Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 5, Q4 schedule

The only way to win is not to play...

Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 5 (MF)
Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 5 (MU)
Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 5 (IF)

Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 5 PSD source (MF)
Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 5 PSD source (MU)
Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 5 PSD source (IF)

Due to recent changes in circumstances, the chart for October and November have been updated. Charts will also be put in the "Schedule" page.

	October 2010			November 2010
Slot 1	Pokemon Special vol 33 (ch 370 - ch 374)  (100 pages / 1 week = 100 pages / week)	Pokemon Special vol 36  (200 pages / 2 weeks = 100 pages / week)	Cyber Blue vol 4 [END]  (180 pages / 5 weeks = 36 pages / week)
Slot 2			Route 225 vol 1 [END]  (200 pages / 3 weeks = 66.66 pages / week)		Noririn (overdue chapters, depends on raw availability)  (100 pages / 2 weeks = 50 pages / week)
Slot 3	Kindaichi vol 38 (Legendary Vampire Murders)  (150 pages left / 10 weeks = 15 pages / week)
Slot 4	Ryoshka Ryoshka (overdue chapters)  (12 pages / week)
Running Series	Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan  (36 pages / month = 9 pages / week)
Total Average Workload	136 pages / week	136 pages / week	138.66 pages / week		122 pages / week

I said two posts ago that I was "going to declare war". The fact of the matter is that 3 of the top 5 recommendations I was considering were picked up this same week, including the top one, so I was still figuring out what to do. I already ordered 2 volumes of the top recommendation, so my initial thought was to go head-to-head with the other group. However, I barely have the capacity to support one of my favorite series since my childhood, Kindaichi, so my superego prevailed in the end. Thus, this isn't the time to fight; it's time to catch up.

Back to the "empty slot", it's looking more likely that I won't pick anything up until I finish or catch up with some of the current series, which is December. By all means, keep the suggestions coming, but I won't be able to fulfill them soon.

Speaking of catching up, one series that has been bothering me is Noririn. Its magazine, Evening, hasn't been uploaded to Share for 2 weeks now, and the next issue should be out already. For this reason, I'm pushing it back a little, since catching up is less important than fulfilling a request I had picked up 6 months ago, Route 225. I'll eventually get around to putting up a banner and project info...

Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan ch 1

Time for a little break from Pokemon Special. It won't be too long, I promise.

This was a surprise to me as well. This little-known LN series has been on my radar for quite a while now, but as a mere manga scanlator, I just don't have the firepower to translate light novels, especially 10 of them. Well, somehow, it just got adapted to a manga without me noticing. The next thing you're going to tell me is that there's a live action movie coming out in a few months! ...Wait. Damn, I'm really behind on this.

Anyways, this light novel series (Usotsuki Mii-kun to Kowareta Maa-chan) is about Mii-kun and Maa-chan, who were kidnapped as children. As a result, Maa-chan is broken, childlike, and yandere for Mii-kun. Just how much on a scale of 1 to Yuno? Listen to the image album for yourself:



The twist to this is that the narrator, Mii-kun, lies frequently, both to other characters and the readers. As a result, the story itself gets distorted.

That's enough spoilers for now, though I haven't gotten very far in the LN either. This blog post has a more detailed summary.

Anyways, the downside of this fine manga adaptation is that it's serialized in the accursed Young Ace. As my request to the Chinese scanlator (whose work I based this release off of) for the Japanese raw is yet to be answered, the translation may be a bit worse than usual. The raw is remarkably good, that's true.

Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan ch 1 (MF)
Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan ch 1 (MU)
Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan ch 1 (IF)

Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan ch 1 PSD source (MF)
Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan ch 1 PSD source (MU)
Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan ch 1 PSD source (IF)

Like I stated before, I would be willing to pay a small fee (about $10, negotiable) for anyone who can provide me running raws for this series. It seems that all of the series I want are on that damn magazine...

Edit: Oh, and this isn't the new series that's going to take up the empty slot. Since I've actually caught up by translating one of one chapter out right now, this will only take 30 pages a month, which is quite inexpensive. Keep the suggestions coming!

Speaking of Young Ace, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is hereby dropped, because the anime is about to air in 12 hours or so. I've seen a few cam shots on /a/, but nothing resembling a complete raw. Whatever, just watch the anime. If it's any consolation, here are 3 new trailers:

Pokemon Special ch 369

Time to accelerate the pace. As for why, you (might) see the main reason in about a week. Let's just say that I'm getting ready to declare war...

I like how Kusaka includes this absolutely useless detail, the TV shows that the people of Sinnoh (or any other region) are watching when you barge into their homes. It almost makes me want to go back and replay all of the games (or look into the ROMs) to see what kind of shows they watched...

Also, note how Dia says "robot anime." THIS IS CORRECT, PEOPLE, NOT EVERY ANIME THAT INCLUDES ROBOTS ARE IN THE MECHA GENRE.

Pokemon Special ch 369 2400p (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 369 2400p (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 369 2400p (IF)

Pokemon Special ch 369 1200p (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 369 1200p (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 369 1200p (IF)

Pokemon Special ch 369 PSD source (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 369 PSD source (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 369 PSD source (IF)

Furthermore, here are more screenshots of the BW arc from the 2ch Pokemon Special thread that's alive at the time of this writing (see post 33)





I'm somewhat sure that it says that serialization of this series is starting in Corocoro Ichiban! on November 25th on the top right corner of the 2nd picture, so all of the screenshots so far might be a particularly long preview.

Pokemon Special ch 368

A few days after I speculated about the BW arc, it actually started. Maybe I should start talking more about a hypothetical Pokemon Special anime...

(image found on Serebii and MangaFox)

That also probably means that Platinum and HGSS are fairly short, which, IMO, is a good thing, because we all know what happened the LAST time we had two consecutive side arcs.

Meanwhile, the sleep-deprived (look at those rings around his eyes!) Cyrus appears again to kick some ass.

Pokemon Special ch 368 2400p (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 368 2400p (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 368 2400p (IF)

Pokemon Special ch 368 1200p (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 368 1200p (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 368 1200p (IF)

Pokemon Special ch 368 PSD source (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 368 PSD source (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 368 PSD source (IF)

Error: Page 67: "It's a wall painting that you must see for yourselves / But it's such a small cave that not even small children can get in" -> "It's a wall painting that no one may set their eyes on / But even then, it's such a small cave that not even small children can get in"

Pokemon Special ch 367, Kaibutsu Oujo ch 62 raw, Mudazumo vol 5 delay

Well, it took every server 4chan has to go down to get me to stop procrastinating. Pearl would be disappointed

Pokemon Special ch 367 2400p (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 367 2400p (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 367 2400p (IF)

Pokemon Special ch 367 1200p (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 367 1200p (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 367 1200p (IF)

Pokemon Special ch 367 PSD source (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 367 PSD source (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 367 PSD source (IF)

Interestingly, so far, about 2/3rds of readers are downloading 2400p versions, which either means I'm doing a good job or I should start selling snake oil


Back to Kaibutsu Oujo (though we're not scanlating the magazine scans), the adventures of Detective Phoenix Lilium and gang continue on

Kaibutsu Oujo ch 62 raw (MF only)

Lastly, regarding Mudazumo volume 5, Amazon has changed the date to November, which is a shame. However, if I can finally figure out the mail address of my new dwelling, Route 225, Pokemon Special 36, Ryoshka Ryoshka 1, and a possible candidate will be arriving soon, so my workload isn't getting smaller anytime soon.

Pokemon Special ch 366

Kazo's BW translation patch is coming along nicely, due to the coalition of about 25 other translators (of varying abilities). While playing Black version (which is superior to White on all counts), though, I wonder what kind of story it will have. The game itself has the best story in the main Pokemon games so far, even bringing back Cynthia. N seems to be a wildly popular antagonist, so I can't wait to see what Kusaka does with him. However, it probably won't be for another year or two until the Pokemon Special BW volumes start, so we'll just have to make do with the DP, HGSS and Platinum arcs.

Pokemon Special ch 366 2400p (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 366 2400p (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 366 2400p (IF)

Pokemon Special ch 366 1200p (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 366 1200p (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 366 1200p (IF)

Pokemon Special ch 366 PSD source (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 366 PSD source (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 366 PSD source (IF)

Pokemon Special ch 365 ver 2

Hmm, I just realized what a problem I have. I have to provide the 2400p version, the 1200p downscaled version and the 2 100MB source archives, since one won't fit on MF. On top of that, I need to provide 2 mirrors on Megaupload and iFile. That adds up to 12 links every blog entry. The list of links will be longer than the body of these short blog posts.

However, I'm proud to release my first 2400p release. It's probably very excessive, but why not? I release a 1200p version anyways.

Furthermore, this is actually the third version of this chapter (despite what the filename says). I hope you all can see how much I've improved over these months. Nevertheless, I can't do it without your help. While copying stuff over from volume 35, I realized that I completely overlooked a hilarious mistake in the table of contents: the chapters are incorrectly numbered, like chapter 186 instead of 386. Please, feel free to point out any errors. Being a one-person team, I can't proofread very well, since I'm doing the translating and editing too.

Without further ado:

Pokemon Special ch 365 2400p (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 365 2400p (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 365 2400p (IF)

Pokemon Special ch 365 1200p (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 365 1200p (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 365 1200p (IF)

The source archive format is 7z, and each archive are seperate from each other, so you can open part 1 without part 2 and vice versa.

Pokemon Special ch 365 PSD source part 1 (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 365 PSD source part 2 (MF)
Pokemon Special ch 365 PSD source part 1 (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 365 PSD source part 2 (MU)
Pokemon Special ch 365 PSD source part 1 (IF)
Pokemon Special ch 365 PSD source part 2 (IF)

Edit: Oh, and I forgot to say that the release time will probably take a while, since I'm still getting used to my new schedule this quarter. I'm also contributing a little to the Kazowar's Pokemon B&W translation patch, so look forward to that as well

Errors: lol, I figured that it would be in the last 5 pages, since they're proofread only once

Page 21: Crasher Wake: "New rule!! This battle can use all of the waterways in this gym!!"

Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 4

And thus, existentialism is born...

Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 4 (MF)
Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 4 (MU)
Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 4 (IF)

Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 4 PSD source (MF)
Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 4 PSD source (MU)
Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 4 PSD source (IF)

Kindaichi Case Files: The Legendary Vampire Murders ch 2

Ah, my new high score for the slowest day/chapter, this time at whopping 24 days (the previous score was 20 days between Cyber Blue 11 and 12). I'm very sorry for making you guys wait. I'm doing an uncharacteristic thing by sacrificing quantity for quality, because in this series, every single panel could be a clue, even a single sound effect. Therefore, all sound effects are translated. It doesn't help either that these scans are a bunch of unrotated messes with tons of artifacts.

Anyways, shit is finally getting real on this chapter. It goes without saying that none of murders in this series are actually supernatural beings. Keep your eyes open for any clues that will lead you to the real (human) culprit!

Kindaichi Case Files: The Legendary Vampire Murders ch 2 (MF)
Kindaichi Case Files: The Legendary Vampire Murders ch 2 (MU)
Kindaichi Case Files: The Legendary Vampire Murders ch 2 (IF)

Kindaichi Case Files: The Legendary Vampire Murders ch 2 PSD source (MF)
Kindaichi Case Files: The Legendary Vampire Murders ch 2 PSD source (MU)
Kindaichi Case Files: The Legendary Vampire Murders ch 2 PSD source (IF)

Cyber Blue ch 23, vol 3 batch

Well, now, the stage for the final battles is set. Fasten your seatbelts, and get ready for the ri-wait, what's this?

	September	October		November		December
Slot 1	Pokemon Special 33	Pokemon Special 36	Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku 5	Cyber Blue 4 [END]		???
Slot 2				Noririn v 2 (ch 8 - 15/16)	Route 225 vol 1 [END]	Kaibutsu Oujo v 13
Slot 3	Kindaichi v 38 (Legendary Vampire Murders)					Kindaichi v 39? (Third Opera House Murders)
Slot 4	Ryoshka Ryoshka (overdue chapters)

Well, fuck. I didn't anticipate that Mudazumo volume 5 would come out two months earlier than expected. Anyways, I hope that one month is all that it takes to finish that and Pokemon Special volume 33 and 36.

On the bright side, two very good series have been recommended to me, so that missing slot might be filled after all. By no means am I closing my inbox, however, so keep them coming!

Cyber Blue ch 23 (MF)
Cyber Blue ch 23 (MU)
Cyber Blue ch 23 (IF)

Cyber Blue ch 23 PSD source (MF)
Cyber Blue ch 23 PSD source (MU)
Cyber Blue ch 23 PSD source (IF)

Only a few typo fixes for the batch volume

Cyber Blue vol 3 (MF)
Cyber Blue vol 3 (MU)
Cyber Blue vol 3 (IF)

Cyber Blue vol 3 PSD source (MF)
Cyber Blue vol 3 PSD source (MU)
Cyber Blue vol 3 PSD source (IF)

Mudazumo 5 out in October

Awwwww yes. My body, as they say, is ready

Cyber Blue: the Lost Children

So...the rumors were true after all. In a coincidence of coincidences, Yoshitoshi Motoki is going to be drawing a remake (not a sequel or spin-off) of Cyber Blue titled "Cyber Blue: the Lost Children"(Cyber Blue: Ushinawareta Kodomotachi). Here's just how bizarre this whole situation is:

1. A random blogger (dxInt) watched my subs of the Mudazumo OVA, which weren't even subbed by more proper subbers until recently
   
2. He contacted me, a noob scanlator, about a 22-year old manga series, among 3 others.
   
3. At that time, my Japanese skills weren't as good as it is now, so I had to rely on Chinese scans as a training wheel. It just so happens that Cyber Blue is one of the only 2 series that had Chinese scans, the other being Himizu.
4. However, I have only ever found Chinese scans on one site and one site only. If that site wasn't there, I would never have picked this up.
   
5. Then, I started translating it in April
6. Due to various circumstances, the projected finish date of Cyber Blue vol 4 is the end of October
   
7. The first issue of the BRAND NEW magazine Comic Zenon, containing the remake of Cyber Blue will be out on October 25th.

I now believe in predestination. Ok, so the million dollar question now is: should I pick up this manga, and how so?

Given that Comic Zenon is a monthly, manpower isn't a problem. However, since Comic Zenon is a completely new magazine, the availability of raws is a wild card. Its predecessor, the weekly Comic Bunch wasn't scanned. I'll definitely import the first issue in November as a free preview, but importing it every month costs too much for myself. So, we have several options:

1. Don't pick up this series: It sucks; it's a waste of my money
2. Import issues every month, I'll help by donating: If that's the most popular choice, then I'll match your donations 50-50. I have never imported magazine issues before, mainly because bk1 doesn't have manga magazines. Amazon has a $30 base shipping fee, but I'll look for other cheaper online stores.
   On a side note, if you're from another scanlator group, and want to try other series in Comic Zenon too, we can work out an arrangement. Just send me a mail.
   
3. Import issues every month...I won't donate, but do it anyways: Well, thanks for the honesty. I'd rather be told this than being left dry without donations.
   
4. Wait for scans or volumes: Japanese scanners might pick up Comic Zenon, so wait for those scans. If that fails, wait for the batch volumes to come out.

You don't have to vote now; in fact, you can wait till I release the first chapter in November to make your decision. This is just something I have to start considering now. Comments and suggestions are welcome as always.

Noririn ch 8, vol 1 batch

Things are finally starting to get interesting. However, the first volume ends here, so I'll have to pause for a few months. If it's any consolation, only 4 more chapters have been released so far, and you can download the raws from the MF folder anytime.

Noririn ch 8 (MF)
Noririn ch 8 (MU)
Noririn ch 8 (IF)

Noririn ch 8 PSD source (MF)
Noririn ch 8 PSD source (MU)
Noririn ch 8 PSD source (IF)

The batch volumes has a few typo fixes and translation redoes.

The format of the batch PSD source archive are changed to 7z because I found that it's even better than RAR for archives like these. However, it doesn't make much more of a difference for smaller source archives, so those are kept as the more commonly used RAR.

Noririn vol 1 (MF)
Noririn vol 1 (MU)
Noririn vol 1 (IF)

Noririn vol 1 PSD source (MF)
Noririn vol 1 PSD source (MU)
Noririn vol 1 PSD source (IF)

Cyber Blue ch 22

Well, I'm almost done with Recettear (at least, the first playthrough), and half-way through with Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. Speaking of Layton, anyone following it would probably already know this, but if you don't, the UK DVD and Blu-rays are out on October 18th. We won't be releasing a dual audio version, because we don't know shit about encoding anyways. Since it's released in the English world, I'm sure at least a normal scene group will pick it up.

Back to Cyber Blue, the writing continues to disappoint, but at least the rest of the series is all action. Less talk, more fighting.

Cyber Blue ch 22 (MF)
Cyber Blue ch 22 (MU)
Cyber Blue ch 22 (IF)

Cyber Blue ch 22 PSD source (MF)
Cyber Blue ch 22 PSD source (MU)
Cyber Blue ch 22 PSD source (IF)

Noririn ch 7

Ah, the art of bicycling on the roads. As a casual cyclist, I always seems to fail at this. Stupid left turns...

On an unrelated note, several changes regarding file hosting will be implemented. As much as I like Mediafire, it isn't the most reliable file host around. Some of you may have realized that too when ALL of MF went down a few days ago. New downloads will now also be available at Megaupload and IFile.it. I hope to eventually get around to moving all ~10GB of old downloads...while I'm still alive.

Furthermore, as School Rumble Fantrad, who is going to retranslate Ryoshka Ryoshka to French, pointed out, RAR compression really cuts down on the size of the PSD source archives. For example, the ZIP of the PSD source for this chapter was 28 MB whereas the RAR is 14 MB. Henceforth, all releases will be uploaded in RAR archives. The effect is smaller for the neuquant-compressed png release, but I assume that everyone can decompress RAR. If not, tell me and I'll offer ZIP releases alongside the RARs.

Noririn ch 7 (MF)
Noririn ch 7 (MU)
Noririn ch 7 (IF)

Noririn ch 7 PSD source (MF)
Noririn ch 7 PSD source (MU)
Noririn ch 7 PSD source (IF)

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt ch 1

As a result of some fortuitous timing, a gracious reader by the name of Chelsea has provided me with raws to the first chapter of PSG from last month's Young Ace. It could be better, but it's better than no raw at all.

Anyways, this series WILL be dropped next month when the anime starts airing, because the point of all of this is just to provide a preview into the anime anyways. I'll still translate any PSG or Star Driver (which is in Young GanGan, a weekly) chapters from this month, if any of you offer me the raws.

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt ch 1
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt ch 1 PSD source
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt ch 1 raw

Back to Noririn, it's being delayed to hell and back because of a certain capitalist loli shopkeeping game. Recettear will be released on the 10th, Layton 3 will drop on the 12th, and I'll be moving about 300-400 miles on the 19th, so productivity will definitely take a hit.

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt - Newtype September 2010

Acquiring this month's Newtype scans was a comedy of errors. First, SRW Hotnews, who usually provides the NT scans (though I don't know if they mirror it) didn't post the full Newtype raws. Then, some Russian or Chinese scanners scanned the first 73 pages...not including this one. Lastly, someone from the Newtype Baidu board asked his friend, who's visiting Area 11, but the friend ended bring back "Nyantype", the sub-magazine for Newtype. FML

At last, apparently hudie.com scanned it, though I've yet to find the full raws. Someone on /a/ got this, at least.

Edit (September 8th, 2010 - 10AM PST): Kadokawa made the Panty & Stocking PV public


Edit 2: At 0:40
Dammit Gainax

Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 3

Huh, I never realized how difficult it is to describe Christmas to someone who hasn't spent it before (or doesn't remember).

Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 3
Ryoshka Ryoshka ch 3 PSD source

Also, I received my copy of volume 1, because I want to compensate Mr. ABe for his efforts, after all. However, there are extra short(er) chapters in there between each main chapter. I want to scan them, but I can't bear to see my copy get melted down in this case, so you'll have to wait till October for them (and Pokemon Special 36).

Lastly, I want to give a shout-out to everyone who has responded to the call for a new series. I know it's heartbreaking that all of them haven't met the requirements yet, but, honestly, I go through that too when I'm searching on MangaUpdates. Here's a brief list of the most memorable ones I found but ended up rejecting myself:

• D no Maou - I actually bought a volume, but it was a spy drama mystery with neither spies nor mysteries
• Tetsujin Dakkan Sakusen - It's a remake of Tetsujin 28-Go by the artist of Kindaichi. At that point, I thought that it was going to be another Pluto, but it ended up...bland. Satou really just refreshed the art and not the story
• Bucchigiri CA - A manga about ex-yakuza cabin attendants by the author of Mudazumo. It's hilarious...but I only found Chinese scans.
• Teizokurei Monophobia - No ra-actually, that's not true now, some kind soul on Rawscans uploaded the raws to the first 2 volumes. But the chapters are freaking long at 50-60 pages each, and no one scans Young Ace anymore for some reason
  

Don't give up! Keep giving me those suggestions!

Cyber Blue ch 21

I was thinking about slacking off, but because I can no longer use "the DNF excuse" ("well, at least it'll be released before Duke Nukem Forever"), here's the chapter. Goddammit, Take-Two!

Cyber Blue ch 21

Cyber Blue ch 21 PSD source

Edit: I meant 21, lol

Noririn ch 6

Bah, I think I'm on the bargaining stage of grief now for this series. I don't even need genocides or suffering children now, I just want action. What kind of story needs a proper exposition, anyways?

Noririn ch 6

Noririn ch 6 PSD source