eden* – Translator’s Corner

eden Main VisualWe’re back again with a word from our translator for eden*, DS55. More after the jump!

Hi everyone! Are you all as excited for eden* as we are? I’m DS55, the translator who has worked on the ef series, the Shuffle fandisks “Tick! Tack!” and “Really? Really!“, and presently working on Bokuten. Today, I’m going to give you a bit of a rundown on the history I had working on this title, and some of the interesting facts along the way.

The final backup of the old NNL site I had lying around, complete with broken header due to missing images. This shot is sure to bring up some memories for some, laughs or Internet rage for others...

The final backup of the old NNL site I had lying around, complete with broken header due to missing images. This shot is sure to bring up some memories for some, laughs or Internet rage for others…

As many of you who keep up with visual novels might know, I used to be in NNL, a fansubbing group that really loved its minori games. Way back before I got involved with MangaGamer, I was working on eden* as a fan project. Originally we were just going to translate the demo as a bit of an April Fools joke, but it quickly grew into a very real project that everyone in NNL was excited about, and that the Internet got in a bit of an uproar about since we weren’t the only fan TL group at the time working on it. It was actually pretty amusing since, at first, everyone thought we ripped off the other group’s scripts until they started actually comparing them. It never ceases to amaze me the lengths the Internet will go to.

You were never forgotten, anon!

You were never forgotten, anon!

Leading up to the events that got the majority of NNL officially involved with MG (that I touched on a bit in my ef – the latter tale translator’s corner), I had this title roughly 60% translated. Once we signed on with MG to release ef, I figured eden* would come along eventually, and as I wasn’t flooded with work when I first joined MG (we’ve grown a lot in the past four years!) I worked on this in my spare time. I ultimately finished the all ages version, or approximately 75% of the game, and at this point waited since there was no guarantee we’d get PLUS+MOSAIC as well.

The last script of the game. Yup, had it since 2010...

The last script of the game. Yup, had it since 2010…

So, as you may have guessed from the “four years” bit, it has taken a while to reach this point. I’ve had that nearly-completed translation sitting on various hard drives (I think I would’ve gone crazy if an HDD crash made me lose all that hard work) for ages. Pretty much anyone on staff who isn’t brand new would be able to tell you I’ve wanted to work on this title that entire time. A month or two before our Otakon announcement, we got into talks with minori, and eden* was given the green light. At this point, I immediately decided to go over my translation with a fine-toothed comb to make sure the script was the best it could be.

MayaH

Following that, I got busy translating the 18+ add on content, and narrowly finished just before Otakon. It was a close call, but I was very happy to be able to announce that the translation was finished concurrently with the acquisition announcement.

Supipara_Story01_MainVisualLeading up to Otakon, our super-manager Evospace was busy talking to minori about the Supipara campaign and our plans to use eden*‘s proceeds to finish it. I’m sure everyone has heard about it at this point (if only from the other blog posts), but if you haven’t, please check out the campaign page here. If eden* is successful, Supipara will be my next project after Bokuten is complete.

I never thought the day would come that I’d get to work on Supipara, much less see the whole story completed in visual novel form.  I hope all those minori and visual novel fans in general out there will buy a copy. I know I’ll be buying copies for family and friends (the all age version for family, haha). This time around, -every single purchase counts.- Even once we reach our funding goal to get the first or second Supipara chapters translated, every additional sale will go towards funding the creation of all new chapters in the series. If eden* and Supipara both do well… who knows what the future might bring? Don’t let me down guys! Show minori you do care about seeing more of their games released, and that there is a strong western market for visual novels!

You can follow me on Twitter (@DS55_) where I’m sure I’ll be making occasional status updates and other fun stuff going forward. If you’re so inclined, you can pre-order or buy eden* (depending on when you’re reading this) from MangaGamer or Steam, or the 18+ version, PLUS+MOSAIC here. Hope to see you again in the future writing a Supipara translator’s corner!

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8 Comments

  1. Well written and interesting to read. Thanks! And today I learned that MangaGamer has specific translators assigned to my choice of their games. Loved Tick! Tack!, looking forward to Bokuten, looking forward to eden*. I hope Supipara becomes a reality, too.

  2. I’m really looking forward to Supipara. It would be great to get all its chapters. I think it’s the Minori title with the most beautiful character designs. Especially since Minori seems to have gone a bit backwards with their character designs in 12 no Tsuki no Eve, although the upcoming Soreyori no Prologue is definitely an improvement over 12 no Tsuki no Eve.

    And yeah, I still hope we get Natsuzora no Perseus after Supipara…

  3. Nintendo Maniac 64

    So um, why isn’t the trial version available on MG’s website?

  4. I’m interested in eden*, but I don’t care about Supipara.
    I found it quite funny that on the campaign site it says about minori that they “might not fit in the existing formula”. Maybe that can be said about their previous releases, but the story for Supipara is as generic as it gets. For once, using a high school setting feels like beating a dead horse to me. And adding magic to the mix makes it a bit more interesting, but is also far from original.

  5. DS55, were you one of the people who worked on translating Wind -a breath of heart- from 2004 to 2007? If so, thank you.

    I will remind myself to purchase either eden* or a hardcopy of ef today.

    • That was unfortunately before my time. I joined NNL after their initial attempt at translating ef failed in order to revive the project.

      Whichever you pick, I hope you enjoy it!

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