I finally bring you the last chapter to Cyber Blue. What did you all think? I thought that these last few chapters salvaged the series as much as it could from the various problems it developed over volume 2 and 3. Of course, Tetsuo Hara's art was consistently great throughout the entire series.
Sadly, there was no ATATATATATATATA sound effect as Blue punched Galgo around, but with the power of Youtube, you can listen to this while reading the chapter.
I'm finally back to finish this up, 7 months after I started. This volume redeems the series slightl--Oh, who am I kidding, the fights are awesome. Look forward to them in the next two weeks.
Ah, well, all winning streaks have to come to an end sometime, especially when I have to revert all of the pages in 395-398 with no denoise.
Since I have limited storage on 4shared, I won't upload the chapter there, and I'll eventually remove all of the chapters. The 2400p volume is more than the 200MB limit, so I won't upload it there.
I removed denoising for almost every page in 395-398. Furthermore, I'm trying out a new fix for the bane of my existence, CDisplay(Ex). They apparently have a problem with displaying indexed images that have an alpha channel. Considering that it's the only viewer that has this defect, I would like to say: FUCK YOU. Even default Windows picture viewer works fine with them.
Like volume 33, the batch PSD source is too large to be uploaded, and I'm too lazy to write a script to diff/patch everything, so just download the chapter sources. I just turned off a few layers to revert the denoising.
Anyways, volume 37 will be out in late November and will be translated in late December. I'm now confident enough to publish the schedule for the next two months:
This chart doesn't really show how much work each page requires, on a scale of "spread with nothing on it" to "Kindaichi page with tons of text and sound effects".
The theme for next month will definitely be "cleaning up after myself"; I'll finish off Cyber Blue, catch up with Noririn (all of the chapters I have, at least), and reach a "save point" for Kindaichi. I would like to continue, but Kindaichi is a really hard manga to translate and edit. I'll have to have tons of free time before diving into the next cases, which are all two-volumes long.
The workload for the joint projects with Animexis are still unknown, so it's just an estimate. I submitted my first script to them a week ago, and Kanapox, the Animexis leader, just told me that they just finished cleaning it and will typeset and release next week. I assume that it's going to be a weekly thing, like Kaibutsu Oujo, except that it cycles between the two series. The good thing is that the projects only have 5-10 chapters out right now, so there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
Of course, the purpose of all of this is to deflate my workload (you really can't see it in the charts, heh), and clear the way for the new series. If /a/nonymous scanlations is a country, then it just experienced 266% hyperinflation in the last few months, from 3 to 11 series. I don't regret any of them, but I have to at least keep it in check by catching up with most of them. Of course, completely new series that I don't have to catch up are even better, so Young Ace's 7o3x, Dragon Age's Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi and good! Afternoon's Demon 72 (written by Kaibutsu Oujo's author) seem tempting.
Also, since my enemy has tightened his diabolical grip on the top suggestion from when I was accepting recommendations, I can now reveal the top winners of the recommendations. Since my efficiency depends on how I like the series, I didn't judge them objectively. No hard feelings, eh:
Greed Packet Unlimited (re-picked up by Taruby after 500 days)
Mardock Scramble
Cloth Road (picked up by Webcity)
Thermae Romae
I am a Hero (picked up by Gantz_waitingroom and Mango Scans)
Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (supposed to be picked up)
Rabuyan
Sumire 16-sai and Sumire 17-sai
Yondemasu yo, Azazeru-san
Jiya
Teizokurei Monophobia
Deus X Machina (picked up by Riceballicious)
Four of the top six got picked up in a span of a week, so you can see why I was panicking.
Greed Packet Unlimited was the top one because I just happened to like it, despite its generic magic action. Its scanlator, Taruby, just picked it back up after almost 1.5 years of waiting for raws from his scanner. Mardock Scramble is likely to eventually get picked up next year because its first movie (out of three) is releasing in a week:
Cloth Road is pretty cool, and I would've picked it up, if not for the 8 overdue volumes. It seems to be in capable hands now, so check it out. Other series are worth a look as well.
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!
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:
A random blogger (dxInt) watched my subs of the Mudazumo OVA, which weren't even subbed by more proper subbers until recently
He contacted me, a noob scanlator, about a 22-year old manga series, among 3 others.
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.
Due to various circumstances, the projected finish date of Cyber Blue vol 4 is the end of October
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:
Don't pick up this series: It sucks; it's a waste of my money
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
This fight is awesome and perfectly logical...until we get to the part about the smelly and combustible helium gas. I should consider replacing it with methane or something.
Alright, back to normal business. Well, I'll be picking up yet another new series tomorrow, but that's only monthly and 10 chapters behind, so it won't get in the way, unlike Kindaichi, which is weekly and 10 volumes behind. I don't really plan to catch up to Kindaichi, however, since it's episodic anyways.
Anyways, the action is ramping up, though the story gets more and more bizarre from here on out.
And here's where the plot starts getting a little more stupid than usual. Having read the last two volumes, I can tell you that writing is a big weakness of this series. Nevertheless, let's read on for the sake of Hara's art.
Blue and Alan go off to the casino. Alas, Blue cheats, but I guess it's one of those morally ambiguous things, especially when the fate of an entire planet lies in his hands.
Oh finally. Back to my flagship series. I hope I don't have to pause a series for so long again. Since Pokemon Special releases a volume every 3 months, I should make my schedule to account for that.
It's nice to take a look at the big picture once in a while. Just what is the future of /a/nonymous scanlations?
Hoshi no Samidare: As you all know (I hope), Hoshi no Samidare is serialized in Young King Ours, which releases every month on the 30th. However, since monthly magazines are 800-page bibles, it takes a day or two to scan, so chapter 64 raws will likely be released on Share around August 1-3. It just so happens that I have an important event in that time range, right after I return from my vacation. Even when taking in consideration time zone differences and early releases, it's very probable that chapter 64 will be delayed.
Pokemon Special: Just when I thought I caught up with the volumes, volume 36 was announced for release on August 29th, 2010. Also, since iNet isn't making any moves, I'll probably import volume 33 too. As tempting as it is to import Chuang Yi's volume 33, differences such as naming and reading direction makes that bad choice.
Kaibutsu Oujo: The margin between the raws and the English translations is now under 10 chapters! The plot starts accelerating, especially on chapter 55-57, so I'm looking forward to those.
Cyber Blue: After much delay, both remaining volumes will be done in August.
Mudazumo: Volume 5 hasn't been announced yet, nor are OVAs 4-6. I haven't had the chance to see if the uploader on PD has started uploaded chapters, though.
Sin & Punishment: The translator never contacted me again, but I feel pretty confident about translating it now. Only the first few pages spam Kanji like nobody's business; the rest of the volume is actually fairly sparse in text.
Upotte!!: I haven't forgot about this series, but since Animexis started releasing again, I'm dropping it.
Route 225: An one-shot by Shimura Takako (Hourou Musuko, Aoi Hana) based on a novel by Fujino Chiya. More info will be given later.
Himizu: Looking very likely, since the chapters are short and translated to Chinese.
The Q3 chart looks like this for regular scanlation:
After 15 out of about 32 chapters, we finally get to meet an elder. Blue, though, has an out-of-character "Just as keikaku" moment. Cyber Blue ch 15 Cyber Blue ch 15 PSD source
In other news, I've finally begun to scan Mudazumo vol 4, after having my scanner break down on me and getting a new one. With a special spin-off chapter starring only Putin, I can guarantee that the 6 yet-untranslated chapters will be awesome. Since DerpScans is looking for a job to support his back issue purchases, don't mind me if I translate vol 4.
On a related note, while scanning Mudazumo 4, I realized that I made a horrible mistake when I scanned Pokemon Special 34: I didn't use the descreen filter. That results in a moire pattern on certain textures, like Dia's hat on this page.
Nevertheless, it doesn't happen often enough in Pokemon Special to warrant a redo. The textures in Mudazumo are more susceptible to this, though.
Pokemon Special 35 will be scanned after Mudazumo 4, and translation will start about a week or two from now. Next release is KO 45 script, then Mudazumo ch 27.
Edit: Cyber Blue 3 will be resumed after my vacation, so around August at the very least.
I finally bring you the last chapter to Cyber Blue. What did you all think? I thought that these last few chapters salvaged the series as much as it could from the various problems it developed over volume 2 and 3. Of course, Tetsuo Hara's art was consistently great throughout the entire series.
