Dr. Trollove, or How I stopped worrying and loved the VN's
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Room101
Waifu Collector
encubed
Seems like the VN translators vs. companies Round 2 is on.
This time it's ~Pantsu wo Miseru koto, Sore ga...~ Daiuchuu no Hokori
Those who are interested in VN's probably already know of on-going C&D's against translation projects, started by foreign IP blocks on many producer's websites and minori's failed attempt at editing war, resulting in japanese IP block on TLWiki and creation of C&D wiki.
What differs this specific gem from all the rest, are the number of inconsistencies in letter, especially compared to other letter AkabeeSoft2 issued in the past. I'm not an expert on this, but the encubed article gives a brief rundown on it.
Additionally, the letter was recieved by head of only one translation project for one game. The TLWiki (which hosts the G-senjou no Mao project, which is specified in the letter) has so far received no C&D notice.
Which leads some (myself included) to wonder as to if this is work of exact company, or if this might be a work of more (most) radical, hard-line otaku, who had for some time viewed us, the western fans of VN's as "evil", especially with Diet going to debate, and presumably put restrictions on, Visual Novels, hentai and the like (the point which was actually raised by some Japanese themselves, even prior to RapeLay controversy, or whatever that was).it is entirely conceivable that they would be searching for projects to shutdown, as the letter specifies the "requests of users" as primary reason for C&D. What "users"? The only ones I can see to fall under the game category are gamers. Otherwise it would be "producers". If this really is the work of some otaku, then it's dickheadedness on the whole new level.
It's kind of sad really. I was hoping that more companies would go in the same way as NitroPlus, which seems genuinely interested in having at least some works published in the West, and has asked the fans for help in this.
So, what do you think?
I, for one, see this as "yet another in line". The Kara no Shoujo (the first project to get C&D) is still going on, only off the public radar, and the same can be said about one on AnimeNovel (which got the second C&D). And let's face it, BaldrEXE project seemed to stall for some time now. I'm more worried about G-sen, seeing as it's now under direct care of TLWiki (after old translation staff transferred project to them), and it remains to be seen as to how determined they'll be in releasing it. Although they are within 3-4 months of finishing it, so we might get it. Somehow.
On positive note, the ~Pantsu wo Miseru koto, Sore ga...~ Daiuchuu no Hokori will be continued.
Seems like the VN translators vs. companies Round 2 is on.
This time it's ~Pantsu wo Miseru koto, Sore ga...~ Daiuchuu no Hokori
Those who are interested in VN's probably already know of on-going C&D's against translation projects, started by foreign IP blocks on many producer's websites and minori's failed attempt at editing war, resulting in japanese IP block on TLWiki and creation of C&D wiki.
What differs this specific gem from all the rest, are the number of inconsistencies in letter, especially compared to other letter AkabeeSoft2 issued in the past. I'm not an expert on this, but the encubed article gives a brief rundown on it.
Additionally, the letter was recieved by head of only one translation project for one game. The TLWiki (which hosts the G-senjou no Mao project, which is specified in the letter) has so far received no C&D notice.
Which leads some (myself included) to wonder as to if this is work of exact company, or if this might be a work of more (most) radical, hard-line otaku, who had for some time viewed us, the western fans of VN's as "evil", especially with Diet going to debate, and presumably put restrictions on, Visual Novels, hentai and the like (the point which was actually raised by some Japanese themselves, even prior to RapeLay controversy, or whatever that was).it is entirely conceivable that they would be searching for projects to shutdown, as the letter specifies the "requests of users" as primary reason for C&D. What "users"? The only ones I can see to fall under the game category are gamers. Otherwise it would be "producers". If this really is the work of some otaku, then it's dickheadedness on the whole new level.
It's kind of sad really. I was hoping that more companies would go in the same way as NitroPlus, which seems genuinely interested in having at least some works published in the West, and has asked the fans for help in this.
So, what do you think?
I, for one, see this as "yet another in line". The Kara no Shoujo (the first project to get C&D) is still going on, only off the public radar, and the same can be said about one on AnimeNovel (which got the second C&D). And let's face it, BaldrEXE project seemed to stall for some time now. I'm more worried about G-sen, seeing as it's now under direct care of TLWiki (after old translation staff transferred project to them), and it remains to be seen as to how determined they'll be in releasing it. Although they are within 3-4 months of finishing it, so we might get it. Somehow.
On positive note, the ~Pantsu wo Miseru koto, Sore ga...~ Daiuchuu no Hokori will be continued.
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Seems to me like not even VN companies are sending C&D letters recently, even manga publishers are sending love letters to manga scanlator websites. Probably the new fad in Japan to stop piracy and stuff.
I'm thinking that this trend will probably continue on, there is nothing much to be done with legal issues, what I hope out in the end of this is, more and more translation companies like Mangagamer pops up.
If not, you can do the old learn-your-Japanese. Too many VNs are untranslated and english-only community will always be at least one year or two year behind the newest update of VNs.
If not, well, pray for fan-translations to survive.
I'm thinking that this trend will probably continue on, there is nothing much to be done with legal issues, what I hope out in the end of this is, more and more translation companies like Mangagamer pops up.
If not, you can do the old learn-your-Japanese. Too many VNs are untranslated and english-only community will always be at least one year or two year behind the newest update of VNs.
If not, well, pray for fan-translations to survive.
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yeah321 wrote...
Too many VNs are untranslated and english-only community will always be at least one year or two year behind the newest update of VNs.This brings up an interesting point.
Between the time it takes to translate a full game script, the time it takes to figure out a game's coding, the time it takes to replace the Japanese script with the English translation, and then the testing and finishing phase... It's at least a six-month gap between the start and finish of any game translation project, and that's if the game is non-branching and short, short, short.
What are game companies worried about, here, exactly? If it's sales - which I will assume it is - that's pointless. Most copies of VNs sell within the first year of publishing, not counting remakes and bonus packs. That's more than long enough to have turned a tidy profit off any release before a translation patch is finished.
Besides that... how would translation patches do anything but increase demand for the original games? I know piracy happens, but it's going to happen whether the game's translated or not. The only difference is whether a Japanese-illiterate is fapping to pictures and gobbledygook, or pictures and words they understand. On the other hand, determined fans who receive word-of-mouth about a new translation patch for a good VN are much more likely to order a copy of the original game online, or buy a copy at an anime convention, or something.
Opposition like this just doesn't make sense.
The only thing I can think of is that maybe it's a bunch of xenophobic otaku or group of misanthropic hikkikomori that are trying to deny a simple pleasure or two to somebody they don't know.