Lurker > barnnn

Ah, right. Arifureta anime actually announced this time.

https://twitter.com/ARIFURETA_info/status/936935604138295296
https://arifureta.com/news/news-95/

Hmm, good thing you're enjoying it. Been playing a bit of the original Xenoblade over here, while waiting for the MH World beta test. I've already beaten it and all, but it still feels pretty nice to go back in and mess around after some time.

And about depression, I'm really not sure how to approach it, to be honest. Pretty sensitive subject and all.
I do think more people need to understand that it's not simple as "getting over" it though.

You know, I might have jumped on it at launch as well if I had a Switch. It's one of my top most wanted game for the system at the moment. Still want a port of Xenoblade X too, as unlikely as there will be one.

Anyway, just knew that Violet Evergarden is fully translated. Shinigami is still about a week away until it's delivered, so I might read this next after finishing Tabi ni Deyou.

https://dennou-translations.tumblr.com/post/159331691639/violet-evergarden-novel-index

Happy birthday TC.

Been going through some more LN samples and Shinigami no Ballad caught my interest, so I just ordered the first volume. Apparently the English release stopped at volume 3 though.

Hmm, maybe he might like some of the simpler shonen stuff. Like Shaman King or Fullmetal Alchemist.
I kinda want to recommend Oyasumi Punpun or Demon's Destruction just to mess with him though, but I'm still not sure if they'll get any kind of reaction out of him.

Huh, for someone who claims to be critical of literature, it's strange that he doesn't see what Koe no Katachi has going on, especially when it's not even that subtle.

legendarylemur posted...

barnnn posted...

Finished Kino 21. Good stuff as always, I'd say.

But with my backlog cleared, now I'm not sure what to read next. Hmm...

Lul I guess the thing I appreciate the most about Kino as a character is her ability to find the good in flawed or questionable towns. I think she's a bit self-righteous at times, that she takes the matter into her own hands a bit too frequently. But I guess she also never claims she's gonna be an observer

Well, seeing beauty in a world that is not beautiful is one of the series' main concepts, so there's that.

As for Kino, I guess I see her as someone who tries to take a neutral stance and is driven by curiosity, but can be impulsive at times. She actually doesn't take action often, but the new anime's early episodes (2-4, to be exact) might give a different impression.

Finished Kino 21. Good stuff as always, I'd say.

But with my backlog cleared, now I'm not sure what to read next. Hmm...

Well, the people are indeed open. The general consensus is that the TV censorship law is very outdated. At least the home video releases aren't affected though.

And about the cleft chin, I think it only happened in only one or two broadcasts? The Ikkyu-san anime is very well-known in Thailand, and I don't remember actually seeing the character's chin being censored.

Hmm. Pixiv did a cover on otaku culture in Thailand.
The part about TV broadcast censorship is so true that it hurts.

https://www.pixivision.net/en/a/3033

You know, that "dancing and fighting in sync" sounds like one of the Evangelion episodes. The one where Shinji and Asuka practiced dancing to fight an Angel that has two cores.
Scenes like that also pop up in some Kamen Rider and Ultraman shows, if I remember correctly.

Anyway, I've been finishing up Cross Soul for the last few days. It was good, albeit a bit goofy at some points. The hunter character count so far is the lowest among the whole novel series, but it's pretty nice seeing non-hunter characters getting some more spotlight (other than in the original series).
I'm not sure if there'll be more to it though, since the second volume had a pretty conclusive ending, and the launch of MH World is right around the corner. Here's hoping there's a Valphalk volume if they continue it.

And... I just remembered that I haven't been ordering new Log Horizion volumes. I'll probably buy Volume 9 before catching up on the rest, since it's only arc that was heavily abridged in the anime.

Well, that's what I thought. I'm in no rush though, so if there aren't any decent deals I'll just wait a bit longer.

Anyway, Kino Episode 6 wasn't quite as "heavy" as I expected. (But that's probably for the better, really)
Turned out way better than I expected as well, considering that the "main" part is from a chapter that I don't really like.

Welp, Kino Volume 21 is finally out digitally. Time to get reading.

Now that I look at it again, there's actually quite a lot of games I want for the Switch now.
Maybe I should see if there are any deals out there for the holidays.

Ah, right. I still have Shieldbro on my reading list as well. Kinda busy lately though. I don't even have the time to finish up MH Cross Soul and Tabi ni Deyou.

C_Pain posted...

This is a pretty niche topic. You guys are true weebs. I say this as a compliment.

Well... what kept me reading stuff was probably that one time I imported LNs, really. Those stuff I bought were super good, which kinda rekindled my interest in LNs other than the ones I was following at the time.
I would've moved on to other things otherwise, I think. I don't even follow anime and manga that much anymore.

Yeah, no actual romance as of Volume 20. (Which reminds me... I'm still waiting for the digital release of Volume 21)
There's been plenty of chapters where Kino breaks her character though, I think. Not in the "romance" way, but it's usually when she has to deal with something totally unexpected or super weird.

Killing people (almost always for self defense) is also the norm for her, I'd say. Happens in most if not all volumes.
Also, a good chunk of the chapters chosen for both the old and new anime are ones with action, so you'll see a lot more no-action stories in the LN which show more sides of Kino's character.

Speaking of which, I also have a translation of another Kino chapter. This one is a special chapter not in the main LN, and is actually that unexpected story in Episode 5 I spoke of.
Translation should be pretty crude though, since it was done in one sitting.

http://barnnn.blogspot.com/2017/11/kinos-journey-visual-novel-2.html

Huh, Kino's Journey Episode 5 actually included an unannounced story as part of the episode, albeit only "half" of it. Pretty unexpected.

Most of the LNs story is original material, Id say. The game only has some hints presented in the maps, items, and NPCs, but most of the known story elements of the game are fan interpretations.

Theres even a disclaimer in the novel that its just the authors take and doesnt invalidate other fan theories just because its official.

Hmm. So J-Novel Club's new license hints "Not actually a part of the nasu-verse" "You won't want it to end" and "Stop flicking it " turned out to be Yume Nikki.

Can't believe I missed it, especially with the third hint.

Cookie Bag posted...

barnnn posted...

Huh, the first quarter of Tabi ni Deyou Chapter 1 is kinda like a better version of Final Fantasy XV's "opening" scene. Good stuff.

Bar's really low when it comes to FFXV though

Not when it comes to the opening "car push" though.

Huh, the first quarter of Tabi ni Deyou Chapter 1 is kinda like a better version of Final Fantasy XV's "opening" scene. Good stuff.

Well, not that this type of scene is uncommon, but the those two are very similar in style. And it's what came to mind since it's the most recent, I guess.

Welp, I just dug out my cartridge of Stardust Accelerator and played it some. The deck I had on is a lot worse than I remember. It's just a random mashup of high attack monsters and some simple trap/spells, so to speak. Wonder how I cleared the main story with it in the first place.

Also, I searched some Japanese sites for recommended short LNs and this came up. Looks pretty interesting.

https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Tabi_ni_Deyou,_Horobiyuku_Sekai_no_Hate_Made

Hmm, two (or three?) of the DS games also had (apparently) a slightly different version on 5D's story, if I remember correctly. I only completed one of them and liked what I saw.

And speaking of games, I just came across some videos of the PS2 Kino's Journey VN.
It's a selection of chapters from the novels with a few more illustrations and narrated by the 2003 anime cast, so to speak.

This one chapter of the game really stood out though, with the chibi characters and the illustrations showing a lot more of the characters' actions compared to other chapters.

The humorous illustrations and sound effects really give a significantly different tone to the story when compared to just reading the text.



The novel chapter:
https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Kino_no_Tabi:Volume6_Chapter7

I've never watched any of it other than the first episode of 5D's, I think.

I did play some of the DS games though. The monster cards having in-battle sprites were pretty cool.

The end credits say Answer Studio and CoMix Wave Films.

They're the studios that made Shinkai's anime films, if I remember correctly. His stuff are super pretty to look at, that's for sure.

Well... it's about high school students studying up for their entrance exams, who enroll in a mail tutoring service that the PV advertises.
Known for its visuals courtesy of Makoto Shinkai and music courtesy of Yanagi Nagi. And for not being a full-length anime of some kind, apparently.

Here's the PV, from the official channel.

So today I learned that the Cross Road anime PV had a novel. I was surprised, to be honest.
I never thought there'd be anything more to it, since the PV was just an advertisement of a tutoring service.

https://goo.gl/psytLX

Including Shizu's crew, there are three groups of recurring characters. I'm not sure if the other two are going to be in for more than one episode each though, assuming that the series is going to be 1-cour.

And yeah, SMTV is looking good. Wonder what they'll do with Tokyo this time. I really liked how it was in IV, navigation difficulties aside.

Welp, I couldn't sleep so I translated the prologue and epilogue (aka 4 pages) of Kino's Journey Volume 1. They were both in the new anime's first episode, so it took only ten or so minutes to get done.

They're just small "excerpts" for the sake of comparing to the official release, so to speak.
The two versions really are a lot different from each other, especially when putting the author's prologue-epilogue style into consideration.

http://barnnn.blogspot.com/2017/10/kinos-journey-volume-1-prologue.html
http://barnnn.blogspot.com/2017/10/kinos-journey-volume-1-epilogue.html

They're the parts that I have the most problem translating, honestly. I just don't really know how to deal with them sometimes.

Well... I finally got to finish MH Volume 3 Chapter 1. The author went real crazy with the run-on sentences in this chapter.

https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Monster_Hunter:Volume3_Chapter1

Yeah, it's really weird. The writing was overhauled to read more like a western novel and terminology were americanized, but the title was kept as "Kino no Tabi".

They also added connections/references to other chapters in the volume as well, which were either pretty funny but unnecessary, or just flat out wrong when considering the Japanese version's future volumes.

Hmm. So I found a copy of Kino's Journey, and it is indeed heavily edited when compared to the original Japanese text.

The main plot and most details were kept intact and all, but it's been changed to the point that it's more of a complete rewrite than a translation. Pretty weird that they'd alter the content so much, for an official release, no less.

Assuming that one has never read the original Japanese version or translations that were faithful to it, the English release is certainly a good read. But for me, it comes off as something like a fanfic, as much as I don't want to call it that.

Well, I'm not too bothered by the fixed team, to be honest. I did complete the first game, so with Millennium Girl I'm just basically replaying it with a new team and more story, so to speak.

I was also playing some other dungeon crawlers on Vita at the time, so maybe that's why I stopped.

On another note, I just went on /r/anime and saw one particular comment about the official English LN release of Kino's Journey being quite heavily edited. Maybe I'll track down a copy of this release for the sake of comparisons. Its price on Amazon is pretty high, being out of print and stuff.

I've been eyeing EOV since the announcement, but in the end I put it off, since I'm not even nearly done with Millennium Girl yet. Maybe I should get back to it now, since there's nothing upcoming for me aside from (maybe) Yomawari and MH World.

But yeah, aside from the brutal difficulty (of at least the first game), EO isn't that dark. Maybe the comparisons were drawn from the "dungeon crawling" aspect and cute art style?

There are certain things that I like to re-read/watch, I'd say. In the case of manga, it's usually pages with great art or happy conclusion chapters.

About what you said about understanding and stuff, sometimes I wish I could see some things the way others do, really. There are a bunch of stuff that seem pretty cool when I heard about them from others, but my personal impression says otherwise.
No comments on it beyond that though.

By the way, I was laughing for a large portion of this new Pokemon Ultra trailer. Maybe it's the music.
This made me almost want it, to be honest. Almost.

Ah, right. I completely forgot that the English release of Flash Hunter manga Volume 10 came out about a week ago.

I know I already read it, but I'm really feeling the urge to pick it up for the sake of collection.

So... Kino Episode 2.

After seeing this, I can see most people preferring the old version's two-parter over this, but I actually like the new version more for the most part. Not because it's more faithful to the LN and/or the better animated main fight scene, but because of the reduced (what I considered to be) filler content and the more subdued craziness of the town and people.

The bike CG is a huge step up from the first episode as well, and the scenes from the LN that I wanted to see animated are all in.

Overall, I'd say that the two versions of the Colosseum chapter are both worth watching, because they offer different interpretations to the story that are interesting in their own way.

Kinos anime doesnt really have a rigid structure, at least in the old series. There were some episodes that cover 2-3 towns, and there was one town that got covered in two episodes. It kinda depends on the length of the LN chapters used.

The first episodes chapter was relatively tame in terms of eccentricity, but Id say that its a good selection for a first episode. From how I view it, it does well enough in establishing the direction of the series while keeping itself from being too heavy right off the bat.
One thing I liked about this chapter is that the people are actually self aware of their eccentric culture, which is not something thats often seen in well-off towns in the series. Makes it feel more like some place on earth than a fantasical society.

The new series second episode is going to be the Colosseum, which was the 2-parter of the old series, and Im pretty curious on how itll turn out this time. The old one took some liberties and had quite a lot of fillers, which came at the cost of cutting out two scenes from the LN chapter that I really wanted to see. Hopefully those scenes will be in this time around.

legendarylemur posted...

That being said, there is an LN to this that's sadly not translated? I'd love to read it.

Three chapters or so were translated before Yen Press licensed it, I think. I remember seeing it on Baka-Tsuki.

I'm kinda mixed about Yokai Watch, really.
It was made to be kid-friendly, so I don't think it did that well in capturing the essence of the urban legends they used. For traditional Yokai and Kami on the other hand, I find them to be pretty well done, albeit lighter in tone from the usual stuff.

For Yomawari though, most of the ghost designs weren't that special, but I really liked the in-game town and attention to detail. The main story had some BS escape sections, but the post-game scavenger hunt for secrets and easter eggs was a blast.

Now that reminds me, the Yomawari sequel is coming up soon. Maybe I'll pre-order that.

Hmm. So I just discovered that Yomawari has a novel. (It's classified as literature and not LN, but that doesn't really matter) Anyway, the game itself is an open world(-ish) horror for Vita and PC, focused on Japanese urban legends, and children's fear of dark places and superstitious beliefs. Nothing elaborate, but I'd say that it's really well done.

As for the novel, I sampled it and the writing style is pretty interesting. The view is in first person that shifts between two characters: a grade-schooler and her bigger sister. The little sister's sections are written in a relatively simple language level and are rather unpolished, and the bigger sister's sections are very well written. It feels really different from the usual stuff.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B06XCB2YLC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=OYVU943LV6AJ&coliid=I31GLA0L33W4E2

Yeah, I really like it too. I actually have a lot of fun fighting it, and the creaking metallic sound when it moves is a nice touch.

Eh, in the end, the only ones I'll (be trying to) follow weekly are Kino and Kekkai Sensen.

Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou was good but I'll want to binge watch it later.
The new arc of MH Stories isn't really that interesting so I'll also be waiting for it to finish first.

Now, to keep things on topic, I finished Ten'i Muhou no D Volume 3. This one has all of the D4 together to lead the charge in a large scale battle against Gogmazios, similar to the Ace Hunters in 4U's Daora story arc but better in most aspects. One of my favorite volumes in the whole series so far, I'd say.
I really liked the main cast of this series, so it's a shame to see it end so quickly. Hopefully Cross Soul follows the series tradition and brings some of them back, even as cameos.

Well yeah, their player was unwatchable for free and it's a lot better but still not good for subscribed members. I usually just keep my subscription up and watch the stuff elsewhere, but today I'm feeling a bit lazy.

And about that scene, I randomly tried reducing the video's framerate to 12fps (from 24) and it actually got rid of the stutter.

So I watched Kino Episode 1. It turned out great, which is a relief.

Also, maybe it's because either Crunchyroll or my PC messed up with the video's framerate or something, but one particular scene stuttered like hell when it's not supposed to (as seen from the PV).

Tropicalwood posted...

Now that I've watched the film, I think I'm going to read the No Game No Life LN now.

So its good? I might be watcing it if I have the time.

I'm not even sure if I'll even watch it weekly, really. I'll probably stick with it for 3-4 weeks then wait for the episodes to pile up like usual.

Speaking of which, for this season I'll be trying out the Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou series as well. Looks like a pretty chill post-apocalyptic adventure/SoL.

Oh hey, Thai also works. I'll probably never use it here though, but at least it's good to have.

Anyway. I just finished Flash Hunter volume 4. The novel version has a lot of involvement from the Moga Villagers and Cha-Cha, which were severely lacking from the manga adaptation. Other than that and a conversation or two, they're pretty much the same plot-wise.
The ending is also the same as the manga version, but I guess the novel version is a little happier? The manga also has a bonus chapter that ties Flash Hunter and Hayate no Tsubasa together, so that's something.

Now, just Ten'i Muhou no D Volume 3 and Cross Soul Volumes 1 and 2, and I'll be clear of my import backlog.

Eh, I'll probably keep things at my own pace, fanbase or no.

I would translate everything I import if I could, but I'm still pretty slow and also prone to procrastination.

Oh well. I got myself a blog (which I'll probably abandom after a week) for hosting non-main project translations.

http://barnnn.blogspot.com

Eh, of course it won't. Stuff makes money.