18 January 2012

Battle of Red Cliffs


Chapter 152 is now done, bringing both v26 and the famous Battle of Red Cliffs to a close. Even though this is the battle that is best remembered in the story, by no means does that mean later events will be a letdown compared to this one. On the contrary, the story only gets even better on from here, now that Cao Cao’s military might has been compromised and each of the three major factions begin to stand on more even grounds.

Also, since my old fluffypress site went down, I’ll mention again Yoshikawa Eiji’s significant change to the events of the last chapter in this volume (spoiler ahead if you haven’t fully read v26 yet). In the original novel, Cao Cao manages to convince Guan Yu to turn a blind eye through a famous story from the Spring and Autumn annals which touches Guan Yu’s sense of virtue. The story, in case you’re curious, is that of Yu Gong the Wei archer, who is sent to kill Zi Zhuo. However, Yu Gong realizes the master who taught him archery, Yin Gong, was in turn trained in archery by Zi Zhuo. Therefore, Yu Gong breaks off the points of his arrows and shoots them, thereby sparing Zi Zhuo’s life but also still carrying out his orders.

However, Yoshikawa Eiji, a famous Japanese historical novelist noted for his tales on samurai, changed this scene to have Guan Yu convinced instead by the loyalty of Cao Cao’s soldiers to better fit the Japanese feudal ethic that emphasized loyalty over all else. Although Yokoyama’s manga does adapt Yoshikawa’s version, I personally feel that it is sort of a compromise between the two versions. Yokoyama’s appropriate usage of the flashback seems to imply that Guan Yu was equally touched by both Cao Cao’s former kindness as well as the unwavering-loyalty of his soldiers. I would be quite interested to know what others thought of this scene, and whether I’m reading too much into what should be a by-the-book adaptation of Yoshikawa’s version or not.

Download:
Sangokushi c152:   Mediafire
Sangokushi v26:   Mediafire

9 January 2012

Sangokushi v26 (last updated Jan. 16)

Alright, enough loligagging. Time for some manly men doing manly things! Here's the first chapter of the volume that contains probably the most famous battle of RoTK so I hope you enjoy it. Also, I fixed the cast of characters page (which I'm sure nobody really cares about) for once, which were riddled with dyslexic typos like the picture above.
Assuming that Zhuge Liang didn't actually know voodoo magic and it was just his astute knowledge of the weather, I always wondered why he bothered to do the whole praying-spiel. I think a lot of people say it was to just psyche Zhou Yu out even more, and while I don't disagree with that, I think maybe it just gave Zhuge Liang with more privacy and space so he could make his getaway when the time came.
I'm 99.9% sure chapter 49 of the Brewitt-Taylor translation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms has a mistake in this part because Kongming says Cao Cao will choose to go to North Yiling instead, only to consequently show Cao Cao chose to go to South Yiling in chapter 50. I wish I had the Moss Roberts translation in hand to double check...
Poor guy, he just wanted a promotion...
c148 is out.
Stop tempting fate, Cao Cao.
At least you have a horse.
Hope this chapter doesn't make you think of Cao Cao as just a cruel tyrant. A leader's gotta do what a leader's gotta do.

Download:
Sangokushi c144:   Mediafire
Sangokushi c145:   Mediafire
Sangokushi c146:   Mediafire
Sangokushi c147:   Mediafire
Sangokushi c148:   Mediafire
Sangokushi c149:   Mediafire
Sangokushi c150:   Mediafire
Sangokushi c151:   Mediafire

8 January 2012

Kuru Kuru Sonia!! (NSFW)

What do you know? Studio Tar released a sequel to their hilarious(ly lewd) Berserk doujin in the recent comiket. Since I did the first one, it only seemed right that I take responsibility for the sequel as well so here it is. As Kyouichirou says in the very last page, this was his attempt to give us more of the "good stuff" since the previous doujin was more comedic. To be frank, I enjoyed the first chapter a lot more because of its comedy, but my one-eyed friend begs to differ. That's not to say the sequel's devoid of humour, of course, and I'm sure many of you'll appreciate what Kyouichirou has to say about the recent ongoings in Japan. In any case, enjoy the doujin folks. My apologies go out to those who may be incensed at me for violating the rights of the poor, defenseless, fictional children.

Download:
Kuru Kuru Sonia!!:   Mediafire

7 January 2012

Chapter 15 and 16 are done, meaning Gyanki-Hen volume 2 is now completely scanlated! Also, I only realized at the very last page of volume 2 that Zero has a custom shirt with a custom logo and everything. Damn, that's pretty baller. In other news, I have been alerted to where I can get weekly scans of Zero. However, doing v2 made me realize how much I better enjoy Zero when reading on a volume by volume basis. So I'm sorry to say that I will work from only the volume scans for Zero from now on, despite the contrary feedback I received several months ago. But at least on the bright side, a new volume comes out every 3 months so it won't seem like forever between the releases unlike with Punpun.

Download:
Gyanki-Hen c015-016:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen v02:   Mediafire

5 January 2012

Tomorrow's Joe v08 (last updated Feb.21)

Alright, time to get a move on Joe again. Helping me with this project now will be Happy Scans (cleaning) and Arles, who kindly volunteered to do the typesetting for me. For the time being, my plan is to release a 20~30 page chapter every weekend. Not quite as fast as I'd ideally want, but my own life restricts me from going any faster than that. In any case, you're gonna love this volume as it has the showdown we've all been waiting for.
Truly a classy antagonist to remember for the ages.
I really like Chiba Tetsuya's faces for each of the audiences.
Such a Yabuki-esque thing to do.
Can't stop chuckling at how Rikiishi looks here.

Download:
Tomorrow's Joe   v08-1:   Mediafire
Tomorrow's Joe   v08-2:   Mediafire
Tomorrow's Joe   v08-3:   Mediafire
Tomorrow's Joe   v08-4:   Mediafire
Tomorrow's Joe   v08-5:   Mediafire
Tomorrow's Joe   v08-6:   Mediafire

1 January 2012

Gyanki-Hen Volume 2 (last updated Jan. 6)

6
Happy New Year's, folks. Time to kick off the new year right with some good ol' Fukumoto. Got a pretty good volume coming up, which'll transition us in to the next gamble and explain a little bit about what happened after part 1. I left out the cover page for now because it sort of spoils the next chapter but I'll include it in the batch file when I finish the volume.
Awww, no more golfing. Here's to hoping Fukumoto makes some sort of crazy life-or-death curling gamble in future chapters.
Poker instead of mahjong? In my Fukumoto manga? Stop the fucking presses.
Dat ass. Enough said.
This chapter almost felt like something out of Franken Fran.

Download:
Gyanki-Hen c008:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c009-011:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c012:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c013:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c014:   Mediafire