Historie 103 and 104

Since I didn't do the Feb issue for Historie, here's a double release of Historie chapters, 103 and 104! With the would-be assassin's short introduction done, looks like the real fun is about to start with Olympias. It's gonna be painful waiting until June after this cliffhanger. Careful readers will note that the Eumenes' knife appears to be that of Eurydice's attendant.

Download:
Historie 103:   Mega
Historie 104:   Mega

Some Thoughts About Empires and Emperors

Empire (noun): Government-rank requiring at least 1000 development

What does an empire and pornography have in common? They're both hard to define, yet we all think we know one when we see one. Games such as EU4 and CK2 offer extremely simplified definitions that an empire must be ruled by an emperor, and it must be at least thiiiis big, which draw from a conventional idea that an empire should mean "a sovereign government ruling over multiple political societies." But then you have the academics come and scoff at the imprecision of such a definition. For instance, where do we draw the line at distinguishing significant "political societies?" Does a single city that has its own political identity and community count? And what does "ruling over" mean? Does it refer to only 100% control or is it compatible with large local autonomy? If state A exercises economic but not political control over state B, is B a part of A's empire? If state A gives freedom to state B on running domestic affairs, but partially limits its decision-making in foreign affairs, is B a part of A's empire?

Meanwhile, in more sophisticated academic definitions of empire, the empire is defined simply to aid in categorization for modern-day scholars rather than taking into account how peoples in the past have historically understood the term. So I thought it would be fun to point out ways in which both "empires" and "emperors" have been understood historically in Europe and East Asia that might run counter to common definitions today. It's not a topic that gets a lot of attention in popular history, so hopefully I'll cover stuff you hadn't considered before.

Some Thoughts on a Decade as a Scanlator

Let's see if I can go another 10 years before YHWH give me arthritis or some shit.

I wasn't planning on this post, but a 10 year-anniversary literally doesn't come every year, so allow me to ramble a bit today about my thoughts on the past 10 years as a scanlator.

Some Thoughts About Wombs

Chapter 42 and the epilogue are now out, meaning that Wombs is fully scanlated into English after about 1.5 years! *pats Happyscans and myself on the back* Really though, I should thank that one anon on /a/ who told me I seriously needed to check Wombs out back in early 2016, because without him, I would have overlooked this last gem serialized in Monthly Ikki before its unfortunate passing in 2014 (RIP).

Shirai Yumiko pictured upon receiving the Nihon SF Taishou Award

And that's just not my hot opinions talking, because Shirai Yumiko received the 37th Nihon SF Taishou Award for Wombs in 2017. That award means a fair bit, because it's the general category that is competing with not just sci-fi manga, but sci-fi fiction in general. So in honour of that, here's my little commentary on Wombs.

Download:
Wombs c42+Epilogue:   Mega
Wombs v5:   Mega
All previous volumes:   Mega

Historie 102

Ugh, if only these chapters could come out monthly instead of every other month...

Download:
Historie c102:   Mega

Past and Present - 02/2018 (last updated Feb. 1)

You may not like it but this is what peak best-girl looks like.

Like with my scanlation activity, Past and Present was shoved way back into my list of priorities, but here I go again. To be honest, at the moment, I'm reading more academic papers than I am following current events so don't expect me to comment on a lot of the big news stories.

Once again, just a warning about possible uneducated/unqualified opinions. Don't take me as some super trustworthy commentator, because I'm not.

Some Thoughts on Creating Modernity from Antiquity

"Ancient Wisdom." It's a term that really only gets taken seriously in areas related to new age medicine, spiritual health, diets, or other hippie-ish shit that I disdain. But from a wider historical perspective, it is a bit sad to see how little we care for ancient wisdom or antiquity in general. That's not to say I'm some luddite or nostalgiafag, but I am fascinated by how much "Antiquity" occupied the minds of past peoples. There was once a time — a time long before it was considered normal to buy a new smartphone after just paying off your last phone's payment plans — when "Antiquity" meant legitimacy, truth, and wisdom. I write antiquity here as "Antiquity" because in an age before sophisticated archaeological and historiographical analyses, popular conceptions of antiquity were more imagined than real. Such imagined constructions of "Antiquity" allowed for new interpretations and ideas, while called a revival at the time, would actually inch society closer to modernity. And it's on this point I just wanted to share some fun examples today.

Wombs v5 (complete)

Final volume of Wombs. I plan to get it done before March and have a Some Thoughts post to accompany the ending.

Another eventful chapter. Things will get increasingly intense from hereon until the end.

I guess this answers why the Seconds haven't been able to unlock the transfer-tech.

Good to see the gang back together again.

Oh shit!

F.

Of all the twists possible, I definitely didn't expect this one.

Just two chapters and the epilogue left!

The last chapter and the epilogue will be released together, maybe a week from now, possibly a little later. Released here.

Download:
Wombs c33:   Mega
Wombs c34:   Mega
Wombs c35:   Mega
Wombs c36:   Mega
Wombs c37:   Mega
Wombs c38:   Mega
Wombs c39:   Mega
Wombs c40:   Mega
Wombs c41:   Mega
Wombs c42+Epilogue:   Mega
Wombs v5:   Mega
All previous volumes:   Mega

End of Year Status Update

Since I've received a few emails regarding my status, this post is just to let people know that I'm fine and have not dropped out from the scanlation scene. Considering it's an 8 year-old hobby that I've grown quite fond of, I honestly think I'll be scanlating manga until I develop arthiritis or some shit that would make it very painful to do so. That being said, the latter half of 2017 has been rather hectic for me, hence the severe lack of releases. There were quite a few history-related book posts I also intended to do, but those got shelved too due to lack of time.

On the upside, I should have more free time in the first half of 2018 to make up for it (most likely, 2 releases for most weeks). So with that, I'll wish people happy holidays since this will be my final post for 2017 (that means I'll be doing the chapters for Historie and a certain other manga in the beginning of January).

Historie c101

I swear I'm still busy but I managed to find enough time to squeeze out a chapter. Enjoy.

Download:
Historie c101:   Mega