This finishes, to the best of our knowledge, the “My Beloved” series. It’s been a long journey … actually, let’s not dwell on that.

Also, we removed Seesaw Game from our Projects page. Realistically, there’s no way we would be getting to it in …  a while, let’s say. The only reason it was still on there is because we’d originally asked for help getting YH raws when we thought Sensei would follow Chouchou Nan’nan with another series, and then when that didn’t happen we ended up working on LOVE/DEATH, and then … anyway. Thanks for helping us with that, and sorry we didn’t come through on our end.

Enjoy your (probably?) last visit with Nana and Satomi!

So here I was, planning to write a release post in which I marveled that Cyfer was the one who was holding up this chapter, when I ended up being the one taking the most time. As usual.

Anyway, the most important thing you definitely have to know is that Sensei doesn’t care about text placement, so neither do I.

–Shadow

Hi Anon,

I had not had much exposure to non-standard Japanese dialects prior to working with Chouchou Nan’nan other than what you get from a standard diet of Japanese media—which is to say, some Kansai-ben and not much of anything else.

The resource I used was mostly googling things in Japanese and finding some post a standard-Japanese speaker had made asking the same thing on Yahoo!知恵袋 (for some reason, the Japanese version of Yahoo! Answers is full of well-worded questions and thoughtful, informative responses), or a blog post a dialect speaker had written on the subject. If you take the phrase in question and append 意味 or 関西弁, you will usually turn up something, though obviously this only works if you can comfortably navigate the Japanese internet.

I’ve also just … asked Kansai-ben speakers. If you don’t have access to Kansai-ben speakers, though, then you might try asking any particular questions you have at HiNative.

Hi Anon,

She doesn’t do it too often, but Takemiya’s characters speak Kansai-ben (we’re pretty sure just that and not any other regional dialect). It’s a slightly different version to what you might hear from anime characters, in that it’s both exaggerated for effect and toned down for comprehension. A lot of this is spoken about in the epilogue to Chouchou Nannan (black/white version here).

Most of the time, however, she uses standard Japanese, which is the kind you’d see and read if you’re studying Japanese abroad.

Hi Anon.

I understand that when we didn’t answer this after a week, you may have thought we’d gone underground again, and therefore it was alright to do this anyway. I know with Batoto changing hands, it was unclear if we’d have an alternate online reader, and that in MangaDex’s case, they had imported the series entries from Batoto already.

But I don’t appreciate that you uploaded it anyway. Ignoring all the arguments for it, I just don’t appreciate that you did that.

Anyway, given Batoto’s/Vatoto’s current states, I’m looking into MangaDex as an alternate reader. Thanks for the suggestion.

Over on Twitter, Sensei has wished us a happy new year (she hopes to draw a lot of manga in 2018 too).

We also give you our best wishes for the new year. We'll be working on finishing up Game and catching up on An Absurd Relationship before we start any other works. As always, our Projects page shows everything we’re on top of.

Happy New Year!

I didn’t realise that the way we split posts meant I’d be getting the Christmas release. I don’t have much to say about the topic, other than the usual spiel about giving back by buying manga. Hopefully you did that for your loved one(s) this year, right? Right?

Going through so many series this late in the year made me reflect on all the people who helped us along. Arc Kuno was invaluable for scans of Sensei’s oldest works (and many recent ones too), and we can never express just how much his contributions have helped us. OrangePekoe got all that started! The Dynasty staff gave Cyfer the role to better sort out Sensei’s works. Kawaii Scans was very kind to hand over practically half of their ongoing series so we could have continuity with ‘My Beloved’. NHFH Scanlations were lovely to team up with (and through their connection, Girls in Boxes gave me some typesetting tips). /u/ not only gave our Buy Manga page a boost by linking it on the buy thread, they practically formed this group (we miss you, Divulge…).

DinoYuri (who we will thank properly soon!) provided scans for ongoing Yuri Hime chapters before the transition to digital issues. AudioErotica offered to scan a little before that. Fly By Yuri let us know which of Sensei’s series she was working on and finished her to-dos. Tokumei no Team contacted us with an offer to translate KiLa KiLa to French (and it has!). Other non-English groups also contacted us for permission… and others didn’t, but kept the quality.

Commenters helped us with suggestions, encouragement, donations and offers to volunteer. Readers kept us enthusiastic to do more. Despite being just two people with a weird obsession with Takemiya Jin, we’ve really been blessed with you all. May your holiday season be brimming with everything you enjoy – and thank you so much.

–Shadow

Do you hear the sound of hoofs on your roof? If so, go and check on that. Oneesanta does not do home delivery.

You might be thinking from the title of this chapter that there is no more Absursity to come. You would be wrong.

~Cyfer

I was in a party earlier today and some guy who sounded drunk and confused would not stop bitching for the entire 20 minutes.

–Shadow

Today’s Gaymas special wraps up Love Log. It’s a nice collection. You should get yourself a present and buy it. This would also be a nice present for Sensei and for the yuri publishing industry. In fact, by pushing back the total collapse of the market of yuri into nothing but Manga Time KiraKira clones by another day, you would be giving presents to all the yuri readers—meaning that you too can be Oneesanta!

~Cyfer

Hi Anon,

We have a beautiful and accurate Projects Page that tells you all you need to know.

I have a lightly antagonistic relationship with my kouhai at work and honestly I’ve never been more satisfied.

–Shadow

Gaymas miracles continue with the release of a chapter of Game! We took this over from Kawaii years ago to help ensure continuity with the rest of My Beloved, thinking that we would probably have it done that year. So, for Kawaii: Thanks, and sorry it’s taken so long! For Sachiko: We hope you’re alright, wherever you are. And for the rest of you: No complaining during Gaymas~

~Cyfer

There’s not much relevant to talk about with this release, save for we’ve been reading your responses. Oneesanta rewards those who are patient with more chapters, which should clear up some confusion or cause more. Either is fine.

As for off-topic things that are kinda useless to post about individually, I’ve been adding first release dates to Sensei’s works in the credits. As we sought her previous works (helped largely by Arc Kuno and that one anon on /u/ who posted titles in their collection), we compiled a huge list of what Sensei has done, when they were released, and where doujins have been collected, if at all. It was this list that formed the basis of this answer. I want to extend this further in the future by writing a wiki page, but I think it’s a little far off for now.

Concerning name changes for certain series, when Sensei releases a tank, she’s gotten into the habit of giving it an English name too – which essentially makes it the canon translation. Takemiya’s English has almost never had errors, so we pretty much run with what she does. The More You Know.

–Shadow

It’s my birthday, so we’re finally finishing the Steps collection. Not the My Beloved Series, though. Patience!

Reading this again for the release, and I remembered why this and Chouchou are some of my favourite Jin works: they’re love quadrangles that play with different sides of their characters’ personalities. I’m still waiting for a Shino-focussed Chouchou Nannan sequel….

~Cyfer

I think the best thing about this year’s Gaymas is I’ve started the tradition of having a slice of panettone before release. I’ve gotten back into liking it, and to be honest I’m a little surprised it’s stocked in big-name Australian grocery stores and not like some cultural corner store two hours away. Actually, I think they had stollen too… Also, I miss having kourambiethes…

Speaking of food, this release (sequel to this one) actually has the lead making something. The main recipe is orangettes, with a side of orangette strips. Having not tried this, I can safely say they are gross, but Sensei seems to love them and how could you say no to such an adorable mangaka?

–Shadow

Christmas is a time to be sad, right? I’m sure it’s a time to be sad. Therefore, please enjoy this doujin-turned-tank-addition that was published in the Love Stories Log collection last year. I think this tank really shows what Sensei is all about, and why she’s an important voice in the industry. If it wasn’t a collection of unrelated stories, I’d recommend it for overseas publishing.

–Shadow