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Movers and Shakers in the Western VN World


Tay

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The Western VN world is kinda small, but it can feel pretty big at times. We're looking to compile a list of the key players, or "movers and shakers", in the Western VN world.

 

Very Simply: Share who you consider must-follow figures in the Western VN scene (such as translators, websites, translator groups, licensing/distributing companies, and people of influence). Note: The Western VN world, not the Japanese people/companies making Japanese VNs. 

 

Please share as many sources as you'd like, but please take the time to include a little info for each one:

  • The name of the person/group/company/site
  • A brief description of what they do/did/are
  • Links to websites, social media accounts, blogs (or whatever is relevant. If the person/group has a twitter, I'd prefer that you include it)

Remember -- the more comprehensive this list is, the better! Please help us out!

 

 

 

What will this do? This will be factored into the front site redesign, but will also likely find its way into several other projects (such as VN intro kit). Once the list is complete, we'll publish it here on the forums right away so you can have it for your own reference (figure out who to follow on Twitter!)

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Not sure if I can post already or if it's here, but...

 

Koestl

Name:

  • Koestl

Description:

  • Translator JP > EN.
  • Currently working on Liarsoft's "Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning" for Mangagamer.
  • Translated Grisaia no Kajitsu and is now working with Sekai Project to revamp the translation and futurely translate the sequels, Grisaia no Meikyuu and Grisaia no Rakuen.

Links:

 

 

Sekai Project

Name:

  • Sekai Project

Description:

  • Licensing/Translatting/Distributing company (Can someone simplify this or does it have to be this mess?)
  • Full list of releases on the VNDB link below

Links:

 

MangaGamer

Name:

  • MangaGamer

Description:

  • Licensing/Translatting/Distributing company (Can someone simplify this or does it have to be this mess?)
  • Full list of releases on the VNDB link below

Links:

 

The Visual Novel Database

Name:

  • The Visual Novel Database (VNDB)

Description:

  • A comprehensive database for information about visual novels. Translation groups and companies included.

Links:

 

JAST USA

Name:

  • JAST USA

Description:

  • Licensing/Distributing company
  • Full list of releases on the VNDB link below

Links:

 

Visual Novels subreddit

Name:

  • /r/VisualNovels or Visual Novels subreddit

Description:

  • A community for discussing visual novels, their development, and the medium itself.

Links:

 

 

TLWiki

Name:

  • TLWiki

Description:

  • A wiki dedicated to translating eroge, visual novels, and doujin games.

Links:

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Very Simply: Share who you consider must-follow figures in the Western VN scene (such as translators, websites, translator groups, licensing/distributing companies, and people of influence). Note: The Western VN world, not the Japanese people/companies making Japanese VNs. 

 

 

Is this limited to the translation scene, or did you want stuff from the English development scene also?

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Is this right/good enough or do I straight up have issues? In case it is, I'll try to get some more.

Wow. More than enough and you did an impressively thorough and better job than I expected or could ask for! As long as I have a name, description and link, I'm happy!

Is this limited to the translation scene, or did you want stuff from the English development scene also?

Not limited to TL at all. RE: English VN devs: Oh, absolutely. They're the heroes we need, after all.
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Wow. More than enough and you did an impressively thorough and better job than I expected or could ask for! As long as I have a name, description and link, I'm happy!

Not limited to TL at all. RE: English VN devs: Oh, absolutely. They're the heroes we need, after all.

 

Okay, I'll see what else I can find. Btw, is this limited to english translations? I was briefly part of the brazillian VN translatting scene and I could get some of the big names here.

 

Oh, and I believe Fuwa as a whole should get into "people of influence" seeing that even if it ain't extremely noticeable, it takes part as a mover and shaker in the western VN world.

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Ill just move from the biggest names to smaller ones in this list

 

Mangagamer

A company that officially translates/licenses/distributes visual novels to be released to the English community

http://www.mangagamer.com/

and here is a link to all the staff for Mangagamer

 

JAST

A company that officially translates/licenses/distributes visual novels to be released to the English community

http://www.jastusa.com/

 

Sekai Project

A company that officially translates/licenses/distributes visual novels to be released to the English community

https://sekaiproject.com/

 

VNDB

A site that catalogs all released visual novel titles, with descriptions ands a rating system

https://vndb.org/

 

Lemma Soft

A forum site dedicated to creating Original English Language Visual Novels

http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/

 

Fuwanovel Gazette

A blog dedicated to informing the western community about any visual novel related news

http://visualnovelaer.fuwanovel.net/

 


Will find more, but its getting kind of late

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Aarinfantasy: BL stuff. Has much bigger scope than just VNs, but it does host a decent amount of translation projects, some of which don't list their progress in any more public place. You need an account to see most of the interesting bits. http://aarinfantasy.com/forum/

 

TLWiki: "feud" with us (not really an active thing now, lol) nonwithstanding, a lot of fan translation projects are listed on it. Started and led by Moogy. Their IRC channel #tlwiki on Rizon is sometimes frequented by people active on the scene like koestl etc, not the nicest culture though. http://tlwiki.org/

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Welp. You said "comprehensive" so I'll throw in lots of people.

Use those to grow your internet stalking power.

 

First, websites:

 

Kazamatsuri

English-speaking Key fans community. Friends \o/

Website - Twitter

 

Beast's Lair

English-speaking Type-Moon community. Pretty big and encompasses anything TM, not just VNs.

Website

 

Nitro+ global

Nitro+ has an international website.

Website - Twitter

 

Steam

Curator page for visual novels

I don't have Steam, someone add more links D=

 

----

Then, people: ('personnal twitter' indicates that those people should rather be reached through their company official ways about company-related stuff)

 

Doddler

Scripter/Programmer for a lot of VNs, mainly for Mangagamer but also JAST and Sekai Project.

Twitter - Ask.fm - Blog (about VN hacking, etc)

 

Moogy

Founder of TLWiki, overall very knowledgeable about the eroge industry.

Twitter, blog, etc - Ask.fm

 

Tulip Goddess

Translator, mainly (exclusively?) for Mangamer. Currently working on Kara no Shoujo 2, worked on other Innocent Grey games.

Twitter - Ask.fm

 

Good_Haro

Translator, working on BL games such as No, Thank You and Ozmafia for Mangagamer

Twitter - Ask.fm - Progress page

 

Ixrec

Leader and main translator of Amaterasu Translations. Kinda social-media-ded lately.

Twitter - Amaterasu website

 

Makoto

Translator at JAST, mainly on Nitro+ games.

Can probably be reached on the JAST forums.

 

Cafe

Translator for Mangagamer, currently working on Euphoria

Twitter

 

BlackDragonHunt

Translator for Mangagamer and JAST

Twitter

 

Meru

Freelance translator, onee-sama

Twitter - Can't find her blog back D=

 

Dovac/Raymond Qian

CEO of Sekai Project

Personnal Twitter

 

Kouryuu

Translator and PR guy at Mangagamer

Personnal Twitter

 

And have some VN-related blogs while I'm at it:

 

Golden Sneer (Private twitter)

Holy Church of Incoherence (Ariurotl)

Gareblogs (garejei - twitter - ask.fm)

Mimidoshima (kastel - twitter - ask.fm)

 

...I'm sure more can be added but that's already a lot.

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Winterwolves - A giant sized developer and publisher of VN/sims and VN/RPG hybrids. Recent games he’s released have been written and drawn by others and he has a long line of people wanting to work for him to make games. This almost publisher like behaviour combined with his company being (probably) the biggest that focuses on VNs in the West make him an interesting one to keep an eye on. 

 

Website

Twitter

 

Planet EVN - All news about English VN development gets posted here.

 

Website

 

English otome games - A website which focuses on translated, or western developed, otome games. Many of these games are VNs. I believe it's valuable because much of the VN scene pay no attention to otome games, so it's a decent source of information.

 

Website

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Hongfire

A forum site that has threads relating to visual novels. some visual novels can be download for Hongfire. (I think this require an account)

http://www.hongfire.com/index.php

 

Moenovel

A company that translates visual novels and releases them as all ages. (only completed project is If My Heart Has Wings)

http://moenovel.com/imh/

 

Denpasoft

A new company that will distribute visual novels to the west. They provide physical copies for people who prefer physical version over the digital version. (only product so far is nekopara)

https://denpasoft.com/

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Fuwanovel

 

fuwanovel.net

 

Oh and I nominate myself. I'm the best. The Earth can't sustain life without moe. Pls follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/YakusokuTL and like all my photos on instagram. I'm not giving out my Facebook but for those of you who already have it pls like all my photos and comment "great party tonight!" on my wall so people think I have a life. Thx.

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Can I add these translators as well?

 

2.0 Translations

(formerly Rance Translations)

 

The team is composed of Ludo-Rathowm, Tulip Goddess Maria, Guyzoo, Aten Gnu, Aristotles, Oruore, Gekkou, Pi-R, Vodka, SLC, and Roven-Pan (MIA)

 

Twitter accounts:

Ludo-Rathowm (dead)

Tulip Goddess Maria

Guyzoo

Aten Gnu

 

Homepage is at http://rancetranslation.wordpress.com/

 

Arunaru

Owner of Arunaru Translations.

Has translated two of the Toushin Toushi games (I and II) and Kichikuou Rance.

Translates Alicesoft games that he wants to translates.

Homepage is at http://arunarutransl....wordpress.com/

 

Twitter account: Arunaru

 

Aroduc

Translator for JAST.

Has translated some eroges in the past.

Has a site called Seiha Translations (not sure if it's his site).

 

Site: http://games.seiha.org/

 

DxS

Editor for the Grisaia translation team of Sekai Project.

 

Twitter account: DxS

 

mirrormoon

Translated a few titles.

Most notable is their translation of Tsukihime.

Currently translating Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code, with ArchDemon as the project lead.

 

Homepage: http://www.mirrormoon.org

 

If I can add those from Beasts' Lair as well...

 

Jacktheinfinite101

Leads the insertion of the translated text in the Realta Nua PC version of Fate/Stay Night.

Works with Kotonoha to translate some of the new lines found in the all-ages version.

Aims to create a better experience of Fate/Stay Night all in all.

Worked with Meru in the past.

 

Kotonoha

Translates miscellaneous stuff from TYPE-MOON.

Has helped edit a lot of lines in the Fate/Stay Night Realta Nua translation and in the recently released patch of Fate/Hollow Ataraxia. Still editing F/HA.

 

Those are some that I remember.

Tulip Goddess is already there, after all. <3

 

I'll put some more if I remember some.

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Jacktheinfinite101

Leads the insertion of the translated text in the Realta Nua PC version of Fate/Stay Night.

Works with Kotonoha to translate some of the new lines found in the all-ages version.

Aims to create a better experience of Fate/Stay Night all in all.

Worked with Meru in the past.

That's MeruP, we also have a forum user called merumeru (well, she uses メルメル but still...) so might want to be specific. They had a falling out, MeruP is (or was?) also making realta nua patches independently of him afaik.

 

DxS

Editor for the Grisaia translation team of Sekai Project.

If you're mentioning this guy you should mention

herkz - the other editor for the Grisaia translation team (both DxS and herkz also worked on the fan translation). Twitter: @herkz2. Also tends to post inside info about Grisaia/Sekai Project stuff on reddit.

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That's MeruP, we also have a forum user called merumeru (well, she uses メルメル but still...) so might want to be specific. They had a falling out, MeruP is (or was?) also making realta nua patches independently of him afaik.

 

Didn't know about merumeru-san.

I should've used MeruP then.

I don't know if he's still making patches. For all I know, the HF Restoration Patch was his last.

We can confirm by asking him though.

And yeah, a falling out. Jack told me about it.

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