31 July 2015

Some Theories About Good Manga 14

Yes, I have 90s bias. Not that I'd willingly return to the days of dial-up internet if I had a time machine, but since the universe intertwined my childhood to this decade, home sweet home it is. It's a decade that the anime and manga industry can definitely look back fondly on, despite the burst of the Japanese economic bubble, as it gave birth to multiple series so popular as to become icons of their respective mediums and even Japan itself. For most Westerners, series like Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, or Pokemon immediately come to mind. But for me, there's another series I look more fondly back on than any of these. A manga I fell in love with at the exact same age as its titular protagonist.

24 July 2015

Historie v09

No new chapter this month, but here's the tankoban scanlations of volume 9. Minor translation and grammatical errors were fixed for this release, but most notable is obviously the touched up art by Iwaaki. Below is an example for comparison. Enjoy the release!

Download:
Historie v09:   Mega
All previous volumes using the tankoban scans can also be found on my mega folder.

1 July 2015

Sangokushi v49 (complete)

Volume 49 is finally complete! The last chapter was short, but there was one particular section that was a real bitch to translate...
This damn list of appointing duties for the Northern campaign. The first problem is that I'm pretty sure the online version of C.H. Brewitt-Taylor translation of RotTK got the appointments wrong. For instance, Liao Hua is listed as one of the Central Army generals and Deng Zhi as a Right Army general. But in this manga, Liao Hua is listed as the Left Army general and Deng Zhi as a Central Army general. So to see who was right and who was wrong, I had to google for an online text of the novel in its original Chinese at Chinese Text Project. Although I can't "read" Chinese, I do know Chinese characters, and it's pretty clear the Brewitt-Taylor version is wrong (副將飛衛將軍廖化; 中監軍揚武將軍鄧芝). The second problem is that the titles of these generals are all left out in the Brewitt-Taylor translation, perhaps presumably to make it easier for English readers. As a result, I was left scratching my head at whether or not there was any conventional translation used by academics for terms like 飛衛將軍, 安遠將, or 揚武將軍. After googling, most seem to lack a commonly accepted translation, so I just went with whatever sounded best to me.

Also, I know shit like "General who Quells the North" sounds extremely long-winded and awkward for a title, but it sounds a lot more succinct and prestigious in the original Chinese.

That's it for now. I'm going to take a break before the Northern campaign starts and see if I can get the Historie volume out by this month's end like I mentioned before.

Download:
Sangokushi c342:   Sendspace
Sangokushi v49:   Mediafire;   Mega
All previous Sangokushi volumes:   Mega;   Mediafire