|
In fun news the most precious translator Estelion's Secret picked up Make my Abilities Average which falls under so bad it's good for me, and if you don't know Estelion, they are probably the cringeyest translator on NU and updates constantly which is just multiplying my enjoyment.Desuwa posted:I have one WN that I've been reading for a while that hasn't been mentioned in this thread, Akuyaku Reijo Ni Koi Wo Shite. I think it's held up pretty well so far. A man gets reincarnated as a slums child and ends up serving as the butler to a pair of noble siblings. It's a game world, but it's not a game he was familiar with so he doesn't realize it until later, and those noble children end up being the designated petty villains that get taken out by the protagonist before dealing with the demon lord. It doesn't have levels or stats and actually does something with the idea of being a character in a game with a pre-determined plot. I find it changes things up enough to avoid getting stale and there are some significant events with real consequences. Just caught up on this, I can recommend it as well.
|
# ? Jun 19, 2017 15:20 |
|
|
# ? May 16, 2024 00:05 |
|
Desuwa posted:I have one WN that I've been reading for a while that hasn't been mentioned in this thread, Akuyaku Reijo Ni Koi Wo Shite. I think it's held up pretty well so far. A man gets reincarnated as a slums child and ends up serving as the butler to a pair of noble siblings. It's a game world, but it's not a game he was familiar with so he doesn't realize it until later, and those noble children end up being the designated petty villains that get taken out by the protagonist before dealing with the demon lord. It doesn't have levels or stats and actually does something with the idea of being a character in a game with a pre-determined plot. I find it changes things up enough to avoid getting stale and there are some significant events with real consequences. This is a fun read. It feels like the story is really building up to a grand finally, like Count of Monte Cristo Japanese web novel style.
|
# ? Jun 20, 2017 03:49 |
|
The Sandman posted:She reads as somebody with Asperger's. Not the Internet kind, the DSM-V kind. Plus the other mental issues that usually come with it. I'm going to kill you
|
# ? Jun 20, 2017 23:13 |
|
Glad to see Ascendence of a Bookworm in the OP. It's definitely my favorite net novel by far. I'm just starting book 5. Who knew that a series entirely about a little kid who just really wants to read could turn into a gripping and highly educational fantasy epic? The only issue I'm running into is that a lot of the main hurdles in the plot seem to have been cleared so now it's in a sort of holding pattern. I'm hoping the main over-arching plot for the rest of the series shows up soon.
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 15:03 |
Getsuya posted:Glad to see Ascendence of a Bookworm in the OP. It's definitely my favorite net novel by far. I'm just starting book 5. Who knew that a series entirely about a little kid who just really wants to read could turn into a gripping and highly educational fantasy epic? LN book 5? I think that's the final part of the second arc, right? (I forget if the LN's for arc 1-2-3 are 2+3+3 or 3+4+4 volumes.)
|
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 15:06 |
|
I think 3-4-4. So I'm on book 2 of part 2. Edit: and actually it looks like part 3 will have a 5th LN. And after that there's still parts 5 and 6. It's a good thing they're coming out pretty steadily because it's looking like a few years before this ends. Also this is the first series where I've considered picking up the Drama CD. They actually landed some really big names (Main is played by Sawashiro Miyuki who has been in a bunch of stuff.) Hopefully this is a good sign an anime might be on the way. Getsuya fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Jun 21, 2017 |
# ? Jun 21, 2017 15:07 |
|
Getsuya posted:Edit: and actually it looks like part 3 will have a 5th LN. And after that there's still parts 5 and 6. It's a good thing they're coming out pretty steadily because it's looking like a few years before this ends. You mean parts 4 and 5? The web version is completed at 5 arcs. For what it's worth, arcs 1-3 combined cover 41% of the content (ignoring side stories), so she's not even halfway through the paper publication yet. Might end up around 30 volumes by the time it's all over. She's currently writing spin-off/gaiden chapters about other characters. If it helps, I think it keeps getting better, and arc 4 was probably my favourite. Hopefully she'll have time to rewrite the rushed finale for the LN edition.
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 16:10 |
Getsuya posted:I think 3-4-4. So I'm on book 2 of part 2. Ah middle of arc 2, so probably matching around chapter 117 of the WN (completion of first printed and bound book, huge congratulations!) which I got past just recently. I was going to make a comment about there being no arc 5, but it appears arc 4 of the WN just recently was split into approximately half. Previously arc 4 counted chapters 278 to 677, now it's arc 4 as 278 to 460, and arc 5 as 461 to 677. For comparison arc 1 is 77 chapters, arc 2 is 95 chapters, and arc 3 is 104. So expect another 16 books after arc 3 ends. Also, that drama CD apparently covers parts of arc 3, just so you know. Btw. blastron, maybe consider translating some of the side material with world-facts between chapters? I found the parts about currency and timekeeping/calendar very useful for one thing. nielsm fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Jun 21, 2017 |
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 16:10 |
|
I think that happens later in arc 2. Right now she's learning music.
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 16:16 |
|
nielsm posted:I was going to make a comment about there being no arc 5, but it appears arc 4 of the WN just recently was split into approximately half. Previously arc 4 counted chapters 278 to 677, now it's arc 4 as 278 to 460, and arc 5 as 461 to 677. Er? Where are you getting this info? It's always been 5 arcs when I've checked, and going back with Archive.org it seems to have been 5 arcs as far back as 2015 when those chapters first started coming out.
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 16:16 |
|
nielsm posted:Btw. blastron, maybe consider translating some of the side material with world-facts between chapters? I found the parts about currency and timekeeping/calendar very useful for one thing. I'm planning on translating all the WN material I can find in the order that it came out. I know there's a spinoff page on shosetsu for side stories that gets started in Arc 2; is there anything else? Also, on an unrelated note, I'm doing a re-transliteration sweep to fix names I'm not happy with my translation of based on some feedback I've gotten. I need help with the main character's name, though: it's spelled マイン, which is pronounced like the English word "mine"... but how do I actually write that? I've shopped around spellings and everyone I ask to pronounce the name Mine says mee-nay or mih-nee. Maïne is a real-world name that, as far as I can tell, is pronounced correctly for this case, but typing umlauts is a pain and I don't know how well people will actually parse that, though. Any ideas?
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 16:26 |
|
nielsm posted:Btw. blastron, maybe consider translating some of the side material with world-facts between chapters? I found the parts about currency and timekeeping/calendar very useful for one thing. The what now? Where can I read this? I'm at ch 90 of the WN. Also it's getting to the point where I need a UI while I'm reading this just to see Maine's current cash and transaction history because I keep reading her spending all this money and I'm like "wait, how can she afford that again". blastron posted:Also, on an unrelated note, I'm doing a re-transliteration sweep to fix names I'm not happy with my translation of based on some feedback I've gotten. I need help with the main character's name, though: it's spelled マイン, which is pronounced like the English word "mine"... but how do I actually write that? I've shopped around spellings and everyone I ask to pronounce the name Mine says mee-nay or mih-nee. Maïne is a real-world name that, as far as I can tell, is pronounced correctly for this case, but typing umlauts is a pain and I don't know how well people will actually parse that, though. Any ideas? Can you just do a find-replace after translating a chapter? Also, the names you've chosen for plants and such (tronbay, pomay) strike me as being off, but I don't know what the correct translations could be--all the other names in the WN sound vaguely German so I figure those things should be too.
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 16:41 |
|
blastron posted:I'm planning on translating all the WN material I can find in the order that it came out. I know there's a spinoff page on shosetsu for side stories that gets started in Arc 2; is there anything else? The author has a bunch of setting / jargon explanations at http://ncode.syosetu.com/n4099cd/ As for her name, I tried looking through German pages of babynames, but nothing seemed to fit "Mein" or (arc 3) "Rosemein", so I never reached a conclusion.
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 16:45 |
|
blastron posted:I'm planning on translating all the WN material I can find in the order that it came out. I know there's a spinoff page on shosetsu for side stories that gets started in Arc 2; is there anything else? When I did like 2 chapters of the manga I used Main with umlauts. I just had it somewhere and copy-pasted it every time I needed her name. In the cover art for one of the books she has her name written on a blackboard and it's basically 'Main' with slightly funky letters so I figured that was the author's intent, though Maine with umlauts sounds good too. Also where's the best place to put up LN translations? I'm kicking around the idea of translating a short series I found.
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 17:03 |
blastron posted:I'm planning on translating all the WN material I can find in the order that it came out. I know there's a spinoff page on shosetsu for side stories that gets started in Arc 2; is there anything else? I'd put her name as just Main, and with a note initially (and on a potential future dramatis personae page) with a note that it's supposed to be pronounced like "mine". More opinions on spellings for names in parts 1 and 2: Main's family: Eva (mother), Günther (father), Tuhri (elder sister, this one's hard since it doesn't really match any of my experience with Germanic or Nordic names) Lutz' family: Karla (mother), Dido (father), Zasha (oldest brother), Zhik (2nd brother), Ralf (3rd brother) Gilberta Company: Otto, Benno, Korinna, Mark Guild Master's house: Frida, Ilse, Jutte (or Jutta, which exists historically and sounds better, but doesn't match the katakana, otherwise Jytte is a common Danish girls' name, may work as Jütte for Germanic style) Others: Fej (neighbor boy), Gerda (neighbor girl), Al (neighbor), Count Bron, Count Gratz Arc 2 until around WN chapter 120: Temple Master; High Priest Ferdinand, his servant Arno; Main's servants Fran, Gil (pronounced with hard G like "give"), Deria, Wilma, Rosina; Main's chefs Fugo, Ella Getsuya posted:Also where's the best place to put up LN translations? I'm kicking around the idea of translating a short series I found. Just a WordPress or Tumblr blog is the standard. nielsm fucked around with this message at 17:22 on Jun 21, 2017 |
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 17:19 |
|
nielsm posted:Arc 2 until around WN chapter 120: Temple Master; High Priest Ferdinand, his servant Arno; Main's servants Fran, Gil (pronounced with hard G like "give"), Deria, Wilma, Rosina; Main's chefs Fugo, Ella Wouldn't those be Delia and Hugo?
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 17:25 |
|
nielsm posted:Main's family: Eva (mother), Günther (father), Tuhri (elder sister, this one's hard since it doesn't really match any of my experience with Germanic or Nordic names) There's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuuli_(name) which sounds extremely similar, but might be too far from Germany. Argue posted:Wouldn't those be Delia and Hugo? Yeah, in my mind, at least.
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 17:28 |
Argue posted:Wouldn't those be Delia and Hugo? Second you're entirely right on... darkgray posted:There's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuuli_(name) which sounds extremely similar, but might be too far from Germany. Yeah it would be odd to use, especially for a family with very little access to culture from the outside, but it does match. (Theoretically Günther could have heard the name from a traveler at the gate and liked it enough to call his own daughter something exotic.) More names I forgot to include for the arc 2 (first half) list: Johan (blacksmith), Ingo (woodworker), Kristine (former priestess/master of Wilma and Rosina) nielsm fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Jun 21, 2017 |
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 17:40 |
|
nielsm posted:Second you're entirely right on... first I think either can work. I don't think I've heard anything quite similar IRL. Um, it's not that unusual, surely? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delia
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 17:46 |
|
...Right, going to add "find a list of Germanic names and reference it constantly" to my list. Thanks a lot for the suggestions, nielsm. Do you have any go-to resources or do you just have enough of a background to be able to diss things out?
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 18:41 |
blastron posted:...Right, going to add "find a list of Germanic names and reference it constantly" to my list. Thanks a lot for the suggestions, nielsm. Do you have any go-to resources or do you just have enough of a background to be able to diss things out? Background. I'm natively from Denmark and know some German and Swedish, and through family and general interest has also taken in a bit about historical language development as well. Edit: One more thing, the name of the city should probably be Ehrenfest. Could perhaps roughly translate to English as Honorfort, since "fest" is likely not in the "celebration" sense but shortened from Festung, a fortification. nielsm fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jun 21, 2017 |
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 18:47 |
|
Am I wrong for thinking most English readers would pronounce "Myne" as a name that way? Sounds like it's a far departure from the etymological roots, though.
|
# ? Jun 21, 2017 19:55 |
|
Getsuya posted:The only issue I'm running into is that a lot of the main hurdles in the plot seem to have been cleared so now it's in a sort of holding pattern. I'm hoping the main over-arching plot for the rest of the series shows up soon. FWIW I think arc 2 might be my least favorite, except for the ending of it, oh god the ending. It's kind of stuck between arc 1 and 3 and doesn't quite have what made either one good. Arc 4 definitely the best. blastron posted:I'm planning on translating all the WN material I can find in the order that it came out. I know there's a spinoff page on shosetsu for side stories that gets started in Arc 2; is there anything else? I presume you also know about the sequel/spinoff that just began from the perspective of Hannelore (or however it's spelled)? With that I think that's all the WN content, although there are apparently some short stories that were packaged with the LNs as preorder bonuses and whatnot. And yeah, you're definitely going to want to get a romanization and background setting bible put together sooner rather than later. Not only does the cast double (at least) from arc 3, you also start to have certain characters using tons and tons of references to the in-universe religion, which has dozens of gods that are referenced to speak indirectly about stuff in idioms. Stuff like talking about (and I'm murdering the romanization) "Bluamphor, the god of blossoms" to refer to falling in love, or "Eveliebe, god of life, hiding Geduleihe, goddess of earth" to refer to the coming of winter. Maine will usually explain it in her head, but eventually they kinda stop- especially when the narrative is from another character's perspective or Maine doesn't understand what someone is saying. I thought I could kind of skim over all the creation myths and stuff when I first read through Bookworm, but I was wrong and had to come back to them later for reference. The settings page on Narou is incomplete, too. It only has characters up to the very beginning of part 4, and only very lightly touches on a lot of the religious stuff.
|
# ? Jun 22, 2017 04:19 |
|
I just read the first three book of the cradle series (Unsouled, Soulesmith, Blackflame) and I unexpectedly liked it a good amount. It's nothing amazing, but it's still a pretty entertaining read especially because I've read a ton of xianxia/wuxia and it was fun seeing how it was westernized xianxia. The original language being english and being in novel form does a great deal in improving readability too, as well.
|
# ? Jun 22, 2017 05:16 |
|
I'm also a fan of the series. The plot progression feels fairly thoughtful. The protagonist is advancing in power quickly, but he's doing it with a specific, interesting motivation and with the help of forces that want to use him for their own purposes. You can easily notice how it benefits from not being a serial on a short deadline.
|
# ? Jun 22, 2017 07:14 |
|
I know we've all been waiting for this to happen, but here it finally is: Shield Hero anime announcement, wup-wup!! Trailer to show up in July.
|
# ? Jun 22, 2017 14:00 |
|
sadly, it was inevitable.
|
# ? Jun 22, 2017 14:05 |
|
For those of you who have been reading ahead on Honzuki, the author has written a three part report from her experience with the drama CD recording session: http://www.tobooks.jp/booklove_dramacd/ Contains mild spoilers for arc 3, though.
|
# ? Jun 22, 2017 16:23 |
|
Can someone explain 'Cultivation' to me? It seems to pop up as a buzzword when folks are chatting about WN, maybe specifically Chinese ones? I keep thinking it's about farming but I'm pretty sure that's wrong.
|
# ? Jun 24, 2017 18:21 |
|
it's essentially bizarre gibberish about body modification via martial arts and/or meditation. do it well enough and you turn into one of several varieties of murder wizard.
|
# ? Jun 24, 2017 18:37 |
|
Getsuya posted:Can someone explain 'Cultivation' to me? It seems to pop up as a buzzword when folks are chatting about WN, maybe specifically Chinese ones? I keep thinking it's about farming but I'm pretty sure that's wrong. Meditate/eat magic pills to level up your chi and learn magic powers and become stronger/more immortal. Has very defined levels and ranks. Everyone is impossibly arrogant and an rear end in a top hat towards the PC who is generally just as much as an rear end in a top hat who is presented as nevertheless in the right to murder them all over the place. The protagonist has some cheat item or ability that makes them level much faster and stomps all the people who were jerks to them in the past, then this continues every time they level up. Fights are incredibly boring descriptions of how they wave their hands to summon mountains to crush the other guy who is knocked back a dozen paces and coughs up a mouthful of blood, then the second guy waves their hands to summon the Immortal Binding Golden Sky to throw lightning at the first guy. Meanwhile whatever one of the non-entity future harem members is around exclaims how amazing the protagonist is. Piell fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jun 24, 2017 |
# ? Jun 24, 2017 18:48 |
|
Speaking of that stuff, is anyone else reading History's Strongest Senior Brother? I'm really enjoying it! There's a minor element of characters other than the MC also having special protagonist cheats, but it hasn't come up that much lately. Regardless, the characters are likable and have fun poked at them, and it features the MC's actually good and cool sect and how he helps them and they help him! It starts off kinda slow, but now I look forward to every chapter. As implied by the multiple characters having cheat powers, it has parts that poke fun at cultivation novel cliches, such as how the MC's close friends know he likes showing off and acting cool and so humor him, while at the same time the MC acknowledges in his monologues how he enjoys making a show of it. Also, we all know AWE is great, but I especially like how that also has a good and cool sect. Dunno why I like that specific plot element so much, maybe I'm just not sick of it yet, haha. Silento fucked around with this message at 22:39 on Jun 24, 2017 |
# ? Jun 24, 2017 22:36 |
|
Getsuya posted:Can someone explain 'Cultivation' to me? It seems to pop up as a buzzword when folks are chatting about WN, maybe specifically Chinese ones? I keep thinking it's about farming but I'm pretty sure that's wrong. I've actually been itching to put down some thoughts on the idea of cultivation for a while. "Cultivation" draws a lot from the Buddhist beliefs of spiritual cultivation/ascension from earthly desires mixed with popular Chinese ideas about health and martial tradition. Generally advancement in cultivation assumes reaching some sort of platonic ideal/divine state above humanity in three ways: physical form (through exercising martial arts or taking steroids/"medicine" of dubious origin and function), spirituality (through meditation, typically directly correlating into magical ability in the popular hero/murderhobo adventure stories), and one's Chi (affected by both physical training and meditation). Chi, sometimes translated as "inner force", is a term to describe innate energy running through the body, much like blood, as well as existing universally within the environment, which then supplies the power for all the magic spells and enhanced physical abilities a cultivator needs to stay competitive in the world. This is often supplemented by "pill alchemy", which typically is reducing a soup stock of rare herbs and unicorn horns into the aforementioned pill, which is then consumed as a wonderdrug that instantly makes you lose 50 pounds of fat, gain 30 pounds of muscle, and triples your performance in bed. As cultivation is directly tied to power and respect, it is often divided into ranks, much like belts in karate or judo, with corresponding tests or "breakthrough points". Wealth, naturally, can be used to supplement the cultivator's personal power, via weapons and armor made of sturdy materials, lucky charms made of rare bones, scales, or jewels with magical effects, or buying lots of expensive pills. Finally, as one last reflection of real life into fiction, personal connections, via mentors, family ties, and schools/organizations, will often grant special techniques, an allegory for insider knowledge to the mystical inner workings of the world, and are thus highly important in cultivation.
|
# ? Jun 24, 2017 23:55 |
|
It sounds like a concept that could be really cool if done right and really boringly OP if done wrong.
|
# ? Jun 24, 2017 23:58 |
|
Yep! It's great! But of course the downside of being popular is that lots of... less skilled authors will write dull power fantasies instead of cool stuff.
|
# ? Jun 25, 2017 00:17 |
|
I'm actually writing my own screenplay that is heavily inspired by anime. I don't know if I should post it here or not though.
|
# ? Jun 25, 2017 00:43 |
|
punk rebel ecks posted:I'm actually writing my own screenplay that is heavily inspired by anime. I don't know if I should post it here or not though. Probably belongs in Creative Convention, not here.
|
# ? Jun 25, 2017 00:46 |
|
Probably belongs in the bin
|
# ? Jun 25, 2017 02:18 |
|
There's always Journey to the West if you're looking for an actually well-written example of the "powerful daoist cultivators being enormous assholes" novel.
|
# ? Jun 25, 2017 12:21 |
|
|
# ? May 16, 2024 00:05 |
|
Bookworm continues to take over the world, now announcing that there'll be a Taiwan published edition: https://twitter.com/TOBOOKS/status/879512848673587202 Might be useful for some of you.
|
# ? Jun 27, 2017 17:55 |