5 October 2012

The Sea of Fallen Beasts

Illuminati-manga and I are happy to add another manga to the list of Hoshino Yukinobu's works translated in English! Come to think of it, I think this is the 2nd Hoshino Yukinobu work for both of us, as I had done Stardust Memories previously and they've started doing Inherit the Stars (adaptation of James P. Hogan's short story by the same name) some months ago.
For those of you who don't know who Hoshino Yukinobu is, he's pretty much the mangaka when it comes to hard sci-fi manga. His representative works are probably 2001 Ya Monogatari and the Munakata Kyoju Denkikou series, and it's a shame the latter has yet to see the light of day in English. If only there were other interested translators who didn't have their hands full with a 60-volume long manga...
In any case, The Sea of Fallen Beasts (Horobishi Kemonotachi no Umi), despite the plesiosaur on the cover, doesn't really have anything to do with dinosaurs (to my slight disappointment). And unlike Hoshino's usual futuristic settings, the self-contained short stories in this 1-volume long collection all take place in the 20th century. I won't say any further as to not spoil anything, but I will say that my favourite story was Legend of the Demon Whale.

P.S. I'm still on break. This is something that I had finished translating before going on my break.

P. P. S. I recently learned that Hoshino Yukinobu influenced Tsuruta Kenji of all people to become a mangaka (never would've guessed that, considering their art and story-telling style are quite different). In fact, Tsuruta liked Hoshino's 2001 Ya Monogatari enough to publish a parody of it!
Damn, he got Hoshino's art down pat.

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11 comments:

  1. Thanks for this. I have become very fond of his thoughtful sci-fi so I look forward to reading this.

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  2. Thanks! Hoshino really deserves more appreciation from manga fans.

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  3. Thanks to you and Illumianti for your dedication.

    I really appreciate that there are still groups that work in quality mangas like this.

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  4. I've never read any of his works before.

    This may be a good way to start.
    Thanks for it, Hox and Illuminati.

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  5. Thank you very much for your work and sharing, I'm glad to read!!!

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  6. I've been following Hoshino's titles since 4 years now and I can't describe how happy I am to read another title
    thank you Hox very much!!

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  7. well i've read Spirit of Wonder at the time and I didn't even know that it was done by Tsurika I assumed its another Hoshino manga ..loll
    thought taking into account its steam punk and not hard-scifi i should have known

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  8. I hope to see one day Blue Hole translated by you Hox. It remains incomplete in my country.

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  9. Vinland Saga got licensed but please tell us you won't stop scanlating magazine chapters. Redoing volumes is off the table I guess, but chapters published in Afternoon shouldn't be that much of a deal.

    Also thanks for… well, for everything.

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    Replies
    1. I'll continue with it as long as I don't get spammed with a bunch of C&D mails.

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  10. Goddamnit Hox. You're the man. YOU'RE THE MAN!! I've downloaded many stuff from you already and i've been an unthankful bastard. Dude, BIG THANKS! Keep on keeping on!!

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