March 2011

Update: Kazumi ch 2 arrived; it will take precedence over 7o3x. Also, PS 38 is about arrive and will face the wrath of my iron and/or hairdryer this weekend. Stay tuned.

The next month will look like this:

1. 7o3x ch 4
2. Kazumi ch 2 (depends on when the raw provider sends us the raw)
3. Noririn ch 17 (magazine raw)
4. Kindaichi Case Files vol 38 ch 4-8
   
5. 7o3x ch 5 (depends on when the issue arrives)
   
6. Pokemon Special vol 38
7. Jiya ch 1-3

That's not including Kaibutsu Oujo vol 14, which is coming out on March 9th, and any other joint projects.

The intention is to schedule Pokemon Special vol 38 during Spring Break so I can kill it quickly. The volume just shipped from bk1, so raws will be up in a week or so. However, Kindaichi Case File will preempt Pokemon Special in case I haven't finished it in 3 weeks or so.

In regards to the magazine subscription of Pokemon Special, just imagine this: you're in a Japanese underwater theme park built by a joint Japanese-German pharmaceutical company that has been cut off from the outside world and contaminated by a deadly disease. I am your holographic AI attendant/chief engineer. As long as the crushing reality of international shipping fees haven't destroyed us, I will work my hardest at keeping this going as long as possible. I'm still working things out with PM2K, so it might take a while for the next chapter to arrive.

Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 17

Your monthly dose of full-color Yotsuba, especially since the real Yotsuba's serialization is becoming rather irregular. Seriously, chapter 70 and 71 were 3 months apart.

Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 17 (IF)
Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 17 (MU)
Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 17 (4SH)

Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 17 PSD source (IF)
Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 17 PSD source (MU)
Ryuushika Ryuushika ch 17 PSD source (4SH)

Online Manga Downloader 0.0.5

Much overdue update:

• Fixes a bug with manual refreshing. I forgot to update the timestamp after it merges the data together.
• Completely revises the YAML export and import mechanism. Memory usage and code redundancy are greatly reduced.
• Adds two new sites:
  • Comic Gekkin
  • Famitsu Comic Clear (only the "se_*" series, not "co_*" or "yo_*")

The new data files are incompatible with the previous versions, so it's "manga_download_info_2.yml" now.

Anyways, other than the rest of Famitsu, it seems that the rest of online manga are a) way more difficult (CroquetTime plugin, Jump Square's special viewer) or b) insignificant. CroquetTime is an ActiveX plugin that's used more for non-free online magazines. Since it's binary, one would have to trace it through a disassembler or something. I can't do x86 assembly for my life, unfortunately.

Since this is written in Java, I'll probably try converting this to JNLP/Web Start so you don't have to redownload the program every time I update.

Online Manga Downloader 0.0.5 (4SH)

Route 225 ch 11, vol 1 batch [END]

I don't quite understand why people thought that the last part was confusing. In the end, Daigo and Eriko ended up in a different world than the one they had spent chapters 3-10 in. Nevertheless, this might mean that I didn't make the translation clear enough or something.

If it makes your brains hurt less, don't take the technicalities of the plot seriously. IMO, the whole parallel worlds thing is more of a metaphor than anything else.

Route 225 ch 11 2400p (IF)
Route 225 ch 11 2400p (MU)

Route 225 ch 11 1200p (IF)
Route 225 ch 11 1200p (MU)

Route 225 ch 11 PSD sources (IF)
Route 225 ch 11 PSD sources (MU)

The volume release contain a few fixes as usual. I'll make a v2 for chapters 1 and 6 when I get proper color scans.

Route 225 vol 1 2400p (IF)
Route 225 vol 1 2400p (MU)
Route 225 vol 1 2400p (4SH)

Route 225 vol 1 1200p (IF)
Route 225 vol 1 1200p (MU)
Route 225 vol 1 1200p (4SH)

Route 225 live action movie RAW

This was released back in 2006, so it took me from last May to last December to find the DVDISO on Share. It doesn't have a sub and I suck at timing, so you guys are going to have to watch it raw. Everything except the ending (and Daigo's casting choice) is the same as the manga. Just think of this as practice in moon-listening skills.

Route 225 live action movie RAW (IF)
Route 225 live action movie RAW (MU)

Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 [END] (ch 1-5 v2)

I finally got it out. It has enough quality fixes in all areas (raw, translation, typesetting) to make SHAFT jelly. That's not a particularly good thing; it just means that I was too sloppy the first time around.

Chapters 1 through 4 have been replaced fully by the tank raws. Chapters 1 and 3 had a ton of translation redoes, and the rest have some little fixes as well. Enjoy.

Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 2400p (IF)
Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 2400p (MU)
Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 2400p (4SH)

Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 1200p (IF)
Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 1200p (MU)
Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 1200p (4SH)

Changes to chapter 5 are fairly minor, so I won't reupload the source.

Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 PSD source part 1 (ch 1-2) (IF)
Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 PSD source part 1 (ch 1-2) (MU)

Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 PSD source part 2 (ch 3-4) (IF)
Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan vol 1 PSD source part 2 (ch 3-4) (MU)

Route 225 ch 10

And there's the ending. Looking at the movie, it seems that this part is original, or at least different from the movie. I'm not sure if it's different from the novel.

Route 225 ch 10 2400p (IF)
Route 225 ch 10 2400p (MU)
Route 225 ch 10 2400p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 10 1200p (IF)
Route 225 ch 10 1200p (MU)
Route 225 ch 10 1200p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 10 PSD sources (IF)
Route 225 ch 10 PSD sources (MU)

There's another 20-page epilogue after this.

Route 225 ch 9

This manga suddenly becomes Silent Hill 2. Eriko is seeing visions of her parents because she killed them.

Route 225 ch 9 2400p (IF)
Route 225 ch 9 2400p (MU)
Route 225 ch 9 2400p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 9 1200p (IF)
Route 225 ch 9 1200p (MU)
Route 225 ch 9 1200p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 9 PSD sources (IF)
Route 225 ch 9 PSD sources (MU)

Young Ace 2011-03 raws

There's a few crumpled pages this time, probably because I didn't adequately clean the residual glue off of the scanner from time to time.

Two series have ended (Haijin-sama, Flexline), and two are moving to Nano Ace (Upotte, Hoozuki). However, I'm not sure if Upotte and Hoozuki will move on this issue or the next.

Part 1 = cover to page 445
Part 2 = page 446 to back cover

1. Page 18 - Upotte!!
2. Page 31 - O/A
3. Page 67 - The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan
4. Page 85 - Daisuki desu!! Mahou Tenshi Kosumasu
5. Page 131 - Another
6. Page 165 - Blood Lad
7. Page 197 - Fate/Zero
8. Page 229 - Teizokurei MONOPHOBIA
9. Page 271 - 7o3x
10. Page 311 - Maka Maka
11. Page 327 - Manzai Gang
12. Page 363 - MPD Psycho
13. Page 389 - ISUCA
14. Page 415 - Hen Zemi (well, it's actually PSG)
15. Page 427 - Mogitate Idol Ningen
16. Page 447 - Gunbuster
17. Page 484 - Tony Takezaki's Evangelion
18. Page 497 - Sugar Dark
19. Page 527 - Zettai Shoujo Seiiki Amnesian
20. Page 563 - Hoozuki-chi no Aneki (I've been spelling it wrong the whole time)
    
21. Page 595 - Koaka Head
22. Page 619 - ECHO/ZEON
23. Page 643 - Haijin-sama no End Contents [END]
    
24. Page 661 - Inari, Kon Kon, Koiiro ha
25. Page 699 - Akuma no Ikenie
26. Page 729 - Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
27. Page 757 - Sentou Jousai Masurawo
28. Page 787 - Shururun Yukiko Hime-chan
29. Page 811 - Project Doll Phone (oneshot)
30. Page 825 - Saihate no Diasuta
31. Page 861 - Flexline [END]

Young Ace 2011-03 part 1 (IF)
Young Ace 2011-03 part 1 (MU)

Young Ace 2011-03 part 2 (IF)
Young Ace 2011-03 part 2 (MU)

Route 225 ch 8

The title, "Route 225", can be translated as either "Route 225" or "Root 225". The latter interpretation seems to suggest that this story is about Eriko's growth from 14 ("Root 196", the title of chapter 1) to 15 ("Root 225"). IMO, this one makes more sense, but the official translation is "Route 225", so I'll stick with it.

Route 225 ch 8 2400p (IF)
Route 225 ch 8 2400p (MU)
Route 225 ch 8 2400p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 8 1200p (IF)
Route 225 ch 8 1200p (MU)
Route 225 ch 8 1200p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 8 PSD sources (IF)
Route 225 ch 8 PSD sources (MU)

Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 1

I was thinking of using the official title "Puella Magi", but that's incorrect Latin. I'll just settle for "Magical Girl".

I was thinking about waiting a few chapters before making a choice, but with another group eying this as well, I think it's better for me to fire first and question later. Well, if they'd like to set up some alternating or joint agreement, I'd be happy to oblige.

Update: The joint agreement is in place. Future releases will be from Shini-tan with non-watermarked, non-filtered raws from ALMiGHt.

(Note: do not apply my limited wisdom with actual live firearms. Or Latin tests.)

As Shini-tan says, the best raw we have right now is a Perfect Dark raw from a western-style manga scanning group called ALMiGHt, who also scans Dreameater Merry and several other series from the same magazine (Manga Time Kirara Forward). The not-so-obnoxious watermarks don't bother me so much as the denoise filter and possible over-leveling, which is understandable for raws processed for reading. I'm still asking them for non-filtered raws.

Anyways, the main character actually transforms in this series, so it's way more normal. Everyone (?) including me just wrote this off as just a spin-off at first, but then episode 6 happened and shit got real. Things should be more interesting now that the mechanics of the Madoka world are more known.

Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 1 (IF)
Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 1 (MU)
Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 1 (4SH)

Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 1 PSD sources (IF)
Magical Girl Kazumi Magica ch 1 PSD sources (MU)

In regards to other stuff, YA 2011-03 will be scanned this weekend, after being delayed for a week. Both Lying Mii-kun and Route 225 will be finished in a week.

And no, I have no plans to pick up the Madoka manga, especially now that another group is doing it.

Route 225 ch 7

Silly kids, that's not how you drink tea.

Route 225 ch 7 2400p (IF)
Route 225 ch 7 2400p (MU)
Route 225 ch 7 2400p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 7 1200p (IF)
Route 225 ch 7 1200p (MU)
Route 225 ch 7 1200p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 7 PSD sources (IF)
Route 225 ch 7 PSD sources (MU)

Pokemon Special BW ch 04

Houston, we have a problem. I edited the line out of the release because I don't want to cause panic, but the Black and White serialization in Shogaku Yonensei has ended. Now is a good time for me to eat my own words. I will open up the possibility of scanning future or current issues of CoroCoro Ichiban! and Pokemon Fan. The problem lies in the money.

Fortunately, I have been in contact with my Chinese counterparts, 时代汉化组. Their Japanese-to-Chinese translator lives in Japan, so getting raws would be easy and cheap...if we had a way of transferring money. It turns out that transferring money between the US and China is pretty much impossible without exorbitant fees. We're still negotiating, but it looks like I'll scan one magazine while they scan another, and we'll just exchange raws rather than money.

Nevertheless, I want you, my "stockholders", to think up of a backup plan in case the worst-case scenario happens and we fail to establish a trade deal. CoroCoro Ichiban comes out every other month, and Pokemon Fan comes out every month on average. Both are not available on fujisan; thus, Amazon is our only option, and the shipping for that starts at 3000 yen. Choose wisely.

(By the way, I have to wait another month in order to cancel the fujisan order on Shogaku Yonensei. That will not cost anything towards the balance.)

Speaking of Chinese counterparts, I'm setting up a Chinese blog for people who can't view this website. It seems that it's unnecessary right now, as 时代汉化组 just released this chapter as well, but it may prove to be useful in the future. Pokemon Special download links will now use 115 as the third mirror instead of 4shared. All links on 115 are temporary (31 day duration) unless otherwise specified.

Pokemon Special BW ch 04 2400p (IF)
Pokemon Special BW ch 04 2400p (MU)
Pokemon Special BW ch 04 2400p (115)

Pokemon Special BW ch 04 1200p (IF)
Pokemon Special BW ch 04 1200p (MU)
Pokemon Special BW ch 04 1200p (115)

Pokemon Special BW ch 04 PSD source (IF)
Pokemon Special BW ch 04 PSD source (MU)
Pokemon Special BW ch 04 PSD source (115)

Pokemon Special BW ch 04 raw (IF)
Pokemon Special BW ch 04 raw (MU)
Pokemon Special BW ch 04 raw (115)

Welcome to the Space Show - OCR'd Official Subs

>Everyone complains about how this is never going to get subbed
>Turns out that the DVD/BD includes the official English subs
>Takes 30 minutes to OCR

Oh wow, haha.

I matched up the timing with QTS's BD rip, though I haven't had the chance to watch all of it and find typos and typesetting mistakes. Nevertheless, it should good for the most part. Enjoy.

Update (9:08 PM PST): watched it and fixed most of the minor errors in 0.0.2

Welcome to the Space Show - OCR'd Official Subs 0.0.3

Here's the info on the DVDISO on Share:

[DVDISO][110209] 宇宙ショーへようこそ (R).ISO 8,266,416,128 8bc718a81c427a98475bb1374b515a678490c232

I have no plans to make an archive-worthy release; please wait for other, more competent groups to do that.

February 2011: Misc.

I feel like I need to address some things now.

Donations

I'm very happy that donations are this far ahead, and hope that they keep coming in. One note I would like to make is about Pokemon Special donations. Pokemon Special donations can go towards buying volumes or Shogaku Yonensei issues. I advise all donors to be specific about where the donations should be distributed. I am greedy and will prioritize using donations for volumes rather than Shogaku Yonensei.

Raws

I will usually distribute all raws that I scan. Because of size and bandwidth restrictions (no, I will not make torrents for raws), I can only distribute 1600p (~220 dpi for volumes, ~160 for magazines) for some of them. If you want higher quality raws, contact me, and give me the desired resolution (350 dpi max) and the specific range of pages. My e-mail address is written near the top of the page towards the right.

Derivative Manga: PSG and Fractale

I translate a few chapters of series like Panty & Stocking and Fractale in order to get an idea of what the series is like. In case you're still being trolled by Sankaku (well, it's entirely possible that it wasn't a troll, given that it's Sankaku), Fractale is an original anime whose manga happened to have started its serialization first. Hence, I wanted to see what both series were like and have no intentions of continuing.

I also had no intention of making this to be an issue, but apparently some people still being trolled by Sankaku and Spanish fansubbing groups who were usually my translations don't want me to stop. Hence, I will spell my policy out here, as I had for a gazillion times.

In order for me to consider a derivative manga, it needs to have fulfilled one of the following:

1. No one is translating the original work. If you can't find English fansubbers doing Fractale, then you're just plain blind. Also, Funimation seems to have "worked out" their issues.
   
2. The plot has to deviate significantly. The standard is set at the Eureka Seven manga. Note that I consider plot, not character design, art style, etc.

If it has fulfilled one of these two, then it's added to my long list of manga that I want to scanlate. Let me tell you: I have tons of other series that I want to scanlate.

I do this in order to save my precious time and effort. I would rather translate new stuff that I enjoy translating for no readers rather than old stuff for incompetent fansubbing groups and the few people who still go to Sankaku for news.

Since the novel isn't translated, I wanted to pick up Moshidora's manga adaptation for Spring, but I don't want to have to import a biweekly (Super Jump). Madoka's manga adaptation has a decent chance of fulfilling part 2.

Dependent Groups

I do believe in open source (the ideology, not the shitty software). Hence, I upload pretty much all of my sources to save time effort in typesetting and cleaning for other groups who wish to use my releases, because they would just edit my releases if I don't give them the sources anyways. However, I must advise all groups that depend on my source to not depend on my Japanese-to-English translations. I make mistakes, and hence you will make the same mistake if you depend on my translations. Please, get Japanese translators of your own.

News

Miscellaneous news about various series:

1. Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku: Putin and Koizumi got figures in WF 2011 Winter. Still don't know when the series resumes.
   
2. Pokemon Special: Ruby and Sapphire arc will get 3 wide releases in the next months. I will import and scan a better raw, but I will neither typeset nor lead a project to typeset them. Get your own group.
   
3. Kaibutsu Oujo: Slowpoke here, but volume 14 comes out next month with the Princess Express OVA.

Schedule

The rough schedule for the next months will be like this:

1. now to late February: wrap up Route 225, finally do that Lying Mii-kun and Broken Maa-chan redo.
2. late February to mid-March: finish up Kindaichi 38 (no plans for further cases), do Jiya. Meanwhile, import Pokemon Special vol 38 (Feb 26).
3. mid-March: do Kaibutsu Oujo vol 14, Pokemon Special vol 38.
4. mid-March to early April: translate Nanika while waiting for Mudazumo vol 6 (Mar 26) and Pokemon Special RS Wide vol 1 (Mar 26).
   
5. early April: do Mudazumo vol 6.
   

Route 225 ch 6

Dear kids, if this situation does happen to you, please go to the police.

Route 225 ch 6 2400p (IF)
Route 225 ch 6 2400p (MU)
Route 225 ch 6 2400p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 6 1200p (IF)
Route 225 ch 6 1200p (MU)
Route 225 ch 6 1200p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 6 PSD sources (IF)
Route 225 ch 6 PSD sources (MU)

Noririn ch 16; vol 2 batch (includes ch 9v2 -12v2)

Well, at least we'll get to see the race next volume. I have no problem with a bloodless bicycle manga, but it seems that some chapters are just there to try to proselytize the reader.

Chapter 17 has actually been uploaded to Share/PD (along with Nanika ch 1-7, which is shaping up to be Kitoh's Death Note at this rate), so I might consider translating those.

Noririn ch 16 2400p (IF)
Noririn ch 16 2400p (MU)

Noririn ch 16 1200p (IF)
Noririn ch 16 1200p (MU)

Noririn ch 16 PSD source (IF)
Noririn ch 16 PSD source (MU)

Volume 2 batch is also ready now, with better raws and quite a few typo and translation mistake fixes. I decided to do the two volume redoes one at a time rather than simultaneously. I'll get faster at it.

Noririn vol 2 2400p (IF)
Noririn vol 2 2400p (MU)
Noririn vol 2 2400p (4SH)

Noririn vol 2 1200p (IF)
Noririn vol 2 1200p (MU)
Noririn vol 2 1200p (4SH)

Update: Never mind, the classic uploader worked for iFile.

Noririn vol 2 part 1 (ch 9v2-12v2) PSD source (IF)
Noririn vol 2 part 1 (ch 9v2-12v2) PSD source (MU)

I didn't change anything in ch 13-16. In retrospect, I should have removed the "scanlated by /a/non, for /a/non" blurbs, but they're insignificant enough.

Update 2: I didn't notice that a "David" had donated $20 for Noririn a few days ago. Sorry for not putting you on the credits page, David.

Route 225 ch 5

The mystery deepe-wait, I've used this line before. Well, the mystery is going deeper...

Route 225 ch 5 2400p (IF)
Route 225 ch 5 2400p (MU)
Route 225 ch 5 2400p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 5 1200p (IF)
Route 225 ch 5 1200p (MU)
Route 225 ch 5 1200p (4SH)

Route 225 ch 5 PSD sources (IF)
Route 225 ch 5 PSD sources (MU)

Noririn ch 15

It seems like it's always 3 days left, not 2, nor 4, and definitely not 5.

Noririn ch 15 2400p (IF)
Noririn ch 15 2400p (MU)
Noririn ch 15 2400p (4SH)

Noririn ch 15 1200p (IF)
Noririn ch 15 1200p (MU)
Noririn ch 15 1200p (4SH)

Noririn ch 15 PSD source (IF)
Noririn ch 15 PSD source (MU)