Gyanki-Hen Volume 3 (last updated Apr.4)

After 3 months, it's time for some more Zero and there's some great chapters coming up ahead. The 100-card poker game wraps up nicely all in this volume so you won't have to worry about being left in a cliff-hanger this time.

Aww, it's dreaming.

Doushio, Zero-chan?

Well now you know!

Sakura's such a better sidekick than Zero's lame-ass friends in part 1.

She really could've made this a lot less inconspicuous.

Download:
Gyanki-Hen c017:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c018:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c019:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c020:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c021:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c022:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c023:   Mediafire
Gyanki-Hen c024:   Mediafire

Joe vs Rikiishi

I know it must have seemed like forever for some of you, but hopefully the climactic fight between Joe and Rikiishi is enough to make up for it. I won't make any further comments on the volume for now in case I accidentally spoil anyone so I'll just shut up here and give you the link.

Download:
Tomorrow's Joe v08 (batch volume):   Mediafire
Tomorrow's Joe v08-7 (last chapter in the volume):   Mediafire

Q.E.D.

At last, Mathematical Girls v2 is fully scanlated, meaning that I can add another one to my completed projects list. Although I initially picked this on a whim after being inspired by the graphic novel, Logicomix, I'm glad I did as I've become more familiar with Japanese mathematics terminology as a result. Although the second volume was a little lacking in the delicious mathematical double entendres that made the first volume so enjoyable, I felt it was nonetheless a good conclusion, especially with the unique-prime-factorization theorem encountered in v1 being used to prove the infinitude of primes.

Now I've been informed that this manga has been licensed by Bento Books, the same publisher who released the English-translation of the Math Girls novel by Yuuki Hiroshi (which I haven't bought yet but am planning to). So not to sound like an ad or anything, this is a great chance to show companies that niche stuff can sell as well so I hope some of you will go and buy the book and/or the manga when it's released. I'm not sure if they have plans for releasing the sequel manga-adaptations (each done by a different mangaka) but if not, perhaps I'll get to it in the distant future. For now, I've got other project that require my immediate attention.

Oh, some minor translation notes I should mention. I couldn't really think of anything better so I ended up going with "partition" for the slightly slang-word for divide that the protagonist uses in the original Japanese. I still think its meaning in the last chapter more or less gets across but the pun involving the chicken on page 163 doesn't. Also, I'm pretty sure Milka calls Euler her master in reference to Laplace's quote, "Read Euler, read Euler. He is the master of us all."

Download:
Mathematical Girls v1:   Mediafire
Mathematical Girls v2:   Mediafire
Mathematical Girls c14:   Mediafire

Mathematical Girls Volume 2

Well, after over a month of my intended promise to finish this manga, it's time I get off my ass and actually finish it (hopefully before the end of next week). The math in this volume will mostly be sequence/series stuff so I hope you enjoy it.

Some other minor status updates:
Zero v3 is set to come out in Japan Mar. 16 so raws should be out shortly after that. As for Joe, I just finished translating the rest of v8 so the full volume should probably be out before the end of next week, I think. Lastly, I'll get working on the next Sangokushi once Math Girls is done.

Chapter 9 is now out. By the way, you can see an alternative geometric proof of the relationship between arithmetic and geometric means of two numbers here. 

Wouldn't such a statement have to assume that space is finite? Or could space be infinite but the number of stars finite?

Can you spot the mistaken assumption with the protag's line of logic?

Forgive me for this lame pun.

Download:
Mathematics Girls c008:   Mediafire
Mathematics Girls c009:   Mediafire
Mathematics Girls c010:   Mediafire
Mathematics Girls c011-012:   Mediafire
Mathematics Girls c013:   Mediafire

Historie c74

What, the triremes aren't mere sketches!? Damn, I guess Iwaaki's really getting fired u-
>no chapter next month

Oh well, at least this arc's a lot of fun to read. Makes me want to wish for Rome 2 TW already so I can have fun ramming triremes too. On the matter of Vinland Saga, there's no chapter this month. Something about his family catching the flu I think according to his twitter.

*Note: I've accidentally titled the historie chapter as Siege of Two Cities part 5, when it should be part 6. It's too minor of a mistake for me to care and fix it so bear with it.

Download:
Historie c74:   Mediafire

Farewell, Franken Fran

Here they are, chapters 60 and 61 of Franken Fran. I wanted to get this out by yesterday to coincide with my 3rd-year anniversary as a scanlator, but real life unfortunately got in the way. As I said before, chapter 61 is unfortunately the last chapter of Franken Fran. I'll withhold myself from spoiling anything, but I will say that like the ending of Black Jack, it lacks a certain oomph that episodic series ought to have in their end. In any case, Franken Fran v8 is set to come out in Japan on the 20th of this month, so hopefully it won't be too long until I can get scans to translate the little extra that Kigitsu puts at the end. We probably won't get an actual omake chapter, since I would assume the space for that is taken by the 2nd Phase20 oneshot but one can always hope.

In other news, Kigitsu isn't going to be slacking around as she's getting right into her next new series titled "Hasami-Onna" (Scissors-woman) which'll start in next- No wait, actually I think it's this month's issue of Champion Red. Perhaps that in itself might imply Kigitsu put an end to Franken Fran as she had other ideas she wanted to try but not have it constrained by the usual format of Franken Fran. But I can't say anything for certain until I see what her new manga will be like.

Oh, and to those who want to ask me if I'll pick up her new manga, my answer is no (for the time being) since I want to give additional focus to finishing up Joe. So if you're a translator and you like Kigitsu, hopefully you'll take the initiative. If not, I'll probably come back to it once I finish Joe.

Note: Apparently, I'm a fucking retard who never bothered to check up his sources because Kigitsu is actually a man (like everyone thought before being told otherwise). I don't know where I initially heard this from and even mangaupdates (though I guess that's not a very reliable database at all) had his gender listed as female. In any case, I've learned my lesson to always check sources first.

Download:
Franken Fran c60:   Mediafire
Franken Fran c61:   Mediafire

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

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

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

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