"Kimi ni XOXO" Chapter 2

Here is"Kimi ni XOXO" chapter 2.  As I said in an earlier post, the previews state that chapter 3 is the climax of the story.  I take this to mean that the story will be ending within a couple of chapters and, therefore, contained within one volume.  Actually, this makes me quite happy because I don't think there's more than a volume's worth of story for these characters in this scenario and we don't have to suffer through a story that rambles on out of control.  I have great admiration for authors who can get to the point while telling a fully developed story. Anyhow...

Link:  "Kimi ni XOXO" chapter 2

Next up is "Seirei Produce" chapter 3.  Shiina, Amane, and the Kitsune engage in a game of strip Rock-Paper-Scissors (Jan-Kan-Po). Heheheh...Look forward to it ;p.

Recruiting: Cleaners Needed

Update - 7/1/1010:

Recruitment was a huge success!  It looks like we got all the help we need including someone to help out a little with the Japanese.  Thanks to everyone who responded.  I hope to announce the new members of the team in the upcoming weeks :).
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Omari's Sister is recruiting!  We need one or two cleaners to help on "Kimi ni XOXO," "Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen," and the one-shots.  Experience as a cleaner is desired, but not needed.  If you have Photoshop software, but no or little experience cleaning, I (Kuroneko003) will train you.  If you are interested, please use the "Contact" link in the main menu to send me (Kuroneko003) an e-mail (or just link the word in this sentence).

Also, as always, I'm looking for a second translator :).

I'm Going to Finish "Kimi ni XOXO"

I've decided to finish "Kimi ni XOXO."  The second chapter is pretty good and according to the preview, chapter 3 is the climax of the story meaning that this series will end very soon.  My guess is that there will be 4 chapters and a forthcoming one-shot about something else.  We'll have to wait and  see.  Given that the story is cute and the commitment is light, I'll go ahead and finish this series.

Check Out Ogura Akane's Website

Here's a link to Ogura Akane's (ZHD) website.

Link

She has a wonderful gallery full of images inspired by her manga works :).

Orange Chocolate Chp 14 + Wallpaper!

Rejoice!  Sephyna has made "Orange Chocolate" fans a lovely wallpaper for this release!

Thanks Sephyna!

Here's "Orange Chocolate" chapter 14.  This is the lead-in to a new story arc and the introduction of some new characters.

Link to "Orange Chocolate" chapter 14 (wallpaper included!)

Chapter 15 and 16 are really fun and have some wonderful illustrations.  I can't wait to bring those chapters to you. 

Next up is "Kimi ni XOXO" chapter 2.  So far the chapter is good and I think I will be sticking with this series.

New Poll: What to do with Joshua?

First of all:
DAMN YOU, JOSHUA!!!!

He's definitely earned the "boo-boo" face from me ;p.

I honestly never though Joshua could be so despicable.   Yet, he's so pathetic that I can't completely hate him.  It's like, "There, there little monkey.  What happened?  Not enough hugs?"  And, yet, I want to leap into the pages and beat Joshua senseless when I think about poor Johanne who is now imprisoned in a comfy jail awaiting execution or rescue or the perfect time to escape in order to, perhaps, finish what he started at the end of chapter 14.  (I'm having popcorn while translating if Johanne flies the coop.  Personally, I was looking forward to commando-style Yuda -- eep! That came out wrong...)  Anyhow...I'm a nice person who doesn't condone fictional murder, but believes in a good fictional sack beating for those characters who deserve it.  However, I want to know how you all feel.  Does Joshua need a sack beating (2 varieties to choose from), a hug, or to die a convenient "Disney Death?"  Take the poll!  Leave comments if you want to talk about Joshua or anything ZHD chp 17.

Lala Issue 8/2010 Freebies

Here are some pictures of the loot in Lala issue 8/2010.  If you want some loot, go buy a magazine and enjoy the lovely "Vampire Knight" cover illustration (that bullet is very lucky):

"Gakuen Babysitters" stickers!

Nyanko-Sensei pens!

These pens are super cute, but in reality they are only 4-inch long.

Where to buy Lala Magazine:

• Here's a link to Lala 8 on Amazon Japan: Link
• Also, you can currently get copies in the US at Sanseido Bookstores: Link (I suggest you call to make sure you order the right magazine issue)
• Or, in about 3-weeks is should be available at Akadot: Link

Check the Magazine Freebie List page on this blog for a listing of past items from Lala magazine and the other magazines I purchase.  The link is located at the upper right corner of this blog (or click the link in the previous sentence).

Ouran High School Host Club Final Party Project

Here are the reference pages explaining the "Host Club" final party project.  The section that reads "Present" are just descriptions of the prizes available from the raffle associated with each part of the project.  I don't expect anyone who reads this blog entry to try to enter the contests, but I went ahead and translated most of it because I felt it was a nice retrospective on the series.  Also, some of you may want to go through the motions of the contest activities, but not actually enter.

Here is the front page (Click on the image to see a larger version):

Here's the back page (Click on the image to see a larger version):

Note:  It looks like the big prize ("Super Chance") is a signed graphic from Hatori-sensei.

Here's the last page (very poor quality from the magazine) that covers choosing the best cosplay scenario and summarizes the stuff from the color pages.

Ouran High School Host Club Chp 81 Previews

I decided to break up the previews and the project announcement into two separate postings.  The project posting won't be finished until tomorrow because it requires a lot of detailed work.  Anyhow, here are the previews from Lala magazine.

Update 7/28/2010 -- the only Ouran freebie I can confirm is the drama CD that is coming with Lala 10.
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It looks like there will be at least 3 (including chapter 81) more chapters and with each chapter starting at issue 10 there will be a special Ouran freebie included inside Lala magazine.  The first freebie will be a CD with favorite quotes from the Ouran anime series. The project is a 3 part fan project with prizes that will be raffled off.  I will translate most of the project announcement because it is a very nice retrospective on the series.  I will put that out tomorrow.

Some thoughts on chapter 81:
From the preview, it looks like Hatori is done with the Suoh family drama and is now moving on to resolve Tama x Haru.
It seems like the matters with Kyouya's family and his situation are going to be neglected :(.  That kinda sucks.  Who knows, though, maybe Hatori will throw in a quick surprise that will wrap that up too.  Anyhow, I'm happy that after a 3-month break we are going to get a nice long chapter.  I hope the remaining chapters are just as long since it's feels like there is plenty of story left to cover.

New Manga Purchase: Week of June 6, 2010

• "My Girlfriend is a Geek" -- 1/5
  
  
  Ugh..., this manga had a promising title, but then shot itself in the foot.  The running gag in this series is that the main character's girlfriend is into Shounen Ai manga and pushes her manga fantasies onto her boyfriend.  My brain simply screams out that no man with an ounce of self-respect would get wrangled into the situations the main character does and any sensible onnaotaku who wants to have a productive and mature relationship with a man knows to keep manga and anime SEPARATE from real life.   With that in mind, the whole situation seems forced for the purpose of being at the edge of titillation without actually being Shounen Ai.  Putting that aside, I have the sneaking suspicion the English version is heavily censored and watered down.  It read like something for a 13-year old as it tip-toed through the matters of being a Fujoshi.  I can't even pretend I understand the "Fujoshi" thing, but I get the feeling this manga series doesn't do this particular group of geeks justice.  Regardless, I couldn't get through the entire first volume.  1/5 for being LAME. Stay away from this steaming turd.  (Also, this version put out by Yen Press has typos...sigh...)

Hana-Kimi May 2010 Extra Story

Here's the latest Hana-Kimi Extra story from one of the May 2010 issues of Hana to Yume.

Link to the Hana-Kimi May 2010 Extra story (Retired)

I did this quite hastily and I apologize for any typos, misspellings, or grammatical errors you may come across.  I also apologize for not taking the time to thoroughly clean the images.  I figured that a proportional effort was all that was required for a story that I plan to post only for a short time.

I have no idea whether this is the last planned extra story.  Quite personally, the only other extra stories that I will be willing to translate after this is one about Ashiya and Sano's wedding, Sano going to the Olympics, Nakatsu finding a girl of his own, or Nakatsu playing in the World Cup.  Other than those scenerios, I don't care anymore.

Anyhow, I didn't feel this extra story added anything new to the Hana-Kimi series and I didn't like the way it was written.  It's repetitive and employs nonsense to justify the trouble that Mizuki goes through in this episode.  Meh...Hopefully, though, die-hard Hana-Kimi fans will get something out of this.

English Licensed Manga Removed from Aggregator Sites

Well, it's begun...So far I've noticed that series licensed by Viz have been removed from MangaFox.  Good for Viz!  I know some of you who read scanlations are quite upset and I feel bad for those of you who cannot access these series without scanlation.  Viz, though, has to protect its market in the US.

Hopefully, once the manga aggregators purge their sites of licensed series, the pressure will be relieved and we can continue to enjoy series that are new outside-of-Japan or too niche-y to license outside of Japan.
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Update:  It's interesting to see what manga/manhwa rose to the top after of the popularity stack after MangaFox removed the Viz licensed titles.  Most of the top series are Shoujo.  Honestly, this seems quite healthy to me because many of these titles I've never explored and now that they are exposed, maybe I'll give them a read.

Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen Chp 17

Here is "Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen" chapter 17.

Link to ZHD Chp 17

Hopefully, this is the lowest emotional point in the story. If it isn't, I don't know if I could handle any more bad befalling these characters I like so much.  From the way the chapter ends, it looks like the next chapter will be a flashback chapter -- or so I hope, because I would really like to see how Yuda and Johanne met during the war.

Read beyond here after you've read the chapter because what I ramble, may contain spoilers.

On the topic of Joshua, I want him dead, but at the same time I feel a lot of pity for him and I want him to understand that his father loves him.  I don't know, though, how he can salvage matters between him and Johanne unless he sacrifices himself for Johanne.

Anyhow, I'm not all that worried about Johanne getting executed for what happens in this chapter.  The King is awake and will surely put an end to the nonsense.  It could be fun, though, for some folks to rescue Johanne and stage a military coup in dramatic fashion.  They just need to get rid of Joshua and make Claspel go away.  After that, the angry former ruler of Judecca is the only bad guy left (that we know of) to neutralize.

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to chapter 18 :).

Next up after this is the Hana-Kimi omake.  I'm going to do a very quick editing job, so the quality won't be all that great.  In a way, there's not much I can do about that anyway because the print quality of the source magazine is CRAPPY.  Hopefully, I can finish that up by sometime tomorrow.  After that we will start working on Orange Chocolate chapter 14.

"Akagami no Shirayukihime" Chp 19

Holy crap that was a LOOOONG 4-months to wait!!!  Anyway, here is Akagami chp 19:


Link "Akagami no Shirayukihime" chapter 19

After this we have another long 2-month wait until the next issue of Lala DX in August.  Hopefully, then we'll find out what bit of "sweetness" Zen whispered into Shirayuki's ear on page 44 ;p.  I'm also looking forward to tons of fun adventure time with Obi and Shirayuki.

Oh! and here's a link to Hyper Parfait for Sapphire Pyro's excellent AnS chp 19 write-up! It kinda makes me wanna write up a "smart-ass" version of the chapter...heheheh.

Next up is "Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen" chapter 17 followed by the either "Orange Chocolate" chapter 14 or "Kimi ni XOXO" chp 2.  I haven't decided yet which to translate first.  I'm equally excited for both right now.

Something to Read: Okazu: The Solution to the Scanlation Solution

Okazu: The Solution to the Scanlation Solution

Here's a nice blog posting about the current scanlation issue.

Wow! 3-Years of Omari's Sister!

Woo-Hoo!!!  Check out our special alt banner!  It a "collaboration" between Silver Lunar and myself :).

I can't believe I've been blogging on this blog for 3-years.  Apparently my first post was on May 25, 2007.  I'm coming up on my first anniversary as a scanlator on June 26th.  Wow!  I can't believe how far I've come since that first awful Ouran effort :).  Thanks to the folks who have joined to make Omari's Sister a team and thanks to all the readers for your support!

And from Silver Lunar!

"Seirei Produce" Chapter 2

Here is "Seirei Produce" Chapter 2:

Link to "Seirei Produce" Chapter 2
Spanish Version (Coming Soon)
French Version (Coming Soon)

In this chapter we get more of a feel for Shiina and her family situation.  I really like Shiina! Her mother is pretty funny too.   Amane's, though, is a brat and is treated a little too much like eye candy (he kinda reminds me of "Aram" from "Meru Puri".  But turn about is fair play  I like this series, so we will take it on as a project!

Lala DX 7/2010 should be ready for me to pick up tomorrow.  According to the cover displayed on Amazon Japan, "Akagami no Shirayukihime" will be 45-pages!  I don't see anything on the cover about ZHD, but I do see the mangaka's name on the cover with a list of others names...hmm...I guess we'll find out what that's about tomorrow.

Retiring Most Chapters of "Ouran High School Host Club"

Update:  Retired all chapters of Ouran except for chapter 80.  Chp 80 will be retired shortly after the release of chapter 81.
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I am retiring up through chapter 78 of "Ouran High School Host Club."  After the "Ouran" series ends, We will no longer scanlate series that are already licensed in the US.

Scanlation Crackdown Group Formed

Here's an article about it from Publisher's Weekly.  Yikes, everybody...so you haven't been buying the books...hmmm...Actually, I know this very well, since NONE of you have bought a book from Amazon through the links I provide and less than .1% of you even click on the links.  All of you understand that "free" is not a business model.

Well, I certainly don't do scanlation to hurt the publishers or the artists and I'm sad to see that consumers will not pay for their favorite manga titles when they do become available for purchase.  At the same time, manga at ~$10/volume, in the US, costs way too much for the target audience.    Also, there's the problems of most US publishers being several years behind the Japanese release for manga series and don't let me get started about the space and tree destroying issues associated with multiple volumes of a series.  Sigh...it's all messed up and it will get even more messed up as lawyers are brought on board.  I really wish there way for us to all get along.

Anyhow...so the important thing to come up with is what to do about what's going on.  I want to continue to introduce manga series that are not available in the US in hopes that they do become licensed so the artists can make some money for their labor.  I, too, would like to make money for my labor translating it. On the licensed manga front, I have removed Arakure ("Wild Ones") from my blog, however, I cannot control distribution on the manga aggregation sites.  I will, though, take the step to no longer upload any of my translations of US licensed manga to any manga agreggation sites.  I also will start removing my translations of "Ouran High School Host" from my blog.  To the extent that I feel comfortable, I will continue to translate "Ouran," until the series ends.  But I may consider a time limit for the postings.  What can you all do?  You can buy at least one volume of your favorite manga series, also, on the publisher's website, make your desire for electronic manga known. Let the publishers know how much you are willing to pay for it.  Set their marketing experts' and business people's expectations correctly.  I will say, sooner or later, we all will have to pay.  And if we don't pay with money, then we will pay with personal information or we will pay by having to waste our time looking at advertisements.

What do you think?

Buy My Lightly Used Manga - New Items Available

Just Added:

• "The WallFlower" Vol 1 - 16 -- Volume 6 sold!
• "Ultimate Venus" Vol 2

Link to my Amazon Used Book Store

As always, if you purchase, multiple items, I'll refund some of your shipping!  Just mention you saw this blog entry!

New Manga Purchases: Week of May 30, 2010

• Library Wars, Volume 1 -- nearly the same as the anime, excellent read! 5/5
• Butterflies, Flowers, Volume 3 (mature)
• Wild One (Arakure), Volume 10 (end) -- nice translation, 5/5
• Gakuen Alice, Volume 11
• Portrait of M & N, Volume 2
• Alice in the Country of Hearts, Volume 3

"Kimi no XOXO" Chapter 1

Here it is!  "Kimi ni XOXO" or "Kisses and Hugs for You" chapter 1.  After I finished and read the chapter in English in its entirety, I decided that I like the first chapter and I want to know what happens next (yeah, that sounds weird considering that I translated it).  Please give me some feedback on whether you like this first chapter or not.  And now, here's the link.

Link:  "Kimi ni XOXO" chapter 1

Next up, I will try to sneak in chapter 2 of "Seirei Produce" before Lala DX 7/2010 releases.

One-Shot: Professor Busujima's Egg

"Professor Busujima's Egg" is a joint project with Hyper Parfait!

It's a pleasant light read :).  Please go to Hyper Parfait to download this delightful one-shot!

"Kimi ni XOXO" Teaser

Here's a short preview of  "Kimi ni XOXO!" The section I am previewing is at the transition from the lackluster sweetness of the middle-beginning (the very beginning is very funny) to the funny and spunky goodness of the second half.  I hope you enjoy it and I hope it gets you to anticipate the chapter in its entirety.  Please excuse any typos or errors you see. This has yet to go under any quality check and is subject to be a little different in the final version.

The truth of matters is that the fairy-like creature name "Echo" salvages this manga.  Her wacko impishness brings out the humor in the main character, Fujita.   I'm still aiming for a June 6th release date, but don't be surprised if it slips to the 7th or 8th because it is a big challenge to clean and edit the images.  I will be translating the second chapter of this series because I do want to know what happens.  After that, I will make the decision about whether or not to take this on as a project.

Preparing "Kimi ni XOXO" is a Pain in the Butt

"Kimi ni XOXO" is so far the most challenging manga I've ever worked on in terms of image editing.  Here's an example of the mess that lies before me and Sephyna:

Raw:

White Level:

First Leveling:

After cleaning out the text and typesetting:
Cleaning out the text took forever because I had to redraw parts of the image.  This step took about 2-hours...

Final:
I reduced the image to its final size and added various filters to smooth of the print artifacts and to give the page it's final look and feel.  I also did a little editing of the English, and, in the final version, I cut out what I felt was "dead wood" in the Japanese.  As I said earlier, this mangaka is way too verbose, and sometimes those extra words provide no additional meaning (She's in great need of an editor...).

This page took me about 2-1/2 hours to complete! UGH!  And this isn't even the toughest page...We'll see if we can eek this out by the 6th.