Translation Notes
Translation notes for Soba-scans releases.
An article on English-to-Japanese licensing fees
Howdy everybody. This was something I wanted to post up sooner, but things have been a bit hectic around here the last couple of weeks. It’s an article I found on Comic Valkyrie’s twitter, believe it or not. It’s a blog entry from an anonymous book editor who works in Tokyo. The title of the article is “Steve Jobs biography sells one million copies and it still lost money?! What’s America have to do with it?“

I thought I would translate and post it to help give a more complete picture of how international licensing works, since that’s a topic that often comes up in the context of anime and manga. Click through to read the full article:
Makunouchi Deluxe Chapter 8
Chapter 8 is ready to go! This time around, we see Rei and Pai-yin hashing things out in the open. If you haven’t guessed already, the relationship between these two is going to be a pretty significant part of the series.
Chapter 8: [no longer available]
Now that Pai-yin has been around for a couple chapters, I’ll explain why she speaks the way she does in the translation notes.
Translation Notes: Ring x Mama Volume 2
Previously the translation notes didn’t seem to get much attention, so I’m gonna try collecting notes for the whole volume this time.
This is a significant day for the project, as it was one year ago today that we began translating Ring x Mama! I’ll do a retrospective of the project as well for those interested. It’ll be a bit text-heavy since I don’t have any image editing programs at the moment.
New Project: Makunouchi Deluxe Ch. 1-3!
I’m happy to announce our new series, Makunouchi Deluxe by Manabe Joji! This one has been in the works for a while here and we’re thrilled to bring it to you at last. The theme of the series is a bit hard to describe. It’s set in Japan’s seedy criminal underworld and blends superhero and detective elements. You’ll see Manabe Joji’s talent for humor and deep characters in abundance in this series. We have the first three chapters ready for you today.
Chapter 1-3: [no longer available]
This is going to be a big ongoing project, so we’ve brought a new editor into the fold. This marks Kiss-shot‘s debut release as a Soba-scans editor, so give him a thanks in the comments. He responded to our editor ad from a while back and impressed us with his hard work and quick study. Click through to the full post for translation notes and a little more info about the project.
Translation Notes: Ring x Mama Ch. 7-9
Ring x Mama Ch. 6 with Translation Notes
New chapter ahoy!
[no longer available]
In this chapter we see the introduction of the buxom American wrestler Linda Halloween. You may be scratching your head at her dialog, which I’ll explain in detail in the translation notes.
Translation Notes: Ring x Mama Ch. 4-5
Translation Notes: Ring x Mama Ch. 1-3
Here’s the first batch of translation notes for Ring x Mama. This time around, I’ll take a look at chapters 1 through 3. This series has been very challenging but very rewarding to translate. There’s dense exposition, witty back-and-forth, character drama, and subtle jokes. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t The Tale of Genji or anything, but it’s certainly not the fluff that you can find so easily in the world of h-manga. Feel free to form your own opinion as I talk about some particular lines that I want to explore. This may get wordy, so steel yourself!
There’s a Ninja in my House!
Here’s a release that’s been popular so far: There’s a Ninja in my House! by Nanboku. Click the image to see the gallery on Fakku.
Make sure you stick it out for the ending. In addition, I’ll have some translation notes in the post. Since I’m a Japanese learner myself, I’ve been thinking about commenting on any interesting language issues on our releases. I figure it may be interesting to other Japanese students or anybody who enjoys learning about languages in general. Let me know what you think in the comments.







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