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In a world full of super-speed translation, it's no wonder that many would have to resort to machine translations to get their job done. However, Japanese and English are not one to one. There's grammar, formalities that don't exist in English. For example, ちゃん、さん、様。(chan, san, sama). As well as referring to people by name rather than "you". The change in these small factors is still localization. These intricacies are something that machine translations tend not to take into account. That ends up creating a problem. The script does not end up flowing in English, which leads your readers to believe it's a poor translation. We also have to realize that some gags just don't work in English. Early on in the Nichijou manga, we can see a joke about a ten key keyboard. Most English speakers do not speak a second language, so this may go over their heads. As Yuuko states that the weather "天気" (tenki), is nice, so she should buy a ten key, "テンキー" keyboard. This joke would go over most English speakers' heads, and yet this joke was kept in tact for the English manga release. This whole section is full of puns that I don't understand as a native English speaker myself. If I can't pick it up, how is a machine supposed to? Sometimes putting unrelated politics into your work may be off-putting. Like in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, in episode 12, Tohru asks about her new, more conservative outfit. In the English dub, she states that due to the patriarchy. I remember seeing a lot of anitwt and ani YouTube mald over this clip. As in Japanese, Tohru asks the same question, but instead suggests Lucoa should change her body instead. Personally, I found the patriarchy joke funny, as I don't think the changing her body joke would have flown well with audiences either. It reads as body-shaming to me, and that would still turn a lot of heads. It's not 1997, but 2017. The third wave of the body positivity movement was well on its way. Highest quality clip I could find below. But it still ends up being funny anyway because of the performances of the voice actresses and the scripts that they were given. Not all localization is good, though. Dragon Maid's, although controversial, still ended up sharing roughly the same message in tone and delivery. I'd like to provide a bad localization example as Smile PreCure's dub. (Glitter Force) by Saban. A majority of cultural references had been removed, and everything being Americanized to a point where Glitter Force and Smile PreCure are two different shows. With Glitter Force cutting eight out of forty-eight episodes of Smile PreCure. The localization choices in the cut episodes sadden me. Mostly relating to Japanese culture and tradition. Another cut that stuck out to me was the episode about Yayoi's late father being cut, as well as Akane crushing on a boy. Glitter Force's reception was rightfully criticized by the PreCure fandom. With Ella Anders of BSC Kids stating, "With the world being so interconnected as it is now the removal of cultural aspects was saddening. It would be such a great chance to celebrate and focus on Japanese culture." https://www.bsckids.com/2016/01/pretty-cure-glitter-force-graces-netflix/ Now, I know it's a lot cheaper to have an AI or a text scraper help you translate text. Cutting translators and localizers out of a job entirely would make for a great time, would it not? No. No it ever has and never will. Generative AI is already putting artists out of work, and Crunchyroll's transition to using AI will be disastrous for the company as a whole. Admittedly, that's why I revoked my subscription towards them. It's a gross way of saying the money is more important to you than the product you provide. In a late stage capitalism landscape, that $80 a year gets harder to justify for the bare minimum. This will only increase piracy, I fear. As people are asking for more accurate translations that read well in English. This is something GenAI and Machine Translation cannot provide. Genuinely, I think we as anime and visual novel fans alike seem to forget that localization is an important part of translating a work into English. Whether that be simply changing a joke to fit current standards, or using slang like "chill" or using politically correct language to make more sense to English speakers. A machine may be able to translate, but it is unable to localize. ChatGPT and DeepL cannot accurately translate a script writer's work and prose into something that doesn't sound bland. Localization is a necessary evil if we like the way the dubs are now. Good performances and good localization makes or breaks an English release of a game or anime. I'm glad more companies are trying to keep including Japanese culture into their shows more. We are a world that's more interconnected than ever thanks to the internet, and the ability to share what makes us unique is beautiful and should be preserved.

Visual Novel Translation Status (14/04/2024) Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and because we have Corpse Party 2 along with Cherry Kiss nukige (Hentai Homewrecker) announced I decided to combine both so we have 'Homewrecker Party' for the title. As for this week, initially it's just another below average one, although turned out this week we have some very notable updates in regard of the release plan so overall this week is an average one to a degree. Let's see what I can write in regard of this week. Once again Cherry Kiss announced their new nukige, Hentai Homewrecker, with the MC was roped into have NTR by the willing housewife. No much comment that I can mention other than it'll be released in two days (19th) later. We also have Team Gris Gris was turned out still active with them silently develop the real Corpse Party 2 (Not the fanfic game one), and the VN will be available sometimes in Autumn 2024 (Between October to December) later. Oh yes, it's also will be availble on PC, so you don't need to buy the console just to play this later. For the premise, it's like the first Corpse Party with the casts dragged into the otherworld with them must do their best to escape from the vengeful ghost, except this time all of the main casts are all female (We may have male side casts reveal later though) and the casts dragged into the otherworld from the abandoned hospital instead of the abandoned school. This week we have both Sekai and Shiravune announced the nukige with summer theme. Sekai revealed that they've been working on Kurikuri Click with the MC was does his best at his job as oil masseuse with his task job is to rub the oil into the customer's body, which eventually lead to the sex scenes when the MC at one instance was going overboard when he got sexy woman customers. Anyway, it'll be available on May 3rd later. Shiravune also revealed they've been working on Nyonin Island with the MC was hired as the island manager, and then it's revealed the MC got nice job because turned out the island has no male before the MC came to the island, so normally the female turned to the MC to have sex. For the release time, Shiravune only list that it'll be on this year. Speaking of release time, Shiravune announce the exact release date for both Mashiro Iro with said date is May 2nd, so keep the date in mind if you've been waiting for Mashiro Iro in English for some times. From fan translation, we have Taima Seiko Alice is at 35% edited along with 10% proofreading, ChuSingura is at 42.22% translated, Akagoei 3 is at 56.28% edited, and Ushieta is past halfway (50.8%) translated with Nagisa's route is at 28.4% translated. Other than regular updates, we also have Sampaguita release, and from what I understand its the third game of Yarudora series with the MC encounter the amnesiac girl Maria who is from Philippine and carrying a gun, which tipped the MC that Maria is involving in something dangerous. Note that the patch is for PSP version, so you need PSP emulator to play it. We also have Loverable translator announce they'll release it in August later after working on it for eight years, although for now it's still up in the air. Last but not the least, we have Daybreak announce the exact release date for Yuzuki's patch release, and it'll be in 26th later so let's see if Daybreak can finally release the last patch for Ginharu at that date. That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.

Visual Novel Translation Status (07/04/2024) Welcome to this week VNTS Review. For the title, because we have Tengoku Struggle with the female MC being the step daughter of King Enma tasked to return the prisoners from Hell, I decided to make the parody of the old anime Yu Yu Hakusho with it has the son of King Enma as one of the major character by changing 'Ghost' in its direct translated title (Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files) into 'Prisoners', so we have 'Yu Yu Hakusho: Prisoner Files' as the title. As for this week, we have several releases which to be frank not really interesting to me. Another thing to note is that finally Ninetail announce their timeline for Ragnarok Kickstarter, and ironically it's the most interesting news in this week. Overall, this week is another below average week and let's see what I can write in regard of it. Aksys did release Tengoku Struggle, and for the premise we have female MC Rin who is the step daughter of King Enma tasked to return all of the escaped prisoners that suppose to face their punishment. In order to have good chance to successfully capture the prisoners, Rin enlist the help from Goemon and several others handsome prisoners to do her job, and obviously we'll going to see the romance blossom between Rin and one of her helper. Go get Tengoku Struggle if you have Switch and want to play it, and have fun. Dramatic Create announce they'll localize Nie no Machi along with it's fandisc, and from what I see Nie no Machi is BL VN with the MC is stranded in the world of between the living and the death. For the release time, the main game will be released in this year and the fandisc will be released in 2025. Also there'll be PC version as well, so you didn't need to buy Switch if you want to play this. Shiravune released Holy Slave Academy, and well no much to say other than it's old nukige with the MC was the teacher who tasked to mold his student into the sex slave by using any means. Speaking of nukige, Cherry Kiss also suddenly released their nukige back in April 1st, and it's about the MC who has his own bunny suddenly transform into the girl which of course will have a lot of sex with the MC. Ninetail announce the time for their Ragnarok Kickstarter, and they say the KS will start some times in May later. Ninetail also mention some difficulties in regard of their upcoming KS, such as no gameplay demo thanks to the engine issue, the increased shipping price because of the rising cost, and the increased price for one of the pledge. For fan translation, we have Taima Seiko Alice is at 30% edited, Akagoei 3 is at 53.37% edited, ChuSingura is at 41.91% translated, and Ushieta is at 44.9% translated with Airi's route is fully translated. For Ushieta here, obviously this is quite big achievement seeing the old project was stopped at 35% translated, so good job to the translator for finishing Airi's route. Anyway, now that Airi's route is fully translated, the translator planned to working on Nagisa's route next. That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week. PS - I know there's some significant update in regard of Ginharu, and I decided to save the talk for next VNTS Review.

Visual Novel Translation Status (31/03/2024) Welcome to this week VNTS Review, and for the title because we finally have Sekai released ReLord 3 with the sub title '~The demon lord of Groessen and the final witch~', I made the parody with I change 'Groessen' into 'Toyotoki' (From Ihanashi no Majo English title, Tales from Toyotoki) and 'the final witch' into 'the songstress' with songstress part come from one of Venus Blood Hollow fandisc title 'The Dragon Songstress'. Anyway, for this week initially I thought it would be a plain one, but near the end of the month there are several sudden release along with Mangagamer finally do another updates. Overall, this week to me is more or less a below average one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it. We have a new publisher called Ramune Games about to release their debut work, LingerieS, with the premise the trap MC was assigned to take care of the lingerie shop that his twin sister take care of while said sister have some other business for the whole two months. From what I see, apparently it's another single heroine VN, and looking from the number of the side heroine we may have more parts available later. In any case, the plan is to release the VN in this year later. Ramune Games itself is the branch company of the developer who usually made nukige, so we may have 18+ patch for this. Speaking of this year release, we finally have Ihanashi no Majo English language support for Steam with the support will be available on Autumn later (The Switch version will be available on this Summer). It's interesting if not funny on how both Ninetail and Sekai decided to do sudden release for both of their VN, and it's good for the latter now that they have one less title to worry about. No much comment on Venus Blood Hollow fandisc other than it'll focused on the dragon sibling (Julia and Liese) who will received a lot of love from Leon's trusted tentacles, and feel free to play if you want more of Hollow (I'm still waiting for Ragnaro's KS). Sekai did suddenly released ReLord 3rd, and with it they finally done with ReLord trilogy. For the premise of ReLord 3, we have the demon lord MC finally almost done to liberate his territory from the witches, although obviously the MC still need to face the hard fight seeing now he need to deal with two enemies at once. Go get ReLord 3 if you've been waiting for the release before playing the trilogy, and have fun. We also have Shiravune announced the exact release date for (Redundant) Taimanin Yukikaze, with said date is 30th later. Once again, this week we have Mangagamer's updates. As for the updates, we have Hana Awase PC port is in progress, Funbag Fantasy 4 is at 80% translated along with 78% edited, Rance 03 is at 73% translated, Rance X is finally reached 90% mark translated, Sex Open World is also passed 90% mark translated (92%) along with 86% edited, and Ixseal is at 84% translated along with 81% edited. Honestly I only care for Ixseal here, but it's good to see that Rance X finally almost finished its translation work with X has a very big amount of text. Lastly for fan translation, we have Akagoei 3 is past halfway (50.05%) edited, Ryouken After is past halfway (55.58%) translated, Taima Seiko Alice is at a quarter edited, and ChuSingura is at 41.53% translated with Chapter 2 is past three quarter (76.43%) translated. That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.

Rise of the Ronin is an open-world game that covers important events from 1853-1868 from the perspective of a ronin (masterless samurai) of the fallen Kurosu-han (fictional). This period of history is often called the 'Bakumatsu' (TL: The End of the Shogunate) or the events leading up to the Meiji Restoration beginning with the opening of Japan (signing of unequal treaties) and ending with the surrender of Edo to the Satsuma-Choshu forces. Your character is one of a pair of twins (you can choose male or female) who has a chance encounter with Sakamoto Ryouma before he enters Yokohama, and much of the central story is told from your outside perspective interacting with important individuals in one of four periods of the time: The anti-foreigner movement and Ansei Purges, the rise of the Anti-Shogunate movement, the breakout of open conflict in the streets of Kyoto (the Ikeda-ya incident and the first Choshu Rebellion), and the Boshin War. What I didn't like There were two major issues I had with the game, not having to do with the gameplay but rather with the story. The first was the blatant favoritism of the scenario team toward the anti-Shogunate side of things. The second was the blatant historical inaccuracies that were just plopped in. To be blunt, from the very beginning, you are encouraged (and not subtly so) to side with the Anti-Shogunate (Tobaku in future mentions) forces. It is at its most blatant in the prologue and first chapter, where your main character's homeland is destroyed by the Shogunate (Bakufu in future references) after a failed assassination attempt on Admiral Perry. In the first chapter, you meet a lot of famous and interesting figures in the Tobaku's historical membership, Sakamoto Ryouma, the silly drunkard Katsura Kogoro, the gambler Takasugi Shinsaku, and the idealistic young hero Kusaka Genzui, and for much of the main story you are basically following the major points of Ryouma's journey, even as you go off to do side-quests and the like along the way. In addition, the main Bakufu characters are a Geisha with a creepily subtle approach to things and an old man who seems like he'd order your death without a blink if he felt like it. The problem is that this deliberate placing of extremely likeable and idealistic characters on one side and a slightly creepy group on the other makes it natural to just choose the Tobaku side from the beginning. While later chapters introduce more interesting characters on the other side, such as Katsu Kaishu, the Shogun Yoshinobu, and the Shinsengumi, you are still encouraged at key points to take the side of the Tobaku, and it isn't even subtle. The second issue, historical revisionism, is actually tied in with the issue above. Two key points that I need to stress are the enthronement of Yoshinobu and the death of Kondou Isami of the Shinsengumi. The former, the enthronement of Tokugawa Yoshinobu as Shogun, is something that - in actual history - didn't occur until August of 1866, whereas in Rise of the Ronin he is already Shogun in 1858, when Yoshida Shoin is executed. This might seem like a minor revision, but considering how it was the internal disorganization caused by his predecessor's illness and inability to rule that led to Ii Naosuke having the power to order the Ansei Purges that martyred a lot of Tobaku philosophers and activists, the only reason I can see to treat his character the way they did was to make him seem incompetent, thus leading to more favorable impressions of the Tobaku side in comparison. The latter is less of an issue, except as a convenience for those who wanted the story wrapped up neatly in the second Edo chapter. However, losing Kondou early in the sequence of events (since he was still active after the surrender of Edo), was a somewhat questionable decision. I will admit that the event itself was incredibly emotional to watch in video, and a certain mission involving the Shinsengumi survivors afterward was equally so. What I did like The gameplay is the first thing that comes to mind. There are so many different ways to fight your battles in this game, from utilization of its nine different main weapon types (including bare fists), to the varying combat styles (particularly in the katana and nodachi styles), to the use of the hang-glider and horses to get around. The mini-games are interesting without being intrusive, and they include hang-gliding courses, target-shooting with a rifle, horse-archery, and mock fights in the dojo with NPC unique characters, all of them for prizes. For side-quests, you have collection quests for each region: treasure chests, Usugumo Dayu's cats, cleansing of violent ronin, and taking pictures of scenery. I should note that the cats and dogs in this game are ridiculously cute and a constant source of easy items that can at the very least be disassembled for upgrade parts. Completing all the quests in an area of a region gives you a reward that helps you advance your character or your bonds with NPCs. Your home, a small longhouse that is on the edge of town in each region, is a good place to meet random friend NPCs and interact with them without going to them. It is also the place where you initiate pilgrim dog and cat service missions, both of which are a steady source of income without effort. You can redecorate it with your favorite weapon, a picture or scroll, and six curios that attract different personality types amongst the NPCs you've met so far. In your house, you can also put together an ensemble through the redesign feature that lets you look less like a murder hobo. Story-wise, there are a ton of extremely emotional moments. This was a period of Japanese history that was full of heroes on both sides, many of them tragic and glorious at the same time. The fact that it is possible to save three major tragic heroes from their fates (Sakamoto Ryouma, Okita Soji, and Takasugi Shinsaku) earned points with me. The battle of Toba-Fushimi is a perfect illustration of why the samurai caste was doomed, as men with swords fought against others armed with rifles, gatling guns, and cannons. Being able to fight this battle and other key scenes from both sides without replaying the game from the beginning made the story as a whole come to life. Though I was a bit annoyed that your efforts don't make any difference in the final result (I love it when historical games let you break history), but the personal story was decent enough, in the end. Conclusion Rise of the Ronin is one of the better open-world games I've played, making others like Assassins Creed seem stale and boring in comparison. This might be because I'm a weeb and tired of AC's stale plotline, though. The story is impactful and emotional in a way purely western-made games never seem to manage for some reason, and it showed off why Team Ninja is one of the better game developers out there.