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@MaggieROBOT Makes a bunch of grotesque kya sounds

Context: a guy I met on Fuwa’s discord was told to end the TL for “his own good” and the translation team did not like him for his one too many jokes. After talking about it with the guy, I realized something. In the anime, manga, Japanese video game worlds, there’s nobody arguing over the purity of a translation, even weirder this doesn’t happen in the Light Novel world either. Light Novels are 100% text, but when translations come, nobody gets into arguments about whose translation is better or whatever. It’s the weirdest thing. Why in the VN community do have such a purity spiral for translation? None of the other mediums of Japanese entertainment have this issue even though they all need to be translated. Even when there’s an official release of a VN, all the fan translaters loose their damn minds. Like... why? I doubt our brothers from the land of the rising sun have such fervor when they translate EVNs. I think this snobby attitude over translation needs to stop because we’re not going to ever make a “perfect” translation because translation itself is a art not a science. Personally, look I thought about this before: I am going to bite the bullet and say: I rather read a bad translation than to never get a translation at all. With a bad translation, people can see how it’s bad and someone could make it better. I understand that people really care about doing their best, but there’s so many kamiges out there that will remain untranslated. The VN fandom is growing, but we’re nowhere near anime levels of mainstream thought, and I think this stupid purity spiral regarding visual novel translations is one of the main reasons why.

Huuuuuuuuh... I see many things that are absolutely wrong with your statement. First, really there's no translation quality/choice drama in other otaku niches? I've seen people going apeshit over minor details in anime translations and inconsistencies between the fan and official versions. On the one hand, there'll always be purists that are demanding top quality every time and on the other, there will be botched or poor-quality translation on both the fan and official side of things. The more choice and comparison people have, the more likely they are to criticize underperforming projects - when fan translators were your only hope for playing pretty much any VNs, you were less likely to complain about their work than now, when they compete with a fairly rich selection of professional releases. I things it's even somewhat legit to argue that nowadays there's little sense in translating a VN unless you can do it well. The second, do you know about many EVNs being translated to Japanese? People actually caring about those? It's a non-topic, but I would be surprised if Japanese VN fans didn't have a problem with poor translations - they aren't used to awful localizations and don't treat them as "facts of life" like Western otakus were forced to by turd-quality products offered to them on a regular basis. Demanding quality seems like a pretty reasonable standard, especially for commercial products. And the VN fandom today is not reliant on fan translations anymore and people's attitudes towards those are not any kind of "crucial barrier" for its growth. Also, there are many other reasons why fan translations are pretty much dying out - people that once done them professionalizing or moving on with their lives is the main one and there's no going back from this. What's left is the official publishers, and if you suggest we shouldn't take those up to highest scrutiny as their clients, that's pretty much saying you want them to screw you over with subpar services. Well, you're allowed to act against your own self-interest of course, but that doesn't look like a healthy narrative.

VN made by MyDearest. It looks like it was just released by Sekai - JP and EN versions simultaneously. https://vndb.org/v24442 https://vndb.org/v24443 What's this?

Nice to meet you Fuwa-denizens, It's my first time in the forum (as a member) though I've known Fuwanovel site since way before, when torrents were still up and Katawa shoujo was my first VN (which I didn't finish, I completed only 3/5 routes of the girls that interested me, who knows if I will pick it up again). I registered because I wanted to be part of a community with the same hobby and have some social activity while searching for a stable job. I don't have a huge number of VNs completed and I mainly read Nukiges (Link - if you are interested, most of them are stalled so I didn't bother to put them on the list). I did start to self-learn Japanese since High school with basic stuff but I've really learnt to read it mostly thanks Nukiges (weird, right?) using VN Reader. I have a sort of aspiration to become a translator thanks to my hobbies (I've translated some comics and ero-doujins), though I'm still in the dark on what path to take in the future because I invested 5 years to get a master degree in Biotechnology and I still can't find a goddamn job. I will look around the forum just to feel up the situation and probably I would like to join in a translation project so I would use my time in a meaninful way. Well, thank you for reading all of this and I hope my interests don't creep you out too much. See you around!

I'd love to write to write a longer post, but it's already too late here, so I'll try to keep things short. Are we talking about fan translations here? Because, yeah, if some VN has literally zero chance to be translated officially, I would be fine even with a relatively bad fan translation, as long as it keeps things readable, as long as there's still something worrh reading in what we have in the end. In the other cases I mostly disagree. To add to what Lesiak said, I believe that if you start to lower the standards, then at some point you'll simply come to the point where even completely ureadable garbage produced by Google translate becomes acceptable, as it is currently in the LN fan translations. Which brings me back to this point: I'd personally love it if LN readers we're at least a bit more critical about what they read. 9 out of 10 LN translations are completely unreadable, and most others become unreadable at some point. Plus this:

I may have agreed with your sentiment a few years ago, but these days we have official translations, and to be honest I d rather NOT have a translation than a bad one. Case in point the friggin Joke that is the White Album 2 "translation" that mess started 6 years ago bout 5 days after I made my vndb account and its a disaster! I am not so desperate for Visual novels to read that I m willing to stomach whatever shit show thrown my way and neither should anyone else.(mind you i've completed over 160 vns with no end in sight)

main reason why libra deserves a good bashing does no only stem from its subpar quality, which they´re having fixed route by route, its more mikandi´s attitude towards the whole thing. like first promising backers/customers a very good translation and after everyone + their mothers knew they´ve got scammed fukking hard still defending the scammers work. is it really so damn difficult to openly say "hey we fucked up, cause we got fucked up, because we´re naive retards. sorry everyone"? still calling sth that´s utterly unreadable for the most parts a good read is laughable at best and at worst it´s disrespectful to those who eagerly awaited said title´s release. edit: @Happiness+ please no more pointless mumbo-jumbo about saying bad translations are better than no translation at all, cause that´s completely shit. a bad translation is labeled bad for a reason, not only because its prose might no be winning nobel prizes and/or lacks emotions. inaccuracy is a thing and getting to read nothing but fanfiction does contradict with you saying "...but there’s so many kamiges out there that will remain untranslated."

My prediction: this thread will end in a flamewar about lame people not understanding the sacred language of Japanese. I both agree and disagree with you at the same time. The problem is that we have seen some attempts, which were downright awful to the level where reading the translated and untranslated versions were two completely different stories. You could argue that we could accept rewrites, but the translated ones were not worth reading. The moment we open the gates for "it's translated. It's done" is the day we accept to kill off reading enjoyments from VNs. Editing is another issue. Kill off editing and focus shifts towards making out what it says rather than understanding the plot and enjoying the story. On the other hand if we set the minimum quality requirements too high, then we will end up with no translations at all. It's a balance. We will likely never agree where the acceptable range is, but I suspect it highly depends on the reader's English skills. If you aren't skilled enough to pick up on the difference in different ways to say the same, who cares? If you do know the difference and can make out a lot of the back story, you care if the translation ruins that part. This is not even a matter of native vs non-native English speakers because even native English speakers aren't equally good at reading stuff hinted like this. Another reason why people get upset is because translators/editors just doesn't care. Release something, get the money ASAP. Who cares if people enjoy the end product. It's all about the money. I said some not so nice comments about Maitetsu on that account (though I rarely bash specific titles). The thing is it's a title with a very specific theme, specially railroad/trains. The end result shows it's not a field of expertise of anybody involved with the translation. While it's not great, I guess it's passable. What I objected about is that they have made up words and concepts. My rant included the difficulty level in looking up the right words/concepts on Google and really, if it's something you can look up in 30 seconds or less, you really shouldn't damage the meaning of the scene because you skip doing a background check like that. That's just too low for a paid translation. I think I was fair because I stated I didn't bash anything they missed if Google failed to provide the answer right away. And what was written while I was typing: there is a difference between a free fan tl and a paid translation. If you pay somebody to do something for you, your expectations will and should be higher than what you get from somebody who does something for free and gives it to you for no other reason than him being a nice guy or something like that. Yeah it sounds like my rant on The Slayers have gone unnoticed. I accidentally watched it with subs and dubs at the same time and I was like "I guess I will do an unplanned comparison". There are lots of minor differences where one version might be as good as the other one and I guess that's to be expected. However around half the lines have a new meaning, frequently making up a new dialogue or even story. Some seem intentional, like removing all references to Lina's boobs (or lack hereof) or altering the spell chant Ï pledge myself to darkness", but most of the changes are just completely different for no apparently reason. Around half the lines differs in meaning way beyond anything anything you could justify as "translation can't map words 1:1". In short: the dub is essentially a rewrite, not a translation and you will not get the same experience as with the subs. In particular jokes and gags have a tendency to vanish in the dub, which is bad for a joke heavy title.

Welcome to Fuwanovel friend and be sure, we're definitely not ones to be easily creeped out. You don't have to hide anything.

While I'm not a huge purity person when it comes to translations(Not knowing one of the languages involved sees to that) I still expect that there is some sort of quality baseline. I think it is annoying to read through a vn and spot a bunch of easily correctable grammatical errors, and just strange sentence structure. I feel the same way about the manga I read since the bulk of it ain't gonna have a proper release if ever. Also, people like to bitch and moan about everything, this is the internet for Gods sake! While I do appreciate the work that fan tl's put into a vn I expect them to actually put out something of quality. That way everything will work...

Yeah I can see that. Though if someone, out of their love for the original work, is doing their best to bring it to the west so we all can share their enthusiasm, I won't be a dick. Even if it's a subpar translation it's not like it's a product. I'd still be grateful for their effort.

Pretty much what @Plk_Lesiak said. Fan TL? I'll take whatever I can get. Official TLs? They are selling them, so they'd better be good.

My guess would be that it is mainly because VNs are more niche and as such have a higher concentration of hardcore otaku than anime, manga and light novels. That being said I do think that there are translations that really deserve ridicule whether it is MTL or something like Libra, but I do feel like some people might be overly critical towards decent translations wanting every translation to be amazing and done by someone who has both perfect fluency in japanese and english as well as the writing capabilities of professional writers.

Hello to you too and welcome to Fuwanovel!

Holy s***, when in a bad mood, trust in anime... I've checked all of the shows I was interested in minus Bloom Into You and while I don't think there are many actually GOOD shows in the fall lineup, I was amused to no end. First, Zombieland Saga is just pure, unadulterated absurdity, nearly at Pop Epic Team levels of dumb. But so far, it's outlandish enough to be funny and if it can keep up a similar pace, it'll be a joy to watch. The opening scene was even something of a small masterpiece - got me completely by surprise and set out the tone perfectly. :3 Second, Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san is simply adorable - probably the first shoujo-ai after Yuru Yuri to give me a similar feeling. Its extremely cute and relies on silly character humour, but makes it all highly amusing and relaxing to watch. It won't be for everyone, but I was smiling like a complete moron the whole way through and can't wait to see more. Third, the Reincarnated as a Slime isekai is surprisingly well-written and fun and for once does not seem to shoehorn pointless fanservice, which is so rare in the more lighthearted shows of this kind... It seems like it's going to be a lot of fun, even for those that are generally fed up with this kind of anime. Fourth, Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary is not that horrible... Just clunky and uninspired. Quite similar to other Chinese anime I've seen and I think those get a bit more shit than they deserve. Going to watch it further out of curiosity. In general, this is going to be a fun season, even if no one will remember about any of these shows a year from now. I approve. ^^

Grisaia is a masterpiece imo, strongly recommended. Off the wall comedy ....... while exploring some psychological themes when it gets serious (and it gets more serious then most VNs). And that soundtrack! It does have a rather long common route. Symphonic Rain has a unique art style, and a unique world. And some interesting plot twists. It's one of the few VNs (that I know of), that ditches the moe elements (for the most part). For a suggestion not on your list.... * ef - a fairy tale of the two . Multiple love stories (which are somehow connected). Quite a lot of feels too....

Happy birthday!

Man, they really like the whole tie between the boobs thing don't they? Battleship Bishojo sounds like a vn I should get drunk and play

No @littleshogun post today? How could it- Oh, I see. Happy birthday, then. And to @Kiriririri too.

Happy birthday to @littleshogun and to a certain Finnish person with a strange username!

All the best wishes for @littleshogun and @Kiriririri, who might be getting older, but will be forever 12 in our hearts.

Congratulations to @Kiriririri and @littleshogun for being yet another step closer to the inescapable, existential void. Have a good one!

Been binging Muv-Luv Alternative pretty hard. And....... ..... Jesus, this VN is intense

My problem : I love controversial games/VNs (for example, I own a collection of shitty RPGs. Like Legend of Foresia or Eternal Quest). One day my curiosity will kill me

We've got a new public build available! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0LNv17WtFhv79fLT-5m6qMKTpApYd5qCW_Ci5kCx7M/edit?usp=sharing There are still some kinks being worked out of the gallery and undressing system so they are not present in this build, however, this version features extended story content and Mira in Room 1. Love tokens earned in story mode are retained in your save file so make sure to not delete your appdata! You'll be able to spend these later. We expect to have the gallery and undressing system fully functioning and presentable by the next public release. Hope you guys enjoy whats new!

Some silly video i stumbled across when youtubing nonsense I've seen the anime this song is in, but i just cannot for the life of me remember which one that is. Anyone know?

I'm an obsessive VN player, and I doubt there are many here who could match my experience. However, there is one issue I've more or less deliberately closed my eyes to when it comes to VNs... and that is the sheer amount of anti-feminist propaganda inserted into untranslated Japanese VNs in general. There are a number of major, really obvious examples of this, and I'll go ahead and describe them for you. 1. The 'female teacher who never gets married because she acts too much like a guy' archetype. This isn't even a heroine archetype. It is just a side-character archetype... but literally the most common non-heroine, non-protagonist one in existence other than the 'idiot friend' one. How is this anti-feminist? First, it assumes women with certain qualities - hard-working, focused on their jobs - aren't attractive. Second - and more insidious - it assumes that all such women should want to get married, so it is something of a double-whammy. 2. The 'strong-willed heroine who becomes completely submissive the second she and the protagonist become lovers' archetype. This is perhaps the most insidious of the heroine archetypes when it comes to this issue. This is more or less a manifestation of the hidden widely-held Japanese male belief that even the strongest woman secretly wants to be dominated by a man. Yes, there are plenty of otherwise strong-willed women that use mild SM as stress relief, but the same can be said for men... 3. Otome games. Yes, I know some would protest this, but it is really obvious, when you play them. First, almost all otome game protagonists are easily-dominated wilting lilies or women who become so the second they meet a strong, handsome man. Second, even those that aren't spend a ridiculous amount of time being 'rescued' by men (Damsel-in-Distress Syndrome). Third... exactly how many otome games do you see that appeal to women who prefer to be dominant, in general? There are any number of such themes, archetypes, and concepts that demonstrate this little reality, but it is something you should probably keep in mind when you think you are going a bit over the edge playing moege, thinking real women might be like those on the screen. Remember that while some women really do fill the archetypes, they are exceptions, not the rule. At the same time, assuming that they should fulfill those roles/archetypes is one habit we probably shouldn't import from Japanese otakus, despite our taste in games, lol.