And here we are at volume 4. Believe it or not we’re half way done with Managing Director now. This volume is mainly about the changing landscape of Japan’s business in China and how China is/was changing as a country as it develops over the course of the 2000’s. We’re into mid-2003 at this point in the story. Also there’s some sword fights and kissing. And it’s also the first appearance of Kōtarō! So lots of stuff going on in this one.

I really like how this series sort of gives you a snapshot of a specific era and what folks were thinking about the future at that point. You feel like you’re seeing what actual people thought at the time and their worries about the future and looking back on it 20 years after the fact now you can see how it played out. Various cultural dynamics changing too.

I finished like 4 chapters in a day in this volume for some of the easier ones in the middle and it makes me wonder sometimes if I should just try to marathon through this series rather than doing one volume every month or two. But given how long the series is, we still wouldn’t be caught up even if I did a chapter a day for two years. Outside Director volume 7 came out a couple weeks ago and that’s the equivalent of volume 90 of the series as a whole (not counting the prequels or the sorta-canon spinoffs) and this one we’re releasing now is the equivalent of volume 34. And there’s enough magazine chapters for 2 more volumes already and it’s still going. But I dunno I’m gonna play it by ear and just try to do this when I feel like it and maybe I’ll get a lot done. It’s a fun series to translate once you know what all the subject matter is and you’re not spending a whole bunch of time looking up business terms and such to make sure you’re interpreting it right. If I finished 4 chapters a day every day I’d get all the way caught up in about 4 months. Anyhow I’m probably not gonna do that, but it’s just something I’ve been thinking about since we’ve been working on this series for 4 years now. Also I finished the first few chapters of volume 5 while I was waiting for folks to cleand then check this volume, so hope fully that one won’t take too long from now.

Anyhow, Jojo comes out soon and I’m still scanning the rest of those Gintama volumes. There haven’t been any other 3-Gatsu no Lion chapters announced so far either. So anyhow see ya later!

Also, we have a Discord! Come hang out and talk about manga. https://discord.gg/Nw45rfJYZF

Managing Director Shima Kōsaku Volume 4 (Ch40-52)
Catbox.moe
Mega
Online Reader (MangaDex)
Online Reader (Cubari)
Online Reader (Mangataro)