Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 18

And here, after that brief interlude, we have chapter 18 of Heavenly Island! In it we see that yes, Claire is still actually a character in this manga. We also seen an old series favourite pop up for a whole two pages.

As mentioned previously this chapter marks the end of volume two. Which means that we've actually caught up with all the released volumes of the series. Heavenly Island itself has been on hiatus for a while now in Japan, and won't actually resume serialisation until January, so volume three's not gonna be out for months yet. Amusingly scans for Weekly Shounen Champion have started popping up again, so I may at least be able to see how far behind the Japanese releases we are.

Still, given I've finished volume two it means I can now turn my attention to other projects. I've done some editing for the third chapter of Survival, and started work on the second chapter of Somali, so will, with any luck, have both of those out within a week or so. I've also been (slowly) getting through the first volume of a third series, but who knows when I'll be able to get that done.

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Somali to Mori no Kami-sama Ch. 1

So here's something of a curveball! Rather than finish off Heavenly Island I decided to take a brief break and do something else.

This then is Somali to Morio no Kami-sama (which in English is Somali and the Forest Spirit). In contrast to what I've worked on so far, it's a fairly laid back slice of life series about a young child taken in by a forest golem in a lush fantasy setting. I happened to stumble upon the raw scans for it and, being ever easily distracted, figured I'd give it a go (especially as it's a nice, digital version for which I don't need to mess around fucking up double pages).

The author, Yako Gureishi, isn't particularly notable. In fact their one series prior to this was about some sort of cross dressing character in an occult club, which was discontinued after a single volume. Somali then is just a tad different.

The series itself is published monthly(ish) on Web Comic Zenyon (itself not a particularly notable publication, its most famous series is probably a Hokuto no Ken spoof). At present there are seven chapters; six of which are included in the volume with an uncollected seventh available online. An eight chapter should be due out soon too.

I'm aiming to try and get chapters out for this fairly quickly, as it does make something of a change of pace for me and I'm enjoying what I've read so far. We'll see how things go though. Next up however should be the final chapter of Heavenly Island's second volume.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 17

And here it is, chapter 17 of Heavenly Island.

I found this chapter slightly grim actually, though perhaps that was just me.

Still, only one chapter left and then volume two will be done! Hopefully it'll be up within the next couple of days too.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 16

And here's chapter 16 of Heavenly Island. After what's been a pretty shit week there's something oddly relaxing about just sitting back and working on a trashy manga for a few hours.

I mentioned it vaguely before, but I did the translation for a Christmas themed chapter of Golgo 13 in collaboration with Golden Roze Scans. It's Tako Saitou's most famous work, and the chapter itself is even a crossover of sorts with another series of his, Hotel Tantei Doll (which has been fully translated by Crunchyroll). I'd like to one day do some more work on the series (especially as only three or so volumes have been translated), but given how long it's taking me to do chapters of Survival that's probably not something I should be tackling at the moment!

That aside, there's now only two chapters remaining for Heavenly Island at the moment, and I'm hopeful to have them out by the end of the year at the latest (I've actually got the translation for chapter 17 ready to go). I've also the next chapter of Survival translated, so maybe we'll see that sometime in 2017. Though who knows what I'll end up actually releasing next!

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 15

And here's chapter 15 of Heavenly Island! I know I said I'd do something else next release (and that it'd be a little while), but this chapter's a whopping 11 pages, with one double spread, so it took no time at all. In fact I spent more time stuck due a spelling mistake I made than actually working on the chapter!

With this chapter I do however need to note a change in name. The comedian in a silly suit, who I previously introduced as Alexi is now Alek (I've also gone back and updated the first chapter). Truth be told I'm not 100% sure on what the romanization is actually meant to be. The obvious choice would be Alex/Alexander but the Japanese reading for those is normally different to what's been used. If I ever find a proper romanization for it though I'll be sure to update it again.

As far as the next release goes, who knows! I'll be away for several days over the Christmas period, so don't expect anything for the next week or so. I did however do the translation for a Christmas themed chapter for another group, so I'll link to that when they've finished editing it.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 14

And here's chapter 14 of Heavenly Island. Where an old face turns up to save the day.

I forgot to mention it before, but we're well past the halfway mark of volume 2 now! In fact only four chapters remain after this (they're also all really short), so we'll soon be caught up to Japan (at least in terms of released volumes)!

The next release will (probably) be something new and exciting rather than Heavenly Island. It might be a while though (especially as I've been trying to help out with another little project at the moment), but we shall see.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 13

And here's chapter 13 of Heavenly Island, where we're still busy killing off all those poor side characters.

This chapter had a bunch of irritating groaning/mumbling sounds which were a pain to translate, but I'm hopeful I've gotten the right meanings throughout.

Chapter 14 will be when it's out.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 12

And here's chapter 12 of Heavenly Island, wherein the body count continues to rise.

Work is still ruining my schedule but I'll hopefully have 13 up soon(ish). I'm also still working on a few other projects, so maybe one or two new things will pop up here as well.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 11 & Survival Ch. 2

Well, that took longer expected! You can mainly thank the wonders of work for my rather lengthy absence but I'm back, and with two chapters to boot!

I can't promise when the next chapters will be, but I'd like to get at least the remaining Heavenly Island chapters done before the end of the month. I've also been working on several other projects so maybe you'll see one or two new things pop up here.

For the actual releases then, first up is chapter 11 of Heavenly Island, in which we see one of the more silly monster designs come to life.

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And then we have chapter two of Survival, wherein our protagonist experiences the joys of being able to piss while no one else is around.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 10

And here's chapter 10 of Heavenly Island, in which we find out some more on the producer's ambitions.

I forgot to mention this previously, but there's a small chance that the page order may be out of sync for any of these upcoming chapters. The raws I found for volume two all have a number of duplicate pages throughout, and while (after much counting) it seems as though they are simply duplicates which can be removed outright, there's always a chance that they're not. Although unlikely, if any pages are in the wrong order lemme know and I'll get them sorted as soon as I can.

The translation for the chapter 11 is already done, so hopefully we'll see it pop up shortly (or I'll be too tired from work again...).

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 9

And now back to Heavenly Island with chapter nine, in which we find out AD's fate.

As mentioned before, this marks the beginning of volume two, which has a total of 10 chapters (although it has a similar page count to the first volume owing to the fact it doesn't start with a massive 50 page piece).

I've actually got the next two chapters translated (as well as two chapters for another series and a few smaller things in the works) but I've been I've been too tired from work recently to get much finished up. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more of it done over the coming weeks though.

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Survival Ch. 1

Well, I said I'd do something new before getting back to Heavenly Island and here it is, the first chapter of Takao Saito's Survival.

It's not very likely that anyone reading this will have read much of Saito's, but within the manga world he holds one of the most impressive records for he's the author of Golgo 13, the longest running manga series in existence which began publication all the way back in 1968.

Golgo 13 isn't Saito's only work though, as he's been involved with a fair number of other titles throughout his career. Survival is an older series of his, dating back to 1976. In it Japan has suffered a series of devastating earthquakes, and the protagonist is forced to survive as best he can. It's not the most original of topics, but it's enjoyable enough.

The version of the manga which I'm working from has six volumes in total, as well as a seventh extra volume which isn't part of the main story, so there's a fair amount to it.

For the time being though this will be on the back-burner, my intention is to finish off the second volume of Heavenly Island before really doing anything else. That said I do have a few other new series which I'm slowly working my way through at the same time, so maybe a one or two of those will also pop up.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 8

And here it is, the eighth chapter of Heavenly Island! In this we see Claire realise that yes, she probably should have tried to contact Inez earlier.

While going through this chapter I realised that I'd actually made a couple of errors in a previous chapter. Most egregiously I mentioned that Claire was heading to a library, when in fact it was meant to be a museum, though I've since made the relevant corrections.

As mentioned before his chapter marks the end of the first volume. Volume two is out already and I do intend to get started on it at some point, though whether I get to it immediately or work on another series for a bit remains to be seen.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 7

And here's chapter seven, where a number of poor locals are rather brutally taken out.

I know I said I might take a while with this but it turns out there wasn't much to work on (a fair number of the pages lack speech and are just SFX) so I got through it fairly quickly.

Chapter eight, the final chapter for the first volume, should be done soon too.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 6

And here's chapter six, where AD ponders over the all important matter of purity.

We also see that, as ever in horror, all means of communication are conveniently lost or broken the moment the monster turns up.

Chapter seven may be a little late, as I've a few things going on in the big bad real world at the moment.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 5

Here's chapter five, in which Claire spends her time idling around on a tropical island while everyone else is in mortal danger.

There's some funny Engrish about mid way through if you look carefully.

Chapter six will be out when it's out.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 4

And here's chapter four, where things start to take a turn for the worse.

With this we're halfway through the first volume (although there's a mere 40 or so pages left).

Chapter five will be out when it's out.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 3

So here we have chapter three of Heavenly Island. I'd actually had most of this done yesterday (as in all but three pages had been edited) but it was late and I wanted to actually get to sleep on time!

The chapter itself is fairly short, but we get a nice little reminder that yes, this is a Resident Evil series.

I've already started on chapter four, so with any luck that should be up in a couple of days too.

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 2

Well here it is, only a few days later (praise be to short chapters!), chapter two of Heavenly Island.

Though short it contains that one event crucial to all horror works, the moment where the poor souls are cut off from civilisation by the bad guys (and of course the only people to realise don't want to inform the others).

Chapter three is also fairly short, but from a brief skim over it it'll require a bit more work, plus I've been neglecting a few other things with these releases which I should really sort out first. So it'll be out... When it's out!

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Biohazard: Heavenly Island Ch. 1

Whew only nine days later but I'm back, this time with something a bit different.

Resident Evil/Biohazard is a series which most video game fans should be familiar with, it being the iconic horror series. I'm a big fan of the games, yet despite this I've done relatively little of the non-video game media. I was quite pleased then to come across Heavenly Island, so much so that I decided to make it my second project to work on.

Story wise Heavenly Island isn't particularly innovative. A group of idols travel to a deserted island where in true horror fashion they find themselves under threat from the locals, a hulking murderer and zombies/the infected. At the same time series favourite Claire Redfield arrives to investigate the island, having received information that something fishy might be going down. Nothing particularly too crazy then, but still amusing enough (and for those who follow the games it has some minor ties to Revelations 2).

It's a whopping 50 or so pages, which meant it took a fair amount of work to get through (and as ever if I've made any mistakes feel free to let me know), though thankfully later chapters are much shorter (some have as few as 13 pages). The series is currently on going with two volumes published, so I've a fair amount of work ahead of me though I can't give any promises as to how fast I'll get chapters done. I'd like to do a chapter a week but am undecided at present, especially as I've a few other series I'd like to start work on too.

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El Cazador de la Bruja Vol. 1 [End]

So here we are, some 226 days after first making this blog I am at last able to show something for it with the first (and only) volume of El Cazador de la Bruja.

Based on the anime of the same name, the manga follows the adventures of bounty hunter Nadie and her ward, the mysterious Ellis, as they travel across the country. It's a fairly throwaway read, being more an advertisement for the anime than a proper piece in and of itself: four of the six chapters are based on episodes from the anime while the fifth and sixth offer a rather inconclusive original ending. Still, if you've seen the anime it is somewhat amusing, and if you haven't well, it could be a lot worse. I've something of a soft spot for the anime (even if it's not particularly notable) and was always rather disappointed to see that the accompanying manga was never fully translated, so I've at least helped myself if nothing else.

Given this was my first attempt at editing/translating a title it's not as perfect a release as it could be (the raws which I worked from were terrible too) but I think it's acceptable. If you notice any glaring errors feel free to let me know. I've already a few more things lined up so hopefully this will be the start of an ongoing effort. Even if I never post again though, I'll at least have the one finished project to my name!

Oh, and if you're interested in actually buying the manga you can get it digitally from places like eBookJapan. The physical version meanwhile looks to be out of print, but I imagine you could find cheap second hand copies to import if you were so inclined.

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The Beginning!

Just a small post to look back on whenever I get around to finally using this blog. ^^;;