Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Ganbare! Memeko-chan ch63 + Extras (end)

DL
Well, this is the end. I hope you liked it. The shift to mostly romance in the second half wasn't to my taste, but I think it was mostly handled well enough, and Memeko and Kishida's character arcs are perhaps the most fleshed-out and well-realized of the Munko manga I've translated thus far.

Much like My Home, there is a related series (Haru to Aki ni Tsuite) that I will be translating in the future about another side of Hanamaru Corp. Longtime fans will also recognize this series due to a couple of cameos in Dakara Miyoko desu. But You're Mine and Raika Days take priority in this moment, so you'll just have to look forward to it.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

My Home ch52-55 (end)

DL
There is a reason why I'm releasing all these chapters at once. You can read to find out why.

I have to say that this was quite the ride. My Home was actually the first Munko manga I ever saw, while browsing raw manga DDL sites back in 2014 or 2015. Something about the cover art for volume 1 really stuck with me. So one could say that this series is what got me to start translating Munko series in the first place. It took almost a year and a half, but I'm glad that people enjoyed it as much as I did.

Now, Mai's journey doesn't end here. There is a sequel called You're Mine that expands upon the epilogue at the very end, and there is also My Home Prototype, the original one-shot that Munko sent in to the publisher back in 2003 that was later released for the first time in the 2015 re-release. Needless to say, I will be translating both in the future, so you can look forward to that.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Tokyo Game ch19

DL
While Dr. Godot isn't such a formidable opponent compared to previous ones, the final hand in this chapter is a thing of beauty.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Chou Kadou Girls ch3 + Shinkon no Iroha-san ch3

DL Girls
DL Iroha

We're still getting everybody introduced here, but I'm happy about the density of references in this chapter.

Friday, July 26, 2019

Sousei no Taiga ch24 + Maya-san no Yofukashi ch7

DL Taiga

The only word which isn't outright explained is "sawa," which just means "yes." Though at this point there's more dire priorities in the story, eh?

DL Maya

You know that feeling when you're watching anime, but have to stop because you know something embarrassing is going to happen? That's this. I hear the cool kids call it "cringe" these days.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Ganbare! Memeko-chan ch58-59 + My Home ch51





DL Memeko
DL My Home

After skimming ahead a long, long time ago, I found out that this is the point where the two series demonstrably come together. So ever since I started translating again back in March, this was what I was building up to (and also why My Home took so long to come back, I was playing catch-up with Memeko first). There's a lot to unpack (specifically with the rollercoaster that Memeko has been), but for now, all I can say is that we're almost done.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Raika Days ch21-24

DL
Finally, volume 1 is done. The retranslation effort is technically not over because the previous translator did the first 4 or 5 chapters from volume 2, but those aren't on the aggregate site I upload to, so it's no big deal.

I'm starting to enjoy this manga more as Raika's character is fleshed out in a more human way, as well as further interactions with Makina. Though funnily enough, I feel like it's the dynamic between Takeda and Raika's friend that is really interesting (not in a romantic way, obviously). In any case, I'm looking forward to how the series continues to improve in the next volume.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

My Home ch49-50

DL
All I have to say about this release is that the throwback all the way to chapter 10 was exquisite. Stuff like that is why I personally enjoy Munko's works.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Tokyo Game ch18

DL
This is it, the final battle. Given how many chapters are left, there's no way it can match the excitement of the game against Samurai, but it seems like we'll be in for just a little more crazy mahjong.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Ganbare! Memeko-chan ch56-57

DL
We're heading towards the end... One thing I kind of regret now is translating "okama" (the word everyone calls Ryou) as "homo," because Ryou seems more trans than gay. At the time I thought to myself "Japan doesn't understand LGBT stuff as well as other places so Ryou is likely just a mish-mash of gay stereotypes and any 'trans-ness' doesn't have that much thought put into it," but I don't know. Whenever Ryou's gender is brought up, everybody says "he" or "man," so maybe it's better to keep it questionable than to explicitly confirm that the whole cast actively misgenders Ryou.
I feel dumb for writing this (especially since I'm not even invested in LGBT issues), but I've been thinking about it for a while, so it's good to let it out.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Chou Kadou Girls ch2 + Shinkon no Iroha-san ch2

DL Girls
DL Iroha

Both of these chapters are still kind of settling into things, so I'll just leave it at that.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Sousei no Taiga ch23 + Maya-san no Yofukashi ch6

DL Taiga
I've had no problem with the plausibility of the series so far, but for some reason, Taiga inventing dogs just feels extremely convenient. I'm still able to suspend my disbelief, but it's hard to ignore.

DL Maya
You're in trouble, Maya-san. Or should I say, urine trouble?

As always, the word list for Taiga is after the jump. Unfortunately there were two words I couldn't figure out again.


Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Raika Days ch16-20

DL
Got a couple of summer chapters to go along with the season. There's also some big milestones that show this is going to get better: the first chapter that doesn't start with that stock line, and the first chapter where Raika's flaws feel more human than some kind of character quirk (the curry one). Though it's a little weird that there's discussion about certain characters being sexy when they're all 12 year olds... Well, it's played for laughs so whatever.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Ganbare! Memeko-chan ch54-55

DL
I like the continuity that chapter 55 has with chapter 52. That's one of the small appeals of 4-panel manga that run vaguely in real time like this one.

Monday, July 15, 2019

Tokyo Game ch17

DL
Blue Star's hand might be the largest ever in a mahjong manga. Even if you search the point value itself on Google, the only results you get are Japanese forum threads discussing the series.

Sunday, July 14, 2019

My Home ch45-46 + Extra

DL

In somewhat related news, I finally got volume 3 of Memeko available for download from the projects page.

Saturday, July 13, 2019

Chou Kadou Girls ch1 + Shinkon no Iroha-san ch1

DL Girls
DL Iroha

Yup, we're finally back with not one new Öyster series, but two. I decided that I might as well pick up Iroha as well since I'm sure it'll be fairly popular. You'll be interested to know that the building seen in the new chapter of Chou Kadou Girls is in fact a real place. I guess you might wanna check it out if any of you are in Japan (or just watch a video about it or something).

Also, just so you guys know, I will be releasing these series weekly. I know that it's a lot slower compared to the frantic release pace for the original series, but it's also 2-4 times faster than they come out in Japan, so I think we'll be okay.

Friday, July 12, 2019

Sousei no Taiga ch22 + Maya-san no Yofukashi ch5

DL Taiga
DL Maya

I started browsing online and wasted a bunch of time while I was supposed to be typesetting this chapter of Maya-san. Hashtag relatable.

Back to Taiga, this chapter didn't have much dialogue from Tiari, but there was enough for a word list after the jump


Thursday, July 11, 2019

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Raika Days ch10-15

DL
I'm gonna be honest with y'all: while I do know that this is very early Munko and it'll get better much like My Home did, in its current state I don't see why people are so excited for this series in particular. Well, the addition of Makina is a good step in the right direction.

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

My Home ch43-44 + Extra

DL

Yup, the hotly anticipated official My Home/Ganbare Memeko-chan crossover is finally here.

Monday, July 8, 2019

Tokyo Game ch16

DL
To be honest, the most impressive thing about Aotenjou in manga isn't the ridiculous hands that people make, but the mental math it takes to calculate the point values of those hands.

Friday, July 5, 2019

Sousei no Taiga ch21 + Maya-san no Yofukashi ch4

DL Taiga
DL Maya

Man, this really is such a weird juxtaposition... I'm only releasing them together because they're the series that I post on my Patreon page a little early (nice plug, haha). Anyways, the word list is after the jump, though unfortunately I wasn't able to figure out two of the words.


Thursday, July 4, 2019

Ganbare! Memeko-chan ch48-49

DL
We're starting off the final volume with some good chapters. Chapter 49 is probably my favorite kind of chapter in this series overall, and chapter 48 is fun and has good backstory. Makes me wish it would go on a bit longer, but I trust that Munko will end it well.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Raika Days ch4-9

DL

Yeah, it's back. Gonna make a big push to finish the first volume so we can get to some untranslated material. I'm running late at the moment so I can't say everything else that I wanted to, but enjoy!

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Tokyo Game ch15

DL

Bet none of you were expecting this, eh? I actually started this chapter back in October of last year, and finished cleaning and translating it in March, but since I was so busy with Chou Kadou Girl, I didn't get around to typesetting it until now. I decided that I'm going to focus on finishing my old 2018 projects so that I'll be able to move on to new projects without any baggage. That's also where those two Munko double releases came from, so those interested in these series can look forward to more where that came from.

Monday, July 1, 2019

My Home ch39-40

DL
Since chapter 39 is a short one, I figured I'd do another double release. Enjoy!