My scanlations

Souten Kouro chapters 39-41

2011-10-19T20:44:00.002+03:00

Well, we only have two editors now, but due to schoolwork and family ~~parties~~ issues, there won't be any Souten Kouro next week (since I don't have any available scripts). Until then, enjoy another three-chapter batch.

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Souten Kouro chapters 36-38

2011-10-08T19:04:00.002+03:00

That's right, we have a triple release this time. Now that we have more editors, releases might not be weekly, but they will tend to be double or triple in size. Enjoy!

Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38

Souten Kouro chapter 35

2011-09-25T14:48:00.000+03:00

Volume 3 is finally done! I'm very sorry for the delay, but here it is.

I still have some finished scripts, so we should have some more releases in the future. Probably.

We'll be back

2011-09-23T11:16:00.001+03:00

After many delays, we'll be releasing the next chapter of Souten Kouro in a few days.
In other news, the anime is finally getting the subs it deserves.

About Ken Akamatsu's J-Comi

2011-05-17T15:08:00.003+03:00

As some of you may have heard, Ken Akamatsu, author of Love Hina and Mahou Sensei Negima, decided to open a site dedicated to offering out-of-print manga online, for free, and, most of all, legally. While the beta version only had Love Hina, the site has been growing, offering us various short manga that are obscure at least to the Western public (and, judging by the fact that nobody's printing them anymore, they could be obscure in Japan as well). While it's arguably done to combat the evils of scanlation (of which we are, of course, guilty), the manga-viewing system also allows you to add comments and, most importantly, actual line transcriptions. And I don't mean that people would hijack the Japanese transcriptions, nonono. You are allowed to pick your language and transcribe in said language. In other words, this is scanlating without having to bother about editing the images or, most of all, cease and desist orders.

As such, I've decided to try my hand at one of the more recent manga in there, called Nekketsu Banchou Onigawara Tsubaki. Or Hot-Blooded Banchou Onigawara Tsubaki.

Released in 2004, with a nearly empty page on mangaupdates, with no Wikipedia entry in Japanese, let alone English, this manga has only two volumes and is about... I have no idea, to be honest. I'm diving in and reading it as I translate it. I'll probably offer chapter-by-chapter updates, but the link will be the same every time (well, until I go to the second volume).

Reading instructions:

1. Go to http://www.j-comi.jp/book/detail/3611/
2. The three options next to the cover are "Read in large size", "Read in normal format", "Read one page at a time". The first two mimic an actual manga, showing the two pages one next to the other. The last one is the format adopted by most scanlations. I do my edits in large size, which I recommend.
3. Whichever you pick, do note that manga is read from right to left, and that includes the direction in which you change pages.
4. To toggle line translation, click the green-backgrounded balloon in the bottom corner of each page.
5. Pick English on the bottom option that's faced towards the balloon (which is left on the left page, right on the right page).
6. The English lines will not be placed on the dialogue bubbles. You will have to associate said lines with the correct reading order. I'll probably use certain editing cues for you to understand which is which, when it gets confusing (like italics for thinking or bold for titles)

I've currently done no more than a few pages, but you're free to give it a look. If you have any advice to offer, please comment below.

I would be grateful if someone would spread the word about the new translation option on the site. I'll offer further instructions to whoever is interested.

P.S.: Yes, Souten Kouro goes on, but both me and the editor have been busy lately. What I'm doing with Onigawara is nothing more than a hobby that goes easy on my exhausted brain.

Souten Kouro chapter 34

2011-03-23T21:46:00.003+02:00

Well, this is awkward. Regular releases are hard to pull off, I guess. We should be able to release chapter 35 this week (or the next), but then we'll have to take a break, because the editor is currently moving and I'm busy at the University. I'll try to translate a few more chapters to allow him to catch up later on. At any rate, we ain't dead yet.
And chapter 34 is right here.

Souten Kouro chapter 33

2011-02-21T16:55:00.002+02:00

In Ancient China, labeling something as being related to "Heaven" made it better than the competition. Have a taste of Heaven's Cereal, now with beard flavor! This is the key to victory!

(Heaven's Cookies to those who guess the reference)

Souten Kouro chapter 32

2011-02-14T17:02:00.003+02:00

I'm deeply sorry for the delay! The scripts for chapters 33-36 are done as well, so we should manage to keep a schedule in the following weeks.

Here is the glorious new chapter!

Souten Kouro chapter 31

2010-12-08T00:46:00.002+02:00

This chapter was done since Saturday, but I was too stupid to check. That's what I get for being a lazy bum. For now, we'll be keeping the schedule, but the ddh4mster (the editor) will be leaving for a few weeks for Christmas. Depending on how busy I'll be, I might do solo jobs until he comes back, in which case you could expect version 2 for each chapter I will have released.

Oh yeah. Link here.

Souten Kouro chapter 30

2010-11-18T19:32:00.002+02:00

And it's done! Finally, the main character from the original novel shows up! What could he be up to? What about Cao Cao's new appointment? See for yourselves!

Souten Kouro chapter 29

2010-11-10T21:10:00.002+02:00

Done! With a small delay, but done! Share the love!

Edit: There was a typo on one of the pages. Here's the fixed version.

Souten Kouro chapter 28

2010-11-02T14:15:00.002+02:00

It's finally done!
You might notice that some text was left in - it's the editor's decision, and considering the pain in the ass it was to redraw the faces behind the text, I agree with him. If there are any complaints... well, that's what comments are for.

Souten Kouro chapter 27

2010-10-23T23:46:00.001+03:00

And this is our first weekly release in a long time. Enjoy!

Souten Kouro chapter 26

2010-10-17T13:19:00.002+03:00

Is Souten Kouro a dancing manga? Yeah. But they dance with swords. And that is awesome. See for yourselves!

Souten Kouro chapter 25 and new editor 2.

2010-10-03T16:52:00.004+03:00

So yeah, after over a month of inactivity, Souten Kouro is back in business. In addition to this, we have the long-awaited sequel to "there's a new editor", after the previous one left. As of now, we have a credit page. I know, there's a small error with the author name, but we'll have that fixed by next time. I'm late enough with Dan Gong's fate as it is. Also, as of next chapter, we're back to using Garamond as a dialogue font. If you prefer this one, please leave a comment. The mediafire link works, but if you have any trouble, tell me.

Our releases will be more-or-less weekly (as he's free only on week-ends), so maybe we'll get some decent pace. Maybe.

Souten Kouro chapter 24

2010-09-01T17:46:00.002+03:00

And here's chapter 24!

Edit: I've changed the link. Does it work now?

Edit2: And here's the Hotfile link.

Souten Kouro chapter 23

2010-09-01T14:48:00.001+03:00

As promised, here is chapter 23!

Souten Kouro chapter 22

2010-09-01T01:42:00.000+03:00

And we're back! Volume 2 ends with this chapter! Don't worry, I've also finished translating all chapters from 23 to 27! Editing might take a while, but these few days will be filled with updates. Stay tuned!

Souten Kouro chapter 21

2010-08-12T22:49:00.004+03:00

Done! Cao Cao is a member of the Muppets!

I'll try to do so more work on my other project, the Super Robot Encyclopedia. I'll add a mediafire link for the first few consecutive pages.

P.S. Also, I've ordered volume 1 of the Gokuatsu (super-thick) version of Souten Kouro. It contains volumes 1 to 3, which are completely identical to the original version, except for the color pages, sadly. Here's a photo~!

Souten Kouro chapter 20

2010-08-06T01:55:00.002+03:00

Okay, forget about keeping a schedule. I am clearly unable to post this weekly. Even so, say hello to chapter 20! Two more chapters left until the end of volume 2!

EDIT: Oh my. I did stay on schedule.

About Negima

2010-07-31T21:04:00.002+03:00

Well, since another group has released chapter 297 (with a much better translation than mine), I'll go back to Souten Kouro. Thanks for all the support!
By the way, I can't access any Yahoo pages or my Yahoo Messenger account. Anyone know why this is happening?

Souten Kouro chapter 19

2010-07-29T23:26:00.002+03:00

Yes, Souten Kouro lives! Chapter 19 is here! ♡

In other news, I'll be scanlating chapter 297 of Mahou Sensei Negima!, so expect it a bit sooner than the next Souten Kouro. Also, I've ordered the first volume of the Gokuatsu version of Souten Kouro, containing the first three volumes of the manga. I'm curious if there have been any changes.

Mahou Sensei Negima! chapter 296

2010-07-24T03:16:00.002+03:00

That's right, I've scanlated the almost-latest chapter of Negima! Considering the spoilers for chapter 297 are out already, I thought it would be good to translate last week's chapter, which hadn't been uploaded anywhere. I apologise for the bad editing. I've kept all honorifics and all names are like in previous scanlations. I hope you enjoy it!

Note: this manga is licensed in the US. I will take the chapter down as soon as I am asked to do so or as soon as the English version for this volume is available for pre-order. Support this awesome manga, guys!

Next post will hopefully feature more Souten Kouro.

Souten Kouro chapter 18

2010-07-19T01:18:00.002+03:00

Every time a chapter name features a specific Chinese type of garment, take a shot. Have a nice drink! ♡

Souten Kouro chapter 17

2010-07-16T20:59:00.002+03:00

I'm baaaack ♡ !

Okay, I was already back on my other blog, but anyway, here's the new chapter! The next few chapters will be out quicker. I think.

Souten Kouro chapter 16

2010-05-30T14:14:00.002+03:00

Due to the editor being quite busy, I decided to start releasing whatever chapters I had already translated. When she returns, there might be a version 2 release. Until then, enjoy grampa Cao's crowning moment of awesome. Link here.

I'll be releasing chapter 17 and chapter 18 very soon.

zhè lǐ
这里¹

^1.这里 {zhè lǐ} here

Souten Kouro chapter 15

2010-05-04T00:35:00.002+03:00

Cao Cao's dad's in the house! See for yourselves!

See for yourselves!

Souten Kouro chapter 14 and new editor

2010-05-02T17:42:00.002+03:00

After such a long absence, I am pleased to announce not one, but 2 good things!

One of them is that this group has a new editor. By editor, I mean "does everything except translate". The good side is that this editor, izilen (see the comments on the previous post), is very very good at it. In fact, during the summer, we will do a re-release of volume 1 and early volume 2, with much cleaner pages. Look forward to it~!

The other good thing is, of course, the new release! According to her, 15 will be coming very soon. Until then, enjoy Cao Cao kicking ass.

Souten Kouro chapter 13

2010-04-09T04:15:00.002+03:00

Look! Shui Jing is burning red! ... Not really, but close enough. See for yourselves.

Souten Kouro chapter 12

2010-04-08T23:46:00.002+03:00

Whaddya know, she did get raped. Kinky eunuch and eloquent hero here.

Souten Kouro chapter 11

2010-04-07T19:47:00.002+03:00

Say hello to volume 2! Cao Cao shows his appreciation for Zhang Rang over here.

Volume 2 repeated some explanations from volume 1, so I skipped them. In case you are interested, they were for the concept of "barbarian" and that of "Regular Palace Attendant". The former can be found in the first chapter with Shui Jing (or maybe the second one), the latter in chapter 1.

Souten Kouro chapter 10

2010-04-01T21:26:00.000+03:00

Phew! Finally done! Chapter 10 of Souten Kouro is out, putting an end to the first volume. Expect a release of the entire volume, complete with cover and words from the authors. I'll probably torrent it as well.

Anyway, here's the link to today's chapter. I warn you, the last page is pretty graphic - this otherwise unrelated pic should provide adequate replacement.

Souten Kouro chapter 9

2010-03-09T14:22:00.000+02:00

Alexander, Cleopatra and Nero. What connects them is revealed in this chapter.

Souten Kouro chapter 8

2010-03-09T10:45:00.000+02:00

Rah, rah, Rasputin, Russia's greatest love machine! See why Cao Cao is precocious over here.

Souten Kouro chapter 7

2010-03-07T23:25:00.000+02:00

Thanks for the candy. Link here.

I've noticed an error on page 134. It's 'scorpion', not 'scoprion'. Expect a correction in the volume 1 release.

Souten Kouro chapter 6

2010-03-07T21:27:00.000+02:00

Shi Huangdi must be sneezing a lot after this chapter. Every other line is about him. Join his sneezing here!

I might be able to finish chapter 7 within the next days as well. After that, Cao Cao gets a woman.

Souten Kouro chapter 5

2010-03-07T10:50:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the delay, I had a surprise exam soon after chapter 4 and after that... well... yeah, I was lazy.

Today's chapter is about moons, strategies and tongues. See for yourselves.

Souten Kouro chapter 4

2010-02-14T23:55:00.000+02:00

Not even bells can kill Cao Cao. Link here.

Chapter 5 is considerably shorter, but has quite a bit of text. It should be out this week.

Souten Kouro chapter 3

2010-02-14T14:30:00.000+02:00

I was wrong. This one was about as long as the previous one, so I managed to finish it earlier. Say hello to Cao Cao's little friend over here.

As of tomorrow, I'm going back to college, but I'll still be able to release quite often. By the way, you can find my scanlation at Mangafox. Soon enough, it should be featured on OneManga. Hopefully.

Souten Kouro chapter 2 and correction to chapter 1

2010-02-13T20:39:00.001+02:00

I made a silly typo in chapter 1 and did sloppy editing on one of the pages, so I deleted the previous link and uploaded the new version. Link here

In the meantime, I've finished chapter 2, Ah Man's Sword. Caution: shows realistic decapitation, as done by a 10-year old. Ouch. Link here

Chapter 3 is a little longer than chapter 2, but seems to be easier to edit. It should be out in the following days.

Souten Kouro chapter 1

2010-02-10T02:18:00.000+02:00

Long time, no see. The Super Robot Encyclopedia project isn't dead, but in the meantime, I introduce you to Souten Kouro.

Sōten Kōro (蒼天航路) is a Japanese manga by manga artist King Gonta (王欣太), adapted from an original story by Hagin Yi (李學仁). It was serialized by Kodansha in the manga anthology magazine Weekly Morning from 1994 to 2005. After Hagin Yi died of cancer in September 1998, King Gonta picked up the story himself. A total of 409 chapters were published and compiled into 36 separate books. In 1998, it won the 22nd Kodansha Manga Award in the general category.

There are no published English translations of it, but a color art compilation book released in 2007 has the English subtitle Beyond the Heavens on the cover, suggesting that it is the accepted English translation of the title. In addition, the last chapter of the series is also titled in English Beyond the Heavens.

In Japan, Sōten Kōro was advertised by its publisher as "Neo-Sangokushi" (ネオ三国志), which may be translated as "Neo Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

In April 2009, the series was made into an anime series by Madhouse.

Sōten Kōro’s story is based loosely on the events taking place in Three Kingdoms period of China during the life of the last Chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao (155 – March 15, 220), who also serves as the main character.

The Three Kingdoms period has been a popular theme in Japanese manga for decades, but Sōten Kōro differs greatly from most of the others on several points. One significant difference is its highly positive portrayal of its main character, Cao Cao, who is traditionally the antagonist in not only Japanese manga, but also most novel versions of the Three Kingdoms period, including the original 14th century version, Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. Another significant difference from others is that the storyline primarily uses the original historical account of the era, Records of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou, as a reference rather than the aforementioned Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel. By this, the traditional hero of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei, takes on relatively less importance within the story and is portrayed in a less positive light. Yet, several aspects of the story are in fact based on the novel version, including the employment of its original characters such as Diao Chan, as well as anachronistic weapons such as Guan Yu’s Green Dragon Crescent Blade and Zhang Fei’s Viper Blade.

A consistent theme throughout the story is Cao Cao’s perpetual desire to break China and its people away from its old systems and ways of thinking and initiate a focus on pragmatism over empty ideals. This often puts him at odds with the prevalent customs and notions of Confucianism and those that support them.

(shamelessly copy/pasted from the Wikipedia article)

It's just me working on this at the moment, but I hope I can attract people to help me with cleaning the scans and inserting the translated text. For now, you may enjoy chapter 1 of Souten Kouro, courtesy of yours truly. Next chapter will come soon enough. Mind you, if I get some volunteers to help me, I'll be able to update as often as I translate, without having to waste several days editing pages.

Mediafire link here

Pages 66-75 of the Super Robot Encyclopedia

2009-07-02T21:15:00.000+03:00

I am very sorry for the lack of updates, but I've finally managed to get around to finishing it. I'll try making smaller (1 or 2 pages at a time) updates from now on.

Anyway, here they be:

Page 66: Dedicated to Tetsujin #28's 80s remake and to Daiouja. The latter was featured in the SRW for the Gamecube and the one for the X-Box.

Page 67: Dedicated to Golion and Gold Lightan. The former was brought to the US and called Voltron (and greatly loved too), as well as was featured in Super Robot Wars W for the Nintendo DS.

Pages 68-69: Goshogun. This was brought to the US and called Macron One. It was featured in several SRWs, mostly without the plot. Alpha 2 for gives good focus on Goshogun. Oh, it's almost impossible to find on the net, by the way.

Page 70: God Mars and Bryger. Both have been featured in SRW. Bryger is to return on the brand-new Wii one. God Mars has been fully fansubbed.

Page 071: Dougram. A "real robot" anime with one hell of a spoiler in its first episode. Pizza Hut supports the rebellion!

Pages 72 and 73: Xabungle and Vehicle Voltron-- errr, I mean Dairugger XV. The first is one of the just-as-infamous "Happy Tomino" series, the other was turned into Voltron's sequel and has the most components in mecha history (at least up to that point). Xabungle is currently being subbed.

Page 74: The second J9 series, following Bryger. Featured in the same SRWs as Daiouja. Try and contemplate the idea of space motorcycles in the meantime.

Page 75: Brought to France and named L'Empire des Cinq. The ending is a bit... odd.

Page 140 of the Super Robot Encyclopedia

2008-09-03T17:13:00.000+03:00

Today's update is kind of random.

Page 140: Hades Project Zeorymer, an obscure series from the late 80s, brought into the spotlight after two Super Robot Wars games it was featured in. There, Zeorymer was very powerful, had an ominous song, as well as original mecha designs. Apparently, it's based on an adult manga, which led to the cutting out of some of the hotter scenes. I chose this page mainly because I liked the series a lot back when I watched it. It should be notable that this is the first time I used the book itself for the translation, and it was much much quicker than usual. ^_^

I'd like some feedback on the white font I used to cover the shadow. Was it OK? Is it readable? I'm curious because it wasn't there in the original.

I've bought the Super Robot Encyclopedia

2008-09-02T22:14:00.000+03:00

In the meantime, I've found the book on Play-Asia. Here are some pics of it:

The book is larger than expected, and the illustrations are indeed very rich. According to the cover, there are some 296 pages in it, so I'm impatient to get back to working on it, now that I don't depend on the scans anymore. From now on, translations will take less, because the text is crystal clear in the book itself. Lovely!

Page 44 typo

2008-08-28T23:34:00.000+03:00

Thanks to trejo, I noticed that I'd forgotten to add the last part of Grendizer's summary. Here's the edited page:

Pages 43-45, 57 and 59-65 of the Super Robot Encyclopedia.

2008-08-28T01:49:00.000+03:00

Finally, an update. Sorry for the delay.

Page 43: Great Mazinger's Data Compilation page.

Page 44: UFO Robo Grendizer and its pilot movie, The Great UFO War. It certainly took a lot to translate.

Page 45: Steel Jeeg. This page is an older edit, done back when the 2007 remake reached episode 13.

Page 57: The introductory page to Progress. Doesn't take a genius to guess whose fault it is for "the rise of the real robot". This is an older page.

Page 58 is in the first post of this blog.

Page 59: Second page about Mobile Suit Gundam. More info about the series. Please correct me if I messed up the part about the Magnet Coating.

Pages 60-61: Trider G-7. This time, it's about a rich kid fighting against aliens. This series showed up in Shin Super Robot Taisen and Super Robot Taisen GC/XO, which are not fond memories, despite their uniqueness. The former has full-sized sprites of the robots (as opposed to the usual Super Deformed style) but has awful loading times. The latter has 3D graphics (as opposed to ... oh, come on, you can figure this out), but is awkward when it comes to melee attacks and details. These are older pages.

Page 62: God Sigma, who is to show up in the upcoming Super Robot Wars Z. Note that the big bad is a lady. This is an older page.

Page 63: Baldios, who is to join God Sigma in SRWZ. It has an ... interesting ending, but not as interesting as the next one. This is an older page.

Pages 64 and 65: Ideon. This one gave Tomino his "kill'em all" fame, and most likely gave Anno some ideas for Evangelion. This, too, has been recently subbed, so you should see for yourselves.

Phew. Next update will be smaller, because Data Compilations are a pain in the ass. Just looking for the staff is murder on your brain.

Pages 41-42 of the Super Robot Encyclopedia

2008-08-19T02:31:00.000+03:00

Uploading two pages, of which one is brand new.

Page 41: The introductory page to Data Compilation. This page has the first airdate for basically every mecha anime (or anime containing any robots) from each chapter. This one will need a version 2 after I finish the other pages.

Page 42: Mazinger Z. Each of the series with their title written in white on the introductory page gets a black-and-white page with character and mecha designs, as well as staff airdates. This page was supposed to be done months ago, but my file got corrupted back then, so I had to start from scratch. It wasn't pleasant. Anyway, Data Compilation pages take much longer to translate and edit, so I'll probably upload one such page at a time, along with some regular ones. From now on, it'll be rather hard to post them in order without doing so very rarely.

Next time, I'll be posting Great Mazinger and (maybe) Great UFO War / Grendizer, along with pages from chapter 3, Progress (the introductory page 57 and pages 59 &c)

Pages 26-40 of the Super Robot Encyclopedia

2008-08-04T14:01:00.000+03:00

Phew. Now uploading 15 more pages of the Encyclopedia, 9 of which are brand new.

Page 26: Groizer X, another Go Nagai series. The only thing I knew about it was that it showed up in a Mazinkaiser promo, where other Go Nagai series show up as well. This page also features Machine Blaster (known in Italy as Astro Robot), a show which, according to Wikipedia, was slightly unsuccessful due to shows such as Com Battler V or Gaiking dominating among audiences. Still, remarkable for the original finisher move.

Page 27: A larger image of Groizer X, as well as info about UFO Senshi Daiapollon and Gowapper 5 Godam. Rather interesting that Daiapollon destroyed enemies from the inside and that Godam has the first female leader (although from what I've seen, she had an awful lot of lipstick. Then again, I mistook one of the pilots for a chimp. You'll see for yourselves) and that it uses karate moves. Too bad the design wasn't too helpful.

Pages 28 and 29: Magne Robo Ga Keen, successor to Koutetsu Jeeg among the Magne Robo series. Also aired in hispanophone countries under the name of El Supermagnetron. Features a man and a woman turning into plus and minus Magnemen and robots respectively. Most surprisingly, Pluyzer and Mighty don't combine into Ga Keen, but are in fact weapons. Neat.

Pages 30 and 31: Gasshin Sentai Mechander Robo. This series is maybe remarkable for the fact that the robot can only function for a while, at least until the Omega Missile attacks him. Also, I found it amazing that it uses a flexible metal to change sizes. That's Japan for you!

Page 32: Danguard Ace, featured in Jim Terry's Force Five. Is quite similar to the later Gunbuster in several aspects. Also interesting that the robot shows up quite late. This would be seen in Dancougar as well. The page also features Ginguiser, a robot powered by magic. Ironically, the title robot itself is horribly blocky. Made by the creators of Machine Blaster.

Page 33: Voltes V (pronounced "Five"). This series aired in Spain, Italy and the Philippines. In the latter country it gained a large fanbase, which led to its reairing and redubbing even after former president Ferdinand Marcos banned it for "dumbing down the children". Ironically, this series happened to bring a lot of depth to the genre, especially with likeable characters like Prince Heinell. This is the second series in the so-called "Nagahama Romance Trilogy", named after director Tadao Nagahama, whose series introduced a lot more character development than predecessors.

Page 34: Balatack. Unexplainably, this is the third of the "Magne Robo series", at least according to Japanese Wikipedia. At any rate, this a robot remote-controlled by ESP-ers. Nobody can accuse producers of lack of imagination, that's for sure.

Pages 35, 36 and 37: Zanbot 3. This is a super robot series directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, who starts showing what would later be his trademark plot devices. The show has recently been subbed (all 26 episodes of it), so go and check it out. It's notable that the robot was built around the 19th century, which explains the armoured warrior design. Also, this series might be the inspiration for Daitarn 3, who is sun-themed.

Page 38: Daimos. The third part of the "Nagahama Romance Trilogy", offering us a compelling story of love and war. Here you'll find the love story of Kazuya and Erika, a tribute to Shakespeare's undying Romeo and Juliet, and definitely not the last of these tributes in mecha anime. Also, the series features a karate-using robot. Awesome!

Page 39: Daitarn 3. This show also aired in Italy, where it became very popular. Featuring cool doesn't-look-18-to-me rich James Bond tribute Haran Banjou fighting against the Meganoids, created by his father Haran Souzou. One of the possible inspirations for The Big O later on.

Page 40: The last page from part 2 Awakening, featuring Daltanias (named after D'Artagnan), Daikengo (a robot with fangs) and Gordian (inspiration for Machine Robo: Revenge of Chronos).

Next update will not feature pages 41-56, because the Data Compilation contains, well, a lot of data such as voice actors, staff and various details about the mecha series (even Kabuto Kouji's favourite food!). The next update will start from part 3, whose main representant is Mobile Suit Gundam. Stay tuned for more.

Pages 6-25 of the Super Robot Encyclopedia

2008-08-01T11:20:00.000+03:00

Time for a larger update. Today, I've uploaded 20 pages of the Super Robot Encyclopedia, of which one (page 6) is new.

Page 6: Astroganger, a robot series preceding Mazinger Z, about a robot made of living metal. Giant robots from Japanese movies up to 1972 are also featured. Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets) fans should be pleased to find their favourite series in the lower right corner.

Page 7: Intro to Awakening, the second part of the book. Again, I'll have to review both translation and editing one day. It's one of my earliest translations, so bear with any idiosyncrasies you might find within. On the other hand, note that both Mazinger Z and Getter Robo are featured. That is due to the fact that earlier robots, such as Iron Man #28 and Astroganger, relied on hand-to-hand combat, while Mazinger Z and company had fancier weapons, the now classic eye beams, swords and heat beams (and breast missiles, oh my!).

Pages 8 and 9 (remember, Japanese books are paged from right to left): On the first page we have Mazinger Z with all his aforementioned weaponry. This image shows Z after its final upgrades, which mainly consists of more weapons and the Jet Scrander, its crimson wings. Fans of the show and Super Robot Wars will notice that there seems to be a fairly large supply of missiles (placed in the abdomen). For those who don't know, in Super Robot Wars, Mazinger Z always has 99 ammo for his Missile Punch (which is among its weakest weapons in the game).
On the other page are Mazinger Z's stats and story. I might reedit it one day, since this was made before I started using Photoshop. Long live MS Paint! I'd like to thank the crew at MundoMazinger, a Spanish-language fansite dedicated to Mazinger's various incarnations. Their episode-by-episode screenshots helped me translate some of the info from later part of the text. Wonderful stuff. Here are the screens for Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger. Enjoy!

Pages 10 and 11: Getter Robo, the very first combining robot. Not only could it combine, but it even had 3 forms, according to the order of the components. This concept was so popular that it gave birth to many spin-offs and homages. Getter Robo is the joint work of Go Nagai and the late Ken Ishikawa. This book contains all Getter Robo spin-offs up to 2004.

Pages 12 and 13: First one is a homage to the three Mazingers, especially to the first piloted super robot, Mazinger Z. On the other page are its two sequels, Great Mazinger (Il Grande Mazinga in Italy, Gran Mazinger in Spain and other hispanophone countries) and UFO Robo Grendizer (Goldorak in France, Goldrake in Italy). Great Mazinger is Mazinger Z's successor. He was first introduced in the last episode of Mazinger Z, saving the eponymous robot from certain doom at the hands of two Mikene Beasts. This introduction was somewhat preserved in the movie version, called Mazinger Z tai Ankoku Daishogun (Mazinger Z versus the Great General of Darkness), except that Z had to face hordes of Mikene Beasts and that Great Mazinger defeats these enemies with Mazinger Z's assistance. Grendizer (which was aired in Romania around 1994-1995) comes as a sort of sequel to the two, since Kouji Kabuto, the pilot of Mazinger Z, returns as a sidekick to alien prince Duke Freed. In the US, Grendizer was adapted as part of Jim Terry's Force Five anthology. Also featured is The Great UFO War, a pilot movie to Grendizer. Screenshots here.

Pages 14 and 15: Yuusha Raideen, a source of inspiration for Rahxephon (unjustly considered an Evangelion rip-off). As a tidbit, Yoshiyuki Tomino, later known for Mobile Suit Gundam and Space Runaway Ideon, worked on this series.

Pages 16 and 17: Getter Robo G, Getter Robo's sequel. Among other things, you'll find out what the "G" stands for (at least according to contemporary sources). Getter Robo G also reached the States as part of Jim Terry's Force Five anthology, under the name of Starvengers.

Pages 18 and 19: Steel Jeeg (known in Italy as Jeeg, robot d'acciaio and in Latin America as El Vengador - The Avenger, being part of El Festival de los Robots, an anthology show, like Force Five), the first magnet robot. This series was remade in 2007 as Koutetsushin Jeeg (Steel God Jeeg). It's notable for the immense amount of tools and weapons, pictured on page 19. Again, these pages were edited with Paint.

Pages 20 and 21: Daikuu Maryuu Gaiking, which was aired in America as part of Force Five and in Latin America as a part of El Festival de los Robots, being called El Gladiador. Both anthology shows used to air their component anime alternatively. What's notable about Gaiking is that it has the very first battleship (the Daikuu Maryuu). The other page has an image of upgraded Gaiking. Note that the Mazinger-like mouth is replaced by a metal plate, meaning it can use the Super-Weapon Head - see page 20 for more info. Sano Hirotoshi does a great job at illustrating the classic robot.

Pages 22, 23, 24 and 25: On the first page, Com Battler V is using the Choudenji Tatsumaki (Super Electromagnetic Tornado), which paralyzes the enemy. On the second page, we see Com Battler using the finishing Choudenji Spin itself, in which it smashes through the enemy. Note that the illustrations are signed Kaneko Kazuma (who worked on Devil May Cry 3, Megami Tensei and Zone of the Enders 3). The third page shows the five components of the Com Battler. The bottom page has the stats and story behind this combining super robot (yes, it's a pun).

That's it for today. I'm going on vacation soon, but it's only for a week. Enjoy these classics of the 70s.

Pages 1-5 of the Super Robot Encyclopedia

2008-07-25T03:23:00.001+03:00

This is the first batch of reposted images. Warning! Some of them are actually textless, but it's best to share them all, for continuity.

This particular page isn't edited.

Page 2 - Pretty much self-explanatory

Page 3: Intro to "Dawn", the first part of the book. I'll have to make a second version of it one day.

Page 4: Iron Man #28, considered to be the very first Japanese animated giant robot.

Page 5: The other page about Iron Man #28.

My first post.

2008-07-25T03:12:00.000+03:00

This blog is dedicated to some of my translations, mostly from Japanese. These are done in my spare time, as a hobby. As such, updates will be rather scarce. Warning: the images themselves are copyrighted, but the translation is still mine.

My first project is the Super Robot Encyclopedia ver. 2004. This is a mostly illustrated book dedicated to robot anime from its beginning until 2004. The first few posts will be, in fact, reposts of older images. Right now, I'll give you something new, namely page 58, dedicated to Mobile Suit Gundam (one of the two pages):