Koimoku Chapter 13
Okay, as you’ve probably heard by now, Koimoku is going bye-bye. Click through to read a little more of why, as well as a summary of chapter 14.
There was a longer explanation here before, but suffice to say, a frequently-strained working relationship broke down and like other groups before me, I’m not heartbroken at being freed from an obligation to work with FTH.
I appreciate those who have asked me to keep going on Koimoku, but it’s just not really feasible, unfortunately. It’s one thing to do a series, but to do it well requires a lot more effort. We have several potential sources of raws so that’s not an issue. But the editors I have longer-term working relationships with are pretty much all busy working on pre-existing projects. Despite some of the kind offers from new editors, I hope you’re not offended when I say that working with someone new is always a bit of a question mark and risky in a competitive situation. There’s also just been a lot of headaches surrounding this project from day one, which I don’t think anybody would be too surprised to hear. Soba has more than enough to work on at the moment, and we’d rather try to do a few projects very well than try to spread ourselves too thin like a lot of groups end up doing.
I’ll post my script for Koimoku 14 up since there’s little point in just letting it disappear or be “adapted” by some other translator. Obviously it’s rather confusing without actually seeing the pages, so I’ll summarize it here for the curious: (spoiler alert!)
Inamine and crew wake up in their lodgings, bleary-eyed but not too worse for the wear. They find that Juumonji has already left, but in her haste she’s forgotten her phone. Sawanoguchi gets an idea and asks Miki if she can borrow the pictures that Miki snapped last night. Juumonji drives home in white-knuckled terror, hoping against hope that last night didn’t turn out like she imagines it might have.
We then go to OZMA’s office, where one of their veteran mangakas, Tachikawa, is brought in to do a little tweaking on Aikawa’s project. Back at the boarding house, Sawanoguchi says that despite the improved quality of Inamine’s latest manuscript, the nature of the OZMA system means this is hardly a fair fight. OZMA has a big stable of established mangaka who help the newbies out. She estimates that an OZMA novice has the equivalent of ten years of industry experience when they come onto the scene. How are Inamine’s compatriots ever going to find a veteran like that to even the playing field?!
The ever-resourceful Sawanoguchi hatches another plan. She sends Juumonji’s phone back via courier and gives her a call at the office. Juumonji is rather upset to be reminded of the previous night, of which she still has no memory. She hangs up on Sawanoguchi just as the courier arrives and hastens to check her cell phone’s contents. To her horror, she finds a lot of racy (yet non-sexually explicit) photos of her and Inamine waiting for her, and the chapter ends.
As to where the series will go from here, my suspicion is that given the rather risqué yet chaste nature of Im Dal-Young’s characters in his other series, everyone probably passed out before any coitus could occur. But who knows, as this whole event was a bit of a curveball in and of itself.
Perhaps it’s petty, but I sort of cringe at the idea of another translator working with these characters. The dense dialog needs a little stylization to keep it from being confusing or boring, and people who are good at that rarely work for free. Kind of the nature of a system without business sanction, I suppose. Anybody could come in and work on this, and there sure aren’t any writing tests in scanlation. Hopefully this stuff can get a commercial adaptation some day.
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never thought i would hear something like this…. especially from soba, oh well, it’s a shame and nothing can be done. it was a great ride and thxs 4 the previous releases.
Like many here, I’d much rather see you guys continue Koimoku; I’d
sooner have the same translator rather than the same editor for
future releases. I know editing is important, don’t get me wrong,
but it’s a lot more straightforward than the nuance required for
translation. A bad editing job just looks ugly, but a bad
translation can completely change a story (or make it completely
unreadable).
I was surprise too when I went on myanimelist with a discussion
thread for it then googled it to find it on mangafox and such. Now,
where the hell can I find a ddl because I don’t want to read it on
an online reader.
Wow, that’s bizarre. I’m probably more surprised to see that than
just about anybody else is. I wasn’t even aware that anybody had
read the summary, let alone the script.
Looks like Linguistic Development Corp Scans beat FTH to the punch
and released chapter 14 with your translation.
Stryker, as an Editor myself I appreciate your offer, but I’ll have
to respectfully decline your offer. While it’s sad that we won’t be
involved with the project anymore, it will be carried on with
FTH-Scans. We didn’t originally pick the project out, and FTH-Scans
were the one’s who invited us to joint with them on the project. We
have a lot of new things as well as changes coming up that we’re
looking forward to share with everyone. It wouldn’t be a good usage
of time to compete with another group on the series that will
continued to be handled. Scanlation drama is the kind of drama I
hate the most because it can be so petty. I feel like us continuing
it would just create more of that and it wouldn’t be respectful.
Do you have access to the raws? If the problem is that the editing
wasn’t getting done, I’d like to formally volunteer to take over as
editor. The work I’ve done has been mostly from the raw scan so
I’ve got no problem with alignment, leveling, redrawing,
typesetting, anything that needs to be done. I’ll say that 45 pages
is fairly daunting, but one per month doesn’t seem like a terrible
ordeal. I’ve got plenty of examples if you’d like to see them.
Please excuse me if I’m overstepping my bounds. I haven’t done any
editing in a while and I like Koimoku, so I want to do something if
I can.
I love this series. It’s a shame for it to end in such a miserly
fashion. Is it possible for Soba to take over and continue it?
Dear LD… that’s what happens when a serious TLer tries to work
with people who don’t know their own limits and end biting more
than they can chew… i honestly think you are an awesome tler…
and i hope you find it somewhere along the way to continue this if
only under your tag alone….
That’s a shame !! Stopping a magnificent serie just like that !!
So, conclusion, no more koimoku ?? an awesome series but can we at
least find the raws on the net at least we can try to understand
what’s next !! But a real big thx to soba-scans staff for working
their asses like crazy just to have something really nice!! A big
thx also for Velvet Kiss ^^ So damn nice ^^
o_o what’s up with FTH acting like they’re the dattebayo of the
scanlation-groups?
No more Koimoku? It’s a shame, indeed. ):
I translated off of the raws, of course, but in the end it’s the
scanner’s say as to how they’re distributed and who can use them.
My script is my own, and I may post it in a day or two with a
summary of the chapter. Not as much happens in 14 compared to 13.
LD, do have access to getting the raws? Or is FTH the ones with
access to the raws?
Crap, it got rid of my spaces…it’s hard to read now…
Don’t worry LD! They’ll end up upset in the end anyway. Let’s
follow the FTH formula: [Get very behind on a popular series or
behind at all on a very popular series] + [another group decides to
take the reins so the series actually gets DONE] = [FTH bitching
and moaning that they still intend to do the series while
passive-aggressively insulting the competitor's quality] [FTH
bitching and moaning that they still intend to do the series while
passive-aggressively insulting the competitor's quality] + [FTH
throwing out the next chapter of the series before their
competitor, saying they'll catch up on the older stuff later] =
[joint with said competitor] [joint with said competitor] + [time]
= [FTH drops the series anyway]
Really good manga, sad to see it go in such a way. Would love for
soba to continue it but I’m sure you are all busy with the other
projects you are workin on. Thanks for the work you did on it until
now.
thanks so much for all the hard work you all do. this is by far my
favorite series that you put out and i’m sorry to see it go. either
way, i appreciate that you brought us this much of a very funny
manga. may i ask if you will release chapter 14 since you already
have the script translated. if not, i understand. thanks again for
you high quality scans and your thorough translations.
Sorry to see it go but would like to see it continue as well.
Eff them you should continue with this series it is awesome
This is an awsome series… too bad it might be the end… Would
love it if Soba continues it like Gaiakitan.
Awesome chapter, thank you very much! It’s a pity that FTH
abandoned this project in such a manner, but I beg you not to drop
this manga completely! T__T We’ll wait as much as it’ll take you to
translate new chapters, just do it further please.
Thank you for your effort. But that said I would love it if soba
scans continued with this project please don’t let FTH ruin a good
thing like this.
HeeLLLL YEEeeeeesssss!!!!! can’t wait to read this!!!!!!!!!!!