Kemono Kingdom: Zoo has Moved to Bakeneko's Lair

"Kemono Kingdom: Zoo" has a new home!  It has been moved over to Bakeneko's Lair where, hopefully, there will be a more receptive audience.  I've decided to purify Omari's Sister "PG" and "PG-13" shoujo and to post everything else to Bakeneko's Lair.  I'd have to say that "Kemono Kingdom: Zoo" is definitely not shoujo manga.  Hahaha!  If you've never read "Kemono Kingdom: Zoo", I encourage you to give the first 2 chapters a try.  It's one of my favorite series to translate and I'm so sad that it's readership is so pathetically low.  I realize "Zoo" isn't for everyone, and, I hope moving it out of a shoujo heavy blog will raise readership to the level the series deserves.

"Kemono Kingdom: Zoo"  Chapters 1 - 5 have been collected into one post on Bakeneko's Lair (Link)  Chapter 6 will release within the next two weeks there!  Please, look forward to it!

Check out "Seigi no Mikata" on Bakeneko's Lair!

Bakeneko's Lair's debut project is out!  Go check out the raucous romantic comedy "Seigi no Mikata" on Bakeneko's Lair!

Follow Bakeneko's Lair on Twitter for links and information about the latest releases.  Link @Bakenekos_Lair

"Yukarism" is going on Hiatus until the End of October

Update:  I'll do a compromise.  We'll release chapter 8 in early September.

I just got "Yukarism" chapter 8 and it is not the last chapter.  Rather, the series is going on hiatus for three months after chapter 8 and will resume with chapter 9 on October 26th.  I did have the chance to quickly read through chapter 8 and it's packed with details about Mahoro's childhood, Mahoro's dreaming activities, and a revelation about the true nature of Yuumurasaki's and Shouma's relationship...heheheheh...(anyone wanna guess?).  In light of the hiatus and the fact that chapter 7 left us in a good place to rest, I'm gonna hold off of releasing chapter 8 until early October to prevent cliffhanger agony.

Ouran High School Host Club July 2011 Special Chapter

 

This is the first of two planned Ouran short stories appearing in Lala magazine to commemorate the OHSHC live action drama.  This one-shot centers around Mei and Kasanoda who were revealed to an item in the extras from Volume 18.  It's a cute one-shot. 

Update 7/25/2011:  Update to the translation of Mei's dialog on page 12.  It's different enough to warrant re-download for archiving purposes, but the change doesn't impact the story.

Links to the Ouran High School Host Club July 2011 Special Chapter:  (Zip) (PDF) -- Retired.

As for the preview of the next special chapter, it reads:  "Can anything be done to stop Haruhi and Tamaki's heart throbbing delusion...!?"  Ouran will also be on the cover of Lala 10.

Next up...hmm...I don't know yet...

Introducing Bakeneko's Lair -- The Darker Side of Omari's Sister

After much wheel spinning and gut churning, I decided we needed a spin-off blog and group for the series and one-shots from Comic Gene and some of the other series and one-shots we couldn't give consideration to because they went outside the PG-ish constraints of Omari's Sister.  The blog is called "Bakeneko's Lair".  Karent79 came up with this brilliant name :).  A "Bakeneko" is a mythological monster cat and I thought, what better than that to represent "the dark side of Omari's Sister".

By the end of the year I'm targeting a workload split of 2/3 Omari's Sister and 1/3 Bakeneko releases. Our first two series will be "Rex Fabula" and "Servamp".  We will run the Comic Gene trials of the other series through Bakeneko also.

Here's the link to Bakeneko's Lair (Link)
Also Bakeneko's Lair has it's own Twitter stream from which only links to releases and information about releases will be broadcast.  Please follow Bakeneko's Lair if you wish to receive this information (Link)

If you are an experienced translator or image editor and you would like volunteer exclusively for Bakeneko's Lair, contact me (Kuroneko003) using the Contact Link in the menu at the top of his blog.

New Ouran High School Host Club Special Chapters are Coming!! Kuro Lala!! and More!!

I just got Lala 9 today and there's an Ouran special chapter in it!  There I will postpone the last two releases scheduled this month to get that out ASAP.
The chapter will be continued into Lala 10!  Ouran will also be on the cover of Lala 10!  So we will be getting at least 2 special Ouran chapters!  Yay!

Kuro Lala!!

There also something call "Kuro Lala"  (Black Lala) coming out in September.  This is part of Lala magazine's 35th anniversary.  I will do my best to get my hands on this Special collection of material from the folks at Lala.  If it's like the Natsume Yuujinchou special magazine, then it will sell out immediately.  If you want a copy, please let me know, and I'll place an order for you when I buy my copy.

And finally, some goodies from Lala 9.  Here are some Lala 35th anniversary commemorative illustrations from our favorite artists!

Hana to Yume Announcements!

• It looks like there will be some special "Hana Kimi" chapters starting in issue 17.  I'm still trying to verify this.
• There are special "The Scarecrow of Oz" and "Furou Kyoudai" chapter in the latest issue!

"The Scarecrow of Oz" Chapter 3

I was planning to do a double release of chapters 3 and 4, but there was too much dialog and cuteness packed into this chapter that I got "Scarecrow of Oz" burn out.  Therefore, chapter 4 has been moved back to August and will be a low priority release, meaning that I'll finish it if I have time after all the other releases.

This chapter introduces the foulest witch of all, the Power Witch.  She's not nice but her beast familiar is adorable.  I also like the Power Witch's clothing.  It's very stylish.  There's not much to say about this chapter other than it's cute and the typesetting was a pain in the behind to do.  Halfway through, my mouse hand started to twitch on it own from exhaustion.  There were too many font styles used and lots of dialog outside of text bubbles...ugh... Now on to the links!

Links to the "The scarecrow of Oz" chapter 3:  (Zip) (PDF)

Next up is the "Ouran High School Host Club" special chapter from Lala 9 2011 followed by "Seigi no Mikata".

Elephant Wallpapers For Desktop

Elephant wallpaperWallpapers of ElephantsElephant Wallpaper For desktopFree Elephant wallpaper for desktopIndian Elephant wallpaper

Liselotte and Witch's Forest Chapter 1

 

This was an impromptu joint project between Weekend Betsuender and Omari's Sister.  Head on over to the Weekend Betsuender to read the release (Link).  Just a note, we at Omari's Sister have no intention of taking this series on as a project.  Like I said, this was an impromptu project and I committed only to cleaning the first chapter.

One-shot: "The Hands the Demon Adored"

We were planning this one-shot to kick off our fall spooky tales, but I suppose this isn't all that spooky even though the main male character is a demon.  In hindsight, this is more of a late winter/early spring kinda one-shot given the theme of rebirth.  Anyhow...we're doing it now...so yay!

Oh, in case you were wondering, the title's direct translation is "Affectionate Hands for a Demon".  I thought that was kind of wonky sounding, so I went with something more direct that expressed an adjacent idea.　I offer my humble apology to translation purists.

I think (perhaps someone can confirm this) that Takagi-sensei is just coming off a break.  I was very surprised to see a work from her in Aria because her series and one-shots have always been in Lala and Lala DX.  It would be nice if she switched publishers and will now appear in Aria and Itan.  I think both of these publications would allow her to have more flexibility and maturity in her story telling.

Anyhow...on to the links:

Links to "The Hands the Demon Adored":  (Zip) (PDF -- for mobile and tablets)

Next up!
Next up is "The Scarecrow of Oz" chapter 3.  I was going to do a double release of chapter 3 and 4, but it was cute overload and my brain couldn't handle it.  Instead, I put the big summer one-shot, "Seigi no Mikata" ("Ally of Justice") back into this month.

"The Ghost Apartment Manager" Chapter 6

 

This chapter closes out Kyariko's story arc.  I like they way this student teacher relationship is closed our, even though it's bitter sweet.  For those folks who were bugged by Kyariko, she'll only appear now in the flashback.  I'm currently mulling over chapter 7.  Volume 2 of this series isn't scheduled to be released until mid-September.  The image quality of chapter 7 and chapter 8 from my copies of Princess magazine is dramatically lower than the other chapters from the books and the previous magazines.  However chapters 9 - 11 have high quality.  Should we wait for the tankoubon and put out chapter 7 in October or should we keep going and use what we've got?

Links to "The Ghost Apartment Manager" Chapter 6:  (PDF)

Next up is the surprise one-shot:  "Akuma ni Itsukushimi no Te wo" ("The Hands the Demon Adored").  After that is a double release of "The Scarecrow of Oz" chapters 3 and 4.

I will put my thoughts on the chapter in the comments section later.

Sharing Real Life: Ichi's Watercolor Paintings

I thought I'd share these with the community because it's nice to see what members of the group do outside of manga.  Here's are some lovely watercolor paintings that our amazing redraw artist Ichi did in her class.

 

Nice work Ichi!  And thanks for letting me share your artwork with the community :)

Animals Hunting Photos and Pictures

"Lily" Chapter 2 and "Magnolia" Chapter 12 Double Release

Because "Magnolia" chapter 12 is so short, I decided to release it along with Lily chapter 2.  This chapter of "Magnolia" appears to be the end of the "prologue", which hopefully means we can get into the meat of the story with the next chapter (though, it's not like things haven't been meaty enough).  "Lily" chapter 2 is a recap of "Magnolia" chapters 5 through chapter 9.  I guess that means volume 2 spans chapters 5 - 9.   Anyhow...here are the links:

Link to "Lily" Chapter 2: (PDF)
Link to "Magnolia" Chapter 12: (PDF)

My thoughts on the chapter will be posted in the comments section so help those of you with wander eyes not to see spoilers.

Next up is "The Ghost Apartment Manager" chapter 6.

Summer and Fall Banners! Make Some, Please!

My banner has been highjacked by birdies AGAIN!  Yikes!  I've almost exhausted all of the excellent banners you guys made for Spring. Now it's time for some new banners and I'm turning to the community again for your creativity :). Please make us some wonderful banners for Summer and Fall. Remember that Fall will feature spooky short series and one-shots, so some spooky banners would be nice. The dimensions are 1050 pixels wide by 200 pixels high. Leave a 470 x 50 pixel area in the lower left for the menu bar. If you can, please send the image as a PSD so I can alter them if I need to. If you can't send a PSD, they you can send a JPEG or a PNG. You can send them to me via e-mail through the contact link in the main menu, or you can link to the image file via a comment to this post. If you need a piece of material to make your banner from me, just ask :). I look forward to seeing what you all come up with :).

Lion Hunting : Lion Hunting Photos 5

Lion HuntingLion Hunting PhotoLion Hunting PicsLion Hunting PhotosLion Hunting Buffalo PhotoHunting Lion Photo Pics

"Yukarism" Chapter 7 -- This Chapter Has it All!

Hahaha!  In a way those stars in the background look perfect for a 4th of July release.  It's a nice coincidence :).

Chapter 7...this is a very nice chapter indeed.  I don't want to say much about it, because I would hate to spoil it.  Onto the link!  I couldn't bear putting out this chapter with horrible watermarks all over it, so instead I decided to only release a PDF version. It will look great on mobiles and tablets.  For PC users, I recommend viewing at 70 - 75% magnification to get rid of the artifacts.
Note: This PDF cannot be viewed in your browser.  You will have to save the PDF to your hard drive before you can open it.

Link to Yukarism chapter 7:  (PDF)

Spoiler Alert!  Spoilers Ahead!  Read this after you read the chapter!

My Thoughts about the Chapter:
I'm totally 2-D crushing on Takamura Shizuka.  He is an adorable grizzle bear!  I wonder if at the time when Yukari's soul leaves Yuumurasaki does Takamura have a realization.  Both he and Kazuma keep telling Yuumurasaki to take care of her body.  I wonder does she get sick and one of them kills her rather than see her suffer.  That would be so sad T_T.

I'm continue to love the whole Mahoro/Takamura vs. Satomi/Kazuma hate fest.  I seriously wanna play that video game.  Oh!  And Yukari and Mahoro make such a wonderful couple :).  They are so handsome together.

Anyhow, it looks like chapter 8 will cover things from Kazuma's perspective.  I expect the next chapter to be violent and sad.  I also hope the chapter closes out the story.  It would be nice for this series to end strong rather than to drag on until we all get tired of it.

Next up!
Next up is a double release of Lily chapter 2 and Magnolia chapter 12!

July 2011 at Omari's Sister

Whee!  It's summer! BBQ!!!
Okayz~ Onto the meats of July!  Here's what we have on the grill:

• Yukarism Chp 7 -- Another great chapter!  A great range of emotion from "Yeeks" to "Daww"~
•  Magnolia Chp 12 + Lily Chp 2 -- Magnolia is extra short, so we'll combine the releases. Magnolia teases the dangerous twins scenario and ends with a Nagi embrace :3.
• The Ghost Apartment Manager Chp 6 -- The end of Kyariko's arc.
• The Scarecrow of Oz Chp 3 and 4 -- So cute! Plus an evil witch!
• Fushigi no Maria-kun Chp 1 -- Heheheh! A hyper high school and her awesome vampire childhood friend.  Good stuff from Shiina Dai, the mangaka of "World End Garden".
• Ojou-sama no Untenshu Chp 1 -- Haughty Ojou and her handsome driver ;p
• The Big Summer One-shot:  "Seigi no Mikata -- a super hero story for the summer for those of you unimpressed with the summer blockbusters -- mainly me...so...sad...no popcorn for me so far :(
• One-shot: ”Billy-Bouchan" by Yumi Kiiro (Joint with The Zero Alliance) -- this is another one-shot that's along the lines of "The Honeybee Earl"

Please check the release schedule for the latest on where we are at with the releases :)

Other Stuff:

I'm still thrashing around.  I thought I had settled on our content for the next 6 months and then along comes this tasty mound of candy called "Comic Gene".  Comic Gene is a new shounen magazine for females.  It's an interesting concept so I decided to give it a look see and I was dazzled.  There are 6 series that we are currently looking at and we are now working on trials of the series.  The hope is that we can start a couple of new series this Fall.  This time, though, instead of jumping on the new series at chapter 1, we're going vet the series for 2 to 3 chapters before we make the decision to go forward with a trial.  So far all the series we're looking at start strong, but I can't tell where the series are going, so we need to see the next chapter or 2 to make sure we don't have the same issue we had with some of the series from Aria.  Check the release schedule for details on the series we're looking at and our progress on the trials.  We hope to have the first releases from Comic Gene ready by the end of July.