I cannot ascertain what’s going on through Miyagi’s head

The manga cutting a ton of the WN's internal monologue doesn't help. But even with the internal monologue, Miyagi is an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a mystery.

I think reading the web novel for this series before the manga could provide a deeper understanding of the story. While the manga already does a great job, the web novel adds more depth and helps reduce any confusion.
Edit: with how fast the manga is progressing compared to the WN (with 90+ chapters) I have a feeling this series won't be having many chapter.

No, the WN has around 360 chapters. 90ish is just where I'm at with my TLs, LOL.

Having read the novel versions of Otherside Picnic and AdaShima, I have to agree that their manga adaptations keep a decent chunk of the internal monologue. At least, way better than the current ShuuKura adaptation. I've noticed there were a few panels that substituted the internal monologue for quick flashes of "show, don't tell," but I personally don't feel like it's enough for a story that mostly takes place in our characters' minds.

That being said, I like pictures and I can appreciate the manga adaptation as its own thing.

You could also see if the Dynasty Discord mods would be open to having a thread for your translation. Built-in audience.

The only issue I take with threads in general is that they're often so well hidden. I also don't know how I'd feel about promoting/linking the Dynasty Scans Discord server on my blog, haha. Not that there's anything wrong with the DS server. I know there's a lot of overlap between DS readers and ShuuKura readers, but having them join an entirely unrelated server for my translations might not sit well with everyone.

It would make sense if I was only advertising my translations here, to existing Dynasty users.

It'd be cool to have both though. But I wonder if that means I should upload the chapters on Dynasty as well.

Yay! Part 82 83

Sounds like someone wants to throw hands.

The interlude for volume three follows immediately after this chapter. Historically, I've left the interludes and extras for last/as last priority, but I'm going to work on it first this time before moving on to part 84. The last two interludes felt more like standalone chapters (volume 2's in particular was a retelling of events from a chapter that happened way before it), but this one reads more like part 83.5.

This also means we are halfway through yet another book.

Also wondering if I should start a Discord server for my translations (of course, discussions about spoilers would be welcome in separate channels as well), but I feel like it'd be a total ghost town. And not entirely sure about how well that'd go considering there's already a ShuuKura unofficial server, but we'll see. Any thoughts?

I found Shuukura fascinating because of its unique and disturbing concept, where a character buys his classmate every week. This raises profound questions about the nature of human relationships and about power dynamics. The mixture between the absurd and the real creates a disturbing atmosphere that captivates, even if some aspects of the story are morally difficult to digest. I would like to know what others think about the way these themes are approached.

This applies up to where I am in my translations.

I don't know, I think the 5k yen is exactly as the title says: an excuse for them to spend time together. Rather than creating a power imbalance for the sake of abuse, both of them use it as a wall to hide behind in order to avoid getting hurt. Miyagi's orders and behaviors are pretty eccentric and cruel, but nothing she does is to inflict pain on Sendai (even if it ends up being the result sometimes). None of this is really to justify Miyagi's actions, in that Sendai absolutely has every right to leave her. She's simply afraid of being abandoned, and a common tactic is to "hurt before you can get hurt," which is exactly what Miyagi tends to do.

But I digress. I think the 5k yen / buying her classmate part is actually one of the least morally questionable parts about their relationship, lol. It's simply used as an easy excuse to deny their growing feelings of attachment to each other and a tangible way to show this wall between them. They're both unreliable narrators, but they both realized early on that Sendai isn't coming over to Miyagi's place for the 5k yen. It is, however, the foundation their very relationship exists on. Even Miyagi issuing her orders isn't necessarily because she thinks, "I paid for it, therefore I'm entitled to it," but because she believes Sendai doesn't value their relationship the same way - there's no reason for her to. She may not be in it for the money, but there was something she wants that Miyagi can't (or won't let herself) figure out.

Miyagi's orders are both her way of keeping Sendai to herself and so she can hold "control" over what they do. It makes herself feel safe that she can "control" how Sendai will react. It (surely) wouldn't hurt as much if Sendai abandoned her because Miyagi did something horrible to her rather than have Sendai leave for no reason. Miyagi wants to be the one to "decide" when that happens and how that happens, because it's (supposedly) always easier to deal with loss when you know it's coming.

last edited at Sep 27, 2024 7:23PM

Decided to give part 80 of the MTL a read since it was what I just released, but... I don't even know what I'm reading.

Right near the beginning, for some reason, you have Miyagi saying,

「I’ll know when I see it.」

which leads into,

I would have asked for feedback, not permission to touch, but Miyagi’s hand reaches out as if it were a matter of course. I didn’t expect Miyagi to say it looked good on me, even though I was flattered, so I assumed I wouldn’t get any feedback.

I can overlook grammar inconsistencies for the most part - hell, I'll even let things that are worded improperly slide, but the translation itself being so poor is egregious. Even without knowing a lick of Japanese, the whole, "I didn’t expect Miyagi to say it looked good on me, even though I was flattered, so I assumed I wouldn’t get any feedback," part just doesn't make sense.

「If it’s shorter than this, it looks like school.」

What?

「Schools are not within the scope of the order.」

Come again?

I know.
About no concessions need to be made.
Miyagi did not ask me to do so.
So the order does not work.
I know, but my mouth moves on its own.

You may know, but I don't know.

The ornament is small and is tantamount to a kiss on the chest, but the lips are pressed against the small object to show that it is meant to be touched.

Interesting...

「That’s part of it, but it might fly in the face of reason.」
...

「I’m in pain, though.」
「You do that.」
「Order?」
「I’m not giving you an order.」

Well...

I don't know if the other MTL chapters are like this, but it just seems... more unreadable than I expected. Like I said, I can overlook grammar inconsistencies and awkward wording, but it's so jarring when there's dialogue or passages that straight up don't make sense. I don't know how you guys managed to read so much of it. To me, I just feel like all I'm getting from it is, "oh, they kissed in chapter 34," or, "oh, Miyagi gave her a necklace in chapter 79," but nothing more.

いつか私たちが使うものすべてが、宮城が選んだものになればいいと思う。私の周りのすべてを宮城で染めることができたら、きっともっと幸せになれる。
It'd be nice if one day, everything we used was something picked out by Miyagi. If everything around me became dyed in Miyagi, I'm sure I'd be even happier.

That'd be the more literal translation (not me taking a break at the gym, lol).
染める means to stain or to dye, so you could also make a case for it being, "dyed in Miyagi's colors" to make it sound more poetic.

last edited at Sep 25, 2024 12:10AM

I don't know how many other people felt this way when reading the MTL (I don't read it anymore or read ahead at all for that matter), but personally, I thought Miyagi seemed way colder and expressionless in it. I was also under the impression that Sendai was a super saint cranked up to the max, but it turns out that Miyagi has more feelings than I expected and Sendai can get really annoyed. Maybe I'll give the MTL a reread up to where I'm at (79).

Hey, hey, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just repeating what I read lol. But I agree, you would think any way to bring more notice to the novel would be a good thing.

My bad. I promise my rant wasn't directed at you at all. I had to post it somewhere because I didn't want to be rude by showing up in someone else's server and immediately bitching at them.

I basically showed up and asked the same questions LOL Confused me as much as it confuses you.

Anyway, part 79 is on its way... tomorrow, heh.

Yeah but I imagine you were more diplomatic about it haha. I wouldn't be out to understand them or change hearts and minds with my bitching as much as I'd be trying my best to tear their views to shreds.

Well I suppose we'll live without an update for now. ;)
I'm having a lot of luck in Star Rail with my pulls so I've got that to occupy me in the meantime.

Hey... I'm gonna need some of that luck for Topaz (already guaranteed for Lingsha...)

Hey, hey, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just repeating what I read lol. But I agree, you would think any way to bring more notice to the novel would be a good thing.

My bad. I promise my rant wasn't directed at you at all. I had to post it somewhere because I didn't want to be rude by showing up in someone else's server and immediately bitching at them.

I basically showed up and asked the same questions LOL Confused me as much as it confuses you.

Anyway, part 79 is on its way... tomorrow, heh.

This is so unfair, Japanese people get so much cool content. Just found this on the Shuukura Discord. I guess it's an ad for a PV but obviously can't understand it. If nothing else there's some pretty cool visuals in it.

https://youtu.be/HkU093vh0hE?si=XDTij0b5iE5g6Tkd

That PV's the whole reason I found out about ShuuKura last year, lol. The new Gundam anime at the time (Witch from Mercury) featuring these two VAs had just finished airing. I'm not at my PC right now, but iirc they're just reciting the lines from the first chapter.

https://amawashigroup.wordpress.com/2024/09/19/part-77-what-i-want-to-do-with-miyagi-and-what-miyagi-wants-to-do-i/

Nobody tell me what time it is right now. I don't want to know.

I don't know the first thing about cats, since I love dogs and own one, so I guess if I ever get another one, I have to name it Hazuki or something.

I've also heard that people that are cat-like in nature prefer dogs and vice versa, but there's no way that's true, right?

It doesn't feel like "mid-autumn" in my neck of the woods but I've seen sillier excuses to have a party.

I get cold pretty easily, so if anything, it feels more like it's mid-winter already.

But the mid-autumn festival is celebrated based on the lunar calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar, so the date might not always make sense.

I don't usually celebrate these things, but I got roped into attending a mid-autumn festival party. I was planning to push part 77 out today (because it's also really cute), but dang, I'm tired. Fortunately, parts 77 and 78 don't look very long, so if we're lucky and the me of tomorrow feels motivated enough, we can get another double update out.

I find that every time I write Sendai's name, I always attach "-san" to the end of it since I've been typing out her name so much. Perks of being able to type faster than I can think, I guess.

Lol, part 76 is pretty long. I decided to take a break and hit the gym, but I'm already sitting at 5 pages on Word (the other parts in this chapter are 6-7 pages long), but I'm guesstimating it'll end up at 9 or 10. It's not the longest one, but it sure is cute.

Amawashi Ch 73 is up: https://amawashigroup.wordpress.com/2024/09/13/part-73-ill-be-fine-even-if-i-dont-get-to-see-sendai-san-i

Oh, what I like about this chapter is seeing Sendai not turn around when she asks Miyagi about her university plans again and her staying that way when she (supposedly) voices her disappointment over Miyagi rejecting her suggestion. I know she's organizing the bookshelf, but I like to imagine it's actually just Sendai trying to "play it cool" as she always does. Not only does she want to hide any trace of disappointment on her face, it's also easier to say things more nonchalantly when you're not looking at the other person. At least, this is the sort of bad (?) habit I have too.

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).

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.

My poor gacha dailies had to suffer for this!

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."

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.

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.

last edited at Sep 12, 2024 5:35PM

I love your translations! Thank you so much for sharing them! It always brings me joy to be able to understand more of the story that I didn't understand through Google Translate. Take as much time as you need as we as readers do understand that your life isn't just this novel. Don't worry about "catching up" with the 350+ chapter novel, just do what you want. I do appreciate how you have localized the novel as it definitely made it easier to translate the nuances across into English rather than leaving moments feeling empty as it does in MTL.

Thank you! That means a lot to me. I always find myself reading some of their more expressive thoughts and all of their dialogue out loud to myself to see if what I'm writing sounds natural in English. It kind of makes me feel like I've lost my marbles talking to myself so much, LOL.

Does anyone know if there's any significant difference between the web novel and the published version? I downloaded the published version a few months ago but haven't started on it yet and want to know if there are any significant changes between the two before I make progress.

Sorry if this has been already asked before, I do not want to risk getting spoiled by going through the pages.

I don't think the differences between the web novel and the light novel (published version) are that significant. As in, the major events and the sequence of them are largely unchanged. Most of the differences come down to smaller things, like grammar, rearranging when something gets said, phrasing things a bit differently, etc. I consider these to be insignificant changes, but that might not necessarily be the case for you.

press x to doubt

Lol, spam X all you want, I swear I lack the passion and motivation! I'm a slave to my whims, and I get distracted way too easily. I think I need someone to permanently light a fire under me.

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.

Miyagi makes a... joke (?) that Valentine's Day is Niboshi Day because the numbers in the date (2, 1, 4) can, albeit forcefully, be read as ni, bo, shi day. I made the footnote in the novel translation, but it showed up in the most recent manga chapter now. I believe Karin from YuYuYu loves niboshi (the food), so the person you're replying to was just surprised Karin never mentioned Niboshi Day.

https://amawashigroup.wordpress.com/2024/09/11/part-71-miyagi-seriously-doesnt-know-when-to-hold-back-ii/

71 is up now too. I ended up not going to the gym yet (and will be going after this for real, lol) as I felt like I could get this part out in one go.

Both 70 and 71 were shorter parts without much heavy introspection (just a lot of Sendai going, "oh god please don't find out I'm gay") and took about two hours each of full concentration. The power of caffeine is amazing, but also, it really isn't easy. I can't imagine sitting here spending 6+ hours a day just to pump out three parts unless it was my job (3 parts averages around 5100 words.). Again, I'm not the fastest translator in the world, but I think I'm relatively quick with zero distractions. It would be absurd to be able to catch up in 3 1/2 months' time if we're going by what the other new translator is hoping to achieve (I believe they said they were hoping to get 3-4 chapters out a day). I don't wish to belittle anyone or put their work down; I'm only pointing this out because of my confusion about how they plan to achieve this. But I acknowledge this could very well be attributed to the fact that I may not be as passionate about ShuuKura as others are.

last edited at Sep 11, 2024 10:07PM

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.

It's a little less apparent in manga, especially because there aren't as many lines, but some things stick out like a sore thumb when it comes to novels. My translations aren't perfect either, and I've deliberately chosen to keep it more Japanese (for lack of better words) than like a real novel you might find on the shelves. 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.

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.

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.

Well, what I mean is there isn't really a distinction when it comes to narration. Verbs and such will still have past, present and future tenses, but it can still be a little vague sometimes. But think of it like this: all the narration in ShuuKura is written as if the events are currently happening. Narrative tenses may not exist in Japanese, but I believe writing in past tense in English makes it feel more like the events have already happened, which makes me feel like it's well-suited for stories that are especially heavy on introspection.

Also, it's pretty easy to want to write in present tense sometimes because of how it's written in Japanese, and you'll see me swap sometimes, especially when it's a character's thoughts. But I feel like writing in past tense kind of gives me more agency as well. I can't really explain my own thoughts and feelings well because creative writing is not my strong suit, but writing in present tense just feels restrictive.

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.

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!

I'm not doing that anymore, but that was something I did last year. Those parts didn't come out all at once though, since I spaced them out over a few days, so it wasn't very apparent I had done that. I'm also a lot more energized and focused after I've had any form of caffeine (be it coffee or tea), so that helps. As for my gacha dailies... those games are definitely what distracts me the most, LOL. But I'm more of a log in, log out kind of person nowadays, so it's not that bad.

last edited at Sep 11, 2024 5:26PM