Insert Trumpets Here

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 11 script

Hmm, Kazumi was kind of an asshole before she lost her memories. I mean, I know she did that to make them aware that they don't really want to die, but it seems to be the most painful way as well.

Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 11 raw (IF)
Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 11 raw (MF)

Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 11 script (MF)
Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 11 script (PasteBin)

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 26a

In case you haven't heard the good news, ABe got married to his assistant a few weeks ago.

Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 26a (IF)
Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 26a (MU)
Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 26a (MF)

Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 26a PSD source (IF)
Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 26a PSD source (MU)
Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 26a PSD source (MF)

Someone Should Fucking Pick This Up, But That Someone Isn't Me, Part 1: Getenrou

So I was thinking about how decide what manga to pick up, and came to the conclusion that it's mostly random. I mean, I do like the series I scanlate, but when it comes between two equally matched series, the deciding factor can be quite strange. For example, back in February, I was thinking about picking up Aku no Hana (before the good part ended around chapter 17 or so), but someone else picked it up, so I decided that it was probably time for me to catch up on Nanika. Then, back in May, I was deciding between Arpeggio of Blue Steel and Kiba no Tabishounin. Arpeggio eventually won out due to its lower editing cost and slower publishing speed. I eventually recommended it to some guys on /a/, who I believe were the guys who picked it up.

The point is, sometimes I pick up or don't pick up stuff due to reasons completely irrelevant to the quality of the manga itself. I kinda feel bad for them, so I want to lay them to rest or give them a new life elsewhere with a new blog series: "Someone Should Fucking Pick This Up, But That Someone Isn't Me." We start with a manga that's so unknown to the English community that its MU entry doesn't even link to the author.

Part 1: Getenrou

WTF Is This: It's a one-volume mystery manga by the author of Soredemo Machi ga Mawatteiru. It starts off with episodic mysteries that don't seem connected at all, but it weaves all of together in impressively coherent manner in the end. The mysteries themselves are pretty clever for their length.

Though not apparent in some of the earlier mysteries, the overarching story is about androids. In fact, it's very similar to the UN-GO arc about RAIs. The cast of the story is colorful and quite likable. After watching Soredemo and reading this, I think this is one of the author's strong points.

Why I Didn't Pick It Up: The ending. There's nothing objectively bad about it, but it did something that I personally deem unacceptable: killing off my favorite character. Of course, this is completely subjective.

Why You Should Pick This Up: It's a fairly solid volume that kept me reading; not a single chapter was dull. If you like good mystery, you'll like this.

Also, it has quite possibly the best Amazon reviews ever.

Where You Can Get Raws: Just Google. I can scan if you want better quality.

Comic Hoshi Shin'ichi ch 15 (Execution)

I heard that this was one of the top-rated stories, and I can see why. My favorites are still "The Gate to Space" and "Fate" (later in the volume), though.

Comic Hoshi Shin'ichi ch 15 (Execution) 2400p (IF)
Comic Hoshi Shin'ichi ch 15 (Execution) 2400p (MU)
Comic Hoshi Shin'ichi ch 15 (Execution) 2400p (MF)

Comic Hoshi Shin'ichi ch 15 (Execution) 1200p (IF)
Comic Hoshi Shin'ichi ch 15 (Execution) 1200p (MU)
Comic Hoshi Shin'ichi ch 15 (Execution) 1200p (MF)

Comic Hoshi Shin'ichi ch 15 (Execution) PSD source (IF)
Comic Hoshi Shin'ichi ch 15 (Execution) PSD source (MU)
Comic Hoshi Shin'ichi ch 15 (Execution) PSD source (MF)

Monday, November 21, 2011

Online Manga Downloader 0.1.5


Changes:
  • Removed a line of code that made the downloader quit after it successfully finished downloading a chapter. I put it there for debugging, and forgot to take it out. Oops.

  • Added support for NicoNico EBooks with DRM. AFAIK, it's for stuff that are linked with BookWalker. Note that in order to download chapter that are linked with BookWalker, you need to make a BookWalker account and link it with your NicoNico account. Just login and read that chapter, and NicoNico will show you how to do it.

  • Added support for Yahoo Bookstore. It uses an offline reader instead of a flash viewer like PCViewer/DOR. Fortunately for me, the reader was written in C#, making it possible for me to decompile and read the code. Unfortunately, I haven't bought anything from this, so I haven't implemented downloading stuff the user has already bought.

  • Added automatic detection. It just tries all of the handlers, and asks for necessary information for Shogakukan and the Nico handlers if it comes to them.

  • Saves your last download directory in preferences now.

  • General code cleaning. I fixed some possible race conditions, though I never detected any before I implemented the auto-detect.
Online Manga Downloader 0.1.5 (MF)
Online Manga Downloader 0.1 branch

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Arpeggio of Blue Steel drama CD: retraction

I just got the instructions for the Special "Giveaway." It turns out that you need to use a Japan Post service (in conjunction with a Japan Post Bank account) only available in physical Japan Post offices, so it's impossible to do internationally. Sorry for those who have already sent theirs in.

The drama CD and the booklet comes out in late March 2012. I'm sure that at least the drama CD will get uploaded, but if you want physical copies, people will probably sell them on Yahoo Auctions. Hoshi no Samidare's giveaways are still being sold on Yahoo Auctions after 2 years, so I'm sure that this one will as well.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Monday, November 14, 2011

Random Statistics

So this downtime is starting to bore me, because it's actually making me productive. I decided to run a Photoshop script to collect some stats. Namely, the total character count of all of the bubbles of each volume. The character count of redo volumes counts all of the pages of the volumes. Also, I didn't collect statistics on volumes for which I don't have sources (lost Cyber Blue 1 and 2 and Hanako 3's sources) and volumes that I didn't or haven't scanlate from cover to cover.

A few things to note:
  • Pokemon Special has surprisingly high character count. I expected it to have around 40K/volume.
  • Kindaichi's character count is 2.5 times the average. That's why I'm hesitant to pick up another volume.
  • However, even Kindaichi's character count doesn't come close to the character count of light novel translations. For example, Tora Dora volume 1's character count is around 276,000, and that's fairly low compared to the others, such as Kizumotogatari's 500,000 characters.
Any other statistic I should collect? Line and word count will probably tell the same story, so I'll refrain from doing that.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Young Ace 2011-12 raws

Hmm, Teizokurei MONOPHOBIA ended, and Sugar Dark, Another and Mouhitsu are ending as well. I don't know how I should feel about this.
  1. Page 36 - Drug & Drop
  2. Page 57 - Blood Lad
  3. Page 91 - JA
  4. Page 125 - Inari, Kon kon, Koi iroha
  5. Page 147 - NGE
  6. Page 167 - BRS
  7. Page 219 - ISUCA
  8. Page 237 - Daisuki desu!! Mahou Tenshi Comos
  9. Page 281 - 7o3x
  10. Page 299 - Miharo Replace
  11. Page 355 - Hokkenshitsu
  12. Page 365 - Fate/Zero
  13. Page 397 - Another
  14. Page 431, 435, 443 - Nadia Oneshots
  15. Page 451 - Moe-han!
  16. Page 469 - Gunners
  17. Page 491 - Kamiigusa Animators
  18. Page 527 - Gunbuster
  19. Page 559 - Last Exile 2
  20. Page 607 - O/A
  21. Page 649 - Maka Maka
  22. Page 667 - Yuki Nagato-chan's Disappearance
  23. Page 691 - Mogitate Idol Ningen
  24. Page 711 - Sugar Dark
  25. Page 745 - Todenka Shounen Tanteidan
  26. Page 791 - Yagate Iwaeru Hi ga Aru Toshite [oneshot]
  27. Page 823 - Mouhitsu Hallucination
  28. Page 855 - Echo/Zeon
  29. Page 881 - Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
  30. Page 907 - Teizokurei MONOPHOBIA [end]
Part 1 = cover to page 467
Part 2 = page 468 to back cover

Young Ace 2011-12 raw 1600p part 1 (IF)
Young Ace 2011-12 raw 1600p part 1 (MU)
Young Ace 2011-12 raw 1600p part 1 (MF)

Young Ace 2011-12 raw 1600p part 2 (IF)
Young Ace 2011-12 raw 1600p part 2 (MU)
Young Ace 2011-12 raw 1600p part 2 (MF)

Kaibutsu Oujo ch 67 script

The first chapter of the long Duken arc.

Kaibutsu Oujo ch 67 script (MF)
Kaibutsu Oujo ch 67 script (PasteBin)

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Online Manga Downloader 0.1.4

Changes:
  • Added support for a third NicoNico viewer: NicoNico E-Books. At this rate, I'll probably have to add an auto-detection feature, though the prerequisites of NicoNico E-Books, NicoNico User-published, and Shogakukan might get in the way.
  • Renamed "Club Sunday" to "Shogakukan", since it's used on many Shogakukan sites and not just Club Sunday.
  • Changed most XML parsing from DOM to SAX.
  • Tries to use the native look and feel.
As usual, source is here. Any bug reports, comments and suggestions are welcome. The big migration from DOM to SAX may have produced some bugs that I've not caught.

Online Manga Downloader 0.1.4 (MF)

Monday, November 7, 2011

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Notification: Raw Problems

Several things have happened to raw acquisition for several series recently. To make a long story short:
  • Pokemon Special BW: Fujisan is raising the shipping price by about $6. I'll look into alternative methods like Amazon + forwarding service, but for the next few months, Sho4 will cost about $25.
  • Nanika Mochigatte masu ka: The Chinese group Beast Knights' scanner is facing financial difficulties, so the next chapter (to be released in one week) will be delayed.
  • Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Also due to the Beast Knights' problems, the chapter scan quality will go from some of the best magazine raws I've ever used to eye-cancer quality like my releases for chapter 25 and 26.
I'll try to solve these problems as soon as I can.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel ch 26

Looks like we're finally going into the next battle.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel ch 26 (IF)
Arpeggio of Blue Steel ch 26 (MU)
Arpeggio of Blue Steel ch 26 (MF)

Arpeggio of Blue Steel ch 26 PSD source (IF)
Arpeggio of Blue Steel ch 26 PSD source (MU)
Arpeggio of Blue Steel ch 26 PSD source (MF)

7o3x vol 2 (ch 5v2 - 9v2)

Well, this took longer than expected. I hope that the next volume takes a little bit longer to come out.

This volume contains some fixes and 65 new/redone pages. I decided to not translate the new 70-question quiz in the back, because it seemed irrelevant.

Update: release links are updated with missing page:

7o3x vol 2 2400p (IF)
7o3x vol 2 2400p (MU)
7o3x vol 2 2400p (MF)

7o3x vol 2 1200p (IF)
7o3x vol 2 1200p (MU)
7o3x vol 2 1200p (MF)

7o3x ch 5 redo PSD source + ch 6+7 redo PSD source + ch 8+9 redo PSD source (IF)
7o3x ch 5 redo PSD source + ch 6+7 redo PSD source + ch 8+9 redo PSD source (MU)
7o3x ch 5 redo PSD source + ch 6+7 redo PSD source + ch 8+9 redo PSD source (MF)
page 28 PSD source (MF)