Updates on What’s Been Happening

First of all: yes, I am holding back chapter 2 at the moment. One of the reasons is that I’m still having the editors run through it but…the other reason is that I’m not done translating it.

And that’s where the other big news item comes in: I have a job. It’s a job that pays over 3 times what I made the last time I worked. Unfortunately, that also means I have much less time for translating all of a sudden. I’ll be forcing out a translation tomorrow even if I have to cough blood to do it. I may just forgo the editor thing for the initial release and just check it myself (I don’t see it getting released for another day or two if I leave it to the potential editors to dissect it now).

Anyway, that’s the update this time.

EDIT: I translated something in chapter 1 wrong. It didn’t mean “concubine” in that sentence but just “I,” so Linfa was not naming herself as a concubine. Sorry if that confused anyone.

EDIT 2: Chapter 2 is now complete and just awaiting editing. It should be out by tomorrow if not within the day.

Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance Volume 8, Chapter 2 – The Witch and the Assassin

I have made a distinction between “暗殺者” and “暗殺技能者” by calling the first one “assassin(s)” and the second “master assassin(s)”. The direct meaning is “assassin” and “assassin(ation) technician” respectively, where “technician” means someone “skilled”.

Greyworth calls Kamito “坊や (bouya)” all the time but I didn’t think it was important enough to try keeping it in her speeches. It sounds really strange if I make her talk to him about him like he’s not there.

The alternate name for <Murders> is <The Corpse Alliance>. The <Key of Sulaiman> is <Demon King’s Text of Keys>. Technically <Purple Lightning> could also be called <Flash>. It sounds kinda flat though if I leave it with one syllable, so I’ve opted to use <Purple Lightning> (there’s also no standard on B-T, so whatever). Sulaimon is also known as Solomon depending on the area (credits to Endo for pointing this out; he also provides extra information in the comments).

It is now “kamui” instead of “divine power” because I noticed I was being inconsistent with whether I used the kanji or the furigana. This will be what I use from now on.

The editor for this chapter was AshenRaven.

Part 1

……Four years ago.

All of a sudden, the <Instructional School> was destroyed in the span of a single night by an evil spirit of flames.

Within the blaze, the boy snatched the ring the darkness spirit was sealed in and escaped to the outside of the facility. He, who had been raised as a tool of destruction and slaughter, continued to wander aimlessly through barren wastelands.

And then, several weeks later.

In the remote city he wandered to, the boy contacted a border faction of <Murders>, a secret organization.

Without a sense of justice and knowing no other way to live than through his battle skills, he couldn’t come up with any other option.

They had ridiculed the boy who came to their hideout with hair that had grown as long as possible and a tattered appearance.

What can such a young child even do, they said.

But as soon as their guards were beaten in a flash, their appraisal of him changed.

“I shall accept any job. The price is—”

Extra Help

It recently came to my attention that…my English gets really messed up when I translate. Not that my English isn’t kinda strange when I’m not translating, but it gets worse when I do. That being said, I’m looking for an English editor. There’s not much involved in it:

• Proofread the translation for stupid little errors like “chuckled light and smiled” instead of “chuckled lightly and smiled” (I actually found this when I went back over my translation…*kicks self*).
• Make the English sound better.
• Do something about how non-native the English sounds. My brain gets stuck in “foreign mode” when I translate, so it becomes worthless when it comes to making it into native English. Though, I’d really not like to see 100% colloquialisms or something like that.

The pros:

• You get to read everything before it actually goes out so it’s basically a “read before everyone else gets to” job.
• Get to say you actually did something.

The cons:

• You may cry tears of blood if I hand you something bursting with errors.
• You -will- lose time from your schedule.
• Reading moe scenes ahead of everybody else may just mean you die that much sooner from blood loss.

How to apply:

• By NanoDesu’s consent, I have been allowed to use their editor exam: http://www.mediafire.com/?25m0dt6526f311r. Please apply by completing the first two sections on this document and e-mailing it to sakurahonyaku@gmail.com. The applications will be cycled from there and you will be notified of your application’s status ASAP.

Please note that I will not discriminate against you for having zero editing experience. If you seem to have the skills required, you will be considered. If you don’t, I will inform you. Please do not feel discouraged by this though and practice more; you will get better.

As a final note, I will be holding back on releasing chapters until I find an editor. Unless, of course, I don’t find one for a good period of time (like 4 days, maybe?), in which case I’ll just bulk release whatever I’ve held back.

Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance Volume 8, Chapter 1 – Victory Celebration

A “hamam” is a Turkish bath. Please see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_bath.

Note that I have put “ear-splitting” scream at one part but the original says “裏返ったような悲鳴” which is literally “a scream like turning inside out”. I can’t think of any English equivalents despite deliberating it for a while and asking other people, so I’d like to request suggestions for what to replace this with. If you think you have the right phrase for the job, please post it in the comments.

“Tsukkomi” means the “riposte” or otherwise “retort” that one gives when faced with an absurd statement. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzai for detail. Example: “We’ve grown so much in these last few years. A few more and we may be touching the roof.” with “Like you’ll grow that tall!” This example courtesy of the Little Busters! VN from Key. I probably messed it up a bit, but I’m not going through Rin’s route just to check.

It literally says “action drama/play” (活動劇) and I’m not sure if I should be translating that as a “movie” instead. I opted to keep it literal since Kamito decides that he’d like to explain just what an “action drama” is.

Part 1

Pop! Popopopop!

Having set up a branch store in <Ragna Ys>’ business district, the empire’s prestigious cafe “La Parfait”.

Within that shop, festive noises from crackers resounded.

“Congratulations on <Team Scarlet>’s advancement into the finals!”

The one giving her blessings with a smile was the maid, Carol.

“Fuu, it was the obvious outcome with me there!”

“As expected of you, ojou-sama!”

Rinslet swept up her hair and Carol applauded her.

“Wait a second, you aren’t the only one who deserves credit.”

“Uuu……but I was always providing support from the rear, even though I also wanted to show off more on the front lines!”

Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance Volume 8, Prologue

This took a little while because I took more caution in what I was typing down (jeez, people actually get all anal about small details). Also, I’ve hardly been on my laptop for the last couple of days. Taking care of all the poll comments also eats a bit of time since I actually read them. And then for some reason, the prologue is actually quite a bit longer than I expected.

As a side-note though, don’t worry about needing to go back and re-read the chapters (when I get around to fixing them up) if you’re not one for details. I paid special attention to every sentence I thought could possibly be connected to the plot.

Enshrouded in dense fog, <Astral Zero>’s thicket.

(—As expected, it really makes you nervous. Assaulting a stronghold, that is.)

Kamito silenced his breathing as he pushed through the tree branches.

His Elemental Waffe <Terminus Est> was also in a dormant state with her presence perfectly hidden. Solo stealth activity was Kamito’s foremost specialty.

“Kami……can……hear me?”

The small spirit ore fragment in his hand lit up weakly and out came Claire’s whispering voice.

Utilizing the spirit resonance phenomenon, it was a spirit ore for communicating. Its effective range wasn’t very large, but it was much more difficult to detect compared to using spirits.

“The reception is bad. Your voice is breaking up.”

“Right……it’s because the <Barrier>……been strengthened……”

Then suddenly……the spirit ore gave a sound that pained the ears, and its light faded.

Poll Time

This poll has been reset as of 1:37 AM PST on February 22, 2013 to remove previous instances of spamming. The poll is getting too long, so I’ll only be adding new suggestions to the bottom of this post.

Note that the votes below may not be counted in full weight. That is to say, a vote may be worth half of one post written in the comments. Or it may be less. This will depend on how much spamming I feel went on (by looking at the site stats). If you really want your series to win, you should be posting in the comments. It may happen that a series wins despite having less votes, so do your best!

As I said last time, I would very much appreciate somebody figuring out where to buy Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance Volume 10 at the cheapest price. Actually, please help me find it. Trying to find it eats out of the time I could be translating.

So with all the crazy amounts of suggestions, I have decided to create a poll. I would read through all of them to some degree and decide, but because I really should be making good on my promise to start volume 8, I’m going to leave it up to you guys. So here we go.

Also, I have received a reply from zzhk on his volume 7 translations:

Good to know that you won’t be wasting time on duplicate efforts. I intend to finish what I started, so Volume 7 should be completed some time next week. Since I’ll be going away on a business trip, the final update should be posted either before Thursday or on Sunday.

With that said, we should actually be seeing volume 10 finished by next Saturday at best (this is assuming I get my hands on some volume 10 scans), otherwise it will likely be 2 weeks down the road since I am buying the novel. There goes two hours of my work pay (well, yye1 will also be funding this, so just one hour?).

Please be informed about the series on the poll before you vote. If you know the series and can provide a very short summary, I would like you to post them in the comments. I will edit them into this post to provide people with an idea of what each series is about. This is only for those series with no summary attached to them at the links the ones who suggested them have provided. Please refrain from spoilers that happen late in the series.

Gate – Thus the JSDF Fought There: A gate to another world suddenly appears in downtown Tokyo, and medieval invaders appear. The JSDF pushes the invaders back, and goes through the gate, where they have many adventures interacting with the technology and inhabitants of the other world.

Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Soudesu yo?: Three “problem children” with unique personalities and gifts come to “Little Garden” where things are decided through “gift games”. They become part of a no-name guild and plan to bring them back to the top.

Ben-To: [Needs a summary]

Tokyo Ravens: [Needs a summary]

Zero no Tsukaima: [Needs a summary]

Madan no Ou to Vanadis: [Needs a summary]

Accel World: [Needs a summary]

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?: Aikawa Ayumu was resurrected as a zombie by a necromancer after being killed by a serial killer, and later steals the powers of a masou shoujo. As a masou shoujo, Ayumu has to crossdress in order to fight against the various comical and serious situations that come his way.

Hyouketsu Kyoukai No Eden: A girl who is personified by understanding the world and a boy who is rejected by it. A story of two conflicting feeling, and a multi-layered world fantasy.

Rain: Rain, the powerful and cool main character, fights strong enemies to protect a princess and the kingdom. A universe filled with wars, knights, dragons, sorcery and princesses.

Kuro no Hiera Glaphicos: A world where magic is somewhat uncommon but not nearly unheard of, and a boy and girl begrudgingly work together to achieve their individual goals.

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo: [Needs a summary]

No Game, No Life: The story about two siblings who are called by a god from another world, where everything in the world is settled by a game.

Seikoku no Ryuu Kishi: A male student in an academy that teaches students to raise dragons. The boy’s dragon finally hatches one day, and it’s a beautiful girl. The adventure begins.

Hidan no Aria: Tohyama Kinji is a student Tokyo Butei High. He tries to live a peaceful life, but trouble came to find him when he became a victim of a bombing incident, where he met the Butei high “Assault” department elite, Aria H. Kanzaki.

Ochitekita Ryuu Ou (Naga) to Hirobiyuku Majo no Kuni: [Needs a summary]

Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai: [Needs a summary]

Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru: [Needs a summary]

Tokage no Ou: I have a superpower. I am a heretic thrust out from the world of common sense, possessing a power in both my eyes and the ability to “repaint the world”.

Silver Cross and Draculea: [Needs a summary]

Tsurugi no Joou to Rakuin no Ko: [Needs a summary]

I believe these are all the ones posted thus far. Feel free to add more, but it’s best if you get them in here fast or they’ll have less votes. The deadline is when I (or someone else?) release the last chapter of volume 10.

Amendment to the Plans From Here On

Well, with zzhk picking up volume 7 and apparently declaring war(?), I’m going to skip up to volume 8. The declaration of war was a joke, but it seems to have spurred quite a reaction…maybe this is a result of my inability to tell when to stop a joke (it became reality?!).

Anyway, I will be answering a few concerns raised in the comments on the last post here. Yes, I will communicate with zzhk, somehow. It’ll probably be through the Baka-Tsuki Talk pages though since I actually don’t know any of his other contact information, so hopefully he actually notices it. Actually, if you’re reading this, zzhk, please contact me with when you plan to finish volume 7 by.

I will be doing volumes 8, 9 and 10. I actually expect to finish that within the next week as long as I find volume 10 somewhere (anybody have a copy or know where to get one? I don’t mind having to buy it either). I’ll just register the entirety of volume 8 on Baka-Tsuki now…

I hope this clears up all the issues you’ve been wondering about? Post any additional ones in the comments!

I’ll start the translating for volume 8 as soon as I get some lunch (really late) into my system…

EDIT: To buy the book is $38 on Amazon, like $22 on Kinokuniya (but requires a credit card? I don’t really have one…), about $30 on some other site I forgot, and a great majority of the sites are Japan-only. Somebody please help me find a place to buy from. I’d like to keep the costs around $20 if possible.

Translations From Here On

So I’ve seen a few posts in various places about where I will continue to translate from seeing as zzhk has registered the entirety of volume 7 on Baka-Tsuki. This post is for the purpose of addressing that issue.

I will be translating volume 7. The truth of the matter is, zzhk is probably not going to finish faster than me. And I’m saying that with conviction. I don’t want to skip storyline because I don’t want to conflict with another translator. That being said, the translations will not be appearing on Baka-Tsuki. All of them will be solely on here unless zzhk gives me permission to overwrite his registrations on Baka-Tsuki.

With that said, I will be taking another short break to do various thing like actually catch up to the story. I’m translating half-blind since I haven’t read anything that happened in the previous chapters. With my post a little while ago, it’s obvious that it affects some translating. The other issue I need to address by taking a break is the migraine-type thing that’s bothering me from looking at my screen for way too long. That’s pretty common for me though, so I’ll be mostly ignoring it.

Here’s your tl;dr version: Translations will start from volume 7, chapter 2. They will only be available on this blog. Short break (about a day) before I start the next volume.

EDIT: For some reason, zzhk pushed a chapter out within 12 hours of this post, so I have amended the starting chapter to 2. I find it strangely fitting that the title of chapter 1 is “Declaration of War”.

And so, I wish you all a good day and I’m out for now.

Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance Volume 5, Epilogue

For some reason, KuroiHikari (from Baka-Tsuki) wanted me to redo the epilogue translation, so here it is.

Kamito awakened on a stretcher in the tent.

It seemed Claire and the other had found the unconscious Kamito.

Bandages wrapped his injuries here and there. The clumsily wrapped portions were likely Claire’s handiwork.

(……It looks like the ojou-samas were safe.)

Just as he breathed a sigh of relief and got up—

“You still shouldn’t be moving, Kamito.”

“Owaa, E, Est!”

The fully naked sword spirit quickly lay down beside him.

……No, there were, of course, knee socks covering her feet.

“Est……”

Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance – Volume 5 Afterword

Author’s

—Kamito, I am your sword. For as long as your wish.

And with that, it has been a three month silence. This is Shimizu Yuu.

The elemental fantasy “Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance” has reached its fifth volume!

One night after the difficult fight with Muir from the <Instructional School>, Kamito loses Est and falls into despair. The ojou-samas attempt to cheer (through ecchi means) that Kamito up. The <Blade Dance>’s real battle starts while he still hasn’t recovered Est. The mysterious Ren Ashbell. The awakened dragon knight, Leonora. And the truth about the legendary <Demon Slayer>……!

In this fifth volume that touches upon Est’s past, I’ve also packed in plenty of the battle x love comedy attributes!

Announcements. I was lent a small section in the anthology of MF Bunko J’s extremely popular “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai,” “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai – Universe” (It goes on sale at the same time as Seirei volume 5). Sagara Sou-sensei, Yuuji Yuuji-sensei, Watari Wataru-sensei (and around fifty others), with such wonderful professional writers and the creator of the original work, Hirasaka Yomi, it feels like the tension is high. For fans of “Haganai” or the author, please give a it a read. Sakura Hanpen-sensei’s godly cute illustrations are also included.

Sakura Hanpen-sensei also drew a wonderful front cover and illustrations. Thank you very much. Est’s heartrending expression squeezed my heart……hooray for half-nakedness!

Yoshihira Zenzai-sensei who is drawing the manga. Truly, thank you for drawing such a high-quality masterpiece. Claire with her hair flitting about is cute.

MFJ’s hyper media producer, Shouji-san, I caused you a lot of trouble this time as well.

And the greatest thanks goes to you who has this in their hands!

The other day, a signing event was held and it made me very happy to be able to talk with those who read “Seirei”.