Getsuya

If at all possible while you're still in school I'd take some classes in Engineering or Medical as that will help give you an edge when applying for interpreting jobs. Medical and Automotive are the 2 biggest industries that hire Japanese interpreters and translators. The other is Patent Law but that seems to require the most study to get into.

I work as a professional translator/interpreter for a car company.
It's awesome.
Here is my list of reasons why this is the greatest job:
1. No take home stress. At my previous job I could never enjoy days off because I was always worrying about things that had to be done or projects I had to complete at work. As a translator/interpreter there is none of that. I could be in the most stressful meeting ever with people shouting back and forth and huge implications for the company but as soon as I walk out of that meeting it all slides off my back because it's not my problem. I'm just there to translate. I enjoy the hell out of my days off now.
2. You are the boss's best bud. Most companies in the US with a Japanese parent company (which are most of the companies that really need a translator badly) have mainly Japanese managing staff. All these Japanese managers can usually speak English just fine but they like to relax during meetings and use a translator instead. This means you're always there by the boss's side. From day one you're their personal buddy and you've got his ear. That's some job security.
3. Speaking of job security: everyone in the business knows that machine translation doesn't work. Plus they know that audio machine translation is a distant dream of the future. And it's not like every single Japanese worker is going to know how to speak Engineering-level English and it's certainly not like any of your American engineers are going to learn any Japanese. These companies will be needing translators 50 years in the future.
4. Tied with job security is the fact that you are worth your weight in gold. Getting a solid Japanese translator out to the American mid-west is like waiting for lightning to strike. We are a rarity and a hot commodity. Though it takes a little luck to get picked up when you have no experience in the field you want to interpret in, once you have 2 or so years under your belt suddenly you can go anywhere, do anything! Companies in the area will trip over themselves trying to outbid each other for an experienced engineering interpreter. The world is your oyster.
5. Studying kanji at work? Absolutely! It's training for the job isn't it? I use a site called WaniKani and everyone's totally cool with me using 30-40 minutes a day crunching my reviews on there. What they don't know is I'm mostly perfecting my kanji so I can finally sit down and read Dies Irae but hey it helps with the job too so who cares!
6. Probably best of all is no fanboys complaining about your translations. Most of the engineers will be happy just to have a general gist of what these papers say in English. It's not like manga/anime/game translation where every translation choice you make will be dissected and whined about. Since you are the only lifeline between the English and the Japanese both sides will treat you like a saint. Even the simplest translation I do never fails to gain me a heartfelt thanks, which is probably one of the best perks of the job. People really, truly appreciate what you do and are verbally grateful for it.
 
Now of course I realize that the company I work for might be an exception. The people here are really nice. But I think translators may find similar situations at other positions of this kind. I think a lot of anime/game/VN fans that learn Japanese get tunnel-vision thinking that game/anime/manga translation is where they want to end up, but I heartily recommend you look into automotive translation if you can. It's a great industry and I'm enjoying the heck out of it every day. I'll be happy to answer any questions about my job and how I got here in this thread.

I work as a professional translator/interpreter for a car company.
It's awesome.
Here is my list of reasons why this is the greatest job:
1. No take home stress. At my previous job I could never enjoy days off because I was always worrying about things that had to be done or projects I had to complete at work. As a translator/interpreter there is none of that. I could be in the most stressful meeting ever with people shouting back and forth and huge implications for the company but as soon as I walk out of that meeting it all slides off my back because it's not my problem. I'm just there to translate. I enjoy the hell out of my days off now.
2. You are the boss's best bud. Most companies in the US with a Japanese parent company (which are most of the companies that really need a translator badly) have mainly Japanese managing staff. All these Japanese managers can usually speak English just fine but they like to relax during meetings and use a translator instead. This means you're always there by the boss's side. From day one you're their personal buddy and you've got his ear. That's some job security.
3. Speaking of job security: everyone in the business knows that machine translation doesn't work. Plus they know that audio machine translation is a distant dream of the future. And it's not like every single Japanese worker is going to know how to speak Engineering-level English and it's certainly not like any of your American engineers are going to learn any Japanese. These companies will be needing translators 50 years in the future.
4. Tied with job security is the fact that you are worth your weight in gold. Getting a solid Japanese translator out to the American mid-west is like waiting for lightning to strike. We are a rarity and a hot commodity. Though it takes a little luck to get picked up when you have no experience in the field you want to interpret in, once you have 2 or so years under your belt suddenly you can go anywhere, do anything! Companies in the area will trip over themselves trying to outbid each other for an experienced engineering interpreter. The world is your oyster.
5. Studying kanji at work? Absolutely! It's training for the job isn't it? I use a site called WaniKani and everyone's totally cool with me using 30-40 minutes a day crunching my reviews on there. What they don't know is I'm mostly perfecting my kanji so I can finally sit down and read Dies Irae but hey it helps with the job too so who cares!
6. Probably best of all is no fanboys complaining about your translations. Most of the engineers will be happy just to have a general gist of what these papers say in English. It's not like manga/anime/game translation where every translation choice you make will be dissected and whined about. Since you are the only lifeline between the English and the Japanese both sides will treat you like a saint. Even the simplest translation I do never fails to gain me a heartfelt thanks, which is probably one of the best perks of the job. People really, truly appreciate what you do and are verbally grateful for it.
 
Now of course I realize that the company I work for might be an exception. The people here are really nice. But I think translators may find similar situations at other positions of this kind. I think a lot of anime/game/VN fans that learn Japanese get tunnel-vision thinking that game/anime/manga translation is where they want to end up, but I heartily recommend you look into automotive translation if you can. It's a great industry and I'm enjoying the heck out of it every day. I'll be happy to answer any questions about my job and how I got here in this thread.

I work as a professional translator/interpreter for a car company.
It's awesome.
Here is my list of reasons why this is the greatest job:
1. No take home stress. At my previous job I could never enjoy days off because I was always worrying about things that had to be done or projects I had to complete at work. As a translator/interpreter there is none of that. I could be in the most stressful meeting ever with people shouting back and forth and huge implications for the company but as soon as I walk out of that meeting it all slides off my back because it's not my problem. I'm just there to translate. I enjoy the hell out of my days off now.
2. You are the boss's best bud. Most companies in the US with a Japanese parent company (which are most of the companies that really need a translator badly) have mainly Japanese managing staff. All these Japanese managers can usually speak English just fine but they like to relax during meetings and use a translator instead. This means you're always there by the boss's side. From day one you're their personal buddy and you've got his ear. That's some job security.
3. Speaking of job security: everyone in the business knows that machine translation doesn't work. Plus they know that audio machine translation is a distant dream of the future. And it's not like every single Japanese worker is going to know how to speak Engineering-level English and it's certainly not like any of your American engineers are going to learn any Japanese. These companies will be needing translators 50 years in the future.
4. Tied with job security is the fact that you are worth your weight in gold. Getting a solid Japanese translator out to the American mid-west is like waiting for lightning to strike. We are a rarity and a hot commodity. Though it takes a little luck to get picked up when you have no experience in the field you want to interpret in, once you have 2 or so years under your belt suddenly you can go anywhere, do anything! Companies in the area will trip over themselves trying to outbid each other for an experienced engineering interpreter. The world is your oyster.
5. Studying kanji at work? Absolutely! It's training for the job isn't it? I use a site called WaniKani and everyone's totally cool with me using 30-40 minutes a day crunching my reviews on there. What they don't know is I'm mostly perfecting my kanji so I can finally sit down and read Dies Irae but hey it helps with the job too so who cares!
6. Probably best of all is no fanboys complaining about your translations. Most of the engineers will be happy just to have a general gist of what these papers say in English. It's not like manga/anime/game translation where every translation choice you make will be dissected and whined about. Since you are the only lifeline between the English and the Japanese both sides will treat you like a saint. Even the simplest translation I do never fails to gain me a heartfelt thanks, which is probably one of the best perks of the job. People really, truly appreciate what you do and are verbally grateful for it.
 
Now of course I realize that the company I work for might be an exception. The people here are really nice. But I think translators may find similar situations at other positions of this kind. I think a lot of anime/game/VN fans that learn Japanese get tunnel-vision thinking that game/anime/manga translation is where they want to end up, but I heartily recommend you look into automotive translation if you can. It's a great industry and I'm enjoying the heck out of it every day. I'll be happy to answer any questions about my job and how I got here in this thread.

I work as a professional translator/interpreter for a car company.
It's awesome.
Here is my list of reasons why this is the greatest job:
1. No take home stress. At my previous job I could never enjoy days off because I was always worrying about things that had to be done or projects I had to complete at work. As a translator/interpreter there is none of that. I could be in the most stressful meeting ever with people shouting back and forth and huge implications for the company but as soon as I walk out of that meeting it all slides off my back because it's not my problem. I'm just there to translate. I enjoy the hell out of my days off now.
2. You are the boss's best bud. Most companies in the US with a Japanese parent company (which are most of the companies that really need a translator badly) have mainly Japanese managing staff. All these Japanese managers can usually speak English just fine but they like to relax during meetings and use a translator instead. This means you're always there by the boss's side. From day one you're their personal buddy and you've got his ear. That's some job security.
3. Speaking of job security: everyone in the business knows that machine translation doesn't work. Plus they know that audio machine translation is a distant dream of the future. And it's not like every single Japanese worker is going to know how to speak Engineering-level English and it's certainly not like any of your American engineers are going to learn any Japanese. These companies will be needing translators 50 years in the future.
4. Tied with job security is the fact that you are worth your weight in gold. Getting a solid Japanese translator out to the American mid-west is like waiting for lightning to strike. We are a rarity and a hot commodity. Though it takes a little luck to get picked up when you have no experience in the field you want to interpret in, once you have 2 or so years under your belt suddenly you can go anywhere, do anything! Companies in the area will trip over themselves trying to outbid each other for an experienced engineering interpreter. The world is your oyster.
5. Studying kanji at work? Absolutely! It's training for the job isn't it? I use a site called WaniKani and everyone's totally cool with me using 30-40 minutes a day crunching my reviews on there. What they don't know is I'm mostly perfecting my kanji so I can finally sit down and read Dies Irae but hey it helps with the job too so who cares!
6. Probably best of all is no fanboys complaining about your translations. Most of the engineers will be happy just to have a general gist of what these papers say in English. It's not like manga/anime/game translation where every translation choice you make will be dissected and whined about. Since you are the only lifeline between the English and the Japanese both sides will treat you like a saint. Even the simplest translation I do never fails to gain me a heartfelt thanks, which is probably one of the best perks of the job. People really, truly appreciate what you do and are verbally grateful for it.
 
Now of course I realize that the company I work for might be an exception. The people here are really nice. But I think translators may find similar situations at other positions of this kind. I think a lot of anime/game/VN fans that learn Japanese get tunnel-vision thinking that game/anime/manga translation is where they want to end up, but I heartily recommend you look into automotive translation if you can. It's a great industry and I'm enjoying the heck out of it every day. I'll be happy to answer any questions about my job and how I got here in this thread.

I was digging through the random collection of PS2/1 games I have from my various trips to Japan and I found that I had a copy of Sister Princess the VN.
Well the anime wasn't horrible (it wasn't good, but it wasn't horrible) and I wondered if the VN would go into more detail about all of the girls and the strange dynamic of being the brother of 12 girls who aren't far enough apart in age to be physically possible unless we're talking a one father many many mothers situation.
I flew through one of the routes in about 2-3 hours.
It sucked.
The game is 99/100ths common route with the only thing that changes being a few brief scenes with your chosen girl scattered throughout. These scenes are pointless repetitions of 'I love you so much big brother!' or whatever single-note problem that particular character has. They all only have one, just like they all only have one personality trait. Picking a girl and seeing her route through to the end is an easy way to get sick and tired of her voice and personality by the end of the game.
There really aren't 'routes' since that would denote some kind of story arc or conclusion after the common route. Which there isn't. On the last day of the common route the girl will make some declaration of love and then the credits roll.
The only big thing you get to decide in the game (aside from which girl to pursue) is whether you will be blood-related to the girl or not. By picking all the sort of mean options while not completely shutting her out you get the blood-relative ending, and by picking all the lovey-dovey answers you get the blood-related ending.
That's an interesting concept that would have been more compelling if it had been pursued at all instead of just changing the ending slightly. Some character's routes even hint at things like missing their absent parents etc. but nothing ever comes of it. Girls that are crying over being lonely and missing their mom are sunny and happy the next day with no reason given for the change.
But I'm not conveying clearly why this game is bad. Now I will:
1. The character arcs are non-existent. When they are introduced the girls present their one-note personality and that's it. And that's all there ever is. Any issues a girl has at the beginning of the game will still exist at the end.
2. Aria is the worst VN heroine ever. Bar none. In the introduction her maid gives you a chocolate with a letter in which Aria complains about having to give you the chocolate because then she can't eat it and begins crying in the letter because she can't eat the chocolate. She spends the entire game crying over frivolous things like this. All she does is cry. She has no other personality traits.
3. The CG are bad. They are boring and drab and highlight scenes that don't need to be highlighted. There are one or two stand-outs but I doubt any players will feel driven to try to find them all like they would in a good VN.
4. The music is forgettable and bad. The OP almost put me to sleep
5. The game forces you to be a dick by ignoring all the other girls to single-mindedly pursue the one who's route you are doing. Despite this all the other girls will constantly be popping up (due to the common route) and yet the game never punishes you for heartlessly and constantly shooting them down.
All in all the game is just boring. Honestly the anime was better, which is saying a lot since the anime was mediocre at best.
With this lack of content or good plot this is basically the equivalent of a nukige without any H-scenes or fanservice at all. Imagine that. Just fluffy non-story connecting together scenes of girls telling you how much they love you for no reason. Wow.
In the end I guess the only good thing to come out of the Sister Princess franchise was the image album which actually had some really good songs:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm11335637
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm12996965
I guess there's a Sister Princess 2 which appears to be a huge upgrade from what little I've seen of it on Japan sites, but I think 1 may have poisoned it too much for me so I don't really care.
Shirayuki, Mamoru and Chikage are all great characters though and really deserve to be in a better game/series than this.

I was digging through the random collection of PS2/1 games I have from my various trips to Japan and I found that I had a copy of Sister Princess the VN.
Well the anime wasn't horrible (it wasn't good, but it wasn't horrible) and I wondered if the VN would go into more detail about all of the girls and the strange dynamic of being the brother of 12 girls who aren't far enough apart in age to be physically possible unless we're talking a one father many many mothers situation.
I flew through one of the routes in about 2-3 hours.
It sucked.
The game is 99/100ths common route with the only thing that changes being a few brief scenes with your chosen girl scattered throughout. These scenes are pointless repetitions of 'I love you so much big brother!' or whatever single-note problem that particular character has. They all only have one, just like they all only have one personality trait. Picking a girl and seeing her route through to the end is an easy way to get sick and tired of her voice and personality by the end of the game.
There really aren't 'routes' since that would denote some kind of story arc or conclusion after the common route. Which there isn't. On the last day of the common route the girl will make some declaration of love and then the credits roll.
The only big thing you get to decide in the game (aside from which girl to pursue) is whether you will be blood-related to the girl or not. By picking all the sort of mean options while not completely shutting her out you get the blood-relative ending, and by picking all the lovey-dovey answers you get the blood-related ending.
That's an interesting concept that would have been more compelling if it had been pursued at all instead of just changing the ending slightly. Some character's routes even hint at things like missing their absent parents etc. but nothing ever comes of it. Girls that are crying over being lonely and missing their mom are sunny and happy the next day with no reason given for the change.
But I'm not conveying clearly why this game is bad. Now I will:
1. The character arcs are non-existent. When they are introduced the girls present their one-note personality and that's it. And that's all there ever is. Any issues a girl has at the beginning of the game will still exist at the end.
2. Aria is the worst VN heroine ever. Bar none. In the introduction her maid gives you a chocolate with a letter in which Aria complains about having to give you the chocolate because then she can't eat it and begins crying in the letter because she can't eat the chocolate. She spends the entire game crying over frivolous things like this. All she does is cry. She has no other personality traits.
3. The CG are bad. They are boring and drab and highlight scenes that don't need to be highlighted. There are one or two stand-outs but I doubt any players will feel driven to try to find them all like they would in a good VN.
4. The music is forgettable and bad. The OP almost put me to sleep
5. The game forces you to be a dick by ignoring all the other girls to single-mindedly pursue the one who's route you are doing. Despite this all the other girls will constantly be popping up (due to the common route) and yet the game never punishes you for heartlessly and constantly shooting them down.
All in all the game is just boring. Honestly the anime was better, which is saying a lot since the anime was mediocre at best.
With this lack of content or good plot this is basically the equivalent of a nukige without any H-scenes or fanservice at all. Imagine that. Just fluffy non-story connecting together scenes of girls telling you how much they love you for no reason. Wow.
In the end I guess the only good thing to come out of the Sister Princess franchise was the image album which actually had some really good songs:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm11335637
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm12996965
I guess there's a Sister Princess 2 which appears to be a huge upgrade from what little I've seen of it on Japan sites, but I think 1 may have poisoned it too much for me so I don't really care.
Shirayuki, Mamoru and Chikage are all great characters though and really deserve to be in a better game/series than this.

So its basically Sakura Spirit, lol?
On another note, its nice to see you again Getsuya. Haven't seen you in a while.

Hi I'm back too. As of now.
Things that happened in my life since I left:
1. Moved back to America and then across America from WA to IN
2. Got a job that works all the hours. All the hours. However there is no take home stress and it's doing something I love so I don't care and the money is good so I'm very content.
3. Got engaged and will soon be married. Girlfriend not only does not know much about anime but I think she just legitimately does not like non-child-oriented animated things (IE she loves Disney but hates Archer) and has only watched a few anime things to humor me. That said she is understanding of my interests and we share a lot of interests outside anime so it's fine.
4. Quit video games for good and then un-quit them.
5. Decided that I needed folks to talk about anime and Japanese games and VNs with after all and came back to Fuwanovel because this place is great.
 

Besides, everyone knows if PETA was going to point out any cruelty in hentai it would be to octopi and other tentacled lifeforms. Do you think they WANT to violate schoolgirls all the time?

Mario actually responded to PETA allegations

Kamen Rider huh? Well, I'm a Tokusatsu lover myself, especially Kamen Rider. Super sentai is fine, but I'm not so hype about it, since it's more intended for younger audience while Kamen Rider usually have darker story. Last Kamen Rider I watched was Gaim. I'm still skeptical with Drive, is it a good series?
 
As for my favorite, that will be Kuuga and V3, damn both of them are awesome!

I got over it when I learned that 18+ thoughts were super effective at banishing fearful thoughts. It's almost bizarre how well it works. I used to be a super scaredy-cat that had nightmares all the time, then I played my first H-game, read my first hentai manga, and realized that when I thought dirty thoughts all my fearful thoughts would scatter right away.
 
Don't buy the religious hype; the opposite of fear is not faith, the opposite of fear is porn.

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth coming to North America PS4, PS Vita in 2016.
 
Even if it's digital only, I'll probably still be getting it day one.
 
http://gematsu.com/2015/07/digimon-story-cyber-sleuth-coming-north-america-ps4-ps-vita-2016

Bugs and big dogs.
Also I don't have it anymore but I used to have a sort of phobia that I would wake up and something would be standing by my bed. It could have been anything, just the thought of waking up to some animal or something standing by my bed watching me or something. It was a really serious fear of mine so I spent quite a few years of my life sleeping with my face to the wall every night. I didn't care if whatever it was that appeared at my bedside killed me or whatever, as long as I didn't have to see it first.

I got over it when I learned that 18+ thoughts were super effective at banishing fearful thoughts. It's almost bizarre how well it works. I used to be a super scaredy-cat that had nightmares all the time, then I played my first H-game, read my first hentai manga, and realized that when I thought dirty thoughts all my fearful thoughts would scatter right away.
 
Don't buy the religious hype; the opposite of fear is not faith, the opposite of fear is porn.

I got over it when I learned that 18+ thoughts were super effective at banishing fearful thoughts. It's almost bizarre how well it works. I used to be a super scaredy-cat that had nightmares all the time, then I played my first H-game, read my first hentai manga, and realized that when I thought dirty thoughts all my fearful thoughts would scatter right away.
 
Don't buy the religious hype; the opposite of fear is not faith, the opposite of fear is porn.

I got over it when I learned that 18+ thoughts were super effective at banishing fearful thoughts. It's almost bizarre how well it works. I used to be a super scaredy-cat that had nightmares all the time, then I played my first H-game, read my first hentai manga, and realized that when I thought dirty thoughts all my fearful thoughts would scatter right away.
 
Don't buy the religious hype; the opposite of fear is not faith, the opposite of fear is porn.

Anyone else watch this show? People upload the videos to youtube with eng sub, and it's freaking fantastic. Been watching them for years. I'm currently a bit behind and watching the prison one now, laughing my ass off, so Kinda wondered if anyone else knows of this show......
 
 
Here's a link to one of their much earlier shows, in case youre interested (its not full screen for legal reasons, but you can find it full screen with a bit of searching)
 
 
https://youtu.be/gsL3Nqppi4Y
 
A little info. Theses guys are a group of comedians mostly, famous people in Japan. A Batsu game is a punishment game. In this one, if they laugh at any time they are punished, usually by someone running in and smacking the crap out of there behinds. They also do other methods, such as shooting darts into their butts also....painfull stuff. So of course, the whole show is set up to try to make them laugh. Some of their jokes and such might go over peoples heads if they dont know japanese culture too well, but even if you dont it is strange and outlandish enough to enjoy without knowing. Enjoy!!
 
Oh, and DONT start with the newer, 2015 ones. Some of the games and such are references to older batsu games. You'll miss out

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/06/30/disney-magical-world-2-teaser-revealed-for-nintendo-3ds/
AHH
AHHHHHHHHH!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
 
What's that the greatest game ever invented is going to have a sequel? Why yes I WOULD like to buy a 3DS again now, thank you for asking. A game where I can invite Disney characters to my cafe that I've decked out in their honor and hear them tell me how delicious the them-shaped cakes I have made are? Why yes please, I'll take a dozen.
 
Rabid fanboyism aside anyone who is even a passing fan of Disney should try the first game and should be hyped for the second. All I ask is more characters, and I don't doubt they'll do it.
 
(... though I was pretty miffed that their 'Aristocats' DLC was almost 100% Marie stuff. I named my cafe Berlioz in protest)

Welcome to the infinite VN, fellow reader. For the 'proper order' most of the new arcs in the first 'file' assume that you've read Watanagashi at least, so you might go with that - or just leave them all for last. You can actually get all of them from the common route (includin'g Natsumi's, Someutsushi), even if it gives you the choice in the scenario select, just somehting I found interesting.
 
Also the cut content will get worse the further you get. The first season is still good, believe me... Kai gets so bad that entire characters get cut, but I suppose we should've expected no less from DEEN. 
 
And Satoko is still worst girl, normal moments or not.

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/06/30/ao-no-kanata-no-four-rhythm-headed-to-playstation-vita/
 
GET IN MAH VITA!
 
All your VNs are belong to us. Vita masterrace.

Y'all ready for this?
 



 



 



 
So not only did my local game shop still have a copy, they were giving away posters, naked Tenshi cardboard square thingies, and a bonus Girls Dead Monster single (Million Star). The actual box itself contains everything you see above; trading cards, a mini art-booklet (that's the black thing), a piano OST and an Angel Beats radio show CD, a big plastic emblem thingy and some ads for their upcoming games/anime. All for less than $70. Key sure knows how to stuff their stuff. Can't wait to get started.

I haven't played Rewrite yet but I loved Little Busters and I'm loving Angel Beats. One of the things that sets these two games apart from a lot of other VNs is the emphasis on a group of friends rather than it just being about one guy chasing after one of many girls. Even on the routes focusing on individual girls you are still spending lots of time with everyone. They flesh out all the characters in your group a lot and it feels more like you're part of a circle of friends than just some lonely guy looking for virtual girls to date. Eustia also captured this feeling pretty well with how active Kaim was in the community.

That's because it is all manner of awesome.