Well, if you "asked" that kind of thing, of course you won't get a reply.

Regardless of his choice of wording, he is not wrong. Translation (or localization in some cases) quality isn't exactly high and if anything, it's gone downhill. Fan translations can definitely be better than official ones but these days, both suffer some the influx of machine translations. Some companies selling you a "translation" you can outright blacklist because it's always only a machine translation. And yes, some individual translators have issues and they shouldn't be allowed to translate things professionally. Then again, most of those companies are anything but professional anyway (Marcus-Havoc mentioned Discord leaks already), so it does kind of fit. Then there are also cases where fan translations are being stolen (they still fall under copyright)...oh well, it's a mess. In the end, the only sane thing is to learn the Japanese language and buy them from a digital store DRM-free (or import them for physical goodness). At least that way no content is censored (except for the mosaic-ing which more and more games released for the West even keep these days).

Have any of you that are complaining about translations ever actually played a JAST game? Putting every localizer in the same shoes without actually trying any of the games isnt really cool.

Same. Was it that long ago? Damn. Sorry, I have been playing it on YouTube so it will be awhile before I finish it.

True that I won't get a direct answer if ask such a question in that wording, but it is the most honest way of asking.
I'm not the PR spinning type, so I give what question blunt and to the point.


I'm glad you actually get it, Most people have become NPC puppets even praising translators that make up shit and then taking their word as gold when they defend their butchering of for instance titles beloved by its fans.

I take it you mean the machine translations that were done by the Japanese publisher Lilith last time? Not to mention how they censored the crap out of the western version, and brain-dead fans still praised it. It was so butchered it made the Japanese version seem more uncensored, regardless of the mosaic.

It would be best in general to go back to fan translations. Bandai namco now does dubtitles for their games out of laziness, and Square enix let their Localizing team make up shit on the spot. Nier replicant Steam released translation was utter garbage compared to a fan translated version for the old PS3 version. Done by a girl that barely knew Japanese, and it was still more accurate than professionally only paid losers that call themselves translators/localizers could manage.

Like you said at the end, it's better to buy from the original source. Or buy merchandise.

If only they could do the translation right for once, I would buy all the anime games day1. But it has deteriorated beyond repair, with entitled translators and localizer running the show. Like one user once said, The people never could write something worthwhile for themselves, so they're now trying to rewrite somebody else his work.

Marcus-Havoc I'm gonna second the fact that you really shouldn't email publishers or developers with things like that. It's extremely unprofessional and it makes you look bad as well. If you don't like the guy's translation, just skip over it or as it was stated, try learning the language. There's no good outcome from harassing devs or publishers with these kinds of questions. It's extremely childish behavior.

I actually bought your games day1 at the start but seeing as the industry has been dominated by people that seem to be more busy injecting their own bullshit I played it save and stopped buying it all together. I own a JAST account.

Furthermore, I did the same for Manga Gamer until realized how this industry actual treats its fans.

If JAST USA couldn't even be bothered to reply to a person asking if you were hiring the guy that mocked fans in his use of words in the sengoku rance translation because he was triggered, I would ask questions how much you care for quality.

I'm still curious if you hired him, because I stopped buying from you people the moment I found out he was hired for the translation of Venus Blood Frontier.
I'm a consumer, I'm allowed to ask what I want if it displeases them.

So you would support that other nut job translator that recently got complaints about wanting to inject memes and make up shit when they are triggered by the original meaning? To the point they even demand the right to rewrite parts when the original meaning doesn't suit them? You are ok with what Yen press and Seven seas did and censored whole parts of text cause it triggered the localizer and translator because it had ecchi themes and perverted humor?

So its childish behavior to be vocal about the fact people are injecting their own bullshit in translation but not the fact that translators and localizer now want free-range to alter anything they deem not fit in their eyes? Or the more laughable thing, them thinking the majority fans are so stupid they wouldn't get Japanese nuances. I agree on the part the majority of the fans are stupid or else this kinda butchering of any would never stand and would be condemned to the point they would strife for quality.

I'm not a fan of anyone who burns books, slashes paintings or censors games.

Can you give examples of Yen press and Seven Seas entertainment removing sections from the novels they are selling?

I've purchased books from those companies before so I'll be pretty disappointed if that has become part of their publishing method.

That point is fair, but consider asking it in a more professional manner. The way you worded that was extremely childish and yes I will call that out, because there's no sense in it. You could have found several other ways to address the issue rather than resorting to the statement you used.

If you are so unhappy with the state of these translations, then please go learn Japanese.

https://varishangout.com/index.php?threads/seven-seas-entertainment-in-hot-water-over-recent-editorial-changes.143/

https://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovels/comments/atc2qx/why_does_everyone_hate_yen_press_and_their/

Keep track of the two sites, Bounding into comics, and Sankaku complex, they cover the censorship in the anime industry.

There are more about Yen press, but in general I didn't go too deep into it because I personally stopped buying anything anime related years ago because of these reasons that have been happening even more frequently.

I wouldn't say all translators are bad, take for example the guy on the Varishangout who exposes these sorts of bastardization. Also check out the god awful translation of Neo: the world ends with you.
https://varishangout.com/index.php?threads/checking-the-localization-of-neo-the-world-ends-with-you.414/

And this is from what other people found in other games.
https://varishangout.com/index.php?threads/game-localization-collection.554/

I'm also a consumer, and I don't like your way of blanket assumption.
Nut job or not, you should know translators abide by their employer's rules and standards. Even if this "nut job" is acting like a shithead in MG doesn't mean he will be fine in other places. You run your logic on a lot of assumptions mate, despite not making a single effort to prove any of these flaws in this thread. Give us some screenshot pinpointing flaws in VB translation, then we can go from there.

As much as I hate these translation that cater to specific agenda, I don't find them in recent JAST titles (or Venus Blood Frontier last time I read). Learn to separate private and professional life, even if this "nut job" thinks he wants meme or shit in a translation, if it's not in the ACTUAL translation then I couldn't care less. Not JAST's fault that MG has been pretty shit lately and allowing those kind of translation.

First off, My assumption aren't incorrect. Seeing as I stated that I didn't trust the translation in general because of the many reasons I already stated. Simply ignoring the industry new so-called standard, I have every right to be skeptical.

First of, it wouldn't be a problem if you people replied to people in the first place when they mail for their concern, but if I get no reply in return I take it as JAST USA will just do as it pleases. I'm not incorrect about Arunaru and his habit of using anything he wants and then ignoring feedback. This information wasn't available for me, so for that I apologize, but not for the facts stating that i was correct in the way Arunaru works.

Sure, JAST made some decent games in the 80s and 90s. A shame they went bankrupt.

No, I meant that it's a rhetoric question criticizing them for hiring that translator in a rather rude manner (doesn't matter if it's justified). Of course you wouldn't ever get a reply that way.

I've been in the VN space for 15+ years now, so except for the early commercial translations of the late 90s and maybe some early 00s stuff, I generally took notice of stuff happening. As such, I'm rather aware of how the Western industry has progressed.

No clue if Lilith has also been dabbling in machine translations now. The scene has become so messy and splintered that I keep mostly away from it. But well, it wouldn't surprise me, considering Lilith was one of the companies stealing a fan translator's work.

I also think fan translations are the best way since they are usually done out of love for a certain work. Due to that, more effort gets put into it, as there is no commercial thinking behind it. Also, nowadays, more people than ever understand Japanese, so more fan translation could theoretically come out. And with all the Japanese stores, it's not difficult to buy a copy and then patch it, thus supporting the developers.

I would have proof if I saved the ones that are floating on the net, the problem is that I assume that people actually do their research, but notice that most people are completely ignorant in general when it comes about the way games are translated.

Don't worry the next time I come across the images or in general a debate about it, I will archive it, but I never expected most people to be such NPC's. Would be nice if people actually were more interested in the finer detail of what they are actually buying.

Hey, no worries, man. I'm sorry about how I worded that also. Looking at it again, I sounded a little rude there.

Honestly, it's nice to see another person who's read some of those titles. I'm a pretty big Sei Shoujo fan, and am hoping we'll see something new from JAST next year on that front.

I really think everyone who reads eroge needs to read things like Bible Black, Discipline, Starless, Closed Game and so on...

And talk about a couple games there that could use a remaster for modern systems... Probably would never happen because of licensing issues, but I'd love to see a remaster of Discipline and Bible Black.