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Visual Novel Translation Status (06/25/2016)

This week’s header image comes from our FIVE releases: (left to right) Majikoi A (1 + 2) (Patch); My Little Kitties (Steam);  Labyrinth of Grisaia (Steam); ChuSingura 46+1 (Steam); and The Orchard of Stray Sheep (Steam).

There are but two things you must know before you read on: 1) Decay is a monster for removing Fata from the list last week; and 2) I’ve listened to John Denver the entire time this VNTS post was written. Are there any John Denver fans out there? Hello? Anyone?

Anyway! Welcome to our weekly VNTS (Visual Novel Translation Status) series, in which we track visual novel translation updates in-house (we don’t rely on /jp/ posts on 4ch, for example) and post it for your enlightenment and enjoyment each Saturday. If you find any errors, or you think a project is missing from this list, please let me know in the comments.

The Short Version: Only the New Stuff

New Releases

Removed This Week

All the Game Updates:

Fan Translation Projects

Fan Translation Projects

[wpdatatable id=157]
JAST USA Projects

JAST USA (Updates; Archive)

[wpdatatable id=158]
Other
  • Starless – Script check 10%, added new mosaic to fix list.
MangaGamer Projects

MangaGamer (Updates)

[wpdatatable id=159]
Other
  • Rance 5D, Rance VI, and Rance Quest fan translations on hold in anticipation of potential official release by MangaGamer.
Sekai Project Projects

Sekai Project (Update Page)

These percentages should be seen as vague indicators of progress, and are not entirely accurate due to a variety of reasons.

[wpdatatable id=160]
Other
  • Here’s a handy link to sort Sekai Project’s Steam releases by release date: link
Misc. Projects

Other Projects

[wpdatatable id=161]

Funny-Commentary-Section

— Commentary Section —

Zakabox™ Commentary

「My god, that new header picture looks terrible. I suppose it does have three people in it. I am also holding an instrument capable of inflicting bodily harm, so I guess that’s a good thing (´・ω・`)

AstralAir’s editing is keeping pace with the translation, though of course, there may be second or third passes of both kinds. I’ve heard it’s a bit on the inconclusive side for some things, but apparently a fandisc is (finally) coming out late this year. I’ve also heard that Favorite’s previous title, Irotoridori no Sekai, feels incomplete without its own FD – so maybe AstralAir’s will set things right? In any case, it’s a good thing the guy translating IroSeka at the moment has said he’s doing the fandisc too.

Da Capo III’s translation, slaved away at by Kouryuu for god knows how many months, is finally done. I think it was supposed to be done last year (or the year before?) at some point, but I guess things don’t always work out the way you want them to. I wonder what he’s moving on to now. Probably a nukige, rip 😛

Chusingura’s demo being at least passable surprised quite a few of us, though whether it reflects the original in quality of writing I don’t know. I… guess we’ll have to see whatever the guys running the translation do to surprise us next.

Dare Ka ga Koi Shita Hankagai ~Butterfly Loved the Street~ has a very long title in need of localization. I wonder what they’ll put it as… as for the actual novel, the one opinion on it I’ve seen was basically “it’s decent” from what I remember. Something perhaps not so decent would be The Orchard of Stray Sheep, though I’m not sure if anyone but the two people of 3 (the one positive review, which is in Japanese, calls it a kamige – at which point I immediately felt unable to take it seriously) giving it negative reviews actually read it. Apparently the ending is inconclusive and there’s no sequel in sight, not to mention the translation not reading all that well from what I’ve seen, so uhh might want to wait on this one.

Love, Guitars, and Blue Ski- the Nashville Skyline’s translation is almost finished. Nevertheless, Highway Blossoms did beat it to the punch quite neatly in the yuri-roadtrip genre. Yes, that’s a genre now.

Speaking of yuri, I’m happy Ne no Kami’s IGG campaign went well. If it has the approval of a guy who wrote a hanahira fanfic kamige, it can’t be bad.

Meikyuu is a big release, but like some others I’ll be holding off on it until Rakuen’s out since I’ve heard it ends on a major cliffhanger. Oh, and also the version with the porn and no censored jokes in it and stuff not being around yet is a thing too.

Majikoi A-1 is probably the biggest thing I don’t care about at all, not having read Majikoi nor really having any interest in doing so. Judging by the amount of reactions we got to our tweet about the tl patch though, there are plenty of people who would disagree with me.

Oh, and there’s that My Little Kitties thing too I guess. Not even one screenshot on vndb other than the title screen, originally in Korean… I guess it might be cute given the description.

Oh, and there’s this lengthy super yuri scene in my otomege right now and idk how to feel about this right now. Gosh darn it, watajuu.」

Decay’s Musings

Congratulations to Kouryuu for somehow not killing himself in his quest to translate all of Da Capo 3 before Anime-Expo! Da Capo is a series that doesn’t have a lot of vocal fans here and in related communities, but it’s a series I rather enjoy. They were basically the first moege-ish VNs I read, and I still think that at least 2 was one of the better ones.

I believe a lot of people dropped 1 and never picked up 2. To be honest, I never 100%ed 1 either, it got pretty dang boring at times. But the level of improvement 2 brought was honestly rather intense. It was markedly better in practically every single way. It wasn’t exactly a top-tier game or anything, but I’m still rather fond of it none-the-less. I heard that 3 brought an even further, similar jump in quality and now I actually can’t wait to give it a shot. Here’s hoping the tech work and QA goes quickly. And some further good news, Circus plans no future additions to Da Capo 3, so there won’t be any expanded versions that MangaGamer will inexplicably refuse to bring over, hurray! No, I’m not still bitter or anything.

And yay, five more releases! Most of them are pretty major, too! Major props to the Maji Translations team for releasing A-1. I think I’d consider myself a reasonable Majikoi fan. I’m not one many superfans that this community seems full of, but I liked the original a fair bit and even liked a good amount of S, although it was admittedly not as good. My main gripe with S was that it tried to do too much. It had too many characters, and the narrative became too muddled trying to juggle them with the old cast. It also spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on side-characters instead of the main ones. And yeah, a lot of that content really was nukige-tier.

Fortunately, A-1 knows exactly what it is and doesn’t seem to outstretch its bounds. I read the Sayaka route a while back, and it was charming and entertaining in a way that most of S failed to be, and apparently it was the worst route! Overall opinion on A seems very positive, especially in comparison to S, so I really should get on that eventually. Actually, I have to finish S’s true route, first…

And Grisaia! That’s the one I’m currently playing. I decided that I didn’t want to wait for the 18+ version, since it’s apparently months out. I’ve heard mixed reports on the censorship in the Steam version. Some say it’s really minor and is being overblown. Herkz, the editor himself, says that it tones down a lot of the sexual humor, but it’s still hard to get a good idea of exactly how severe and prominent that is. Where I’m at, there’s been plenty of references to sex and even prostitution, so they didn’t Moenovel it or anything.

I won’t call this a butchering, but do be aware that this is basically the version that Frontwing made to be sold on the Vita, and Sony has even harsher restrictions than Valve does with Steam. On one hand, there will be modifications that are normally unnecessary for a Steam release, and on the other hand they were done by Frontwing themselves, so you can be reasonably assured that it’s still more or less a game the original creators are happy with you playing.

And finally, allow me to plug something that wasn’t on our list, VA-11 Hall-A. If I wasn’t playing Labyrinth of Grisaia right now I’d be playing the hell out of this instead. It looks great, the prologue demo I played several months ago and fun, snappy dialogue, and everything I’ve heard about it since its release has been really positive. It seems to be doing really well, I’m proud of the of the dev team and what they accomplished. It’s sort of a borderline VN, but many of us still do consider it one, which would make it one of the best EVNs ever released. Give it a shot!



TAYsteful™ Thoughts

Please stay tuned: I’ll be posting about a fascinating back-and-forth I had with my troll (remember him? See my commentary section in this post). Really interesting stuff. Hope you like it! Have a good week, everybody!

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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Dino
Dino
7 years ago

you say majikoi a1 + a2 is released, however to my knowledge only a1 is out? Maji Translations hasn’t even begun a2 yet following their status page atleast. Anyway, besite that i really appreciate you updating us weekly. Cheers for gathering this for us weekly really love it.

Decay
Reply to  Dino
7 years ago

Our bad, this was likely just a slip-up when copy and pasting the names from the table to the post proper.

Kuujster
Kuujster
7 years ago

Super hype about DCIII progress! Also MajiKoi A1 did surpass my every expectations. It’s -wonderful-. Couldn’t however bring myself to getting Meikyuu, the idea of getting the title twice, despite them being in different age bracket doesn’t appeal to me.

Thank you for the updates!

Brian Dandi
Brian Dandi
7 years ago

It’s not Inori, but Hikari from Hanasaki Work Spring! Translation mate

Kirashi
Kirashi
7 years ago

What is the header image in the zaka commentary?

Decay
Reply to  Kirashi
7 years ago

I…. actually didn’t see that until just now. Looks like I’m getting awfully frisky with Zakamutt here. Gee, Tay, we’re friendly, but not THAT friendly! After some investigation, it seems to be from this: https://vndb.org/v7794

Kirashi
Kirashi
Reply to  Decay
7 years ago

Aha xD
Thank you

Katie
Katie
Reply to  Tay
7 years ago

I love it! Tay’s like, “If I don’t look at them, I won’t have to deal with them.”

TrickZZter
TrickZZter
7 years ago

And you forgot about Limited Operations… again.
https://vndb.org/v18563

Decay
Reply to  TrickZZter
7 years ago

Is that even a VN? Well, it’s on VNDB, but… every time I look at it, it seems like it’s a pretty normal strategy game with dialogue interludes.

TrickZZter
TrickZZter
Reply to  Decay
7 years ago

It is a VN. Just likeEien no Aselia and Seinarukana.

Anonymousposter
Anonymousposter
7 years ago

Ah, Da Capo 3, The game that shaped fuwanovels future forever….

littleshogun
littleshogun
7 years ago

Sorry a little late, but here’s my VNTS Review for this week.

http://forums.fuwanovel.net/blogs/entry/1289-la-fin-du-monde-review/

By the way, admin Tay here mistaken Hikari for Inori. The reall progress here would be Hikari’s route was 16% translated.

Mochisato
Mochisato
7 years ago

i must say i’m really interested in the lovely *cough* salty troll opinion about the grand otome conspiracy

GonnaRead
GonnaRead
7 years ago

I already finished Majikoi-A1 since I follow the site and was reeeeeeeeeeeally ansious about this VN.
I really liked the stories and think both Minatosoft and Maji Translations did a terrific job. However I didn’t really agree with the A’s characters choices. Like Sayaka, Homura, Takae and Mon after. Sayaka and Homura is more personal taste though, I enjoyed Sayaka’s Story but my viewpoint is that these routes are services to lolli fans. Takae never appeard in game series that I remember of and has like 5min “pre-route” on S probably because of the anime. Mon’s route I think that the conclusion really fit and I don’t know what else they could do in that route other then service. I think character like Cookie, Margit, Koyuki and Tatsuko are good choices(However Tatsuko didn’t have a chance on A). I think Cookie’s route will be by far the funniest, Margit’s route is going to have a chance to have a real story(on S it’s basicaly a porn diary) and I would like to see the developing of Yamato with Tatsuko or if he ends with another of the sisters or keeps the 3 of them. Also the “Future with the Kazama Family” could easily become a route. And last but not least poor Koyuki, basically a minor character on her own route, they really should have done a development for her wich in my opinion is the hottest girl on the series.

nos4r2
nos4r2
Reply to  GonnaRead
7 years ago

imo those A serie the good one are Seiso,Yoshitsune,Monshiro/Margit after,Benkei,Lee&Stacy,Takae

Especially yoshitsune&seiso it my favourite by far yotshitsune provide much more background story for the clone the downside probably just yamato did something out of his character ( not that bad just not used to it )

and you can get threesome ending too!

Zakamutt
7 years ago

I just realized the first character of the grill he put one of the art references I gave him a while ago on top of has its given name start with the character for “Sweden” (and Switzerland, god damn it). Well played, sir, well played.

Also, I’m a trap protagonist. I’m not sure how to feel about this, but I think I approve overall.

Nosebleed
Nosebleed
7 years ago

Holy crap DC3 100% translated… is this real life?

MagusFyre
MagusFyre
7 years ago

Hate to be that guy to ask but… Anyone have any idea or where to look to know if Grisaia no Meikyuu 18+ version is being translated?

Decay
Reply to  MagusFyre
7 years ago

It is being translated, and will be released officially by Sekai Project’s sister-brand Denpasoft. We don’t have a solid timeline yet other than more than a month, they said they’ll give us more info after AnimeExpo (which is next weekend).

Ryechu
7 years ago

You guys forgot about One Small Fire at a Time 🙁

Decay
Reply to  Ryechu
7 years ago

We don’t really cover unaffiliated EVNs. It’s a little bit arbitrary, but this is a translation update series first and foremost, and then we cover the major localization company’s EVNs along the way because we already cover everything else they do. We couldn’t even begin to cover every single indie EVN that’s in development, they are way too numerous for us.

XReaper
Reply to  Decay
7 years ago

but wasnt “one small fire at a time” done in cooperation by culture select & mangagamer? either way it´s a great & meaningful read, at least i felt that way.

Kud
Kud
7 years ago

a lot of people would much rather not know that there is a cliffhanger

SaintMiko
SaintMiko
7 years ago

“AstralAir – TL: 88.83% > 92.50% (Link); Edit: 88.83% > 95.50%”

Isn’t edit supposed to be 92.50%? Having more edited than translated is weird…

Giri
Giri
7 years ago

Ah, DC2. The VN that really showed me how poorly some VN’s are written, and how good others are.

One of the typical flaws of writing in VN’s is character focus, more specifically how in certain VN’s (read: most moege) that once you’ve been stuck onto a certain character’s route, all the other characters and their problems magically ‘vanish’ into thin air. I bring up DC2 because of two routes that are easy to use for examples of doing this differently and pretty well. Anzu and Minatsu’s routes. Unsurprisingly the routes are written by the same person. In these routes it’s less of a problem the MC solves for the girl, and more like a group of friends coming together and dealing with the problem while providing their own quirks and changes. Still enough focus on that girl and MC, but not enough that other characters are forgotten. (Avoiding details that may spoil the story) Of course many other popular VN’s feature this sort of story telling (one example being Majikoi regular), it’s just this is the game that I realized that this was a problem that other VN’s had.

tl;dr DC2 has vivid, fun characters that don’t disappear in character routes, and is really worth your time even if you haven’t read DC1. /rant