Another recommendation

Hiya guys. It’s been a while. Some of you may be wondering where I’ve been. Some of you may have simply decided it was ‘Este not wanting to translate again’, and some others might have speculated that it was Fallout 4.

Actually, it was neither of those really. I got sucked into a fanfiction.

Usually I don’t recommend fanfictions, but this one is special because… well, because I like it a lot, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.

So anyway, if you enjoyed Log Horizon, I would definitely recommend you give it a go. The stuff about mobs coming alive, the stuff about importing modern technology, and the stuff about the politics with the natives and stuff is featured as well, but it’s actually good. It pretty much is Log Horizon, but with a more coherent plot, and a more standard ‘realisation’ of game mechanics and features.
i.e. no people suddenly making black goo because they have low cooking levels

Not just that, but somehow he manages interesting characterisation without people feeling out of character.

Oh oops. Right, forgot to mention that it’s a Sword Art Online and Zero no Tsukaima crossover. I didn’t particularly like either original story too much.
Kirito and SAO in general was too melodramatic, parts of the writing felt too contrived, and I hate these sort of harems.
As for Zero no Tsukaima, at first I disliked Louise’s excessive tsun, and following that I got really sick of Saito’s stupidity and lack of responsibility.

But I enjoyed this fanfiction nonetheless, so please give it a try as well. The writing is a bit rough for the first four chapters, but the rest of the long ride is pretty much smooth as it gets.

Start your journey here! (Story goes from V(olume) 1.0, to V(olume) 2.0, to V(olume) 3.1)

http://wp.me/p5s230-1ev

Up For Grabs

At present, anything but EGA (almost complete), Tilea and Bathroom Goddess.

I’ve been disillusioned with Otoburi for a while now, so I haven’t been able to find the motivation to translate it these last two months… In the end I skipped to the last arc and read that only. I’m sorry m(_ _)m

If anybody wants to continue it for some reason, please be my guest. If not, I’ll get around to forcing myself at some point. I’ll definitely finish translating it, only, I’m not sure when exactly that will be. So if nobody else is enthusiastic about it, just leave it be, and it’ll get done eventually.

As for Summoning At Random… honestly, I can’t bring myself to like the MC. Unlucky Sukebe characters (the ones who accidentally do perverted things to women and then get beaten up) are only funny when the women aren’t characters that you’ve known and liked for a whole series beforehand.

And honestly, a loser like that isn’t suitable for Tena. Tena deserves a rich, kind, handsome, tall prince who moonlights as a investment banker with a ferrari. Not this spineless, mopey faggot. Although it is true that the chapters where Anri first appeared again after 2 years were pretty awesome. BOOOOOOOOOOOX.

I’ll translate Summoning At Random bit by bit if nobody else does it in the end.

Northern Fort I’ll just be doing slowly, because it’s a relaxy, cute series. There’s only a single novel, so I’m in no rush.

http://wp.me/p5s230-13k

Reading 火輪を抱いた少女 so brb a few days

The Girl Who Bore the Flame Ring
http://ncode.syosetu.com/n9815ck/

same guy who did
死神を食べた少女（The Girl Who Ate the Grim Reaper）

and

勇者、あるいは化け物と呼ばれた少女（The Girl  Who Was Known as Hero, or Perhaps Monster）

http://wp.me/p5s230-13g

Evil God Average, Summoning At Random, and EGA LN

I’m going to begin translating the remaining EGA Side Stories starting from today, so please look forward to them.

Once I’m done with those, I’ll begin translating Summoning At Random, and after catching up, hopefully I’ll be able to translate them as they come out.

Finally, once everyone who’s ordered an LN gets theirs in the mail, could they send me a landscape photo of the EGA LN and their name on a piece of paper?

Like this:
I’m going to put them all on a special page. I was thinking, since quite a few people are buying it anyway, may as well turn it into a game.

http://wp.me/p5s230-10Q

Vote for Vermillion please! Help me out, guys.

https://nanodesutranslations.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/nd-academy-project-poll-five-new-projects-will-be-chosen/

Normally I’d write something a little more convincing, but I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I don’t really have much energy.

I just thought it was really well written, and want to enjoy it together with you guys. That’s all, really. It might just be my tastes, but it really was very good. It wasn’t amazing, but it was unique and I loved it.

The characters felt real enough, and actually changed and developed. The worldbuilding was detailed, and plentiful. The author clearly has an interest in the world outside of Japan, and it really shows in his writing. I don’t know. It just wasn’t something I was expecting to find on syosetu.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Mushoku Tensei was filled with tropes that I really enjoyed, I would probably have to vote Vermillion a little bit above it.

If you still aren’t convinced,

Review: https://oniichanyamete.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/should-teaser-tocs-include-a-small-review/

Synopsis: https://oniichanyamete.wordpress.com/teasers-and-other-stuff/teasers-dropped-stuff-and-zero-commitment-projects/vermillion-etranger-a-larc-rouge/

Example of the style: https://oniichanyamete.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/teaser-%E2%80%95%E2%80%95-vermillion-chapter-5/

http://wp.me/p5s230-10p

It took me a while to find a good name for it, so apologies for anybody used to Holy Anri Nation, but I’m going to translate it as Holy Anri Thearchy instead.

My logic for Holy Anri Nation was basically because the use of the rare (and somewhat made-up) compound, 教国 was more or less limited to uses regarding the Christian or Islamic spheres of influence; something like Christendom or the Islamic State. Because of that, supposing that Anri is more or less their religion, it was appropriate to translate it as the Anri Nation.

Thearchy isn’t really the best word for it, but Theocracy is already taken, and you could argue that Hierocracy is closer to the nuance of 教国, but the term ‘hierocracy’ sort of implies that the power lies with the priests in the nation. Which well, I mean, sort of is true, given how Laissez-Faire Anri is, but basically 神聖アンリ教国　is supposed to demand respect for Anri, so it wasn’t as appropriate in the end.

Hey, this hurts me as well. Holy Anri Nation sounded funnier, and I’ve already named my nationstate after it too. >:

http://wp.me/p5s230-ZX

It’s been feeling cliched. I’m thinking of throwing in a few more girls

to the header.

*10 points to first person to get the reference*

http://wp.me/p5s230-ZF

Should teaser TOCs include a small review?

I’ve been thinking. Well, I mean, I say that, but it occurred to me literally 10 seconds ago.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking, maybe I should overhaul my teaser TOCs. A few months ago, people suggested that I add reviews, but I basically forgot all about it.

But looking at my teaser TOCs now, they’re really a mess with no consistency. So since I’m going to clean them up anyway, I’m thinking maybe I should add something like:

Why you should translate Vermillion:

• The writing is a lot more interesting than the synopsis would suggest
• It is one of few ‘VMMORPG→Isekai’ novels where the combat is not just listing a bunch of magical skills that nobody has ever heard of before. Reading a bunch of skills they probably made up on the spot is really not fun reading to me, personally.
• The characters have motivations and preferences, and backgrounds that affect these, but the backgrounds are revealed slowly and subtly, which tones down the melodrama. It also tones down the feeling of ‘throwing in more attributes because the characters aren’t interesting/unique/chuunimaterial enough’.
  At the same time, they aren’t thrown in your face, and the characters feel more real, and less a walking, 2-dimensional sack of problems.
• The protagonist actually develops, and at a fairly well-timed pace. Slowly enough that you realise that he really does have a problem, but quickly enough that you don’t start to hate him for it.
• The protagonist and main heroine have a close relationship that is enjoyable to read about, and the fact that they only slowly develop romantically is refreshing and cute.
• The world-building is half-decent at least.
• The author seems to have an interest in the world outside of Japan, and it definitely reflects in his writing.

Why I’m not translating Vermillion:

• It’s fucking long.
• I have like 6 other projects.
• There is a lot of world-building, which means there is a lot of vocabulary I need to look up.
• It’s fucking long.

http://wp.me/p5s230-Z1

Just a notice; no EGA translations tonight

SOMEBODY PLEASE TRANSLATE VERMILLION

Synopsis:

Western VRMMO 【DEMONDAL】 was known for its extremely harsh game system. To begin with, there were no levels. There were no skills. There were no guilds. There was no inventory. There were no convenient system messages or maps of any kind either. It was so needlessly realistic that it was already basically a VR life simulator.

As for anything game-like, it was basically limited to weapon masteries; a proficiency level that you got from using your weapon, as well as physical strength that increased as well. That was it.

It was a fantasy game so there was magic, but forming a contract with a spirit was extremely difficult, and only 1% of the playerbase were magicians.

In this VR game 【DEMONDAL】 that was ridiculously close to reality, the protagonist Kei who was a well known mounted archery expert, was one day sent to another world with his Russian 【DEMONDAL】 friend.

The game that was severe to begin with had turned into a reality, and the harshness increased again――

Why you should translate it:

1. The partner is a blonde Russian loli “ninja” who speaks like a bro
2. The excerpts below:

---

「FUCK YOU(死にさらせ)！！！」

---

「――”NINJA”！」

頭目は呻くようにして叫ぶ。

“忍者”。

それも、純粋な日本製《メイド・イン・ジャパン》の”忍者”ではなく。
　外国人が勝手にイメージを膨らませて創り出したような、何かちょっと間違えてる、”NINJA”。

「”NINJA”！　”NINJA”のアンドレイ！？」
「Holy Shit(なんてこった)！！　本物か！？」
「あの一瞬でマントを身代わりに……！」

周囲の手下たちにも、動揺が広がる。

“NINJA”のアンドレイ。

彼は、この世界でも屈指の有名人だった。
その個性的すぎる見かけと――それでも、確かな実力から。

---

「流石は”死神日本人《ジャップ・ザ・リーパー》”……死神様には相応しい武器、だな？」
「…………」

が、アンドレイのからかいに一転、渋面を作る。

“死神日本人《ジャップ・ザ・リーパー》”。

幾つかあるケイの渾名の中で、おそらく最も広まっているものだ。

かの有名な殺人鬼、”切り裂きJACK《ジャック・ザ・リッパー》”をもじったこの渾名は、ケイと交戦した者のあまりの死亡率の高さから名付けられた。

---

現在ではさらに縮まり、”ザ・ジャップ”とさえ呼ばれる始末だ。
呼んでいる者たちにはあ(・)ま(・)り(・)悪意はないのだろうが、いち日本人として、「ジャップジャップ」と呼ばれるのは、あまり良い気持ちはしない。

---

**3. The MC’s nickname was Jap the Ripper.

As if you don’t want to translate this!

Art for the LN (Vermillion – Étranger à L’arc Rouge)

2015/09/02
http://wp.me/p5s230-XW

About EGA translations &; how I’m surprised at how many people are still clicking on naked Wakaba each day.

^ this picture

Also sorry about the bad formatting for EGA 12 last night. I was pretty tired and went to bed right after I posted, and I missed a lot of formatting cues (the asterisks).

Thanks again to everyone who points out my errors in all my chapters.

Also, I’ll be trying to finish translations of the main EGA story before the light novel is released, since I’m pretty excited about it. Normally this is where translators would start having the whole ‘What do you guys think I should translate next?’ thing, but as you well know, I am probably the last person in the world who would have that kind of issue.

2015/09/02

floor is such a weird little word…

translating EGA has given me gestalt collapse

flooooooooooooor

fluur

floor

floooor

lorloorfloor

2015/08/31

Why is it that Kenkyo’s Wakaba-chan

always sounds like Nepnep in my head?

2015/08/29

Buying LNs (Otoburi, Tilea, EGA)

CDJapan boasts an English interface, and pretty cheap prices.

I’m not sure why it never occurred to me to update the links, seeing as I’ve been using it for ages now, but well, I’m changing the links now.

Link to the LN on Otoburi will be updated. Link to the recently released Tilea LN adaptation will be put up. Next month when EGA releases, I will put up a link for that as well.

Otoburi
Tilea

2015/08/23

Holy Anri Nation

The Theocracy of Holy Anri Nation is a fledgling, orderly nation, renowned for its absence of drug laws, punitive income tax rates, and devotion to social welfare. The hard-nosed, cynical population of 5 million Holy Anri Nationians are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as “my little playthings.”

The enormous, moralistic, socially-minded, well-organized government juggles the competing demands of Spirituality, Welfare, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 75.1%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The imploded Holy Anri Nationian economy, worth 22.0 billion Anris a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is broadly diversified, is led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Pizza Delivery, Automobile Manufacturing, and Basket Weaving. Average income is 4,405 Anris, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Holy Anri Nation’s national animal is the Anri, which frolics freely in the nation’s many lush forests.

https://www.nationstates.net/nation=holy_anri_nation
https://www.nationstates.net/nation=alyschu_empire

2015/08/21

Rather important rant about translation quality and integrity

This is important. It is long, but please, please read it all.

So, I know this is rich coming from a shithead like me who rarely actually translates anything, but there’s no rule saying that you have to be perfect to criticise other people! (lol!) Basically, not one, or two, but a great number of so-called translators don’t understand BASIC Japanese grammar.

To illustrate just how basic it is, it’s basically the same as not understanding the difference between,

“I ate the cat.”

“I was eaten by the cat.”

It’s that bad. And they’re translating without knowing something so basic. Learning a language is like learning anything else – it’s diminishing marginal returns to effort.

That means that 30 minutes of learning for a complete beginner might improve the translation by 500%. 30 minutes of learning for these guys would be the same as a year or two of improvement for me. But they don’t do it. Why? Don’t they just lack integrity?

For people who don’t understand how Japanese verbs work, basically you have a ‘stem’ that’s like a key word, and the shit tacked on the end determines the tense, whether it’s passive or otherwise, and sometimes whether it’s transitive or intransitive.

Basically it fucking determines everything. If you don’t understand this, it’s the same as somebody throwing a bunch of key words at you, and you making up your own sentences with it. Does this sound familiar to you? It should; this is exactly what machine translators do.

There’s a certain blog that had been translating things decently up until now. Then a ‘translator’ joined the team and created an atrocious translation. In three lines of dialogue, it got everything 100% wrong. I’m not going to name them, because it’s nasty. I’m not going to contact them and tell them off because that’s being high-handed and arrogant. But you guys are the readers; if anybody can justify themselves for complaining about translation fraud, it’s you guys. I know you’re afraid of upsetting the translator, but surely there’s a gentle and supportive way of pointing out easy ways they could improve. There are a LOT of readers out there, and surely somebody is socially competent enough to do so.

And it’s not like nobody knew that the translations were wrong. On reddit, somebody illustrated how the translations were completely wrong. The project head even commented “I think this is correct”. And yet the guesslation is still up there.

Fucking, why?

Why are you even translating when you don’t even understand grammar that you’d learn in your 4th lesson of Japanese? It would take you 30 minutes to google a verb conjugation table, and it would improve your translations so much, but you don’t do it.

Instead, you spend god knows how long on completely guesslating this series. People all have their own circumstances, so I’m not here to complain about how some people are less dedicated to improvement than others. But something as basic as verb conjugation is literally 30 minutes of learning.

As far as I can tell, the project in question is completely free, so they aren’t even doing it for money. But in that case, I just can’t understand.

And like I mentioned earlier, it isn’t this one project. Plenty of people are ignoring grammar, and I don’t understand it. If you want to build a car, surely it would be more important to have an engine and wheels than having a frame.

I criticise quite a bit more than other translators, but it’s not because I’m angry or like having somebody to vilify. It makes me feel tired and dirty when I do so, but there’s something seriously wrong with our community when a retarded novice like me counts as one of the better translators. I like drama and starting shit up, but only when the people are nasty or mean. I don’t like criticising otherwise nice people like this.

To that project head, if you know who you are, please have a gentle talk with that translator of yours. Considering that your project’s quality just took a 100% drop in quality, this is arguably more your problem than theirs. You’re the manager after all.

Anyway, sorry for saying something unsightly again. I’ll try and get the next chapter of Tilea out tonight. Sorry. And yeah, I know that I’m being harsh and stuff this time, so justice knights, feel free to flame me.

2015/08/19

Another girly novel translator

So this Tanuki commented 4 hours ago and told me about how they were translating a novel.

The um, author actually makes their own otome games. In particular, they seem to have made one called Magical Party about a normal 11th grader Japanese girl ending up in a world of swords and magic. It’s called Magical Party and can be found here.

…and that is not what I’m going to be talking about today.

Actually, what’s being translated is the web novel side story of that otome game, about one of the students from that world. She’s (allegedly) a normal girl, who somehow ended up involved with a hot guy. I haven’t actually read it yet, since I’ve been a bit preoccupied, so I can’t really say if she’s actually a normal girl, or a Mamiko-Normal girl, but the blurb does mention that it’s a really sweet story (meaning that it’s actually sickly sweet), so if you’re into sappy shoujo stuff, you might want to try out the translation.

https://ichigoichiebanzai.wordpress.com/about/

Don’t forget to thank the Tanuki.

2015/08/19

I read the raws of a cute girly novel, and it’s being translated

The reason I only released 1 chapter of anything yesterday is because K-Dawhg introduced the story to me, and I went and read the raws in one go.

Sorry guys.

But it was surprisingly good. Cute. And better than the synopsis might suggest. I guess the sort of stuff you might like if you enjoyed Kimi ni Todoke and other stuff with lots of tears of joy and stuff. Probably not the stuff you’d be looking for if you were looking for a cool non-dumb protagonist.

Ah, and apparently K-Dawhg joined MoonBunnyCafe as part of Alys’ harem, and we’re all talking on Skype now. That place is getting really big.

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Soshite Shoujo wa Akujo no Karada o Te ni Ireru

https://kahoim.wordpress.com/about/

2015/08/15

IMPORTANT: Regarding Light Novels and Web Novels

This is something applicable to all web novel readers, so please don’t dismiss this just because you don’t read Slime Datta Ken.

In case for some reason you haven’t already seen it on reddit, or the MoonbunnyCafe that is much more popular than my own blog, basically an annoying misunderstanding is causing my good friend Ran is snap. He usually has a very mild personality, but I suppose the repeated annoyance is grinding down on him.

I sincerely hope you guys can all see what the problem is here. Please have a look at his message here. I think it’s highly relevant.

---

Anyway, as for my opinion, please don’t mix up light novels and web novels. Web novels are great fun, and they have the benefit of not being influenced by money-grubbing editors, but they can also be a huge steaming pile of shit. Sometimes rather creative shit that gets refined into uh… idunno, a paperweight of some sort? But still a pile of shit.

Please support people who translate the light novels. The pretty pictures that you love so much are from the light novels, and the light novels are generally just better overall. If somebody is translating the light novel because they’re interested in bringing it to the English-speaking world, please don’t say insensitive things about how XX is translating the “same thing”.

It’s really not. And this is especially the case for Slime Datta Ken light novels. The light novels balance out the time each character has in the spotlight, and brings a lot more Shizu-san.

2015/08/13

Another thought while lying in bed

I have admin powers that allow me to edit other people’s comments. From now on, maybe I should change the ‘First!’ comments of anybody who wasn’t first to ‘I am a loser’ just to drive it in that they lost.

2015/08/12

Tree of Savior

How long do you suppose the character length will be for guild names in Tree of Savior? If the game permits, let us by all means create a 『Holy Anri Nation』 together.

2015/08/12

Hmm, so about Tilea’s Worries

I re-read some of the raw web novel just now, and remembered part of the reason I liked it.

The MC is cute. One of few former-male-now-male-in-a-woman’s-body protagonists that I find cute.

As her mother once describes them, ‘my dumb, but cute daughter’. I suppose they’re cute because they’re a cowardly dumbass that’s prone to hilarious panic.

And so, I’ll endeavour to get some more chapters out soon. Editing one side story at the moment, and balancing both Evil God stories, as well as Bathroom Goddess for the near future.

2015/08/09

5M

2015/08/07

Why is Yuuki Aoi so wonderful?

Ikemen(cool/hot guy) voice:

Aoi: Eh-? Like an ikemen!?
Saori: Like an ikemen?
Isn’t that a bit hard?
Aoi: Like an ikemen? What’s that mean?
Saori: Yeah, like… isn’t that about appearances?
Aoi: Yeah, isn’t it?
Saori: An ikemen on the inside?
Aoi: Like, an ikemen voice?
Saori: That sounds hard.
Aoi: Doesn’t it?
Saori: Well… Give it a try?
Aoi: Alright~ Here I go!
Saori: We picked another minor role, huh.
Aoi: Yeah, we did. There’s this gender barrier, hey?
Alright, well then, I’ll give it a shot…

(2:59) Aoi: Oi-chan, Misao-chan, good evening.
Saori: Good evening.
Aoi: Good evening. Heh.
We’re halfway through September now, and it’s really starting to feel like autumn.
Saori: Aha! Pretty cool.
Aoi: And when you mention autumn, just like you two, I think that it really is the season of food, but…
(3:18) In autumn when you skin feels a little chilly,
I think that what you really can’t help but want to eat is,
oden I believe!
Saori: lololol
For some reason your “oden” sounded really smooth. lolol
Aoi: Oden I believe!
Saori: She said it twice!

(3:27)(intermission)

Aoi: What do you two think is something that absolutely needs to be eaten as your oden?
Saori: You sound kind of cool!
Aoi: For me, it definitely needs to be egg and radish.
Saori: The way you said ‘egg and radish’ sounded needlessly cool, huh!
Aoi: Egg and radish!
(laughter)
Aoi: What the heck kind of character is that!

Suppose I’d better get back to translating.

2015/08/07

Monster; regarding the translation of this word in most Japanese web novels

“…breath of the legendary suu’rin, an being that lived underground…”
“…breath of the suu’rin, an underground monster…”
The latter is the literal, the former is what I went with. To sum up the problem, basically in Japanese you have a lot of words that are only suitable as being expressed by the English word “monster”.
This time the word used is 怪物 (kaibutsu) in other words, a strange or mystical creature. It’s not the same ‘monster’ as the one used in RPGs 魔物 (mamono). Neither is it the same ‘monster’ used in “B-, Bakana! Kono bakemono!” which would be 化け物(bakemono).

I think I should make a new post to complain about this.

---

This was something I wrote at the end of the 4th chapter of The Bathroom Goddess.

Basically, the problem with a lot of web novel translations is that in web novels, things tend to be based around RPGs. Meaning you have stuff like 魔族(mazoku; demon) and 魔物(mamono; monster). Literally translating them, it’s “demon/magic tribe/race”, and “demon/magic creature” respectively.

The whole, ‘is this 魔 meant to represent magic or demon here, or is it both?’ thing is a whole other issue for the mazoku thing which I won’t get into.

What I will get into is the problem with translating 魔物 as monster. By no means would I translate it as anything else, because to the Japanese WN reader, they’re going to immediately associate this term with the monsters in RPGs.

That’s why we can’t translate it as ‘fiend’ or ‘demon’ or anything like that. I know some people DO translate it as ‘demon’ like the Slime Datta Ken translators, but I believe that you guys are doing it wrong… unless the JRPG localisation in your country happens to use ‘demon’ for everything.

When you translate, as much as possible, you’re trying to convey the impression and nuance that a reader of the original text would get.
If the character is exclaiming something in Engrish and trying to be funny, you might translate it as Japanese like SUGOI or NANI!?.
If the character is speaking Engrish all the time, and just throwing it into his words because that’s just how he speaks, perhaps an American might translate it as Spanish, since that’s the most popular second language there.
If the character is speaking Engrish and trying to sound fancy, it might be appropriate to translate it into French there, because that’s what we English-speakers do when we try and sound cultured.

And for RPG-esque fantasy web novels, the thing that hits Japanese readers when they see 魔物 is basically the monsters in RPGs. That’s why we can’t translate ‘mamono’ as anything but monster.

But there’s another common term translated as monster; 化け物(bakemono).

This one is the ‘monster’ that you use for something terrifying or incomprehensible. It’s the one that people scream after going ‘B-, BAKA NA!’ at the terribly powerful protagonist. The monstrously powerful protagonist.

So sometimes you might get somebody exclaiming ‘YOU GODDAM MONSTER!’ in a web novel, but I’d like to have people keep in mind that in instances like these, there’s a completely distinct separation between the RPG monsters that prowl the fields, and the ‘true monsters’ that scare the shit out of the baddies and make them scream ‘B- BAKA NA!’.

So yeah~ Sorry if this was a bit long. Even if both are translated as monsters, please note that in the original text, they aren’t just comparing the person/thing to the common RPG monsters; they’re basically calling them true horrors.

2015/08/07

Conversations with Alyschu

[1:30:46 AM] estelion: back
[1:30:49 AM] estelion: anything exciting happen?
[1:34:06 AM] 山ʕ·͡ᴥ·ʔ山: I read bathroom goddess
[1:34:09 AM] 山ʕ·͡ᴥ·ʔ山: strange!!
[1:34:15 AM] 山ʕ·͡ᴥ·ʔ山: she’s naked and nothing lewd’s going on!
[1:34:35 AM] 山ʕ·͡ᴥ·ʔ山: preposterous!!

2015/08/04

Sudden thought as I was translating final side story

It can’t be helped if my manually updated TOCs lag behind that lightspeed bullshit. ~Estelion

Lightspeed Bullshit would be a great name for a translation blog. ~VorpalHerring

You know what LightspeedBullshit would be an absolutely perfect name for? A machine translation blog.

2015/08/03

Status Report

Still reading Slime Datta Ken. Almost done. Won’t be too much longer.

Originally said I would finish the current Otoburi arc before I translated anything else… but I assumed that I would finish it all in one go.

Then Slime Datta Ken happened. It’s all Slime Datta Ken’s fault. If you want to blame anybody, blame the clown guy for getting me into it. I’m the victim here!

So anyway, in an extremely good mood today. As to why, it’s because my copy of 北の砦にて（at the northern fortress）arrived!

When I checked amazon, it was only used copies you see, so you can imagine my joy when I managed to get myself a brand new copy. It was originally a web novel of about similar length to Evil God Average, so I can imagine that either EGA will be novelised as a single slightly-thick-ish(for an LN) book like At The Northern Fortress, or it’ll be separated into two books.

Um, so yeah. When I start translating again, it won’t just be Otoburi. I’ll immediately start translating 1 or 2 chapters of everything, and going through them in some sort of cycle.

2015/07/24

Random Message

Decided I may as well:

Since I already took photos on my phone to show somebody, may as well do this before I go off and piss my time away playing Dishonored.

“ONIICHAN! SO UNFAIR!!!”

[An elder brother who snatched the lead role away from his little sister.]

To begin with, in the beginning, Nozaki’s little sister was supposed to be the heroine, and Nozaki was nothing more than “the heroine’s brother”; a super support-character type position.
Instead, before I knew it, he had been changed into the lead role; the awkward first born, Umetarou.
There were too many add-ons to introduce the little sister as a side character, so I don’t think I’ll be able to have her appear in the main story, but she lives on in the shadows! And that’s how it is.
There’s an imaginary chapter where she plays (together?) with Mayu.

Top right:
R-kun (11th grade)
Protagonist
(Transfer student.)

Top left:
I-kun (11th grade)
Popular and handsome

Bottom:
Yumeko
Shoujo manga otaku

Incidentally, Yumeko was supposed to have two brothers; Mayu in the grade above, and another brother who was secretly a shoujo mangaka.
The manga would’ve been about Yumeko trying various things in regard to a shoujo manga. Basically, pretty similar to how Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is now.
Incidentally, the book the protagonist is holding says ‘Gekkan Shoujo Romance’.

“WAI-, ONIICHAN!!?”
GIVE THEM BACK! GIVE BACK MY FRIENDS―――!!!

\\Cyazzzz, Yumekooo~//
\\Sorry… I’ll be taking the two of them.//
\\Byebyeee, Yumekooo~//

[An elder brother who took away even her friends.]

Incidentally:

Kashima and Yuzuki were also taken from imouto.
No, well, there wasn’t enough time to fix them up from scratch, so…
It was before everybody had started moving, so it’s great that the two of them got used to their new story.
(If I transfer characters mid-way, they’ll sulk.)

2015/07/01

Random Message

This has nothing to do with anything, but,

I went and bought the Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun fanbook, and as many of you might remember from many scanlated chapters ago, Tsubaki-sensei once mentioned that the protagonist was supposed to be Nozaki-imouto.

Incidentally, Mayu was originally supposed to be another Nozaki-imouto:Yeah, the photoshop and typesetting looks like crap, but that’s why I’m a web novel translator, and not a scanlator. Lay off me. xD

EDIT: Oops, forgot the text on the side.

“Mayu was originally a woman, but because she wouldn’t get along with the other guys (in particular, Mikoshiba), she became a man. A scene of high school boys nervously fidgeting before the silent middle school girl.
Incidentally, although the two brothers of the Nozaki household lack enthusiasm, the current little sister is always super energetic (like her father).”

015/06/30

Status Report

So about my ‘V List’…

Originally I made it as a joke because I was bored, but over the months I’ve been noticing a lot of people linking it on reddit and stuff.

And so, although I’m too busy to translate until after Friday, I do have enough time to do stuff like this during my breaks, and so I decided I may as well update it.

And I’ll keep updating it as necessary from now on.

[In case any newcomers have no idea what list I’m talking about… its this one.]

2015/06/23

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cute(?) yandere otome game story

And that’s how it is. I read the raws a while back, but never got very far into it. Let’s see how things go. (:

https://forgetfuldreamer.wordpress.com/2015/06/07/title-it-seems-like-i-got-reincarnated-into-the-world-of-a-yandare-otome-game/

P.S. It seems that they need proofreaders too, so if you apply now, in the future you might be looking at reading the chapters slightly before all the other plebs! Don’t miss out!

2015/06/19

Status Report

Yomigaeri no Maou, I’m Back in the Other World!?, Sorry Oniisama FANS, PAY ATTENTION:

And that’s how it is. On the poll are,

• Yomigaeri no Maou
• I’m Back in the Other World!?
• Sorry Oniisama

so if you’re a fan of any of those, vote for them!

I should mention though, that Yomigari no Maou is being done by a MTL here and has been announced as a side project here.

As for Sorry Oniisama, I quite like the story, so if nobody picks it up, I’ll probably have all of it completed within a year or two. Which is roughly how long the author took to write it anyway.

2015/06/19

Status Report

So I was gunna finish the last two chapters of this sub-arc for Otoburi…

but then my imouto, Estelina dragged me out to McDonalds and gave me a food coma, so at most I’ll be doing a teaser tonight.

Originally things weren’t supposed to be like this. There’s this new McDonalds thing where you make your own burger, and it’s a little fancier, and since our internet was down, Estelina decided there was nothing better to do than drive to McDonalds at 8PM and try a burger.

So anyway, she dragged me along. Now my sister is a slow eater you see, and since I was there and hadn’t had lunch today, I decided to kill time by ordering two apple pie thingies and soft serve cone. That much sugar is pushing it, but I don’t usually eat much anyway, so doing this just for today should be fine. It probably won’t lead to diabetes.

So anyway, we wait, and wait, and finally the order is done, so I picked up my thingies and her McFlurry, and sit down at a table.

So we’re eating, and we’re eating, and I’m reading the teaser raws on my phone, and just as I’m about to finish all of my food, she turns to me with a serious expression and asks,

“Should I get a burger?”

And I realise that this whole time, she hasn’t ordered a thing.

“Didn’t you already order a burger?”

“No, I was just thinking about ordering a burger”

“You realise that I bought all this crap because I was trying to kill time while you ate, right?”

“Ohhhhhhhh. Should I get one now though? I’m not hungry now, but I’ll be hungry tonight.”

“Then just eat one now so that you won’t be.”

So she goes off and orders her burger, along with a coffee for me, and I’m sitting there reading on my phone until the burger arrives.

Anyway, the burger finally comes, and just as she takes a bite into it,

“I think that there’s butter in this.”

My sister hates butter. She hates it. She hates it as much as her friend hates mandarins, or as much as I hate spamming leechers, so in other words, she hates it a lot.

Turns out she ordered a brioche bun, which is only separated from other breads by having more egg and butter.

In the end I ended up eating that burger as well, feeling like I was going to throw up all the while.

This is quite possibly the most boring story I have ever told in the entirety of my life.

2015/06/12

Random Message

Seeing these Yomigaeri no Maou illustrations has… ruined the story for me forever, lol. Not going to read the raws anymore.

http://blog.over-lap.co.jp/?p=9066

I’m an incredibly shallow person, it seems.

Speaking seriously though, to me, those faces are about half-way to the spud-head children of Skyrim, so it really has destroyed my imagery of this story forever. I don’t think I can read this story anymore.

Hm, the dangers of LN adaptations…

Ah, and 21 (EGA) will be done soon.

2015/05/31

Random Message

Somebody translated ‘I Tripped into Another World, but I Got ‘Eaten up’ Right on the Spot: Chapter 1’

For details on how this happened, click here and read the comment thread.

To read the chapter, click here.

To thank saimaru’s oneesan (the original JA>TH translator), click here (her English is apparently shit, but I’m sure she can read it).

2015/05/30

Status Report

Um, if anybody remembers what I wrote a few weeks back about being demotivated. Well uh, that never stopped. Because I never took a break to do a teaser, and people have continually been pushing for EGA since it’s so popular and stuff.

I tried breaking the tedium by translating chapter 8 of the interlude arc, but it didn’t help that much.

And my laptop keyboard broke, so I’m stuck using a usb keyboard which is not comfortable for me.

And yeah, that’s sort of why it’s been taking me ages to release any chapter of anything. Because I’m still feeling apathetic.

Or at least I was, until a short moment ago!

The first Mushoku Tensei Useless Additions chapter was released just now, so I went and translated it for fun! Which was great!

…Except I deleted it right afterwards to make sure it never sees the light of day so I don’t piss off that Kaezar guy and his team lol. I remember what happened with Lygey-dude or whatever that rpg-maker porn-game translator is called.

But um, at least I’m a little motivated again! I’ll definitely get chapter 18 done before this time tomorrow!

p.s. Orsted is surprisingly clumsy. Cute guy. Wahahah!

2015/05/20

Random Message

A certain cute blog has finally begun their translations

https://kirileaves.wordpress.com/

three cheers for kiriririiriririririrkukuririkukkiri

2015/05/18

Status Report

Somewhat important announcement:

I have two new pages that relate to the projects on my website, so translators interested in my projects, and readers who read them, please take a look.

https://oniichanyamete.wordpress.com/15-8n2-194/

https://oniichanyamete.wordpress.com/teasers-and-other-stuff/teasers-dropped-stuff-and-zero-commitment-projects/definitions/

To summarise,

• All the teasers and stuff on my blog are obviously up for grabs.
• Do not expect me to update them (although I might).
• What’s more, if you’re a decent translator, Other World and Tilea’s are also up for grabs.
• I will update them, provided that nobody picks them up. I like them both, and have fun translating them.
• Only, if there’s somebody out there who loves them more, and can do a good enough job (i.e. at least N3 vocab and N2 grammar) then I am fine with passing it on.
• I am not so self-centred and egocentric that I’d be thinking of “hogging” or “calling dibs” on side projects that are illegal translations to begin with, haha. If a non-hobo person is willing to adopt these, I’m more than happy to give these two away.
• Finally, as I’ve always said, I strongly believe in re-translations and alternate translations. If somebody out there wants to translate Otoburi or EGA in their own way, I’d even be happy enough to link them from this website.
• If they actually want to provide an alternate translation (and not just snipe for grolious groly) then far from making trouble for them, I’d even promote them.

Finally, for those of you who missed it the first time, here is my first landscape painting. You can print it or use it as wallpaper or whatever you want.2015/05/18

Random Message

Thank you, Anri-sama!

2015/05/16

Random Message

The reason why chapter 17 is taking so long to come out:

2015/05/16

Random Message

[Google TL adds a lot of flavour:]

At this moment, jasmine in shock to find that she completely underestimated this person. His body is weak, his mysterious force small bear, but this time, he has shown a completely inconsistent with these terrorist willpower. Previously, she had been puzzled with why the treasure as Tien day will actually poison beads attached to such a low, but the humans again, this time, she began to feel …… does not seem to disappear day spiritual poison beads , but not a day of spiritual poison bead gone mad ……

Over the past quarter of an hour and a half ……

Che’s body covered with dark clouds suddenly flashing pattern rapist from red brilliance, and his facial features are distorted when he finally began to ease off a little.

[Suddenly, Lovecraft!]

When “Three hundred years ago, it was exploring a dangerous legacy left by ancient land, we found a very old ancient inscribed a message: ancient times, there is a process called ‘Cthulhu’ true God He is the era of the gods fall last true God, his fall, also means that the era of the real end of the gods. And when the fall of Cthulhu, leaving a drop of Cthulhu source of power contains the blood of his immortal …… ”

“If we can get this drop of immortal blood, into the body, the mysterious veins into force will be derived Cthulhu!”

2015/05/15

Status Report

Sorry for the wait, guys. I had this half-done a week ago, but lost the motivation to finish it.

Over the last few days, I’ve been spending my free time reading. Not just translated Chinese novels of course, but raw Japanese stuff too. I recently finished something I could describe as,

‘Kenkyo ~ Inferior Fantasy Edition: Now With Harem’

and well, it was great. But there was nothing amazing throughout the entire series. Well, not to say that Kenkyo has any amazing moments either, but Kenkyo is cuter and longer.
The protagonist in this is a bit of a monkey, which is a first I guess.

Hm. I guess it was inferior because although she collected harem members (male and female) who each had their own mini-arc, once the last one was collected, it was just a long epilogue chapter and that was that. I guess there wasn’t enough everyday life for me, and it ended more quickly than I’d have liked.

I mean, I did enjoy the ride, but I suppose it ended as a mediocre series before I had time to really warm up to all the characters. So I don’t think I’ll be translating it. If I hadn’t already 4 projects, then I’d pick it up for sure, but… yeah.

If anyone out there is looking for something cute to pick up, try this. It’s complete at 35 chapters of varying length.

Pros:
– The protagonist is amusing in her own way.
– The characters are all colourful and lovable.

Cons:
– There are no amazing scenes. There are some strong feels, but never anything really amazing happening.
– It might take a while to translate, but when you read it, it feels like it ends too quickly.

?
– The protagonist is basically a big monkey. A cheerful idiot that hates studying and likes to climb trees.
– One of her female friends is seriously plotting to cancel MC’s engagement, and elope with her.
– Bonus points for adding the original game heroine to her harem.

2015/05/13

Status Report

Vidar will be doing the short-story chapters for Evil God Average. It’s the arc in-between the two main ones.

All of them are done from a different perspective than Anri, so no worries about the writing style suddenly changing.

I would personally have preferred that he get some Heibon done since I’ve been waiting for ages to read it, but hey, you like what you like. (:

I do hope that he concedes on the naming though. >:

2015/05/01

Status Report

So…

This is too much work, so I’ll finish the rest some other day.

Wahahahahahah~

I’m not really comfortable with uploading the illustrations since that will bring the chance of someone buying the raws to support Sakura-sensei from 1% to 0%.

However, the front and back cover seem to be fair game, so here you are!

2015/04/28

Status Report

Um, I’ll complete Otoburi arc before I go to sleep, so look forward to it guys!

Before that though, um, I’m going to look into how people make pdfs and epub things, since some of you guys have asked for them. I personally hate pdfs because they’re laggy and make the images ugly, but since I’m not including images for Otoburi, all is well!

If they turn out to be easy enough to make, I’ll go over the earlier chapters for anything I could rewrite better while I’m at it.

Well, only if it turns out to be easy though.

As for what I’m doing after that, I’m not sure yet, but probably a bit of the bear story as a teaser. It’s nothing amazing, but it’s not bad in any way either. Then probably Jashin Average, maybe some other teaser, and then Other World.

 

2015/04/28

Status Update [Potential Teasers]

I Ended up Reincarnating as a Villainess Noble Girl with Nothing but Destruction Flags…

Hit on the head with a rock, the memories of my previous life returned to me. I, Caterina Claes, am the daughter of the duke, and 8 years old.
Having feverish nightmares, my engagement to the prince was decided, and I realised that this was the otome game I played in my previous life.
And I also realised that I had become the villainess noble girl that got in the way of the protagonists’ romance…
If the protagonist meets her happy end, I’ll be exiled with no belongings, and if she meets the bad end, I’ll be killed by the love interest…?
…Don’t I get a happy end!? Uh, there’s nothing but bad endings here, you know!?
I want to avoid those destruction ends and live a quiet life until I’m old!

[tl: Premise is quite similar to kenkyo, but according to reviews it’s done quite well, and the characters are all interesting. Also unlike Kenkyo, it seems that this protagonist isn’t a complete loser when it comes to romance. Poor Reika. >: Really.]

tags:
otome game;
reincarnation;
villainess;
magic;
reverse harem (regardless of gender)

I Reincarnated as a Villainess, but Why Did Things Turn out Like This?

Eliza Kardia who reincarnated as the villainess noble girl in a fantasy otome game, despite being a noble’s daughter, experienced a childhood far from what you’d expect of the world of a ren’ai game. To begin with, it was doubtful whether or not she would even survive long enough to enter the school that was the setting of the game. Because of the changes in circumstances in a neighbouring nation that didn’t even appear in the game, so different that it seemed to have no relation to that flowery school life that was featured in said game, Eliza had no choice up but to pick up arms to defend herself. Just why on earth did things turn out like this?

She has no OP abilities. She can’t use magic either. Her sense of morals may have gone a little funny because of her rebirth.

tags:
otome game;
reincarnated as a villain;
female protagonist;
no OP abilities;
no special abilities;
war;
territory management;
occasionally warmhearted;
roughly a hundred pages left until the school arc

Parallel World Strong-Armed Drifter’s Story ~Otome Games Have Declined

A low girl-power working Japanese woman (unpopular) had of all things been reincarnated in the world of an otome game; and of all people, as the villainess who always found a way of picking on the heroine.
It was the world of a school story with swords, magic and love… or so you’d think, but of course she had ‘no fucken idea’ about any of that. In regards to the contents of the game either.
Interpreting it being the same type as the VRMMO’s in her past life, this blood boiling, flesh dancing, bone grating, boisterous sword storm battle-loving battle-idiot with low girl power pushed her way through――――and aimed to be the strongest in the world!

Tags:
parallel world reincarnation;
otome game (provisional);
girl power (in a muscular sense);
leave your head here and piss off, monster;
occasionally there’s a baku dream eater;
thinks about nothing but battle;
ossan festival in full swing;
益 荒漢女 [tl: Japanese pun that’s rather difficult to translate. Basically it’s ‘益荒/masura(manly heroism)’ + ‘otome/乙女(maiden)’, except the kanji for ‘maiden’ have been replaced by ‘gallant woman/漢女’]

Sorry, Oniisama!

After reincarnating in the novel I loved, I run left and right to save my beloved character from peril!
So that I can live a great life, I’ll cut down my villainness role, and even warp fate itself!
So become happy, okay? Oniisama!

..*

..*

..*

―――Ah, but well, the last boss is me though.

tags: magic, non-comedy

I Tripped into Another World, but I Got ‘Eaten up’ Right on the Spot.

Mizukami Sakura, twenty years old. Today I tripped into another world! But where I ended up was on top of a bed, with nothing but my bath towel on, and the owner of the room, Captain Grace, had a good time ‘eating’ me up. But well, he’s a hot guy who’s exactly my type, so I’ll allow it. Or rather, how about one more round?
● Fundamentally a love comedy-esque love story that began as a physical relationship between a slightly stupid protagonist who’s regrettable in various ways, and a slightly overly straight-laced Captain.
● Part 1 complete, Part 2 being written

tags:
romance;
fantasy;
trip to a parallel world;
heartwarming;
love comedy;
age difference;
military man;
regrettable heroine;
parallel world summoning?;
happy end;

Destroying the Reverse Harem Flags

My beloved oniisamas are going to be the key members of the reverse harem you say? What kind of joke is this? Of course I’m going to get in the way!
[tl: About a girl who reincarnated in a certain otome game as Shinoi Ayaka; the little sister of one of the main members of the game’s reverse harem, and grew up being looked after by another one of the members as well. So no matter how great the heroine might be, or whether the oniisamas are fine with being in a reverse harem, she won’t allow it.]

tags:
otome game;
reincarnation;
school

Siscon Feudal Lord Reincarnation! ~If I’m Reincarnated with a Little Sister, I’ll Spoil Her Through and Through

Elxiac, a reincarnater born as the son of a feudal lord. He had an adorable half-sister, born to an elven mother.
And he who seemed like a calm and collected person upon first glance was actually――an outrageous siscon!
For the sake of his younger sister, he reforms the territory, and endeavours to eliminate discrimination. And for the sake of taking photos of her, he creates camera magic.
This is the story of a little sister and the slightly regrettable oniichan who works for her sake.
With El the siscon brother, Yuin the elven sister, and the sharp-tongued maid Mizette, what kind of reincarnated life will he experience!?

[tl: Seems to swap perspectives between the oniichan and imouto.]

Tags:
reincarnation,
feudal lord,
rising up in the world,
territory reform,
siscon,
older brother,
younger sister,
elf,
fundamentally a comedy,
loli

2015/04/24

Status Update

• Evil God Average is confirmed to finish at 52 chapters (the end of the second book/arc/chapter) so I’ll be translating it to the end.
• Tilea’s Worries was mentioned a few months ago to be getting a light novel adaptation.
• I just spent the last 3 days reading Tilea’s Worries, which is why I haven’t gotten anything done.
• The first arc of Tilea’s Worries is all laughs, second is not all that funny, third is mostly… interesting but not funny, with the exception of a few scenes.
• Evil God Average maintains the same magnitude and style of humour all throughout the series in my opinion.
• Some machine translator group has told me that they’re going to translate Maou, and I haven’t decided what I want to do in response yet. In the end I’ll probably just be cherry picking, and translating whatever the hell I want.
• I might do Otoburi right after some new teasers, since I really want to hurry up and get to the marriage thingy.
• 2015/04/23

Random Message

I’m feeling really enthusiastic about the red flair on reddit! To be honest I’d prefer the grey one, but using that wouldn’t do.

EDIT:

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaai~!

2015/04/16

Random Message

I’ve actually had a one-sided rivalry with Binh from over at Binhjamin. He literally has no idea.

And so for the longest time I’ve been watching the numbers of follows for the both of us, and each time I got close like maybe a 6 follower difference, over the next day or two it would widen to a 15~25 follower lead again.

But just recently I overtook him!

And it’s thanks to you guys! I don’t know how long it’ll last, and to be honest I don’t care, because what’s important is that at least once I caught up to him!

So I’ve made a new header to celebrate, and thanks again guys! Wahaha~!

EDIT: Oh, and while I’m at it, I may as well ask. Would you guys prefer that I post announcements when I update a new Maou chapter? Thus far I’ve been going with old format where I just edit the old posts, and don’t tell anybody that a new chapter is up.

2014/04/15

Status Report and Random Message

Ummm, so as some of you may have noticed, I’ve picked up Tilea’s Worries. The poll in the end had 25% against me picking it up, and 75% for, so I’ll be picking it up as another side project.

For the record, my ‘main’ project is Otoburi because not only do I really enjoy it, but also because it’s a lot of fun to translate. And it just happens to be at the right level of difficulty for Japanese practice. I learn a lot less than the rest. Ah, hm. This isn’t really a status update so I guess I’d better add ‘random message’ to the post name huh.

Uhh, what was the point of this post again? Oh yeah, right. What to do next. Err, so I’ve actually got a few things on my mind. I guess it’s time for another strawpoll.

Please do BOTH. And have a look at Otoburi chapter names on the TOC before you vote. (:

http://strawpoll.me/4081360
http://strawpoll.me/4081350

And yes, I’m aware that I have a terrible habit of wanting to pick up more teasers. Can’t be helped. It’s refreshing for me. Plus, I want these to get picked up over others. Hoping I can shift the tides even a little bit by converting leechers who will then go beg translators when they ask “What project should I pick up?”.

2015/04/10

Random Message

EDIT: And they give readings for her name this time. Turns out it’s actually a slightly less common reading, Manami. Ahh, of course I don’t mean to say that 愛 being read as ‘mana’ is at all rare, but I mean altogether.

So, because of the middleman I use to buy light novels, I probably won’t see my book for another month or so. But! There’s a sample of the book available here which happens to come with an image. So here you are, guys (: Our favourite (mildly retarded) burikko-turned-heroine, and her merry friends.

If you want higher quality images, please support the industry. Consider it donating to support the industry, and getting a book filled with pretty pictures and meaningless squiggles as a thank you bonus.

Tutorial for honto is on the project page, and the newer Otoburi chapters!

2015/04/04

Random Message

That was the final arc.

It’s finally over. The feels, man. The feels.

Lots of people hated it because he was a fat piece of garbage that fapped over his niece, but I think that was the point.

He had been hiding in his room since middle school, and was apparently an idiot even before he became a hikki. Basically he was a massive man-child. If you look at the things he thinks during the Demon Continent arc, you can tell that he’s missing a lot of things adults take for granted as common sense.

He’s a scummy man-child precisely because this is a growing up story. In the early chapters, he gets over his fears and starts moving again. And as time passes, and as he overcomes each crisis, he grows as a person. Which I think makes him quite a wonderful person. It sounds easy to change, but really, very few people actually do better themselves.

He started off as a disgusting deviant (and, well, arguably ends as one) but he definitely betters himself as a person. It takes a while, but as you follow him through the story, you really do notice that he takes these sort of sensibilities to heart.

Well, having said that though, there are still going to be people who scream “This is disgusting! It’s glorifying peedofilia, blah blah blah!” but I simply don’t agree with them. Growing up with Western sensibilities means that you get a knee-jerk reaction to certain things (and this includes me as well), but if you read it carefully, you’ll realise it’s not about that at all.

It’s about a man-child who gets a second chance to grow up properly, and learn the things that he should have learnt the first time. And yeah, he does fail a lot, and often realises incredibly obvious things, even as far as the Begaritto arc, but I personally found it all really believable.

And although I hated him when I first began reading this, I think I really like him now. He’s one of my favourite protagonists because he’s a kind person deep down, and he tries his very best to learn from his mistakes.

I’m definitely going to buy all of the volumes when they come out. I’ll definitely have a job by then, after all!

2015/04/04

Announcement

So, there’s some pretty exciting news today.

In celebration of THE NEW GATE’s upcoming anime adaptation, Yorai-kun has agreed to do a joint-translation of THE NEW GATE’s light novel edition.

I’m not sure how we’re going to divide the translation between us, as I’m actually a little bit particular about consistency, but I think for now we’ve agreed on a volume each.

We’ll probably get started once Yorai-kun finally gets Shield Hero DMCA’ｄ。

喜べよ、我が妹たちよ！

ｒ

2015/04/01

Because I’m a Crafty Sheeprabbit

Random Message

lmfaooo

Umm, so a little bit ago I talked about my concerns regarding a certain translation group. I’m still feeling things out and haven’t decided personally how trustworthy these guys are, but we can all be the judge of that ourselves. (:

There’s a discussion here by the unnamedteam themselves, and here is a reddit copy of my post.

Status Report

Um, so I’ve finished the Otoburi arc that I was translating up until yesterday. I honestly wanted to jump right into the next arc (if you look at the chapter names on the TOC, you’ll see why) but I did say that I would be doing some Other World. Also on the agenda is getting through one or two Maou chapters in the background while all this is happening.

I um, might be taking Sunday off (which starts in 6 hours for me) translation-wise because I have a few real-life things I need to take care of (yes, being a NEET isn’t all leeching off the government; there’s a lot of ‘trying not to be a NEET anymore’ involved), so mmn.

Um, so yeah! I might put up a poll later today to see what you guys want me to do after I’m done with Other World and a tiny bit of Maou. I won’t necessarily listen to you, but it plays a big role in my whole happiness-cost decision making.

2015/03/28

Random Message

As a fellow translator and as a real-life friend of the translator of one of the Saekano translations, there’s something I’d like to bring to your attention.

Ahem, um, so earlier today I was shamelessly trying to publicise my friend’s translations, since we were having a talk about how our translation was doing, and I noticed that a lot of people didn’t know about his blog.

So, you know, being a wonderful sheeprabbit, I decided to arbitrarily advertise to my meagre followers on my blog!

Uhm, but while looking around, I found that a certain translation group had stolen his work, word for word.

At least that’s how it looks.

#1 From the moment things are copied and pasted, their spacing fucks up.

Before copying:

After copying:

#2 A good chunk of their text is taken almost word for word.

WordPress automatically fixes spacing issues for me, so I’ve used the preview function of wordpress to make the spacing for both blogs the same, and then taken a chunk of text from somewhere random in the middle and put it into a difference checker.

https://www.diffchecker.com/pzeawyyb

For Posterity

https://web.archive.org/web/20150327083159/http://unnamedtranslations.blogspot.sg/p/saekano-volume-1-chapter-1.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20150327083254/http://thenakedsol.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/saenai-heroine-no-sodatekata-volume-1.html

So yeah,

Please don’t support them.

I don’t know how fast they are, or that much about them. I haven’t read the raws so I can’t say who is more accurate, and who has the style of translation I prefer.

What I can talk about though is their work ethic. It’s a joke. Seriously a joke. Please don’t support these kinds of people. Translating, especially amateur translating, takes a lot out of you. Lots of rewording. Lots of typing. Lots of agonising over how to best convey the same idea and feeling in English

And these people just stole it, and not only that, what’s worst is…

THEY DID A SHIT JOB OF STEALING IT.

Would you really support people who do such a shit job that they can’t even plagiarise properly? As anybody who’s gone to school before would know, you at least need to do the bare minimum of rewording. Make sure there are no little [1] reference things. Make sure that the formatting and spacing is all the same.

These guys straight up copied and pasted. Would you really trust the work ethic and translations of these kinds of people?

tldr: A certain translation group are also doing Saekano. Stole word for word off my friend. Please don’t support them.

2015/03/27

Random Message

Two of the four new teasers for much, much, much further down the line:

Title: Tilea’s Worries (TS)

Synopsis:
　　With the progression of his Chuuni Disease, Shioda Tetsuya is shunned by his family, and dies in despair, a thirty three year old jobless virgin. He vowed that if he was born again, this time he would stay away from delusions and live life seriously. Fortunately, he reincarnated in another world as a girl named Tilea, and lived a happy life with her kind parents and adorable little sister, but…
　　Lately, she’d been troubled. Her beloved sister had begun talking about how she was actually one of the Six Demon Generals, serving directly under Demon King Zorg, a descendant of the Three Great Demons. The situation was looking bad. She had to do something before this Chuuni Disease got any worse!
　　This is a fantasy “misunderstanding story” about a protagonist who has not noticed in the slightest that she’s a “cheat”-like existence, and how in her efforts to heal her sister’s Chuuni Disease (except that she really is one of the Six Demon Generals), she somehow or other ended up setting out to defeat the Demon King.

Notes:
　　Contains the occasional coloured illustration. The entire cast of major characters have their own profile pictures. It’s a pleasant touch.
Our protagonist:

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n9045bm/

Title: The Bears Bear a Bare Kuma (Translator’s Note: Kuma Means Bear)

Synopsis:
Yuna, a fifteen year old girl who has just begun playing the world’s first VRMMO.
Earned billions of yen in stocks. Doesn’t go to school, and shuts herself in at home playing games.
Today, logging in excitedly to play the new major update and promotional campaign, she was given the soul-bound super rare cheat item, the bear suit. But even though she played the game alone, and even though it was just in-game, the suit was too embarassing so she couldn’t wear it.
After completing a survey regarding the new campaign, she started the game again, only to find that she had been forced to wear the bear suit, and was in an unknown forest.
Where is this? Huh, an in-game message from God? This is another world?
If she put on the Mr. Bear suit, she was godly, but if she took it off, she was a normal girl. Yuna began doing as she liked.
(When the protagonist levels up, the bear suit gets stronger. When the protagonist learns a new magic, the bear suit learns the magic instead. A lot of this story involves bears, so please take care.)

Notes:
There is a lot of bear content

http://ncode.syosetu.com/n4185ci/

2015/03/27

Random Message

2015/03/25

First of all, sorry for giving so many activity updates and stuff. I’m a NEET at the moment, so I have a lot of free time. Yes, I’m aware that I probably have more of these than chapters, and I write more of these than any other translator out there. Feel free not to read.

Random Message

Um, I was just thinking, maybe after finishing the current Kenja chapter and current Otoburi arc, I’ll translate Mushoku Tensei Volume 6’s light novel special chapter.

I’ve been thinking about it, and they’re all pretty good, but as you’d expect I don’t feel like doing them all. But volume 6 has Aisha, so I thought it’d be fun to do it myself. If it’s already been translated, then I might not publish it, but mmn, fun things are fun. That might be nice to try.

What should I do after Otoburi though? More Other World? Another Black Knight chapter?

I’m actually asking you here.

Regarding Kenja/Wiseman

I’ve mentioned in comments somewhere, but I think for Kenja, because of the way the story is done, I’ll only translate a little bit of the beginning, cut to an important (but irrelevant to overarching plot) reunion halfway through volume 1, and then cut straight to translating some of the road trip arc in the web novel.

That way you get a taste of Kenja-style sentimental stuff, as well as Kenja-style exploration, without ruining any of the real plot.

And if you find that you really like this style of writing as well as Mira (Dunbalf’s new name), then you can go harass a translator with free time or something. The same way people harassed Yorai-kun for THE NEW GATE. Yes. That’s a good idea.

ヾ(*ΦωΦ*)〃wahaa!

2015/03/21

Status Report

Released 4 chapters. You can find the links on the Otoburi TOC.

You’ll have to be satisfied with this for a while because I’m doing a kenja chapter next, and that takes a long time.

If you guys haven’t already tried it, you can read 8th son here.

I’m personally entirely fed up with it, but I enjoyed everything up to the end of his homecoming arc.

2015/03/20

Status Report

1. Uhm, so I kind of want to hurry up and do Otoburi already because next arc has some pretty big shit going down, both conspiracy-wise and romance-wise, but everybody’s been really excited about the teasers etc. etc. so I’ll be sticking with them until I’m satisfied that the translated chapters give a good idea of the mood, writing style and protagonist of all these.
   ..and why you always talk about the cool kids/who take archery
2. Uh, also Other World is only 101 chapters long (with 40 extra chapters), and it’s surprisingly easy to translate (just not as easy as Kenkyo and Otoburi) so I’m considering picking it up for real. Idunno. It’s likely.
   ..yeah you’re a shrinky dink/you’ll get a funeral/
3. Uh, as for the rest, I can’t pick up Kenja. Honestly, if I was going to do that, I would just start translating Maou again. Which reminds me, I’m considering doing it in parts again. Yeah, it’s an inefficient series to translate, but I have fun doing it, so rather than stopping altogether for now, wouldn’t it be better to do it a bit at a time and just release it more slowly? Idunno, would it?
   …if you don’t wise up and call me/carl poppa
4. Uhhh, also, uhhh, I had this conversation:And what I want to say is that there are webnovels with female protagonists. And they didn’t necessarily have penises in their previous lives, or before their transformations, etc. etc. And not all of them are like that office lady story either (which was written by Sakura Ageha as well, who also wrote this story about this pushy and horrible hot vampire guy who turned a cute girl into his minion because he wanted her), and to be honest they’re all easy to find because there’s a bloody ‘female protagonist’ tag on syosetu. But I digress, the point is that I’ve read some of them, and they exist; they’re just not being translated.

tldr; those ‘female protagonist’ webnovels may end up being my next batch of teasers. And goodness, it’s 2:40 AM. No wonder I’m ranting. Um, I’ll clean up this notication when I wake up. Maybe.

Myaa Overload

2015/03/20

Status Report

Made a new page and updated parts of my blog.

Will now either go,
Otoburi
Otoburi
Otoburi
Dark Knight
Other World
Other World
Kenja
Kenja
Otoburi
Otoburi
Otoburi

or

Dark Knight
Other World
Other World
Kenja
Otoburi
Otoburi
Otoburi
Otoburi
Otoburi
Otoburi
Otoburi

Also, Other World seems easy and quick enough to translate, so I’m considering picking it up.

2015/03/15

Status Report and Random Message

Over a million, yay.

And translating just the prologue of Kenja at the moment is such a bother. So much 3rd person narration. Argh… I just want to start chapter one. There’s so much crap in the prologue that I don’t give a shit about.

At the moment, not sure which is easier; using the edited and shortened light novel to translate, or the convenient i-don’t-need-to-hold-it-open-with-my-elbow web novel…

2015/03/14

Status Report

I became a NEET.

2015/03/13

Hi guys. There’s something I’d like to clarify, and since I’m at it, I thought I may as well give a status update as well.

Status update (plans)

I’m definitely going to translate I’m Back in the Other World up until at least the 5th or 10th chapter. Enough so that we get past the introductions, and see what kind of story it really starts to become. It might not be immediately though, so if you see me releasing Otoburi chapters or other teasers in the meanwhile, please don’t start asking if I’m done with I’m Back in the Other World, because I’ll be sure to let you know when I think I’m done with it.

Since we’re getting pretty close to some things that seem exciting in Otoburi, I was thinking of translating like this:

Otoburi
Dark Knight
Other World
Kenja
Otoburi
Otoburi
Otoburi
Other World
Kenja
Kenja
Dark Knight
…

but depending on the content and length of the chapters (I haven’t read them yet), this might change. Anyway, just don’t panic if I suddenly start translating things other than I’m Back in the Other World because I’ll definitely at least get far enough into the novel so that you’ll have a good idea of it.

It won’t be like P*O***ss’s “teasers” where he translates three chapters of This Other World’s ***** is too ****** that really tells you nothing about the writing style, or anything else really.

Message

First of all, I’d just like to clarify that I’m not trying to alienate people who aren’t using the wordpress follow function, or their own feed/post aggregators. I’m trying to be inclusive of people who don’t use these, which is why I repeat any important notifications on
https://oniichanyamete.wordpress.com/status-random/
as well. I’m really sorry if it seems that I’m ignoring people who don’t use either of the two, and I’m really not. I’m trying to accomodate everybody.

I try to make an effort to update the TOC’s as soon as possible, and I’ve been doing that over the last few months, but recently things have just been getting bogged up, and I’m struggling just to find the motivation to translate and study (and to even get out of bed each morning). I’m prioritising these two over most everything else, including reading web novels (which has basically been my life this past year), so please forgive me if I update the TOC’s in bulk. I understand that it’s important to keep these things updated as soon as possible, but sometimes they just feel less important, you know?

Recently I failed to update my TOC page for Otoburi, and a few people brought this to my attention. I’m sure that most were just trying to be helpful, but because tone doesn’t come through well on the internet, I interpreted these messages as being more whiney than they might have actually been. I’ve already got this image of a certain percentage of readers being egocentric leechers, and the fact that your tone doesn’t come through well just makes things harder for me. I get rather depressed and negative when I repeatedly lose sleep, so that definitely contributes.

So this message is an apology as well. I’m really sorry, and I hope that despite my occasionally caustic and nasty replies, you’ll still give my translations a fair go. I do take them pretty seriously, and I think they’re all great series. I’d be even happier if you didn’t hate me as well, but I’ll take what I can get.

2015/03/12

Status Report

One of my good friends told me that my blog wasn’t confusing enough to navigate, so to rectify this I have added a total of

FOUR NEW PAGES

If however there are other steps you think I could take to improve things, please leave me a comment. After all, if this blog isn’t becoming a labyrinth, then it’s kind of like ‘What have I been working towards? What has this all been about?‘ you know?

2015/03/11

Random Message

https://oniichanyamete.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/summer-vacation-chapter-11/#comment-2361

https://oniichanyamete.wordpress.com/2015/03/10/summer-vacation-chapter-10/#comment-2384

https://oniichanyamete.wordpress.com/index/mysterious-named-bodyswap-otomege-project-x/#comment-2390

Let’s be honest here; are you guys just saying this to mock how tired I’m feeling right now? Like, “hey, so I know you translated 3 chapters today and are busy doing a masters but I’m too lazy to check http://aho-updates.com or to follow blogs on wordpresssocanyouhurryupandedityourindexpageIthinkthelinksarebroken” or something like that?

Are you just trolling? Because if so, I must say I am taking the bait hard, hahaha.

2015/03/10

Status Report

Somebody please take Yomigaeri no Maou off my hands. I am realistically not going to be able to translate a 3rd person narrated story like that for another year at least. And then, I’ll be in a casual job and part-time masters, and still might not find the time.

Was thinking that in exchange, I would translate something else one chapter a fortnight as a teaser to generate interest. I can’t handle a full second project, but if it’s slow translations to see if anyone wants to pick things up, I might start with ‘I Returned to the Other World?’, followed by ‘She Professed Herself the Pupil of the Wise Man’ and then maybe ‘In Order to Live in a Sweet and Gentle World’ and ‘The Black Knight Who Was Stronger than the Hero’.

Then maybe actually start translating Kenkyo. To be honest, I could use with the fluffy stress relief.

“Lyle, a powerful magus, was on his way back from a diplomatic meeting when his party was suddenly assaulted by a bandit attack. Little did he know that this was part of a more deeply orchestrated conspiracy that would leave him betrayed and dead.
Reborn in modern day Japan where his old knowledge is useless, he lives his life peacefully as an ordinary high school student until one day, he is suddenly returned to his old world…”

– friend’s synopsis of ‘I Returned to the Other World?’

2015/03/10

Random Message

Do you guys read Madan no Ou? If you haven’t already, I’d totally suggest it. It’s this amazing light novel about a French youth who leads a coalition army comprising frenchmen and slavs to push back an evil negro horde. Truly amazing stuff.

2015/03/10

Random Message

[7:45:37 PM] Zephyrial: i just wanted to point stuff out lol
[7:45:42 PM] Estelion: i want to make a donate button too
[7:45:46 PM] Estelion: but i dont actually want donations
[7:45:52 PM] Estelion: what to do
[7:46:03 PM] Zephyrial: loooool
[7:46:09 PM] Estelion: maybe i’ll make one
[7:46:13 PM] Estelion: then cross out the ‘donate’ part in paint
[7:46:19 PM] Estelion: and link it to a funny anime related vid
[7:46:34 PM] Estelion: oh yeah
[7:46:35 PM] Estelion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vYa-NwsRz0
[7:46:35 PM] Estelion: song
[7:46:36 PM] Estelion: (:
[7:46:37 PM] Estelion: listen?
[7:46:55 PM] Estelion: my favourite touhou-remix-doing vocalist
[7:46:59 PM] Estelion: shiki/maou
[7:47:03 PM] Estelion: also known as eerie
[7:47:04 PM] Zephyrial: how do i even
[7:47:06 PM] Zephyrial: navigate your site
[7:47:09 PM] Estelion: ?
[7:47:11 PM] Estelion: it’s not that hard
[7:47:14 PM] Estelion: you pop up to index
[7:47:16 PM] Estelion: there are 2 main series
[7:47:24 PM] Estelion: you click the name of the one you want to read
[7:47:28 PM] Estelion: it takes you to the index for that series
[7:47:30 PM] Zephyrial: no, no
[7:47:30 PM] Zephyrial: i mean
[7:47:33 PM] Zephyrial: the posts
[7:47:35 PM] Zephyrial: latest posts
[7:47:36 PM] Estelion: oh
[7:47:39 PM] Estelion: i dont have one for that
[7:47:43 PM] Estelion: i expect all people to be following me
[7:47:46 PM] Zephyrial: only way i can access yours is through yeah
[7:47:47 PM] Zephyrial: that
[7:47:47 PM] Estelion: else they will not receive the grace of my posts.
[7:47:50 PM] Zephyrial: looool

2015/03/08

Random Message

Would recommend, 10/10:
http://www.amazon.com/NG-Life-Volume-Mizuho-Kusanagi/dp/1427814457

2015/03/07

Status Update

Translating on public transport when there’s no internet from saved pages. Have gotten 4 chapters of Otoburi done, but they’re kind of cliffhanger-ey, so I’ll release them all at once after we get past the cheap cliffhanger.

Also, ‘A Burikko Villainess Turned into a Magic Otaku’ will be getting a light novel version, published under the name ‘One Day, I Turned into a Burikko Villainess Noble’s Daughter’, where ‘noble’s daughter’ is 令嬢(reijou/’rehjoh’) which means a daughter/young-lady of good upbringing and family. You’ll have noticed the awkward ‘noble daughter’ or whatever that I’ve been using to translate it, because there’s no direct translation (and all appropriate translations are too wordy or too lacking for the amount of times that it’s appears in the series).

2015/03/05

Status Update + Random Message

I’ll be beginning my masters degree today. I have a lot of down time between lectures so I might use some of that time to translate, but because I’ve never done a degree like this before, I’m unsure about the workload, so again, translations will be fairly uncertain for the near future. Not uncertain as in, they won’t be coming, but uncertain in that I’ll be unsure about the frequency.

I mean hey, I could be lucky, and still be able to pump out 4 chapters a week or something. Who knows.

Anyway, as for the random message, for those of you who aren’t my ‘followers’, I mentioned that Hot Chocolate Scans would be translating a novel by the same author who wrote Yomigaeri no Maou.

So

1) Check out the announcement here: https://hotchocolatescans.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/announcement-2-28-2015/
2) Why the fuck aren’t you following me? (jk)

And Zephyzeph, my good friend, what did I tell you? :3 :3 :3

2015/03/01

Random Message

[4:50:03 PM] .littleshanks: you’re reading overlord raws?
[4:50:15 PM] oniichanyamete: the WN, yeah
[4:50:16 PM] oniichanyamete: not the LN
[4:50:21 PM] oniichanyamete: and i’m only having a look
[4:50:25 PM] oniichanyamete: i’ve been reading the LN eng translations
[4:50:30 PM] oniichanyamete: and noticed in latest chapters
[4:50:40 PM] oniichanyamete: that skythewood said that the chinese ppl said that shaltear
[4:50:48 PM] oniichanyamete: was speaking like a geisha in the original japanese
[4:50:51 PM] oniichanyamete: so i got curious and had a look
[4:50:54 PM] oniichanyamete: and yepp
[4:50:57 PM] oniichanyamete: speaks like a fkn geisha
[4:51:20 PM] .littleshanks: whats a geisha
[4:51:28 PM] oniichanyamete: they’re like female samuraininja/ninjamurai
[4:51:49 PM] oniichanyamete: in the momoyama era
[4:51:56 PM] oniichanyamete: they were placed in strategic castles
[4:52:03 PM] oniichanyamete: to keep the peace between feudal lords
[4:54:39 PM] .littleshanks: so they’re like fighting prostitute warriors
[4:54:57 PM] oniichanyamete: ?
[4:55:03 PM] oniichanyamete: who said anything about prostitution
[4:55:07 PM] .littleshanks: I thought they were entertainers/hostesses
[4:55:10 PM] oniichanyamete: they’re assassamurai
[4:55:13 PM] oniichanyamete: from the azuchi-momoyama era…?
[4:55:29 PM] .littleshanks: oh
[4:55:29 PM] .littleshanks: idk
[4:55:31 PM] .littleshanks: what that is
[4:55:32 PM] oniichanyamete: no, i think you’re thinking of hostess club women
[4:55:43 PM] oniichanyamete: geisha were momoyama mercenary agents
[4:56:05 PM] .littleshanks: ahhh
[4:56:13 PM] Zephyrial: lol
[4:56:14 PM] Zephyrial: is there a difference?
[4:56:17 PM] oniichanyamete: fkn troll
[4:56:20 PM] oniichanyamete: if you know what a geisha is
[4:56:21 PM] oniichanyamete: dont ask.

actually more like an oiran, maybe (?)

2015/02/26

Random Message

2015/02/25

Status Update

Since I’m answering Hendri Susanto anyway, I felt it would be more efficient to post here. In regards to Yomigaeri no Maou:

Some real life circumstances have changed, meaning that this is on-hold.

There are a number of reasons why this is the project that I’m putting on the backburner instead of Burikko, foremost being that as a third person narrated story, there are three major setbacks it gives me:

1. As Japanese prose written in 3rd person, the sentence structures tend to be more complex, making it more difficult to understand. Not much more, but more. This is enough to push me away from it a little.
2. As Japanese prose written in 3rd person, the sentence structures tend to be more complex, especially when it comes to descriptions. This makes it a huge time-sink when trying to express in English without sounding completely retarded.
3. As Japanese prose written in 3rd person, the vocabulary used is occasionally more floral or fanciful, which might be great for reading in Japanese due to increased variety, but not so much fun when simply trying to swallow the information, masticate to taste it’s meaning and tone, and then regurgitating into readable English prose.

In short, it’s a lot of work, and to be honest the pace is very slow, and the characters are less colourful than burikko’s. This makes it a high-cost-low-reward endeavour. It’s not as if I’m absolutely packed for time; I’m not. If I had a gun to my head, I could probably still pump out translations.
It’s simply a matter of mindset. I’m not really in the right mindset to pursue something like that. Even if I tried, in 4~5 lines I’d get too anxious about wasting my time, and just jump onto something else.

Since I can’t guarantee regularity of updates, of course I have no problems with anybody picking it up from the chapter where I stopped. Provided it isn’t a machine translation, that is.

To anyone who prefers Maou over Burikko, I’m really sorry. I’m a fan too so I can empathise, but it’s not something I really want to get into at this juncture.

For those of you unhappy about this news, I’d be happy if this video cheered you up even a little.

2015/02/23

Random Message

Ruthless popularity contestlol zeph. i suggest u pick up 1 chapter of any the new gate-esque light novel, and then just leave it sitting there forever. followers are clearly where we draw our powers from, so there’s no shame in using underhanded methods for victory.

if you keep sticking to legit methods, you’ll never have enough mana for the special beam cannon.

2015/02/20

Status Update (sort of)

Thoughts on Worm

[Redacted]: worm is just
[Redacted]: so
[Redacted]: so
[Redacted]: well written
[Redacted]: it starts off okay-ish
[Redacted]: cause it’s the author’s first successful series
[Redacted]: like, not bad
[Redacted]: but typical teenager shit, right?
[Redacted]: about a fifth in
[Redacted]: starts to really pick up
[Redacted]: second and third fifths are fkn spectacular
[Redacted]: fourth is just as interesting, but there are major changes so it feels a bit lonely
[Redacted]: fifth is just a fkn mess, but it has to be, considering the plot. and not a mess in a bad way
[Redacted]: the epilogue was interesting
[Redacted]: and the true epilogue at the end
[Redacted]: was wonderful too
[Redacted]: so yeah
[Redacted]: good, if typical beginning
[Redacted]: amazing middle
[Redacted]: arguably amazing end
[Redacted]: https://parahumans.wordpress.com/table-of-contents/
and it’s not badly written stuff like coiling dragon or whatever
[Redacted]: not to say coiling dragon isnt very entertaining
[Redacted]: but coiling dragon is more of a sword art online/twilight type of guilty pleasure
[Redacted]: but yeah, fkn worm
[Redacted]: i only read it properly cause [also redacted] recommended it to me
[Redacted]: but shitt
[Redacted]: it was so good
[Redacted]: shocked how professionally it reads
[Redacted]: none of that grating feeling that “i’m reading something amateur”

In the whole 1.7 mil words or whatever, I only had major issues twice; once was when a character used ‘wroth’ as a noun, and once when somebody used ‘comprise’ like it was ‘compose’. Not sure if they were intentional errors.

Anyway, damnn. Phew. Guess it’s time to get back to translating, maybe tomorrow. Also note that the last two “fifths” that I mentioned, are actually more the last 25% of the story. I divided it into five “eras” in my mind. I would say “arcs” but of course, wildbow already uses that term for their smaller segments.

Unrelated picture of Rin getting kicked in the face:

 

 

 

 

 

 

2015/02/10

Random Message

Has anyone else read this? https://parahumans.wordpress.com/

2015/02/01

Status Update

Sorry for anybody waiting on Maou. I’m pretty excited for that as well, but I really want to finish off this arc for Burikko first, before I start on the new Maou arc. There are only three chapters left, and to begin with, the chapters in Burikko are all very short.

EDIT: Note to foolish self – never visit the animesuki thread of anything you are not 100% updated on. Burikko’s included. Nobody uses spoiler tags.

2015/01/31

Random Message

Oddysy

2015/01/29

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Haters gonna hate! (OWW!)

Haters gonna hate! (OWW!)

B!tches gonna hate! Yo momma’s gonna hate!

(OWW!) Swag! (OWW!) Swag! (OWW!) Swag! (OWW!) Swag!

Holla if you need me. Holla if you need m- REEFER!

2015/01/27

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2015/01/27

Status Update

As usual, weekends are kind of busy for me. I know that it’s a little unfortunate that we just happen to be on the chapter before the rematch, but I probably won’t have time to do my practice tl (at least for something as time consuming as maou) until monday-ish. Sorry for any disappointment I may have caused, but I hope you can understand that because of the way it’s written, it requires a lot more thought put into the way I word things. And that takes up a lot of time.

The good news is, monday night for me is monday morning for people in the Americas, so it probably isn’t as far away as it sounds. Also, I’m getting pretty excited for the chapters in the capital. Finally a new arc.

Hmm… Were this published as a light novel, would we be approaching the end of volume 1 I wonder…

2015/01/24

Status Update

In fan translation, there is something that is deeply frowned upon. That is the “theft” or “hi-jacking” or a series. That is to say, when a translator or group has been translating a series, and a third party comes in and purposefully translates the future chapters, especially chapters in the near future.
It is something incredibly callous, disrespectful, and malicious. And of course, I find it absolutely unacceptable as well. However, though I was thinking that it would be fine to translate “teasers”, what I have effectively done is the same. I am deeply embarassed about discouraging kobatochandaisuki as I have.

However, I feel it is important to draw the distinction between “stealing a series” and “providing an alternate translation”. The latter has been always practised, both in the informal and professional community. And I strongly assert that it is a positive phenomenon.

Kafka, Genji no Monogatari, The Dream of the Red Chamber; classics that have had multiple translations, all of which contribute to the enhancement of the reader’s understanding of the original text.

Even in the fan translation scene, it is not uncommon for multiple groups to work on the same anime series, providing different interpretations and different translation styles. Narcissu is an example of a fan-translated visual novel that I found incredible to read two different translations of.

And I assert that having alternative translations for a work is something enriching, for both the readers and the translators. On occasion, I read the translations of series that I have already read raw. And I do find it worthwhile, because I often discover ways of phrasing and translating things that would never have occurred to me originally. I actually have a little memo for this.

Anyway, what I want to say is that I will be slowly tl-ing Kenkyo Kenjitsu as a side-project from the very first chapter. This way there will be no “hi-jacking” of the series. I do intend to respect the work kobatochandaisuki has done thus far, and never did, and never will, intend to “take over” his translations half-way. Honestly I feel that this is straining my free time a little, but for the sake of bringing Reika-sama into English with my own words and understanding, I will endeavour to make it work.

We will not be working together, as kobatochandaisuki has stated,
“Personnaly, I’d work alone on Kenkyo, also to keep a stable quality (because translation can sometime vary a lot between diffrerent TLers). Then I’d prefer you delete the chapters and that I continue translating Kenkyo alone.”
which is a sentiment I agree with.

Finally, I will be careful from now on to avoid publishing my translation practices of any series already being translated. I want to believe that I have learned my lesson from this time.

2015/01/21