#these are a few examples

[meimi-haneoka]

Finally it's over: English edition of Clear Card volume 16

Hello hello, I've been waiting for this freaking volume with bated breath (😂) for the past 48 hours, because the surprise of K-USA's accurate revision job on volume 15 back in October 2024 made me raise my bar of expectations quite a lot.

....Alas, you should never do that, especially if something has disappointed you time and time again: getting it right just once doesn't mean it's going to happen again, and most importantly, it doesn't magically erase the poor job they did till now.

So it's March 11th 2025, the English edition of Cardcaptor Sakura volume 16 is out almost one year after the Japanese release: how did they fare?

(all images courtesy of Sarah/Rainbowbee - reposted with permission)

This time around I only saw about 10 pictures of the main story, because apparently that's about how much they fixed. I had seen the preview of the first 22 pages of the volume on Bookwalker (corresponding to a good chunk of chapter 76) and I was so disappointed to see that the translation mistakes they did in those pages were left untouched. But my friend sent me these pics this morning and there is some effort on it. Scarce, not as thorough as with volume 15, but they did fix something. All stuff I had pointed out in my tumblr posts. Starting from this change above, which was quite a serious translation mistake since it made people believe that Lilie had left "the last Card" to Sakura, when it was simply waiting to be called as Momo had told her previously. Lilie had nothing to do with it. It's still true that Sakura shouldn't use "she" because she really doesn't remember who talked to her in a dream, but oh well.

This volume is worth checking out for the redrawn panels and added lines too! Like this panel of Syaoran above. It is usual for CLAMP to correct the panels when the chapters get compiled in tankobon format, so I've had a lot of fun spotting all the differences, all these years.

And then we get to what I consider one of the most emotional scenes of the entire volume, if not of the entire story ✨ I am so, so glad they took care of revising the lines in this scene, because they hadn't gotten them right the first time around. In particular, I'm very glad they correctly made Akiho spell out clearly "Why did you choose to disappear like this?". She wasn't whining about why he left her, or her priority wasn't even scolding him for rewriting an entire world unprompted. The thing that burned her the most was that he chose to disappear. Akiho is questioning him about his self-hate, this act of self-violence that had repercussions on her too, where he chose to sacrifice himself and throw himself away in order to give her what he thought was a happy life. On closer inspection, you could even say CLAMP are trying to make a statement for a way, way heavier thematic here. But I'll leave that to your own interpretation because those are very delicate matters. The way they had creatively translated it before (the words in Japanese didn't really say that) didn't convey this nuance enough, so I'm glad they fixed it.

This. This scene was so important to fix. First of all, because it clarifies that here Sakura is uttering her invincible spell. And then because Sakura now is correctly telling Akiho "As long as you're together" (meaning Akiho and Kaito).

Finally Syaoran doesn't sound like an asshole while he's telling Sakura that he will protect what she needs to keep safe. He doesn't sound like he's saying "I have no f*cking idea what you're doing but whatever, I'll help you out".

Other part that was changed in the Japanese volume: the addition of one line, in relation to the effect the artifact book is having on Kaito. "Even now, it's causing you to suffer".

And this one was added too, with the precious addition of Nakuru clarifying that Yukito's pact with the Tsukimine Shrine has been undone. More precisely, her line in Japanese is "This time around (we) undid it, but please don't go around doing things that require a [payment] anymore".

(the rest under the cut for spoilers about the Special Chapter)

Last but not least, the special chapter ☺️✨ The one that's considered "the epilogue". This had never been released in English as simulpub when it came out on Nakayoshi, so maybe some people will see it for the first time. My biggest concern was this scene. They translated it as-a-matter-of-fact, they didn't explain anything, no translation notes whatsoever (like the ones the Italian or Spanish edition have put)... So yeah, technically they didn't mess it up, it's correct, but they didn't even render a service to their readers, since they'll be left wandering in confusion to find the real meaning of this phrase, in case they don't know it. It's honestly ridiculous that they use translation notes or add text to explain japanese food (like they did in this same Special Chapter, for okonomiyaki - the "Savory pancake delight!" bit was added by them), but then leave the readers oblivious to cultural context like this. So, if you're one of those who don't know, Kaito here is confessing to Akiho that he loves her. The scene is very significative because it goes full circle with the love confession Akiho made to him in the same fashion in chapter 48. Kaito understood not only his feelings, but Akiho's too, and he reciprocates her in the same manner. The intention is made even more evident than in Akiho's case, since Kaito blurts this phrase out in broad daylight 😆

The rest of the special chapter is fine, I have spotted an error with a line Akiho says, mistakenly attributed to Kaito, but other than that it was quite good. I was actually very satisfied with how they emphasized Akiho's strong will towards "standing on her own" and emancipating herself from Eriol's help, whom she is still grateful to. But what made me scream in excitement is Sakura's line while talking to Momo: "My loved one's problems are my problems". Perfect. Straight to the point. Clarifying once and for all that she was never "dragged in", but getting involved with them came naturally as a result of caring for a loved one.

So! While there was so much room for improving this translation, fixing all the mistakes they made during the simulpub and not only a part of them, this volume is still....decent, at least? With some peaks, some translation choices I liked a lot. Some stuff will remain incorrectly translated until a new edition will come out, but we have to come to terms with that. And I find a bit absurd that we had to wait almost one year to get this volume translated in English, but I do not know all the licensing shenanigans going on. I had hoped it was because they were doing an astounding work on it, maybe checking with the Japanese publisher, but 🤷‍♀️oh well. If you still are curious to see all the translation mistakes that happened in simulpub between chapters 76-80, you can check the single posts I made here .

Still, as it's the last volume of this series, and as it carries the precious Special Chapter that wonderfully makes the story come full circle, I encourage everyone to buy it! ✨

It's done. It's over! 🥲

[araccoonthatlikesmurder]

Is there a name for the trope of “scientist is actually a guy in a tube psychically piloting a robot body” or is that just a thing

[surrowndedbylights]

more louis positivity! what are your top 5 favorite pictures of him?

Here you go, anon

[13personalities]

I need some people to understand that I will absolutely ship two characters who would absolutely never get together in canon simply because I want to. No I don’t think they’re canon nor will I look for subtext that they like each other. In fact, I don’t even want them to be canon. I just like the art and fanfiction man. Like their shippers low-key got something fire going on and I wanna be a part of that. It really isn’t that deep.

[oysters-aint-for-me]

my (very queer) friend is pregnant for the first time and she’s been on all the baby message boards (eg tiktok, facebook) and she found this tag that was like “ftm pregnancy” and she was like “oh cool! there’s whole tag for pregnant transmen!” and then was extremely confused as to why the tag was full of what appeared to be cisgender women. she was like “i mean i don’t wanna judge, maybe they are transmen but they don’t look how i expected them to, that’s okay, if they say they’re trans then they are” except she kept looking through the tag and literally NONE of them were transmen, ALL of them appeared to be ciswomen. she was VERY confused, seriously questioning what she knew about trans people (and not to be like “she has trans friends!” but literally her partner is trans, her sibling in law is trans, many of her friends are trans/nb, hell i think she’s a bit nonbinary herself, idk, we haven’t actually talked about that recently lol) and doubting reality in general.

and then she found out that, amongst a huge section of the internet to which she had never been exposed before, “ftm” stands for First Time Mom.

there’s no moral to this story i just thought it was funny

[henryscapon]

like, okay, i'm sure this scene has been talked about and dissected to pieces already in this fandom but. BUT. i need to put my two cents in or i will explode.

so, your lord and best friend has just admitted to you that if you die, he will be so beside himself with grief that he might just die too.

the game then gives you THIS option in response.

and you, the player, know how video games work. you know this is the press x for romance button. you expect henry to admit his feelings—a culmination of all the hints he's dropped from the heart options we've chosen before—and kiss him as soon as the button's been pressed.

except henry doesn't kiss hans.

instead, henry places his hand on hans' hand. it's the first moment of physical contact between them in the whole scene...but it's not a kiss. it's gentle. it's intimate. it's tiptoeing the line between comforting a friend and something more...

...but henry leaves it at that. and he gets up and goes to leave.

and in that moment of panic. in that split second of 'this might be the last time i'll ever see you again, please don't go' — it's hans that kisses henry.

and it's henry who pushes hans away.

this is—for all intents and purposes—the opposite of what we, the player, chose.

and to add insult to injury, henry looks conflicted.

he looks SO conflicted that hans believes he's fucked up royally.

that he has completely tarnished their final moments together by acting on impulse—by giving into temptation and desperation and feelings he can't even put into his own words—and henry must be disgusted by him.

and hans believes this because he watches henry turn his back to him. refusing to look at him. and head for the door.

but henry stops before he opens it. and i keep thinking back to the heart option we chose.

the player is not making the choice for henry to kiss hans. we are not forcing his hand.

the player is reminding henry what he's been telling himself throughout the entire game.

don't run away, henry.

kiss him. kiss him back.

so henry does.

[feministfang]

Liberal feminists for men’s rights: "Men can cry" "Men can wear pink" "Men can wear dresses" "Men deserve flowers" "Men don’t have to pay the bills" "Men deserve princess treatment too" "Men's mental health matters" "Men deserve better" "Feminism is about equality" 🥺

Liberal feminists for women’s rights: "Women can sell their body to make money" "Women can wear sexy revealing clothes" "Women can be housewives serving their husbands" "Women can enjoy violent sex" "Women can have casual sex with men" "Feminism is about choice" 😍

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I know those eyes.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[bi-writes]

whats wrong with ai?? genuinely curious <3

okay let's break it down. i'm an engineer, so i'm going to come at you from a perspective that may be different than someone else's.

i don't hate ai in every aspect. in theory, there are a lot of instances where, in fact, ai can help us do things a lot better without. here's a few examples:

ai detecting cancer

ai sorting recycling

some practical housekeeping that gemini (google ai) can do

all of the above examples are ways in which ai works with humans to do things in parallel with us. it's not overstepping--it's sorting, using pixels at a micro-level to detect abnormalities that we as humans can not, fixing a list. these are all really small, helpful ways that ai can work with us.

everything else about ai works against us. in general, ai is a huge consumer of natural resources. every prompt that you put into character.ai, chatgpt? this wastes water + energy. it's not free. a machine somewhere in the world has to swallow your prompt, call on a model to feed data into it and process more data, and then has to generate an answer for you all in a relatively short amount of time.

that is crazy expensive. someone is paying for that, and if it isn't you with your own money, it's the strain on the power grid, the water that cools the computers, the A/C that cools the data centers. and you aren't the only person using ai. chatgpt alone gets millions of users every single day, with probably thousands of prompts per second, so multiply your personal consumption by millions, and you can start to see how the picture is becoming overwhelming.

that is energy consumption alone. we haven't even talked about how problematic ai is ethically. there is currently no regulation in the united states about how ai should be developed, deployed, or used.

what does this mean for you?

it means that anything you post online is subject to data mining by an ai model (because why would they need to ask if there's no laws to stop them? wtf does it matter what it means to you to some idiot software engineer in the back room of an office making 3x your salary?). oh, that little fic you posted to wattpad that got a lot of attention? well now it's being used to teach ai how to write. oh, that sketch you made using adobe that you want to sell? adobe didn't tell you that anything you save to the cloud is now subject to being used for their ai models, so now your art is being replicated to generate ai images in photoshop, without crediting you (they have since said they don't do this...but privacy policies were never made to be human-readable, and i can't imagine they are the only company to sneakily try this). oh, your apartment just installed a new system that will use facial recognition to let their residents inside? oh, they didn't train their model with anyone but white people, so now all the black people living in that apartment building can't get into their homes. oh, you want to apply for a new job? the ai model that scans resumes learned from historical data that more men work that role than women (so the model basically thinks men are better than women), so now your resume is getting thrown out because you're a woman.

ai learns from data. and data is flawed. data is human. and as humans, we are racist, homophobic, misogynistic, transphobic, divided. so the ai models we train will learn from this. ai learns from people's creative works--their personal and artistic property. and now it's scrambling them all up to spit out generated images and written works that no one would ever want to read (because it's no longer a labor of love), and they're using that to make money. they're profiting off of people, and there's no one to stop them. they're also using generated images as marketing tools, to trick idiots on facebook, to make it so hard to be media literate that we have to question every single thing we see because now we don't know what's real and what's not.

the problem with ai is that it's doing more harm than good. and we as a society aren't doing our due diligence to understand the unintended consequences of it all. we aren't angry enough. we're too scared of stifling innovation that we're letting it regulate itself (aka letting companies decide), which has never been a good idea. we see it do one cool thing, and somehow that makes up for all the rest of the bullshit?

[platoapproved]

— And he hadn't told me. — I did, once. He didn't hear it.

[lavellaned]

veilguard isn't about regret, it's about futility.

morrigan fought through the entire trilogy to escape her mother and not get possessed by mythal. she gets possessed by mythal in veilguard.

the hero of ferelden went through all that in order to keep southern thedas from falling to the blight. southern thedas falls to the blight in veilguard.

davrin's development is grounding in him finding a purpose outside of sacrificing himself. he's one of two options you have to sacrifice in veilguard.

dorian struggled under the pressure of his family wanting a pavus to be archon, and later was dedicated to changing tevinter and helping people. tevinter is the same as it ever was and dorian can end up archon in veilguard.

solas sacrificed everything to free his people from oppression and corruption. the veil is still up, elves are still in the same social tier as they've been since the beginning of the series, the dalish are straight up annihilated, the blight is still around, and spirits continue to be corrupted by the living in veilguard.

and then add in the godawful executor mess and it really is just the final kick in the teeth.

nothing anyone has ever done in thedas has ever mattered, veilguard made sure of that.

[taffywabbit]

so like. at what point are we going to stop listening to game companies saying "the game was poorly received and didn't meet our sales targets, and that's why we're removing it from storefronts and taking down all the servers mere months or even weeks after release" for titles that had a long expensive development, were barely marketed, and nobody knew they'd even released until after they heard they were getting shut down and couldn't be played/purchased anymore?

I feel like the prevailing takeaway for anyone who doesn't just conclude "yeah, game was pretty mid, makes sense to me" has usually been "this company just has unreasonably impossible sales expectations and treats every project like a failure if it doesn't print a trillion dollars". but these ARE allegedly experienced business execs who aren't complete idiots, and after this most recent debacle with Concord I'm starting to wonder if a bunch of these "games getting wiped out of existence when they underperform instead of just being allowed to persist as they are and maybe improve with time" cases in recent years might be more of a Warner-Discovery type situation, like nuking an entire animated series or film that was worked on for years and preventing it from being sold because it has to be officially unprofitable for the company to use it as a tax write-off. I look at a game that was worked on for 8 years and only made available for 2 weeks, and it's hard not to see the parallels.

great work, AAA games industry, really normal and sustainable stuff you're doing over there as usual

[moranamorena]

You can tell that some artists really like to draw Hal Jordan

And I mean REALLY like to draw him

Not that I'm complaining because be it sexy older man Hal Jordan or younger pretty boy Hal Jordan

He's always easy on the eyes. And others things...😏

So, thank you to all those wonderful artists who gave such gifts to us, huble comic readers and Hal's fans. Your skills are beyond mesaure

[crabboytahomaru]

I NEED a crack fic about Mydei Argenti brothers

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

hope you feel better soon!

I am riddled with ailments, but I stay silly!

[severalowls]

The greatest cure to imposter syndrome is having to interact with a coworker who is even worse at everything but definitely gets paid more.

The only problem is then you replace imposter syndrome with becoming some kind of joker.