munches more popcorn
Soooo...where did we leave off on the last discussion? :D

Oh no...now Umineko music is stuck in my head. Golden Slaughterer is a frickin banger of a track but's it's going to drive me nuts!

last edited at Sep 13, 2024 10:00PM

Nina's love language in action. "FIGHT! FIGHT! KISS! KISS!"

Stelle looks so damn cool in pants and a ponytail. Firefly can't let her go out like that because she'll make girls faint.

Are they in Elaina's room? That huge hat looks a lot like hers

Is she secretly an uber yandere?

YES the girl is down bad and it's EMBARRASSING. She keeps trying to put Miyagi in skirts so she can stare at her legs, like what an idiot pervert oh my God. When Miyagi gets sick, she wishes Miyagi would be sick longer so she can take care of her longer... Like isn't Sendai supposed to be smart? How is there room in her brain with all this gay

Miyagi is not a lot better, she spends a whole arc thinking about Sendai in a collar (necklace). Neither of them want the other to be employed bc it would be better for waifu to be at home. Massive dumbasses, I can't believe them

In Sendai's defense, I believe wanting to put Miyagi in a skirt is just Sendai enjoying making her look cute. It goes hand in hand with doing her hair and makeup, which Miyagi finds just as disagreeable as a skirt.

But yeah, Sendai is smart but her brain turns to mush around Miyagi. She doesn't become too gay to function but it's close to that. I recall her getting jealous over inanimate objects in their house like one of her plushies that got to spend time alone with Miyagi in her room.
And then there's recent chapters where Miyagi is trying to get Sendai "real friends" by telling her to hang out with Mio. Yet all Sendai can think about while they're hanging out is "Miyagi Miyagi Miyagi!". Poor Mio...Sendai doesn't even want to be there with her because her gay brain is too filled with Miyagi.

Looking forward to seeing Ajisai animated. Hoping we'll get a decent adaptation but I won't be holding my breath. If you keep your expectations low it's harder to be disappointed.

I'm glad the days of Miyagi causing Sendai pain is far behind us in the Raws.

I think it was not too long ago, since they've been living together, that Miyagi absolutely bit the fuck out of her finger one time while they were hanging out in Sendai's room and she thought to herself how much it hurt. I remember specifically thinking that it would have been a great moment for Sendai to express some actual pain and discomfort in Miyagi hurting her. I really wish she would have stormed out of her room and run to the bathroom crying or something lol. I'd love to see how Miyagi reacts in a situation where Sendai actually gets upset at her for physically hurting her.

I guess I'm putting a mental block or something on the moments when there's pain because I don't remember that finger biting incident at all. Damnit Miyagi!

As per the title “How to Break a Triangle” I think I already discuss my point of view about it on my prev comment here

Ah yes, Ms/Mr new account with only 1 post, how could I ever forget your previous comment?! :P

But they're like not even that explicit (from what I remember)? Like maybe even PG-13 or just barely R rated? Definitely not near the level of pornography that Wordpress is actually trying to keep off their site.

Or am I misremembering and they're super spicy?

I don't remember the sex scenes off the top of my head, but out of an abundance of caution, I'll probably find somewhere else to post it and link it from my blog or consider migrating off the free Wordpress. Even if it is barely R-rated, the biggest problem is that the free Wordpress apparently doesn't offer an explicit content warning, so I can't implement like a pop-up (the "I am over 18" thing).

Maybe I'm misunderstanding. Are you worried about violating Wordpress Terms and Conditions (which I haven't read) that forbids(?) +18 content or are you wanting to include an +18 content warning out of courtesy?
Because if it's the latter, I'd consider it enough to include a simple warning at the top of the chapter like "the following contains sexual content that may be inappropriate for readers younger than 18. Reader discretion is advised."

last edited at Sep 12, 2024 7:34PM

My poor gacha dailies had to suffer for this!

Nooo! Sure you finished 3 straight chapters...but at what cost? It'd be a terrible loss if you didn't have enough resources to pull the next waifu or husbando!

It just occurred to me yesterday that even if I powered through 3 parts a day, it'd take 3 months to get caught up. Yeah, that sounds painful. As gambling associations like to say, "Know your limits. Play within it."

I'll add another quote: "every journey begins with a single step". Or in this case, 71 72 steps!

On another note, someone actually compiled the two volumes I translated so far into EPUBs that I'll be uploading soon. Makes me feel all fuzzy inside.

Awesome! I'll definitely be downloading that for my digital collection.

And finally, I just remembered that for a variety of reasons, I can't host any of the (mild spoiler) sex scenes on WordPress. I'll have to post it elsewhere or consider upgrading and migrating my site.

But they're like not even that explicit (from what I remember)? Like maybe even PG-13 or just barely R rated? Definitely not near the level of pornography that Wordpress is actually trying to keep off their site.

Or am I misremembering and they're super spicy?

I think that girl needs help really bad too LOL, there's a limit to being carefree and indulging in varied experiences

She's got help! There's now a cute 20 year old part time worker helping her every hour of her shift! :P

last edited at Sep 12, 2024 5:31PM

Interesting concept for a comedy manga. Not sure it works or not but at least it isn't boring. Although it kind of abandoned the comedy in the last few chapters.

Ch. 72 of Amawashi is up: https://amawashigroup.wordpress.com/2024/09/12/part-72-miyagi-seriously-doesnt-know-when-to-hold-back-iii
Been on a roll lately, huh? Don't push yourself too hard.

I'm glad the days of Miyagi causing Sendai pain is far behind us in the Raws. I know it often says she kicks Sendai's shin or steps on her foot but that's almost certainly just playful and not at all painful.
Miyagi does feel bad about hurting Sendai though and is much gentler with Sendai's ear when she's given a second chance.

Maika more than anyone else should suspect something by this point in chapter 350 or wherever the JP is at

bro, Sendai's like publicly foaming at the mouth whenever Mio mentions Miyagi, like to a degree where Noto is stepping in like, hey haha please don't murder my girlfriend for speaking to your girlfriend haha. I'm waiting for chapter 900 or something when they can finally be a couple publicly and everyone in their lives just goes, "yeah we've been knowing this".

I feel bad for Noto. Feels like she's been nursing a longtime crush on a girl who seems to be straight. She also seems to be the only person with a functioning gaydar since in that one conversation with Miyagi she strongly implied she knew Sendai and Miyagi had a special relationship.

Comparing it to Umina in ch. 70 is kinda interesting because you really see the lack of interest Umina has in Sendai? She's pretty happy to talk about herself and her boyfriend and so it's a lot easier for Sendai to misdirect her. She says Sendai should get a boyfriend without any care to Sendai actually wants, so she's never going to figure out what Sendai actually wants, is gay. Whereas Mio is interested in Sendai and Miyagi to a degree where it makes me kinda concerned for her health. It's harder to tell what Maika suspects because her brand of kindness is that she doesn't try to pry into things that she senses would be uncomfortable for Miyagi. Which is kinda like Sendai, actually.

I think Mio is a SUPER OUTGOING ALWAYS BUBBLY EVERYONE IS MY FRIEND type of girl as opposed to being especially interested in Miyagi and Sendai's relationship. Sure she's interested and kinda overstepping their boundaries, but I imagine that's just the way she operates with her friends. And with the way she seems to often be inviting Miyagi and Sendai to mixers, I don't think she suspects too much about them.
But I agree with you on Maika. Girl does not pry into things often. Probably one of the reasons why Miyagi has stayed friends with her for so long.

^It never fails to amaze me how broad a definition for "cute" some users have.

^That was bad and you should feel bad :P

I can't believe yuyuyu never made Karin reference niboshi day.

Did you reply to the wrong thread? I can't figure out how this has anything to do with Shuukura.

munches popcorn

This has been fun. It was tribadism last set of pictures and race erasure this set. What argument can I look forward to next time? :D

Ch. 70 is another one of those "oh wow is someone about to find out about them?!" moments.
I swear the author likes to tease us with someone being on the verge of suspecting that there's something going on with Miyagi and Sendai only for it to then turn into nothing.
I'm accepting that this isn't too unusual in a heteronormative society, especially one like Japan that is more sexually conservative.

But come...on...author!
Maika more than anyone else should suspect something by this point in chapter 350 or wherever the JP is at. Miyagi and Sendai have had such a pattern of "weirdness" with their relationship that Maika has borne witness to. Chief among them is Miyagi lying about them sharing an apartment together and then Sendai having to hunt down Maika to find Miyagi when Miyagi ran away after the first time they had sex.
Several times it seemed like Maika may be hinting there's something more going on between them but then it goes nowhere.
And now we have Maika going to mixers with Mio (I think) when both Miyagi and Sendai are turning it down. Surely she's got to at least suspect something is up by this point, right?

last edited at Sep 11, 2024 8:51PM

But translating a series myself makes me more appreciative of the lengths professional translators take to localize the text. I wish I could do the same, but creative writing in English is hard. If I could, I would love to be able to turn Miyagi's flowery, poetic thoughts into something that flows well in English. Miyagi will occasionally say something that feels really delicate, like silk, and I'm just here strangling her words and turning them into something less comprehensible, LOL. But I realize maybe I'm being too harsh on myself.

Remember that every translation will have "edited by" right next to "translated by". Don't measure your translations against professional groups of translators, particularly when they all have an editor whose primary job is to improve how well the text reads in English. Your translations are very well done and at the very least are worth every bit the readers have to pay for them ;)

Anyway, part 70 is up. Admittedly, seeing another translation pop up does feel like a fire is being lit under me, so there's a good chance you'll see part 71 up later in the day too... but probably after I pay a visit to the gym.

Link for the lazy: https://amawashigroup.wordpress.com/2024/09/11/part-70-miyagi-seriously-doesnt-know-when-to-hold-back-i/

And go get those gains! Or polish that cut! Or whatever you're aiming for!

last edited at Sep 11, 2024 8:23PM

Thanks for going into your thought process on your choice of narrative tense. Sounds like it could also work from present tense but ultimately you should write what feels best to you. I agree the past tense does feel a bit more reflective and introspective because when you're thinking deeply about something, you're usually thinking about what has previously happened as opposed to what's currently happening because you're too busy reacting to the present to think deeply about it.

Though, instead of talking about tenses, I feel like it's more interesting talking about the lengths I have to take to "make it make sense" in English sometimes. One of my personal pet peeves in translation is that well, it's common to not mention the subject of a sentence when speaking in Japanese, so it becomes normal to say the name of the person you are talking to when addressing them. Like, when Miyagi and Sendai are the only two people in the same room, the two of them will constantly say "Miyagi" or "Sendai-san," but they NEVER say "you." For example, if Miyagi is like, "hey, can you grab this for me," it's actually, "Sendai-san, grab this for me," which is NORMAL, but it gets weird when it gets translated like:

Sendai: How was your day?
Miyagi: Great, but it'd be better if Sendai-san wasn't here. (when in English, it would be like, "Great, but it'd be better if you weren't here.")

or

Miyagi: You're such a pervert.
Sendai: That's Miyagi's fault, isn't it? (when in English, it would be like, "That's your fault, isn't it?")

And that's only one of many "tells" that the translator isn't really trying to adapt and make it more... localized, I guess? But that's just at the top of my head.

Interesting! I didn't realize that was a tell on translation quality but it makes sense! I've definitely read more lower than high quality/professional translations and, when I think back, it's clear the lower quality ones pepper in the character names constantly.
I knew that the closest equivalent of "you" in Japanese like "anata", "kimi" and others is rude/harsh to use in conversation but hadn't put that together with constantly using the person's name instead.

^Well it's less of a stretch than Bocchi as the cool one lol! But yeah I think I've seen Bocchi more often made the cool one for the irony of it.

I find that ShuuKura benefits more from being written in past tense than present tense. In Japanese, this type of separation doesn't exist, so it's up to the translator to choose which to write in. For a story that leans so heavily into introspection, I feel like ShuuKura reads better as if the characters are looking back on events that have happened, considering how deep these two are in their own heads.

I agree that it reads better in past tense but is there really no distinction between past, present, and future tense in Japanese? Can you elaborate on that a bit? But I don't want to waste your time if this will require you to give an introductory lesson in Japanese though.

One of my biggest concerns (lol, I know I said I only had two, but hear me out) is that the translator is so able to push out several chapters from older volumes and the newer chapters in one day. For the record, while I'm not the fastest worker and I get distracted super easily, the most I've been able to do in one day is 3 chapters (or parts - it means the same thing here), and that took up my entire day with full concentration. I'm talking little sleep, little time to eat. Literally just sitting in front of my PC for 16h.

I hope you're not doing that often because it's terrible for you health. And even worse than that is you'll miss doing your gacha dailies!

With the MC mentioning her older sister, I predict she'll show up in the story and be a "classic" siscon. Not the gross type, but the way too doting and protective of her younger sister type. She'll exhaust herself trying to run interference between MC and her love interests.

It's going to be super fun to see all these different heroines trying to sweep the MC off her feet. I'm surprised there aren't more comments discussing this since it's off to such a promising start.