Chronopolis

Yo dw brah Princess Evangile got'chu
 
Except Chiho apparently
 

Who am I?
 
I think it's time to reveal my identity. Why am I here and stuff... I'm a kind of nomad. And a "newbie" also. Compared to most people, I'm not old in the otaku fandom. I've started getting into it a year and a half ago. I wasn't guided my recommendations, or anything. I just had some kind of "prejudice" towards anime and I wanted to know more about it. So I picked my first anime, that was currently airing, which was Nagi no Asukara.
 
My purpose is to have some decent knowledge and experience in various storytelling "long" medias, since I prefer long stories and find them easier to immerse myself and be attached to them. Back then, I had no knowledge about Eastern storytelling media, so my perspective was all "Western". This is why I had some difficulties adapting to the otaku world.
 
Adapting to the new world
 
As far as I know, "forums" are mostly something related to the otaku fanbase, so Western stories forums aren't really "outstanding". So my contact to the Western community was through social networks, specially tumblr, and also through RL people.
 
The Western approach to fiction was mostly "fangirling" and "fanboying", rather than "critical". So I didn't really pay attention to the stories' flaws and what could be improved, but what was 'cool' and what characters I liked and such. Then, when I joined the otaku world, I still viewed anime through that perspective.
 
But one thing I like to do is 'searching'. I am not someone who watches tons of anime, and marathoning them to 'get into' anime more. My anime list is humble, it has only seven animes, not counting sequels, side stories, and etc. But I can tell the name of a lot of animes and what they are about, even the whole story sometimes. I don't go discussing those because I didn't watch them. This just serves to expand my knowledge of his this world works.
 
My first contact to VNs was through a shoujo dating sim name "Amour Sucre" some girls played in my school. I found the concept interesting and I wondered if there was something like that with girls. I ignored it. But then I was searching a trope in TV tropes and I found a work called "If My Heart Had Wings", it was a 'visual novel'. I kind of liked how it looked and then I downloaded it. Then I started ctrling everything making some choices to see how was it like. I found it damn long but I couldn't be more curious about the media. I started searching for more and more VNs, until I found Fuwanovel. I searched for a VN for me to really play and I found Rewrite. Downloaded the torrent (when it existed) and started playing it. I didn't understand what was a route until I played Lucia's route (my first). And damn, my first route was incredible! The best route I've played yet! After Rewrite, I played IMHHW (for real) and LB!
 
Back to the main topic: I took interest in "reviews" and I like how they were made after I joined the otaku world. I thought critique was just for critics before, but I find them specially "crucial", because they can tell what the fans want, what they liked and what they disliked about certain work. It's also good to explain why you liked something and discuss with others about it.
 
My tastes for anime/manga/LN/VN
 
I look for different things in those different medias. But there are some stuff I always dislike.
 
In anime, I look mostly for good characters that I can attach myself too and also good soundtrack. The story has to have moments with big emotional impact on me. Notable examples: Sword Art Online and Non Non Biyori.
 
In manga, I look mostly for a good story, something engaging that the more I read the more I want to read. Notable examples: Iris Zero and Masamune-kun no Revenge.
 
In LN, good character dynamics so the story won't be boring in the beginning, that is generally lighter. And also a good protagonist, which I can relate to. Notable examples: Oregairu and Eromanga Sensei.
 
In VN, "impactful stories". Yeah, I've seen the potential VNs have as a medium and I expect remarkable moments as well as an engaging story that isn't boring to read. Notable examples: Rewrite and Little Busters!
 
As many of you must know, I dislike comedy. I do think it's a waste of time, and even if it makes me laugh I still think it's boring. I'm much more into drama. To be fair, the way anime does drama was something new to me and I liked it. Actually, I prefer the drama done in the anime-way than in the Western-way. I also dislike ecchi, it's also a waste of time imo. Back in my first anime stages, I thought harem was super cool, looking at the concept. It looked like a love triangle, except bigger. But after time passed and I read other people's opinions, I don't really like it anymore...
 
I like moe, though
 
Fuwanovel
 
When I started participating on Fuwa forums, I was rather surprised. First, because of the Coliseum of Chatter. It was full of silly things, and you could post silly pics and say silly stuff. I found it strange, but eventually came to like it.
 
Also, because of the way people treat ecchi, moe and even hentai here. I thought Westerners almost always looked down on those things. I also thought almost no one was interested in nukiges, and almost everyone skipped H-scenes, and almost everyone disliked lolis. But I was wrong. Fuwa showed me that. Not saying I agree with most fuwans, but at least here I can share my love for moe and cute girls.
 
 
The end
 
This is it. I just hope you know me a bit better after reading this. 
 
Here's a pic of Lucia:
 

I'll be starting college soon and recently I found out about my dorming situation. Frankly I am horrified, and disappointed. I somehow ended up with a triple when I requested a double (singles weren't an option). I honestly had no idea how I would share my living space with one other person, but now I find out I am going to have to share that space with two other people. While I'm pretty friendly in real life, I am an introvert; and have always used my room as a safe heaven from other people. How will I ever be alone if I am living with 2 other people? What do I do?!?
 
So in an attempt to calm down, I'm curious about other people's experiences with dorm life. You can be as honest and frank as you want, but I would appreciate it if you mention some positives as that would help me feel a bit better.  

Speaking about advertisement that go beyond being mere random clips, this advertisement here is Makoto Shinkai doing what he does best: touching, simple movies.
 

I still need to get volume 5... But I really loved the first 4 volumes. Granted I only read a few LNs, Hakomari was definitely a great standalone experience, if compared to other media. I enjoyed the Kings game in Vol. 3&4. This series is definitely a recommendation from me; it just felt good to read it.

Going to enjoy the ride for the 7th book. After that I'm going to have fun examining the story structure to see how Eigi might have constructed the story. The concept of the story is quite interesting.

Eh, I haven't read many VNs with Yandere heroines but so far Yuka from Gore Screaming Show seems to be really creepy.
 
There's something sinister about her which would make me run in the opposite direction if she were real. First time she talks with Kyouji's friends she looks into their hearts and reveals their darkest secrets, such callous and unabashed hatred for those around the protagonist is disturbing to say the least.
 

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 can't define porn, but I know it when I see it." 
- Justice Potter Stewart
 
This is why we moved to the more open moderation system. You know what's really awesome? Common sense. If it looks like a loli, talks like a loli, acts like a loli -- chances are good it's a loli, and if it's sexualized per the above rules, a mod will take it down.

RE: "Ban everything!" 
 
Guys, the world is full of hypocrisy. I see murder or graphic violence all the time in hospitals. If you've witnessed it, you know how profoundly messed up it is. Yet for some reason, Western culture is fine with it in entertainment. The same goes for many other social constructs. Life is hypocrisy, and all change in life is ironic to some degree or another. 
 
The sexualization of children, for various reasons, is considered wrong by most governments. Child porn, pedophilia, and molestation -- whether real or simulated -- is illegal. Not only is it illegal, it's actively pursued and prosecuted. 
 
You may disagree with this move or hate that it had to take place, but the fact is that I have to make the hard decisions to protect the site so that it's here tomorrow, next week, and in five years. Why this issue and not another? Because it came up for the first time since the move and I realized that we're more vulnerable now than in the past. Period.

Okay, if I am reading this right, does that mean loli-featuring routes and loli based games are officially banned now?
 
Lock me in a room with Steve if I'm wrong, but lolis are pretty much made to look underage and cute from what I have seen, which mean their discussion etc. are now prohibited.
 
I advocate completely free speech (and let everyone ignore/rekt posts they find atrocious or oblivious, as long as it is not harassing anyone or a group), and thus I'd prefer if people were free to discuss whatever they wanted here, but I understand the reasons you gave and thus I can only appreciate your effort to make Fuwa a better community, Tay.
 
Thanks for always working for the good of the community, the staff! 

How can you say serious question and Sakura spirit?

Worrying about still pictures?
Get with the times, son.

Okay, I think we are mixing up different standards here.
All this talk about style, prose and whatnot, is only relevant to "great translations". Absolutely the best ones out there. I think only the most delusional JP-readers would seriously expect such level from an average Fan-TL.
That kind of quality would be nice of course, but it isn't really all that vital. People who seriously care about writing style, or those who simply prefer to experience everything the way it was written originally (like I do), will read most stuff in JP anyway. When you can read in JP, there's just no point in touching translations (other that saving time if your reading pace in ENG is noticeably faster).
 
Now, most current Fan-TL are what I'd call a "good enough translations". They accurately represent the original story and are written in readable English. Nothing more. They don't represent the original prose or writing style, just plot, characters, setting, etc.. And that's all the Fan-TL really needs to do. Of course, the more it does, the better, but that's the acceptable minimum. This really should work just fine for almost anyone who isn't dedicated enough to learn Japanese.
If a TL fails to deliver that (due to overly literal writing or some minor inaccuracies), but it doesn't fail horribly, it's what I'd call a "sub-par translation" (Rewrite is a good example here). It doesn't represent the original very accurately, but it's still perfectly readable, and all important details are preserved. Those can be a little annoying sometimes (as Clephas mentioned), but they still work. People who aren't familiar with the original, probably won't notice any errors.
 
Then, there are "bad translations". The main problem with those isn't prose, writing and all that fancy stuff you guys are talking about (though those usually suck, too). The biggest issue here, is that they don't represent the original at all, because they are filled with mistranslations. They alter characters' personalities, completely ruin the atmosphere, or even mix up the events and plot-points. In short, they utterly butcher the original story. Good editor could make them readable (you could probably even reforge a machine translation like this), but they still would be far too inaccurate to actually work. But, I don't think a good editor would touch obvious crap to begin with, so all you get is utterly unreadable garbage in the end.
 
Nobody sane really demands great translations, and nobody sane really complains about good enough ones. Some 4chan trolls, maybe.
And you can only really discuss prose and other literary aspects on the "great" vs "good enough" translations level.
 
Bad translations - those that do get bashed (and quite rightly so) - are on a completely different level. The prose, writing and stuff aren't the biggest issues here (those can always be fixed by editors). The main problem is that the TL is completely wrong and butchers the original. Like in Eustia or Monobeno cases.
Now, when clearly incompetent people are attempting to rewrite a VN somebody likes into a borderline-unreadable fanfic, it's only natural that some fans get pissed and start pointing out errors. Often in a not-so-civilized manner.
 
JP-readers will always have slightly different experiences than ENG-readers. But in case of "good enough" and even "sub-par" translations, those differences shouldn't be significant. "Bad" translations however, turn VNs into something completely different than their original versions, and are well capable of degrading a nice, enjoyable title (like KonoSora) into something worse than Shuffle or Katawa Shoujo.

Yeah, definitely... take that, disabled people! 
But no, I mean the tsun attitude, I find tsundere characters annoying usually - the more tsun they have, the worse. So I hope she gets better later, she's just a bit bothersome in the beginning. Will probably do her route first, since it's apparently praised as the best one too. 
 
Edit:
 
Just finished Himatsubushi in Sui. Oh my god, that epilogue killed me with feels, the culmination of utsuge and meta in that part was absolute genius. Sasuga Ryukishi, there's nothing else to even say at this point. But what does this even matter, when the Wrap-up Party afterwards was so good that it alone justifies the purchase of this VN?! Side-heroine revolutions! Epic fights over line counts! The birth of the Four Dark Emperors and their evil chuuni ecchi plans!!! Chie-sensei finally evolving into her true Ciel appearance, complete with parody sprites, killing for the glory of curry, accompanied by Umineko sounds!!!!!!!!! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING BUT I WANT MORE OF IT!!!!!
 
Another edit:
 
Well, I thought the day would never come, but I'm actually done with Senshinkan. Feels weird now that it's over, after how long it took me to finish. It was a very enjoyable ride for the most part, though I have to say that I also felt it was bothersome to read at times - which is also why it took me so long. Can't really blame that on the VN rather than on my Japanese, though I do feel like Masada did mince words a bit too much at times (where he would spell out what was happening to the last letter, even when it wasn't really necessary at times), but there were also moments when those details and incredibly flowery prose were greatly appreciated. My favourite parts were the fights where new mechanics were revealed and the details of its inner workings were explained, and the plot parts dealing with the actual structure of the VN and its setting. It's also those two places though that were most problematic at the same time. As interesting as some of the fights were, there was a number of them that felt like a mere rehash. They were predictable, and save for the ridiculous scope, also rather boring - this applies mainly to the later parts of the VN, though there are exceptions. This also ties directly to the VNs unusual structure, that lead not only into some less than satisfactory fights, but also into a rather unfortunate set of endings. This is a rather objective thing, but I prefer true endings in these sort of stories, for their definitive conclusiveness and impact - and with Senshinkan's solution... well, without spoiling anything, lets just say that the ending gets quite diluted. There was also one part that I didn't quite like, and that was the absurd focus on shiny ethics and heroics in stark contrast to the brutal and gloomy narrative, as it at times liked to switch from one to the other, but I understand that it was a very conscious decision and I'm not going to knock it just because it borrows from Hakkenden so much. Not every chuuni can be the beautifully grim Muramasa, after all.
 
All in all, I'll give Senshinkan an 8.5. It's definitely worth the read, and I am looking forward to digging into Bansenjin one day. I hope the rumours that it is better than Senshinkan are true.

Recently finished Nanairo Reincarnation.
Though i only play the Main Heroine's route, i can safely say that the Romance between the MC and her is just that good. A pretty good ]achievement considering the setting of the story. 
 

I'm not a big fan of crowdfunding for-profit projects.  I find it exploitative.  If I'm investing in a for-profit enterprise, I expect a return on my investment--i.e., if I contribute 1% of the funds to create a game, then I have a 1% stake in that game, and I expect a cut of the profits that result from the game's sale.  Now, it would be different if crowdfunding was used to develop a game and the game was then freely distributed afterwards.  But that's not what's happening.
 
I'll grudgingly support a new developer that needs the funding to get their first project off the ground.  But after that?  They better start funding themselves using the profits they withheld from investors.
 
I'm extremely skeptical of traditional crowdfunding campaigns, and I would only support them for a product that I really want, or for an innovative cause that I think is worthy of donating to (to date, these requirements have not been met).  And more than likely, I would contribute at the minimum level to obtain the primary game assets.  Sekai Project's continued reliance on crowdfunding is just one more reason I continue to regard them and their business practices with suspicion.
 
As for a glorified preorder campaign, I'm not necessarily opposed to that concept, though I'd be extremely wary if they said they would charge me in advance for a product that is still in the planning stages with no projected release date.  I'm not opposed to preorder campaigns to gauge customer interest (similar to Steam Greenlight).  I'm opposed to assuming financial risk for the profit of others--i.e., being exploited.

You have my support, GSS is a pretty neat novel. Wish you the best on the project!

From what I understand, many of your criticisms are of the Japanese writing tradition in VNs, not merely the translation.  I doubt even the original Japanese would satisfy you.

そういう会社としての判断にならざるを得ないし
Oh man. I also read that wrong the first five times. I think I get why this line is so easy to get wrong. そういう会社. when you see this it immediately sounds like "the sort of company" in the negative sense, as in "the sort of company who supports those kinds of things". And the grammar parts in the area don't obviously conflict with that assumption so it's easy to overlook.
 
To show how close and confusing they are, here's what some of the wrong interpretations would look like if you wrote them out.
（世間、もしくは消費者から）そういう会社だという判断（評判？評価？）になりかねない。　
そいう会社として評価されることになりかねない。
 
However,　会社としてのX　unambigiously means "the action X done as a company" or "X (position, obligation) as a company".
The other hint is ざるを得ない　is only used cases which the subject is forced to take some action. Even if the verb is なる　the action will originate from the subject: 好きにならざるを得ない、強くならざるを得ない. It is not used to describe a situation which  forcibly leads to a bad outcome.

--You specify Windows; the original tweets simply say "OS." Your assumption is probably correct, but there's no way to know this for sure. While when translating e.g. fiction, such things aren't terribly important (and saying "Windows" might actually be better), for official things like this I'd stick with the more literal translation..
 
This is an extremely... loose reading of 勝手, where it feels like you're letting your own feelings on the subject leak over and impact the translation. A simple "bought up [...] on their own" would be both more diplomatic and accurate.
 
More literally, it's "If this is a request from overseas for support for foreign OS's"

 
More literally, "Should we answer the wishes of users who shouldn't have been able to buy the product, who purchased it by means that have the potential to cause another incident, and support them? Is this right? That's... Hmm."

 
Should be "That would have to be our decision as a company"

 
Should be "To be honest, we could leave things in a gray area, where we let the users act with good will in the shadows while we say nothing positive or negative on the subject."

 
Should be "To be blunt, when we received the reports right after release from users we believed to be Chinese, our user support team felt they were really skirting the line with regards to the JP ONLY clause, thinking 'I hope these people are playing within the country.' They puzzled over how to handle the issue."

 
He's just saying that he's answering his own rhetorical question. Perhaps "Well, no, there isn't." would fit.

(Finally, from a technical standpoint, you're jumping back and forth between "I" and "we." Pick one!)

Speaking of target audience, when it comes to VN translations, it can be roughly divided into 3 main groups. And each group has different standards for acceptable translation-quality:
 
Group 1 - People who care about prose and want to experience VNs in a way that's as close to the original writing as possible. This group will -never- be satisfied with translations, even good ones, simply because translations are flawed by definition (I know from personal experience, since I kind of belong here ). The only reasonable option for them is learning Japanese, and well, they usually end up doing that sooner or later.
For Aaeru, they are all "elitists" by default.
 
Group 2 - People who don't mind the fact that translations will never be perfect. Some of them will probably try learning JP, but the majority is fine with reading translated VNs. As long as the TL is reasonably decent - they do have some standards. They will be fine with a bit too literal writing, not conveying some nuances properly, probably even with Ixrec's stuff. However, they won't swallow absolute thrash, with exceptionally awful writing, very poor TL-accuracy, and/or stuff that just doesn't make sense at all (that is - MoeNovel "quality", or current Monobeno project; not to even mention copypasted machine translations).
And because of that, in Aaeru's vocabulary they also count as "elitists" (because, just like Zalor said - "Regarding Fan translation quality, only elitists really care.").
 
Group 3 - People who simply don't give a damn about that weird thingy called "writing". They are fine even if they get only the very general idea of what is going on. They will swallow butchered KonoSora, they will even "read" Flyable Hearts troll-MT patch. Because they just don't care.
They aren't "elitists". And Aaeru loves them.
 
Group 1 isn't really an audience for translations. If anything, this group is a potential source of translations.
Group 2 is an audience for decent (don't confuse with "perfect") TLs. Probably even some sub-par-TLs. But not for thrash-TLs.
Group 3 is an audience for more or less everything, no matter how poorly translated it is (well, some people will avoid pure MT-gibberish, but they will gladly swallow everything else).
 
The thing that I'd like aspiring translators to consider here, is that a decent TL can please both group 2 and 3, while thrash-TL not only is limited to group 3 alone, but will also deny everyone else from enjoying this particular VN in English (since in reality, we are limited to only 1 TL per VN).
 

I was bored. I did this. This was probably a terrible idea but LMFAO wHo cAREAS HAHA Xd. Yeah my mic is a potato, hope you enjoy it. (✿◠‿◠)