Interview with JTOR

So a month or so ago, I had an interview with the folks over at JTOR and they’ve posted it now for their Ero Week. You can check out the interview here, but feel free to leave comments here too if you’d like.

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30 Comments

  1. One of our followers made quite the analogy, comparing our improvement in quality to our panel at Anime Expo 2010, where the first translators were acquaintances of our Japanese guests and didn’t do a very good job, then replaced by native English speaking AX staff who did well but were followed up by fans who were more intimately familiar with the games.

    So true.

  2. Ah, nice! I know what I am gonna read now~

  3. Very insightful as always 🙂
    I’m also very pleased to hear that Kira Kira has done so well, as it is by far my favourite MG game to date. Can’t wait for Edelweiss (properly TLed) and DearDrops.

    Keep up the good work!

  4. Interesting interview, I enjoyed hearing more on MG’s history and the bit on the marketing was interesting too. It’s also good to hear that Shuffle!’s been such a success (fandisks, expansion, and Oretsuba, please come here), though I think the main reason the anime has helped Shuffle! so much is because the anime version was so successful.

    • Indeed, the anime for Soul Link is nearly nonexistent and as for Da Capo the overall quality wasn’t that great.
      Although Higurashi is pretty popular as an anime in the US, people aren’t going to want to read a mystery novel that they already know the ending to. =/

  5. “If Koihime sells under the target number, it’ll demonstrate their prediction was right and they may choose to focus on shorter, less risky games for a while. If it sells over the target number, not only will everyone get the voices, but it will demonstrate the potential to take the risk on localizing even longer, more risky games such as the sequel.”
    Such an important thing to realize for people who don’t want to buy Koihime due to the lack of voices.

    “We’ve recently added two of the top ten requested companies to our partnership, and are making efforts to persuade two more as well.”
    *crosses fingers* KEY! KEY! KEY!

    “action games put out by certain famous companies, touching games by certain companies who can’t cook, etc.”
    What is Kouryuu referencing here?

  6. awesome, will read it and yes as Nurio said KEY! KEY! KEY!

    • =p As I said: “If the new price scheme helps our other games reach similar numbers or higher as well, then that will also give us at MangaGamer far more bargaining power.”

      Big companies and big titles are not impossible, but SALES are required to convince them to say yes. While yeah, if we can reach the level we’re asking for out of Koihime on a regular basis, one could say just about anything was fair game.

      Then it wouldn’t be a matter of “which titles should we try for next?”, but rather “Okay guys, what do you want next?”

  7. Eroge in VNs is truly just only a bonus,history is much more very important ^^

  8. Here’s to hopeful success of Koihime and the long life of MangaGamer. Cheers.

  9. Heres to many more profitable years!

  10. Was an interesting read.

    Every staff at MangaGamer and affiliated companies deserves the highest of praise for the work they’ve put into bringing visual novels to the west.

    So for the history behind MangaGamer, it was originally founded by a Japanese company and got others involved in the process. So Japanese developers do want to reach their hands out to us, but it is us, who are not reaching out our hands to them. We say we want their products but fail to provide the sales despite our large numbers.

    If we want to prove that the west is interested in their products we just have to show it through sales. I believe there is nothing that could be made as clear as that. We give them the sales, they give us the product.

    Here’s to hoping that 2011 will be the start of MangaGamer’s success!

  11. It was a good read, the JAST one was pretty informative as well. I’ve just about finished DC2 and looking forward to Koihime myself. With the recent developments in Muvluv Alternative’s translation I hope age comes to you guys for a deal.(I’ll buy 5 if you can get an actual physical box and game for it!)

  12. I gotta wonder… how come so often you get situations of,

    but they also aren’t going to sit there and say “That was the best wank I ever had,” about the title either. So at the same time, since the adult content is more of a bonus in these games, it’s been hard to advertise them for the sex either.

    Why can’t we have more VN where the reaction is, “wow, that story was amazing, and it was so freaking hot… probably wouldn’t have worked without the ero…”

    Ran’s path in Edelweiss is a good example, but the combination of strong story + strong ero seems all too rare. I do have high hopes for Koihime and Harukoi, however.

    • Have you tried Suika? I’m working on it slowly, but I have moments where I forget it’s an 18+ title…

      • Have not played the VN but I did watch the OVA… it’s like what you show to your girlfriend to convince her that you’re not a pervert for liking 2d ero.

        However, I think you’re misinterpreting my comment. I’m not saying I want more segregation between ero and story, I want more intertwining… i.e. stories that just wouldn’t make sense to make them all-ages.

        • How about joining me in asking MG to try and make a deal with Atelier Kaguya? Those guys are renowned for creating games with a good amount of ero and with a good story to match. I’ve seen reviews for their games and even played one of their games, Magical Witch Academy (if you liked Edelweiss, you’ll like that MWA), so I’m pretty confident in that statement. Of course if you don’t mind dark stories and ero, you can also join those of us asking for a deal with Black Cyc.

        • Oh I hear you on that. Sometimes the H-scenes really feels like it was placed in there as an after-thought because of how it interrupts the mood of the story.

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