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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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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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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Here it is folks, the new Ikoku Nikki chapter. This one was really good, I thought. A lot of emotional exploration.
Volume 10 is now out in Japanese. I’m gonna work on getting a scanlated version of that done in the near future, but it’s not my highest priority. Next week the new Jojo part starts so we’ll be working on that. I’m also in the middle of volume 15 of Shima so I’m also getting that done at the moment. And then the following week is a new 3-Gatsu no Lion chapter! So lots going on this month. The next Ikkoku Nikki chapter is next month as usual. Anyhow, we’re doing a lot of manga so please read them.
Also, we have a new Discord! Come hang out and talk about manga. https://discord.gg/Nw45rfJYZF
Ikoku Nikki 51
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Hey everyone, here’s more Shima! Man I really am doing this a lot aren’t I? Ok well this is volume 14. With this volume we continue with the next part of the endgame of the series, the buyout of Cosmos. It’s the big negotiating deals-y volume (Though that story continues into volume 15). After this we only have 3 volumes left in Section Chief, which feels crazy that we’re that close after this seeming like such a huge hill to climb for so long.
This next month there’s gonna be a lot going on and I’m gonna be busy during some of it in which I won’t be able to translate manga so I dunno when volume 15 will end up getting done. I’ll probably spend way more time on this than is healthy just like I usually do, though. There’s the first chapter of The JOJOLands coming out next month on February 27th Japan time which is sort of a big deal as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is a big series going since the 80’s separated into multiple parts kind of like Shima Kōsaku, but unlike Shima Kōsaku all of it’s been translated. Jojo has 131 volumes which have all been translated (With 132 about to start) and Shima has 106 volumes if you count the 21 prequel volumes and so far we’ve only finished 14 (And I think another group did like 2 volumes of one of the prequels like 8 years ago?) so we’ve still got a long road ahead. Also I don’t think I’m gonna do all of that probably (Definitely not doing the prequels). But I’m quite sure we’ll finish Part 1 of Shima Kōsaku at this point and then we’ll at least start on Part 2 and see how that goes. Also it’s very possible Araki-sensei keeps doing Jojo for more than a decade longer so that could also be a huge thing I’ve cursed myself to have to work on for a long, long time. But it should be very exciting! I hope you’re all looking forward to that. Also there’s a new Ikoku Nikki in a couple weeks.
Everyone go read Shima it’s great. Tell all your friends who are adults to go read this series. I have no marketing skills or a marketing department so I can’t think of anything catchier than that, meaning it’s basically all up to you.
Edit: Oh I should also mention I added a Ko-fi link in the right sidebar if you’d like to donate that way. The Paypal link is still there and it basically does the same thing, it’s still ultimately just sending money through paypal, but it’s a different sorta UI.
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 14 (Ch132-142)
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Here’s more 3-Gatsu no Lion! More fun with Shimada as he reckons with the burden of the weight of his life choices and also there’s coffee and sweets.
The next 3-Gatsu no Lion chapter is most likely gonne be around February 23rd Japan time. Shima volume 14 is nearly done, that should be finished pretty soon. The next Ikoku Nikki comes out on February 7th Japan time and simultaneously volume 10 will be coming out which we’ll try to do sometime soon-ish after. And also the first chapter of the new part of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure comes out February 17th Japan time. So quite a lot coming up soon. February is gonna be really busy and I’m sure I’ll be completely exhausted as I am right now typing this after working on this alongside my regular job all day. Enjoy, folks!
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
Edit: Oh I should also mention I added a Ko-fi link in the right sidebar if you’d like to donate that way. The Paypal link is still there and it basically does the same thing, it’s still ultimately just sending money through paypal, but it’s a different sorta UI.
3-Gatsu no Lion 199
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Ok I take back what I said before THIS is the last release of the year (Given that it’s the last day of the year now). So with this volume we’re really into the beginning of the endgame of the Section Chief arc. After this we’ve just got 4 volumes left. This gets the plot points that finish out the rest of the arc set up. It also contains the whole car racing arc. It’s also Shima’s first big project as the head of the General Advertising Section. You see Shima change somewhat as a person around this point. We’re also now into what was originally published in 1991.
Anyhow, we had lots of Shima this year, I hope you all enjoyed it and have a happy new year. For those not keeping track we released 11 volumes of it this year. Chapters 18 to 131 (That’s 114 chapters!). That’s in addition to the end of Takeshi, two volumes of DRCL midnight children, and a whole bunch of 3-Gatsu no Lion and Ikoku Nikki. I’ll keep working on this series next year. Hopefully we can get to the end of Section Chief in not too long. I’m trying to find a balance where we’re making progress on this but I’m not spending too much time on it. I dunno if you noticed but this series has like, a lot of text. And usually groups don’t release a volume a month of any series. I’m probably still devoting too much time to this. Anyways, it’s been quite a year and I’m pretty proud of all we managed to do. It was seriously a lot and I think we kept it all up to pretty high quality standards. Okay, everyone go read Shima and tell all your friends to read it, it’s great.
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 13 (Ch121-131)
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Here’s more 3-Gatsu no Lion! It’s more fun time with the boys.
Most likely there’s no 3-Gatsu no Lion chapter next issue of Young Animal and there’ll be another one in the following issue. This is PROBABLY gonna be our last release of 2022 unless I go super fast and translate 7 more chapters of Shima and then the whole rest of the process get done in the next 10 days. So happy holidays and have a happy new years, all.
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 198
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Woo! Ok we’re back again with volume 12. This is a big one. A bunch of some of the most impactful events of the series happen in this one, so I hope you enjoy it. This one gets a lot more into the nature of the economics of Japan and the Philippines back in 1990-1991 and the perspectives people had at the time. And some characters that we’ll keep seeing for a long time are introduced in this volume as well. And much like the last one it can get pretty dark at times. We’re now well into the latter half of Section Chief now and we’re going to start heading towards the endgame (of part 1) from here. And then we’ll probably start on part 2, I guess.
There’s a good chance this is the last volume of Shima we end up releasing for 2022 unless I go really fast on volume 13 which I’m probably not gonna spend my whole holidays working on. So in case we don’t, I hope you all enjoyed all the Shima we’ve brought to you this year, along with all the other manga we’ve released this year which has been quite a lot. Have a safe, happy holidays, ya’ll.
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 12 (Ch110-120)
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Whew. Well folks, finally, at chapter 50, after about 5 years of serialization, we have finally come full circle and the timeline has reached the events of chapter 1. Something I’m sure plenty of us forgot about completely that chapter 1 takes place when Asa is in her third year of high school. But man we’ve come a long way, haven’t we, with this series?
Anyhow, there seems to be no chapter next month, but volume 10 is coming out in February 2023. So there’ll probably be a chapter the following month. At the moment I’m in the middle of translating Shima volume 12, so look forward to all that, ya’ll. Happy holidays.
Also, we have a new Discord! Come hang out and talk about manga. https://discord.gg/Nw45rfJYZF
Ikoku Nikki 50
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