Section Chief Shima Kōsaku Volume 17 (End of Section Chief Arc)

Section Chief Shima Kо̄saku Volume 17

Holy shit we made it. Man, after about a year and a half we’ve finished the whole Section Chief Shima Kōsaku series. It kinda felt like we’d never get here for a while, it’s a seriously difficult series and I probably went overboard working on this, but we got all the way to the end of the first part of the series. All seventeen volumes and the entire run of Shima’s journey from “regular guy” to where he is here which is sort of a “super salaryman”. This volume contains uhhh the whole climax of the major elements of the Section Chief story. So not much to say without spoiling it, but a lot happens.

In a lot of ways this first series is a complete story. It has a bunch of story arcs and a clear through-line of the journeys of all its major characters. So I’m pretty proud of the fact that we got through all this. This was my original goal, to at least get the first series done. I think “Section Chief” is a great series even if you feel like at that point you’ve “had enough” and don’t want to continue past that.

Uhhh so I guess we’re gonna start on Division Chief Shima Kōsaku next! From here I don’t really have a plan beyond “Well I still feel like doing it so I’ll keep doing it.” I dunno about trying to do the whole series or anything because that would basically mean this is the one series I work on for several years, even if I went really, really fast. So I dunno about that. But let’s start on Division Chief and see where that goes. That series is pretty hard, by the way. As the story progresses from here it becomes more about economics and different industries and how they work, since the protagonist is less of a “regular guy” and more of a “major guy”. But all the various human drama, slice of life stuff still continues. So I hope you all look forward to it.

Enjoy the finale of Part 1 everybody! See you in Part 2!

Check out my summary here of what this series is about if you haven’t seen it yet.

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

Section Chief Shima Kо̄saku Volume 17 (Ch165-175)
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The JOJOLands Ch. 3

Here we are at chapter 3! The chapters are now down to a more normal page length making these a lot less of a pain to fully scanlate in one day. Uh, otherwise not much has changed since last month. I think probably the next chapter will finish off volume 1. And that comes out May 19th Japan time.

Meanwhile there was no 3-Gatsu no Lion in the latest Young Animal and it’s not in the preview for the next one so the next chapter won’t be for a bit. Umino-sensei may be spending time making changes for the volume version which always has a lot of changes. And we’re still working on Section Chief Shima Kōsaku volume 17, which I’ve got like 4 more chapters to translate.

Anyhow, enjoy, everyone!

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

The JOJOLands Ch. 3
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Ikoku Nikki Ch. 53

And here we are at Ikoku Nikki 53. This chapter’s pretty good, more stuff in the vein of the last few chapters about the younger characters growing up an such.

It doesn’t seem like there’s a new Ikoku Nikki chapter in next issue of Feel Young so the next chapter may be after that, around June 7th or so.

There may or may not be a new 3-Gatsu no Lion chapter in the new issue of Young Animal next week, it’s kind of hard to tell because the website doesn’t list it in the text of the website’s “next issue section” but it’s in the actual page of the magazine (you see it in the image on the left there) written really small. So, one of those things is a mistake. Either way that issue comes out on the 14th Japan time.

Otherwise the next Jojo chapter comes out on the 19th Japan time and I’m in the middle of translating Shima Kōsaku volume 17, so still some time before those are done. Anyhow, enjoy this chapter, all!

Oh, also Zippyshare shut down so there won’t be any more Zippyshare links. I’ll maybe try using catbox.moe as a backup direct download source for now, unless anyone knows anything better.

Update: We’re now sure that there’s no 3-Gatsu no Lion in this week’s Young Animal. So we’ll check again in two weeks and see if it’s in that one. Umino-sensei may be taking time off from writing the series to do changes for the volume 17 tankoubon.

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

Ikoku Nikki 53
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Section Chief Shima Kōsaku Volume 16

Section Chief Shima Kо̄saku Volume 16

Hoooo boy, we have made it to volume 16. And if you’ve been following this series, you know what that means, the next volume is the final volume of the Section Chief arc. It’s been quite a journey and it’s nearly at the end. Feels kinda crazy. This series seriously requires a lot of work, a lot of research, a lot of slow careful checking and editing, so it feels good to finally be at this point. I guess we’ll be starting on the Division Chief arc after that but I’m not sure if we’ll be attempting to keep up the same schedule because this series just takes tons and tons of time to make progress on. I kind of need to balance out my time so I’m not spending all my free time scanlating. But I’m quite proud that we’ve now nearly finished Part 1.

So this volume contains the second half of the Office Chief Hirai arc and then all of the short but sweet Thailand arc. It ends exactly at the end of the last chapter of that arc. Next volume, volume 17, is sort of the climax of the entire 17-volume series. It ties up all the plotlines that are still open, mainly about the drama around the possibility of Nakazawa becoming president. It’s gonna be a great one, so I hope you’re all looking forward to that. “Section Chief Shima Kōsaku” just on its own without its sequels is a pretty complete story and I think it’s really good even without the whole rest of the series which would take us like 7 years of releasing one volume a month to finish, so I’m definitely not promising I’ll do the whole thing. But we’ll see where the future goes.

Check out my summary here of what this series is about if you haven’t seen it yet.

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

Section Chief Shima Kо̄saku Volume 15 (Ch143-153)
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The JOJOLands Ch. 2

Here’s Jojolands chapter 2! I wrote a little intro to this part of Jojo and my current feelings on this project in the chapter 1 release post here. Unfortunately it seems like we’re dealing with snipers again, (groups competing to do the same series as soon as it comes out when we were doing it first for years) which we’re just going to ignore and hope they quit eventually as they usually do after a while. But like I said it’s really frustrating that we have to deal with this sort of thing still after working on a series for over a decade now. Most folks generally just read whatever comes out first, so when this happens it makes everything more stressful and more difficult when you need to compete like this and really with all the series that aren’t translated at all, it’s just a severe waste of time and resources (Like right now we’re doing Shima Kōsaku which is a classic series that’s been going since the 80’s that hasn’t been translated ever, and that’s not the only series like that). I’ve talked about this on the FAQ page because it’s happened multiple times now. Anyhow, please do us a favor and don’t support those groups. We’ll try to keep a positive attitude here.

Anyhow, enjoy! See you next month. The next chapter comes out on April 19th Japan time, so a bit later in the month than the first two but that’s when Ultra Jump USUALLY comes out, it’s been early these past two months. At the moment I’m working on Shima Kōsaku volume 16, but there’s still a lot to go with that.

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

The JOJOLands Ch. 2
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Ikoku Nikki Ch. 52

Here’s 52! Hope you enjoy. This one has less text than the last couple and is a lot more on the minimalist, emotional side of things.

Also check out volume 10 of Ikoku Nikki which we released a couple weeks ago if you haven’t yet. We’ve now done volume versions of 10 volumes in this series, it’s really come a long way.

The next release is probably going to be chapter 2 of The JOJOlands which should come out on the 17th Japan time, assuming all goes well.

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

Ikoku Nikki 52
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Section Chief Shima Kōsaku Volume 15

Section Chief Shima Kо̄saku Volume 15

Ooookay, here we are, volume 15. A whole lot has been going on in my life this past month or so and it’s really been quite distressing. Just a generally stressful and difficult time all around with a lot of ups and downs. But it feels good to have this volume done, working on this series is generally a pretty enjoyable time (for something that’s work, at least).

This volume concludes the Cosmos Group Acquisition arc and starts the Office Chief Hirai arc. After this volume we’ve just got two volumes left in Section Chief, so we’ve really got not too much left at this point. The plan for now is to start Division Chief at least and just see where we go. I might do it slower or more infrequently or something like that but I really don’t think I’m just gonna marathon through 85 volumes of this series (which isn’t including the prequels, spinoffs, and non-canon extra things. And also the series is still going.) I hope you’re all enjoying it, I know I am. There’s really just a lot that happens in this series and it feels like it always tackles a different part of society. And it’s interesting to look back on their perspective on the future back in the 80’s and early 90’s. The whole Cosmos Group buyout story is loosely based on how Matsushita (Panasonic) bought Universal in 1990. But I’d imagine it’s also quite dramatized and combines some other semi-real-life events to create what we ultimately end up with. The Hirai arc is also a really good human drama with a lot of complexity to it. I thinks folks will really enjoy that if you’ve liked those sorts of arcs so far.

Anyhow, I’m gonna go relax. The next release will probably be the new Ikoku Nikki chapter that comes out on the 8th Japan time. Then the next Jojo chapter should come out on the 17th Japan time.

Oh by the way the Gold Soushuuhens only went up to volume 14 so we don’t have any more starting color pages for the last 3 volumes. We’re just gonna have to make do with the color pages from the tankoubons, bunkobans, and zenshuus from this point on I’m afraid.

Check out my summary here of what this series is about if you haven’t seen it yet.

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

Section Chief Shima Kо̄saku Volume 15 (Ch143-153)
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3-Gatsu no Lion (March Comes in Like a Lion) 200

Happy 200th chapter, everybody! I’m on vacation right now so I had to find little breaks to do this chapter. I think it came out good regardless. Anyhow, gotta go!

If you didn’t see before we released our finished version of volume 16 with all the various changes and extras and updates here.

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

3-Gatsu no Lion 200
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The JOJOLands Ch. 1

And here we are! The first chapter of the new part of Jojo! We’re gonna do our best with this new part which very well could go on for many years like the last two did. Araki-sensei seems like he wants to keep making Jojo as long as he can. I guess we’ll be doing it as long as we can, too. This series has gotten pretty popular and as a result sometimes it can get pretty stressful because as the fandom gets bigger it tends to get more intense. We’ve had to deal with the series getting sniped by other groups in the past which really makes doing projects like this difficult which I talked about in detail in the FAQ. So ultimately we’ll keep doing our best on this but if it gets too stressful (Like say some group starts sniping the series and releasing it before the official release time in Japan or something) we might not be able to continue. This is first and foremost a hobby and most of us are adults with families and various life obligations so there’s a point you need to decide on when projects like this take up too much of your time and energy. And for a series like this that’s ongoing and we’re trying to get it out around the same time as Japan, it means everyone HAS to orient their schedule around when it comes out every month (Usually the 17th-19th) which can be difficult sometimes. But for now, things seem fine. Here’s hoping that continues.

Anyhow, for those not aware, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (Or Jojo no Kimyō na Bōken as some call it) is a long-running action-adventure manga that started in 1986 and has been serialized ever since then. Here’s the history of its serialization laid out in a nice chart. (Source) It focuses on unique super-powered battles which say somewhat grounded in real life and society and has themes of the protagonists being pro-humanity while the enemies are the types of folks who control and destroy others to benefit themselves. We translated all of the previous part of this series, Part 8: JoJolion, which ran for 27 volumes. And before that I translated the last quarter or so of Part 7: Steel Ball Run with the group Jojo Project. I also translated the novels Over Heaven and The Book a while back. Also volume 1 of the spinoff series Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan (As of now we’re not gonna be working on any more spinoffs). The series ran in Shounen Jump until 2005 when it moved to the young-adult-aimed seinen magazine Ultra Jump, which comes out monthly.

Jojolion ran for about 10 years and before that Steel Ball Run ran for about 7 years. Before that the series was weekly and one part came out about once every 3.5 years or so. The first 6 parts were done by a combination of Ignition One, Veggie’s Jojo Page, Invincible Trio, and Jojo’s Colored Adventure. Though as of this writing a lot of the earlier parts also have official releases which are pretty good (Though they have some weird issues with covering art with big black squares and not doing proper redraws and changing the names that are references to bands, but they’re generally fine). So if you haven’t read this series yet I’d encourage you to check those out first, it’s a good series the whole way through. But generally each “Part” has its own self-contained story and has just a few elements carried over from previous series. So you can probably start reading right from here but you’d probably enjoy it more if you read the whole rest of the series first. This chapter represents what would be volume 132 of the full series, though since Part 6 the numbering of the volumes has restarted at 1 for each part to encourage new readers. (Also our plan, same as before, is to do high-quality volume versions later down the line once those come out) Also this chapter was 70 pages long which was very exhausting to translate.

If you’re here just for Jojo, I encourage you to check out some of the other series we’ve done or are doing. A few of them like Takeshi, Toriko, and Gintama are also Jump series. And several are young-adult-aimed manga like Shima Kōsaku, Ikoku Nikki, 3-Gatsu no Lion, 81diver, and Innocent. Shima Kōsaku is a super long series that’s been running since the 80’s, too, and we’re currently working on volume 15.

Anyhow, enjoy everyone! This series generally comes out once a month. So we’ll see you next chapter! Should be the start of a fun adventure. Even a bizarre one, possibly.

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

Edit: We’ve edited this a couple time fixing minor issues since when we first released it.

The JOJOLands Ch. 1
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Ikoku Nikki Volume 10

And here we have volume 10. Same as last time, this is using the digital volume raws as physically scanning it wouldn’t really add any detail. Except we included the covers from the physical volume. The volume version of Ikoku Nikki are only very slightly changed, usually with adding screentones. Yamashita-sensei also made the paper Asa is filling out in chapter 46 have the same heading on every page rather than it changing after the first page. Plus the resolution is a little better and has one extra page at the end and clean color pages. That’s it! Not much changed. But I do like to get these done so they’re a definitive version. Oh, also apparently now the series officially has sold over 1.25 million copies! Pretty good for a series like this. Next chapter comes out next month, March 8th Japan time.

Our next release is probably gonna be chapter 1 of Part 9 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, so look forward to that. I’m also working on Shima volume 15 whenever I have time between all this other stuff.

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

Ikoku Nikki Volume 10 (Ch. 46-50)
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