#scanslation project

[kinnoth]

I am translating a Dante/Vergil Doujinshi (2/?)

pages 11-20

i'm gonna just be appending all subsequent pages to the original upload, for easier access. just keep scrolling til you hit new pages.

credit to the original artist

[blorboresidue]

tumblr on desktop is so funny i was scrolling through my tags and it was like "this blog is popular in the #tactics tag!" and i clicked and it was a blog with exactly two posts, both of which were from 2013

[raincoatsgeorge]

Three of my favorite Final Fantasy doujinshi I've picked up in the past couple of years.

I'm thinking of scanslating the middle one, a very cute Tifa x Aerith book - if anyone is interested in helping me edit and typeset these or other projects, feel free to email me at rinuzuki@gmail.com ✌️😽✌️✨

I've got a million other Suikoden (esp 1+5), various Final Fantasy (esp 7+6+4), Xenogears, Dragon Quest, etc etc doujinshi and manga I'd love to work on with others, too.

[spidersovp]

hello hellsite i have returned and i am cooking bsd anthology scanslations and also 6 other projects at the same time. the oven is on really low but its on.

[sage-the-cat]

FAQ

Project Icarus

Current Status? : Writing, figuring out a timeline for this beast.

Can I translate this? : Yes, if you want to even go as far as scanslate I'll have text free version of all pages.

What's the genre? : I'd class this as a seinen doujinshi, it's not as goofy as classic Sonic shounen media. Sci-fi realism.

What's the rating? : Kinda T, think around 15+, while it'll be tame enough for the majority of it, mature topics are going to be touched on and explored.

Why the rating? : There will be medical experiments, death, and violence. These are mostly canon but again, will be explored and expanded on.

What if I notice something wrong? : Critique and suggestions are welcome but please remember that this is a doujinshi, a fancomic, and I'm ironing out a nightmare. I'll be basing things off of the Japanese version to the best of my ability but even passed the translation errors a lot of the story of Shadow has contradictions.

Why did you make this? : Look, this has been simmering in the back of my brain since 2004 when I watched Sonic X and they rolled out an edgy black hedgehog with a backstory I couldn't follow because censoring was weird. The Year of Shadow just brought it to a boil. Thought I left the fandom for good but here we are.

Blog Engagement

Minors can engage? : Yes, yes you can. You will regardless. Now should the itty bitties engage? No, this isn't for very young children. I'm expecting those that are in their minority to exercise some judgement on what they want to engage with. Learning how to engage online in the gray spaces is far better than sneaking into the black barred corners dangerous for even veteran internet users. Adults should be able to exercise enough morals not to make these transition areas cesspits and those on their way to adulthood should be allowed to interact on a higher level of thinking.

That said, adults, listen up, behave the age you're supposed to be. Don't make it weird. I know tumblr isn't the most interactive but for the love of Chaos, don't start shit.

Can I request art? : Yes, I'll doodle a few things. Anything PG and under is something I'm willing to draw and post. Character ships or CharacterxAnon is fine as long as it doesn't push that boundary. Characters in specific clothes is also ok (again pg).

What about OCs or Mature content? : You can commission me, it might take a while because my priorities' list is extensive. But there's more information further down.

About the Artist

I'm but a poor cat trying to slowly go through college and work so I won't be in crushing debt until I'm 92. I'm debt free currently so something is working.

My job? Retail, janitoring, it's a bit above minimum wage baby but at least it's flexible!

College? Going for art and business, eats away insane amounts of time.

Favorite color? *gestures to the surrounding blog* Obviously, it's periwinkle.

Commissions

What're you willing to draw? : I'm not the best at hardcore hentai itself and would recommend someone else. Naughty clothes? Sure. Mpreg? Ok. A fluffy tango? Great. Sweating inflated hedgehogs with human feet? Nope, sorry friend, wrong cat to ask.

OCs, what do you need? : Ideally a rough sketch, don't care how rough but those are the best. It helps with marking placements. Otherwise? Species, color of fur and eyes, clothing description, chest or no chest, floof or nah? Head shot or full body?

What are the prices? : It really depends on color rendering, amount shown, and pose complexity. If it's a basic full body colored character it'd be around $35 USD, it'd range a bit between 20-40 really.

What timeframe are we looking at? : Depends when you catch me. If I'm in midterms or finals, it might be a bit. If I'm completely open? Days.

When will I pay you? : I won't charge anything until we've okayed the idea and settled on a price, half will be up front and nonrefundable. The rest will be at the end and upon delivery.

[logicheartsoul]

                                 Botan, Girls-Only* Meeting

As you can tell, this reader insert is more of the "hanging out with friends" than the romantic date ones. I'm curious why you don't get to go out with Botan (coz I think she's cute and she'd be LOVELY to have a date with) but I'm not surprised with who Botan's love interest is in this. Mainly because, in Japan, there's actually a pretty huge following for Kurama x Botan to the point where there's active fanartists AND doujinshi goods being produced. Just yesterday on Japanese Twitter, I saw a few advertisements for Kurama x Botan doujinshi.

But it's sort of obvious from this story that it's one sided (especially considering all the other Kurama stories are reader inserts), so in that way it's somewhat unrequited/angsty. However, for you Kurama x Botan fans, this is a nice treat!

One of Kurama's stories should be up soon, so for those who have been waiting, it's going to be good! The Kurama story is Kei's (@iwroteyoualoveletter) favorite and I do enjoy it too. Simple and sweet.

I hope y'all enjoyed this even if it’s just hanging out with friends!

*Also, to all the readers who are not women, I apologize for the title but that's how it translated as. Can't really change that, though the title of this story isn't really too important considering it's just friends hanging out with each other and catching up. Perhaps a good alternate title could be Friends-Only Meeting? (Though that really just gives me livejournal vibes LMAO) I hope that's satisfactory. Don't want anyone to feel misgendered.

**If you want to follow our releases, follow the tag #Yuhaku Doujin Project!**

If you want to read our current releases, all the Kurama ones arehere, and the others are here.

A masterpost will be made once we have released all the chapters but until then, check out these tags/links.

(Also, here is info if you want to throw Kei & I some change at our ko-fi to support us or buy us a cup of tea/coffee.)

[golden-sun-the-lost-comics]

Are there any hopes that this blog will come back in some capacity? I've been feeding my Golden Sun nostalgia fix with everything and just rediscovered these comics through this tumblr (I think I remember running into them when the game series wasn't that old... Maybe I'm misremembering) and it has been a blast finding this treasure trove in 2023

Hello, there! This blog isn't abandoned, technically, but the available time/energy/attention of both myself and my translator minion has — for various reasons — dropped drastically since we did the 4-koma project. (When we officially set our minds to it, translator minion gave me the complete scripts within 3 months and I finished the image editing maybe a month or two after, a timeline that's pretty much unthinkable now; also that might still qualify as "way too slow" for some people.) So unfortunately any projects related to this blog have been backburner'd for a while.

That being said, we also really don't have that much in the way of said projects for this blog. The two major ones are:

4-KOMA REVISIONS: As mentioned in previous asks, it's still in the cards for me to do a revised version of the scanslations and post them on a place like MangaDex for easy viewing, but there's no set timeline for when that's going to happen.

FANART TRANSLATIONS: We did have something in progress in this regard that I was pretty stoked about, and other things saved in this queue besides, but because our resources are limited I'm prioritizing other translations for translator minion to do (notably, translations for our Tiger & Bunny-focused blog, Third League Heroes, which also incidentally is proceeding at a glacial pace).

In any case, I'm glad you got some enjoyment out of what we've already done!

[raintranslated]

Hey friend! It's me, the Lancelot & Guren scanlator again. I recently finished up work on L&G, and I was wondering if it would be alright with you if I typeset your translation of Re; (and eventually Re;surrection, however long it takes me to get there lol) as my next project to work on in my free time? Your translations are incredible, and miles better than what I can do, and of course I'd be crediting and linking back to you as always!

Haha, sure.

I've actually done scanslations myself before, the whole editing and redrawing and typesetting bits. I don't do it these days for a variety of reasons, but folks who want to use my translations for it are welcome to. Please just provide a link back & credit. ❤

Also, thank you!

I occasionally do try and break up translations in ways that I think would fit speech bubbles, but it's not always a priority, so if you come across a line you need to reword significantly to fit, feel free to shoot me an ask about the nuances? 😃 I think this is much more an issue with my Lelouch the Tutor translations though, because LtT has a ton of extremely vertical bubbles, which make a horizontal language like English rough going...

[bakujho]

Sooooo this isn’t about Caly but some person in the fandom is claiming that Team Avalon’s Twisted Wonderland English dub is illegal 😑 Well if you look at their videos they CLEARLY state in every description that it is a FAN DUB, so I don’t see how this is illegal? What do you think about this?

I unfortunately, agree. Without permission to distribute the content, releasing with dubs without express permission from aniplex/Disney/etc would be illegal. It's sort of like scanslations for manga, there might not be an English release, but that doesn't make it any more legal to use the scans+fresh translations over it.

I think it's a really cool project since there isn't a wide release and for the most part the EN fandom needs to rely on projects like this to understand the content, but even claiming it as a fan dub and straight up saying HEY WE DON'T OWN THIS SUPPORT THE GAME it's still using content that they don't have the rights to use (even if they don't make a cent- but if there's no money it's more of "take it down and we're cool" vs a "I will sue you into oblivion" thing... And if there's no money involved the legal teams are much less likely to care about removing in the first place)

[kinnoth]

I am translating a Dante/Vergil doujinshi

ok, pages 1-10

i'm probably gonna just be doing these in batches bc it's 88 pages long

grab them before they're taken down

credit to the original artist

[yourultraarchive]

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions:

What is this blog?

Will you make a template for pro heroes/the provisional license cards/the UA student IDs/etc. or add [so and so] feature?

What if I find a bug/glitch in your templates?

I can’t find your templates on mobile! Why not?

The online template generators aren’t working/I can’t save my template.

I need help using your templates.

Will you make a template for me?

Will you design/draw my character for me?

Can you help me come up with a name for my character?

I want to make an OC to use your template but I don’t know where to start.

I have an OC but I need help fleshing them out.

I made a profile from your templates, but you haven’t reblogged it yet.

Can I submit a question or profile template on anon?

Do you have access to the BNHA Databooks (Ultra Archive or Ultra Analysis)? Can you translate/post [so and so] from the databooks?

Do you know what font was used for the official manga, profiles, shifukus, scanslations, etc.?

Can you translate the templates into another language?

What is this blog?

@yourultraarchive is the home of the templates I (the “archivist”) created based on the My Hero Academia: Ultra Archive databook character profiles. There are downloadable PSD versions for full control of customization for layout and colors, and an online generator version with less customization for people who don’t have Photoshop and still want to use the template. It’s available for all to get as creative as they want with it!

The blog itself is a hub for the profiles made with the templates and OCs in general. The inbox is always open for submissions and questions, and if I will always try my best to answer your asks (as soon as I am able), whether it’s about using the templates, if you need HTML/customization help, or if you need a hand with your character design/development.

ADDENDUM: Please note that this blog is NOT a roleplay blog, nor is this some fanfic or the like where we're collecting OCs to fill out the world. The characters you create are 100% still your own, for you to do whatever you wish with them, whether that is for RP or fanfic or fancomics or whatever else. If you’ve used the templates and you have a fanfic or fancomic, feel free to submit a link to your own blog or website and I’ll reblog it. If you’re looking for someone to RP your character with, however, I’m afraid this isn’t the place for it and I’m not sure where to look for other RPers, but I’m sure there’s one for you out there. Good luck!

Will you make a template for pro heroes/the provisional license cards/the UA student IDs/etc. or add [so and so] feature?

Student and Villain templates are currently the only profile types available, so I get asked about the Pro Hero templates a lot. The answer is: eventually. But I’m working on this whole project on my free time and for free, and usually only when I feel motivated to do so, so it’s going to take a while.

(In the meantime, check out the answer to this ask for an alternative solution if you want to make your own Pro Hero profile!)

The answer for other templates I might consider making in the future is: maybe. I’ve been asked about ID cards before, and also the Ultra Analysis profiles came out and they look really cool but also really hard to make templates out of, so if I ever do it I’ll let you guys know. For now, consider it a “no” and don’t be expecting it, however if you want to drop by and let me know you really want it, I’ll keep it in mind.

As for specific features for a currently available template, I love genuine feedback and suggestions! Feel free to send an ask about it and I’ll see if I can add it or I’ll tell you if I won’t be able to. But like everything else, new features will take time to make, so please be patient!

What if I find a bug/glitch in your templates?

Definitely send an ask or private message, I try to prioritize fixing those if they’re reported. Things that would be helpful if you find a bug though, is if you tell me:

where you found it (which template?)

how you came across it (stuff like: were you trying to input or do anything in particular, like place a weird HTML tag or upload an image that was too big for the online generators?), and a set of steps of what you did would be nice

what browser (and version of that browser) you were using

I’ll get back to you as soon as possible and post an update on the blog once it’s fixed.

I can’t find your templates on mobile! Why not?

The templates are located on a tumblr “page”, which are unfortunately unavailable in the tumblr app. You can try viewing the pages on a browser on your mobile, but I don’t know if that will make it better. This is what it actually looks like on iOS Safari:

The templates are made for desktop browsers/programs. The PSDs are too complicated to be editable on mobile as far as I know. The online generators have dimensions that are too large for a mobile screen to be usable, and if it was shrunk down to fit mobile screens it would be too small to be legible. Also, the current user interface is not made for mobile specifically, and would be annoying to navigate on mobile. Not to mention there are issues with fonts and arrangement on mobile, and exporting the image generation and save data, that I’m still trying to find workarounds for. (Notice how the text is pixelated in “preview” mode, that the fonts are all wrong and overlapping each other in “full resolution” mode, and that the UI for data input just looks... messed up.)

I will be working on a mobile compatible generator in the future, however it will not be coming soon. I can only recommend you visit the website when you have access to a computer.

The online template generators aren’t working/I can’t save my template.

It may be an issue with your browser or that Javascript isn’t enabled. Try using the generator in Firefox or Chrome and making sure Javascript is enabled in your settings first. If that still doesn’t work, send me an ask and we can figure out what’s going on.

For issues downloading the template on the online generators, see the answer to this ask.

I need help using your templates.

For the PSDs, I put instructions in the layer names. I made a few posts about layout and font customization in the PSDs too. However, if you still need help with anything more specific, feel free to send an ask.

For the online generators:

HTML help

Layout help

Fonts

Downloading/saving the full resolution template

If you need help in other things that aren’t already on the blog somewhere, feel free to send an ask.

Will you make a template for me?

No, sorry. I’ll help you with individual parts if you ask me, but I won’t make a whole template for you even if you sent me a list of all your character’s info.

ADDENDUM: As mentioned in some of my personal posts, I can create a template for your character if you donate to me! Feel free to send an ask to inquire more about this.

Will you design/draw my character for me?

No, sorry, I’m not really a character designer. However, if you don’t know how to design a character yourself, you can always commission/buy/adopt a design from someone else. I have a whole “adoptables” tag for it! Honestly the idea is great, especially for people who, like me, aren’t good at designing hero outfits or something. The rest of the character (quirk, backstory, etc.) is still going to be up to you, too!

If you already have a character design but want someone else to draw it, my “commissions” tag is full of artists, so you can find a style or price range that will work for you and contact those artists individually.

If you want to design a character but don’t know where or how to start, I have a few posts in my “character design” tag about the visual design, as well as alternative options if you can’t afford/don’t want to commission someone else. There are links for dollmakers to make images of your character (which are also a good starting point to make art/design references if you plan to commission someone else to draw your character later); as well as tips for general character and outfit design.

Can you help me come up with a name for my character?

I think I get this question a lot because of the guide I wrote, but for any questions regarding names, I must point you first toward my post “Creating a Name for your MHA Character”! Please read through that first before asking any questions, as it is very thorough and I worked very hard on it for all you OC creators! There are links at the end for more specialized tips and other related posts as well, so be sure to check those out.

If you just want to ask me “can you help me come up with a name that means X”, the guide is basically a step-by-step instruction manual for how to do that on your own. If you are lacking ideas, the guide also gives different examples that I hope can inspire you. Otherwise, if you are truly having trouble, then you can feel free to send me an ask!

ADDENDUM: I am getting a LOT of questions, especially simple ones, about making names, and it makes me feel like no one is actually reading the very long, thorough guide that I wrote specifically because of this very reason. The majority of these questions are questions of opinion on what sounds "right" or "official" or "grammatically correct".

Firstly, I would like to state plainly for those who missed it in my guide that I am NOT an authority on Japanese names, especially since I'm not Japanese. I have emphasized in the guide that MHA names are mostly nonsense to be punny or thematic, so there are no hard and fast rules that are "grammatically correct", thus asking me such questions is redundant.

Secondly, if you ask for my opinion on names you already created, for the purpose of if it "sounds right" or "what fits my character better", my answer will ALWAYS be "whatever YOU think sounds right". Again, I am NOT an authority, and should not be looked to as such for some kind of final say. These are YOUR characters, own them! Especially when you've gone through all the work to make that name for them--I'm not going to tell you it's wrong or that you should change it completely. Especially so when you've made MULTIPLE names to choose from--even if you're not sure which one "fits better", if you ask me for my opinion on such things, my answer will without a doubt be "whatever YOU prefer".

With all these asks for "how to make a name" advice, please keep in mind that that is not the purpose of this blog. I keep giving advice and I always say "I look forward to seeing you in the archive!" but I never actually see the fruits of either of our labors, for you who made the character or for me who helped you name them. So if you ask for help with a name and have no intent to actually interact with this blog other than that, please consider supporting me in some way. Thank you in advance!

I want to make an OC to use your template but I don’t know where to start.

There is a “getting started” tag for all your beginning needs, including a character questionnaire for fleshing out your character’s details, personality, and backstory. Also posts about character design, creating names, and quirk ideas!

I have an OC but I need help fleshing them out.

The “getting started” tag should be helpful in fleshing out your characters, but if you need anything more specific feel free to send an ask. If you need a second opinion or need help figuring out the specifics of a quirk or something, I’ll be happy to be your sounding board.

I made a profile from your templates, but you haven’t reblogged it yet.

This blog runs on a queue because it’s not usually very active, so I try to keep stuff spaced out to keep it from being too quiet around here. If the queue hasn’t been running for a while and you just posted something and tagged me, chances are it’s in the queue and will be posted the very next day, given that I’m not too busy with real life and had the chance to see it and reblog it. So if it doesn’t show up in like two days, go ahead and send an ask to give me a poke! If I am busy in real life, the weekend is usually when I have time to check tumblr, so it’ll most probably be in the queue by then (and again, if it’s not, it’s okay to give me a nudge!).

Can I submit a question or profile template on anon?

Absolutely! I get what it’s like to want anonymity. Anon asks are turned on, and if you want to submit on anon you have to log out first or just open the blog in an incognito/private window.

Do you have access to the BNHA Databooks (Ultra Archive or Ultra Analysis)? Can you translate/post [so and so] from the databooks?

I do have access to both books. I will not be posting every single profile from them, as that would be taking credit for work I did not do (for scans that aren’t mine) or just providing the entire book for free. I’m pro “go support the creators of the stuff you like”. The only reason I got scans of the books were for the high quality images to use to make the templates. If you would like to buy the books yourselves I can only recommend ebay or googling a Japanese hobby shop site.

As for posting translations (as I do understand Japanese), please see this post about it. Long story short I did do a few translations, but I’m not taking entire profile requests anymore. I’ll do the occasional translation if I need to for something, but it’s very tedious. Besides, all of the info from the Ultra Archives and the Ultra Analysis books are actually available on the MHA wiki, they just don’t explicitly state which parts are from the databooks.

If you would like to know about a specific character’s profile from either of the books, I can take a quick glance at it and summarize it for you, and maybe post the page online if it doesn’t exist anywhere else on the internet. Just ask, I’ll do my best if I’m not busy.

Do you know what font was used for the official manga, profiles, shifukus, scanslations, etc.?

No, but if these fonts were eventually discovered I’d post them in my “font” tag. If anyone else wants to help identify them, I’m all ears, I’d like to know too.

Can you translate the templates into another language?

In the future I may ask for help to translate the templates into other languages. If you’d like to volunteer, you can either keep an eye out for when I call for help, or you can let me know in my ask box and I’ll try to keep you in mind. For now it’s only in English!

[thirdleagueheroes]

Hello and thanx for translating this series. When will the next chapter be ready? Also how many chapter does this series have before the sequel?

So the really frustrating thing (on both the readers' side and ours as the scanslators) is that we're actually decently close to finishing off this first comic series in terms of the numbers! Here's what the rundown looks like:

Volume 6 Chapter 35 Chapter 35.5

Volume 7 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 41.5

THAT'S IT, THAT'S ALL SHE WROTE, WE'RE SO CLOSE, FAM

(and I so very badly want to get to the chapter featuring the in-verse HeroTV fandom and the wacky ideas they have about our Heroes)

Unfortunately, I currently have no other translation scripts on hand and my translator minion has been bogged down with a lot of things and hasn't felt up to this project (and our other scanslation projects) lately. I've been debating if I can manage to at least do the image cleaning in the meantime, but I've got my own things going on too.

We do absolutely want to see this through, especially because — as just demonstrated — we're so close! Just, y'know, the stars aren't aligning quite right at the moment.

[raincoatsgeorge]

Check out this cute little Final Fantasy VII doujinshi called Limit Break from 1997 that I translated! You can download it via mediafire or read it online here on MangaDex!

Series: Final Fantasy 7

Title: Limit Break

Circle: Ikasama Koubou

Artist: Tuberculin Tsujisaki

Date Published: 1997.6.15

Size: 89.60MB

Translated by rin_uzuki of Ramsus-kun Scanslations ★ Got more old-school style doujinshi like this one? Feel free to send scans my way and, if interested, I’ll add them to my stack of “someday translation projects”! (Also interested in original yuri / shojo-ai indie doujinshi from any era.) RinUzuki@gmail.com

[askwendyokoopa]

About the Wendy and Mario thing from super Mario Kun I was wondering which volume those scans came from? I was asking this since super Mario Kun is my favorite! Also which volumes do you have of super Mario Kun and do you have more scans?

((I own… a few of them. This picture’s old, from 2015; I finally got all the missing volumes and now own one through... fifty-something. I tried to drum up interest in starting a scanslation project a few years ago, but literally could not get anyone interested. Not one person. I would send the post link to people and beg them to reblog it in hopes that maybe someone else would see it who was interested... nothing. So I never actually scanned any of them, except for that aforementioned scene from volume 42, chapter 1.

So, anyway, I have a big box of over 50 Super Mario-Kun mangas, plus 4 Super Wario-Kun mangas which were apparently a thing at some point, and I can’t do a thing with them. I don’t suppose you can read Japanese?))

[doedipus]

I finally finished moyashimon

it’s honestly one of my favorite anime/manga that I’ve read in a long, long time. there are definitely some aspects of the work that frustrate me, but it’s not quite enough to sour the work as a whole in my eyes. if you’re in the mood for a really chill slice of life series with a lot of well-developed and respectfully portrayed female and queer characters, definitely give it a shot.

first of all, to anyone who’s only seen the anime adaptation, definitely, definitely, definitely look into the manga. some of the best parts in the series happen after the anime ends, esp. the craft beer adventure in volume 8 and american road trip in volume 10. plus, if you’re like me and are mostly drawn to the work because of kei, her involvement in the story only starts ramping up immediately after the anime ends, and she’s essentially the main character of the last 3 volumes. Plus, ishikawa and his team have a lot of fun with the medium that doesn’t always translate into animation.

All in all, picking up the manga is 100% worth your time if you’re even vaguely intrigued by the premise

more detailed thoughts and a handful of good reaction images under the break

I think overall the beer, france, and america arcs are the high points of the series.

The beer arc sticks out to me mostly because of stuff happening in real life during the time I was reading it. Basically, some of my friends talked me into taking a beer tasting class at uni with them. I’d never really liked beer very much beforehand, but it turns out I was just drinking the wrong kinds of beer. I’ll put my life on the line for a good IPA now that I know what that even is.

The beer section of moyashimon has mutou go through a similar process- she starts out by going on a huge tirade about how craft beer sucks and it’s only appealing to pretentious weirdos, and then over the course of the volume, they go over what different kinds of beer are like, how they’re made, etc. It ended up giving me a good idea of what to look out for in the beer class, and it was fun being able to compare what I was sampling to what the fermentation lab crew talked about.

There’s also a pretty cute gender-affirming moment for kei in there, where the gang gives her a women’s costume for the faux oktoberfest celebration the book culminates in. it’s a small plot point, but I liked it a lot.

The france and america arcs are pretty similar and I like them for basically the same reasons. Essentially it boils down to them tying really dynamic plotlines in with the usual culinary intrigue. There’s a real sense of tension to what’s happening in the story, and the food stuff is more directly related to what’s happening in the story than it usually is. In a lot of the other plotlines, the writers have a tendency to frontload all the technical stuff into one or two extended dialogue scenes, which can be kind of hard to get through in comparison

I also found ishikawa’s assessment of american food pretty fun to read through, and a lot of his comments make me want to try out some western restaurants in japan if I ever end up going there. For instance, he has the characters talk a lot about how burgers and stuff are much sweeter than they’re used to them being in japan, and it’d be neat to have a point of comparison for that.

Also the america arc is where kei and marie probably do gay things, which I am very down for

ultimately, I think upwards of 90% of people who stumble upon this series now, 5 years after the last chapter and last episode were released, are here specifically for kei. she’s the strong bad to sawaki’s homestar: you might not know it yet, but she’s the reason you’re here. if you’re impatient and wanna speedrun straight to the part where she transitions/goes full time/whatever, it’s halfway through volume 4 of the manga and episode 10 of the first season of anime. there’s a lot of fun plotlines that happen before that point that really deserve attention on their own merit, though.

I’m a big fan of kei’s characterization. she’s possibly my favorite trans (or trans-adjacent josou danshi, post-colonialism ho!) character I can think of, and certainly the best I’ve seen written by a cis author. being manga, there’s some dumb missteps that happen, but they seem to be mostly a result of the creators not knowing better rather than them just putting her in to gawk at like a lot of other creative teams tend to do. plus, I think a lot of it boils down to localization error. for instance, the scanslation I read consistently has characters and margin notes refer to her as “he,” but like, japanese doesn’t really use gendered language the way english does, so it’s more representative of the scan team’s biases than the writers’.

One of the things I really like about Kei’s depiction is that the author doesn’t try to make excuses for her behavior. There’s no throwaway line in her backstory about how her parents saw three crows and a capybara on the way home from the hospital and decided to raise her as a girl. She’s clearly attracted to Sawaki, but that’s never framed as her primary motive for transition. She just flatly explains that she thought about it real hard and decided that this was best for her. To me, that’s a much more compelling narrative than one where it’s something either foisted upon the character or something they just sort of haphazardly stumble into.

Another thing that sticks out to me about Kei is that she exists in a series that doesn’t construct its cast as a harem around a singular main character or the reader, which gives her much more room for personal motivations and interests. Like, even though I love Luka from steins;gate to pieces, she and the rest of the female cast in that series really only exist in order to be Okabe’s, and by extension, the viewers’ romantic interests. This ends up sort of limiting their ability for character growth because at the end of the day, they all have to remain available and receptive to Okabe’s advances. As a result, Luka can never really call Okabe out for mistreating her because the writers won’t risk making her route or subplot unappealing. The same goes for plenty of other series trans characters find themselves in, and it shows. So many of them are either smug tricksters there to tease viewers or utterly submissive waifs, and often lack development beyond what’s necessary to get otaku motors running.

Since Moyashimon doesn’t use that kind of restrictive casting structure, the author is able to untie Kei’s sense of self-worth from how Sawaki feels about her and allow the romance subplot to take a back seat while the cast works on their various projects. As a result, she ends up being more independent than most other trans characters and her self-confidence is more genuine. She’s designed from the ground up to be a more complete character, and it makes her inclusion in the main story as well as her subplot with Sawaki feel organic.

on the other hand, as punlich​ pointed out in their post, the series does take a couple passes at introducing characters that seem to be designed with the intent of giving the reader an outlet to vent their sexual frustration around kei, particularly marie and madoka. the former is frequently referenced within the work as being a cis palette swap of kei, and madoka is another of itsuki’s proteges who begins insisting that she’s going to marry sawaki shortly after she’s introduced and receives little characterization beyond that. Marie ends up being a strong character in her own right, but the work probably would’ve been better off if they’d given her basically any other design.

at least in my reading of the work, neither is really taken seriously as a preferable alternative pairing to kei/sawaki, since marie ends up being more into kei than sawaki in the end, and madoka just makes sawaki uncomfortable more often than not. it’s a clear step up from works like steins;gate, re:zero, blend-s, or oregairu, where the trans or GNC character is the one who’s never taken seriously to the point of being a joke inclusion more than anything. still, it’s irritating that the creators would feel the need to include that sort of character, given how they’re usually pretty good about not harem-izing their cast.

uh, and speaking of that, fuck most of volume 11. the central plotline for that section is that the school holds a beauty pageant for the cast, which is, uh, wildly out of character for the series to say the least. it’s to the point where I’m inclined to suspect some form of executive meddling. like maybe they were gonna get dropped due to lack of readership and the brass told the creative team to do a dumb fanservice arc or something. they talk in a sidebar about how they changed editors around the start of this arc, so I have a hunch that has something to do with it?  I guess only they would know, though. it’s not like I can read any interviews or anything lol.

there’s still good content in there, and like I mentioned earlier, it’s when kei starts to really dominate a lot of the screen time, which is a big plus. it’s just dumb and out of place.

I also kind of found the conclusion to kei and sawaki’s “will they, won’t they” subplot really unfulfilling. namely, there really isn’t a conclusion to it at all. at the end, it’s clear that kei’s finally become comfortable with her attraction to sawaki, but sawaki is still kinda hesitant about going anywhere serious with someone he’s been friends with since forever. and like, I can get that, it’s sort of a natural aspect of where that arc would have to go, it’s just a frustrating note to end on. it seems likely that they would get together in the future, at least. (and that’s why you should read my fanfics!)

One thing I really liked about the ending section is sawaki comes up with some proactive uses for his superpower. for most of the series, it’s just a vehicle for ishikawa to exposit about his fascination with microbiology and fermented cuisine, which works great with the lower-key tone the series went for. still, the ways he uses it at the end are pretty clever, and it would’ve been neat to see him go on to use it in other ways. It’s frustrating that one of the uses he comes up with involves doing mouth-to-mouth with madoka, however.

I kind of get the feeling that the series got cut short because a lot of plot threads get addressed and tied up really quickly and sloppily in the last four or five chapters, while a ton of others just sit there. idk if it was a popularity thing, or if ishikawa decided to go all-in on maria the virgin witch, or some other factor, but I guess that’s kind of the nature of serial fiction. it just goes on as long as the creators and publishers are engaged with it, and then it’s over and they all move onto something else.

I’m being pretty hard on the ending portions of the series, but honestly pretty much everything not directly related to the beauty pageant or madoka is really solid. I’m just laying it all out there so nobody gets caught off-guard by the jankiness more than anything.

For one reason or another, moyashimon really struck a chord with me, and it’s kind of hard to put into words why. A big part of it is that kei is a character that I feel a sort of kinship with, which is a rare occurrence as a trans person. She feels like a real person that I’d meet through a message board or discord lobby. The rest of the cast has shades of that as well- the students feel like people I could have met in school, and itsuki harkens back to aspects of professors I’ve had, from his weird sense of humor to his rather alarming past working for the military. It’s easy for me to subconsciously insert myself into their fictional friend group. I guess it’s kind of like how people tend to engage with redlettermedia or ensemble let’s play channels like game grumps or super best friends play. Reading about the gang’s antics confers a sense of belonging that I’m perpetually starving for.

Another aspect of it is that it’s just fun to indulge in someone else’s hyperfixations for a while. It’s why sci-fi authors like heinlein and crichton are so influential, and why internet personalities like cgp grey or jon bois are so engaging: they’re really adept at articulating how utterly captivating some concept or ideology is to them at the moment. Somewhere between most and all of what ishikawa has to say about food and microbiology goes directly over my head, but the passion he has for those topics is readily apparent in every jargon-infested, chart-saturated debate he has his characters get into, and I love it. In that sidebar he goes on about his relationship to his editors, he mentions that the top boy editor chewed him out a couple times for basically trying to sneak a textbook into the magazine. It ends up being compelling based on passion alone, even if I only really internalized a fifth of what he actually had to say.

Is moyashimon for you? Ultimately I don’t think it’s really for anyone besides ishikawa himself. But if you’re at all like me, chances are you’ll fall in love with this bizarre and charming edutainment series anyway. If any of this sounds even remotely interesting to you, I can’t recommend checking it out highly enough.

[logicheartsoul]

Yuhaku Doujin Scanlation Updates + Preview

So Kei finally gave me more scans to work on and I just finished most of Hiei’s pages (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh) and working on the second Kurama story now.

This Hiei one is full of soft!Hiei I’m trying not to scream hahaha. Pretty much I just have to clear the speech bubbles and think about how I want to deal with the sound effects.

Kurama’s is pretty cute too and honestly feels a bit more plausible than Hiei’s but hey, it’s all good fun. 

Also, I don’t know why this artist on this Kurama one decided to use THIS kind of line screentone instead of another screentone but it makes my eyes hurt.

Warning: potential eye strain.

Ok, I gotta actually eat something now so I can work on this some more.

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