New Project: Future-Retro Hero Story
All right, new project time. This series has been on my to-do list since the very beginning: Takehito Ito's Future-Retro Hero Story. It's the precursor to Outlaw Star, and as such might be characterized as a juvenile fantasy, versus an adolescent one. In other words, they both have spell guns and spaceships, but FRHS tends more to slapstick than it does toward violence.
Why do I find FRHS intriguing? Ito has a gift for world-building, for universe-building. As much as I love Star Wars and Star Trek, we need more sci-fi universes, ones that are full of their creator's inspirations and idiosyncrasies. Though Ito borrows a lot of elements from American pulp sci-fi (Edmond Hamilton's Captain Future stories being perhaps the wellspring), there's an original universe here. And the pulpiness, the pulpiness. I love it whenever one culture's innovation is viewed through the lens of another, entirely different culture. (I feel compelled to mention Yuichi Hasegawa's Maps, which is earlier and arguably more pulp than FRHS, with absolutely tremendous scale. I would probably never have discovered it if not for ebookjapan promotions. Anyway, another great series that will never be translated.) That said, FRHS does appear to suffer from pacing issues. It may very well have been meant to be a 20-volume epic, but as it turned out, fortune was not so kind to the project.
FRHS was first serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Comic Comp magazine, an outgrowth of their computer gaming mag Comptiq. It seems likely that it was one of the inaugural serializations, starting in 1988, though I haven't been able to find confirmation of whether or not that's true. But in 1992 there was a shakeup at Kadokawa Shoten: Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, apparently passed over for the throne, quit and formed his own company, Media Works, where he was joined by many of the Kadokawa artists and creators. As if that weren't enough, in 1993 Haruki Kadokawa, the big cheese, was arrested and later convicted on drug charges. It would seem that FRHS was caught up in the drama -- the obi on volume 5 proudly proclaims the greenlighting of an OVA, one that never came to fruition.
That fifth and final volume of FRHS published under the Comic Comp imprint covered chapters through early 1991. No further volumes appeared until the entire series was released under Shueisha's Home imprint over the course of 1996. Where were the chapters published in the meantime? Unlike most collected tanks, which give the date and magazine of initial publication, these volumes are strangely silent. Japanese Wikipedia claims that FRHS restarted serialization in Ultra Jump come 1995. This is reasonable given that the Outlaw Star manga appeared in Ultra Jump, but then why would they publish the tanks under the Home imprint? Mysteries, I tell you.
Anyway, as far as I know, there are three editions of FRHS out there: 1) 5 volumes, Comp Comics (Kadokawa), incomplete 2) 8 volumes, Home Comics (Shueisha), complete, 3) 5 volumes, Home Bunko (Shueisha), complete. We'll be working from the latter edition, which is dubbed the "Director's Cut". I thought at first the Director's Cut was distinguished by the little scribbles in the margins -- yes, those are from the author and not from the scanlator -- but it seems to have more to do with the reformatting of 8 volumes into 5: additional intro and outro pages have been added. By the way, these volumes are published without chapter numbers, so the release chapter splitting may be arbitrary and capricious.
This is a joint with You're Welcome Scans. Without them I'd probably end up sitting on stuff a lot longer than necessary. Next up is a quick, stopgap TL check of the old Jinmen-Juushin material, then we're into unexplored territory. Should be a fun ride.
Why do I find FRHS intriguing? Ito has a gift for world-building, for universe-building. As much as I love Star Wars and Star Trek, we need more sci-fi universes, ones that are full of their creator's inspirations and idiosyncrasies. Though Ito borrows a lot of elements from American pulp sci-fi (Edmond Hamilton's Captain Future stories being perhaps the wellspring), there's an original universe here. And the pulpiness, the pulpiness. I love it whenever one culture's innovation is viewed through the lens of another, entirely different culture. (I feel compelled to mention Yuichi Hasegawa's Maps, which is earlier and arguably more pulp than FRHS, with absolutely tremendous scale. I would probably never have discovered it if not for ebookjapan promotions. Anyway, another great series that will never be translated.) That said, FRHS does appear to suffer from pacing issues. It may very well have been meant to be a 20-volume epic, but as it turned out, fortune was not so kind to the project.
FRHS was first serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Comic Comp magazine, an outgrowth of their computer gaming mag Comptiq. It seems likely that it was one of the inaugural serializations, starting in 1988, though I haven't been able to find confirmation of whether or not that's true. But in 1992 there was a shakeup at Kadokawa Shoten: Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, apparently passed over for the throne, quit and formed his own company, Media Works, where he was joined by many of the Kadokawa artists and creators. As if that weren't enough, in 1993 Haruki Kadokawa, the big cheese, was arrested and later convicted on drug charges. It would seem that FRHS was caught up in the drama -- the obi on volume 5 proudly proclaims the greenlighting of an OVA, one that never came to fruition.
That fifth and final volume of FRHS published under the Comic Comp imprint covered chapters through early 1991. No further volumes appeared until the entire series was released under Shueisha's Home imprint over the course of 1996. Where were the chapters published in the meantime? Unlike most collected tanks, which give the date and magazine of initial publication, these volumes are strangely silent. Japanese Wikipedia claims that FRHS restarted serialization in Ultra Jump come 1995. This is reasonable given that the Outlaw Star manga appeared in Ultra Jump, but then why would they publish the tanks under the Home imprint? Mysteries, I tell you.
Anyway, as far as I know, there are three editions of FRHS out there: 1) 5 volumes, Comp Comics (Kadokawa), incomplete 2) 8 volumes, Home Comics (Shueisha), complete, 3) 5 volumes, Home Bunko (Shueisha), complete. We'll be working from the latter edition, which is dubbed the "Director's Cut". I thought at first the Director's Cut was distinguished by the little scribbles in the margins -- yes, those are from the author and not from the scanlator -- but it seems to have more to do with the reformatting of 8 volumes into 5: additional intro and outro pages have been added. By the way, these volumes are published without chapter numbers, so the release chapter splitting may be arbitrary and capricious.
This is a joint with You're Welcome Scans. Without them I'd probably end up sitting on stuff a lot longer than necessary. Next up is a quick, stopgap TL check of the old Jinmen-Juushin material, then we're into unexplored territory. Should be a fun ride.
Monday, February 10, 2014
New project: HoneyComb
So I was reading this series (in moon) and I thought it was pretty good, with zany characters and lots of laugh-out-loud moments. And gosh, the Rabbits are dead and no other challengers have appeared, so I guess it's up to me to take up the torch. HoneyComb is made up of nice, bite-sized bits of comedy that should hopefully mean a minimum of time investment on my part. And did I mention that it's funny? And cute? (Well, the last volume kinda goes off the rails but there's plenty of good stuff in the meantime.)
Technical apologetics: I'm releasing higher-res files than I normally do because I can't figure out how to shrink them without moire rearing its ugly head. The public raws are breddy nice though; I'm not bothering to level or clean any further. Probably going to cheap out on redraws, fonts, and other bling too. So deal with it.
Technical apologetics: I'm releasing higher-res files than I normally do because I can't figure out how to shrink them without moire rearing its ugly head. The public raws are breddy nice though; I'm not bothering to level or clean any further. Probably going to cheap out on redraws, fonts, and other bling too. So deal with it.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
New project: Natsunokumo
My new(-ish) project is Rokurou Shinofusa's Natsunokumo, a joint effort with Second Hand Scans (note NSFW). This will not come as news to those of you who follow scanlations, but here's the blurb anyway.
Natsunokumo is a manga set in an online world. Generally when I hear the words "online world", I reach for my gun, so to speak, but in this case the setup's a little different. So let's start over. Natsunokumo is a manga about psychological counseling in an online world. Now that's a whole different kettle of fish, and one much more to my taste. The MMO aspects serve as a framework for presenting a very much character-driven plot.
Those of you in the know will recognize this as an old MangaScreener project, and indeed I would probably never have read it if that wasn't the case. I wasn't too enamored with it at first, to be honest, but once it got going I was pretty impressed. So I'd like to see it through to the end. I'm no Stephen Paul, alas, but I'll do my best.
We've finished up volume 4 and are starting volume 5. Like always, don't expect rapid releases — as Aesop taught us, slow and steady wins the race, so long as your opponents are sleeping on the job.
P.S. What does the title mean? "Summer Spider" is one interpretation, given that the subtitle is "Spinning Web". A homonym, and perhaps a more prosaic reading, would be "Summer Clouds": I'm thinking the ones that roll in on short notice and unleash thunderstorms.
Natsunokumo is a manga set in an online world. Generally when I hear the words "online world", I reach for my gun, so to speak, but in this case the setup's a little different. So let's start over. Natsunokumo is a manga about psychological counseling in an online world. Now that's a whole different kettle of fish, and one much more to my taste. The MMO aspects serve as a framework for presenting a very much character-driven plot.
Those of you in the know will recognize this as an old MangaScreener project, and indeed I would probably never have read it if that wasn't the case. I wasn't too enamored with it at first, to be honest, but once it got going I was pretty impressed. So I'd like to see it through to the end. I'm no Stephen Paul, alas, but I'll do my best.
We've finished up volume 4 and are starting volume 5. Like always, don't expect rapid releases — as Aesop taught us, slow and steady wins the race, so long as your opponents are sleeping on the job.
P.S. What does the title mean? "Summer Spider" is one interpretation, given that the subtitle is "Spinning Web". A homonym, and perhaps a more prosaic reading, would be "Summer Clouds": I'm thinking the ones that roll in on short notice and unleash thunderstorms.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
KnI chapter 20 and announcement
Isaki makes it to Kouzu, but he (and co.) still have a ways to go before they reach Mt. Fuji. They're about halfway there.
This is the end of volume 3; Kabu no Isaki has ended in Japan at 6 volumes, so this also marks a halfway point in the series as a whole. When I started this project, I had no idea how far I would take it. Progress has been slow at times (okay, all the time) so I'm somewhat surprised that I've made it this far.
But enough navel-gazing. I'd like to announce that I'm dropping the project. With the exception of revisions to volumes 1 and 2, I don't expect to do any more work on this series. But before you despair, let me add that Roselia Scanlations will be taking up the reins. What's more, I expect them to release quite a bit faster than I ever would.
As for the overall status of [dou], various loose ends are being worked on. This year may end up being even more slowbro than ever, but we will see how it goes.
This is the end of volume 3; Kabu no Isaki has ended in Japan at 6 volumes, so this also marks a halfway point in the series as a whole. When I started this project, I had no idea how far I would take it. Progress has been slow at times (okay, all the time) so I'm somewhat surprised that I've made it this far.
But enough navel-gazing. I'd like to announce that I'm dropping the project. With the exception of revisions to volumes 1 and 2, I don't expect to do any more work on this series. But before you despair, let me add that Roselia Scanlations will be taking up the reins. What's more, I expect them to release quite a bit faster than I ever would.
As for the overall status of [dou], various loose ends are being worked on. This year may end up being even more slowbro than ever, but we will see how it goes.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Kabu no Isaki chapter 18
View Larger Map
I tried to find a pine forest in modern-day Chigasaki but I was not successful. By the way, zoom out on the Satellite imagery and gawk at how large the Tokyo metro area is.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Kabu no Isaki chapter 17
What's this? Less than a month between releases? I bet it's just a dream, no way that could happen.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Kabu no Isaki chapter 15
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| Mt. Nokogiri, by wikipedia user Σ64 |
Try some of the pictures from the geotagged picture map and imagine everything ten times bigger.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Discommunication Seireihen chapter 17 (draft)
Seireihen is done... kinda. I would rather not do this, but given that I don't have a whole lot of time on my hands, I'm releasing an incomplete version. Incomplete by my standards, that is — no translated scribbles, no notes, no omake/preview. If you're dying to know how the story turns out (which isn't really the point here, as it's been one long MacGuffin chase) this is the denouement you've been looking for.
The full treatment will be coming sometime in the future, along with probably some v2's.
The full treatment will be coming sometime in the future, along with probably some v2's.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Kabu no Isaki chapter 14
Well, it's time to kick off volume 3. A big thanks to dosetsu and fireside for scanning and editing, respectively. I know this chapter still took me a while but it sure felt a lot easier to get through.
I elected not to put a note for Hayashi Rice this time, because it's evidently something mysterious and relatively exotic to our protagonists. I've never had it, but in my mind it's something like stroganoff over rice. Also, sorry to any ornithologists, but I replaced a mention of the Black Kite with just "hawk", which becomes wrong if you go far enough down the Kingdom/Phylum/etc classifications. Japanese has a bunch of colloquial names for rather specific species, for example all those darned beetles in Sketchbook, and it's hard to preserve the tone if you stick exactly to the script. In this case Isaki seems to free-associate from Kites (tonbi) to dragonflies (tonbo). Finally, the title of the chapter is an archaic term for dragonflies, akitsu.
I elected not to put a note for Hayashi Rice this time, because it's evidently something mysterious and relatively exotic to our protagonists. I've never had it, but in my mind it's something like stroganoff over rice. Also, sorry to any ornithologists, but I replaced a mention of the Black Kite with just "hawk", which becomes wrong if you go far enough down the Kingdom/Phylum/etc classifications. Japanese has a bunch of colloquial names for rather specific species, for example all those darned beetles in Sketchbook, and it's hard to preserve the tone if you stick exactly to the script. In this case Isaki seems to free-associate from Kites (tonbi) to dragonflies (tonbo). Finally, the title of the chapter is an archaic term for dragonflies, akitsu.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Discommunication Seireihen chapter 16
Whew, it's the penultimate chapter. This chapter is relatively light on trippy imagery, but it manages to be disturbing in other ways...
In other news, Maigo has picked up Yume Tsukai. I am slightly disappointed that they did not touch the scribbles, though.
I will wrap Seireihen up by the end of May. I am also planning a re-spin of chapter 1, which is mostly finished. Besides that, I want to go through and perhaps change some wordings, turn quotation marks into bolding, etc. Also, let me know about typos, and broken links in the Notes. And though I doubt anybody is checking my translation, please let me know if I've made any mistakes in that department.
In other news, Maigo has picked up Yume Tsukai. I am slightly disappointed that they did not touch the scribbles, though.
I will wrap Seireihen up by the end of May. I am also planning a re-spin of chapter 1, which is mostly finished. Besides that, I want to go through and perhaps change some wordings, turn quotation marks into bolding, etc. Also, let me know about typos, and broken links in the Notes. And though I doubt anybody is checking my translation, please let me know if I've made any mistakes in that department.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Kabu no Isaki volume 1 re-do
I'd been meaning to re-do volume one of Kabu no Isaki someday, but you can thank Strange Scans for stepping up to speed along the process. You can find it over here; note that other parts of the blog may be NSFW.
So what's new about it? The translations in chapters 5 and 6 are fixed/improved, and while I didn't have the time to re-translate 1-4, some obvious things were corrected. The scans are new, and while I have some misgivings about the tone quality, it's an improvement overall. So once again, thanks to Strange Scans for pushing this along and doing the heavy lifting.
So what's new about it? The translations in chapters 5 and 6 are fixed/improved, and while I didn't have the time to re-translate 1-4, some obvious things were corrected. The scans are new, and while I have some misgivings about the tone quality, it's an improvement overall. So once again, thanks to Strange Scans for pushing this along and doing the heavy lifting.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Kabu no Isaki chapter 13
At long last, the end of volume two.
I forgot what I was going to say. Probably something about the pace getting a little faster, but no promises, etc. Next on my list is finishing up Seireihen.
I forgot what I was going to say. Probably something about the pace getting a little faster, but no promises, etc. Next on my list is finishing up Seireihen.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Scorebook chapter 6
So here's a little something out of left field (har har). I finished this a while ago, so it's just been sitting around. I wanted to ask Yutanpo if he'd like to stick it on his blog/mediafire, but I haven't heard back from him.
Anyway, it's not my best work but it's done. Not a huge priority either but there's only two and a half more chapters.
Anyway, it's not my best work but it's done. Not a huge priority either but there's only two and a half more chapters.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Discommunication Seireihen chapter 15
Last one for a while.
Edit: As pointed out in the comments, I made a mistake on the title page. You can get the updated title page here, and I'm in the process of updating files. Funny thing is, today I started reading Andrew MacGregor Marshall's Cablegate-based writings on Thailand, Thailand's Moment of Truth, and lo and behold there's a brief bit on the microcosmos/macrocosmos business.
Edit: As pointed out in the comments, I made a mistake on the title page. You can get the updated title page here, and I'm in the process of updating files. Funny thing is, today I started reading Andrew MacGregor Marshall's Cablegate-based writings on Thailand, Thailand's Moment of Truth, and lo and behold there's a brief bit on the microcosmos/macrocosmos business.
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