5 October 2018

Kamui-Den volume 1 (last updated Oct. 5)

At last, Happyscans and I will be starting Kamui-Den (Legend/Life of Kamui), the legendary manga that was the poster child for Garo magazine and its associated gekiga movement (I'll do a proper introduction/commentary much later). If it were up to Happyscans, we'd have started this like two years ago, but I was busy and kept putting it off (gmail tells me we first talked about doing it all the way back in 2012!). Plus, I didn't really want to embark on another long manga series so soon after finishing 60 volumes of Sangokushi. But I think now's a good time, and this will be my "main project" for some time. Although the original was published as 21 volumes, the version we're working from is the 15-volume definitive edition (kettei-ban) of part 1 that was published in 2005 to commemorate Shirato Sanpei's 50th year as an artist. Each volume in this edition is about 400 pages, so I'm planning on doing 4 volumes/year (a volume for each season of the year!). When factoring inevitable delays, it'll maybe take 4-5 years to finish. That's just for part 1, of course, and there's another 12-volumes for part 2. So this'll take a good decade to finish completely.

In any case, Kamui-Den starts off a little slow, but I hope you'll eventually pick it up and stick with it as Happyscans and I continually work on it. And while Habanero Scans who gave me the HQ kettei-ban scans advised me to just do volume releases, I'm gonna release in smaller chunks at a time, if only to better motivate me. It's probably better to read it as each new volume comes out.

*Some other notes regarding my other projects. Scripts for v2 of Futago no Teikoku are complete, so that should be done soon. Breading Bad is almost done with cleaning v3 as well, so we should be able to jump right into that with little delay (*crosses fingers*). Planet of Sutakola had been delayed due to difficulties in finding a cleaner, but I think I'll just tackle it even with my own limited skills once I finish Kamui-Den vol. 1 so it doesn't just lie forgotten and collect internet-dust forever. If you have any other questions about my projects, feel free to ask here.

Download:
Kamui-Den v1 c01-03:   Mega
Kamui-Den v1 c04-07:   Mega
Kamui-Den v1c08-09:    Mega

34 comments:

  1. Kitakitakitakitakitaaaa!!! At last. I wish you all the best for this project!

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  2. Looking forward to this! I wrote about this a few years back when it was only available in French in 800-page volumes.
    http://sundaycomicsdebt.blogspot.com/2012/09/manga-page-count.html

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    1. Hey, this is completed unrelated, but I see you still link Kiwis by Beat on your website. Do you happen to have any of those comics saved?

      People have been trying to compile all the comics since Armand's site went down, but they're still missing pages from a few series. (Namely, Socks, Fist, Modern Fried Snake, and some pages of Pelen Purul are in lower resolution than the original.)

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    2. Sorry, I only just downloaded the Megafile a few days ago, after neglecting not saving any of the comics when I had the chance.

      If there's a certain webcomic I regret not saving when I had the opportunity to, it would be City of Reality, which had some Flash animation embedded in a few strips that were quite clever. I thought that it would be collected at some point, and would've bought it when it came out, but that moment never came.

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    3. Oh, well. I wish there had been some forewarning, such as a period of inactivity before the site vanished. Then I could've known to have saved everything.

      The City of Reality artist is still active on his tumblr & deviantart, so it's possible he'll put things back together at some point. Though given that he apparently hasn't posted an update on it since October 2016, I wouldn't bet on it.
      https://tran4of3.deviantart.com/journal/On-City-of-Reality-638209977

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  3. Didn't know Kamui Gaiden (licensed by Viz but they dropped it) had a prequel! Awesome, i will read this for sure. Loved your Sangokushi and Ashita no Joe translations.

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    1. Yeah, Kamui Gaiden is more of a spinoff of the original series (as implied by the title "gaiden," meaning "side-story"), taking place between Kamui Den's parts 1 and 2.

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  4. Thanks for the new chapters!!

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  5. June 12, 2018

    Viz Media, LLC
    1355 Market Street
    Suite #200
    San Francisco, CA
    94103

    To Wright of HappyScans and Hox of Hox Translations,

    Reproduction of this letter is a criminal offense and will be handled accordingly if you decide to post this letter openly on either/any site. You have been warned.

    This letter is in relation to Sanpei Shirato's Kamui-Den series currently being fan-scanned by Wright of HappyScans and Hox of Hox Translations. As a fan of manga myself, I get a lot of people really enjoy what we publish. Most of our catalogue is indeed out of print, and we haven't continued or re-released some series due to other priorities taking a higher precedence. It's always flattering to have fans ask us to republish or continue older manga series we've previously published. That also includes series that were either dropped or discontinued.

    However, if we do, or we don't, in this case VIZ Media LLC still holds the license and rights to the Kamui-Den series as well as Sanpei Shirato's bibliography.

    Furthermore, if you keep releasing this series illegally as you have been. And VIZ Media LLC finds you both releasing it again after this letter has been received by both parties. As evidence building our case against you, we will have to take legal action upon you. Which will result in either being sued, and/or imprisonment for copyright infringement.

    With that said, I ask you both to take down the Kamui-Den series effective immediately on this site as well as any other manga sites you may have posted it on as soon as this letter is received. That includes any future series you're planning to do by Sanpei Shirato as well.


    Thanks,

    Carl Hayes
    Website Marketing Director of VIZ Media LLC

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    1. Cool story, bro, I can't wait for your Sergio Corbucci impression

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    2. Diddy good, go have a biscuit, sit down and shut up

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  6. Dude, I really wish you continued publishing, I've waited so long for this series. But if it's really serious the letter, we do not want it to fuck you. Just let me know if you're leaving the project, to keep my hopes down. XD

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  7. Last year or maybe two years ago some guy was posting the raws for Louvre no Neko and you said you were interested and he gave you a link. What happened to that? Have you simply lost interest in doing it, have you forgotten about it or is it something you've postponed because you don't want to do now/in the near future?

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    1. He might be waiting on me to scan it, although he seems busy as is and hasn't asked me for the scans. In any case, they've since released a full-color edition, so I now have to buy and scan that if he wants to work on it.

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    2. Yeah, basically what the guy above me said. Gonna try to finish Planet of Sutakola before I worry about that one.

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  8. Hello, Hox! Please, take "Les Miserables" Arai Takahiro (mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=101734)! Please!

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  9. Did you drop Ad Astra? Or is it on hold?

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    Replies
    1. The editor is just cleaning the next volume.

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  10. Hi,
    have you stopped working on Kamui Den? I hope there will be more coming.
    Thanks for your work

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    Replies
    1. It'll continue. In the summer, hopefully...

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  11. Hope this scanlation is continuing as Viz has clearly dropped the ball. Thank you

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  12. will you keep up with the translation even though viz media is threatening you with a cease and desist?

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    Replies
    1. Happyscans and I believe it's safe to say that was a hoax and not a real C&D.

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  13. I really hope we'll see more of this. One if the all time great manga and probably the biggest hole in English translations.

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  14. Many thanks for all your great job!!!
    I have just found the blog, (shame on me)looking up for Kamui den. I would be pleased to buy it if it was in english but...I can only hope you'll keep up with the work!!
    Is there anything I could help? (no japaneese knowledge at all)

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  15. Aw, was that Viz thing true? Was looking forward to this.

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  16. So excited to have come across this! I hope you're doing well and have continued your work! Love knowing this series will be available, in time!

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  17. Are we ever likely to see more of this? It appears to have been 3 and a half years since the last update and this is a pretty long manga.

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  18. I hope you continue this series! It's one of the very best!

    Viz Media should be ashamed of themselves for miserly holding on to the licence and rights of all of Shirato's works, but never publishing the vast majority of them and letting the little they did publish go out of print - and yet sending out cease and desist letters to scanlation sites! Shame on them!

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  19. Any chance of seeing more of this translated? You guys did a really great job on the first 3 parts! This is really professional stuff

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