Otome Ramblings

English Otome Games has partnered with Idea Factory International to hold a giveaway contest for one limited edition and one standard edition of Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds! A Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds Limited Edition Set includes:

• Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds for the PlayStation®Vita system • Shinsengumi Warriors Bento Box • Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds Furoshiki • “Record of Service” Art Book • “Melodies from Kyoto” Official Soundtrack • Collector’s Box • Reversible Cover Sleeve

“This remastered telling of the beloved, visual novel Hakuoki series that was first developed and released in 2008 focuses on the story set in Kyoto. The young Chizuru, determined to find her father, will romance the famous samurai of Shinsengumi through a series of engaging stories and dramatic events. Now, experience new characters, love interests, and episodes in the world of Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds this Spring 2017!”

Release Date: May 6 (NA) May 9 (EU) Store links: NA - http://www.iffysonlinestore.com/HakuokiKyotoWindsLE EU - https://store.iffyseurope.com/products/hakuoki-kyoto-winds-limited-edition Official Site: http://ideafintl.com/hakuoki-kyoto 

Rules:

The contest is only open to people living in North America.

To enter, simply reblog this post.

In order to receive the prize, you will have to provide a valid shipping address. I will send you a private message via tumblr ask to get it from you if you win, so keep your ask box open!

This changes literally with every game. I think you mean just the translation and editing portion, not the QA, packaging, marketing, rating, mastering, etc. so I’ll just boil it down to that. Even then, that’s still a huge question. 

For translation, a fast translator will do about 100-120k per month. Average would probably be about 80-90k, maybe? You usually try to do editing at the same time, or you give the translator a bit of a head start. Editing varies a lot depending on who is translating, the complexity of the project, and all that fun stuff. I’d talk about my own experiences as a lead editor, but unfortunately that’s behind NDA. I’ve done some extensive editing, just not as lead editor of an entire game that we’ve released. 

First, it depends on how quickly you have to get the project done. It’s preferable to have one translator and one editor so that everything stays consistent in terms of style. Translators have different levels of experience or may interpret things differently or even translate phrases differently, and editors all have their unique styles. Ys: Memories of Celceta had one translator and one editor, and took about 3.5-4 months of work in total, I think. It was a very smooth, easy project because the translator was very good at reconstructing what he was translating from Japanese to English. Corpse Party and Corpse Party: Book of Shadows actually had one person who served as both translator and editor, and that’s because he’s exceptionally good at that very same thing. Rune Factory 4, on the other hand, had…four different translators and three editors, I think? And then there was a lot of editing during QA once we had the text within the context of the game as well. 

By reconstructing a translation from Japanese to English, I mean they know what they’re reading in Japanese and can very easily think of a natural way to say something similar in English. That takes a massive amount of skill. You can be fluent in both Japanese and English, no discernible accent in either language whatsoever, and you might still somehow be thinking structurally in Japanese as you translate, making for some very awkward sentences. Yes, they know what it’s saying, but to someone who only knows English looking at it for the first time, it’s very confusing. I’ve had some projects that were like the Ys, where it was incredibly fast to read through because it felt fluent right from the raw translation, and others where I was marking every other line and then talking back and forth with the translator trying to find out the exact meaning they wanted to portray. 

Another factor is, like mentioned before, the complexity of the project. I edited only a small portion of AKIBA’S TRIP: Undead & Undressed, which were the NPCs and sidequest dialogue. How the NPCs spoke was very natural for me since most speak in a modern, casual manner. What they were saying, however, took a lot of research. The game was pumped with references even in the Japanese, so it often took me talking back and forth with one of our Japanese translators and asking him what pop culture references a certain scene was talking about, because the English was so awkward that it was so obviously a reference to something. Other times it was easier— I could just take the Japanese, pop it into google, and a billion images or links would come up so I’d confirm if I was correct with the translator and then move on. I did about 6000 lines in two weeks, when it really should’ve taken a little over a week, because I spent so much time researching all the references in the game. 

Actually, here’s an interesting story about that from this week. The text for the NPCs are jumbled everywhere, meaning you don’t know who’s talking, how many people are speaking if there’s more than one, what they’re talking about or if they’re only talking about one thing or multiple things, or why they’re saying what they’re saying because who they’re talking to or about could be 1000 lines down. I had at one point edited three different lines in three different places that were one-liners and meant absolutely nothing to me. One was a pigeon noise, another was an insult, and another was someone using a pick-up line. While testing Akiba this week, I came across those three lines in the same scene— you battled three people in an arena who were part of “Team: Self Destruct!” (I had no idea what that meant either as I edited and it was also in a different spot, so I left it as-is). Once I had all three lines, their names (one of their names was Soda Can? What?) I messaged my co-worker with the Japanese lines, their names and their team name and said, “What is going on here?” Turns these three guys were a parody of a certain political party in Japan and their lines were sort of the internet’s way of identifying them for their idiocy. The kanji in the team name could also spell out their political party. It was something our audience wouldn’t get, and was impossible to edit until seeing the context. So even after translation and editing are ‘done’ on paper, it’s so, so, SO important to play the game for context. It helps you rewrite jokes like that so that they actually make sense. 

LOVE IN PRINT {Currently Posting: Yuuto’s Main Route}

Need to catch up?

Episode # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Wedding Pics of “In Your Arms Tonight”. I still like Aibaman the best! *giggle*

What countries have most influenced the way you speak? Take this test designed by MIT researchers and find out.

Take this test, guys! It determines what dialect you speak (if your native language is English) and which country you are from (if English isn’t your first language!). 

South African

Welsh

English

Not bad!

Our top three guesses for your native (first) language: 1. Dutch 2. Russian 3. English

Ummmmm 

1. American (Standard) 2. Canadian 3. Australian

That makes sense, as I’ve never lived more than a day’s drive from the Canadian border so if any other dialect was influencing me it is most likely that one.

Our top three guesses for your native (first) language:

1. English 2. Russian 3. Portuguese 

Ok so I’m not sure where the Portuguese is coming from but what’s interesting about the Russian is that there are a lot of theories about why the Pittsburgh dialect is so odd and one of them is the theory that it’s been influenced more by Eastern European grammar patterns than most other regional dialects. 

South African

Australian

American (Standard).

1. American (Standard) 2. Singaporean 3. US Black Vernacular / Ebonics

American (Standard)

Canadian

US Black Vernacular / Ebonics

Our top three guesses for your native (first) language:

English

Portuguese

German

1. Canadian

2. American (Standard)

3. US Black Vernacular / Ebonics

Top three guesses for my native (first) language:

1. English

2. Finnish

3. Italian

But then when they get a heroine like Garnet Cradle’s Miku she’s too pretty therefore she isn’t allowed to have problems, Jyuzaengi’s Kan’u is the strongest warrior but is apparently a Mary Sue because of it, and other heroines who are more aggressive are dubbed “bitches”.

Heroines are bashed for being too feminine, but when they focus on duty or their combat skills then they’re not feminine enough. When they have flaws and tragic backstories then they’re too emo and need to get over themselves, but if they’re strong-willed and kind then they’re too perfect.

I’d like everyone who’s ever bashed a heroine (not “I have a problem with this character” but “I wish I could strangle this character”) to try writing their own. :/ To try spending a day in that heroine’s shoes and see how hard it actually is to be Chizuru or Yui or even Tsukiko.

The problem at the core is a fundamental lack of empathy, an inability to consider anyone else’s problems but your own. You can remove this harsh judgment from the male characters because you’re not male yourself, but the heroine needs to be a “perfect” character to “deserve” the guys and to “represent you”. Only problem is nobody’s perfect. D: Not Haruka, not Kan’u, and definitely not any of us real people.

Otome problem # 153 : “When there is a love triangle with your favorite character.”

Otome problem #143 :”Having no idea how to put a brand new bias that was just released in your current bias list.”

Inspired by discussions with otomesweetheart, kanacchi, and romancingpixels.

The first time I was exposed to the concept and term “host club” was through Ouran High School Host Club. I’ve also read some mangas about host clubs in the past, which were a bit darker than Ouran. 

From Ouran, I got the impression that the host may seem to be playful on the outside with their customers, but they have the desire to make the girls truly happy. From the other host club mangas, I got the impression that they’re men who you wouldn’t want to fall in love with because they’d end up breaking your hearts. They often have customers who are on the older and perhaps even richer side, because those seem to be the only ones who could afford spending so much on hosts. Both of these examples depict host clubs as a glamorous place.

How about a real host club then? Are they like the fictional ones? Or will a work of fiction only remain as a work of fiction?

Otome problem #138 :”When your bias flirts with you in another guy’s route.”