Offering New Service~!

Freelance Scanlation Help

If you're a translator and/or scanner of a manga, but you're missing a:

• Proofreader - above average
  
• Cleaner - above average
  
• Typesetter - pretty darn good
  
• QCer - all right
  
• More than one

Then feel free to ask me to help you out as a freelancer. Which means, for the sake of that one release, I won't join your group, but help with your missing jobs so you can release SOMETHING and get the word out that you need help :P

Example of scenario where you might ask me:
You've got everything done, EXCEPT for the typesetting because you don't have anyone who can do it in your staff. So you email me asking for help typesetting this one chapter of manga. I say okay or nokay and we'll get working from there.

What do I get out of it?
Well, first of all, my name in the credits, haha :'D And... I don't know. Happy fans? I would like to help the Manga community with the little talent I have. And I should be able to also post a "release" on my blog (but the links will just redirect to either your forum, website or IRC)

Contact My Email --> irrevocablerise@hotmail.com
Username Used For Credits --> holanio

Just tell me what you want me to do and for what series. I'll check it out and see if I can salvage the situation or not.

RAGE!

I want a new series to buy, and there are many I'm interested in, but there's always something stopping me T___T

Magical JxR - Udon Entertainment stopped publishing RIGHT before the last volume. RAGEQUIT OTL I'm crying, so hard... in the inside right now. It looks really good... really good...

Pokemon Adventures - VIZ has a crappy version. It just doesn't float my boat editing out parts from the original manga like. LAME-O's D: And there's no way of getting it from Chuang-Yi at a reasonable price, I assure you that much...

On a side note. Finally bought the rest of the volumes for Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning P:

What I've Done & What I've Realized

I managed to accomplish a lot in terms of scanlation in less than a week.

• [EF] Typesetted Kiss and Never Cry Ch.18
• [EF] Edited Crush on You 8a
• [SDS] Finish Typesetting and QCed Chotto Edo Made Ch.1
• [SDS] QCed Sakura Zensen Ch.7 (on Gimp, nonetheless)

And I have plans for more...

• [EF] Edit Crush on You 8b & 9a
• [SDS] Typeset Brave 10 Ch.10 (or find a willing typesetter)
  
• [SDS] Finish Typesetting and QCing Angel Hunt Ch.5
• Other misc. scanlation chores

But, it's only today, that I realized... the internet, my laptop, is the only think I'm really looking at this summer. A double edge sword that recoils every time I use it. (Yeah, I know right? Sporadic bits of fun, it's not all the time) I wish there was somewhere I could go, but in this unknown community, I just feel out of place. Not to mention it's hot beyond all reason and there's no source of shade anywhere.

It really sucks because I want to control how much time I actually spend on my laptop. It's not a good thing for your internet to work all the time! A lot of people freak out when they don't have internet for a month, but I would find that a blessing within a cursing. A break, a definite wall to block me, so I don't need to think about it. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful to have the internet and my laptop for the most part. But it makes me sad every time I come back to it all the time.

It's my only connection with my precious friends... it's a form of communication with my father... it's just a way to spend my day away... and my heart yearns for the one on one interaction again. The heartfelt effort it takes to communicate with them. I just want to be able to stand up, walk out of the door and take a nice walk to see people again.

I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, but I terribly miss the things I used to be able to do and the people I did it with. And I will terribly miss the new things I've just established in this new place. When it's time to pack up and go again, will I be this fortunate? When will I hit rock bottom? It's only humorous to me, but any OCs that I come up with from The Tale of the Crazy Kid(s) clearly represent a part of me. One character, Utsumi Andou, is a boy who hates the feeling of falling. "I really can't stand falling... It's painful because you never know when you'll hit rock bottom. You're so high up for so long, you forget... There's always something to bring you back to earth. Just like... falling in love." Falling in love with the things you find precious. I really want to learn how to let go of these things.

The only way I'll get there is through spiritual strength in God. There's no influence on my life right now. I think way too much, come up with way too many excuses, and try to understand more than I need to. Even when I try to restrain myself, I still end up thinking too much and I don't know where it stops and begins because it all comes full circle! I'm so at a loss, such a height of hypocrisy and irony, that when I'm falling down, I try to pull myself up needlessly. And when I'm rising to the top, I restrain myself to bottom. Where am I? Am I still at the same place I was before? Have I even stepped away from where I began? I try so hard to understand, but I don't understand anything! So I'm stuck... somewhere. And at this rate, I'll end up in the same place, just... somewhere. Not here, or there, but somewhere.

Oneshot: 3 Hearts Analysis

"3 Hearts" by Ichinose Kaoru (scanlated by Omari's Sister)

From the outside, the story seems to be just eye candy (which, no doubt it is) but there is a little more complexity to it than what I saw before. After maybe a little more analysis (and desperate thinking to give this One-shot a bit more cred) Here's what I came up with...

Initially, the "3 Hearts" referred to the 3 precious jewels, yeah? Well, it could also be connected to our 3 stars on the beautiful colored cover page.

Note how it talks about how "the world's most beautiful jewel", love or Rathgozer (as she IS beautiful), "leads hearts astray." The hearts, referring to Jin and Mr. Knight of Kothera, being led astray because she is a rogue. Obviously, Jin was extremely influenced by her beauty (consequently falling in love.) If you notice in the last panel of he manga, Jin calls out Mr. Knight of Kothera on getting tricked as well. Inferring from Mr. KoK's reaction to this, it seems he too was led astray for a long enough time (possibly in an affectionate way) to allow Rathgozer to escape. In fact, he admits to it in the middle of the manga while he's cutting down trees nonsensically in pursuit of her.

Haha, and it seems even to the end of the one-shot, she CONTINUES to lead them off course in many other ways with her beauty and amazing-sauce trickery skills. Rathgozer leads Jin astray from fate's control and Mr. KoK's position defending the jewel--being neglectful (as he was set-up in such a way where Jin believed that he was the bad guy--once again, making enough time for our lovely rogue to escape.) All of that just to explain where the title page was going with the story.

Now, more into the meat (actual storyline) of the manga. In the very beginnings, as I've mentioned before, she's leading the Knights of Kothera away from the castle (their home, comfort zone, place they should be protecting besides the jewel). Then, the flying aircraft (no, it's not random)--brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "fight or flight" which there is plenty of in this manga. More on this later.

Ichinose brings up "The Fool" card, immediately characterizing the three main characters, but also contrasting them. Jin mentions that "the Fool" card can either be a "free spirit" or "an idiot". Seems like Rathgozer is the first, and the guys are the latter. Eventually, Jin learns how to re-characterize himself into a free spirit after being criticized by Rathgozer. Some may be wondering what purpose the random twin companions Jin has on board play as, and I think that purpose to be the rationalized mind. Generally, when thinking of love, recklessness and a boggled state of mind is involved. So the twins are the little bits of consciousness in the back of Jin's head, that a trying to bring him back to reality (failing in the process, but hey, what can you do with a guy in love? Those eagles sure had nothing on that female hot shot.) With that bit of characterization down, let's move onto The Kothera Heart itself.

What's so important about it, that it'd be the sole jewel star of a One-shot that mentions and titles itself after all three? Well, damn, doesn't it just sound cool saying "The Kothera Heart"? Okay, haha, onto more serious analysis. First of all, it's DIAMOND, pure carbon--an element needed for all spans of life (kind of like... love *hint hint*). It's also one of the strongest and precious substances on earth; something sought for all over the world. The comparison is very literal, but it's simple and fits. Despite this, there is also a bit of backbone to how Jin describes the Kothera Heart. He speaks of its brilliance (you can tell, that he's immediately absorbed by it just like his encounter with Rathgozer). He talks about how big it is (like Rathgozer's grand entrance and plea) thus being clearly noticeable. It also refers to her large appeal to Jin as well, because her appearance, like the diamond, also multiplied in magnitude. And the light, she's certainly drawing everyone in, isn't she?

"Let's have a welcome reception, princess" Jin says. Haha, well, once he lets her enter HIS heart, it's GG. He's been caught hook, line and sinker. Now the poor sap is in love with the girl, though he doesn't show too much of it until later. Of course, the consciousness is wary of the situation and is warning Jin about what's going to happen, but... he doesn't listen. Go figure. I'd also like to think, when Rathgozer talks about "countries" she's really talking about "guy's hearts". She runs away from one country, Mr. KoK's heart, to go a different country, Jin's heart. It's a followup to the the welcome reception. After he let her into his heart, she thanks him "for accompanying [her] to the neighboring country as promised." It's got a double meaning, future and present tense. Not to mention she tells him "I'm glad I met you" right after, haha.

Unbeknownst to Jin, he's not REALLY in control of his feelings for her. He only made time for her to explore his heart. Consciousness intervenes again... I think the whole fate and reversal issue explains itself, so I'll skip over that. Until we meet Mr. KoK again, the story takes on a self-explanatory route. Nothing drastically analytic there.

Finally, we get to see the two countries at war (ahh!! I'm continuing my metaphor, scaary). Okay, there's a lot of "fight or flight" action here, like I mentioned before.

Fight, being:

• Jin going headstrong with Rathgozer in love.
• Jin going against fate
  
• Mr. KoK versus Jin for Rathgozer and Kother Heart
• Female pheromones versus male instinct
  

Flight, being:

• Rathgozer escaping the fight via FLIGHT
• The flying aircraft
  

And what else can I say about it. Witty Rathy here, covered the final points of analysis with her grandiose escape. It just goes to show sometimes, being pretty is an extremely powerful tool.

So that's what I thought up of. Not sure if it'll make sense to anyone else or if the author actually intended for any of this. But my hopes are that it'll add some light to the situation and maybe rethink the credibility on this one-shot story-wise...

It's been a while since I ranted on any manga about anything :\ I wish I could analyze this much with my English research paper as well. That's just a whole 'nother problem.

Diligency is on the Line

For anyone who's wondering. The atomic bomb has passed, and turned out to be a disappointing dud. For the entire week, I waited for it to blow up and... well, let's just say it didn't deliver.

However, onto to more important matters. I've got a molecule project to finish over the weekend. An assigned book to finish reading and eventually and outline to write. Only a few weeks of school is left. That means studying galore! I'll be consequently doing less Scanlating binges in general until school is over. Then again... I always manage to break my promises :]

On my Scanlation list this month:

• Silent Dreams Scanlations
  - Clean 1/2 of Sakura Zensen Chapter 7 [done!] I might do more later on though.
  - Typeset Sukitte Iwaseru Houhou Chapter 4 (waiting for cleaned pages)
  - Typeset Chotto Edo Made Chapter 1 (in progress...)
  - QCing whatever manages to come my way
  
• Evil Flowers
  - Typeset Kiss and Never Cry Chapter 17 [done!]
  - Clean Crush on You Chapter 8a (in slow slow progress)
  
• Omari's Sister
  - Proofreading any convenient OS projects

On my Reading list this month:

• Lord of the Flies by William Golding (for school)
• Gakuen Alice Volumes 15&16
• The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan