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Little Busters! (dango OR milkdango)

Little Busters!
リトルバスターズ!

Aaeru

Foreword Little Busters! is my favourite visual novel of all time. In fact, if it wasn’t for Little Busters getting the translation, I wouldn’t be where I am today – doing translations myself. That is why I cannot give enough credit to dango and his team for bringing this game into English.

Little Busters is… pure genius. For the people who think it’s trash, that simply means you are blind to the meritorious humour of Jun Maeda. If you ever take a closer look at his script, especially in the common route, you will be able to see how much excellent craziness he has infused into his writing. The characters are so endearing. The scenarios are so absurd. Every one of Jun Maeda’s designs follow an eroge archetype and yet they are not just archetypes. She is NOT just the tsundere childhood friend, she is Rin. Komari is not just Ms optimistic girl, she is bubbly-girl from a fairyland. So much thought has been put into this. If you have not played LB, please give it a try. It is KEY’s best work to date.

Interesting Tidbits
Well, I’m taking Mio’s route from here. I finished up around 500 out of the 5826 lines as of now. I’m planning on completing the whole thing by the end of November.”
“I don’t remember everything about the people who left the project and why they did so. Although, I think there’s one particular reason their retirement could be owed to: boredom… Eventually, they lost the passion and quit…”

dango’s Contact Details

http://tlwiki.tsukuru.info/index.php?title=Little_Busters!

Dango is a bit elusive. He is sometimes on IRC (#[email protected])
But the best way to go about contacting him is probably through twitter.

http://twitter.com/milkydango

The Interview

Interviewee: dango

dango

There’s something I have to tell you first; the answers below are all based on myself. I mean, any other teammate isn’t involved at all, so there could be a couple of perception gaps on the entire project between me and them. If you’re fine with that, then go ahead.

Are you one of the people that worked on the Common Route? Was there a reason why most of the team had moved on from the project. From the way  I understand it, you are one of the last few persons left in the project.

Yes, I worked on several days in the Common Route. Also, I gave a hand to help with translating many game images. Most of the days was worked on by silent, another translator of the team, though. And he is the one who finished up the Rin and Kurugaya routes.I’m pretty sure the project would have been much more delayed without him.

I don’t remember exactly about the people who left from the project and why they did so. Although, I think there’s one particular feeling which could have been owned by the retired guys: boredom. I suppose they joined the project with great passion at first, but they were gradually getting bored of reading and looking up a bunch of words written with the unfamiliar characters, katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Eventually, they lost the passion and quit. Why I think so? It’s because I experience it every once in a while. In my case, making English sentences is the trigger, since I’m Japanese. And that’s why I get so lazy sometimes 😛  Nevertheless, I appreciate all of them helping with the project, even for a short term.

Have you considered skipping the other routes and going straight to Refrain? I hear that is where the good part are.

Never. I think I should avoid telling you why not, because it could be a spoiler. If you still wanna know, then tell me.

And yes, Refrain is the best part of the whole game as you know. How so? Wait for the final patch to come up and experience it yourself 😀

I hear that the Komari patch is making progress nicely. Can you give a rough indication of an ETA for the patch for the fans?

As Phlebas mentioned on the IRC channel, it’s gonna take about a month tops until the release of the patch. But he sure is a fast and skilled worker, so it could be less longer than expected.

Well, I’m talking about Mio’s route from here. I finished up around 500 out of the 5826 lines as of now. I’m planning on completing the whole thing until the end of November. I hope I’m not busy with school stuff or laziness…

Chances are good that either of the two other translators gets their work done before me.

Are you looking for more people to help you out with the project?

At least I am not.

What is one aspect of the game you like the most about? Is it a certain character? A certain relationship?

I must say it’s friendship, the main theme of the game. To be more accurate, the one shared by the five childhood friends, Riki, Rin, Kyousuke, Kengo, and Masato. I burst into tears when I saw the ending part where you can find out how wonderful and beautiful their friendship is. No, true story. I’d really like as many people as possible to see it.

Do you value fan support? Or it doesn’t matter much to you?

Of course yes. I don’t know if I can call it support but…hearing fans talking about the game actually motivates me. Even complaining like “I’m so impatient for the next patch!” does. Fans themselves are big support to me.

Sorry about my poor English, but I really enjoyed all those questions you asked me. And thank you very much for getting me a chance to help with your project.

Big thanks to dango for his reply. This should be enough to at least get VDZ off his back for a few days. Much appreciated.

Tay

I'm the Fuwanovel community admin and a big fan of Visual Novels. The easiest way to get a hold of me is via a PM on the Fuwanovel Forums, by twitter (@ArchmageTay), or by email.

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13 years ago

[…] Gore Screaming Show G-Senjou no Maou Hakuoki ~Shinsengumi Kitan~ Ikusa Megami Zero Katahane Little Busters M&M Enchanting Magic & Sweet Charms Muv Luv Never 7 Niji no Kanata ni Osananajimi wa […]

nagiamatsu
nagiamatsu
13 years ago

Umm, well, I’m one of a big VN fans, and when I hear that there will be a translation of LB, I’m excited, very very excited 😀
and here I am, after reading the interview, I can say nothing other than big appreciation and two thumbs up for all of you (dango) and your team works. Plus, we all wants every VN fans to read this right? I mean, Little Busters! is amazing, so I kind of understand when you say everyone must see it.
Once again, thank you very much for the good job, and I’m supporting you guys! ~^__^~

also thank you for Aaeru for your hard work on interviewing them. This sure will be useful and will give lot’s of hope outside, I’m also rooting for you here~

oh, by the way, sorry for my bad english~ since I’m not a native speaker XD

KUSmurf
KUSmurf
13 years ago

This is great. I was kind of disappointed in not hearing much news at all about the LB translation and thought it had gone on some kind of hiatus, but hearing that you guys are still working hard is great news. Keep up the hard work and I’m really thankful for all you guys are doing. I’m excited to see some updates!

Anonymous
Anonymous
13 years ago

Thank you, dango. And all the people who worked and are currently working on the Little Busters! translation. I really loved the game so far, so much that I actually thought about using a machine translation to keep reading, but in the end, I decided that I would be patient and wait for you guys to finish your work. Good luck for the rest of the translation. And be aware that all of your fans aren’t English, yeah, here I am, in France. You brought Little Busters! to France. And I can never thank you enough for that. Oh well, and of course, I can never thank Key enough for creating such an awesome story.