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)
ZippyShare
Mega
Online Reader (Mangadex)

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)
ZippyShare
Mega
Online Reader (Mangadex)

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)
ZippyShare
Mega
Online Reader (Mangadex)

Hey everybody, we’re back with volume 11. This volume took a bit longer than the last couple because we did uh… Three 3-Gatsu no Lion chapters, an Ikoku Nikki chapter, and a whole volume of DRCL in between. Which really took a lot out of me to be honest, that DRCL volume. Compared to that, translating this volume where we there’s long sections about consulting companies and foreign aid and inter-company deal making around building factories was downright easy. Anyhow I’m glad to be back on doing this series and I’m thankful to all those that helped out. A lot of these projects are mainly just me doing all or most of the jobs so it can be a bit exhausting. Like I mentioned in some of the other posts here about Shima, I dunno how long a lot of these volumes will end up taking me since there’s no limit to how fast we could potentially do these since the series is already out in Japanese. I basically need to find my own personal equilibrium where I’m making progress on this but not going so overboard that I get burnt out or I’m neglecting some other part of my life. It can be tricky at times.

I should give a warning that this story does get a bit dark at times and one of the darker events happens in this volume, so be warned. This volume also takes place entirely in the Philippines, and has a lot more story talking about what it was like there in the early 90’s and Japan’s relationship with them. Anyhow, enjoy, everyone! Tell other folks about this series if you like it, I think it’s really something unique and unlike anything else I’ve ever read. I hope we can grow the English-speaking fandom somewhat.

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 11 (Ch99-109)
ZippyShare
Mega
Online Reader (Mangadex)