Regarding Manga Translations: So it has come to my attention that the Sailor Moon manga will be re-released in North America starting in September 2011. That kind of puts a damper on this project. Or does it? The Japanese manga (and text therein) has always been copyrighted, so this has always been an unlicensed derivative work. Thus, the legality of this project hasn't really changed, except for the possibility that now I'd be competing with an official product, which is not my intention.
If you really want to read Sailor Moon in English, I would recommend buying the official new English releases. If there are errors in the official translations, you can check against my scripts for the correct line(s), assuming I didn't screw it up too. I'd also recommend importing the Japanese books, regardless of whether or not you want the new English books. Support the series in some form, and use my scripts in addition to that.
This project has been a way for me to practice Japanese (and CSS styles) with a subject I'm very familiar with. I plan to continue it as long as Kodansha, et al., will allow me to do so. Eventually, I also plan to include other translation projects (like music lyrics).
Translation Progress:
Manga Acts: 50.00% (26/52)
PGSM Act Revisions: 73.08% (19/26)
Manga Extras: 10% (1/10)
Latest Sailor Moon Updates
February 1st, 2012 at 08:15 AM EST
I'm (sort of) halfway done now, because the script for Act 26 is done! Along with the reprint version, Act 29! I forgot to do the reprint script until last night, but luckily for me there were very few changes. Also, I have revised and compared Acts 15-18 (16-19 in the reprints), which means I'm finally done cleaning up the 2006-2007 stuff. So now it's just a matter of getting comparisons done for the rest of the 2011 stuff.
January 1st, 2012 at 11:58 AM EST
New year, new month, and new script: Act 25! As well as the reprint version, Act 28! I've also finished revisions of Acts 12-14 (13-15 in the reprints), and of course comparisons for all of it. The Dark Kingdom arc is done again, and the rest of the old old stuff should also be done very soon.
December 1st, 2011 at 10:08 PM EST
The day is almost over, but I do have Act 24 ready! And its reprint counterpart, Act 27! Also revisions of Acts 10-11 (10-12 in the reprints), and comparisons for both the old and new stuff. (Farewell, Street Fighter and Terminator references...) It may not sound like it, but everything combined amounts to roughly the same amount of pages as I did last month, so I guess I'm still keeping a pretty consistent pace.
November 1st, 2011 at 05:55 AM EDT
It's only taken, what, four years? But the Black Moon arc is complete with this script for double length Act 23! At least I'm consistent now. And I've also revised Acts 6-9, with separate scripts for each version (and of course comparisons) and some much needed clean up work. One tankoubon a month is a lot slower than I expected for this sub-project, but I think it will speed up when I get to the stuff I did in 2011.
Speaking of the revisions, one thing I didn't mention before is that things are more colorful now. If a character has colored manga art somewhere, their name is in color. But at the same time, attack names won't be colored anymore, because I now think it's a little obnoxious. And I've also been de-Wapanizing things a little further, like removing a lot of old quirks ("GC") and reducing the amount of in-story translation notes. Names are now written in Western order (Usagi Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba, etc.), and certain honorifics (oniisan, senpai) are now translated. I remembered it's a plot point that they don't know Motoki's name at first, so that's something you definitely can't omit or change to his name. You can find more details about this and other stuff on the notes page.
The next act is double length in both versions, so it would certainly be a fitting/annoying start for simultaneous double script releases.
October 1st, 2011 at 04:48 PM EDT
October is a relatively big month. First, here is Act 22! This is the penultimate chapter of the Black Moon arc (at least in the older books), and I've already made a lot of progress on the final chapter (which is double length), so yay.
Second, I've finally started a related sub-project that I've always wanted to do: separate scripts for both versions of the manga! Here's the indexes for the old books and the new books, and another page for comparisons between them. I acquired copies of the reprints a couple months ago, but I wanted to finish the Black Moon arc before I started on them. I'm close enough now that I decided to go ahead with it anyway, but so far I've only managed to do up to Act 5.
With those separate scripts also comes a lot of translation revisions I've been meaning to do for a while, which is part of why I haven't gotten many separate scripts done yet. I've also been reformatting the pages to include page numbers from the corresponding books. Act 22 doesn't have most of these changes, and neither does what I have done of 23, but ideally everything will be updated to have all the new changes before it's time to start the Infinity arc.
September 1st, 2011 at 12:20 AM EDT
A new month, and Act 21 is ready. Very close to the end of the Black Moon arc now, with a certain character making her "debut." It seems pretty obvious who she is in context, which is why I used the relevant color codes all throughout. But her name is treated like a big reveal, so I left her unnamed through the whole chapter. Do spoiler-phobes agree? Or does everyone already know the story well enough anyway? You can give your thoughts at the site Twitter or something. (Until I come up with a news comment-y system, anyway.)
August 1st, 2011 at 09:33 PM EDT
On schedule again with Act 20! As I mentioned last month, this is double length, so it spans two Acts in the reprints. Now the different numbering will be even harder to keep track of... There was one line I really hit a snag with, and it should be obvious when you get to it. Hopefully I'll be proficient enough to fix it one day soon.
This chapter also has a bunch of flashbacks, which brings me to something I've always wanted to explain. When there's a flashback to a scene we've seen before, they often contain identical dialogue to the original scene. But there are also many times where the flashback dialogue differs from the original dialogue. I always go back to the original scene and compare the lines. If the dialogue is the same, it's a matter of copy and paste, but if it differs, so does my translation. So if you've ever noticed flashback dialogue differing from the original scene, that's not an inconsistency on my part; that's a reflection of the original text.
July 1st, 2011 at 02:01 AM EDT
Once again I have another script for you: Chibi Usa Picture Diary #1! I'm sure people were expecting Act 20, but since I'm working from the tankoubon, this chapter is what comes after Act 19 in volume 5. So it's a lot easier for me to do it now than getting this book out again post-Stars or something. But I've tweaked the navigation bars at the bottom to account for both the main story alone and the tankoubon layout.
Also, Act 20 is double length, so this has conveniently given me extra time to work on it. But I won't get such a convenience for Act 23...
June 1st, 2011 at 07:40 AM EDT
Another script ready for another month: Act 19! The introduction of the chatty transparent guy, and the end of one of my favorite characters. I feel like I did a really good job this time, possibly due to a change in the way I'm learning new vocabulary. Some things were a little loose to make them sound more natural in English, but I don't think I sacrificed or ruined anything. There were also a few snags in my understanding of some lines again, but I think they're less obvious than they were last time.
May 1st, 2011 at 10:57 AM EDT
So far so good on my "once a month" plan, because Act 18 is up! Chiral and Achiral use all kinds of crazy science words that I only vaguely understand. If you're a chemistry nerd and something they say seems wrong, it's probably Takeuchi's fault more than mine. Probably. But what isn't Takeuchi's fault are a couple of non-science lines I had trouble with. They're probably easy to spot, because they don't make a whole lot of sense. But I intend to correct them one day when I know better (which will hopefully be in the near future).
I also added a lot to the translation notes page, including a new section giving brief explanations of the astronomy/mythology references. I'll add more as it's introduced in the story (or I remember it), but I want to keep it strictly limited to the astronomy/mythology stuff, because A) these kind of references provide insight to the story that the uninformed might miss, and B) at the moment, I don't want to make a giant etymology page where I have to start researching minerals and junk.
April 1st, 2011 at 03:26 PM EDT
Finally making a news section for this project! I've rearranged the navigation a little, in preparation for further sections. Although I wouldn't expect to see new sections anytime soon, since certain other projects are higher priority right now. More importantly, I've added something new: Act 17! It's Calaveras time! I'm hoping to average one chapter a month for the rest of the year, while I prioritize other things. No guarantees, but think positive!
Starting with Act 17, I'm trying to be a bit less literal, just to the point that things sound less stiff, and more like natural English. Things should be just as accurate as they've always been, if not moreso (due to my very gradually increasing proficiency over the years). I fully intend to keep most honorific suffixes, but I'm trying to come up with alternatives to certain ones (namely "Motoki-oniisan" and "Makoto-senpai"). I don't like to omit things, but I don't want to be too Wapanese either. But everything that isn't translated should be italicized now (though I haven't gone through the older acts thoroughly yet). And on a similar note, I've changed around a few font styles (especially the "thinking" one), mostly to better match the different fonts in the books.
